Beware the Calm

Hell Bent

Lush grasses sprinkled with flowers of all colours and shapes graced the hilly meadow in the clearing at the edge of the great forest. The snow that had covered it throughout the winter months was all but gone now with only a few small stubborn patches left, though they were already succumbing to the spring rays of sunshine that shone down over the area, giving everything a slightly golden hue.

Beyond the meadow's borders off in the distance, shining waterfalls spilled into fast flowing river, and petals from a nearby cherry blossom floated by on the warm breeze. Puffy clouds drifted across the shining blue sky above and it had become a place full of life and full of love, full of warmth and full of softness, after a harsh, cold and bitter winter.

Clara would have loved this place, the Doctor thought to himself sadly as he stood in the doorway of the TARDIS, leaning against the frame and surveying the surroundings dejectedly. Under normal circumstances, he'd have enjoyed this place too. It was very beautiful, he had to admit. But without the infectious enthusiasm of a certain bubbly young woman exclaiming and reveling in the beauty of it all as she twirled about on the spot, pointing out the various sights and wonders of this natural heaven, he just couldn't find the will to enjoy it by himself. Travelling alone was no fun. It never had been. That was why he always took his friends along with him. But it was too soon for that, and he simply couldn't bring himself to find anyone else.

Not yet.

Not when the pain was still too fresh and raw, the hurt still too much to bare.

But he'd keep on, just as he'd always done. Running away from his hurt and his pain. He'd run away from Gallifrey when they'd refused to let him use the time extraction machines to save Clara, and he'd keep running until it didn't hurt any more, just like he always did. To hell with the Time Lords and their stupid rules. To hell with the raven that had stolen his best friend from him. To hell with it all!

After he'd stolen another TARDIS and returned to London, to his beloved time machine, he'd sent the stolen TARDIS on a one way trip back to Gallifrey, hopped in his own and headed for the stars. And now, for whatever reason when he'd allowed her to pick the destination for him as a distraction for his tired, grief-stricken mind, she'd chosen to come here, to the planet Elysium, in the Darkrose Peninsula, July 12th 2928.

He'd sniffed at the irony of the name when he'd first read it on the monitor, not at all impressed. Because Elysium in Greek mythology was supposedly a place at the ends of the Earth where certain favoured heroes were conveyed by the Gods after death. It also could be translated as a place or state of perfect happiness.

Well, he couldn't have felt any less like a hero right then. How could he be any sort of a hero after everything he'd done recently? And everyone he'd failed?

And he certainly wasn't happy. He was the polar opposite in fact, and he wondered if this was some cruel joke his beloved machine was playing on him. But the TARDIS always took him where he was needed, even if it wasn't where he wanted to be, so he was willing to trust her judgement in this instance, and believe that it hadn't been a malicious joke on her part.

So, determined not to lose himself to the depression of his loneliness and grief again, he stepped out onto the soft, springy turf and reached behind him to pull the door closed, before giving the wood work an affectionate pat.

"I won't be long," he told her, even as his fingers found and began to trace over the remnants of one of the painted flowers that had adorned the front of the TARDIS for several weeks. The Time Vortex had burned away most of the graffiti, but a few flowers remained. They would vanish in time as well and the TARDIS would return to her familiar blue once more. Surprisingly she hadn't kicked up a fuss at being the canvas for Rigsy's tribute, however, and the Doctor had half-heartedly teased her for a time about how she'd never really hated Clara after all. In the end, the TARDIS had been just as fond of her as he'd been. She wouldn't have allowed Rigsy to even get close with his paints, otherwise, let alone completely cover her in beautiful decorations in a floral tribute to the Impossible Girl.