indigoneutrino | Fanfic - I Am The One You Warned Me Of

Okay, I'm going to archive a few of my fics here if they're complete and relatively short. May as well start with the most recent one.

Title: I Am The One You Warned Me Of
Fandom: Doctor Who / Imaginos Crossover. Mostly Imaginos, although there probably aren't that many readers familiar with what that is. Imaginos is the title character of a rock opera by Blue Oyster Cult, and he's an agent of a group of supernatural beings who are trying to change history. Or at least that's my interpretation of the album. I don't think anybody really understands it.

Rating: G
Summary: The time travelling agent of Les Invisibles encounters the Doctor in Elizabethan England.
Notes: Short mini-fic that came about because I was simultaneously trying to listen to the concept album and watch Doctor Who on TV.

~~~

Plymouth
England
1575

It wasn't so much the man's unusual clothing that made Imaginos notice him, but more the way he seemed completely oblivious to the negative attention his strange choice of attire was attracting. There he was, just strolling along the dock dressed in a trenchcoat, brown pinstripe suit and white 21st century Converse seemingly without a care in the world. Imaginos smiled to himself. Four hundred years later and he might have gotten away with it. Here, most definitely not. Most people would look at him and think him eccentric at best, and a downright lunatic at the worst. However, Imaginos knew better. He could tell what the man really was.

A time traveller.

There were so few of them around in this corner of the spacetime continuum. Ever since Les Mesteres had taken control of the temporal gulfstream few people managed to reach this little spot in Earth's history. As they had intended, they'd managed to isolate this planet from every other key event in the history of the universe until it suited them, and that was exactly what they had Imaginos for. He was there to do on earth everything they couldn't manage from their distant seat in the stars, travelling in time to shape the future in whatever way they commanded. It was rare for him to see other time travellers, like him. Except they weren't really like him, he thought. The difference was that they were free.

They could go and do as they pleased, travelling wherever they wanted, whereas he was merely an actor playing a role in history that suited whatever purpose Les Mesteres had in mind. He never had any choice regarding where he went or what he did. He was little more than a slave. Whereas this man…he was free to go and see all the wonders of the universe without ever being tied down by somebody else. Imaginos scowled as he felt a rush of jealousy and resentment towards the stranger, but then reminded himself that this was a life he had chosen. A life of servitude was a price worth paying if it meant he got to see the wonders of history enacted around him. Especially if the only alternative was death.

Imaginos watched the man walking up the dockside for a few moments longer, and it occurred to him that he seemed to be looking for something. Thinking he might be of help, Imaginos straightened from where he'd been leaning over the side of the ship and made the short walk to the gangplank. A few moments later, he found himself of the dockside walking up behind the man. "Can I help you, sir?" Imaginos called out.

The man turned round, and Imaginos hid a smile as he noticed that nothing in the man's expression suggested he recognised Imaginos as being anything other than just another Elizabethan sailor, rather than a man from the future, like him. "Are you looking for someone, sir?" Imaginos reiterated.

The man looked grateful for the offer of help. "Actually, yes, I'm looking for Sir Francis Drake. Have you seen him?"

Again, Imaginos suppressed a smile. This man must be a highly inexperienced time traveller to think he could just waltz in to Plymouth Harbour and demand to see Sir Francis Drake. Either that, or he was so experienced that he thought the rules forbidding such behaviour didn't apply to him.

Imaginos nodded to a ship behind the man in the far east of the harbour. "His ship's over there, although I don't think the man himself has returned from London yet."

The stranger frowned. "But he's sailing tomorrow morning, isn't he?"

"Yes, he's expected back this evening. If you hang around long enough you might catch him."

The stranger nodded his thanks. "You sailing with him?"

Imaginos shook his head. "Me? No. My crew are heading off to explore the New World in a couple of days. Somewhere round the Gulf of Mexico, we think we'll head to."

The stranger grinned, "Exciting, isn't it? Exploring new worlds you've never seen before. Although I think you might want to be careful round there. There's supposed to be a sudden increase in pirate activity in the Gulf around this time."

Imaginos smirked inwardly. I know, he thought, I'm the pirate. "Thanks for the warning."

"No problem. Sorry, what did you say your name was?"

"Captain Desdinova." Imaginos held out his hand for the man to shake, which he did so enthusiastically.

"Captain Desdinova? That's a brilliant name," he gushed, "Very explorer-sounding, isn't it? Anyway, hello, Captain. I'm the Doctor."

"The Doctor? Pleased to meet you." Imaginos couldn't help but be amused by the man's strange mannerisms.

"And you. Good luck with your expedition."

"Thank you very much."

"Sorry, but I've got to dash. I really do need to find Drake…or somebody…or, well, it's a bit complicated really, but thanks for your help."

Imaginos gave an amused nod. "Ok, well good luck. Perhaps I'll see you again sometime, Doctor." Or somewhere else in time.

"Yes, see you," the Doctor said as he began to head off quickly down the dock towards Drake's ship.

Imaginos watched him go, thinking how unusual that man had been, even by time traveller standards. He thought that he would rather like to meet the man again actually, at some other point in history. It would most definitely be an interesting affair.

After the man had disappeared behind one of the large galleons, Imaginos shook his head and turned to head back to his own ship. It was time to forget about that man now and get back to business. Drake would be sailing tomorrow, but Imaginos would be following soon after. It was time for him to get back to the Plutonia, back to his assignment, and on to wherever destiny make take him.