Checkmate (Doctor Who fanfiction)

Boxed In

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I was woken up by the Chicken Dance song, right under my pillow.

On a loop.

On full freaking blast.

I sat up, and dug out my phone from under my pillow. I answered the call, and rubbed the back of my head.

"What do you want?" I snapped, glancing at the clock. "It's six o'clock."

"Ruby!" Brian Williams' voice said. I immediately shaped up. "Oh, thank goodness."

"Hi, Mr. Williams."

"Rory and Amy haven't answered their phones! Are they alright?" He sounded panicked, so I start to get up, shrugging on a purple and white bathrobe.

"I imagine they're asleep." I couldn't help but say it a little sharply, looking longingly back at my bed as I left my room. I hadn't slept well last night. Thankfully, Brian didn't notice my tone.

"Haven't you seen them, Ruby?" He asked. "They're everywhere!"

"Hang on," I say, rubbing my eyes, and walking down the stairs of my house, and making a beeline for the coffee maker. I could hear the sounds of a car in the background. "Are you... driving?"

"I'm on my way to your houses," he replied. I shut the lid of the coffee maker, and put a mug underneath.

"Brian," I assured him, kind of frustrated, "I promise. Whatever it is, whether it be aliens, or..." I trailed off. My vision had finally sharpened through the morning haze. I looked around, and recognized that small, black cubes were literally everywhere. One was beside my coffee maker. Several scattered over my kitchen floor, and countertops.

"Ruby?" Brian asked over the phone. I burst through my front door, and the number of cubes hit me full force, as did the freezing cold air. It wasn't just my house. They were everywhere. I walked down to the sidewalk. The park across the street. The street itself. The cars, the houses, everything was covered in cubes.

"Listen, I've got to go. I'm sure the Ponds are fine," I told Brian hastily. "I'll see you when you get here."

I hung up, and clicked speed dial, and selected an all-too-familiar contact. Pressing it to my ear, I shielded my eyes from the rising sun, and continued to look up and down the street.

"Hello?"

"Doctor," I breathed. "It's Ruby Oakley."

"I don't have time for another visit right now, Goddess. Was it the nightmares again?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh, honey. You'll have time for this."

***

When the Tardis showed up, it was in my house. I was eating breakfast, and examining a cube.

"What have you got for me this time?" The Doctor asked, when he walked out of his box. I tossed him the cube, and took another bite of my cereal.

"Not exactly sure, to be honest. Why do you think I called?"

"To see me?" He offered causally, flipping the cube over in his hands. He gave it his polite attention, but I could tell he still didn't believe me. I stood up, folding my arms over my bathrobe.

"They arrived this morning, apparently. Brian should be here any minute to get the Ponds up. He's worried sick about them."

"Then why didn't you wake them up?" The Doctor asked.

"I value my heartbeats, however fake one of them may be," I replied. "They are literally everywhere. I don't know where they came from, or what they're made of, but I assumed you would want to look into it."