taxonomites | 1 [Holo] I know exactly where I am, it's everywhere else that's lost

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1 [Holo] I know exactly where I am, it's everywhere else that's lost

No sooner had the TARDIS come to a stop than the Doctor was throwing open the doors and dashing outside with a cheerful shout of "Come along, Ponds!", eager to see where they’d arrived this time. That was one of the fun things about connecting up the old randomiser every so often. Enter a few basic guidelines to avoid places that might end up with them all collapsing from something unfortunately terminal the moment the stepped outside or into the middle of a war zone (he’d been shot exiting the TARDIS once before, thank you very much, and had no desire to repeat the experience), then let the TARDIS do the rest. Guaranteed mystery the moment they opened the doors.

It was a little unfortunate then that it looked like 'mystery' in this case was...

"A white room with a sort of... thing on a pedestal. Not really what I'd call exciting but maybe there's something more out there. Like a ship or a space station or a..."

He trailed off, alerted by the silence even before he turned around to find no sign of the TARDIS or his companions. Just himself on a raised platform in an empty room in a place he wasn't familiar with. There was also something strange hanging overhead, and the Doctor frowned at it, his mind racing to fill in the blanks in what he knew.

"Some sort of teleporter maybe... I’ve been kidnapped?" The idea wasn't impossible, he knew for certain, since it had happened a few times before. But it had been a while since anyone had tried. "I suppose whoever’s behind this must be feeling pretty satisfied with themselves right now?"

His wrist felt odd, he realised. Well, he’d realised it earlier, in a vague sort of way, but it was only now that it persisted in feeling odd that he scratched at it and found what seemed to be a metal bracelet fused to his skin. "Did you go and tag me?" he asked the room incredulously. "Who goes around fusing jewellery onto people? ‘Oh, I know, he’d look so much better with a silver bracelet grafted to his skin’?"

The room remained silent, so obviously whoever had brought him here didn't feel like turning up to do the gloating bit. Which left him with the thing on the pedestal, the thing in the ceiling, and a door that proved to be locked when he tried opening it.

"If that's how you want to play it," he muttered, his hand delving into his pocket to produce his sonic screwdriver. It warbled reassuringly as he waved it in quick, apparently random patterns over the walls and door, but quickly escalated to a high-pitched shriek not unlike something in pain the moment he ventured too close to that thing hanging from the ceiling. Whatever it was didn’t want to be scanned in a hurry.

"Let's see what we've got then," the Doctor commented, extending the end of the sonic screwdriver with a practised flick of his wrist. Unfortunately, the answer turned out to be ‘not much of anything’, which really only left the device sitting on the pedestal. Snapping the sonic closed again and returning it to his pocket, the Time Lord wandered over to it curiously, taking his time looking it over before reaching out and picking it up. Whatever it was, it was active and had been recording and uploading information to somewhere the entire time.

"Hello," the Doctor said, shifting his hands on the tablet to get a better look at it. "Been having a good look at me, have you? Let’s see... text, holo seems to be active... visual, voice... Oh, maps! Yes, let’s start with that then. Always a handy thing to have, a map." His finger hovered over the icon for a moment as he paused in thought, his brow furrowing. "Not that I normally use them. But I’ve heard they’re handy if you get lost easily and don’t like the fun of finding your way back on your own. Personally I always think that’s the best bit, seeing where getting lost takes you, but I suppose some people might—Oh?"

Cutting himself off suddenly, the Doctor’s eyebrows shot up as the map loaded, revealing this to be a decent sized city apparently named Taxon. But the really interesting and surprising part was how the map displayed people’s names next to some of the glowing dots on the map. Or, more accurately, the surprising part was what some of those names were. "Martha Jones? Charlotte Pollard? Fitz Kreiner? That’s... No. It can’t be. It’s just not possible..."

For a moment there was the barest flicker of uncertainty in his face, before it was quickly hidden again and the Doctor addressed whatever unseen audience he had. "I think I need some answers."

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Well. That was a little unusual.

"Right..." the Doctor said slowly, drawing the word out. "That's nice to hear, isn't it?"

He smiled encouragingly and waited a moment to see if she felt like introducing herself before giving in and asking; "And... who are you?"

Was it? It was nice for Drusilla, because the music that floated through the tablet and slid off his skin was beautiful and terrible at the same time. But such a fire had to burn out eventually. Burn out or burn up.

"I'm Drusilla. I'm a princess."

And he was the darkest knight she'd ever seen.

"A princess? That must be nice for you," he said, leaning against the wall and continuing to smile, if a bit awkwardly. She seemed nice enough, if not exactly all there, but there was something, just a little thing, that was a tiny bit... odd. He couldn't think what it would be other than the obvious, however, so the Doctor set it aside for later. He did have other concerns after all, and whatever it was was only a point of curiosity, nothing important. It could wait a while.

"I'm the Doctor, Drusilla. Apparently not the only one, but definitely the Doctor."

Oh, it was. It was wonderful.

"I know. You've changed your face, but your hearts beat just the same."

Two of them, pounding out the rhythm of the universe and the turn of the stars. (Not the drum beat that was the Master's alone, though. Of course not.)

"Oh, we've met before?" That must have been why she was contacting him then, and might even explain some of the odd ways she had of saying things. "Wait, hang on, do you mean another version of me or the other one I've been told is here? The... lady Doctor?"

"The Time Lord Victorious," she crooned, "With his dark eyes and his pretty face."

She'd been inside his head. She knew just how wonderful it could be in his shadows.

"She isn't as interesting."

The mildly curious, awkward amusement disappeared from his face at those words and the Doctor watched Drusilla carefully.

"How do you know about that?" he asked quietly.

For a moment, Drusilla debated whether or not to tell him the truth. On one hand, it would have been nice to keep it a secret. To hold it against him until he started to squirm. On the other hand, the Doctor seemed to squirm all by himself.

"I've been in your head," she singsonged.

"My head isn't a very nice place to be," the Doctor answered, still deceptively calm. His thoughts were racing, however.

What had he gotten up to here, in his previous regeneration? He had no recollection of ever being in this city, of meeting Drusilla or any contact that would lead her to call him that. So what had happened?

He'd have to ask others like Martha for more information later, but for the moment, there was no harm in continuing to talk with the strange girl. Keeping people talking had generally worked out pretty well in the past, after all.

"And why do you call him that? Because I wasn't that, not after what it cost."

Drusilla laughed, thoroughly amused by the joke the Doctor had made. (And he, poor thing, probably hadn't realised that he'd made it.)

"Oh, I enjoyed it. It's ... exciting."

And dangerous and terrible and wonderful and beautiful, like gazing at a storm in the heart of the sun.

"You were." She hadn't seen his future, only snatches and sounds and a knock knock knocking that almost matched his hearts. She'd be disappointed if he wasted his potential. He hadn't lived it out when he'd last visited the city. "You could be him again."

They could hope, couldn't they?

"That was a mistake," the Doctor answered flatly. "Something that I should have known better than to try at all, and I'm a different man than I was then."

He smiled faintly, though it wasn't very humorous. "Literally different from then, as you can see. I'm not going to be that thing for you or anyone else, Drusilla. So I'd suggest you don't try, or you won't like what you find."

"Some things don't change," she reminded him, but she was only playing. Only teasing. She didn't know what had changed yet. It was more than just his face.

"Not even for your Master?" she crooned. The threads that bound them together were as tight as ever. She could feel them.

"My Master..." he laughed quietly. Now he had an idea of what this was in connection to, and how much she likely didn't know about them both.

He leaned in close to the tablet, almost conspiratorial, and asked; "Did he tell you to contact me?"

Drusilla shook her head. She knew the Master. (Better than the Master actually realised, bless his hearts.) She knew the Master and, although she could be obedient at times, he didn't command her. She'd spoken to the Doctor for herself, because he was too delicious and too intriguing to ignore for long.

If she placed her head on his chest, she'd feel the rush of the stars and the thunder of exploding supernovas.

"I wanted to see what you'd changed into."

"Not what you were hoping, by the sound of it," the Doctor answered. He settled back more comfortably against the wall. "Who are you, Drusilla? Why do you want to see that?"

The question made Drusilla chuckle. A low, dangerous sort of chuckle that matched her dark, dangerous eyes.

"You're all new." He was trying to fit into his new face and, to make things even more difficult, he had to find a place in a new city as well. "I don't want to spoil the surprise."

"And what surprise is that?"

She was right about him being 'all new'. New face and, more importantly, new personality. That was the part that tended to throw people more than everything else. If he acted the same, the physical changes would likely be easier for those who knew him across several regenerations to adapt to. But when everything changed, only memory remaining the same, it was a lot to adjust to.

And he was counting on that now. Drusilla knew how he was before. The Doctor had to wonder how she'd react to him now, and if the differences would give him that little bit of an advantage.

"You and the Master," he asked after a moment, "how did you meet?"

"Who I am."

He didn't know. At the moment, he couldn't even imagine what she was. She was different. She was dangerous. She was a creature that didn't even surface in his nightmares.

She saw the path that the future was going to take before she walked it.

"Naughty," she said, wagging her finger at the Doctor, "I don't want to tell. It's a secret."

The Doctor laughed softly, smiling in that way that never reached his eyes. "Well, maybe I'll ask him then," he said. "Where he found you, what he's got planned. Because you're not the first he's used like this, Drusilla. I am sorry, but whatever he's told you, whatever he's promised or done, it doesn't mean anything."

"Oh, I found him," said Drusilla, lightly and honestly. She had. She hadn't realised what she'd found, but she'd snatched him up as soon as she'd set her hungry eyes on him. They were a match made in the heavens. Two of a kind.

She laughed. That was less light, her laugh. There was wickedness in it.

"We're using each other, little Doctor. The people who live in the darkness always do."

"You might think you are," he answered. The Doctor knew better, after all. The Master was good, very good, at twisting the minds of others. Someone like Drusilla wouldn't be difficult for him to influence at all. And the Doctor preferred to believe that it was the Master's influence that made her act as she did.

"Well, I suppose I'll find out more later, after I've had a little bit of a chat with him, won't I?" he said.

He didn't have all of the pieces yet. He didn't know about Angelus or what he'd done to her or what she was. She laughed at his arrogance and his foolishness. Setting him straight would be wonderful fun.

"If you survive it."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine," the Doctor answered casually. "We'll just have a talk. Catch up on things and make one or two details clear."

After all, while he'd heard the Master was here, it was another matter to find him. At this point the Doctor was largely working off the assumption that the Master would, sooner or later, contact him somehow. He had to know the Doctor was here after all, and there was no way the other Time Lord would pass up the chance to point out his presence to the Doctor.

"Your life is never clear," she commented, "Not when the Master is involved."

The Doctor didn't need her to point that out, even if he tried to bury his head in the sand and ignore the truth.

Edited 2010-08-31 20:00 (UTC)

"Well," the Doctor said amiably, "I guess we'll see what happens there, won't we?"

Straightening up, he nodded at her image on the tablet. "Love to stay and chat, but I've got at least one person to look for, don't I? I'm sure we'll meet again though."

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a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com - 2010-09-01 12:18 (UTC) - Expand

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