°•~Lunaris |-| Crystallium~•°

“What is it?” Y/N frowned in concern as she stood up, and once she had bookmarked her page she walked over to him. “What’s wrong?”

“Distress signal,” The Doctor mumbled in response as he stared at the screen, and once coordinates had flashed on the screen, also in a bold purple, he ran around to the other side of the console - presumably to punch them in. “Someone really wants to see me. Hold on.” He shot her a grin before the TARDIS jolted, and Y/N gripped the railing with a huge smile as the TARDIS moved.

She only let go once the TARDIS had landed, and before she could even regain her balance The Doctor had taken her arm and guided her towards the doors.

“Where exactly are we?” Y/N asked as they stepped outside of the TARDIS.

The first thing that she noticed once they had stepped out was how fancy the building was that there were in. The TARDIS had landed at the end of a corridor, with white marble floors that made each of their steps echo through the hallway. The walls seemed marble too, and had gold intricate swirls woven through the white. Everywhere was so clean, like it was constantly being cleaned. Though there wasn’t a person in sight. For such a huge space, which probably meant an even larger building, there was nobody.

“We’re on the planet Akza, home to the Thriqaix; which means we’re probably in one of their three palaces, by the looks of it,” The Doctor was grinning as he linked his arm with her’s, and she followed his lead down the corridor. “It’s a tiny planet, only a little larger than Pluto, but usually there’s so many people in the palaces. There should be more people here.” The pinch between his eyebrows that appeared when he was concerned had started forming, and Y/N gently rubbed his arm with her free hand.

“Maybe that’s why you got the distress signal,” She said softly. “Something is obviously wrong.”

The Doctor nodded and went to respond, though once they had turned the corner they were met with a group of people, and his attention had turned to them. They almost looked human, if not for their too-pale, almost transparent skin. Three of the four in the group were dressed in the same black robes, each with gold thread woven through. Though the person at the front - Y/N guessed she was a woman as she had longer hair and a slimmer frame then the rest - was wearing black robes with purple through it, instead.

“Ah, hello!” He grinned, and held Y/N a little closer against his side with his excitement. “I’m guessing you’re the ones who needed my help?”

“Yes, Doctor, thank you for coming on such short notice,” The woman stepped forwards and offered them a polite smile. “I’m Ophri, Queen of this planet, and we’re afraid that we’re in some terrible danger. The tales of you across the universe tell me that you will be able to save us?”

The Doctor was grinning again, his smug grin, and let go of Y/N’s arm to straighten his bow tie. “Well, I certainly will do my best,” He nodded. “What seems to be the problem then, your majesty?”

Ophri glanced at Y/N and hesitated before she spoke again. “I’d love for us to talk in my office, but I’m afraid your… pet will not be able to join us.”

Y/N frowned at the Queen as The Doctor pulled her into his side again. His pet? Was that how people saw her?

“Oh, this is Y/N, I don’t go anywhere without her. Anything you need to tell me, you can say in front of her,” The Doctor nodded, though once he’d glanced at Y/N he also hesitated. “Well, most things - probably a good sixty percent! Actually, maybe forty perc- actually, Y/N, could you give us a sec?”

She felt a little sour though smiled and nodded anyways. “Sure. No problem.”

“Don’t worry, Doctor, one of my guards can give her a tour of the palace so she doesn’t get bored.” Ophri gestured to one of the people beside her who stepped forwards towards Y/N.

“Great, thank you,” The Doctor smiled, and turned to Y/N to kiss her forehead quickly. “See you in a tic, stay out of trouble.”

“I should be the one telling you, that.”

The Doctor laughed as he went in the other direction with Ophri and the remaining guards, and once he was out of sight Y/N looked up at the person with her once he had started leading her down a separate corridor, though it looked the same.

“So, what is this place like?” Y/N asked, purely so they weren’t in an awkward silence. “The palace is very beautiful, is the whole planet like this? I’d love to-“

She cut herself off when she felt a sharp pinch at the side of her neck and she winced. When she had turned to face the Thriqaix beside her, in their hand was what looked like a gun, and when she reached up to her neck she pulled out a small black dart from her skin.

“You shot me.” Her eyes were wide as she looked at him, and just as she went to step in the direction of The Doctor her vision started to blur and she stumbled. She became aware of the hand that gripped her arm, too tightly, and she wanted to complain and call for The Doctor; but her mouth wouldn’t work and most of her focus was on blinking the blurriness out of her eyes. Eventually it was too much of a task to keep her eyes open, and they rolled back just as her body went limp against the guard.

-

“So,” The Doctor clapped as he fell back into one of the chair’s in Ophri’s office. The fact that they had spinny chairs on Akza had made his day a whole lot better, and he spun in it before he turned to face Ophri again. “What’s the problem here? I’ve noticed that there’s not many people about, which is strange. Last time I was here this place was packed.”

According to the TARDIS when they had landed, they were in the year 2189 - so the last time he had visited was only ten years prior. That many people shouldn’t have disappeared in ten years, it didn’t make sense. Since 2179 the planet had made extraordinary technological advances - he had noticed it on his walk through the palace to Ophri’s office. In ten years, they couldn’t have made advances like that with such little amounts of people.

“To put it quite bluntly, Doctor, our planet is… dying,” Ophri shook her head solemnly. “We’re losing all of our power, and our star is dying. Without any power, our planet will go cold and our people will freeze. As Queen, it is my duty to make sure that doesn’t happen, you must understand.”

The Doctor nodded. “Of course, as any good queen would,” He sat up in his seat. “So why do you need me? What can I do for you?”

“Well-“

Ophri had started speaking, but The Doctor paused when he heard a distant pained scream. The sound didn’t seem like it was too far away, and as his eyes widened in panic, he noticed that neither the guards situated at the door nor Ophri paid any mind to it.

“What was that?” The Doctor turned to Ophri once he had stood, and uneasiness started to settle in his chest.

“That’s normal, Doctor, don’t worry. Please, sit,” She dismissed him with a wave of her hand, though he didn’t return to his seat. “As I was saying, our planet is losing it’s power. The palaces on this planet is the main source of it’s power, but we’re running out of fuels. The other palaces have enough materials to burn, but us here, we’re failing.” Ophri turned to the screen behind her that covered the wall, and turned it on.

The screen flashed to life and The Doctor felt cold as he stared at the footage being shown. Multiple CCTV cameras which showed multiple rooms were displayed. Each room had a Thriqaix citizen strapped down, wired in to the wall behind them. The top right footage showed a flash of electricity directly to the citizen’s head, and though the footage had no sound, he heard another scream down the corridor. His face was set in what could only be described as horror as he turned back towards Ophri.

“You have to understand, Doctor, that we need this power. And as citizens of the planet, these people are obliged to help.”

“Obliged?” He was yelling, and stepped closer to Ophri, though she didn’t even move. “You’re going to kill them!”

“Every thirty minutes they are charged with fifty volts of electrical charge, which extracts their biological energy. That helps power the palace. It takes over one-hundred volts to kill a Thriqaix. We aren’t committing murder-“

“But you’re torturing them! Even if you-“ The Doctor paused his yelling as he stared at the cameras, and he felt his hearts in his chest stutter at one thought.

Y/N wasn’t with him.

As the panic set in he all but pushed Ophri aside to get a closer look at the images. He scanned each bit of the footage, but none of the rooms shown had Y/N. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if she got killed, it’d probably kill him, too. He cared for her so much, so much that he couldn’t stand the thought of being without her. There were so many things he still needed to say, things that he didn’t have the courage to in the past. And if he lost her then he would never be able to.

“All of these cameras, are they all of the rooms?”

Ophri laughed at his statement and shook her head. “No, Doctor, those are just some of many.”

Please no…

“Where is Y/N?” His voice was hard as he stared Ophri down, but she gave him no notice.

“All of these legends of you across the universe, Doctor, legends about Time Lords. The energy that a Time Lord has could power this planet for decades.”

The Doctor stared at her, his face set in anger. “So you lured us here to use us as fuel?”

“Precisely,” She smiled. “You and your pet will give us power for years to come, and our planet will be saved.”

The Doctor marched over to her again, though she had stepped back just as the guards had approached, and as each guard grabbed one of his arms he was held still.

“No, you can’t, not her!” He was begging. “She’s human - more than two bursts of that energy will kill her it’s too much for her, please!”

“That’s not my problem.” Ophri shook her head, and when she had turned to face him again she had a small black gun in her hand. A dart gun.

“Why do you need her if you have me!” He yelled, and as Ophri approached he did his best to lean back whilst in the hold of the guards. “She won’t have much energy at all, please listen to me! You don’t need her! Let her go she’ll die!”

“Maybe so,” Ophri was right in front of him, and his face twisted into pure rage as she leaned closer. “But it’s so very fun to watch you squirm.”

Another scream could be heard in the distance, and the Doctor felt his throat closing up with oncoming tears when he realised that it was Y/N. In another thirty minutes they would have fried her completely and she would be dead.

“You let her go!” The end of his sentence was punctuated with the dart piercing his neck, and as his vision hazed and he lost the control of his body, all he could think about was her.

-

Y/N had to blink at least four times before the blurriness of her vision had even started to ease. Her head felt heavy and she wanted nothing more than to curl up and go back to sleep, but something in her was screaming to run.

The harsh lights of the room made it harder for her vision to fully restore, but once she could see clearly she looked down and felt her stomach flip with nausea.

She was laying down on a table of sorts, though her wrists and ankles were held down by metal clasps. She wriggled in the grip of the metal though it only dug into her wrists further, and she winced at the pain it caused. When she looked around the rest of the room around her, all of it still white marble, there was nothing aside from a camera in the corner which was angled to look at her. Her breathing had started to pick up in the panic she felt, and she yelled in frustration when she tugged again and she didn’t free herself.

“Doctor!” She yelled as tears welled in her eyes. The palace could have been huge, which meant that The Doctor could have been so far away that he wouldn’t have even heard her. “Doctor! Help!” She cried.

The light in the room flashed red, and before she could question what that meant she was in so much pain.

Her initial reaction was to scream - she felt like she was being burned alive. There was a sharp buzzing sound above her head, and her eyes squeezed shut as she screamed through the pain. Oh god they were burning her alive. Every muscle in her body spasmed and jerked, and with every jerk the pain got so much worse. Every part of her body felt like it was being fried.

By the time it had stopped she was sobbing. The pain was too much, even afterwards she was burning, and her muscles still occasionally twitched which caused her to cry out more. Her eyes squeezed shut again as the light turned white once more, and she went limp on the table again. She felt drained, and so so tired.

“Doctor.” She mumbled, the name weak on her tongue, before she faded out of consciousness once more.

-

He had to get out. He needed to save Y/N.

Every inch of his body was screaming for him to run and save her, but the metal clasps that were attached to his limbs provented that. He twisted his arm again, and paused when he heard the clang of metal against metal. The Doctor glanced down and realised that they had clasped over his watch. That meant he had room.

He didn’t know how much time he had until the shock was coming his way, so he frantically attempted to pull his arm out of the clasp. The metal felt like it was tearing his skin as he pulled, though the watch did provide the room he needed. He grit his teeth as he tugged again, and even though his wrist came out red raw and scratched up, it came out.

As soon as his hand was free he reached into his inner jacket pocket, and if he wasn’t so stressed with the thought of Y/N he would have laughed at the fact that they didn’t take his Sonic Screwdriver away from him. Once it was in his hand he freed himself from the clasps, and not a second after he had rolled off of the table, the light in the room flashed red and an electrical beam shot down onto the table, right above the clasps that had held him down.

He only let himself stare for a moment, because realistically he had no time. The electricity beams weren’t all connected, so Y/N’s could have gone off again imminently. Part of his brain nagged him that it could have already gone off whilst he was asleep, but he ignored the sour voice as he used his Sonic to open the door.

He needed to save Y/N, but he couldn’t let all of those people stay there to be tortured, too. It wasn’t fair. As he ran down the corridor and peered into the rooms, looking for Y/N, he saw a panel on the wall. Bingo.

He didn’t need to be a genius to know that the panel was connected to each of the rooms, the placement of it alone was enough of a sign. He used his Sonic on the panel, and after a few seconds the light in the corridor flashed yellow, and there was a distinct click of all of the doors and clasps opening at once. Everybody was free.

The guards had started running about at that point, but The Doctor ignored them and continued to search down the corridors of rooms. In each one a Thriqaix was coming to and running away, but Y/N wouldn’t be able to. Her body couldn’t handle the voltage that their’s could; she probably couldn’t even move, let alone run away.

His breathing was laboured with panic as he came to the last corridor. ‘Of course,’ He thought bitterly. ‘Of course she’ll be at the last place to look.’. By the time The Doctor had reached halfway through the corridor, he caught sight of a girl laid on a table in the room, and practically skidded into the room.

She wasn’t dead, he realised once he had pressed her fingers to her throat to check her pulse, but she definitely wasn’t okay. He scanned her over quickly with his Sonic, and the results made him nauseous. He needed to get her back onto the TARDIS.

“Please please please be okay,” He whispered, and felt his throat thickening with tears again as he held her head in his hands. “Y/N, it’s me The Doctor, I need you to wake up.” He held her head straight, and stroked his thumb over her cheek for a moment before her eyelids fluttered and she was looking at him.

“Doctor?” She mumbled, visibly drowsy, and almost immediately her eyes had filled with tears. The sight of her so broken physically pained his hearts. “Doctor it hurts.” She whimpered,

Tears started welling in his own eyes as he nodded, and he tried to ignore the way she sharply inhaled with pain as he helped her sit up. “I know, I’m so sorry, Y/N. I’m gonna get you back to the TARDIS and it won’t hurt anymore, okay?”

Y/N didn’t verbally reply as she started crying again though she had nodded, and that was all the confirmation that he needed to tuck one arm underneath her knees and another behind her back to ease her into his arms. She was stiff, no doubt after the shock to her body, but she clung to him as she cried and she didn’t seem like she wanted to let go.

The TARDIS thankfully wasn’t too far away. As he carried her through the hallway on his way back, every Thriqaix that he passed thanked him for freeing them. If he wasn’t so occupied with saving Y/N he would have lead them out, but he was sure that they would find a way. They were a very intelligent species.

Just as the TARDIS had appeared in sight, Ophri stepped out in front of him, and The Doctor immediately turned enough to shield Y/N from her the best he could.

“You have ruined everything!” She yelled. “Our planet-“

“Your planet is fine!” The Doctor yelled. “This place isn’t connected to the planet, you’re using these people for yourself - how stupid do you think I am?!” Y/N clung to him a little tighter, and he lowered his volume. “You are so lucky that she is my priority right now. I’d be very careful if I were you. You hurt someone that I love, so if I see you again I promise that you will pay for hurting my Y/N.” He practically spat at her, and before she could respond he walked past her and straight into the TARDIS. Y/N needed his full attention, and she was getting nothing less.

-

Once Y/N was settled in the med-bay of the TARDIS, The Doctor didn’t leave her side for a second. The TARDIS was drifting in space so he didn’t have to worry about any unwanted visitors, and he didn’t need to worry about piloting. He could leave his soul focus on her.

Once the adrenaline had worn off, and after giving her a proper check over to realise that she really was going to be fine, the guilt set in. It was all his fault that she had gone through that in the first place. She could have died and it would have been his fault.

The Doctor sighed from his seat beside her bed and rested his head in his hands. His tweed had been ditched and shirt sleeves rolled up, and his hair was wilder than normal from the constant running of his fingers through it. He was the least patient person in the universe, and whilst he knew that Y/N needed as much rest as possible, he just wanted to talk to her. To hear her voice and see her eyes open and really see that she was going to be okay. It was all his fault, the least he could do was help her get better.

He stayed like that, hunched over as he drowned in guilt, until he heard Y/N inhale deeply. The Doctor looked up almost immediately and watched as her eyelids fluttered before they opened fully. He had dimmed the lights in the room because there was no doubt that she was going to have a headache. Her eyes widened slightly in panic and he winced. He didn’t think about how she would feel when she woke up - she had never been in the med-bay of the TARDIS before, she was probably confused. She reached to pull out the needle for the IV in her arm, though The Doctor gently gripped her hand to stop her and she flinched as she turned to face him.

“It’s just me,” The Doctor said quickly with a wince when he realised he had scared her. “You can’t take that out. It’s rehydrating you and helping with the pain.”

Y/N visibly relaxed when she looked at him and she sighed, her posture unstiffening the best it could. Her eyes remained on him for another moment, almost like she was inspecting him, before she frowned. “Are you okay?”

The Doctor blinked at her, feeling the emotion in his chest grow again. Was he okay? He hasn’t been the one who was almost completely fried but she was asking if he was okay? Her consideration for him made his hearts swell, and it was enough to break the emotional barrier that he had put up for the past few hours in order to help her, and tears tingled along his waterline as he stared at her.

Y/N clearly got the wrong idea as he had started tearing up, and her frown deepened as she reached out to grip his hand. “Doctor? What’s wrong?” She whispered.

“Am I okay?” He repeated the question, and gripped her hand back as the tears tracked down his cheeks. “You- Y/N you were just tortured and held captive for half an hour underneath an electrical beam and almost died all because of me and you’re asking me if I’m okay?” His breathing had picked up again, and she just continued to stare at him with big sad eyes as he wiped his tears away with his free hand. “Y/N I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry it’s all my fault, I couldn’t keep you safe I’m sorry-“ His voice had wobbled as the tears came on stronger, and that seemed to be enough to prompt Y/N to sit up enough so that she could move her arm around him. She winced as she moved, but the hug was appreciated nonetheless. He held her close though not tightly in case he hurt her, and buried his nose in her hair as the tears streamed.

“Doctor,” Her voice was wobbly too, and he heard as her breathing hitched - whether that was from emotion or pain, he couldn’t tell. “Please don’t blame yourself. You didn’t know, it’s not your fault.”

“It is,” He insisted. They had kept her there because the Queen wanted to torture him, both physically and mentally. “They-“

Y/N had pulled back from the hug and lifted a hand to his mouth. He stared at her, slightly shocked from the action, but she just shook her head.

“I don’t want to know,” She mumbled. “We’re safe, and that’s all that matters to me.”

The Doctor accepted that and nodded as he wiped his eyes again. The guilt was still a physical pain in his chest, and it would undoubtedly take years to even start to get over it, but he felt better with the thought that she was okay and that she didn’t blame him.

Y/N settled back against the pillows with a wince, and patted the spot beside her. “Lay with me?” She whispered.

Part of him told him that he shouldn’t, because it wasn’t the time to get hung up on his feelings for her, but at that moment in time he would do anything for her. So he nodded and carefully eased himself into the bed beside her, and when she had leaned against him with a sigh he gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“Do you feel okay?” He asked softly after a moment. His tears had all but subsided, but he didn’t want to set himself off again.

“My head hurts and I’m really sore, but it’s not too bad.”

She was downplaying it but he didn’t argue. As long as she stayed there for the next few days, he was sure that she would be fine.

The Doctor settled into silence with her after that, and as he closed his eyes another sigh escaped his lips. He had almost completely lost her, and she would have died not knowing how in love with her he was. He couldn’t live with himself if she went through that and didn’t know how loved and adored she was.

“Y/N?” The Doctor mumbled, and he felt her nod against his shoulder. “I’m really sorry-“

“Stop apologising.” She mumbled.

“Let me finish, missy,” He playfully tapped the end of her nose, and was relieved a little when she smiled. He’d do anything to make her smile, especially then. “I’m really sorry that you keep getting into these situations because of me. If I was smart, then I’d have sent you back a long time ago. But I can't.”

“You can’t?” She mumbled and he nodded.

“I’m… I'm selfish, Y/N. So selfish. I couldn’t let you go because I need you here,” He took a deep breath in, and kept his eyes closed as he continued. “You mean too much to me. And I’ll be a fool if I don’t say it after everything we’ve just been through. I need you here for me, because I love you so much and I couldn’t ever let you go. I brought you with me because I’m selfish and I fell in love with you because I’m selfish. If you left you’d take a piece of my hearts with you, and I don’t want to go through losing you even though you don’t feel the same. You mean too much to me.”

Y/N was silent for a moment, and The Doctor didn’t open his eyes to avoid looking rejection in the eye. Though he felt her hand on his cheek, and before he could say anything her lips were against his and she had kissed him.

It was short and gentle, and even though she was clearly exhausted it told him everything it needed to. When she had pulled away she was looking at him with tears in her eyes, though she was smiling.

“You idiot,” She whispered tearfully. “How could you think I don’t feel the same about you? Of course I do.”

The statement alone was enough for the tears to return to his eyes, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead as they dripped down his face again. Neither of them needed to say anything else, and once she had worked her arm around his waist he was content with them just holding each other.

Her head had lulled against his shoulder after a moment, no doubt she was tired. He moved to get up so that she had the whole bed to sleep, but he paused when she gripped his shirt.

“Please stay,” She whispered, and for a moment she sounded so frightened, like he was going to leave her. “Please.”