Empathy
Charlie hesitantly grabbed on the railing as the Doctor pulled the switch. The TARDIS began to shake as if you were experiencing an earthquake, until it calmly slowed down to a stop, making a wheezing nose. Charlie let go of the rail and looked at the Doctor with worry, "What happened?"
"Why don't you look outside?" The Doctor smirked.
Charlie gave him a funny look and opened the door of the TARDIS. She was no longer in the alley, she was at the beach. The cry of the seagulls filled her as she could detect the scent of the ocean spray carried along the wind, "The beach." She laughed, "We're actually at the beach!" She threw off her sneakers and socks and dug her toes into the sand.
The Doctor stood right beside Charlie, "Sure, you're excited about being at the beach, but you ask about my loo once you first see the TARDIS."
"You underestimate how tiny a girl's bladder is." She smirked as she picked up her shoes and walked down the sandy path. The sky had turned gray as the V formation of seagulls flew overhead. Charlie hummed to herself, the Doctor a few feet behind her, stopped when she noticed someone sitting in the sand. "Hey. It's him."
"Who him?" The Doctor finally caught up to her
"The prince, it's him." She replied. "Mickey."
"Mikquin."
"Whatever." She removed the flying strands of hair from her eyes, "I'll go talk to him."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea." The Doctor sighed.
"Doctor, look at him. He's only a teenager, I know what he's dealing with, what he's going through." Charlie reassured him.
"How can you be sure?"
"I'm seventeen years old, he's a bit older than me. But alien or not, teenagers are still teenagers." She gave out a weak smile and walked over to the melancholy prince. "Hi."
The boy looked at her, "Hello."
She didn't bother asking, she just sat down right next to him. Charlie noticed how deep in thought the prince was. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"You wouldn't understand." He replied. "Today has been pretty upsetting to me."
"Yeah, I feel your pain, man." Charlie chuckled as she looked at the Doctor, watching nearby.
The prince looked over at Charlie, "You look familiar, have we met, girl?"
Charlie had to honest, "Yes, we have. Listen, um…"
"Mikquin."
"Mikquin, I'm afraid you've mistaken me for something that I'm way over my head in." She showed him the Gem of All around her neck.
"The Gem of All! You're wearing it? Are you mad?"
"Yeah, blame my curiosity." She smiled, "But you're the only one who can get this thing off me. Once it's off, I can get back to what I was doing before. Worrying about my own life."
"My apologies…" He looked at her.
"Uh, Charlotte."
"Charlotte, I cannot remove the necklace."
"What?" The Doctor appeared out of nowhere behind the two, scaring them both. "What do you mean, you cannot remove the necklace?"
"Forgive me, but who are you?" Prince Mikquin asked.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness, I'm the Doctor. You were supposed to give me the Gem of All for safekeeping."
"Doctor, is it really you? You look so different from the last time you visited my family."
"Regenerated." He pointed to his face.
"Okay, getting back to the point, why can't you remove the necklace? You're the rightful heir, not your brother!"
"But I am not king! Only the king of Corsect can remove the Gem of All, I am just a mere prince. Please leave me be, I need to think." Prince Mikquin shooed the two away.
"Come along, Charlotte, you don't want to upset a Corsect, trust me." The Doctor said as he left for his TARDIS.
Charlie ignored the Doctor's words and watched him wander away. "You're scared, aren't you?"
"I told you to leave me alone." Mikquin ordered.
"Listen, Your Highness." Charlie mocked him, "I'm not like your family friend over there. Royalty or not, you seem upset about something."
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Mikquin snarled at Charlie, revealing his fang-like teeth protruding out of his mouth.
Charlie jumped at bit, but kept her ground. "Sharp teeth doesn't scare me. Look, I'm just like you."
"You are not." Mikquin laughed.
"You're right. I'm not royalty or have an angry sibling who wants me dead, but I'm a teenager. You are, too. Teenagers go through the same problems."
"I do not understand."
"You're the heir to the throne, right?"
"You are correct."
"You're scared of once you take the throne, you don't what you're going to do. All that responsibility in your hands."
"Are you psychic, Charlotte?"
Charlie laughed, "God, no. But once we kids get older, the harder the decisions we have to face. When you were little, did you ever make an easy decision, such as, what food you wanted to eat?"
"Yes."
"But being king leads you to make hard decisions, and you don't want to make a mistake, right?"
"No, I do not. My father was a great king. He always knew what was best for his people. Oh, Charlotte, I am not fit to be king."
"You think your brother is doing a better job than you, hmm?"
"Of course not, Thalos is a tyrant. I receive word from my home planet that he is starving the people. Who knows what is happening there?"
"Mikquin, even though I briefly met your brother when he held me gunpoint, I feel that you can do a much better job at ruling than he ever could."
I do not want to shame my family line, Charlotte. Would you ever want your parents to look down on you?"
"Actually, it's the opposite for me. My mother was unfaithful and I rarely ever see her since she is always with my stepfather. My dad, he's in a place better than San Diego. I see him sometimes and I know that I'm always on his mind." She smiled.
"As grateful as it seems, being king seems like a burden."
"We all have burdens to bear, don't think the that you're the only one, dude." Charlie rebuked.
"Charlotte, do you have any burdens?"
"Yeah. I do, and as much I want to believe and try, I'll never get it off my shoulders." She looked down in sadness. "Mikquin, if your brother is here on Earth, you can go home. You can reclaim your throne, come back and get this godforsaken thing off me, and we all live happily ever after."
"I believe you will not." Thalos approached the two with two grey anthropomorphic insects behind him. "Hello, brother."
"Thalos." Mikquin stood up.
"How did you find us?" Charlie asked.
"The Gem of All…there's a tracker placed on it in case it ever went missing. And there it is…the most beautiful thing ever…on your neck?" Thalos grabbed Charlie's throat. "I was right, humans are stupid."
"Thalos, let her go. I'll do whatever you want, just let Charlotte go."
"Feelings for the human girl, little brother?" Thalos gave an evil smirk. "Take her to the ship." He shoved Charlie into the insects.
"Wait, where's the Doctor? What have you done with him?" Charlie demanded.
"All in good time. First, we have to get the Gem of All off your neck."
"You can't. Only the king can get it off. You just stole the throne. So, technically you're not the rightful king."
"I didn't mean with my hands, idiot girl. You don't need you head, do you?" Thalos smirked.
Charlie's eyes widened at the hint.
"Not so stupid after all, eh? Take her." Thalos ordered the insects.
"Mikquin!" Charlie called after the boy.
"Charlotte!" Mikquin was stopped by Thalos.
"Come, little brother, you're going with me." He held a blaster in his hands and walked off with Mikquin.