Past Lives || Dottore

7

Y/n found herself floating in darkness, her eyes blurry. She couldn't remember how she got here, or why she was here in the first place. Was it something important...? Of course, it was, she wouldn't leave her sister alone in that house.

Ah, her sister. She's the reason she's doing this. She turned her head as quickly as she could, but her movements were slow, like she was stuck in a tar pit. Her head throbbed, her hands moving to hold her head. She knew she had to remember something, but what?

She opened her eyes, the throbbing in her head lessened. A dull light appeared in the darkness, and she had a feeling that she needed to move towards it, or else she'll be stuck in this place. Slowly, she moved forward, her muscles burning after every step. She could feel the tar-like substance snap away from her limbs, each step bringing her closer to the light.

Soon, she was so close she could reach out and touch it, the warmth from the light filling her body, the tar melting away. She felt relaxed, and she closed her eyes, a smile on her face.

Her eyes snapped open, the harsh light from the surgical lamp above her made her squeeze her eyes shut. Her hearing returned quickly due to the sudden loss of sight, and she heard something she never wanted to hear again.

Flesh tearing away from flesh, the blood dripping loudly into the puddle on the floor. It reminded her of her days in the tents out on the battlefield, the groans and screams of the dying soldiers, the ones that had no one to go back too. She snapped herself out of her memories quickly, she knew what would happen if she dwelled in them for too long.

The sounds stopped, almost like the one who was doing those acts noticed that she was awake. Slightly heavy footsteps came closer to her, the strips that held her limbs in place were removed, and she swore she felt something warm and wet brush against her skin as the person undid her binding. As soon as she felt that last strip removed from her body, she opened her eyes and moved away from the person.

It didn't matter if she humiliated herself by falling off the operation table and showing off her bits through her hospital gown, she knew this monster was dangerous. She scrambled away from him, unknowingly towards the mess of body parts.

Her body froze once her foot landed in the puddle of blood. Y/n shook as her eyes took in everything she saw; a hand just barely attached to its arm, a head dismembered from the rest of its body, the hair and eyes that of the Dottore that put her in this mess just a few hours ago, or was it a few days? She couldn't quite remember.

She wanted to scream, but her voice refused to let her do anything of that matter. Instead, she moved away from the blood puddle, turning around to face a different Dottore, an older one, one with a different mask.

He gave her a smile, one that sent chills down her spine. He opened his mouth; his voice was deeper than the copy. "Like my work?" He gestured to the mangled body on the table nearby. "I did that because he wanted to hurt you."

What was shown of his face turned cold. "I will never let these clones hurt you, not again." His voice and face became kind again when he looked at Y/n. She only knew that his eyes were on her body when she felt uncomfortable in her hospital gown. She shrunk in on herself, holding her gown closer to her body. 

"I never meant for him to hurt you, I just wanted someone who was worthy of being my assistant." The older Dottore took a step closer, noticing her flinch. He frowned, his posture growing cold.

"My clones know me as Prime, as I am the original." He took another step, noticing -again- her eyes watching his figure with hatred. "I am the only one with the name Dottore, the other ones have their clone numbers on the back of their necks."

She glared at him, watching as he grew closer and closer to her until he was right in front of her. He smiled down at her, his hands gripping her arms. "You will stay close to me; the other clones will know what will happen if the mess with you." He pointed to the corpse on the table.

"That clone is an example of what will happen, my dear." He put his hand back to her arm, bringing her closer to his face. She stared at his mask in fear, and she didn't know where to look. If this was another situation, she would've laughed at her fear and just pick an area on the mask.

But this wasn't that type of situation. This was real. She couldn't think of anything to do, nothing useful would come to mind. Eventually, she found her voice again.

"O-okay."

Dottore pulled Y/n closer to his face, his mask almost touching her face. "Okay?"

"I'll be- I'll be your assistant." She spoke. She couldn't believe she was saying this.

His face glowed. He set her back down on the ground, his smile growing larger with every passing second. It showed off his sharp shark-like teeth, it seemed he wasn't ashamed of it either. Of course, why would you be ashamed when you're the second strongest Harbinger out there.

"Oh, my Tsaritsa! This is wonderful news!" He picked up the clones' bloody head and grinned at it. "Do you hear this #1849?" He dropped the head; it landing on the floor with a sickening splat. Dottore moved back to the frightened woman, not caring if his hands were bloody. He grabbed her face carefully and admired it, almost like he didn't believe she said yes.

He snickered, releasing her face. The blood from his gloves rubbed off on her face, but he didn't seem to mind. He was stuck in his own little world.

"We must get you some new clothes. I can't have you walking around with your bits showing now, can I? Oh, and we must tell the other Harbingers-"

"I don't think telling the rest of the Harbingers is a good idea."

"Why? They would be delighted, no? I can't wait to see their faces when I tell them somebody -no, you, you wonderful being- volunteered, yes volunteered, to work as my assistant!" He giggled with glee.

"But sir-"

"Dottore. If you were any other assistant, I would have you use 'sir', but you aren't. You're you, the one I've wanted for so long. You may call me Dottore." 

His personality was all over the place, and she couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Regardless, she continued. "But Dottore, what if the other Harbingers use your new assistant to their advantage?"

He froze, his grin dropping from his face at an alarming rate. "Shit. You are correct." He thought for a moment, then turned back to Y/n and smiled. "I'll make it a little game. I like games, especially mind games. Oh, the fun!"

He went off somewhere, while she simply stood there in the mostly empty room. #1849's head landed in such a way it seemed to look at her, and she was slightly convinced he was still alive. Can you really kill a clone?

She shook her head, her knees giving out from under her. She landed on the floor with a light thud; it wasn't loud enough to alert the doctor in the other room. Y/n had to remember her purpose, her true purpose behind her actions.

It first started with her getting a cure for her sister, she they could be out in the cold together again. She missed the cold. Now, it's survival from Dottore. She needed to make sure that she will survive long enough to get Dottore's help for the cure, and to make sure she doesn't go crazy from his aggressive mood swings and weird antics.

Agreeing to be his assistant was her only logical explanation that didn't end up with her being killed out of anger or being used for experiments. She shook on the floor, pulling in her knees to try to keep herself warm. But with a hospital gown that didn't cover ones backside when one sits down doesn't do much for warmth.

She just needs to make it a few weeks. It can't be that hard, right?