Hi everyone! I'm finally back from my horrible 2 weeks of procrastination and writer's block! This chapter took me forever to write for some reason unknown to even myself. I had a friend help get me through my writer's block (Yay Lady Artimes Blaine!) and generally nothing really helped me through my procrastination... I suppose I'm still doing it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and all of that! Warning: Slightly gory later on. I'll put a warning.
(Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor who! If I did, I probably wouldn't be writing fanfictions on the internet! I only own Phoenix, my OC.)
Phoenix and Amy walked over to the area the Doctor happened to be in, just in time to hear the computer stat, "Sensor detects animal DNA. Human core element. Calculating data. Calculating data."
"No, no, turn it off!" The Doctor exclaimed, trying to grab computer handheld.
"Lancashire. Sass. Identifiable substance. Clara." The computer said, making Amy, Clara, Gregor, and Tricky's eyes go wide in shock. Phoenix frowned, knowing that they were to found out sooner or later, but truly had hoped it would be later. As in the end of the adventure.
"That's me." Clara said softly, still staring at the creature banging on the door to get inside.
"I'm so, so sorry Clara." Phoenix said, eyes filling up with tears. She wished that Clara never had to find out, never have to have the burden of knowing. Of course, she was going to forget in only a mere hour, but it still probably stung, quite badly. Knowing you burned to death inside a time machine which is in the property of your best friend isn't exactly the best way to leave the world.
"It's me. I burn in here." Clara said, tears in her eyes threatening to fall.
"It isn't just the past leaking out through the time rift. It's the future. Listen, I brought you here to keep you safe, but it happened again." The Doctor said, hanging his head in sadness and slightly shame.
"You died again." Phoenix said softly, unconsciously grabbing the Doctor's hand.
"What do you mean, again?" Clara asked, eyes wide staring at Phoenix. Phoenix just glanced to the floor, sad she wasn't able to exactly spoil anything.
Phoenix glanced over to Tricky and Gregor, who were trying to hold the door closed from the monster on only the other side, trying to get through to kill them all.
"Hang on. As long as we can interrupt the timeline, this can't happen. Don't touch each other, otherwise the future will reassert itself." The Doctor exclaimed, pulling Gregor and Tricky apart. The burnt-up version of them burst through the door, letting out a low roar. It clawed at the circuit in Gregor's bag, proving he's just as greedy dead as alive.
"Gregor, Gregor, let go of the circuit." The Doctor said, gesturing to the circuit inside Gregor's bag.
"Just let it go." Tricky said, glancing at his brother.
Gregor knocked the creature off into the star, which was presumably the Doctor, but then burnt Clara and brothers broke through the doors, staggering toward the four alive people in the room.
"Gregor, Gregor." The Doctor said, eyes slightly wide as Tricky pulled his brother toward the little group they had going on.
Gregor hit the burnt person, who happened to be the burnt Doctor, off of the railing and into the fiery pit below them. Phoenix frowned slightly as she watched the events play out before her eyes. Truthfully, it wasn't the Daleks or Cybermen or Weeping Angels that scared her most. It was the possibility of the Doctor or the companions dying. There, she had finally got it out. She was scared of other people dying. And well, in Journey to the Centre of the Tardis, they almost die. And it scared her more than anything, especially now. It was all real now. Which that multiplied the fear by about a thousand or so. You could see why this could be a problem.
But then, Phoenix felt it. The sickly burning feeling on her hands and feet.
"Doctor!" Phoenix exclaimed, eyes widening to extreme proportions as she watched her skin slowly burn, turning her into the burnt creatures like before. She started to freak out. No, she couldn't die! She didn't want to die! Even if time was reset, she didn't want to just die! It wasn't fair!
The Doctor turned toward her, eyes widening as he watched Phoenix's arms being burnt up, turning into the rock-lava sort of thing that was the burnt version of her.
Phoenix's breaths were heavy as her body slowly turned to rock, sending pain all through her body. She screamed, loudly, as it burnt her chest and neck. Her eyes began to water, and they began to cloud with darkness. She screamed one more time, before the burning sensation took over her whole body, before sending her into darkness once more.
Phoenix groaned as she awoke on the cold metal of the Tardis corridor floor. Her body felt like it had been sunburnt, multiple times. It was weird, considering she hadn't been anywhere extremely hot like that in a long time. Really, she hadn't really been anywhere hot since she had started traveling with the Doctor.
She slowly pushed herself up, holding back a relieved sigh as she saw no burns on her skin. Luckily. She probably would have had to go to the sick bay if she had any burns, and she really didn't like hospitals or hospital-like things.
Phoenix slowly walked through the hallway of the Tardis, trying to find her way to the console room. She felt weird, and she didn't know why. Had she missed something? That would be weird. How would she miss something? Did the Doctor take something out of her memory?
She suddenly stopped in her tracks, swearing that she had heard her name being called. Maybe the Doctor was looking for her. But it was weird, it was faint, like it should be far away, but it sounded close at the same time. Like he was behind her. But she had checked. He wasn't.
She continued down the hall, getting slightly more paranoid as she went along. The Tardis felt weird. It felt… empty, in a sense. But that wasn't possible, was it?
A realization fell on Phoenix in half a second. The ship wasn't humming. It wasn't vibrating. It was as if it was dead.
Panic rose to Phoenix's throat, her eyes going wide. The Tardis couldn't be dead, could it? That's not right! Is it? Tears threatened to spill on her cheeks as she continued down the hallways, slightly slower than before.
She turned a hallway, breaking into a run, but stopped short as she saw what contents lied ahead. Daleks. Hundreds of Daleks. A scream threatened to break its way through her throat, but she kept it down in fear of being heard. But no luck. A clanging sound coming from her direction was heard, and all of the dalek's eyestalks turned toward her. Calls of exterminate came from all directions, and Phoenix did the only thing she could. She ran. Very quickly.
Her breath started panting as she ran down the corridors, away from the Daleks. The Daleks must have invaded the Tardis while she was asleep! Where could the Doctor be? He was pretty obviously probably not on the Tardis. The Daleks would have taken him to their own ship. But how could she get out? The Daleks were probably blocking all exits!
Phoenix ran into something cold and metal, making her head slightly dizzy, and also making her land on her bum. She looked up to see what it was, and realized there was an army of cybermen standing right in front of her.
Her eyes grew wider as she scrambled backwards and took off running again down the corridor, being careful not to go back to the hallway with the daleks. Cries of 'delete!' echoed throughout the Tardis, sending shivers down Phoenix's spine. Cybermen too! But… how? No! Cybermen and Daleks were never a good combination! And they reminded her of…
She chocked back a sob as she continued down the hallway, wishing very hard to not run into anything else. But, of course, luck was not on her side. Phoenix stopped right before a weeping angel, with its arm stuck out pointing at her. Behind it, were at least one hundred more of them.
"Don't….Blink…." Phoenix muttered, slowly stepping backwards. She started winking one eye at a time as her eyes began watering. She really needed to get better at that before Blink or Angels take Manhattan, which she was actually hoping would never come. True, weeping angels were the nicest psychopaths in the universe, but they were number five on her top five scary things. Cybermen being four, and Daleks were three. Yes, she was scared of two things much more than Daleks and Cybermen.
Phoenix ran for quite a while, before coming to a door. Standard wooden door, with only a brass knob. She could hide in there from the Daleks, Cybermen, and weeping angels! She quickly opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind her. She looked around, only for her eyes to widen at the sight in the room.
Dead. Everyone was dead. Amy, Rory, Rose, Donna, Martha, Clara, Danny, Jack, Sarah Jane, 9, 10, 11, 12, River, and whom she assumed was the 10th Doctor clone. In the room, they were all lying dead, on the ground. And she felt like it was her fault.
Phoenix fell to her knees, sobbing. This was number two on her list. Her friends all dying. Added bonus if it was her fault. She couldn't stand to watch people die. She knew it was a part of life and all that crap they tell you, but she couldn't help it!
She had to get out of the room, else risking going insane. With tears still streaming steadily down her face, Phoenix ran out of the room and back down the deadly corridors. What had happened to the Tardis?
She ran until she saw another door, stopping for a second before shaking her head. "There is no fucking way I am ever going in another door." She muttered, frowning as she got ready to run. But then, the hallway changed into a room. A room with only walls, ceiling, floor, and well, you guessed it, the door. She had no option but to go through it and hope for the best.
Phoenix cautiously opened the door, stepping inside and closing it behind her. It was too dark to see very well, but as nothing was screaming 'exterminate!' or 'delete!' she assumed she was fine. She sighed in relief, slumping against the wall in a sudden burst of exhaustion. Must have been all the crying.
But then, the lights flicker on, revealing what was truly in the room. It made Phoenix tremble with fright, wishing she had never gone into the door, just stayed inside the other room.
Standing there, was a man with a knife. The same man who had tortured her back in Nevada. He was smiling evilly holding the knife in his hand. To his left, was the table with all the assortments of knives. Butcher knives, machetes, pocket knives, you name it. Every single type was on that table. And it scared the shit out of Phoenix.
She slowly stood up, sliding slightly to the right to the door, and turned the knob. But it was locked. It was locked! She jiggled the knob more, freaking out more and more as it did not open. She stopped suddenly when she heard footsteps. She turned around to see the man walking slowly toward her, the evil smile still plastered to his face.
Phoenix yelped, staggering backwards and into the corner. Oh, great, yeah, because going in the corner is an extremely smart choice. Stupid…Stupid…Stupid…
The man soon cornered her, the knife coming closer and closer to Phoenix's skin. Tears leaked from her eyes and spilled down her cheeks as she stared at the knife coming closer and closer to her skin. She closed her eyes tight, preparing her for the pain she remembered so well from Nevada. She may act like she was over it, but she would never be over it. It was number one on her list. The one she never talked about. The one thing she was scared of most of all. She had hoped she would never have to repeat it, but… here she was, repeating it.
(Warning: Gory until further notice.)
The knife soon dug in her cheek, sending screams echoing throughout the room. She had forgotten how much this had hurt. The knife slowly slid across her cheek, sending sobs racking through Phoenix's body. Pain… she was not a great handler of pain.
The knife slowly lifted off her face, but sobs still burst from her throat. The knife soon went to her arms, cutting deep gashes into the flesh there. She couldn't move away from the knife, she was paralyzed it seemed. She just cried, and screamed. Make it stop… make it stop….
The knife traveled to her torso, where it cut through her close and started to make marks on her stomach, similar to how it had during her stay in Van Statten's basement. Screaming louder and louder, the knife marks got deeper and deeper.
"Help…..me…..help….me…." Phoenix sobbed, vision slowly fading to black as the pain became too much to bear. Daleks, cybermen, weeping angels, all of her friends dead, and then this. It was as if someone was targeting her. But who? She swore she felt someone's arms wrap around her, but there was no one there. Everyone was dead. Then, darkness took over and she blacked out, releasing her from the horror of her pain.
(End of gore. See, it wasn't that bad?)
Phoenix slowly awoke to the feeling of arms wrapped around her. Skinny but strong arms, holding her tight. But, at the moment, she was scared. And being scared, well, makes you considerably stronger. She screamed, pushing herself out of the person's arms and curling into fetal position, arms wrapped around her legs and head on her knees. She sobbed, as she remembered everything that had happened. But at the same time, she was confused. She couldn't feel the pain of her cuts.
"Calm down…. Calm down…." Phoenix heard a soothing voice say, but she just couldn't. She couldn't calm down for the life of her. How would anyone, after what she had just gone through? She felt a hand on her cheek, and she slowly looked up to see the Doctor. But he was dead.
Phoenix's eyes widened as she scrambled back to a wall, trying to get away. It was an imposter, she knew it. She had seen the Doctor's dead body herself. Her breath became faster as the man slowly crawled over to her, trapping her. Just like before.
She took a deep breath, deciding to figure out who the man actually was. "Why the hell are you dressed as the Doctor? Who are you? Are you a zygon? Slitheen?" Phoenix exclaimed, eyeing the man in front of her. He even looked suspicious too.
"Phoenix, what are you talking about? It's me, the Doctor!" The man exclaimed, gesturing to himself with a shocked look on his face.
"Bullshit. I saw the Doctor dead. Who are you?" Phoenix questioned, getting more tense and angry by the millisecond.
"It really is me. I never died. What do you mean, you watched me die? You mean regenerate?" The man questioned, a soft look in his eye. But it just made Phoenix angrier. He was looking at her like she was a kicked puppy or something.
"No, die. You aren't the Doctor!" Phoenix exclaimed, going back to fetal position and sobbing her eyes out. She felt herself get picked up, but at that point, she really didn't care. She wanted out of this nightmare, to know the Doctor was alive. But he died, she saw the body. He was dead…
She heard a door open, then herself get laid on something soft, a bed she presumed. Why weren't those there when she was running down the hallways? It wasn't bloody fair! She heard the door close, then she sat up and opened her eyes, recognition crossing her face. That was her room.
Phoenix soon had grabbed a pillow and threw it across the room, hitting the wall. She sobbed more, still very disturbed by the situation. Where would she go now? What would happen to her? The Doctor was gone!
Phoenix soon fell into an unrestful sleep, nightmares filling her every thought as she desperately tried to collect the tiniest sliver of real sleep.
Outside her door, sat the Doctor, leaving against the door, tears streaming down his own face as he listened to her cry and scream all night. It hurt him, all the way to the core of both his hearts. And he couldn't do anything to comfort her, considering she thought he was dead. He felt bad, really bad, for letting her die earlier. Of course, she wouldn't remember.
But he forever would.
Wow ok, dramatic chapter. I had just started writing the 'waking up in the Tardis' bit, when I was like, hey, she was burned to death, why not make her hallucinogenic? So yeah, that's how my idea was born. Well, that, and I was writing it at about 2 in the morning. My craziest ideas usually come at that time. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and all of that!
