The Oracle Awakens : A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 2 - Home is Where the Heart Is

Lyssa breathed a sigh of relief as firm floor appeared underneath her feet. Used as she was to jumping, it was still always preferable to be on solid ground. She opened her eyes to the familiar sight of the TARDIS hallways, the walls the dull metallic color of Nine and Ten. Everything was faded and worn, the atmosphere heavy, and she frowned in concern, knowing that the TARDIS tended to reflect the state of her Pilot.

And unfortunately, both Nine and Ten had had a lot of bad days. She traced a hand along the wall as she set off for the console room, reasonably confident she'd be able to find the Doctor there. The ship hummed a strong welcome in their bond, delighted to see her, and she laughed lightly, startled by the strength of it but sending her own greeting back. Sure, she may have just seen the ship - and the ship may have just seen her, given how Time worked - or didn't - with the TARDIS, but it was always good to see old friends.

Especially when it meant she hadn't jumped to some random, obscure location that the Doctor might show up to eventually.

Still, the gloomy atmosphere aboard the ship was... both familiar and yet not. She'd felt it before, but not often, even during some of the Doctor's many bad days. Even after Doomsday, when they'd just lost Rose, it hadn't felt this... grief-ridden. This Lonely.

And yet through it all rang this tiny vein of hope. Of light, of optimism - weary and bruised and weakened but not defeated. Not by a long shot. It brightened still further at her touch and she frowned curiously, only for her eyes to widen as the memories finally slid home and she realized when she'd experienced this before, just what had been so unbearably awful to affect both the TARDIS and Doctor so. The ship crooned a sad confirmation in their bond and she let her eyes fall shut for a moment.

It'd been a long time since then - several years, in fact - but she could still remember Nine's crushing grief after the Time War like it was yesterday. Believing her dead along with the rest of his people and everyone else he'd ever cared about, left alone with only his guilt and loss, he'd struggled to find the will to move on. Hadn't even believed it was really her at first, assuming it to be the TARDIS voice interface or that he was hallucinating again.

He'd been doing better, when she'd been forced to jump again, but... he'd been forced to rock bottom. Better didn't mean healed, didn't even mean happy or content, though he'd reached that, some days, towards the end. It just meant he was surviving, that the process of healing had started.

He had a long road ahead of him.

Better with two, though. She'd told him that before, and she was standing by it, she reminded herself, picking up her pace. She could feel the TARDIS urging her on, though not with any great concern like last time. More like... she was just eager to see them reunited?

"You're an odd one," she told the ship with a smile, patting the walls fondly, some of her concern for the Doctor abated, if only briefly. "But you are the one who brought us together in the first place, somehow, so I suppose you have a vested interest," she remarked, laughing when she received a vehement agreement through their bond.

"You talkin' to yourself again, old girl?"

She heard the Ninth Doctor's deep voice coming from just around the corner, sounding faintly amused, and smiled. It'd been a while since she'd seen him, and it was good to hear him at least sounding happy.

"If I'm technically part TARDIS and she's talking to me, does that count as talking to herself?" she wondered aloud as she strolled into the console room. "And if so, is she doing that because it's the only way to get any common sense around here?"

"Lyssa!" the Doctor popped up from underneath the console, a smear of grease on his cheek and blue eyes lighting up when they saw her. "I was wonderin' what made you so happy," he raised an eyebrow at the ceiling. "You've never been that happy about an oil change before."