Hi! Another part of Eternal Cycle -series but once again can be read as a stand-alone fic. This one I've planned quite a bit.

Here's the gist of Eternal Cycles: Person reborn into new worlds again and again and again with the only constant companion being Rina, who usually resides in the main character's mind. Read first part to get a better idea of it.

And off you go to reading this thing where I own nothing but the OCs.

Goodbyes and Hellos

The TARDIS was quiet. Too quiet. Way way too quiet, like always when there was no one but him. Quiet meant time to think, to wallow, to have no distractions to his grief. Alone. He always ended up alone. Usually he would try to move on in a snap. To find a distraction and say it didn't matter. That he wasn't lonely, no way, he had the TARDIS and he was the Doctor. Loneliness was for the weak hearted.

But… This time he couldn't. He just couldn't.

It had been a month. A whole month since he lost his companions. The one who found him after the devastating war and healed him and the young one who helped him see the beauty and marvelousness of the universe once again. Adaline, the loyal telepath who had been his companion the longest, who had helped soothe the emptiness in his head. Rose, the bright woman who showed him he could still be the Doctor.

And they were gone. Forever. To a parallel universe. Because he was incapable of keeping anyone close to him safe.

Addie would have smacked him for that thought and his hearts ached. He wanted to see them. Even just once before they were completely cut off.

He had thrown himself into work, searching the ages for the perfect power source he could use to see them. It had helped take the edge off. For a while. At least when he was working. But then there were times like these when he felt frozen and empty. Like there was nothing he could do. Other times he felt anger at the universe raging in his gut, feeling like it took everything from him and why hadn't he ended this already-

He resolutely ignored how Addie would've smacked him for that thought too.

It was a blend of those moments. One where he felt he was too broken to ever be fixed. Too empty to ever feel anything ever again. And that was why he didn't immediately notice the blaring alert echoing in the TARDIS. That is, until his ship sent him an urgent hum and zapped his hand that had paused the unnecessary repairs. Again. He blinked slowly, brain whirring to life as he pulled himself up and out.

He stared at the distress call for a split second too long, wondering if he could even do this without them, before spurring into action.

Maybe this would let him forget the grief, just for a little bit.

xXXx

The door opened to a dimly lit spaceship's storage room that was from around the 18th cen- the Doctor had to stop himself from translating everything to Earth's timeline. Seriously. It helped nothing. Nothing. He ignored that almost all of his companions so far had been human. At least partly.

He pulled out his sonic and scanned a port, looking at the readings. It was an alien spaceship that was seemingly stalled in the middle of space near the Earth. Of course it was near Earth. Why wouldn't it be near Earth? He always seemed to end up on that rock full of bumbling, lovable, brilliant apes that couldn't contain their curiosity if they tried. He didn't mind. Usually. But right now he didn't want to be anywhere near the place. At all. Please and thank you, and he didn't often think that.

Wait. Was that breathing? He slowly turned around to see two humans huddled together and staring at him in unadulterated fear.

He grinned brightly, not feeling it in the slightest, "Hello, I'm the Doctor and I got your distress signal. What are two humans doing onboard this Sontaran spaceship?"

The man stared at him, open mouthed, while the woman in his arms looked curious and slightly relieved. They were both dressed in a white and slightly dirty gown that reached just past their knees. Huh. That… wasn't good. For the Sontarans. It wasn't entirely unheard of for them to grab people as 'spoils of war'.

"While I do not know of a- a signal we are certainly in distress", the woman stated desperately, "They took our Johnny!", and then she burst into tears.

The Doctor wasn't sure what to do with crying women, had never really been, but her maybe husband seemed to have everything under control so he concentrated on the sonic.

"Johnny? Who's Johnny?", he asked absently, noting that the ship was using an abnormal amount of power for staying nearly still. His mind flashed to another spaceship and- no. No. Don't think about it.

"Jonathan Millers, our beloved son", the man said with fear and anger at their probably abductors, "Good man, if you truly came here to help, please. We have searched this- this ship for him but haven't found a single clue. Those brutes could be doing anything to him!"

He hummed non-committedly and turned to the door, about to sonic it when it abruptly clicked open and revealed a way better lit corridor. The Doctor stared at the doorway in surprise before turning to the couple with a grin.

"Yes, I'm here to help. Let's go find Johnny-boy!", he sauntered out the door and mentally corrected his statement into encompassing all the innocents in this mess.

The corridor was indeed well lit. But… Only to the right. The left side was dark and empty. Someone clearly wanted to lead him somewhere. He sniffed and decided there wasn't any harm in following. It might lead to the one who made the distress signal through time in the first place. He didn't check to see if Mr. and Mrs. Millers were behind him, he could hear their footsteps well enough.

There was a sound of a new door opening. The Doctor looked at it for a moment before peering in and seeing another door open at the end of it. Everything else was closed. Hmm. So they could follow their, or his, movements. Got that. He walked past a closed doorway just as a loud bang sounded from the other side. The Time Lord stopped to stare curiously as the two humans flinched and sought comfort from each other. It reminded him of them and he couldn't think of that so he focused back on the door with his sonic in hand.

"Hi there, Sontarans!", he told them cheerfully and got a low growl and demands of letting them out, "Sorry, I seem to have lost a boy on your ship and would like to know where you've taken him. Any thoughts?"

"Coward! You shall face our wrath once we get out of here! A true warrior doesn't hide from battle!", a gnarly voice yelled furiously, banging at the door once again.

"Good thing I'm not a warrior but a traveller", he said, casual as could be, "You see, I got a distress signal. I'm here to help"

The two humans behind him gasped and started to edge away even as mutterings and curses and denial was heard from behind the door. He nodded, unsurprised.

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd call for assistance either. The question is…", he turned his gaze to the ceiling, "...who then?"

Lights ahead flickered, as if impatient. Something was niggling at his thoughts as he stared at it but he couldn't grasp them. It was annoying. He found it funny that someone had thought to reverse the prisoners' and abductors' places. Kudos for the one with the controls. However they had managed that. He started his rushed walking again with a distracted goodbye to the trapped Sontarans. It must've been rather rude since the answering roar was quite loud.

The next place seemed like a cafeteria where 21 humans were dressed in rags. Or the strange white hospital gown thingies. Some were poking at the food mistrustfully but others were eating it like starving animals. Which some of them might as well be by this point. Someone had done a really good job on switching the two groups' places. Actually, he noted some of the foods that were poisonous to humans had been blocked out from the interface.

Either this someone was not from Earth or had found a way to read the computer's databank, which wasn't very likely.

It also made it more dangerous to just up and follow the 'instructions'. He needed to see the command centre. If he was lucky, which sometimes was the case, there would be answers to everything there. None of the humans had sent the distress signal as Millers couple confirmed by asking around. And apparently little Johnny wasn't the only child missing. The youngest of the group right there was a maybe 23-year-old dark skinned woman. Who was a slave. Which was why she didn't know or wasn't sure of her age.

The Doctor wasn't feeling particularly charitable towards this group of people right then but he would find out what was going on and hopefully save the children.

The command centre. The bridge. Whatever the Sontarans called it. Mr. Millers and a Leonard Larson (funny name, which was why he remembered at all) wanted to follow him and find their son and daughter respectively. It… wouldn't be safe. At least the lights were trying to lead them another way. He sonicked doors open and the lights went down as someone tried to keep them away from the controls. At this point the Doctor was fairly sure he'd made the right call what with how ferociously the command centre was protected by the ship.

It turned out he was half right as the door opened and he had to tackle the humans with him to the ground, away from guns. They were Sontarans. And the door closed in the aliens' faces. Much to their frustration.

"Okay, ship, I know you can hear me. Do you have a safer way in?", no response, "I need to see what's going on", he told empty air and to Leo and Millers' shock, lights flickered up to show the way.

The Doctor grinned.

xXXx

Just a few minutes later there were three unconscious Sontarans at the side of the bridge and the Doctor was looking over the main computer.

He checked over the control board and saw that they had been trying to reverse the ship's course away from Earth and get the doors open. One screen was running a program that tried to redirect a very strong power that was coming from the back of the ship. Another, a failsafe, had been activated and a lot of processing power was spent on keeping it from succeeding, the computer itself and the creator hacking each other and turning firewalls against the other. The program was trying to burn out the ship's newly installed power source. To make it all manual again.

He had a sinking feeling in his stomach, "How many children were taken?"

"Twelve", Leo spat out, "Three of them of respectable status"

The Doctor ignored that last comment to bring up the twelve sources brimming with power, one fluctuating above them all and three completely submissive. He hissed through his teeth in anger, shut the program working against the power source, and started running.

He had children to save.

Now he also knew why the ship tried to get him to the back and wished he'd listened sooner.

xXXx

Oh. Sealed room. Deadlocked. Sontarans inside. Seemingly the only way to the experimental power sources.

"Do you have a way in?", he'd rather not waste time looking for one.

Lights dimmed before flashing in the corner of his eye. Ventilation. Circulating warm air and oxygen out and in. Perfect. For once he was using his screwdriver on bolts and not, say, computers or scanning. He pulled himself up and in before calculating his position right on top of the place he was needed. After some seconds of tinkering he kicked a metal grate down before dropping after it.

Fourteen pods around the room, two empty, three with zero brain activity shown, and everything else in varying states of use. He quickly started opening them, carefully shutting the programs down and lifting the children out. Some were in their teens but others were definitely younger. All of them were unconscious.

Except, when he got to the sixth one, someone was staring back at him through the crystal and mouthing for him to get the others first. The child was easily the youngest looking through the slightly distorting glass-like substance. It took him a second to understand that this small human being was the one controlling the entire ship, their mind directing doors, keeping Sontarans locked up, releasing humans and guiding them away from dangers. He almost gaped, except he had children to save, so he nodded sharply and got everyone else out quickly before turning back to them.

The pod opened with a hiss and a click and a smell of ozone drifted up. He felt his insides churn as he realized the little girl had been electrocuted for her troubles, burning her hair away and leaving patches of red on her dark head. This was completely impossible. She looked like a six-year-old, the dirty cloth blackened and burnt in places, skinny and… dark skin. He'd forgotten what that meant before he saw the light scars around her wrists and ankles, now red from friction and the ship trying to destroy her while she controlled everything.

A slave girl. The humans were all saved by a slave girl. He barked a breathless laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"Than' you… f'r c'min'", her faint and hoarse voice whispered as he gently lifted her stiff body out, hearts clenching as he realized she'd also sent the distress call.

He hushed her, hearing the damage done to her vocal chords most likely from screaming, "Shh. I came. You're going to be okay now. You all are"

Something scared, hurt, but relieved brushed against his mind even as there was sadness in the mix. Telepathy. Of course she was telepathic, this wouldn't have been possible otherwise. She reminded him of- No. Best not think that. Focus on the telepathic child whose mental and physical capabilities had been stretched way too thin. He carefully sent a soothing wave of comfort to her as he lifted a hand to her temple to assess the damage.

Not as bad as it should've been. Still not good. She had been redirecting everything, hacking the program trying to destroy her and the others, multitasking between pulling the electricity to her and the empty pods or towards the dead children. The dead children she hadn't been able to save in time. To push the electricity away soon enough.

So young. She was so young. Yet something in her felt older than even him.

Her life had been so hard. She was full of information, full of knowledge she definitely shouldn't have gotten in the freaking late 18th century, but it was there. He was half convinced she wasn't completely human at this point no matter what his sonic said.

Focus. Out. Children to safety. And since she had been controlling the ship with her absurd multitasking abilities… he needed to stop the Sontarans from escaping their prisons and tip off the Shadow Proclamation after getting the humans back home. He sighed. All in a day's work.

He checked on the other children before up and lifting the small girl on his back after feeling the alarm she slipped into at his thought of leaving her with the others.

She wasn't heavy. And… she was definitely the worst off here. He could protect her and help her put her mental shields back up if she was close by.

To tell the truth he was also unwilling to let her out of his sight.

She reminded him too much of all he had lost and couldn't lose again.

xXXx

It was over. The humans were sent back to Earth, some better and some worse off for their experience. Johnny had been bundled up into her parents' embrace and the slave girl had received incredulous but grateful looks, even if she was mostly unconscious. The slave girl who the Doctor, in good conscience, couldn't leave to the whims of the humans who had hurt her. Who couldn't help her with her recently fully awakened telepathy and psychokinesis. He'd been just a teeny tiny bit surprised when things had started floating around when she had panicked at him moving away from her.

Thus it lead to this situation. Him sitting in the TARDIS infirmary while waiting for her to wake up, one hand laid on her small one and mind multitasking checking her readings, a thermal conduit in need of repairs, and sending the girl's slowly healing mind comfort when she started slipping into nightmares.

Her biology was odd. He was right in saying she might not be entirely human. Sure, she scanned as one, but her genetic makeup was just a bit off. Her brain was substantially more complicated than any 8-year-old ought to have (the age was a bit of a shock and he was even more angry at whoever had been her 'owner', seeing how malnourished and small she was, not to mention the faint scars on her back indicating a whip of some sort). It was odd how many psychic humans he attracted, though none had been quite as young as she was. Aden too had been 14 when they'd met.

She was so small and fragile and the Doctor feared to keep her with him. He'd stubbornly decided not to care. It would only lead to more heartache when she left or died or- or something.

So. He'd take care of her until she'd get better and then get her somewhere nice and safe where he didn't have to worry about an 8-year-old child getting killed or dying because she was associated with him.

Speaking of, she'd wake up any second now. The TARDIS' sickbay was full of advanced medical equipment for all kinds of species and had worked wonders for the girl's health problems.

Her eyes scrunched up, opening just a crack before slamming shut against the light. She whimpered and the Doctor understood how bad her headache must be. She'd almost died with the stunt she pulled, and even then it was only possible with the other children acting as alternative brainpower for her. She'd just rallied them together and focused it on her telepathy. She had been forcing it on the computer and it had worked.

'Hullo, Sleepyhead. How are you feeling?', the Doctor enquired mentally.

She relaxed at his presence and he wondered how she knew him. Why she trusted him so much with only their brief meeting. She shouldn't. He wasn't a good- He cut the thought off, not comfortable thinking about it. Not since Addie had quite literally beaten it out of him.

She didn't send back words, just relief and trust and anxiety for everyone on that cursed Sontaran ship. He told her what had happened and was rewarded by her slowly relaxing the more she heard. Really, she trusted him way too much. There was a moment of quiet as the Doctor struggled to feel anything other than longing for his species, for his telepathic companions. The little girl's presence he could feel at the back of his mind now was so familiar yet unfamiliar it ached.

He really, really shouldn't even entertain the idea of keeping her.

'...T...AR...D...IS…?', he caught her distracted thought, along with the feeling of exhausted confusion and hope.

And suddenly he was more alert, "How did you know?"

She tiredly opened her eyes and the Doctor was surprised. He could've sworn her eyes were a dark brown, not light gray. They lazily drifted around the room's dimmed lights before finding him. She smiled, dry lips stretching in a way that probably felt uncomfortable.

'Been here… Before… I mean Before, not… here', she tried to explain, 'Here's not the same, but is'

He didn't understand. Her feelings told him there was a big difference with before and Before but he didn't know what that meant. The Doctor frowned at the young child.

"Do you mean a parallel universe?"

But she'd already slipped to a doze. He sighed, aggravated. Of course this girl had to be a mystery. Now he had to keep her here for that much longer.

xXXx

It was another two hours before the girl woke up fully. She sat up, looked around wide eyed and promptly started crying silently. He… panicked internally. This body hadn't dealt with crying children. He hadn't been a father in a long long time, his children having leaned more towards the Gallifreyan society than his rebellious ways. Only Susan had loved him enough to start traveling with him. Caught him in the act of running away, actually.

His thoughts automatically shied away from the sore subject as he focused back on the girl.

Her shields weren't as they probably were before they'd been torn apart on the Sontaran ship so her feelings were projecting. Bouncing on his shields. Disbelief, uncertainty of success, relief so profound it threatened to drown him, tentative hope, fear tearing at her from the inside, and the combination of that creating an overwhelmed mess. Thus, her body didn't know how to cope. Her injured mind didn't know how to cope. And she started crying.

That's what he theorized happened, anyway, and he reached for her in sympathy. She shot out of bed like a skittish kitten, frightened, an image of chains and something painful flashing in her mind. He felt shock, then cold, then furious at the one who gave her- she's just eight!- PTSD, before running after her while projecting comfort and apologies.

He found her in the console room. She was frozen near the doorway and staring up at the centre column in awe and shock. There was something building up, an emotion he couldn't quite name.

"Hey", he called to her gently and she turned with a start, staring at him with wide eyes that were definitely the lightest grey he'd ever seen. Except for- No.

"Doctor", she whispered, overwhelmed, and the dam burst, the overflowing relief, hope, happiness, the feeling of Home brushing over everything.

Before he knew it the girl had launched herself at him, arms wrapping around his waist and face buried in his stomach. Home. She felt like she was home. That the- That the TARDIS was home, he was home. It was all too much. He wanted to both run away as fast as he could and welcome her with open arms because she reminded him so much of-

He put a hand on her bald head to help both of them regain their emotional balance. She calmed soon enough and he crouched down to her level to look into her shining eyes.

"You know me. How do you know me?", he asked carefully, trying not to scare her.

She stared at him, uncomprehending, but then seemed to catch herself as she closed her eyes and seemed to instantly slip into meditation. He felt… ignored. He didn't like to be ignored. The girl's brow scrunched up and she opened her eyes again. They were staring at his pinstriped suit with a frown.

"I'm… I-", she seemed to be searching for the right words, "I got… memories. And visions"

And another set of floodgates opened. Impressions, war, saving people amongst the destruction, destroying those that tried to destroy them, them against the world, beautiful orange sky, staying by him because he stayed with them, never letting go, ever, burning, one last task-

He cut off the feed, shielding his mind and staring at her in disbelief, suddenly remembering- knowing- where he'd seen those eyes before.

"What's your name?", he asked, hands tightening slightly on her thin shoulders.

She stared back with eyes full of trust and hope as she replied, "Jade"

-dark skin, grey eyes twinkling, laughing at a joke he'd made-

-"Together?", he asked, tuning his sonic screwdriver even as his partner lifted a hand to the device on his temple. The Editor inclined his head with a sharp calm, "Together"-

-his smile was bittersweet, blood dripping down his nose, sign of overexertion, "Take care of Jade when you find her", the clairvoyant told him, "She needs you. You need her too", a single last burst of love and trust and fondness and knowing, and then he was gone, forever and ever, never to be seen again-

-Cold, burning, hot, deathdestruction-children dying-NoPleaseNO!-

-No More…!-

The Doctor pulled the girl against his chest as he felt like his whole world was shaken. After a second he flopped on his back, staring at the ceiling in disbelief and awe, arms holding her locked against his racing hearts. She looked so much like- He couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. Her chin, her nose, the shape of her eyes, that trust, the way her brow crinkled, her very DNA and brain structure. Of course they would be related! A desperate laugh escaped him as he realized he definitely wouldn't be able to let her go now. Sneaky, sneaky Editor. Uttering that prophecy right before he… He couldn't have forgotten even if he'd wanted to!

And it came at just the right time. Like always. He'd been drifting again. Drifting was bad. Editor had to have known she would remind him of him and pushed that just a bit further by whacking him over the head with a sudden dose of reality. Telling him to stop wallowing and work through the emotions. Like the clairvoyant had always done with him. And he gave him company to do it since it was that much harder alone. Company related to him.

"You, Jade, are a miracle. Don't ever forget it", he told the little girl he'd finally found like his partner had foretold he would. Even if he hadn't known she'd be a little girl.

A small hand grabbed his suit and he looked down to see a wide smile so bright and happy to see him that he thought he'd burst. It looked so much like his smiles.

"So I'm really home now? I don't have to leave?", she asked with building excitement and just the smallest hint of worry.

He felt a smile coming, his first genuine smile this excruciating month, and let it bloom into a full grin, "Yeah. Home. I like that word! We're home, in the TARDIS, and I-"

Something just occurred to him. It was year 1793 on Earth. There should be an almost supernova right nearby. Well, almost across the galaxy, but close enough. Just across the small and closing crack between realities. He stared at Jade with a sort of incredulous air. How come he hadn't remembered that before? He'd've tried the on the other side of the universe in the future and that wouldn't work for more than two minutes. This would have up to… Especially if he used…

"Miracle. Definitely a miracle. You've just solved a very, very big problem for me, Jade, and I think you'd like to see it", he sat up and tapped her wide-ish nose gently with a finger.

She smiled, bright and excited, "Yeah! A star!"

The Doctor huffed a laugh that was somewhere between amused and wistful. Most definitely related to his good ole partner. He owed it to him to do as he'd wished. He would've done it anyway now that he knew just who the child was connected to. The Editor truly had been one of the best men he'd ever known, even in the midst of war.

Little hands touched his cheeks and he focused back to Jade who was looking at him sternly, worried.

"You were going far away again", she told him.

The Doctor blinked before chuckling more genuinely.

Need her too, huh. You might be right about that. Again.

He got up, feeling lighter than he had since he'd lost his companions, and felt Jade slide her hands around his neck to keep herself secure.

"Well then. Let's say goodbye to some friends!"

xXXx

I bet you're confused by all the new names and people. You'd be right to think they all have an explanation. As you can see, I've managed to somewhat alter the Doctor's timeline. Not too much but still quite a bit. There's much more changes in the future too. Chapter 3 should prove that. This is a kinda fix-it fic.

Yeah. Dunno what more to say so... What do you think? Good? Bad? Too soon to say?

Oh, and I've posted this on Ao3. As well as the whole of Eternal Cycle -series. There's actually more of it on Ao3 because it's easier to make a series there.

Next chapter comes out soon. Like, tomorrow.