A/N: Don't be fooled. The Master will never change. He does everything for a reason. ^^
chapter twentyeight– Phoenix
Tardis
Rixel walked over to the controls. He'd sent them back so they wouldn't be in danger. It was noble, really, but not smart. No, not smart at all. He'd survive. She knew that because she'd seen him in later years. And if there was anything she'd learned this whole time, it was that the Doctor became a better man with his companions. She'd seen the way he looked at Rose. And it was obvious she liked him too. Forget River being his wife. Right now at least, he liked Rose. So why push her away when he needed her the most?
"How could he just chuck us out like that?" Rose grumbled as she fiddled with the controls.
Rixel frowned as she watched Rose. That strange golden glow was everywhere, burning inside her ever so faintly. She could fly the Tardis, she knew that, but she was missing something. One small tiny thing. And she had no idea what it was.
"I can't stay here! I have to go back! He's dying!"
Rixel sighed. "Maybe we can start it from outside."
"Outside?" Rose frowned. "He's never started if from outside before. Okay, to send us here, he did, but that was probably with his sonic screwdriver and we don't have one of those!"
Rixel sighed. She didn't like what Rose was hitting on the control panel. She was doing it all wrong. If she only had a moment to push the controls herself, she might be able to figure it out.
"Wait." Rose stopped in front of a sealed panel. "In here, the Doctor said it was the heart of the Tardis."
"And?"
"If I could just pry it open..." Rose grunted as she tried to pull off the panel.
Perfect. "Go outside and see if you can find anything to pop it off."
Rose looked up at her with the first sign of hope in her eyes. "Right!" She trotted back outside.
Rixel sighed and walked around the controls. She wasn't sure how, but she had a sort of clue as to how to fly this thing. She flipped up a switch and the lights came on inside. Her heart sped up. She pushed another button and flipped another switch, but nothing more happened. No whirring. No starting up. It just sat there.
She kept trying for a few more minutes until Rose came back.
"You got the lights on!" Rose said. "How'd you do that?"
"Dunno." Rixel replied. "But it's all I got."
The blond started attacking the panel. Rixel sighed and walked outside. She needed to think.
Outside, the sun was bright. Rixel leaned up against the stone wall and sighed. All this jumping around in time was confusing her mind. She never had time to just stand still and think. Her mind was still going over the Utopian project at the Master's place. It was hard to shift focus over to this now.
All this thinking was giving her a headache. The kind of headache that pained her whole body. Rixel groaned softly. She was tired of always being in pain. Then the pain increased. She grabbed her locket. Hot as fire.
"Not again!"
And then everything changed.
She was back in the lab. Not her parents lab, the Master's lab. She blinked. She was still sitting on the chair she'd been in before she left, but he was over in the corner, scribbling something down.
She gasped. It was soft, but enough to alert him she was there.
He spun around, startled. "Phoneix! You're okay!" He ran over to her and gave her a hug. "I was so worried! I didn't know your friends number or I would have called! A few more minutes and I would have called the police!"
She didn't know what to say. So now she was jumping outside of the Tardis. And far too often. And...back to places she'd already been. This was all too new and unsettling for her. She couldn't help it, she started to cry.
"No, no, don't cry!" He leaned back and wiped her hair away from her face. "It's okay. You're alright now."
Rixel dropped her hands into her lap. "I don't know what to do! I can't control it!"
"It's okay. It's alright." He pulled up a chair in front of her. "What happened? You were here one minute then gone the next."
Tears fell from her eyes every time she blinked. "I keep jumping back and forth! It's so quick now! I don't...I don't-"
"Shhhh." He put his hand on her knee. "It's okay. Just tell me what happened."
Rixel sniffed. Then she started talking.
She told him everything. Well, not EVERYTHING, but quite a bit. She told him that she'd been traveling with a man called the Doctor and for some reason she kept jumping around in his timeline. Before it had always been when she was inside his space ship, but she'd gotten thrown back in time by some weeping angel and now she was jumping back to where she'd already been and she wasn't in the Tardis and it all had something to do with the elemental compound her parents were working on and huon energy and him but she didn't know because he wasn't here and he couldn't be for three weeks and now she was stuck with River, who she liked, but if she kept jumping she didn't know what she'd do.
She had no idea why she told him. She was just so incredibly upset and frustrated and tired and scared that she had to tell someone. And part of her wanted to tell him. He was a scientist. He might be able to take a look at the C-14 and help her.
The whole time, he just listened to her. He didn't interrupt or ask questions. He nodded in all the right places and kept stroking her hair and offering a smile. She knew that wasn't a normal reaction to the bizarre story she was telling, but she didn't care. After she was done, she buried her head in her hands and sobbed. He hugged her for a moment, then started with the questions.
"Are you okay?"
Rixel shook her head. "I'm scared."
"I imagine." He said, softly. "Your friend, River, where is she? Back at the hotel?"
Rixel nodded.
"Does she know all this?"
Rixel shrugged. "She knows me already. She's from my future. I don't know what she knows."
He nodded. "So she probably does. That's good."
Rixel wiped away her tears. "You don't think I'm crazy?"
He hesitated. "I would...but you disappeared right in front of my eyes. I have no idea what other explanation there could be."
Rixel sniffed. She felt incredibly embarrassed. It was becoming a common theme around him. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." He patted her shoulder. "I have a question though."
"What?"
"If you think it's the locket, and the elemental compound inside the locket, why haven't you gotten rid of it yet?"
Rixel bit her lip. She hadn't told him that the Doctor stole her from the lab. Or that her parents were dead. Or that the Doctor said she would save the world from the virus that kills everyone. "It's my mother's locket."
"I know, but, you could get something else of hers, right?"
Rixel shrugged.
"If it's causing you this much pain, do you really want to keep it?"
She thought about that. In a way, he was sort of right. If she tossed the necklace out in space, she could just stay with the Doctor forever and travel the stars with him. There was nowhere else for her to go. She could stay with the Doctor and Rose. Or River. Whomever he was really with.
"I...I can't."
He nodded slowly. "I understand."
"You do?"
He looked over at the microscope. "You can't throw away something so...powerful. Something you created. No matter how dangerous it is."
Rixel looked down at her hands. Yeah, he really did understand.
He stood up. "You should probably go back to your friend now. You look exhausted."
"I am." Her voice wavered on the verge of bursting into tears again. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be." He reassured her. "Go. Get some rest. Science can wait for you to feel better."
She nodded and stood up. He was right. More than anything, she just needed to get some sleep. Tomorrow she'd talk to River and explain she was jumping around in time. Then, if she felt better, maybe she could have the Master look at the C-14 she had. Maybe he could figure out how to fix it.
"Thank you, Master."
He grinned at her. "Goodnight, Phoenix."
When Rixel got back to the hotel, her eyes were mostly dry, but they were still puffy and red. River instantly knew something was wrong, but Rixel didn't want to talk. She just wanted to go to bed. After a small conversation and a promise that she'd explain everything tomorrow – and no, it wasn't Dr. Harold's fault – River finally allowed her to go to bed.
She rolled over, leaving her back towards River. She felt bad for not explaining everything right away, but something didn't make sense. If River was sent back here by herself, wouldn't she have warned her that this would happen?
That night, she dreamed of Rose in the Tardis. The two of them kept trying to pry open the panel, but it wouldn't budge. Her mind was busy trying to figure out the answer, but Rose kept looking at the panel. There was something there, but Rixel couldn't quite make it out. It was only there in the corner of her eyes. The answer staring her in the face and she just couldn't see it.
"When the Pandorica opens, you have to tell him." Rose said.
"What?" Rixel replied.
"You have to tell him then, not earlier." Rose said. The Tardis was gone now. The two of them were standing in a field of sunflowers.
"Tell him what? Who?"
"The Doctor." Rose replied. Then she burst into tears. "We have to get back to him or he'll die!"
Rixel bolted up in bed, breathing hard. She was in the hotel room. River was asleep in the bed next to her. The room was dark except for the glow of the bathroom light through the small crack in the door. Rixel took in a deep breath. A dream. A weird dream, but just a dream. She laid back down and stared up at the ceiling. It was a horrible Spackle ceiling that looked like it would hurt if she touched it. She closed her eyes. Images of the Tardis and Rose flashed by. Why couldn't she just figure it out? She was missing something so incredibly obvious! She knew she could get the Tardis to fly again if she could just think!
Then her locket started to burn.
Rixel stared at the Tardis in front of her. She was back on the stone wall, sitting there. She could hear Rose crying out from inside the Tardis. Had the blond even noticed she'd been gone? Rixel pushed herself away from the wall and walked towards the Tardis.
As she did so, something caught her eye. A bright flash of yellow and orange. She stopped and took a few steps back. There, graffitied on the side of a building, was a phoenix.
"I have to be there! I have to help him!" Rose screamed in frustration from inside the Tardis.
Rixel turned. On the street, there was a car with a phoenix dangling from the rear view mirror. And the name of the apartment complex across the street was Phoenix Heights. And then again, graffitied on another wall, the word phoenix. How...strange. The Master called her Phoenix. Her nickname. And hadn't the Doctor mentioned a phoenix back in the underground lab?
She looked over at Rose and her eyes widened. "Rose."
"I need to get back there and help him escape!"
"Rose!" Rixel yelled.
"Wh-what?" Rose looked over at her with red eyes.
Rixel paused. Then slowly, she started to smile. "I...I think I know how to get back."
"What?" Rose walked over towards the door and leaned halfway out. "What did you say?"
Rixel looked over at her and smiled. "I think I understand. I think we can get back."
"How?"
Rixel glanced behind her at the giant phoenix. She wasn't entirely sure, but this was all clicking. Pheonix was a code word. Something to tie everything together. It all lead to her. And she always teleported to the Doctor. Except now. It was like she drifted off orbit. But the Phoenix, it would help her get back. She just needed to figure out how. She raced in the door and up to the control panel. Rose watched as she dashed around, pushing buttons and pulling levers. Rixel had no idea what she was doing, but at the same time she knew she was doing everything right. She paused for just a moment and looked over at Rose.
"Do you trust me?"
Rose nodded eagerly.
Rixel pressed the last lever forward, and the Tardis started to whir.
