An amateur writer who shares her dribbles, one shots and thoughts. Mainly a space for sharing my writing from original works to a variety of different fanfics for different fandoms Link to my stories: https://www.inkitt.com/Caitie_a?_branch_match_id=810167954718143215 Link to my Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/caitie_a Don't be scared to ask me questions
This is a small excerpt from my Hades and Persephone retelling, which I don't think I ever mentioned on here. Enjoy!
But few know the truth, and even fewer still walk the echoes of the world and its husk. The truth, as people say, is a little more complicated. It isn't as neat as the story of the expanding universe or as miraculous as the benevolent God who sculpted the flesh of man in his own image.
It started with a war.
A bloody, gritty war that spun the whole of whatever universe had been speckled with life so far. But any war was bound to leave a witness mark or scar. This was a fact that was hard to swallow, but it was true all the same. Wars were not kind to people, no matter who they were. No matter if you thought you were doing the right thing, war was a bloody and gritty thing, stirring up grief and leaving devastation in its wake.
A war that had to be fought (does any war have to be fought?) over freedom and the Titans being too controlling and having their day in the sun but refusing to change with the rolling tide and instead becoming stoic and when Ichor became rust they still refused to change, but no matter what change was inevitable and the more one tried to run from it, the more it hurt when your wounds were shown the light of day.
Trigger warnings: Amnesia and mentions of car crash (not graphic mention), and frustrations of not remembering.
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Hot tea, biscuits and muffins were scattered around Pippa’s area, curtains pulled around but it did little to stop the gossip that was whispered between mother and daughter.
Francesca Hargrove sat close to her daughter, her hand gently rubbing Pippa’s hand in a soft circular motion whilst telling her all the recent gossip about their neighbours. Neighbours that Pippa didn’t really know about. Still, she smiled at her mother, loving to hear her voice.
Francesca was a gossipy lady, and whilst she lived in Crime Alley— last time Pippa’s checked— and knew of the culture, she acted as if she didn’t.
Her clothes — whilst brought from the thrift store — really popped with the 90s fashion. She was eccentric, wistful and bold. Underneath her layers of mismatched skirts was a holster for her gun. A mama through and through, she was a protector, and defensive. Her hair was in an updo, unnatural curls bouncing as she laughed.
Francesca hadn’t known what to do when she had discovered her daughter had been in a car accident and lost her memory, but being away from Gotham did not ease the panic that had plagued her. She had gotten the first train she could and headed to her baby.
Pippa squeezed her hand tightly, “Mama, how is Ranger?” Ranger, a short Swedish Vallhund; small but mighty, was Pippa’s companion. But after four years of memory gone, she… needed to know if he was still here.
Francesca smiled warmly, squeezing their interlocked fingers, “He is well. He’s happy. He’s eleven now, but still energetic as ever.”
Relief flooded over Pippa. He was alive.
“Have you spoken to him?” Francesca asks, her smile wavering into a thin line, almost as if she was nervous to ask the question.
Pippa knows who she is on about, she had seen her mother give him a big hug when she had arrived before ushering him off — probably to get food, or to go home — a minute before she came in to see her.
A few things taken from that interaction;
One. Her mother knew him. Clearly, as she had hugged him. Francesca Hargrove does not just hug anyone.
Two. She spoke to him. Pippa had seen it through the window. How she had looked just as concerned with him as she did with Pippa, before she had ushered him away.
Three. Francesca looked worried about him after he had left.
“Not since I’ve woken up.”
Francesca blanched, seemingly upset by the thought, “I won’t tell you his story, that’s up to him. But I will say that you should talk to him—.”
Pippa opened her mouth to speak, but Francesca squeezed her hand.
“— if not today then soon at least. He could tell you seemed freaked out after he realised you didn’t recognise him. I mean, I would too, but you can’t let that cloud your judgement of him.”
“I know mama, I just needed time to process that I’ve lost the last four years.”
“I remember going to University on Tuesday. I remember telling you about my history project about the American revolution, and how I had to present it on Friday.”
“Do you know what your doctor has said?”
Pippa sighed, taking a muffin and unwrapping it, “She’s said it’ll take awhile before the memories kick in. But exposure to anything that can trigger memories may be more helpful. Not massively, just small quantities. Little but often. A uni acquaintance is going to be popping by, hopefully.”
Francesca smiled, “That’s good! Hopefully she can help out.”
Pippa nodded, taking a bite from the chocolate muffin.
Francesca hadn’t stayed for long, but to Pippa it had felt like ages. And whilst she didn’t trigger any memories for Pippa, she did hold her as she cried, supporting her and giving her a gift. Amongst the snacks and a gift card for DeliverBat, she gave Pippa a journal, to note her days and memories. Her reasoning? Pippa had apparently started journaling two years ago, and had kept it up since.
She had forced herself to write when a soft knock on the door caught her attention, she glanced up, to see the familiar blonde haired Stephanie Brown.
Her smile was small, but warm, friendly and intentional. She wore a purple hoodie, black denim jeans and a black headband. “Philippa?”
Pippa cringed slightly, “Please, call me Pippa.”
Stephanie nodded, closing the door behind her, “How’re you holding up? I heard what happened.”
“Honestly, it sucks. I don’t remember much, just that I partnered with you with the art project we did at Gotham Academy a month ago— four years ago, I mean, sorry.” Pippa rubbed a hand down her face.
Stephanie’s eyes widened, her hands resting in her lap, “Oh that’s… rough. I’m so sorry, but I need you to know that I’m here for you, if you need to vent or talk to someone, I’m here.”
Pippa was thankful, but she tried to find humour in it, she gave Stephanie a playful odd look, “It’s strange, you look older.”
“At least you don’t look horrendously bad for twenty-five, Pippa.”
Pippa laughed, “I never said you looked horrendous, just old.”
Stephanie playfully shook her shoulder lightly, laughing lightly, “You bitch.”
They laugh.
“Is it hard to adjust to, your age, I mean?”
Pippa took a breath, sharp and unnerving, “Yeah, I mean, I’m twenty-five now, not twenty-one. I don’t even remember my birthdays, and I’m legally more mature than I feel. It’s odd, and I hate it.”
Stephanie’s brows twinged closer, a sorrowful expression grew on her features, a slight hint of self-internalised cringe followed, “I’m sorry..”
Pippa sighed, “It’s.. like my life has been torn away from me and I have no idea how to get it back. I get released from the hospital tomorrow though, but it still sucks more than anything.”
Stephanie nodded, “You’re strong minded though, you often face things head on.”
Pippa’s eyes watered — gosh, she’s been so emotional lately— “I don’t feel it. I—I.”
Stephanie leaned forward reaching for Pippa’s hand, “Hey, hey, it’s okay, you’ve been in a traumatic accident, causing you to have post-traumatic amnesia, I think it’s more than okay for you to not feel as strong as you usually do. It’s okay, Pip.”
“My mama suggested for me to write everything down, so I can look back at. She said I had been writing for the last two years.”
Stephanie nodded, a slight recognition twinkled in her eyes, “Oh yeah, my broth—, the guy, well…” she scratched the back of her neck, stammering to find her words.
“What is it?”
“I’m going to tell you something, in small amounts and I’ll help you process it, if that’s okay?”
Pippa nodded slowly, cautious.
“I kind of know about the guy.”
Pippa’s heart thrummed in her chest as she remembered his face from this morning, how his eyes lingered on her, heartbroken, desperate and earnest.
“Oh.”
Stephanie smiled awkwardly, “He’s kind of my brother.”
“Kind of?”
“Well, I’m not formally adopted by Bruce Wayne, but I’m his ward. And the guy, Jason, is Bruce Wayne’s adoptive son.”
Pippa blinked, taking a moment, “I don’t understand what that means to me.”
Stephanie almost flinched, “Oh, yeah, well, he -um- he met you when I invited you to the Manor.”
Pippa’s eyes widened, “I’ve been to the Manor? The Manor. As in The Wayne Manor.”
Stephanie nodded, saddened that her friend truly did not remember such an important part of their friendship, “Yeah, you used to come over quite a lot too.”
And that’s when Pippa realised she was so much more than just an acquaintance to Stephanie, she looked down at the bandage on her leg, trying to think of her memories with Steph. And apart from a few art projects that they worked on, she never recalled stepping foot into the manor.
A solemn look on her face, she admitted, “I don’t remember… any of that.”
Stephanie was quiet for a moment, then a twinkle in her eye as she asked, “Would it be worth coming over? Maybe? It might spark some memories.”
Pippa smiled, “Yeah, I think that’ll be great.”
Stephanie smiled, “I’ll tell everyone.”
Pippa frowned, “How big is the Wayne Family now?”
Stephanie shook her hands in front of her, “Oh, don’t worry! I can suggest fewer of us to be there so it’s not too much for you, if you’d like?”
Pippa nodded, her eyes glancing down to the notebook, “Yeah, I think that’s best. Doctor Thompkins said little but often.”
“Do you— do you want him there?” Stephanie asks after a beat.
Pippa looked at Stephanie, thinking longer than she would’ve liked, then glanced back down to the words she had written in her journal.
He came back.
He wants to see me.
No one has ever looked at me the way he had. And my heart hurts when I remember how broken he sounded.
Pippa’s heart was set.
“I think so.”
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AHHH we’ve officially met Francesca, Pippa’s mother, and Stephanie! Also Pippa’s full name is Phillipa, but goes by Pippa.
If you are here, wow thank you for reading this! I’m not sure how long this fic will go on for, but I’m basically writing parts and when it’s finished I’ll post it all onto Ao3.
I’m also thinking of writing a Damian Wayne one.
But I also take requests! So if you like my writing, feel free to leave a request for something you’d want. I’m happy to do anything batfamily related :>
Trigger Warnings: Car Accident (mentioned) and Amnesia
Even through blurred vision from the tears that lingered in the corners of her eyes, Pippa winced at the bright hospital lights. It seemed to have paralysed her for a reason unbeknownst to her, she urged herself to move, to make some form of an attempt to understand what she was doing in the hospital.
Even with the thin sheet of the hospital, it felt heavy against her. Her finger twitched and a chair scraped beside her, as if startled by the touch. The touch? Her pinky was curled around another's, whose she did not know.
But the frantic muffled voice rushed to ease her panicked state, the lights adjusted, and her hair had been brushed out of her face. Comfortable with the darker environment, her lids peeled open, her brown watery eyes landed onto the man who sat by her side. Dark hair save for a white streak that reminded her somewhat of Anna from Frozen, his skin was smooth but had a few small scars here and there. He was a lot closer to her than she would've liked.
His hand was tightly gripping hers, the other was cupping her chin, equally relieved and teary-eyed at the fact she was waking up. He kissed her forehead, his lips partially wet — perhaps from the worrisome tremble he had been (though he would not like to admit that he would tremble).
Pippa blinked once, twice. A third time.
“Oh baby, I was so worried. You’re alright, you’re going to be okay.”
Her eyes met his before she pulled her hand out of his grip, not harshly, but deliberately. His green eyes shifted from relief to a sudden hurt, concern and a tinge of puzzlement that softened when he said her name.
“Pip, what’s wrong?”
Pippa blinked her tears away, and nudged herself away as he made an attempt to get closer, her body screaming in retaliation.
“Baby… try to stay still… you’ve been in an accident, you need to take things slow…” he reached for her.
“Don’t touch me,” she stuttered, she hadn’t meant to say it so harshly, and especially with the way his face had dropped after she said it. She closed her eyes, refusing to see the hurt she had caused him, her heart twinging in the process. And when she looked at him again, he looked distraught. The hurt that slapped him had prodded at Pippa as she trembled from the pain, shock and the bafflement of this man.
“Pip…” he whispered, and tried to reach for her hand.
He knows my name.
“I said don’t touch me…” Pippa’s tears welled. “I don’t know who you are.”
The man visibly deflated as Pippa’s words twisted and squeezed his heart, her genuine words, and he gulped, his Adam’s apple softly dipping, mortified at the prospect that she truly didn’t know who he was.
“Pip, it’s me… it’s Jay… it’s Jason.” He gestured to himself with his hands, but she shook her head, her lip trembling and a wince as her head ached. The fuzz of the numbness had faded and the impact of the accident had began to swell into a sharp migraine.
She grimaced, her hand pressing against the back of her head as it ached.
“I’ll get the doctor…” the man — Jason, as he called himself— said. Perhaps leaving the room to quickly process the short interaction that had passed.
Pippa frowned as she registered the slight weight on her left ring finger, and looked down to the silver wedding band. She fiddled with it, but when her brows tightened to try and comprehend how ahead had gotten it, her migraine worsened.
She focused on something else, and could see Jason and the doctor through the window of the bay, they spoke in hushed tones, and another individual came to join them. He had dark hair, blue eyes, tall but not as tall as Jason, he rested his hand on Jason’s shoulder as the white streak haired man rubbed at his eyes.
Pippa could tell she meant so much to him, and for a moment she wanted to remember everything about him, everything that she had forgotten. But the migraine had only tired her out. She rested her head against the pillow and pulled the blanket closer to herself, a phantom burn where her ring pulled at her heart more than she would’ve liked.
The latch on the door came loose as the doctor entered, she held a clipboard tight in her hand, her smile was warm but Pippa could tell there was something more behind those eyes.
“Hi there, my name is Doctor Leslie Thompkins,” she began, proceeding to sit down on the chair where Jason had once sat, “How are you feeling?”
Pippa pulled her lower lip into her mouth to gently run her tongue along the lip before pressing them together, “My head hurts…” Pippa’s eyes welled, “I’m sorry, I don’t know who he is.”
“There’s nothing to apologise for, we are here to only help and support you, okay?”
Pippa nodded once, anxiously fiddling with her ring, “I’m sorry, I’m just so confused… I remember waking up this morning and going to Gotham University, I don’t understand how I got here…”
Leslie’s face did not reveal her panic, but instead, she gave a small smile, “Do you know what year it is, Miss?”
Pippa blinked, “It’s November 2021… am I at Gotham City Hospital? Who was that? What happened?” She winced as her head aches more.
Leslie nodded, “Yes, this is Gotham City Hospital. P—Miss, I — try to relax, I’m going to dose you with some antibiotics to help ease the pain and then I can explain everything.”
Leslie was quick to offer the antibiotics and after a few moments the dull ache had eased more, her eyes were less watery and the panic had ebbed into an apprehensive concern.
Pippa’s eyes were wide as Leslie spoke, “There was a collision two days ago, your car was hit and you were admitted to hospital.”
“Wha- what?” Pippa shook her head, “No…no, I don’t have my license… that’s not possible.”
“Pippa, I find this hard to say, but I need you to know the truth.” Leslie sighs, before taking Pippa’s hand softly, offering it as a comfort, “Sweetheart, during the collision you took a blunt force to your head causing you to have severe post traumatic amnesia—”
“Amnesia…?” Pippa repeated, “No that’s not possible…”
“Pippa… it’s December 4th 2025.”
— batfamilyfanatic
This is just an idea that I’m thinking of delving into more hopefully into a bigger fic. It will be more batfamily centric and Jason Todd centric, but I had this scene in mind and had to write it.
It is inspired by a few Jason Todd fics, specifically; For One So Small by Stratagem or all of the Mo and Jason fics by Stratagem.
I hope you like Pippa and want to stick around for how the story will progress <33
All posts will be on here until further notice — I am planning on posting the full thing on ao3 when it’s fully completed
Coming off the Time War, the Ninth Doctor is commonly understood as being a traumatised doctor, and this is a correct viewing. This is worth looking over in more detail and understanding on a deeper level.
Nine shows hypervigilance (Prose: The Clockwise Man, Prose: The Stealers of Dreams, Prose: Only Human, Audio: Sphere of Freedom {Ravagers}, TV: The End of The World, TV: Aliens of London/ World War Three, TV: Father's Day, TV: The Long Game, & TV: Bad Wolf/The Parting of Ways)
In Audio: Monsters in Metropolis {Lost Warriors}, we see him triggered from one mindset of ease to that of a soldier when faced with a reminder of past trauma with Cybermen.
General anxiety can also present in Nine (Prose: The Monsters Inside, Prose: The Masks of Makassar, Prose: The Deviant Strain, Audio: Sphere of Freedom {Ravagers}, Audio: Auld Lang Syne {Back to Earth}, Comic: Prisoners of Time, Audio: Face of The Apocalypse {Star-Crossed}, TV: The End of The World, TV: Dalek, TV: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, TV: Boom Town, & TV: The Parting of Ways). Nine describes himself as having a “constant buzzing of worry” inside him (Prose: Only Human).
Anxiety creeps audibly into his voice when he talks to Nestene, especially once the Time War is invoked.
“The Doctor: That was just insurance. I wasn't going to use it. I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not. What do you mean?”
(TV: Rose)
A symptom Nine deals with a lot is excess energy carried in the body due to internalised trauma coming out as agitation. (Prose: The Monsters Inside, Prose: The Masks of Makassar, Prose: The Deviant Strain, Prose: Only Human, Prose: The Stealers of Dreams, Audio: Sphere of Freedom {Ravagers}, Audio: food fights {Ravagers}, Audio: Face of The Apocalypse {Star-Crossed}, Audio: Archipelago {Star-Crossed}, Comic: Weapons of Past Destruction, Comic: The Transformed, Comic: The Lost Dimension, TV: Rose, TV: The End of The World, TV: The Unquiet Dead, TV: Father's Day, TV: The Long Game, TV: Bad Wolf/The Parting of Ways)
This can often come out as a low frustration tolerance. In Audio: Fond Farewell {Old Friends}, the people he’s with take note that The Doctor is grumpy.
Nine's low frustration tolerance is visible in his interactions with Jack during TV: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. The Doctor finds him frustrating due to his usage of weapons and his partial responsibility for the Chula. In the same episode, references to this agitation and dysregulation show up at other times.
“The Doctor: Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?
Rose: When he's stressed, he likes to insult species.
The Doctor: Rose, I'm thinking.
Rose: He cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than.”
(TV: The Doctor Dances)
Agitation can sometimes rise to the point of true anger. (Prose: Winner Takes All, Audio: Salvation Nine {Into The Stars}, Comic: Prisoners of Time, Comic: The Lost Dimension, TV: The End of The World, & TV: Bad Wolf/The Parting of Ways) Nine experiences an anger breakdown because he is reminded of his people being in charge of taking care of time travel and time manipulation. (Comic: Weapons of Past Destruction) We see intense anger at another point when dealing with a person named Glom, who hurts people across time and space. Nine has met them more than once and knows they operate dangerously. (Comic: The Transformed) More anger can be seen when faced with having only bad choices; he lashes out at the people around them. (Comic: Slaver's Song)
We see another anger outburst after Rose saves her dad:
“The Doctor: When we met, I said travel with me in space. You said no. Then I said time machine.
Rose: It wasn't some big plan. I just saw it happening, and I thought, I can stop it.
The Doctor: I did it again. I picked another stupid ape. I should've known. It's not about showing you the universe. It never is. It's about the universe doing something for you.
Rose: So it's okay when you go to other times, and you save people's lives, but not when it's me saving my dad.
The Doctor: I know what I'm doing, you don't. Two sets of us being there made that a vulnerable point.
Rose: But he's alive!
The Doctor: My entire planet died. My whole family. Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save them?”
(TV: Father’s Day)
We see here that he feels used, like Rose only came with him because she wanted something. This is coupled with reminders of his own loss. Later on, just hearing that she’s sorry for making him feel manipulated, not listening and causing harm is enough for him to forgive her, showing that his anger towards Rose is more reactive and easier to let go of than his anger in other situations. True rage within him can be seen in TV: Dalek when he comes face to face with his worst enemy for the first time after he thought he had killed them.
“Dalek: I demand orders!
The Doctor: They're never going to come! Your race is dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race wiped out in one second.
Dalek: You lie!
The Doctor: I watched it happen. I made it happen.
Dalek: You destroyed us?
The Doctor: I had no choice.
Dalek: And what of the Time Lords?
The Doctor: Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost.
Dalek: And the coward survived.
The Doctor: Oh, and I caught your little signal. Help me. Poor little thing. But there's no one else coming 'cause there's no one else left.
Dalek: I am alone in the universe.
The Doctor: Yep.
Dalek: So are you. We are the same.
The Doctor: We're not the same! I'm not (pause) No, wait. Maybe we are. You're right. Yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cause I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve. Exterminate.”
&
“The Doctor: All right, then. If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself.
Dalek: The Daleks must survive!
The Doctor: The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct. Rid the Universe of your filth. Why don't you just die?
Dalek: You would make a good Dalek.”
Anger here comes from his deep trauma, we see him own his action of genocide of the Daleks because he feels justified in his rage at the damage they have caused to the universe. The Dalek calling him a 'good Dalek', this motif repeats in more than one Dalek story. It notes how much he hates Daleks and the pain they've put The Doctor through.
Similar energy that makes him hypervigilant, anxious and fuels his agitation and anger can lead to impulsivity. ( Prose: The Clockwise Man, Audio: Fright Motif {Respond to all Calls}, Audio: planet of the end {Respond to all Calls}, Audio: Station to Station {Back to Earth}, Audio: The Forth Generation {Old Friends}, Audio: Break The Ice {Into The Stars], Comic: Weapons of Past Destruction, Comic: The Transformed, Comic: Supremacy of the Cybermen, Comic: The Lost Dimension, TV: The End of The World, TV: The Unquiet Dead, TV: World War Three, & TV: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances)
After their many years spent running, The Doctor has a need to engage with heightened action scenarios that match their up-regulated nervous system. Staying in a dangerous situation is how their body is used to living, so staying there is much easier for them. It also relates to their identity construction. (Audio: Girl, Deconstructed {Respond to all Calls}, Audio: planet of the end {Respond to all Calls}, Audio: The Curse of Lady Macbeth {Lost Warriors}, Audio: Fond Farewell {Old Friends}, Audio: Station to Station {Back to Earth}, Audio: False Dimitri {Back to Earth}, Audio: Swipe Right {Star-Crossed}, Audio: Face of The Apocalypse {Star-Crossed}, Comic: The Forgotten, TV: The Long Game, TV: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, & TV: Boom Town)
In the Audios, the earliest thing we see Nine do is get involved with Ravagers' attacks on the universe, a deeply dangerous situation (Audio: Sphere of Freedom { The Ravagers})
The first action he takes in the main show is to blow up a building, returning to violence even after the Time War (TV: Rose). In the next story, when hearing something wrong with the platform and noticing things off, he goes off to poke around in the bowels of the station and goes through the dangerous blades of the cooling system in order to save the people on the station. (TV: The End of The World). We see him get excited when there is screaming. (TV: The Unquiet Dead) He has to go see what is going on with the ship crash in London. (TV: Aliens of London)
The Doctor’s identity is constructed around being a hero on a subconscious level. He needs to be ‘The Doctor’ again, which means being the hero and protecting other people. (Prose: The Monsters Inside, Prose: The Deviant Strain, Audio: Cataclysm {Ravagers}, Audio: Food Fight {Ravagers}, Audio: Fright Motif {Respond to all Calls}, Audio: Planet of The End {Respond to all Calls}, Audio: The Hunting Season {Lost Warriors}, Audio: The Curse of Lady Macbeth {Lost Warriors}, Audio: Monsters in Metropolis {Lost Warriors}, Audio: Swipe Right {Star-Crossed}, Audio: Salvation Nine {Into The Stars}, Comic: The Bidding War, TV: The End of The World, TV: Aliens of London/World War Three, TV: The Long Game) In TV: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances he feels the need to follow a distress signal and follow the mystery all the way through and protect earth and save everyone.
The Doctor has to stop the Nestene Consciousness to protect the Earth and make up for what happened in the Time War.
“The Doctor: No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that's my ship. That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!”
(TV: Rose)
When innocents are being attacked by Reapers, he is willing to die to protect them.
"The Doctor: Everyone, behind me! I'm the oldest thing in here.
Rose: Doctor!
(The creature pounces on the Doctor, then flies over to the Tardis. They touch, the Tardis and the creature vanish, and the key falls to the floor. Rose runs to pick it up.)”
(TV: Father’s Day)
The Doctor’s identity is also built around war and violence that sculpted him during his time as the Eighth and War Doctors during the Time War and the dissonance between that and who he wants to be. (Audio: The Hunting Season {Lost Warriors}, Audio: The Curse of Lady Macbeth {Lost Warriors}, Audio: Salvation Nine {Into The Stars}, TV: Rose, TV: Dalek, TV: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, & TV: Bad Wolf/The Parting of Ways)
We see a reference to how war changes a person during a conversation The Doctor has while dealing with humans:
“Dieter Jovanovic: The War, The War it took everything
The Doctor: I know the feeling”
-Audio: Monsters in Metropolis {Lost Warriors}
Another notation of violent trauma shaping identity is shared between The Doctor and The Brigadier:
“The Doctor: We're all survivors, Brigadier”
-Audio: The Forth Generation {Old Friends}
The Doctor’s darkness is reflected back at him by The Slitheen Margaret when they have their long conversation as they both buy time for their plans to solve her being stuck on earth:
“The Doctor: You let one of them go, but that's nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim's spared because she smiled, because he's got freckles, because they begged. And that's how you live with yourself. That's how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind's in the right direction, you happen to be kind.
Margaret: Only a killer would know that. Is that right? From what I've seen, your funny little happy go lucky little life leaves devastation in its wake. Always moving on because you dare not look back. Playing with so many peoples lives, you might as well be a god...”
(TV: Boom Town)
The 'Last of the Time Lords' identity construction causes him to feel deep sadness.
“The Doctor: ... My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust before its time.
Rose: What happened?
The Doctor: There was a war and we lost.
Rose: A war with who? What about your people?
The Doctor: I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own 'cos there's no one else.”
(TV: The End of The World)
The Doctor shows avoidance at reminders of his trauma, like when Time Lords are directly mentioned in Prose: The Masks of Makassar, where he shuts down. And when seeing The Brigadier, his close friend, he doesn’t share what he has been through, even when he is trying to bid for connection (Audio: Way of the Burryman { Old Friends} & Audio: The Forth Generation {Old Friends}). He originally tries to hold Rose at bay to avoid having to make connections and deal with opening the wounds of loss and grief after having lost all of his past companions and then all of his people, at this point, viewed as at his hands. (TV: Rose) An example of this is The Doctor rejecting his identity as a Time Lord:
“Rose:...Who are you, then, Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?
The Doctor: I'm just The Doctor.
Rose: From what planet?
The Doctor: Well, it's not as if you'll know where it is!
Rose: Where are you from?
The Doctor: What does it matter?
Rose: Tell me who you are!
The Doctor: This is who I am, right here, right now, all right? All that counts is here and now, and this is me.”
(TV: The End of The World)
One of Nine’s strongest trauma responses is his difficulties relating to other people. (Prose: The Clockwise Man, Prose: Winner Takes All, Prose: The Deviant Strain, Audio: Girl, Deconstructed {Respond to all Calls}, Audio: Way of The Burryman {Old Friends}, Audio: Face of The Apocalypse {Star-Crossed}, TV: Rose, TV: World War Three, & TV: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances).
In TV: Aliens of London, he struggles to be with the people in Rose's estate and has to leave, claiming:
“Rose: And where do you think you're going?
The Doctor: Nowhere. It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top-up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all.”
Rose can see the anxiety and stress that The Doctor is carrying within him, which comes out in struggles with communicating with other people.
“Rose knew that little sparks of rudeness like that were just a cover for when something had upset or was worrying him."
-Prose: Only Human
The Doctor has some general mistrust issues that are part of this difficulty connecting to other people (Prose: The Deviant Strain, Audio: The Hunting Season {Lost Warriors}, Audio: The Curse of Lady Macbeth {Lost Warriors}, Audio: Swipe Right {Star-Crossed}, Audio: Face of The Apocalypse {Star-Crossed}, Comic: Prisoners of Time, & TV: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances) Others can even feel like they can't get him to trust and listen to them (Prose: The Masks of Makassar) We can see some of this with how he feels about Adam as well, though of course this was founded (TV: Dalek & TV: The Long Game)
River Song’s and The Doctor’s relationship is an interesting thing to examine when looking at his ability to socialise [they have a collection of Audios]. He is very rude to River because she is disrupting the usual patterns he follows when dealing with the problems he solves. (Audio: Swipe Right {Star-Crossed}) When they see each other again at another point, they become even closer. Even reflecting on how close they are, even more than in other regenerations. The Doctor has to forget this deep connection with a friend [Their relationship is coded more platonic than romantic in these audios] to save his life, but this deep swing from holding her at arm's length to deep connection shows how his attachment is unstable. (Audio: Archipelago {Star Crossed})
We see the opposite of the mistrust swings as in situations like the Forest of Chem in TV: The End of The World. The Doctor becomes deeply attached to a new friend and won’t leave her for months and protects her in a very hyper-attached way that predicts how he
will become attached to Rose. (Audio: Auld Lang Syne {Back to Earth})
Jack Harkness is a character whom he finds distrustful and doesn’t like right away. Nine is abrasive towards him because Jack is responsible for bringing the Chula warship to earth. He also dislikes Jack having a gun, replacing it with a banana. The Doctor and Jack bond after they save the day, and they and Rose are a tight-knit group by the time they get to TV: Boom Town. They have some more light friction during that adventure.
“Jack: According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit. Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty seven fifty six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face to face. That'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two. Rose, you Exit Three. Mickey Smith, you take Exit Four. Have you got that?
The Doctor: Excuse me. Who's in charge?
Jack: Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir.
The Doctor: Right, here's the plan. (pause) Like he said. Nice plan. Anything else?”
(TV: Boom Town)
Here, The Doctor does want to be in charge, but he’s not truly mad at Jack and is willing to complement his plan. They can come up with a plan wordlessly by the time we get to TV: The Parting of Ways. We know during these adventures, Jack has fallen in love with The Doctor, abandoning his Torchwood team to chase The Doctor (TV: End of Days) and directly referencing it to Martha (TV: Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of The Time Lords). Nine doesn’t use this against Jack quite as much as his next self might use similar emotions from Martha, but he does know that Jack will be okay with him sending only Rose away because of his love for The Doctor and Rose.
I love how you characterise the characters and make me think more deeply about the characters I thought I knew. Well done I know how much work you have put into this
ESTRELLA JAMES HAD always wanted to dance among the stars, ever since they were a child, they had always had their head up in the clouds, on dreams that were almost certainly unattainable and laughable to most, but the one thing that Estrella never gave up on was believing in fairytales.
One fairytale that they would always believe in was the madman in the blue box.
It seemed silly and harmless at first – after all, all children believe in fairytales -- and then you grow older and you take on more responsibility. Soon your childish thoughts and the fairytales you grew up with fade into the background and become forgotten amongst the other relics from your childhood that you said you wouldn't forget but somehow didn't have the time to play with anymore because you're an adult now. You have to know where to draw the line between what was fantasy and what was reality.
Only Estrella never stopped believing in fairytales and the impossible.
Now Estrella was a twenty-three-year-old with their head still stuck in the clouds, as their parents like to point out, but she would rather have their head in the clouds than be a boring adult who has mountains of regrets that keep piling up day by day.
But even dreamers must wake up and deal with reality one day, and for Estrella, that day happened to be today. It all started when Estrella turned on their radio, and their usual 90s tunes turned over to a broadcast about Prisoner Zero. No matter what station they tried to tune it to, it was just repeating the same broadcast.
A knock on the door interrupted Estrealla's self-wallowing, and they rushed to open the door, hoping that whatever it was could rescue them from the pits of drowning and the weight of stories that hadn't been spun yet.
They cursed as they nearly tripped on the stairs getting to the door, and laughter outside told her who it was, and they raced down the last couple of stairs, nearly tripping over their feet again because apparently, Estrella can't learn from her previous mistakes.
Finally, they arrived at the door with no further incidents and threw open the door, not surprised to see Amy there but most surprised to see a stranger next to her, one that looked like he'd rather be anywhere else than here and yet there was something about him that was impossible to ignore.
"Whose this Aimes?"
"The Doctor"
That sentence was the reason Estrella's whole life began to shift and change. From that very moment on, the universe would never be the same, because two people who were important to the fabric of the universe had finally met after all this time.
The minutes seemed to fade away as Estrella just seemed to stare at the doctor. It was like something out of a fairytale -- something that wasn't supposed to become real. But here he was, and Estrella couldn't find the words to describe what was going through their head at that moment.
It was all just stars and promises of a better tomorrow
"Right, well, we currently have fifteen minutes to save the world, and so we better get a move on. Chop. Chop!" The Doctor clapped his hands together and started to rush his words together because they didn't have time for this, although Estrella wasn't sure what this was.
Estrella just stared. They could hear the blood pounding in their ears, and they were sure what they were supposed to do because he -- the man in a scraggy shirt and messy hair wasn't supposed to exist. Not really. He was a ghost story, like the one of the woman up the road who haunts the local church and wanders the graveyard looking for children who are out of bed and snatching them, taking them to the dirt and never letting them out.
Or like the crack in Amy's wall that one day, Estrella has spent many nights, curled up on Amy's bed. Spewing theories about what exactly the crack in the wall was about, sometimes they could hear whispers from inside the wall and it only enhanced the theories and made them wilder.
"Err--What?"
"Did you not hear me?" The Doctor narrowed his eyes at Estrella, and Estrella folded their arms over themselves in order to keep some distance between themselves and the fairytale come to life "The world is ending in fifteen minutes if we don't do something about it."
That was like a sucker punch to the gut. What the hell was this man talking about, the end of the world? As far as Estrella knew the world was still spinning and nothing seemed out of place, although they hadn't been outside today, preferring to stay shut off in their own little world with the curtains drawn.
So they didn't quite know why a man made up from literal fairytales had wandered into their living room like he bloody owned the place. It annoyed Estrella to no end, who did he think he was? Barging into the room like he was the most important being in the world when it wasn't even his house.
Amy was standing off to the side, eyes wide and downcast as she refused to look Estrella in the eye, and Estrella let out a frustrated sigh. They were in the middle of the room with something like a fairytale come to life, and their best friend couldn't even look them in the eye.
"Again, what? Who the bloody hell are ya?" They demanded, they weren't very used to this, so they didn't really know how to act, considering this was new to them -- The man practically broke into their home. The only saving grace was the fact that Amy was standing with him
"I'm the Doctor, obviously. Amelia -- the fairytale girl -- told you who I was. Have you not heard who I was? Do you need your ears cleaned? Honestly, the human race always hears what they want and never the truth, but I don't know who you are. Who are you?"
The Doctor was a name they hadn't heard in a while, and their breath escaped in a little gasp. They had just thought that the doctor was some kind of fable that the stars told them when they couldn't sleep. They hadn't heard anything new from the stars in a while and so they were starting to believe the people -- and their parents -- that the stories the stars told them were fabrications and they were just made-up stories and the stars couldn't talk anyway, they were just hot and bright balls of gas in the sky.
But someone was stopping them from letting go of that idea completely.
Now here the Doctor stood, made of flesh and blood, in their living room. A steely resolve in his eyes struck something in Estrella above everything else in his appearance. What could possibly make a fairytale come to life look so hard, and so ancient?
"I'm I-I'm Estrella James"
"Nice to meet you, Estrella, I'm the Doctor, as you know. Quick question: Have you noticed anything strange around here today? Perhaps coma patients walking around?" He gripped their shoulders, studying their face and features.
"There was a broadcast about Prisoner Zero on my radio this morning, does that count as strange?" Estrella said, confusion wrapping over every syllable that passed through their lips. Estrella didn't know what was going on, and it all seemed connected to the man who stepped out of a fairytale.
"Yes, very good" The Doctor smiled reassuringly, and it made Estrella feel a little bit better as the doctor looked at his wrist. From what Estrella could see there was no watch on his wrist "We're running out of time though. Is your friend still outside?"
"Rory?"
"Yep"
"Okay, let's go"
* * * * *
Estrella just barely remembered to lock the door behind them as they ran out of the house. They supposed if the world was going to end in fifteen minutes then it didn't matter, but they would rather be safe than sorry, something in their very soul told them they were in good hands with the doctor and that they could trust him -- having only met the man, Estrella supposed that didn't make much sense at all but then again she was working on fairytale logic.
Fitting four adults in Rory's small Mini Cooper was not a task Estrella wanted to repeat any time soon but eventually, they arrived at the good looking ones house ( The Doctor's words, not Estrella's), The Doctor gave Amy and Rory the task of getting everyone out and Estrella was left with the doctor. The mad doctor, who, despite Estrella not knowing what the hell he was talking about, continued to talk to them as if they knew every word of the conversation.
They finished up with Jeff rather quickly, and Estrella couldn't really keep up with what happened and they were just trying to get the thrill that ran through their veins. This was so exciting.
Eventually, the two of them ran into a fireman who was just a tad confused when the doctor decided to borrow the firetruck, and Estrella couldn't quite believe they were trying to save the world in a firetruck.
Today was more than a bit strange, but thrilling all the same
When Amy called them again, a hollow pit of dread opened up in their stomach as they found out that she and Rory were both trapped in a room with patient zero about to break in, a zing of worry went down their spine but it was quickly cleared away when the doctor looked at them and called over the phone "Duck!"
Before Estrella knew what was happening, they could hear glass breaking around them, and they winced. The sound rang in their ears and sounded much bigger than it was. As soon as he parked the truck, he grabbed hold of Estrella's hand without a second thought and pulled them with him.
Both of them clambered up the ladder of the truck, Estrella gripping the doctor's hand like it was the only thing that would stop her from floating away -- which it quite possibly was with how light Estrella was feeling
They jumped through the window, the doctor landing a little bit more gracefully than Estrella, who once again managed to trip over the back of the doctor's shoe, sending them to the floor to have a personal meeting with it, and Estrella laughed at the irony of it. If the world were ending and they would die on the floor, surrounded by their friends and a fairytale come to life, they supposed that would only be fitting
"Right! Hello, am I late?" The doctor said to Rory and Amy before pulling Estrella up and pushing them gently into their two friends. Rory rubs their shoulders as the doctor gives the clock above the wall a fleeting glance "No, still three minutes to go, I have time."
"Time for what, Time Lord?" Prisoner Zero replied
Estrella's heart stopped and sank into the pit of their stomach. Did the alien from out of space just refer to the man from out of a fairytale as a Time Lord? The person's eyes widened. They remembered the stars telling them of a man who was the last of his kind. It was one of her favourite stories that the stars told her as a child. The man is out of place, doing his best to save humanity.
"Take the disguise off, they'll find you in a heartbeat, nobody dies."
"The atraxi will kill me this time, if I am to die, let there be fire"
"Okay, you came to this world through a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave" The Doctor was almost pleading with the escaped convict, even when the end of the world was on the line, he was still trying to save everyone
"I did not open the crack"
"Somebody did"
"The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they came from? You don't do you?" Prisoner Zero decided it was best to taunt the Doctor, "The doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know! Doesn't know"
"The universe is cracked, pandorica is open. Silence will fall"
"And we're off!" The Doctor cried in triumph, "Look at that! Look at that, yeah, I know it's just a clock or whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team is working. Jeff and the world, and do you want to know what they're doing? They're spreading the word, all over the world, quickly. The word is out, and do you know what that word is? The word is zero"
The Doctor continued telling Prisoner Zero his genius plan without ever taking a breath. Estrella was stunned, they had been mesmerised by the Doctor since the first moment he showed up, all swagger and impossible possibilities, there was just something about him that drew Estrella in like a magnet
"Now me if I were monitoring all of Earth's communication, I'd take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet. I'd be able to track a simple old computer virus to its source in what, under a minute? The source is right here"
A bright light flashed through the window, and Estrella instantly threw their hand up over their eyes to shield their face and eyes from the harsh light, but Estrella could still hear the doctor gleefully exclaim: "Oh, and I think they just found us!"
"The axtraxi are limited, while I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me," Prisoner Zero replied as if they had found a fault within the Doctor's plans
"Yeah, but this is the good part. This is my favourite part. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you, every form you've taken right here. Oh, and being uploaded right about now and the final score is -- no TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare -- who da man?"
"Never say that again", Estrella called out
"I'm never saying that again," The Doctor said and pouted like a child, "Fine"
"Then I shall take a new form,"
"Oh, stop it, you know you can't do that. Takes months to form that kind of psychic link"
"And I've had years"
There was a red glow, and then within the next second, Amy had fainted, falling right into Estrella's arms, who struggled to keep Amy in their arms, their knees started to buckle under the weight. The Doctor, realising what had just happened, ran back to Amy and took her gently from Estrella's arm's placing her on the floor and holding her face
"You've got to hold on, Amy, please! Stay awake."
"Doctor!"
Estrella's attention, as well as the Doctor's, was snapped towards where Rory was pointing. A copy of the Doctor stood opposite them, every detail the same and yet foreign. Estrella couldn't tell why, but they knew this wasn't the real one, the real Doctor was next to them, one eye on Amy and another eye on Estrella, although there was something different in his eyes when he looked at Estrella.
"Well, that's rubbish, who is that supposed to be?"
"It's you."
"Is that what I look like?" The Doctor asked, he sounded so confused, like a lost child. Estrella bit their lip to stop them from laughing,
"Have you just regenerated?" Estrella asked in between laughter, and The Doctor looked at them like they had just stumbled onto something forbidden. Something that they weren't supposed to know about and he opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Rory.
"You didn't know?" Rory questioned, confused.
"Busy day," The Doctor dismissed before getting to his feet and leaving Estrella with Rory to get to look after Amy while he goes and faces Prisoner Zero "Why? You're linked to her, why are you copying me?"
"I'm not" A Scottish voice filled Estrella's ears, and it was unmistakably Amy's voice, but it was not coming from Amy's mouth "Poor Amy Pond, still such a child inside, dreaming of the magic Doctor, she knows will come back and save her"
"No, she's dreaming of me cos she can hear me"
"Amy, don't just hear me, I need you to listen." The Doctor told Amy in such a strong voice that Estrella really wanted to believe he was reaching through to Amy "Remember the room, the room in your house that you couldn't see. I tried to stop you, but you went in. You went inside the room. Amy dream of what you saw"
"No, no, no!" Little Amy shouted as she stomped around. Estrella didn't know what was happening, and they didn't care all that much because all that mattered was Amy.
"Well done, Prisoner Zero, a perfect impersonation of yourself."
"Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained."
"Silence will fall, doctor, silence will..."
With that, the creature faded, and relief bloomed in Estrella's chest despite the warning that the creature had left them on upon disappearing. It didn't seem to matter. Estrella glanced over at Amy, who was waking up,
Estrella helped Amy sit up and into Rory's arms. She instantly wrapped an arm around him, and they smiled at the couple. They had seen them grow as people and as a couple because they had grown up alongside them. Through their awkward teenage years when the only thing all three friends wanted to do was grow the hell up and get out of Leadsworth to the young adults, they had grown into who still dream with childlike wonder (maybe not so much Rory anymore) even though society had long since told them to grow up and start living in the real world.
But at that moment, Estrella was extremely grateful that they didn't leave Leadworth because they might have missed out on one of the craziest but most exciting things to ever happen to them. They never expected this, although somewhere in the depths of their mind, they had always dreamed of something like this happening.
The Doctor had once again saved the day, and although it wasn't the first time they would save the day -- or multiple worlds -- the giddiness they got in their chest when they thought of the Doctor and what they had done today. They had felt something they had never felt before. It was strange and foreign but not unwelcome, and from that day on, without even having to ask, they had earned their place.
But that all came crashing down when Rory just had to ask the Doctor. Estrella snapped out of their daydream faster than they would like to come face to face with the Doctor once again, fiddling with Rory's phone "What are you doing?"
"Tracking the signal back," The Doctor replied, in the tone that everyone should know what he was doing at all times. Estrella realised with a start that it was probably because he expected everyone to know what was happening at all times. It was because he had lived a long time -- if what the stories that the stars told her as a child were to be believed, and so he had seen it all and expected the human race to know just as much.
"What?"
"Sorry in advance," The Doctor added flippantly.
"For what?"
"The bill," He replied, not even caring when Rory pulled a face. Estrella didn't even think he noticed "Oi, I didn't say you could leave. Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamations. This is a fully established level-five planet, and you were going to burn it...What? You lot here, now!"
Their heart echoed in their ears, and they quickly walked over to the Doctor. Their hand caught the Doctor's wrist before he walked out of the room. The Doctor seemed to stop and look over at them, seeing the worry in their eyes "Doctor, are you sure about this?"
"Everything will be fine. You'll see" The Doctor said reassuringly before he started walking away, pulling Estrella's hand along with him. For some reason, Estrella felt safe holding The Doctor's hand, it brought peace to them.
Like everything in the world was in its right place.
"Did he bring them back? Did he save the world from aliens and then bring them?" Rory stammered, clearly not as excited about this whole thing as his two friends. Estrella almost felt bad for him, but then again, this was the most important and exciting thing to ever happen to Estrella, and so they didn't feel too bad.
Estrella and Amy scramble after The Doctor who throws open the door quite dramatically, if you asked Estrella. The two friends share a look, Estrella looking over their shoulder before Amy exclaimed "Where are you going?"
"The roof," The Doctor exclaimed before making a sharp right and dragging Estrella along with him, who almost tripped and fell over. But the Doctor's hand stopped them from landing completely on their ass as he pushed himself into what looked like a changing room "Hang on...No."
"What's in here?" Amy asked as the Doctor dropped Estrella's hand, and much to their surprise, they felt a flare of disappointment in their chest, but they did not comment on it as they leaned against the locker. Seriously, saving the world was a tiring job.
"I'm saving the world -- I need a decent shirt. To hell with raggedy time to put on a show," The Doctor said as he twirled around and picked up a random selection of items and put them against himself,
Estrella watched him and muttered to themselves, "Not going to lie. I found the raggedy aesthetic kind of attractive"
"You just brought back the aliens. Actual aliens. Deadly aliens. Aliens of death and now you're taking off your clothes off...Amy, he's taking his clothes off" It seemed Rory hadn't let go of the fact that the Doctor had brought back the aliens, even though in Estrella's opinion everyone else had kind of moved on from that already
"Turn your back if it embarrasses you," The Doctor snapped back
"Are you stealing clothes now?" Rory asked, almost horrified, "Those clothes belong to people you know?"
"Look, he just saved the world. I'm pretty sure some people can spare a few articles of clothes"
Rory huffed and turned around when he realised his girlfriend hadn't turned around. He looked towards her "Aren't you going to turn around?"
"Nope," Amy replied with a smirk
After the Doctor had changed, he grabbed Estrella's hand again and they made. their way out of the changing room and towards the stairwell for the roof. Estrella huffed when they saw how steep the staircase was, knowing that eventually, they were going to trip
"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," The Doctor whispered with a promise that seemed to echo in Estrella's heart. They felt much more confident in themself as they looked down at their interlocked hands, "You're with me now"
Estrella didn't know how, but eventually they managed to make it to the top of the stairs without any accidents happening, and they sighed internally as the Doctor pushed open the heavy fire door as if it weighed nothing at all
"So this was a good idea, was it?" Amy asked the fairytale man as they made it to the roof of the hospital, "They were leaving"
"Leaving is good. Never coming back is better," The Doctor told Amy before he looked up at the sky and exclaimed, "Come on then, the Doctor will see you now"
What looked like a giant eyeball whizzed down from the spaceship above them -- that was a real spaceship? Estrella could hardly believe their eyes as a blue light came out of the eye and scanned the doctor before it replied, "You are not of this world"
"No, but I've put a lot of work into it," The Doctor said, and once again Estrella was brought back to their childhood and the numerous tales of the man lost in time who was ever the champion of earth. He fiddled with the ties that were still around his neck and asked the eye, "Hmm I don't know what do you think? How about you Relia?"
"I like that one", Estrella noted and watched as the Doctor tied it around his neck.
"Is this world important?" The eye asked the Doctor, cutting off the conversation
"Important? What do you mean by important? Six billion people live here — is that important? Here's a better question: Is this world a threat to the atraxi? Well, come on, you're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"
"No"
"Are these people guilty of any crime by the laws of the atraxi?" The Doctor pressed
"No," The giant eye answered once again
"Okay one more question: is this world protected?" The Doctor asked as the holographic screen that the eye had pulled up, flashed through the many lives and adventures of the Doctor "Because you are not the first lot to come here. Oh, there have been so many! And what you've got to ask is: what happened to them?"
"Hello...I'm The Doctor" The Doctor introduced, stepping through the screen "Basically run"
The Atraxi seemed to listen to the Doctor, and soon there was no spaceship hovering over the skies, and it seemed like nothing had gone amiss in the first place, but the three friends who stumbled across the adventure had about a million questions to ask The Doctor.
"Is that them gone for good? Who were they?"
But nobody was there to answer, and despite not being surprised, Estrella couldn't help but feel disappointed. The hand that the Doctor was holding now felt cold, but there was still hope in their heart, and now that Estrella had seen the Doctor, that hope began to grow. They knew they would see the Doctor again.
They didn't know it yet, but Estrella and The Doctor were written in the stars.
THE UNIVERSE WAS complex. It was forever changing and multiplying, with new things discovered almost daily. The universe was the only thing older than the stars themselves, and the stars were very old themselves, being one of the first beings to come from the inky black void of nothing.
Everything was changing, and nothing stayed the same forever. Things changed form or shape when it was no longer useful, thats mostly how evolution worked. Over thousands and thousands of years, a process happens in which different kinds of living organisms are believed to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the Earth.
The stars sat high up in the sky, burning up in the atmosphere and watching as the world changed and expanded. They were there for it all, the one constant in a sea of continual change in the endless and infinite universe, they had seen it all; everything that had happened and everything that will happen.
They were the constants in an endless universe of change. The thing that stays the same around the universe, they are therefore, perhaps the only thing in the universe that has stayed the same for as long as they have. It was almost inevitable that humanity would come to rely on stars in the way they have throughout the years.
Humans had a fascination with stars and only had a basic understanding of how they worked, often using them as a guide. to navigate their way to new and exciting places, and more importantly, it was used as a way to find their way home.
Look up to the stars and you'll eventually wander back home.
They were watching over us, sitting high in the clouds as they watched not only the human race build empires and then tear them down when they got bored or the monarch had been toppled off the throne and the stars had been there when humans made up stories and spun tales made of gold for all those things that they see in quiet corners or the corner of the eyes that they just couldn't explain.
The stars had been there for them all, across every planet and civilisation that formed across the planet, but only a few have ever dared to reach for them. The stars had learnt that that had become a common phrase among the human race. 'Reach for the stars,' they would say as if they knew what it meant to be among them; they did not, and they never would.
Stars and planets formed and vanished every second, and it was only a few very daring, brave individuals who dared to see what was at the ends of the universe and beyond.
One of these individual people was a race known as the Time Lords, they had multiple worlds at their fingertips and only their own creativity to stop them, but then a war broke out and desolated an entire race leaving the sole survivor a scarred and broken man but with a big heart that he wanted to use to help people.
That person was known only as The Doctor, the last of his kind
He stole a TARDIS and, since then, has been flying around the universe, making both friends and enemies in powerful positions -- but The Doctor didn't care as long as he got to help people along the way with things that their heads couldn't quite process, then that was enough for him
The Doctor didn't know this, but he always had someone looking over him, long after he thought he had lost everyone. The stars looked after him, just like they looked after every person and creature on every planet, no matter what dark corner of the universe they had been tucked into.
And as he sailed across the worlds, never stopping for more than a minute to enjoy his victories before moving on to travel to the next. He was lonely, the stars could tell that much, and they felt themselves weep for him at times because they had seen what the fall of Gallifrey had done to him.
The Doctor was carrying guilt that wasn't his to carry. He was a scarred man, broken into a million different pieces and didn't have the tools to place himself back together -- and so the stars decided to gift him someone that would find her way back to him…When the time was right.
See, all creatures -- especially humans -- were fickle and desired a connection with another soul over anything else. Over time, these stories have been spun and respun, but the common term that the stars have come across is Soulmates.
The notion of soulmates was something so simple and yet so tangible. Souls connect and understand each other in a way that no other soul or person could possibly understand. It was a bond that couldn't be broken easily, it was a bond that caused two people to find each other no matter the distance that had come between them.
So the stars set to work, forging the Doctor a perfect soulmate whose soul would be interconnected to the Doctor's. Tested under the heat of flames and the throes of passion, this type of bond could stand the test of time and never yield to outside pressure..
Thus Estrella James was born, put on Planet Earth and awaiting the moment that The Doctor would find them again -- although they didn't know that yet, all they knew is they had their head in the clouds and daydreaming about a million different things at any given time even when society told her to grow up and stop living in their head because that wouldn't get them anywhere.
Estrella didn't listen. They never did.
Instead, they listened to the stars, the same stars that would tell them stories when they couldn't sleep at night or when they were afraid when they were seven because her clumsy butt fell out of a tree when they were seven and broke both of her arms
They would always listen to the stars, and the stars would always listen to them
Estrella James didn't really have many friends, mostly because people couldn't put up with their personality, but that was just fine with Estrella. As dreadful as it sounded, they would rather be alone forever than see the two sides of humanity; they didn't need that kind of drama in their life
A miracle upon miracle, though, Estrella did have two friends. Amelia Pond -- who, as she got older, started adopting the nickname Amy. The two of them got on so well because when society told them they couldn't believe in the impossible, they did, and the last part to their trio was Rory Williams who over time had become a brother to Estrella and something more to Amy.
Estrella has always had their head in the clouds and wanted to dance among the stars, but they never thought they would get the chance: That was until one seemingly normal day, as all things start their life got flipped upside down and Amy and Estrella would meet the man that had Amy believing in the impossible.
Only when the Doctor found them again would their real adventures begin.
THE UNIVERSE WAS complex. It was forever changing and multiplying, with new things discovered almost daily. The universe was the only thing older than the stars themselves, and the stars were very old themselves, being one of the first beings to come from the inky black void of nothing.
Everything was changing, and nothing stayed the same forever. Things changed form or shape when it was no longer useful, thats mostly how evolution worked. Over thousands and thousands of years, a process happens in which different kinds of living organisms are believed to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the Earth.
The stars sat high up in the sky, burning up in the atmosphere and watching as the world changed and expanded. They were there for it all, the one constant in a sea of continual change in the endless and infinite universe, they had seen it all; everything that had happened and everything that will happen.
They were the constants in an endless universe of change. The thing that stays the same around the universe, they are therefore, perhaps the only thing in the universe that has stayed the same for as long as they have. It was almost inevitable that humanity would come to rely on stars in the way they have throughout the years.
Humans had a fascination with stars and only had a basic understanding of how they worked, often using them as a guide. to navigate their way to new and exciting places, and more importantly, it was used as a way to find their way home.
Look up to the stars and you'll eventually wander back home.
They were watching over us, sitting high in the clouds as they watched not only the human race build empires and then tear them down when they got bored or the monarch had been toppled off the throne and the stars had been there when humans made up stories and spun tales made of gold for all those things that they see in quiet corners or the corner of the eyes that they just couldn't explain.
The stars had been there for them all, across every planet and civilisation that formed across the planet, but only a few have ever dared to reach for them. The stars had learnt that that had become a common phrase among the human race. 'Reach for the stars,' they would say as if they knew what it meant to be among them; they did not, and they never would.
Stars and planets formed and vanished every second, and it was only a few very daring, brave individuals who dared to see what was at the ends of the universe and beyond.
One of these individual people was a race known as the Time Lords, they had multiple worlds at their fingertips and only their own creativity to stop them, but then a war broke out and desolated an entire race leaving the sole survivor a scarred and broken man but with a big heart that he wanted to use to help people.
That person was known only as The Doctor, the last of his kind
He stole a TARDIS and, since then, has been flying around the universe, making both friends and enemies in powerful positions -- but The Doctor didn't care as long as he got to help people along the way with things that their heads couldn't quite process, then that was enough for him
The Doctor didn't know this, but he always had someone looking over him, long after he thought he had lost everyone. The stars looked after him, just like they looked after every person and creature on every planet, no matter what dark corner of the universe they had been tucked into.
And as he sailed across the worlds, never stopping for more than a minute to enjoy his victories before moving on to travel to the next. He was lonely, the stars could tell that much, and they felt themselves weep for him at times because they had seen what the fall of Gallifrey had done to him.
The Doctor was carrying guilt that wasn't his to carry. He was a scarred man, broken into a million different pieces and didn't have the tools to place himself back together -- and so the stars decided to gift him someone that would find her way back to him…When the time was right.
See, all creatures -- especially humans -- were fickle and desired a connection with another soul over anything else. Over time, these stories have been spun and respun, but the common term that the stars have come across is Soulmates.
The notion of soulmates was something so simple and yet so tangible. Souls connect and understand each other in a way that no other soul or person could possibly understand. It was a bond that couldn't be broken easily, it was a bond that caused two people to find each other no matter the distance that had come between them.
So the stars set to work, forging the Doctor a perfect soulmate whose soul would be interconnected to the Doctor's. Tested under the heat of flames and the throes of passion, this type of bond could stand the test of time and never yield to outside pressure..
Thus Estrella James was born, put on Planet Earth and awaiting the moment that The Doctor would find them again -- although they didn't know that yet, all they knew is they had their head in the clouds and daydreaming about a million different things at any given time even when society told her to grow up and stop living in their head because that wouldn't get them anywhere.
Estrella didn't listen. They never did.
Instead, they listened to the stars, the same stars that would tell them stories when they couldn't sleep at night or when they were afraid when they were seven because her clumsy butt fell out of a tree when they were seven and broke both of her arms
They would always listen to the stars, and the stars would always listen to them
Estrella James didn't really have many friends, mostly because people couldn't put up with their personality, but that was just fine with Estrella. As dreadful as it sounded, they would rather be alone forever than see the two sides of humanity; they didn't need that kind of drama in their life
A miracle upon miracle, though, Estrella did have two friends. Amelia Pond -- who, as she got older, started adopting the nickname Amy. The two of them got on so well because when society told them they couldn't believe in the impossible, they did, and the last part to their trio was Rory Williams who over time had become a brother to Estrella and something more to Amy.
Estrella has always had their head in the clouds and wanted to dance among the stars, but they never thought they would get the chance: That was until one seemingly normal day, as all things start their life got flipped upside down and Amy and Estrella would meet the man that had Amy believing in the impossible.
Only when the Doctor found them again would their real adventures begin.
THE UNIVERSE WAS complex. It was forever changing and multiplying, with new things discovered almost daily. The universe was the only thing older than the stars themselves, and the stars were very old themselves, being one of the first beings to come from the inky black void of nothing.
Everything was changing, and nothing stayed the same forever. Things changed form or shape when it was no longer useful, thats mostly how evolution worked. Over thousands and thousands of years, a process happens in which different kinds of living organisms are believed to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the Earth.
The stars sat high up in the sky, burning up in the atmosphere and watching as the world changed and expanded. They were there for it all, the one constant in a sea of continual change in the endless and infinite universe, they had seen it all; everything that had happened and everything that will happen.
They were the constants in an endless universe of change. The thing that stays the same around the universe, they are therefore, perhaps the only thing in the universe that has stayed the same for as long as they have. It was almost inevitable that humanity would come to rely on stars in the way they have throughout the years.
Humans had a fascination with stars and only had a basic understanding of how they worked, often using them as a guide. to navigate their way to new and exciting places, and more importantly, it was used as a way to find their way home.
Look up to the stars and you'll eventually wander back home.
They were watching over us, sitting high in the clouds as they watched not only the human race build empires and then tear them down when they got bored or the monarch had been toppled off the throne and the stars had been there when humans made up stories and spun tales made of gold for all those things that they see in quiet corners or the corner of the eyes that they just couldn't explain.
The stars had been there for them all, across every planet and civilisation that formed across the planet, but only a few have ever dared to reach for them. The stars had learnt that that had become a common phrase among the human race. 'Reach for the stars,' they would say as if they knew what it meant to be among them; they did not, and they never would.
Stars and planets formed and vanished every second, and it was only a few very daring, brave individuals who dared to see what was at the ends of the universe and beyond.
One of these individual people was a race known as the Time Lords, they had multiple worlds at their fingertips and only their own creativity to stop them, but then a war broke out and desolated an entire race leaving the sole survivor a scarred and broken man but with a big heart that he wanted to use to help people.
That person was known only as The Doctor, the last of his kind
He stole a TARDIS and, since then, has been flying around the universe, making both friends and enemies in powerful positions -- but The Doctor didn't care as long as he got to help people along the way with things that their heads couldn't quite process, then that was enough for him
The Doctor didn't know this, but he always had someone looking over him, long after he thought he had lost everyone. The stars looked after him, just like they looked after every person and creature on every planet, no matter what dark corner of the universe they had been tucked into.
And as he sailed across the worlds, never stopping for more than a minute to enjoy his victories before moving on to travel to the next. He was lonely, the stars could tell that much, and they felt themselves weep for him at times because they had seen what the fall of Gallifrey had done to him.
The Doctor was carrying guilt that wasn't his to carry. He was a scarred man, broken into a million different pieces and didn't have the tools to place himself back together -- and so the stars decided to gift him someone that would find her way back to him…When the time was right.
See, all creatures -- especially humans -- were fickle and desired a connection with another soul over anything else. Over time, these stories have been spun and respun, but the common term that the stars have come across is Soulmates.
The notion of soulmates was something so simple and yet so tangible. Souls connect and understand each other in a way that no other soul or person could possibly understand. It was a bond that couldn't be broken easily, it was a bond that caused two people to find each other no matter the distance that had come between them.
So the stars set to work, forging the Doctor a perfect soulmate whose soul would be interconnected to the Doctor's. Tested under the heat of flames and the throes of passion, this type of bond could stand the test of time and never yield to outside pressure..
Thus Estrella James was born, put on Planet Earth and awaiting the moment that The Doctor would find them again -- although they didn't know that yet, all they knew is they had their head in the clouds and daydreaming about a million different things at any given time even when society told her to grow up and stop living in their head because that wouldn't get them anywhere.
Estrella didn't listen. They never did.
Instead, they listened to the stars, the same stars that would tell them stories when they couldn't sleep at night or when they were afraid when they were seven because her clumsy butt fell out of a tree when they were seven and broke both of her arms
They would always listen to the stars, and the stars would always listen to them
Estrella James didn't really have many friends, mostly because people couldn't put up with their personality, but that was just fine with Estrella. As dreadful as it sounded, they would rather be alone forever than see the two sides of humanity; they didn't need that kind of drama in their life
A miracle upon miracle, though, Estrella did have two friends. Amelia Pond -- who, as she got older, started adopting the nickname Amy. The two of them got on so well because when society told them they couldn't believe in the impossible, they did, and the last part to their trio was Rory Williams who over time had become a brother to Estrella and something more to Amy.
Estrella has always had their head in the clouds and wanted to dance among the stars, but they never thought they would get the chance: That was until one seemingly normal day, as all things start their life got flipped upside down and Amy and Estrella would meet the man that had Amy believing in the impossible.
Only when the Doctor found them again would their real adventures begin.
Her extravagant ball gown had turned back into rags and all that Ella was left with as a reminder that this night even happened was a pair of glass slippers in which she used to carry her mice friends in as she walked in the rain back to her father’s Estate
Despite building up the night in her head, Ella found the ball to be underwhelming and somehow...Boring. Sure she got to dance with the prince but that was because of the magic that the fairy godmother put on her
Not because he was actually taken in by her
By twelve o’clock Ella was already ready to leave, she found the ballroom to be too stuffy and full of Princesses and Princes that were too out of touch of reality. Talking too much about the trivial things and things that didn’t seem to interest in at all
The only Princess she seemed to like was one called Kennedy, Kennedy seemed sweet and kind and seemed to know that Ella was not feeling herself and so would occasionally drag Ella into conversation about random things but it wasn't long before Kennedy got pulled away by someone and with an apologetic smile she left promising to be back
Although that never happened and Ella couldn't help but feel the disappointment flash through her heart.
The rest of the ball continued with a dull sheen. For so long Ella had built up what the ball would be like in her head,
So when the bells rang out, Ella was eager to leave and practically fled the room, her heart soaring with the first adrenaline rush she had felt all night as she dashed down the stairs in a heavy ball gown which wasn't as easy as it looked
But she managed it
She was on edge for a few minutes after she fled the castle gates, hoping from one foot on to the other in order to slip the shoes of her feet. Ella knew she would get blisters and some scratches
And so now Ella was walking in the rain back to the life she had before with nothing but distant memories and a disliking for all the politics that goes into the royal life
As she returned back to her life of drabness. Cooking and cleaning for her step mother and stepsisters all who ignored Ella and when the mood strikes them act as if Ella is some kind of pet they can order around and Ella has to bite her tongue because if she was to say anything, it could lead her to get in trouble and she had nowhere to run to in order to escape from it all
Nowhere to call home. Not anymore
And so with that thought, she set about coming up with a plan
* * *
IT WAS SURPRISINGLY EASY TO GET A JOB IN THE CASTLE.
See in all her years under the care of her wretched stepmother and equally as nasty stepsisters, Ella had become quite the seamstress and had learn -- all on her own by trial and error how to run up a dress and as the years passed by in a haze of tears and hollowness Ella had managed to run up dresses in half the time it would usually take and with scraps from materials she had left over
Ella didn’t have a lot but what she did have, she made good use of it
So when she got the job in the castle as the Princesses very own seamstress Ella was ready to get the hell out of the house, she had felt prisoner and trapped in since her father died
What once was Ella’s safe haven had tuned to dust in front of her very eyes and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Feeling helpless and very much a small child at the time, Ella trusted her stepmother to do what was best for her but that never happened
Instead she had to learn that she was the only person that she could rely on. Fairy godmothers and glittery ball gowns weren’t going to change her fate, no Ella had to stop wishing for something to come along and pull herr out of the dismal situation she found herself in and she had to work for that herself
And it was starting to come true, all it took was a midnight revelation
Working in the caste was the most free Ella had felt in a long time, despite how demanding her work load could be. She enjoyed the views from the room she worked in and best of all there was no annoying stepfamily pulling her in a hundred different directions, asking her to do a thousand impossible things before breakfast
It was peaceful and when she had done all her work for the day, Ella liked to stroll the corridors of the castle, in no rush to go back to her cramped attic space with a family that considered her less than human
If Ella had enough money she would have moved out already but with all the money she was making from the dresses that she was running up. She hoped it wouldn’t be too long before she had the money for she could hardly wait
On these strolls it it was unlikely that Ella would ever bump into someone as everyone in the castle was mostly stuck in their own worlds and no one passed a glance at the young blonde girl but today was different, it seemed through no fault of Ella
Perhaps Ella was wrong and fate would be useful this once, after all, she had done all the hard work and got out of the thumb of her stepfamily without the help of any magic or glass slippers this time!
It all happened so fast, there was a flash of brown hair a step taken too quickly and then wrongly as the person tried to spin on their feet perhaps a little too fast and soon Ella was steadying the girl with arms encircled around the girl waist “Woah...Are you okay? What happened?”
The girl flushed red “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to nearly fall and that was very unladylike of me...It’s just that you remind me of someone”
“Well I don’t get that a lot” Ella admitted in a rush. She wasn’t used to talking to people and this was definitely causing panic to rise in her chest like a flood “But I’m curious, who do I remind you of?”
“Err I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but what the hell from the looks of how you reacted when you caught me...You don’t even know how I am. So I suppose it’s safe to tell you” The girl said, her voice an octave higher with amusement “If you must know, you remind me of a girl I met a few months ago at a ball. She was so sweet and kind and probably the only person I could be myself around but I was pulled away on business I told her I’d be back and when I returned she was gone and I could not find her”
“You’re the Lady Kennedy?”
“What gave it away?”
“I’m sorry...Your Lady, I should have noticed sooner”
“It’s quite alright” The brunette chuckled, placing a hand over the heart “I quite like it when I’m not recognised. It means I’m less likely to get in trouble that way, by the way, you wouldn’t mind forgetting you saw me right?”
Ella was shocked by this strange request. This woman wanted Ella to forget how? How was she supposed to forget? This woman was beautiful, with long flowing dark locks that falls around her shoulders and equally, as striking blue eyes that seem to captivate Ella“
Why would I forget you?” Ella’s mouth moved faster than her brain and she only realised it when Kennedy’s musical chuckle met her ears
“Well you seemed to do a good job at it at the ball”
“That was you?”“
Yes,” Kennedy smiled, “That surprise you?”
* * *
KENNEDY AND ELLA KEPT RUNNING INTO EACH OTHER. Ella was surprised because she never saw Kennedy before they happened to run into each other in the grand hallway, and now they seemed to run into each other every other day And so they started to hang out and get to know each other more.
Spending Ella’s breaks roaming the lavish gardens, Ella was taken aback by the breath of the castle, and she found somewhat of a friendship with Kennedy “Hey Ken, what are we doing today?”“
Hmm the same thing we do every day”
“Sounds good”
Ella’s giggle gets caught in the wind as she slipped her hand into Kennedy’s and they ran into the maze of gardens. Kennedy’s friendship has been a lifesaver during her time in the castle
As for Kennedy, Ella’s friendship was something of a breath of fresh air because Ella didn’t know or didn’t care where she was and that was nice for the Princess who hadn’t really had a proper friend in years due to her sheltered life and duties of royal life so to have Ella there was so super helpful
Feelings began to immerge for both of them, but they didn’t act on them not wanting to ruin something good. For they had finally found somewhere where they belonged and didn’t want to ruin it. It was during a hot afternoon when they finally confronted their feelings, Kennedy had Ella lying stretched across her lap, combing her hair through with her boney fingers and quietly humming to herself,
Ella let herself get lost in the world of the book and the feel of Kennedy’s hand stroking her hair. It was only when Kennedy broke the silence that Ella returned to the real world
"I like you" Kennedy whispered gently, her voice so soft that it almost got carried away in the wind
"I like you too of course you know I do" Ella's heart was beating so loud, she could hear the blood pumping in her ears
"No" Kennedy shook her head, whips of dark brown hair getting caught up in her lips and Ella resists the urge to brush the off "I like you more than that and I think you know that too"
"Of course I do, but I'm scared"
"Well we can be scared together"
They weren't sure how it happened but suddenly they were kissing, lips moving over lips so slowly, it was like it wasn't even happening but it was and it was glorious. Ella's heart fluttered in her chest because she had never felt so wanted and so loved, it was everything she wanted and everything she was scared to lose
It wasn't glittery gowns and fairy godmothers that got Ella out of her situation after all, it was her all along. She was the one that had that midnight revelation that proved to her that Ella herself could be the one to get themselves out and change their fate
And now they had everything they could ever want
But this was the beginning of their happily ever after...
THE GODS SAT ON THEIR MARBLE THRONES WITH HEAVY CROWNS SAT ATOP OF THEIR HEADS WHICH WERE NOTHING MORE OF A REMINDER OF THE FACT THAT THEY ONCE RULED A WORLD THAT HAD NOW REDUCED THEM TO NOTHING BUT MYTH AND LEGEND AND THE ICHOR THAT RAN THROUGH THEIR BLOODSTREAM, STICKY AND GOLDEN AND BRIMMING WITH THE POWER THAT ONLY THEY COULD POSSESS
All of these were what made them Gods, the legends that couldn't be touched by any mortal hands. They were the beings that toppled the Titans, they deserved respect and so they commanded it with an iron fist, but the fear of losing control slowly seeped into the cracks of the amour they had fashioned to keep themselves tall and proud as every God should be and they had long ago left behind the tools that they could have used to repair it, forgotten on a random shelf sometime around Sparta
As empires flourished and sometimes later were knocked down to make space for the new things that humans built. The gods watched from a distance, never getting too involved unless it was for their own benefit. They watched with little interest as the human beings that they once had so much control over gained knowledge and skills and soon they forgot about the deities that they used to pray for so much whenever they needed something. Year by year the world moved on and the Gods remained steadfast. Cold and distant as they watched from their marble thrones, reminding themselves that they were still important because they had ichor running through their veins
The thing about ichor was: while it was indeed powerful, it didn't dry up and form clots when the Gods found themselves injured and so with that, dirt and bacteria were able to get into the skin through the cracks of the armour they hadn't repaired and tear open the wounds forged by family feuds and petty arguments while humans were able to adapt and survive and find some way to survive after their wounds, it took the Gods longer to recover
Even still time marched on, not caring much about the mortals who whispered into the dead of the night and bargained for more time. The Gods remained high on their marble thrones, although most had learnt how to adapt to the more modern style of clothing so that when they did go out to take their fleeting pleasure from mortals they didn't stick out so much
But still, they remained distant and unmoving from the changes of time and oblivious to the effect that it was having on their children. So much so that a rebellion started right under their noses by a boy that just wanted to be recognised by his father and was angry at all the Gods for not doing more when they were such high beings, once worshipped by the many.
Not realising that they had been all but rotting away on Olympus, smog and powder collecting into their lungs and turning them to rust and the poison of so many fights and squabbles turning the gold ichor of their blood into a muggy brown. The humans had little effect on them anymore. They just desperately wanted to cling onto the power they once had, even if that meant through the blood and screams of their children
It wasn't them right, so why care?
Olympus wasn't decorated with pearly white decorations anymore. It ran red with blood
If you asked the Gods what their wake-up call was, they'd say; it didn't really matter, all they knew is they had to do something but that was a lie of course because all Gods lie but you don't mind when your throat is dripping from the nectar and honey and the lies sound so sweet.
Their real awakening came from the new generation of Half-Bloods, who had no business being as brash as they were. It came from Percy Jackson, who at such a young age questioned whether the Gods were doing the right thing and he said it right to their faces as if he didn't know -- or just didn't care -- the amount of power running through their veins
It came from Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and every bit as knowledgable as her mother is, who despite being the daughter of Wisdom, seemed to value loyalty above all else and went back to her friends and Percy Jackson every time without being asked as if an invisible string pulled them together
It came from Grover, who despite being the Satyr that had made mistakes in his past, he refused to give up and atoned for every single one of his slights, and of course, just like Annabeth he was loyal to those that were loyal to him, never turning their back on a single soul in need
It came from every hero in Camp that fought for the Gods' side even though they had no reason to because it was pretty clear that the Gods had turned their backs on them but still they thought with valour and bravery and for the first time the Gods realised the horror of blood when it's warm and wet and sticking to fingers like toffee that's been out in the sun too long
It came from Luke Castellan, the angry boy who had too much to prove and wanted to punish the Gods for their ways of ignorance and avoidance. Who wanted to make the Gods look at what they had done and face themselves in the mirror.
But how could one see themselves in a mirror that hadn't been used in aeons and was chipped and damaged beyond repair? It was just like their armour. It didn't matter because they didn't see themselves before it was too late and as mortals do every January they promised they would do better and be there for their children
But like every promise made on January 1st, the vow that slipped from their lips like honey-coated nector faded away when they climbed into their heads again, once again looking over their kingdom with smug smiles on their faces and the fear that they thought they got rid of, managed to get caught in their clothing as they took their armour off, swearing that they no longer needed such a thing.
The fear found weak spots and areas it could weaken. It infested their poisoned hearts and choked them until they knew they needed to do something but they didn't know what that something would be and suddenly the Gods were the ones praying, praying for the armour that they had so foolishly taken off
And so they shut the doors of Olympus
Maybe if they didn't move anywhere, the Gods wouldn't get hurt and that's what they wanted most to not be hurt. Maybe they were as much like the mortals that they feared but wanted like a childhood toy that you had no use for but couldn't quite get rid of.
Zeus was the most scared of the mortals when he found out he couldn't control them like puppets on a string to do his bidding. He tore the mortals in half so that they would be lonely and miserable and spend years trying to put themselves back together and it was Apollo that took pity on them and sewed them back up so they at least had somewhat of a chance at finding their other half again.
Now they were back to square one, oblivious to the world they left behind as they sit atop of their marble thrones with heavy crowns nestled on the head -- heavier still than they remember with the weight of broken promises and words never said. Blood rains on the streets below and still, the Gods do not twitch, a vow between them sealing their lips shut like stone as they watch on with hollow eyes and ichor coursing through their veins
They were safe. They still stood.
It didn't matter that their hearts were rust and corrosive or the fact they had coals lodged between their ribs and their heart because they didn't understand what it meant to have either thing and it didn't matter that the ichor in their blood, once a brilliant gold was now a murky brown poisoned by the way they turned their backs
Behind the walls of Olympus, they were safe. They still stood.
And they would still stand when the world was nothing more than bone and ash and the mortals had forgotten they were even myths. Let alone real being sat on top of their marble thrones watching through hollow eyes, all they helped create and the things they turned their back on
I thought I’d try something new…while I’m not sure whether I like it. It’s there and I figured I’d share what I got anyway. It’s a quote with a scene in the background from dark hearts, the scene I’m using behind the quote was created by @rominaszh (go check them out they’re really amazing)
WILL TURNER ALWAYS had a touch of destiny about him
He just never thought that his destiny would include him dying and being a ferryman for souls that have yet to pass from one world to the next but here he was.
It was surprisingly easy to do his job most of the time if not just a little bit depressing but when wars took over and man took over wars. Seeing men fall in battle some gone way too soon and his heart feeling heavy because when will these corrupt men ever learn that wars can not solve the problem of power, money or religion
It wasn't for William to judge who had died
He was just a Ferrier
That was his job, that was all his job was
Carrying souls from one world to the other, giving them safe passage and wishing them well on their eternal life before going onto the next and the next. Offering people the chance to stay aboard the Dutchman if they were scared of passing over -- only if they wanted and they were never forced to stay if they no longer needed to
But doing his job was more than a one-man job
He needed help, and he wanted to talk to someone on a regular basis. Someone that wasn’t his father, because although at times he offered great advice he couldn’t understand why Will longed for his wife and child, who while frozen in time as a six-year-old seemed to grow up every time he visited land one day for every ten years
So he turned to Poseidon to answer his prayers
Poseidon was only whispered about in nervous prayers of sailors who didn’t want that day to be their last. Just like Will, he was a person with many names that meant a lot of different things to different people
He offered Will -- and Ursula, his daughter -- the chance to work together and help each other through unseen ways whatever the hell that meant. But Will was just happy for the extra help because while Jaclyn was great at helping at times (a shocker Will knew) there wasn’t much she could do because she wasn’t...well dead
The first time Will met Ursula he had just come back from transporting the souls that had died that day into the other world, the one where somewhere goes when they die and today was a shockingly hard
He remembered thinking that maybe he should call upon Jaclyn, he knew that whatever crazy adventure she was on right now. She would take time out of her day just to listen to Will and hear about his problems, Jaclyn had become his anchor to the mortal world, one that she didn’t expect or know he needed
“Captain Turner, there’s someone wanting to board”
Will turned to face his father at the sound of his voice, and his muscles ache for sleep but it appears the job of the dead isn’t ever done, even though ge was sure he had been done for the day and had already dropped off the last lost soul
“Very well, Mr Turner. Cast them aboard”
“I am not a lost soul William Turner” A voice speaks out, making Will spin around again to find the source of the voice and look down over the side of the ship, to come face to face with a mermaid, whose green tale with specks of gold was floating on the water beside her “But I have come to guide them”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Ursula but over the past few hundred years of my life I have acquired a few names and titles just like yourself”
“Yeah sometimes I don’t know whether it is a blessing or a curse”
“That isn’t for us to decide,” Ursula told him with a flick of her tale before the space between them glowed a brilliant gold and he instantly shut his eyes. When Will could see again he slowly blinked open his eyes, hoping that the white spots in his vision would fade
“I don’t think anything is for me to decide. Fate has long been taken out of my hands” Will shrugged, looking at the raven-haired dark-skinned woman, she was pretty for sure but nobody could hold a candle to Elizabeth’s ethereal beauty, every time he sees her...He swear he can feel the echo of his heart skipping a beat
Ever since he was a child his heart beat for Elizabeth
Now she holds that same heart in her hands, so very willingly
And his duty took him so far away from any of that -- from his family, he doubted he would ever be able to grow old with Elizabeth and watch his son grow up. At least fate had smiled upon him one day, granting Elizabeth, Henry and Jaclyn immortal life so he didn’t have to outlive them and move them onto the next plane of existence
“You will get back to them one day, William Turner. Do not give up hope”
“Sometimes it’s just so fucking hard”
“I know what you mean but it is your duty to do this. You took on this duty and it is your duty to see it through, I will help though to take some of the pressure of it’s what I’m here for”
“That would be nice”
And from there a steady partnership grow between the Mermaid and the person who was half dead and yet still living
SCREAMS RIPPLED AND echoed throughout the lighthouse and Jaclyn held onto Elizabeth’s hand a little tighter as the tired former Governors daughter sagged into Jaclyn and the pirate let her, smoothing her hair back from her forehead
“I can’t do this” Elizabeth panted, tears squeezing out her eyes “This baby is going to break me in half”
“No…No it won’t because you are strong”
Another scream tore from the back of Elizabeth’s throat and Jaclyn winced before propping Elizabeth up and quickly scurrying in behind her. The midwife gave her a weird look but all she did was glare back at her, hoping to God that she didn’t say a word
With her new position, it was easier to support Elizabeth who had instantly thrown her head back onto Jaclyn’s shoulder. Her face was red and blotchy and Jaclyn thought Elizabeth had never looked more tired but my goodness was she as strong as she had ever been despite her young age
“You’re doing so good lass. I’m proud of you”
Elizabeth choked out a half sob and once again Jaclyn winced, not knowing what she had said to upset Elizabeth this time but now was not the time to ask. Leaning back slightly, she was able to grab a damp wash cloth from the bedside table and put it into Elizabeth’s head, hoping to soak up some of the sweat
“One last push Miss” The midwife put in mildly
The midwife hadn’t really spoken since Elizabeth had gone into childbirth. Too scared of Jaclyn – because she was a pirate after all – but since Jaclyn had refused to leave, she didn’t say anything about it and tried her best to ignore Jaclyn but Jaclyn didn’t mind because all that mattered was Elizabeth
Hours of this had led up to this moment and she coaxed and tried to get Elizabeth as comfortable as possible. An exhausted scream tore through her throat as she let out another push
It wasn’t long before they heard a piercing cry of a newborn babe and Elizabeth sighed in relief, sagging against Jaclyn but Jaclyn didn’t care. Exhaustion ran through both of them
The midwife quickly gathered the sickly babe, covered in blood and fluids into her arms and wiped the babe of the blood as much as she could before she placed the babe on Elizabeth’s chest, who instantly scooped the babe into her arms
“It must be the Turner side of the family. He looks identical”
A sad look crossed Elizabeth’s face “Yes. He does”
“I miss him too, you know?”
Calypso had stopped Will from coming back from the land of the dead until he had completed the task of cleaning up after Davy Jones and so he couldn’t come back to see the birth of his son without the threat of being cursed just like usual
“We’ll get him back. He won’t be cursed forever”
“I wish” Elizabeth sighed wistfully
* * *
It was several hours later and the babe was now sleeping on Elizabeth’s chest Elizabeth had slept for a while but was now awake cooing over her son as she gently shook the babe in her arms
“Are you doing okay?” Jaclyn asked as she settled into one of the chairs under the window and settled Elizabeth with a glance who had the sleeping babe over her shoulder after changing him and giving him his first nurse – for the first time she did it, she actually had it quite well. Even though she got a few looks from the midwife for not having a wet nurse but Elizabeth said she wanted to raise this boy by herself and that included nursing him
“I’ll be okay” Elizabeth smiled tightly “I know that the babe sleeping won’t last long”
As she watched Elizabeth care for her son tenderly as she placed him in an old wooden cradle. A soft smile touched her lips and she reached out to her King, her friend, the one who could help quiet her mind and fears, wishing to do the same for her “You’re going to be a great mother”
“How can I be? To the rest of the world, I’m a pariah because my husband is nowhere to be seen and I have a child that nobody knows who his father is – even if I know” Elizabeth scoffed, her tone full of fire and ready to fight everyone that looked down on her
“Which is why I bought us this house so you can do your Kingly duties and look after your son without looks or whispers,” Jaclyn said soothingly as she ran her hands through Elizabeth’s knotted hair, who was currently sitting at Jaclyn’s feet. Her tired head tilted back so she could have a conversation with Jaclyn
“How did France go?”
“I managed to get ahold of some officers”
“That’s good.” Elizabeth nodded, too tired to pick up on how tense Jaclyn had become as she slips back into her role as King of the Court “We’ll have to call a council meeting and plan our next steps”
“I’ll do it ‘Lizabeth, you just sit and rest, okay? Send a letter to Will if you have time. Tell him he looks like him, he’ll like that sort of thing” Jaclyn spoke, her voice dropping into her Spanish accent
“You know I don’t think I would feel as good about this as I do if I didn’t have you by my side”
“Tis the least I can do”
“That’s not true, you’ve done so much more” Elizabeth looked on the verge of tears and looked from Jaclyn to her son who had woken up and started to make fussy noises. “I heard what you said before, you know?”
“Oh…What did I say?”
“That you were proud of me” Elizabeth smiled watery as she shifted her son in her arms, the babe already dropping off to sleep content in the warmth of his mother’s arms“I haven’t really ever had something say they were proud of me…Except for my father…I’ve been through so much that I sometimes forget how young I am and it’s just nice to hear you say oy”
“Well, I am proud of you. Of you and the Welp”
“And we’re proud of you too”
Jaclyn made no comment. She wasn’t sure Elizabeth was being exactly right but she knew better than to argue with a woman who had just given birth so she decided to change the topic, continuing to mess with and braid Elizabeth’s hair
“Have you thought of a name yet?”
“What do you think we should name him?”
Jaclyn blinked, surprised she is asked for her input “Me?”
“No. Barbossa” Elizabeth scoffed and rolled her eyes “Yes you”
“Not Barbossa or Hector,” Jaclyn said through gritted teeth “Anything but them”
“Maybe William. I want a piece of him with me”
“He is with you,” Jaclyn said with a soft smile. She didn’t know how she had grown so attached to Elizabeth and Will, she was supposed to be a tough pirate. She wasn’t supposed to show affection to people and if her dad knew she had helped Elizabeth buy her a lighthouse, she knew Teague would likely shoot her “You have his heart and that babe. You don’t need a name to have a piece of him with you, he’ll always be with you”
“Hmmm you’re right, Will and I have a few names we like”
“What names do you have in your mind?”
“How about Henry? A strong name and then I could have William as his second name”
“That sounds good” Jaclyn agreed with a nod as she looked over at the babe, reaching past Elizabeth and stroking her son’s cheek “Hello Henry. It’s very nice to meet you, I’m going to be your fun Aunt Jack”
THE DAGGER RESTED at the bottom of the nape of her neck, as Jaclyn gazed into the dusty mirror. With the hand that wasn’t holding the dagger, she twisted a piece of hair in her hand and contemplated what to do next
She didn’t like the way she looked
Her face was too sullen, eyes too vacant and empty of life – she supposed it was to be expected. She hadn’t been back to the land of the living for more than six months, so it made sense that she didn’t quite feel alive again yet
The pirate’s eyes trailed down to the gown she was wearing. It was all proper and full and had one too many layers of petticoats and a corset that seemed to squeeze her lungs together. The whole get-up was totally unlike her
But that was the point, wasn’t it?
To be totally unlike herself
Her fingers dig into the handle of the dagger, the spike of pain reminds her she was human, that she was alive. Jaclyn’s other hand was still resting on the locks of hair she was holding. With careless thoughts spinning around her head and recklessness she didn’t know she still possessed, she measured out the locks of hair she still had in her hair and then with that same careless train of thought, she began sawing off the locks of her hair, only half looking in the mirror.
The pieces of dead hair floated to the ground and Jaclyn nearly sobbed in relief as the tightness in her chest dissipated making it easier to breathe and with deft movements, she began hacking off more pieces of her hair, some bits were uneven and didn’t sit right but Jaclyn couldn’t find it within herself to care
With every bit of hair that fell to the ground in a halo around her feet – that seemed ironic that her dead hair was something angelic, something that she could never be. Still, she sent a bitter smile in the mirror at her reflection
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