Fight or Flight ( Doctor Who Fanfiction )

Vampires of Venice

The TARDIS was uncommonly quiet.

The Doctor seemed to be using those blue stabilizers on this flight, because everything was still. Even the Doctor only idly fiddled with controls on the console. Amy seemed lost in thought.

We all had things we wanted to say, and none of us knew how to say them.

I could have guessed it would be Amy who broke the quiet, but nothing could have prepared me for the shock of what she said.

"I want to go home."

The Doctor's eyes darted to me, across the console from him and then quickly away. "Okay."

I stared at her: I thought she was happy here. I guess I didn't think we would be here forever, but I did not expect for today to be the day she decided she was done.

Of course, as her plus one, that meant I would be leaving too.

The prospect disappointed me more than I had expected it would.

She giggled, and I snapped out of my thoughts.

Amy was getting to her feet and coming to stand by the visibly crestfallen Doctor. He was trying to put on a brave face, but it was not working.

"Not like that," she crooned, "I just want to show you something."

One look from her, and I knew I was not welcome. I knew there was more to this than she was letting on, and I cleared my throat uncomfortably. "Don't worry about it, I'll - I, um..."

But I didn't know how to finish that sentence. The Doctor glanced back and forth between the two of us, a shimmer of distrust in his eyes, but he obliged.

The TARDIS landed in the corner of Amy's room, and I ducked out of the room as quickly as I could, muttering something about going for a walk.

*

I hadn't been here since I set the whole place on fire, some years ago.

I stood on top of a shell of a mansion. This plot of land stretched out, overgrown, all the way to the iron gates and stone wall surrounding. Beyond the wall, unkempt forest that also belonged to this plot of land, and in the light of a full moon, a lonely bench in the distance overlooking the edge of what could be called Leadworth.

The outside of the house seemed only a little dilapidated and overgrown, but inside was charred black and unrecognizable. My father had never sold the land. He just left it here, a jungled, ashy reminder to the town.

I stood there for a long time, and watched a bunch of kids, running up to the gates through the dark, chattering amongst themselves and trying to jimmey the lock. Thrill seekers.

Neutrally, I watched as one of them pointed me out. Just a silhouette atop the overgrown terrace, and they screamed and turned tail to run. Amidst their clamor, I heard one of their voices shriek the word, "Ghost!"

I took another drag.

"Nice view?"

I almost jumped out of my skin and the cigarette tumbled out of my hands and onto the ground.

It was just the Doctor. Moonlit, he'd appeared like a phantom out of the nothingness, and now stood across the rooftop with his hands in his pockets, leaning against the door leading into the blackness below our feet.

Amy must have finished with him, then.

I huffed.

"Holy shit. You scared me."