Sister Star

Chapter 8: The Long Game

Almadynis

Disclaimer: I only own Astrid, though. *glomps* No takies!

AN: My beta is back! Yeah! Peaceloverhealer101 is a wondermous beta.

It was a cool and comfortable library. Every wall was covered from waist to floor with shelves upon shelves of books in every color, shape, and condition. There was a large solid oak desk to on the left side of the room after you came through the oak door, placed on it was a lamp that he was sure he had seen on Van Statten's desk. Behind the desk, taking up the middle half of the wall, was a beautiful picturesque oil painting of Rose laughing. If you looked to the right of the library, there was a fireplace, lit at the moment, with a stone mantelpiece. Two very comfortable looking crimson armchairs were facing the fire, a small side table between them with another lamp like the first. A second oil painting was above the mantelpiece, this one of himself, the Doctor.

Other than the shelves of books and the two quite large paintings of Rose and the Doctor, there were smaller, 8 by 11 paintings of a multitude of other people covering the wall opposite the door. He didn't recognize half of them, but found a few that he knew: Jackie, Mickey, Julian.

The only other occupant of the rather sizable library was currently in the furthest armchair from the entrance, reading contentedly from a book that was large enough to completely cover her lap. Her brown hair had red highlights from the flames, her crystal sky blue eyes focused on the book. When she finally spoke, her voice was a bit cooler and confident than was normal for her. "If you are looking to steal, I'd advise against it."

He raised an eyebrow as he frowned. "Astrid..."

She laughed. "I'm not Astrid."

This was worse than he thought. "Alright. Who are you?"

"I'm Angel. In all technicalities, I am a part of Astrid. I'm the part that lets her do…uncomfortable things when she has to. Survive elementary school for one. It's that book over there." She pointed without looking over her shoulder and as his eyes drifted in the direction she had indicated, a single book had pulled itself further out of the shelves, so that it could be easily identified. He didn't go over to it. He wanted to know about Astrid, and this was not how he had imagined doing it. "Astrid was concerned that her knowledge of the Doctor and Rose would be used against those she loved, so she sectioned off her conscious mind into pieces. I have all of the knowledge of her life and memories except for anything concerning the people in the large paintings."

Well, this was better. Sectioning off the mind meant that it wasn't a true split personality, but a way to protect oneself. The two pieces could be brought together relatively easily, all they had to do was touch, and the comatose should awake. "Where is the part that knows about the Doctor and Rose?"

She laughed again, a colder laugh. She got up and he could see that this was the person who had stood up to Van Statten, even if it didn't remember at the moment. She turned to face him completely and gave him a good once-over. "Well, just because you look like him, doesn't mean you are him. This is a mind-scape. You can be whoever you want to be, look like whoever you want to look." She demonstrated by briefly turning into Rose before going back to herself. "You have to PROVE you are the who you say you are."

"How do I do that?"

"First, a question." She walked to a shelf on the far side and began to take out books, stacking them until she had a set of four, all different sizes and colors. "This is Astrid's lucky number. Every good and pure memory she has is when this number was present. Which are you?"

He looked at her solemnly, not giving away anything. His mind however, was working as quick as lightning, trying to find the puzzle. It was a numbers game, that part was obvious. But as far as he was aware, Astrid wasn't superstitious. So why a lucky number? Then…a light came on in his mind.

It was a game.

Astrid knew that she had information that could destroy everything in the universe, as well as the people she loved the most. So, she had hidden it from the invading force as best as she was able, by shutting herself down. But even that wasn't enough, so she hid the information even further in her mind, behind the exterior of her more protective instincts. Then, she did it again, making it so that only the Doctor himself, the real one, could find her other half, the half with all of the memories, and put her back together. She was afraid someone/something would invade her mind pretending to be him, so she had created a series of tests and questions that only he could answer or solve. It was brilliant, fantastic. He just wished it hadn't been necessary.

So, analyze the question itself. She had said that four was Astrid's lucky number. Wait…no, she didn't. She had shown that four was the number. Then the question... 'which are you?'…and the medium to answer was a stack of books, any books. She wanted a physical answer; she wanted to be shown. 'Which are you?' Which, which, which, which, WHICH!

All of this information passed in a scant few seconds. He figured it out and went over to her and started to pull out books, any books, and stack them. When he reached nine, he stopped. He was the Ninth Doctor. 'Which are you?' was a question about which regeneration he was in. Something that only he himself and Astrid knew.

Angel gave him a cold smile and nodded. "Good. But I have to be sure that wasn't a clever guess. You understand." He nodded in acquiescence. "There are two more tests. The biggest should be relatively simple if you are indeed the Doctor. Find Star."

His eyes widened again. She wanted him to find her other half, with no clues whatsoever? It was her mind! But then he became aware of a song playing. It wasn't like he had heard it the first time. This was with actual music, a keyboard, instruments, and a male voice. The first time he had heard it was a capella, in the midst of breakfast preparations by a female. The twin of the woman in front of him. He turned around, scanning everything he could find in the room. When that didn't reveal anything immediate, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and turned it on. The link to the screwdriver was telepathic in nature, just like the TARDIS that gave it birth, so it could help. Maybe. He used it to scan around in a slow circle, and the frequency intensified when it was pointed at the fireplace.

He moved closer to the mantelpiece just as the song finished completion. There was no repeat performance. Instead, a different song began to play. This one was a female voice, an American. He didn't recognize the song, but at the moment, he was just interested in finding the source of the sound. He looked at the mantelpiece closely, feeling the heat of the fire on his chest and legs. He examined every inch that he could see, and feeling with his fingers when his eyes weren't enough. The song quit and a new one began this one of the Country origin. He had a bad feeling he would only get four songs.

Then he spotted it. Etched into the wooden frame of his own oil painting were numbers. Barely perceptible. Every number from zero to nine. He glanced at Angel, who was back to reading her book. "Do I get a hint?"

She snorted at him. "I was told that the Doctor would not need hints."

Steeling himself, he made a quick decision and pressed two numbers. Zero. Nine. The painting itself popped open, swinging to the side soundlessly. The music was coming even louder from the tunnel that was revealed. Heaving himself up onto the mantelpiece, he climbed through. Less than a second after he was completely inside the tunnel, the painting closed and a sizzle of electricity consumed his body. Traveling over him, then back into the walls, doing no damage. The seemingly dead-end tunnel suddenly was flooded with light before him as another hatch popped open. It seemed he passed another test.

Crawling forward on hands and knees, he made his way out. Ironically, this end came out on the floor of the room beyond. This room was a perfect replica of Astrid's bedroom on the TARDIS, complete with her own sleeping self. He gave a soft smile and moved to her side. This would be Star; his own nickname for which he was coming to realize was the love he had waited for. He gently scooped her into his arms, her head tucking itself into the nitch between his neck and shoulder. "Come on, Star. It's safe to wake up now."

Angel had apparently followed him. "Yes, Doctor. It is." Even as his eyes shot up to look at her, her hand was coming into contact with Star's hip and the mindscape of one particular brunette dissolved in a brilliant white light.

Crystal sky blue eyes fluttered open as he took his fingers away from her temples. Her voice was soft and gentle, "Did it work?" He smiled an ear-splitting grin and nodded. "Good. Then please get this chip out of my head. Oh, and could you fix my ears while you're at it? It's starting to get ridiculous."

He gave a full-throated laugh as he gleefully spun the previously-comatose girl around and around the TARDIS medical bay.

Yes, it's short...which is why there are two in one day! What do you think? Astrid loves reviews! They keep her going.