Do..uh..y'all want to see what I was working on in class this semester. I can post it on tumblr. Yeah, the hiatus did go on MUCH longer than I thought that it would. IDK what to tell you.
Anyway, before I start, I've got some things I want to link y'all.
The first thing is some art that I did of Marion with the 1st and 2nd Doctors.
DeviantART [PUT A PERIOD HERE] com/lunammoon/art/Real-Rough-Sketches-From-A-Thing-875951908
The second thing I'd like to show everyone is this lovely drawing of Marion from
TikTok [PUT A PERIOD HERE] com/ dc [PUT A PERIOD HERE] bookworm/video/6930798059538468101
Also, here are some acknowledgments. It's been 4 months so there's a decent amount of them
Thanks to the following people for following: Person1997, Emmisaryofthewolf, lostprincess811, yollie879,
Thanks to the following people for favoriting: HBR the dark princess, TheExplodingChipmunk, Yuki101, ChristinaCay,
Thanks to the following people for doing both: Sairen Ray, shaman96, Wolfpup59, reaganwaldrep13, AlsorDaechir, 14, Sxshxaa, STOCKLaughingSTOCK, PhoenixReborn424, themagnificentsiriusblack
Thanks to the following people for reviewing: TheExplodingChipmunk, normandy1701
Marion landed in her room. She'd been dropped off in such a way that it was a good thing that she had fallen in front of the bed instead of her desk. The way she'd slammed down, landing anything other than her mattress might've resulted in a serious concussion.
She pushed herself up off the bed and instantly noticed a difference in the TARDIS. That yucky feeling she had gotten from it before was gone, and when the TARDIS hummed underneath her feet, it was clear and not smothered.
She walked to the desk to see if there was anything of importance there before leaving the room. And there was. A Note. An orange "read me" was written on the front. Marion unfolded the note and looked inside.
M,
Hey. Just a heads up, the Doctor isn't feeling the best right now. You'll know why when you see him. A little bit ago for me, and while in your future...something happens. And I'm pretty sure that you might be able to make a bit of a guess when you see him again? I mean, I am you. And I could tell. The point is, that he spent an unknown amount of time alone during a time when he really, really, really, shouldn't have been left alone. Anyway, he knows that you're there and are real. But a part of him doesn't, because reasons. Anyway, don't be surprised if he reaches out to hold your hand or wraps an arm around your shoulders or something. It shouldn't be as bad now as it was a bit earlier in his timeline but I just want to make sure that you know.
-A
Marion read through the note and put it back in her bag, thinking.
'Okay,' Marion thought, opening the door to leave her room and get to the main console room where the Doctor would probably be. "So...alone for a while when he shouldn't have been," she thought out loud. "It would have to be one of the ones that went through a decent chunk of time with no companions. Like, one of the ones that didn't meet a new companion just as their previous one was about to leave. And it wouldn't be one of the ones that didn't technically have a companion, but were on earth surrounded by people. That DOES narrow it down a biii-"
The TARDIS suddenly lurched itself sharply to the side.
Marion stumbled and took another step. The TARDIS continued its shaking. After a couple of seconds, the tremors calmed down slightly. Marion waited for a moment and then walked forward a few more steps. She could see up ahead that the console room was just around this last corner and she could kind of hear voices at the other end. She took another step forward.
And then the tremors began again in earnest.
One moment, Marion was on her feet and then the wild shaking of the TARDIS sent her sprawling on the ground. She groaned and pushed herself up on her elbows. A hand came into view and Marion reached out to grab it. The owner of the hand pulled her up and steadied her to her feet. Marion examined the woman in front of her.
Blonde Hair? Hazel eyes? Union Jack Shirt?
And it was rather kind of Rose to dress in something distinct enough for Marion to pinpoint exactly when she was.
"Hello!" she finally said. The woman in question let go of her hand and Marion nearly fell over as the TARDIS jerked again. "Whoa,"
"Sorry about that Marion!" a voice called over the TARDIS's rumbling. "We're chasing a code mauve,"
"Not a problem Doctor," Marion assured him. She took a staggered step towards the console where she could brace herself better. "It's a code Mauve after all,"
Marion's hand touched the console and she could feel the difference between Nine's and an exiled Three's.
It was as different as milk in cocoa and water in it.
"What's a code Mauve?" Rose asked. The TARDIS shook again.
"The universally recognized color for danger,"
"What happened to red?" Rose asked.
"That's just humans," the Doctor said, not looking up, "Marion, would you mind flipping that…" Marion slowly moved a hand towards the ship's controls. The TARDIS buzzed stronger under her fingertips and 'guided' her over to a lever on the side which she held down and flipped, "Thank you," the Doctor turned back to Rose, "By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing,"
"'Course, as humanity starts to spread around the galaxy, red alerts become more common than mauve,"
Marion pulled herself to the side to be able to see the TARDIS screen. A light purple cylinder with a kind of circular vault door on one of the flat ends hurled uncontrollably around the screen.
"But not in whatever decade this thing is from. It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go,"
"And that's safe?" Rose asked.
"Totally,"
Marion felt the TARDIS under her fingertips heat up and she quickly backed away. Just as she did, there was a huge flash. Marion and the Doctor flinched away from the console as a panel of it popped in a shower of sparks.
"Jesus!" Marion exclaimed. "How does that even happen!"
"Okay! Okay!" the Doctor said, stepping back to the console screen, "reasonably. Should have said reasonably there," the stars surrounding the object slowly faded away and were replaced by the lilac swirls and flames of the Time Vortex. "No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us,"
"What exactly is that thing?" Rose asked.
"Something that could result in things getting really, really, really bad if we don't deal with it. But," Marion added, "if we DO deal with it then nobody dies,"
The TARDIS landed in the alley. After checking the scanner to make sure that everything was alright and safe, the Doctor opened the door. Marion and Rose walked out with the Doctor right behind them.
"Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?" he commented. He closed the door behind him.
"Five days?" Rose responded, "Or is that just when we're out of milk?"
"Of all the species in all the Universe, it has to come out of a cow," the Doctor sighed.
"How do you drink that much milk!"
"Maybe if you drank more milk Marion, you wouldn't be so…" the Doctor held his hand just about level with the top of Marion's head which only went up to his shoulders.
Marion blinked. "This is my first time meeting this particular face of yours and I don't think I like it very much,"
"Oh come on!" the Doctor tapped the top of her head, "You don't really mean that do you,"
Marion was pointedly silent for a moment. "I haven't decided yet,"
"Well, we've only just met," the Doctor looked around at the sky, "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month," The Doctor began to walk ahead and the two of them quickly followed after him.
"A month? We were right behind it,"
"Time runs really weird in the time vortex Rose," Marion explained, "Just because we were right behind it doesn't mean anything. Especially when it was moving around the Time Tracks the way that it was. The fact that we were only a little bit off,"
"Yeah. How much is a little?" Rose asked.
"Eh...not too long,"
"And how much is 'not too long',"
"A bit,"
"And how exactly is a bit,"
"Eh…," Marion shook her head, "A month or so. Give or take a few days. He's done a lot worse,"
"What's the plan, then? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?"
"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask,"
"Yeah," Marion rubbed the back of her neck, "About that, that's not going to be really... never mind. I'll go with you,"
"Fantastic, do you still have your psychic paper?"
"Yup,"
"What are you thinking," the Doctor retrieved his own piece out of his bag. He flipped it open. "Representatives from the Ministry of Asteroids,"
"I don't think that's a thing, but I don't know enough about England to say for sure that it isn't," Marion shrugged and pulled out her wallet, "But eh, why not?" She took her own ID case out of her bag. She looked at the words and where they were placed on the Doctor's badge and tried to visualize them.
"How's this?" Marion held it up to Rose.
"Marion Henson," Rose read aloud, "Ministry of Asteroids,"
"It's psychic paper," the Doctor explained, "It tells you-,"
"Whatever you two want it to tell me, I know,"
"Rose pays attention,"
They finally came to the end of the narrow alley. A dark-colored door was right in front of them with the word "Delivery Only" stenciled in white. Laughter and faint music could be heard on the other side.
"Not very Spock is it," Rose complained, "Just asking,"
The Doctor pressed his ears up against the door for a moment, before digging in his coat pocket for his Sonic Screwdriver.
"Door? Music? People,"
"Well, what do you suggest?" Marion asked. "Asking around is normally the best way to get something done,"
"I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?"
"I mean…," Marion tugged lightly at her hair, "This is London. It's not as bad now as it'll be in a couple of decades, but alien tech is pretty much everywhere. No idea what it is about this particular city that makes every extraterrestrial go wild, but if we don't know exactly what it is we are looking for, it'd be kinda like trying to find a specific flip phone in 2005 knowing nothing except that the thing that you are looking for is in fact, a phone. Not even the brand. So unless someone knows exactly what we are searching for, it wouldn't be much use,"
"But you know don't you,"
That was exactly the question she had been hoping wouldn't be asked.
"Kinda? But I just have a general idea. And even if I did have a specific idea," Marion trailed off, trying to figure out exactly what she wanted to say and, more importantly, how she wanted to say it. "I wouldn't want to say. As is, things are going to go pretty well without me giving spoilers and offering interference and I don't want to do or say anything that might spoil that," Marion crouched down to the Doctor, "How long are you on the door?"
"It's harder than it looks, Marion,"
"Of course, of course,"
A child's voice calling for his mother called from the rooftops.
"Mummy? Mummy?"
The door the finally clicked open. The Doctor stood back up.
"Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute,"
The Doctor and Marion slipped through the back door.
"Rose!" Marion called watching the blonde run towards the sound of the child. Rose stopped for a moment. "We'll meet up later yeah?"
Marion shut the door and followed behind the Doctor.
Despite being two decades too late, the whole area felt and looked like how she'd imagined a prohibition-era speakeasy to be. It had a warm atmosphere, the faint smell of alcohol, and music.
The Doctor held a hand out by his side for a moment, before freezing, as if the motion had been more on reflex than anything else. Marion remembered the note. She looked at him from the side and held her hand out closer to his. The Doctor grabbed her hand without a word and squeezed it lightly.
Marion started walking a little bit faster, pulling the Doctor with her.
"C'mon. I hear singing, and where there's singing, there's people,"
They followed the sound of a woman's voice into a room packed full of people. Several tables were placed around the room with a single candle flickering on each one. Everyone at the tables was facing the woman on stage who was lit with a single spotlight that was bright enough that Marion wondered if part of its job was to blind the singer so she wouldn't get stage fright singing in front of all these people. The moment her song was done, the Doctor stepped on stage and moved in front of the mic.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo?" the room was silent except for the high-pitched sound of feedback. Marion flinched. "Be very quick. Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?"
The room was silent for a moment, as the patrons looked at each other, and then they all started laughing.
"Sorry, have I said something funny?," the sounds of laughter increased, "It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago,"
An air raid siren went off. Patrons quickly took a last sip or a last bite before getting up.
"Would've landed quite near here. With a very loud-", Marion saw the Doctor's eyes flicker from the now quickly dispersing crowd to something on the wall.
"Bang…,"
The Doctor pivoted on his foot and quickly walked just off stage, where Marion had been standing.
"Is the whole reason that we're here to waste time? You knew when and where we were, didn't you?"
"Pardon,"
The Doctor didn't look as angry as a statement like that would imply. It was clearly a statement or a question, but certainly not an accusation.
The Doctor began walking out the club back the way that they came. Marion followed behind him.
"You could've told me that this was the Blitz, but you didn't. You knew that I'd come in here and not get anywhere. There was no reason for me to come here other than the fact that me going here would take up time. Was that why you let me do it?"
"I-yes. You separate from Rose for just enough time for her to wander off and meet someone who's going to be important later, meanwhile, you and I are able to meet someone else. Then we all meet up later. If we'd been together the whole time, then the situation might've been..." Marion scratched the side of her head. "I mean not bad? Things could've still been resolved I guess? But this is how things would've gone normally, and it went fine that way so I didn't think that I-," Marion paused. "Yes," Marion said finally, "Rose wandered off. And she met someone. Someone who's going to be important."
"Ah," the Doctor said "One of those then," he grinned, "Will I like them?"
"Oh look," Marion avoided the question, hearing a noise and turning her head to see a black cat with white paws resting on top of a pile of crates. She very carefully held a hand out to it. It bonked her hand with its head and Marion lightly scratched it behind its ears. "Aren't you a sweetie,"
"Marion, answer the question!"
"What question?"
"Will I like them?"
"Like who?"
"The person who Rose met,"
"That'll be up to you. I can't really tell you if you're going to like someone or not. He's not going to like, try and murder you on sight if that's what you're asking. Now come on," Marion reached for the Doctor's hand and pulled it towards the cat. "I know you want to pet the cat,"
The Doctor pulled the cat into his arms. It didn't scratch or claw at him, it just kind of accepted it.
"Marion," the Doctor said, "please tell me that one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing,"
"I wouldn't want to lie to you,"
"You've been wrong before," the Doctor said with a sigh, "There's still some-," the TARDIS phone started to ring loudly. He turned to look at the TARDIS in confusion. The Doctor handed the cat off to Marion and went to investigate. Whatever it was about the Doctor that made the cat perfectly satisfied to be carried by him was not a trait that Marion shared and it immediately began to squirm.
"Alright, Alright, I can take a hint, down you go," Marion open up her arms and the cat lept out of them and onto the pile of crates," Marion joined the Doctor at the TARDIS.
"How can it be ringing? What's that about, ringing?" The Doctor asked, utterly baffled, staring at the phone inside the small compartment. It was one of those really old phones with a bell-shaped thing you have to take off the side and put to your ear and another bell thingy you had to grab the phone and speak into. Marion was sure that it had a specific name, but Marion hadn't the faintest clue what it was called. "What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"
"Answer it. That's what you do with ringing phones. Unless you'd rather let it go to voicemail. Do you even have a voicemail set up?"
"Voicemail! Marion the phone isn't even set up or hooked to anything?" The Doctor retrieved the sonic screwdriver from his pocket.
"And yet, it's ringing. So what does that mean,"
"Should I answer it," the Doctor retrieved
"Don't" a young woman's voice from the other side of the alley "It's not for you,"
"And how do you know that?"
" 'Cos I do," the woman replied, "And I'm telling you, don't answer it,"
"Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing? It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not-,"
"Doctor's she's gone,"
"What?"
The Doctor turned back to the alleyway and saw that it was empty.
"She said what she had to say, and then she left,"
The Doctor glanced at the still ringing phone.
"If you're wondering if it's one of those, Matrix-y, you answer the phone, you get sent halfway across the universe kind of thing, you're fine. I'd at least warn you otherwise,"
"Okay,"
The Doctor answered the phone.
"Hello? Hello?" Silence. "This is the Doctor speaking," More silence, "How may I help you?"
Marion heard a muffled child's voice from where she was standing, but she didn't need to be able to hear to have a good idea of what was being said. The Doctor furrowed his brow.
"Who is this? Who's speaking?"
More speaking from the other end.
"Who is this?"
"How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything,". The Doctor took the speaker away from his ear and looked down at it in confusion. The phone began to produce a loud dial tone until the Doctor hung up the phone with a click.
"Marion, where's Rose,"
"At this point, going straight to where she is would be a lot more complicated than just continuing to investigate and waiting for her to meet up. We'll meet up with her eventually,"
"So where to now?"
"Well…,"
A loud metallic sounding crash boomed from the other side of the alleyway.
"That way?"
"That way!"
They followed the sounds to a small street and Marion knew they were in the right place because she could hear a woman's voice yelling at someone from just outside of the house.
"The planes are coming. Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now move it!"
The Doctor climbed on top of a pair of trash cans so that he could see over the large brick wall surrounding the property to get a better look.
"Come on, hurry up, get in there. Come on. Arthur! Arthur, Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the siren?"
A man's voice called out to her in response.
"Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans. Don't you eat?"
"I can hear the planes!"
"Don't you eat?"
Marion heard a high-pitched whistling noise far in the distance followed by a boom that might've been deafening if it hadn't been so far away.
"Oh, keep your voice down, will you? It's an air raid! Get in. Look, there's a war on,"
Then, there was the wobbly sound of a metal sheet door banging shut. The Doctor climbed back down.
"That woman was there again. The one who told me not to answer the phone,"
"She's got this thing that she does. Air raid sirens go off and she sneaks inside of the houses that look like they've got a lot. She gets food for herself, and a lot of the neighborhood kids that might not eat otherwise. It's really cool actually. She looks around to make sure that no one is there, and then she enters the house," Marion looked around the side of the brick wall. "See, there she goes. She's going to look around for a bit, and then, after she makes sure that everything is safe," Marion paused, "Well, as safe as things can be during the Blitz, but I guess that that's part of the point? Any moment now, she's going to give a signal for some of the local street kids to come to the house for a meal,"
Just as Marion said that the young woman stepped outside of the house and whistled loudly and high pitched. She did it again and two children, one looking older than the other (but not by much) ran to the house.
"If we're going to go in to talk to her, now would be the time to do so. A lot more kids are going to be here in a bit,"
The thing about vintage-looking homes, is that at one point, they were not vintage. It's hard to think about that, just like it's hard to think about how, at some point butter pecan ice cream was the hot new flavor amongst the youth or the fact that a mother might give birth to a child and name them "Ethel".
Anyway, the point house looked old in the sense of style, but the house was also, technically, new.
Marion pushed the door open and gestured with her head for the Doctor to get inside. Nancy (Marion was at least 90% that that was her name) was already inside. They moved out away from the entryway and into a small hall off the side of the kitchen where they could see her without her noticing them.
More children ran into the house and they gathered together around the table and started to pass a plate of carved turkey around the table.
"Right Doctor," Marion said quietly, "so what we need to do is..."
"Thank you, Miss!" Marion heard a familiar voice say cheerfully from the other side of the room, seemingly unaware of the sudden panic his appearance might cause.
"You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing," Marion murmured under her breath.
She stepped out from the doorway and where she could be seen.
"It's all right. Everybody stay where you are!" Nancy shouted.
Marion stood still in the doorway.
"Marion," the Doctor called, making all eyes turn to her. "The food's good innit, who has the salt,"
"Is there anyone else hiding about,"
"No, no, no just the two of us," Marion assured. "He managed to slip away from me,"
"Back in your seats everyone. They shouldn't be here either.
Marion remained standing but walked closer to the table and next to the Doctor.
"So, you lot," the Doctor asked, "what's the story?"
"What do you mean?" a boy asked.
"You're homeless, right? Living rough?"
"Why do you want to know that?" another boy asked, "Are you a copper?"
Marion shook her head. "Oh absolutely not! I'll be honest, never been a fan of 'em, to begin with,"
"What's a copper going to do with you lot anyway?" the Doctor asked, "Arrest you for starving?" That made the kids laugh, "I make it 1941. You lot shouldn't even be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now,"
"I was evacuated," said a boy further down on the opposite side of the table, "Sent me to a farm."
"So why'd you come back?"
"There was a man there." The boy said simply.
"Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago,"
"Shut up," Ernie replied, "It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food,"
"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us,"
"So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?"
"What is?"
"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you,"
"Something wrong with that?" Nancy asked, glaring sharply at the Doctor.
"Nope," Marion shook her head, "Nothing at all. I think it's quite admirable what you're up to,"
"It's not just admirable Marion! It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical,"
"Why'd you follow me? What do you want?"
"The phone booth," Marion replied, "It was ringing, and no one was on the other end. You know that something unusual is up. Figuring out what that is might take longer without your help," That was an understatement. It'd basically be impossible. "And besides, even if we could resolve this without your help" which was something that Marion was pretty sure that she couldn't "Surely you wouldn't want to go the rest of your life not knowing what was up with that police box right?"
"I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask,"
"I did you a favour. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you,"
"Great, thanks. And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack,"
Marion poked the Doctor in the shoulder. "Phrasing," Marion looked away from him. "We lost track of a friend of ours. She's wearing a shirt with a Union Jack on it. And she's blonde,"
"Anybody seen a girl like that?"
Nancy quickly stood up from her chair and marched over to the Doctor. She snatched away his plate.
"What have I done wrong?" the Doctor asked.
"You took two slices," Some of the kids started laughing at him. "No blondes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?"
"Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking," the Doctor took a small notebook out of his pocket and started to quickly sketch. "Something I've been looking for. Would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb. Not the usual kind, anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this,". He held up the booklet.
Nancy stared at the notebook. It was clear that she recognized it, but didn't want them to know that she recognized it. Before Nancy could deny remembering it, there was a series of loud knocks on the door. Everyone in the room jumped.
"Mummy?"
There was more knocking on the door, and then there was another knock, one much closer to them on the window. "Are you in there, mummy?"
Marion grabbed the curtain and pulled it aside. A little boy was out there. His entire face was covered by a gas mask and his tiny hand continued to bang against the glass.
Marion wondered if the poor kid was aware of what was going on around him. Was he aware of what had happened to him? Was he just a scared kid wondering why he woke up to find his "sister" gone and was searching for his mother hoping that she'd' know what to do.
Or was he just kind of, wandering around not aware of much of anything?
And then she started wondering if the kind would remember this whole thing when he grew up.
The child pounding on the window again brought her out of her thoughts.
"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked quickly.
"They were," one of the kids said, pointing to the two of them.
"No, they came 'round the back. Who came in the front?"
"Me," said one of the smaller kids with medium brown hair.
"Did you close the door?"
"Er..."
"Did you close the door?"
The child started to talk again. "Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" And they could see him turn away from the window and slowly walk to the door. Nancy raced out of the kitchen and to the front door. They could see the silhouette of the child through the light blue nearly translucent glass of the door. She shut the door and slid the bolts and locks into place. The moment she was sure that the door was shut, she backed away from it. She glanced at the door now and then as if she expected the child to be able to shove his little fist through the thick oak door.
"What's this, then?" the Doctor asked, "It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know,"
"I suppose you'd know,"
"I do actually, yes,"
"It's not exactly a child,"
"He's not exactly not a child,"
"How would you know?"
"I know a lot of things,"
"Mummy?" the child called out again.
Nancy shot a terrified glance back at the door and then all but ran back into the kitchen.
"Right, everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!"
Chairs shoved backward and away from the table and children ran past Marion and the Doctor and out the back door.
Marion could hear Nancy talking softly to one remaining girl. "Come on, baby, we've got to go, all right? It's just like a game. Just like chasing. Take your coat, go on. Go!". The girl ran back the same way as the other kids.
"Mummy? Mummy?" the child reached a hand through the mailslot of the door, "Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy,"
The Doctor took a step closer to the door. "Are you all right?"
"Please let me in,"
Marion lightly grabbed onto the back of the Doctor's sleeve and pulled him away from the door just as Nancy hurled something ceramic and shatterable at the door.
"You mustn't let him touch you!" she all but hissed.
"What happens if he touches us?"
"He'll make you like him,"
"And what's he like?"
Nancy turned to leave.
"Nancy, what's he like?"
"He's empty!" Nancy took one last look at the door. "I have to leave!"
The black rotary phone on the table started to ring loudly. Marion picked it up.
" It's him," Nancy insisted, "He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw,"
"Are you my mummy?" said the voice on the other end of the phone. Nancy took the phone from her hand and hung it up back on the receiver.
In the kitchen, the radio started going off. It was mostly static, but the child's voice could still be clearly made out.
"Mummy? Please let me in, mummy,"
On a table in the corner, one of those little mechanical monkeys what the symbols started banging its cymbal together and speaking.
"Mummy, mummy, mummy,"
Marion picked it up and looked at it.
"This was creepy even before it started talking," she remarked. "How's it even talking? Do these things have speaker grills? I thought it was a music box," Marion continued under her breath. Marion set it back down on the stool.
"You two stay if you want to," Nancy said over her shoulder before quickly leaving.
The second she was gone, the two of them turned back to look at the door.
The child slid his hand back through the mailslot. The back of his hand had a harsh red scar on the back of it.
"Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in,"
If it weren't for the fact that she knew what was going on with the kid she absolutely would've reached out for the poor kid.
"Sorry," Marion said, crouching down, "We aren't your mom,"
"Are you my mummy?"
"No mummies here. Nobody here but us chickens,"
"I'm scared,"
The Doctor's light smile fell. "Why are those other children frightened of you?"
"Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs,"
The Doctor paused.
"Doctor, I don't think-,"
"I'm opening the door now,"
The child slid his hand out from the mail slot. The Doctor very quickly slid open the little deadbolts and slide locks on the door and then opened the door itself to reveal an empty doorway with no one on the outside and no one along the street. He closed the door again.
"Marion, what's going on with the child?"
"Nothing that can't be safely reversed," Marion said simply, "You-you aren't going to have to weigh the planet against the life of a child or anything. I don't want to tell you too much other than that this story is going to end well. Like I said before, I don't want to cause too much change in this case. In order to feel good about the good things that I am able to cause, I also have to feel bad about the bad things too, you know? So I REALLY don't want to mess this up," Marion blinked. "We should go meet back up with Nancy now,"
They just managed to see Nancy's shadow down an alleyway. The two of them stealthy-tailed them. Well, to be more accurate, the Doctor tailed her, all the while Marion held onto his hand and kept up.
Marion wasn't sure what kind of trail he was following. Maybe his eyes were just built differently.
They followed the woman to a small shack against a bunch of metal sheets.
Marion waved once she was close enough to be in eyesight.
"Hello again!" Marion called. She hoped that announcing herself verbally would be less jarring than they had been silent until she noticed them. The way Nancy jumped made her doubt how successful she was.
"How'd you follow me here?" the woman said sharply.
"I'm good at following, me," the Doctor grinned, "Got the nose for it,"
"People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to,"
"My nose has special powers,"
"Is that why it's-"
"Nothing,"
"What?"
"Nothing. Do your ears have special powers too?"
At least Nancy was smiling now.
"What are you trying to say?"
"Goodnight you two,"
"Nancy," Marion said, catching the girl's attention, "We're here about that thing that fell from the sky a month ago. It's got something to do with the child. We need to know what you know about all of this. It's very, very, very important. The thing that fell from the sky wasn't a bomb, but it still did something serious and it affected you personally. Tell us about it. We check this stuff out. It's our job,"
"There was a bomb," Nancy replied, and then she shook her head "A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station,"
"Take us there then,"
"There's soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire. You'll never get through,"
"The Doctor and I have some experience getting into places where we really ought to not be,"
"You sure you want to know what's going on in there?"
"I really want to know,"
"Then there's someone you need to talk to first," Nancy walked past them and out of the shack. She looked over her shoulder to see if they were following her.
"And who might that be?"
"The Doctor,"
The Doctor looked down at Marion. "The Doctor?" he mouthed.
"It's not some version of you," Marion said. "And he's not the person I was talking about earlier. Come along,"
They didn't have to walk for too long, barely more than 10 minutes or so. She took them to a hill with a large staircase leading to a large lot surrounded by high fences and guards. On the other side of the clearing, was a large brick hospital.
Marion looked out at the guards.
'This would be so much easier if UNIT were around. We're 30 years too early for that though,'
Nancy pointed to the lot.
"The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up overnight. See that building? The hospital,"
The Doctor took a pair of binoculars from inside of his jacket and held them to his face.
"What about it?"
"That's where the doctor is. You two ought to talk to him,"
"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there," the Doctor turned his binoculars lower.
"Talk to the doctor first,"
"Why?"
"Because then you won't want to go inside,". With that said, Nancy started to walk away.
"Where are you going?" the Doctor asked.
"She's heading back to the house. Her group never got to finish eating and there's still food left,"
"It should be safe enough now,"
"Can I ask you a question?" the Doctor asked before the woman could get too far, "Who did you lose?"
"What?"
"Not that I don't think you're the kind of person to help people regardless, but you seem like you're grieving someone and trying to get something constructive out of it if that makes sense. Do you want to talk about it?"
"My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food," her eyes started to cheer up, "Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just. He just didn't like being on his own,"
"And then-,"
"It was the middle of an air raid. What do you think happened,"
The Doctor sighed and looked away from her. He looked up at the sky and chuckled.
"Amazing," the Doctor breathed.
"What?"
"1941. Right now," the Doctor replied, "not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then do what you've got to do. Save the world."
The Doctor started walking down the metal stairs. Marion started to follow him and then paused.
"Nancy?"
"What is it?"
"I'm not trying to give you false hope. But I want you to know, that if there's a way to bring Jamie back to normal, and there is, we're going to do it. Tomorrow will be a new day. I promise!"
And with that, Marion quickly rushed down the stairs and caught up with the Doctor.
"What did you tell her?" the Doctor asked.
"The truth,"
The Doctor made short work of the padlock and pushed open the gate to the hospital. He held out his hand for Marion to grab and the two of them walked inside of the hospital. In contrast with the iron gate, the door to the hospital itself was slightly cracked.
The Doctor pushed it open and the two of them walked into the hospital. The hallways were lit with warm lighting, but the several rooms along the hall with their slightly cracked doors were dark.
Marion wasn't sure if the reason most of the lights and lamps were off was that they didn't bother to turn the lights on was because most of the patients wouldn't need it or if they were taking the precaution to keep all the rooms with outside windows dark due to the air raid. Either way, the room with its motionless inhabitants was very, very creepy and the lack of lighting was not helping matters.
"Are all the rooms like that?"
"Most of them yeah," Marion replied, "this hospitals being used to quarantine this," Marion spun her wrist, "you know,"
They continued down following the only lit hallways in the building. They eventually walked into a much larger room. This one was fully lit and filled with beds. It looked like it hadn't always been a hospital room now that Marion was looking properly.
The eerie silence of the room was broken by the sound of the rhythmic tapping of a cane. They turned to the source of the noise to see an elderly man in a white lab coat making his way towards them.
"You'll find them everywhere," the man said gesturing to them, "In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them,"
"Yes, we saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?"
"They're not. Who are you?"
"I'm Marion and he's the Doctor,"
"Oh, a Doctor? So you're here about all of this?"
"Nancy sent us,"
"Nancy?" the doctor that was a medical professional walked closer to them. "That means you must've been asking about the bomb,"
"Yes,"
"What do you know about it?"
"Not much. Why I was asking. What do you know?"
"Only what it's done,"
"These people," the Doctor gestured, "they were all caught up in the blast?"
"None of them were," the man stopped walking and leaned on his cane. He broke down into a coughing fit and sat down on a nearby chair.
"Are you okay?" Marion asked, "You don't seem to be well,"
"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time. You said your friend was a Doctor, didn't you?"
"I have my moments,"
"Have you examined any of them yet?"
"No, we just got here,"
The man gestured towards the beds with his head. "Don't touch the flesh,"
"Which one?"
"Any one,"
The Doctor took his sonic out of his pocket and scanned near the nearest patient's eye.
"Conclusions?"
The Doctor examined the back of the tool.
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns,
"Examine another one,"
The Doctor did so and then looked down at the screwdriver in confusion.
"Examine another one,"
"This isn't possible,"
"Examine another,"
"This isn't possible,"
"No,"
"They've all got the same injuries,"
"Yes,"
"Exactly the same,"
"Yes,"
"Identical, all of them, right down to the scar on the back of the hand,"
"How did this happen?" the Doctor asked quickly, "How did it start?"
"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim," the old man explained.
"Dead?"
"At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"
"The head trauma?"
"No,"
"Asphyxiation,"
"No,"
"The collapse of the chest cavity,"
"No,"
"Alright," said the Doctor, "what was the cause of death?"
"There wasn't one," Marion said, "Remember the boy that we saw? He wasn't dead. None of these people are dead. They're just not moving,"
"She's right,"
The man banged his cane against the side of a wire wastebasket by the desk. All of the patients suddenly sat up in the bed.
"It's all right," the man assured, "They're harmless. They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don't die,"
The patients started to lie back down.
"And they've just been left here?" Outrage was leaking into the Doctor's voice, "Nobody's doing anything?"
"I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?"
"Just you? You're the only one here?"
"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor,"
"Yeah. I know the feeling,"
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb,"
"Probably too late," the Doctor remarked.
"No. There are isolated cases. Isolated cases breaking out all over London," the man tried to push himself up with his cane and started to cough. The Doctor and Marion stepped forward but the man held up a hand. "Stay back, stay back," The man continued to cough, although it sounded less like a cough and more like the poor man was choking on something. He continued to speak, but his voice sounded a lot more strained. It was as if he couldn't catch his breath, or like his chest cavity was caving in. "Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight oh two. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."
"Nancy?"
"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying," he sounded like it was harder and harder for his words to come out, "She won't tell me, but she might Mummy. Are you my mummy?"
The moment that the man finished speaking and his mouth started moving oddly, Marion looked away. But just because she couldn't see the man's face slowly morph into a gas mask didn't mean that she couldn't hear it.
The man's breathing went a little bit funny and he made a noise like crinkling leather combined with the sound of bones breaking and rearranging. Marion was almost tempted to look, but couldn't bring herself to.
There were going to be a lot of things that she wouldn't be able to keep herself from seeing, and she wanted to avoid the horrific when she could. Finally, the noise stopped and Marion heard the soft sound of him slumping over.
Marion hesitantly looked back at him.
Before Marion could say anything, she heard voices in the distance a man and a woman's.
"Hello?"
"Hello?"
"Hello?"
Jack's first impression of the woman who had come through the door had been back on his ship with a question from the Lady Time agent he'd found swinging on a rope in the middle of the blitz.
"Could a person have a bunch of nanogenes in them? Under their skin. Is that possible?"
It was such an odd question, that of course had to ask why she'd ask it. And so Rose had told her a bit about this woman; Marion.
Jack had put together a bit of an image of the woman on his way in. She looked nothing like it. She was short, even shorter than Rose. Everything from her hair to her clothes was covered in dirt and dust like she'd been running around a rock quarry and not WW2 era London.
But the state of her clothes wasn't the thing about the woman that caught his eye and it was the way she looked at him.
It made him remember something that Rose had mentioned on their way to the hospital.
"She's even more impossible than the Doctor, that's the other one we travel around with. She knows a lot of things about a lot of people. She knows things about people that nobody knew but them. She knows things that even they didn't know," The way Rose had said it...
It was a longshot, but maybe if they were Time Agents, he could get this Marion to tell him about the memories he was missing.
It couldn't be that hard right? He just needed a little of the ol' Harkness charm.
Next Chapter: A Mask of Their Own Face
Doctor Constantine's Face: *Slowly morphs into a gas mask like the world's most upsetting Animorphs cover*
Marion: I am looking away. I do not see it.
This chapter also was me trying that little "first meeting is from their perspective thingy". Feedback on that particularly would be cool.
I know some of you might be a LITTLE upset about me ending it where I did, but I wanted to get this out by today.
Right. So, I'll TRY to make sure that you don't have another 4-month hiatus but I can't make any promises about me going back to the weekly/biweekly schedule. Especially when school starts up again.
But, I'll do my best. I'm always active on tumblr, so if you want to send me a message, my is lunammoon. I'm on a lot of social media too as some of you have already figured out. I've got basically the same username and pfp everywhere lol.
Lmk if there are any typos my dudes.
Anyway, see you next time gamers!
PS: I can't believe that this fic has been up for over a year!