Touch The Sky: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 3]

The Fires of Pompeii (Part 4)

A/N: Whoops I got distracted writing other things and forgot to put this up earlier.

"No way!"

"Yes way. Appian way!"

They continued in, tripping over rough rocks and trying to avoid the fires that burned at intervals. "I think my shoes are melting," Matt complained after a few minutes. Neither of the other two answered him.

"But if it's aliens setting off the volcano, doesn't that make it all right, for you to stop it?" Donna finally asked.

"Still part of history," the Doctor said stiffly.

"But I'm history to you," Donna pointed out. "You saved me in 2017, you saved us all. Why's that different?"

"Some things are fixed, some things are in flux. Pompeii is fixed."

"How do you know which is which?"

The Doctor spun back on her. "Because that's how I see the universe. Every waking second, I can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not. That's the burden of the Time Lord, Donna. And I'm the only one left."

It was a speech Matt had heard before, though it was new for Donna, and it didn't seem to have quite the same impact on her that it had on him. "How many people died?" she demanded as the Doctor started walking again.

"Stop it."

"Donna," Matt warned.

"Doctor, how many people died?"

"Twenty thousand," the Time Lord spat.

"Is that what you see, Doctor? All twenty thousand? And you think that's all right, do you?"

Before he could answer, there was a loud, Pyrovillian howl. "They know we're here, come on!"

As the smoke grew thicker, the tunnel opened up, gradually at first but eventually rising hundreds of feet about the three's heads. Several Pyrovile, like the one they'd seen in Caecilius's villa, stomped through the cave, as of yet unaware of their presence.

"It's the heart of Vesuvius," the Doctor whispered as they crouched behind a large rock. "We're right inside the mountain."

"There's tons of them," Donna said, eyeing the Pyrovile warily.

"What's that thing?" the Doctor asked, ignoring her and pulling a small spyglass from his coat, focusing on something on the other side of the cave.

"Well, you better hurry up and think of something, rocky fall's on its way," Donna told him.

"That's how they arrived," the Doctor said, seeing the stone circuits inside what had caught his attention. A ship. "Or what's left of it. Escape pod? Prison ship? Gene bank?"

"What do they need the volcano for, though?" Matt pointed out.

"Maybe... it erupts and they launch themselves back into space or something?" Donna suggested.

"Oh, it's worse than that," the Doctor said.

"How could it be worse?" Another Pyrovillian howl sounded. "Doctor, it's getting closer."

"Heathens!" came a voice, and all three of their heads whipped toward the sound. Lucius stood on a ridge, stone stump of his arm bared. "Defile us! They would desecrate your temple, my lord gods!"

"Come on," the Doctor said, scrambling to his feet.

"We can't go in!"

"Well we can't go back!"