Dorothy awoke with a start. She sat rigid and still in her bed. Listening. Listening to the darkness. Listening to her heart beat swiftly and the sound made by the power transformer somewhere outside.She didn't know what had woken her. Her imagination fed her fears. She heard noises that she knew weren't real. It sounded like a full on battle.
Memories long ago and long to come filled her thoughts.
She saw time break... old friends... Manisha... Manisha's... Manisha's flat... burnt out... empty... love... hate... fear... pain... hunger... and the cold of death.
She knew that she wasn't going to be able to sleep again tonight.
She got out of her bunk and walked slowly, swaying with the floor, down the long corridor. All the people in the corridors, men, the military or something, running around, all very busy, amongst the red lights, flashing red lights.
She felt alone, amongst so many people yet alone, almost abandoned.
The noise of an explosion echoed through her head.
Another shell landed close.
Utterly alone.
"Not again!" she screamed falling to her knees.
She slowly got up and continued walking.
She walked on, seemingly forever, ending up in the galley. The cook was nowhere to be seen.
She was thirsty.
A cup of hot chocolate was waiting for her.
She accepted its invitation and they went up stairs together.
She lent on the railing and looked at the vast foreverness of the ocean. The other boats looked so very small in comparison with the ocean and it's lack of an ending.
And again she felt alone, abandoned and forgotten.
The feeling grew stronger, more intense.
She sipped her chocolate as the noises of the battle echoed in her head.
The noises were so vivid, so real.
"Dorothy." came a deep unknown voice from the half shadows behind her.
It could have been the cook looking for his chocolate. Who ever he was, he knew her. Maybe.
"Dorothy, is that you?" said the figure.
The figure stepped closer.
"Dorothy."
She could see him now. She got the feeling she had seen him before but couldn't remember where. An old photo, at home maybe. It was a long time ago.
"Dorothy, why aren't you asleep?"
She said nothing.
"Ace."
A deep, unconscious memory stirred.
"Ace. Are you all right?"
Ace blinked.
She was lying under a tree.
The sun came through the tree canopy.
She shielded her eyes as they adjusted to the brightness.
"Why I do believe we've been here all the time."
"Well I have." said the familiar voice of the Doctor.
He noticed a single bead of sweat running down her brow.
She looked at him, "Just day dreaming Professor."
"Yes." he said and reached down to help her up.
She grabbed his hand.
The Doctor noticed how very cold she was and how very fast her heart was beating.
"Are you sure your all right?" he asked causally.
"Completely..." she looked into his eyes yet did not see them "...and utterly... alone. Loved ones nearby, that I've never known. Places I've never been, yet remember. Hot chocolate... cold water... a fleet of ships... the past... lots of sailors... lots of pain... and death, Cold, Terrifying, Meaningless DEATH."
Ace blinked.
"Yes." he said trying to coax her on.
She stared at him blankly.
He could see she didn't remember any of it, not consciously. He recognised that this was the one of the first symptoms.
"I think we should go." he said.
They set off, arm in arm, to the TARDIS.
It was time again. He had been through this so many times before. But that didn't make it any easier.
He would always miss those that had gone.
His thoughts were of her, she was growing weary. It was too late for her, she had seen to much. But he knew it was too soon, if he could just show her some of the things he had seen. He knew he could never do that.
A single line of poetry was spinning around in his head.
'Parting is such sweet sorrow.'
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