My Mad Doctor

Chapter 21

A/N I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please don't kill me.

“Prisoners!” A booming voice shouted, startling me from the deep sleep I’d been entranced in. “To your feet.”

I jumped up immediately, still dizzy with the sudden awakening. My knees shook as I tried to blink the sleep from my eyes. Distantly, I heard The Doctor spring up in his cell. So, he must have been sleeping too.

“What is it?” The Doctor asked confidently. I leaned my head against the sandstone bars that separated me from the rest of this world.

“It has been decided that, due to your crimes, you shall be held here for life, imposter. You shall never leave that cell, and we’ll keep you alive long enough to see you wither and decay. When that happens, we shall know for sure that you aren’t who you say you are.” My heart plummeted.

We were never getting out of here. 

“Now, for the girl.” My head snapped up. So, I wouldn’t be left here to die? Somehow, that thought wasn’t comforting at all. If they didn’t plan on keeping me captive, what did they want?

“What could you possibly want with her? She’s just a girl.” The Doctor said, voicing my thoughts. I stared, wide eyed and terrified out at the mysteriously beautiful creatures on the other side of this door.

“Jaqui has informed me of her true nature. She is the one, imposter. She is the one who will save us all.” I noticed the glazed look of desperation in his eyes and my body started to shake.

“Save you? I thought The Doctor already saved you years ago from the robots.” I argued, remembering what he told me when we landed on this planet.

“He did.” The emperor said coldly. “But with the Bellus gone, more have come. More silver men who wish to take over this sacred land. They would have already crushed us if not for one simple demand.”

“And what is that?” The Doctor asked, a deadly calm in his voice. It was the same voice that questioned the last silver men we’d encountered. It didn’t scare me as much as it did then. This time, I was more scared of what was to become of me.

“They want her.” The emperor said with his hand outstretched towards my cell.

Everything went numb, then. Distantly, I heard The Doctor screaming and banging against his cell, but it sounded hazy, as of someone had shoved cotton in my ears.

I stumbled, desperately clinging to the bars so I wouldn’t fall. Shouts and screams pounded against my skull like a drumbeat, lining up with the beating of my heart. That was all I could hear. The drums. The beating. It was loud and harsh in my ears.

I didn’t even notice as Jaqui appeared into my cell and popped back out with me in his arms. I was blinking rapidly, trying to clear the blurriness from my eyes. When my cheeks became wet and salty liquid ran down my lips, I realized why they were blurry.

I was crying. It seemed more of a fact than an emotion to me. I was crying. The sky was up. Nothing seemed overly important or significant at this moment.

Looking back over Jaqui’s shoulder, my gaze locked with The Doctor’s. He was shouting, but he stopped when our eyes met. We just stared at each other, and I swear, that moment lasted for hours. I held onto that stare, knowing it would likely be my last.

I knew that in my heart there was no escaping them this time. I wouldn’t let them take me, though. I couldn’t. If I did, I’d be helping the cyber men to take over the world, and I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t let them hurt The Doctor, and the rest of the universe for that matter.

So I drank in as much of him as I could before Jaqui pulled me away. I didn’t react at all to him carrying me to the edge of the palace, right over the cliff that I had seen earlier. I couldn’t react, because if I thought too hard on my decision I would break completely, and then I would be too scared to do what needed to be done.

The entire city seemed to have come to bring me to the cyber men. That made this whole thing worse. I would have an audience when I made my decision, the impossible, simple decision that I’d be forced to make in minutes.

The emperor stopped at the edge of the cliff and turned around to face the crowd. His mystifying face truly was ugly when it twisted in fear and desperate hope. It made me wonder how I ever saw any beauty in him: in all of them. Even Jaqui had betrayed me in the end, telling the emperor everything. Now they were prepared to sacrifice me simply to save themselves. There was nothing beautiful about that.

“My people. Today, we are saved. Today, we make peace with those who fought to destroy us. Today, we are fearful no more.” They all shouted and pumped their fists in the air.

They were cheering for my demise. They were happy that I would be shoved inside some metal skin and lost forever. This is what they were excited about. I felt sick.

“Look,” the emperor shouted, pointing into the sky, “They are here. They have come!” I followed his finger and noticed the large ship tearing through the atmosphere.

That wasn’t what I paid the most attention too, though. What I saw in the sky was not a silver ship.

It was a brilliant blue sun lighting the night with a dark glow, contrasting the black sky. It was beautiful. I was sure that in my entire life I could never see anything as purely amazing as this scene before me. A conversation with The Doctor flashed in my mind from earlier this morning.

 “Where’s the sun?” I asked, not taking my eyes off the purple spot.

“Oh, yes, well, this planet has two suns. One is similar to ours but bigger and further away. The spot you see is the day sun reflecting off the moon. The night sun comes up after dark.” I shook my head, confused.     

“The night sun? How can a sun come out at night?” He held his hands up and explained it with motions.

“The night sun is dark blue so it doesn’t light up the sky. It really is beautiful.” I understood. It did seem beautiful to me: absolutely spectacular.

"I want to see it.” I stated quietly, running my fingers over the Villus stones and smiling at him. The Doctor nodded and grinned back.

“You will. Tonight.”

So, I did get to see it after all, just like The Doctor promised. I got to see the night sun, but it would be the last thing I ever saw. At least The Doctor kept this one promise.

This is it, I thought numbly. If ever I had a chance, it’s now.

I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live forever roaming the stars. I wanted to go home and apologize to Sierra for disappearing. I wanted to finish my book and kiss The Doctor once and just all together live. I wanted to feel pain and hurt. I wanted to get my heart broken a few times if it meant I could escape this place and live my life. I didn’t want to die this way.

Still, if I didn’t, all would be lost. I’d be a brain trapped inside a metal suit with no conscience at all. I could be the one to kill The Doctor if I didn’t do something. I had to do something. I wouldn’t let them control me.

With his green eyes on my mind, I threw myself from Jaqui’s grip. He seemed stunned for a second, so I took that opportunity to kick his feet out from under him. While he was on the ground, I heaved myself up and shoved past the emperor, who stared at me with wide eyes.

 Before I could change my mind, I leapt off the edge of the cliff.