Father Kreiner stumped across the room towards Fitz. His ancient legs creaked with the effort, but if Fitz had any initial hopes that the Faction monster was enfeebled by his thousands of years lost in the vortex, they were soon dashed. Kreiner kicked out at the slumped coven members who were in his path, and the bodies almost flew aside at the impact.
Kreiner stood before him, and raised his one leathery arm to take Fitz’s chin in his gloved hand. ‘Was I ever this young?’ mused Kreiner, twisting Fitz’s head to one side to get a proper look. ‘Was I ever this naïve? Or this frightened?’
Fitz decided to treat these as rhetorical questions. He could feel the grip tightening on his chin, hear the little motor devices in Kreiner’s arm and fingers whining as the pressure grew. He winced a little, but said nothing.
‘You know, I can kill you now. Don’t think that I can’t.’
Fitz could hear Tana chuckling, a throaty satisfied sound that filled the dark room.
‘Yes,’ continued Kreiner. “That sounds like a splendid paradox, doesn’t it? I kill my ancestor, but I survive.’ The pressure on Fitz’s chin seemed to reach a peak, and then Kreiner just stopped squeezing and pushed him aside.
Fitz gasped as the blood returned to his face, and he clutched at his chin.
‘But you’re not my ancestor, are you?’ hissed Kreiner. ‘You’re an ersatz version of me, created by the Remote over many years. First on Ordiflca, and then on Anathema. Lifeless biomass, given history and meaning by the remembrance tanks. You’re a fake. You’re a fiction. Truth is, boy, I am the person the Doctor first met, first took from Earth in the TARDIS.’ He closed his eyes, and the lids fluttered as though he were searching deep in his memory. ‘I was the young man who went to China with Mao’s army. I wept at the sound of the T’hiili Queen’s song. I saw the double sunrise on Cherantrin V It was me who travelled with him and … . Samantha? Yes, with him and Sam to Vega Station …’
There was a long pause. Fitz couldn’t think what to say to all this. Couldn’t admit it might be true. Couldn’t speak.
Kreiner’s eyes snapped open again. The Faction monster said, ‘I am the real Fitzgerald Michael Kreiner’
‘And I claim my five pounds.’ He’d found his voice at last. Don’t let this crinkly old sod see you’re rattled, Fitzie. “The Doctor reminded me of what I really am. Being me is more than just existing in a continuous line for ever, you know. You can’t be me any more. Not even if you live for another four thousand years. You could never be Frank Sinatra, like I was on Drebnar. You could never be Fitz Fortune, or Simon Templar, or Alphonse Lebleu. Because you’ve forgotten what it ever meant to be the real Fitz Kreiner.’ He gulped, watching for the Faction man’s reaction. ‘Ersatz? I don’t think so. I’m more Fitz Kreiner than you’ll ever be, you sad, forgotten nobody. Don’t think you can manipulate me like the other poor fools: He nodded at the few remaining coven members, sprawled around them.
He thought that Father Kreiner was going to explode at this point. Instead, a guttural laugh bubbled up and burst out of the Faction man’s skeletal face. Somehow, that was more unnerving.
Eventually, Father Kreiner said, “The Doctor certainly must have thought I was nobody. The same Doctor who you speak of with such affection. He abandoned me, you know. Left me to rot on Earth, left me to the Faction. How convenient, then, to have you – another version of me that he could shape as he wished, that he could control.’ He gestured around him at the fallen coven members. “That he could manipulate, like these poor fools.’
Kreiner stepped up close to him now, and Fitz could smell the stench of his ancient breath, icy on his face. Fitz felt the cold seep into him, filling him with dread and despair. As a kid, he’d dreamed of living to a ripe old age. Well, be careful what you wish for, Fitzie: it may come true.
‘I’ll tell you why I won’t kill you, little fake. Because I want you to learn for yourself about your friend the Doctor. How he knows he can just leave people, give up on them, because there’s always an easy replacement. Ask him about Susan – ask him how he can call himself a grandfather after abandoning her on Earth. She was the first, the first of so many … And when you’ve learned all that, then ask yourself whether everything you believe hasn’t been a lie. I’ve lived thousands of years knowing that. Now it’s your turn, young Mr Kreiner.’ He hissed a dismissive sound at Fitz, and stumped off into the room. “There are many things that my biosystems have erased from my memory over the long, long years I have served the Faction. But I haven’t forgotten what it meant to be Fitz Kreiner. Not for a single moment.’
Fitz watched him go, letting his words sink in. He recalled how the Doctor had refused to discuss the events surrounding Fitz’s return from the Faction all those years previously. And he knew how the Doctor had made it a personal project to humanise Compassion – and look what had happened to her: the result had been quite the opposite. He could scarcely credit what he was thinking. Could it be true?
Maybe Father Kreiner was right.
The cold feeling of dread was still with him in every cell of his being.
He saw that Tarra was watching him closely, her eyes bright within the savage mask of bone. ‘You can understand now our instinct for revenge on the Doctor. Until we realised that, after all, he was one of us all along. That was the most delicious paradox of all.’
Fitz shook his head. Though he knew, deep down, that he believed it now himself. He was going to get away from them the next chance he got. But for the first time in ages, he didn’t know where he would run to.
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timeasmymeasure
For Tim/close CR; meeting his evil original self
Date: 2023-04-22 02:27 am (UTC)Kreiner stood before him, and raised his one leathery arm to take Fitz’s chin in his gloved hand. ‘Was I ever this young?’ mused Kreiner, twisting Fitz’s head to one side to get a proper look. ‘Was I ever this naïve? Or this frightened?’
Fitz decided to treat these as rhetorical questions. He could feel the grip tightening on his chin, hear the little motor devices in Kreiner’s arm and fingers whining as the pressure grew. He winced a little, but said nothing.
‘You know, I can kill you now. Don’t think that I can’t.’
Fitz could hear Tana chuckling, a throaty satisfied sound that filled the dark room.
‘Yes,’ continued Kreiner. “That sounds like a splendid paradox, doesn’t it? I kill my ancestor, but I survive.’ The pressure on Fitz’s chin seemed to reach a peak, and then Kreiner just stopped squeezing and pushed him aside.
Fitz gasped as the blood returned to his face, and he clutched at his chin.
‘But you’re not my ancestor, are you?’ hissed Kreiner. ‘You’re an ersatz version of me, created by the Remote over many years. First on Ordiflca, and then on Anathema. Lifeless biomass, given history and meaning by the remembrance tanks. You’re a fake. You’re a fiction. Truth is, boy, I am the person the Doctor first met, first took from Earth in the TARDIS.’ He closed his eyes, and the lids fluttered as though he were searching deep in his memory. ‘I was the young man who went to China with Mao’s army. I wept at the sound of the T’hiili Queen’s song. I saw the double sunrise on Cherantrin V It was me who travelled with him and … . Samantha? Yes, with him and Sam to Vega Station …’
There was a long pause. Fitz couldn’t think what to say to all this. Couldn’t admit it might be true. Couldn’t speak.
Kreiner’s eyes snapped open again. The Faction monster said, ‘I am the real Fitzgerald Michael Kreiner’
‘And I claim my five pounds.’ He’d found his voice at last. Don’t let this crinkly old sod see you’re rattled, Fitzie. “The Doctor reminded me of what I really am. Being me is more than just existing in a continuous line for ever, you know. You can’t be me any more. Not even if you live for another four thousand years. You could never be Frank Sinatra, like I was on Drebnar. You could never be Fitz Fortune, or Simon Templar, or Alphonse Lebleu. Because you’ve forgotten what it ever meant to be the real Fitz Kreiner.’ He gulped, watching for the Faction man’s reaction. ‘Ersatz? I don’t think so. I’m more Fitz Kreiner than you’ll ever be, you sad, forgotten nobody. Don’t think you can manipulate me like the other poor fools: He nodded at the few remaining coven members, sprawled around them.
He thought that Father Kreiner was going to explode at this point. Instead, a guttural laugh bubbled up and burst out of the Faction man’s skeletal face. Somehow, that was more unnerving.
Eventually, Father Kreiner said, “The Doctor certainly must have thought I was nobody. The same Doctor who you speak of with such affection. He abandoned me, you know. Left me to rot on Earth, left me to the Faction. How convenient, then, to have you – another version of me that he could shape as he wished, that he could control.’ He gestured around him at the fallen coven members. “That he could manipulate, like these poor fools.’
Kreiner stepped up close to him now, and Fitz could smell the stench of his ancient breath, icy on his face. Fitz felt the cold seep into him, filling him with dread and despair. As a kid, he’d dreamed of living to a ripe old age. Well, be careful what you wish for, Fitzie: it may come true.
‘I’ll tell you why I won’t kill you, little fake. Because I want you to learn for yourself about your friend the Doctor. How he knows he can just leave people, give up on them, because there’s always an easy replacement. Ask him about Susan – ask him how he can call himself a grandfather after abandoning her on Earth. She was the first, the first of so many … And when you’ve learned all that, then ask yourself whether everything you believe hasn’t been a lie. I’ve lived thousands of years knowing that. Now it’s your turn, young Mr Kreiner.’ He hissed a dismissive sound at Fitz, and stumped off into the room. “There are many things that my biosystems have erased from my memory over the long, long years I have served the Faction. But I haven’t forgotten what it meant to be Fitz Kreiner. Not for a single moment.’
Fitz watched him go, letting his words sink in. He recalled how the Doctor had refused to discuss the events surrounding Fitz’s return from the Faction all those years previously. And he knew how the Doctor had made it a personal project to humanise Compassion – and look what had happened to her: the result had been quite the opposite. He could scarcely credit what he was thinking. Could it be true?
Maybe Father Kreiner was right.
The cold feeling of dread was still with him in every cell of his being.
He saw that Tarra was watching him closely, her eyes bright within the savage mask of bone. ‘You can understand now our instinct for revenge on the Doctor. Until we realised that, after all, he was one of us all along. That was the most delicious paradox of all.’
Fitz shook his head. Though he knew, deep down, that he believed it now himself. He was going to get away from them the next chance he got. But for the first time in ages, he didn’t know where he would run to.