The Fandom Games

PART II: Chapter 5

"Oliver, everybody!" Cue applause.

The Doctor strutted onto the stage wearing a simple blue silk gown and a black bow tie. Travels a lot, to many different places... and many different times. Time Lord – or rather, Time Lady. Few regenerations left. Lonely, lonelier than she'd ever admit.

She sat in the chair and they began their interview. "The Doctor, is it?" Caesar asked cryptically. "Doctor who?"

"Dangerous question. It's just the Doctor."

"No name you can reveal to us?"

"Nope."

Whatever name the Doctor had wasn't something I was able to tell for certain. I had an idea forming, but I'd have to put that into a file for later. I was getting the feeling that knowing her true Gallifreyan name would be dangerous and she was right not to broadcast it to the entire world. Whatever wanted to know her name probably had harmful intentions.

"I see. Leaving us hanging." Caesar leaned toward her, almost like he was hoping she'd whisper it to him. But how would she know if he could be trusted? Soon Caesar shrugged and faced the camera. "Better put your guesses out there! In the mean time, Doctor, let's talk about the Reaping."

"Definitely. I was a bit dramatic, wasn't I?"

"A bit, yes." They laughed. "Rose was the name of the girl you volunteered for. Tell me: what relationship did you two have? Lovers, perhaps?"

Was he joking? Anyone could tell that woman was not her girlfriend. Granted, it wasn't that Rose didn't want to date the Doctor. The Doctor just wasn't the dating type. Still, I sensed that she did have a wife, one that she was forced to spontaneously marry at some point. Again, something to put in a file for later.

"No, nothing like that. She's my best friend in the world."

"To the point where you'd die for her."

"To the point where I'd die for her twice," she joked. Caesar and the rest of the audience roared with laughter.

"So how did you know that doing what you did at the Reaping would make you capable of taking her place? Have you done something like that before?"

"Well, to be completely honest with you, I didn't know for sure it would work. I'm a Time Lord – Time Lady. That means if my body is fatally injured, I can regenerate into a new one."

I loved being right.

"Does this mean you're invincible? Immortal, even?"

"Naaah. For some Time Lords and Ladies it used to be that way, but times have changed."

"I see. You've clearly seen how much attention the media is giving you for that act. Your ratings have gone up very high. Do you think you'll be a bigger target in the Games because you're already a fan favourite?"

"Potentially, yes," she laughed.

"So you didn't know it would work... were you afraid – during the Reaping, that is – that it might not?"

"I didn't have a lot of time to think, you have to understand. Call it an impulse. If it hadn't worked, I'd just be another man. I... I don't know what I would have done if this hadn't worked."

"Wow," Caesar nodded.

"Yeah."

"May I address the elephant in the room?"

"Oh, by all means."

Caesar cleared his throat, then leaned forward like he was asking a very important question. "You were a man going into the Reaping to watch. Is it strange for you to be wearing a dress?"