The Mirror of the Soul

"Daddy, are you seriously taking me to a carnival? I did tell you I was sixteen years old now, right?" Brook turned to the Doctor with a hint of a smirk on her face.

"Well, yes. But it's a special carnival!"

"I assumed it would be," Brook said, that bit of a smile growing. "What's the catch, then?"

"It's on a boat, built specifically to hold this carnival. It's the biggest boat in all of human history...to this point, anyways. "

"Ah." Brook nodded. "Now, what exactly is this point in time?"

"I believe it's the.." The Doctor had to think for a moment, tilting his head back and forth. "48th century."

"Ah." Brook shook her head as if she had missed an opportunity. "I should have changed."

"What, why?"

"Well, Daddy, we're on a boat with a gigantic carnival in the 48th century. I'm not well dressed for it. You never know who you might see..." Brook said, smiling flirtatiously at a teenage boy who was passing by. She waved and leaned towards him.

"Ah, no," the Doctor said, pulling Brook back. She sighed, but then moved on from her momentary crush.

"Now, I'm not going to forgive you if I get seasick because of this."

"Oh no, you don't have to worry about that. This boat is so big you can hardly feel a thing."

Brook thought that maybe at that one moment it would have been funny if the boat had lurched to the side or something. However, nothing of the sort happened. It was a shame, really. Her father always made a big spectacle of himself whenever he fell over.

Brook took a quick look around at this carnival. Good, there were plenty of real people there. She knew the Doctor had a bad habit of accidentally messing up the times and places he wanted to go to. But today he had hit it right on the mark. Although, it might have been because Brook flipped a switch or two. She had gotten a feeling from the TARDIS herself that there were a few more things that needed to be done. Brook, being the Child of the TARDIS squared, thought she wouldn't be doing wrong.

"Where's Clara, anyways? I want to apologize for what happened when I was fourteen, last time you saw me..." Brook said with a sheepish smile.

"I'll have to apologize for you then. Clara's sleeping at the moment."

"Huh, that's a shame. Well, okay then. Let's get to exploring."

Brook searched the carnival piece by piece. For the most part, nothing was really jumping out at her. That's how it seemed to the Doctor, anyways, as he watched her just standing there and peering around. But then she turned and found something that she could truly enjoy.

"Oh, a house of mirrors!" Brook couldn't hold back her excitement. All of the reflections and illusions fascinated her. It was so simple, and yet so perplexing at the same time. She loved the way that the mirrors worked.

The Doctor was happy to see a smile on Brook's face. She had seemed at first like she was going to be pulling the bored teenager trick on him, but now she appeared to be enjoying herself. She ran straight in, gazing wide-eyed at everything like a little girl in a candy shop.

"I haven't even been in here a minute and I'm already feeling lost!" She giggled and spun around, her arms held wide open. Brook just looked so happy, finally allowing herself to be young and have fun. She ran off, looking around in all the mirrors, laughing every few seconds.

As he stood in the entrance of the house of mirrors listening to her joy, the Doctor realized something. There was no one else in there except for him and Brook. The carnival had been so crowded outside, so it would only make sense for it to be crowded in there. But it was empty...and it had just become silent. There were suddenly no more echoing giggles from Brook. There was a heavy feeling in the quiet air. Something had gone wrong.