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The Doctor couldn't move- he couldn't. There was something inside him, and it was keeping him still- his mouth mouthed without his consent as the creature within Skye turned the vacationing group against him.
"It's inside his head-"
"Its- ins-side his he-ad," he choked out as panic overwhelmed him. It, whatever it was, was going to have them thrown him off the ship. He'd be trapped on Midnight helpless before the sun- by Rassilon, he'd race through his remaining lives one after another trapped there, hours from the Tardis- he was going to die-
He couldn't move- couldn't speak to his defence- he was going to die-
Green eyes filled his vision, and he shot his gaze to meet them. Holly. At the start of the journey, she had been sitting beside him, a young woman from Earth wandering the universe to explore. She had wanderlust as powerful as his own and a desire to do. After chatting with her for a while, the Doctor had honestly been debating inviting her on a trip. He wanted to show her sights she couldn't begin to fathom; he'd put her wanderlust to good use.
The urge grew exponentially to take her with him when Holly reached up and snapped her fingers right in front of his face.
"He's waited… so long. In th-e dark. And the.. cold. And the diamonds-" The Doctor's mouth continued to be forced open, as he repeated the words of the thing within Skye. But his attention was now on Holly as her brows pinched together. Holly was the only one daring enough to approach him, the only one to slide from the group. She didn't bother with the arguments of the other passengers. Instead, she was looking. Holly was problem-solving. The only one outside himself and possibly Skye to do so.
Was that the difference? Had Skye been targeted because of her calm mind, then the Doctor because of the same? Was Holly next? No, that wasn't it- there was something different about Holly, something missing-
Holly's fingers danced in front of his face, questioning, and the Doctor's eyes widened.
Clever girl.
That was it. Holly's voice the Doctor hadn't heard it when Skye had been repeating. Not once. The girl had muted herself, had realized the connection was speech while listening to the rest of them and then she'd shut her speech down. Now she signing at him, trying to get him to respond with speaking a word herself. It was brilliant, so brilliant, but he couldn't communicate in return. All the Doctor could move was his eyes.
"I'm going to throw him out!"
Holly reached forward suddenly, and the Doctor realized what was happening. Skye had convinced the group he was possessed, she was trying to have him thrown off the ship- but Holly, the clever girl. Holly placed herself bodily between them and him. She was protecting him. She figured out the truth as much as she was able too.
"Throw her too!" Skye crooned.
"T-throw…" no NO "her t-t-to-" the Doctor struggled against the words.
Holly furiously signed at them, wary to speak so close to Skye but could not communicate her concerns. None of them could understand her, only the Doctor could. Not one of them even paused to attempt to read her signs; they were too frantic. The crowded against Holly pushed her back until her legs were backed against him, and she snarled toward them. The arguments took on a new desperation level as the Doctor tried everything he could think of to move.
He could do nothing as they grabbed for him. As they shoved Holly aside.
"Listen. That's him."
"Listen- that's him-"
The Doctor couldn't wince even when he heard Holly collapse to the ground, her head cracked against one of the chairs.
"Throw him out!"
The grabbed his arms, dragged him backward past Holly. He shot a look at her trying to hook his leg on the chairs. There was blood, Holly was bleeding, and he was being dragged bit by bit toward the doors. The yelling, the panic, the frantic energy. No one noticed as his leg was free from the chairs. No one but the Doctor saw Holly stand, and her eyes glow.
Holly lunged toward him and grabbed for his legs, her fingers latched on to his clothes, and she bared her teeth.
"It's not him!" She snarled, dragging the attention of half the group. "It's her- bloody-" she released his leg, and the Doctor felt a surge of panic as she raced toward Skye. He could do nothing but watch as Holly grabbed Skye's arm- there was a loud, brutal crack- and they both vanished on the spot.
The Doctor collapsed, strings cut. His body was free and his thoughts, firing far faster than the humans surrounding him, started to make the connection. That crack of noise, that burst of energy… Holly was a witch. But- they should be extinct by this time. Their people died out from civil war and inbreeding. Magic and all those that possessed it should be dead- except, Holly was without a doubt, a witch.
Had any of them survived? The Doctor searched for his mind, and he knew there had been one. But the only witch that had survived that had been-
The Doctor's eyes flew wide.
-Death.
He'd just be saved by the incarnation of Death. Saved by the Immortal girl. The most powerful witch to ever live. Holly Potter.
He'd almost invited Death onto the Tardis. Well- he didn't even know where to begin with that. So he didn't, instead, he released a relieved breath. Holly would survive Midnight, and whatever was hidden within Skye.
She was Death, and hopefully, he'd see her again. This time, to thank her.
He just didn't expect that to be literally four hours later after returning to the spa part of Midnight. He'd walked free from the humans who'd almost killed him to find her casually sipping a martini by the pool, a drink the resort didn't sell.
"Skye?" he asked.
"Purged of whatever it was and returned home." Holly glanced sidelong at him. The green of her eyes was brighter now, more obviously inhuman. Though that might be because she had revealed herself to him, or because he was looking closer for the things that were different. "I see you guessed my identity, took you long enough," she chuckled lightly, "you'll get it faster next time."
Fantastic. The Doctor would see Death again then. "Will I?" he asked, rocking back on his trainers, feeling quite delighted by that.
"You will, many times, actually." She set aside her drink as Donna called his name, "Till next time, Doctor… oh, do be careful in the Library though? That particular 'River' shouldn't end there."
His brows furrowed at that, but before he could ask, she was gone, and he'd have to look forward, or backward, to their next meeting.