Checkmate (Doctor Who fanfiction)

"Raggedy Man"

So with vampire menaces hot on our trail, we ran as fast as humanly and Time Lordly possible, the sound of the hissing vampires not too far behind us keeping us on our toes.

We made it! The sun felt like pure life force touching my skin. Guido was waiting nearby with his eyes full of hope at seeing his daughter again. That's when things fell apart.

The Doctor guided everyone out before him except Isabella, who seemed to force him to go before her. But she recoiled when sunlight met her, and she forced herself back inside. The heavy wooden door slammed shut, and apparently so did The Doctor's sanity. He ran up and started banging on the door like a lunatic, only receiving a strong electric shock in return. He fell down the stairs, passed out.

Amy and Rory ran to him but I stayed put. I cared more about Isabella, the reason for this whole mission, then I did about The Doctor.

"Is he dead?" Amy asked. Rory, who was checking his pulse, shook his head.

"No, he's breathing."

***

The Doctor had just got back from talking to Rosanna and was checking Amy and my wounds on his sonic screwdriver. To my relief, the puncture marks disappeared from her neck. He popped a candy into Amy's mouth and told her she was fine before walking over to me.

He squatted down in front of me as if I was a child and searched my face. Finding nothing wrong with my neck or face, he picked up one of my wrists and inspected the almost tomato red marks circling it. I let him hold my wrist to see if something was wrong with it, but made sure my hand remained lifeless and my face held no emotion. He looked up at me.

"Oh, you really were fighting it, weren't you?" He said. I jerked my hand away from him and rested it in my lap, looking down at him, my face emotionless but cold.

Yes, of course I'd fought it. My best friend had been tied up, scared and helpless, you think I was just going to sit there, cuffed to a wall, and watch her be torn apart? No! Maybe he would've but I most certainly would not.

He extracted a candy from his jacket but didn't put it in my mouth like he had Amy. He held it out to my the open palm of his hand. I stared at it, trying to decide whether or not to trust it.

It could have some kind of poison injected in it. Which means he'd have just poisoned Amy. And if I took it too, I wouldn't be around to slit his throat for hurting her. Although even though he'd hurt us so badly, something told me he wasn't that cold. He had no reason to kill us. Or did he?

I stared at the candy, contemplating if I should eat something that could possibly become my death. He suddenly flicked his hand in a quick circle. When his palm opened again, the candy had vanished.

If was a simple magic trick that didn't impress me. I knew he'd just slid it up his sleeve. So it was the child inside me was the one that giggled like a four year old being tickled. He smiled and made the candy reappear. I took it from his palm, careful not go touch him, and popped it into my mouth.

He stood up and started pacing. "Argh. I need to think. Come on, brain. Think, think, think. Think." He sat down and Amy piped up, barely able to speak around the candy in her mouth, but managing.

"If they're fish people it explains why they hate the sun," she mumbled.

"Stop talking, brain thinking hush," he said, covering her mouth with his house. I wanted to stand up, walk over there and slap him across the face.

"It's the school thing that I don't understand," Rory started.

"Stop talking, brain thinking, hush," The Doctor repeated, covering Rory's mouth with his other hand.