She watched as the Tenth Doctor slowly woke up from his position of the ground. The young woman carefully watched his face as it bent to the side into the grass. The Doctor sneezed, waking up. Silently she cheered. She had been waiting so many years for the grass to go up someone's nose and make them sneeze.
The Doctor looked around taking in the tropical area. He was on a small island surrounded by the deep blue sea. It didn't make any sense! The last thing he remembered was regenerating, gold light, then darkness. This was impossible!
Or… Highly unlikely.
His eyes flicked over to a small dock where a gondola was tied up. His eyes moved away and focused on the young woman. She was watching him carefully, as if gauging his reaction to this strange new environment. The woman was average height with long auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing an unbuttoned black cardigan over a grey shirt. Her jeans were a deep blue…. TARDIS blue.
The Doctor stood, brushed off his trench coat and started to talk. "Who are you? Where am I? What am I doing here? This version of me should be dead. I regenerated and – "
The woman laughed. "I'm Karon Haros. Welcome to the Fandom Afterlife."
"The what?" He asked confused.
"You're dead," She replied nonchalant. "After you regenerated this version of you came here, just like all the other people in the different dimensions. You're from what we call the Doctor Who dimension. Welcome to planet Fandom."
"I don't understand," he said, eyebrows furrowing. "How can people from different dimensions end up in the same place? The only people who could travel through dimensions are Time Lords."
Karon sighed. "There's a certain dimension that is aware of all of the other dimensions. It appears to them in TV shows. They know all about you, the T.A.R.D.I.S., Hogwarts, the different Earth countries in their physical form, the Death Star, trolls, supernatural beings, the one ring, and the list could go on. Do you want me to continue? I've had to memorize them for this job."
The Doctor gave her another confused look, running his fingers through his brown hair.
"It is my job to welcome the new arrivals and to get them settled. Do you have any more questions?" She asked while walking to the beach where a gondola had been pushed ashore. He watched her as she avoided touching the water.
"What's wrong with the water?" He asked. "Are there any more people here?"
She gave him a swift look. "No, we're not the only people here. There are thousands of others. New people from different dimensions will sometimes pop up. And when they do the sea rises and the planet expands."
"The planet increases its size to accommodate all of the people coming in?"
She nodded. "The water isn't strictly water. It's made up of tears of fans from every fandom. The whole planet is made up of fangirl tears." She stopped for a moment and watched the Doctor walk closer to the water, studying it. "We are standing on the only piece of solid land. You should've seen it when the fifth book of Harry Potter came out. Absolute nightmare. But that was nothing compared to when the seventh book came out."
"But the land is formed from layers. Why is this the only layer?" The Doctor asked.
"It comes directly from the core of the planet." Karon said. "The core is made up of Feels."
"Of what?"
A long suffering sigh came from Karon. "Feels are the intense feelings the fans get from watching the different dimensions." The Doctor fished a pair of glasses from his pocket, put them on and peered into the water. "You'll be able to see it at night. The tears give off a gold glow. It's sort of the moon here."
"You said there are other people here." The Doctor said, putting his glasses away.
"Yup," She said, popping her 'p.' Karon looked back at the Doctor with a grin. "Well, Doctor, are you going to get into the gondola and see for yourself or are you going to stay here on Arrival Island."
The Doctor climbed into the gondola. "Not a very creative name, Arrival Island."
Karon shrugged as she pushed the boat into the sea of tears. "I didn't name it," She said as she hopped in the gondola.
"How are we going to move without paddles?" He asked. The Doctor had taken off his coat and placed it next to him, leaving him in his brown suit.
"Well, I used to use a rèmo a very long time ago…." Karon trailed off, thinking about the long paddle she had used for centuries. She shook herself and smiled. "It gets really tiring ferrying people with a rèmo. But I don't need one here. The boat moves all by itself."
As if on cue, the boat lurched forward into the dark blue sea of tears.
"Doctor, you'll be living in the Whovian pod. Each fandom has its own pod. Some are connected to plazas or other pods. The plaza that the Whovian pod is connected to also branches out to the Supernatural pod and the Sherlock pod." She paused. "Don't go to the Sherlock pod. There's a creepy guy named Moriarty there. It was a very unpleasant trip getting him to his new home." She shuddered.
"Why are those pods connected? How many pods are there?" The Doctor asked.
Karon smiled. "The pods are connected because so many people have written fanfictions that incorporate multiple fandoms. Or the fans pair them up in fanart or on different internet sites like tumblr."
"What's tumblr?" He asked.
"You don't want to know," was the cryptic reply. "Anyway, there are hundreds of pods. New ones keep appearing and some are still being discovered."
The gondola adjusted its direction slightly. It seemed as if it was being pulled by an invisible thread.
"What are pods?" The Doctor asked.
"Pods are connected living space. Each fandom has their own pod. Each person on the pod has their own house. All of the pods are able to float above the fangirl tears. You could say pods are like lily pads. There's one." Karon smiled, pointing off to the left.
It looked like floating castle. The flags were swaying in the tropical breeze.
"What pod is that?" He asked.
"That's the Merlin pod." She said. "They're on a sandbank." The Doctor looked at her inquisitively, begging for her to elaborate. "Once a fandom's show or story is complete coral grows out of the planet's core and creates a sandbar for the fandom to rest at. The coral is made up of hope and acceptance that the series is over. Hope because some characters lived."
"Does everything have symbolism?" He asked, intrigued. It was a brand new world and he wanted to learn as much as he could about it.
"Pretty much." Karon answered.
They past the Merlin pod and continued on. They were both silent for a few minutes. Both were content to listen to the sound of the ocean carrying the gondola to their destination.
"And there is the Whovian pod," Karon grinned, pointing behind them.
The Whovian pod grew bigger as they came nearer. The Doctor gasped in recognition. It looked like Gallifrey.
"What… How is it possible… Wha?" The Doctor stuttered.
Karon smiled at his reaction. "The Whovian pod took the shape of Gallifrey over the years. You won't have your orange sky, but you do have a small version of part of your home planet. The buildings might not look the same on the inside. In fact," Karon paused for a moment, thinking. "I believe your home looks rather small."
The Doctor frowned at Karon's widening grin. They soon arrived at a dock where Karon tied up the gondola.
"Come on up," She grinned. "I'll show you where your house is."
"Will it have windows…. And doors?" He asked, slightly grimacing.
Karon started to giggle. "Yes, but you'll like it. Come on."
She grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the Whovian pod. She led the amazed Doctor around the pod, pointing out different restaurants and the homes of other people.
"Now close your eyes," She grinned at him. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, close your eyes."
He grudgingly obliged. She led them around the corner and stopped him. Karon stepped off to the side and said, "Open your eyes."
The Doctor did and a huge grin engulfed his face. He rushed over to the TARDIS and stroked it.
"You're here!" He laughed. "My TARDIS!"
Karon smiled. "The TARDIS can't travel to different worlds anymore. It can travel to different pods but that's it. It'll still translate languages for you too."
The Doctor looked over at his shoulder at her, grinning like a child at Christmas. He had a piece of home. Karon smiled a little sadly at that thought.
The Doctor cocked his head to the side. "What's wrong?"
"You have your own piece of home," Karon smiled.
"Don't you have a home?" He asked.
"I never really had a home," Karon shrugged. She looked back the way she had come. "I guess you could say that my gondola is my home. My roof is the sky and the walls are the horizon."
The Doctor smiled at that.
"Well, I best be going," She said. "More work to do."
"You have a good day, Karon Haros." The Doctor grinned.
"You too, Doctor. Let me know if you need something." Karon waved and walked back towards the pier, back to her gondola, back to her house on the waves.
This idea has been in my mind for a while so I finally decided to write it. I'm still going to continue The Lost Queen, but that might take a while. Sorry! =(
This world is completely original. I did not get the idea for the planet from anybody. It is my own creation. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Doctor Who. If I did it'd be really cool but I would not be writing this.
I'm planning on writing more about planet Fandom. It might be under different titles, each one would be a separate story focusing on different fandoms that Karon goes to or has to deal with. I'm leaving this one open because I might add more of Karon and the Doctor or other people on the Whovian pod. This story might even turn into Superwholock. I'm not sure yet.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! =)