Fic: Treasure of Infinite Worth

[intrikate88]

Title: Treasure of Infinite Worth
Author:

intrikate88
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,616
Spoilers: Post-Doomsday, set during the cartoon Infinite Quest series, so spoilers for that. It’s somewhere early season three?
Summary: The Infinite offers the heart’s desire. But nothing is ever free.

 

 

It was a legend, that was all. A fairy tale in the old sense, the ones about sex and death and especially blood, and in fact very few fairies at all, really, just some sort of contact with a world other than the one lived in at noon on a Tuesday. That’s all the Infinite was. He’d met semi-gods and demi-gods and things claiming to be gods and possibly the devil himself (the jury was still out on that one) but something that could promise you your heart’s desire- well, that was impossible. And directly contradicted the first thermodynamic law- what could create the energy and matter out of nothing to fulfill that desire, after all?

 

That was why the Doctor had no trepidation while flying a gold-fusion-powered mechanical bird named Squawk across the universe and a fair bit of the time continuum to get to the final destination the data chips had indicated. No fear whatsoever, nope. The Infinite was just a rust bucket of a ship and a leftover from the Dark Times, and he’d destroyed whatever he’d found of the Dark Times, hadn’t he? (Racnoss screamed in his mind. But he’d heard his share of screams, because that’s what came with being the Doctor.)

 

And there, dead ahead, there was the asteroid, or the ship, or whatever it truly was. His eyes scanned the surface- no TARDIS? He was too early. Still, couldn’t hurt to have a look around, could it? He landed Squawk with relatively small mishap (for a given value of small- that bird just refused to learn how to land properly) and slipped inside, using his sonic screwdriver as a torch, and climbing down to the hold. Rusty old supports caught at his coat, slowing his progress.

 

Once at the bottom, he peered around in the dusty gloom. It was a ship, that was all. An ancient ship, succumbing to that good old second law of thermodynamics, entropy. He was feeling better and better about this every passing second. A beam collapsed somewhere in the difference, and the Doctor was not afraid.

 

He turned, to see a doorway.

 

It didn’t lead into another room. There wasn’t even a wall. It was just… a doorframe. A rough wood construct, held together with crude rusting iron pegs, hardly even what one could call nails. It looked terribly, terribly old. “And I know old,” the Doctor added, in a murmur to himself. Through the doorway, though…

 

It wasn’t the ship. He stepped to the side, looking around the outside of the doorframe, to see more junked-out machines that had been sitting in the hold for-almost-ever. But all he could see through the doorframe was-

 

“Orange?” he said aloud. It was a familiar sort of orange. A Gallifreyan-sky-sort-of-orange. He stepped closer, and things fell into a sharper focus. Orange sky, mountains, grass. The citadel, enclosed in its transparent protection. All just as he had remembered it, as it had been, before he’d- well. No need to dwell on that.

 

“What are you waitin’ on, then?” said a voice close by. “Did you think you destroyed Gallifrey everywhere, Doctor?”

 

He stepped closer to the door, and saw her. There, to the side, her hair blowing around and that grin on her face, her tongue tucked up to the side, waiting for his responding grin. “Rose! But that’s impossible!”

 

“You do dwell on impossible, don’t you? You don’t know every corner of the universe, you know. There are a few holes left, here and there.” She paused. “But I can’t come through. This hole- it’s a one-way street, Doctor.” Rose pulled back the blonde hair whipping around her face. “I don’t suppose you miss me quite that much?”

 

“Oh, you know I do,” he said, grinning back at her. He felt a little drunk, almost. He grinned wider, and stepped closer. A one-way passage to Rose’s world, a world where Gallifrey still existed. To get that, after death and darkness and a world alone. There’s Martha, said his mind, and he wasn’t sure if that was a snide remark or not, so he dismissed it.

 

“Then come on,” she urged. She stepped closer to the doorway. “You’n’ me again, Doctor. I even found your TARDIS here, it can be just like it used to be. Just us and the universe.” And she was there, right there, right on the other side of the threshold, as close as her toes could touch. She held a hand up, as if resting it on the barrier between them. “Just… Doctor… one thing. Jus’ one thing I’ve been wonderin’, ever since Norway. Did you- were you going to say-“ She stopped, and swallowed. “You love me, too, yeah?”

 

“Oh, Rose. My Rose,” he started, his grin spreading even more widely across his face. He placed a hand against hers, felt the energy of the void and her soft flesh past it. Her hand! The slightest touch reminded him so strongly of how they grasped each other’s hands so tightly and ran, never letting go. “Rose, I- wait.”

 

Her forehead wrinkled. “What?”

 

“I never told you what my planet was called. Not ever, I never mentioned its name to you.”

 

“Doctor, I found it out here. The planet of the Timelords. It’s all here, Doctor, just step through the door.”

 

He laid his hand on the doorframe, felt the rough wood beneath his hand. “This isn’t a doorway, though, is it?” he asked quietly. Rose looked impatient. “I feel it, pulling at me. It’s an energy siphon of some sort, though I’ve never seen the like. It wants me. It wants my life.”

 

“I want you, Doctor. Do you love me?”

 

He looked at her sadly, his grin fading. “I was right, this is a fairy tale. One of the old ones, about sex and death and blood. What is the price of your heart’s desire? The Infinite, it puts your treasure right in front of you- what did that man say? ‘Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also’? There’s always a price. All I have to do is give up my heart and my life, to tell you I’m yours and to walk through this door.”

 

“Wouldn’t you do that to be with me, though?” Rose looked angry. “I thought you- that you- and besides, you can regenerate!”

 

“I could,” he said. “But this ship is old. It has no power to grant me my heart’s desire, even if I did give it the blood of a Timelord. It can look into my heart and show me my treasure, but nothing more.” He stopped, and then spoke again, deliberately. “You are an illusion.”

 

Rose pushed at the invisible barrier, pressing through the doorway. The Doctor stood quite still, and she went up on her toes, leaning against him, pressing her lips to his. “Was that an illusion?” she demanded. “Tell me that wasn’t real.”

 

“It wasn’t real,” the Doctor told her.

 

Rose opened her eyes wide, her mouth wide, outraged. Then… she began to glow. It wasn’t the warm, powerful, golden glow of the time vortex, but a painful white light, burning through her. She vanished, as did Gallifrey behind her. All that was left was a rough wooden doorframe, the last broken remnant of a structure in the hold. The Doctor lightly touched the frame, and no energy ran through it. He shoved his hands in his pockets, and turned away.

 

To see himself, with Martha in his arms. The other-Doctor’s arms. Sod it all, that was the reason he didn’t visit his other regenerations much, the pronouns were embarrassingly complex.

 

He was holding Martha rather intimately, wasn’t he? The other bloke, that was. The ship where you got to see your heart’s desire… ah. Damn. He stepped forward, just as Martha stepped away from the other Doctor, looking up suspiciously, then laughing self-consciously. Clearly she had come to the same conclusion. Her expression turned to horror as the other Doctor said, “You wanted your heart’s desire. Now, you have it,” and promptly burst into a light show.

 

“I think that’s my friend you’re scaring,” he told the other Doctor, pondering that really, he was a devilishly handsome bloke, wasn’t he? Well, not when imitating fireworks, naturally. “Only you can get rid of it,” he said to Martha.

 

“But- how-?”

 

“Heart’s desire, Martha,” he reminded her, feeling a pang in that particular area himself.

 

“Oh, I can’t believe I walked into all this,” she muttered. The Doctor was inclined to agree, and would have, had he not walked into the very same thing himself. Incredibly high intelligence was no defense, apparently. But Martha was watching the illusion flicker. “I don’t believe all this!” It vanished completely. “Oh, yes!”

 

The Doctor permitted himself a small smile at her triumph, and looked back to where he had triumphed. It didn’t feel like triumph. Cold light flickered at him viciously, and he felt it pulling at him, teasing him for an image of his desire.

 

“Oh, don’t even try to find my hearts’ desire,” he growled.

 

Martha grabbed him, clinging. She was going to ask, and before she could, he babbled, trying to put words between them, about the three years it had taken him to reform Vorlag-Noc prison, to raise Squawk and to ride to this place, this time. Martha’s brown eyes shone with besotted adoration. His shone only with the stubborn image of Rose.

 

“What did it show you, by the way?”

 

. After all the time they had spent traveling together, she still had to ask. To answer, though, could acknowledge where his hearts belonged. The Doctor looked away.

 

“It doesn’t matter. It didn’t work on me.”

Comments

[andi-horton.livejournal.com]

Eeerp! My poor little heart just broke down crying and hugging itself. That was brilliantly done, especially wih the bits of humour sprinkled through all the low-key angst. Loved this so very much; noon on a Tuesday, indeed!

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm so glad you liked it.

Noon on a Tuesday is probably the most unextraordinary time of the week. Something would have to be really magical to happen then.

[roxyk630.livejournal.com]

Nice job! Poor Poor doctor! *sniffle*

Only nitpick, your statement of the first law of thermodynamics is incorrect. The statement you have is actually the Law of Consevation of Mass. The first law of Thermodynamics is as shown here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics

Sorry, thats probably kind of random that anyone would even notice that... >>;;

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

I looked at it, and thought the first law seemed to be saying something about conservation of energy, which going along with the special theory of relativity means that energy and mass can be interchangeable in certain conditions, and then despaired because I am an English major and running off the bits of theoretical quantum physics that I learned erratically about four years ago. And then I remembered that the Doctor Who writers have absolutely rubbish science that they all make up and distort anyway, so I'd be fitting right in. But you're probably right.

I'm glad you liked this! Thanks for reviewing!

[roxyk630.livejournal.com]

I really did!

*L* no worries, there science IS seriously skewed. Don't even get me started on the "reversing polarity of a neutron flow..." line. Its dangerous I tell you! ;)

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

It totally is. Have you seen ninamazing's rants on the subject over at planetbarcelona? Hilarious. The whole reversing polarity bit is such baloney science; I think it was a reference to the fourth Doctor, who said that probably often and specifically in the City of Death serial, and it was BS back then, too. One day we'll storm the BBC and demand legitimate science. :P

[roxyk630.livejournal.com]

I haven't! ... but I'm totally going to check it out once I'm off of work! *L* I have one of my own, but its more of a personal peeve. ;)

They sued it in the 5 Doctor's special as well. I was in hysterics, and then I tormented the few kind friends that were watching it with me with how innacurate that actually was and how important reserach is!

*L* we can make "Reversing Polarity of Neutron Flow's is against the laws of Science" signs! that maybe a bit long though. ;)

[moonlightrick.livejournal.com]

Oh, owch--the poor doctor. Very well written :)

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you thought so. :)

[marble-rose.livejournal.com]

Ooh, this one hurts. In the best possible way. I especially liked this line:

After all the time they had spent traveling together, she still had to ask.

It seems very true to their dynamic, with the Doctor still hopelessly in love with Rose, unable to move on, and Martha not quite getting it. Or maybe she just didn't want to get it.

Seriously though, this was amazingly well done. Now I'm going to ransack your journal for more fic. ; )

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Ransack away! I'm glad you liked this, and hope you like my other fics! Thanks for the compliments on the Martha/Doctor dynamics, too, it's good to know I'm on the right track.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Thanks for good reviews!

BTW, your icon = <3

[http://users.livejournal.com/_snookums/]

Ohh, that was heartbreaking. But I loved it. ;)

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm very happy you did.

Your icon makes me crack up.

[starlightmoonla.livejournal.com]

Aww Poor Doctor. Showing him his hearts' desire and having him banish it away. Although this story is heartbreaking it's still fantastically written!

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks for reviewing!

Heh. I'm so amused I made Serious Fic out of a cartoon.

[goldy-dollar.livejournal.com]

GAH. I kind of gave up on The Infinite Quest after five minutes (was it just me, or was the Ten/Martha relationship in the cartoon kind of... off?), but this is SO worth it. And I love how you combined both Rose AND Gallifrey because that, obviously, WOULD be the Doctor's deepest desire. *sniff* And it was probably wrong of me, but I was totally willing the Doctor to go with faux!Rose. *G*

Love:

Ten looking at himself and totally having a crush! So cute! He has no shame. :D

The whole Martha loves the Doctor who loves Rose thing. Makes me wibble. Still.