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themasterofmischief · 3 days

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Thalassophobia

The Deep Vortex is uncharted for a reason.

1.7k words CW: Themes of the Deep Ocean.

He was slowly piloting his TARDIS through the Vortex when it happened, a loud crash, followed by the lights flickering as they went tumbling off course, gravity stabilisation losing control and sending him across the floor, into the wall, then over into the air, before restabilising and leaving him slamming back into the floor face first.

“What the…”

He huffed as he slowly got back up, dusting himself off and slowly walking over to the dimmed Console, when the lights flickered into a mauve, before flickering down into the dim emergency lighting.

His steps grew faster, until he slowed to an abrupt stop, and he gripped the side of the Console, frantically tapping at the screens to figure out what had gone wrong, only for dread to settle in his stomach as he read the pop-up.

“No…”

His taps grew faster, until he was left simply gripping the monitor, his face frozen in an expression of horror as he simply stared, then flicked the outside camera on, staring more at the revealed deep darkness…

The Deep Vortex… the place left untreaded, uncharted, untouched, where TARDISes refused to go… and for good reason too.

Dark… dark… so very, very dark…

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no…” He moved around the Console, trying to get out of there when…

Thump.

He slowly turned to stare at the door as the sound began, dull and hollow.

Thump… Thump.

Dread filled him as with a slow creek the door was pried open, and in peered what looked like an angler fish… that was to say if an angler fish was the size of a shire horse.

Its fingers, ending in a point, claws, curled around the edge of the doorframe, its arms the same shade of scaly black as the rest of it, it’s eyes a milky white, its lure glowing a faint blue, illuminating its face, and its rows of razor-sharp teeth.

It moved awkwardly, pulling itself inwards, revealing legs just as horrifying as its arms, the joints bent in odd angles, allowing it to quickly breach the gap between them, even as Haraldr flung himself backwards, away from it.

“What… what are you, what do you want?” His words came out fast and desperate as it began circling the Console, before it tilted its head.

“Oouuttt,” Its words were harsh, grating against his ears, but he pushed on.

“For… for what?”

It looked at him and Haraldr swallowed in nervousness as its teeth were aimed at him.

“Eevverrytthiiing diieesssss,” It hissed. “Maakee iitt nooww… Notthhiiinngg tto waiitt for.”

“So… so you… what, you want to leave the Vortex to kill everything?”

It nodded and Haraldr took several deep breaths, steadying himself as he glanced at it, and how it was looking at the Console… it obviously had no idea how to operate the TARDIS… good…

Haraldr turned and ran, into the hallways, he could hear it suddenly take chase, hear as it gained on him, he covered his arm and knocked a button on the wall as he ran, the security system’s gas quickly filled the hallway, making it incredibly difficult to breathe, and yet…

It seemed completely unaffected by it, instead catching up to him and digging it’s clawed fingers deep into his shoulder.

He let out a scream as it tore, chunks of his shoulder coming loose, along with his shirt as he struggled away from the creature, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw as the entrance to the vents grew just large enough for him to fit, and without a moment’s hesitation, he dove for it, right as the thing that was now loose in his TARDIS aimed for him once again.

Slipping into the vent, crawling backwards, he watched as its arm tried reaching him, clawing at the inside of the vent, its body far too large to fit…

… He could see his blood dripping off its fingers, smearing against the vent walls, and he sighed, wincing as the pain in his shoulder started aching a whole lot more now that the adrenaline was crashing, and he slowly crawled his way to the medical bay to get it sorted… and stash some supplies in the vents… just in case…

Three months passed in a fashion of living in the vents, ducking into and out of the workshops, kitchen, and bathroom when needed, avoiding the beast… an After Beast, as it called itself, testing out weapons on it, testing out ways to get it to leave to no success.

The only things that seemed to have any effect on it were sharp objects stabbing it, blunt objects smacking it, or things that shot at it, such as guns, and even then, it was only a temporary effect, causing it to leave him alone for just a little while.

The one relief Haraldr had in this entire situation was the fact that it needed him alive to get out of there…

... However, that didn’t mean it needed him unharmed…

Which was exactly why he’d decided to risk heading to the Console room, to send out a single transmission in the hoped that the Doctor… Theta would receive it, one single transmission… just in case he didn’t make it…

He stood there, for several long minutes, simply typing it all up, before staring at it, then sighing, manually turning off the emergency power saving mode his TARDIS had slipped herself into to send it out, watching as it sent, then turning the emergency mode back on, freezing as he heard clanking coming from the hall.

He stared at the door for a moment, before making a beeline to the vent that he’d exited from, pulling himself up and into it, the movement straining his still healing shoulder a bit, but making it just in time to see the After Beast peer around the corner and into the Console room, then out into the Deep Vortex that was visible, thanks to her damaged door…

Start transmission.

This is the Master, commonly known as “Haraldr” on Earth, I am sending this transmission out three months into this… this thing… I am currently stuck in the Deep Vortex, uncharted areas… My TARDIS has been occupied by… something, and I am currently fighting for my life against it… if I had to describe the creature I have encountered, it’s… I’d say an anglerfish, one the size of an Earthen Shire Horse, it has arms and legs, much like my own, except its joints are oddly shaped and warped, allowing it to crawl along the ground at incredible speeds on all fours…

It talks sometimes, mostly growls, clicks, and purrs, but it has informed me of its desire… it wishes to use my TARDIS to escape into the Universe at large, to destroy all life, something about everything dying eventually, and how it might as well happen now… my TARDIS has managed to alter the layout of her vent systems so that I fit inside and can traverse her using them, and her food replicator has also been moved into the vent systems, I sleep and eat in here, leaving as few times per day as I can…

I am attempting to deal with the issue, however my TARDIS is keeping her power in a power saving mode, leaving me with only the Emergency lighting to guide me… in the event that I do not make it out of this… I just… Theta… I want you to know that I love you, and I love our children… and tell Vera that… that I’m sorry…

End transmission.

One year…

It had been one whole year since he’d gotten stuck in this nightmare… It had taken him eight months to figure out that the After Beast was made from some form of pure energy, hence why nothing seemed to truly harm it, and another four to figure out a way to convert whatever it was made from into pure electricity… or so he was hoping.

The tiny cube that he’d built over several months of breaking in and out of his own workshop that he now held in his hand was his last hope before he’d cut his losses and… make sure that it could never get anywhere meaningful…

Haraldr heaved himself out of the vents, his hair and beard were unkempt, as he’d never had long enough in the bathroom to make sure he still looked presentable, only to make sure neither grew too long.

He stood shakily, palming the cube into his pocket, then banging loudly on the walls to gain its attention…

… And he didn’t have to wait for long…

It came thundering down the hall, fast… faster than it had any right to be, it’s lure glowing eerily, and teeth gleaming in the dim lighting, eyes locked on him as it charged right at him.

Clink, clank, clink, clank.

He moved, adrenaline pushing him forwards, he pulled the cube out and aimed it at the beast, pressing a button as it drew so close that he could feel its breath blowing his hair.

A light shot out of the cube and the creature screeched, the sound echoing harshly across the halls, like a fork on a chalkboard, it grated on his ears painfully and he winced, even as he held strong against it.

Its clawed hands grasped out at the air and it growled.

“Yyooouuuu… yyoouuu… wwoouullddd…” It howled, the sound pained and haunting. “Kkiiillllll mmeeee?”

Haraldr didn’t get a chance to question what it meant as its body froze up, before with a loud popping sound, it burst into smoke, which then quickly became pure electricity, like a lightning storm inside of his TARDIS, it quickly disbursed, and he was left staring at where the After Beast had once stood.

He lowered the cube and raised an arm to his shoulder, to the scar left by it, then glanced around at the hall, at the indents and the torn up carpets and sighed, making his way to the Console room, to the Console, where he simply glanced at the door for a long moment, at the darkness outside, then over to the Console, slowly tapping the screen, turning off the Emergency mode and inputting the coordinates to U.N.I.T… to the Doctor… to Vera… to home…

And with a harsh creaking sound, they were off, finally leaving this living nightmare behind.

#doctor who takes tumblr #the mischief master #ainley (haraldr)#the master of mischief au lore #after beasts (tmm)#cw thalassophobia

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