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The Doctor stood hunched over his control panel when Ruby entered his field of sight. He took one quick side-eyed glance at her. ‘’Ruby, we are going to the late 1600’s! Prime time of pirates! Dressed like that, I am afraid you are going to be sold to some menagerie,’’ he exclaimed, not looking at the horrified look of Ruby. ‘’So don’t dress like some.. scallywag and become a fearsome pirate lass!’’ Ruby snickered and ran back upstairs.
‘’What even is a scallywag?’’ she shouted as she ran.
‘’I don’t know, my pirate lingo is rusty, need to work on it,’’ the Doctor answered back, hunching over the console once again. She has been acting up lately, sending them to places they weren’t entirely supposed to go. It was like she was malfunctioning, but he couldn’t find the problem, how many times he checked, fidgeted, fixed, bleeped, nothing helped. And she didn’t even ding when there was stuff!
He sighed, heavily, looking at all the flickering lights, levers, everything. He didn’t know why she was so upset and rebelling. He stared for a bit longer, not even noticing Ruby, who was trying to get his attention for some time now.
‘’DOCTOR!’’ she shouted, which caught him out of his trance. ‘’Wow, you were gone, where did you all of the sudden go?’’ Ruby asked. The Doctor jumped in his step, suddenly excited. ‘’My own outfit!’’ he happily exclaimed again, when he saw how badass Ruby was dressed. ‘’Ooookay Anne Bonney, cheeky look,’’ he smirked, looking her up and down as she did a twirl. ‘’Wait here, I might have a cutlass laying around somewhere,’’ he was midway through his sentence when he ran up the steps again.
Ruby smiled to herself. The Doctor hasn’t been himself lately. The way he just has to keep going and stay positive about everything, it’s strange to her. He didn’t even grief. Well, maybe he did, in silence, when she had retreated herself to her room in the TARDIS. She took a seat on a nearby chair-looking object and waited patiently for the Doctor to return.
‘’Oi matey!’’ the Time lord suddenly shouted, pulling Ruby from her thoughts. ‘’How ‘bout we find some good rum out there!’’ he was dressed as an elegant man, not really dressed as a pirate.
‘’What’s this fancy dress? You told me I looked like a scallywag and here you are dressed like you are attending a ball in 1813.. again!’’ she joked, looking him up and down. For some reason, he was dressed in light blue, high stockings, ruffles, you name it.
‘’What? Can’t I be a gentleman in this era?’’ Ruby gave him one look that made him turn around. It didn’t take him long to return looking more pirate-y. ‘’Now off to spices and rum?’’ he smiled, bouncing on his heels as he walked down. Ruby gave him a quick side hug. ‘’Off to spices and rum, captain.’’
The TARDIS whirred and soon enough landed as the Doctor flipped all the levers, the switches and pressed the buttons. Ruby excitedly ran towards the doors, throwing them open, only to stand still in the doorway. ‘’Doctor?’’ she asked quietly. ‘’Where did you send us?’’
‘’1668, why?’’
‘’This doesn’t look very 1668 to me..’’ her voice was eerily quiet at this point. The Doctor looked up and walked over to Ruby’s side.
The sight he saw was indeed not very 1668. The sight was barren, sad, dreadful. Red sands and rocks covered the flooring, mountains could be spotted in the far horizon. A few boulders decorated the place as a midnight black sky with thousands of twinkling stars covered the vast above.
Ruby hit the Doctor on his chest to get his attention, pointing towards something, no, someone sitting on one of these boulders a bit away. The person hadn’t looked up or towards them. A tattered and torn velvet coat cushioned their seat, a waistcoat decorated with blues, purples, flowers and swirls hanging open across their back. Their hair a moppy brown, long, curly mess.
The Doctor gasped. The memories came flooding back. The meeting, the proposal, the kiss.. He felt his pinky finger. The ring was still there, where it always stayed. He would fidget with it when he felt nervous or missed him. Is this real?
He felt Ruby’s hand in his as she squeezed softly. ‘’You should go to him,’’ she whispered, pushing him out of the doorway. So this was the TARDIS's plan all along...
‘’How am I sure he’s not Chuldur?’’ the Doctor asked worried.
‘’You’ll know,’’ Ruby reassured him and stayed in the doorway to watch. The time lord took careful steps towards the boulder, his hearts thumping with every step he took. As he approached the person, the more details he could take in and more memories came flooding back. Tears started to form in his eyes. He couldn’t even lay a hand on this person’s shoulder before they turned around and locked eyes with him. The wee little smile played on his lips as the Doctor gasped.
‘’I knew you would listen to me.’'