Midnight ⋆ Doctor Who²

15. The Patchwork People

MANY EMOTIONS COURSED THROUGH AURORA'S BODY. First, she's scared. Because they literally just walked straight into a trap. This has to be a trap, right? Lured here, to find messages from Time Lords, but they're nowhere to be seen? Aurora can't help herself, and it's only logical to assume that they're... dead.

Then she's sad. Not for herself; she's made her peace with the Time Lords. She doesn't mind, being the last one of this race of war criminals. That's on her good days. On her bad days, well... It gets to you. But right now, she's sad because she knows what this is going to do to the Doctor. She, for one, has murder on her mind as the rug is yanked from under them. They were hopeful — to an extent. If Aurora herself, even though she didn't have a good relationship with her species, feels so much, the Doctor...

"I'm sorry," he mutters, his head sinking on her shoulder. Emotions are exhausting him, the highs and lows of what just happened completely draining him emotionally. "I should've listened to you."

She immediately turns around, and holds him close, tears welling up in her eyes. The Doctor doesn't deserve this. He deserved to be pardoned and forgiven for what he's done, understood. Aurora doesn't care what they'd think of her, but she cares a whole lot for what they'd tell the Doctor. And she can't give it to him, because this was a trap, and now desperation clings to him like an aimless, wandering ghost.

He lets himself go against Aurora, in a way he's never done before. They've hugged, obviously, during crisis and outside of crisis, but not like that. He holds her like he needs it. Like he needs her to keep himself standing, or else he'd fall. It makes her sad.

And when Uncle and Auntie come up behind them, that's when Aurora gets angry. The Doctor lets go of her, and she whirls around, a deadly smile on her face. She gets a glimpse of the Doctor's devastated look, and almost goes to punch them in the face.

Her smile is enough to scare anyone in their right mind. Uncle and Auntie, ever so slightly, step back.

"Look at that Time Lord distress signal collection," she says, still smiling. "It's really neat. Awesome, I would say." She quickly drops the act, the pure rage simmering inside her growing too strong. "Now listen to me," she snarls at them. "You made him think he had some friends here, but this is what the Ood translator picked up. Cries for help from dead Time Lords." She steps forwards, and they step backwards. "How many Time Lords did you trap here the way you trapped us, and what happened to them all? And please, be very careful of your answer." She clenches her fist. "I'm not in a happy mood."

The stark comparison between the two Time Lords is almost surreal. The Doctor is always extravagant and Aurora calm. But when they're angry, the roles are reversed. The Doctor stares ahead, blankly, and Aurora is ready to kill. And anyone with common sense would be scared.

"House, House is kind and he is wise," Auntie stutters.

Aurora scoffs. "Oh yeah, a nice urchin asteroid asshole. Repairs you when you break, blah blah blah. Yes, I know, you said already. But how does he fix you?" She huffs as they don't answer, and snatches the Doctor's screwdriver to sonic them. "You're eyes are too young," she tells Uncle, looking at the readings. "You have the eyes of a twenty years old."

He smiles awkwardly. "Thank you."

Her laugh is so stone cold, that the Doctor debates stepping in. "No. Please don't think I gave you a compliment, it would be embarrassing. I mean it literally. Your eyes are thirty years younger than the rest of you." They stare at her, so she crosses her arms, fury radiating off her. "Your ears don't match, your right arm is two inches longer than your left, and boy, you literally have two left feet, so that's something. You're like... Patchwork people. You've been repaired and patched up so often, I doubt there's anything left of what used to be you. I have a blanket like you at home."