Chapter 19: Stargazers
Stargazers
...She had it all and lost it,
Now he is forever in space,
He circles Hailey's comet, lights up the sky like a flame
Now she's a star collector,
She knows the signs and she knows what they mean.
Twinkle twinkle, little dream
Stargazer, heartbreaker...
-Paloma Faith, Stargazer-
Doctor
Father Octavian had said, 'She killed a man', just before they had teleported off the surface. River looked straight at the Doctor and told him, after he asked who he was, 'Best man I ever knew.'
Stormcage was for criminals who were extremely dangerous. It was a notorious prison. And the norm was that once you were locked up you never left. Ever. Yet River had been let out and was helping Father Octavian on a mission. Helping, a criminal from Stormcage. It sent the Doctor's mind wheeling.
There was suspicion. After all, everything she had said in the library was from her future, she was a Professor then. But at that moment in time, at the crash of the Byzantium she was Dr Song. A convicted criminal, for murder. And the Doctor couldn't help but wonder if it was him. If he was the best man that she had ever known.
And then he looked back at her and he remembered how she acted in the library, how she had never seen him so far back, so young. How she had handcuffed him and taken his place. She had effectively died for what seemed his future. And she didn't know him at all. Strangers to each other. Dr River Song was in Stormcage, yet how did she end up in there?
River
"Best man I ever knew."
I wasn't lying, not one bit. He was the best man I ever knew. He just wasn't him at the time. Oh, I could have left it, let him be. Let him escape. Let him go free. But inside, he was there. His real self. And I could see it, just behind those stony eyes. They were so cold.
I had seen him younger and older. But never like that. Never with those icy eyes. Oh, they'd be untrusting, deadly serious, twinkling mischievously, wide with panic as we ran from danger. With those brilliant eyes he could see everything and I stood opposite him with the gun in my hand and he simply stared back. Uncaring. But it wasn't him. The best man I ever knew. And that was it.
Finger to the trigger, bullet to the heart. Shocked face. Tears down mine. I couldn't not stop him. He had to be stopped. Looking backwards to see the Doctor's face, a mirror reflection of his. He crumpled to the ground while the Doctor stepped forwards and plucked the gun out of my hands and threw it to the ground. Never did like violence. He didn't look at me, not even a glance.
"I don't..." The Doctor broke off as he stared at the curled up figure on the floor. I continued to stare too. The alarms still rang and the sound of clumping boots on the staircase grew louder and louder.
"The Judoon." The Doctor muttered and then I managed to catch him glance at me as his eyes flicked to the door. They were...different. He looked at me...differently. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the door and I heard the lock thunk into place.
"Doctor?" I whispered. The Doctor ignored me and continued to stare at him. His eyes were closed, and the Doctor refused to look at me again. I couldn't bear it, I felt like stone. Unmoving, unfeeling. I could see what he could, what I had done. But he had to understand, he had to be stopped at any cost. The Doctor was simply an innocent. A bystander. Nothing to do with the whole screwed up mess. The best man I had ever known in my entire life. And then again...it was all him, completely and utterly him.
