If there was one thing that Kel had learned in his life it was that life wasn't fair.
It's not like he ever wished to be living in constant fear of discovery - having to hop from hiding place to hiding place lest he be seen.
It's not like he deserved the fate he had been given anyway, or at least he didn't in his opinion - and he thought himself a very humble person.
Kel knew he had to be as quiet as possible as he snuck through the gardens and back alleys of the town he was currently hiding in, Leadworth? He thought it may have been, but he hadn't paid too much attention to the name - he was focusing more on where he could find his next meal.
He knew what the reaction would be if he was seen, he had already experienced their fear and screams enough to know it was best to avoid it. It's not like he could blame them for being afraid of him - he would be too if he saw a giant lizard with a metal arm sneaking about.
Well, it was either that or they were afraid of the old victorian coat he was wearing, but he was pretty sure it was the lizard thing.
Kel is a Silurian, or at least he was. Honestly at this point he isn't even sure what he is anymore, not after what was done to him.
When Kel was younger, around 20 years old, he was kidnapped by a group of Cybermen. Apparently they had never seen a Silurian before, and wanted to do a load of - very painful - tests on him to see if he was 'compatible' or something, thankfully he wasn't. However, that doesn't mean they left him unmarked. They removed his entire right arm and replaced it with a 'cyber' one.
It would be cool if he could actually feel anything with it, but it had no sense of touch. It did have a blaster and could probably do some serious damage; but Kel didn't want to hurt anyone.
It wasn't just the arm though, they performed so many experiments on him that he wishes he could forget it - yet they left him with cybernetics in his brain so he couldn't forget, not anything.
His eyes were enhanced, and he had some weird metal stuff on the side of his head. He was probably told what it was but just because it gave him extremely high intelligence and a database to look things up, doesn't mean he always paid attention.
Their worst curse was the extension to his lifespan. See a normal Silurian would live to around 300 or so, but not Kel. Kel could live well into his thousands, and that terrified him. Already at the age of 322 (Past the normal life expectancy for his kind) he had far too many memories he wished he could forget, he was only barely into his life - he dreaded to think of the memories that were to come.
Honestly, he would be lying if the thought of ending it didn't cross his mind - but there was part of him that was holding out hope, that things would get better. That maybe he could find somewhere that he could belong; even if it was just temporary.
While he was lost in thought, he was still trying his best to remain unseen while he crossed, a rather large, garden - walking straight into the swing set that was embarrassingly visible, creating quite a large amount of sound.
Now, If Kel actually had any common sense he would make a run for it - yet while he may be smart, he is also incredibly stupid when it comes to these things. It was somewhat of a miracle he had lasted on Earth for the past 100 years or so since his escape from the Cybermen.
Instead of running - he hid in the shrubbery close to the swings, hoping to use this noise as a distraction to get himself some food; he'd figure out exactly how as he went, plans weren't exactly his strong point.
Just as he thought, someone in the house noticed the noise - as a light flickered on in an upstairs window - before a young ginger girl came out of the house not much long after. She was walking closer to the swingset - shining a torch around to get a better look through the darkness that otherwise covered everything.
"Hello?..." She called out, in what was clearly a scottish accent. Kel had spent some time in Scotland a few years back - it was quite nice, but a bit too cold for him; even with the large coat he wore.
Kel wanted to sneak past her and go into the house - hopefully from there he would be able to get some food and leave before she would ever know he was there. That was the plan anyway, but like any good plan Kel came up with, it failed on the first step. Literally.
Taking his first step towards the house, Kel stood on a branch - which snapped under his weight. This snap was quite loud, and caused the girl to turn round quickly, shining her torch directly onto Kel - causing him to freeze like a deer, or perhaps a lizard, in the headlights.
With a gasp she dropped the torch, clearly shocked by Kel's appearance. He took his chance and ran back into the bushes as quickly as he could, trying to ignore the horrid feeling that was overtaking him at the sound of the little girl's fear. It wasn't his fault he looked this way, he would never hurt someone, but due to the way he looked - everyone assumed that he would.
He didn't get very far into the bushes before he tripped, getting tangled within the shrubbery. He silently hoped that the girl had run away so that he could escape, and also that she didn't see him make such an embarrassing exit.
However, his hopes were not answered. Instead he could hear the girl slowly coming closer, the torch light moving in an effort to try and locate him - her having clearly picked it up again.
"Hello?.." She called out again, while Kel tried to stay as still as possible - hoping that he would be able to blend in with the bushes - which is quite a difficult thing to do when you have a metal arm.
"Are you alright?" He heard her ask, still looking around for him, "Why are you here?"
Kel was confused. Sure the girl did seem a bit nervous - but nowhere near as afraid as people would normally be if they saw him. Maybe she just didn't get much of a look.
"Are you a Lizard?", Nope she saw.
As the light continued to grow closer to him, his pulse began to quicken. Now it may be normal to be afraid in situations like this, but that didn't make Kel feel any better about the fact he was currently terrified of a small young girl.
"I'm not gonna hurt you." Her voice called out, just before the light reached him, revealing his position as it shined off his metal arm. "Are you alright?!" She said, seeming much more concerned as she saw him tangled in the bushes. She ran closer to him, the fact that she wasn't freaking out right now was very confusing to Kel. Mainly because he was definitely freaking out right now.
Now, Kel would say that he spoke with elegance and grace, however that simply isn't true, "Uhhh… Yes?", He said slowly, trying not to show a hint of fear in his voice - it was still very embarrassing to be intimidated by what looked to be a ten year old girl.
"Can you get up?" She asked, making Kel notice that he was indeed still lying down in a tangle of bushes. As he warily turned away to untangle himself - as if this small girl was waiting for him to show weakness - he managed to rip the shrubs away from his legs, pulling himself up and dusting off his coat. "Do you have a name?" She asked as he turned back to face her.
He was still very apprehensive about all of this - especially considering she had only made one reference to the fact he wasn't human, nevermind about the alarming amount of metal on him. "Kel…" He hesitantly replied.
As if just to confuse him more, she smiled. "Kel." She repeated, testing it out for herself. "I'm Amelia, Amelia Pond." She said happily, before she stared at him appraisingly, scrunching her face up slightly. "You didn't answer my question."
"Question?" Kel asked, she had asked a few questions, most of them being if he was alright - which considering everything that had happened in his life, at this moment, he couldn't complain too much.
"Are you a lizard?" She replied, as if it was obvious - which to be fair it was.
"Oh!" he began, "Sort of? I'm a Silurian…. Sort of…" He trailed off, adopting a much more somber look as he spoke.
Just as Amelia was about to speak, she was cut off by a loud rumbling coming from Kel's stomach. This would have embarrassed Kel, but after everything else, he was basically maxed out.
"Do you want to come inside?" She asked, causing Kel to look at her in surprise, "There's food in the Kitchen." She finished, Kel nodded dumbly as he couldn't quite manage to get any words out.
Amelia smiled once more, before she turned herself around and began walking off back to her house, it took a moment before Kel remembered to follow her - still in shock, and slight trepidation over the kindness she was showing him. To him, kindness was not something that was usually offered.
Upon entering the house, he was blasted with a sense of warming; not just because it was much warmer inside; also because it was somewhere that people lived, where they could feel at rest - something Kel hadn't had for a very long time.
"What would you like?" She asked as they walked into the Kitchen, moving over to the counter before she turned to face him.
"Uhhh… I have no idea what you have in." he said, glancing around the room, "Believe me, I'll take whatever's going."
She turned around and opened a cupboard, "We've got: Biscuits, Chocolate, Soup, Eggs, Pringles, Bread…"
"Pringles?" Kel asked in confusion.
"Yeah." She said as she pulled out a tube, with 'Pringles' written on it and some interesting images, "You've never heard of them?" She asked, seeming quite shocked.
"Amelia, I'm a Lizard." He said, "I can't exactly walk into a shop."
"Hmm." She hummed, placing the tube down in front of him, "Well try them and see what you think, they're BBQ flavour."
Kel reached out with his metal arm hesitantly, almost as if they were about to be snatched away at any moment. However, once he had finally opened the tube and pulled one of the small 'Pringles' out, he must admit he was very excited to try it.
Once he placed it in his mouth and chewed, it was incredible. He was used to having to eat scraps - or things well past their best days, so to have something with so much flavour was foreign to him.
"Good aren't they?" Amelia asked, seeing the look of Joy on Kel's face.
Kel just nodded as he continued to eat them, it had been some time since he had some decent food, he wasn't going to let this chance get away.
"Are you an Alien?" Amelia asked as she continued to watch Kel eat. She had clearly been waiting to ask questions for a while, but waited until he had a chance to eat - something that warmed Kel greatly.
"Not really." He answered, "I'm from Earth, just a very long time ago - but…" He trailed off, his face going somber once more as he thought more on the harsh reality of what he was. He couldn't consider himself a Silurian anymore - he wasn't exactly sure on the inside how much Silurian compared to Cyber there was.
Actually he was pretty sure that would be on his records, and he could easily look them up with his cybernetic implants - but it wasn't something he was in any rush to look at.
"You seem sad." She stated after Kel was silent for a few moments longer.
"Sorry." He said, "It's just that I don't really know what I am anymore, you see this?" He said as he showed her his metal arm and then his facial cybernetics. "I wasn't born with these, and my people aren't supposed to have them…. I was taken from them a long time ago." He took a moment to compose himself, "I can't really talk much about it, but they did things to me, changed me."
He looked up to see Amelia looking at him with tears in her eyes, waiting to shed. It freaked him out a little bit - he was so certain that she would be afraid of him, but looking at her now, she showed no fear whatsoever. "Why aren't you scared of me?"
Amelia seemed confused by the question, "Why would I be?"
"I've been on my own for a very long time, I've seen a lot of people." He stated, "You're the only person I've ever met who's been kind to me, who hasn't screamed in fear and ran away." He looked her in the eye, "You didn't really seem that shocked that I existed, I was under the impression that most humans didn't really believe in Aliens all that much."
"I've met an Alien before." She said, as if it was just something to slip into a casual conversation. "He was called the Doctor, the raggedy Doctor." She seemed slightly sad when she spoke of him, but there was also a lot of admiration in her voice.
"The Doctor?" Kel said, while using his cybernetics to look up said person. His eyes widened as he read what was there, this 'Doctor' was clearly a very important person. "How did you meet him?"
"He crashed into my garden." She said, "He came in a blue police box, which destroyed the shed."
"But there was a shed in the garden." Kel said in confusion.
"That ones new." She said, "Anyway, he helped to fix the crack in my wall. He said he had a time machine." She seemed slightly more sad as she continued, "He said he would take me with him, and that he'd only be 5 minutes, but that was two years ago."
By this point she had basically started crying, and Kel had no idea what to do. He was honestly surprised he was able to eat, but dealing with a crying child was not something he expected having to deal with. He gently reached over and placed his scaled hand on her shoulder, "You said he had a time machine?" He asked, causing her to look up and nod, "Well maybe he just got the timing wrong?" He said with a smile, trying to cheer her up. It seemed to work as she stopped crying and began to giggle slightly.
"Thank you." She said, "Nobody else believes me that he's real. They try to get me to go to a therapist, but I know he's real."
"I believe you." Kel assured her, "I mean look at me. If you need any proof that he exists, then I'm the closest you'll get. I doubt they'd believe you about me either."
"Probably not." She agreed with a small laugh.
Kel laughed with her, he would love to stay - now that he'd found someone who he could consider a friend, someone who made him feel like he wasn't a complete outcast, but he knew that he couldn't. "I best get going."
Amelia began to frown at that, "Where will you go? Are there any others like you?"
"There were." Kel answered with a frown, "A very long time ago - seems to just be me now." He said, putting a small smile on his face to soften the information. "I'll find somewhere."
"You could stay here." Amelia said, "We've got a lot of spare rooms."
"I couldn't." Kel stated, despite wanting nothing more than to stay, "Your family wouldn't exactly take too kindly to it would they?"
"I don't really have a family." Amelia answered, making Kel wince at what he'd said, "Just my Aunt and she's never really around."
Kel did think about it a little more, but he knew he couldn't place himself as a burden on her, it just wouldn't be fair. "Still, I can't stay." he said as he began to stand up.
"Wait!" She shouted, seeming desperate, "Please come back? I want to keep you as my friend."
Kel was ready to say that he couldn't, but he struggled to think of a reason why, he could always find somewhere to hide out in the town for a while, see Amelia a few more times before he left. "Okay, I'll come back."
"Promise?" She asked
"Promise."
~O~
What began as weekly visits before he was going to leave just seemed to continue. With Amelia, Kel could begin to open up somewhat, she filled a void that being ripped away from his family had formed. She became like a little sister to him over the years he continued to visit, which was a little strange - considering she was human.
He never missed a visit, every week he was there at the exact time they'd promised, and it was honestly going well for 4 years. Until one week, when Amelia stood, waiting in her garden for Kel to show - growing more and more worried that he wasn't there.
It had now been over three hours since they had agreed to meet, Kel was usually never more than a few minutes late - and even then he always apologised. So as each minute passed, the pit in her stomach was growing.
She knew originally that Kel said he wouldn't stay forever, but the idea now of him leaving seemed terrifying - she had a friend in Kel that she could tell things too, things she couldn't tell anyone else, even her other friends like Rory or Mels.
While she was afraid that he had left, she couldn't imagine that he would leave without saying goodbye. A bigger fear was that something had happened to Kel. She didn't want to even think about him being hurt, he had become like a brother to her, which was a little strange - considering he was a lizard. Yet he always seemed strong to her - always looking out for her when he came to see her, just like a brother would.
Just as she was giving out all hope of him showing, she heard footsteps - pained footsteps. Her fears were confirmed when she saw him, blood covering his face as he walked towards her - pain clear in his expression.
She ran to him, "What happened?!" She screamed, "Kel, What happened?"
"Someone saw me," He answered, "and as you can see, they didn't exactly like what they saw." He said with a small laugh that made him wince.
Amelia felt sick, she didn't know where Kel hid when he wasn't with her, but she knew he had been careful, seeing him like this, in this much pain, hurt.
"Come inside, we'll get you sorted out." She said, pulling Kel inside with her.
"I wouldn't worry too much." He said, laughing slightly, "My enhancements will heal it soon enough - it looks much worse than it is."
While it was relieving to know he wasn't in too bad of a condition, it didn't do much to ease her worries, "Still, you're hurt."
Kel just nodded, "Yes, and Amelia…" He started, but seemed to have trouble continuing. He sighed, "Now that someones seen me… It'll only be a matter of time before someone else does, I'm mainly here to say goodbye before I leave, I don't think I can stay here any longer."
"No."
Kel looked up, seeing Amelia looking away from him, but still. "No?" He said, confused.
"No." She said with a nod, "You're not going anywhere."
He sighed, "Amelia, I have to-"
"No!" She said, shouting now as she turned, shocking him as she had tears running down her face. "My Aunt's never here and you're the only family I have! You're the closest thing to a brother I have, and you're not going anywhere!"
To say Kel was shocked would be an understatement. However, he was also incredibly happy to hear that she thought of him as family as well, "You're like a sister to me too, but I can't stay - they know where my hiding place is."
"Stay here." She said simply.
"Amelia, you know I can't do that." Kel said with a sigh.
"Why? Why can't you stay here?"
"I can't. I would just be a burden, I can't place that on you."
Amelia seemed outraged, "How would you be a burden? I want my family here with me! You are staying here and that's final."
Kel wanted to argue, but he knew there was no point trying, Amelia could be the most stubborn person when she wanted to be - plus he wanted to stay with the girl he considered his sister as much as she wanted him there, he was just worried about being a burden on her. "Alright."
"Plus you could protect me…. What?" She said after a moment, looking up at him shocked while he just smiled, he did enjoy being much taller.
"I said alright, I know when you won't take no for an answer." He said with a smirk, "Plus I won't lie, I would love to stay here with you."
"You're not just joking? You'll stay?" She asked him, shaking slightly.
"I'll stay." He said with a nod, before almost being knocked over as a ginger rocket collided with him. "I've no idea how we're going to keep this hidden from your aunt though…" He said, causing Amelia to laugh.
"Thank you…" He heard her say as they continued to hug.
"No Amelia, Thank you…" Kel could honestly say that he had more bad memories than Happy in his very long life, but things were beginning to look up for him - he had managed to find somewhere that he could belong, maybe not forever, but at least for now.
~O~
Living with Amy (as she now preferred to call herself) was the best decision of Kel's life, he was happy, he found somewhere that he could relax without having to worry about the next time he would be able to eat.
It was especially good as Amy made sure to keep his favourite flavours of pringles well-stocked, a food he had been quite attached to ever since Amy introduced him to it.
Amy occasionally had a few friends over, namely two people named Rory and Mels, who he had so far been able to avoid pretty easily - Amy would let him know when they were coming, and he would simply hide himself away until they left. Which was all going really well until one day when Amy forgot to let Kel know that Rory was coming over.
Kel's day so far had been going pretty well. While he absolutely loved his victorian clothes, he did agree with Amy (reluctantly) that he couldn't wear them all the time, so he now took to wearing various T-shirts when he was in the house, usually with just a pair of jeans, but he did like wearing shorts - the air always felt nice on his scales.
He hadn't exactly been up to much, he had taken more to reading, now that he was able to read in a safe place where he knew that his books wouldn't be damaged due to rain or just be stolen. However, as he began to feel hungry he left his room and walked downstairs to the Kitchen - finding himself quite surprised when he walked in to see Amy and who he assumed was Rory sitting at the table.
Now, while Kel could have simply and quietly left the room, as Rory wasn't facing the direction of the door, this is not what happened. Instead, Kel let out a quite loud shout of surprise - immediately giving his position away to both Amy and Rory - the latter of whom was both surprised and terrified upon seeing Kel - to the point that he jumped out of his seat, higher than Kel had ever seen anyone jump (certainly worth a score of 10/10), before he promptly fainted.
Sheepishly, Kel looked over to Amy - who didn't seem to be mad exactly, but more that she was just done with both of them. "Well that could have gone better." She said, sarcasm dripping from her voice, as she moved to stand and walk over to the unconscious Rory.
"In my defence," Kel started, "You are supposed to tell me when you bring someone over."
"You didn't have to shout!"
Kel was about to retort before he realised he had nothing, "Yeah that's fair."
While they were 'arguing' neither noticed Rory coming to the floor. Seeing his best friend arguing with a giant lizard with a metal arm could definitely be considered the strangest wake up call he had ever had.
"Oh, Sleeping Beauties awake." Kel said, as he looked down to see Rory looking up at him in fear.
"Rory." Amy said, causing Rory to bring his attention over to her, "This is my brother, Kel."
Kel would later deny tearing up at hearing Amy introduce him as her brother, but the other two who were there that day would certainly say that Kel was crying - a lot.
"Brother?!" Rory shouted in a mixture of shock and confusion, "He's a Lizard."
Now Kel would have said something himself, but he was still crying so instead Amy took control.
"I know what he is." Amy said, rather sternly - her scottish accent coming through very strongly, "but I've known him for so long, and he's always been there for me." She began to smile as she spoke, "He's the best brother I could ask for."
"He's a lizard."
Amy just sighed, "Yes Rory, He's a Lizard." As Kel just continued to cry in the corner.
~O~
While their introduction was slightly Rocky, once Rory came to get used to the fact that Kel wasn't human they got pretty close. They would both confidently say that they were best friends with each other - and while Kel couldn't exactly go out much, whenever the three of them would go out at night - they always had a great time.
Kel's introduction to Amy's other best friend was much smoother. Amy, Rory and Kel were watching a movie in Amy's house when Mels burst in - immediately taking notice of the Cyber enhanced Lizard sitting on the armchair - as one would.
"Is that a Lizard?" Mels asked, looking to Amy for an answer.
"Yes." Amy answered, not even taking her eyes off the screen.
Mels just shrugged, "Cool." She said as she sat on the couch.
Kel was surprised, but had heard enough about Mels for this to not really surprise him, "Technically I'm part Silurian, part Cyberman." He said, finding it much easier to talk about his past after opening up to Amy.
"So you're a Cyberlurian?" Mels said with a smirk.
Kel just turned to Amy - "I like her."
From that day on, the dynamic duo of Mels and Kels was born.
~O~
One thing that Kel never expected was for him to be able to walk around a town freely, but thanks to his three friends that's exactly what he was able to do.
While he still got many odd looks from the people around town, and had to wear some sort of hat to cover up some of his more odd physiology, along with his metal arm - they were able to play off his scales as being a deformation - with the cybernetics being some sort of aid to help him.
He was able to tell that not everyone accepted him, or fully believed them as he walked through town - but the fact that nobody was running in fear or attacking him was a million times better than he could have ever hoped for.
Leadworth was a small town, and therefore everyone knew everyone - Kel had become rather popular as he was always willing to help out anyone that needed it. He was even able to get a Job - something he was ecstatic about as it meant he could pay back Amy for all the help she gave him. Though he would say that getting her and Rory together was also a way of repaying her, it would have never happened if it wasn't for him and Mels.
His Job wasn't exactly anything special or important, he just helped to run the local bookshop. While it may not have been the career many sought out, the sheer fact that Kel could live in a community and do his part meant more to him than words could express.
Today was a very slow day, and his boss had let him go early - allowing him to pick up some food on the way home, especially some new pringles he had been meaning to buy for a while.
However, he was very surprised when he got home to see a smoking blue police box in the garden, he recognised it of course - Amy had done over a hundred drawings of the box, never mind all the cartoons and sculptures.
He walked up to the door and opened it, Shouting out "Amy!" as he walked in and closed the door behind him.
He had only just taken his coat off when Amy came barrelling down the stairs, "I need your help." she said, seeming very nervous.
"Who's body am I hiding?" he asked with a smirk.
"No Kel, seriously, I need your help with this." She asked, still quite nervous.
"Okay, Anything." He said, before Amy gestured for him to follow her upstairs.
When he reached where Amy was standing, he noticed a man handcuffed to the radiator - this man was clearly the Doctor, he looked just like all the drawings Amy had done.
"Huh…" Kel said, looking at the Doctor, "Well, This should be interesting."
A.N -
I had to get this story started!
I know I said I was going to write the Sergeant first, but I couldn't hold off Kel any longer. He might be my favourite out of all my characters, but I don't know if I could really pick a favourite.
Updates probably won't be very often at the moment, but I'll try not to make it too long between, a few weeks at most - I have a lot of Uni work at the moment so I do have to put that first.
Obviously this is just a lead into the Eleventh Hour, but I really wanted to set up Kel first so we can just get on with the story. You will learn a lot more about Kel as time goes on, about his time before he was kidnapped, during, and the time he spent on Earth afterwards.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this prologue, and I can't wait to continue. I'll probably alternate updates with this story and Call to Action, but I haven't decided exactly how im gonna go about that yet.
Please leave a review if you would like to!