makemeasong | open post

"You can rescue me anytime you like!" Clara yells out in the dark from her position upside down. She isn't worried, he would find her, she knows he would. When he will is an entirely other thing.

It was supposed to be a nice outing to a planet where everything was under the surface of the ocean. Instead, they'd found too many very old skeletons to feel comfortable and then, somehow, it'd gone all dark. Before she could reach for The Doctor's hand, she was somewhere else completely. She'd never been claustrophobic before, but under the ocean in the pitch black? That did it. As she'd walked trying to find him, she'd accidentally tripped some sort of trap and was now hanging by one ankle.

The silence is eerie, and she closes her eyes, trying to hear him, to recognize his footsteps. Nothing else has come for her, so it seems the planet must be dead, not inhabited. Or at least she's telling herself instead of being terrified. When she begins to hear creaking, she tries to twirl her body around. "Doctor?" she whispers, but then she hears it again, and water drips on her head.

"Oh no. Oh, no," she breathes out, swinging her body upward, trying to grab at her ankle while screaming now, loudly as she can for The Doctor. The way her body is tugging at the trap seems to make the dripping worse, so she stops, heart slamming in her chest.

"Doctor!"

It seems that something in the ocean itself is hunting them. In a flash, before he could even react, he was separated quite suddenly from Clara. He's been sucked down a long tunnel, falling with a loud thump into another tunnel that's equally pitch black. Lucky for him, at least, he can see in the dark with his sonic screwdriver, but he's just as lost.

"Clara!" He calls to her, hoping she might be able to hear him. He whips around to his left and right, trying to decide where to go. But then she calls for him and though he can't hear her voice, he hears a muffled sound and knows it must be her.

"Clara!" He calls again, louder, hoping she might be able to hear...something, at least, to know he's coming.

She thinks she hears him; but there's a louder crack and the drip turns into a steady stream of water. Clara sputters, and then, it's the pale green dot of light she sees.

"Doctor! Doctor, I'm here, hurry, it's cracking, I'm stuck!"

Clara's being still other than wiping at her face, trying to keep her eyes clear. As she slowly twists, she hears a louder crack. "Is something hitting us? Doctor!"

Maybe something did come for her, after all.

He's running as fast as he can now because he can hear the cracking, too. "Clara!" He calls to her again, both of his hearts pounding in fear himself. He doesn't know what's out there - a rare thing for him - and he just needs to get to her.

When he does finally make it to her, he immediately aims his screwdriver upwards to slice through the cords wrapped around her ankles, reaching out to catch her right away. He can barely see, but he can feel her, at least. Setting her on the ground, he reaches for her hand right away, and suddenly the ceiling above them starts to give way and he knows they need to make it back to the other tunnel if they can.

"Run, Clara!" He aims his sonic screwdriver straight ahead to give them some light, but it's still a challenge to see, not sure what lies up ahead.

Holding tight to his hand, Clara runs with him. As she does, she looks out of the window into the sea and squints, and then her eyes widen as she nearly shoves at his back.

"Teeth! Lots and lots of teeth, go!" It looked, for a moment, as though the mouth were as wide as the tunnel they were in. But that wouldn't be possible. It had to be a trick of the lighting, it couldn't be. And then she sees it wasn't. It's lots and lots of angry sea demons, at least that's what she's going to call them as the lights blink on to make them glaringly and alarmingly obvious targets.

"Where's the TARDIS?!" Clara yells, unable to see the creatures anymore with the lights on.

They've gotten so turned around that he can't even remember where he parked the TARDIS, but he'll pretend otherwise for Clara's sake.

"Oh, just around here, come on!" He tugs her harder, taking a left, looking up and around and running faster when he sees a giant mouth coming towards them again. It bashes into the tunnel and more water starts to leak in, flooding the tunnel quickly up to their knees.

"Clara, faster!" He yells; as though they can run any faster in knee-deep water.

It makes her shout, but then, blessedly, she does see the TARDIS ahead, the white light like a beacon. There's another large pound, and Clara slips with a yell, falling backward into the water. Struggling up, she's coughing but now, basically swimming and turned around. By the time she's going in the right direction again, she can't even touch the bottom anymore.

Clara catches up to The Doctor, clinging to the phone box handle. "I think we've got about one good whack left so, anytime now with the door," she says as she looks over her shoulder.

The Doctor is likewise not really even on his feet now, but he manages to just barely reach out and touch the TARDIS doors.

"Come on...come on, old girl," he begs her, trying to hoist himself up. He reaches behind to grab Clara by the shirt, and as the TARDIS doors open of their own volition, the two of them are swept in, gushing water and all. There's no time to lose, and The Doctor runs back to the doors, trying to seal them shut and hold back the water.

"Clara! I need your help!"

In the wave of water, Clara hits her head on the console, dazed and blinking as she holds onto her head for a moment. But she hears The Doctor and begins pushing her way forward, pushing the doors back against the water. Slowly, they seem to make progress together, and soon, the doors seem to slam shut with enough force to knock Clara back into the water that's still in the TARDIS.

Pushing her way back up, she coughs, holding onto the railing. "Can you get rid of the water?"

"Eventually, but-" He swims back to the console as quickly as he can, pulling himself upright so he can push a few buttons and pull a few levers. "Out of here. Quick as we can."

For the first time in a long time, he's honestly worried about the integrity of the TARDIS itself. Just a few seconds later, they've landed somewhere else and The Doctor quickly looks on the monitor just to make sure. It's a desert somewhere, and that's all he needs to know before he pushes a button to open the TARDIS doors, letting all the water out at last.

"Clara," he looks over at her now, finally focusing on her as he grazes her temple with his thumb. "Are you hurt?"

"Just a bump," she says, a little dazed as she closes her eyes for a minute and opens them again. "I'll be alright now that the floor is steady."

There's no blood, at least, and she touches her forehead gingerly. "Only bruised, is all."

He strokes her forehead for a moment, examining her eyes closely for any signs of a brain injury. Then he waves the sonic screwdriver in front of her, just to be sure.

"It's my very educated opinion that you are..." He leans in, kisses her forehead. "Going to live."

She's tired from all of the swimming, and smiles just a little at the examination and kiss.

"Diagnosis positive, what the hell was that?" She's serious for a minute before her eyes widen and she leans in. "Did you see the size of the teeth? Huge."

"Gargantuan," he leans in even more, grinning a little. "Terrifying, in fact. Wasn't it wonderful?" He can't help himself, enjoying the thrill of that, though admittedly, it had him worried there for a minute.

"I haven't been that proper scared in a long time," she says, hands on her hips as she exhales. "Think I'd better pick where we go for a while," Clara decides before looking at the console warily.

"If she'll let me."

"You just need to be nicer to her, that's all. Apologize, make nice, stroke her ego, stroke her console, in fact. She likes that," he smiles, doing just that now. The TARDIS, in response, lights up a little. "Oh, there you go. My sexy girl."

Then he looks at Clara, nodding a little. "Come on then. Give her a little love."

Clara makes a face at him, then lightly pats the console. "Hello, you...sexy...blue thing, you," she manages. "Why don't we go somewhere nice and safe, yeah? Somewhere dry and above ground, even."

She's trying, and she pauses before adding. "Please?"

"Oh, see, that's a good effort, she can't be mad at that. Eh, girl?" He asks fondly, stroking her again.

Shortly thereafter, everything lights up and they're spinning away to the next place, landing somewhere with an abrupt thud.

Managing to hold on, she pats the TARDIS again lightly. "We'll work on the landings. Bit rough, love."

Picking at her soggy clothes, she gestures toward the hallway. "Going to change. And after this, home, otherwise you'll be buying me a TARDIS wardrobe," she calls over her shoulder as she heads toward the room she's claimed as her own while she travels with him.

"Home? Is it time already?" They do this all the time, of course, and it's become comfortable so he's only teasing.

The Doctor's clothes are soaking, too, though, so he begins to change right there in the console room.

She hears his question and answers when she returns, promptly turning her back when she realizes he's mid-change.

"It wouldn't have been, if our underwater adventure hadn't ended in our best impression of a wave pool. That makes it time, but don't worry. It's summer break, I can come back straight away," she says with a grin, heading to the doors to see where they've landed.

"It's sunny. I'll take sunny."

"I hope it's not boring," he remarks to himself, getting his bowtie situated.

He moves to the door, poking his head out. "Ah! Not bad, not at all. That's Yavin V out there. A trading outpost, with all sorts coming and going. Let's go," he urges, tugging on her hand.

"Yavin V, the trading outpost," she says as she follows him quickly out of the TARDIS and looks around.

"What sorts of things do people trade here? Food, homewares, a bit of everything?"

"Body parts, tools," he supplies casually, letting go of her hand and walking along ahead, as though he's just said the most normal thing in the universe.

"Body parts? As in organs and legs and stuff?" Claire quickly falls back and takes his hand again, staying close.

Jumping Right In

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject