built with a heart broken from the start [open to multiple]

[theoldgirl]

The TARDIS is feeling her insides burst. Something has grabbed hold of her, pulling at her with a force as violent and unpredictable as a torrent, and for some reason that she can't quite remember all her shields are offline. She is vulnerable and she is being gutted. Corridors are on fire, rooms are filling with toxic fumes, fuel is running out and choking and burning her like blood-filled lungs. As she writhes in agony, the flow of time and her dimensions twist with her, and suddenly there are creatures in her that don't belong, pained, furious things, but she has no thought to waste on them. They roam her halls unchecked, skulking in the dark and the debris and the unsteady flashes of emergency lighting, taking their clue from the destruction they were born into.

Her only thought now is to keep the Doctor safe. So she struggles to control her panic and the chaos, to hold herself together, to hold onto... something, yes, there's something she mustn't let go of, but her memory is failing her again and everything hurts. The Doctor is back now, she pushed him away but he came back to her, of course he wouldn't let her die alone. He brought someone with him and she hates them immediately, smells the greed in their minds, like scavengers eager to tear apart their prey while she's still alive. She wants them out, but the Doctor isn't listening to her and maybe that's why she pushed him away, because he can't bear to listen to her cries and she didn't want him to hear. He's talking about the girl instead, another thing she can't quite remember, though hardly surprising; there's always a girl. A hot flash of bitterness is cut short by a hotter explosion as the last fuel cell tears up her interior, and her tenuous control wavers.

She knows she's clinging to something so important, but it feels like pressing down on glass splinters, piercing and ripping her hold. She's screaming, and her  screams turn into the reverberating voice of a heavy grim bell, tolling doom throughout her structures and into the void.

Comments

[johnny_truant]

He should be used to this by now.

He's not.

Johnny is lying on his back in a room that feels wrong in every conceivable way. He doesn't know how he knows this, but he is very certain. That's been happening a lot lately, too.

He picks himself up. The room presses in around him, shuddering, unhappy. It exudes unhappiness, frantic, dissembling fear, hysteria and madness. This is not a stable enclosure.

There's also a tree in the middle of it. Not a real tree, but one comprised of wires and metal, with spherical lamps hanging like houses from its branches. It's beautiful. It's terrifying.

"Yggdrasil," he whispers, barely conscious as he does it. The connection is rooted complexly in his head, something he would be hard pressed to explain if anyone had heard him. A lot of his thoughts are instinctual right now; he's not comprehending, not thinking, just reacting. The tree is wrong, and the structure is alive, and its dimensions are inconsistent. It's the tree, no, the house, the house at 1 Ash Tree Lane -- or it's not, but it's so much like that. He doesn't know why this doesn't frighten him more. But there are other things to be frightened of at the moment.

He staggers back, and one of them touches him with a mottled, grasping hand.

[wildmage_daine]

This is wrong. This is wrong. That is the first thing Daine realizes, sharp and certain, before anything else sinks in.

She is surrounded by shelves and shelves of books, and it should be a comfort (how bad could a bunch of books be?), but it's not. A half-remembered labyrinth comes to mind, and she turns her head sharply, looking for… what? A coldfang? The Master? Something awful, something stalking her from another row...

No. That can't be right. She knows this library; she's been here before. It's the TARDIS. The TARDIS wouldn't hurt her. But the friendly little minds of the bats are gone, and the air is heavy, sweltering, and she coughs as she makes her way over to the balcony.

"TARDIS?" she calls as she peers down over the railing. "Doctor?"

[bluesuit_handy]

It's not the Doctor, not the proper Doctor, but the next person to appear in the halls of the TARDIS is at least one from her home universe. Andrew knows where he is immediately, but has no memory of how he got there. He simply is, in that way one accepts one simply is when or where or what one finds oneself in a dream. A sense of urgency fills him -- he needs to get to the console room, and he needs to help -- to help who? James? He can't find James, and that's who he looks for as he hurries through the shaking corridors.

[has_a_horn]

When Gabriel falls asleep, the first thing that he feels fade through the edges of the dreaming is pain. It flares out, and he follows it only to rush forward as he realizes just who it is that's in pain. She may not want to see him, but if she's in danger, he needs to help.

When he emerges into the chaos of an unfamiliar console room, he looks around, frantic. "TARDIS!" He reaches out with his mind when he doesn't see her human image immediately, and attempts to calm her. This doesn't feel like just a dream, but he can't yet put his finger on why.

[i_jones]

As though he's only just realized he's drinking a cuppa, only just noticed that the floor of the kitchen is littered with the contents of its cabinets, and the counters covered in upturned pots and pans - as though the room has suddenly changed and he hasn't just appeared, Ianto sets down his cup of tea and looks with a frown at his surroundings. Was he so distracted he didn't notice them hitting turbulence? His next bracing sip of tea somehow ends up down his shirtfront instead of in his mouth and his frown intensifies as he stands to fetch the napkin holder from the corner, pushing detritus aside with his shoe.

"Not cleaning this up," he announces to the walls, dabbing at the stain. He will. It's just nice to complain sometimes.