The broken glass sparkled around her. It was like little glimmering lights amongst the greyish snow of scrunched up tissues surrounding her.
She sat there on the floor, the cold seeping through her jeans though she ignored it, her legs tucked under her arms as she blew her nose once again. She stared at her hand for a moment, little angry red scratches marred her skin from when she broke the mirror. Suddenly angry she threw the tissue at the empty mirror frame and let out a screech of sheer fury.
Her eyes and nose were read from the excessive crying and nose blowing. She knew that well but she also knew what she looked like. Barely five feet tall, stringy mousy hair, plain greyish eyes, pale sickly skin and no chest.
She looked like a fucking twelve year old.
Plain ordinary jeans and pale pink t-shirt under a grey hoodie with little white Velcro trainers. She was dressed as a child. A bloody child. Plain, wimpy, innocent looking. No way in hell were those bad guys going to respect her.
She lost her husband, her children practically, her mortality and her grandchild. She was stuck to travel a universe she never really wanted to be in while looking like a child.
Those Time Lords really do know how to punish a person.
Even for a pathetic crime like being Human.
She pushed her mousy hair out of her face and bared her teeth like a wolf while giggling like a girlish maniac.
"I am the Wolf; I won't let something stupid like this beat me. I'll show them all that no one messes with me"
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
"What do you think you can do to me?" he sneered. "You're a child, a mere child"
She rolled her eyes. This was the tenth thousand time she got this. A corrupted git in power will be all smug and superior when she finally confronts them. Why? Because she is a little girl who can't possibly hurt them.
"Fuck this" she muttered pulling out her laser/sonic pen and shooting the man down dead. "God I hate these dictators, you can't beat me, little girl, child, baby, blah, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, you think my reputation would have them shaking in their boots but noooooooo-"
"Err...Miss Wolf?" a guard trembled. She looked at him, eyebrow raised. "May I go home?"
"Jeff isn't it?" he nodded. "Yeah go ahead, I haven't got any beef with you, hope you help make your country a better place and all that. Because if I come back to find another corrupted git in place, I'll blow you all up. Got that?"
"Yes Ma'am" Jeff squeaked before running.
Watching him run she knew that once again another legend of the Wolf would be passed along.
Beware of the Big Bad Wolf.
She's going through adolescence. Again, Damnit!
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
So she saves this planet. New Earth which brought back a mix of shitty and wonderful memories back. On the planet was this girl, roughly twenty, no older than twenty two. And she was brilliant, more than brilliant she was fantastic.
Rin. Her name was Rin.
She was tall, long legged with lots and lots of black hair. The shallow part of the Wolf was secretly jealous of her. She couldn't help it, once upon a time she had been beautiful and womanly. At least she felt like she was when she was married to the Doctor. But now she was this little slip of a girl that paled in comparison of Rin.
But that's not the point. The point is Rin helped, Rin was fast thinking, good at running and had a taste of adventure. So why not ask her to join? She could use a companion, it was getting a bit lonely being by herself.
"So...you helped save them all" the Wolf said leaning against the grey steel of what looked like a suicide booth but was actually her TARDIS.
"Well I couldn't let anyone on my turf get killed by some stupid drug emotion" Rin said bored as she examined her long talon like nail.
"I was thinking...you can travel with me. Go through all time and space, save worlds, fight monsters, and just see things"
"No thanks" Rin said flipping her hair of her shoulder. "I don't need a kid to cramp my style, it'll spoil the mood for my clients. Cha"
The Wolf stood there gobsmacked as Rin strolled through the alleyway without a second thought.
"Hey!" she shouted after her. "I may look bloody twelve but I have you know it was my fifty-fifth birthday last week!"
"Whatever" Rin called over her shoulder. "Nice meeting you, kid"
She was half tempted to go up to that prostitute and slap her good. Instead she stormed into the TARDIS and had a glass of diet coke (yes, no more tea, the shame of it all) before finding another planet to save.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
She had been flung onto the floor, tied and gagged. The floor was dusty had made her eyes water. She quickly blinked the tears away, not allowing her captors to see her look weak. She looked weak enough as it is.
They sneered above her with malice in their eyes.
"A bit boring looking isn't she?" one of them said turning away from her. "She won't bring in a lot at all"
"I don't know" the other said looking at her, "she's all mousy and shy looking, some guys like that. Also she was fiery earlier. Some guys like that even more"
"I still think she should dump her somewhere. She ain't worth the trouble; we got enough better looking kids as it is"
"She's a runaway. One of the unwanted kids. No one will notice she's gone, so just drop it"
"Hey, she's gone!"
"What? That's not possible?"
The Wolf was huddled in a far corner out of their eye sight rolling her eyes at their stupidity. She managed to use her laser pen to get her arms free and was quickly getting her legs free before tearing the gag off. She waited for a while until they had run off looking for her when she slipped away into the cells. She let out a growl when she found ten children, no older than ten huddled together.
"Hi" she whispered turning the sonic setting on and opening the door. "I'm the Wolf, who are you?"
"Jim"
"Lo"
"Paige"
"Dean"
"Xavier"
"Vic8"
"Yukito"
"Zany"
"Amanda"
"Kei"
"Well don't worry gang, I'll get you all home just need to avoid these idiots" she promised helping the smallest – Kei – up.
"We don't have a home" Vic8 said arms crossed. She was the eldest, nine or ten. "We're the unwanted kids"
"Well then, I want you. You can come with me and see the stars. Be whatever you want"
"And how do I know that it's not a trick" Vic8 said, eyes narrowed.
The Wolf sighed and held a hand at her right heart. "I promise, cross my heart and hope to die. If I tell a lie I shall stick a hundred needles in my eye"
"Ewwwwwww" several of the children chorused.
But it was good enough for Vic8. Within half an hour they ended the children slave trade, trashed half the planets economy and escaped into the TARDIS without any injuries.
It was at this point where the Wolf wondered why the Doctor never took a child as a companion. They never, never say it's bigger on the inside. In fact they're so imaginative that they thought the TARDIS wasn't that brilliant. Apparently the Wolf's spaceship was supposed to be some sort of shopping centre crossed with Aladdin's cave.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
Vic8 didn't last long. That didn't surprise the Wolf; the girl was so independent and strong that she wouldn't want to have a girl barely older than herself telling her what to do. Within six months the brunette packed a backpack and hugged the Wolf goodbye before remaining on planet to become queen. The prince was barely older than her and decided she would be a good ruler.
Paige and Dean left when they were twenty. They got settled on a relatively peaceful planet in the sixty-second century. The Wolf visited them often; last she saw they were expecting their eighth grandchild.
Xavier went corrupt. Like Adam all those years ago, he tried to change things for his own benefit and the Wolf dumped him on an all female planet. He had been either made a sex toy or dinner. She didn't care which.
Yukito chose to stay in fifteenth century Japan when he was sixteen. When she looked at the history books she realised that the quiet young boy that she taught for a good ten years had become a fantastic general. She was extremely proud and came back a few times to tell him.
Zany died. She had been no older than eighteen and took a bullet for the Wolf. It killed a little something inside of her, and she wondered if this was how the Doctor felt when his own daughter took a bullet for him.
Jim...Jim just vanished one day. He never like the restrictions the Wolf imposed on them all. When he was fourteen and officially 'older' than her he just vanished on a trip. Went to make his own way round the universe.
Amanda, Lo and Kei stayed the longest.
They were loyal, strong, and fast-thinking and they never saw her as a little girl when they got older. They occasionally brought other people to join them, flings that never work out. Instead they were content on staying with the Wolf, for the worst adventures, for the best, for those small quiet moments where they'll curl up together and act like kids. They were some of the best friends she ever had. Even if they probably saw her more of a mother than a friend.
So when all three died of old age. Wrinkled, ill, weak. The Wolf finally, truly understood the Doctor's words all those years ago, back out in front of the cafe with Sarah Jane and Mickey.
She swore to never take another companion in this body.
She will walk alone.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
"Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, oh Happy Birthday to me" the Wolf sang softly as she swung her legs back and forth as she sat on the table. "Do you know how old I am?" she whispered to the trembling person on the floor.
It was a mastermind villain who plotted to use these alien creatures to take over the world. They were like the Ood, telepathic and completely innocent. So pure to the point it made you sick. It sickened her that people would use other people to get what they want. She was so sick and so tired.
This woman was a calm, collected, intelligent but oh so cold woman. And the Wolf had broken her. With her facts and glares and cold voice. She got rid off the woman's cronies, set free the aliens and was now punishing the woman.
"I am five hundred and thirty three today. I have seen many people like you; they all thought they were so very smart. That they would get away with it but they didn't, do you know why?" She jumped off the table and knelt before the woman, her breath dancing coldly on her face. "Because I am the Bad Wolf and there are no second chances"
She slammed her hand on the button, her pen calls the TARDIS and she lets the woman be sucked through a space vacuum. Dead. There's no oxygen in space after all.
The legend of the Bad Wolf carries on. No one cross her because she would strike you dead without a second thought.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
"My name is Jane Smith and I moved from Luton because of my Dad's job" the Wolf recited to the fifth class this day.
She was pretending to be a school student in the twenty first century London. It was risky and dangerous but the Krillitanes were in charge of this school and she had to work out if it was for feeding or there was another Skasis Paradigm floating around. She really hoped not since Skasis Paradigm was a key to open up the time vortex and change everything.
The key to open up her very own mind and destroy everything.
Thank god for Sarah Jane Smith for stopping the Doctor.
"Thank you Jane, now take a seat"
"Yes, s-sir" she couldn't help but stutter.
Her teacher was Mr John Noble. Her husband. Well dead husband. But he was alive and right in front of her and oh god this was around the time she was pregnant with MJ. Her baby girl, her famous Olympic skater. Gold medal, five times before retiring.
She was beginning to think the fates don't hate her. They despise her.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDW
She ran down the corridor, her hearts beating fast, her mousy hair whipping back in the wind (so to speak) and her hand in his. The high pitched screeches of the Krillitane followed them though the bat like creatures didn't fly after them.
That oil really works. It was killing them as she ran.
No Skasis Paradigm. That just made her job easier. Though she purposely prolonged it just so she could be around him. Just a little longer. In the end he worked out what was going on and helped her.
They ran round the corner and skidded to a stop, resting against the cool brick wall and panting slightly.
"How...what...when...who..." he stammered out.
"Jeez you are an idiot" she told him, a smile playing on her lips. A true one. Something that hadn't happened in a long time. "How could you not know that your co-workers were being replaced with bats?"
"I've been a little pre-occupied. You know being a father to four children, fifth one on the way. Evil mother in law on the loose and lots of marking" he said running a hand through his hair. "You tend not to notice much when you're so busy and caffeine deprived"
"You're still an idiot"
"You're still one of my students. A Year Seven in fact, so less of the lip"
"I'm five hundred and thirty three, I think it should be you who respects their elders" she shot back. Knowing he couldn't exactly turn round and claim he's nine hundred and twenty, which he just turned last month. "Anyway, nice meeting you Mr Noble, but I have to go. You know always moving about, never staying in one place"
"What are you?" he asked bluntly.
"Alien hunter" she lied walking hurriedly towards her TARDIS.
"Who are you?" he asked again.
"I'm..." god this is hard, what should she say; your wife, your Rose, your widower, your children's mother... "I'm you" she finished. "You're the Doctor, the one that Torchwood goes on about. Well I'm you. Parallel version. Much smarter than you. I generally don't come to Earth. Just had no choice because my TARDIS broke down. But it's all fixed and the bad guys are gone. So goodbye"
"I'm a twelve year old girl?!"
"Five hundred and thirty three! Now go back to your wife before I give you a black eye"
Before I kiss you.
"Now that was rude!"
"And you're an idiot, sweetie"
"Don't call me that"
"Idiot? I've done that about five times this past hour"
"No sweetie...that's what my wife calls me"
The Wolf swallowed the retort of I am your wife and turned round. "I call you whatever I like, now excuse me I have places to go and people to save"
She walked alone. Determinedly alone because she wasn't going to let him see her as a weak little girl.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
So she had taken to visiting his grave. Something she hadn't done since Susan had been taken from her and that was far too long. She blamed it on seeing him, for having all her wounds reopened and that desperate need to be with him again. But she couldn't because he was dead and she was still bloody alive. So instead she visited his grave every week and retold all her stories. She apologised for being so brutal. For not being him. She would leave a bouquet of the reddest roses she could get hold of and then leave to meet her son, Jack, at the gate for a coffee.
"I feel weird" Jack would say, arm over her shoulder, "your my Mum and yet you're so much younger than me"
"I have you know young man, that I'm well over five hundred"
"Even weirder"
She would elbow him and snatch his car keys. Forcing him to walk all the way to the coffee shop with her and back again to the car.
One day she went to the graveyard and there was no Jack waiting at the gate. Because he died. There was no Christopher or Michel because they died too. Donna was buried in Italy and MJ was living in a nursing home. So little, so old.
An elderly woman stopped her when she went to leave.
"You're that girl" she said softly. "That little girl that comes every week just to lay flowers on a grave. I see you every time, ever since I was a child. You never age, why is that?"
"Because I'm cursed" she muttered. "Or blessed. Depends on your view. I'm leaning towards cursed in this body, husband dead and children on the way to death"
The woman patted her arm sympathetically. "I'll buy you coffee, we'll have a nice chat" she led the Wolf out of the gate. "My name is Adelaide Brooke, what's your name dear?"
"Jane, Jane Smith" she blurted the lie without thinking.
"Well come along Jane, I want to know everything" Adelaide said. "I used to work with Torchwood. Almost went to Mars to help make it liveable but oh, things got in the way and suddenly I was very glad when all those poor people died..."
The next and last time the Wolf went to that graveyard was for that woman's funeral.
She then continued to walk alone.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
So there's this alien who wants to invade this planet. Normal stuff, she was used to that kind of crap. But now this alien is using all sort of radioactive junk and this old man Alfie, who for some strange reason reminds her of Donna's grandfather, is helping her save his oblivious planet.
But of course poor old Alfie got stuck in the radiation grid things, she was never good with all that science technology stuff...well just remembering their names more than anything. Bad guy defeated but one of the good guys trapped and in need of rescuing.
But if she does it, she'll die or worse regenerate.
So she stepped forwards, eyes wild and hand at the ready to press that button.
"No sweetheart" Alfie said softly. "I'm an old man, I've done so many things, fought wars, raised my children and grandchildren, there's no need for you to throw yourself away for me. I'm going to die anyway"
"Alfie" she whispered. "You have your grandchildren who are waiting for you at home. Remember little Don? He just turned five and is waiting for you to play airplanes with him. Me? I have no one waiting, everyone is dead and I would gladly join them. I may look young, but darling I've been twelve for seven hundred and twenty years"
She then pressed the button.
He was free and she was in pain and agony. It hurt her insides and her skin burnt and god she could feel the tears running down her face. She staggered away, flinching from the worried gentle touch, a touch she hadn't felt in a long time.
She smiled weakly at him and lied to his face. Told him she was fine and will see him soon.
She collapsed on the cold metal floor of the TARDIS and suddenly she was on fire.
The whole console was on fire.
And her clothes were too tight, her feet were falling out of her trainers and a dark curtain of hair covered her face instead of mousy brown.
She laughed. A manic, ecstatic laugh.
And then suddenly the TARDIS was crash landing somewhere as it was still on fire.
Oh bugger.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
She was clinging tightly to the edge of what look like a shed but was really her TARDIS. The time machine had crashed in a fairy tale looking garden, swing, archway, and all the works. A little girl in a white nightie and red vibrant hair stood there staring at her.
"Are you a policewoman?" she asked.
"Sort of...more like cleaner. I clean up all people's messes. I guess I could be a superhero; I beat up lots of bad guys and save innocent children. But then I guess I'm the bad guy because I kill all the other bad guys" the Wolf immediately babbled. Oh dear god, she's turned into the Doctor. Karma for lying, she was sure it was. "I'm the Wolf, who are you?"
"Amelia Pond" the girl said. "And what sort of name is the Wolf?"
"My sort of name" the Wolf said calmly. "Amelia Pond. I like that. Very fairy tale like. Just like your house. Could you do me a favour sweetie and help me out of this shed? I'm wearing some very small and tight clothing and it sort of restricts my movement"
The little girl immediately moved to help her and suddenly, for some strange reason, the Wolf knew she was not going to be walking alone for a while.
Author's Note: keep an eye out for the next sequel, Five Minutes. And a brownie for all those who noticed my Futurama reference. An extra one if they can spot which anime character names I used. And lots of love if you just review.