Chapter 4: there's no such thing as Demigods

"Lets go on an adventure!" the doctor said with an insane grin on his face "Where to miss Kelly?"

"I have always wanted to see ancient Greece. Their culture is based on mine. I think it would be fun to convince them that we were demigods."

"Interesting. How do you suppose that we do that?" he asked with a grin still plastered on his face.

"Oh well you are very smart. Say that you are a son Athena… No wait she is a vestal virgin never mind. Hmm" she thought about it, "who could you be… Ah I got it! Hermes god of travelers and thieves!"

"Why him?" he asked

"Because you stole a traveling box! And you are very clever. You could pull it off. You even kind of look like him."

"Alright" he returned. "You have a fair point. Who would you be though?"

"Daughter of Apollo!" she said with a smile. "I am pretty closely related to him in reality. I look a lot like him. And I have some of his skills minus the whole sun thing and seeing into the future and whatnot."

"Then let's try it!" he said.

"Well, wait a second! We can't just walk around dressed like people from the 21st century. We have to look a little bit normal. I am not taking no for an answer."

"What are you saying?" he asked looking slightly scared.

She pulled something out of her bag and threw it at him. "Wear this… I have an outfit that I can wear too."

Before even looking at the outfit that she threw at him he asked, "why do you have this in your bag?"

"In case I need it. Duh!" With that she left for her room to go change.


"Oh… you can not tie a toga can you?" she said. She was now in a yellow chiton with a leather belt around her waist. She braided her hair, which didn't seem very possible, down the side.

"Yeah… I had a bit of a problem," he said blushing " you look amazing though."

She gave him a big smile and said, "thank you. Here I will help you. You have something under there right?"

"Yes, I wore the shorts that you gave me."

"Good" she chuckled and walked over to him re tying his toga so it looked like clothing instead of rumpled up bed sheets.

"Alright," he said admiring his new outfit, "lets do this thing."


They stepped out into a busy agora in ancient Greece. People were running around everywhere buying and selling things. Nobody even seemed to take notice of the TARDIS just sitting in the middle of the road.

Charlotte dragged the doctor up to a statue of a man with a winged hat… Hermes. "so do you think that is actually what your dad looks like?" Charlotte asked quiet enough to sound normal but loud enough for people to overhear.

The Doctor, playing along, said, "I don't know I have never seen him before. I bet these statues are accurate though"

"I'm pretty sure that they are. I mean, I look like I could be the child of that Apollo statue," she leaned into whisper something to the doctor "they look nothing like the real Observents. But I will cut them some slack considering the fact that the sculptors have never really seen any of them" the doctor chuckled at that statement.

Just then, a man who had been standing near them said, "You are a child of Apollo?"

"Um… yes?" she asked back. This man seemed panicked.

"Then can you help me?" he asked, tears pricking his eyes, "Please. Please help me. My daughter is sick. Nobody has been able to do anything. But you have a god on your side. Please."

"Sure, we will help. We have to get some things from our homes we will meet you back here. Alright? Don't go anywhere." Charlotte said in a soothing tone.


"Charlotte what are you doing?"

"Helping," she answered, as they walked back to the TARDIS.

"We can't interfere with the lives of the people in other times or on other planets. We are not supposed to do stuff like that." He explained, franticly.

"Look Who's Talking Doctor! You do that all the time. No interfering unless there are little girls crying. Well this man is crying over his little girl. We are going to help him." She said with a determined expression. "There is not a father in the universe who wouldn't tear the place apart for his daughter. Who says that we can't help one out?"

"This is a bad idea Charlie." He whispered looking between the people at the agora.

"Yeah. So? Everything else we do is a bad idea too, But has that stopped you, or I, yet once. No. And what's up with the nicknames?" she asked smiling at him.

"Fine. And to answer your second question, I want to find one that fits."

"Alright then. I just have to grab my med kit out of my bag, then we can help the poor man out"


They met up with the father in the streets again. Charlotte was now holding her bag with the stars on it. He looked sad and nervous. "Hey," Charlotte said, in a soothing tone, "you don't have to worry. Together, him and I, we can do anything. That includes helping your daughter. So take us to her" she gave him a small smile and his face seemed to pick up.

The man, later known as Nicholas, led them to his home. He led them into a room in the back of the house. It was small but very bright from the light coming in through the window. In the middle of the room there was a small bed, with a girl, who had to be no more than 9 years old, sleeping on it.

She was covered in a film of sweat and shivering. She seemed to be in pain. She looked up at the Doctor and Charlotte. "A-are you here to help me?" her voice was week.

"Yes we are," Charlotte said, "We are going to make sure that you get better."

Charlotte opened up her bag and pulled out a vile that looked like it was filled with fireflies. They were floating around in the small container, often crashing into the walls.

"Nanogenes?" the doctor asked. Charlotte nodded in response.

"Well be careful," he continued, "the last time I encountered Nanogenes things didn't go very well."

"That was not your fault; that is totally on Jack. These are updated. And this situation is far more ideal to use Nanogenes. There is no need to worry" Charlotte assured him, "but I will be careful"

"Excuse me," Nicholas asked "but what are those, Nanogene things?"

"Oh!" the Doctor explained, remembering to keep up the demigod act, "These are magical healing things. I am not totally sure how they work, but her father gave them to her to use in case she was caught in an emergency."

Nicholas turned to Charlotte, with an awed expression, "You are using magic sent to you by a god to help my child?"

"Yes" she smiled at him "this is an emergency" Nicholas smiled at her.

Charlotte opened the vile and the Nanogenes swarmed around the girl lying on the bed. After patching up a few bumps and bruises they floated right into the small vile.

"They didn't work." Charlotte said, looking at the Doctor, perplexed.

Nicholas' face fell. "Wait! Don't worry yet." Charlotte said quickly, "I have another option."

She pulled a thin gold sonic screwdriver out of her pack.

The Doctor looked at her with a shocked expression "You have a sonic?"

"Yes, most demigods do!" she answered exasperatedly.

"Is it the newest one?" the Doctor asked excitedly. She smiled at him and nodded in response.

Nicholas looked confused by their conversation "Please, what is a sonic?"

"Oh a gift from Hephaestus." The Doctor answered, "We went on a quest to get him some celestial bronze and imperial gold. So he gave us each one as a thank you." Nicholas seemed to buy his second story of the night.

"Alright sweetie," Charlotte said to the girl, with a smile on her face, "this might feel a little bit weird, don't worry though. It won't hurt you will be fine." She turned on the sonic and it started to buzz. Slowly she waved it over the girl's body, scanning for anything that would cause the Nanogenes to stop working.

She pulled back the sonic screwdriver and looked at the results that she was given "Oh no."

"What," both the Doctor and Nicholas asked.

"Doctor, be very glad that I insisted that we help them." Charlotte answered, in a hushed tone so as not to freak out Nicholas or his daughter even more than they already were.

"Why?" he asked back.

"Gelf." She answered back.

"Wait, but they are all in the rift. How is that even possible?"

"I don't know. Maybe one was somehow sent through the vortex" she explained.

"Excuse me," Nicholas started, "but what is going on here? Is my daughter going to be alright?"

Charlotte answered him, "a spirit from Hades couldn't pay to get across the Styx. So it tried to come back through your daughter. She will be fine. I am going to make sure of it," then Charlotte turned to the girl and said, "this will hurt a little bit, but when it is done you will feel so much better. I promise."

She then turned the sonic screwdriver's power to high, and pointed it directly at the girl's chest. "It is grabbing the spirit right now." Both Charlotte and the girl felt a tug. "I've got the spirit. This is where it will hurt."

Charlotte pulled on the Gelf, as if she and the girl were playing a tug-of-war with it. Charlotte's face was filled with effort, as the girl let out a pained yell.

"Doctor, Nicholas! Help me!" the doctor grabbed Charlotte around the waist and Nicholas grabbed the doctors arm. Together they all pulled as hard as they could.

With one last pained scream from the girl, the 'spirit' came out. It floated there and wailed, "I am the last of my kind. No more family. I was alone. All I wanted was to be loved. This girl was being loved. I could have been her and you took me away."

The doctor responded, "I know what it is like to be the last of your kind. I am always alone. But this is not the solution. It would have killed you both and you know it." Nicholas and his daughter looked horrified at his statement.

Charlotte looked between the two of them, "First of all," she looked right at the Doctor, "What am I? Chopped liver? And second of all," she looked at the Gelf floating in front of her "You are not alone. We can get you home to your family. You are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We will get you back to the rest of your people."

"How do you plan on doing that?" the Gelf spat out.

"He'll take you." Charlotte answered softly.

"Wait! Why me?" the Doctor interjected.

"Because you are a son of Hermes. You have the best shot at getting her home and back," Charlotte said, winking at the Doctor. She pulled a paper and pen out of her bag. After scrawling down a short note, she handed it to the doctor and said "Take her here."

"Alright," the Doctor said looking at the Gelf "take my hand and I will take you home." The Gelf grabbed his hand and in an instant he vanished

"What," Nicholas asked

"Hermes. He likes to be helpful when he can," Charlotte responded.


The doctor and the Gelf reappeared in a dusky and smoky place. "So this is the rift." The Doctor observed, "Interesting."

Suddenly Gelf started to materialize around him. The one who was holding his hand looked to her left "Mama, it's me Em." With that she let go of the Doctor's hand.

The Doctor smiled and then teleported back to where he was standing not even 2 minutes ago (in his timeline anyways).

"She is safe and sound with her mother," the Doctor reported, earning a smile from Charlotte, "So Nicky, now that your daughter is safe we will be off." He grabbed Charlotte's hand and together they walked back to the TARDIS.