Midnight ⋆ Doctor Who²

21. The Pedestal

AURORA OPENS HER EYES WIDE AND GASPS, SITTING UP. This is bad. This is potentially very, very bad. Because now, her memories aren't as foggy as they used to be — she remembers almost everything, and she knows exactly why she was locked up in a pocket universe. Why they were so scared.

She was, after all, prophesied to destroy the universe.

"Doctor!" the word flew out of her mouth, quicker than she intended it to be. She's not even fully aware of her surroundings that she's already calling out to him.

He's sitting next to her, making sure she's okay. "I'm here, I'm okay. Are you okay?"

He helps her stand up, examining her. She looks away everytime he tries to look her in the eyes. This is wrong, this is bad, this is awful. This is like coming up to Amy and Rory and telling them that she's the Antichrist, or Cthullu. Bad, bad. "I'm..." The monster that hides under the children's bed. The Destroyer of the Universe.

Her eyes watering and her chest beginning to heave are his only clue. She bursts out in tears. This can't be real. This cannot be what she inspires in people. This fear, panic, making them run away. And of course the Master would nudge her towards becoming it. Betray her to make sure she'd become the incarnation of chaos, the only thing he ever understood.

The Doctor holds her silently, concerned, as she cries and cries again, what she thought she knew of herself coming crashing down on the floor. 'You're exactly like your brother', the President had told her, and maybe he wasn't entirely wrong. She wasn't who she thought she was, all kind and hopeful, and definitely not who the Doctor thought her to be, perfect and unable to do wrong.

"Aurora?" he panics slightly. He's never seen her like that. His future self will, but not him, not right now. She steps away everytime he tries to step forward. He ends up giving up.

"Doctor, I did something bad," she pronounces with difficulty.

"It's okay, just breathe dear," he tells her.

"Something really bad." Potentially cataclysmic, actually.

"Breathe, breathe," he tries to soothe her, not really listening. "Okay? Aurora, you need to breathe."

"Listen to me!" He freezes, and looks at her. Really looks at her. Aurora takes a deep breath, wiping her cheeks. "I wanted to stop the war, the Time War, and I did something really, really bad," she says between two sobs. She looks away, ashamed. "Doctor, I... I made an alliance with a Dalek." She looks up at the orangey sky, that reminds her of home for a moment. "The Time Lords, they cast me out because they thought..." She shakes her head. "I think I'm the Hybrid."

The pedestal crumbles down. Aurora falls from grace.

She waits for the realization to hit him. For him to do something — anything, really, but he isn't. He just stands there, looking past her, as if he couldn't see her anymore.

Perhaps it hurts more than anything else.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" she asks, voice low.

What is there to say anyway? She's the Hybrid. She stood in the middle ground of the Time War, allied herself with the Daleks, betrayed the Time Lords. Betrayed everything he believes in, and became something he has to stop. Aurora Barnes, the Last Time Lady. The Girl Who Was As Lonely As Him... For good reason?

He hangs his head and begins to walk away. "You were with the Master. Nothing good ever comes out of this."

She scoffs despite her tears. "Is that all you have to say to me?" He doesn't answer. "Doctor!"