With Fragile Promises (Doctor Who Fanfiction)

Chapter Seven: An Ally Within The Enemy

Chapter Seven: An Ally Within The Enemy

The Doctor was in a state of panic. His mind was whirling, spinning at thousand miles a minute, throwing him off course and failing to rest on one single conclusion. They were locked in here. The TARDIS was outside the gates. An electrical field separated them. These people, native to the planet, would do anything to free their town. What would happen after the five days? Hundreds of people, all looking for the same person, all determined – all posing a threat to Clara. His Clara. That made each and every one of them an enemy.

He couldn't quite comprehend how this was making him feel. His figurative heart was shattering in his chest and the fragments were cutting through his organs until his insides were liquid fear. If anything happened to Clara…

It was safe to say he was firmly attached to the impossible girl. Too attached. This could only end badly. Right now, if anyone asked him his greatest fear, he wouldn't even hesitate to respond. It was losing her. All over again.

As for Clara, the fear was just starting to sink in. She kept her head down and followed the Doctor, just as she was instructed, and hoping against hope that he was thinking up a plan, an escape route. She trusted him, one hundred per cent, to the ends of the Earth and back around the sun, if he wanted. So, instead of focusing on the negative and the fact her life is in terrible danger, she placed all of her strength on the Doctor. The person who she knew would fight to keep her safe.

As they squeezed past two market stalls, the Doctor snatched up a long hooded cloak on display. He briefly stopped and draped it around Clara's shoulders, pulled it tightly around her and flipped up the hood. Clara's face was immediately shadowed, the only area visible around her lips and chin. The cloak was too long, however, for her short body. It gathered on the floor around her feet.

"It'll do," the Doctor muttered, more to himself than to her.

Then they were off again, keeping to the shadows. The town was in a state of flurry; people rushing home to their families to check if they were okay, stall-holders returning to their produce to check if anything had been stolen, and other people, still gathered in the middle of the courtyard, shouting out loudly at unknown forces on the injustice of the situation. To the Doctor, it was a riot waiting to happen.

The Doctor knew what Simeon, the Great Intelligence, was trying to do. He wanted people's anger to turn towards Agent Oswin, hostility to be the main emotion, so that people were joined together, united for the old government, fighting to get their town back. The enemy would no longer be them, but her.

That was not going to happen.

Lost in his own thoughts, the Doctor didn't even notice a fellow hooded figure stalking them in the shadows. Until he came too close.

"Doctor," Clara whispered. She nodded towards the mysterious man following their footsteps.

The Doctor stopped walking. He pressed his fingers to his lips in a silent gesture. Clara nodded and stayed beside him. The figure hurried forwards, his own cloak billowing behind him in the wind. He was only a metre away when the Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the man's chest, his eyes fierce and his voice low and growling.

"Don't come any closer, I'm warning you!"

He raised his hands in a small surrender. When he spoke, his tone was measured, paced, as if every word was spoken with care. "Listen, I don't mean any harm, sir. I just noticed you back there – you, well…" taking a deep breath, the man fired out, "It takes a great man to fight for peace. A committed man to fight for love. But an even braver man to fight for both, without fighting at all."