CHARLOTTE ::: DW¹

viii. charlotte and the cybermen part two

Moore's eyebrows knit together. "But... why?"

"It's still got a human brain. Imagine its reaction if it could see itself, realize itself inside this thing... they'd go insane."

Nodding, Charlotte finished. "So they take the one thing that makes them human."

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Because they have too."

"Why am I cold?" Asked the Cyberman laying in front of them.

"Oh, my God." Moore gasped. "It's alive. It can feel."

"We broke the inhibitor." He realized, then started apologizing to the Cyberman. Touching its head, he continued apologizing. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The Cyberman continues. "It's so cold."

"Do you know your name?" Charlotte asks, her heart breaking for every second.

"Ian... Ian James."

Her eyes widened in shock, earlier she wondered if she'd see him while they were in this universe. She was right, but oh so wrong at the same time. "No," she whispered under her breath, unbelieving.

"Where's Jessie?" He asked, his robotic voice causing Charlotte to feel nauseous.

Moore bent forward, interested. "Who's Jessie?"

"I got a ring for nothing..." He replies.

Charlotte turned cold. For a second she could hear her Ian speaking- the one who would teach her the math behind the universe's work, and she would practice a speech on; no matter what it was on, he'd listen with his dimpled smile.

As she listened to the robotic speech of her fiance, Charlotte knew her Ian and the one laying in front of her weren't far from parallel. It seemed silly how long she pushed away the idea he may have been with someone else. The long holidays away, the common texting to Jessie, and the inviting of his 'ex' to their wedding.

A part of her wants to punch the Cyberman in the metal nose... how could she have been too stubborn to believe he's cheated on her all this time, using her as a puppet to get the best of both worlds?

However, her heart pained as he was still laid dead in the metal suit of a Cyberman.

"I'm cold. I'm so cold."

"It's all right," the Doctor tells him calmly. "You sleep now, Ian." Changing the sonic's settings, he was close to sticking the screwdriver into the chest cavity, but Charlotte gripped his hand- sliding the device into hers.

"It's on the right setting, right?"

"Charlotte," he protested. While he didn't know why she wanted to do it herself, he knew he doesn't want her to. In his mind, that was the role meant for him (and no one else, if he can help it).

She simply looked him in the eyes. "Just let me do this."

The Doctor nods but still looks to her with a worried glance.

Taking in a breath and letting out a deep exhale, she stuck the sonic screwdriver into the chest cavity. "It'll be fine, Ian, just sleep," she spoke softly as the sonic continues to buzz. But once the buzzing stopped, and Charlotte looked to the emotionless mask, hoping deep down for a reaction, she found herself short of breath.

She gulps down the whimpering, handing the sonic back to the Doctor.

"He didn't die for nothing," Charlotte says, trying to keep her voice as unwavering as she could while looking away from Ian and to the ground underneath her.