[ The Doctor has danced with death so often that he recognizes its whispered embrace, the chill that roots beneath his soul. They're old friends by now, and so the courtship is a known one, complicated and ancient. As he tries desperately to cling to consciousness, the pain an entity unto itself, his thoughts turn towards the promise of warmth soon to be unraveling the threads of his long (too long) life. No. Not today, not now, not before he knows they're safe. They're not safe.
Something lurks, something dark and almost familiar. He can't open his eyes, can't focus enough to hear every sound, but it comes to him brokenly, pieces of words he should know.
Beasts - field - dark
He's still cold - good. The cold, the pain, he wants more of it, wants it to consume him, wants it to hurt like it never has before, needs to be so alive with it that it drives him forward, beyond every compunction that yet remains for mercy, to do what must be done for their sake alone.
Vanessa - Red - he hears them faintly, growing louder. He's being held, then shifted, as the darkness encroaches.
Anger - hate - kill (...Vanessa's voice?)
Up, up, up, he has to get up! Now. His body is stunned, bruised, but intact, and his strength grows rapidly as consciousness prevails. It will always be the threat of harm to those he loves most that pulls him back, and he trusts his biology to do what it must, to heal him, because he's getting up regardless. For them, anything for them.
As his eyes flutter open, he rolls to the side slowly, fighting for and finding purchase against a slick rock jutting from the water. Bringing himself to his knees now slowly, he rapidly takes note of their changed and charged surroundings, and for a moment, he almost can't comprehend what he's seeing, doesn't know where to focus first. ]
no subject
Something lurks, something dark and almost familiar. He can't open his eyes, can't focus enough to hear every sound, but it comes to him brokenly, pieces of words he should know.
Beasts - field - dark
He's still cold - good. The cold, the pain, he wants more of it, wants it to consume him, wants it to hurt like it never has before, needs to be so alive with it that it drives him forward, beyond every compunction that yet remains for mercy, to do what must be done for their sake alone.
Vanessa - Red - he hears them faintly, growing louder. He's being held, then shifted, as the darkness encroaches.
Anger - hate - kill (...Vanessa's voice?)
Up, up, up, he has to get up! Now. His body is stunned, bruised, but intact, and his strength grows rapidly as consciousness prevails. It will always be the threat of harm to those he loves most that pulls him back, and he trusts his biology to do what it must, to heal him, because he's getting up regardless. For them, anything for them.
As his eyes flutter open, he rolls to the side slowly, fighting for and finding purchase against a slick rock jutting from the water. Bringing himself to his knees now slowly, he rapidly takes note of their changed and charged surroundings, and for a moment, he almost can't comprehend what he's seeing, doesn't know where to focus first. ]