Operation Save Bill Potts continues! This time: Koshchei the Deathless
More chapters of [[ Scream of the Shalka / S10 finale fixit fic, ]] Where There’s Life, There’s Hope, are up at AO3. It’s about Alison Cheney, her robot [the Master], and the Doctor bouncing over from the Shalkaverse to save Bill from the terrifying Twelfth Doctor. Things become slightly complicated as they realize that Bill is working with another version of the Master [Razor] to de-Cyber people and overthrow Dystopiaville’s totalitarian regime.
In this excerpt,Bill recounts a conversation she had with Razor in which he compared his Doctor to Koshchei the Deathless:
You like the science fiction, I know -- time travel, evil robots, people living forever. Perhaps you have heard about Koshchei the Undying? This character from Slavic folklore, Razor told her, can never die because his soul is kept outside his body. It’s in a needle, in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, in a chest, under an oak, on an island, in the ocean. If you dig up the chest, then the hare runs away. If you kill the hare, then the duck flies out to escape. If you hold the egg, you have power over Koshchei; he physically weakens, and whatever harm comes to the egg also comes to him. Break the needle, and he dies.
You may think yourself as strong and as immortal as Koshchei, Razor tells her, but the Doctor will infiltrate your life. They’ll charm you into believing that they’ll do anything for you. You, enamored, let the Doctor onto your island, swearing eternal devotion. The Doctor needs an oak tree for their visionary, genius purposes, so you chop down the one whose roots hold your soul. Then they need a chest, which you gladly surrender, for you’re honored to play even a minor role in their grand designs.
Then the Doctor needs a hare, and you can’t deny them, but the hare dies in their custody. The duck, who’s clearly much smarter than you are, makes a bid for freedom. But you call it back because... What if the Doctor needs one?
By this time the Doctor has their hands on the egg. They toss it from hand to hand, laughing, as if they’ll never drop it. You know, though, that they killed the hare, so you beg them to handle you with care. But still they let it slip, and you break, and you die, and you’re never the same again.
I am the batshitting narcissist, my dear Miss Potts, but I am not this Doctor. Razor, whoever he was, wherever he was from, shook his head briskly. I am honest hypocrite; I am not hero. Nor am I seeking your death. Heart of resistance must beat...or perhaps beep, since is robotic for you. His pun achieved the desired effect for, as his mouth curved up halfway, Bill gamely tried for a smile too. My dear Miss Potts must be strong for my plans, yes? Besides, death is no fun, no fun at all. I have done a few times. Cannot recommend. So stay alive, Miss Potts, he concluded, patting her firmly on the shoulder, if only to spite this Doctor, who was not deserving of any of your sacrifices in the first place.
