eighteen | location: the tardis | it's never that simple | locked to morgana & those in hc clements

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

after this.

The Doctor leaves Rose sleeping after a while and heads to the console. He promised he wouldn't take them from Taxon until Rose woke up, and he plans to keep that promise. He'll say goodbye to Rose, send her back to her world, and then take everyone else back. Everyone except the Master. He can't give him back to the timeline, he just can't. He needs to convince himself that he's wrong, but that will take time.

But, there's something he needs to do in Taxon, first. Someone he has to give some very sad information to.

He steers the TARDIS towards another room in HC Clements, one with another victim of the Master's resting up. Vaguely, he recognizes that going to visit Morgana while Rose is sleeping won't look very good to Rose, who is already suspecting he's up to more than he actually is, but he can't just run away from this. Not this time.

He parks the TARDIS in the middle of the room and heads towards the door.

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[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Despite his sudden desire to pull back and how tense his shoulders get at the voice, the Doctor doesn't pull away from Morgana's hug. Instead, he raises a hand to smooth the back of her hair.

"You can fight him," he says, quiet but firm. "You can win, Morgana. He has no power over you."

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

It is Morgana that pulls back, after a moment, and curls up into ball on the couch, covering her eyes. She is completely appalled at what she's done. Instead of saying anything else, she concentrates.

But the more she concentrates, the more her head hurts.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He doesn't understand her pulling away, but he's never really been able to understand her. He stays back and watches her for a moment, worried about speaking, worried about breaking her concentration.

"I can get Gwen," he offers. "If you need her."

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Morgana looks at him again, "You tensed." She's so used to affection being rejected, and completely unused to not being in control of herself, that she's concluded he is offended. "He made me do something you would not like."

And now, as is always done when Morgana is being irrational at home, putting her problems onto Gwen. "What if he made me do something to her?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Don't be stupid," the Doctor says, with some affection. "I just didn't know who was doing it."

Like right now, he doesn't know who is talking to him. He wants to tell Morgana that he rather enjoys hugging her, but that's not something he wants the Master hearing. Or Morgana, actually. Or Rose. Or---oh, he hates this. He hates it very, very much.

"All right," he promises. "I'll keep her away, then."

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

It is Morgana, and only Morgana who gives him what is becoming a standard look with the Doctor: the you-have-suddenly-grown-an-extra-nose/ear/something odd at his admission. "You will probably always think that, from now on."

It is also clearly Morgana, who is not letting the Master near Gwen, and there is a pain, not as sharp as before, but still a pain, which is starting to clue Morgana into something. "No, Gwen will worry if she does not see me."

She holds onto that for a moment, feeling clearer, then holds back out her injured wrist, as she'd pulled it away before the Doctor could finish. "But she will be angry if this is left untended."

Waiting, Morgana expects and outburst from someone else, but does not get one.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"When she comes by, I'll bring her in," the Doctor says, grateful for the sudden absence of the Master in her mind. Is this how he should approach it? Should he make sure she sees her friends, the people she's afraid of hurting? Her protective nature overwhelming the Master's destructive one?

He doesn't know, but he'll figure it out.

He reaches back for the swabs and slips back on his glasses to clean her wound.

"Yeah, well, the only one she'll end up angry at is me, and I think she deserves that a bit, don't you?"

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

"Please do. I am concerned as to who has helped her through all this." Morgana waits again for something. There's a sense of underlying seething, the kind a child gets when feeling left out.

"He is angry, and quiet." She might sound satisfied at that. "But he is not gone." She's not so satisfied at that.

"You do not know Gwen. She gets rather annoyed at me if she believes I am not taking care of myself."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"He'll fade," the Doctor promises. "Like I faded. And you'll be fine."

He says the last because he has to believe it's true. She has to be fine. He promised her he wouldn't let anything happen to her, and he lied. Now, he has to promise to protect her again and know, without any doubt, that he's telling the truth.

"I don't know if she knows about---" About Arthur.

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

"But you came back, in a way." No, Morgana is not going to open up that vein again, and let the Master bleed through.

And then the Doctor opens up a more painful wound. She closes her eyes for a moment and takes a couple short, shallow breaths. "You should not have insisted no one else could be lost," that's turned some of the blame, no matter how irrational it is, onto him, in her mind. "You cannot control the rodents," she bites back about his inability to control the Master as that bit of cruelty would be her own.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I'll come back," he promises. "Once I've got everyone home, I'll come back, and I'll stop them from doing this again. I'll stop them from hurting anyone ever again, Morgana, I swear. They won't do to anyone else what they've done to us, to our friends."

It's not much, but to him it's everything. He won't let this happen to anyone ever again. If he has to burn all of Taxon to the ground, he will.

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

She looks at him when he speaks, remembering the boy in his mind, the one only a few years younger than herself. "You are like fire and ice and rage," Morgana pulls the words out like they are her own.

It's a violent sounding promise, but Morgana is accustomed to violence. It is a part of her culture. It's the sentiment behind it that means more to her.

She's about to say, and you're wonderful, to finish the allusion, but, instead, puts her other hand over the one cleaning her wound, holding it for just a moment.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Fire and ice and rage. He remembers being John Smith. He remembers being terrified of the man that he was told about, the one who was so powerful and so destructive and yet wonderful. Even after everything that happened on Mars, he still can't quite see what it was that they saw in him.

Morgana's hand on his is warm, and he breaks his concentration on her wrist just a moment, to look up at her. He's going to miss her, when he takes her back to Camelot. He's going to miss her more than he thought he would. He thinks, if things were different---

But they aren't, and he's cleaning a wound she shouldn't have had to receive. He looks back down and shakes his head.

"Not nearly as bad as it looks, I think. Should be able to get it wrapped up pretty quickly."

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

"I hope so. I do not wish to scar." She may not be talking about the wound but she is still looking at him with all due seriousness, having yet to remove her hand.

Morgana, almost desperately, wants to give the Doctor an opportunity to make amends for falling for the Master's trick. She's not sure if she can forgive him, but she would like to know if it is possible.

"If I asked you to make me a promise. Could you do that?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He wants to reply with a simple 'Of course!' without any hesitation, but promises mean more to Morgana than they do to the Doctor. If he makes one to her, he doesn't want to break it. He doesn't want there to be any reason in the universe to break it.

He keeps his concentration on her wound for just one more moment, then looks up to her.

"What sort of a promise?" he asks, quietly.

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

"Stop allowing him to be your master. You let him," Morgana does not bring up what he tried to do, as she's not quite ready to talk about that.

"Do not let him trick you. It is all he ever does. Could you promise me that?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He lets out a pained-sounding laugh. "As if it could be that simple," he says, mostly to himself. He's blind when it comes to the Master, and even he knows that. He wishes it weren't this way, but it is, and he thinks it always will be.

"I can promise I'll try," he says, finally. "I never want him to trick me, Morgana. I just want him to...let me help him."

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Morgana is about to say something in response, but stops herself. Instead, she feels utterly disappointed, despite the honesty. She had hoped --

For what, she does not know, so, as per usual in her life, Morgana settles for what to say, "You can try." It does not sound hopeful. She removes her hand, placing it beside her.

"Good boy," someone else gloats.

Her finger starts tapping that beat of four again.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He shuts his eyes as her hand moves from his. It was the wrong thing to say, and he knows that, but it was the honest thing to say. Too many people lie to Morgana, he thinks. He's not going to become one of them.

He looks back down to her wound and starts dressing it, slowly wrapping the bandages around the gauze, making it loose enough that she can move her arm, but tight enough to keep it in place. He doesn't want any influence of the Master trying to scratch at it or hurt her as she heals.

"I think if you keep this clean, keep it dressed, it won't scar," he says. "You'll be right as rain."

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

It is a concerted effort, but one worth making, and Morgana indulges in a nervous habit -- she plays with the chain holding the TARDIS key, in an attempt to prevent any movement, not her own, from continuing.

She flexes her hand when he is done bandaging the wound. "You did an excellent job." It is a comment, not a compliment. "It would be nice to come out of this unmarked. It would be difficult to explain upon returning home." Even if she doesn't scar, she knows coming out unmarked would be impossible.

If she is leaving in the morning, the bruises she sports will be enough to explain and if Arthur is not -- there's a sharp intake of breath, like she's in pain. She will hold onto that until the morning, until she's certain if he is in Camelot or not. She can wait until the morning.

The disappointment, threatening depression, and devastation, that allow someone else to speak for her, she tries to keep at bay the only way, thus far, that has worked.

"Gwen would approve."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it's not so bad. Patched up enough wounds in my time, I think," he says, trying to appear as casual as possible. This day has been very, very draining on him. He wishes he could sleep. He wishes physical tiredness would take away this ache.

"Seems a good girl, your Gwen," he says. "Strong-headed, but you know I think that's a good trait."

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

"So has she."

And because Morgana is not one to waste espousing the virtues of her closest confidante. "People fail to see that in her. She is much stronger than people give her credit for, had to be, after Tom was killed. She is like water, patiently works through things, making them as they should be."

Since honesty is on the menu, "She is a far better person than me."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, I don't know about that," the Doctor says, giving Morgana a cheeky smile. "But then again, I don't know her."

This is good. She's talking about her best friend, not at all focused on the Master or the things done to her. And, well, the Doctor still feels a lingering affection for Gwen from his connection to Morgana, so he can't really complain about hearing her talked about. It's about time he learned a bit about this woman he so blindly trusts.

"Who's Tom?"

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

"You would agree," translated, that means he will agree because it is true, and Morgana will not hear opinions to the contrary, under any circumstances.

The longer she talks, the more she feels like herself. "Tom is her father. He was a truly gifted blacksmith, and," it is clear the next point is the most important, "he adored his daughter. He was killed shortly after being arrested for assisting a sorcerer."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"All right, I will, then," he says, giving her a cheeky smile.

The rest of her explanation isn't nearly so cheery, and he nods. "Your world doesn't like magic," he says. "Even perceived magic. Rose's world was the same, a long time ago."