belle, doctor who

four

Fires of Pompeii

The Doctor, Belle, and Donna run back to where the TARDIS should've been. It's gone.

"You're kidding. You're not telling me the TARDIS has gone," Donna says.

"Okay," the Doctor says, starting to panic. Belle pulls on his arm.

"Remember our deal, Doctor," she glares at him. He glared back.

"Where is it then?" Donna asks after nudging Belle to stop her from fighting him.

"You told me not to tell you," the Doctor says.

"Oi. Don't get clever in Latin," Donna snaps back.

"Hold on," he tells Donna and Belle. Belle realizes she's still hanging on his arm. She lets go. He goes to the fruit seller.

"Excuse me. Excuse me," he says, "There was a box. Big blue box. Big blue wooden box, just over there. Where's it gone?"

"Sold it, didn't I?" The man replies. Belle rolls her eyes.

"But it wasn't yours to sell," the Doctor says, getting angry.

"It was on my patch, weren't it? I got fifteen sesterces for it. Lovely jubbly."

"Who'd you sell it to?"

"Old Caecilius. Look, if you want to argue, why don't you take it out with him? He's on Foss Street. Big villa. Can't miss it."

"Thanks."

The Doctor leaves and returns to the two women. "What'd he buy a big blue wooden box for?"

•••

Donna and Belle had gone in a different direction than the Doctor, and he comes back, interrupting Belle telling Donna about her brother, Kaden and her friend Maverick who lived with them.

"I was talking!" Belle shouted at the Doctor as he had put hands on Donna's shoulders.

"You can shut up now and talk later!" He shouts back.

"Oi!" Donna shouts. "What do you want, Doctor?"

"I've got it!" He says, "Foss Street's this way."

Donna and Belle look at each other, then back at the alien. "No. Well, I found this big sort of amphitheatre thing. We can start there. We can gather everyone together. Maybe they've got a great big bell or something we could ring. Have they invented bells yet?"

"What do you want a bell for?" the Doctor asks, confused.

"To warn everyone. Start the evacuation. What time does Vesuvius erupt? When's it due?"

"It's 79AD, twenty third of August, which makes volcano day tomorrow."

"Plenty of time. We could get everyone out easy. Right, Belle?"

Belle looks down. They shouldn't try to save everyone during a fixed point in time. Everything would've been different if they DID save them.

"Yeah, except we're not going to," the Doctor says. Donna looks at Belle.

"I... hate to say this, but I think he's right," she says, an odd feeling in her stomach. Donna squints her eyes at her.

"We'll talk later," she says, fingers pointing to both of their eyes.

"But that's what you do. You're the Doctor. You save people," Donna says, turning to the Doctor.

"Not this time. Pompeii is a fixed point in history. What happens, happens. There is no stopping it."

"It would be very different if we saved those many people," Belle comments. She sees the Doctor lighten up a little.

"Says who?"

"Says me. And Isabelle."

He looks to Belle to see if she would correct him. She didn't, but he was on his way from calling her "Belle" rather than "Isabelle."

"What, and you're in charge?" Donna asks. "And now Belle's siding with you?"

"Tardis, Time Lord, yeah."

"Donna, human, no. I don't need your permission. I'll tell them myself," she spats. Belle stops her.

"Human, Belle, no! You can't go tell them."

"She's right. You stand in the marketplace announcing the end of the world, they'll just think you're a mad old soothsayer. Now, come on. Tardis. We are getting out of here."

"Soothsayer?" Belle repeats.

"Well, I might just have something to say about that, Spaceman. Belle."

The Doctor is already down the alleyway as he says, "Oh, I bet you will!"

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Hi! Thanks for all the supper y'all have been giving me for this book so far. If you're waiting for more chapters, go check out my other book! It's also a Doctor Who book. It's called "Infinite Friends"!

& thanks so much for putting this story on your Doctor Who lists. It means a lot!!

<3 Liv