Nightingale, Alone (Doctor Who) PG 1/1
Apr. 18th, 2008 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mhalachaiI'm completely on crack. A plot bunny that's been eating my brain. Poor zombie!plotbunny.
Summary: Romana has failed.
Disclaimer: Russell T. Davis and the BBC own the Doctor.
Rating: PG
Setting: During and after the end of the Great Time War; and then in Parting of the Ways (1x13)
Characters: Romana, mentions of the Doctor, Rose.
Words: 750. Complete.
Author's Notes: There's really no way for me to tell how far I'm deviating from canon, with the lackluster details on the Time War, but I dug through fansites for information on the Time War and on Romana, so go with it. Much thanks to the Doctor Who Wiki for help with canon details.
What you need to know if you've never heard of Romana: In the Doctor's fourth incarnation, he was saddled with/traveled with a young Time Lady just out of the Time Lord Academy, named Romanadvoratrelundar (he nicknamed her Romana). She travelled with him for some time, doing daring dos, basically being smart and made of awesome. She ended up leaving him to help rebuild a civilization and stuff, and she later went back to Gallifrey and became the Time Lord President. What happened with Romana after she returned from beyond was all in the Doctor Who books, if I have it sorted correctly. There's no note if her presidency lasted up to the Time War.
I say yes, because I want it to be so. And thus...
She had failed.
Romana tore through the destroyed, deserted streets in the Citadel, not looking down at the ravaged bodies of her people lying in the rubble. It was her fault, all her fault. She had declared this final war on the Daleks, she had made the choices that spiraled down to the bombardment of the seat of Gallifrey's power. All because she had thought she had known the Time Lords could not fail.
She, Romanadvoratrelundar, Lady President, War Queen and Mistress of the Nine Gallifreys. What grand titles to have bestowed on the destroyer of a people.
There was only one chance, one desperate wild hope, that the Doctor would arrive in time (in time! what irony befitting a Time Lord) and would be able to launch the final attack. They had planned in secret, he and her, equally culpable in their actions, late one hollow night as the losses mounted. It wasn't just for Gallifrey they planned, they tried to justify. It was all of creation they needed to protect, for what else was a Time Lord?
So Romana ran toward her long-ago borrowed TARDIS, ran to do anything to fix this before every one of her people died and the Daleks ruled the universe.
Then, in the space of a heartbeat, as she flung the lever to move the TARDIS into the time vortex, she felt a raw wave of grief and pain not her own burn through her mind, a there is no other way, and just as the TARDIS slipped halfway into the time vortex, everything exploded around her.
~~~
She fell.
The time vortex surrounded her, clawing at her as she fell in every direction at once. Fragments of the shattered TARDIS fell with her, and she screamed as she saw everything, every time, everywhere, all at once.
Romana went mad as she fell.
She saw everything. Time Lords removed from the universe by the Doctor's destruction of Gallifrey, the burning of the forests where she had played as a child, the collective knowledge and wisdom of a proud race erased from all space and time.
Her people, destroyed.
Her enemy, alive.
The Daleks hid in the shadows of the universe, survived where Time Lords fell, and Romana wept bitter tears. She gabbled, she raged, she screamed out for vengeance and justice, but there was none to be had. She would never achieve justice (just is) or revenge upon her enemy.
The Doctor, last of the lonely Time Lords, skipped through time unaware of his failure.
She screamed to him as she fell, but he heard her not. He danced among the stars with his humans, spinning and mourning and not seeing that he had failed, that their enemy lived as he walked the stars amongst the humans.
Romana knew these humans and yet did not. She pulled faint memories to her from before she (killed them all) caused the (genocide at my command) destruction of her (all dead and all her fault) people. Children, these humans were, unable to comprehend the universe, and yet the Doctor gravitated to them like a moth to a flame.
Forever childlike were these humans. Children's voices and children's toys and children's stories, a childish plea for justice in the night, against the monsters under the bed and the wolf hiding in the dark.
Just children, seeking justice against wrongs imagined and real.
An idea shaped itself in the madness of Romana's mind. She would become the thing hiding in the dark, seek blood from her enemy as the wolf sought blood from its prey, and destroy the Daleks hiding in the undefeated darkness.
She would become the wolf slavering at the gate.
Her lips parted and she cried out into the vortex, fear the bad wolf, and the words echoed through history, scattering amongst the stars like raindrops.
And she was heard.
The time vortex cracked and rippled, and Romana flung her screams at the rip in the fabric of her mad reality. In the span of a single thought, Romana saw, and was seen.
All the Time Lords' vengeance, the fury of the bad wolf, gathered into one small human girl who had pierced the heart of a TARDIS and looked into the time vortex.
Romana watched the girl subsume the Bad Wolf, saw her destroy the Daleks and cement her name amongst the stars, so that Bad Wolf's fury would echo forever.
Her enemy defeated, her people avenged, and all of creation survived, oblivious.
Romana closed her eyes and fell deeper into madness.
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Summary: Romana has failed.
Disclaimer: Russell T. Davis and the BBC own the Doctor.
Rating: PG
Setting: During and after the end of the Great Time War; and then in Parting of the Ways (1x13)
Characters: Romana, mentions of the Doctor, Rose.
Words: 750. Complete.
Author's Notes: There's really no way for me to tell how far I'm deviating from canon, with the lackluster details on the Time War, but I dug through fansites for information on the Time War and on Romana, so go with it. Much thanks to the Doctor Who Wiki for help with canon details.
What you need to know if you've never heard of Romana: In the Doctor's fourth incarnation, he was saddled with/traveled with a young Time Lady just out of the Time Lord Academy, named Romanadvoratrelundar (he nicknamed her Romana). She travelled with him for some time, doing daring dos, basically being smart and made of awesome. She ended up leaving him to help rebuild a civilization and stuff, and she later went back to Gallifrey and became the Time Lord President. What happened with Romana after she returned from beyond was all in the Doctor Who books, if I have it sorted correctly. There's no note if her presidency lasted up to the Time War.
I say yes, because I want it to be so. And thus...
~~~
She had failed.
Romana tore through the destroyed, deserted streets in the Citadel, not looking down at the ravaged bodies of her people lying in the rubble. It was her fault, all her fault. She had declared this final war on the Daleks, she had made the choices that spiraled down to the bombardment of the seat of Gallifrey's power. All because she had thought she had known the Time Lords could not fail.
She, Romanadvoratrelundar, Lady President, War Queen and Mistress of the Nine Gallifreys. What grand titles to have bestowed on the destroyer of a people.
There was only one chance, one desperate wild hope, that the Doctor would arrive in time (in time! what irony befitting a Time Lord) and would be able to launch the final attack. They had planned in secret, he and her, equally culpable in their actions, late one hollow night as the losses mounted. It wasn't just for Gallifrey they planned, they tried to justify. It was all of creation they needed to protect, for what else was a Time Lord?
So Romana ran toward her long-ago borrowed TARDIS, ran to do anything to fix this before every one of her people died and the Daleks ruled the universe.
Then, in the space of a heartbeat, as she flung the lever to move the TARDIS into the time vortex, she felt a raw wave of grief and pain not her own burn through her mind, a there is no other way, and just as the TARDIS slipped halfway into the time vortex, everything exploded around her.
She fell.
The time vortex surrounded her, clawing at her as she fell in every direction at once. Fragments of the shattered TARDIS fell with her, and she screamed as she saw everything, every time, everywhere, all at once.
Romana went mad as she fell.
She saw everything. Time Lords removed from the universe by the Doctor's destruction of Gallifrey, the burning of the forests where she had played as a child, the collective knowledge and wisdom of a proud race erased from all space and time.
Her people, destroyed.
Her enemy, alive.
The Daleks hid in the shadows of the universe, survived where Time Lords fell, and Romana wept bitter tears. She gabbled, she raged, she screamed out for vengeance and justice, but there was none to be had. She would never achieve justice (just is) or revenge upon her enemy.
The Doctor, last of the lonely Time Lords, skipped through time unaware of his failure.
She screamed to him as she fell, but he heard her not. He danced among the stars with his humans, spinning and mourning and not seeing that he had failed, that their enemy lived as he walked the stars amongst the humans.
Romana knew these humans and yet did not. She pulled faint memories to her from before she (killed them all) caused the (genocide at my command) destruction of her (all dead and all her fault) people. Children, these humans were, unable to comprehend the universe, and yet the Doctor gravitated to them like a moth to a flame.
Forever childlike were these humans. Children's voices and children's toys and children's stories, a childish plea for justice in the night, against the monsters under the bed and the wolf hiding in the dark.
Just children, seeking justice against wrongs imagined and real.
An idea shaped itself in the madness of Romana's mind. She would become the thing hiding in the dark, seek blood from her enemy as the wolf sought blood from its prey, and destroy the Daleks hiding in the undefeated darkness.
She would become the wolf slavering at the gate.
Her lips parted and she cried out into the vortex, fear the bad wolf, and the words echoed through history, scattering amongst the stars like raindrops.
And she was heard.
The time vortex cracked and rippled, and Romana flung her screams at the rip in the fabric of her mad reality. In the span of a single thought, Romana saw, and was seen.
All the Time Lords' vengeance, the fury of the bad wolf, gathered into one small human girl who had pierced the heart of a TARDIS and looked into the time vortex.
Romana watched the girl subsume the Bad Wolf, saw her destroy the Daleks and cement her name amongst the stars, so that Bad Wolf's fury would echo forever.
Her enemy defeated, her people avenged, and all of creation survived, oblivious.
Romana closed her eyes and fell deeper into madness.
end
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-19 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-19 07:09 am (UTC)I dunno. This has been echoing in my head for days and I just needed to write it out.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-19 08:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-19 11:32 am (UTC)There is no way that Romana wouldn't have done everything possible and some impossible things as well in trying to save Gallifrey. If she was still President at the end of the war she certainly would have had a plan. One that, evidently, didn't work.
Bad Wolf!Romana is definitely on the darker side of the bad ends I have imagined for her. Poor Romana, no more Nietzsche for you.
You're on a bit of a dire kick aren't you? First the foothold in Physics, then Buffy remembering the Toclafane, then that Inevitable future-fic. At least you didn't entirely break Time Lord!Ianto, but this fic certainly brings some startling implications about his parentage.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-19 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-19 07:31 pm (UTC)I also feel I must add that it is pretty much canon that Romana was President during the Time War. RTD said so XD
no subject
Date: 2008-04-19 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 05:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 06:19 am (UTC)But as to her plan, I consider this one as a win, for soul-crushing values of "win". She and the Doctor, in there to the last, in any way to stop the Daleks.
I guess I am on a rather dark road with the writing. All the fics sort of tended to that. I'm not sure if you read Dawning Light, but the next chapter of that is about as dark as I'll ever get with that fic.
As for Time Lord Ianto... yeah, I wasn't as subtle as I thought I was about his parentage, was I? Oh well, in a 'verse with only two named Time Ladies eva, it wasn't like there was a wide choice. (And so. not. the Rani.)
I love your icon. If I may ask, where did you get it?
no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 06:37 am (UTC)And excellent! I'm glad that RTD said such things. Warms my little fangirl heart.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 07:20 am (UTC)Well done!
no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 07:55 am (UTC)As for Dawning Light, that was the first story of yours that I read, back on tth. Then I saw your lj and stayed for the HP crossovers, then for Physics, then for the other AB's (who's canon I'd never even read), then for...well, at that point I just stayed.
I really hope you don't mind me camping out on your couch.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 06:15 pm (UTC)Is Romana II alot different then Romana I?
no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 06:17 pm (UTC)And so, I get back to this chapter of Dawning Light. This is my feel-good story, no matter what mean psychological daggers I throw at Dawn. Is it because I know there will be a happy ending? Perhaps.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 06:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 06:52 pm (UTC)So, to make a long story short
too late, different but still awesome.ETA after reading: Wow, I used the word "differently" four times. I totally fail!
no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 07:56 pm (UTC)Hehe...Its ok to use that word. How often did they use if after the Doctor regenerated in The Christmas Invasion?
no subject
Date: 2008-04-20 08:11 pm (UTC)Different is a good word. Very expressive :)
no subject
Date: 2008-04-21 06:03 am (UTC)Yes it is:)