A/N- Sorry this chapter took so long- I've been really busy. Please review the story- let me know what you think, what you might like to happen and other things like that, and, most of all, enjoy it :)
"Run."
The first words I hear as I awake from my troubled sleep. The Doctor grabs my hand and I step out of the coffin and run blindly after him. I tire after a few seconds but he still pushes me on, willing me to go that much further towards our destination. I look back- where was I? How did the Doctor get here? How long have I been asleep for? The questions rapidly pile into my mind but they're shoved behind one of those doors- they'll have to wait for later. Right now, focus on running.
"Run, Reinette, run!" I do as I'm told and pound my legs, straining against the thumping of my heart and the short rasp that is my breath. We near a tall blue box. It is queer that the Doctor seems to want me to follow him inside, yet it seems too small to fit two people- especially me in this huge dress. However, I trust the Doctor and rush inside, escaping whatever was following us. It takes me a minute to catch my breath yet after that I still feel dizzy. I look up to see where I am.
"It's... bigger on the inside!" I exclaim. How can this tiny blue box suddenly become this massive machine? It's alive, too- I can hear it whirring away like some kind of crazed animal.
"Yeah I get that a lot," the Doctor explains. "It's, erm, this technology thingy. It's quite complicated." I gaze in wonder at the room, trying to take in all of the minute details. The engineering on this is far greater than anything in... might I say, the whole of France!
"I got your letter, by the way," he says.
"Yes, well we can see that I am alive and quite clearly that all things are possible." I gesture at the room before me. As I lift my hand, the oranges swirl and the blues mix together. I feel myself falling down; my light-headedness getting the better of me and that run getting its own back.
"Reinette? Reinette!? Are you alright? Oh no... I'll have to..." His voice trails off as I go in and out of consciousness and finally black out.
I blink and open my eyes. The room around me is dim, unlike the large room I was in before. I sit up straight away- where am I?- but regret it immediately because my head is throbbing and my chest is tight. I stare at the ceiling, willing the Doctor to be with me and to tell me where I am and to tell me I'll be okay, and I won't die. As if by witchcraft he appeared in the doorway with a concerned look on his face. I smile weakly at him as it's the best I can muster.
"You alright? I thought we'd lost you then," a worried tone creeps into his voice.
"I think it's those tight corsets, Doctor, they squeeze the life out of me and so sometimes I can't breathe very well. That's probably why my family thought me to be dead- because I blacked out and probably didn't awake for days."
"Yeah, hundreds of women from that period were ill because of clothing. And make-up, actually, you'd better take that off your face before something happens," he talks so rapidly, I can hardly keep up.
"Is she alright?" I see Rose appear in the doorway. I see. The two will never be separated.
"She'll be fine. Well, sort of. Maybe. A little bit. Well..." I look at the Doctor in horror. Does he mean that I'll never recover? Rose sees my expression and takes sympathy.
"Er, don't worry. He says that all the time. He means that you'll be absolutely fine." She smiles soothingly.
"Thank you, Rose. I do need a lot of rest, though. To recover." The Doctor laughs.
"Rest? Who needs rest? I stored a few of those nanogens from WWII- remember that, Rose?" she grins and nods. "And you'll be fine within, hmm, five minutes?" I laugh- that is ridiculous! People have to stay in bed for weeks, months even before they fully recover (if they recover at all). Five minutes?
They help me up off the surprisingly comfy bed and take me to the room where I first came in. The Doctor pushes some levers and presses some buttons. At one point, he even hits the machine with a small hammer. Suddenly a bright white light emits from a small box beneath the console and it makes its path towards my chest. I step back, not wanting it to touch me, but if the Doctor says it will be fine, then it will be fine.
The light slithers back to where it came from and I feel like a new person. Seriously. I look to the Doctor and smile. My head feels better and my chest doesn't feel tight anymore. I feel stronger and younger than I ever have done- like all the weight of France has been lifted off my shoulders.
"So, Doctor, that star you said to pick?" I ask, confident in my new self. He nods, slightly concerned at my outgoing nature. "Well, I picked one. The second star to the right." Rose looks at the Doctor with excitement in her eyes and they smile knowingly. "What? Is there something that you're not telling me? Look, Doctor, we're going there whether you like it or not. I'm tired of waiting around for princes and kings. It's time for some fun."
The Doctor grins widely at me and advances towards the console in the centre of the room. He winks at Rose.
"Are we actually going there Doctor? Like honestly? Pirates? Indian braves? Fairies! I thought it was all fiction." Her eyes gleam with anticipation.
"I've seen inside the Doctor's mind and anything is possible," I smile, although I don't know what they're so excited about. "It's like there's another layer to this story, Doctor. Would you care to enlighten me?"
"There is a work of fiction from Roses time called Peter Pan. He lives in Neverland with the Lost Boys and he takes Wendy and her two brothers from London to Neverland to tell them bed-time stories. Neverland is a wonderful place- full of fairies and mermaids and two suns, shining bright in the clear pink sky. Pirates and Indians rules separate parts of the land and sea and it's just..." he smiles widely, as if remembering a fond memory. "Wonderful."
"And this is all in this star that I picked?" I ask. How can all of this fantasy be in a tiny pinprick of a star?
"Yep," smiles Rose. "And we're going to fly this ship right there aren't we, Doctor?" The Doctor starts to turn some dials and pull and push levers on the console. An expert. He races around to the others side and bangs his hammer against a panel at the side. Whilst clicking his fingers on a keyboard, he hauls his foot onto a big red button. We start to shake about wildly and I immediately grab onto something that looks stable amongst the chaos that the Doctor is driving us into. I feel slightly overwhelmed by this insanity, but normality is boring and this new world is exciting and fresh.
"Second to the right," the Doctor shouts, a grin on his face. Rose replies:
"And straight on until morning!"