The Fate of Persephone (10/OC) (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter Eighteen: Possession Ping Pong

        "Keep going," The Doctor cried, Percy's hand clenched tightly in his own as he dragged her down the stairs. "Go down!" All around them, they could hear the shuffling feet and labored breaths of the infected as they milled around, their stench filling the air.

        When she caught sight of a lift, Cassandra bolted to it and jabbed the up arrow repeatedly, as if the more she pressed it, the faster it would come. "Come on come on come on," she pleaded, hopping from foot to foot. But the Doctor, who had run past her slightly when she suddenly stopped, came back and yanked on her arm once again, tugging her back into motion. "The lifts have closed down," he said, keeping his gaze forward. "That's the quarantine. Nothing's moving." Thinking quickly, Cassandra called "This way!" and bolted down a new hallway, leaving the Time Lord to scramble after her.

"Mistress!"

           The Doctor whipped around to see Chip (who he was guilty of completely forgetting about in his worry for Persephone) get cut off from them by a swarm of patients. There was fear in the half-life's big eyes, and when his beloved Mistress called for the Doctor to just leave him, they filled with sorrow.

          Inside the Time Lord's mind, there was a furious battle going on. On one hand, he knew that Chip did not deserve to die in such a horrid way because of his selfish mistress, whom he was so devoted to. On the other, however, Persephone's life was at serious risk and time was quickly running out for her. He needed to get her to safety as quickly as possible or his Amarthin would die!

          But there was never any real competition. As much as he loathed himself for it, the Doctor knew that he would always choose Persephone over anyone else in the universe. He remembered his thoughts when he was in the tank: that he'd never forgive himself if he failed her. And that fact was still unchanged. As with all Time Lords, their Amarthins came first. No exceptions.

        "I'm sorry," he cried out to Chip at last, already backing away toward where Cassandra had gone. "I can't let her escape!" Then before he could change his mind, he turned and bolted, hearing the distressed cry of "My Mistress!" disappear behind him.

        When the Doctor finally caught up with Cassandra, she was in the middle of panicking. "We're trapped!" she cried, clenching her fists in her hair and spinning to analyze the room they found themselves in. "What am I going to do?"

        After the Doctor shut and bolted the door behind him, finally isolating them from the threat of the infected, he rounded on the woman, a fire blazing in his usually warm brown eyes. When he spoke, it was almost a hiss. "Well for starters, you're going to leave that body!" He jabbed a finger at her head. "That psychograft is banned on every civilized planet and you are compressing Persephone to death! Can't you hear her screaming? Can't you feel how much pain she's in? Haven't you learned by now that your incompetence and selfishness are killing her?"

       The poor woman was nearly pressed up against the wall by the furious Time Lord, gazing up at him in fear. Of course she felt the pain Percy was in and she did know that the psychograft was slowly killing her, but she just needed the body until she could get out into the city! Then she'd find someone new. Besides, she did promise the young girl she'd get her away from the Doctor, didn't she?

       "I can't!" Cassandra had the audacity to pout. "I've got nowhere to go! My original skin's dead!" She shot him a dirty glare, reminding him that it was he that forced her in this predicament in the first place. "Not my problem," he said lowly, feeling no remorse for her situation. Quite frankly, the Doctor couldn't care less whether or not she had anywhere to go. The choices she made in the past were her own to deal with, and now that the consequences had caught up with her, she needed to face them by leaving Persephone's body! "You can float as atoms in the air. Now get out." His voice dropped even lower and his entire demeanor darkened dangerously. "Give her back to me."