Bright Young Thing, by livii

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

Story: Bright Young Thing
Author: livii
Rating: All ages
Word count: 1,243
Author's summary: She traces a pattern in the slushy ice: a woman, weeping. Susan, and the time vortex.
Characters/pairings: Susan/Ace, Susan/Rose, One
Warnings: none

Recced because: It's amazing to me that a character who left the show in 1964 seems to become increasingly more fertile ground for fic, rather than less, as the show evolves. This fic packs a lot into a small space by twining several eras' strands around each other: a look at the Doctor's relationship with Susan, and what drove him from Gallifrey; the fallout for Susan herself; and a compelling combination of ideas from S3 with canon from earlier eras, especially as achieved by combining Susan with later characters. Mostly, though, it's just beautifully sad and one of my favorite characterizations of Susan. The juxtaposition of her strength and frailty brings her to life.

He’d never stopped running, he’d told her once. He’d seen the power of the vortex and he’d ran, and ran, until his TARDIS was old and broken and he was tired and worn out.

He came back once, when she was seven; stealing her away before she could see, and be changed by it.

“Stay as you are, sweet Susan,” he’d said while propping her up on a chair in the console room, pushing the buttons dramatically while she cheered.

The vortex was not so easily denied.