Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson (shallnotlisten) wrote in colligo_threads, |
Reinette had known, logically, that something could happen to the Doctor. He wasn't human but he was able to be harmed, even killed, and he certainly wasn't one to shy away from danger just because such possibilities were entirely plausible. However he had given his word that he would do his best to be careful and, as much as she wanted nothing more than to beg him to simply stay inside the TARDIS, with her, where she'd known he'd be safe, she couldn't ask such a thing of him. He helped people. That was what he did. He'd helped her, throughout various stages of her life, and she could no more ask him to stop attempting to help others than she could have asked Louis to give up his Throne simply so they could be together without all of the politics that went with it.
Of course, knowing that the Doctor could be hurt and being faced with waking to find him gone were two different things entirely. Add to that the fact that his jacket and bowtie were both still present when he clearly wasn't and, in a matter of seconds, Reinette went from being vaguely concerned at something that might happen to downright terrified that something had. Dressing quickly, not bothering to fix her hair or even grab her PDA, she tore out of their room as though being chased by the Devil himself. Something was wrong, she knew it with every fibre of her being, and while she had been telling the truth when she stated that she had no interest in seeing the Toclafane up close and personal, she also would be damned if she was going to stay put and just wait for news to come to her. Particularly when it concerned someone she loved and especially when it concerned the Doctor. She managed to leave the flat without running into either the Master or Lucy and quickly made her way to the lobby.
The streets themselves were eerily quiet as the uncrowned Queen of France slowly and silently made her way outside. In retrospect, Reinette wasn't sure how she found him as easily as she did. Perhaps something had led her in the direction she was meant to go. Perhaps she had simply gotten lucky. Whatever the case, she spotted him not too far from an alley, far closer to the apartments than she had ever expected he would be. And although Reinette had been taught at a very young age to always show decorum no matter what the situation, had even instructed the French Royal Court to do much the same when they'd been attacked by the strange creatures that had stalked her throughout her life, just this once she felt her mask slip and the real woman beneath surged to the surface. By his side in a flash, she dropped to her knees and immediately felt for a pulse. There wasn't one - of course there wasn't, there was far too much blood for that - and yet she continued to wait for long seconds in the vain hope that his hearts would start again.
Regeneration. That's what he'd said he could do, as a means of escaping death. He could regenerate. New face, new personality, new everything, but still the same Doctor. It was a horrible thought, considering she was rather in love with this version, but she found herself wishing desperately for it to happen just the same. However seconds ticked by, slowly turning into a minute. One minute became two. Two became ten and yet still, there was no sign of life. The tears that she'd been trying to hold back finally started to fall as reality began to sink in.
He was gone. The Doctor was dead and he wasn't coming back. She didn't understand how, or why, but she knew that it was true. He was gone. Forever.