I have a bad habit of starting fics then moving on from them. Well, nothing I can do about that. There is inspiration from several sources in this fic, I look forward to seeing what can be picked out! Please enjoy! 1-12/Oc! A long run Fanfic, possibly 100+ chapters! No Timeless Child!
01
Who am I?
Those words were lost to time. Three simple words that had been strung together to create a cohesive thought. Simply gone. Vanished. Tossed to the wind, because the person that had thought them, well, they seemed to have forgotten about them entirely. The person in question couldn't even be called a person. Not anymore.
A woman, slightly taller than average, stood amongst a room filled with items that could be classified as junk. She turned her head to the side and stared at a box before taking a step towards it, her bare feet barely touching the floor. In fact, it hadn't. She was drifting above the floor as though levitating. She reached out with a hand, and it passed through the box. She didn't react, save for glancing at her hand. To her, she seemed solid, she looked solid. Yet, to anyone else she would be invisible. Unseen and unheard. Which, if she was aware of it, was quite a blessing seeing as her clothing seemed to have left her. If she had any to begin with that is. She was unsure of that, well unable to remember.
Where is here?
That second thought rang in her mind as she stared at the items that filled the space around her. A slight frown appeared on her face, she hadn't the faintest idea. It wasn't like exploring wasn't a choice. She paused as she went to take a step. Or was it? Was she in a storage room for a reason? Was the room even for storage? Her mind slowly supplied question after question, and she let out a silent huff before shaking her head. She walked up to the wooden door and squinted at it in thought. She had gone through the box, perhaps she'd be able to walk through the wood. She tested out that hypothesis by placing a hand against the door. It went through the wood, and she was able to get a feel for it. It was a heavy wood, Australian Buloke, and she slowly walked through it as though it was nothing. She turned back to face the door, her head tilting in thought.
Could I always walk-through things?
She wasn't too sure. So, she shrugged and clasped her hands behind her back before walking through the hallways she found herself in. The walls and floor were made up of a silver metal that reflected the sparse light to the point where it lit up the area. She paused and waved her hand in front of the light source; it was a simple wall lamp with a cone cover and found that it did nothing. The light continued to shine as though she hadn't moved to block it. A small part of her was miffed, while the other was intrigued. How was she able to do such a thing? Was it her doing it or was there another reason? She couldn't help but wonder.
"Grandfather!" A female voice echoed through the halls and the woman flinched slightly.
She spun on her heel and watched as a teenager walked down the hallway. She held a rather large book in her hand and was tapping her fingers against it to a tune only she could hear. The woman was ignored completely, and she slowly blinked. It was an odd situation, but she wasn't bothered by it. She slowly began to follow the teen, staying in the background in case someone could see her…as unlikely as that was. The teenager entered a large room and the woman stared at all the circles that seemed to cover the metal walls. They all emitted light, and hid items. She squinted at one of the circles noticing a bottle shaped silhouette. Alcohol perhaps?
A gentle hum caught her attention and she looked towards the centre where the teenager had stopped at. A man stood at a console, pushing buttons, and pulling levers. He looked old, yet the woman got the oddest feeling that he was quite young. It was strange. She tilted her head to the side before crossing her arms across her chest. He said something to the teenager, his voice was just as old as his appearance and short in tone. He was the craggy old man archetype. How did she know that? A frown appeared on her face. She couldn't answer that question, and the information was gone as soon as it had appeared. How annoying. The gentle hum sounded again, and she began to search for its source. She didn't notice anything out of sorts. No person standing there besides the old man and teenager. She stepped up to the console and the hum grew louder. It was coming from a strange cylinder in the middle of the console. She brought a hand up and placed it against the glass. Her hand went right through it, and she suddenly found herself in a new area. It was bright, and multicoloured. The strange colours swirled around her and ended at a point, in a manner like a galaxy.
"Who are you?" A soft voice whispered all around her.
She couldn't answer that question, a slight frown appearing on her face. The sensation of being looked at from every angle appeared and she grew slightly nervous. She didn't like the sudden scrutiny. It stopped after a few seconds and the area around her changed once more becoming a room that built itself within seconds. She hovered above the ground and looked down at her feet moving one to watch it float.
"Please, find something to wear, the times require clothing to go outside," The voice stated once more, and she marvelled at the combined sound of it.
There was no gender to the voice, and it was ancient. She could feel it's age in the words it spoke, but at the same time it felt you her than she was. She looked down at her hands. Yes, she felt ancient compared to the voice that sounded old even to her. She was hit by an urgent feeling, and she moved into action. Clothing, right she had to find something. Would clothing even stay on her person? Well, she needed to try. She shrugged and moved around the room. The different clothing threw her for a loop. She grabbed a dress shirt with a wing tip collar and Neapolitan cuffs and was relieved when she was able to grasp onto it. She got a hum of amusement as the clothing around her changed into something else. Undergarments. She looked down and nodded in agreement. Yes, she should probably grab a few items to wear under the clothes. She quickly pulled them on, they were somewhat familiar to her or at least she was quick on the uptake. She stood there in the shirt and wondered what else she needed to put on. Well, there went quick on the uptake. She wandered around the clothing and found a vest to wear, and she put that on as well, it was dark blue and covered in silver fleur de lis. She found that she liked the colour. It was soothing.
"You need pants," the voice informed her, humour laced every word.
Oh. That's what was missing. She found a pair of black skinny pants and quickly pulled them on. She put her hands on her hips and wondered what else she was missing. She found some black socks, that was something but not everything. Black lace up wingtip shoes? Comfortable, but not what she was missing. A blue double breasted peacoat was getting closer to what she felt was missing, but that wasn't it.
"You are missing something?" The voice asked and she gave a small nod that was childlike, "Hmm, what could it be?"
A light blue ribbon caught her eye and they lit up. That. That was what she was missing. It went around her neck and soon she had a small bow keeping the buttons from her collar from showing. There, now she felt as though she had completed her look. The room vanished and she was back into the strange area with the swirling Galaxy of colours. She found herself sitting on the air, watching the colours. A bright gold was the most noticeable colour. It swirled around and burned brightly, brighter than she had ever seen. At least, what she knew she had seen.
"You are an unfortunate creature," The voice said, getting her attention, "pushed to a state where you are unseen, unheard, and unnoticed…but I cannot identify you."
The woman gained an apologetic expression before placing her hands in her lap. She didn't know what she could say to the voice or do to show it that she was sorry for her blank state. She knew that there was nothing. There wasn't anything she could say that would make things better, in fact she was sure that it would make everything worse.
"That's all right," The voice stated, and the woman blinked at those words, "I don't sense any malicious intent from you, more curiosity than anything."
The woman gave a tiny smile at that as her cheeks turned a light pink. She was slowly growing shy as the voice began to mutter in thought. She didn't know why she was getting shy. She brought a hand up to her cheek and felt nothing. There was an absence of heat. It was unnerving, though it felt normal. How peculiar.
"I regret to inform you that you're better off staying with my thief," The voice said, and the woman startled, "but if you ever become visible and heard, you'll need a name."
"I am nobody," The woman quietly said, unsure that the voice would hear her.
"Nobody?" The Voice repeated before giving a musical hum, "How about something a bit less one the nose, what are your thoughts on Nemo?"
The woman liked it; it would fit her well. She gave a nod of agreement and she felt happy at having a name. She blinked as she was tilted backwards and found herself back in the main room with the teenager and old man. Neither noticed her reappearance and she gained a thoughtful frown. It might be better for her to walk around the strange area instead of trying to get their attention. She put her hands into the pockets of her coat and headed down a corridor if the voice didn't like her doing so it would've let her know. She noticed a line of doors, one of which held strange words that she couldn't read. Her head tilted to the side as a hum filled the air.
"Your language is unable to be translated," The voice informed her, the sound was faint as though it wasn't as strong as it had been, "there are books within the library that will be of use to you."
Books. Those felt familiar. She rubbed the tips of her fingers together before heading down another corridor. It suffered from the use of low light and metallic flooring. It was inventive, and she found herself slightly fond of it. She passed through a doorway and found the library. It was floor to ceiling books. There were books sitting on the ground, sitting on all bookshelves, on tables, and on sofas. She headed towards a table and looked at one of the books, it was filled with the strange language she couldn't read. She tilted her head in thought. It wasn't spoken differently than the language she knew, but it was written differently. Oh, she would have to question that when she had more time. It wasn't like she didn't have enough of that.
The teenager bounded into the room, the book in her hand being placed on a nearby table. A hum in the air caused her to smile as Nemo looked up. The voice had turned into a whisper. Was she out of range? She could test that; she had more time than she knew what to do with. Also, she didn't feel like being around the teen. It was unlikely that she'd be able to move things around, but if she could she didn't want to startle the young girl. It wouldn't be right.
"Sit above, on the rafters," The Voice informed her, and she looked up in confusion.
Could she even float that high up? Nemo gave a slight shrug; well, she'd just have to try. She watched as the ground started to shrink and shivers went down her spine before she stopped at the first rafter. She hands went through it, but she was able to sit above it. She got comfortable and watched as the old man muttered to himself as he pushed a button. He frowned before pulling the button out of the console and blowing on it. Nemo wondered what he was doing but was unable to ask.
"He is my thief, the Doctor," The voice informed her, "he's travelling across the stars with his granddaughter Susan."
Nemo wondered why the voice called him a thief. Did this Doctor kidnap the owner of the voice? A soft laugh came out of the voice, and she gained a soft smile. She must've been wrong. She didn't even question the fact that the voice knew what she had been thinking. It felt oddly familiar to her. Were her species psychic? She wished she had an answer to that, anything that would tell her what or who she was. She couldn't get that lucky. She brought her knees up to her chest and nervously looked down at the console as the Doctor put the button back before pressing it. He seemed pleased with it now that it was doing what he wanted it to do. She placed her chin on her knees and watched as he continued to remove buttons before cleaning them and putting them back in place. He was such a strange man, and he caught her attention. Well, it wasn't like she had anywhere to go, and if she did, she couldn't remember. She simply observed, and tried to understand what she was seeing.