Motivation 1/1; the Doctor, the Family; PG

[scarfman]

Title: Motivation 1/1
Author: scarfman
Characters/Pairing: the Doctor, the Family
Rating: PG
Setting (spoilers through): the end of Family of Blood
Disclaimer: This work is derivative of property of the BBC. No profit shall be made and no market of the owner(s) is infringed upon.
Summary: He understood, but Martha never knew.
The first part of this story, through until the sentence about irony, is transcription of the voiceover narration from the end of Family of Blood when the Son is describing the fury of a Time Lord.
crossposted scarfman dwfiction lifeonmartha

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He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing: The fury of the Time Lord. And then we discovered why. Why this Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why he'd run away from us and hidden. He was being kind.

He wrapped my father in unbreakable chains, forged in the heart of a dwarf star.

He tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there, forever.

He still visits my little sister once a year, every year. I wonder if one day he might forgive her. But there she is - can you see? He trapped her inside a mirror. Every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you, just for a second, that's her. That's always her.

As for me, I was suspended in time. And the Doctor put me to work: standing over the fields of England, as their protector.

We wanted to live forever, so the Doctor made sure that we did.

And the irony is, we didn't really understand

why. The cause of the fury was imperceptible to us.

At first we thought it was the emotional trauma suffered by his temporary alter ego, and by the woman who would have been Family to the alter ego. But that wasn't it; he was not his alter ego, and Time Lords care little for such things.

Then we thought it was the lives lost by the human residents of the place where the Time Lord had hidden: those plentiful, inconsequential beings for whom he in his power paradoxically cares so much. His grief for the lost was great, but no.

It rather had something to do with the way these humans relate to each other, with their own inconsequentially obscure hierarchies within their societies, and how the Time Lord's companion was affected by this during their stay in that stupid little town. We couldn't understand, but somehow the worst of it to him was what was suffered by her in the chain of events we set in motion.

As he gave my father a push, he whispered, "For Martha."

As he let my mother become caught in an eternal instant, he whispered, "For Martha."

As he pulled the rough sack over my head he whispered, "For Martha."

And, every year, when he visits my sister, he whispers:

"For Martha."

fin

Comments

[nobleplatypus]

Lovely.

[pedanther]

Nice.

Although you've misspelled "hierarchies". (And then put it in all the cut-tags! Isn't it always the way?)

[scarfman]

Easily fixed.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Ooh, interesting...

[morenarubyred.livejournal.com]

Deep, sad, but very nice.

by the way persiflage_1 I like your icon.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

When we saw that episode, my brain went off on a tangent on whether Sister was, in fact, Devera, or whether someday Devera was going to find her, and then Sister would find out what is more frightening than the wrath of a Time Lord. I am currently favoring the latter, because it allows me to write that particular bit of crossover crackfic someday.

[ziggychaos.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. :)

For Martha

[syreene.livejournal.com]

Ooo..nice touch to add some closure of a sort for her treatment during those episodes.

[alienfish.livejournal.com]

As a minor typo: "His grief for the lost was great, but no." LOSS

I am, of course, ignorant. I haven't been able to watch much since the switchover to the current Doctor. I'm waiting for the DVD sets to get really cheap so I can buy them. Bought the first year!

[scarfman]

The understood portion of that sentence is meant to be, "His grief for the lost was great, but no[, that wasn't why he was so furious with us either]."

[alienfish.livejournal.com]

Oh, pudgies. I was so silly.

[dk323.livejournal.com]

I really liked how this fic reevaluated the Doctor's wrath with only two words. Since it wasn't explicitly stated on the show, it's nice to have a fic that addresses the Doctor's motivation for his revenge on the Family. It definitely made me view the two-parter a little differently - makes it seem darker than it initially was. No doubt that Martha wouldn't want the Doctor to go to such extremes on her behalf, but it just shows how alien he truly is.

[radiantbaby.livejournal.com]

Wow. I think this is my fanon now.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

Oooh, this is brilliant. Your addition to the Son's narration follows seamlessly.

Old Testament God Time Lord. *shiver* Your story adds a human element to the end of the episode, though -- "For Martha" -- that softens the "fury of the Time Lord." Just a little.

Although ... from the Doctor's instructions to Martha: "One, don't let me hurt anyone. We can't have that, but you know what humans are like." Hmmmm ...

Aaaand another good story, so, as threatened promised, I'm friending you :)

[perfectchichi.livejournal.com]

As a Seventh doctor fan whom the story was originally written for I do like how they redid the story for Ten. Although in Seven's version he wasn't that hard on the villans as Ten was.

Your addition really explains more about Ten's motivation. I had always thought that it was his connection to the humans that he grew so close to as a human that the revenge was for and of course most of all for Martha. And Martha/Doctor was my OTP for a long time so this will be part of my canon anyway. Forget rose..