Eleven's Soulmate (An Eleventh Doctor and OC story)

Twenty One

IN THE forest, Pip started to feel dizzy, nauseous. She felt as if she was going to faint any moment now.

River fortunately noticed her swaying form.

"Pip, what's wrong?"

"I-"
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"Why am I not dead then?" The Doctor asked himself. The Angel had grabbed his collar. He should be dead right now.

The rest of the Angels were reaching towards the crack, however, showing very little interest in the Time Lord.

"Good, and not so good. Oh this isn't even a little bit good. I mean, is that it? Is that the power that brought you here? That's pure Time Energy. You can't feed on that. That's now power, that's the fire at the end of the universe. I'll tell you something else"

His sentence was never finished, as the Doctor had run into the forest as a bang  was heard seconds later from the ship.
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"Pip, what's wrong?" River was growing extremely worried for the slightly smaller brunette.

"Four"

With that one word, her body swayed to the side. She caught sight of a mossy tree trunk on the ground, and used it to her advantage. She lied down on the trunk, feeling dizzy and exhausted all of a sudden.

"Med scanner. Now!" River orders, the soldiers handing said scanner over. Amy held the brunette's hand, scared for her best friend.

"Doctor Song, we can't stay here. We've got to keep moving" Octavian informed her, almost anxiously.

"We wait for the Doctor"

"Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralise the Angels. Until that is achieved-"

"Oh will you shut up! You're giving me a headache with all your professional soldier talk" Pip shouted, cringing afterward at the pain in her head.

"My apologies, Miss-"

"Father Octavian, when the Doctor's in the room, your one and only mission is to keep him alive long enough to get everyone else home. And trust me, it's not easy. Now, if he's dead, I'll never forgive myself. And if he's alive, I'll never forgive him. And Doctor, you're standing right behind me, aren't you?"

She gestured behind her, where the Doctor had finally caught up to them.

"I hate you"

"No you don't" his smile faded once he saw Pip laying on the tree trunk, holding her head. Amy was still next to her, stroking her hand, like she used to do when they were younger.

"Long story short, because I know someone's going to ask. I found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe. Happy? I've got more important things to worry about" he told them all, walking towards the two girls on the trunk.

"What the hell is going on with me?"

"You're fine" River reassured her, trying to hide the fact that she was in fact, anything but fine.

"No you're not. You're dying, Pip" the Doctor felt a pang of fear, sadness even. His hearts felt as if they had been torn into just looking at the brunette, obviously in pain.

"Doctor!" River protested.

"Yes, if we tell her she's fine she'll get all better. It doesn't work like that, River. Right, something's wrong with Pip. Pip, Pip, Pip. What's wrong with Pippa? Something's in her eye. What does that mean? Does it mean anything?"

"Don't call me Pippa, I can't stand that name" Pip replied, obviously not in a good mood anymore.

"Shush, I'm busy" the Doctor retorted, trying to cover up the anxiety he was now feeling.

"Yeah, and I'm bloody terrified"

"Course you are. You're dying, now shush"

Pip glared at the Doctor, though she couldn't see him all that well from the position she was laying in.

"Let him think, Pip. It'll be okay" River grabbed her hand, and started tracing circles on the palm. It always calmed her down when they were younger.

"What happened? She stared at the Angel. She looked into the eyes of an Angel for too long" the Doctor was pacing back and forth, desperately trying to figure out how to help Pip.

"Come on, come on, come on. Wakey wakey. She watched an Angel climb out of a screen. She stared at the Angel and, and-"

"The image of an Angel is an Angel?" Amy offered, wanting to help her best friend as well.

"A living mental image in a living human mind. But we stare at them to stop them getting closer. We don't blink, and that's exactly what they want. Because as likg as our eyes are open, they can climb in. There's an Angel in her mind" the Doctor came to realise. He stopped pacing, and looked into Pip's eyes. He could see it. The Angel, the face of the Angel. In her eyes.

"Three. Doctor I am absolutely terrified, and it's coming. I can feel it. I don't want to die just yet" Pip rambled, visibly shaking.

"I know, but try to calm down. Now, counting. What's that about? Bob, why are they making her count?" He spoke into the walkie talkie, his voice wavering ever so slightly.

"To make her afraid, sir" 'Bob' replied.

"Okay, but why? What for?"

"For fun, sir"

The Doctor felt a surge of rage and anxiety. He threw the walkie talkie away with a yell. He couldn't let Pip die. No way was he losing her.

"Right, one of you had better explain what the hell is going on or I swear to god" Pip never finished her sentence, her head hurt too much to think of an insult or threat.

"Inside your head, in the vision centres of your brain, there's an Angel. It's like there's a screen, a virtual screen inside your mind, and the Angel is climbing out of it. It's come to shut you off" the Doctor spoke quietly.

"Then what the hell do I do to stop it?"

"If it was a real screen, what would we do? We'd kill the power. But we can't just knock you out, the Angel would just take over"

"Put it this way, if you were to knock me out, you'd get a good socking when I wake up" her words brought a smile to his face. Even close to death she was her usual sarcastic self.

"Then what do we do? We'd better be quick. If this girl dies, I'm holding everyone responsible, to manage my own grief" River spoke seriously, making Pip smile.

"We've got to shut down the vision centres of her brain. We've got to pull the plug. Starve the Angel"

"Doctor, she's got seconds"

"How would you starve your lungs?" The Doctor asked, already knowing the answer.

"You'd stop breathing" Amy spoke up, staring to see what he meant.

"Pip, close your eyes" the Doctor told the brunette.

"No. No, I don't want to" Pip was now on the verge of tears, but tried to hold them in. She refused to cry.

"Good, because that's not you. That's the Angel inside you. It's afraid. Do it. Close your eyes" the Doctor instructed.

And with that, Pip squeezed her eyes shut.