The Weeping Nebula Chapter 4, a doctor who fanfic

[CHAPTER FOUR]

As one does when you're young and easily distracted, I got side-tracked.

Let me explain. I was hungry.

End of explanation.

I never said it was a long one.

Why was any of that relevant to note, you may be asking? (I may be asking too.) Well, you see, I've discovered a love of the Tardis' kitchen. She had anything a home-sick (highly confused) alien could ask for. And when I meant everything, I mean she had Gallifreyan treats and snacks she was happy to force down my throat. I wasn't too mad about it. Like I said, I was hungry.

And that's precisely why I was sitting Indian-style right before the console room with a creamy pastry in hand and juice produced from the best (loosely-defined) fruits known to the universe. Yes, I was biased, but at least my cup was cool. It had a straw! And it also aided me in staying awake. Double win!

Happy with my new arrangements, I took another sip of my drink before putting everything beside me to fall into a meditative state. Bad thing about parental bonds? Hard to get away with virtually anything… The Doctor was highly aware of me at the moment and the only reason I wasn't being chastised for not sleeping is likely a combination of him being both busy and understanding.

By meditating, my mental signature would mimic a dreamless sleep and the Tardis would alert me when it was time to expose myself. Yes, she was going along with it, funnily enough. Never let it be said Tardises didn't live for shenanigans. They adored them more than anything. Back to the main topic, she would let me know, my partner in crime! He was already in the pizza restaurant, so it would happen shortly, of that I was certain! I wonder if this tongue liked pizza?

Ah, too many thoughts. Too many thoughts.

The time ship beeped merrily in laughter.

- MINI QUEST ALERT! -

Complete 'Surprise, Motherfucker!'

The Doctor thinks he knows where you are at all times. Prove him wrong!

OBJECTIVE:

[1] Successfully stay hidden until you decide to reveal yourself

BONUS OBJECTIVE:

[B1] Achieve a jump scare

REWARDS:

Primary Objective: +50 exp

Bonus Objective: +1 [STEALTH] Level

FAILURE:

Naughty timetots get time-outs

I stuck my tongue out. Really? I was 82% certain 6O had a hand in these quests. It was either that or the System itself was hilarious. But a time out? Come on! I was mentally twenty-four if you counted the fifteen years spent as Lili and combined them with my current nine years of age. I'm positive that it made me too old for such things like being put in a corner.

The Tardis cooed.

I pouted. Not all of us could be ancient! Everyone was a child when you're that fucking old!

Ugh, I digress!

Taking a deep breath, I went through the familiar routine of sorting through my thoughts to find inner peace. It was actually one of my favorite things we'd learned at the Academy and the task was ridiculously easy because of it. Most of my class would have felt the same. Being able to find quiet with so much mayhem and chaos, death and destruction..? It was our salvation.

"... assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door and believe me, they've tried. Now shut up a minute."

The gentle nudges of the Tardis were impossible to ignore, slowly pulling me out of the state I was in.

"... I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source."

Oh, oops. I missed some dialogue, eh? I slowly chewed on my treat once more, trying to keep my mind from being too noisy as I took in the scene before me with a bit of amusement. Rosie was looking around the Tardis like she couldn't very well believe her eyes. I didn't blame her. The Tardis was a certified goddess who deserved her own cult.

All hail.

She preened at the praise and I gently pat the floor with my free hand.

"Right," the Doctor turned back to the human. "Where do you want to start?"

The teenager looked faint, like she'd been given one too many surprises for the day to fully handle. "Um..? The Insides bigger than the outside?" Well, yes, but also no. Just no.

"Yep," the Doctor agreed, likely having decided that an in-depth conversation on the mechanics and science of the magnificent time ship was not yet needed. Man, I wish I had popcorn.

"It's alien?"

"Yes."

"Are you alien?"

Here he looked at her searchingly before nodding. "Yes," he agreed once more. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah…"

My footsteps were silent as I snuck up behind the Doctor who was absorbed in his conversation with Rose and vise versa. One hand was occupied with my pastry, the other with my juice cup (not only did it have a straw, but it also had handles! It was so cool! Wait… was it a glorified alien sippy cup..?), so I chose to bonk his hand with my cup to gather his attention.

He startled and Rose Tyler gaped.

Would you look at that! Quest completed!

"Greetings, My Lord Doctor," I smiled innocently.

He instantly cast a shady glance at Rose, probably contemplating whether or not he should hide me before the blonde exclaimed with such relief, "Lili!", that he seemed to think she'd do me no harm. That didn't stop him from hoisting me onto his hip to look at me sternly, however.

I took a sip of my juice as the Doctor seemed to rethink lecturing me to turn speculative eyes on Rose. "How do you know of my…" he trailed off and I snuggled to him in comfort.

"Yours?" Rose seemed even more shaken. "M-my mum and I found Lili curled up in an alleyway. We took her home with us since she refused to go to the hospital. Mum and I worried sick when she went missing! She's an alien too?"

I winced, both at making them worry and the possible animosity towards being another species.

The Doctor simply held me higher, allowing my arms to wrap around his neck so my ear could press against his chest. Bu-dump, Bu-dump, Bu-dump, Bu-dump. The echoes of his hearts relaxed me.

"Obviously," he said in answer to her question, though it wasn't really. "Is that an issue?"

"No!" Rose exclaimed. "I just! Ugh, things are moving too quickly! I was so worried. Mum too… she looked everywhere for you yesterday and wants to talk to a sketch artist to put up posters today."

My breath hitched. "Sorry." I really did feel bad about that.

The Doctor bounced me in a soothing manner that should have irritated me but somehow calmed me from the turmoil stirring in my mind. "This is the Tardis," he introduced, attempting to steer the questions away from me for which I was grateful. "It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

I knew it was coming but couldn't help stiffening as Rose let out a startled sob.

Before the Doctor could say something potentially insensitive, I turned in his hold to look Rosie in the eyes. "Are you okay?" She met them and faltered, spilling her concerns.

"Mickey, did they kill him? He- there was this plastic, and, Is he dead? Is my boyfriend dead?"

The Doctor grimaced. "I didn't think of that."

"You pulled off his head!" She responded heatedly. Upon my flinch at the tone she was quick to change it. "Sorry... It's just, you pulled off his head and now you're gonna let him melt?"

"Melt?!"

I'd never been sat down and strapped into something so fast. Since when did the Captain's chair have a seat-belt? Was the Tardis slowly child-proofing herself?

I argued with the sentient ship on the matter as we moved to the next destination.

After the shaking stopped, I quickly distanced myself from the straps to follow the Doctor who ran outside to make sure the location was correct. We both easily ignored the prattling coming from the blonde who was still rather worried over going back out.

It was night out, but the smog in the air made it hard to appreciate my usually favorite time of the day. "I lost the signal! I was so close!" I blinked at him, shoving the last bit of pastry into my mouth. He spun on his heel to stare at me with the most unimpressed glare but I only sipped on my juice nonchalantly. What, bitch? I wasn't going to waver. "You're quite sneaky, you are."

Not as sneaky as you, good sir. Didn't think I'd notice how my vortex manipulator was missing, did you? Well, I did. And I was rather miffed about it too! Despite this, I simply laughed in amusement. "What are we looking for, My Lord Doctor?"

He scowled in distaste. "I hate formalities. None of those." I giggled again and a dawning look lit his eyes. "Oh, you're cheeky. How'd you like it if I started calling you My Lady?" I faked a gag and he chuckled warmly. Seems like we both had a particular dislike to the Timelords extreme sense of etiquette. He sobered quickly. "You should get back into the ship, Vista. It's not safe for you to help."

I pursed my lips but didn't respond as Rose finally rushed out. "We've moved!"

"She doesn't fly," I chirped before she could begin to question. "Well, not often… Tardises can technically fly, but they're not built for it."

"Then how?"

"Disappears there," the Doctor took over, "Re-appears here. You wouldn't understand." Rudeeeeee.

I left them to the conversation to pay attention to the quest pop up one last time.

-MANDATORY STORY QUEST ALERT! [3/3]-

Complete 'Insert Yourself Into The Plot Like A Bad Fic!' [3/3]

Time to meet the cast!

OBJECTIVES:

[1] Join the Doctor and Rose Tyler on the last stretch of the adventure to meet the Nestene Consciousness!

BONUS OBJECTIVE:

[B1] …?

REWARDS:

Primary Objective: +500exp

Bonus Objective: +1200 exp, [?] ..? with [?]

I still wasn't sure what the Bonus objective could be, but the exp boost would be incredibly nice.

"Anti-plastic," the Doctor's words interjected themselves within my thoughts and I scowled harshly at the vial of blue liquid. Killing things never did settle right with me… the other Gallifreyan didn't seem to notice my expression as he explained to Rose what the transmitter looked like. For one so smart, he was incredibly dull in other instances.

Completely invisible, huh?

I came to stand beside Rose, both of us blatantly staring at the massive wheel known as the London Eye. Three times, he turned, a confused "What?" parting his lips, not yet getting it. Hilarious really, but it should be clicking about now-

"Fantastic!"

There it is. The realization.

At the glint in his eyes, I bolted ahead, evading capture via overprotective timelord lest I find myself locked in the Tardis where it was "safe". Dubious, I nearly snorted.

"Vistamiera!"

I winced, feeling his worry and ire as if it were my own. Stupid connection. It'd be so much more simple if I didn't feel guilty. "Come on!" I crowed delightfully, though it seemed a bit forced, "Adventure awaits!" Miffed, but now more amused than angry, the Doctor swiftly placed me on his shoulders once he got his hands on me. I kissed his forehead in apology and his body seemed to relax.

"Fine, you can come for now but if there's even a hint of trouble, you need to listen to me."

"Aye, Captain!" I chirped like a good little duckling.

He rolled his eyes and Rosie laughed as she tried to keep pace with his longer legs in the mad dash across the Westminster Bridge. She was breathing a little unsteadily (but still holding up admirably for a human) when we finally stopped above the Nestene's Chamber. The two loosely defined adults had a rather amusing conversation on what would become alive on the way here, Rose humorously interjecting "breast implants" before she got this shell-shocked look on her face and glanced at me. I covered my ears cheekily and we had a bit of a bonding moment.

It was nice.

Distracted me from the anxiety bubbling up.

At least for a while.

The Doctor was incredibly attentive towards my emotions (how could he not be?) and subtle gestures were appreciated as we went down a creepy looking manhole. I threw and [Observe] at every passing object I could, trying to fill the time with something other than chatter and the Doctor's occasionally soothing hums. I seemed to be a hot topic along with the Nestene, Rosie attempting to find out more about me through the Doctor and him defensively deflecting everything and changing the topic back to the plastic alien. Sweet marshmallow, he is.

The Skill [Observe] has leveled up!

Finally!

They stumbled upon the vat shortly after I received the notification, an eerie light setting the mood. It definitely made it to the top ten evil lairs I've seen so far. Mainly because this was the first one I've actually seen, but I digress.

Underground? Check.

Mood lighting? Check.

Possibly murderous alien? Check.

It met all three of my criteria!

"The Nestene Consciousness; that's it, inside that vat," the Doctor pointed out to Rose as he moved me more securely to his hip. I peered alongside the human, truly taking the scene in. "A living plastic creature."

The universe was a wondrous place.

"Well then," Rose took a deep breath. "Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go."

I sent a disapproving glare toward her. "We can't just kill it!" I informed her as seriously as I could, my young voice having a hard time sounding stern.

"She's right," the Doctor nodded proudly, and I huffed as he hugged me closely. "We need to give it a chance." Slightly reprimanded, Rose followed behind us down the metal stairs leading closer to the Nestene. The time lord began his speech, his authority shockingly not deterred by him holding me. What an aura. I wanted to be him when I grew up!

"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

The vat jiggled.

I withheld a snicker.

The Doctor finally sat me down, the only thing connected being my hand he held as we went further down the stairs. I had to basically hop each one, but I was enjoying my newfound independence.

They talked politics, Rose found Mickey, yadda yadda yadda. It was all going predictably to script. Which was disappointing… I mean, I did want to save the Nestene Consciousness. We could always rebuild their protein plants with the technology at our disposal. I just needed to get it to listen. Like, truly listen to me.

"DOCTOR!"

I yelped when I was grabbed from behind, mentally berating myself from both forgetting and getting too caught up in my thoughts. I really did need that nap. I was so slow right now. Heaving a breath as the Doctor tried to fight his way to me, I yelled at the top of my lungs, "WAIT!"

The plastic paused in surprise and I relaxed in its grip.

"Vista-"

"Wait," I interrupted him too and he settled down. The Nestene Consciousness is listening. That's what I wanted. What I needed. "Your protein plants rotted."

The vat roared, words reaching me telepathically that I accepted but didn't care to comment on. No wonder the Doctor was being rude. The Nestene was just as rude!

"You're only trying to survive," I brushed the comments off. "I understand that. We both do. We can even help. You don't have to stamp out the life of an entire species just to feed yourselves— the protein plants can be rebuilt and you can thrive once more. I promise. So, please, let us go?"

It seemed swayed, for a mere second, and I felt hope rise—

Until one of the plastic men held up the anti-plastic.

I was slammed down by the one holding me.

-220 HP

My head!

"Vista! You! Let her go! That was just insurance!" The Doctor shouted in outrage. "I wasn't going to use it! Release her!" His words sounded like they were underwater and my vision swayed even as my health bar slowly regenerated.

Debuff [Concussion] Applied. Players will experience Visual and Auditory Issues.

I glanced at the timer and groaned. So, debuffs were a thing? Motherfucker. I needed to see if I could work in a Skill to negate such things. RE could probably do it. It also regenerated passively… so there was a way to heal without shaving off years of my life. Still wasn't sure how that was possible, but the System was odd. My best theory was it converted excess time energy and stored it directly in the system for me to draw upon because I could tell if there were dips in my own personal energy, which there haven't been.

"We weren't lying…. help… not your… I swear!"

Ahaha, he sounded so funny.

(And concerned.)

Look at me, I'm floating! Oh, wait, no, I've just been picked up by Plastic Ken. Was that Sexy? I felt her brush against my mind in concern and smiled like an idiot. The tiredness was definitely getting to me. Or was being delirious just a part of the debuff and it didn't say crap? Fucking game.

"I couldn't save any of them!"

He sounded so sadddddd.

I tried to wiggle my way out of the hold to go hug him and got nauseous for my efforts.

And today was going relatively well, all things considered. That's what I get for being positive. Stupid, Lili.

With everyone shouting and panicking my head only felt worse, so once the sickness passed, I simply shut them out and once more tried to break out. I was small and I could squirm a lot. This worked to my advantage.

I let out a triumphant shout and blearily made my way to the one holding the anti-plastic. Rose was being the best Tarzan she could be, helping the Doctor and I…. well, I was giving it another chance.

I held up the vial, right over the open vat.

"Stop," I slurred.

The Nestene once again paused, the signal ceased transmitting. I felt awfully big for a person so small. It… wasn't actually a nice feeling. The Doctor and Rose stood beside me, keeping an eye on the situation.

My hand shook.

"Timelords!"

The animosity was staggering.

"Let us help," the Doctor frowned. He wasn't happy, but he was giving them a chance. For me. I was grateful. So very grateful.

"Please!" I stressed.

"No."

It thought us better off dead.

So mote it be.

The Doctor snatched the vial before I could drop it, chucking it in himself as if that would help ease the blame already on my shoulders.

"Now we're in trouble."

Assisted Biological Attack Critical!

You (Assist) Killed x1 Nestene Mother Consciousness, 1,243 individual Nestenes

+63,150 exp

Title [Guilty Slayer] Earned!

You have leveled up!

The [Store] is now unlocked!

You have leveled up!

I threw up.

Not edited. Like the other chapters, I wrote most of it at like 2am, so... hopefully, it's okay? I'm a weird person at 2am. Still taking suggestions for perks and skills! You guys have had amazing ideas so far, and I love them! Also still looking for a beta-reader! Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!

SunnyBambina