Chapter Text
She wandered. Through long empty corridors that didn't smell of honey, but instead, of oil and metal and old books and home. Home. She stopped outside a door made of a deep wood and when she opened it a happy young face beamed up at her, ready to jump to action.
"Where do you want to go next?" asked a voice that wasn't as rough or lost as hers was, with a confidence not lost in a fog of pleasure, and the woman got off her bed.
"Where do you suggest?"
She woke with a gasp, blinking at a golden ceiling, inhaling the smell of honey. A million minds pushed in around hers, but mostly the bright dot next to hers.
"Doctor?" the voice was more muted than it should be. She looked at Yaz, wondering why she looked so - different. More glazed, more ... distant.
"Hey." she smiled, before starting to sit up, then grimacing. Her body ached. She felt sticky, all over. The hive was - flustered. But she pushed them away for now, considering Yaz. "How d'you feel?"
"My brain's all ... mushy. Doctor. We shouldn't be here. Should we?" she asked, taking the Doctor's hand. "You're ... empty. You laid?" she asked, frowning. "Why..." she shut her eyes, and the frown became a grimace. "Doctor. Doctor, we need to leave. They shouldn't - have a hold on us any more. Yeah?" she swallowed hard, looking at the door. "You should get - get us out of here." for a moment, she almost panicked. The hive would hear it, they would be disappointed, they wouldn't fill her any more - but - wait - no, did she - want that? Without the throbbing weight inside her it was easier to push through the honey-slick which had become her thoughts.
She cast her mind out to the hive, drifting through them, but the focus wasn't on them. They were outliers, and with the group mind pulling in, around their queen, she wasn't ... part of that any more. Not really. An interloper, now pushed out of the inner circle.
"I - I don't know. I wanted this. Didn't I?" she asked. The honey, the powerful minds looping into her natural psychic abilities... Yaz was protected, just a little, by her dumber brain. Or perhaps far, far smarter brain, with all it's natural blockades to the power that was currently writhing inside her own mind.
"Doctor. Doctor, focus." she whispered, cupping the Doctor's cheek - and then cried out. At the same time, The Doctor gasped, unable to help it.
There was an overwhelming drive in her mind. Not outright control, no - but the urge. She was needed.
Standing, Yaz fell to the wayside, scrabbling after her - a little stiff and sore, clearly, human body less able to take the punishment her body had tolerated.
"What's happening?" maybe she had gotten the call, too, and with her less sensitive mind she had lost the fine details of it. Maybe it was because she was trying to pull herself away from the hive, now, waking up, but none the less she moved behind the Doctor. Refusing the call seemed - almost impossible. Even if it wasn't for the pull on her mind, she knew what this call was for.
The queen's chambers were swarming. The hive's most important members - as such as they were, more the drones who had a purpose with serving the queen, those who were not so much higher as diffrent to the other members. Equality, communication, an immense team... the queen might have been able to lead them and take control, but mostly, she was there to make more of them. And perhaps with the Doctor... well. With Yaz, with - other creatures, outside the hive - what use would they have for her?
Stepping into the room, the crowds moved like water to allow her passage to the queen. The buzzing drone was overwhelmingly loud, but her eyes were fixed on the creature on her 'throne' of cushions. And it was clear she was struggling. Her features had washed out looks; her body, it twisted slightly, as if it was ... breaking.
"You come." she said, voice weak in her mind, but the hive all fell silent - still, in place. Her last bit of power. "Interloper from another word. Progenitor. Taking us to other worlds. To colonize. You bring us new creatures, to carry. Progenitor. Our future." the queen stood, slowly, so slowly, and no drone helped her, dragging her egg-laying rear with some clear difficulty. But stand she did. And she moved to the Doctor, stood still, held not by control in her mind but by utter fascination. She wondered what would happen to the weak queen; what would happen now? And the fact which had been battering the side of her brains finally sunk in.
"No." she murmured, frowning. "No, I can't. I'm not -"
"You belong here." the queen grasped her cheek, and tugged her in. She kissed, although it wasn't passionate, not really. All her arms gripped the Doctor, all of her strength. Sweetness flooded her tongue, swallowing automatically, grasping the back of the other, feeling the fuzz between her still wings and the sheer strength of her chitin and - she swallowed again and again. Her head spun, like she was downing ginger. Sinking into it, the overwhelming humming in the back of her head, losing herself - the kiss broke. She shuddered, gasping for air, not sure why her respiratory bypass hadn't kicked in but - the queen was limp in her arms. She held the weight without thinking, hands, arms, touch, so much touch, her face swarmed with drones, and then - pinned to the wall. She cried out, but something else was in her mouth - sticky and warm and - not honey, no. No. She recognised it, a burning starting everywhere it touched but she couldn't stop drinking it. Fingers exploring her, spreading over her, something pushing up inside her and she cried out in pain and pleausre and the overwhelming buzz in her mind as everything went black.
-
Everything felt ... weird. Really weird. She blinked open slowly. Vaulted ceiling, bodies drifting by ... not her room, then. She started to sit up and then gasped, hand moving to her aching belly. It wasn't that full, not really, a gentle swell, just - a shock. She didn't remember being bred... why were so many people moving? It was making her head pound.
Oh. Everyone had ... stopped moving. That was ... weird.
The drones came into focus, slowly. She sat up properly, rubbing her eyes.
"Doctor!" a figure appeared, and the relief at seeing Yaz rocked her to her swollen core.
"Hey. Are you okay?" it was weird, the buzz of hive seemed totally part of her now but ... distant, too. She reached out, tangling her hand with her friend's. Her friend. Gods, what had she done, bringing Yaz here?
"I'm fine. Those - those bee things - I don't know what they did to you, I couldn't get close. You've been here for - hours, I think. Time's weird here, right?"
"Yeah. Really weird." she smiled, stroking Yaz's hair off her sticky face. "Where's the queen?"
"They took her away." she whispered. "I couldn't - understand anything, I know they were trying to talk, like, in my head?" she said, uncertainly. "But I can't - understand it. Like it's a different language." she frowned. "Doctor, I want to leave."
"The queen's gone. Her influence has gone from us." she whispered.
Queen, echoed her mind, and she shook her head, rubbing at her eyes.
"Doctor..." Yaz spoke slowly, uncertainly. The big news, the really big news that had been digging into the edge of her mind all this time, finally caught.
"Oh no." she rested her hand on her stomach, understanding what was growing in her.
She reached her mind out. Every part of the hive, open to her. Most of them working away. They would never meet the queen that birthed them, they would never know the change in power, the great and ridiculous thing that had happened. All of them, reliant on her. Except... maybe not.
"Are you in charge now?" Yaz asked, softly.
"I ... think so. Not really? It's - they're self governing, mostly. The queen ... mostly here to make more workers, more eggs. I can feel every single life here." she stood up, slowly. She realised what she had done to the drones and released her hold; so shockingly easy, now, to make herself invisible.
"Come on." she took Yaz's hand and walked. Every door opened for her. They climbed higher, and higher; and finally out, into the crisp air. It was early evening, a beautiful sunset painting the sky like a master artist, streaking reds and golds across deep blues tinted with a bottle green. She paused, breathing in air that wasn't honey sweet. Her legs ached at the walk, but ... it was good. The TARDIS was there, her silhouette comforting. Home. It was home.
The doors opened perhaps slower than they would. A connection that reached out, cautious, not sure of the rest of the hive... but the TARDIS had been her home far longer. Pushing the hive into a bubble, away from the rest, she smiled.
"I know. I'm sorry. I left you for a while, didn't I?" she rested her hand on the console.
"What are we going to do?" Yaz asked, frowning. The Doctor rubbed her other hand over her slight swell, thinking.
"I'm ... responsible, now, I guess." she said, softly. "But ... the changes have only just begun. I'm sure I can make something to slow down the process." she flicked a couple of switches. "I don't think I want to give up laying ... just yet." her cheeks flushed as she admitted it, ducking her head so her sticky strands of hair swung in front of her face slightly. "I can't leave them to die. But they'll be okay without me. Don't need me there ... all the time." she cleared her throat.
If she left, if she went for good, and chose to get rid of what they'd done to her, the clutch she knew would grow, endlessly, inside her... she couldn't be responsible for another genocide. Not now.
"They'll be able to reach me." she tapped the side of her head, and flicked another switch. "I think... we should have a shower. And then maybe ... we should go on an adventure. I know a great place, way out of the known galaxy. They have actual hoverboards there. And the greatest funnel cake in the known universe."
"No honey, though." Yaz said quickly.
"Deal." the Doctor grinned, and threw the lever.
Hand still rubbing the eggs inside her.