After the Disaster
Kai and the Doctor spent the next few hours pulling people from the rubble. They arrived even before the dust settled, and as people were choking and coughing and stumbling around in dazed confusion they took charge, shouting instructions to the able-bodied and asking for anyone with medical expertise or strength to lend their skills.
The sonic proved invaluable in fusing ready-to-crumble rubble, or loosening seemingly impossibly-tightly-packed blocks. Kai pulled rock after rock out of the way, directing and leading even as he bent his back and all his strength toward getting people out. When at last the light faded so that it was impossible to work, and they couldn't hear any more voices calling out, Kai put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder, his face sweat- and dirt-streaked, eyes tired. The Doctor nodded. Without a word the two of them slipped away to the Tardis, closing her rectangular door on the night and the mourning they were leaving behind—less mourning than there would have been, had they not come, but still a heart-wrenching amount.
The transition to the interior of the Tardis was jarring. From dust and blood and sweat and tears and utter destruction to her calmly lit, soothing, clean and spacious insides. Kai took a stumbling breath, closing his eyes for a moment before blinking them open again dizzily, swaying with a sudden wave of exhaustion. Every muscle in his body hurt, and when he looked down at himself his face fell at the tell-tale signs of the traumatic event they'd just been through. He looked over at the Doctor—he hadn't fared any better, his once-trim suit a rumpled, soiled mess, his hair sagging and filthy, his eyes wide and pale in his grit-darkened face. Kai felt a wave of pity for the Doctor, able to do so little and yet so much… "Doctor," he said quietly, reaching out to take the other man's hand. The Doctor flinched, and Kai stopped, giving him space. His voice was tired but gentle. "Doctor. Let's go take a shower. Okay? W-we'll feel much better." The Doctor looked at him, somewhat dazed, but nodded after a moment, his hand rising to take, then squeeze, Kai's. Kai nodded in relief, and without another word led the way to the bathroom, where he got the shower running even before he started stripping off his ruined clothing, the rising steam starting to loosen the ground-in dirt and easing his tired aches.
