Children of Galifrey: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 4

It's been three days and he isn't getting any better. In fact, he's only gotten worse. He can't even support his own weight anymore. His hearts beat erratically and then too slowly His breathing is heavy and inconsistent. Sometimes he won't be able to breathe at all. Eventually, he does get a breath in but it all scares me. He rarely talks anymore and when he does he tries to remain positive and even gives me a small smile. It is an attempt to make me feel better. Here he is probably dying and in unimaginable pain and he is trying to make me feel better. He has always been so sweet like that. He doesn't deserve this, any of this. Out of the two of us, he has been the one everyone likes. It's like you can't even help it. I am the exact opposite. Except for when it comes to Runner I generally don't express my feelings very easily. I hardly smile and I am just not nice in the way he is. Besides no one blames him for...

I scold myself for letting my thoughts wander. No one blames me except for myself or at least that is what Father tells me. He says everyone knows it was an accident and yet they all still stare. I hear all the rumors and the whispers, the ones that say I did it on purpose in a fit of jealous rage which is simply not true. But none of that matters now. None of that will ever matter if I can't find a Time Lord to fix Runner and get us home. I turn my attention back on the locator.

I can't seem to figure it out. It doesn't help that I have never built one of these before or even seen one built before. I have seen one in action but I was foolish to think that and what little engineering experience I have would ever be enough. Maybe if Runner was better I could fix it. He always has a unique perspective on these kinds of things. But he won't be better until I find another Time Lord and I won't find another Time Lord unless I can get this damn machine built.

Tears sting in my eyes. Why is this so impossible? 

I take a break and kneel next to Runner. I wipe his sweat soaked hair off of his brow.

He opens his eyes, "Thief-"

"Yes, I'm here."

He shivers, "I don't think I'm going to make it. I think I am going to-"

Before he can finish his whole body begins to glow in a magnificent light.

Regeneration.

I didn't think it was that bad yet. I didn't know he was on the edge of death. I back up slowly. I didn't want it to come to this. Wasting a perfectly good regeneration on something that is probably easily fixed. But at least he will be better, "Okay Runner you know what to do. Don't fight it. You are going to want to but just let it overtake you."

He doesn't answer and I don't expect him to. Every Time Lord is taught everything they need to know about regeneration before they can walk. I know that the first is supposed to be the hardest. I just hope he remembers everything we learned.

Golden smoke pours out of his body. A little escapes from his partially opened mouth. He cries out. A horrible strangled cry. I know regeneration is supposed to be painful but not like that. Its supposed to be a good painful. And that scream did not sound good.

The glittery smoke darkens into a dull brown and fades away. Runner is left, still his old self, lying, shaking on a mattress. He is paler then he was before and his eyes are blank but he is breathing. He didn't regenerate but he should have. 

I know what's wrong with him and now I know it is going to kill him.

It's hard to say in a way that anyone not from Galifrey will understand but this disease, It infects our bodies and strips away our regenerations one by one until we die. It used to be a big problem because it is really contagious but we did find a cure. It can be compared to a lot of different Earth diseases in that way, very curable, solved with something as simple as antibiotics. Except I don't have the right medicines and without them, he will die. Not only that but he will be able to feel every second of it. He will feel each regeneration slipping away. He's got 11 left now and I am determined to save every one of them.