ADIUTRIX | DOCTOR WHO

↳ the lie of the land #2

I spent six months in prison.

For some reason the fact that the Doctor has seemingly forgotten she'd been in the same predicament as him, hurt a lot more than she would ever let on. Sure, Canassis Manor had been its own form of imprisonment but there had been freedom to roam around in its many rooms. That boat... A tidal wave of mixed emotions got pushed back by sheer will power. Instead of focusing on it, Ophelia kept thinking about how funny those flats felt when walking on gravel. Funnier than doing so was how utterly out of place her outfit looked in this secret headquarter. Possibly a railway carriage in a siding, the Doctor's deprogrammed guards were kind enough to not say anything about the girl dressed for a formal party.

"What did she say?" Nardole rose to welcome them back.

"Nothing." The Doctor angrily walked past him.

"There is a way to defeat them." Ophelia stopped his steps once they reached the carriage's end.

He had expected challenge from anyone but her given their historic of agreement on nearly everything, even Harry Potter fan theories. But something had changed, somehow this new version of his dearest companion saw it fit to question his authority.

"There isn't." Both had gone through their own versions of the confession dial, coming out victorious. Her will won just because it unsettled him to see her mouth set instead of slightly smiling, eyes hardened. "Well, there is, but not that."

"Come on, you knew she was going to say something like this." Bill stepped closer between them, sure that whatever was going on would work itself out somehow. It had to because these were the Doctor and Ophelia Watson. "It's why you needed me back. You could have escaped from that ship. You could have started something to defeat the Monks without me."

Apparently they had both underestimated just how she'd grown as well. The girl had always been clever but now every ounce of self doubt had vanished, no sirs uttered.

"I wanted you back by my side because it's the safest place in the world." He told both of them in earnest which earned back a scoff and a grin of amusement.

How ironical it was to be safe besides an oncoming storm.

"Can someone...?" Nardole finally spoke, lost amidst their tense interactions. "What did she say?"

"She said it's me." Bill's guilt, because that's what it was, made her best friend give a gentle squeeze to her left forearm. "I asked the Monks for help and started all of this, so I have to be the one to finish it. The only downside is, if that's what we do, well, it's not worth me starting any long books."

Even if she was guilty as charged, no one was rushing to go with Missy's plan.

"Okay, well, er, let's er put a pin in it for now, as they say, and, er, see if we can think of something else." His stuttering didn't help the tense atmosphere.

Ophelia wondered if going through life normally would make it easier to deal with feelings. At a normal pace, people went through several situations that helped them know themselves better and how to deal with their inner workings. All she'd had were the same fifty one years recycled to exhaustion, during which survival became a lonely target. The last eleven-ish months had been wild, to say the least. And even if she'd been doing alright, there was too much unsaid and at some point her little dark corner of repressed emotions would overflow into the harsh light of rationality. Until that happened, she would keep things as they were, ignoring herself in favor of studying an A to Z style map on the table. It showed how that Pyramid had flattened most of the area of the City of London east of St Pauls, leaving London Wall clear to the north, St Martin Le Grand to the west and Cannon Street to the south.