Mad Woman ➳ Doctor Who

Prologue: The Doctor and his Nemesis

I stand across from the Doctor in his grimy new Tardis with a scowl plastered over my face. My eyes are cold, empty. Any affection I once felt for the man is long gone. Never to return. Replaced with red hot fury and hatred. I hate him. I hate him.

Hatred isn't a strong enough word to describe the level of dislike I feel for the Doctor. Resentment doesn't even cut it close. I don't know for certain there is a word that could describe my anger. There's too much of it.

He doesn't know what to say. I'm glad. I don't want to hear his voice. I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to travel with him. But here we are, the last of the Time Lords. Just us two. I am completely and utterly alone with this man. And it's entirely his fault. How could he?

Why would he do this to me? I was so excited to see him again after centuries apart. My best friend. I loved him. But I don't recognise the person standing across from me, not because he regenerated, but because of the rage in his eyes. He used to be kind. Like me. The Time War changed him. Changed me.

I wish he left me there. I wish he let me perish with them. I wish he left me to burn. I wish I wasn't stuck here with him.

He opens his mouth to say something. My name. My old name. I couldn't bear to keep it anymore. I snap at him, enraged. How dare he even speak to me right now? "Don't call me that! That is not my name anymore!"

"What would you prefer I call you?" The Doctor says as if he is being courteous and I want to punch him in the face. What do I want him to call me? I don't want him to call me anything. I don't want to know him anymore.

"I don't know," I admit. He steps towards me, and I reel back, flinching away from him. His presence is painful. I don't want him near me. "Don't come near me."

"It's me!"

"No, it's not," I shake my head, looking down at the floor. "I don't know who you are, but my Doctor, my best friend, he would never do this!"

"I didn't have a choice!"

"You always have choices." I shake my head. "We..." but there is no we anymore. There's no us. There's me, and there's him. "You could've done something else. Anything else!"

"You don't understand-"

"I understand! Don't you dare insinuate that I do not understand." my nostrils flare as I step forward, my finger jabbing painfully into his chest as I berate him. "Doctor, I understand more than you could ever imagine. I'm much smarter than you. I always have been and I always will be. The day you're smarter than me will be the day I fucking die!"

"Aphrodite-"

"Stop it," I hold my hand up, cutting him off. "I said don't call me that."

My chosen name, Aphrodite. I couldn't go by that anymore. I was so far from my namesake. A goddess from human mythology, it's ancient now to the humans. Just a story. When I learned about it, it was widely believed to be true. I always loved learning about other planets, a trait I shared with the Doctor. Before he ran away. Before he abandoned me, should I say, we would spend our days researching everything there was to find about other planets. We both adored Earth. Their stories were always so interesting, the people so complicated. Bigger on the inside, I used to say. It was a Time Lord joke... now it's just a me joke... because there's no Time Lord's left to say it. Just me and him.

I used to feel connected to Aphrodite. The goddess of love and beauty and passion. I even used to look like some paintings of her. Delicate and soft, with rosy cheeks. Beautiful, even. I could have any man I ever wanted, and I did. I had a husband too, and children. They were slaughtered right at the start of the Time War. Sometimes it feels like it was yesterday, and other days it feels like it was such a long time ago. It feels like I was a different person. Technically, I was. This regeneration is so different from any of my other ones.

My fiery red hair is an extension of the never ending rage I feel. I haven't felt calm since I regenerated into this. My body is skinny, my bones stick out harshly. I used to like being curvy. My eyebrows are bold and they're always drawn together. I don't think this face has ever smiled. I don't know how to smile. I don't want to smile.

I'm so angry these days. Sometimes I feel like a Dalek. An empty fucking shell filled with nothing but rage and hate.

I want to die. I want to kill us both, right here, right now. Death would be a relief. No more anger. No more pain. But I look over at him, where he's standing like a wounded puppy. Where he's standing with his head bowed, a regretful look on his face and I don't want to die anymore. Not yet. I want to witness his downfall. I want to see him spiral. I want him to know that he will never, ever be forgiven. Ever. I will never forgive him for what he has done. I will be his enemy until the day I die. My last words will only confirm my hatred for him. On my deathbed, I will pull him in close and I will tell him that I hate him, and that I don't forgive him. I will make him live in regret for the rest of his existence. Every regeneration he has will feel my hatred.

And then I decide on my new name. Nemesis. I will be the goddess of revenge. I will serve him retribution for his sins. I will make myself known through history as his Nemesis. We won't be the Doctor and Aphrodite anymore.

From now on, people will know us as the Doctor and his Nemesis.