With hope of reunion
(After S10 Ep. 4)
-o0O0o-
Stolen Artifacts in a Museum lead the Doctor and Bill to reunions, revelations and secrets
-o0O0o-
He stared down into her cold eyes and for the first time ina long while knew how it felt to be afraid of a Time Lord again. The cool metal of the electrical teaser on his throat made him hyperaware of his TARDIS behind him and Bill's motionless body at the end of the Stairs she just tumbled down, head bloody and her arm twisted in an unnatural angle.
If this had been anyone else than Tella- no, her name was Storyteller, she wanted to be called Storyteller- he would have been out by now, there are enough ways to get rid of a Teaser like that both with word and as last resort the few bits of Venusian Aikido he still remembers from ten lifetimes ago.
But she had placed her second hand in support of it and her stance exactly that way which made that move useless. And one single wrong word and he knew he was dead.
This was a seer who had prepared for all eventualities.
Moreover, it was a friend who believed him dead and herself standing before an imposter who had stolen his TARDIS and using it for pretty theft of the few gallifreyan art pieces she had allowed to be exhibited around the galaxy from her personal collection.
Something she took personal.
And her unpredictability when she took something personal wasn't something one could ever forget, despite the four billion of years and the few decades and centuries he hasn't seen her.
If it hadn't been such a dire situation, it could have been flattering.
He should have properly searched for her after he found-
And that was the thing he could say without getting fried.
"I should have searched for you after I found Dandelecan IV in shambles. I'm sorry. But there were Kantrofarri everywhere on that mess, and they tracked Clara through my brain and then they were on earth and after that I just got busy so-"
She slightly leaned forward and the metal spikes pressed deeper into his throat, so he stopped.
"Name, profession, intention and planet of origin," she repeated softly and patient in the same friendly but threatening way the Kapoaka had used so long ago. She was able to stand like this for hours, days even, waiting for his body to give up and break down. Of course, she was, she was a Time Lord.
And it started more and more to look like that that would become the one way to convince her he was one too. Except for Bill every second mattered.
"It doesn't matter if you believe me or not, but you need to take care of her. She's human, Bill Pots! Please!"
"Afterwards," answered the Storyteller coolly.
"Really? The Doctor, Professor at St Luke's University Bristol, Gallifrey. I know you don't believe me, Tella- Storyteller. But, I have a Duty of care for her. At least get her medical attention! Ask my TARDIS, read my time stream, invade my brilliant mind, I don't know. But It's me."
"The Doctor died years ago on Transalore. In his thirteenth regeneration, and your face never belonged to him. I have seen all thirteen."
"You still expect me to go by those Rules?"
"Those are biological rules even the Doctor couldn't break."
"They're not, and you know that."
Her head shifted, just a tiny bit, and he knew he got her. Just a soft mental bump.
"You better tell me exactly how you have accomplished that."
"It's a long story."
"As if that ever held me back." She turned and gave the Teaser to the guard next to her, then motioned to Bill's unconscious form. "Let's get her into the med bay. But. You are not out of that talk."
-o0O0o-
The world was a blur of grey and orange. She blinked, trying to focus, and groaned frustrated.
"Bill? You're awake."
A white blob appeared in her field of vision. "Doctor-?"
"Everything's all right. You have a mild concussion, nothing a bit of rest can't fix."
Concussion? How-
The Museum! She frantically tried to sit up, but everything stared spinning. God, the museum, the woman! Strong arms gently pressed her back into the pillows.
"Calm down! Calm down. You're save. You're in the TARDIS."
"Doctor, the woman! We… the whole exhibition came crashing down on us… like Domino bricks… she was hunting me… she was shot but she only got angrier and glowed-"
"Yes, that's a whole different discussion for later."
"She was- whenever I tried to go another way, something crashed down or stared burning or there was another security guard coming… and we… I fell down the stairs!"
"We call it false Butterfly effect, it's a Time Lord thing of manipulating people's actions into a desired timeline and outcome. Dirty and effective."
"Wait. Time Lord?"
"Yes. You just met another one and an old friend at that."
The world slowly shifted into focus. Med-bay he called it, like in those old Syfy-Movies, even if it looked more like a normal hospital room. A futuristic Hospital room with one bed, warm orange gleaming walls full of build-in cupboards. She didn't try to get up, she didn't need that dizziness again.
"She tried to kill me."
"If she wanted you dead, you weren't here. She's… thorough."
"That's calming."
He chuckled. "We already talked about it. It was a misunderstanding. She's looking forward to meet you, she always likes my companions more than me."
"Misunderstanding?"
"She's the owner of the collection, and we know the art pieces stolen were taken via Time Travel. You had suspicious emissions from a time machine around you while coming from a species that will never invent it, so she tried to figure you out. And that other investigator shot her, so it's technical his fault. And finding my TARDIS ticked her off completely."
"What? Why?"
"Because by all evidence and circumstances he should be dead. And I only postponed his explanation in favor for your health."
Bill startled into the direction of the voice and was promptly hit by another dizzy spell. But yes, there she was, leaning on the opposite wall of the entrance, arms crossed and watching.
"What is she doing here!"
The woman's, Time Lord's….Lady's? eyes narrowed and the Doctor sighed. "As I said, she's a friend. And has several actual medical degrees, so she's the one who patched you together, too."
"After she hunted me down, so I slipped in the first place."
She uncrossed her arms and came slowly into the room.
"I apologize for that. I know we started off on the wrong foot and I would love to start this over. I did quite enjoy our talk about galifreyan time paintings."
Bill glanced at the Doctor for advice who cleared his throat. "Right. Bill, this is Lady Storyteller, the other surviving Time Lord, collector, librarian, teacher, and occasional guest in the TARDIS. Lady Storyteller, Bill Pots. One of the Students at St. Luke's and my mentee. Just Bill, it's not a shorter name for anything."
A surprisingly warm smile spread over the Storytellers face as she offered her gloved hand, cracking the cool façade of the Museum guard Bill got to know her as. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Pots."
She took it and squeezed. "Hey."
The Doctor beamed a fanatic gin she had never seen before. The Storyteller nodded.
"There are some tests I need to do now that you are awake, just small motoric checkups. The scans did not reveal any lasting damage to your brain tissue, but it is always better to work with a responsive patient." She grabbed a penlight from a drawer. "Can you sit up? Doctor, assist her please."
The Medical checkup was surprisingly familiar, and there was something soothing, trustworthy in the Storytellers voice that made her an excellent medic.
If it weren't for that haunting image of her cold calculating eyes, a glowing shield on her left arm slowly but unstoppable following them through the chaos erupting around them.
But then, the Doctor had killed people, too, and Bill had yet to see that side of him fully.
That Time Lady was his friend, one he was happy to see and trusted enough to let her into the TARDIS. Bill could see in their small interactions how close they were, even if there was tension as they worked together to help her.
"If you're not human, when did you took a medical degree for them. There're thousands of other species out there, can you treat them, too?"
"I have the license for fifty planets. The terrestrial one I initially took in London, 1886, but refreshed it ever since every twenty years," the Storyteller mumbled distracted while checking her eyes once again, then nodding. "Rest. No running for the next 42 Hours and you will be fine. As soon as you get dizzy or sick you need to tell me immediately."
Bill nodded.
"Good. Then off to your Room and get some more rest. No sleep, no Tv or reading, just lay down. You may listen to an audiobook, the TARDIS has many. Doctor, you still owe me that Story."
Wait. Room?
The Doctor scratched his neck. "About that-"
-o0O0o-
The Director was nearly dissolving in awkwardness and stuttered mindless excuses to all three of them, which the Storyteller waved off. They were the only ones capable to bring the stolen Artefacts back , she reasoned in a good mood and continued on to hijack the TARDIS to analyze data of the emissions she had found.
Apparently that bracelet on her arm that generated that glowing shield was some computer of some sort, a thousand ways better than that screwdriver the Doctor carried around with himself. And when it took longer than expected she disappeared into the deeps to the kitchen.
Yes, there was a kitchen, and bedrooms, a garage, a garden and even a library and a swimming pool in the TARDIS, all of which Bill didn't know of until today.
"Who is she," Bill asked from her place in the Seat up next to the bookcases.
The Doctor looked up from the console. "I told you."
"You said Teacher. Is she your teacher? Taking you out into space, like you're doing me now? You're all respectful and nice around her."
"She nearly killed you," he pointed out.
"That normally makes you angry, not nice," Bill corrected.
"It's complicated," he admitted reluctantly. "There's something I should tell her, something important. You have that friend you haven't seen in ten years but still get along with, but so many things have changed that only your past is what connects you? That's her."
"But you still want to be friends?"
Before he could answer, the Storyteller was back with a tea tray, offering Bill one, while the Doctor prepared himself his own cup.
"How is it going?"
"I rerun the analysis, there was a mistake. It categorized as Atron Energy type seventeen."
The Storyteller huffed. "Understandable. Still, can I see it?"
"What's Atron Energy?"
"Explaining that, would be more difficult than teaching a person from the Ice Ages how a microwave works," the Doctor didn't look up from the screen.
"Actually, there were no-," the Storyteller started, but the Doctor interrupted, "Metaphor."
The Storyteller fiddled with her necklace, then turned to Bill. "Found in the emissions of a TTC amongst other things. A type of time energy, in its absolute board basics."
"TTC?"
"Time travel capsule." The Time Lady waved around. "A TARDIS. This is her name, not what she is."
Bill narrowed her eyebrows. "So, the thief has a TARDIS?"
"According to the Data. A Type 20, about twenty generations of Time Lords older than this one here. Which is impossible."
"Except they have," corrected the Doctor and pushed the display over to the Storyteller, who bent forward, eyes big.
"Fascinating. That is the worst-case scenario."
"Where could anyone get their hands on a -Maldovar," both ended simultaneously.
"Right," the Doctor typed in coordinates. "Always a pleasure to visit."
"Another friend of you?"
"Once, yes. Then I got him beheaded, thankfully he didn't take that personal, but no. We're visiting his asteroid. The biggest black-market in the universe, right at it's center."
-o0O0o-
"Remember, no wandering off, no weird food and let me do the talking."
The Doctor guided them trough the Maze of shops and species, marching on the front while the Storyteller followed after Bill.
This place was definitely overuse of her brain and not the rest the Storyteller wanted her to have. Everything was so weird and colourful and alien and the two Time Lords merciless urged her onward. But even the short glances and bits and pieces she saw were too much to process.
Her headache started up again.
"The food is digestible for humans," The Storyteller corrected, then added with a glance at one shop of weird slimy things: "at the restaurant. In fact, I suggest some nourishments. We can sit down there, and maybe I can find some medicine for the headaches."
"Here," Bill asked surprised ad looked back.
"Everything, "The Storyteller reminded.
"Also, Doctor, a lot of things have changed since you have last visited here, so maybe I should be the one handling this."
"Nonsense. Dorian Maldovar was my friend, and whoever took over I can handle even easier. People like that are easily Impressed by this." He flapped his hand at himself and marched on. "No worries. I have everything under control."
The Storytellers breath ghosted over Bill's neck, and she flinched. She hasn't noticed her moving closer. "He does not, but I do."
There was a weird sparkle in her eyes that Bill didn't like one bit, but she nodded. "Ok."
"Good. This way."
They found their way into an open room with a bar and screens displaying offered food and drinks over it.
Species of all kind sat at multiple tables of all sizes and heights, shattered under a celling full of decorative lamps, figurines, fabrics, moving contraptions, knickknacks and garlands, while alcoves with curtains on the walls offered some more privacy because a gallery with a second floor full of tables oversaw everything.
Multiple corridors lead into the room and Bill tried not to stare when they squeezed themselves in one of the nooks.
It was insane. This was what Heather wanted her to see, when she told her there was a big universe out there.
For the first time she began to gasp what that actually meant.
They barely sat down when someone Bill read as a woman with blue hair and violet eyes and terrible scars turned up on their table and asked for their order, startled as the Doctor began to talk as if waiting for the Storyteller to order first.
The Doctor winked at Bill, before he rambled down a weird combination of things, leading to the Barmaid to glance disbelievingly at the Storyteller, who smiled indulgently and added something for herself and, after a quick question, an orange -mango-maracuja-juice for Bill. "Oh, and the food after his affair is done, please."
The woman bowed. "Of course, Milady."
The Doctor rose one eyebrow. "You're here a lot?"
"Quite, yes. Nobody uses that system anymore."
Bill's eyes grew big. "Black-Market! That was a Code!"
The Doctor nodded. "The Drink is the type of merchandise you want, the toping and fruits are the planet it originated from."
"Except nowadays, you just tell the bartenders, and they ping it on that board," the Storyteller added and pointed to a screen over the bar, which unlike the ones with the food or drinks displayed no pictures, but only text.
"Bold," commented Bill.
"Nobody has anything to hide, here, as long as they follow the house rules," the Storyteller shrugged.
"Takes the atmosphere," the Doctor complained. "Pretending to be respectable when they are not."
"Maybe they are," the Storyteller splat back, then thanked the Barmaid placing a colourful long drink in front of her. Already back? Wow.
Being able to fiddle with each one's drink took nothing of the awkwardness of the argument. Bill's gaze wandered distracted trough the room, catching the eyes of two rather big burly guys watching them from the opposite of the room. "Eh, Doctor, Storyteller? What's with those creepy bodybuilders over there?"
"Exactly what they look like. Security, you would call them on earth I guess," the Storyteller answered nonchalantly.
"First responders, the real security in this place turns your head into soup. Well, not really, those two are somewhere else, but it's not nice," the Doctor added.
"They are watching us," pointed Bill out, because apparently they didn't get it.
"Guarding," corrected the Storyteller. "As I said, everything under control."
Before Bill or the Doctor could return something, there was another distorted, clearly inhuman voice.
"That's a pretty specific drink you have there, a bit old fashioned to order."
The alien speaking had a round head, covered in fabric and only two antenna with orange tips sticking out of it, but a still somewhat humanoid form, wearing shabby trousers and a jacked over a dirty shirt.
"Last time I was here Dorian still has his head," replied the Doctor dry.
A scratching sound that could be something like laughter or an expression of sadness bubbled through the fabrics and they leant closer.
"It's very specific and detailed and difficult. I mean there are hardly myths left, so this is truly something valuable. Close guarded, and you can't just pop down on thar planet anymore. I-"
"You never could," the Storyteller interrupted.
The seller shrieked and tried to shuffle backwards, just to bump into the two rather big, dangerously looking guys who apparently had immediately crossed the room once the alien had turned up.
The Storyteller sipped her cocktail nonchalantly.
"Hello, Chayjkos. Why am I not surprised it's you."
Bill could feel the atmosphere shifting, there was definitely attention on them now, even if everyone continued hustling. She traded a glance with the Doctor, who sat up straighter, wetting his lips, clearly wanting to say something but giving his friend the benefit of the doubt. This was not the plan.
"Milady Storyteller…"
"You come to Maldovar after being banned, and if that is not insult enough, you dare to offer and sell gallifreyan time technology. What did I ever do to warrant such behavior?"
What was going on?
"It's just a job! I in need everything to come by. Its near impossible to get employed, when Maldovar is off limits-"
The Time Lady interrupted them by placing her glass on the table and leaning closer. "You should have thought about that before selling those Akian slaves, dearie."
"Storyteller," the Doctor urged questioning.
The seller squeaked, slowly panicking. "Please, please, yes, it was a mistake. In a long row of mistakes, admittedly."
"On which you still continue to add on."
They changed tactics. "I'm the only source you have, nobody else will know where or how I got these and to whom I sold them. No records or traces, you can't find them. Not even you. How do you think I've kept this hidden?"
"You are not improving on my mood. And I already accidentally hurt somebody close to a friend because of my short patience today. What keeps me from simply extracting the information from your brain while frying it in the process?"
"Storyteller," the Doctor warned.
She glanced at him, then back to the shivering antennae. "I'll be good. I'll be good, really! I'll do anything. Anything!"
She sighed. "Anything. Now you are just blabbering, to save yourself."
"No, no, anything, I swear. Name a profession and a planet and I will settle down there and do that. I swear."
The Storyteller traced the rim of her glass. "In exchange for what?"
"Being able to leave here unharmed and capable of doing it."
"Add the names of your customers and places of supply, and I consider."
"I can't, it's all that's left of my honor."
The storyteller raised one eyebrow, and they shuddered and lowered their antenna in defeat. "I- I, you already know the Name of the person you search."
"I do?"
"It's a gallifreyan artifact."
The Storyteller groaned and sunk back into the cushions. "Aivex."
The Seller nodded, head and antenna lowered.
The Time Lady waved her hand. "Fine. You will tell Luca the rest and record every detail. Understood?"
They nodded helpless and glanced back to one of the men behind them, who uncrossed his arms and stood somewhat straighter. They made some wobbly steps in that direction before the Storyteller called them back, still with her hand in the air, and their antenna started glowing, visibly expanding, before they threw themself on their knees and kissed it all over. "Milady, oh Milady! Thank you!"
The whole bar watched the exchange silently now.
"A shoe-carpenter on Akina II," the Storyteller ordered calmly. And they nodded, antennae glowing, fingers twitchy. "Yes Milady, yes. Thank you."
They bowed once more then shuffled away, Luca nodding at the Storyteller, saluted to the Doctor and left close behind, guiding them roughly into one of the side corridors.
What just happened!
Did she accidently stumble into the godfather or something?
The bar started hustling as if nothing had happened. The blue haired barmaid came, wiped the table clean and placed a tray with something looking a bit like finger food and some sauces on the table. Then she offered the Storyteller a new pair of gloves of the exact same colour she wore and a washbasin with towels.
"Thank you Evern. What a disgusting affair." She cleaned her hands, left her new gloves off and stared to dip something looking a bit like a drumstick into a blue cream.
"I can ask Dad for assistance, he's currently in port."
"There is no need to need to get Keith involved, we can handle this just fine, but thank you. By the way, I remember you getting the day off whenever he is here. Why are you on shift? Off you go!"
She laughed, bowed, and returned to the counter, but disappeared into a door behind it.
"Well, that's a thing that happened," the Doctor finally commented.
The Storyteller sighed. "Vermin of the lowest sort. There are a few bad eggs in here, but at least they know how to behave themselves while being guests. Chayjkos sadly never did. Hmm. Please, help yourself."
She was the new owner of this weird Black-Market Asteroid, wasn't she?
"Not hungry," the Doctor declined with a strange look on his face, and Bill shook her head carefully to avoid more nausea once the weird colourful eyes settled on her. She hugged herself with a careful blank look as she watched the Time Lady blink with an undefinable spark in her eyes, before her perfect white teeth tore into the flesh of her food.
-o0O0o-
"No, not in a million years I'm staying here."
"Your medical condition does not allow you to come with us, Bill. This is one of the safest places in the Universe."
Bill crossed her arms, leaning back in the chair behind the desk in the small office hidden in the corridors of the restaurant. "Yeah, right no. TARDIS or earth. Nowhere else."
"The TARDIS will stay here on Maldovar, too."
"Tell me exactly why again," the Doctor interrupted.
Lady Storyteller rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Because Aivex is a collector of rare artifacts obsessed with Time Lords and was able to steal from my pockets without my notice before. Even if you lock her up, he will get his hands on the keys, if he realizes what they are. Please, you need to trust me on that."
"I'm not sure I can."
"What do you mean."
He paced up and down, rubbed his face, then turned around to face her.
"I don't recognize you. Maldovar, really?"
"You had no problems with Dorian."
"He's not you. I don't understand why you even consider owning and leading a place like this. It's the opposite of everything you were. And now you're back to zero, killing people without remorse. At least back then, it was for time."
"I am not- Do you really think me so low to go through with my threat to fry his brain?"
"Six hours ago you chased Bill through a museum down a full set of stairs!"
She shamefully lowered her head. "I know and I am terribly sorry. But my behavior was an exception, I abhor violence, you know that. Today is a bad day, making it necessary to scare people with the threat of it, which probably get worse, knowing Aivex, but I promise you, I am protecting life, not destroying it."
"Not even for time."
"It is one and the same."
The Doctor snapped his mouth shut and gawked at her with furrowed brows. "Is it now."
"Every teacher is a student, too."
He did a curious doubletake at her then shook his head. "That doesn't explain the black-market in the middle of the Universe."
"Not a black market, a restaurant open for anyone willing to behave."
He blinked owlishly, then looked down. "Oh. Sorry."
She crooked her head. "That's new."
"New me. Well, I'm wearing this one a while now, so perhaps not that new, but new to you." He bit his lips, eyes sparkling cocky like a little schoolboy. Then he lifted his arms. "What do you think."
What the hell was he doing?
The Storyteller scrutinized him. "I think, we both have to relearn a lot about each other."
Then impulsively she offered her hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
The Doctor took it with awe and placed his other on top "It's good to have you back."
"It is good to have You back. It had been a long 516 Years."
The Doctor grinned widely.
Bill couldn't believe it. "What is going on!"
"Misunderstanding. Again, "the Doctor explained, and noticing her face the Storyteller added:
"Sometimes the expectation of change limits the view of what has not. It has been a while and I left a bad first impression, which is becoming a tradition, now that I think of it."
"Meaning," Bill drilled.
"We can trust her, even if it doesn't seem like it. She's the Storyteller and that's what she does. Stories are where memories go when they're forgotten. And where to better find and collect them than in a bar at the center of the Universe. Restaurant, sorry."
"And it is a place where people find me, so I do not accidentally stumble into a Timestream, changing it involuntarily by simply being there."
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes, that, too."
"Wait-That's it? Just like that?"
The Doctor nodded. "Jus like that. If you can't trust her, trust me."
Bill glanced back and forth between the two. "I trust you," She warned him.
"Fair enough. Speaking of timestreams," the Storyteller took a breath," with my calculations based of the current present caused by the most probable next moment, there's a 43% change of running into trouble with Aivex which would worsen Miss Pott's condition. The rest is peaceful enough. Not that I can condone any of it with a good consciousness."
The Doctor grinned smugly. Bill smiled bewildered. "I stay with the Doctor. Safest place, in the Universe, right?"
She didn't notice the Doctor flinch, just the shadow flickering over the Storytellers eyes. "Well then."
Her fingers tapped her bracelet and that small holographic display appeared. She swished around some circles on it, before offering her arm. "Doctor. There needs to be physical contact."
Bill grabbed the Doctors hand who carefully hooked his other arm under the Storytellers offered elbow. "Right but-"
Before he could end his sentence, she tapped the display and that glowing shield circled once around them, and with it reality.
One second, they were in the Storytellers office on Maldovar, the other in a long empty hall of pure ice. It was surprisingly warm.
"What-," the Doctor looked around and the Storyteller shook her wrist, allowing the Bracelet to glitter in the dim light. "Kelliox."
And the Doctor nodded with a dumbfounded look, as if that word explained everything. Maybe a different language. The Storyteller tucked the bracelet under her sleeve with a smile, which died once she properly took in her surroundings. "Where in the red guardians name is his collection?"
-o0O0o-
"Aivex!"
They followed a slightly irritated Storyteller through a maze of tunnels. Bill leant closer to the Doctor. "What's a Kelliox?"
"Who. Her Husband. Genius inventor, loved journaling. He's dead now."
"Oh."
The Storyteller stopped, turned and Bill took a step back in case she was offended about what the Doctor said.
"The only place we haven't checked are the ice gardens. It's too cold for the clothing you are wearing, Miss Pott."
The Doctor found a small capsule in the inner pocket of his jacket and offered it her. "Holographic clothing with heating mechanism. Pin it on your jacket and it keeps you warm."
Bill did as she was told, and only then the Storyteller allowed her outside.
And yes, it was freezing enough for her breath to let ice crystals rain down and their hairs and brows to immediately turn white with ice, but it was worth it.
While Maldovar was colour, sound, life and too many impressions at once, this place was nothing but silence and the beauty of freezing light. Sculptures of ice crystals were flowering under a crystal-clear dome, their colours created by the light breaking in thousands of factettes.
And in between, hunched over on the floor was the creature Bill assumed was Aviex.
He was indescribable in human words. He had appendages but nothing Bill could identify as a face or head. She couldn't name the colour of his body nor its form or what material he was made of. Apparently, he was a he, at least those were the pronouns the Storyteller addressed him as.
"White Guardian, Aivex! Milord. Are you all right? What happened!" The Time Lady sunk on the floor before him.
He recoiled. "No, no guardians. No, please!"
"Aivex? Aixex, it is I, Tella. Can you hear me?"
"Tella. No! No, Teller, no, no stories, no telling, I won't tell anything, go, go go away,no!"
The Storyteller started to nervously fiddle with her necklace, but stayed where she was, observing him, studying him. He was clearly in pain, and terribly confused.
The Doctor drew his screwdriver but before he could start to scan, she grabbed it on the blue blinking part to stop him, and simultaneous Aivex acted out again. "No, no please no, sonic no, no, no Time Lords, please. Never Time Lords again!"
They froze, stayed silent and again Aivex seemed to calm down, whenever nobody interacted with him.
"I do not think we can help him," muttered the Storyteller.
Bill slowly crept closer. "Hey, uhm, Lord Aivex-"
"No, no, go away please. Please just go away, I cannot, I cannot take it, please!"
"Ok," Bill raised her hands, "Ok, we're leaving. Ok."
"Yes, leave, please, run while you can, run, run, and they won't return."
"Aivex, at least come in, please."
"No, no, never again, no. It's too late for me. No. No more. No. More."
The Doctor flinched. "Right. We're leaving. Lady Storyteller."
"Even he is going to freeze out here, eventually."
"He's already dead, and you know it. I promise you: we'll find whoever did this and make them pay."
She lowered her head and clenched her pendant. "I know exactly wo did this. They are not worth it."
The Doctor furrowed his brows. "Are you sure."
"I'm not an avenger anymore. Just a storyteller," she nodded to herself. "And I promise that yours get told, my old friend."
"Stories are where memories go when they're forgotten," rambled Aivex. "We forgot, we won't again. It's true. All stories are true."
"Indeed they are," the Storyteller smiled, rose and then bowed. "May time bring you fortune in death as it in life, Mylord Aivex from Rejiv."
"Time, time, no time, time, go away!"
The Storyteller nodded, then activated her bracelet. "Let us get out of here, please."
They followed her back into her office on Maldovar, where she immediately starred to prepare Tea, while Bill sunk on one of the chairs.
"That was terrible. Who did this!"
"As I said, they are not worth it."
"And when they'll do it again," Bill shot back.
"They won't. For that would anger both the Doctor and me," her smile was sharp, and old, cold and unmoving as the stars. Oh. That was a trait of their species, not only of the Doctor, apparently.
The Doctor filled himself a cup and plunged six cubes of sugar in it.
"So. Just a Restaurant, yet you are close friends with the Dictator of the whole Cheii-ja Sector."
"I'm friends with you," the Storyteller grinned back. "He's not a dictator, but an economical overlord. But that was a rather weird coincidence. Let me tell you-"
And so she kept her promise like she always did, as Bill quickly learned.
AN:
The first draft of this chapter is so old! Tella is a lot more violent in here than she actually is, I had to rewrite a lot of things and polish up a bit but here we are. I just coudn't get rid of her ripping that museum apart just to catch Bill, it's such a cool visuals in my mind which I won't ever be able to actually describe so sadly, it happens offscreen.
Somehow, she's just not good at first impressions with companions.
A few chapters ago she says, it's a unique ability the Doctor would immediately recognize and identify, but that's actually just creating artificial timelines, not their manipulation which is quite common- what she does here.
Kantrofarri are those dream crabs from The Last Christmas and yes, that mess of a lava clump is what's left of Dandelecan IV after the Sontarans captured everyone, sold them into slavery and melted the planet. After Clara left and Missy lied to him about Gallifrey, he needed to visit Tella,to invite her as a companion and to apologize for forgetting her, just to find himself in this hell, which is why he in my canon is even on a planet like that in the first place. Basically both of them thought the other to be dead.
The danger of the Doctor is of course not a caracter trait of their species. The Doctor is one of his kind. Tella is another box entirely, both more and less dangerous.
And we all know who turned Aivex's brain in a puddle of goo.
Of course we do. Because, yep. This is the series 10 I wanted them to write.
With that, welcome to the second arc! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do writing it. Comments are apreciated, as always.
Thanks to Goddess-of-the-Forest1013 for their favorite GalaxyStone for folloing and PhoenixReborn424 for both.
Stay save everyone!
Greetings
alkatie
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