The Tale of Melanie, Now complete (please comment)

[Kitten Kong Destroyed Wotan]

Doctor Who

In

The Tale of Melanie

By KKDW

Chapter 1: Remembrance

Snow billowed through the air and settled on the ground, for some of it the settling was only temporary. Some of the snow blew into a cave where it settled on the body of a sleeping girl. She’d been there for many years, and many had come looking for her. Those that had found the cave had either been killed or forgotten it. She stayed there, and she stayed sleeping. And she would probably stay like that for ever.

“Now some of the worst evil creatures in history are thankfully non-existent,” the Doctor explained to Rose who was listening intently, “I mean imagine stepping out of those doors only to come face to face with Darth Vader or George W Bush, oh no he’s real.”
Rose laughed slightly at this.
“Well anyway there is a possibility that you could meet one of these fictional villains,” the Doctor went on.
“How?” Rose asked.
“Parallel universe,” the Doctor replied, “You slip into another universe where Thunderbirds is real and you’re not.”
“What do you mean ‘you’re not?” Rose asked.
“Well, one time I ended up meeting the Tomorrow People…” The Doctor replied.
“Who are the Tomorrow People?” Rose asked.
“Oh year you probably wouldn’t have heard of them,” the Doctor said, “Well anyway while I was there I found out that all my adventures were just a television show called Doctor Who.”
“I like the name,” Rose said.
“Yeah and they got a bit of a surprise to find they were a TV show as well,” the Doctor chuckled.
“So you’re saying that we can open those doors to find Darth Vader standing outside,” Rose said.
“Yep, so start learning how to use a light sabre,” the Doctor said taking something out of his jacket pocket and throwing it to Rose.
Rose looked at the object a bit confused.
“Doctor this is a black pudding,” Rose said.
“Oh, that’s in case I meet the Goodies,” the Doctor said.
“I’m not even going to ask,” Rose said as she had no idea who the Goodies were.

The villagers assembled themselves in front of the stage that had been set up. They all wore fur clothing because of the cold that they were used to experiencing. Snow fell and settled around them as it always had done. The stood in front of the stage, waiting. Then a man and a young girl came onto the stage. The man was tall and his fur clothing made him look a lot bulkier than he really was, one of his most prominent features was his black moustache which he only kept to keep his top lip warm, he was known in the village as a man of great courage and so had been elected to be the Bearer of the village, their leader. The girl was his daughter, she was also respected in the village partly because of her father’s status but mostly because of she was known to have a beautiful singing voice, and she was waiting to use it now as her father approached the front of the stage. He raised his right had to the people before him and they did the same in recognition.
“Welcome my fellow villagers, my friends,” the Bearer said, “We all know why we are gathered here today, gathered in remembrance of perhaps the only major event in this villages history that didn’t involve beings from another world. I have known this day each year for a long time. For nearly fifty years I’ve experienced it once a year, even though for the first few years I wasn’t aware of it. And since I was elected as Bearer of the village, given the responsibility of standing here and speaking to you all I have realised what this event really means. So let us experience this meaning together,” he finished and the villagers applauded.
The Bearer stepped back to stand beside his daughter and whispered “It’s your turn now Laria.”
She nodded and stepped to the front of the stage, the audience applauded again then went into a awed silence, waiting for her to begin singing the one song that they all knew.
“She was only young when she was taken,
In an event not of her making.
When the bandits came to strike,
And all around, they took flight.
They robbed us of our possessions,
Because for them it was an obsession.
Then they left, their robbing done,
Then we realised that one of us had gone.
She was taken to a cave when short shelter,
And she thought that no one could help her.
Then the witch came and struck many of them down,
And left her sleeping upon the ground.
Men went out and searched far and wide,
Very few returned alive.
Then one of the bandits came and told his tale,
And that any search for her would fail.
So once a year we stand and hear,
Of the one we thought so dear.
Remember sweet Melanie,
Who sleeps for eternity.”
The song finished and the villages applauded Laria as she stepped back to stand by her father. Then she spotted a stranger approaching the village.

The TARDIS materialised a short distance from the village. When the door was opened a flurry of snow came in, the Doctor brushed it aside as he disembarked with Rose behind him.
“Blimey it’s cold here,” she said pulling her coat tightly around herself.
“Yep, colder than Tony Blair on a bad day,” the Doctor said.
“What?” Rose said in confusion having been thrown slightly by the Doctor’s comment.
“Well shall we explore?” the Doctor asked.
“Ok why not,” Rose said, “There’s a village over there,” she added pointing in the direction of the village.
“Well it looks like there’s something big going on over there,” the Doctor said and he set off across the snow covered ground towards the village. As he got closer he could just make out singing. The words became clearer the closer he got. He was standing at the back of the crowd when the song finished.
“That was beautiful,” he said to himself quietly.
Then the bearer came to the front of the stage again. Wiping a small tear from under his left eye.
“Well, as always that was very moving,” he said, “No matter who sings it. But my friends, I see we have a stranger amongst us,” he added looking towards the back of the crowd, and then every one turned towards the Doctor.

[Kitten Kong Destroyed Wotan]

Chapter 2: When the men came

The Bearer stared at the Doctor, who was grinning inanely. The villagers were murmuring to each other but he couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“Hello,” the Doctor said waving at the crowd in front of him.
The Bearer climbed off the stage and walked through the crowd towards the Doctor who was still grinning and waving with Rose standing next to him with the sort of expression on her face which said “He’s not with me, honest!”
“Welcome stranger,” the Bearer said, “I am Bearer Upa, the leader of the people of this village.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m the Doctor,” the Doctor said sticking his hand out in front of him which the Bearer shook.
“Well that’s good for a start,” the Doctor commented, “Most non-human civilisations wouldn’t understand that.”
“We have had our encounters with the humans of Earth,” the Bearer replied.
“Well since I’m here you’ve had another one,” Rose said.
“I suppose so,” the Bearer said, “So who are you then?”
“I’m Rose,” Rose replied as the Bearer shook her hand as well.
“Well it’s nice to be here, where ever here is,” the Doctor said, “Despite the cold, though I’m not complaining. I like snow; it’s excellent when you cook chicken in it.”
“Okay,” Rose said slowly to this latest bizarre remark from the Doctor.
“I’ll show how it’s done if you like,” the Doctor said.
“Thanks Doctor but I think I’ll stick to throwing it at people,” Rose chuckled.
“What do you mean by that?” The Bearer asked.
“Oh kids from Earth like having snowball fights,” The Doctor explained.
“What exactly is a snowball?” the Bearer asked.
“Well its…” the Doctor started but stopped as a large amount of snow hit him in the side of the face, everybody laughed, “One of those I think,” the Doctor said as another one hit him, Rose will you cut that out,” he added as a third snowball hit him.
The Bearer scooped up some snow in his had and hurled it at Rose and got a direct hit, and so did she and then a mass snowball fight broke out resulting with the whole village joining in.

The villagers looked up as to the red glow in the sky which had appeared earlier that day, it been growing for a few hours since. The Bearer, Bearer Toit looked up at it with the rest of the villagers, wondering what it was. And when it finally arrived it turned out to be a space ship. The crew disembarked and were greeted by the villagers, and stayed in the village for two months. During that time the captain fell in love with and married one of the villagers and so elected to stay behind when the space ship left. A year later they had a daughter, the captain chose to give her an Earth name, Melanie.

“The day of remembrance takes place once every year,” the Bearer explained.
The Doctor and Rose were now inside his house and were sitting at a rough wooden table; the Bearer was sitting opposite them while Laria was preparing a meal for them.
“What is it remembering,” the Doctor asked.
“An event that happened five hundred years ago,” the Bearer explained, “When Bandits came to our town and stole many things, including the daughter of our only human inhabitant.”
“How long had the human been there for?” the Doctor asked.
“About sixteen years,” the Bearer explained, “He had been recommended for the next Bearer when the current one stood down. He was all for it until his daughter was kidnapped.”
“So what happened to his daughter?” Rose asked.
“His daughter, Melanie, was the victim of an evil creature,” Laria said, “Hear we call that creature the Witch of the Cave.”

Melanie spotted a covered sledge approaching the village. The sledge was being pulled by a Gaprelia, a creature that levitated about two feet above the ground but it’s long hair gave it the appearance that it actually moved along the surface beneath it, it also had two long curved horns and a short tail. The Gaprelia was being steered by reins which were being held by an armoured man sitting at the front of the sledge. Melanie rushed back into her own house to find her father, he wasn’t there. She went back outside to see men disembarking from the sledge, everybody who was outside was running as the men approached, all of them carrying a long knife weapon. Melanie rushed back inside and bared the door before going to hide underneath her bed. She could hear the men smashing down doors outside and people screaming as the men attacked them, cutting their heads off. Then Melanie heard the door she barred break open and then the men entered the house. She could hear them rummaging among her father’s possessions, some wood carvings he’d made himself and the only reminders that he’d come from a culture with advanced technology, including his energy pistol and a medical scanner as he’d called them. She didn’t know what they were for but she knew that they were prized by her father. Then without warning she was dragged backwards from under the bed, one of the men had found her. He pulled Melanie to her feet and leered at her.
“So much for hiding,” he cackled at her, and then she was dragged outside by the men, tied up and dumped on their sledge with everything else they’d stolen.
The men got in the back with her except for the one that was controlling the Gaprelia. She heard him spur the creature into action and the sledge sped off into away from the village. The men looked hungrily at her, as though they had something that they would find extremely satisfying planned for her. The sledge continued on across the snow covered terrain, the Gaprelia even managed to haul it right over a wide canyon, the ride was rough but Melanie hoped it wouldn’t end, because if it did she didn’t know what the men would do with her then.

[Kitten Kong Destroyed Wotan]

Chapter 3: The Cave

The men had stopped to shelter in cave as night fell; they brought Melanie in with them and left her, still tied up, against one of the walls. They all sat around the fire eating, drinking and making fools of themselves. Occasionally one of them would look at her and grin wickedly. Then after a few hours they started talking about all that they’d stolen and how much they’d be able to sell it for, it seemed that they thought Melanie would make them a lot of money. They all laughed wickedly when one of them mentioned this and Melanie shuddered. If they were going to sell her, who would buy her and what would they do with her? Melanie decided that she wouldn’t think about it. Time passed and the men fell asleep. Melanie couldn’t, she was too scared by these people. She wondered how the villagers had reacted to her capture and whether they were going to look for her.

Indeed the villagers where. They took up weapons and prepared sledges but these were being pulled by horses which had been brought from Earth. Melanie’s father was rummaging in his house for a vital item that could help the search a great deal. He emerged from his house with a DNA tracker into which he’d programmed Melanie’s DNA years beforehand. He was glad he’d kept it hidden, not even Melanie knew about it. The tracker scanned the entire planet until it located her, then the search party set off to find her.

Melanie had been struggling against the ropes which the men had used to tie her up for a while and had managed to free her hands and then started on the ropes round her ankles. It wasn’t long before she’d managed to remove it. Then one of the men woke up, saw her and got to his feet. Then something distracted him, he looked deep into the cave, Melanie followed his gaze and saw a bright light coming from there. The other men woke and saw it, they stared at it open mouthed. Then a bolt of lighting shot out of it and struck one of them, he was vaporised. The remaining men turned and ran with lighting striking them out of existence. One of them got onto the sledge and spurred the Gaprelia into action. A bolt of lighting struck the sledge setting alight, the man leaped onto the Gaprelia and released its reins, and Melanie watched the man speeding out of sight while the others vanished in their attempts to escape until they were all gone. Melanie felt something touch her shoulder and span round to see a creature behind her. Its skin was green and rotting with patches of mould in places. The creature looked at her in the same way the men had done, a look which suggested it had something planned for Melanie.
“Welcome child,” the creature said and then it raised a clawed finger to Melanie’s forehead and she collapsed to the ground, “Sleep well,” the creature said and disappeared into the depths of the cave.

The man that had escaped encountered the search party and was captured. He told them what had happened, he’d seen what the creature had done to Melanie, but he’d seen it in his mind even though he was quite a distance away when it happened. He couldn’t remember where the cave was, and Melanie’s signal had disappeared from the DNA scanner. They returned to the village, and Melanie’s father returned to Earth some time afterwards.

The Doctor listened as the Bearer and Laria told the Melanie’s story, when it came to an end silence fell in the room, broken by the Doctor after a few minutes.
“So what happened to her father, the Captain?” he asked.
“His wife remained here and he died a few years later,” the Bearer said, “His body was brought here to be buried as that was where he wanted to be buried.”
“How long does it take to get from Earth to here?” Rose asked.
“On their first visit they told us that the two worlds were so far apart that it would take several billion years to get here even in their fastest ships so instead they’d developed a system where they could travel across space with what they called a ‘matter-transmitter’,” Laria replied.
“So they could get here instantly,” the Doctor said.
“Well at least they didn’t have a dead body hanging around for millennia,” Rose commented.
“I suppose,” the Doctor said, “Bearer did anyone go to find Melanie after that?”
“Many tried to find the cave where she was lost,” the Bearer said, “Some came back having failed, others said they’d found it, and that she was still there, still alive, but they could not remember where it was. They’d been in the cave one moment and a few miles from the village the next. Some didn’t come back at all.”
“They must have been killed by the Witch of the Cave then,” the Doctor said, “I don’t doubt that it wasn’t responsible for many of them losing their memories.”
“Yes that it was what we thought,” the Bearer said.
“I’m going to look for her,” the Doctor said standing up.
There was a stunned silence after this announcement, the Bearer looked at the Doctor and could see determination set on his face.
“I don’t advise it Doctor, but if you wish to you may go,” the Bearer said, “You are not a member of the village people and even if you were I couldn’t stop you.”
“Thank you,” the Doctor said, “If I don’t come back, look after Rose for me,” he added and then left the house.
“We will Doctor,” the Bearer said, “I promise.”

The Doctor collected everything he needed from the TARDIS, a bottle of a liquid that could wake up someone who was asleep, a stun light torch and his sonic screwdriver. He decided to go on a sledge pulled by a Gaprelia since it looked like it would be better adapted for the terrain. Then he set off, the villagers and Rose watched him go, she hoped that he would succeed, telling herself that he always succeeded.

[Kitten Kong Destroyed Wotan]

Chapter 4: The Witch

Before the Doctor had left the Bearer had given him the coordinates that had come up on the Captain’s DNA scanner 500 years previously, and so the Doctor was on his way to find that area. He was following his own natural instinct for knowing where he was coordinate wise. He steered the Gaprelia as though he was an expert with the creatures. He reached what he thought was the right spot after 27 hours without pause. The cave stood wide open in front of him, he could just imagine it sprouting teeth and swallowing him whole. The snow crunched beneath his feet as he approached it slowly, very slowly. As he drew closer to the entrance he thought he saw something lying on the ground inside, he moved in closer, there was something there. He ran into it and found a young girl, probably about 14 or 15, lying there with her eyes closed. The Doctor checked her for signs of life, pulse yes, heartbeat yes, breathing yes. She was alive, Melanie was still alive.

Rose couldn’t take being in the village much longer, with all the people talking about whether the Doctor would succeed or not. She was now in the TARDIS, leaning against the railings which surrounded the console area. Laria had insisted on coming in with her though Rose had said that she’d have been fine on her own. She’d been telling Laria about the adventures she’d been having with the Doctor, all those strange creatures they’d met, Nestens, Gelth, Slitheen and all those aliens aboard Platform One. Laria had listened to Rose with great interest, she’d heard stories like these before but they’d usually been made up by the people in her village as a way of entertainment. Any others had come from the humans of Earth. Rose thought to herself about all the places where they hadn’t been yet, maybe Rome or the Moon Landings, or could they even as the Doctor said arrive in a TV show, Rose chuckled slightly at the idea of meeting the Simpsons.

The Doctor pulled the bottle of wake up juice out of his pocket and poured it carefully into Melanie’s mouth. He waited for a reaction and got one. Melanie coughed and then opened her eyes. She then sprang onto her feet staring at the Doctor with a look of fear in her eyes.
“W-Who are you?” she asked, stuttering slightly.
“I’m the Doctor,” the Doctor replied smiling, “I’m a friend, I’ve come to help you.”
Melanie looked at her surroundings, she recognised the cave, the only difference was the lack of wicked men and the ugly creature. She could just remember the last words the creature had said to her, but had she heard them? Were they just a dream?
“How long have I been here?” Melanie asked.
“About 500 years,” the Doctor replied.
“What?” Melanie said in astonishment, she didn’t want to believe it.
“Yeah I know, you’ve been in here sleeping for 500 years,” the Doctor said, “Still your lucky I’ve had to experience much longer time than that awake.”
Melanie let this new thought linger in her mind and what it meant, her family, her friends, they’d all be dead know and she’d be alone in a village of strangers.
“Come on, we need to go,” the Doctor said taking Melanie’s hand.
They both headed towards the cave mouth, but then it closed, changing completely.
“Not so fast Doctor,” a voice said behind them.
The Doctor turned round to see the creature that had been responsible for Melanie’s sleeping imprisonment. The Witch of the Cave.
“So you’re not going to let us leave,” the Doctor said, “Why?”
The Witch remained silent Melanie looked away from it, she hated that creature and what it was, whatever it was. She tightened her hold on the Doctor’s hand to let him know how she felt, the Doctor understood.
“You have discovered my existence, you have seen me,” the Witch replied.
“And what’s wrong with that?” the Doctor asked.
“I have great power, I do not want other’s to discover it and use it for their own means,” the Witch replied, “If they find the cave or if they about to I send them away and make them forget. If they find me I kill them.”
“But most of them probably found you because you revealed yourself to them,” the Doctor said, “And many came here looking for Melanie.”
“And they still came, I dealt with them,” the Witch replied.
“They came looking for someone they wanted to help,” the Doctor said, “You resigned her to a fate far worse then death.”
“And why should that concern me Doctor?” the Witch asked.
“Why couldn’t you have killed her then if you could have, or just sent her away with no memory like everyone else, why make a exception with her?” the Doctor asked.
“She came here unwillingly,” the Witch replied, “If you had wished to come I would have killed her.”
“More to the point why did you have to kill anybody? Why couldn’t they have forgotten you and this cave?”
The witch remained silent, glaring towards the Doctor; Melanie chanced a look at it then saw that it was no even worse than it when she first saw it. 500 years had made this creature decay into even worse appearance, one of its eyes was now burnt and dented, the skin on its jaw dangled with the bone and its right arm was now nothing but black bone. The Doctor stared at it, mentally challenging it realise its mistakes. Then the Witch was gone. The Doctor stood in front of the TARDIS, he rolled through the memories of this encounter and realised that some were missing, the cave, what the witch looked like and more importantly what had happened to Melanie. The Doctor sighed as he realised that the witch would not let Melanie go.

Melanie stood there staring at where the Doctor had once been, then she looked at the witch, what was left of it.
“You’re not going to release me are you,” she said to the Witch, she realised that if she was going to be stuck in this cave for the rest of her life then she should except it.
“I will not let you go, but I will not keep you her either,” the Witch said.
Melanie stared at it, wondering what it meant. Then she understood. The witch let out a blast of lighting at her which hit Melanie in the chest, then she was thrown against the wall, her screams of pain echoing throughout the cave. Then she was gone, vaporised. Melanie was dead.

Epilogue

The Doctor felt it in his mind; he stepped into the TARDIS with his head down. Rose was glad to see the Doctor again, but the feeling of joy sank when she saw the expression on the Doctor’s face and she knew that something had gone wrong.
“What happened?” Rose asked.
“I found her,” the Doctor said, “Then the Witch found me.”
“And what did it to?” Laria asked nervously.
“It sent me away, made me forgot,” the Doctor replied, “And now I’m here.”
“What happened to Melanie?” Rose asked.
The Doctor remained silent, not wanting to say it but he knew he had to, he had to except it.
“Melanie’s dead,” he replied.
Rose and Laria both remained in stunned silence, they hadn’t expected this.
“Go home,” the Doctor said to Laria, “Tell them what’s happened, tell them I failed and that I’m moving on.”
Laria obeyed, exiting the TARDIS without a word. Rose looked at the Doctor who was now standing over the console, remaining completely silent.
“Doctor,” Rose said, “Can we go know?”
Silently the Doctor spurred the TARDIS into life, and it dematerialised, leaving the planet and the Village behind.