Yowzah Oneshot Collection (1)

23(G)

a ghost in my mouth

She couldn’t fail.

He was attached to her she knew. Had seen it, felt it. The way he’d held her after the burning of death that was not death had stopped, she’d felt his arms around her. She’d watched the look in his eyes morph from amazement to wonder and finally settle on love.

He loved her.

It would make everything so much easier. Shakiness from the regeneration had meant that her aim had been off when she’d reached for the gun. The shock on his face would almost be comical, if she found such things amusing.

She found nothing about him amusing though. He was a criminal. A menace. Destroyer of Worlds, including her own and she knew that she had to kill him. Fulfill her purpose in life. She was born for this. She would put an end to his reign of terror.

She was confused though – it always varied from body to body, how long it took to re-adjust. She’d not even seen her own new face properly yet, but there was all this hair and she felt curvier, more soft and less hard and she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. He’d brought her into the TARDIS – like he trusted her in there, even though he kept a close eye on her.

“Everything clearing up yet? It takes a while sometimes. Took me forever my last go round, felt like.” He was standing by her and she shook her head, tamping down the anger that swelled within her at the sound of his voice.

“I need a – can I see – mirror?” She bit the words out and he grinned, nodding and pulling her down the stairs to an alcove just off the main room.  Control room. The proper title popped into her head and she shook it, her hands in her hair as she fought to remain calm. There were so many thoughts this time. Hers and she could hear a bitter twisted voice chanting over and over you must kill him. Kill him. End this bitter war. Be our hope. It wasn’t her own voice, but it was her voice. Warped and unrecognizable. At the same time some other voice that was nowhere near her own was also streaming through her head, a constant jumble of words. Trust. Love. Not alone. Water. Water. River. Your name is River. Be River. Like him. Not alone. Love. Trust. Love. It was a constant loop of words that made no sense.

“Riv-” He stopped himself and she looked up at him warily. “No, that’s not your name yet is it?”

“River.” She repeated the word he’d aborted and she shook her head again. “I can’t think. It’s too much.”

“Too much what?” He questioned and she glanced around, spying the mirror tilted against the side wall and moving toward it.

“Too much noise. They won’t shut up.” She ground the words out and he pulled her back by the arm, ignoring the tension in her body.

“I can help. With that I mean, if you’d like.” He reached up, his fingers stretching toward her temples and she stared at him, confused.Touch telepathy. She jerked back in fear, and it must have shown because he smiled sadly. “Never thought I’d have to convince you to trust me this soon.” He stepped back and paced for a bit. “This is too soon. You shouldn’t be meeting me for the first time this soon. Everything feels wrong about this. Back to front you said. Hah!”

“Maybe I lied. I do that you know. Lie.” She spoke bluntly, moving toward the mirror.

“So do I. Rule one. I lie. If you lie and I lie well things are going to be far more complicated than I thought.” She nodded at his words as she finally reached the mirror and peered at her new face intently. Ugh what was with that nose?

“Hair’s worse than I thought.” She muttered under her breath, running a hand through the mass of unruly curls. “Just won’t let me have straight hair, will you?”