ashes ➝ Doctor Who²

XXXXVI

"Doctor, you will step forth or die."
- Red Dalek, Journey's End

Penelope stood by the doors, vaguely listening to the conversation behind her. She was keeping one hand on her gun, extremely uneasy at the moment, knowing there were Daleks outside that door was terrifying.

The Doctor was walking around the console, talking to each of his companions.

"It's been good, though, hasn't it? All of us. All of it. Everything we did. You were brilliant. And you were brilliant. And you were brilliant. Blimey." He turned to look at Penelope by the door. Although he was off put by the way she stood with the gun. This wasn't the woman he promised the stars to years ago, but she was still her. "Penelope."

"Yes." She turned, and he nearly couldn't meet her eyes. God, her eyes. This woman had seen so much, her eyes weren't the ones he remembered anymore.

"We were amazing." She smiled at him, it was soft. It was who she used to be - for a split second they were back to playing a married couple whenever they could. Everything was normal.

"We still can be, let's go face some Dalek assholes."

She exited the TARDIS first, closely followed by the Doctor and Jasper. Everyone else was a little apprehensive to go into the Dalek ship.

Outside, the Dalek's were chanting, a Red Dalek seeming to be leading them. It was unnerving, after hearing about how vicious they were, to sense victory in their voices. Surely that was too positive for a Dalek?

"Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks!"

The Doctor walked in front of Penelope, who was previously at the front, putting himself between them and her. After all this was over, he'd apologise properly and take her away again. All they had to do was survive.

"Behold, Doctor. Behold the might of the true Dalek race." He ignored them, turning his body a little to shout out to Donna, who was lagging behind.

"Donna! You're no safer in there." But the doors to the TARDIS slammed shut, locking her away from the rest of them. Immediately the Doctor started to panic, running to the doors and trying to open them. "What?"

"Doctor? What have you done?" They could hear her shouting at him through the doors, she certainly had a set of lungs on her.

"It wasn't me. I didn't do anything."

"Oi! Oi, I'm not staying behind!" The Doctor spun back around, stalking towards the Daleks. Even Penelope shivered from the cold radiating off him.

"What did you do?!"

"This is not of Dalek origin."

Penelope had enough of them arguing, going over and trying to push open the doors. Even if she didn't know her, there was no way she was losing anyone today.

"Doctor!"

"Stop it! She's my friend. Now open the door and let her out."

"This is Time Lord treachery." She resisted the urge to start swearing at them for their stupidity, trying harder to get into the TARDIS. It's a pair of wooden doors, why the hell are they so fucking hard to open?

"Me? The door just closed on its own."

"Nevertheless, the TARDIS is a weapon, and it will be destroyed." A trapdoor opened below the TARDIS, Penelope nearly falling with it into the depths of the ship. Luckily Jasper was able to reach forward and pull her back. She landed roughly against his chest, the both of them stumbling backwards.

Penelope could only look helplessly at the hole in which the TARDIS disappeared. The Doctor was mortified, his friend and ship being lost in the belly of a Dalek ship didn't exactly seem like a good thing.

"What are you doing? Bring it back!"

No one else could watch, this entire scene was heart breaking. They all loved the TARDIS, and who could stay collected when an innocent woman was dying?

"What have you done? Where's it going?"

"The Crucible has a heart of Z-neutrino energy. The Tardis will be deposited into the core."

"You can't. You've taken the defences down. It'll be torn apart!"

"But Donna's still in there!"

"Let her go!"

Jasper and Penelope didn't say anything, they were trying to think of anything they could do. In agreement, they split up, going to either side of the group. All they wanted to do was ensure that their friends had coverage from all angles. This was all they could think of, they both still had their guns if it came to that.

"The female and the TARDIS will perish together. Observe. The last child of Gallifrey is powerless."

An image of the TARDIS bobbing in the molten core appears, it was horrible to think that Donna was inside there. It was worse when Penelope realised she had already started to focus on everyone else, accepting there was nothing she could do.

"Please. I'm begging you. I'll do anything! Put me in her place. You can do anything to me, I don't care, just get her out of there!" It was hard. Everything; hearing the Doctor plead his life for hers and watching the TARDIS die. This never should've happened to them, ever.

"You are connected to the Tardis. Now feel it die."