Title: Two Strikes
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: gen
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1, 5_prompts
Prompt: 5, Staircase
Author's Note: Spoilers for the Doctor Who episodes Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor. Please do not sue.

***

The Doctor paused at the bottom of the staircase, peering up into the dimness above and squinting. He raised a hand to his eyes, hoping that the added shade would help his vision -- but it didn't. He still couldn't make out anything up there in the gloom.

This wasn't a situation he wanted to be in, he told himself grimly as he put a foot on the first step and reached out to rest his hand on the railing. The shadows at the top of the staircase looked ominous; he had no idea of what could possibly be waiting for him.

There was a bright light shining halfway up the staircase, so bright that he couldn't look directly at it. But that light only extended halfway up; the very top was shrouded in shadow and uncertainty. And that wasn't something that he wanted to walk into unprepared.

He really didn't have a choice, the Doctor told himself as he moved to the next step, feeling silly for taking his time and being so hesitant. It would probably be better to run nimbly up the steps and face whatever he might run into at the top.

No, that would be stupid, a voice in the back of his mind piped up. What was he trying to do, end up being in a situation that he might not be able to extricate himself from? Hadn't he learned anything about keeping himself safe in over 900 years?

He'd spent far too much time running into situations that had turned out to be more dangerous than he had anticipated. No, this time he was going to be more careful, take his time and be cautious, and look before he leaped.

Another step .... then another. The Doctor paused, looking towards the top of the staircase again. Was it his imagination, or had he glimpsed some sort of movement in the darkness that seemed to him that it was gathering at the top of that interminable flight of steps?

That was ridiculous, he told himself firmly, shaking his head and blinking. He couldn't possibly have seen anything at the top of this staircase; his eyes wouldn't have been able to make out any movement from that far away, not with the bright light interfering with his sight.

The contrast between the bright light at the foot of the stairs and the darkness that he was heading into was enough to give him pause, if nothing else was. Going from the light into the dark was more than a bit frightening, though he didn't want to show fear.

And he wasn't afraid, not really. He was merely apprehensive; there were too many creatures that he knew all too well thrived in darkness, and he didn't want to take a chance on one -- or several -- of them being there waiting for him in that darkness.

Yet another step -- and then he paused. This time -- that movement he'd glimpsed -- it hadn't been just his imagination. He was absolutely positive that he'd seen something move, something that had moved almost too quickly for his eye to follow.

But there had been a movement. There was something hidden away in that darkness, perhaps something waiting to entrap him when he made his way to the top of these stairs. Something that was lying in wait for its next victim.

The Doctor's mind went back over all of the creatures he'd faced over the centuries that could possibly have any interest in this place -- and came up with a blank. But then, he couldn't presume to know what was in the collective minds of any creature that had ever been his enemy.

He didn't want to go up these steps -- and yet his feet seemed to be carrying him further up, around the curve in the staircase, leaving the bright light behind and approaching the hovering darkness much more quickly than he was comfortable with.

What were the most likely creatures to be here, hiding in some shadowy place where they could lure in their victims? And what were the most likely species to have some score to settle with him who would choose a place like this to do it?

He'd certainly been lured here; that message on the psychic paper reminded him of something from his past, something that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He'd been summoned in this way before -- and it didn't seem that the time was long past.

The Doctor looked down at the hallway below him -- and an icy chill of fear snaked up his spine. The bright light, that had been strong and steady before, now seemed to be dimming little by little, shadows overtaking the light and diminishing it.

There was only one species of creature that could do that -- and he knew better than to try to fight them. The only thing he could do was run -- and running was something that he was good at. He'd had to do it often enough, and he knew when it was best to beat a hasty retreat.

The Vashta Nerada. They were back. They were here -- and they were coming for him. He was sure of it, more sure than he'd ever been of anything in his life. The diminishing light below him and the growing shadows above him were proof of that.

They weren't trapped, as he'd mistakenly thought at one time. They'd somehow managed to find a way to freedom -- and they certainly remembered who had caused them at least a partial defeat during that frenzied time in the library.

He had to get the hell out of here and back safely to the Tardis, before the darkness overtook him and pulled him into its embrace. He'd come far too close to that before, and having escaped it once, he wasn't going to give in to it now.

Turning, the Doctor dashed back down the stairs, stumbling at the bottom of the staircase and grabbing for the railing. The light around him began to diminish even more, the fading light much dimmer now than it had been even a few seconds ago.

Regaining his balance, he managed to get to the door of the room he'd been in and wrench it open, running towards the front foyer of the house. Yes, they were after him, all right. He hadn't closed that door when he'd entered the room with the staircase. He was sure of it.

Reaching the front door, the Doctor tugged at the doorknob, flinging it open and feeling gratified to see the Tardis only a few feet away from the steps of the house. Bounding down those steps, he ran to his ship, breathing a sigh of relief when he reached her safely.

He turned to look behind him, his dark eyes widening at what he saw. The house was being eneveloped in darkness -- and unless his eyes were playing tricks on him, he could almost see tendrils of shadow seeming to reach out for him.

Slamming the door of the Tardis, he bounded up the steps to the console, quickly pressing buttons and slumping to the floor when he felt the familiar displacement of time and space. That had been far too close for comfort.

Narrow escapes had always been his specialty, but that one had been far too narrow for his taste, the Doctor thought with a shudder, closing his eyes as he sat on the floor, waiting for the shakiness to leave his limbs enough to allow him to stand up.

When it finally did, he got to his feet and leaned against the console, making a mental note. The next time he got a message on the psychic paper -- maybe it would be best for him not to answer it. After all, this had been two strikes for the Vashta Nerada. The third time, they just might get lucky.

***