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Disclaimer I don't own Doctor Who, the 11th Doctor, Amy, Rory or the TARDIS. I don't even own the Vortex Manipulator. I do however own my OC, Alfie who can shape-shift into a White furred German sheppard, I own all the rights to her. I own Krypton 4, the Exiles, Buck Eon and the Psychic tag.
Doctor Who
Chapter Four - Familiar Brown Jacket
Buck soon became quite popular, he was the obvious choice for the next Shade of Krypton 4 as he was a descendent of Royal Blood. And being the shy guy he was that normally got ignored, it was a bit much all at once. With a few hours, news got out that Shade Krystal was dead and that an Eon was claiming the throne back - as it was his birth rite.
Poor Buck, the morning before he had just been another replaceable servant. He had been just that average guy who you wouldn't spare a second glance at if you passed him on the street. But now, now he wasn't just some guy, he was the next Shade. He was the most respected man on the whole planet now.
"So, how does it feel?" the Doctor came up behind the neon white-haired young man and stood beside him as he looked over the City from a balcony on the East wing of the palace. The emerald sun was once again burning brightly over the city, the shadows of the night had long since been chased away and replaced with beautiful colours of red and blue. The white stoned pathways glowed beneath the sun's light. "Being a Shade I mean."
"I… I'm not sure yet…" Buck replied, fiddling with his fingers nervously before his hands clenched into loose fists and he stood up straight, a determined look on his face. "But I know how I'm going to start, by removing the law that Exiles are banished from the City."
"Great, you'll need someone to go and tell them," the Doctor smiled cheerfully as Buck at him with raised eyebrows. "Alright I give in, I'll go tell them."
Before Buck could reply, the Doctor was off to find Alfie - who was his only way of getting back to the TARDIS… and to tell the Exiles some exciting news. He found her quickly, and thankfully with Amy and Rory as well.
"Excellent. Now, Alfie, we need to go back to the Cave where the Exiles are." the Doctor told her as he took hold of her collar again, Amy and Rory did the same. Alfie bit down lightly on the Vortex Manipulator and they were zapped out of the Palace, but after a few seconds reappeared at the mouth of the Cave the exiles lived in.
Alfie turned round slowly and stared wide-eyed at the blue box standing before her, her jaw dropped and the watch landed with a thump onto the blue grassy ground. She stared a few seconds more before shaking herself out of the trance she had been in, she grabbed the Vortex Manipulator in her mouth and turned tail, trotting quickly down the dark hole with confident ease of someone who was familiar with their surroundings. It wasn't long before the Doctor spotted the orange glow at the bottom of the cave that meant they were at the centre of the Exiles den. Alfie jumped over the fire and darted down the passageway opposite the entrance.
"Alfie!" the Doctor and his companions heard a voice squeak loudly with shock at first but then in joyous glee.
"I thought you only wanted to see where the Shade lived? What took you so long?" Scarlet questioned as she emerged out of the darkness from another passageway, her blazing red hair highlighted by the fire. She looked from the Doctor to Amy, then to Rory. "So? Where is she?"
"She's with Granger, don't worry about her. We're here for a different reason actually. We were away for a bit because of the Shade," the Doctor told the Exile leader. "There was a whole big fuss, Shade Krystal was killed and now there's a new Shade. Buck Eon-"
"Wait, wait, wait, slow down. What?" Scarlet asked, eyes wide in disbelief at the news that the Shade had been murdered. They had attempted to kill him dozens of times over the past few years, but this bow-tie wearing mad man managed to kill him in just a few hours. That was hardly fair.
"Yeah, Shade Eon. Which is the reason why we're here actually," the Doctor smiled brightly at Scarlet as he clasped his hands together. "The exiles are no longer banished from the kingdom, so you can go back and live in the city.""You're joking!" a young guy appeared from the far right tunnel, his hair was a smoky grey colour and his green eyes were wide with disbelief. He twisted quickly and melted back into the darkness.
"Duke stop!" Scarlet called after him, but it was too late, he had already gone to tell the others. She scrunched her eyes shut and sighed heavily through her nose. "Thank you very much, Doctor."
Seconds later loud joyous shouts and cheers echoed throughout the cave, getting louder and louder, as if growing closer and closer towards the heart of the den. Suddenly grinning faces belonging to brightly haired exiles emerged from the dark; men, women, children, and even the dogs were dancing around the fire. Spinning, and jumping, back-flipping and cart wheeling. It was like watching a marvellous dancing circus act, but without any music or funny costumes. They howled, and cheered, and cried with glee.
It wasn't long before Scarlet gave in and joined in with the other Exiles, skipping and hooting in delight. Standing at the very edge of the main part of the cave stood Alfie, her white fur standing out terribly against the black rock wall and the shadows all around. Right by her side was Granger, bobbing up and down on the tips of his bare toes. He looked like he really wanted to join in with the others, but he would surely get hurt if he tried. Alfie looked up at him and a frown fell over his face after a few seconds, his hand tightened around the red leather collar around her neck. Alfie then looked away from him and over towards Scarlet, who looked back at her and nodded her head before skipping over and scooping Granger up into her arms, he squeaked in surprise before dissolving into giggles as he danced with the other Exiles.
Alfie stood on her own and watched the large group with a forlorn look, she knew that the Exiles didn't need her anymore. They hadn't needed her in the first place, she was just extra help. She had made a difference to Granger's life, but he would have soon grown out of her company and went to seek affection from someone his own age, his own species even. Alfie, still holding the Vortex Manipulator in her mouth, padded over towards the Doctor and sat down in front of him, looking up into his blue eyes with her own.
The Doctor had only just then noticed that Alfie's eyes were two different colours; the left one was a steel blue colour, while the right one was a battleship grey colour. They looked familiar, but he just couldn't quite place them.
'Can I come with you?' a voice asked in his head, Alfie asked in his head. 'I don't belong here.'
"So I noticed," the Doctor replied, smiling as he kneeled down in front of her so that he was at her level. "You can come on one condition. You tell me why you aren't changing into your human form."
'I can't.' Alfie replied, her sad tone ringing in his head.
"What do you mean you can't?"
'I can't. A bit of silver was placed into the scruff of my neck. I can't reach it, and until it get's removed I can't shift.' Alfie explained to the Time lord squatting in front of her.
"Ah, I see how that can be a problem," the Doctor agreed, nodding his head. "Well, now that that's cleared up, let's go back to the TARDIS and see what I can do about that."
"Aren't we going to say good-bye or anything?" Rory asked, breaking his own silence as they walked away from the Exiles, the Doctor leading the group with Alfie padding along at his side.
"We don't need to ruin their fun," the Doctor replied as he pushed the front door to his Time machine open. "Oops, forgot to lock the door… Oh well, nothing bad."
Alfie trotted into the blue box after him and looked all around her, it had seemed tiny from the outside, but was far from that on the inside.
"Right, let's see where I put it," the Doctor ran across to the other side of the TARDIS and down a pair of stairs. There was a squeak of something being opened, followed by the sound of rummaging through things before a thud as something was closed. A few more minutes of squeaking and rummaging later, the Doctor found what he was looking for. "Ah-ha!"
The Doctor appeared beside the console of the TARDIS after jumping up the stairs again, in his hand was a greyish silver rectangular shaped box with buttons and knobs on it.
"I knew I had it somewhere, good old magnetising device. Quick with little mess, but hurts a bit," the Doctor explained as he strolled over to Alfie and positioned the box over the middle of her shoulders at the scruff of her neck. "Are you ready?"
Amy and Rory watched curiously as Alfie nodded her head and the Doctor pressed a blue button down on the box with his thumb, a humming noise started and quickly grew louder. There was a sickening rip as something was torn and the Doctor pushed the blue button again, stopping the magnet. Alfie whimpered softly as they noticed the tear in her fur that was oozing blood, but they watched as the wound stitched back together and healed before their eyes - the blood stayed behind though.
"There, you should be alright now," the Doctor held up the shiny silver piece of metal up between his fingers. "Silver, not a very nice thing to Shifters."
"Shifters?" Amy and Rory said in union, equally as confused.
The trio watched as Alfie was surrounded by a silvery light, her body began to change, becoming more and more human-like. When the light disappeared after only a few seconds, standing in Alfie's place was a young woman with ghostly white hair and eyes that were two different colours. She was only a few inches shorter than the Doctor, and was just as thin. She was barefoot, with raggedy blue jeans and a navy button up shirt buttoned up fully, apart from the first two buttons at her neck which were left unbuttoned. Over her clothes was a light brown overcoat that almost reached her feet, it was loose on her and left open at the front. Around her neck was an identical red leather collar with three tags, just like Alfie had, but much looser obviously. She had the Vortex Manipulator that Alfie had had in her mouth, she reached up and grabbed it with her hand before slipping it into the left pocket of the overcoat.
"Well, this is nice. Couldn't shift back to normal for almost seven months," the young woman looked down at her thumbs with childish interest and wiggled them. "You miss not having thumbs after a short while."
The young woman looked up to see three pairs of eyes staring at her, one with curiosity while the other two were confused.
"Right, sorry, introductions. A bit hard to do when you're a dog," the young woman laughed cheerfully and ran a hand through her messy white hair before stuffing both her hands into the pockets of her brown overcoat. "Hello, I'm Alfie Giles."
At that moment, the Doctor remembered why she had looked so familiar in her dog form, and even more so in her human form. Alfie Giles, she had travelled with his previous regeneration after Rose, but before and then after he met Martha. She had helped him by just being there, helping him to grieve and then, after a little while, heal as well. He remembered the day she'd left as if it had only happened yesterday. She had gotten a call from (Captain) Jack Harkness, Torchwood had needed her help with a gang of Shifters they had found causing trouble. She had told him to go on with - it had been at the time - Donna, but she added that he'd better come back for her. He hadn't, well… he had visited her - after Rose - before he had regenerated, he'd given her his brown overcoat - as both a peace offering and because he remembered how much she'd loved his coat. And like the understanding person she had been, she forgave him for not coming back for her.
"Let's see… hmm… same machine, new console, different man…" Alfie thought aloud to herself as she turned around, looking everywhere before her eyes stopped on the Doctor. "So, there are two possibilities. One, the Doctor regenerated again. Or two, you did something to him," - she stepped closer to the Doctor until her toes were touching the tips of his shoes and their noses were millimetres apart, her eyes shifted all over his face as she studied him. His hair was still brown, but more floppy. And his eyes were blue now instead of brown. He was a tiny bit shorter than his tenth regeneration as well, but it wasn't that noticeable. "Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor," he replied as honestly as he could, staring into her two different eyes, she didn't look convinced. "I can prove it to you."
"Go on then." Alfie ordered softly, neither of them had moved away from each other.
"The first time we met, you had walked up to the TARDIS and knocked on the door, asking if you could use the phone because you couldn't get the door open. You'd just changed out of your uniform and you were on your way home when someone had mugged you at the entrance to the ally were I'd hidden the TARDIS, took your shoes and all," the Doctor reminded her, there was a spark of remembrance as he knew she was remembering the day as well. "You had your badge in your pocket, and you told me you were Detective Inspector Alfie Giles. I never answered and you just sat down at the front doors of the TARDIS."
The Doctor watched her closely, but she still didn't look convinced, he would have to remember something that only he would have known.
"Lots of people walked past." Alfie replied, even though he knew she wanted to believe he was the real deal, she had to be careful.
"I opened the door and held a pair of converse for you, and you just looked up at me," the Doctor continued. "I grinned and winked at you and said-"
"'I've never met a Shifter who's part of the human Police Force before.'" the Doctor and Alfie quoted in union, that was when any scepticism she had had left immediately and a wide grin took over her face.
"It is you!" Alfie wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground a bit, spinning around before putting her bare feet back onto the cold glass platform. She pulled back and placed her hands on either side of his head. "And look at you! Younger and all!" - Alfie kissed the tip of his nose playfully and grinned brightly before looking at the sides of his head - "Aw, I loved your sideburns."
"I see you haven't changed much." the Doctor laughed at the white haired woman as pulled his ear gently. And it was true, Shifters didn't age, and Alfie was no acceptation. She was as young as when he'd first met her, looking to be in her twenties. He could point out a few differences though, for instance she'd gotten her hair cut, now it was only a few inches longer than his own, but still as white as ever. She did however have a small crescent shaped scar beneath her left eye, but it was hardly noticeable unless you had been looking for it.
"Couldn't see the point." Alfie laughed along with the Doctor, the tags on the collar around her neck clinking together.
"So, where did you get this then?" the Doctor picked the tag on her collar that was Authorising her with being able to legally time travel.
"Unlike you, Mr Time lord, I don't instantly have the right to travel through space and time, the Shadow Proclamation arrested me twice before they got sick of me and gave me a licence. Took a bit of work, but I got it in the end." Alfie explained to the Doctor, whose mouth hung open when she'd told him of her arrests.
"And what about this one?" the Doctor held up the blank one.
"Psychic tag, really quite cool, watch," Alfie told the Doctor and padded over to his two Companions, who had been quite. Her bare feet thudded against the glass floor. She held up the blank tag to the two humans. "What does it say?"
"'If found, please return to the TARDIS.' What's that supposed to mean?" Rory asked Alfie after reading out what the tag says.
"Basically it's like an address tag, it lets whoever is reading it to see an address to take the wearer to," Alfie explained to Rory, but turned to the Doctor and yawned a bit. "So, I'm grimy and dirty. Shower still next to the Library? Or my room?"
"Try the wardrobe." the Doctor replied, he had found the bathroom next to the Wardrobe the last time he'd take a shower, why wouldn't it still be there now?
"Rightio, see you in a few ticks." Alfie waved and disappeared down a corridor, the sound of her whistling a tune echoed back to the console room.
"I loved that coat." Was the first thing the Doctor said as he turned his head away from the corridor and looked at his two human companions.
Second update in less than a week, am I good or am I Good?
Reviews and comments are great. I read everyone personally and enjoy them. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.