[RL with Ten, backdated to the 19th - lost in space]

[nonesodangerous]

Tieria drifted in and out of consciousness. Each time he passed out, he thought it would be the last. He had done all that he could to save the others, although whether his plan would actually work or not was anyone's guess. There was something nagging at him, something about a destination, maybe? He didn't know, and it hurt too much to think anymore.

Something started beeping frantically at him. Oh, that was right. The GN Drive. Despite being in zero gravity, it felt like he was swimming up through tar to reach the eject button. There. It wasn't as noisy as he thought it would be.

So, that was that. Not able to fight anymore. Everyone else as safe as he could make them. GN Drive ejected and en route back to the Ptolemaios. Everything taken care of. Now he could afford to be selfish for once.

Now he could go and find Lockon.

Comments

[timey_wimey]

Something was wrong. Something was very, very, wrong.

It wasn't the fact that the people they'd managed to locate were in worse shape than he'd expected. It wasn't the fact that time - that ever elusive thing - was running out on them. It wasn't even the fact that his headache had reached an all-time high - that felt like it was starting to ebb off slightly anyway. Which was really leading him on to what was really, completely wrong, which was the fact that the idiot hadn't made a world-hop for himself.

The Doctor paced frantically around the TARDIS console while the rescue was going on, keeping all systems he possibly could reaching out for a signal, another signal - anything that is sending out a signal powerful enough to rip holes in reality has to have a source that I can trace, it has to - and when the TARDIS beeped, flashing warning lights up on the monitor, he dived over to the console and slipped away from the main rescue quietly, piloting her in the direction of the signal.

"Come on, old girl," he muttered. "One last push."

And she gave him that one push - into another area of open space, and then they were there. Here was the source, which also meant...

He checked the monitor again, quickly. Sure enough, there it was - a battle-worn mobile suit, and he really had to suppress the urge to marvel over the design, because now really wasn't the time for that. He gritted his teeth and opened a communications channel, trying to keep his voice light - for now.

"Oi, mind if I drop by?"

The Doctor just hoped that that thing was still receiving communications. And that the person inside could still hear them.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Faintly, as if it was very far away, or muffled, he could hear a voice. However, even in this state, he could tell it wasn't Lockon's. He struggled to concentrate. In fact, it sounded more like the...

"...Doc...tor?"

It didn't make any sense, but he couldn't think of anyone else who sounded so...chipper.

[timey_wimey]

He was still alive! The Doctor felt a grin spread across his face, just for a second - but that was only half the battle won. He still needed to get him out of there, and he carefully piloted the TARDIS closer until it was only a few feet away.

"The one and only." He let a touch of anger enter his voice, because really, now that he knew the idiot was alive he felt completely justified in shouting at him while he saved him. "And by the way, now I'm here, just how stupid are you?! Did you really think for a second that I'd let you get away with killing yourself out here?!"

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Tieria wasn't listening anymore. The reality of the situation had dawned on him - the Doctor was here, and now he knew everything. But why was he here at all? His location should have been completely hidden. No, he must have tracked something.

"...the others. What...what happened to...to..."

He gave up. It was getting too hard to speak. He closed his eyes again. Maybe if he ignored it, that noise would give up and go away, and leave him to rest.

[timey_wimey]

The Doctor sighed as he ran around the console, bringing up the instructions Feldt had sent him earlier for getting the Gundams open. His tone softened when he next spoke.

"They're safe. Or at least, they're on their way to safety right now, which is more than can be said for you. I managed to pull together a rescue operation." He paused, studying the instructions with a frown. "Three holes getting ripped open in the fabric of time and space is pretty difficult to ignore, especially when they give you a headache."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Silence filled the cockpit in between the Doctor's words. The oxygen was running out, and while Tieria was far from human, he wasn't immortal. He had slipped back into unconsciousness.

[timey_wimey]

"Tieria?"

Bugger. Bugger, bugger, bugger. Okay, Doctor, stop talking and start doing something. Following Feldt's instructions had been relatively easy once he'd brought the TARDIS close enough to make a connection with the cockpit inside. Getting Tieria out was another matter. Theoretically, if he manipulated the field surrounding the TARDIS that kept the oxygen in when the doors were open, he could make a pocket full of oxygen that was large enough to allow him to open the cockpit safely and pull Tieria out of there. Theoretically.

Good job that his theories had never let him down yet then, wasn't it? He pulled a lever, hit a few keys and sighed in relief when a light flashed green. Please work, please work, please work...

He ran to the TARDIS doors and threw them open, gingerly stretching a hand outside. Well, nothing felt different there, so he assumed that meant that his plan had worked. No time like the present, then - he pushed out into the temporarily oxygenated space, floating down towards the cockpit. Of course he had to land unsteadily, and he grabbed the sides of the robot to steady himself.

"Blimey, you've been in the wars," he muttered, stooping to enter the cockpit and figure out just what the best way was for getting Tieria out of there.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

He could still hear the cockpit door open, and that was more than enough to pull him back from unconsciousness once again. Why was the door open? He remembered something about the biometrics being useless now that Veda had left them, but...

Oh, why was it so hard to think?!

Tieria was suddenly aware that someone else was now in the cockpit. He struggled to free himself from the seat restraint, to make some effort to defend himself, but he could barely lift his head to look at the person. Starting to panic, he began gasping in what little air he could.

[timey_wimey]

Great, now he was panicking, which just made everything a hell of a lot more difficult. He threw his hands up in the universal gesture for "hey, I'm not holding a huge weapon, it's okay." He didn't really want to have to resort to telepathy, not now, the makeshift oxygen bubble would only last so long.

"Tieria, it's okay, it's me, it's the Doctor. I'm not gonna hurt you, alright? I just need to get you out of here."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

The enemy was in his cockpit: he was going to die, and there was nothing he could do. He hoped that Lockon wouldn't try and save him again, because he really didn't want him getting hurt again.

...no, Lockon was dead. He was supposed to be dead too. So what if the enemy was in here to finish him off? It didn't matter. The GN Drive was safe. He could just let this man do what he wanted.

His head fell forward again, the last of his energy exhausted.

[timey_wimey]

... Unconscious again. He sighed. Well at least that made it easier to get him out, he wasn't going to struggle that way. He gently leaned forward and dug the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket to break the seat restraint - he'd probably get in trouble for that later. Then he maneuvered himself around so that he could drape one of Tieria's arms over his shoulders and support him that way.

It was probably just as well that there was no gravity, he thought as he got them both out of the cockpit as carefully as he could. This was difficult enough without it complicating things. It was a miracle that he managed to get them both back to the door of the TARDIS. He reached out and grabbed the doorframe with one hand, steadying himself. Now was the difficult bit. There might be no gravity out here, but there was definitely gravity in the TARDIS. He grimaced, gritting his teeth as he set Tieria down first, leaning his unconscious form against the railing, before swinging himself in.

Well. That was the first part over, at least.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Even being manhandled wasn't enough to wake him up anymore. Tieria was hardly breathing now - but that might have had something to do with the fact he was still wearing his pressurized helmet, and no oxygen was getting into it. He slumped against the railing, unmoving.

[timey_wimey]

The Doctor took a moment to close the TARDIS doors before he knelt down next to Tieria's limp form and pulled off the helmet, his face creased in worry.

"Come on, don't tell me I have to perform CPR on you now," he said, more as a way to distract himself than anything else as he distractedly checked Tieria's breathing and pulse.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

There was absolutely no need for CPR. The moment Tieria's body detected breathable oxygen levels, he flung himself upright and took in a huge gasp of air, eyes open and staring ahead.

((headbutt y/n))

[timey_wimey]

"OW!"

The Doctor fell backwards in surprise and began wishing that he hadn't been leaning quite so close. Because Tieria's head had just gone on a neat collision course with his own.

"Oh good, you're awake," he muttered, rubbing his forehead, eyes still a little widened in surprise.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Seemingly ignoring the Doctor, Tieria fell back against the floor again. He didn't say a thing while several small but crucial diagnostics were completed, and looked as if he was simply staring at nothing.

[timey_wimey]

"Tieria?" The Doctor watched him with a small frown on his face, resisting the urge to wave his hand in front of Tieria's eyes. Not the time, after all, and it wouldn't be appreciated anyway. "Tieria, can you hear me?"

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Tieria blinked, as if startled out of some daydream. He was completely disorientated, and he also quickly realized that he was in a serious amount of pain. Clutching feebly at his abdomen, he closed his eyes.

"I can hear you," he whispered.

[timey_wimey]

Okay. Three things to do here. One, check Tieria out and make sure his injuries weren't too serious, and by too serious he meant life-threatening. B - no, two, move him somewhere that wasn't the floor of the TARDIS console room. Three, find him someplace to stay. Preferably in that order. Much as the Doctor wanted an explanation, it could wait. For now.

"Alright, just take it easy." He moved quickly to kneel down next to his friend, one hand in his pocket already setting the sonic screwdriver to a setting that would let him perform a basic diagnostic. The other hand moved to rest on Tieria's shoulder as he dug the screwdriver out of his pocket once more.

"You've caused quite a stir," he said, just for something to say.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Realizing what the Doctor was about to do, Tieria reached to snatch the screwdriver from him. The last thing Tieria needed on top of everything else was the Doctor finding out that he wasn't human.

[timey_wimey]

His hand automatically jerked back in surprise. "What?" he said, puzzled. "Look, I'm just going to check how badly hurt you are, that's all. Nothing else."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"Self-aware somatoparaphrenia, a psychosomatic condition caused by intense negative neural feedback, coupled with a similar as-yet-unnamed condition relevant to the internal organs, I would hazard," Tieria gasped out.

Such a thing was a contradiction in terms in human medicine, but Tieria hoped that the Doctor wouldn't realize that.

[timey_wimey]

Unfortunately for Tieria, the Doctor wasn't human, and that didn't escape him. But for now, he let most of it side, settling for saying half-skeptically, "That's pretty precise for a self-diagnosis."

He sighed. "Either way it's not doing you much good lying around on the TARDIS floor."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Tieria clawed at his abdomen, grimacing. Knowing that the pain wasn't real didn't seem to make it hurt any less.

"It is easy to be exact when it's pre-diagnosed, Doctor." He tried to roll onto his side so that he could curl in on himself, but he could hardly move. "It was almost inevitable," he added.

[timey_wimey]

"Pre-diagnosed or not, I'm gonna need to move you..." he trailed off as he spoke, mind working. As Tieria had so succinctly pointed out, somatoparaphrenia was a psychosomatic condition, which meant that the Doctor could at least ease the symptoms a little. After all, what else was the ability of being able to prod around in people's minds good for?

Of course, that all depended on whether or not Tieria would be happy with the idea of him walking around his mind. Which was something that the Doctor had doubts about already. But doing something for the pain would be a welcome relief, right?

Nothing ventured, nothing gained... "Tieria, can I try something?"

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"No," Tieria replied quickly, which was soon followed with "What are you doing here?" His expression was hovering somewhere between betrayed, furious, and exhausted.

[timey_wimey]

... Apparently not, then. The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Well, from the looks of things, I'd say I was saving your life."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Tieria's expression darkened even further. "You know what I meant," he snapped as best he could.

[timey_wimey]

He sighed and leaned back slightly.

"I picked up the signal from your world-hops - nice job on those, by the way, even if they did start ripping holes in reality and give me a splitting headache - and moseyed on over here to investigate. When it looked like you lot needed a bit of help I pulled together a rescue operation. The others are safe now, or as good as."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

His frown wavered, and his voice became weaker.

"It's all my fault. Again. I failed, and you found us."

[timey_wimey]

If the Doctor's eyebrows had travelled up any further, they would have been hiding in his hair.

"And it's a good job that I did, the state you lot were in when I found you! Blimey, Tieria, don't beat yourself up about it, I'm amazed that you were actually able to do it."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"How did you find me, then," Tieria asked, miserably. "Why did you?"

[timey_wimey]

"Every world-hop has a source," the Doctor said simply. "And as for why, because you're my friend, that's why, and I don't let my friends die if I can help it."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"Oh," he said. And then, "You should have."

[timey_wimey]

He looked at Tieria oddly, almost dreading the answer.

"Why?"

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

There was suddenly something distant about the look in Tieria's eyes.

"...I had somewhere to go."

[timey_wimey]

... oh. Talk about something hitting you with the full force of a ton of bricks. Several tons of bricks, come to that. For the first time, the Doctor's gaze slipped away sideways.

"..."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"I thought I saw--"

He broke off, as if coming round from a daydream. "You don't seem very surprised, Doctor. About any of this."

[timey_wimey]

The Doctor breathed in suddenly, and began to look a little sheepish.

"Well. No, not really." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I figured it out. Well, guessed. A couple of months ago, now." He offered a slightly wry smile. He was fairly certain that that wouldn't come as welcome news, even without the current circumstances.