Checkmate (Doctor Who fanfiction)

Believe For Twenty Minutes

We ran. Down the stairs, out of the house, up to that police box. After painting, sculpting, and sketching it for twelve years, it was like seeing a ghost to see it again.

"You still haven't explained who you are!" He said to me.

"Neither have you!" I retaliated. He tried to open the doors to the police box, but they seemed to be stuck.

"What's going on!" Amy yelled, catching up with us.

"Kissogram?" He asked.

"Yes, kissogram, what's going on, tell me!"

"Oh for goodness sake, an alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house! Any questions?"

"Yes!"

"Me too! No, no, no! Don't do that!" It's still rebuilding, not letting us in!" He said angrily.

I looked over at the house where Prisoner Zero was barking his head off at us from the top floor window, and the robotic voice continued it's death chant. Not exactly what I pictured when I thought about reuniting with our raggedy man. Amy looked around too and grabbed his wrist.

"Come on, we've got to go!" She started dragging him away when he halted and yanked his hand away from her.

"Woah, woah, woah, the shed!" He scampered over to the old shed. "The shed, I destroyed that shed last time I was here!"

"Yeah, it's a new one!" She said.

"But the new one's got old! Ten years at least!" He licked it. "Twelve years. I'm not six months late, I'm twelve years late!" He whirled around and grabbed me. "Who are you?!"

"You're asking her this now?!" Amy yelled. I tried to wriggle free of his grip but he was too strong.

"You said six months! Whatever she is, she's tricked you!" He said to her. I couldn't get out of his grip. "What are you? Where do you come from?!" He yelled. What did you do to her, why did she say six months!?"

Finally, I couldn't let him oppress me any more. My anger overflowed. "WELL WHY DID YOU SAY FIVE MINUTES?!" I screamed. He let me go instantaneously.

"What."

"Come on," Amy said.

"What?!"

"Come on!" She yelled, grabbing his wrist and yanking him. I followed quickly. Amy shrieked and steered clear of Prisoner Zero, who had made it to the front door.

Pretty soon, we were walking down the quiet streets of Leadworth.

"You're Amelia!" He said in shock. We both refused to look at him.

"You're late," she said angrily.

"You're Amelia! You're the little girl!"

"I'm Amelia, and you're late." He turned his attention to me.

"What happened?"

"Twelve years," I snapped.

"You hit me with a cricket bat!"

I scoffed. "Twelve years!"

"A cricket bat!"

"Twelve years, and four psychiatrists!" I added. I'd never spoken so much in such a short period of time.

"Four?" He asked.

Amy sighed. "We kept fighting them," she explained.

"Why?"

"They said you weren't real," she said. He stared at her. From a nearby ice cream truck, the death message continued from bright yellow speakers.

"PRISONER ZERO WILL VACATE THE HUMAN RESIDENTS OR THE HUMAN RESIDENTS WILL BE INCINERATED. REPEAT. PRISONER ZERO WILL VACATE THE HUMAN RESIDENTS OR THE HUMAN RESIDENTS WILL BE INCINERATED."

"Oh come on, what? We're being staked out by an ice cream truck?" Amy said angrily. I laughed softly and shrugged at her. She smiled at me. The Doctor pulled us to the ice cream truck.

Well, long story short, suddenly, we were running down the street, with The Doctor ranting about how dull Leadworth was, the entire earth sealed off and about to be boiled, a duckless duck pond that The Doctor just didn't seem to understand, and twenty minutes to live. Fun.

"Wait! No! I saw it!" He suddenly yelled, stopping suddenly and slapping himself multiple times. "What did I see, I saw... What did I see..."

Amy and I looked at each other. After a short moment, he nodded.

"Twenty minutes. I can do it. Go and say goodbye to your loved ones, or stay and help me." He was overconfident. Anger burned in me. We'd waited for him for forever, Amy and I. Now here he comes, marching back into our lives, bringing a parade of aliens behind him. About to burn our world, and he didn't even say hello yet, or "oops, sorry for being twelve years late". I think we deserved a meager apology. Especially after everything extra I'd endured that Amy didn't have to go through.

"No," I said quietly. He tilted his head, obviously startled.

"What?"

"No!" I grabbed his tie and dragged him to a car an old man Amy knew was getting out of. I grabbed the keys from him, tossed them to Amy, and slammed his tie in the back door of the car. Amy pressed the lock button.

"No- Ruby!"

"Who are you?" Amy demanded.

"You know who I am!"

"No really, who are you?" She said.

"Amy... I am going to need my car," the nice old man said, who looked rather startled at the sudden arrival of the girl everyone knew, a girl who nobody saw unless I was opening a window and someone happened to be walking by, and a man who looked like he'd been pulled from a trash compactor.

"Yes, in a bit, now go and have coffee," Amy said. It was obvious she was on the last of her nerves.

"Right..." He said slowly, walking away. The Doctor looked me in the eye like he had all those years ago when he told me he liked my name.

"Catch." He pulled something from his pocket and tossed it at me. I grabbed it, and my nails sank through the fresh skin of an apple. One that had a smiley face cut in it.

I looked up at him, stunned.

"I'm The Doctor. I'm a time traveler. I'm real, Ruby."

"I know."

"What's happening in the sky is real."

I swallowed hard. "I don't believe you."

"Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to me, and you know it's the same one." He was right. "Stop holding it so tightly," he said gently, referring to my fingers that were digging into the apple.

"I can't," I whispered. He grabbed my wrist.

He gripped my wrist tighter. "Just believe me for twenty minutes." I shook my head weakly.

I handed the apple to Amy, who turned it over in her hands. She looked up, stunned.

"Ruby, Amy," he said, looking between us. "Believe for twenty minutes."

A/N: well, I didn't get three votes, but that's okay! Maybe next time, right? See y'all then!