Post by denstort on Oct 20, 2011 17:00:51 GMT
This a Tenth Doctor/ Jack Harkness story. It's set after Children Of Earth and after Journey's End.
Chapter One
The TARDIS materialized in the middle of what should have been the flowering meadows of the Sinsacha Plains.
So it was very much to the Doctor’s surprise, that when he opened the door, he found himself parked in a night darkened alley that was strewn with rubbish, and was that snow!?
“Oi, this isn’t Sinsacha, why have we landed here!?” he exclaimed, ducking back into the TARDIS interior to retrieve his coat.
He shrugged it on, and slammed the TARDIS door behind him, ignoring the rumble of displeasure from the TARDIS.
He strolled down the not so nice alley, not looking back, and stepped into the main street.
The street was virtually deserted, apart from the odd taxi, and the occasional drunk, slowly weaving their way home.
He stopped, and looked round, and wondered why the TARDIS had brought him to Earth once again. When he looked up, he saw multi-coloured lights strung across the street, and why at Christmas, and by the looks of it, somewhere in the UK.
Shrugging his shoulders, he moved along the street, hoping to find a clue as to where in the UK the TARDIS had landed him.
He rounded a corner, and stopped. He let out a deep sigh, it had to be here. It had to be Cardiff.
**************************
Arthur Stevens huddled in the corner, trying his best to cover himself with the cardboard he’d fought hard to keep. He shivered, the cold was getting to him, he was getting too old to be living on the street anymore.
He thought back to the days when he had a nice home, a nice family, and Christmas had been a time full of lights and presents. He smiled, taking another gulp from the bottle, losing himself in whiskey sodden memories.
He stopped drinking when a shadow fell across him, and he looked up, hoping it wasn’t another do-gooder, trying to tell him he should stop drinking.
He frowned, when there was no person to go with the shadow, and he suddenly felt very, very cold.
Then he felt something touch him, and the shadow suddenly leapt forward, and Arthur Stevens screamed.
But no-one heard him, and who would have cared if they had, he was just another homeless person, nothing but a statistic, and
Arthur Stevens disappeared, leaving nothing but the shadow, which faded away, leaving nothing but a man shaped hole in the snow.
*****************************
Jack Harkness had expected to find himself in the space port on the edges of Valnaxian space, so when he came round from a particularly rough ride, thanks to his Vortex Manipulator, that had been on the fritz, he realised he wasn’t in the space port.
He blinked several times, and realised it was snow falling on his face. He sat up, and as he looked round, his face dropped.
“No, no, no, not here!” he cried.
He scrambled up, taking in the coloured lights, and the gentle lapping of water against pier, and the distant sound of music, and the un-mistakable sound of a Christmas carol being sung in Welsh!
He looked up at the sky, a look of horror and desperation on his face.
“Why have you brought me here!?” he roared.
************************
DCI Steven Williams sighed, and looked at the stack of files in front of him, and wondered where he should start.
He knew exactly what these files contained; all of them were missing person’s reports.
No doubt they’d been dismissed, because they were homeless, but he didn’t see it that way. A missing person was a missing person, whether they were homeless, or someone who lived in the large houses just outside Cardiff.
He couldn’t believe that so many people had gone missing, without someone thinking it was out of the ordinary. But he didn’t want to think what he was thinking, it made his head spin, that this was the work of one person, and if it was the work of one person, it would make them something out of his worst nightmares.
He sighed, and opened the first file and started noting the similarities between all of the cases, in the hope that he would have a light bulb moment, or that none of the cases were connected.
He hoped for the latter, as he couldn’t stomach the idea that Cardiff could have a serial killer, and at Christmas.
***************************
Gwen Cooper shifted uncomfortably in bed, trying not to disturb Rhys, who’d only got home a few hours ago. He’d been working hard since she’d told him she was pregnant, and now that she was near to giving birth, he’d been working a double shift.
She thought about that time back in the Hub, when she’d used the scanner, and the shock of finding she was pregnant.
She hadn’t had time to really think about it, what with the crisis that had enveloped Earth, the 456, the children, the death of Ianto, and Jack’s abandonment of them.
She wondered where Jack was now, or even when he was. She wondered if he’d come across the Doctor out there, two wounded lonely souls. She hoped so, perhaps they could heal each other.
Letting out a sigh, she shifted again, and closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep again, but she dreamt.
***********************
The Doctor walked along the deserted streets, thought whizzing through his mind. He wondered why the streets were so empty.
Admitted, he wasn’t in the best part of Cardiff, but you would still see the homeless huddling in their cardboard homes.
That in itself was enough to rouse his curiosity, along with the fact that as he passed another alley, there was the faint whiff of something, enough of a something to make him veer off the street, and into the alley.
The alley itself was nothing to write home about, litter strewn, a dusting of snow, and as the Doctor approached the end of it, a dark shape in the snow, and the smell was much stronger, and there was a unusual tang in the air, one that he couldn’t quite place.
It was then, that he realised the shape in the snow was human shaped.
“That’s odd, human sized shape in the snow, a smell and a taste I don’t recognise, anyone would think there was an alien around, apart from me that is,” he said, as he walked back down the alley.
He reached the end of the alley, and a cold wind blew across his back, and he shuddered, and for no reason, he whipped round, looking back down the alley.
He shook himself, and chided himself for being paranoid, and as he turned back, something caught his eye, a dark shape in the corner.
Frowning, he moved back down the alley, towards where he thought he saw something. He stopped as he reached a set of rubbish containers, and there in the corner, in the darkest shadow, it sat.
He moved forward, looking closer, at a shadow that was darker that the rest, and there was that smell, and that taste.
“Now, what are you?” he said, reaching out towards it, and jumped when it shot away at speed.
“Whoa, don’t tell me you’re shy,” he said, as the shadow disappeared over the roof of a building.
The Doctor watched the roof line for a few seconds then blinked.
He stood for a few moments, then walked back down the alley, and into the street, and began walking with a purpose.
************************
Gwen woke with a startled cry, causing Rhys to fall out of bed. He scrambled up, a look of worry etched on his face.
“Gwen, what is it? Is it the baby?” he said.
Gwen turned to face him, and there was a look of shock on her face. “He’s back, my god Rhys, he’s back,” she whispered.
“Who Gwen, who’s back?”
“Jack, Rhys, its Jack, dear god, he’s back!”
Chapter One
The TARDIS materialized in the middle of what should have been the flowering meadows of the Sinsacha Plains.
So it was very much to the Doctor’s surprise, that when he opened the door, he found himself parked in a night darkened alley that was strewn with rubbish, and was that snow!?
“Oi, this isn’t Sinsacha, why have we landed here!?” he exclaimed, ducking back into the TARDIS interior to retrieve his coat.
He shrugged it on, and slammed the TARDIS door behind him, ignoring the rumble of displeasure from the TARDIS.
He strolled down the not so nice alley, not looking back, and stepped into the main street.
The street was virtually deserted, apart from the odd taxi, and the occasional drunk, slowly weaving their way home.
He stopped, and looked round, and wondered why the TARDIS had brought him to Earth once again. When he looked up, he saw multi-coloured lights strung across the street, and why at Christmas, and by the looks of it, somewhere in the UK.
Shrugging his shoulders, he moved along the street, hoping to find a clue as to where in the UK the TARDIS had landed him.
He rounded a corner, and stopped. He let out a deep sigh, it had to be here. It had to be Cardiff.
**************************
Arthur Stevens huddled in the corner, trying his best to cover himself with the cardboard he’d fought hard to keep. He shivered, the cold was getting to him, he was getting too old to be living on the street anymore.
He thought back to the days when he had a nice home, a nice family, and Christmas had been a time full of lights and presents. He smiled, taking another gulp from the bottle, losing himself in whiskey sodden memories.
He stopped drinking when a shadow fell across him, and he looked up, hoping it wasn’t another do-gooder, trying to tell him he should stop drinking.
He frowned, when there was no person to go with the shadow, and he suddenly felt very, very cold.
Then he felt something touch him, and the shadow suddenly leapt forward, and Arthur Stevens screamed.
But no-one heard him, and who would have cared if they had, he was just another homeless person, nothing but a statistic, and
Arthur Stevens disappeared, leaving nothing but the shadow, which faded away, leaving nothing but a man shaped hole in the snow.
*****************************
Jack Harkness had expected to find himself in the space port on the edges of Valnaxian space, so when he came round from a particularly rough ride, thanks to his Vortex Manipulator, that had been on the fritz, he realised he wasn’t in the space port.
He blinked several times, and realised it was snow falling on his face. He sat up, and as he looked round, his face dropped.
“No, no, no, not here!” he cried.
He scrambled up, taking in the coloured lights, and the gentle lapping of water against pier, and the distant sound of music, and the un-mistakable sound of a Christmas carol being sung in Welsh!
He looked up at the sky, a look of horror and desperation on his face.
“Why have you brought me here!?” he roared.
************************
DCI Steven Williams sighed, and looked at the stack of files in front of him, and wondered where he should start.
He knew exactly what these files contained; all of them were missing person’s reports.
No doubt they’d been dismissed, because they were homeless, but he didn’t see it that way. A missing person was a missing person, whether they were homeless, or someone who lived in the large houses just outside Cardiff.
He couldn’t believe that so many people had gone missing, without someone thinking it was out of the ordinary. But he didn’t want to think what he was thinking, it made his head spin, that this was the work of one person, and if it was the work of one person, it would make them something out of his worst nightmares.
He sighed, and opened the first file and started noting the similarities between all of the cases, in the hope that he would have a light bulb moment, or that none of the cases were connected.
He hoped for the latter, as he couldn’t stomach the idea that Cardiff could have a serial killer, and at Christmas.
***************************
Gwen Cooper shifted uncomfortably in bed, trying not to disturb Rhys, who’d only got home a few hours ago. He’d been working hard since she’d told him she was pregnant, and now that she was near to giving birth, he’d been working a double shift.
She thought about that time back in the Hub, when she’d used the scanner, and the shock of finding she was pregnant.
She hadn’t had time to really think about it, what with the crisis that had enveloped Earth, the 456, the children, the death of Ianto, and Jack’s abandonment of them.
She wondered where Jack was now, or even when he was. She wondered if he’d come across the Doctor out there, two wounded lonely souls. She hoped so, perhaps they could heal each other.
Letting out a sigh, she shifted again, and closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep again, but she dreamt.
***********************
The Doctor walked along the deserted streets, thought whizzing through his mind. He wondered why the streets were so empty.
Admitted, he wasn’t in the best part of Cardiff, but you would still see the homeless huddling in their cardboard homes.
That in itself was enough to rouse his curiosity, along with the fact that as he passed another alley, there was the faint whiff of something, enough of a something to make him veer off the street, and into the alley.
The alley itself was nothing to write home about, litter strewn, a dusting of snow, and as the Doctor approached the end of it, a dark shape in the snow, and the smell was much stronger, and there was a unusual tang in the air, one that he couldn’t quite place.
It was then, that he realised the shape in the snow was human shaped.
“That’s odd, human sized shape in the snow, a smell and a taste I don’t recognise, anyone would think there was an alien around, apart from me that is,” he said, as he walked back down the alley.
He reached the end of the alley, and a cold wind blew across his back, and he shuddered, and for no reason, he whipped round, looking back down the alley.
He shook himself, and chided himself for being paranoid, and as he turned back, something caught his eye, a dark shape in the corner.
Frowning, he moved back down the alley, towards where he thought he saw something. He stopped as he reached a set of rubbish containers, and there in the corner, in the darkest shadow, it sat.
He moved forward, looking closer, at a shadow that was darker that the rest, and there was that smell, and that taste.
“Now, what are you?” he said, reaching out towards it, and jumped when it shot away at speed.
“Whoa, don’t tell me you’re shy,” he said, as the shadow disappeared over the roof of a building.
The Doctor watched the roof line for a few seconds then blinked.
He stood for a few moments, then walked back down the alley, and into the street, and began walking with a purpose.
************************
Gwen woke with a startled cry, causing Rhys to fall out of bed. He scrambled up, a look of worry etched on his face.
“Gwen, what is it? Is it the baby?” he said.
Gwen turned to face him, and there was a look of shock on her face. “He’s back, my god Rhys, he’s back,” she whispered.
“Who Gwen, who’s back?”
“Jack, Rhys, its Jack, dear god, he’s back!”