Lady A: Hey everyone and welcome back to Warrior Saga: Ember! I know, I know, you're all waiting for the next chapter of Rebirth but keep in mind that Rebirth is almost entirely original work and it is rather taxing in the imagination department. Not to mention trying to describe everything so you can get an accurate picture about what is happening. Anyways, I'm apparently rambling so let's get on with it, shall we?
Brief Recap: Artimes Blaine, now Artimes Tyler, was a twenty five year old woman with a love for Doctor Who. She wakes up one day in the body of an eight year old child and ends up adopted by Jackie Tyler. She has her first encounter with the Doctor on New Year's Day and then her second one but with the Eleventh Doctor and her future self in tow about four hours later.
Looking Forward: We learn more about her recent history and how it affects the people around her. She and Rose head into the work and Artimes soon discovers that she is about to meet the Ninth Doctor. They run from the Autons and the Doctor keeps looking at her for some strange reason.
Chapter Two: Artz and Rose
*Dreamscape*
Pain…scorching, stabbing, and cascading pain. Artimes could not comprehend the full level of the pain she was feeling. Everything hurt…arms, legs, body, head…every part of her body was in agony. She was screaming so loud and her brain felt like it was on fire, searing and boiling inside her skull. Finally, the pain stopped and abruptly too. She fell to the floor, her breathing heavy and ragged. The scorching flames that once occupied her mind had disappeared and left a hollow, aching void in their wake like she wasn't completely herself anymore...like she had lost something important to her.
A bag was slipped over shoulder and it felt like someone was carrying her, but it was hard to tell with how numb she was feeling. She opened her eyes as she was set down on a vibrating and humming surface that was slightly warm to her clammy and slick skin. Her eyes began to focus and clear and her mouth fell open in shock. It was Clara…Clara Oswald, the Impossible Girl, but how was that possible? She was dressed like her Gallifreyan echo in The Name of the Doctor.
"Clara." Artimes spoke her voice hoarse from screaming.
"The bag has everything you'll need. It has a perception filter strong enough to keep Rassilon himself from noticing. I'm just inputting the coordinates now. Don't worry, you'll find him again. You always do." Clara explained moving over to a control panel and pressing buttons with one hand while flipping a few switches with the other.
"Clara, what's…" Artimes spoke again, very confused.
"I know that you don't understand what's happening, and you are very confused as to where you are, but I need you to do something for me." Clara interjected looking up from her work.
The sounds of a battle reached Artimes's ears. Things were obviously exploding and there were sounds of something that she could only classify as a phaser fight.
"What?" Artimes asked as she tried to sit up, her body screaming in protest.
Clara smiled softly at her, her eyes sad and kind.
"Run. Run, you clever girl, and remember me." Clara answered softly.
There was a loud explosion, the doors blasting off the frames. The brunette continued flipping switches despite the breach. Artimes watched in horror as a Dalek entered the room and yelled 'Exterminate'. It raised its weapon and shot Clara, her skeleton becoming visible a moment from the impact. The brunette took a shuddering breath as she pressed one final button.
"Run, Warrior, and don't stop till you find him." Clara spoke her eyes dimming.
Artimes was engulfed in a white light, her entire body seeming to hum from the energy coursing through her.
*End Dreamscape*
Artimes awoke with a gasp, her breathing rapid and shallow. Sweat clung to her body, her night clothes sticking to her. She glanced over at her sleeping sister a moment to see if she had woken her. The blonde continued to sleep peacefully, unaware of her elder sibling's rough awakening. The ginger looked over at the digital alarm clock: 4:38 am. She slid out of bed quietly, careful not to wake her baby sister. The sisters shared the same room considering it was only a two bedroom flat. The ginger didn't mind most of the time, but sometimes her dreams woke her sister.
She made her way to the bathroom. She stripped off her damp clothing and got into the shower. The water was ice cold on her super heated skin, she didn't care. She dreamt the same dream with Clara at least a twice a week, but the other nights were usually filled with horrible nightmares.
Her nightmares could actually be classified as night terrors because of the intricate and realistic nature of them. There were countless people screaming and running, buildings were burning and collapsing, a city in a glass dome in ruins, battles were raging all around, and she was in the center of it all. The things she did in those dreams terrified her beyond measure. She was so full of blood, anger, hatred, and revenge. Worse still, she was fighting on a world with a burnt orange sky, fields of red grass, and trees with silver leaves. She was fighting on Gallifrey and there were Daleks everywhere. She was fighting in the Time War and she didn't know why.
Her eyes screwed shut as the nightmares flowed through her head, her emotions synchronizing with her dreams. She winced at the sudden pain in her right hand. She opened her eyes and saw her fist indented in the shower wall in front of her, the tiles cracked or missing. She mentally berated herself for allowing it to get that far and reacting on impulse to dislodge her from her mind. She pulled her hand back, some of the tiles falling away. Her knuckles were slightly red and were throbbing like mad. She gave the shower wall a distant and empty look, knowing she would have to repair it after work that day.
She finished up with her shower, dried off, and got dressed. Her outfit of choice: dark blue jeans, long sleeved white shirt hanging off her shoulders with a cloth strap across each shoulder, a tight black jacket, black converse, a jean jacket, and a long bright red scarf. She picked up her messenger bag and placed the strap across her right shoulder, the bag resting against her left hip.
It was the same messenger bag from her dream with Clara and she knew for a fact that no one could see it but her. It was also bigger on the inside and contained a lot of things she didn't know what were. She had long since come to the conclusion that her dream about Clara was, in fact, a memory of some sort and she honestly wished that her other nightmares were just nightmares, but a part of her knew it wasn't true.
She walked into the kitchen and made a kettle of tea, her own special blend: a dash of cinnamon, a bit of honey, and a drop or two of lemon. She poured herself a mug and made her way into the living room. She sat down on the couch and stared at the opposite wall. She sipped her tea and allowed her mind to go blank, not really focusing on anything and to keep herself from falling back into her nightmares. She wasn't sure how long she had sat like that, but was startled slightly when her mother offered her a fresh mug of tea. Artimes took it and the elder Tyler sat down next to her on the couch.
"Pepper pots or Clara?" She asked sipping her own tea.
Artimes smiled weakly at her mother's jab at the Daleks. If only she knew about the horrors that the Daleks had caused then she would not be so keen at the idea of insulting them.
"Clara. Sorry about the shower. I'll fix it after work. What time is it anyway?" The ginger responded noticing for the first time the early morning light filtering through the curtains.
"A little after seven." Jackie replied glancing down at the paper on the table, "Ooh, there's a sale at that store you like. Seventy percent off all this week. Maybe we should go shopping this weekend."
Artimes chuckled and looked over the paper herself. She caught sight of the date and she frowned slightly: March 26th, 2005. That date seemed awfully familiar to her. Why did it ring a bell? She sifted through her mind a bit and she smiled slightly. The 26th of March of the year 2005 was the air date of Series One Episode One: Rose for the Doctor Who reboot.
She highly doubted that the air date would coincide with when she and Rose would meet the Doctor, but it certainly made her day a little brighter. She was honestly looking forward to that day and she could finally begin her adventures with that wonderful and impossible man.
She had had four more visits from future Doctors. Three were from Eleven: the first had been after the Florida incident and he wanted to know more about the Silents, the second had been shortly before the events at Lake Silencio, and the third had been after he had lost the Ponds. The second time ended up with her no longer being a virgin and the third turned into a four day spree of dating, dancing, and the universe's best hotel. She knew he needed the comfort and apparently her future self was with River at the time, trying to prevent a Sontaran invasion in the 51st century. The second time, well, she simply couldn't refuse him, knowing he was off to Lake Silencio and believing he was going to die.
Her most recent visit, which was about three weeks ago, had been with Twelve. Kissing the Twelfth regeneration proved to be a rather interesting experience because he was a great deal more aggressive and dominating than Ten and Eleven. Her future self had to literally pry him off of her, otherwise he would have taken her right there in the middle of the street, consequences be damned. It was rather comical to watch him be dragged away by someone who was shorter than him.
She was eternally grateful to the Doctor for those visits. They made her feel less out of place. The whole forty year old trapped in a twenty three year old's body really made her stick out. Her sister didn't mind her elder sibling's odd maturity and simply called her an old soul. Her mother could care less because she acted more like a child than either one of her children.
Artimes heard the alarm going off the sisters' bedroom and knew that Rose would literally be dragging herself out of bed. Her little Rosie absolutely abhorred mornings, thought sunlight was evil before 10:00 am, but both their shifts at Henrick's started in the morning. Rose worked in the clothing department while Artimes worked in the books and literature department.
It didn't take long for the younger Tyler to get ready and the ginger polished off her tea just as her sister grabbed her keys from the bowl on the table. She kissed Jackie's cheek before hauling the red head off the couch. The ginger kissed her mother's cheek hastily so she wouldn't get jerked around by her always impatient kid sister.
"Bye!" The girls yelled heading for the door.
"See you later!" Their mother called after them.
The sisters exited the flat and ran down the stairs of the block of flats where they lived and quickly hopped onto the bus. Artimes stood closer to the exit, her hand on the vertical rail to keep her stabilized. Her sister stood a bit further in, clinging to the hand rail on the back of one the seats.
"You dreamt about Clara last night, didn't you?" Rose asked her grip tightening on the railing as the bus began to move.
Artimes stared out at the blurring cityscape as she sighed heavily. Rose could always read her so easily and she honestly hated how her younger sister worried so much about her. The younger Tyler was commonly the one holding the ginger as she cried after waking up from some of her more horrible nightmares or talking her down when her anger and hatred from her dreams lingered during her waking hours.
"Yeah." The ginger answered her eyes growing distant and a haunted look danced in their sapphire depths.
"I saw the tiles." Rose commented after a moment.
Artimes cringed slightly, remembering the damage she had done to the shower wall. She had to have punched it at least four or five times for the amount of destruction that had occurred. She gave the blonde a guilty look and her sister smiled sadly in understanding.
"Is your hand okay?" The blonde continued worry seeping into her voice.
The ginger's jaw clenched slightly as her attention was drawn to her still slightly throbbing hand. It had been a few hours and it still hurt, but nothing was broken or fractured…might have a bruise later.
"Bit tender. Nothing I can't handle." The red head lied, her eyes shifting back to the passing scenery.
Rose moved from her spot and wrapped her arms around the red head's waist. She set her chin on her right shoulder, her head leaning against her elder sibling's. She gave her a gentle squeeze, her warmth oddly comforting.
"Everything will be okay, Artz. I promise." Rose vowed.
The blonde had no idea how much her elder sister wanted to believe those words, but the only times she didn't have the nightmares were on the nights after the Doctor had visited her. She slept so peacefully after she had been with him or was with him. She had a feeling that the Timelord was the only one who could make them go away permanently.
When they reached their stop, the girls jumped off the bus and headed towards the front doors of Henrick's, their place of work and source of boredom for the younger Tyler. They parted ways, Rose heading for the main floor and Artimes heading over to the 'Book Corner'. The ginger was fortunate to have something to occupy her time that day. She had the privilege and honor of setting up, filling, and organizing their newest display of science fiction and fantasy novels.
Her co workers, Dana and George, were well aware of the red head's high functioning autism and knew how to keep her focused on her work. They made certain that she had a set of written instructions that she could follow for everything to keep her on track and did not disturb her while she was doing her thing. It was one of the benefits of having a single minded and laser tight focus. The things she could do when left to her own devices was extraordinary.
Hours passed by and the ginger didn't even notice the time. Rose came by on her lunch break and saw how focused the red head was. She backed away quietly, making certain not to disrupt her elder sibling. To do so would make the ginger become very confused and it would take over an hour for her to get back into the groove but not with her usual stellar results.
The blonde came by a second time and gave Dana and George her sister's lunch and they promised to make certain that she ate. Three hours later, Artimes finished up with her project and her co workers immediately pounced on her, demanding that she take a lunch break. She laughed and happily did what they asked before returning to work on the smaller projects.
The day continued on and the sisters were finally relinquished from the duties and headed towards the door. The security guard called them back and handed the ginger the lottery money. Rose flat out refused to let her sister go down to the basement alone, knowing how much the red head was skittish around the shop window dummies that were stored down there. After another minute of bickering and a reminder over the intercom about the store closing, they entered the lift together. Artimes blew out a breath, waiting for the lift to open and her sister twitched slightly, somewhat annoyed at how slow the lift could be. It dinged and the doors opened allowing them to exit the lift.
"Wilson?" Rose called as they walked down the corridor.
"Wilson, we've got the lottery money." Artimes informed while having the oddest sense of déjà vu.
They reached his office and Rose knocked on the door.
"You there? Look, we can't hang about 'cause they're closing the shop. Wilson!" The blonde called out hoping he was in his office so they could leave.
They continued walking down the corridor and the ginger's eyes widened at the familiarity of the situation. This was the beginning of Episode One of the series reboot. That explained the incredible amount of déjà vu she had been feeling.
"You've got to be kidding me." The red head mumbled under her breath.
Who would have thought that the air date was the actual date in the show? A sudden noise further along in the corridor caused the sisters to snap their heads in that direction. Artimes slipped the lottery money into her bag, knowing it was no use to simply hold onto it when they would be running soon.
"Hello? Hello, Wilson, it's Artz and Rose. Hello? Wilson?" Rose called as the pair stopped in front of a fire door.
Artimes tried to keep herself calm, knowing what was behind that door. She never liked coming down to the basement because of all the dummies and she had just cause to be frightened. Rose opened the door, completely oblivious to her sister's rising discomfort, and revealed a room full of shop window dummies. Artimes turned on the light and they walked further into the room. Rose tried another door at the side, leaving the ginger alone for a moment. The fire door through which they had entered closed abruptly, making the red head jump at the sound.
Instead of checking the door like she had done in the show, Rose immediately returned to her sister's side. She took her sister's hand as one of the dummies began to move towards them.
"You got us, very funny." Rose stated as the dummy drew closer to them.
"I'm not laughing." Artimes said quietly, trying to keep the fear from her voice.
The ginger pulled the blonde with her as she backed up a bit. Two more dummies joined the first one.
"Right, we've got the joke! Whose idea was this? Was it Derek's?" Rose questioned starting to become frightened.
The dummies continued to advance and the ginger pulled her sister's left arm to force her back further. All of her instincts were focused on protecting her baby sister. If she had to, she would try to fight them off or at least shield the younger Tyler.
"Derek, is this you?" Rose tried one last time.
"Definitely not Derek." Artimes whispered.
The girls continued to back up until they ran into a wall. The dummies lifted their arms to attack them. They screwed their eyes shut and waited for the blow. Suddenly, a hand slipped into the ginger's effortlessly and a great sense of safety washed over her. The ginger's eyes snapped open and her head whipped to the left. She grinned when her gaze fell upon the Ninth Doctor.
"Run." He ordered dragging both her and Rose from the room, barely dodging their attacks.
They ran down a corridor, dummies trying to break through on either side. The dummies from the storm room quickly followed the trio. The Doctor led them to another lift, dragging both girls inside. Rose pressed herself flat against the back as one of the dummies reached inside the lift to grab them. The Doctor and Artimes worked together and yanked the arm away from the body, allowing the doors to close.
"You pulled his arm off!" Rose exclaimed stating the obvious.
"Yep!" Both Artimes and the Doctor replied in unison.
"Plastic." The Timelord continued tossing the arm to her younger sister.
"Very clever, nice trick! Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?" Rose questioned trying to get answers and probably to calm her heart rate.
"Why would they be students?" Both the ginger and the Timelord asked together.
The Doctor glanced her way, sending her a perplexed look.
"Sorry." Artimes mumbled looking away.
"Why would they be students?" The Timelord repeated continuing to stare at the red head with curiosity.
"I don't know." The blonde answered slightly irritated with how the Doctor was eying up her elder sister.
"You're the one who said it, Sis. Why students?" Artimes countered before the Timelord could speak.
She tried very hard to ignore the intrigued look she was getting from the Doctor. Why was he staring at her? She couldn't be that interesting considering they had only just met.
"'Cause…to get that many people dressed up and being silly…they gotta be students." Rose answered trying to rationalize what had just happened to them.
The Doctor grinned at the younger Tyler before glancing at the red head with that same curious and intrigued expression on his face.
"That makes sense. Well done." The Doctor stated turning his attention back to the front of the lift.
"Thanks." The blonde replied not really believing he was being genuine in his praise.
"They're not students." Artimes and the Doctor said in unison.
The ginger mumbled out another apology when he gave her an 'Are you serious?' look. His calculating blue eyes roamed over her and she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks.
"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's gonna call the police." Rose informed trying to distract the Timelord from her sister once more.
"Who's Wilson?" The Doctor asked directing his question towards the ginger, much to the younger Tyler's annoyance.
"Chief electrician." Artimes answered without hesitation.
The lift dinged and the doors opened.
"Wilson's dead." The Timelord replied his tone serious as he stepped out of the lift.
Artimes quickly followed him, Rose closely on her heels.
"That's just not funny, that's sick!" Rose commented in outrage.
Artimes chose to remain silent, knowing that the Doctor spoke the truth and she silently mourned the loss of her fellow co worker. Wilson had been a good man, a bit of a nutter at times, but a rather friendly bloke all the same. He didn't deserve to die, but there was simply no way of changing what had already occurred.
"Hold on! Mind your eyes." The Doctor commanded pushing the girls to the side.
The Timelord disabled the lift with his sonic screwdriver, the control panel sparking a bit.
"I've had enough of this now!" Rose stated not happy in the slightest.
The Doctor walked away, seemingly ignoring the blonde. His gaze flickered to the ginger from time to time when the girls started following him again. What was so intriguing about her that caused him to look at her like that? There was always such a deep sadness in his eyes when he looked at her face. Did she remind him of someone? To her knowledge, she didn't look like any of his former companions…maybe someone from the Time War? It seemed unlikely but not entirely beyond the realm of possibilities.
"Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they?" The blonde demanded as they attempted to keep up with the Timelord's brisk pace.
Damn men and their long legs!
"They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device on the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He answered pulling a small rectangular bomb from his pocket and showing it to them.
"Oh, don't blow up our jobs, you clot." Artimes chastised playfully, earning a warm smile from the Doctor.
He opened the exterior fire door for them and pushed them out hastily.
"She's right. I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me, no. Go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed." He rambled his eyes barely wavering from the ginger's face, his eyes filled with a longing she didn't understand.
He shut the door, leaving Rose in a state of confusion. Artimes, however, simply waited for the Doctor to reappear, a smile on her face. He opened the door again, grinning a bit when he noticed how happy the ginger was to see him again.
"I'm the Doctor, by the way, what's your names?" He asked once again staring at the red head, but she was getting used to it.
"Artimes." The ginger answered as she watched shock, pain, sadness, and grief pass through his eyes rapidly before returning to their normal state.
"Rose." The blonde responded slightly stunned by his reappearance.
"Nice to meet you, Artz and Rose." He replied the sound of her nickname made her very confused.
She had said her name was Artimes and Rose never mentioned her nickname during their conversation with him, so how did he know it? He hadn't been close enough to hear it when they had been in the corridor either.
"Run for your life." He continued quickly shutting the door again.
Artimes let out a bark of laughter at how casually he had said that before she dragged her bewildered younger sibling across the road, narrowly avoiding an irate taxi driver. They ran a bit further down the street before looking back at the store for a moment. Both girls jumped as the top floor of the store exploded, flames licking at the dark sky. Rose grabbed her sister's hand and urged her to run down the street. The ginger smiled softly as they ran past a blue police box. This was the start of something brand new and Artimes honestly couldn't wait till she met up with the Doctor again.
Lady A: Chapter 2: Artz and Rose is complete! Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Almost forty five hundred words. Not bad at all. Now leave tons and tons of reviews and be on the lookout for Chapter 3: Not So Armless! Stayed tuned!