AN: This is a Christmas present I did for everydayimcolfering on tumblr, being the Doctor Who geeks we are. ;) Hope you enjoyed it hun.
Kurt Hummel tried to be a normal sort of teenager. He brushed his teeth, got lots of sleep, diligently did his chores, and helped out his dad in the garage. He kept his head down at school and tried to just get out of there without losing his life to idiots who didn't understand anything outside of their little pea brains. He was 18 and a high school senior, but that didn't matter to the jocks. They still tried to push him around. He never gave much thought to the fantastical. It wasn't right there in front of his face, so in a way, he never truly believed in why they celebrated the holidays or why Harry Potter was so popular. It wasn't that he didn't want to believe, he just didn't understand why. The things they talked about… he had never seen them. So why should they exist?
At least, that had been his thought until he saw a woman step out of thin air. It had been startling to the Ohio teenager.
Well, she seemed more like a girl, really. She was very short, had long brown hair, and a terrible fashion sense. Who was she kidding? A plaid skirt with white knee socks? Did she think she was a Catholic school girl?
If this was some mystical, magical sort of creature, he would have expected her to look less human, he supposed. She was sort of plain. He would have expected horns or some other sort type of appendage. But she held up something shiny, frowned, and ran off. He wanted to follow her, but she easily disappeared into the crowd on the street.
Maybe he was imagining things. He tried to think about something else, like what he was going to fix for dinner later or what he was going to wear the next day. Nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
Or that is what he had been thinking until he heard screams of terror and saw a giant wave of black metallic objects heading his way, clouding out the sun. They looked like small ships in shape, having a gray oval body and copper looking wings. But he could have sworn they had gigantic mouths.
Which were inhaling everything in their path.
Okay, that was definitely something out of the ordinary. And for a moment, Kurt froze. He didn't know what to do.
So he ran.
Kurt took off sideways, towards the direction where he had seen the girl appear from. That got him out of the main street at least. Maybe they were going after something? He tried to see behind him, but it was just a large mass of… whatever it was. It seemed like an angry mob of sorts. Maybe he could find a safe place to hide until whatever they were went away.
He looked forward instead of behind him for a second and ran smack dab into something hard. He moaned and saw stars at the sudden impact. But he heard a creak, like a door opening. Keeping his eyes closed, he fumbled with his hands, feeling something solid. He pushed on it and stumbled in.
The screams had subsided as the door closed behind him. Daring to open his eyes Kurt found himself in a most peculiar place. It was a large room, much larger than he expected, although he didn't know why. Six seats surrounded a large column with a circular base surrounding it. There were all sorts of buttons and switches and levers on it, and the center column seemed to move. His head ached for a moment before clearing up as he popped his neck. Was he in some sort of business and this was a waiting room? It was awfully bright and white. The whole room had a monochrome feel. Circular panels with depictions of circles and lines turned lazily around the ceiling. There was a stairway down and a doorway that lead off to the right. He hesitated for a moment. He really shouldn't go about mucking up someone's business just because he was curious, should he?
The doorway seemed the most inviting, so Kurt headed towards it. Maybe just a peek…
Curiously, it opened up to a hallway, then another. And another. He looked inside a few doors. First there was a storage room with lots of things he didn't recognize. Then next was a library. At least that made sense. But in a business? Kurt frowned. Maybe he had stumbled into someone's home? He really hadn't been looking when he felt the door. He was just glad to get away from whatever it was he had seen outside. There was a hum from inside the walls and it made Kurt wonder what exactly this place was. But he kept going anyways. A few more doors down and he found a room with a walking track and large screens everywhere. It was very odd for a home or a business. The room next to it was a swimming pool of all things. Now he really worried he had stumbled into someone's place of residence. It was like a mansion.
Another hallway and he found another storage room with what looked like a lot of personal effects, like memory boxes and souvenirs, but the next room was the most fascinating of all to him. It was full of clothes! Rows upon rows of them, going up several stories. There were hat boxes and shoes boxes galore. There were rows of bow ties and scarves and necklaces and rings all in cases.
"Am I in heaven?" he said out loud. Maybe he had hit his head harder than he thought. A hum met his question. He didn't understand it, but it was relaxing. Kurt proceeded to look through the room without reservation. So many things! It'd take him weeks to go through them all.
He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. This was someone's home.
Then he'd better get started if he was going to finish looking through the clothes and their home before they got back. Really, it was their own fault for leaving the door open.
He pulled down a hat box.
Rachel was tired. There had been another wave of the Qatari through a wormhole that had opened up on the planet. UNIT had called them Stingrays, which once she thought about it, was a pretty accurate description of the race. The damage though massive in scale, was minimal in human lives at least. The little town would rebuild. They always did. That was one thing she liked about the humans on Earth. They always persevered.
That and the fact that they always seemed to forget that such extraordinary things ever happened. Such was the idea that a "normal" life existed on the planet. She flipped up the device in her hand in amusement at the thought and went back to the street where her TARDIS was located.
"I'm home," she said happily as she entered the ship. A whistle and clicks greeted her as she stepped up to the console. The ship often reminded her so much of Gallifrey before she had left it. She put her hand to the center column.
"I know. I think it's time to for us to move again. I think the wormholes have closed up. At least I hope they have. As much as I like this planet and their music, sometimes their ways are sometimes so terrifyingly boring when you spend too much time with them." She flipped a couple of switches, and hit a button.
"Yes, yes I know you like Jazz," she cooed. "Music please!"
A light upbeat jazz tune start playing throughout the ship and Rachel danced around the console and started singing, flipping more switches and turning handles. She really didn't need to of course, but it was habit now.
"So where shall we go now then huh?" she said to the air as she turned a dial. "You know, I think I've changed my mind. I feel like a dinner with Louis Armstrong. Or you know, it's been a while since we've been to Arcadia. We could use a little sun." She ran a hand through her bangs and smiled at the thought of such a relaxing trip. Hitting a button on the console, she started to walk away as the ship started to move.
"Well, I'm going to go practice," she said out loud in the console room. "Let me know when…"
The ship started to shake, and an alarm started to blare while flashing green lights went off all over the TARDIS.
"Whaaaaaaat?" said Rachel. She groaned as she looked at monitor, swinging it towards her. "Another wormhole?"
But across the ship, another person had noticed the shaking and the glaringly bright green lights going off. It was some sort of security system, he just knew it. Kurt panicked as boxes fell off the upper shelves near him and onto his head. He had to get out of there. He headed down the hallway and onto another before turning a right. He found the waiting room looking place and started to run through when he stopped and stared.
There was the brown haired girl he saw step out of thin air.
And she was glaring at him, arms crossed.
"What are you doing in my ship?"
"I- uh- leaving?" said Kurt hopefully as he tried to get away. But a hand grabbed the back of his jumper he had been wearing. It was surprisingly strong for someone so small.
"Please let me go," he begged. "I didn't mean to-"
"How did you get in here?" she said sternly. "I had the invisibility shield up. You just don't walk into a Type 87 TARDIS when she is cloaked." She sniffed him. "Obviously human. Typical teenage boy…"
"Hey," warned Kurt. "I am not typical by any means."
"No, if you can walk into an invisible and locked TARDIS, I suppose not." Rachel eyed him again. "And because you did, you're coming with me!" She took him by the hand and ran out of the ship. Kurt was amazed as he looked around. They had just stepped out of thin air. Like literally, there was nothing behind him.
"Wha—what?" he said to the person who had him by the arm.
"Honestly, you found her, and yet you're amazed that she's invisible," scoffed Rachel.
"Ship?" said Kurt. At this point, he was pretty clueless as to what was happening in his life right now and was reduced to the simplest of sentences.
"I'll explain later, but for the moment we've got a bigger problem," said Rachel. She held up a small device in front of her and towards the sky. "That."
Kurt looked up to and saw a large swirling hole in the sky. That wasn't normal. And neither was the large amount of things he saw coming out of it.
"Those are the things I saw earlier!" said Kurt. Rachel looked back at him.
"Qatari."
"Qatari?"
"The species," sighed Rachel. "Destructive, but they're still sentient creatures and should be treated as such." She pressed something on the device in her hand towards the creatures. Kurt watched as another hole opened in the sky and the creatures headed towards it. The woman, still holding onto his wrist, gestured the device towards the other wormhole. It closed quickly. Kurt hissed as he saw something barely squeeze through at the last moment. It fell out of sky and Rachel pulled on him once more. They started down a street, then another. Destruction was everywhere as Kurt frantically looked around. This was the neighborhood his school was nearest to. And it was shambles.
"Did they-?"
"Yes," said Rachel simply. "They're omnivores, they eat everything. Seriously, one of these days I'm going to sit down with your high school and university textbook companies and rewrite your Earth curriculum. Your knowledge of the universe is severely lacking."
"Un—Universe?" said Kurt. "But aren't we alone?"
"Oh don't give me that," snapped Rachel as she pushed through a crowd of people huddled around something, Kurt still in tow. "You 20th century humans and believing you're alone on this one planet when it wasn't even yours to begin with."
Kurt opened his mouth to say something, but with all the people around, he decided against it. The woman in front of him pulled something out the pocket of her skirt and started showing it to the people around them.
"Hi, Rachel Berry with Environmental Protection Agency. You can go on back to your homes, or at least, what's left of your homes. We'll be taking care of this mess. Who knew a tornado could carry animals out of the Lima Zoo so far. We'll start cleanup shortly as soon as we locate all the animals now that the storms have passed."
The brown haired male was surprised when the people around him just left all the sudden.
"What—what was that?" Kurt realized "what" was becoming his new favorite word. But then, he was seeing a lot of things he probably shouldn't have been seeing this afternoon.
"Psychic paper," said Rachel quickly. "People see what they want to see. Helps when I need to do things quickly. Like now," she said, frowning as she held the small shiny device over the beast that had fallen out of the sky. It made a noise as Rachel bent over and touched it. Kurt frowned at that. Even if it could have devoured everything in its path, it seemed hurt.
"What is that?" he asked, pointing to the small silver object in her hand.
"It's a Molenski Univarus, or Pen for short," said Rachel, still looking at the creature. "Don't you have them? Terribly useful in a pinch."
"... It looks like a microphone."
Rachel closed the device with a flick of a wrist. She grinned happily.
"That's because it takes the shape of whatever I like most. And I," she said, pausing. "Love to perform. Not that anyone on my planet ever really understood, even though they claimed to be the biggest patrons of the arts in the galaxy."
"P—planet?" stammered out Kurt, although he didn't understand why he did.
"Why yes," said Rachel, blinking slowly. Sometimes the dimness of humans was so surprising. "I am Gallifreyan, in the constellation of Kasterborous. I am a Time Lady. I have assumed the name of Rachel in your tongue because it's easier than my given name."
The creature whined again, and tried to move. Rachel bent back down over it, frowning.
"I closed the wormhole too quickly. The pressure crushed her exoskeleton, literally squishing her organs." She looked away. "I should have been more careful."
Kurt really should have walked away at this point. He had seen too much at this point for his brain to comprehend. But he bent down too and laid a hand on Rachel's shoulder.
"You were trying to help."
Rachel's mouth went into a firm line.
"I'm not supposed to interfere, but…" she sighed. "I like your planet. I couldn't let it be devoured by these creatures. You would be defenseless to their appetites." She cooed to the creature. "I'm sorry, but we can't have you getting better and devouring this world." Kurt shielded his eyes when a flash of flight appeared over the creature. It was gone. Rachel shook her head.
"Where did it go?" asked Kurt.
"I sent it to an empty planet where I guided the others. The Qatari probably have already devoured her since she was defenseless."
Kurt looked a little sick at the thought.
"They're ruthless and destructive," chided Rachel. "It's their nature." She took Kurt by the wrist. "Now you, in your nature,have a lot of explaining to do."
Back in the TARDIS after some time, Rachel handed Kurt a cup of tea in what appeared to be a rather sizable kitchenette. He hardly recognized anything in the space, aside from the cups and saucers. He was surprised as he took a sip.
"You drink Chai."
"I do," smiled Rachel. "Earth does have some good things. This tea reminds me of the many late nights I had at the Academy. This particular batch I went back to the 12th century for and bought it from a cute little 10 year old vendor trying to make some money for his sick mother. I gave him the equivalent of a hundred dollars in your currency. He gave me the rest of his tea and ran to find the doctor."
Kurt nearly choked on his tea.
"You travel through… time?"
"I did tell you I was a Time Lady," said Rachel, putting down her cup. "This is a TARDIS. It not only can travel through space, but through time. She prefers time actually, although it is a bit of a bumpy ride in the time stream."
"What is it like?" asked Kurt. "Being in one time one day and in another the next?"
"Unbelievable," said Rachel, smiling happily. "I can go to Paris one day and see mountains made of diamonds the next. Did I tell you that there's an entire planet that has a jelly like consistency? It's a little squishy and it takes at least twenty showers to get the sugary feeling off you skin, but the planet's people are wonderful hosts."
"I don't think I'm ready for that jelly," said Kurt. Rachel giggled. He looked surprised that she got his joke. She arched an eyebrow at him.
"I am well acquainted with your 'modern music,'" said the brunette. "Now that I've told you a little about me and you've told me all about yourself and how you came to be on my ship, I think we're about done." She sat down her teacup and stood. "I thank you for providing me with an interesting evening Kurt Hummel, but I must see that you get home. I'm sure your dad will be worried."
Kurt ducked his head. "I don't think he cares that much."
"He cares more than you know," said Rachel. She held a hand to Kurt's temple. "Rest now."
He looked at her with widened blue eyes for a moment before they instantly closed, his head coming to a rest on his shoulder. His once clutched tea cup was spilling down his light colored jeans. The ship seemed to harrumph and Rachel rolled her eyes.
"He's seen and knows too much. I couldn't exactly leave him with knowledge of me. Don't give me that," she sighed. "I know he didn't mean any harm." She looked at the form in the chair in front of her. "I didn't erase his memories, just pushed them into his subconscious. At least he'll dream of this night from now on." She paused. "Maybe it'll give him something else to hang on to. He did seem the lonely type didn't he?"
The ship made a noise, and Rachel scoffed.
"Hardly. Like a human and I could have anything in common. Even if we just did spend the last three hours talking about music and Broadway and… alright, I get your point."
If the TARDIS had a face, it would have been smirking.
"I'll find him tomorrow," chided Rachel. "And we'll see."
The ship seemed happy at that, and Rachel went back to the control room.
Kurt Hummel woke up the next morning warm and comfortable in his bed. The most interesting dream he had ever had was still lingering in the back of his mind. There had been a girl with long brown hair traveling through time. Normally stuff like such was not his thing, but it had been so vivid that he almost wished it was real. He crawled out of bed and headed towards his closet. Lying across his desk chair on the way there was the pair of pants he had been wearing yesterday. They had a large stain down the side. Kurt frowned as he studied it. Was it tea? He normally didn't drink tea. He preferred coffee. Preferably coffee with lots of chocolate. Maybe someone spilled something on him at the Lima Bean the day before. He wouldn't be surprised. Come to think of it, did he even go to the coffee place yesterday? The last thing he remembered clearly was leaving school.
Not that it matter much, his days were all a blur as it was. He couldn't wait to get out of Lima and move to New York. It was his dream to be in theatre and sing. He hated that he really didn't have the sort of credits or great resume that showcased his talent. But there was not a drama club at McKinley, and the glee club no longer existed after Mr. Ryerson had been arrested for child pornography and drug trafficking.
Kurt barely knew anyone in his own grade. He had briefly made friends with the outcasts of his class. But they had drifted apart over time, and it was all Kurt and the others could do to stay away from the bullies who made their lives hell. He had learned from them which hallways to avoid, and to find a crowd when he went outside to leave for the day.
The occasional texts from them were the only friends he had.
After showering and changing clothes, Kurt made his way to the kitchen and grabbed some juice and a protein bar. He didn't have time for more than a quick breakfast and headed out the door.
Upon arrival at McKinley, the schoolyard seemed quiet, which automatically put Kurt on edge. Anytime the jocks weren't out throwing nerds and geeks into the dumpster meant they were plotting something. Or that the football coach had actually called a team meeting on the rare blue moon. He hoped it was the latter.
Kurt nearly stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a brown haired girl standing near the entrance. She looked exactly like the one in his dream.
So he had been just dreaming of one his schoolmates. He sighed and trudged on forward. He just had to get through the day. One more to tick off his mental calendar before he could leave for New York.
"Hi," said a voice next to him. He looked over and saw the brown haired girl holding out her hand to shake his.
"My name is Rachel Berry. I'm new here, and I think I am lost. I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the library?"
"Um… okay," said Kurt, shaking it. "It's inside, if that helps."
Her smile brightened. "Of course, silly me. I was thinking it'd be a separate building on campus."
Kurt laughed softly at that. "Only if you're in college. But yeah, it's on the second floor, third door on your right."
"Wonderful," she breathed. "Thanks for being helpful. Some of the others-"
"Not so much on the giving a care front, I'd imagine." Kurt didn't understand why he was still talking to this girl. She seemed… odd. But relaxed in his presence for someone she had never met before.
"Hmph. Human teenager hormones I suppose," said Rachel. "I had better get going. You school bell is about to ring. You had better run along to class." She started walking away, if you could call it that. It was more like a tense, dedicated march. Kurt was really confused. Did a fellow teenager just to tell him to "run along?" That seemed oddly… adult-ish. He watched the girl walk away, wondering if he was still asleep.
Not even two seconds later, the bell for homeroom did ring. Kurt decided to wait about 30 seconds to let everyone rush through the hallways before he entered the school.
He didn't even notice dark brown eyes staring at him from a corner of the main hallway.
"There is something going on here. This school seems awfully dull for an educational environment," said Rachel to herself as she wandered through McKinley High. The whole entire building seemed strange as she shuddered. She couldn't shake the feeling like something was watching her. The time lady took out a handheld scanner from her pocket and held it high along the walls.
"Interesting," said Rachel, tapping a finger on the screen. "It's almost as if there's something sapping the creative energy waves out of this place." Her eyes widened and she smacked her hand against the wall. It pulsed underneath her palm. She ran down the hallway, looking at the school posters. They were all the same, just plain black and white. Not a bit of color anywhere. She peeped into a classroom and saw bare walls and teenagers just sitting mindlessly at desks. There was hardly a bit of difference between any of them. They all had the same type of clothes and hairstyles. Not one bit of individuality.
She ran up the stairs and towards the library. It was all biographies, scientific volumes, math workbooks, and encyclopedia volumes.
"There's not a bit of creativity in this school!" exclaimed Rachel, her hand on her hips. She ran through the rows and pulled volumes off the shelves and throwing them back. "No novels, no… Shakespeare. No music, no… anything." She pulled out her Pen and held it up in the air, frowning.
"What are you…?" she said, going through the stacks to avoid the librarian's gaze. No matter what system or planet you were on, you didn't mess with librarians.
The lights flickered on and off. But no one in the library seemed surprised by it.
"So you're in the wiring then," smirked the brunette. "But you've got what you wanted. The children are mindless, as well as the adults. You have eaten, you..."
Rachel's eyes widened.
"You're waiting for the biggest fish in the sea, aren't you? You have yet to break him."
The lights blinked three times.
The brunette time lady cursed out loud.
"And I just gave you an opening."
She ran through the school like a mad woman, watching the lights. They flickered around her as she ran. She dodged a stream of electricity as it came out of a wall socket as she passed. Rachel flung open the door to a classroom and startled all the students inside.
Save for one Kurt Hummel, who seemed to be glaring at her.
While most of his fellow students were falling asleep or drawing god only knows in their notebooks, Kurt had been going through his thoughts trying to figure out why he recognized the girl earlier who asked for the library. She had been in his dream, sure. But there was something else, something just out of reach.
Somehow, he envisioned a string, and pulled on it.
All the memories from yesterday came running back into his thoughts. He had almost gasped out loud right there in the classroom. His dad had been upset this morning that Kurt hadn't gotten in contact with him with the bad weather going on, but there hadn't been any weather at all.
Just an alien traveling in a space ship saving the planet from oblivion.
For some reason, he wasn't surprised when the door slammed open and she appeared. She held up a small wallet to the teacher and class.
"Rachel Berry, Federal Bureau of Investigation. I need one of your students for questioning." She came over and took Kurt by the shoulder as the lights began to blink.
"And quickly. Kurt run!"
White streaks of lightning began to lash out from the overhead hanging florescent lights, and the teenagers in the room began to squeal and duck. Rachel pulled hard on Kurt's hand and ran out of the room. He barely had time to grab his notebook and bag. The lightning seemed to follow as they dodged.
"Come on Kurt!" said Rachel.
"Do you always bring trouble when you time travel?" he yelled and ducked a lightning strike at some lockers as they turned a corner and out the front doors of the school.
Rachel looked at Kurt, surprise in her face as they came to a stop.
"You remember."
"You made me spill tea all over a pair of my 150 dollar jeans," he growled softly.
"How can you remember?" said Rachel as she held up her silver pen device to his forehead. "Never mind that we have a creature living in the electrical circuits of the school, how can you remember me?"
"Do what?" said Kurt, pushing away Rachel's hand.
"He's living in the electrical current," said the brunette, holding up the device in her hand again. "I don't know how, when he feeds on Alpha and Theta brain waves, as your human race calls them. Maybe he's adapted." She ran her device right in front of Kurt's forehead.
"And he was waiting to catch the big fish in the pond, no wonder."
"Big fish?" mouthed Kurt. "And what does that have to do with yesterday?"
"Nothing," said Rachel. "New day, new alien creature. Get with it Kurt."
"Big fish?"
"You," said Rachel. "He's sapped all of the creativity out of everyone within your school, with a few exceptions, you being one of them. The offspring of any race are easy to feed off of because their minds are open to all possibilities. He's probably had a feeding frenzy for years. Haven't you ever noticed everything is so… bland? Even your posters and book covers are all black and white. Your school colors have red as one of the main shades, but there was barely any visible anywhere in the building."
"I… haven't paid attention," said Kurt lamely. "I just want to leave Lima. There's nothing here for me."
"My point exactly," said Rachel. "Your dreams are big, just perfect for devouring. He's been trying to hook you for ages. But your mind was closed, more than many of your peers. You're good at protecting yourself, and that is a hard wall to penetrate. And my apologies, I left him an opening when I tried to fade the knowledge of my presence in your mind. I pushed the memories into your subconscious, and left a hole by doing so."
"… A hole?"
Rachel looked sheepish. "Mental manipulation has never been my strong point."
Kurt's eyes narrowed. "And you just do this? Mess in people's minds?"
"Occasionally," said Rachel, holding up a hand up in front of her. "In my defense, I have only had to wipe the memories of a few soldiers… and may have inadvertently started World War III over a banana sundae."
"A… a banana sundae? I'm not going to ask," said Kurt. He looked over and saw Rachel scanning the air with the microphone shaped device he had seen before.
"What are you looking for?"
"The creature," said Rachel, frowning at the readings. "I think… Well, I expected that he would have followed us by going into the outside lines, but I wonder if it likes it in your school that much… or he's stuck."
"How can an alien creature be stuck?"
"Sort of like a… what do you call them… a beached whale? He's forced himself into the school walls, and is traveling through them, feeding on the Alpha and Theta brain waves of the youngest of humanity. It's quite brilliant actually. Like… what's the phrase. Like shooting fish in a tank."
"I think you mean fish in a barrel?" said Kurt.
"You know, I never understand that. Why would you put fish in a barrel? Aren't they usually meant for wine and beer and other assorted spirits?"
"Sort of," said Kurt. "I think the fish in a barrel came from the idea of curing your fish after you've caught them… but that's beside the point. What do we do about that… creature? I still have friends in the school, if you could call them that."
Rachel shrugged. "Nothing. He's really doing no harm. Granted, he's turned the school into a bunch of mindless teenagers, but really, isn't that what the school system is anyways? It's not like you actually remember anything after you learn it."
Kurt's mouth flew open. "I take offense to that. I actually remember what I'm taught."
"One of the rare few then," said Rachel. "Come along, I'll take you back to the TARDIS and get this sorted out so you can go back to your humdrum high school experience."
"You're not going to wipe my memories again are you?" frowned Kurt, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Kurt..."
"Rachel. I know you're an alien who knows about a bazillion more things that I do, but don't you want to be remembered? I mean, I'm not anyone important in the grand scheme of things, but you've saved my life today from some sort of monster in my high school's wiring. I stumbled onto your ship and had fun talking to you for hours about Broadway yesterday. Do you know how often I get to have that moment with someone? Hardly ever. I'd like to remember that once I actually got to have a decent conversation in this god awful town, even if it was with someone from outside my own solar system."
"You know I can't Kurt."
"Then no, I don't want you to 'fix me.'" Kurt turned away from Rachel and started walking back towards the school. The time lady's mouth dropped open.
"Kurt Hummel!"
Kurt turned around, giving her a death glare.
"I'd rather take my chances with the monster."
"Kurt, don't go back in!" yelled Rachel as she tried to run after him. But it was too late. He had already shut the front door to the main building.
And the front doors flung back open as an explosion ripped through the building. Lightning danced through the air around the school, sending the hairs on Rachel's neck on end as she hid her face in the crook of her arm and ducked down to avoid any debris.
"Overloaded him. The idiot. You killed him by giving him what he wanted. A veritable buffet he gorged himself on to death. Oh Kurt." She ran back into the school where mass confusion was rampant as teachers tried to lead their students out of the rubble. She dodged a young blonde headed man helping a cheerleader to her feet, a cut across her forehead. The ceiling was about to collapse as Rachel ignored the falling tiles and beams. She couldn't find Kurt anywhere. He couldn't have gotten that far in.
"I can't believe him!" she said out loud. She ran back out of the school and past the adults and kids forming groups around her. She flung open the door to the maintenance shed the TARDIS had taken the form of and marched right up to the console. Rachel banged her fist on the metal before collapsing into it. The ship tried to send soothing waves of calm feelings to the time lady, but she pushed the thoughts away and cried into her sweater sleeve.
"Idiot. Stupid idiot human boy. Never cried tears for a human before. Yes I know, but that was at a Streisand concert and how can you ever not?" She sniffed and looked up at the central column.
"Why couldn't he just listen to me? I told him…" She sighed.
"Oh shut up. I know he has a mind of his own and he wanted to keep it. I know I screwed up. But even you know I shouldn't be seen." She sat down in one of the seats with a frown.
"And now he's gone. Load of good it does." She sighed and the ship chirped and whistled at Rachel.
"Save him?" she said with a scoff. "By what, taking you into the middle of that mess? And let you fry a few circuits in the process?"
The TARDIS blew a whistling sound hard in her direction. It seemed offended.
"Well, I suppose we might be able to withstand the force…Yes I know you're not that delicate. You don't have to insult me."
The lights began to blink and Rachel nodded.
"Do it then. We have a human who needs to be saved from himself."
Kurt slammed the door shut to the main building of the school, just wanting to put something between him and Rachel. Sure, he was walking into the lions den, but at this point, he didn't care. He wanted nothing more to do with her since all she seemed to want was to fade her memory from him. He shouldn't even care that much, but something about her touched him. She seemed lonely.
It was a little odd at first, feeling something in your mind. Kurt gasped out loud and hit his knees. Something had a hold of him and wasn't letting go. He looked up for a moment and thought he saw something iridescent, shimmering yellow and green as it reached to pull him closer. He could feel his dreams, all the patterns and designs he had in mind for his future clothing lines, his memories of singing songs from Wicked and Chicago alone in his bedroom slipping away from him. Mindless oblivion.
But something was wrong. The creature started to screech and Kurt was confused as thoughts that weren't anything he recognized flooded his brain, leaving him drowning in his own mind. The creature let go of him and Kurt fell forward, shielding his face as everything went white around him. He could barely make out the noise of screams coming from the classrooms.
The school was exploding around him, he realized. He started to close his eyes and succumb to the darkness that had been encroaching around him, tunneling his vision.
A few seconds later, Kurt thought he heard a door open, kind of wooden and creaky. Much like when he had first stumbled on the TARDIS. He opened his eyes and saw something solid in front of him with light streaming out of it. A hand reached out of the light towards him and Kurt grabbed it. Next thing he knew he was looking up at the ceiling of the console room of the TARDIS before everything went black and silent.
If he had stayed conscious for any longer, he would have seen Rachel shedding tears and looking relieved beside him.
When Kurt woke up again, he felt warm and comfortable. His head kind of ached, but a hum nearby made his eyes open.
Rachel was looking at a tablet of sorts in her hands, humming along to some song he didn't recognize. But then at the moment, he wasn't sure he could distinguish the difference between Gouda and Gruyere without some sort of help.
"Oh you're awake! Finally," said Rachel beaming happily as she walked over to him. Kurt took a moment to realize he was lying down in a bed. He started to move to sit up to say something, but Rachel stopped him.
"You'd better lie still. My human physiology knowledge tells me that you're still healing. You were in the middle of a psychic explosion Kurt. A few burns, mental exhaustion, over taxing of your synapses… you're lucky you survived."
"Wha—what happened?" he said after a moment. Kurt was surprised he could put two thoughts together.
"Well, you effectively saved your schoolmates, but you caused some damage to the building in the process."
"So I killed the creature and blew up McKinley."
"A Lenta, and yes in a sense."
"Lenta?"
"I finally realized what it was. There are more than a few inhabiting the planet. Once I figured out what I was dealing with, I could search for their signature on Earth. They really are harmless creatures, taking only a little creative brain waves humans produce to survive to continue on their race. There's a whole swarm out in Los Angeles, believe it or not. The one in your high school had just become a glutton. They usually roam freely."
"No wonder everyone seemed stoned," yawned Kurt.
"…Stoned?"
"Um, high?"
"Oh yes, using manufactured drugs to induce a euphoria like state," said Rachel. "I can see that."
"Where am I?" asked Kurt, looking around.
"You are in the medical bay of the TARDIS," said Rachel. "You needed attention after we pulled you out of the explosion. I brought you here after I parked the TARDIS to refuel. That is a neural dampener above your bed," said the brunette as she pointed to the large shield over him. It was then Kurt realized the whole bed was semi-circular. The air was so fresh and clean he wondered if oxygen was being pumped into the space.
"… Which is why you feel so sleepy," continued Rachel. "It induces you to rest."
"But my dad and the others…"
Rachel huffed. "Kurt, this is a TARDIS, I can return you to five minutes after the explosion. Your dad will never know anything is wrong." She paused. "And before you ask, the ones you call friends are fine. There were a lot of injuries and major damage to the interior of the building, but no one died."
Kurt didn't even hear Rachel, as he had closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
"Neural dampener works too well, I suppose," said the brown haired time lady with a sigh.
"Oh shut it. I know I've grown fond of him," she said to the TARDIS. She walked away from the bed, muttering to herself.
"While I know we got to him quickly, what I want to know is how he took the brunt of the explosion from the Lenta and was still trying to hold onto consciousness," said Rachel. She looked up to the ceiling. "He grows even more interesting by the day, doesn't he?"
The TARDIS just chirped in response. Rachel rolled her eyes.
When Kurt woke up again, he felt much better. At least he could feel his arms now. He frowned when he looked down and he was in a pair of dark blue striped pajamas. Odd considering he had been a pair of heather grey jeans with his matching waistcoat and a red and white striped dress shirt. Maybe his clothes had been ruined. He groaned softly at the thought of losing more clothes, but he was even more horrified that he was so unconscious he couldn't properly take care of himself.
As much as he wanted to go back to sleep, his mind and body both wanted to move and explore. Looking over, he noticed his clothes were lying neatly on a chair nearby. Maybe not ruined after all. He quietly got up and dressed, rolling up his dress shirt sleeves to his elbows and adjusting his waistcoat. Rachel was not in sight, and he was kind of hungry. He tried to remember the location of the kitchen he had seen before, but then remembered he had no idea where he was in relation to anything from that night. There was a light ding and Kurt looked up. A row of gold colored lights along the wall was pointing him towards a doorway. He laughed.
"It's almost like you know my thoughts." It wouldn't surprise him. Rachel had said the ship was sentient. He started to follow the lights as they continued to blink ahead of him. Kurt began to realize he didn't know what day it was. Not that it mattered much, he was on a freaking spaceship that could move anywhere in time and space. He could be in the 31st century for all he knew. It amazed him how comfortable he felt in the space. Like the TARDIS was home. It was a home if he thought about it. It was Rachel's home. It made no sense, like her of course. But it made him feel so alive to be in the space. It was something new, something different. He had always thought this was how New York would make him feel. New York seemed paltry next to this.
He sighed, thinking of how Rachel had tried to mess with his memories. He wondered if she would do it again, or leave him alone this time. It wasn't like he would tell anyone. No one would believe him anyway. An alien who could control space and time? Like that existed outside of television. Come to think of it, he could have sworn there was something like it on T.V. Inspector SpaceTime maybe? Kurt shook his head. He was making up things.
The lights stopped at a room, and Kurt was grateful to see the kitchenette he had been in before. A teapot was heating merrily on what looked like some sort of steaming cook top and Kurt soon found a cup and poured himself some of the warm liquid and dunking a tea bag in it from a box beside the teapot. He didn't know what kind it was, but it tasted of orange and cinnamon and he liked it.
He still preferred coffee, but this was something he could get behind.
"Kurt!" said Rachel from the hallway. "You shouldn't be out of bed," she chided as she walked into the room. "I was just coming to check on you."
"Well, you found me," he said. "I had to get up and move or I was going to fall asleep again."
"A good sign," said Rachel. She pulled a handheld scanner out of her pocket and waved it over his head. He glared at her.
"Don't give me that look. I'm checking your synapses. You are nearly healed. The nanites had to reconstruct your mind properly so you've been out of it for quite some time. You were overloaded by the Lenta when it ceased to exist. It pushed all the waves it had taken out of your mind back into you, included all those it had recently harvested and hadn't been properly digested."
"That sounds… kind of gross."
Rachel giggled. "I suppose it does sound a bit like regurgitation."
"So I got thrown up on as the alien died. Such a lovely thought."
"Better than the alternative."
"You just ruined my appetite, thanks."
"I doubt that," said the brunette. "I probably could start frying some bacon and you'd be ravenous."
Kurt looked a little green. "Bacon sounds a little too greasy at the moment. Maybe some toast?"
"Easily manageable," said Rachel. Kurt flinched when Rachel's hand came near him.
"I'm not going to erase my memories from you," she said softly. She quirked an eyebrow. "The last time I said anything about it, you walked into a building and caused an explosion."
Kurt held his nose high as he crossed his legs. "I don't like my memories messed with."
"I can tell," said Rachel with a sad smile. "I promise I won't do that again."
"Good," said Kurt. He sighed.
"I have to go home now, don't I?"
Rachel turned back around with a plate of toast and strawberry preserves. Kurt picked up one of the pieces and found it surprisingly warm and buttered. He nodded his thanks.
"How did you-? That was like ten seconds."
The brunette giggled. "Food replicator Kurt."
"Being on this ship makes me wish I read more science fiction," muttered the countertenor. Rachel laughed.
"Why read when you can live it?" she said with a smirk.
Kurt stopped chewing for a moment. In fact, he was fairly certain he forgot to how to breathe.
"Live… it?"
"All of time and space," said Rachel. "I have never really done this before, so you will have to forgive me. I've been traveling alone for some time and well, it is nice to have a fresh pair of eyes to see it with. So what I'm asking is… would you like to come with me?"
Kurt had to take a sip of tea to make the bite of toast in his mouth go down. His throat had run very dry.
"Travel with you."
"Anywhere and anytime," said Rachel. "I'm doing a study of music and how it affects all races across time. A large project I know, but I want to see how people celebrate life through song. I love music, and people use it so differently throughout time."
"Will there be danger like the past couple of days have been?"
"Probably, and in some cases, possibly worse."
"And we can come back?"
"We can always come back Kurt. Any time you want."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Well, it's not like I'm going to miss anything important. I didn't exactly have any plans to attend anything in my senior year. Like homecoming or prom…"
"Kurt, you just blew up your high school. I think it's going to take some time to renovate."
"There is that, isn't there?"
Rachel hummed and nodded.
"In the mean time, let me make it up to you. I'll take you to New York."
"What year?"
Rachel laughed and clapped her hands with a smile. "Now that's the spirit. But first, why don't you go and look out the front door?"
"The front door?"
"Mmhmm," nodded the brunette. Kurt wiped his hands on a hand towel Rachel handed him, and stood. He carefully made his way back through the ship, coming to a stop in the console room. The TARDIS seemed to chirp happily at him as the decorated tiles in the ceiling floated lazily around the room. He walked over to the front door of the ship and pulled on the metallic and crystal door handle. He gasped as he looked out.
And down. Down was a very long way down as he stared at the deep blue ocean beneath him. White clouds barely seemed inches above it as he looked past them to see the green and brown hues of the planet's surface.
"We're in space," he squeaked out, looking back at Rachel as she approached. His mouth still hadn't closed as he gaped at the sight of the sun in a different light than he had ever seen before. It seemed cut in half by the Earth's shadow.
"Somewhat," said Rachel behind him. She was grinning from ear to ear at Kurt's reaction. "We're still in the planet's atmosphere, floating somewhere above Cardiff, Wales. There's a space-time rift and it is perfect fuel for the TARDIS."
"I've never been outside of Ohio before," said Kurt softly. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"The Earth is quite lovely," agreed Rachel. "I do think it's one of my favorite places outside of my own home."
"I want to see your world," said Kurt. The time lady seemed surprised.
"You want to see Gallifrey?"
"I'd love to see where you come from."
"Maybe someday," said Rachel with a nod. Her eyes lingered on Kurt's waistcoat. "But first," she smiled, nodding her head as she ran back to the console.
"We're setting course for Mercanza! I think it's the perfect spot for us to begin. Their culture is just starting to emerge, and their music is made of only rudimentary wood wind instruments. But it is a beautiful sound, and they play concerts every night in their grasslands while the children dance. Oh, did I mention their grass is orange? It absorbs nutrients from their sun, and…"