lizzledpink: (comfychairs)
[personal profile] lizzledpink
Title: Haunted
Author: [livejournal.com profile] lizzledpink 
Rating: G
Pairing: Eleven/Rose
Summary: Prompt: Five times the Doctor hallucinated about Rose (for the TTU ficathon). Oneshot.
Warning: Spoilers for all of Series 5.

Haunted

I.

For a while, he'd thought he was finally free of her. After all, that's why regenerations exist - to heal those wounds which cannot be healed, except by pain of death.

But apparently, some wounds go beyond even that. And standing behind him is the lie of living proof.

"It wasn't your fault."

"I thought you were gone," he says harshly. He's still flipping random, useless switches on the TARDIS, distracting himself while Amy heads to a bed.

"It wasn't, though. You know that. She knows it."

"You're gone," he tells her harshly. He knows he's being harsh. This incarnation has a temper, and isn't afraid to
wield it. Particularly when he's cross.

"Of course I'm gone, but you're not, now are you?" she retorts. "Doctor, you saved the Earth. That's more important than destroying the Daleks, always is. They got away, yeah. But that's alright. They'll be there again, and you'll stop them again. But for now, the Earth is safe."

"The universe isn't safe, and you," he says, turning around with a cold glare, "aren't here."

And she isn't.

II.

It's very cold.

And then, it isn't.

Imagined warmth. Arms around him, holding him, soothing him, and yet filling him with new life. He can't keep from dropping asleep, but he feels safer.

"This is the dream, then," he whispers tiredly.

She doesn't reply except to pick up his hand, and squeeze it. It still fits perfectly. He wonders if someday he'll regenerate and it won't, but he'd like to think that every hand will fit hers, no matter how much he changes.

"I'd like it to be real, but you're here in this, so this must be the dream."

"Sleep. You'll be safe. They can't get to you in here, they're only old people." There's a hint of laughter in her voice.

And he's so soothed that he falls asleep.

When he wakes up, it's even colder, but she's still warm.

"T-two dreams," he mutters through frosted lips. "Neither... real."

"Took you long enough," she says with faint amusement.

He opens his eyes, and she isn't there. Of course she isn't. But at least now he knows.

III.

He knows she's there (and so very much not) before she even speaks this time.

"I'm never going to lose you, am I?" He asks.

"You have an overactive imagination, you're more than a bit mad, and you're madder than usual, with all the domestics that went on in this house," she teases. He chuckles, because she's right, of course. This is fun. Humans are fun.

But these days, he seems to be surrounded by couples. Life is simply swarming with them.

"That's a no, then," he replies, smiling. "Well, that's alright then. I don't mind a bit mad. It's a lot mad that worries me; you know how I can get. And you're completely right, too. The domestics have gone to my head. Perhaps I'll wake up in the TARDIS one day and cook breakfast, or watch telly, maybe play a bit of football. Not the one with the sticks," he clarifies.

Rose rolls her eyes. (He can't see her, what with his eyes closed, but it's Rose, after all.) "You, all domestic. I don't see it."

"Yeah? Well, maybe." He gives her a barking laugh. "I could see the point of domestic, if you were there with me," he says.

"You stole that from Craig."

"It's true."

There's no reply. He opens his eyes. Slowly, the shine in them fades away, and then he's walking away from the one-story building, as if nothing had happened at all.

Because really, nothing had.


IV.

A goblin, a trickster, a warrior. Soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. He should've known, really. It made sense. Perhaps a bit too much sense, actually.

"You're not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too. And can we not do this? I like to think I'm more mature this time around, thank you very much."

If he could see anything but darkness, maybe he'd see her stick her tongue out at him. Or maybe not.

"Please go. Just leave me here in peace. The universe has decided I'm it's enemy, and maybe it's right, so how about you and everything else in this world just leave me alone?"

"But I'm not in this world. I don't count."

"Technicality," he says coldly.

"Doctor. Look back on every moment you've had with me, every last one. Look at what you've done. Look at what you've always tried to do. For every life you take, you save so many more. And always you find a way."

"Not this time," he says. And he feels the fear begin to set in, as the dark creeps around him, and the realization slowly dawns that he will be stuck in this box for all of eternity.

"But you can. I know you can. You once said if there was one thing you believed in, it was me."

"Obviously," he says dryly. "I believe in you more than I should."

"You believe in me," she says, cutting through. "So believe what I say. There is a way. You just need to find it. I believe in you, Doctor, always. Here, or not."

"No. No, because there's only one way out, and that's if somebody else got me out, somebody who knew how, somebody with equal intelligence, smarter than me, but out there. I'm the only person in the universe right now with the ability to-"

He cuts himself off. She smiles.

"Me. Future me. Ah."

Suddenly, the gears of the box move, and light shines through, and she's gone.

He's free.


V.

I don't even care, he thinks. Reality, non-reality, new reality... It doesn't matter... I just need to believe that you are here. He smiles briefly, and drops the communicator, knowing they've gotten his final message.

Phantom lips kiss his in a final, tormenting goodbye. It's a shame he's bound in place, unable to move his arms, or anything really, or perhaps he'd hug her, whether she's there or not.

It's the end either way.

Big Bang Two.

And there is light.

Date: 2010-07-13 01:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] humansrsuperior.livejournal.com
WAH. Utterly heartbreaking, and yet so beautiful. #3 in particular just did my heart in. Oh, them!! ♥ And the last one, her being with him, in a sense, in his last moments. Just... wow.

Gorgeous, gorgeous work.

Date: 2010-07-13 02:06 am (UTC)
ext_452734: (mrmrspond)
From: [identity profile] lizzledpink.livejournal.com
(And that marks my first comment on an LJ-posted fic. /beams/)

Thank you! ^.^ I like gorgeous; gorgeous is good; the Doctor thinks Rory is gorgeous and I quite like Rory; it's very logical.

/babbles/

Thanks!

Date: 2010-07-13 03:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cainangrey.livejournal.com
Perfect. Thank you so much!

Date: 2010-07-13 03:35 am (UTC)
ext_452734: (ot3)
From: [identity profile] lizzledpink.livejournal.com
Very very welcome!

Date: 2010-07-13 04:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] professor-spork.livejournal.com
And there is light.

Now THAT is how it is DONE.

Date: 2010-07-13 04:49 am (UTC)
ext_452734: (fez)
From: [identity profile] lizzledpink.livejournal.com
<3 Thanks! (Originally, let there be light, but then I realized two things: one, that was River, and two, light was already there... :D And it fit. Yay!)

Date: 2010-07-14 03:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] krazykat-neko.livejournal.com
Amazing. Just...amazing. I love every bit of this.

Date: 2010-07-14 03:40 am (UTC)
ext_452734: (rose)
From: [identity profile] lizzledpink.livejournal.com
Thank you! -beams-

Date: 2010-07-15 04:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chicklet73.livejournal.com
Gorgeous. Poignant, and vibrant, and gorgeous. Love it!

Date: 2010-07-15 05:19 am (UTC)
ext_452734: (omgrory)
From: [identity profile] lizzledpink.livejournal.com
I love gorgeous. Did I mention I love gorgeous? Rory is gorgeous.

Thank you! :D

Date: 2010-07-17 01:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyaaaaaauuuuuuu.livejournal.com
Aw, yay. I love this. It's like little brushes of paint, little hints of Eleven remembering Rose that I wish we'd seen a bit of during S5.

Date: 2010-07-17 01:39 am (UTC)
ext_452734: (Default)
From: [identity profile] lizzledpink.livejournal.com
Ooh, little brushes of paint? I like that, I do. :D Thank you!

Date: 2010-07-19 03:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spellweaver731.livejournal.com
Beautiful. I particularly liked #4, I love references to the 'I believe in her' speech as it is my very favorite DW moment. I believe that his faith in Rose will be with him for the rest of his life.

Date: 2010-07-19 04:27 am (UTC)
ext_452734: (tenIIrose)
From: [identity profile] lizzledpink.livejournal.com
The bit about him believing in her, I agree completely! That's definitely one of my favorite Doctor Who moments, too. (I'm not good with favorites; I can't narrow them down past the top ten or maybe twenty...) I almost think his faith in Rose is a stronger declaration than that he loves her, in some ways. He trusts her so completely. It's pretty incredible, really.

:D Thank you!

Date: 2010-07-21 02:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gwenchoco.livejournal.com
"But you can. I know you can. You once said if there was one thing you believed in, it was me."

"Obviously," he says dryly. "I believe in you more than I should."
I complete brilliance of these lines stuns me.

Date: 2010-07-21 03:21 am (UTC)
ext_452734: (tenrose)
From: [identity profile] lizzledpink.livejournal.com
:D Thank you! I rather like them myself.

Profile

lizzledpink: (Default)
lizzledpink

NaNoWriMo 2010

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 9th, 2025 05:24 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios