Storm: Storm is Brewing

The Idiot's Lantern 3

Terry found herself in a very strange state of unconsciousness, where her physical body was asleep yet awake – she could vaguely feel her body standing and walking on its own when prompted. Similarly, her mind had shut down, yet a part of her – probably her subconscious – seemed awake and thinking.

Specifically, her subconscious seemed to be going through something from her past. And Terry had a feeling it was possibly past memories, though she couldn't remember when it was from...

"Lord President, I must object-"A deep voice protested, and another male voice answered sternly: "To what, General?"

"Sir, this is highly unorthodox, and the technology-" The first voice insisted, but the other voice cut in impatiently: "We are in a war, General. You brought me back to win it, did you not?"

"But..." The first voice protested, fading, as though he had moved away from her range of hearing. The second voice disappeared with the first, and Terry was left seemingly alone.

And then, another memory, this time with a blurred image her mind had dredged up from some time in her past...

A male's face appeared right before her line of sight; he seemed old, and not just in the vague features she could remember but in the expression in his eyes.

Terry recalled seeing this man's face before – his face had been the one she'd seen in the flashes of her memories when she'd first opened her fob watch.

The man leant in, staring at her intently as he whispered: "Daemon."

And then, the image disappeared, replaced with another memory.

Again, it was dark, but unlike the first memory it felt like it was because her eyes were covered. She was pressed against something – against someone – and the person appeared to be moving as he carried her. There was a strange rocking, and Terry felt a little motion sickness at the abrupt start and stop movements.

She heard screams in the distance, and children crying – just like when she'd opened her stupid fob watch. The sounds would come closer and then further, as though the person with her was carrying her about through whatever chaos was going on around her.

And in the distance came the very distinct cry, a sound that would haunt any person and made any normal person's blood chill: "Exterminate!"

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Terry opened her eyes.

Blinking and feeling incredibly disoriented, she looked around in confusion as she found herself standing with a bunch of random strangers who looked as confused as she did.

The door to... wherever they were, suddenly opened, and Terry looked over in surprise as the Doctor and Tommy came rushing inside, followed closely by Rose.

"Doctor! Rose" Terry called, brightening up instantly, while an elderly woman cried delightedly: "Oh, it's my grandson, Oh, son!"

Tommy hugged his grandmother enthusiastically while Terry hugged the Doctor and Rose as she began: "You did-"

"You're okay! You're okay!" Rose cheered over Terry as she squeezed the living daylights out of the Time Lady and cutting off Terry's words.

The Doctor wasn't doing much better than Rose as he hugged Terry so tightly against his chest she was starting to suffocate from the lack of room to breathe.

"You're safe." The Doctor muttered in sheer relief. "You're safe."

"Can't. Breathe." Terry gasped, and Rose let go. "Doctor!"