Listen My Dear Thief ("Round" Entry)

[roseglade.livejournal.com]

Title: Listen, My Dear Thief

Rating: G

Word Count: 499 words

Characters: The Tardis and the Twelfth Doctor

Spoilers: “The Doctor Falls”

Warnings: N/A

Episode Setting: The End of “The Doctor Falls”

Summary: He will not change, but he will not die either.


My dear thief grits his teeth thinking it might distract him from his pain.  I have no idea why.  Was it not contradictory to distract himself from pain with pain?  Whatever his intent, it wasn’t working.  After years of traveling, my dear thief had very few secrets and thoughts that I could not read.  He still hurt.  His brain felt like it was going to explode.  His muscles felt frozen.  His body ached.  His hearts still burned.   He stumbled around until his fingers wrapped around a rim of my control panels.  He pulled himself up, still very dizzy.

Why won’t you change my dear thief?

Why wouldn’t he change?  Was it a matter of pride or selflessness?  Neither he thought.  He was too old he thought.  He was too tired he thought.  He no longer deserved to live he thought.

You have saved the world so many times my dear thief.  Do you not deserve that much?

A never-ending cycle he thought.  Round and round like a carousel he thought.  He would not change for the sake of continuing nor for himself.  My dear thief, so wise and so stupid.  Had we not gone through this before during his tenth body?

My dear thief, do not deny the opportunity of life when offered to you.  Most creatures only have one.

Would not be part of some game, he thought.  Would never let it happen again, he thought.  I’ll prove him wrong.  If I take him to a place in need he will understand.  He must understand.  He must listen.  If he will not listen to me then he will not listen to anyone.

I will make you understand.  If I must bend the laws of time and space to do it, let it be so.  You must change my dear thief.

Never again he cries.  Never again he wails.  He will not be someone else he shouts.  He cannot stand to be someone else he roars.  He’s staying he said.

My dear thief, you know not what you are doing nor what you say.  I will show you your worth.

He storms out mid-conversation for he knows my thoughts as I know his.  He is mad.  He is mad at the Gallifreyans, the universe, and me.  Why does he not value himself?  He of all people show know he is alive for a purpose.  The universe needs him.  The humans need him.  The children of all ages need a hero.  Though he does not know, I need him.  My dear thief makes me happy though I have not emotion.   It takes a special being to make an engine laugh, cry, angry, feel loved.

He claims he will not change, never again.  He will not change, but he will not die either.  I will make him change.  If he hates me, let it be so.  I’d rather have him loath me for the rest of our lives than to live the remainder of my life without my dear thief.