Red ⋆ Doctor Who

Chapter Forty-six

'But all this to imprison one child? Oh, I know what you're up to. I hear everything in this place. I even hear rumours about whose child you've taken. Are you mad? You know the stories about the Doctor, the things that man has done. God help us if you make him angry.'

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Cherry doesn't know how long she has been kept in captivity. Demon's Run, they call it, as they answer her questions and give her time with her baby because they claim that they're not monsters. It isn't personal; they tell her. They're sorry she got caught up in the mix. It's not their fault, it's the Doctor's.

They seem pretty monstrous to Cherry. She doesn't remember much of her time locked away here because of the link to her Ganger, but she knows they did things to her. They experimented on her meddling with her pregnancy and with her baby. That feels personal to her. She hates them. She despises every single person on this stupid base. Never before has she hated anyone or anything as much as she hates the people responsible for this, and the people who enabled it. She spends her days praying to anyone and everyone, praying to the Doctor, that she and her daughter will be rescued soon and the people of Demon's Run shall perish. It's what they deserve.

She wants them dead.

She sits as far away as she possibly can from them in the white room they keep her in. Her back is pressed against the glass window overlooking the military base. It's the only thing in the room that isn't white. The white drives her crazy. She misses colour. She wants to see blue and red again; she wants to see paintings, beautiful landscapes and magical planets. She needs to get out of here. He has to save her. She can't last much longer. Their baby is her only solace, and even that is being taken from her. Ripped away for reasons she doesn't understand. When she asks, they just tell her it's necessary to bring down the Doctor.

She cradles her baby in her arms, rocking her gently and whispering to her. Melody Marjorie Pond. The most beautiful thing Cherry has ever seen.

She retells the story of Pandora's box to her daughter, wiggling her finger, which Melody is clutching onto. She doesn't need the book to recite it. She's heard the story enough times from her own father and read it to Amy, Mels and Rory so much when they were growing up that she knows it off by heart. Melody is gurgling quite contently by the end of the story, and Cherry lifts her up a little higher, kissing the top of her head softly. She's never loved anyone as much as she loves the little bundle of joy in her arms, and it breaks her heart that this is what she has been born into.

"I love you," she tells her daughter quietly. "So much. My sweet girl."

"You have five minutes," Madam Kovarian, the woman with the eye patch, steps forward sinisterly. Her voice startles Melody, and the baby starts to cry, wailing with a red face as Cherry shushes her.

"It's okay, sweetie," she says in a hushed voice as she sends Madam Kovarian a heated stare. The sight of the vile woman floods Cherry with rage. If it weren't for Melody in her arms, Cherry might have actually attacked her. She'd never felt so angry before. So vengeful. They haven't just hurt her and her daughter. They've changed her. She'll never be the same again. God knows what they'll do to Melody if the Doctor doesn't intervene soon. She takes a shaking breath and prepares herself to say goodbye to her daughter. "I wish I could tell you that you'll be loved, that you'll be safe and cared for and protected. But this isn't a time for lies. What you are going to be, Melody, is very, very brave."

"Two minutes."

"But not as brave as they'll have to be. Because there's someone coming," Cherry promises her daughter. "I don't know where he is, or what he's doing, but trust me. He's on his way. There's a man who's never ever going to let us down, and not even an army can stop him. And if he isn't, I'll kill them myself. I'm smart enough, you know?"