the scariest thing here
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Fandom: Doctor Who Ship: ElevenSimm Additional Tags: Episode AU: s05e01 The Eleventh Hour (Doctor Who), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Young Amelia Pond, First Meetings Wordcount: 1003 Summary:
Two men end up crawling out of the blue box that crashes into Amelia's garden.
Prompt:
"Hmm⊠11Simm, Simm is around for his Baking Period instead of going back to the war, and this affects our Doctor."
Amelia Pond remembers, a few months ago, when it rained so hard that the streets outside of school flooded. It hadnât been so bad, even though no one had come to pick her up so Mels had promised Rory when his dad came, âDonât worry, Iâll walk her home.â By then, his dadâs car was already making huge waves as it drove away. Neither of them had an umbrella or raincoats, so theyâd sprinted between trees and bus stops as it continued to pour down. The streets became rivers, and when they caught their breath on Ameliaâs front porch, theyâd turned back to look at the unrecognizable world of their neighborhood almost underwater. Melsâ cold, wet hand in hers, Amelia had watched two rats swimming across the street, scrabbling over each other with tiny splashes and biting their tails to stay together until they got to the other side.
Anyway, thatâs why she thinks Mels would understand her letting the men from the blue box into her house once she saw that they were soaking wet and why Rory would probably tell her she shouldnât try to pick up rats because they might have rabies.
âIf heâs the Doctor,â says Amelia to the man who stole all of the Doctorâs leftovers, (or was it stealing when no one wanted them?) âthen who are you?â Sheâs been thinking of him as the rude Doctor, seeing as they both came from the same box, but that might be unfair. To the Doctor. She canât just go assuming two men from the same box share a name.
âThe Master,â he tells her, shortly. Amelia squints up at him.
Amelia doesnât care much about politics because her aunt doesnât care much about politics. Still, there are all these newspapers that someone must have bought that sit in the lounge and they both forget to clean up.
âWhy do you look like the Prime Minister?â At that, the Master grins. His teeth are too sharp.
âBecause I ate him.â Amelia wrinkles her nose at him. Heâs going to have to try harder. Mels is much better at scaring her than he is.
âStop that,â the Doctor tells him. âSheâs-â He looks over Amelia curiously and guesses. ââŠFive?â
âIâm eight,â Amelia corrects and stands a little taller.
âSheâs eight, and thereâs a nasty crack in her wall thatâs scaring her enough. You donât need to make it worse.â The Master huffs and crosses his arms, but he does glance down at her again. She doesnât think heâs decided to be nice, exactly, but maybe that heâs decided even if he isnât lying and he does eat people, that Amelia wouldnât be very tasty. He extends a hand to pat her on the head, and Amelia bites at it. She doesnât manage to get him, but he snaps his hand back. He grins at her.
âShe should be scared. Iâm surprised sheâs even still here.â Amelia frowns at him the same time the Doctor does.
âWhat do you mean?â
âExplain that, Master,â the Doctorâs voice flips from fun to serious very easily. She likes that about him. Most adults never use their serious voices around Amelia, only the fun ones, even when they have bad news to deliver.
âYouâre counting the doors, Doctor. Iâm counting the bedrooms.â
âSo?â
âAmelia, you said you only live with your aunt?â the Master asks, pointedly. Amelia scowls at him, even though a part of her is delighted that they were paying attention to what she said.
âYes.â
âSo, why,â he emphasizes, âare there too many beds in this house?â The Doctor stops examining the crack and turns to him. Amelia watches a wave of something awful wash over his face. It makes her squirm, and despite herself, grab onto the Masterâs hoodie.
âOh, Amelia,â the Doctor says, âIâm sorry.â
âSorry for what?â She doesnât like it, any of it, not the crack and not the feeling in the pit of her stomach that somethingâs gone terribly wrong. She doesnât know what it is, but she knows- She knows- She canât remember why sheâs crying. The Masterâs hoodie is grimy enough already, so she sticks her nose in it to wipe her face clean. He smells like a wet dog.
âFirst things first,â the Doctor says, âwhatever was in the crack is now out of the crack.â
âI know. I can smell it.â
âSo, we take care of that. Amelia,â he addresses her again. Amelia pulls her face out of the Masterâs hoodie to look at the Doctor. âDo you mind if I pick you up?â Amelia is too big to be picked up anymore, at least by her aunt. Still, she nods. âGood. Iâm going to put you in the safest place I know.â The Doctor picks Amelia up easily, like she would pick up one of her stuffed animals, and then deposits her, without hesitating, into the Masterâs arms as he protests.
âI donât want her. Take her back.â Amy wriggles, but despite that, he doesnât drop her.
âI wasnât lying. Whatever prisoner zero isâIâm working on itâyouâre far more dangerous.â At that, the Master hums, pleased with himself. Amelia thinks the Doctor might be even more mad than sheâd assumed. âWhich also makes you safe.â
The thing is, Amelia thinks, the Doctor isnât wrong. She looks at the crack, and she looks out her bedroom door down the hall they say contains a monster, and nothing scares her.
âItâs a little early for us to adopt,â the Master mutters.
âSorry, canât hear you. Too busy hunting an intergalactic fugitive. Youâd know all about that. Amelia, did you know heâs wanted dead or alive in over two hundred galaxies? In multiple time periods.â Amelia looks at the Master for confirmation.
âTwo hundred and fifty-three,â he says.
âWhatâd you do?â
âEverything.â He carries Amelia out, following the Doctor, and only gets interrupted telling her a story sheâs not sure she believes about taking over an entire planet when the monster shows itself.
(Enjoyed it? Any interaction is welcomed. You can even support me on Ko-Fi <3)














