Lady A: Hey everyone and welcome to my brand new Doctor Who story, The Hearts of Time! I know that I need to update my other ones but I wanted to see how you would react to this one. Now this story is co-written with matthewcortes93. His OC is Serenity or Ren for short. Artimes or Artz for short is mine. Now that we have cleared that up, many thanks to all those who fave, follow, and review all of my stories. Your continued support, despite my irregular updating schedule, is truly appreciated and I love you all very much.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything else I make references to. I only own my OC and the plot. Matt owns Ren and he doesn't own Doctor Who either.
Now on with the show!
Chapter One: A Tale of Two Gingers
Artimes and Serenity Blaine were two sisters living on their own since their parents had kicked them out, saying they needed to grow up and stop watching so much television. Their parents had always been realists and constantly said time and time again that life was not a fantasy. No impossible mad man in a bigger on the inside blue box was going to sweep them off their feet and take them to the stars, but that didn't stop the sisters from wanting that very thing to happen.
Artimes, commonly known as Artz, was twenty six years old. She had long, flowing, dark red hair that she usually wore in a single braid down her back. She had sapphire blue eyes and was around five feet eleven inches tall. She had a slender but curvaceous frame that commonly caught the eye of the opposite gender, but she was a skilled martial artist and was quite capable of defending herself. She was the elder of the two siblings and her personality was more guarded, cautious, logical, and strategic, but that did not stop her from doing what she thought was right and damning the consequences.
Serenity, commonly known as Ren, was the younger of the two siblings and was twenty two years old. Her hair was two shades lighter than her sister's and was more of an auburn than a crimson. Her favored hair style was either a low or high pony tail, depending on what she was doing that day. She had emerald green eyes and was about five feet nine inches tall. She possessed a child like wonder and was driven by the need to help others. This desire was so strong that it commonly got her into trouble and her elder sister had to come charging to her rescue. She held a deep respect for her sister and an unbreakable loyalty as well.
When their parents had kicked them out, it had only originally been the elder sibling. Artimes didn't take crap from anyone and she would not allow her parents to walk all over her and control her life with an iron fist. Serenity had watched as the argument had escalated and she interceded when their father had raised a hand to strike the elder Blaine. Ren had taken the blow for her sister which ignited a deep fury in her elder sibling. Artz made a vow that no one would ever harm her younger sister ever again and to this day, she had kept that promise.
After leaving their parents' house, the two struggled to find adequate jobs to cover their rent, food, and bills. They worked many odd jobs, pushing themselves to their limits day in and day out. The sisters looked out for one another and always helped to support the other, but it wasn't until the elder Blaine collapsed from extreme exhaustion that Ren decided that they needed to change how things were going in their life. She sat her sister down and said that they needed to find something that they loved and use that as their job. They found it in the unlikeliest of places...their favorite TV show.
Artz and Ren were passionate Whovians that absolutely loved the hit British television series called Doctor Who. They had first been introduced to the reboot and followed it all the way to the Doctor's twelfth incarnation, but they soon desired to know all of the Doctor's past regenerations and so they went back and found every Classic Who episode they could find. They soon realized that the different Doctors were not so different after all. Certain traits and characteristics were always present within all the different incarnations.
Their passion grew so much that they began to research the Doctor, the Timelords, and Gallifrey in depth and started piecing together the Gallifreyan culture. Pretty soon, they were considered to be Doctor Who experts and had quite a large following on the internet because of their extensive knowledge. The sisters created, operated, and maintained a site that cataloged all the information they had obtained over the years. They even had supporters that would send them donations and they were making a pretty good living. They had found their dream jobs.
The elder sibling, Artimes, convinced her younger sister that they should journey to Cardiff for the Doctor Who Experience and pick up stuff that would help them with their site. The younger Blaine had whole heartedly agreed because she had always wanted to build her own sonic screwdriver. A short flight later and they were in the supposed home of Torchwood Three and the spatial/temporal rift. They spent an entire day at the Experience, buying many devices and gadgets, along with building their own sonic screwdrivers.
The elder Blaine's sonic screwdriver was similar in design to the Tenth Doctor's, but instead of being silver, it was black. Some of the edges and trimmings were silver to offset the dark color and give it some contrast. It had a royal blue light at its tip as opposed to Ten's light blue one. Her sonic also included the psychic interface, dampers, and the red setting which changed the tip from royal blue to dark red.
The younger Blaine's sonic screwdriver was similar in design to the Eleventh Doctor's, but instead of the gold, white, and black coloring, it was a ruby red color with gold trimmings. The light at its tip was a deep purple instead of the bright green of Eleven's sonic. It also held a psychic interface and a regenerative circuit for healing minor injuries…something that her elder sister had added when she had gone to the bathroom.
It was while they were on their way back to the hotel that Artimes discovered something rather unusual. She stopped to stare at it because she couldn't seem to believe her eyes.
"Uh. Ren, I just found a crack in a wall." The elder Blaine stated slightly stunned.
"What's so special about a crack? Come on, I'm beat. Let's go already." The younger Blaine complained continuing down the small street.
"It's not just any crack, Ren. It looks exactly the same as the crack in Amelia's bedroom wall." Artimes replied stubbornly.
Ren sighed heavily as she turned around and walked back to where her sister was standing. Her mouth dropped open in surprise when she saw the crack, clearly defined in the brick wall that lined a housing complex.
"You weren't kidding. That really does look like the same crack. Oh, I have so got to get a picture of this!" Ren said excitedly, whipping out her phone and taking a picture.
Not a moment after the flash and shutter sound, the crack began to glow with a white light.
"Um...should we run?" The younger Blaine asked while pocketing her phone.
"Considering that light erased from Rory from existence, might be a good idea." Artimes answered stepping back a few steps when the light became brighter, "Run!"
Both girls turned to run, but the elder Blaine didn't get very far and was caught by a tendril of light wrapping around her waist. She cried out in surprise and tried to fight against the light that was slowly pulling her toward the crack.
"Artz!" Ren shouted in alarm, grabbing her sister's arms and trying to pull her free.
The younger Blaine let out a scream as another tendril wrapped around her and both sisters were being dragged slowly towards the crack, each struggling to get free but to no avail.
"Hang on, Ren. We'll be okay, I promise." Artimes stated calmly, trying to keep her baby sister from panicking.
"I'm scared." The younger Blaine whispered tears in her eyes.
"Trust me. We'll be okay." The elder Blaine replied taking her sister's hand.
Her younger sister looked into her eyes and nodded her head, her emerald orbs burning with determination and trust. The elder Blaine took a deep breath as they were brought mere inches from the crack. In a flash of bright white light, the sisters vanished from their world, the crack sealing close behind them. Next thing they knew, they were landing hard on a grassy hill and there were sounds of something speeding by above their heads.
"Ren? Ren, you okay? Ren, talk to me!" Artimes demanded going over to her sister and shaking her.
"Ugh, what hit me?" Ren replied rubbing her head as she sat up.
"A crack in space/time, that's what hit us." The sapphire eyed sister stated cheekily.
"Ha ha, very funny. Where are we?" The younger Blaine asked.
"New Earth." Artimes answered staring at futuristic city in the distance.
The sounds they were hearing were the hover cars that were coming and going from the city in the sky above them. Ren's emerald green eyes snapped to her sister's face before looking over at the city herself.
"No way. Do you really think that's New New York?" The younger sibling asked as they both rose to their feet.
"Looks like it. It's almost identical to the one we saw in the show and can you smell that? Apples...as in apple grass. It's gotta be New Earth." Artimes answered a silly smile on her face.
The elder Blaine had always wanted to see the stars and now here she was standing on an alien world, but then a thought occurred to the crimson haired woman. If they were truly on New Earth then there was a very distinct possibility that they were in the Whoniverse. Of course, not everything would line up with the show…it was a parallel world after all and some deviation was required.
She frowned when she wondered why they crack would deposit them here. It didn't make much sense to her. She would have thought that it would have deposited them somewhere along the Eleventh Doctor's timeline, not Ten's, but the cracks did appear all across time and space, so it wasn't that much of a stretch.
"Artz, if this really is New Earth...does that mean that the Doctor is real?" Ren asked softly, hope shining in her emerald eyes.
The elder sibling didn't have a chance to respond because they suddenly heard a very recognizable wheezing and groaning sound. They watched as the miraculous and impossible blue police box slowly materialized a short distance away.
"It's the Tardis!" Both sisters shouted in a very fan girl like manner.
They watched as the tenth Doctor stepped out with his blonde haired companion, Rose Tyler. Artimes didn't think twice about running over to them.
"Doctor!" The sapphire eyed woman called while her sister raced to catch up with her.
"Artz! Ren! Should have known you would be here!" The Doctor stated happily, hugging the elder Blaine enthusiastically.
"What?" Ren asked slightly confused but still hugged the Timelord anyways.
"Well. We've been here a while. You certainly do like to take your time, Space man, but then again, you are a terrible driver." Artimes teased without missing a beat.
The Doctor having prior of knowledge of them most likely meant that they were time/space jumpers of some kind. She didn't know how long he had known them, but she wasn't about to let it slip that this was their first jump.
"Yes, I know. You can and have flown the Tardis better than me." He replied grinning goofily.
"So we learn how to fly the Tardis then? How exciting? Spoilers!" Artimes countered making the Doctor laugh, "Excuse us while we have a brief conference."
Artimes dragged her sister around to the back the Tardis and made certain that the nine hundred year old time traveler could not overhear their discussion.
"How does he know us? He shouldn't know us." Ren pointed out, whispering so they wouldn't be overheard.
"Best guess, we are like the original characters that jump around time and space." The elder Blaine answered simply, crossing her arms.
"There is usually only one time/space jumping character, Artz." Ren replied matter of factually.
"Fan fiction is only limited by the imagination of the author." Artimes countered giving her sister a knowing look.
Both of them were fan fiction authors, but Ren sometimes had trouble with twisting something in the right direction and commonly came to her sister for help. Artz's imagination was unrivaled and her younger sister had spent years convincing her that she was brilliant. After almost two decades, it finally stuck.
"We should tell him that we've never met him before and we have no idea what's going on." Ren stated.
"Bad idea. How do you think he would feel if he learned that this was our first jump? It would break his hearts." The elder Blaine retorted firmly against telling him because the last thing she wanted was to hurt her favorite Doctor.
"Or he could be happy and say something along the lines of 'You have so much to look forward to'." Ren countered.
Artimes sighed heavily, realizing they were at a bit of an impasse. Both were valid arguments so she had to resort to sheer dumb luck at this point to solve their little predicament.
"Should we tell him outright or should we flip on it? Heads for yes and tails for no." The sapphire eyed woman asked pulling a coin from her pocket.
The younger Blaine groaned, but went along with it, knowing it was the only way to get things decided.
"Let's flip for it." She answered not very happy that they were leaving this decision up to luck.
The elder Blaine gave her an apologetic look and Ren smiled before nodding her head. Artz flipped the coin into the air, the sisters following its movement as it spun. The coin came back down and the elder sibling caught it and slapped it onto the back of her right hand. The sisters locked gazes before the sapphire eyed woman raised her hand to reveal luck's choice.
Lady A: And that's it, I'm afraid. The next bit takes on a different tone than this part. So what cha think? Leave tons and tons of reviews telling me what you thought of it and be on the lookout for Chapter Two: Spiders and Spoilers! Stay tuned!
Sneak Preview
"What's the city called?" Rose asked highly curious.
"New New York." Ren answered matter of factually.
"Oh come on." The blonde replied in disbelief.
"It is!" Artz defended a smile on her face.
"It's the city of New New York!" The Doctor exclaimed grinning goofily.
"Strictly speaking it's the fifteenth New York since the original." The elder Blaine amended with a smirk.
"Very good, Artz...although, are you stealing my lines again?" He asked a knowing look in his chocolate brown eyes.
"Now that would be telling." The sapphire eyed woman answered coyly.
Lady A: Not the best preview, but a funny one to say the least and it only gets funnier from here on in. See ya around, dearies. *disappears in a puff of blue smoke*