Empyrean Intellect || Tenth Doctor x OC

3. Awakening

"That watch? Where is it now?" His words were fast and serious, quiet but very hard. It almost scared Isabelle as she noticed him refraining from grabbing hold of her.

"The watch? It's in my room I think. Why?" Without another word, the Doctor took off running towards her house, flying straight through the front door. He acted so suddenly, Isabelle jumped and then hesitated before actually running off after him.

An idiot would have guessed where he was going and she ran up the stairs as fast as she could, seeing the ladder to the attic already pulled down. She climbed the steps carefully, peeking her head through the hole in the floor first before lifting herself through.

"Hey, excuse me sir!" Isabelle called out when she saw the man going through her things without a care. "What are you doing? This is my room!"

"Where is the watch?" Rolling her eyes when she didn't get an answer, Isabelle walked over to a small table by her bedside and pulled open the top draw. It wasn't there, causing her to frown, so she moved on to the second draw and then the third where she eventually lifted the watch out by the thin silver chain and held it in her hand while the Doctor stilled.

"Here, I don't know why it is so important." Isabelle whispered, seeing the mans eyes widen. "Are you some sort of collector? Is it valuable?" Some money would be welcomed, even just a few pennies to keep for herself.

"You said you were found with this watch?" He asked, but she only nodded. "Have you ever opened it?"

"No it's broken, I told you it didn't even work when I came here twelve years ago." Isabelle frowned.

"How do you know it's broken if you've never opened it?" He questioned, looking up and meeting her eyes.

There was something there behind his eyes as if he was silently asking her something, or searching for something inside of her. He looked desperate as his hand reached out, but just as his fingers were about to graze the silver, he pulled away.

The markings on the top cover seemed to capture his attention more than anything, they were what pushed him away. But they were just strange silly scratchings, they didn't mean anything and they certainly weren't anything to be afraid of.

"I don't...know." Isabelle finally took a second to look down at the circle of silver lying in her palm and frowned. Had she really never opened it? That didn't make sense. All she ever wanted to know was what happened to her own family so why would she have never opened the one thing to which may have gave her an answer. "It's just broken, you can't hear anything. And it...it's old and ...." She didn't even believe her own words. Her head started to pulse harder as she looked at the Doctor and tried to listen to all of the questions swirling around her mind.

"Why don't you open it?" Isabelle looked at the Doctor, frowning at how eager he sounded, and then back at the watch.

"No." Immediately she shook her head. "No, I don't think I should..." As she went to take a breath, her head went dizzy and all too quickly her knees give way. Before she could hit the floor, the Doctor leapt forward and caught her, holding her up.

'Time Lord. Doctor. Save Them. Time War. The Last One. Time War. Doctor.'

"Doctor? You're the Doctor?" She muttered breathlessly, staring up at him. "Who are you? Why? Why are you in my head?" Isabelle cried, putting her feet to the floor and pushing his hands off of her.

"How old are you?" The Doctor asked, looking over her face.

"What? Why does that matter!" She yelled at him. "I...don't know...I don't know!" She shook her head as tears began to fall from her eyes. There was no reason for them, nothing had happened and everything was over now, all the families had returned but something was still wrong with her. "I guess...30....40?....I'm sorry Doctor, I told you, I really do not remember."