When The Doctor Was Me (Frerard Doctor Who AU)

The Symptoms of Dwindling Time

Frank felt as if he was trapped in the body of a sloth. Everything, even the most miniscule movement, seemed to take so much energy. Frank even found simply blinking becoming a laborious task. It wasn't a normal feeling at all.

On top of that, things were starting to become fuzzy. His brain wouldn't focus on anything. It was just a dull mess that wouldn't cooperate at all. Faces and names became muddled before a cloud swept over all of them to blind Frank's thoughts.

Even when the red haired man sat in front of him, it took most of his willpower to recognize him. His Doctor would fix him... His Doctor? Was that who he was?..

His memories seemed so dull and faded...

Frank didn't have the strength to think further. He felt weak. He could feel his eyes half closed, but he couldn't do anything about it. He just wasn't right, and there was no way to fight it.

---

"He's getting colder." Andy said, pulling his hand away from Frank's exposed skin. "I don't know how much longer you guys have to gank that son of a..."

Joe rolled his eyes. "Just say bitch, Andy. Promise it won't curse you or anything. I've said it enough to know."

Andy fiddled with his glasses, moving them up and down a bit where they rested on his ears. "I just don't prefer to say it myself..."

The Doctor walked over to look sit beside Frank as the hunters readied themselves. Patrick had said they knew where a nest of the creatures resided, and that they should be able to clear out the alpha without the Doctor being there.

Frank was currently laying on his back, looking up at the stained metal ceiling of the room the hunters had brought them to. He was just so still...

"Frank?" The Doctor called out, pushing hair to the side of the human's face. Andy was right, Frank's skin was nearly frozen to the touch. "Can you hear me?"

There was no response from Frank, but his chest was slowly rising and falling. It was only a few hours after his encounter with the thing, how could he already be so bad?

"It happens so fast..."

The Doctor looked up to see Patrick walked slowly over. Patrick was looking at Frank with sadness, the kind of sadness that came from experience.

"How fast did it take your friend?" The Doctor asked, shifting his position to better look at Patrick.

Patrick bit his lip. "Two and a half days." He finally responded in a hushed voice, "It wears away at your physical life force and memories... Until there's nothing left..." By the end of his words, he was barely speaking in a whisper and his eyes were filling with tears.

The Doctor frowned at the boy. He was so young to experience such an impacting loss... "How old are you, Patrick?" The Doctor asked.

"Nineteen, sir." Patrick replied, wiping the wetness from his eyes. "Andy is twenty one and Joe is twenty."

"How old was your friend?" The Doctor asked.

Patrick looked at him with a mixture of sadness and confusion. "What does that matter?" He asked in a choked voice as the Doctor rose to his feet.

The Doctor gave him a sad smile. "Forgetting can hurt worse than remembering."

More tears began to find their way to the corners of Patrick's eyes as he looked at the Doctor. He seemed reluctant to speak. It was as if something was holding the words back on his tongue before they could be spoken.

"Pete was going to be twenty two." Patrick finally blurted out, "Pete... He was going to be twenty two this year..." He sniffled, looking down before letting out a sad chuckle. "He only wanted a home made pizza for a present..."