Transcendent | 11th Doctor

Chapter Nine

Crusaders

"You're mad!" Nora cried as they raced across the hospital. They had finally got rid of all the aliens and now the Doctor had called them back to be scolded! He had to be mad if not stupid! Amy trailer after them as the doctor pulled Nora into a changing room.

"What are you doing now?" She yelled, watching as he trifled through various shirts and trousers.

"Well I can't save the world without a new shirt!" The doctor explained as a matter of fact, glancing back to see the sheer utter disbelief painted on his partners face. Nora turned to Amy who had stumbled into the room, face as red as her hair.

"He's gone fully mad."

They stared in silence as he pilthfred the lockers in search for something fitting. Maybe it was from frustration or annoyance but Nora quickly started to help in hopes to finish the detour faster.

"Oh sodding hell." She groaned, chucking away filthy scrubs until she found a half way decent suede suit.

"Here." She sighed, chucking it at him before he could argue. The doctor grinned, passing her back a brown suede jacket of her own.

"In case you get cold." He noted with a knowing look as he began unbuttoning his shirt. Rory slipped into the room with a startled gag, rambling to himself about The Doctors insanity.

"You summoned the aliens back to earth. And now you're taking your clothes off!" He huffed, eyes wider than the spaceship flying above them.

"Well turn around if it embarrasses you." The doctor retorted, already shrugging off his trousers and shirt. Nora laughed as Rory hastily spun on the spot, groping Amy's arm to follow suit. The redhead stayed firm, eyes fixated on the doctors back as he changed. Nora rose her eyebrow, slipping herself in between Amy and The doctor with crossed arms.

"Spin." Nora stated bluntly, arms still bundled with her new jacket. If you could call a stolen jacket new that is. Amy groaned but nonetheless twisted on the spot until she was facing the wall. Soon enough the Doctor had finished his unprompted strip tease and was bouncing on the balls of his feet. He jumped beside Nora, pulling her in towards him to place a chaste kiss on her cheek.

"Jealous. I like it." He smirked at her red cheeks before darting out the corridor. For a moment Nora stood, mouth agape and lost for words. She wasn't jealous. She was simply protecting his dignity. Nothing else. As the trio left without her Nora yelled to no one in particular, "No! I was absolutely not jealous. Arsehole."

Nora hated to admit it but she was freezing whilst stood aimlessly on the roof. She stared down at the jacket in her hands, toying with the idea to give in and put it on but she wanted to stay stubborn. If only stubbornness fended off the chill in the air.

"Oh my-" she gasped as they all filtered onto the roof top, underneath what Nora could only describe as a massive eye-ship.

"Close your eyes." The doctor reminded her, a small smile tugging at his lips at the sight of Nora slipping on her suede jacket.

"The doctor will see you now!" He yelled up to the sky, a shit eating grin now plastered across his cheeks.

"Never say that again." Nora shot out, clamping her hands over her eyes as the alien ship lowered its own toward the roof. It paused, slowly scanning over the doctor in a blue haze.

"You are not of this world" it reported almost analytically. He nodded back, pulling up his new suspenders as he spoke.

"No but I have put a lot of work into it." As he spoke he rifled through the numerous ties resting over his shoulder, concentration clearly lacking at the task at hand.

"Nora, what do you think?" The doctor whipped back to watch as she peeked through her fingers to see the array of colourful ties.

"I do not care." She rebutted, hiding once more from the horrifying eye watching them. She hated eyes.

"Is this world important?" The atraxi ship asked, genuine confusion sounded in its voice. What a stupid question, Nora thought. Every species would deem themselves as important.

"Important? What does that mean important? Six billion people live here. Is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the atraxi?" The doctor probed, chucking yet another tie to the floor. They waited for a moment as the ship considered its new question. Was the world a threat?

"Well come on! You've been monitoring the whole Planet! Is this world a threat?" The doctor pressed forward, metres away from the Eye. It paused in thought.

"No."

"Are the people of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the atraxi?" The doctor continued.

"No."

"Okay. One more. Just one. Is this world protected?"

In front of them a mirage of holograms displayed countless aliens and enemies who had fought to dominate planet earth. Some that nagged at the back of Nora's mind. Others completely forgotten. But each time there was The Doctor and his many faces. Each time there was a Miss Wallace trailing beside him.

"Because you're not the first to come here, oh there have been so many!"

The holograms continued to flash various images of the pair side by side. Nora couldn't watch. She felt sick. This was all in the past and yet all in her future. She hated it. Despised the idea everything was laid out in stone.

"And what you've got to ask is- What happened to them?" More and more faces flickered in the sky. Different variations of the same people. The Doctor. And Miss Wallace. Suddenly Nora felt out of place. Her breath escaped her and the world turned sideways.

"Hello. I'm the doctor, so basically run." With his final proclamation the Atraxi ship vanished into the distance, leaving behind a startled group stood upon the hospital roof.

"What did we think about that then!" The doctor laughed, spinning to his small audience with his new bow tie neatly folded under his collar. Without thought, he stopped in his tracks. This wasn't right. He should've noticed!

"Amelia... where is Nora?" He whispered almost silently. His cool demeanour that had faced off to a race of aliens vanished in place of unbridled fear. The red head stayed quiet, awkwardly looking between both men awaiting an answer. Was it wrong not to want to tell him? To finally keep him all to herself?

"Umm."

"Where did she go!" The doctor yelled at her hesitance.

"She left, Doctor. She ran."

The Doctor and the Girl who ran away.

•••

I can't think of a better 'The girl who—.' so please give me some suggestions!