[team four] cosmic dust

[yunsias.livejournal.com]

This is a continuation of a previous fic I've written for shiritori.



(After all, every story has a beginning.

And an end.)

The TARDIS door creaks shut and slow footsteps echoes around the quiet console room.

"It's done."

Seunghoon wants to lunge out of the armchair in the wake of his grief and fury, grab the Doctor's collars and yell in the other's face because what does "done" mean to them? Mino's death? Mino's body burning in the middle of the lake? Or the way Mino's body dissipates into a bundle of gas and atoms, hanging in the perpetually night sky of this planet?

But he doesn't, preferring to sink and curl into a ball of long limbs and a very broken heart in the armchair.

"We can come back here any time you want ... It- He is shining very brightly up there, are you sure you don't want to see it?"

Mino had always been the guiding star in his life, shining brightly to lead him home in the midst of murky darkness and now as the TARDIS whirled into the capricious universe, his heart begins to feel like a cold dead star collapsing on itself, so far from home.







Seunghoon only comes out of his bedroom two weeks later when the streaks of tears is washed away and he plasters a weak smile that he knows does nothing to fool the Doctor. But he tries and is grateful when the other pretends, clapping a strong arm around his shoulder.

"So where or when would you like to go now? Eh, a planet on the verge of a black hole? Or oh, China during it's Ming dynasty has one of the most beautiful-"

"I would just like to go home."

From the corner of his eyes, he sees the excitement on the Doctor's face faltering and the silence following his words are oppressive, the quiet hum of the ship's engine a warped ticking of a ghost clock. When the Doctor gazes at him, it is with the force of contrition and grief weighing the sad smile down on the old man's face.

"Well, one last trip then?"

Of course, the Doctor will always be able to read his intentions off the contours of his face and the black of his irises.

"Was this how you lost Amy Pond too?"

The Doctor's smile is wry at the mention of his past companion's name, a little dagger of wildness in the seemingly calm of his face. "Yes, in a way. She's with Rory now. God bless those two, they always wind up together and sometimes that's all it matters. ... Alright, enough about me! Come on, stick your fingers in here."

Seunghoon's both hands are pulled and stuck down into the depth of a depression, enclaved by some sort rubbery substance. He yelps when something bit into his thumb but doesn't pull his hands out.

"This is the TARDIS telepathic interface and you're in mental contact with it. Turning off the safeguards and navigation system - I'm slaving the ship to you."

The ship's engine rumbles dangerously, tripping and turning even more than usual before Seunghoon can put in a word about the risks of the Doctor's decision because now there would be no more Mino to keep the wildness of his thoughts in check. His knees buckle and he falls to the ground but the rubbery substance of the depression is still keeping a tight grip on his hands. When the ship brakes to a stop and a hesitant silence is returned into the console room, he finds his shoulders aching and his body in pain from the stretch.

The Doctor whoops in unapologetic cheerfulness, something Seunghoon certainly doesn't share in his current state.

"The next time, Doctor, would it kill you to ask before you do shit?"

"Where's the fun in it? Let's go and see what or where you have brought us to."



airplanewishes, you're up! :)