Rainfall In The Silent Night (Doctor Who/Wings of Fire)

Everything Burns, Part 5

"Rain-" The Doctor began even as Jabe ran off.

"Doctor, please," Rain cut him off, already beginning to sweat hard. "You don't have much time!" He swallowed hard, but nodded and ran over to the catwalk. Rain turned away from him, facing the lever and closing her eyes. She focused on her breathing, blocking out the sting in her palms as the metal under them heated rapidly. Drops of sweat fell from her nose and chin. But she wasn't going to think about it, even as her skin began to hiss as it burned.

Instead she focused on picturing the rain forest, as she always did to calm herself down. She imagined a light shower of rain with sunlight still filtering through the clouds and making rainbows in the air. Birds chirped as they played and splashed in the forming puddles. Yes, Rain could feel the small rivulets of rain water tracing paths through the crevasses between her scales, cooling her skin.

The image began to waver as the burning pain started to break through. Her heart was pounding hard and fast. Her skin no longer shined with the sweat that had all evaporated. The horrible pain in her hands only increased, radiating until she couldn't feel anything else. Blood roared like thunder in her ears. She wavered, nearly falling over, but Rain just grit her teeth and widened her stance. The effort to do so sending stars flashing through her closed eyes.

"Rain." A faint voice broke through the ringing in her ears, but she didn't react, thinking she was just hearing things. A weight appeared on her shaking shoulder and Rain gasped. Her head snapping up and her eyes flying open. But these actions sent her teetering over.

"Whoa there!" A pair of hands grabbed her waist, steadying her. Rain groaned, her vision was all blurry and her head was spinning.

"Shh, it's alright now. Let's get your hands off that lever." Now she could recognize the voice as belonging to the Doctor. He must have made it to the lever in time. Rain thought hazily, then excruciating pain erupted in her hands, which already had an unbearable throbbing and burning in them. Rain screamed.

"Shhh, shhhh, I'm so sorry, but I have to get them off the metal. The longer they stay there the more it's going to hurt." The Doctor murmured in her ear a second before the pain intensified, and Rain screamed again. Feeling her burnt skin ripping as her hands were pulled away from the lever. Her knees gave out just as her hands came away from the searing metal and she crumpled into the Doctor's arms. He gently held her to himself as he sat down, cradling her in his arms.

Rain groaned after a number of minutes. "D-Doc-tor?" Her throat was dried out and filled with pain when she tried to speak.

"Shh, don't talk. Don't use any more of your energy. You're lucky you didn't fall into a coma, or worse. But you are severely overheated and dehydrated, and you've got extreme burn damage on your hands." He sighed, looking down at her weak form sadly, but was shocked when she managed to give him a small smile. He let out a dry laugh, but then sighed. Seeing she'd fallen unconscious.

"What am I going to do with you, huh?" He sighed again, rummaging through his pockets. He pulled out a small portable IV and drip bag with water and nutrients in it. Carefully he inserted the needle in the vein of her left arm. Placing a piece of tape over it so it wouldn't move around too much. That would help re-hydrate her and give her a boost of nutrients. Then he attached the drip bag to a wrist band and placed it on her wrist before carefully picking Rain up.

"Let's get back to the others." He said aloud, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. He exited the engine room, moving slowly through the duct.

"You know this is the second time you've lost consciousness on this trip. You've really got to stop doing this." Now he wandered down the hall back to the main room. The second he got there Rose was all over them.