kore_logs | the Return of the Doctor

Entry tags:

the Return of the Doctor

Who: the Doctor, Mina, Donna
Where: on the docks
When: Late night of Day 82/early morning of 83
What: The Doctor returns back after his escape attempt, only he's not exactly the same Doctor Kore may remember.
Warning: language, mental instability

When a Time Lord is created, since no actual birth is given, the first sense they acquire, or at least notice, is time followed by sound, then vision. I am a sentient being. The first thought crossed the Doctor's mind, I walk through eternity.

Waves crashed against the shore, and dark eyes blink open. His vision is blurry as he pushes up on his arms, trying to push himself in a sitting position. He's aware of a string of drool, begging the question of how long had he been there with his mouth open, as he raises his hand to wipe it away. And that's when the first impulse of the most intense headache he could recall feeling strikes him. It catches him completely off guard and physically startles him, causing him to lose his balance in the process and slip off the dock into the ocean.

Engulfed by the waves, he struggles, fighting to figure out what's up from down, and shortly afterwards his respiratory bypass kicks in just in time for him to slam into the adjacent dock where he manages to pull himself up, roll over to his side and out of the way from fear of falling off again, and resigns himself for the night. His body felt heavy, mind clouded, everything slowed down as if he had been drugged, which was a very real possibility.

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It didn't bother Mina overly that he had killed people. So had she. So had everyone in her world. But the obstinate behavior was starting to grate on her nerves. This was why her fields of choice were surgery and hematology. One didn't have to deal with conscious patients for either. One didn't have to fight.

And perhaps because of this impatience, she decided it was time to try playing her secret hand.

She locked eyes with the Doctor, trying to send her will to him. "Sit back down."

Uh oh. Now he was going to get it! Never mess with a pissed off woman, Doctor. It could never ever end well. Donna moved away. She did not want to get caught in that crossfire.

Instead she busied herself with taking the mug back to the kitchen. A tidy house was a happy house.

His eyes are locked with Mina's, and he slowly follows her command, sinking back in the water. "Don't do this, Mina... Don't enter my mind. I can't protect you if you do. I can't..."

Sitting there, unmoving, he's focused upon Mina, waiting for her next command. He barely recognizes Donna's leave of absence.

She was surprised it worked. But in spite of her mad curiosity, she couldn't venture any deeper. No matter how tempting it was to know more, there was always a price that came with diving too far into the depths of madness.

To say nothing of whatever mysteries might await in the mind of a Time Lord.

So Mina skimmed the surface, steeling her resolve as much as possible. "You're not going to entertain any suicidal notions any more," she said.

Yeah, Mina really didn't want to venture too deep in there. It was a whole world of pain. Donna knew that one first hand. And given the Doctor's current mental state? It was probably a bit of a mess in there... more of a mess than usual.

Donna returned and hung back against the door so she didn't get in the way.

Slowly, there were tears that spilled out the corner of his eyes, as his gaze was still focused on Mina's. "It would've been much easier to handle if they forced me to regenerate. Not tear through my mind, leaving open bleeding wounds I can't control."

He wanted to sleep, that much he knew. To retreat away from everyone to spare them this insanity he could only control for short periods of time. It was unbearable, and presently, he couldn't recall his mind ever being this unsettled before.

She broke the eye contact, walking over to the tub and kneeling down beside him. Oh, she was still angry. But this required a different sort of a touch now. She'd made her point.

Gently, she reached out, cupping his face in her hand. "Life is hard. Especially when you only have one. But somehow, all of us manage it, in one fashion or another. And you will too."

She managed a bit of a wry smile. "Or so help me, I'll let Donna have the next shot at you."

"And don't think I'll go easy on you just cos you're my best mate. Come on, let's finish getting you all washed up, dried, dressed and into bed. A nice long sleep is just what you need. We'll even read you a bedtime story if you ask nicely."

She had to joke otherwise she would cry.

The Doctor pressed his forehead to the edge of the tub, "I read them stories... William the Wise, stories of Rassilon, physics of the Medusa Cascade... I don't know if they listened. Maybe they never listened. Rubbish. I was so very rubbish.... Susan listened; she always listened."

His fingers curled around the edge of the tub, knuckles showing white and he clutched tightly. "Please, just... stop."

Mina reached into the tub, pulling the plug. It would be the only plug pulled on her watch.

"Towels, Donna," she said. She found herself feeling closer to the woman than she'd felt to nearly anyone since arriving at the Kore. It was a definite improvement, even if the circumstances were somewhat lacking.

Ah well. Nothing like an overgrown baby to bring people closer together.

"I'm sure they listened, Doctor. But now it's your turn to listen. To us. Well, to Mina. I'm just back up."

She gave him a hint of a smile and moved to grab a towel. "Come on, Time Boy. Let's get you dry before you turn into a space prune."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is ridiculous and pathetic." He spoke barely above a whisper as he was desperately trying to hold onto his sanity and accepted the towel from Donna.

His face had a flat affect, drained of all emotions as he dried himself off and with shaky fingers, tied the towel around his waist before slowly rising to his feet. This regeneration of the Doctor was naturally thin, making running around look so natural. However, days of starvation, beginning at the time being driven by his anger and obsession was visible. It would take a while for him to recoup and return to normal... and that was just physically. Mentally, he didn't know. He'd have to find the Master, to reach out to him in his own mad state would be a risk, but it was the only choice the Doctor could see.

Right now, he was exhausted. Pushing himself to keep going on what little energy he could muster. Would he be able to sleep? He wouldn't be able to go into a healing coma; he didn't have energy to do even that right now, and he wasn't sure how effective it would be anyway.

Mina slipped her arm under his left side, gently guiding him out of the tub. "Not worth an apology," she said. "Although if you're still in an apologetic mood later, we can talk about your aspirin stunt."

She would be angrier later, when she had time to collect her thoughts.

"There's an empty bedroom next door," she told Donna. The same bedroom where she'd kept the Doctor after he broke his ribs. Anna's room. There were no windows, so at least no one would peak in and see what was going on, during the day.

Donna grabbed a second towel to help dry off the Doctor's hair gently. "Do you want us to turn down the covers for you, Doctor and tuck you in? Nice long sleep. Sounds good, right? Nice comfy bed. Nice safe room. Your best mates watching over you. Everything's going to be alright now."

Well, as safe and alright as any of them could be.

"No." He wasn't being sarcastic, "I dunno. I don't know what I want. I don't..." He closed his eyes as another headache tore through his skull.

"Tired. I'm so tired... So. bloody..." He waited for the headache to subside before stepping forward on a shaky foot and mentally motivating himself to go.

"You've been through an ordeal," Mina told him. "You're not required to know what you want. Simply to heed the people who are trying to help you out of it." She paused, and couldn't help but add, with a wry smile, "Doctor's orders."

It wasn't a good time to joke. Then again, there was never anything to laugh about in the Kore. They had to make their own moments. For the sake of sanity, if nothing else.

And sanity was clearly lacking right now.

"Really, it's not so bad," she lied. "If this was that American Civil War, I'd just tell you to walk it off."

Donna went ahead of them to turn down the bed covers anyway. She wasn't entirely sure what else she could do to help him. She was good at mothering and fussing. She definitely didn't learn that from her own mother.

"Come and get your skinny arse into this bed and don't even think of trying to do sommat stupid. You force yourself to regenerate and I will slap your next face to heck and back!"

"Yes, Donna." He replied, rather annoyed, and not from her mothering, but everyone so shocked that for once in his life, he was willing to regenerate. In truth, he was terrified of regenerating; he didn't want to go, but knew he was dying due to the prophecy stating so. But that was for another time.

He changed into the clothes Mina found, which were a little big on him, and sat on the edge of the bed. Hopefully he'll be granted sleep. The Doctor would do anything to stop these headaches and the inability to grasp on reality.

Mina pulled back the covers on one side of the bed. It was Anna's room so, of course, they were the finest sheets in the household. Nothing would ever be good enough for the princess. And it struck her a little odd that she still thought of it as Anna's room when Anna was so very far away. But life was full of peculiarities like that.

She reached out to touch the back of the Doctor's hand. "It's going to be all right," she told him, shrugging off the thought of losing yet one more friend in this place. "We're going to make it so."

Donna suddenly felt very much like a third wheel. It was a little uncomfortable. Scrap that. It was very uncomfortable.

"Do you guys want me to leave and give you some privacy? I'll make sure I'm back before dawn and you can always call me if things get too much..."

"No..." It was unclear to whether he was replying to Donna or talking to himself as he rested elbows on knees and slid fingers back in his hair, tugging at the strands. "I choked her... A trick, a trap. It was uncertain which... Which one was it? Which one was it? She didn't even know what a Peri was! Foolish girl..." He remained muttering to himself sitting there. "The Master was right, monkeys, all of them..."

He finally glanced back to Donna and Mina, "Leave. Me. ALONE."

It was tempting to simply tell Donna she could hit him. And Mina did shoot her a bit of a look that said as much. But it was rare that such a solution actually solved a problem. Only in the pantomime season, which this, most assuredly, was not.

She reached out, putting her hand on his hair. He seemed utterly obsessed with it. Perhaps that was the best way to calm him down.

Or possibly rile him up further. No way of telling.

"Sleep, darling," she told him.

Don't tempt her. Really, don't. Punching the Doctor in the face was beginning to really, really inviting. Knocking him unconscious with her fist was looking so tempting. And at least he would get some rest.

"Can I get you anything, Mina?" Maybe leaving Mina alone with a crazed Time Lord wasn't so wise after all.

He did calm at Mina's touch, slouching his back further as he released a shaky breath as if he was desperately trying to calm his mind and not rightly panic. His fingers ceased to dig into his scalp, but remained entangled in the short locks of his hair.

And slowly, his hands fell, grasping at the sheets at his sides as he felt the material under his fingertips. And finally with a nod, he slipped his feet under the sheets. "Name... What's in a name...

Old Abram Brown is dead and gone,
You'll never see him more;
He used to wear a long brown coat
That buttoned down before.

Funny how time works; dead and gone... She said he'll knock for times. Will the song end then?" He lies back as fingers played at the buttons of his shirt, vaguely wondering if he could sleep.

"Songs never end," she said, keeping her hand on his head. "They just change."

Had she read that somewhere? Mina couldn't really remember. It certainly didn't sound like anything she would pull out of the air. She wasn't poetic by nature. When she commanded attention, it was by being boisterous or funny. All her poetry consisted of stolen snatches. Like the big words she used. Not really hers. Just something borrowed.

Still. It sounded good.

She beckoned Donna over with a nod of her head. "Donna and I are going to stay right here with you," she told him. "You trust us, right? You know neither of us would let anything happen to you?"

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