{Data Stream 18} - Zagreus eats you while you're sleeping

[hisoldgirl]

[so nightmares really suck. I'm sure most of you have figured that out. and now that the TARDIS has succumbed to this most wonderful of recent events, she's getting a full helping of one right now! it's all sorts of awesome fun, like when the Doctor rips apart her console, floods her living quarters and pins each and ever butterfly in her butterfly room to the walls of her Cloister Room. man that's fun! and then and then and then! he severs their mental bond and disables her engines, rips up her telepathic circuits and leaves her stranded on a remote planet after he decrees he really doesn't need her anymore.

man that's harsh.

but thankfully it all ends when the TARDIS wakes, trembling and biting back a cry, in the living room of the suite she shares with the Doctor! er, wait a minute. this isn't right. why is there nothing but darkness around her? and is that ... is that the Crucible? and no, not the ship, but the Dalek Crucible. oh man, and a Forge?

well shit.

after a few agonising moments of wtf, the TARDIS pushes herself to her feet, only to be stopped by a voice that she can't pinpoint and that comes from no set form. those watching on the spheres might notice a dark shape moving about the room, but it never has a set form and seems almost as though it isn't there if you look too hard]

He doesn't care for you. He never has. How can he, when he doesn't understand?

I do not understand.

Of course you do. I can free you, you know. I can give you purpose where he takes it away. I can care for you like he never has.

The Doctor...? He does care for me. What are you--

He doesn't. If he did, he wouldn't care so much for the others on this ship. If he did, he'd be here, now. He'd be here with you, protecting you. But he isn't, is he?

No. He must be on his way. He would not leave ... me...

Leave? Of course he will. He always does, doesn't he? Each and every planet, he leaves you behind, alone, as he goes off with his companions. But I won't. I'll never leave you, child.

He will not. He will not leave me. He will come back. He always comes back...

Will he? So where is he? He isn't here, girl. He'll never be here.

[she doesn't respond and the shadow comes closer, pressing its 'hands' to her head, and it laughs]

You're mine, TARDIS. You're mine and I'll be the one to give you what you want. You don't need him anymore.

...he is not here. He has left me alone again. You will not leave me?

Of course not, child. Just say my name. Let me take care of you.

[a long silence and then she nods, falling back to the couch and nods] Of course. Forgive me, Zagreus. Please do not leave me.

[the shadow laughs and steps up to her, wrapping its hands around her neck, and the TARDIS gasps, staring wide-eyed at the shadow, clawing at the arms as it slowly chokes her to death, leaning in closer until it merges with her and her limp body begins to laugh quietly. after a moment, she gasps, the shadow expelled, and she stares at it in terror as it laughs and begins its rhetoric once again]

Comments

[shoutsforearth.livejournal.com]

[What is going on?!]

TARDIS!

[hisoldgirl]

[heee, Zagreus is~]

Who...?

[the ship looks over, though she doesn't quite seem herself, all ready beginning to succumb to the shadow's whispers again]

Ah. Of course. Another companion. It is always another companion.

[shoutsforearth.livejournal.com]

What are you talking about? Tell me where you are so I can help you!

[hisoldgirl]

And just why do you think I need your help?

[shoutsforearth.livejournal.com]

[was it just her, or did the TARDIS's voice change there?]

Someone has to come and help you!

[hisoldgirl]

[why yes, yes it did]

Help ... me? Why should I need help?

[shoutsforearth.livejournal.com]

I might not know what's going on, but I can see that you need help!

Look... I can get the Doctor. He's not far. You know that he wouldn't leave you behind, ever.

[hisoldgirl]

[laughs quietly, the shadow situated just behind her]

Stupid, silly girl. What do you know of the Doctor? You know nothing. You spend moments with him, snivelling and chasing his coattails, and think you have some say. Think you matter. You think you're more important than me, that you have a right to be with him. All you do is take him away. You take him away from me.

[shoutsforearth.livejournal.com]

What? I don't do anything like that! What's the matter with your voice?

[bit_impossible]

[hey look who's been trying to find you? a certain Time Lord has and he's not looking too well at the moment. guess who had been lying to himself about the not sleeping thing?]

[so hearing all that over the Spheres and of course seeing her die every time hasn't been a pleasant experience for him.]

TARDIS! How can--?! No, where are you?!

[hisoldgirl]

Doctor...?

[she's gasping, trying to fight the shadow's influence, though now that the Doctor is on the sphere, it laughs, situating itself behind the TARDIS, stroking her hair]

Look, TARDIS. He isn't here. He isn't with you, just as I said he wouldn't be. He doesn't even know where you are. See how little he cares for you?

Doctor... [shudders, leaning slightly back into the shadow] Why did you leave me alone...?

[bit_impossible]

Don't you listen to him! I didn't leave you alone; you left me! One minute you were there, I looked away, and then you were gone!

[hisoldgirl]

I wait, Doctor. I always wait for you. I would never ... I have never left you...

See how he twists it to make himself innocent? See how he tries to decieve you even now?

Where have you been, Doctor? Why are you not here?

[bit_impossible]

[hears that other voice and can't help a shiver running down his spine.]

I've been looking for you. And don't you dare listen to him! He's trying to turn you against me!

[hisoldgirl]

Turn against him? What folly. Why should I do that, when he turns his back on you all the time? He's done it here, hasn't he? He said you could go with him, that you'd have adventures. He said you were his companion, and yet he still would go without you. He'd leave you behind to see what this ship had to offer. He'd forget about you.

Why can you not find me, Doctor. Why don't you care?

[bit_impossible]

You know why that is! After all this time of travelling inside you and you not being able to share in my adventures, do you think that habit's easy to break?

And I can't find you because I can't feel you! You're not in my head! I've never stopped caring...

[hisoldgirl]

So I am unworthy of being remembered? I am so easily discarded? You wanted so badly to share those adventures with me and yet you forgot I was there?

[the shadow behind her chuckles, its arms snaking around her, pressing fingers into her chest, and the TARDIS shudders, clawing at her breasts to get the shadow away, tearing her own flesh in the process as she rips her clothes in her haste to get it off her]

Stop. Stop Why are you doing this to me?

[oliverplus]

TARDIS? TARDIS, where are you!?

[hisoldgirl]

Oliver. [and she laughs a little, the sound dull and lifeless] Why must it always be companions?

[oliverplus]

TARDIS, get away from that thing!

[hisoldgirl]

Do not tell me what to do!

[oliverplus]

[is momentarily too shocked by her response to know what to say] [uncertainly] TARDIS?

[hisoldgirl]

Companions. It is always companions. Is he with you? Is that why he is not here? Did he leave me for you?

[oliverplus]

[whoa, what was that sound?] No, I'm sure he's looking for you. He wouldn't ever leave you.

[hisoldgirl]

What do you know? He always leaves me.