Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 56 - Of Loneliness and Donuts

Thirty minutes later, Lyssa sat on the bench in the TARDIS, sulkily eating her donuts and trying to sort through her newly-returned memories. After restoring her memories, the Doctor had pulled her back to the normal world - though still obviously questioning her sanity - and set off to get the promised donuts. 

Of course, the Ranger overheard them talking about food and got all excited, and that's the story of how everyone on board - including Psi and Saibra - ended up getting take-out, although Lyssa remained content with her glazed donuts.

"So why are you over here sulking?" Clara asked, dropping on the bench beside the girl and digging out some vegetables from her carton with a pair of chopsticks. "We're all still alive, and we got what we were apparently looking for. We've even got food. So why the long face?"

Lyssa looked down at the box of Krispy Kreme donuts in her lap and considered it. "Just... trying to sort through some of my old memories, I guess. Everything's a bit mixed up, and I'm trying to straighten them out." She purposefully didn't mention that a few of those memories revolved around Clarel's horrific death, and Adam's last words to her before she and the Doctor left him at his house.

"Okay, well," Clara pulled her legs up onto the bench and crossed them, nestling her carton in between. "I guess that sort of makes sense. You were sort of passed out for a lot of what happened at the end, and an impromptu nap has got to be disorienting."

"Yeah..." Lyssa's voice trailed as she stared at the box, a memory drifting back at the words and another, male, northern accent drawing her attention.

"The reason you were so disoriented at Satellite Five was because you took an impromptu nap. Your body just shut down," the Ninth Doctor told her.

"You mean that's why I woke up in Floor 500 all dizzy and stuff? I passed out? Why?"

He sighed heavily. "Suki's death was a fixed point in time. You saved her life, and time got all bent out of shape. Since you have such a strong connection to time, you felt it first. That's why you got all dizzy and disoriented. And that's why Suki died when Rose didn't. If Suki hadn't died from the shocks, she would've been hit by some of the crashing ice. Or maybe the Jagrafess would've killed her. 

"It's hard to say for sure, but time is flexible around fixed points as long as the end result is the same. You were just affected by it until time was restored because you're so connected to time, and you were right next to Suki at the time as well. That didn't help matters any."

"Did you know?" Lyssa asked timidly.

"What, that her death was a fixed point? No. Well. Sort of. I knew she would have to die at some point, but I didn't know when, or how. I try not to make a habit of looking too deeply into people's personal timelines. That's why I didn't stop you when you saved her the first time." 

He rested a hand on her shoulder when she started to turn away sorrowfully. "It might not mean much to you, Lyssa, but at least she didn't die alone; and she didn't die for nothing. Her death was enough to galvanize Cathica into action, and Satellite Five will be cleaned up. No more Editor. No more lies."

"Lyssa?" Another hand on her shoulder drew her back out of her thoughts, and she startled to see Clara looking at her with concern again.

She blushed. "Sorry. Just... what you said. It triggered one of the memories that I'd forgotten, from right before I came here, I think."

"Really?" Clara tilted her head to the side. "What were you doing, if I may ask?"

"Well," Lyssa tried to concentrate. "I was with the Ninth version of the Doctor. You know. Leather jacket, northern accent, big ears." She gestured with her hands, and Clara stifled a giggle. "We'd just escaped from an evil slug in a freezer, and the Doctor was explaining something to me. I had been feeling really... guilty... about some stuff, and he was trying to reassure me that it wasn't my fault, and then that topic came up, and then..."