Shadow of a wing (Doctor Who)

The crow

For quite a while he Reaper tested around with different frequencies, being almost absolutely sure that the ghost was still with him. If only he could manage to make it visible. Or at least feed it enough energy to communicate.

Even though he knew this wouldn't solve the main issue, it would still be comforting to know...

Slowly he let his tools sink and sighed. Maybe it would be a bad thing. The state his ghost had been in when entering the TARDIS certainly wasn't anything he wished for anyone. And being unconscious about it might still be better than having to be fully aware.

By the Time Vortex! Was he really thinking about not doing something bad and selfish?

Did it even matter in the end? Not fixing the loop would only erase something he couldn't get back anyway. Wouldn't it be better to just let it vanish?

But no... in this particular case the Reaper decided to be very selfish.

To distract himself from all these useless thoughts he tuned his TARDIS to the psychic link and let his ship find new coordinates. Not that he had much hope left, after years of finding exactly nothing. But at least he could continue trying.

There was an electric nudge in the Reaper's mind when he pressed a button on the controls. Confused he glanced around, halfway awaiting to see his ghost somewhere, but found nothing but the empty room and silent air. As his eyes came back to the monitor, there was something unusual though. He had followed the link for so long now it was immediately imminent that those coordinates didn't match.

Something had changed them and now his TARDIS was landing.

Sure, his old lady could have a mind of her own from time to time, but she usually didn't just drop him off somewhere random. Not like the stubborn and disobedient TARDIS of a certain other Time Lord.

"Do you have something to do with this?" he asked into the silent air, since the first time in years actually hoping for an answer again.

And as the Reaper didn't get any, he sighed and decided to have a look. Automatically his hand reached for his black coat and hesitated for a moment. The thing had become quite worn and a bit tattered here and there over the years. Maybe he should get a new one, even though all the memories of this journey were now part of it. Stories, woven into the very fabric of the attire.

Shaking his head about those thought, he shrugged it on, drew the hood deep into his face and stepped outside.

The TARDIS had become an additional door at a large building this time. Loud noises came from nearby, screaming and laughing and chattering filled the air. Was this...? The Reaper strolled around for a bit, finding a large place that was filled with probably hundreds of children, somewhere around the age of maybe six to ten. It was always hard to tell with humans. But they were all tiny at least.

Why in the universe had he landed at a human primary school, of all places?

It made not much sense to him, but he continued to saunter around anyway, trying to stay out of sight from everyone. A figure like him would surely draw too much attention. There was a small patch of trees nearby. More decoration than anything else, but at least a shadow he could hide in and observe the surroundings for a bit.

Not much later an annoying bell rang from somewhere and the noises of playing kids slowly vanished, leaving only the sounds of a usual summer day behind. With folded arms he leaned against one of the trees, letting his mind wander and ponder over the weird location.

Something bumped into him, a squeak resounded, followed by a thud and an "Ooouch!"

The Reaper opened his eyes and saw a kid picking herself up from the ground and rubbing her bum, then throwing a mean glance up to him.