To The Moon and Back [A Doctor Who fanfiction]

Shush

I walked back out to the console room, wearing a plush bathrobe and towel drying my hair as I walked. "How was your shower?" The Doctor asked, turning to look at me as I walked in. "It was great." I said, coming over to stand by him by the console, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Hey, can we stop by my house so I can pick up a few things?" I asked. "Sure," He responded, adjusting a few dials and flipping a lever, and soon the TARDIS materialized in my room. I stepped out, grabbing a bag out of my closet and tossing clothes in it, walking across the hallway to the bathroom to get my toiletries.

"Okey dokey, I'm set." I said, walking back into the TARDIS a couple minutes later and giving him a thumbs up. When he didn't respond I tossed my bag by the stairs and walked over to stand behind him, wrapping my arms around his midsection. "Doctor," I said, drawing it out.

When he still didn't respond I poked my head under his outstretched arm to look him in the face. "Doctor, what's up?" I asked. He shushed me. "Excuse me?" I asked, surprised. He shushed me again. "And what exactly do you think," I began but he covered my mouth with his hand, cutting me off.

"Listen," He said, removing his hand from my mouth. "What do you hear?" He asked after a couple seconds. I listened for a second before responding. "Nothing," I said matter-of-factly. "Exactly," The Doctor said, slowly pulling out his sonic screwdriver. "So what happened to the engines?" It slowly dawned on me what the problem was. "Oh," I said softly.

He scanned the console before checking the side of his screwdriver. "They're still running," He said, putting his screwdriver back in his jacket pocket. "So why aren't they making any noise?"

I pulled the bathrobe tighter around me and followed the Doctor downstairs. He scanned the machinery below the console and checked the side of his screwdriver again.

"Somebody has tampered with the engines." He said, messing with a few wires. "But they didn't do anything serious. All they did was silence them." He wrinkled his forehead in confusion and let the wires go, and they swung back to their usual hanging place. "Who could've done that?" I asked, rubbing my arms with my hands.

The Doctor shook his head and turned to look at me, his eyes settling on something behind me. "Bella, walk towards me and look behind you." He said, his eyes unmoving. I looked over my shoulder too see a tall, humanoid figure wearing an old suit standing behind me, with abnormally long fingers, a large head, and rubbery skin.

"What is that?" I screamed, running to stand behind the Doctor. "I'll tell you about them in a minute. Don't look away from it." He responded, his voice steady. "But it's scaring me." I said, my breath quickening. The creature made a low chirping noise and I grabbed the Doctor's arm.

He pulled a pen out of his jacket pocket and rolled up his jacket sleeve. He began writing on his arm with the pen, keeping his eyes on the creature. "What're you doing?" I asked. "As soon as you look away from it, you'll forget you ever saw it." He explained, still writing on his arm. "I'm leaving a note to myself so I'll still know they're here."

He reached over and grabbed my arm, putting a tally mark on my wrist with the pen. "Okay, Bella, I'm going to count down from three," The Doctor said, slipping his hand into mine. "When I say one, you look away. Okay?" "But I'll forget I saw it!" I said nervously. "I know," He responded, putting the pen back in his pocket. "But it's going to be okay."

The creature tilted its head slightly and chirped again. "Three, two," The Doctor began counting down and I swallowed. "One." He said, turning his head suddenly and looking at me, the fear vanishing from his eyes, being replaced by confusion.

"What just happened?" He asked me, looking around. "I don't know," I said, rubbing my head. He looked down at his arm and saw the writing on it, his face contorting with concern. "They're back." He read out loud. "Then there's just a tally mark." "Yeah, I've got one too." I said, looking at my wrist.

A look of realization appeared on the Doctor's face and he straightened his mouth into a line. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pen, handing it to me. "Stay here, if you see anything, draw another tally on your arm. I'll be right back." He turned and started walking back upstairs. "Doctor, what do you mean 'if I see anything'?" I asked, but he kept walking upstairs.

I groaned and sat down by the mess of wires under the console and listened to the Doctor's footsteps through the grate floor as he walked around upstairs.

He came back down in a couple minutes, carrying two metal disks in his hand. "Sorry for the long wait," He said, handing me a disc. "What do you mean? You were only gone for a couple minutes." I said, looking at him, confused. His face darkened and he shook his head.

"How many tally marks are on your wrist?" He asked, pointing at my hand. "Just the one," I started, looking down at my wrist. I was shocked to see two more tally marks neatly drawn next to the first one. I stood up, looking at him wide-eyed.

"I don't remember putting those there." I said nervously. "Of course you don't." He replied, gesturing to the disc in my hand. "Put that over your eye." He said. I placed the disc over my eye and it suctioned to the skin around it painlessly. "It took me a while to replicate the technology, but it should work." He said, placing his disc over his eye.

Suddenly, all of the memories of the creatures I have seen came rushing back into my head. "Whoa!" I said, surprised. "What just happened?"

"It's the Silence, they're the creatures we keep seeing. The second you look away from them you forget you ever saw them. These eye patches prevent that from happening." He explained. "The tallies have marked how many you've seen so far." I looked back at my wrist at the three tally marks. "So I've seen three different Silences so far?" I asked. "Yes, or it could've been the same one three times." He responded.

"But, we have a problem." He continued, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "They're mortal just like humans so we can kill them with any weapon at all." "That's great! Let's hit the armory and shoot these creeps down." I said optimistically.

"The TARDIS doesn't have an armory." The Doctor said, looking at his feet. "Well where do you keep all your weapons?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at him. "I don't have any weapons." He replied, shuffling his feet awkwardly. "What? Why?" I asked, slightly angry but mostly confused. "I'm against them! I don't like keeping them around!" He said, looking at me and throwing his hands up in the air.

I heard a low chirping sound behind me and turned to see a Silence a few feet behind me. I jumped back and some skin on its face moved to reveal a gaping hole where it's mouth should be. It shrieked and raised its arms in my direction slowly. Suddenly, lightning crackled at it's fingertips and the Doctor grabbed me, yanking me back just in time to avoid a huge lightning strike fly passed me, frying part of the clump of wires behind me.

"Yeah, I can see how that could be a problem now." I said, backing further away from the Silence. "Run!" The Doctor shouted, and we took off down the hallway.