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unboundtravels · 1 year ago

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SHORT TRIPS; UNBOUNDNOVEMBER 19/23: PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF

Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the dead, Zagreus sees you in your bed, And eats you when you're sleeping. The Doctor confronts a god of anti-time that is using his companion as a host.

He's going as fast as he can. His hands race across controls, the TARDIS chasing after a smoke trail that's threatening to rip her apart. The TARDIS and its engines groaned, wheezing, screaming. Sparks and flames pop off the console. The Doctor, worry painted across his face— finally begins landing the TARDIS. It was difficult to follow this trail, like a smoke screen that was fading quickly. Once she landed, though, The Doctor yanked one of the monitors in front of him, The Doctor stared at what the exterior was showing him. The TARDIS creaked in a manner that made The Doctor hush it quietly.

"I know old girl... But we've gotta push the line. I've got to try and talk to her."

He saw on the screens, a woman standing amidst the centerpiece of her nation, her home. In the harbor, she stood, her hands outstretched as green energy ripped apart the buildings and the marketplace stands. Aging them to dust, causing them to fall and crumble. Her hair floats upward as if she's underwater. Bright, emerald green eyes glowing, with cracked skin around them— more energy shining through them. Her teeth are sharp, and he sees even from behind... this is not his orchid. It is Zagreus... an ancient god of anti-time, a threat locked away by Rassilon herself, for she feared it would grow too unstable. He has to get out there and talk to it.

He's got to get out there.

When The Doctor steps out of The TARDIS, it's about a block away from where she is, her hands still outstretched. Green energy spins around her forearms as claw-like hands grip the air. The entity is wearing her body like it's a summertime dress and she's having a night out on the town. The Doctor knows though, that if it wears Yelan's body for any longer, it'll kill her. It's killing her now. Zagreus mumbles under her breath as she rips apart the home her host cherishes.

Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the dead, Zagreus sees you in your bed, And eats you when you're sleeping.

Guards rush her with their spears. Without even looking, she reaches out. The energy seeping from her hands wraps around the lead guard. It forces him to his knees, skin beginning to shrivel into nothingness as Zagreus drinks his years like a fountain of water. Her glowing green eyes blasting him into dust once he's nothing but a skeleton. The rest of the guards drop their weapons, fleeing fore their lives as the entity turns back towards the city. More emerald flames unwind the city into nothingness. No one can stop Zagreus. It's eternal. Forever. It will never die.

Zagreus at the end of days, Zagreus lies all other ways, Zagreus comes when time's a maze, And all of history is weeping.

Finally, he stepped forward. Pushing past the cyclone of energy manifesting around Zagreus, The Doctor shouts out. "Listen to me!!" He tried to get its attention, but it did not listen. Forever did it mutter it's own poem. It swept its arm aside, The Doctor being blasted back off of his feet and tumbling across the ground. With a loud groan, he got back up to his feet and pushed back toward the entity. "Listen! Listen— You have to stop this." He tried to plead with the entity, but Zagreus spoke in a language that The Doctor could not understand and with words and riddles from a childhood that had long since been ruined and forgotten. Here he was, confronting a nightmare from his childhood, out of his depth... unsure of what to do or what to say. He stepped back onto his instincts. To plead, to reach out. Zagreus ignored those instincts.

Zagreus taking time apart, Zagreus fears the hero heart, Zagreus seeks the final part, The reward that he is reaping.

"That body is dying!" The Doctor pushed, regardless. Did the ancient being care about that, however? Not really. What they saw, what they were witnessing, was an opportunity to take control, to take the energy of the imaginary tree and the leylines running deep underneath the ground of Teyvat. There was a higher power rooted deep within the soil, pulsating strongly and they were searching for the source. The source that was higher than any of the mere archons, than simple gnosises, or Celestia. Stronger than The Timelords and their ancient secrets. It was They were hungry for more. Hungry for everything that the atom had to offer, and more. For the fabric of the universe itself, she wished to soak her teeth against it.

This body was fragile, but it was powerful. The Orchid had a strong mind that took more effort than Zagreus had shown before, and more than a long time to corrupt and put to sleep. Locked up, put away, and silenced. She was asleep in her own mind. The energy that glowed through the crack of human skin was stronger, now --- they were getting frustrated. Eagerly, she kept searching. The Timelord persisted. She tuned him out quietly, the destruction increasing as it focused on trying to expand its field of anti-time, to rewind the planet into nothing and consume the leftover residue of what had been prior.

Zagreus sings when all is lost, Zagreus takes all those he's crossed, Zagreus wins and all that it cost, The hero's hearts she's keeping.

The Doctor could see it, that frustration. The quickened speech patterns. The clenched fingers. Her head rolled back, and he stepped forward. "That body is dying and you know it, don't you?" He stepped closer, as close as he could. Zagreus turned, fingers tightening around The Doctor and forcing him down to his knees. Like the guard, she began to steal his life energy. The Doctor hissed in pain, watching his hands begin to wither and age. He saw wrinkles, and any outsider would see his raven hair beginning to turn silver. Still, The Doctor persisted through a withered and weak voice. "That's ... why you're frustrated. You're running out of time and no one's giving you the attention you crave."

The small iota of simplistic sentience that inhabited Zagreus would've been thoroughly entertained to watch this timelord being forced to take the life of his own beloved. It would've been the most child-play to survive despite the body being destroyed, after all. Though it would've been more enjoyable to see The Last Timelord breaking himself again. The way he gazed at her possessed form as though there was nothing they could do. Zagreus was like a parasite, eating up her life force bit by bit.

Zagreus seeks the hero's home, Zagreus needs the web to rip, Zagreus sucks time at a drip, And life aside, he's sweeping.

So when the other spoke, it twitched slightly in frustration. They could feel parts of the vessel's mind reactivating, attempting to overpower it. Sickly green hues glowed brighter, and a hiss could be heard from the back of their throat. Running out of time? No, even as the body is done, they could find a new one later. but they do want a higher source of power. They need to focus on ripping apart this world, as its energy could not only save this body but amplify Zagreus' own tenfold. It continued to drink The Doctor's life force, forcing his physical body to rise from where it had been, in its mid-thirties, into its seventies.

Zagreus waits at the end of the world, For Zagreus is the end of the world.

The Doctor knows he has no other options here. He has nowhere to send Zagreus. No magic box to lock it away in, nothing to fight it with. With his age still rapidly increasing, he makes a wild gamble. Standing up despite Zagreus' powers beating him down. The entity's gaze narrows for a moment, the green energy sweeping through him as he takes another step forward. He passes the threshold that would push his physical body into the eighties, just at the moment that he grabs Zagreus' wrist. Passing the threshold into an age that causes him to look like he's reached his nineties, The Doctor looks into Zagreus' eyes—

"Take mine." Even at this physical age, there's still so much Zagreus could feed on. If it gave the lifeforce back that it'd already stolen, it could get a temporary power boost that it could use to finish ravaging the rest of Teyvat. He was glad Yelan was asleep inside that mind of hers because she wouldn't like what she'd be seeing.

She would have told him what others already did, to put her down. That it was hopeless. There was nothing to could do. She would have told him to let her life be lost along with the entity itself. That was the sacrifice she was willing to make...

But it wasn't a sacrifice he was willing to make.

The entity quivered with excitement. Zagreus' hunger for power became more apparent the more the timelord was speaking. The extended hand, the offer, the temptation that rose with all the energy they could feel from this one.

A perfect vessel did a timelord make. The darkness that lurked at the corner of this one's mind like his, the broken gaze, the smell of blood tainting his hands. The way he was responsible for the many deaths of his own kind. The memory --- another hiss came from its throat. The way their very being was consuming Yelan's lifeforce was slowing down as the glow of green energy began to extend and merge with the tar, black aura that circled around the informant's frame. It formed a shadow, a large, towering one that almost split the air itself.

"URK--!!" It was like some kind of virus, slipping into his frame and consuming him whole. Ingesting itself into him and soaking him. Like oil being consumed by a flame, he could feel the entity eating at him like a hyena to raw meat. It was feral, primal-- and it hurt. Zagreus wound The Doctor's clock back, reverting his physical body's age back to the state it had been before it had stolen his life force. His eyes filled with that green, and he screamed out, turning away from the informant, that collapsed on the ground.

Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the dead, Zagreus sees from the stars, And SAVES YOU FROM THE MONSTERS.

Zagreus' fingers taint, and the green energy begins to pollute into a golden color. It stepped onto it's feet, walking toward the ocean as the green energy it had released began to seep back into the host body. Damage that had been done to the city began to rewind as Zagreus' hand waved back, golden energy repairing all that had been lost... returning those who had been drained back to when they had been. Anti-time converted back to real-time.

Zagreus at the end of days, Zagreus lies all other ways, Zagreus goes when THE DOCTOR COMES, And ALL THE WELL'S BEEN POISONED.

Zagreus screams out as The Doctor brings his hands over his face, golden energy totally engulfing him as rejuvenating flames ate at the green, like antibodies fighting the virus, something was flushing the entity out of his system. A self-defense mechanism that the entity had unknowingly activated: He's sacrificed himself, for her... in more ways than one. Deeply inhaling and ripping his head back, green energy extends out of him... before flushing to golden... and rippling through the sky like a spring miss that deteriorates... The Doctor fell to his palms and exhaled.

He moved to sit up softly, palms resting over his knees as the timelord chuckled. "I am getting too old for this kind of stuff." He sat up, seeing how people came from their homes, to see what had happened, unaware of the last few seconds that had transpired.

He turns, immediately stumbling onto his feet with a soft whimper and a pained groan before he exhales... allowing himself a few seconds for the pain to wash away before he looks down at the unconscious orchid. It's like beauty sleep. He tucks an indigo lock behind her ear before he swings an arm under her leg and back and picks her up. It hurts. To hold her... but he'll bear it all for her. That's his duty, after all. He carries her back to The Police Box, the TARDIS taking off soon after... disappearing before anyone can confront him on the things that had happened.

On the floor of The TARDIS, the informant's eyes fluttered open. Sitting up, she held her aching head and looked toward the console. There, by the flight panel, stood The Doctor. He was hunched over the console, as if deep in focus as he piloted his ship. It took her about five seconds to realize she actually felt rather rejuvenated, as if something had been yanked out from her, but replaced with something better. She moved to stand.

"Ugh..." her head was heavy, and her thoughts clouded as though there was a fog settled within. "What ... happened ... ?" She let out another pained groan, feeling around her and felt ... warmth. Again. That same enveloping warmth she had associated with home. The TARDIS ... they were back in the TARDIS? Somehow, she couldn't think properly. Had the TARDIS woken her up...?

Her vision was still slightly blurry, but once she registered that she was within the TARDIS, there was only one name that left her lips.

"Doctor...?" "You took your time. Snoozing like a kid after the amusement park."

She watched him stick his tongue out at her. It was unusual how cheerful he was right now, perpetually smiling. It was unnerving. She looked around, "What happened to... The Master? To Zagreus?" She tried to remember the last few events. Something releasing from slumber? Passing... The Knave? Or was she The Master? Those details were fuzzy to her, still.

"I don't blame you for forgetting. Bit uneventful, all things considered." A thought he mused aloud, a summary of events and of what had occurred throughout their adventure following the entity. The Doctor couldn't help but smile at his own joke. Quietly, he stared, like he was painting some kind of picture with his eyes... taking a mental photograph. Eventually, he looked away from her. She inspected all his subtle facial motions. Uneventful?

"But—" "Did you know there's a planet where the ground is made entirely out of diamonds?"

He changed the subject so quickly, and Yelan had a hard time just accepting that. She stared at her hands, both her hands, flexing them as though they weren't even hers. Even though she felt totally healed, the agony of what her body experienced hadn't disappeared completely. The residue of it had totally abandoned her, and she struggled to figure out why.

Her eyes flicked up to him silently.

"What did you—"

And that's when it happens. For just a moment, a cascade of golden energy flickers across his skin and features. His hands coil into his stomach and his head leans downward. He almost falls. However, he has to pick himself up when he hears her coming upward in response to the flash of light and the hiss of pain he lets out. His voice is cautious, not angry-- just... cautious-- but nonetheless... he makes this next point clear. She moves, instinctively, to rush at him—

"STAY BACK!!!"

If it weren't his voice that halted her movement in place, then that flash of golden energy would've done so in his place. His voice ... she had never heard him speak like that to her before. She had never seen him this way before.

It was terrifying. it was terrifying. They had been together for so long, long enough for her to know him inside and out. He saw this, and he calmed down... immediately. He moved to straighten himself up a bit, leaning on the console slightly. His hands held his stomach and his head lulled to one side, as if he was having a hard time standing. He referred earlier to how he'd tried to change the subject.

"I guess I'm not very entertaining today. Maybe It's time to close my set." He mused, chuckling. "What's happening?" She was stern. He needed to stop playing around.

He looked toward her, inhaling very deeply and preparing himself for the explanation. "Zagreus was using you as a host. Nobody's meant to have that much anti-time in them... it's a pollutant. It kills the cells..." He heaved, exhaling. He wasn't going to shift blame or make excuses. He looked her dead in the eyes, "I snatched it out of you... by the skin of your teeth too." He chuckled before his face straightened. Here comes the hard part.

"I'm dying." He said suddenly. "I took the creature on and flushed it out... but it ravaged every cell in my body." He watched every word drive a knife into her deeper and deeper. The revelation made her blood turn cold. She couldn't get to him even when he was curling into himself, and it hurt. The word... dying... rang in her ears, so loudly that her fingers started to tremble. Her eyes started to tremble, too, irises quivering and pupils dilated.

He watched her go through the few stages of shock that could manifest in her. A woman who felt no fear, seemingly fearing for his life.

"You ... — You can't ... !! you — " Her words came out in a stuttered choke. They were spilling down her cheeks and she was trying to feel any other emotion than rage or sorrow. "What did I say!? What did I tell you—" She shouted before she cupped a hand over her mouth.

Never sacrifice yourself for me. I'd never forgive you if you did.

She tried to get words out, to speak. She couldn't. She didn't sound like herself, she didn't think she would recognize those words and voice as hers, either. The bottom of her eyes was burning when the realization dawned on her. That sacrifice. dying. Why? Why do people keep --- her fingers curled into fists and she stared at him through shaking aquatic gaze, demanding answers.

"There must be something ... — something you could do ... ! Do something ... Doctor!!" "Yeah!!" He exclaimed at her as if he'd been waiting for her to finish, "I'm doing it right now!"

He saw confusion befall her face, he couldn't help but chuckle wistfully. His palms briefly radiate with a golden light. His veins briefly flush with a white energy. It's calming him. He speaks slowly now, calmly. It eases her panic, and she can't exactly figure out why. He looked at her very deeply, the woman who made him whole again. His wife. She had such an arduous challenge- fixing him. She managed to put every piece back together the way it should be. He'll worship her forever, for that.

"Timelords have this... neat little trick, a way of skimping the ferryman." He chuckles weakly before stabilizing himself, trying to stand up straight and look her dead in the eyes. He has a hard time still not curling into himself. His smile fades though, "It..." He has to figure out the easiest way to say this. "It means I'm going to change." He says very firmly as if it's unavoidable.

The way he found a way to diffuse the stressful, anxious tension had always been something that could yank her back to reality and pull her out of any state of panic. Even through the swirling thoughts and fear that was going through her mind, she heard him. It proved effective once again as her aquamarine hues to meet his crimson ones. her gaze was still quivering, it was shaking even more when she looked at him. However, his words halted her. Change? What did that mean? Change?

"Change ...? What—" "And before I go—"

Focus on me. His tone says, and that softened gaze hits her again, smiling softly at his lips as he tilts his head. He's going to be fine, he knows it... but if she's not fine, then he won't be fine, either. He knows it. He can feel it. She sees his face twitch, but he continues smiling softly. He exhales, blinking softly at her before exhaling. "I just want to say one thing." he shrugs. Maybe a couple of things, actually, he thinks to himself. He exhales bitterly, feeling the warmth beginning to run up his body. She starts to see the glow on his hands grow more powerful... and so he hides his other hand over the brightest one... He eventually suppresses it.

"Yelan."

Already he could see that she hated this. He was right. She could remember exactly the last time she was forced to face this kind of situation. Though it wasn't the same, the informant remembered the feeling of dread and helplessness. She didn't like it, and she knew that The Doctor her husband recognized the same fear appearing in her eyes. That was why he wanted her to focus on him. To not think about what was going to happen, to not dread the inevitable. He was telling her to look at him, to focus on him, to remember him.

Her heart throbbed as she burned the sight of him through her teary gaze. She remembered well the last time she shed tears, and she remembered the way she vowed to herself to never cry for the same reason again. For the sacrifice that someone else made for her survival. She didn't want that. She didn't want to be the one who lived.

Then he continues speaking. The effort he's expending just to speak to her... It clearly hurts him to speak. He powered through it. He made sure he was standing tall enough to be able to tell her this. It was hard, but he needed to say this all, really�� as clearly as he could. "I just want to say, Yelan that..." He exhaled. Could he really fit all the things he had to say about how wonderful she was into such a few short moments? He found a way to convey his feelings.

"I did what I did because you are wonderful, Yelan." Shamelessly. "And I would've made the same choice every time." Pridefully. "And... well, you know that it's..." Awkwardly.

He looks down at the ground. Her brows furrow. She thinks he knows what he's going to say, and that makes her heart stop dead in her chest. Not now. Don't choose this moment now, to say it. He finally looks her dead in the eyes. Ruby meeting aquamarine. She sees finally, now, just how tired he looks. He's ready for a very long sleep. She could see... the weight he was carrying. That weight she'd asked him about. He was letting it go and with that... he was choosing now to confess it to her. He looked up...

"...You know why I did it." At the very last second... as the glow intensifies. Her eyes widen. Of course. Of course, he'd do something like that. Even at the end, he won't be the first one to say it. She approaches him now, the heat of his body stopping her halfway as she reaches her hand out to him. "No!! No, no!"

She looks at him, tears spilling out. She knew why he did it, she wished that it didn't have to end this way, however. She wished it would end differently. She wished it wouldn't end. Her hand reached out despite knowing she couldn't reach him. Tears she cannot control spilling her face.

"... Please don't change." She begs. Don't leave me.

His glow is intensifying. Hand, face. He's beginning to pant. She reaches for him, and he thinks about reaching out. He moves to unlock his hands, to uncurl from himself. He moves to begin to reach out to her...

"Listen—"

BOOM.

Snapping backward suddenly, a mass of light appears in the TARDIS. Like Rocket engines, golden energy pours out from The Doctor's hands and head. Energy consumes the entirety of The TARDIS. It gets so bright, suddenly. Any visible part of the skin has essentially become a source of light, and light rays spill out from exposed areas of clothing. Even from where Yelan is, she can feel a heat irradiating from where The Doctor stands... until it eventually totally envelops him.

Something begins to happen... almost like some kind of... shrinking? Yelan has a hard time making the details out. The Doctor seems to be shrinking. His face and hands are getting... brighter. His hair is getting fluffier? Brighter—

FWASH.

The light suddenly evaporates, as if all of the energy pouring out of The Doctor just stops. Like a faucet. Someone else is standing there, now. The young man stumbles forward. He's a little... innocent-looking, and he has big... fluffy brown hair that spikes out as if it's been freshly ruffled. His skin is sunkissed, and there are freckles dotted all across his skin. Big brown eyes blink out underneath distinct eyebrows while pursed lips accentuate confused features. Those new eyes look out everywhere as if they're taking in old sights for the first time. He wobbles a bit, as if he doesn't know how to use his legs.

The spy's expression was stuck at that frozen one, stuck in the in-between of grief and shock, still freshly experiencing that loss while burning the reality of everything into her mind. a blink, as she took a step forward. her aquamarine hues trained on the other. was he still in pain? what is—

He's wearing The Doctor's clothes, but they look like they're meant for someone one size bigger than the size he's wearing. They don't slip off just yet... but his hands are smaller, so a metallic clang echoes against the floor, unheard by the pair. The individual standing before Yelan simply stares wide-eyed at her. He winces suddenly...

"...Doctor..?"

He suddenly takes a huge inhale, leaning back against The TARDIS. The Informant lurches back a bit at the reaction to this. He suddenly speaks, and his voice is higher. It's different. He's wearing the clothes of The Doctor and yet this man is totally different, and he—

"I FORGOT HOW TO BREATHE!!" He suddenly moves to suddenly backpedal. She realizes now that he looks very drunk. He circles his hand through the air, "B—Because..." He stops, patting his chest. "Do... Do all lungs look like that? That's such a weird shape." He suddenly points out.

The TARDIS suddenly lurches forward, aggressively. The young man slams against it, looking down at it in confusion before he suddenly starts flicking at the controls. Yelan leans forward. He seems to know what he's doing, for the most part. She shouts again as The TARDIS starts rocking, and spinning. "What's happening!?" The Spy calls out, and the stranger's tongue pokes out of his mouth suddenly, as if he's in focus.

"Er— Everything's... It's all fine! I just—" He suddenly looks at her, brown meeting aquamarine. Yelan waits, in impatient anxiety, as he tries to force his question out.

"Do you know how to fly this thing..?"

...Great. Just great.

#!!!. {in character | ic}#lunaetis #vi . {the looney doctor}#v. {the goth doctor}#unboundnovember #//Okay Hina didn't directly collaborate on this one #//but she did give the final seal of approval #//a remastered version of that one final thread we did.#//LOONEY WEEK STARTS NOW

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