Apple Locket (Whouffle- Doctor Who)

Chapter Three

Their shoes padded on the silver base as they entered, the Tardis hummed at their return. The Doctor hurdled towards the console, all the blue and gold buttons and levers reflecting at his face, urgent for a swipe. 

"Whoa, where do you think your taking me in this daft box of yours" Clara asked, springing her hands on his shoulders and twisting his form to face her.

"You wanted adventure"

"Yes, but not in these clothes" She reasoned, descending her view down her attire.

"Running around in funeral clothes, something new"

She rolled her eyes before the the lights danced at their spot and flickered off. The room was confronted by blackness, all that could be heard was the slow intakes of breathes by Clara and the Doctor, tuning in with the silent atmosphere.

"Time..." an unfamiliar vocal sound echoed into their ears. It hissed around the room, a hiss of a woman.

"Time..." It repeated.

The voice soon faded away and the recurrence of the lights. They both stared at each other quietly, his eyes were woeful as she peeked up at them. She felt as if she was at another funeral, this time it wasn't a departed corpse, it was a stiff emotion. Black clothing.  

"What just happened?" she murmured 

"Nothing" he glanced down at her sharing a thin smile, it hardly reaching his eyes.

She could see it. She could see that he was holding back something from her, something that she doesn't know and may never know. She'd feel respected if he would tell her.

"I was thinking something a little calm, away from near death experiences" his voice approaching from the console. 

The Tardis shifted and bolted sending Clara's back against the barrier, a lost warned sign. Her fingers gripped on to the protection she was fortunate to have, equipped for the 'calm' in the eyes of the Doctor.

It relocated it self soon enough to let her breath, allowing it to jolt. They both met at the door, his finger laced around the silver knob.

"This better be awesome" she said, looking up at him.

"Trust me" he grinned and then the doors unfastened, sending a breeze to whip at a comb of hair.

The appearance they saw was welcomed to clamp her breath. 

The twilight sky filled most of the setting, brushed with blue and a hint of yellow, streaming across the ceiling of the area. The stars dotted out in different positions, the branches from the shaded tree's curled upwards, shaping into different forms. A fantasy world.

"Take my hand and walk me" she spoke quietly knotting her fingers with his. They both walked ahead, leaving the time machine behind.

---

They hadn't gone far, they could still come in view with the golden flash beaming from the Tardis. It felt far to them. They marked their foot prints along the deep green leaves below their feet, they didn't crunch as they were still fresh, too young to die. 

"What was it?" Clara asked, the previous occasion pinned in her mind.

"What was what?" He asked, slowing down his pace in walking.

"That voice in the Tardis, that woman's voice"

They stopped track there.

"A reminder" 

"For what?" her eyebrows clenching up.

"Why do you care?"

She didn't answer him. She wanted to, but why should she?

"You worry too much" 

With that, he leaned down and gave her peck on the cheek. Cherry blossoms cascaded on their heads.

She didn't blush when he retrieved. Her cheeks were cold and pale, his odd care for her didn't concern her. Secrets were meant for trust, didn't he trust her?

 He looked at her with burden closing in his eyes.

"You look like you've seen a ghost"

"Maybe I have. Maybe your the one who has seen a ghost" her words hitting him like ice.

"Maybe I am the ghost Doctor? we're all ghost to you"

What had he done to her to upset her? the thing with Clara was tension builds up in her and when it does the whole world stops orbiting around her, and it's just her and her mind. You worry too much.

"What hav-" He was cut off. Cut off like paper.

"I bet you didn't mean all those words you told me earlier either" she spat. Her hands curled up, her knuckle bones sticking out.

"You know, just forget it. Take me back. Take me back home" Her hands lay on her hips, the words coming out of her mouth straight forward. Stinging his hearts.

Take me back. Take me back home