Previously...
London: February 16th, 1941
"Where are we going?" Nancy asked as she and Jamie followed Rieka down a street not that far from the hospital that the witch worked at.
The red head glanced back to the pair with a small smile as she pocketed the letter that she had been reading. "Nineteen forty-one is no place for a young, single mother to raise her son on the streets," she said as the trio approached a house near the end of the street, "And I know that you both need a place to stay."
Nancy's eyes widened when they came to a stop in front of a large house that had a small, well-kept front yard.
"This is my home," the red head explained as she turned to the pair. The small smile on her face grew as she watched Jamie's eyes light up and she couldn't help but reach forwards to ruffle the boy's hair. "And if you would accept," she continued, looking to Nancy, "It is yours as well."
"Yo-you can't be serious?" the brunette choked out in disbelief, her hand tightening around her son's in her awe.
Holding out her hand, Rieka met Nancy's gaze. "I am quite serious, Nancy," she said, "But before you can make it your own, I need to take you hand for a moment... If that is okay?"
"What for?" Nancy questioned, even though her son managed to get out of her grip and grab onto Rieka's outstretched hand.
"You saw today that there was far more to this world than you had once thought possible," the witch stated, shaking her head fondly at Jamie as he tried to drag her towards the house, though she made sure that she didn't let him go just yet. "And this home has some... added protections that will keep it safe," she continued, turning her gaze back to the still nervous Nancy.
"What type of protections?" Nancy asked as she looked to the house, rather unsure.
"Nothing that would harm you or Jamie," the red head assured, "But they will keep you both safe for as long as you decide to reside here." She held out her free hand towards the brunette, "But I will need touch to allow you inside for the first time."
Rieka knew that she was basically asking Nancy to trust her, but she couldn't deny the words that almost felt as though they burned in her pocket. She knew that Constantine was right, and she couldn't continue to shut herself away from those who were only trying to be her friend.
But as Nancy looked between Rieka's outstretched hand and the house behind her, the witch knew that she was making the right decision in allowing Nancy and her son to enter her life. She felt as though that they needed her just as much as she needed them.
"Come on, mummy!" Jamie suddenly piped up as he continued to try and drag Rieka towards the gate, "I want to see inside."
Rieka just cocked an eyebrow at Nancy when the brunette looked to her, and although she was now smiling openly, the witch still waited patiently for Nancy to make her own choice.
After what finally felt like hours, Nancy hesitantly grabbed Rieka's hand, and the moment she did so, she felt a jolt pass through her at the contact. She gasped; her eyes locked onto the swirling red of Rieka's before they slowly faded back to their normal silver-grey as the red head let her hand go.
"What was that?!" Nancy asked, rather alarmed. Her eyes darted to her son when his suddenly gasped, however.
"That tickled, mummy," Jamie remarked with a giggle, and the brunette let the breath out she hadn't even realised that she had been holding.
"That was nothing harmful," Rieka quickly soothed, knowing what was possibly running through the young mother's mind, "It was just the house allowing you entry," she added as she finally allowed Jamie to drag her towards their new home. She knew that the wards would now accept them onto the property unless she changed them herself. And Rieka felt that she didn't want to change them back as she felt the magic hum in the air around her.
It really did feel like coming home now.
"The house?" Nancy questioned, following the pair a little more warily. Her dubious expression turned to shock when Rieka opened the front door and let Jamie take off into the front room to investigate the house.
"Your house," Rieka corrected as Nancy stepped inside, the brunette feeling a slight tingle pass down her spine as she did so. "This place is just as much your home as it is mine. And you are welcome to do whatever you like to make it your own."
"But where will you be staying?" Nancy turned to Rieka, concerned about the possibility of the red head having nowhere else to go.
Though the red head just brushed off her concern. "I have a place of my own where I do most of my work," she explained with a smile, "And although I may pop in from time to time to see how you two are going, I will be staying there."
"But, this..." the brunette looked around the room they were standing in, never having ever believed that she would have been able to live in such a place. "This is too much."
Rieka placed a hand on the younger woman's shoulder, "But just what you deserve."
"Mummy!"
Jamie screamed, causing the two women to jump and turn towards his voice, only to be surprised when the little boy came dashing back into the room with a squeal; carrying something against his chest.
"Look mummy! It's a dinosaur!" he exclaimed, holding up the plush t-rex.
Rieka snorted and Nancy laughed as she picked up her son and hugged him. She turned to the red head, her eyes glistening with happy tears.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"No," Rieka shook her head with a warm smile, her hand slipping into her pocket and curling around the letter that was in there, "Thank you."
-0-
Now...
South Wales: September 12th, 2006
"Come on, Aunty. I'm sure it'll be fine," Mickey's voice had Aries blinking, her eyes refocusing on the landscape as it sped past the window of the train carriage they were in. She looked to the young man, a small frown on her lips as he continued to try and get her to see that everything would be okay, but as they got closer to Cardiff station and the location that Rose had given Mickey for the young man to meet up with her, Aries couldn't help but feel unsettled and it wasn't long until her gaze was once more looking out the window, her hand fiddling with the sleeve of her coat unconsciously.
Mickey let out a sigh, seeing his aunt's behaviour and looked away, knowing what was bothering the red head. And he knew that no matter what he had told her, she was nervous about seeing the Doctor again. In fact Mickey had come quite adept at reading his aunty ever since he had ended up on her doorstep the morning he had destroyed Downing Street.
Well, more like kidnapped and then dumped on her doorstep was more like it, the young man thought as he recalled how he had ended up at Aries' home, feeling his lip twitch upwards at the memory.
Whoever the brunet had been, Mickey couldn't really hold the man's actions against him as they had brought him back into his aunts' life.
Just wish he had warned me first, he grumbled mentally, his mind going back to how sick he had felt when he had appeared with the brunet at Aries' house.
The TARDIS had just left with Rose and the Doctor, leaving Mickey alone after Jackie wandered back up to her flat.
The young man was sitting near where the Time Lord's ship had been sitting before they left on another adventure, flipping through that days' newspaper. He couldn't believe that the government had just brushed everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours under the rug, acting as though it had all been a hoax that had gotten way out of hand.
There was only so much they could cover up, and the ruins that now stood in the place that was 10 Downing Street seemed just a bit too much.
Though as the young man glanced down to the disc that the Time Lord had given him, he knew deep down that it had been for the best that no one was any wiser as to what was out there. It was for the very same reason that he had never mentioned – not to another living soul - the bracelet he still wore. Or the fact that he remembered the day he had gotten it.
Sure he may have played along when his aunty had 'removed' his memories that he had of her, though he was unsure as to why he still retained them when no one else did. Even Jackie had forgotten the red head, and he could remember when he was little how much the blonde would go one about Aries when the red head wasn't around.
He had his suspicion that Jackie was jealous that despite being on her own, Aries seemed to have her life sorted.
Or had up until she went and decided to make everyone forget that she even existed... Mickey thought, a frown tugging at his lips. He hoped that his aunty would one day tell him why, but that would reveal that he had remembered everything all along, and Mickey felt that there had to be a good reason for Aries to have gone to such drastic measures to make herself disappear.
It still didn't stop him from wanting to ask her why, however.
Letting out a sigh, the young man folded the newspaper and started to head back to his flat, tucking both the paper and disc under his arm as he went. The Doctor had asked him to use the virus that the disc contained to wipe any mention of the Time Lord from the internet, and a part of him wondered if what his aunty had done had been because of similar circumstances.
Though the young had only made it a few steps when out of nowhere, a long-haired brunet that looked to be in his early to late twenties appeared in front of him in a flash of light. Mickey stopped dead in his tracks, almost dropping his cargo as his jaw dropped in shock and surprise.
The man was wearing an aged black leather jacket, dark blue denim jeans and a pair of well-worn combat boots, and he glanced around warily as he dropped his hands from in front of him, his sleeve covering whatever was strapped to his left wrist before Mickey could see what it was. And as he looked around, Mickey swallowed when the man's umbral gaze narrowed on him, not missing how his right hand moved to grasp something at his side and concealed by his jacket.
Though as the man continued to stare at Mickey for a moment, something passed over his face; an expression that was too quick for Mickey to name, and the brunet visibly relaxed, letting his hand drop from where it was and back to his side.
"Mickey Smith," the man smirked, "Van'ec skizky urzeobs jolsk... (It's your lucky day...)"
"Wh-who are you?" Mickey stuttered, taking a step away from the man the same moment the brunet took a step towards him. He couldn't help it. The man screamed dangerous and he knew that it hadn't been a mobile that he had been about to pull out from under his coat.
The brunet paused, eyeing the young man before him as his lip curled upwards slightly. "Skiz elrilvec xiakar krourr imk wadaevnivitec, (You always were full of questions,)" the man muttered. His voice was smooth but thick with an accent that Mickey didn't recognise. In fact, it took the young man a moment to realise he had no idea what the brunet had just said before he was speaking again. "Lialni skaeky viec van? (What year is it?)" he suddenly asked.
"What?" Mickey questioned, having no idea what the man was saying. Though he couldn't help but notice, odd accent and language aside, that there was something off about the man. It wasn't that the brunet had just appeared out of nowhere, but more that the newcomer looked... obscure? Almost like something was missing or wasn't right, though he couldn't place what.
The man scowled, seeming to realise something and he turned away and muttered, "Grulecnial niavapr fazecni grar gaymorta, (Blasted thing must be broken,)" quickly under his breath as he fiddled with whatever was strapped to his wrist before giving up. He looked back to Mickey with narrowed eyes, his expression causing the younger man to swallow heavily as he realised that the brunet's eyes were unnaturally black. "Year?!" he snapped in English, causing Mickey to jump.
"Er, 2006," the young man said quickly, unconsciously taking another step away from the man.
The brunet's eyebrows knitted together as he looked around again before his eyes fell onto the flats of Powell Estate. "2006," he muttered as he stared at the building, his lip curling up in disgust. His eyes widened minutely as he asked, "Grakikar ink elkiark niar Vecuaniarrta? (Before or after the Slitheen?)"
"Vecua...what?" Mickey questioned, not understanding what the man was talking about.
The man frowned, looking to Mickey. "Niavec viec liask Va xiltnial niar nixim-xilk niketecreniky, (This is why I wanted the two-way translator,)" he muttered angrily. His frown deepened as he concentrated, realising that it had been a while since he had to speak in such a primitive tongue without aid. "The, arky (er)..." he made a motion with his hand as he tried to remember the words, "Big...ugly. Pryarrta (green)...green. Really tall."
"Slitheen?" Mickey supplied, looking at the man with a raised eyebrow. He couldn't help but find it slightly amusing at seeing the man stumble over words, though he managed to keep the smile off his face. Something was telling him that the man wouldn't take to kindly to that.
"Skavec, (Yes,)" the man agreed, "Slitheen. They, ozfa (um), already been?"
Mickey nodded as he pulled the newspaper from under his arm and cautiously held it out to the man, making sure he didn't reveal the disc that the Doctor had given him. The brunet's eyes narrowed on the paper before quickly stepping forwards and taking it, his eyes sweeping over the front page. When he was done, he snorted, "Skiz alefetaec elkar gruatjo nim niar nikonia. Uraor gregskec vecizaguart vat niar jolkob. (You humans are blind to the truth. Like babies stumbling in the dark.)"
Mickey frowned at the man's tone. He didn't have to understand what the brunet had said to feel as though he had just been insulted.
The brunet shook his head, handing the paper back to Mickey. "You kemfar (come)," he told Mickey, reaching for the young man's arm, but Mickey quickly moved out of his reach.
"Oh, no. I'm not going anywhere. I don't even know who you are," Mickey exclaimed, taking a few steps away from the man. There was no way he was going anywhere with the brunet.
"Skiz fazecni, (You must,)" the man growled and Mickey was about to take another step away from him, though his eyes widened in alarm when he realised he couldn't move. As the brunet approached him, Mickey couldn't help but feel as though he was prey caught in the trap of a dangerous predator. He felt his heart pounding in his chest as the brunet reached out to grab his arm and something flashed across the man's eyes.
"Alefetaec. Vecim kraekrour imk niar ozaobaixta, (Humans. So fearful of the unknown,)" the man muttered as he grabbed Mickey's arm, feeling the younger man's rapid heartbeat under his grip. "Almxi niakyarusk... faikilur, (How terribly... mortal,)" was the last thing Mickey heard before he there was a tug in his stomach and he felt as though he was being squeezed through something he shouldn't have been able to fit through.
When Mickey finally found himself back on solid ground, he managed to open his eyes. Though the moment he did so, the world seemed to spin around him and he threw up, unable to hold it back. The brunet dropped his arm as if it burned and sneered at him in disgust before making the mess vanish. Mickey wiped his mouth, looking at the man with wide eyes before realising that the brunet's attention was no longer on him, and his sneer had been replaced with a blank look, his posture rigid.
He followed the man's gaze, wondering what was wrong, only to blurt out, "This is Luka's home," the moment he realised where they were. The brunet glanced at him, the sneer returning to his lips as he shook his head. Mickey frowned, "But why did you bring me here?" he questioned, looking back to the brunet, "Luka hasn't lived here for years."
The man didn't say anything, only raised his hands and revealed a device around his left wrist that looked to be some kind of high-tech watch to Mickey. He input something into the device, and before Mickey could question what it was, the man vanished. He stared at the spot the brunet had been before his gaze was drawn back to the house as the front door was opened to reveal a very surprised Aries.
"Mo-Mickey?" the red head breathed, her eyes going wide at the sight of the young man.
Mickey couldn't help but smile at the memory of her reaction. It had always been hard to surprise Aries and to have finally managed to do it was like a lifelong goal had been achieved. The amount of times he and Luka had tried to scare her were probably in the thousands. Though Mickey's smile quickly fell at the thought of the young man that had once been his closest friend.
Mickey and Aries now sat in the red head's living room after a very awkward hello. It had been years since Mickey had been inside the house, although the young man's eyes hadn't missed the boxes that were placed in the corner. It made him wonder if she was packing to leave and that thought brought him a feeling of dread, not wanting her to be out of his life.
Not after just finding her again.
Aries hadn't said a word since she had welcomed him inside and he was mildly surprised that the wards around the property still welcomed him, feeling a slight but pleasant tingle pass through him the moment he had stepped through the front door. He looked at his aunty and noticed her stiff posture as she made tea without her magic and it caused his lips to tug downwards in a frown.
It wasn't like how he remembered her at all.
"What can I help you with?" Aries finally asked, causing Mickey to startle. Her voice was tight and she watched him closely as she placed a cup of tea in front of him before moving back to the other lounge and picked up her own.
Mickey's frown deepened before he shook his head. "Actually, I've been looking for you," he admitted, not missing the surprise that appeared on her face before it disappeared, her expression becoming guarded. He also didn't miss that when she placed her cup down onto the table, Aries tugged at the sleeve of her coat, almost as if she was nervous before catching herself and relaxed into the chair, her hands placed to rest on the armrests.
"Why?"
It was a simple question, but Mickey knew that the answer wasn't going to be. He took a sip from his tea before placing the cup down and frowned, trying to find the right words. "I...It's just..." he let out a frustrated sound as he sank back into his own seat. "Why did you try and make me forget?" he asked, deciding to come out with a question that had been bugging him since he realised what she had tried to do.
The sharp intake of breath she took told Mickey that Aries hadn't planned on him ever knowing and he felt his stomach drop.
Aries suddenly stood up, but Mickey continued, not wanting her to do anything rash. "What happened with Luka? He never spoke to me about it, but I know that it was after Jamie's de-"
"Mickey, don't," she cut him off, I don't want to talk about it. I did what I did to protect you." A frown appeared on her lips as she looked back to her nephew, her expression confused, "How you still remember is beyond me, but you shouldn't have. What I did," she ran a hand through her hair as she begun to pace, though her gaze left him as she tried to continue, "Do you know what it is like to watch the people you care about... To be blamed for something you had no control..." She let out a frustrated huff as she stopped and finally met his gaze and he was surprised to see the tears in her eyes.
Mickey, in all the years that he'd known Aries, had never seen his aunty cry before.
"Jamie died because I made the wrong choice, and I couldn't do it again," she managed to get out, a tear rolling down her cheek, "I couldn't see anyone else die because of what I am, so I did the only thing I could think of."
"You disappeared," Mickey murmured, shocked by the amount of pain he could see in her eyes. This hadn't been what he'd been expecting when he imagined the scenario taking place in his mind.
Aries shook her head, "No. I made people forget me. Mary, Luka, everybody. No one knows I exist," she let out a quiet breath, "And it's for the best."
"For the best?!" Mickey exclaimed incredulously, "How could you think it was for the best?" he asked before his eyes widened as something dawned on him. "How could you do that to her? She died not knowing that she had a family. Only a grandson who is nothing but a failure and a son who had disappeared when life didn't go his way!" He was on his feet now as he stared at Aries, his voice rising, "She died not remembering the woman who was more of a daughter to her than her own... more of a mother to me than anyone!"
"I did it to protect ME!" Aries shouted, her hands curling into fists.
Mickey's felt as though the wind had been knocked from him at her words and Aries paled as she realised what she had let slip passed her lips.
"What do you mean, protect you?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Aries turned away, unwilling to answer him and Mickey slowly made his way towards her.
"What did he do, aunty?"
When she still didn't say anything, Mickey gentle rested his hands on her shoulders and slowly turned her to face him. "What did Luka do?" he questioned, feeling her shoulder's shake under his hands and saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. It made his heart clench at the thought she had been dealing with this pain on her own for years and no one knew. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me," he said, his voice and expression soft but determined.
Mickey's hands curled into fists at the memory, unable to stop himself.
Five years his aunty had kept it bottled up inside, only having told two other people, but when she finally told him, it was like the dam had burst and she couldn't stop.
"Luka had messaged me," Aries finally begun almost an hour later, sitting on the lounge as she stared blankly ahead. Mickey was startled by her voice, but said nothing as he listened. "He had been hanging around with that group, trying to prove that he belonged."
He grimaced here, remembering the group Luka had started to hang around. They had all tried to sway Luka away from them, but nothing seemed to work and slowly Mickey had drifted away from his once childhood best friend.
"I hadn't realised how bad they were until I went to see what trouble he had gotten into this time. But I knew something was wrong, so I made a few phone calls and let a few people know where I was going. Some of the group I knew to be dangerous, and although I have my abilities, I did not want to reveal them," Aries stood up and moved to one of the boxes. Mickey watched her silently as she opened it and pulled out a wooden box about thirty centimetres in length and about twenty wide.
Moving back to the lounge, Aries placed the box on the coffee table between them, but made no move to open it. Mickey glanced between the box and his aunty, noticing her tight expression. He slowly reached forwards, and seeing that she made no motion of protest, he opened the box, revealing something that made his breath hitch.
Inside was two daggers and their sheaths; the likes Mickey had never seen before. The handles looked like molten lava, beautifully crafted to resemble a howling wolf's head that was a mix of both blood red and pitch black. The blades were silver with what looked to be three ruins etched into each side of them. Each one was different, though he had no idea what they stood for.
"They were a gift, I believe," the red head continued, a frown forming on her face as her gaze finally lifted from the box, "Left for me a few decades back. I have never been one for weapons, but I knew that I couldn't go empty handed that night. And I did not take anything else knowing that I had already been informed that people were on their way to help." She paused for a moment, her eyes closing, "But I didn't know that Luka had also asked his father to come."
Mickey looked up at that, hearing the waver in her voice. He wanted to ask what had happened, but held his tongue, knowing that if he did ask, Aries might stop.
Taking a deep breath, Aries continued, "Dustin, the so called 'leader' of their little group was waiting with Luka. He had persuaded Luka to try and find someone to help his sister, although he didn't have one. I don't know if it was before or after Dustin had approached Luka when he had mentioned me, but I realised immediately that it was a setup. Someone knew who I was and figured how to use Luka to try and get to me. I know that Luka was only trying to do the right thing, but he broke the one rule I had asked of his family."
"Not to reveal your magic to anyone," Mickey muttered almost automatically and Aries nodded.
It was the only rule he knew his aunty upheld.
"If he had come to me and explained everything, I would have been happy to look into it and helped where I could, but he didn't," she sighed, "And when Dustin realised I did in fact have the abilities he had been looking for, he tried to use Luka as a way to persuade me to help him."
"What did he want?" Mickey asked, his eyebrows furrowing.
Aries shook her head, "I never found out. By the time he had placed his switchblade against Luka's cheek, I reacted without thinking. But in the events that happened next, Jamie had turned up, hoping to help his son with whatever lies Jake had told Luka to weave. And upon seeing Jamie, I did not notice until it was too late that Dustin had one of his 'friends' waiting for him to show up, to use him as leverage if Luka wasn't enough." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "All I remember seeing is the man appearing from the shadows of the shop as I disarmed Dustin. The flash of something metal being pulled from his jacket and without knowing how or why, I realised that they intended to kill Jamie to get what they wanted."
"Wh-what happened?" Mickey asked, although he felt as though he already knew.
Her expression was grim as she nodded to the blades, "I may not be one for weapons, but I was well versed in handling them and know how to use them. One of them ended up lodged in the man's neck, but I wasn't quick enough to stop him and Jamie paid the price. By the time I reached him, he had lost too much blood, the bullet having nicked his aorta. I couldn't do anything to save him, no matter how much I tried."
Mickey had been shocked by how dull and emotionless her voice had been as she explained what had happened, but understood. It was her way of dealing with it and speaking aloud about what had happened couldn't have been easy for her. He glanced towards his aunt; rather glad she had told him. Though a part of him wanted to go out and find Dustin after the man had managed to slip away when UNIT had shown up. He knew that Aries had searched for the man, but it was as if he had disappeared off the face of the planet.
And if she couldn't find him, then it was unlikely that anyone could.
By the time the train had arrived at Cardiff Central station, Mickey had noticed that Aries had grown even more anxious as they left the train. She was still fiddling with the sleeve of her coat as they headed towards the redeveloped Oval Basin and occasionally drawing her bottom lip between her teeth. He wanted to say something to help her relax, but didn't know what, so he kept his silence.
The witch knew that her nephew was concerned, though she didn't let him know. It was still strange for Aries, having Mickey back in her life. But he, just like Sarah and Alistair, had been adamant that he wasn't allowing her to disappear on him again, and Aries found that despite not wanting to get close to the young man again, afraid of what might happen to him if she did, the red head continuously found herself relaxing around him, finding that she rather enjoyed the time she got to spend with him.
She had even gone with Mickey to see a movie a few weeks back – something that Aries hadn't done with her nephew since he'd reached double digits.
Though what really surprised Aries was that neither found it odd that she still considered Mickey her nephew and he considered her his aunt. Though the red head found that the protectiveness she felt over her nephew had fuelled quite a few arguments. Especially when they revolved around a certain blonde.
Aries had never told Mickey about the times she had run into the Doctor and Rose. Nor how his girlfriend had flirted with not only the Time Lord in question – while Aries was in the very room with them, mind you – as well as a conman she'd just met, knowing that all that would result in would be hurting Mickey. Their arguments had already put a strain on their relationship, and Mickey had constantly rebutted her arguments, asking her how she would know if Rose was good enough for him when she'd never shown any interest in anyone.
But what Aries had never revealed was that she'd never thought about being in a relationship for the simple fact that someone had caught her eye. But the witch wasn't certain as to what her feelings were in regards to that person.
It had gotten to the point where Mickey had stopped teasing her over her lack of love life after the last time he had tried to broach the topic; all the while pointing at random guys that passed them by. Aries had snapped at him, though inside she was unsettled by the feeling of being with someone else; recalling vividly how the Doctor's hand felt as it enclosed hers. Or the fact that he smelt so scarily similar to her Amortentia.
But it had been the look in his eyes and the words that he had spoken during the incident at Downing Street only a few months prior that Aries couldn't get out of her head. Like always, the red head was confused, and she was worried that she was reading far too much into his expressions, hoping to catch a glimpse of something that wasn't there.
Suddenly her nerves became too much, and Aries stopped walking.
"Mouse," she called, causing the young man in front of her to stop and turn back to her with an air of concern. "I... I don't think that this is a good idea," she begun, trying to keep her voice from wavering. She had no idea as to why she was so nervous about meeting the Doctor again, and it only had her growing more anxious.
Mickey's eyebrows creased, a little confused as to why his aunt was so nervous about seeing the Doctor and Rose again. He knew that she had left right after the incident back in March, but he didn't know why it was bringing out a side of her that he hadn't seen since she had told him what had happened to Jamie.
She almost seemed... scared?
"It'll be fine," he tried to reassure her with a smile, "And I'm certain that the Doctor would be glad to see you again," he added.
While he may not know of Aries' interest in the Doctor, the young man held a sneaking suspicion that – from what he had gleamed during the events that had unfolded with the Slitheen – the Time Lord may actually hold some feelings in regards to his aunty, even if he felt she was rather oblivious to that fact. He had heard the Doctor when he had stuck up for her against Rose, which had initially surprised him. But as he continued to listen, Mickey had gotten the distinct impression that there was something more behind the Doctor's words.
More than just someone concerned over another's safety.
Aries looked at her nephew, her expression dubious. How could he think that the Doctor would be glad to see her? She had just vanished on him and Rose without a word, only leaving a note with Indra to give to the Doctor. And now there was no telling if they'd met her past self while on their travels, which meant that not only would she'd have to try and explain why she'd disappeared back in March, but also how she'd been alive during the Blitz and not looking a day older.
"Mickey, I really don-"
"You worry too much, aunty," Mickey cut her off gently, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Just believe me, okay. It'll be fine."
Looking at him, seeing that he truly wasn't worried, Aries slowly nodded.
Mickey grinned and she sighed as he started walking again before something else caused her to freeze. "Mickey," she called, causing the man to shake his head before glancing back at her, "You can't tell them who I am. None of it," she told him firmly.
Mickey raised an eyebrow before his grin returned and he spun on his heel to face her. "Sir, yes sir," he said with a mock salute.
"Mickey," Aries groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Please. I'm serious."
He dropped his hand, though his grin remained. "Don't worry, aunty. My lips are sealed. To them, you are my friend, not some super high up Commander who could lock me up and throw away the key. Nor are you my magical aunty that can turn into a bird and fly away into the night."
"You're not helping your case, Mickey Smith," Aries told him firmly, though the small upwards turn of her lips gave away her amusement.
The young man laughed as he linked his arm through hers, ignoring the feel of her stiffening slightly at the unexpected contact before relaxing. "Come on, Aries. Better get to Rose before she sends out a search party," he exclaimed, his words causing Aries to roll her eyes. Mickey had caught on quite quickly that her reaction to stiffen when touched was almost instinctive, but found that she would relax immediately afterwards. He wondered what had brought it on, having never noticed her reaction in all the years he had known her, but had thought it had something to do with how long she had spent alone. He never brought it up, however, as it was almost as if she didn't realise she was doing it.
Aries allowed herself to be led as she shook her head.
She really did hope Mickey wouldn't get his heart broken because of the blonde, but she really wasn't going to be holding her breath.
The moment Aries' gaze landed on the TARDIS, the sculpture that stood in Roald Dahl Plass towering in the background, the witch stopped walking even as she felt a warmth brush gently against her mind. It was as if the ship was saying hello, and the red head couldn't help but smile even though her heart was now beating quite the tempo inside her chest.
Mickey frowned, glancing at her and seeing her smile fall, he sighed. "It'll be fine," he told her once again, "And I'm sure he will understand why you had to leave. So much had happened that day and you had a lot of work to do to clean everything up."
Looking at her nephew, Aries nodded. "I know," she said as she turned her head back to the ship, "But I can't help but worry." And it wasn't only just the fact that she was worried about how the Doctor would react to seeing her again, but also how she was supposed to tell him who and what she was. Aries didn't even know if it was common for there to be a half human, half Time Lord hybrid, let alone a Time Lord who was also part witch that wasn't even from this universe.
So many possibilities ran through her mind of how easy this meeting could all go wrong and she didn't realise she was picking at the sleeve of her coat again, her bottom lip being drawn between her teeth as she chewed on it anxiously.
"Why don't you wait here?" Mickey offered as he removed his arm from hers and breaking Aries from her thoughts.
His question caused his aunt to frown, however.
Yes, she may be worried, but Aries wouldn't have come all this way if she hadn't intended to see the Doctor again. There was always something about the Time Lord that had drawn her to him, and when she had heard that Mickey was going to see Rose, she knew she was going with him.
But now that she was standing there...
Aries pushed her concerns behind her occlumency walls and straightened, feeling like a weight had been taken off her shoulders at the action. Letting out a breath, she glanced at Mickey.
"I'll be fine, Mouse," she told him.
The young man just shook his head at the way her troubled expression vanished like it had never been there and was replaced with a more calm and neutral mask. "You really are going to have to teach me how to do that one day, you know," he remarked as they started walking towards the ship once more.
"I dunno, Mouse. It took me many year of practice to learn," Aries said, an eyebrow raising as he knocked on the TARDIS door. She stepped towards the box and rested a hand against the panelling, feeling it warm under her touch and couldn't stop her lip curling upwards into a small smile.
She closed her eyes at the feeling, only to snap them back open in surprise when the TARDIS door opened and a familiar voice asked, "Who the hell are you?"
"Jack?" she questioned, causing both men to look to her in surprise.
"Red?" Jack replied, his eyes taking her in and grinned when she scowled at the nickname.
"You two know each other?" Mickey asked in surprise as he looked between the pair.
Aries' eyes narrowed on the American who hadn't stopped grinning. "It's rather complicated," she said, glancing at Mickey.
"Oh, I believe it's more than that," Jack stated, looking at the red head intently, "Isn't that right, Aries?"
"Jack, what's the hold up?" the Doctor's voice cut in and Aries swallowed when she heard it.
"Oh, I'm gonna love this," the American continued with a grin as he disappeared back inside the TARDIS.
The red head frowned at the man's words as Mickey followed him inside the ship. She hadn't liked the knowing look that had been in the American's eyes and wondered what he knew. Her stomach flipped as she stepped inside after them and was greeted with a rush of warm air as a happy hum resonated through the room, causing the others to look in her direction.
"Aries," the Doctor breathed, quickly climbing down the ladder that he had been using to help him mend something that probably didn't need mending.
"Doctor," she greeted with a small smile, even though she felt nervous, "I'm sorry about having vanished on you like that, but after what had happened, there was quite a lot of things I needed to do."
Jack raised a surprised eyebrow at the red head. So, the Doc doesn't know who she is, he thought. The American hadn't placed her at the time, but having learnt her last name after Rose had accidently mentioned it during one of her grumbles about the red head after the Doctor had saved him, Jack had realised just who Aries Prince was.
Her reign as Royal Commander was one of the longest in Earth's history, and although there wasn't much on her personally, he had learnt quite a lot about her 'conquests' during his time as a Time Agent.
Her high energy reading were something that had stumped him, however. Even though there was something so very familiar about them. He had searched through the library onboard the ship and had been startled by what he had found. Jack had stumbled across an old, handwritten, leather-bound journal on a dusty shelf hidden in the back of the library, and when he had carefully flipped through the aged pages, he had almost been angry by the fact he couldn't understand a word that was written.
But it was the hand-drawn sketches and diagrams that had caught his attention. Most were of different planets, aliens and plants that hadn't been seen in centuries, but there was one that had had his heart stopping with fear.
It was a detailed sketch of a family crest. Something someone must have spent ages drawing, and one he had been told to avoid if he ever saw it. Five oddly-shaped rocks or stones were placed around the outside of a shield, each one looking as though they were about to jump out from the page, flames erupting in the background behind them. At the centre of the shield was a larger odd-shaped, almost gem-looking rock, a rune sketched inside.
One that Jack felt as though he should be able to read.
It was the crest of Alchemist.
The moment he had seen it, he had searched for the Doctor to show him, but had made the mistake of leaving the book in the library. By the time he had managed to drag the Time Lord to the library, the book had vanished. He had tried to tell the Doctor, even to the point of trying to draw a rough version of the crest he had seen, but it was as if he wasn't able to. Like something was stopping him from telling the Time Lord.
The Doctor had just rolled his eyes and snapped at him for wasting his time before leaving, and the moment he had disappeared down the corridor, Jack had been surprised to find that he could draw the image and even speak about it. But any time he tried to show them to the Doctor – to tell him – all the Time Lord said he saw was a blank piece of paper, or thought Jack was just talking gibberish.
After a while he had just given up trying, though knew that the Doctor needed to know not only who Aries was, but the possibility of who she was associated with. If the red head truly held ties to the Alchemist, he knew that the Time Lord needed to know.
The renegade Time Lady had been nothing but a whispered word in the wind. Almost like the bogeyman of time and space, and anyone who heard the name both respected and feared it. And if what Jack had found was the truth and Aries was the possible daughter of the Alchemist, there was no telling what the red head could do...
Jack was pulled from his thoughts when he noticed the grin that was on the Doctor's face as the Time Lord looked at Aries and he raised an eyebrow. Curious, he thought, not having seen the Time Lord grin like that for months.
In fact, it hadn't been since they'd left forty-one and the last time that they had seen Aries that he had.
The Time Lord in question was ecstatic to realise that this was his Aries and couldn't help but pull her into a hug when he reached her. He felt her stiffen in surprise before she relaxed, returning the hug and a small frown tried to appear on his lips at the reaction. "I'm just so glad to see you again," he murmured as he slowly pulled away, unable to keep the grin of his face as he took her in. She didn't look that different than what he remembered when he had first met her, thought she looked more relaxed and it warmed his hearts seeing her no longer so stressed.
"It's good to see you as well," Aries replied, fighting the urge to pull him back into a hug and feel his arms around her again. It was an odd sensation, though hadn't been the first time she had experienced it.
Rose frowned at their interaction and turned to her boyfriend. "Did you manage to find it?" she asked Mickey, trying her best to ignore the fact that the red head had appeared with her boyfriend, and had managed to garner the Doctor's attention the moment she stepped inside the ship.
Mickey pulled out her passport with a grin of his own before handing it over to Rose. "There you go," he said.
Rose smirked as she accepted it before turning to the Time Lord. "I can go anywhere now," she told him, waving her passport in the air and missing the way Mickey's face fell at her declaration.
"I told you, you don't need a passport," the Doctor stated, rolling his eyes as he glanced in his companions' direction.
Blinking at the Doctor's words before her eyes slid to Aries, Rose's smirk returned. "It's all very well going to Platform One," she said, looking back to the Doctor when she noticed the red head's eyebrows crease, "And Justicia, and the Glass Pyramid of San Kaloon, but what if we end up in Brazil? I might need it. You see, I'm prepared for anything."
Aries pursed her lips as Rose spoke. A small, though somewhat familiar spark of jealousy settling in her gut and it caused her eyebrows to crease in confusion. Before she could figure out why, Mickey spoke up and she looked to the man, only for her eyebrows to furrow further at his expression.
"Sounds like you're staying, then," the young man remarked, his gaze flickering to his aunty before returning to Rose, trying to ignore the feeling that Aries could be right and that Rose wasn't the one for him. "So, what are you doing in Cardiff?" he asked, changing the subject and trying to keep his tone light, "And who the hell's Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don't mind you hanging out with big-ears here," he jutted his chin out in the direction of the Doctor, knowing his words were the truth. From what he had heard all those months ago, and seeing the man's reaction to seeing Aries again, he knew that he had been correct about the possibility of the Time Lord harbouring feelings for his aunt.
"Oi!" the Doctor protested, glaring at Mickey.
"Look in a mirror," Mickey retorted before looking to Jack, "But this guy, I don't know. He's kind of..." he trailed off, trying to find the right word.
"Handsome?" the American supplied with a grin, cocking an eyebrow.
"More like cheesy," Aries remarked with a snort, shaking her head at the man.
Her words had the Doctor grinning, rather glad that his Nesdra still held no interest in Jack. Though it fell slightly as his eyes went to Mickey. It hadn't escaped his notice that Aries had arrived with the young man, and although he knew that the pair held some kind of past history, he couldn't help but feel almost threatened and jealous by the younger man's presence.
The Doctor knew that even though he and Aries had only formed quite a fledgling bond after the initial touch of hands when they had met back in March, it had been far longer for him than just a few months, and the separation from his Aries had him feeling very protective over her and wasn't happy with the idea of her hanging out with another man.
"Early 21st century slang. Is cheesy good or bad?" Jack asked as he raised an eyebrow at Aries and the Doctor, noticing the Time Lord shift slightly closer to the red head when his gaze had turned to Mickey. He silently questioned if there was anything going on between the pair, and it made him somewhat uneasy. Being who he was, Jack knew a jealous look when he saw one, and the expression on the Doctor's face as he stared at Mickey was ticking every single box.
"It's bad," Mickey told the American with a smug smirk.
"But bad means good, isn't that right?" Jack asked, though he was no longer paying any real attention to the conversation. His eyes were on Aries, trying to figure out her intentions to the Doctor, though found that she didn't even seem to notice that the Doctor had shifted closer to her as she watched their conversation.
"We just stopped off," Rose cut in before anyone could say anything more. "We need to refuel. Thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running through the middle of the city. It's invisible, but it's like an earthquake fault between different dimensions."
"I thought you said it was a weak point in time and space," Mickey spoke up, looking at his aunty in confusion.
"It's is," the red head agreed, "Like a tear between one point in the universe and here; able to transport things or beings between two points like a doorway that's been left ajar."
"How do you know that?" Rose asked as she frowned at her boyfriend, wondering how he knew what she was talking about. It brought her thoughts back to the knowledge that Aries had known Mickey, although the blonde didn't know how. She was getting annoyed with how the red head seemed to be popping up everywhere in her life, including her travels with the Doctor.
Mickey couldn't help but grin proudly as he replied, "Aries has been studying it."
"And from what I found while doing just that," Aries continued when she noticed Rose's scowl, feeling a little protective of her nephew, "Is that the rift doesn't appear to be active, although sometimes things do end up slip through. There are people who keep the general public from knowing about such incidents, however. And I have also found that the..." she tilted her head to the side, searching for the right word, "...scar releases an extremely high level of radiation, although it has not shown to have any adverse effects on humans. In fact, I have found it to be harmless to everything on this planet." She glanced at the Doctor for confirmation as she continued, "But if I understood Rose correctly, the TARDIS is able to absorb that radiation and convert it into some form of fuel?"
The Time Lord nodded, confirming her thoughts as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, noticing that although she stiffened at the contact, she was quick to relax. He looked at Mickey and the others, ignoring his companions' annoyed expression as he spoke, "The rift was sealed back in 1869 by a young woman named Gwyneth. She was able to close the rift, along with stopping an invading species known as the Gelth who were trying to overtake the human race."
Jack once again raised an eyebrow at the Doctor and Aries, not having missed how the red head had stiffened. He was rather surprised by the way that she had allowed the Doctor to be so close to her and it made him question just what had happened to the red head. If she truly was the Alchemist's daughter, he was rather confused as to how she had befriended a Time Lord.
But what surprised the American even more was the closeness that seemed to be between the pair and he silently chewed over the idea of the possibility of something going on between them. He had been intrigued by how disinterested the Time Lord had been with Rose's advances – and a few of his own – but now he was beginning to see what could have caused that disinterest.
"So, you're using the radiation that the rift is releasing to refill the TARDIS?" Mickey asked, always eager to learn something new, "Like how you'd refill a petrol tank?"
"Yep," the Doctor replied, popping the 'p'.
"Wicked," the young man said with a grin, causing his aunty to shake her head.