ashes ➝ Doctor Who²

XXXXVII

"It's you! You're naked.."
- Donna, Journey's End

"Escort them to the Vault. They are the playthings of Davros now."

Everyone was silent on the walk down, still a little in disbelief at everything that was happening. Jack was gone as well. But those of them who knew he was fine were just waiting for his return.

Penelope and Jasper continued to stay on the opposite sides of the group. Throwing the other concerned looks every now and again. She still wasn't comfortable being unable to see him, especially on a Dalek ship, but so far, they've wanted them alive. So, she has to push that down and focus on everyone else.

The Doctor drifted to the back, walking beside Penelope. There were so many things unsaid between them, but now just didn't feel like the right time.

Instead he took her hand, and for the sake of what he just went through, she let him. Walking hand in hand with an alien that hated her up until a few months ago is not how she envisioned her end.

Eventually, after venturing far into the lower decks of the ship, they entered a cold room. Davros was waiting for them, he looked hideous. What could drive a person to destroy themselves like that?

"Activate the holding cells." Spotlights from the ceiling trap everyone. In their individual lights it felt colder. Penelope's hands had started to numb. She looked behind her, at Jasper, and smiled. Across the room he could only feel that their distance was starting to become physical. He was stuck behind her, watching helpless as she stood beside the Doctor.

"Excellent. Even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained."

"Still scared of me, then?"

"It is time we talked, Doctor. After so very long." The Doctor was angry, it was terrifying, but he was right.

"No, no, no, no, no. We're not doing the nostalgia tour. I want to know what's happening right here, right now, because the Supreme Dalek said Vault, yeah? As in dungeon, cellar, prison. You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement like, what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?" Penelope gave Davros a sharp look, one that nearly made him wheel backwards.

"Whore?" To himself, the creator of the Daleks had to shake out whatever she had just done to him. That emotion. It couldn't have been real, just a trick. Meanwhile the Doctor was giving her a look, but she felt justified - and correct.

"We have an arrangement."

"No, no, no, no, no. No, I've got the word. You're the Dalek's pet!"

"So very full of fire, is he not." He turned to Penelope, aware of the fire that raged behind her eyes. Dalek Caan had spoken of her. She shouldn't be feared - they were superior - but she shouldn't be let out either. "And to think, all that time he spent loathing you and yet you're by his side again. Weak."

"Leave her alone." It was interesting to see the difference between his anger at losing that one companion compared to this one.

"She is mine to do as I please." Penelope scoffed and Davros' hand twitched over his controls. That surge of whatever it was again, he wanted to get away.

"Fucking as if, why am I still alive?"

"You must be here. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan."

There was a groaning from deep within the darkness behind Davros, slight movements that Penelope had just ignored up until now. But it was a Dalek? Lights flared up, revealing what had been watching them the whole time.

"So cold and dark. Fire is coming. The endless flames."

"What did you do to him?" The Doctor shook his head, and she looked over confused.

"Nothing, it did this to itself. Flew into the Time War unprotected."

"Caan did more than that. He saw time. Its infinite complexity and majesty, raging through his mind. And he saw you. Both of you."

"This I have foreseen, in the wild and the wind. The Doctor will be here as witness, at the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious Children of Time. And they will die."

At the sudden change of tone, into death and fire, the Doctor seemed to explode. Penelope just watched on, the anger she felt wasn't worth bestowing on the people that caused it. She wanted to burn their ships from the sky and melt them into their history books, today would be a day of victory or she would die trying.

"Was it you, Caan? Did you kill Donna? Why did the Tardis door close? Tell me!" Davros very nearly gave off the impression of glee as at this, as if it had been what he was waiting for.

"Oh, that's it. The anger, the fire, the rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is. Why so shy? Show your companion. Show her your true self. Dalek Caan has promised me that too."

"I have seen. At the time of ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed."

"What does that mean?"

"We will discover it together. Our final journey. Because the ending approaches. The testing begins."

"Testing of what?"

"The Reality bomb."

Penelope had to refrain from pulling her gun. Pure fear at whatever they were doing hitting her hard. She can't fathom how today could get any worse.