#me: oh i hated the body horror in the wild blue yonder its so rubbery and goopy

[brokenhardies]

The Mavity of the Situation

Summary: Set during Wild Blue Yonder. Separated from the Doctor and Donna, Jane is cornered by her not-counterpart. Unfortunately for her, she finds herself staring down all her bottled up emotions and issues that she hasn’t had time to deal with.

TW: Body Horror, Frightening Imagery, Caps halfway through

Word Count: 1959

Taglist

@darth-caillic​ @sterling-writes​ @wonderguards​ @reirvival​ @arrthurpendragon​ @foxesandmagic @eddysocs @superspookyjanelle (want to be added or removed? send an ask or a dm!)

The second that the Not-Doctor bent over backwards like the little girl in that movie that Jane had watched once - and only once, her previous incarnation, the gentle soul that he was, was too terrified by the movie to watch it again - Jane was racing out of the room before the Not-Donna and Not-Doctor could even blink. 

The Doctor had also raced off - hopefully the real Doctor and not their not-counterpart - but they were in a different location on the ship to Jane. Jane had found herself in the engineering room, all green and black with obnoxious lights and an almost toxic appearance. She took a minute to breathe, trying to collect herself under the pressure of the location and the terrifying creatures that they had encountered. However… That didn’t last long. Mostly as she heard a familiar voice.

“What are you doing down here?”

Her eyes widened, and she noticed her reflection was walking towards her. The engineering room was a dangerous place to be - Jane thought - as she was separated from the Doctor and Donna as the version of her with its arms a few inches too long and one eye slightly bigger than the other began to approach her. Jane took a few steps back.

“Strange,” The not-Jane said, “I would’ve thought your father would’ve come here. Always interested in machines. A lot easier to deal with than people…”

Jane blinked, noticing how her other self had spat out the word ‘father’, like it left a bad taste in her mouth. Her stomach dropped, remembering that the not-creatures had picked up on their brainwaves. It’s difficult not to think… But this one seemed more personal than the others. At least, she hadn’t seen what Not-Donna and Not-Doctor told their other selves. And it seemed hers was aiming for the stomach.

“...What?” The not-Jane asked, “Aren’t you gonna say ‘I would never think that’? Frightening, isn’t it? Hearing yourself say such things that you’d never truly believe…”

“Stop that.” Jane responded, causing her other self to laugh, maniacally and uncontrollably.

“Stop what?” She asked, “Telling the truth? God, you’re such a pathetic excuse for a child. I’m in your head, dear. And I know exactly what you think…”

Jane continued to walk backwards, trying to get away from the rubbery clone. She was able to hold her form, even if there were some minor alterations that not many would notice – an eye that was slightly bigger than the other, a strand of hair that was a little off-coloured, one wrist that appeared to be a few centimetres thicker than the other – but that didn’t particularly mattered. What did matter was the being seemed to be stalking Jane, not shutting her mouth as she spoke.

“You have a lot in that pretty little head of yours…” She continued, eyes wide as she stalked Jane, who was trying to find an exit. “All these delicious thoughts and emotions… Anger, resentment, grief… Are you still angry at them for going back to that damn old face?”

“You’re running around and acting like ‘everythings’ fine’, but in reality, every time they speak you shiver.” The clone continued, as Jane raced around a corner, but she felt a plasticky hand - her own - grab her shoulder. “You remember that day, don’t you? Waterlogged and desperate, fighting against the feeling of drowning as he shouted how ‘the laws of time are mine and they will obey me’. What an awful day for you, isn’t it?”

Jane gulped. She did remember that day on Mars. The day her second incarnation drowned and her father - wanting desperately to rewrite history - went mad with power and rescued crew members from Bowie Base One whether they wanted to or not. After Adelaide killed herself, and Ood Sigma reminded the Doctor that he wasn’t going to live much longer after that, Jane’s third incarnation locked herself in her second’s old library to recover from the regeneration burnout. That day was the day whatever hope had been left in number 2 died… With her as well. It was worse as her clone said what her father said that day in his voice. 

She pulled away. “I don’t have to listen to you.”

However, her clone continued, ignoring Jane’s pleas.

“Oh, they always liked that face, so much so they didn’t want to go, and think of all the adventures you had after he left!” She chuckled. “...And then you found out they were lying to you. About everything. You were not really their child, but a clone of them… They didn’t know, but that wasn’t the point. You were nothing more than the spare. And you were even sent to Earth to die there.”

“Stop it!” Jane exclaimed, “I, I don’t, I…”

“And it gets worse,” The other-Jane said, almost gleeful in her statement. “You know why it gets worse? Most of the universe has been destroyed. That’s why we exist. Because of you, and your parent, and the fact you couldn’t stop it! And that eats you alive, every, single, day. You look in the mirror and you see a naive individual who was responsible for the destruction of half the universe!”

Jane raced off, as her counterpart chuckled, clearly enjoying the emotional torment that she was being put through. She found a spot to hide, but the hiding didn’t last that long, mostly as - well, the clone had access to her thoughts - and she’d managed to find her hiding behind a collection of buttons, wires, switches and other technological implements. The clone scoffed, as Jane panted, looking away.

“Oh, but you really miss her, don’t you?” She asked, “In fact, the only way you’d listen to what I’m saying is if I was her!”

“D-Don’t drag Rose into this!” Jane cried, covering her eyes, panicked at the idea of her clone taking the form of her crush. 

However, that was not the case. That would have been too easy for the clone to pick apart Jane’s inability to confess her feelings due to Donna’s memories getting wiped - and the fear of both Donna and Rose dying, especially as Jane wasn’t sure if ‘letting go’ of the metacrisis was a plan that worked - in fact, it was a little juvenile. Not what that creature had been planning. 

Suddenly, the not-Jane’s head began to compress, her body shifting and altering in size and appearance. It was a strange and frightening experience, Jane was reminded of the feeling during regeneration, but in this case… It was not covered by flashing lights and glowing gold energy. Limbs stretching, hands changing, face altering, before suddenly…

Instead of appearing like an exact clone of Jane… It appeared as a copy of her mother. And yes. Her mother. Blonde bob cut, wearing the same baggy jumpsuit, striped shirt, eyes wide and brown and full of joy. Jane swallowed. She knew that it wasn’t really her mother. But the creature smirked, eyes wide.

“What’s wrong, dear?” Her voice sounded off, shifting between accents and tones as she tried to sound sweet. “Afraid of your own mummy?” 

“Y-You’re…” Jane stumbled backwards, collecting herself against a wall. “You’re not my mum…”

“Oh, I’m even better than your mum.” The not-Doctor said. “I won’t die or leave you behind. I won’t forget you in the TARDIS for so long that you end up becoming part of it. I won’t abandon you for my girlfriend who I was in denial about…” 

All the thoughts were coming to the surface and Jane felt like she was about to cry. But she didn’t, trying to keep a straight face as she crawled onto her knees, hiding beneath a table with her legs up to her chest. Suddenly, she felt a pounding, hearing the sound of skin stretching like plastic. The creature was changing once more, its voice distorted as it cried.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” 

The voice sounded gruffer, deeper, with a hint of a Scottish accent. She recognised the voice as one of her father’s - the twelfth, the first of the new cycle - but the voice was screeched, almost sounding mad as the being continued to stalk Jane, who was crawling under the table, trying to find a way out.

“Come on, dear, I’m not going to hurt you!” The being claimed, “I’m just going to rip you to pieces! Wouldn’t that be fun? Isn’t that what you wanted?”

More stretching, more twisting, as Jane raced out of where she was hiding, noticing a familiar shaker of salt sitting behind her. She grabbed it, holding it behind her back, as she rolled out to see… Her father’s eleventh incarnation, a transformation that would’ve looked uncanny if he already didn’t appear that way. Her stomach dropped, as the creature licked its lips. It was starving, this time walking gently towards her, giraffe-like limbs elegantly moving as Jane held the salt shaker behind her back tightly.

“...After all, you know you’re going to die.” It said, “So why not speed it up a little bit?”

Threateningly, Jane pulled out the shaker of salt, causing the creature to scoff, eyes narrowed.

“You really believe I’m going to fall for that superstition, dear?” It said, “I can read your thoughts, and I know you’re bluff–”

Jane tossed the salt into the beings eyes, causing the illusion of her father’s eleventh face to break. Shedding skin like a snake, it mutated, suddenly looking like a goopy fusion of the eleventh, the twelfth, the thirteenth and her, still underneath that being as a branching off point. She could see pieces of her skin and teeth popping out of the side of the beings face, beneath what appeared to be her mother’s eye and a strand of her hair. Limbs appeared to be duplicated, and the torso appeared split between different clothing, body parts and segments. She could even see the Eleventh’s shoe-like face popping out of the Twelfth’s stomach, but missing any discernible features. 

It hissed. “THAT’S CHEATING!” 

It’s voice mutated between hers and the other three disguises it had put on. Gone was the illusion of friendliness, instead replaced with a monstrous creature… And that probably wasn’t even its true form. Jane continued to race out of the maze-like tunnels of the maintenance room, as the gigantic mutant that she had helped create followed her, destroying the room in the process. Considering the ship was going to blow up at any point, it made sense for it to damage what could become its prison. 

“DON’T YOU DARE RUN AWAY FROM ME YOU LITTLE SHIT,” The creature growled, as Jane continued to race off to an exit, looking behind her to see if it was still following her. “I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE – A COWARD! A NAIVE COWARD IN DENIAL ABOUT YOUR OWN FAULTS!” 

“I know…” Jane muttered, “And I’ve made peace with that!”

As the creature continued to stalk her, she found an exit and raced out, but the creature was still following her. She could hear the pitter patter of feet and wasn’t sure if it was her father, the clone of them, Donna or the clone of her. But she pressed on, continuing to race off as she felt heat surge through her face and body. There was an explosion forming, and she noticed the TARDIS, with the Doctor’s foot dangling over the edge. It still appeared to be them, as she ran and grabbed the foot. The Doctor noticed her, and pulled her up, as she took a deep breath.

“Arms still the right length?” She asked, as the Doctor nodded.

“One eye bigger than the other?”

The Doctor shook his head. Now, to find Donna and save her before that damn monster from inside her brain found them first.