Prologue

717 17 0
                                    

"This is Lord Oracle, Tardis number nine four eight one, I'm alone and I have been hijacked. I repeat, Tardis number nine four eight one on diplomatic mission, I have been hijacked."

Sparks were flying all around the blonde woman as her Irish accent shouted out her distress signal into the glowing cube on her console. Her Tardis gave one last tumble, throwing her to the floor. Then everything stopped. The lights went out, the humming seized and the door to the corridor inside the rest of the Tardis shut. The console was still emitting small sparks and smoke.

She stayed on the floor for a moment, only raising her head to look around. Suddenly the scanner turned on and showed the fuzzy picture an old telly gave when it wasn't receiving. She carefully pushed herself off the floor and approached it. Then it cracked into the shape of what she knew as a crack in the fabric of the universe itself. She took a step back in fear and watched it with wide eyes.

"Silence will fall", a low voice came from it.

Then the fuzzing stopped and the screen went black for a moment before it showed two girls rocking back and forth on a bed. The blonde one was holding a teddy bear and the ginger one had her arm around the blonde one.

"Sing yourselves to sleep, girls", the voice of a woman came from off.

The girls both looked behind the camera in fear. The blonde one shook her head and curled further into the ginger one.

"No? Are you scared, Melody?", the voice asked.

The blonde girl nodded, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Shouldn't you sing your sister to sleep, then, Tabetha?"

The ginger girl's chin wobbled and she shook her head.

"Console her, Tabetha."

"But it won't console her", she croaked out, tears filling her eyes.

"Sing now or I'll take her with me, girl", the voice dropped its fake sweetness in change for anger.

The girl's eyes widened further and she started rocking with the blonde. She started to sing.

"Tick Tock, goes the clock,

And then what shall we see?

Tick Tock, until the day,

'Til thou shalt marry me."

"Stop, please", the blonde whimpered.

"Keep going, Tabetha."

"Tick Tock, goes the clock,

And all the years they fly.

Tick Tock, and all too soon,

You and I must die."

"Please, Tabby, don't", the blonde cried.

"No, Tabetha, do."

Tabetha had tears in her eyes and her voice cracked on the next verse.

"Tick Tock, goes the clock,

We laughed at fate and mourned her.

Tick Tock, goes the clock,

Even for the Doctor."

The Oracle stumbled back with a gasp, falling against the wall, hearing glass bottles rattle behind herself. She turned for a moment to see one of the round things had opened to reveal a liquor cupboard.

"Madam Kovarian, what is the song about?", the ginger girl asked.

"Oh, my dear, you will find out. Keep going."

The corners of her mouth dropped further but the tears had stopped falling.

"Tick Tock, goes the clock,

He cradled her and rocked her.

Tick Tick, goes the clock,

Even for the Doctor."

"Is the Doctor a good man?", Melody asked.

"Oh, yes. The best", the voice spoke from the off.

"Then why must he die?", Tabetha asked.

The screen went back to fuzzing. The Oracle grabbed one of the liquor bottles, finding it to be the only thing to arm herself with as the Tardis had locked the rest of herself. She ripped a piece off her shirt and stuck it into the top. Then she carefully gripped one of the sparkling power cables where it was safe and made her way to the door. With a deep breath she opened it.

Outside was a group of about a dozen pale aliens with hollow eyes and mouths. The one closest to her had opened its mouth and raised a thick, long finger above its head, energy swirling around it. She widened her eyes in panic and lit the piece of fabric in the bottle. Then she threw it out and shut the door. She quickly ran back to the console messing it up to a point where she knew only a Time Lord could fix it.

The doors of a powered down Tardis were easily blown open by her hijackers. One of the tall, pale aliens put her over her shoulder and carried her out as she kicked and hit it to be let go but it was no use. The last one to leave the Tardis shut the door behind itself before she was knocked out.

When she woke up she was chained to a chair. Nodes were attached to her head and chest, overlooking her vitals on a nearby screen. A petite brunette woman sat on the opposite side of the table. The scene looked like some certainly outlawed interrogation.

"I don't know who you are but I've sent out a distress signal and my father won't just give up on me", she told her, feigning more confidence than she really had.

The woman laughed, she recognised the voice from the video, "Oh, dear, we've scrambled you up well, haven't we? But you still remember enough to have taken out fourteen Silence. Well done, Tabetha."

"That's- that's the girl from the recording. Did you show me that? Why? And why are you calling me that?", she scrambled in her seat, trying to come free.

"Oh, dear, my dear girl, it will all become clear in just a few moments and then finally you will find out what your lovely little song was all about", she had walked around the table and patted her head, before moving to a button on the screen, "Oh, hold on, under the risk that we'll completely fry you in a few moments, I'll ask now. How do we get the Tardis working?"

Her scared expression turned into a smirk now that she knew they wouldn't get the Tardis. She started laughing, annoying Madam Kovarian. She pushed the button and under screams memories of the first five years of her life came rushing back to her. She was sobbing by the time it stopped.

"No", she cried, "No, I can't. I won't kill him. I'm not even sure he's alive."

"Oh, dear Tabetha, of course he is", an astronaut's suit was put on the table, "When you wake up, you'll find yourself exactly when and where you're supposed to be when the Doctor dies."

To Be ForgottenWhere stories live. Discover now