Chapter 11: The Mystery of Alexiatra
The Doctor walked through the corridors, not quite sure where he was going. Oh, he knew he was going to see Alex, but it occurred to him that, as he had never had any cause to visit her bedroom (until now), he had no idea where she was.
'A little assistance, old girl?' The Doctor asked the TARDIS.
'She told me she doesn't want to be found,' the TARDIS replied apologetically.
'Please?' He tried again. The ship hummed around him, rather like a sigh.
'I'll ask her if she wants to talk to you,' she promised. The Doctor grinned.
'Thankyou.'
Alex lay on her bed, viciously turning the pages of her book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It had been her favorite book since childhood. As it was a human book, the others at the academy had thought she was strange. Then again, they also thought that her mother was terrifying, and so resorted merely to whispering in corridors and suchlike.
An image of her mother floated into her head, and she fought back tears. She wished that she was alive. With her now, in the TARDIS.+-
'Alex,' came the TARDIS, in her head. Alex sighed, and put her book aside.
'Yes?'
'He's asking to see you, dear,' the TARDIS informed her.
Alex groaned,'Why?'
'Because he worries, Lexi, he worries about all of the people that travel with us,' the TARDIS paused.'Especially you, dear.'
'Lexi? Not you too!'
'I would prefer if you didn't change the subject,' the TARDIS reprimanded.
'Sorry.'
'That's quite alright,' The TARDIS told her.'But, I have to ask, why exactly do you not want to talk to him?'
'You say that like you weren't listening,' Alex rolled her eyes. The TARDIS hummed.
'Well, yes, I was, but I thought it polite to ask,' the TARDIS said.'Is she really dead?'
'Yes,' Alex confirmed, after a few seconds of silence. The TARDIS was silent.
'Do you remember her, then?' Alex asked suddenly.
'Yes, I do,' the TARDIS told her solemnly.'I remember everybody that has passed through my doors.'
'Did you...like her?'
'Like her?' The TARDIS laughed.'I suppose I did, yes. We were quite fond of her, my thief and I.'
'She was fond of you too, you know,' Alex said to the ship.'She told me.'
'She did?'
'It's a long story.'
'I'm sure my thief would love to hear it, dear,' the TARDIS told her, and Alex felt that if she had a face, the TARDIS would be smiling. Alex sighed in defeat.
'Fine, tell him where I am,' she said.
'Thank you, derdrei,' the TARDIS said. Alex blinked in surprise at the TARDIS' sudden use of Gallifreyan (the word for 'dear'). It had been so long since she had heard it being spoken, her native language. The Doctor never used it, preferring the Common Tongue (as it was known as at the Academy), or English. It probably brought back too many memories for him.
She sighed, and put her head in her hands. It brought back memories for her, as well. Old Gallifreyan lullabies, hundreds of them. Alex had learnt almost all of them off by heart. She began to hum one of them. It was called 'Mortae Luanis Taom', or 'Death of the Moon'. It was a song about how everything must die, even a Timelord, and had been her favorite for the last twenty years, ever since the Collectors had taken her.
Somebody lowered her hands from her face. Alex looked up at the Doctor, and gave him a shaky smile. He smiled back encouragingly.
"Thank you," he said."For trusting me."
Alex nodded,"You have the right to know what happened to her."
The Doctor just sat down next to her, and squeezed her hand.
"How did you know her, Alex?" He asked. Alex sighed, and ran a hand through her hair.
"You could say that I was attached to her for twelve months," she laughed humorlessly. The Doctor frowned.
"Excuse me?"
Alex looked at him in disbelief.
"You didn't get it from that?"
"No, I didn't," He frowned."Attached how?"
"You know, inside her?"
The Doctor became even more confused.
"Inside? Bu-what?"
"I really don't know how I can make this simpler," Alex sighed."Attached to her. For twelve months. Inside her, attached, for twelve months."
The Doctor's eyes widened.
"You mean-daughter?" He asked, his shock evident. Alex nodded.
"Yep," she gestured to herself."Alexiatra, daughter of Lady President Romanadvoratrelunder and Lord Trilatoros. Though he left, so I don't usually count him."
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said sincerely. Alex waved a hand.
"I didn't really like him much anyway, bit of a pompous prat," she shrugged."So, I was very much a Mummy's girl growing up. I love her, you know. No matter what I said back in that slaughterhouse," she snarled a little. "I could never hate her. She was the most important person in the universe to me."
"Romana the Mother," the Doctor sighed."I never thought she would ever...yet here you are."
"Exactly," Alex had a reminiscent smile on her face."She taught me everything she knew, told me what to expect when I attended the academy, and told me the stories of her adventures with the Doctor. And they were brilliant. The Mona Lisa's, which made me wish and wish that I could go to Paris one day, the stories of the Key to Time, Princess Astra-when I learnt that my Mother had looked like a Princess, I got very excited."
The Doctor grinned,"How old were you, exactly?"
"Hey, no judging," she nudged him."I was only 24."
"Fair enough," the Doctor suddenly gave her a look."How old are you?"
"That's rude, you know," Alex reprimanded."Asking a lady her age."
"You know mine."
"I suppose I do, yes," Alex agreed."I'm 567."
"And you had the nerve to call me old?" The Doctor said, trying and succeeding to improve her mood.
"You're just over 400 years older than me," she shot back. The Doctor shrugged.
"Age doesn't matter," he said."Not to Timelords."
"I'm not a Timelord, though, am I?" Alex stared at him intensely, her dark eyes boring into him. The Doctor stared back.
"I think you are," he argued. Alex scowled at him.
"Well, you're wrong," she said darkly."I was, but I'm not any more. Not since Rassilon's guard took me from her."
"Rassilon's guard?" The Doctor held her shoulders and turned her towards him."I'm so sorry. Oh, I am so sorry Alex."
"They were losing the war, and Rassilon had taken over the government. Romana was removed from office, so she had no power to stop him taking me to 'aid the war effort'," Alex spat Rassilon's name with venom in her voice."There was a new type of virus that scientists had discovered. They found that it could turn even the most weak of people into deadly assassins, capable of almost impossible feats of combat. However, they also found that there was only a certain blood type that the virus could bond with, and it so happened to be the rarest blood type in the universe. Tragic, really, it was."
"So, they ordered everybody to be tested, and found that there was a mere fifty of us in Capitol. Of course, the others all fleed the city, but they got to me before I could," Alex sighed."Mother tried to reason with them, but she couldn't. So instead she tried to calm me down. Then, I hated her. I thought that she had given up on me, but she hadn't. She came to see me after they had performed the operation, and promised to get me away from them before they could completely destroy me."
"How exactly were they going to destroy you?" The Doctor questioned.
"I still had morals," she snarled."I refused to kill. I was punished for it, but I refused. That was when I started to hate the Timelords, and I knew I wasn't one of them. My DNA didn't even register as Timelord after the operation, it instead registered as unknown species. So, Rassilon decided that my morals were the problem, and decided to devise a way to get rid of them. Mother was devastated, and promised to get me out before the operation could take place."
"How?"
"She went to the Data Core," Alex gave him a meaningful look."Trying to track a certain someone's TARDIS. She said, if anyone could save me, it was him."
"I would have," the Doctor said sincerely, guessing what she was implying."Alex, if I had known, I would have. So, I'm guessing that she found another way to save you?"
"What makes you think that?" Alex asked, looking him in the eye again.
"Because you're not a mindless killer," he said firmly. Alex smiled grimly.
"Thanks, but no, she didn't find a way to save me, somebody else did," Alex continued."I went into the operation room, and I was resigned. But then, out of nowhere, these-people came and saved me. One in particular, a woman. I don't remember her much, but she disarmed all of the guard, and pulled me to safety. There were three others, two men and another woman. I remember that one was ginger, and I remember that the woman that disarmed the guards had the darkest brown eyes I had ever seen. Darker than mine, if I remember rightly. Anyway, they told me to run whilst they fought off the guards. I never even got a chance to say thankyou. I assume that they were captured and executed, but I am eternally grateful to them, I really am."
"So, what happened to Romana? Why didn't she manage to get hold of me? Unless..." the Doctor's eyes widened. He shook his head."No, she wasn't in the Core when the Daleks blew it, was she? No, everybody knew that they were planning an attack on the Core, she wouldn't have been that..."
He looked at Alex, and then realized that it wouldn't have mattered to Romana, the danger. Her daughter's life had been on the line.
"She was," Alex close her eyes, swallowing."She was in the Core when the Daleks blew it sky high. I was told an hour before the operation that she was dead. And, to be honest, when I heard that, I didn't care anymore. I just couldn't care. I resigned myself. So when those people rescued me, I was so shocked. I had thought that there was no way anyone could save me."
"I stole one of the least battered TARDIS', and crash landed on the furthest planet I could reach, which happened to be the planet you found me on, and, well, you have a rough idea of what happened next," Alex gave him a half hearted smile. The Doctor held both of her hands tightly, smiling back, trying again to lift her spirits.
"It wasn't your fault," he said gently."Don't blame yourself."
"What if she hadn't gone to the core? She would still be alive, wouldn't she? Maybe even here, right now, with you," Alex gave him a look."Wouldn't you prefer that? An old friend as opposed to-"
"As opposed to a new one?" The Doctor interrupted."No. It's sad that she's gone, Alex, but I wouldn't swap one life for another."
"Really?"
"Yep," he said."Now, I think Paris, don't you?"
He stood up, dragging Alex with him. The Doctor heard his companion laugh behind him.
"Paris! Yes!" She shouted happily. They reached the console room and he began his routine dashing around the console.
"To Mona Lisa's and beyond!" He said jokingly. Alex rolled her eyes, but chuckled.
"Bad Buzz Lightyear impression, but the phrase will definitely catch on," She teased. The Doctor stuck out his tongue childishly.
"Good to see everything's back to normal," Rory said, walking into the room with Amy behind him.
"Well, as normal as things are going to get with him around," Alex said, jerking her thumb at the Doctor. The Timelord in question scowled at her playfully.
"I'm taking you to Paris, Karate Timelord," the Doctor replied."Be nice."
Alex just stuck out her tongue.
Rory was right, everything was more or less back to normal.
O.K, wow, that took a while. To people who are not familiar with Romana, she was the companion of the Fourth Doctor. In the episode 'City of Death', the Doctor got Leo Da Vinci to paint additional Mona Lisa's. Find an episode summary for more detail. The first incarnation of Romana helped the Doctor find the six pieces of the Key to Time. The last piece is the Princess Astra, and when Romana regenerated she changed her appearance to that of the Princess's, hence Alex saying that Romana had looked like a princess. I'm saying that Romana died during her 7th regeneration, and that Alex is during her 6th currently.
I made up the Gallifreyan in this chapter. I hope people don't mind, I just wanted to include the language as the Doctor has never actually spoken it on the show. The next chapter will probably be a cute chapter between the Doctor and Alex, as they have been a little hostile in the last few chapters. Oh yes, and I figured that the Gallifreyan gestation period would be longer than the human one, so I decided to make it a year. Again, I hope you don't mind.
Off to Paris! To Mona Lisa's and beyond! :)
Reganmacneil
