We were led to a circular room with a low stage in front of the doorway. On the stage was a long, wooden table with throne-like chairs sitting behind it. Sitting in those chairs were three people that all looked different but all somewhat human looking. Along the walls were more ghost-like people, about 12 of them in total. The one who led us to the room held out a sleeve as a signal to stay where we were and then walked to the side of one of the people.

I looked at all of them, my instincts told me who they were once I'd entered the room. That's them! That's actually them, I'm meeting people like me! Actually, in this reality. I held back my excitement and stayed as straight faced as possible, This is not what I thought my people would look like.

The one furthest to the left looked more like a plant than anything else. Pale green skin, no eyes and a pair of dark green, bull-like horns that swooped in front of their face. Several gaps of emptiness floated around their shoulders, extending out of one of them was a hand holding a drink. The one in the middle seemed to match the room we were in. Clear, glass skin that encased an entire universe. The one on the far right was like a mix between a bird like an eagle and a human. Their face was covered by long, swooping feathers, long wings draped their entire body but yet they still had arms that looked like wings, and dark grey bird feet.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is my companion, Charls." The Doctor greeted with a smile.

They stared blankly at us, Maybe they're not used to visitors.

The horned one stood up, "Let us make this clear. We have allowed you in, you have not found anything and you will not be staying for long."

Their voice could be described as feminine, strong, soft but still echoed in the room.

"Are there only three of you?" I asked, my hearts pounding in my chest.

Their heads turned to me.

"No, we are representatives." The bird hybrid spoke with a scratchy voice.

The horned one asked, "Why are you here?"

"I was looking for you. We were looking for you." I pointed at the Doctor then at myself.

"And look at that, we found you!" The Doctor grinned.

"You did not find us." The glass one stated with a rather commanding voice.

The Doctor dropped his face to a fake sorry-ness, "Right, yes."

The glass one leaned back in the chair, "What do you want from us?"

I fiddled with the TARDIS key hanging around my neck, thinking of what to say. Obviously these are Gray but they're very different from me. What should I ask. Should I ask about our history? Why they're still hiding? If they know my parents? I took a breath.

"What are we?" I asked.

The horned one sat down, "We don't need a name."

I frowned, "How many of us are still alive?"

"Why do you need to know?" The glass one questioned.

"I've got a library, in my head, and-" I said calmly before getting cut off.

"Why?" The bird hybrid leaned forward and tilted their head, "We've no need for a place to store things that needn't be remembered."

I shrugged, "I just do. Might've picked it up from my human si-"

"Human?" The horned one scoffed, "We're forbidden from interacting with humans."

"Really?" The Doctor asked in a higher pitched voice and stood straighter.

"For the past megaannum," the glass one nodded, "It was declared that all other species don't need to be interacted with. They are dangerous and it would disrupt the system."

I felt my body heat up in anger. I was frustrated, how could the species that I was apart of be so...so stupid?

""Dangerous?!" The Doctor exclaimed with his hands in his pockets, "You're telling me you've kept your entire species hidden away because you're scared of a few blobs of pink and yellow?"

I huffed a laugh, He's always protecting humans, isn't he?

The glass one spat, "You should know better, Time Lord. Frolicking with primitive humans isn't a thing that beings like us should do."

The Doctor's eyes darkened, "Beings like us? What does that mean? Just because we're allowed the abilities to control or interact with time and space doesn't mean that we're special. We just watch! We don't do anything! At least humans or any other species is capable of shaping the future! Humans can think of ideas that we're not even able to think of and you call them primitive?!"

I glanced at him, tugging on his sleeve a bit before going back to my own thoughts. He would be able to calm down on his own. Me, on the other hand, I don't think I'd ever been angrier.

"Doctor, calm down." I said quietly.

"Calm down!? Charls, they're absolutely insane!" The Doctor gestured to the three sitting at the table.

"It's fine, Doctor," I turned back to them, "How am I here, then?"

"What do you mean?" The bird hybrid drummed their fingers on the table.

"I'm two-thirds human." I informed them with a growl, "You said that you've been here for a megaannum. That's a million years without contact with life outside this pocket. What happened? Someone slip past your radar?"

I saw the slightest movement in their bodies when I mentioned being two-thirds human. They didn't like that, apparently. I wasn't sure why they didn't like humans, they weren't any more dangerous than an agitated wolf.

"You are young. We do not expect you to understand," the glass one leaned back in their seat and crossed their arms.

"Now, now," the bird hybrid said in a sing-song voice, "the proper word is inexperienced. If what the child says is true then this little one has been hiding from us," the bird hybrid's feathers puffed up in only what I could assume to be anger, "Hiding for a very long time."

I felt my brain scramble as the three continued to talk. I noticed their slight movements, how they reacted to me, how they bounced off each other, how they carried themselves. They showed emotion but somehow willingly. Like emotions were tools to help them get what they wanted. They're being too human. I bit my lip, I can't believe them. I shook my head.

"Tell us the truth," the Doctor started, "give us our answers and we'll leave."

The bird hybrid's feathers flattened and they laughed, "A Time Lord. What are you doing here?"

I felt my chest heat up in anger, I'd gotten used to defending the Doctor. It was only normal as his companion and as his friend. I cooled down as much as I could without physically expressing myself.

"Oh, just answer Charl's questions," the Doctor exclaimed with a tone that said he was tired of this.

I nodded, "How are you still alive? How am I still alive?"

"Our species is beyond the restrictions of aging and death." The horned one moved past their anger.

"That's absurd." The Doctor spat.

The horned one laughed, "We have evolved. There is no need for the future because we are the future. We are the oldest and the wisest. We are pure."

"Took a page out of the Time Lord's book with the regeneration abilities, eh?" I joked nervously.

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask?" The glass one unfolded his arms and leaned forward.

"How many of us are there?" I asked.

The bird hybrid hummed, "We don't have an exact number but I'd say around twenty ro thirty."

"So little?" the Doctor questioned.

"Yes, we are the few left." The horned one shrugged.

I kept a straight face, "Can I meet anyone else?"

"Why?" The bird hybrid tilted its head.

"Well, we just want to meet some of the local folk, right?" The Doctor nudged me playfully.

I gave a small smile and went back to the three, "Maybe you could tell me some of our history?"

"You can't tell anyone," the horned one spoke and took a sip of water.

"Promise," I smiled and nodded.

The glass one spoke next, "We have existed for a very long time. We roamed the universe, time and space and learned so much. After a while, some of us settled down and others came here. We are all that remains because everyone else has died off. We were only able to survive because we evolved."

"You sound humble," I noted, "How did the others die?"

"It was difficult for our species to be killed," the glass one continued, "but creatures found ways to work around that stubbornness. They were torchered until they begged for death."

"Tortured?" I echoed.

The glass one nodded, "The only way to kill us for us to want death. That's how it used to be."

"And how is it now?" The Doctor asked with one eyebrow raised.

"We are past life and death now," the glass one chuckled, "we have complete control over our time.

"No one should have that power," I said a little louder than I meant to.

"Yet, here we are." The glass one spread their arms.

"How old are you?" I asked out of curiosity.

The glass one faltered, "We are the oldest."

"And I'm the youngest?" I concluded.

The oldest, eh? I began to think everything out. The Face of Boe said that I am one of the last of my kind. They've been here forever, could Boe just have meant that I was the last hybrid of my species? Or could it...I felt that heat rise again, something twisted my stomach and made me want to jump at them. Tear them to pieces. You'd think in all the months I've been by the Doctor's side I'd know what true anger felt like. I laughed to myself. I can't anymore. It's just not really true, right? I narrowed my eyes and tried to calm down a bit.

I looked directly into the universe of the glass one's head, "Where are they?"

"Charls?" The Doctor glanced at me.

I ignored him, or rather, I didn't hear him.

I continued on, "It's impossible for not a single one of you to not have children of your own. Humans are irresistable, I know and so does the Doctor. Their creativity, their brilliance, even their greed and their stupidity. There are thousands of species out there that have danced their hearts out and they're some of the greatest people I've met! Their stubbornness combined with how we die would equal life spans beyond even yours. They would have at least lived to meet me." I took a breath, "Now tell me - where is the next generation of our species. The people who settled down with other species instead of hiding in a hole."

"There are none." The glass one said casually.

I didn't want to believe what they said. I really thought for a moment that they were lying. But Gray are a truthful species - logical beings that use emotions as tools. It was like I was the sun whose heart had been scooped out. And I thought that there was nothing that could be worse than that.

I shouted, "If that's true." I faltered, "If that is true, then you are worse than the Daleks!"

The Doctor grabbed my wrist as I said the word Daleks. I didn't snap out of it completely, though. I was still angry but the sun had shrunk down to a mere figurine.

"Daleks are primitive creatures, we are not the Dalek." The bird hybrid laughed.

The Doctor spoke this time, "You wiped them out. Didn't you?"

The horned one looked at him, "We don't need a future. There is nothing better than us."

The Doctor's face scrunched up in anger, "You've killed all of your species! You made the decision to kill everyone and didn't even give them a chance! Anyone not from your generation was killed."

"It was necessary."

"Really? Because from what I can see you've failed. And your future is standing right here staring you in the face." I took a breath and said in a clear voice, "Charlie Grey. 33.32% human and 66.68% you."

The bird hybrid scoffed, "You are not me. You are not us."

"You don't consider them to be one of your species?" The Doctor nodded towards me.

"They are not our future. They are not us." The bird hybrid repeated.

The Doctor was angry now, we both were and there wasn't anyone else there to stop us, "That's your excuse? You label your own children - your own kind - as foriegn and commit genocide? All to be pure?"

"Yes."

I glared and held onto the Doctor's hand, "I'm the last of me. The last hybrid of our species. And I'm glad. Because no one should be you. Our species has turned from genius cowards to narcissistic assholes."

"We evolved. We are no longer cowards and we stand at the top." The glass one declared and stood up.

I growled again, "When did I say being a coward was a bad thing? Cowards have the strength to turn into champions and they can find solutions to almost any problem you throw at them! They can mold fear into greatness. And you fear nothing?"

"We are above fear." The glass one leaned forward.

"You're above everything! And it's bullshit," I spat.

The horned one laughed again, "You are the last of your kind. You stand alone. A distasteful stain on the purity of our species."

"They do not stand alone! I'm right here!" The Doctor stepped forward.

"Then we'll wipe you out. It's easy," the horned one bragged, "We will remain, forever."

I felt the anger in me subside completely. I didn't need to be angry with them, they honestly believed that they were doing the right thing. I somehow couldn't fault them for that. Sure, I was still angry but I didn't have the right to use the power that came with that anger. If they wanted to remain forever, they could experience the mistake they'd made for themselves. Time always catches up in the end.

I turned to the Doctor and smiled as best as I could, "Doctor, I think we should go."

"You're incredible, you are." The Doctor kept his eyes on the three in front of us, "Your species wiped out your entire generation and you're completely calm..." His words floated away from him as he looked into my eyes.

"Doctor, let's just go." I held his hand and walked towards the door.

The twelve ghost-like beings ran to block our exit.

The glass one's voice echoed, "You shall not leave. You're not allowed to leave."

I smirked, "I thought that I wouldn't be staying long? You going back on your word? I'm guessing you want me dead, if that's the case."

There was no reply, only the ghosts slowly walking towards us. The Doctor and I slowly backed away from the cloaked ghosts.

I huffed and shouted with all the anger I had left, "Don't even try to stop me because if you do you'll get something a hell of a lot scarier than the Oncoming Storm. Now get out of the way. We're leaving."

"Do not let them leave." The glass one repeated.

The Doctor held my hand tightly, "Charls?"

"Doctor, go to the TARDIS - I'll meet you there." I tried to let go of his hand.

He wouldn't let me, "Charls, I can't do that."

"Why not, Doctor?" I asked and looked into his eyes.

"I just can't." The Doctor pleaded, "We're leaving together. Now."

I nodded my head, "Fine. Let's go then."

We ran, like we always did. Ran all the way to the TARDIS and didn't stop until we were sure we were far from that little pocket in the universe. I wasn't sure how to feel after that. The shouting and growling had exhausted me more than all the rambling in a lifetime. I wanted to cry, I wanted to shout, I wanted to punch something and I wanted to do anything to get rid of all the confusing emotions that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Once the Doctor had gotten us on a path back to Earth, I really didn't know how to react. I got lost in my own thoughts and hid. I ran to the wooden door and hid in the room that I'd been born in. He sat with me, leaned against the door and let me process. I couldn't really gather my thoughts fully. Like when you read a book and after awhile the words blur together and you can't read anymore. My library felt useless to me. There wasn't a manual on how to handle emotions or a guide book on how to properly react when your species has been killed off by themselves. I wondered if that's how the Doctor felt when he had to burn his planet. He was the victim and the villain. I didn't ask him for advice, as much as I did want it. I decided that for now, just sitting was good enough.

Meanwhile...

The bird hybrid scratched the floor in irritation, "Why'd you let them leave?"

"It's fine." The glass one waved the question away, "We can see their every move. It doesn't matter where they run."

"The last hurdle," the horned one smirked, "A stupid mixed human."

The glass one leaned back in his chair, "Calm down. We're at the top, we see everything and we control what we want."

"So when?" The bird wiggled in their seat, "And who's going to do it?"

The glass one hummed, "We can wait until their guard is down. Did you manage to plant it?"

"Heh, who do you take me for?" The bird hybrid spread their wings out in a display of power.