Chapter Text
"4 knocks and you will die. But Doctor, there is something stirring in the darkness and Miss Silver, she may not be as able as we would have hoped... She is still but a hatchling. Farewell, Doctor, until we meet again."
"Ood, please, tell me, what is she?" The Dr asked, his voice out of breath as he began ranning but still within earshot.
"A hatchling, too young for war... Too young for this hurt... Too young, Doctor, she is too young. We would wish that you give her to us. We will keep her safe. You have our word." The ancient Ood answered him.
"Too young, that narrows it!" The Dr grumbled, running on and on as quickly as he could, all the way back to his TARDIS and slammed the door behind himself. He spun around and was about to race to the console when Ood Sigma stood by the door which reopened and showed him to the Dr as he nodded with his eyes closed. The Dr sighed sadly and said, "Not yet!" He slapped a lever down and the engines began to stir.
"Ood Sigma, heyyy!" Silver waves to her friendly Ood who stood just outside the door.
The engines went and the TARDIS doors slammed, locking this time and off they flew. "Well that was rude." Silver huffed.
"Silver, how old are you?"
"18... Why?"
"You're- Really?"
"Why, is that not a good enough answer for you? Were you expecting me to be older, or younger, now be smart Doc, I could take offence to what you utter from thine mouth next!"
"Young... Too young..." The Dr repeated the words of the Ood and entered the world's atmosphere as the TARDIS stuttered to a holt and placed herself safely down in the rubble of Earth. "Stay here. I'm tracking the Master, you cannot come with me!" The Doctor yelled through clenched teeth, his eyes wider than usual and a serious, accusatory finger wagging in Silver's face.
"Geez, okay." She answered, pouting and sitting in one of the chairs. "You should get spinny-chairs or beanbags or something, you are a Time Lord of fun, after all!" Silver mumbled through pouting lips.
The Dr didn't have time to linger on her words but he had never told her he was a Time Lord, beanbags were littering her house when he first found her, she must miss home... But what was home to her? If what the Ood explained was true then... Then that wasn't real. Then she didn't ever have a childhood, a family, friends, a home... She was like him. Imprisoned by those who said they 'cared'. Past tense, careD... Each peace reveals another truth, all he had to do now was keep an open mind. And his mind was open and throttled by millions of thoughts a second. The thoughts of how he can smell, how he can HEAR the Master... How distance seemed a mere jump to him and how close to his heart beats he felt.
And the chase was on. Doctor chasing Master. Master running until he was caged and Doctor, hurt and crumpled in the rubble and rocks of humanity's greed and rage. The Doctor coiled in his hurt but soon, his head was cradled into her lap. Her kind lap. The Silver Child's lap.
The Silver CHILD.
Silver.
The Silver System born in 8.642 billion years time.
The Silver Child, an experiment of the Time Lords of Old. Lost to the Universe when the Senator got bored of her. Orchestrated to carry out the complete anihalation of the Multiverse... And the rebirth of one greater, bigger, better than any other existing before it.
The Doctor's mind had finally caught up with his ears. She is a Solar System, nebulae upon nebulae, life, death, time, creation and destruction... No wonder each creature wants to have her... Not even the Ood can stop the temptation... She is so much more than human.
And right now? Right now, she was his and he was hers.
"Silver... I think I know who you are..." The Doctor said, rasping through breaths that he somehow could breathe even in such a dusty, greying pallor of earth and sediment.
"W-what?" She was crying. Her beautiful green galaxy eyes, tears of star dust and sorrow, dripping, drooling from them. Did she shed them for him?
"Silver, no tears, no tears..." He reached a hand to her face and blurred the tear from her eye with his thumb. She clasped her hand over his and guided his 'manly' hands to her lips and she kissed his knuckles with kind force, as though with more force she would find them to be real and well again. The Dr's eyes slanted with joy and concern and she hiccupped through her tears.
"I thought I'd lost you," She cried, trying to hold back her tears but with the saltyness staining her cheeks already, fresh ones just followed their paths.
"Not yet... Come on, we have to find the... Master." He broke his words as he gathered the strength to stand, with Silver's help, of course.
Ood Sigma appeared in the Dr's peripherals.
"Not... Yet!" He shouted and swiped an arm angrily through mid-air.
"Dr? Are you alright?" Silver asked him worriedly.
"I'm alright..." He huffed, hobbling with her back to the TARDIS.
~
"Silver, Wilfred. Wilfred, Silver."
"How d'you do, ma'am." Wilf held her hand and shook it gently but vigourously.
"She's the creation and destruction of the universe all packed into one, tiny, 18 year old human body! Told you I knew who you were, Silva!~" The Dr said, pointing all over her body and then bringing her into him for a side hug and to kiss the temple of her head, her silver-white hair getting tousled from the impact.
She blinked twice and said, "I am?"
"You are and you, Silva, ARE BRILLIANT!" He then clasped either side of her face and kissed her on the mouth this time.
Wilfred shuffled his feet awkwardly in the background. "So, um, are we going to go and find this 'Master' now and save the world, or-"
"Yes, thank you, Wilfred... That was a beautiful moment you just had to go and ruin, right there-" The Dr said, exasperatedly as his arms were thrown around in that ape-ish way.
"Oh shut up, it's not like that was our first kiss!" Silver chuckled and slapped his ass, making him jump and say,
"Oi, cheeky! Pun intended~" He laughed and rubbed his nose against hers.
The TARDIS lands and all goe squiet.
"Hang on, we've kissed before? Not in this body, have we?"
"Uhhh strip club, Ood Sigma, Jack, Donna nursing your hangover... Not ring any bells?"
"Strip- wow, you guys really do get busy!" Wilf exclaimed, his eyes going wide as he chuckles to himself.
"Oh, no, no! It's not like that- Wilf, NO-"
"Whatever floats your boat, Doctor, it's alright, your secret's safe with me-" Wilf winked at his inspirational Dr and the Dr tutted, whined then ran out of the door, motioning for the other two to follow.
"Not you, you're staying in the TARDIS, you're too young for war!" The Dr said, telling her to stay in the TARDIS, but immediately regretting it as she stormed out of the TARDIS and gave him a middle finger as she sassily passed him and opened a small door with the use of his sonic. "When did you-"
"Pick-pocketed for months back in Lanzarote."
"Ah... Yeah, that explains a lot... And by the way, how are you holding up, you know with the whole... You're a solar system, thing?" The Dr asked rather suavely yet bluntly.
"I'm used to you speaking at a mile a minute at me then jumping onto the next thing... And I'm fine with it, I'm spontaneous, like you, pappy~"
"Don't... No. Never call me that ever again..." The Dr said then hushed everyone as they infiltrated the caverns of the Master's captive mansion. He then held up his sonic and said, "Oh would you look at that, you have a schimmer... People don't usually want to be found out if they're wearing a schimmerrr~"
"A what?" The woman in a lab-coat asked.
"A schimmerrrr~" The Dr repeated. Raising his sonic and sonic-ing her schimmer away and showing her for who she is.
"Blimey! She's a cactus!" Wilfred pointed out.
"I beg your pardon!?" She asked again with an incredulous tone.
"Oh look, another schimmer~" The Dr turned around to blast another sonic wave and cause the male in the lab-coat to return to his original state again.
"IT'S CACTUSES!" Wilf said amazed.
"It's cacti. Plural of cactus is cacti." Silver educated the older man who scratched his neck awakwardly and nodded.
"That's my English gal!" The Dr smiled excitedly, bouncing up to her but his bounce was with less bounce and his excitement was less than Silver had ever seen it.
"Do I get a kiss for it?" Silver asked with a smirk.
"Of course~" The Dr leaned down to kiss her but a rumble and crack was heard from above as whatever machine the Master was working on began to indeed, work.
"That asshole!" Silver stared up at the floor above and suddenly she had become some kind of silver mist.
"Huh... Well, that's new." The Dr shrugged and followed after his longest companion.
"Doctor, what did she just do!? What happened, is she okay?" Wilf asked, trying to keep up with the Time Lord.
"She's fine, Wilf, be careful this is the Master we're going to face..."
And then, of course, they were caught.
"Oh, a mist? We have our very own weather system? What are you creature?" The Master asked, leaping about and cautiously, in a predatory way, slinked over to the miasmic silver blur.
"Doctor, how do I reform?" Silver asked, a scared ring to her tone.
"Oh no, the Dr can't speak right now, he's having difficulty with his body~" The Master answered for his victimised Dr who is tightly bound to a chair.
"You asshole, when I figure this out- OO! I've got it!" Silver blurred and settled in a ball of light, she connected with the Dr's mind and spoke to him. 'Dr, can you hear me?... Please, tell me you can help me...'
'Silver, I don't know, I am so sorry... But you have so much power, I don't know how you even managed to make this mind connection without... without hearing and seeing all the poisons of Time Lord-ery.'
'I can hear it. I can see it. But... When I went to the bottom of the sea in Lanzarote... I spoke to those Angels, I think tehy became a part of me... They grabbed me and this bright light shone... and then, I managed to see just a glimpse of the universe and hear a portion of its cries and songs... Dr, I can hear and see and feel everything you do... and... so much more...'
'Silver... Listen to me... You have to be careful, inside you there is potential to destroy or create... Please, choose creation, I don't want anymore death...'
"Okay, Doctor." Silver reformed in front of the Master and when he came striding over to get her from behind, she punched him square in the nose and the Dr's eyes flew wide and he grumbled, 'what did I just say!?' "What? You never said anything about violence-" She shrugged and the Dr rolled his shoulders the best he could in his position.
"Christ! She has a fist on 'er!" The Master stated in pain, rolling and blundering with his throbbing face.
"There's more where that came from, sunshine!" Silver said angrily.
"Waheeyyy!" Wilf called excitedly for her.
With her eyes ablaze of green galaxies, splintering yellow with those same, enraged slits of black, serpentine pupils, the Master finally had a good look at her. "It's you..." He pointed his hand, shaking weakly at her general direction.
Her hair flailing and sharpening in silver dew.
"Yes. It is, Mr Ssssaxxxxon!" She hissed, a dangerously thin tongue escaping her lips and flickering between her teeth. "AH! No! No more death, you heard what the Dr said... Ssstop!" She began wrestling with her own mind, fighting herself for the better. She stumbled and when she had regained her balance she shook her limbs free and a few of her joints popped, making the Dr and Wilf cringe.
The Dr and Wilfred were suddenly beamed to safety, to a scrapper ship, thanks to the cactus people. And the Master returned to his evil doings.
"DO NOT HURT HIM! AND DO NOT HURT HER!" The Dr screamed at the two before he went.
"You heard him, no more punching me in the nose, Silver Star!" The Master said, hiding his nose from her.
She rolled her eyes and said, "Oh shut up, next shot'll be your nuts!" Silver warningly kicked herleg up at his goolies.
The Master quickly covered his knackers and scarpered away from her.
And the drum kept on drumming.
The endless drumming.
And the Galifreyans arrived in all their robes of burgundy and gold.
The Dr came smashing through the glass above and just as he was about to hit the marble floors, Silver raised her hand and seemed to slow his fall at least to stop his agony.
But the glass had still taken its toll.
"On your knees, mankind." The Galifreyan Lord ordered. "It is coming!"
"What is?" The Master spat dumbfounded.
"Don't you ever listen!? IT'S GALIFREY, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW. AND YOU BROUGHT IT HERE!" The Dr yelled.
And the Master still tried to weave himself into the Galifreyan lord's plans and riches... but this time he could not worm his way in.
And the Dr and the Master bicker, and the Galifreyan Lord explains how he will end all of Time.
"No." Silver said.
The Galifreyan Lord tilted his head, "No? Who are you to oppose me?"
"Don't you recognise your own puppet?" Silver stepped closer.
"I'll quiet you now, chattering animal!" The Lord used his steely hand to reduce her to a keeling, pained being, gasping for air.
"NO! DON'T!" The Dr screamed with sorrow. That was his last step. He picked up the gun to shoot the Time Lord, switching between him and the Master. Eventually he chose the switch. He killed no one.
"BACK YOU GO!" The Dr demanded as the rift was closed and Galifrey descended back to the depths of war.
"Then you shall die with me, Lord Doctor." The Lord said.
"I know..." The Dr agreed.
"No... No..." Silver cried, "Doc...tor..." He turned to face her and a single tear fell from his eye as he smiled at her, tight-lipped and fearful of what death might hold for him. Silver passed out in a heap of limbs and with tear stained cheeks.
"Out of the way." The Master parroted the Dr from before and shot the Time Lord back to Galifrey with all his acolytes and minions.
Wilfred was saved from the Radioactive chamber and the Dr curled into a foetal position as he cried and curled up to die. That was when something came alive in Silver. Her body changed, it bristled and came into another kind of being, a sentient being. She coiled upwards like a bright yellow, golden snake, a chinese dragon, a beautiful, brilliant, fantastic being. She shone with light and with her small, nimble legs, she stepped to the door of the radioactive chamber and kissed the door. The mouth of the dragon-creature, of her, blew a flurry of silver dust, glimmering with yellow, holy light and helped the air into his lungs.
Wilf stared in awe. "Wh-what are you?" He asked, stumbling slightly.
"I am too young." Silver whispered and her dragon-like eyes shone with light, just like the rest of her. The spines and bristles upon her very back wavered in the wind and she looked up into the sky and faded away, her body limp and falling to the earth once more... But she was still this creature, she was no longer human... She didn't know how to be. She had defied humanity.
~
The Doctor had to say his goodbyes, returning favours for all those he had collected as friends throughout the years and he shed tears as he screamed on, he didn't want to go...
...He gave Silver her choice to stay, leave and pass through the TARDIS freely. She thanked him with the deepest gratitude of her heart but she couldn't cry, she couldn't shed a single tear. She couldn't even kiss him goodbye. She... was stuck in the form of this creature, for better or for worse and for now... She didn't know how to change that. And the Dr had no time to help her, no time to pause and see her properly. But he kept the memory of her, in her reddish purple felty coat, her bright pink scarf, her purple hat with the yellow pin, her pastel grey-purple trousers, her coal black shoes. And... And she remembered him as her dopey, dorky dumbo the elephant and as her favourite man-child and god almighty, the only love she had ever felt.
The Doctor kissed her snout and stroked her long, slender face, ruffling the feathers and scales that covered her sentient face. And he cried those lonely, straying tears. And she whined a heartfelt whine, as she watched him buckle over and regenerate before her very eyes. She cradled him against her until he was fully gone and he could see her as her human self, as the woman he had fallen in love with... Not for the power he had unwillingly welcomed into his life, but for the kindness, the tenderness, the creativity and the heart and soul of a loving woman. And she loved him. And he loved her.
But times had chnaged and she had to go before his new self grew attached. And he had to die.
Everyone has to die.