Sequel: Before You Die ›
Human Timelord
Makes Me Wonder
“Am I truly to believe that this was an accident?”
“Of the worst kind my liege, but an accident still.”
Wow, I had never talked like that before.
“I suppose that she should be buried in some kind of formal ceremony.”
“If you wish. I believe this situation is out of my hands now.”
Ariella’s corpse lay between me and the emperor, her brother. It seemed the Doctor was right; he had been taking over the empire. And by the looks of it, he’d succeeded as well.
“Just out of curiosity,” the emperor began. “How did she die?”
“Bullet wound to the chest,” I said truthfully, but then lying without a second thought. “There was a riot, one of the Pevalimon’s guns fired. Next moment she was dead. The Pevalimon are one, and I don’t think they’ll be coming back.”
“Shame,” he replied, pulling a cloth out from under the table and covering his sister’s body. “They would have been useful allies.”
Okay…that wasn’t what I was expecting. Maybe a rampage, a few death threats….
“You seem to be wondering about the emotions I feel for my sister,” the emperor said, examining my face.
“Sire?”
“I could see it on your face,” he replied by way of explanation. “But my sister wasn’t the sisterly type. More of the I-don’t-want-you-around-so-why-are-you-still-alive type.”
“Harsh.”
“She was. She obsessed constantly over royalty, and was convinced that we were the rightful heirs.”
“Yeah,” I said. “She did say something about that.”
“About a year ago, our time, she left to places unknown. The next knowledge we had of her was today. All of the love we gave her was never enough. She used to yell at me saying that our family was broken. That the reason my father was disfigured was because of a certain Earthen family that she never told me the name of. But I did not believe it. So we grew apart. Each of us choosing different paths to follow towards the same goal. Hers was a path of destruction. Mine was one of peace.”
“I can definitely see the difference.” Looking out the window I saw all the smiling children and happy families.
“I will see to it that the fitting funeral arrangements are made,” the emperor said. “Thank you Erica.”
“You’re welcome Your Highness.”
I walked out of the room, around the corner, through the foyer and out into the courtyard.
“So what did he say?” the Doctor asked, coming into step alongside me.
“The complete opposite of what you told me he’d say.”
“He didn’t really care,” the Doctor replied, astounded. “Some kind of family.”
“Yeah,” I murmured. “It makes me wonder though…”
“Makes you wonder what? What caused the hatred towards your family? I think it’s pretty obvious that she was jealous.”
“But what if it runs deeper than that?” I looked up at the Doctor. “We have a time machine.”
“We do.”
“We’ve got a mystery to solve.”
“So it seems.”
“Why are we still here?”
“Ah.”
We turned and ran across the courtyard to where the Tardis was standing.
“Where are you two going in such a hurry?” Nara asked as we ran past her.
“We’re going back to Earth,” I replied. “And back in time.”
“Seriously?” Nara questioned, excitement showing on her face.
“Yep,” I responded turning a dial and pulling a lever. “JACK!”
“What?” he came running from wherever he’d been and stood, waiting for me to tell him what to do.
“That button there,” I yelled, pointing across the Tardis controls.
“Gotcha,” he replied, moving to where I had pointed.
Nobody needed any warning when the Tardis started moving. All of us had already been holding onto something.
“Where are we going?” I shouted over the Tardis noise.
“1842,” the Doctor responded. “More or less.”
“If we end up in the Middle Ages I’m going to kill you.”
“If we were in the Middle Ages, you might not have to.”
“Touché.”
“But this is just a wild guess considering I have no idea when this whole thing started.”
“So we still might end up in the middle ages?” I asked as the Tardis stopped moving and the Doctor started walking out of the door.
“Well, that depends,” he responded.
“On what?”
“On how far back you can track your family tree.”
“The eighteen hundreds,” I said grudgingly.
“Anything more specific.”
I had to think for another moment. I tried remembering the picture of our family tree. Eighteen…
“Thirty-eight,” I finished. “1838.”
A minute later after some more time travel, and placing a perception filter on Nara - we didn’t think people were going to be very accepting when they saw a green face looking at them - we stepped out of the Tardis onto a cobbled street.
“Out of the way!” a voice yelled out angrily, forcing us to back into the Tardis or get trampled by the oncoming horse and carriage. Unfortunately, the mud still hit us.
But the Doctor being the Doctor simply nodded, straightened his coat and walked down the road with the three of us trailing closely behind. “We’re in the right place,” he called back to us.
“Of the worst kind my liege, but an accident still.”
Wow, I had never talked like that before.
“I suppose that she should be buried in some kind of formal ceremony.”
“If you wish. I believe this situation is out of my hands now.”
Ariella’s corpse lay between me and the emperor, her brother. It seemed the Doctor was right; he had been taking over the empire. And by the looks of it, he’d succeeded as well.
“Just out of curiosity,” the emperor began. “How did she die?”
“Bullet wound to the chest,” I said truthfully, but then lying without a second thought. “There was a riot, one of the Pevalimon’s guns fired. Next moment she was dead. The Pevalimon are one, and I don’t think they’ll be coming back.”
“Shame,” he replied, pulling a cloth out from under the table and covering his sister’s body. “They would have been useful allies.”
Okay…that wasn’t what I was expecting. Maybe a rampage, a few death threats….
“You seem to be wondering about the emotions I feel for my sister,” the emperor said, examining my face.
“Sire?”
“I could see it on your face,” he replied by way of explanation. “But my sister wasn’t the sisterly type. More of the I-don’t-want-you-around-so-why-are-you-still-alive type.”
“Harsh.”
“She was. She obsessed constantly over royalty, and was convinced that we were the rightful heirs.”
“Yeah,” I said. “She did say something about that.”
“About a year ago, our time, she left to places unknown. The next knowledge we had of her was today. All of the love we gave her was never enough. She used to yell at me saying that our family was broken. That the reason my father was disfigured was because of a certain Earthen family that she never told me the name of. But I did not believe it. So we grew apart. Each of us choosing different paths to follow towards the same goal. Hers was a path of destruction. Mine was one of peace.”
“I can definitely see the difference.” Looking out the window I saw all the smiling children and happy families.
“I will see to it that the fitting funeral arrangements are made,” the emperor said. “Thank you Erica.”
“You’re welcome Your Highness.”
I walked out of the room, around the corner, through the foyer and out into the courtyard.
“So what did he say?” the Doctor asked, coming into step alongside me.
“The complete opposite of what you told me he’d say.”
“He didn’t really care,” the Doctor replied, astounded. “Some kind of family.”
“Yeah,” I murmured. “It makes me wonder though…”
“Makes you wonder what? What caused the hatred towards your family? I think it’s pretty obvious that she was jealous.”
“But what if it runs deeper than that?” I looked up at the Doctor. “We have a time machine.”
“We do.”
“We’ve got a mystery to solve.”
“So it seems.”
“Why are we still here?”
“Ah.”
We turned and ran across the courtyard to where the Tardis was standing.
“Where are you two going in such a hurry?” Nara asked as we ran past her.
“We’re going back to Earth,” I replied. “And back in time.”
“Seriously?” Nara questioned, excitement showing on her face.
“Yep,” I responded turning a dial and pulling a lever. “JACK!”
“What?” he came running from wherever he’d been and stood, waiting for me to tell him what to do.
“That button there,” I yelled, pointing across the Tardis controls.
“Gotcha,” he replied, moving to where I had pointed.
Nobody needed any warning when the Tardis started moving. All of us had already been holding onto something.
“Where are we going?” I shouted over the Tardis noise.
“1842,” the Doctor responded. “More or less.”
“If we end up in the Middle Ages I’m going to kill you.”
“If we were in the Middle Ages, you might not have to.”
“Touché.”
“But this is just a wild guess considering I have no idea when this whole thing started.”
“So we still might end up in the middle ages?” I asked as the Tardis stopped moving and the Doctor started walking out of the door.
“Well, that depends,” he responded.
“On what?”
“On how far back you can track your family tree.”
“The eighteen hundreds,” I said grudgingly.
“Anything more specific.”
I had to think for another moment. I tried remembering the picture of our family tree. Eighteen…
“Thirty-eight,” I finished. “1838.”
A minute later after some more time travel, and placing a perception filter on Nara - we didn’t think people were going to be very accepting when they saw a green face looking at them - we stepped out of the Tardis onto a cobbled street.
“Out of the way!” a voice yelled out angrily, forcing us to back into the Tardis or get trampled by the oncoming horse and carriage. Unfortunately, the mud still hit us.
But the Doctor being the Doctor simply nodded, straightened his coat and walked down the road with the three of us trailing closely behind. “We’re in the right place,” he called back to us.
♠ ♠ ♠
This might be the last update for about a week and a half as i'm going to visit grandma! I'll probably write heaps though. =]Thanks for all the commenting!