Doctor Who: The Time of the Companions: Book 3 (Doctor Who: The Companions' Adventure)

by Cour M.

  “I know. You showed that often, but I realized that I might not have acknowledged that you did, and that I appreciated it.”

  “I never told you. ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ may be your best work, but there is something about your ‘Jupiter Symphony’ that made me jealous. I suppose, it hurt my pride, a bit.”

  “There is no need to be jealous of me. Your music is very good.”

  Salieri chuckled sadly.

  “We musicians shall always be jealous of each other.”

  “Yes, I suppose we will,” Mozart admitted. “But I need you to know this, now more than ever, that I did appreciate your music.”

  Salieri shrugged.

  “Well, of course I know that,” Salieri replied, dismissive. “Always.”

  Mozart grabbed Salieri’s hand, insistent.

  “Mozart?” Salieri inquired, a little perturbed, “Are you well?”

  Mozart opened his mouth and closed it. Looking into Salieri’s eyes, he wanted to tell him so much. He now knew what the future would hold for them, and what death would offer them both. He wanted to spare Salieri the years of woe and agony, of blame and ridicule. But now was not the time for the truth. He was not allowed to tell it and disrupt the timelines in such a way. Even without being told, he understood how catastrophic it would be. How helpless he felt!

  “I just need you to know,” Mozart insisted, “no matter what happens in the future, no matter the circumstances, I will always admire your music. And I shall remember all of it.”

  Salieri chuckled, insecure.

  “Oh Wolfgang, thank you.”

  “You are most welcome.”

  Both men sat for a time, speaking about innocent trivialities, and then it came time to leave. Salieri left his contemporary’s room, went down the steps and saw Constanze sitting in the parlor.

  “Signor Salieri,” she greeted, standing up.

  “Signora Mozart,” Salieri bowed his head.

  “I trust you and my husband had a delightful meeting.”

  “We did,” Salieri smiled, “we spoke cheerful nonsense. Signora?”

  “Yes?”

  “I think he has given up hope. I think he knows he is going to die.”

  “You think so?”

  “I lied to him. I know he is. And so does he. I had a friend who was sick like him once. I know what it means.”

  Constanze sat down, dejected.

  “I am so sorry,” Salieri apologized, “I do not wish to burden you with such news. I just simply wish for you to prepare yourself. In the way that I was not prepared when my friend left.”

  “What will become of us if I lose him?” She asked the air.

  “You have friends, I am sure, and his music will live on.”

  “No, it won’t.”

  “Yes, it will,” Salieri assured her. “There are few times that I can say this, but I can now. Some musicians can stand the test of time. I believe him and I can achieve that.”

  “You will, for you are wealthy. People shall love you forever.”

  “May that be so. But he has talent. Trust in that, Signora. For your sake, may his name stand the test of time.”

  Salieri bowed his head and left their home, while Mozart sighed out, feeling a little less guilty. Now he could die in peace. Now he could die knowing he did everything in his power to save the life he would destroy for centuries.

  The Timeline of the Doctor

  Hello, this section takes place at the end of series 7 finale, ‘The Name of the Doctor’. When Clara jumped into the Doctor’s timeline after the Great Intelligence does, she eventually fell at the bottom and then she saw all of the Doctor’s faces. That was the moment when she realized that Governor John Smith and Eleven were the same person. Yet as she came in contact with the faces, she came in contact with Nine and they exchanged a few words. At first I didn’t write this segment, because I simply didn’t know how to write it, and even now, I know that I may not have gotten the best wording. But I figured that I would write down my ideas anyway. Yet by this point, I am sure that you have noticed that series 7 is one that I referenced a lot in this trilogy. It must appear as strange to you, because I know that much of the Whovian fanbase regards series 7 as not the best point in New Who. I am quite strange, because I liked quite a lot of the episodes in that series, but I suppose that it could be because when you’re a writer, it’s more fun to have a series every now and again that makes you ask questions and develop theories when it’s over. Basically, series 7 has some empty spaces in it where there is some mystery. After all, how did the Doctor find Clara when she was lost in his timeline? And how did they get out? While these mysteries can vex others, they delight me, because it gives me the chance to do something we fans love to do: theorize. When everything is spelled out always, it doesn’t give you room to be creative. Of course it’s usually good that everything is spelled out. Usually I like that too. But in series 7 case, I liked that I ended I curious about things, with there being gaps of mystery here and there. So here is Clara as she has reached the end of the Doctor’s timeline.

  Penitent and hopeless, Clara wept as she was at the bottom of the Doctor’s time stream. She had sacrificed everything for the Doctor, and had done everything to be brave, but now her courage had reached the breaking point. Her desire to be perfect had quite come to an end. A part of her was happy to have been selfless and brave, but now she had regretted it—now she was properly scared. So, she cried out what her first instinct was.

  “Doctor!” She looked around and there was no one. “Doctor.”

  But he still didn’t come. And she then knew that she was alone, for he never would have kept her waiting for that long.

  “Please!” She cried, kneeling on the ground, “Please. I don’t know where I am! I don’t know where I am!”

  A vain thing it was to say! No help would come. She had known it all along.

  “Clara.”

  Clara’s head shot up as she heard Eleven’s voice. It was the Doctor, and he had come for her.

  “You can hear me,” he continued, “I know that you can.”

  “I can’t see you,” Clara stressed.

  “I’m everywhere. You’re inside my time stream. Everything there is me.”

  Clara felt a rush as someone moved past her. It was the Doctor… but not her Doctor. No, it was an older one. It was the first Doctor. And it gave her hope.

  “I can see you,” Clara magnified, and then another Doctor ran past her, then so did Five. “You’re different faces, are here.”

  Suddenly, a figure rushed past her with a leather jacket and fierce gaze. She knew that gaze, and that face.

  “Those are my ghosts, every good day, every bad day.”

  Yet she was distracted as there was a scream, and she cried out to the leather jacket-wearing man.

  “Governor! John Smith!”

  Soon, Nine stopped in his tracks.

  “John Smith!” Clara cried, getting up, “what are you doing here?”

  Slowly Nine turned around and smiled sheepishly at her.

  “Hello, Clara,” Nine voiced, “we meet again.”

  

  “But that’s impossible,” Clara hissed, “this is the Doctor’s time stream. So how could you be…”

  “Think about it, Clara,” Nine said, taking a step forward. “You know the answer.”

  Clara closed her mouth as she arrived at the revelation. Unbelievable! It couldn’t be—but it could. It was.

  “You aren’t…” she sighed.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “You were him. All that time. You were him?”

  “Yes.”

  “All that time, when we ran together,” Clara added, amazed, “when we fought together, and you were the Doctor all the time. You were my Doctor.”

  “Yes, I was,” Nine replied gently.

  “I thought you had rejected me because you didn’t need me,” Clara cried, “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

  “Because I knew that
it was not what you needed. What I needed.”

  “You were my friend!” Clara cried.

  “You looked on us as friends?”

  “Of course I did.”

  “Clara Oswald,” Nine acknowledged, “all that you gave for me… and now look where you are. At the end of all these things.”

  Clara rushed to him and Nine held her in a tight embrace.

  “You did all this for me,” Nine laughed sadly.

  “You were worth it.”

  “Thank you. And you’re wrong.”

  “What?”

  “You do know where you are,” Nine assured her, “you’re where I’m coming after you. You just heard me call you. Any moment now, I will find you.”

  “I’m in my own time stream,” Eleven’s voice boomed, “it’s collapsing onto itself.”

  “So get out then,” Clara cried, both to Eleven and to Nine.

  “Not until I got you,” Nine promised.

  “Not until I got you,” Eleven echoed.

  “I don’t even know who I am,” Clara gave into despair, looking at Nine, “you were right. I lost a part of myself. I don’t even know who I am.”

  “You’re my impossible girl,” Eleven’s voice said.

  “He will find you,” Nine assured her, “I will find you.”

  “But how?” Clara asked.

  “He will,” Nine promised.

  “How? I did this all for you. You cannot find me.”

  “Yes, I can,” Nine promised, “he will find you. I will summon him.”

  “How can you?”

  The Doctor removed the screwdriver from his pocket.

  “Because if there is one thing that can summon a sonic screwdriver… it’s an older version of itself.”

  Nine turned on his sonic and then raised it up. When he did, he felt Eleven’s sonic connect to it as Eleven was falling through the different strands in the time stream. Now Eleven was not wandering aimlessly, but had a direction. And he was following it.

  “Think of it as a beacon of light,” Nine assured her as the light of the sonic showed the brightest it ever did. “I’ve summoned him.”

  “He’s following your signal?” Clara asked.

  “Yes, and now he will find you. Because I did.”

  Overjoyed, Clara hugged him.

  “Governor,” she cried, “you brought the Doctor with you. And you were my Doctor all along.”

  “And you saved me once again,” Nine smiled. “I’m sorry that I could not tell you.”

  Nine released her and then walked away from her, backwards.

  “I’m sending you a message,” Clara heard Eleven say. “Not from my past, but from yours. Look up, Clara.”

  From above, a leaf appeared and blew down to Clara. She caught it and then looked at Nine.

  “I feel it,” Nine informed her, “He’s close now. Any moment, the Doctor’s coming.”

  “You are the Doctor.”

  “Yeah,” Nine laughed sadly, “and I always will be.”

  “You blew into this world on a leaf,” Eleven said once more, “Hold tight. It’ll take you home.”

  Clara held fast to the leaf and took one last look at Nine.

  “You both are the best in me,” Clara told him.

  “Then imagine what you are to us,” Nine smiled, then he turned and ran behind a hill, disappearing. He felt his future self arrive into that part of the timeline—and then he heard Eleven’s footsteps

  “Clara, Clara, come on!” Eleven cried. Nine looked around the corner and saw Eleven appear as the sonic screwdriver stopped blinking.

  So, Nine thought, that is what I look like. Eleven found Clara at last.

  “Come on, to me now!” Eleven bellowed, stretching his arms out to Clara. Nine warmed, happy that Eleven was showing what she meant to him. “You can do it, I know you can.”

  Clara turned around, emotion filling her eyes, and marveled at seeing Eleven arrive.

  “How?” Clara asked.

  “Because it’s impossible, and you’re my impossible girl,” Eleven stressed, “how many times have you saved me Clara? Just this once, just for the hell of it, let me save you. You have to trust me, I’m real, Clara. Just one more step.”

  Clara limped toward him, they fell into each other’s embrace and Eleven kissed her on her head passionately.

  “Well done, lad,” Nine acknowledged, about himself, “Do not be afraid to feel. No more fear!”

  Nine thought of his time with Rose, and his future with Martha, Donna, Amy and Rory. How many times he should have showed Rose all the familial affection he had for her—how many times Ten should have showed much adoration of Martha—how he reached perfection with Donna, but it was with Eleven finally that he saw the journey they all went through, how far they had come—how beautiful it was to feel, how there was nothing to fear from that feeling… and the bonds that came from not being afraid to embrace their love for those who travelled with them. When he turned back around, Eleven was leaving, carrying Clara away.

  Clara was saved.

  Nine breathed out, relieved. He turned around and walked away.

  “Enough,” Nine whispered, content. “Enough, now.”

  Nine faded away, being released back into the time stream.

  What Did I Do?

  In this section, I was exploring what I wondered what some companions felt when they first met the Doctor and he had just left them. The Doctor sometimes has this knack of meeting his companions, walking away from them, and then coming back, and then there is a grace period where they are left wondering where he is. Yet this is all based off my own conjectures of their emotions and just for fun. The only companion that I don’t write about is Rose, because I do not feel that the Doctor ever really left Rose. Yes, when they met, he saved her life and left, but it had been so short a break between that and when they saw each other again, that I felt that they remained connected. I think Rose and the Doctor always had a pretty stable and constant relationship where one never felt forsaken by the other and remained close.

  The First Leaving – Mickey Smith

  At the End of ‘Rose’:

  Mickey, terrified by all that occurred, crawled toward Rose and grabbed her legs. Between the pit of fire, the mannequins coming to life and now the Doctor threatening to take Rose from him, Mickey was terrified beyond words. He never meant to be such a coward! But this was all so new to him and he simply did not know what to do. He had been scared, and the Doctor had been on the ground when he told Rose to leave him. He had thought that the Doctor was dead—and he also didn’t even know that the Doctor was wholeheartedly a positive force rather than a negative. A part of him had wondered if it had been a trick the whole while.

  But the Doctor had just invited Rose to travel with him, to see space and Rose had just told him that she didn’t want to. Especially since she had to look after him, so Mickey was secretly overjoyed. Now the Doctor was turning to go back into his machine thing! But wait, he began to turn back and the Doctor looked at Rose again.

  “And through time,” he added, implying that he could also travel there as well. Mickey was panicked, but surely Rose would never leave him! After all, she had just said that she wouldn’t. Yes, he had been scared, but he only needed time. For this was all so new to him. Then Mickey looked up at Rose and something in her face had changed.

  “Thanks,” Rose said to him.

  “For what?” Mickey asked, confused of what she was speaking about.

  “Exactly!”

  Rose then pushed Mickey off her, he fell on the ground, and hit his shoulder against the street. He looked up to see Rose running away from him and toward the Doctor. She was leaving him! She was leaving Mickey behind!

  Rose disappeared into the machine, and as the door closed, Mickey cried out.

  “Rose!”

  Then before him, the blue box disappeared. Right in front of his very eyes. And Rose was gone.

  “But…” Mickey sighed out, positively frightened.
“No, Rose would not leave me! She wouldn’t abandon me!”

  He stood up and rushed to the place where the TARDIS had disappeared.

  “No, this is not funny!” Mickey roared, “Rose, I know that you must be joking! Come on, where are you? Where are you?”

  And then it occurred to him. This was not a joke. Rose would not have let a joke go so far. She would not have kept him waiting.

  She really was gone.

  She had left.

  And he was alone.

  “I was just scared!” Mickey cried, “and I didn’t mean it! It was just an accident. I was just trying to protect us. I was just scared!”

  But he was screaming to the air. Rose and the Doctor did not come back.

  How painful it was—the sting of being forsaken.

  “I’m only human,” Mickey cried. “Just human.”

  How cruel the world was to those who were scared for a moment. It’s easy to play a hero when you’ve had time to learn how to be one. But Mickey felt that he wasn’t given the time. He had not even known what was going on. Yet cowardice was a crime in the eyes of the world, be you male or female. And it hurt.

  Collapsing on the ground, Mickey roared out.

  “What did I do? They will not forgive me! What did I do?”

  The Second Leaving – Jack Harkness

  At the End of ‘Parting of the Ways’.

  Within an instant, Jack had woken up.

  No, that couldn’t be!

  He had died! No, he distinctly recalled that he had died. And it had been most painful. Yet he was awake, alive, and strong. As if nothing could have happened to him before. Yet as he woke, he looked around him, recalled that they must’ve still been at the mercy of the Daleks, therefore he had to be careful.

  “Doctor!” Jack cried, rushing through the ship, “Rose! Doctor! Rose!”

  He ran and kept running, till he reached the room where the TARDIS was. He saw the swish of the black coat that the Doctor wore, and the door closed behind him.

  “Doctor!” Jack cried, and he ran to the TARDIS, but before he could even reach it, it had disappeared.