Stardust
Clara leaned haphazardly out over the railing of the control room's upper level and watched as the Doctor danced a little jig around the main console. He skipped and twirled and pulled levers and pushed buttons, his coattails swirling gracefully behind him. He was giddy, she could tell, though he hadn't bothered to tell her why. Clara knew that if she wanted any information she'd have to ask.
"So…" she began. "Where are we off to now?"
The Doctor stopped mid-sashay and looked up at her. He gave her a crooked smile and waved his gangly arms about.
"Oh, you know," he told her. "I thought I'd pop you back home for a bit, let you catch up on current events: Afghanistan, royal babies, Kardashians…" His voice trailed off and he ducked behind the main engine tower.
"What about you, then?" Clara asked as she descended the metal staircase. "What are you gonna do?" She rounded the main console and propped her elbows up on the control panel and stared at him.
The Doctor didn't look at her, but continued jiggling switches and twisting knobs that probably did absolutely nothing.
"I," he said, "am going to visit an old friend."
"Ah hah!" cried Clara with a wide grin. "A friend, eh? What's her name?" She waggled her dark eyebrows at him.
"For your information," the Doctor replied, finally turning to look at her. "It's not a she. It's a he. I think. Pretty sure. Anyway, doesn't matter. I'm taking you home, Clara Oswin Oswald, so…"
Clara stepped out and blocked his path as he attempted another turn around the console.
"Are you ashamed of me?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.
"Don't be ridiculous," the Doctor said sheepishly. "You're perfectly lovely…for a human."
"Then why won't you let me meet your friend?"
The Doctor ran his hand through his already tousled hair and tried to think up a suitable answer.
"Because…because…it's complicated," he answered at last.
He straightened his bowtie and fished around in his coat pocket for his stash of jammie dodgers, but found only a yo-yo and an orange. He tossed them behind him and went back to the console. Clara followed, and he could guess what her next words would be.
"Have you forgotten that I'm the Impossible Girl?" she asked.
"No," the Doctor answered glumly. "You won't let me." He silently cursed himself for ever admitting that whole "Impossible Girl" thing to her. Bloody Timeline.
Clara leaned over the console and gave him her best face. Her big brown eyes danced with mischief and a little wicked grin played at the corners of her mouth.
"C'mon then, please?" she playfully begged. "You know I'm good on other planets."
The Doctor wouldn't admit that she was right. She had more than proved her usefulness, and he kind of owed her. There was no way she was going to let him take her home if there was an adventure to be had.
"Fine," he said, ignoring her gleeful hop. "But we're not going to another planet."
"So your friend's not an alien?"
I didn't say that. I merely said that we're not going to another planet."
Clara stared at him, confused, for moment before shaking her head as if to decide it didn't matter. She held on to a support beam as the TARDIS shuddered to a halt and they landed. She started to follow the Doctor to the door, but he turned and ordered her back to the console.
"Just trust me and wait here," he said.
"But why?" argued Clara. "This is Earth, right?"
"Yes, Earth. The Sixties."
"Why can't I go out there with you and greet your friend?"
"I told you, it's complicated. Now, just be a good girl and wait here and I'll bring him in, all right?"
Clara huffed a bit, but obeyed. "All right," she sighed as she took a seat on the stairs. She watched enviously as the Doctor went out the door and disappeared. Leaning back on her hands, Clara looked up at the TARDIS ceiling and at the polished metal beams and glass paneled catwalks. After several minutes, the TARDIS door reopened and the Doctor entered, followed by a tall shrouded figure.
"There now, come right on in here," the Doctor was telling the figure. "It's perfectly safe in here. You can just drop all that and relax."
The figure complied and removed its dark shroud and Clara gasped as the material fell to the floor revealing a creature unlike any she had seen before. He was humanoid in shape: head, torso, two arms and two legs. The human similarities ended there. The creature (Clara wasn't sure she could call it a man) had lilac-hued skin swirled here and there with veins of faint gold shimmer. His pastel skin sparkled in the bright lights of the TARDIS. His head was accented with smooth, rounded ridges in place of hair. He wore a tight metallic jumpsuit and matching squared boots.
Hearing her sharp gasp, he gazed up at her in alarm and Clara was able to see his face: large, blue, pupil-less eyes framed by a series of circular markings, but no eyebrows, a wide mouth, and a nose that consisted of little more than two small nostrils. Despite his strangeness, Clara thought he must be the most beautiful creature she had ever seen.
He saw her staring down at him and moved to pull his heavy shroud back over himself. The Doctor reached out a hand to him.
"It's all right," he told him gently. "That's just Clara. She's my…associate."
The creature straightened and gazed up at her once more. "Hello, Clara," he said, bowing his head to her a little.
Clara continued to stare and the Doctor shook his head. "This is why we don't have guests," he sighed. "Clara, come down here."
Snapping out of her trance, Clara turned and hurried down the stairs to where the Doctor stood next to the creature. She gazed up at him and smiled.
"Hello," she said breathlessly. "I'm Clara." She extended her hand to him and he took it in his lilac one, but instead of shaking it, he placed a delicate kiss on the back of it.
"I am known on my world as Luxian," he told her. "You are a human girl?"
"Y—yes," Clara answered. "I've been travelling with the Doctor…" she paused, studying him.
Luxian's eyes widened under her scrutiny. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
"No," Clara began. "I just…well, I was just wondering how it is that you live on Earth when you look so…different."
"Clara!" cried the Doctor. "That's incredibly rude." He turned toward Luxian. "I apologize for my associate's racist remarks. She's really quite stupid at times…"
Luxian laughed and Clara crossed her arms over her chest. "It was an honest question," she pouted.
"Indeed," said Luxian, amused. He smiled at Clara and she un-tensed a bit. "I have the ability to take different forms," Luxian continued. "I take on a human form when I'm among them. What you see now is my true form. I've shown it only to a small number of people."
"Well, I'm quite honored then to see it," Clara told him. "I think your true form is beautiful."
Luxian chuckled nervously and the Doctor stepped between him and Clara.
"If the two of you are finished flirting, I'd like to hear about the status of your home planet, Luxian. Any progress with the Melbarian Treaty?"
Luxian shook his head sadly. "None, Doctor," he answered. "The War Council insists on sending more troops to Ulal, which in turn tightens the siege on our Capital at Mul. It appears hopeless."
"Nah, never hopeless, Luxian," the Doctor said with a flourish. "A bit improbable perhaps, but not hopeless. Clara, why don't you get us some tea?"
"But…I…" Clara started to protest, but the Doctor and Luxian were already deep in discussion about the new trade agreement between the Malmooth and the Hath. She huffed off to the kitchen and returned several minutes later with tea service for three.
"So you're a war refugee, then?" she asked Luxian as she poured his tea.
"Not exactly," he told her. "I haven't—just one lump, please—I haven't set foot on my home planet since I was a baby."
Clara handed the Doctor his tea cup and gave him an expectant look, hoping he would explain.
"Luxian and his parents were fleeing the war on their planet when their ship was attacked by Daleks. They crash-landed here. Only Luxian survived the crash."
Clara looked at the beautiful sparkling alien sipping tea next to her. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"It's all right," he replied with a small smile. "The Doctor helped 'clean up' the situation before too much fuss was made. He saw to it that I was granted asylum on this planet and given a good home with a very nice family."
"And you've never gone back?" Clara asked.
"I've kept up with my home-world; the fighting increases almost daily. Besides, I'm not sure I would ever have a place there. I've lived among humans almost my whole life. I'm going to try to make a life for myself here."
"You can communicate with your home-world?" questioned Clara.
"Yes," answered Luxian. "I pick up telepathic signals from my planet. The news is never good."
"Telepathic. You can read minds?"
Luxian laughed at Clara's alarmed expression. "Relax," he told her. "I can only read those of my own kind."
The Doctor leaned in close to Clara. "I don't think he'd find your thoughts very interesting, anyway," he tried to be reassuring. "Now, mine on the other hand…"
Clara shoved him away and turned back to Luxian who had seated himself on the steps and was sipping his tea.
"What do you plan to do here?" she asked. "Have you gone to school? University? Does your family know what you are? Do you have any friends? Do they know that you're an alien?"
"Clara, would you please not interrogate during tea?" the Doctor cried irritably.
Clara ignored him and plopped herself down onto the stairs next to Luxian. "I'm interested," she said.
"I'm flattered," Luxian replied with a charming smile.
At the center console, the Doctor shook his head and scratched his prodigious chin. "No more silly girls as companions," he told the TARDIS. "My next one will be a robot or an Ood or…a Triceratops that can play fetch." He looked up at the cozy pair on the stairs and pulled his sonic screwdriver from his front pocket. "If anyone needs me," he called, "I'll just be down here being brilliant." Neither Clara nor Luxian looked up at him and he stalked off muttering about silly girls and purple aliens.
"I've studied quite a lot," Luxian was telling Clara. "I can't claim any top honors, but I wasn't a bad student. I have a lot of crazy dreams I'd like to make come true, but I don't see how they ever could."
"Why not?" Clara asked him. She couldn't imagine him being unable to do anything.
"I love music," he replied. "I'd like to make music and sing and play and perform."
"So, why don't you?"
"I can't. It's too risky. If anyone ever knew… You asked a few moments ago if my friends know what I am. They don't. They can't. I would be in danger. I have to stay so hidden." He paused and gazed sadly down into his empty teacup.
"I know what happens to famous people. Their whole lives are exposed to the world and they have no personal space, no privacy… no secrets. I would be discovered and it would be disastrous. I don't want to end up on a slab with a bunch of government scientists yanking out my bits and studying them under a microscope."
"You haven't been discovered yet," offered Clara. "And besides, how do you know you'd be famous anyway? Perhaps you'd be a mediocre performer and end up doing the pantos or being on the X-Factor."
"The what?"
"Nothing. Nevermind I forgot this is the Sixties."
Luxian shook his head. "I know myself, Clara," he told her, seriously. "If I did pursue a life in the spotlight, I would do it relentlessly. Nothing would stop me."
"I believe you," Clara answered in almost a whisper. She could see it in his eyes: fearless determination. He was an explosive force, ready to burst into bright colorful life, but held back by the secret of his nature, his true self. It was a pity. Most modern performers would give their left arms to be able to command the kind of publicity he could if so inclined. Perhaps, mused Clara, that was the solution.
"Luxian," she began, "You've lived among humans your whole life. Tell me, how do they feel about aliens?"
Luxian didn't hesitate to answer. "Most humans would never admit to believing in 'little green men', but those that do are afraid."
"Exactly!" cried Clara, clapping her hands together. Luxian stared at her, thoroughly confused.
"I don't follow," he said.
"Humans don't believe in aliens," Clara explained. "At least they don't admit to believing in them."
The Doctor strolled back into the control room and looked about for anything that needed a buzz from his sonic screwdriver. Clara leaned down over the stairs and called down to him.
"Believing in aliens is for the nutters, eh, Chin-boy?"
There was no reply from the Doctor, just a slight glower before he turned and disappeared under a floor panel. Luxian and Clara giggled to themselves.
"I still don't understand," Luxian admitted when the laughter had died down.
"It's simple," said Clara. "If you keep a secret, everyone will hound you until it's found out, right? But, if you tell them a crazy truth no one will believe you."
"But I can't come right out and announce to everyone that I'm from another world. Even if no one believed me, they would at least think I'm off my gourd," Luxian argued.
"No, that's not what I meant," Clara replied. "Take the chance. Pursue your dream. Be fearless. If anything is 'discovered,' use it to your advantage. Don't admit, but don't deny. Keep them all guessing, wondering. It'll be brilliant! You can't pay for publicity like that."
Luxian leaned back against the steps. "It's absolutely mad, Clara, but I think you're right," he said with a thoughtful smile.
"Of course I am," Clara answered. "I am Clara Oswin Oswald, Impossible Girl." She struck a superhero pose and Luxian laughed again.
"I could be almost myself," he said excitedly. "I would keep a mostly human form, but I could adapt it. I could be wild and strange and laugh it all off as 'part of the act' if anyone came too close to the truth."
"It's a shame you couldn't keep your true form," Clara commented wistfully. "But I suppose it would be a bit much to burst upon the music scene with lilac skin covered in zig-zaggy stardust."
"Zig-zaggy stardust," Luxian repeated. "You make it sound so poetic." He smiled brightly at her and Clara smiled back.
Below them, the Doctor surfaced from under the floor panel. "I found my jammie dodgers!" he joyfully cried out. "Would anyone like a jammie dodger?"
"No thank you, Doctor," Luxian called down to him. "I have to be going now." He turned back to Clara. "I have a lot to do."
"You're leaving already?" asked the Doctor with a frown. He bit into one of his beloved snacks. "You just got here," he continued, his mouth full of biscuit.
Luxian stood and walked down the metal steps and held out his hand. "Your lovely assistant has given me some brilliant advice and I'm simply bursting to get started. Thank you for everything, Doctor."
"But—but I'm the brilliant one," whined the Doctor as he shook Luxian's hand.
Clara made her way down to the main controls and Luxian turned to her, smiling.
"Clara, thank you. You've given me hope and a renewed drive. I wish I knew how to thank you properly."
"I'll take a hug," she told him with a cute wink. He laughed and stepped forward and embraced her.
"Don't be afraid," she whispered into the tiny shell that was his ear. "Be everything that you are on the inside and someday it won't matter what's on the outside. No one will question and you'll never have to hide again."
"I'll do my best," he told her as he pulled away.
Clara bent down and gathered the dark shroud from where it had been discarded on the floor of the TARDIS. She tried to give it back to him, but he waved it away.
"I don't need that now," he told her. "I know I can trust you to see me in my human form as well."
As Clara watched, Luxian began to glow until he was entirely consumed by yellow light. She blinked in the brightness of it, but couldn't turn away. At last, the light faded and a human male stood in front of her. He was dressed simply: a plain button-up shirt, dark pants, and unremarkable shoes. His face was thin, but striking in its balance of sharp masculine angles and delicate feminine lines. His hair was sand-colored and lightly tousled as if blown by the wind. His eyes though…Clara gasped as she looked into his eyes. Both were crystal blue, but the pupil of one was largely dilated, making it look almost completely black.
"Oh my goodness," she cried when the realization finally hit her.
"Bit of an accident," said Luxian's human alter-ego, indicating his eye. "I swung left when I should have ducked."
Clara just nodded and gave him a weak smile as the Doctor led him to the door.
"Goodbye, Clara," Luxian called back to her. "I hope I'll see you again. Or maybe you'll see me, right?"
"Absolutely!" Clara answered then added under her breath, "Especially since my mum had all your records."
The Doctor bid him farewell and closed the TARDIS door and swaggered back to the main console where he jerked levers and mashed buttons.
"I hope you're happy, Clara," he said haughtily. "I was very much looking forward to that visit and you ruined it."
"I?" asked Clara. "You were the one acting like a spoiled brat seeking attention, Mr. Brilliant Conversationalist."
"I was not! I was…I was…He's my friend and you were playing with him!" the Doctor wailed.
"Oh for heaven's sake," laughed Clara. "I was just trying to help the fellow out. You know, give him a pep talk, a few tips and pointers." She turned and began to walk away.
"Clara…" the Doctor called to her, alarmed. "What. Did. You. Do?"
Clara smiled and tossed her chestnut hair. "I believe," she said teasingly, "I just helped give birth to a rock god." She laughed over her shoulder and ran as the Doctor called hysterically for her from the control room. He banged on the door of her room later, but she couldn't hear him over the blaring strains of "Rebel Rebel."
~The End~
A/N:
Luxian is pronounced like Lucian or Lucien (Loo-see-en). It means "of light" I've always loved the name and felt it suited the character.
Yes, he is who you think he is.
The Doctor's line at the end about Clara playing with his friend is respectfully stolen from Dr. Sheldon Cooper in the episode of The Big Bang Theory entitled "The Plimpton Stimulation."
I know I probably went a bit wibbly-wobbly on the dates and details. Author's prerogative.
Also, I cannot tell you how many times I typed "Sarah" instead of "Clara." I finally had to just banish Miss Williams back to her own Universe, though I wonder how a Sarah/Clara crossover might do. It could be very interesting to have them both in the TARDIS...or the labyrinth for that matter. I think having two bothersome brunettes loose in the Underground might result in His Nibs erupting in a cloud of feathers and glitter. I might like to see that...
*Happy birthday, you weird, wonderful, beautiful, man! Rock on, Love!*
Faves and follows are appreciated, but reviews are hugged and squeezed and cuddled and named George.
Fanny