-gasp- Regular updates?! From me?! What sort of blasphemy is this?! D:

If I keep this up, I'll get a reputation of being prompt. :O

So here's chapter 2, "Believe Me, I'm Lying"

Disclaimer: Once there was a fangirl who's only dream was to own Doctor Who. And then Russel T. Davies CRUSHED those dreams, ran them over with a semi, and then spit on them just for good measure, leaving her with this plot and Aixlana. And then she cried for the rest of her life.

A Million Miles From Nowhere

Chapter 2 - Believe Me, I'm Lying

"Great. Just fabulous." Aixlana groaned to herself, kicking an empty soda can to the side as she walked down the alleyway. It had been pretty obvious that this would happen. She'd neglected her customers to ogle some stranger, she'd been late plenty of times before then, and she let someone leave without paying their bill. She was normally good with the patrons of the cafe, which is why Mr. Webster had tolerated her previous tardiness, as he himself had said. He had continued on to say that due to her lack of 'professionalism' in this situation, she could pick up her last paycheck the following day. Aixlana let out a deep sigh as she stumbled along, a million thoughts rushing through her head. How would she pay the rent? How was she going to pay any of her bills, for that matter? Where was she going to find a good job with her educational background? She was smart enough, sure, but all this world cared about was papers. The orphanage had only seen her through the end of high school, and there was no way she could afford to pay for college, what with this economy.

Not that she held it against them or anything. It wasn't their fault that her parents hadn't wanted her.

And now she was thinking about them again. Her parents. She leaned against the nearest wall, placing a hand on her forehead. It didn't make any sense. She had tried so hard, she really had, to stop thinking about who they might have been, why they had left her, and if they hadn't wanted her, why had they waited so long to get rid of her? 'And why did they leave me with this?' she thought to herself, her right hand moving downwards to touch the small, circular tag, emblazoned with a cursive, capital 'A' where it hung from the brown, bejeweled dog collar around her neck. It felt like some cruel, masochistic joke they had played on her, like a reminder of what she didn't have. Aixlana clicked her tongue indignantly. She hadn't thought about them for a while, and the sudden thought of them was giving her a migraine. Aixlana shook her head, trying to clear it. She couldn't think about it. She didn't want to think about it. She rubbed her eyes in irritation, before touching a finger to both and taking out her ocean blue contact lenses, throwing them to the floor in frustration. Taking in a few short breaths to steady herself, she moved away from the wall and continued walking towards her apartment.

A soft mewling reached her ears once she had gotten about halfway home. She turned towards the location the sound had come from, pausing for a moment before stalking over to it. It had come from behind a couple of trashcans under the fire escape of an apartment complex. At her approach, a swift movement caught her eye, the object attempting to clamber up the fire escape stairs. Unfortunately, it was too high for the creature, and Aixlana quickly reached out a hand to catch it. She succeeded, grabbing it before it had a chance to scamper away. Holding it up by the scruff of its neck, she held it in front of her face.

'Huh. Just a kitten.' she shrugged to herself, before bringing it close to her chest, petting the top of its head. It mewled softly. Looking down at the little thing she examined it to make sure it was all right. It didn't look like there were any injuries; it was probably just a stray. She tilted her head to get a better look. It really was a beautiful little thing, tiger-striped with black and gray, its large, gray-green eyes locked on hers, as it purred sweetly in her arms. Upon closer inspection, she saw that around its round pupils was a little circle of a deep aquamarine that looked as though the color was leaking from the pupil itself. Placing a painted navy fingernail under its chin, she scratched it softly, and it seemed to smile at her. She kept on walking towards her apartment, carrying the little thing in her arms. 'I always did want a cat.' she mused, before sighing dejectedly and placing it on the ground.

"I'd love to take you home with me, little guy," she began, talking to the cat. "But I just got fired. I don't really have any way to take care of you. Best of luck, though. Stay outta trouble, little man." she smiled at it, reaching down to pat it one last time on the head. Straightening up, she walked away from it, but she didn't get far before she felt the tiny kitten rubbing up against her leg, meowing softly. She bent down and picked it up again. "You wanna come with me?" she asked it before letting out a small laugh and rolling her eyes. "Oh, great. I've been talking to a cat. I really am losing it." The kitten mewed as it nuzzled against her neck, almost as if it were laughing too. Aixlana smiled brightly at it as she continued on her way. "Well, don't you worry, little guy. I'll do my very best to keep you healthy and happy. Now..." she looked up at the setting sun for a second before looking back at her new pet. "I should probably think of a name for you. Hmm..." As she thought, she stopped dead in her tracks. An image of a man flashed across her mind. He had tanned skin and a large scar running across his right cheek. His long, black hair was streaked with silver and held back in a low ponytail. He had an eyepatch over his left eye, and the other was a vibrant yellow with a slitted pupil. His ears were pointed and he had a cocky grin plastered across his face. He wore a long, black coat, with the hood pulled down, and long sleeves that widened at the wrist, barely showing a pair of black, leather gloves. The image was in her mind only for a moment, and it left her train of thought as soon as it had come. "Xigbar..." She murmured, dazed. She shook her head before looking down at the kitten. "I'll call you Xigbar. How do you like that name?" she asked the little creature, he mewled in approval. Aixlana chuckled slightly as they walked along. "All right then. Xigbar it is."


It was dark by the time the two got back to the apartment. The light that illuminated the hallway leading to her second floor apartment looked like it was about to go out. The entire outside hallway was dim reaching the far end of the hall, quickly lighting up underneath the light bulb on that side. Fortunately for Aixlana, that left enough light for her to see. Grabbing her keys from the pocket of her jeans, she fiddled with them as she tried to hold onto little Xigbar, who had begun to squirm around in her grasp.

"Oh, stay still, would you, Xigy?" she called to him affectionately, turning her head to remove his claws from the back of her jacket.

"Having a little cat trouble, are we?" came a smooth voice from behind her. "Let's have a look and see if we can't fix your little problem." Hands helped her to pull the rambunctious kitten's claws out from her back, lifting him over her shoulder. She tucked some of her hair that had come loose in the struggle back behind her ear, before turning around to face her helper.

"Thanks for that, I really needed the..." she stopped abruptly as her eyes met the same chocolate brown one's from earlier that day. "...help..." she finished softly, eyes wide in surprise.

"Hello, Aixlana with a silent 'x'." The Doctor smiled at her as he held little Xig in his arms.

'STRANGER DANGER, STRANGER DANGER!! RUN, BITCH, RUN!!' her mind screamed at her, but all she said was: "...Hi."

"I told you I'd see you again." He grinned playfully at her, the kitten in his arms purring contentedly.

"Yea... I guess you were right." she laughed nervously, ignoring the basic instinct to grab little Xigbar and get the HELL out of there. "So...um...What brings you here? Do you have an apartment here?"

"Me? Oh, no, o' course not. Just, you know, passin' right on through." He said nonchalantly.

"I don't want to seem rude or anything, so sorry in advance, because that's not my intention..." she began slowly. "But...why the hell are you here?" She bluntly blurted out. "No offense, but...you're kinda creeping me out. Sorry." she looked at the ground, abashed. When would she learn to keep her big mouth shut, she asked herself. She was brought out of these thoughts by the roaring laugh of the Doctor. Her head snapped up as she furrowed her eyebrows, staring at him in disbelief. 'Oh god.' she thought. 'He's completely bonkers. Awesome. I'm gonna get slashed to death by some lunatic. Yay.' A million thoughts of how the crazy man was gonna kill her rushed through her head at that moment, before the Doctor, still laughing, placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to steady himself without dropping the cat. Her entire body stiffened at his touch, her 'OH SHIT' senses tingling. Finally, his breathing returned to normal as his laughing ceased. He wiped a happy tear from the corner of his eye, little laughs escaping his pink lips as he regained his calm. Aixlana's eyes widened as she quirked an eyebrow at the creeper. "Are...you...ok there?" she asked curiously, more than a little freaked out.

"I'm great!" he chuckled. "And you, Aixlana, are extremely blunt, did you know that?" he grinned at her, laughter sparkling in his brown eyes. She just shrugged.

"Not the first time I've been told that. Anyway, back to my original point," she continued. "What exactly are you doing here?" she crossed her arms indignantly, raising an eyebrow at the man before her.

"What, can't a guy come over to visit a mate without the third degree?" he smiled, as little Xig licked his fingers.

"I wouldn't exactly call us friends."

"Oh, of course we're mates!" he grinned at her, before frowning and pausing. "Well, at least acquaintances." He paused again. "Well, maybe more or less complete strangers, but that's pretty close to mates, right?"

"No. Not even a little."

"Well, never mind then." he shrugged. Patting Xigy on the head, he handed him over to his owner, whose outstretched hands embraced the small animal immediately.

"And how do you know where I live?" she queried, her voice inclining in pitch just a tad.

"I looked you up in the phonebook." he blinked at her, as if it was an ordinary occurrence for an absolute stranger to look up random people in the phonebook to find where they live. She blinked back at him in shock.

"Uh-huh. Right. 'Cause that's not weird at all." she responded sarcastically. "And what did you come here for? Why are you here? I don't want to have to ask you again." she frowned.

"There's something I need to talk to you about." he replied seriously.

"What?"

"Not here." he paused, looking around the hall, paranoid. "It's not safe."

"Yea, well, I'm not sure how safe it is here! You know, you got me fired today, I don't see why I should -" she argued before he grabbed her wrist and rushed her over to her door. "What the hell are you-?" She stopped as he took a small silver tool with a glowing blue tip from his coat pocket, and putting the tip against the keyhole of her door. There was a soft click, as he swung the door open, dragging her inside. Repeating the maneuver, he proceeded to lock the door.

"There, that's better." he said quietly before turning to the enraged woman at his side.

"What the hell is going on?!" she hissed, glaring at him as she set the kitten down on the floor. "You do realize this is considered breaking and entering! I should call the cops on you! And what the hell is that thing?! What do you want from me?! Who are you?!"

"There's plenty of time for those questions at a later time, but not now. Listen to me." He grabbed her by both forearms, staring her directly in the eyes. "I know there's a great big chance you won't believe me, but you've got to." He took in a deep breath. "What if I told you that there's more to life than what you've ever known? Than what you can see?" Aixlana stared at him wide-eyed, not understanding what he was going on about. He furrowed his eyebrows, before lifting the hand holding the tool away from her arm and shining the glowing blue tip into each of her eyes. She squinted, before slapping his hand away.

"What's wrong with you?! Quit fussing over my face!" she growled. He stared at her in thought.

"Aixlana... What happened to your eyes?" he asked, nonchalantly interested.

"Wh-What do you mean?" The white haired girl stammered, backing away from him slowly. "They're green. There're plenty of people with green eyes!"

"That would make sense, but you see, they're not green. They're... yellow. Yellow like the sun. And you're pupils, they're...slitted." he told her, stepping closer, causing her to move farther away. She froze, remembering the blue contacts she had removed earlier in the day.

"I don't know what you're talking about." she defended, turning her face away from him. He tilted his face so he could still get a decent view of her eyes.

"Oh. Contacts, right?" he asked her. She twitched before turning back to face him, smiling nervously.

"Yup. That's right. These are just contacts. I'm getting my Halloween costume set up early to get it out of the way." she laughed awkwardly.

"Well, good for you!" he beamed at her, clapping his hands together once. "But that's not really what I meant. You were probably wearing contacts when we met earlier. Blue, I'm guessing? It would be hard to completely hide that shade of yellow, so you get the blue ones to make them look green." he thought aloud, tugging on his ear and looking up at the ceiling. Aixlana scoffed.

"Oh look, someone's taken an art class. Let me know when you get to paint-by-numbers. I hear it's a lot of fun."

"Thanks, I will." he shrugged her off. "But what I wanna know is, how could I not have seen that you had slitted pupils? It's not like it's something you see everyday. There's absolutely no way that the contacts would have covered that." The Doctor looked at her again for a second, before jumping backwards and slapping a hand to his forehead. "Oh! Well that explains everything! Oh, I'm thick; I'm so thick for not realizing it before! Ugh, there's no one thicker than me! How could I have missed that? I'm thick, thick, thick!"

"Uh-huh. Ok." Aixlana raised an eyebrow at him, nodding. "Now why don't you just give me the name of the mental institution you live at and I'll try and get you back before arts and crafts. How does that sound, Count Crazy?"

"Oh, ha ha. You're a riot." he frowned at her. She smirked in response.

"I try."

"You're pupils, they're normally round, right?" he said, changing the subject.

"Of course. Why wouldn't they be?"

"Because they weren't a second ago. So if I'm right, which I am -"

"And if you're wrong?" she asked, annoyed.

"Oh, I'm right. I told you before," he smiled at her. "I'm clever." She rolled her eyes at him. "So. Since I'm right, you're eyes must only slit when you feel threatened, or afraid, or something like that, am I right?"

"You're crazy, that's what you are!" She growled. "My eyes aren't that interesting a topic for discussion!"

"Au contraire," The Doctor disagreed. "I find it very interesting. Especially since you're trying to hide it."

"Change of subject!" she cried. "What's the super important thing you wanted to tell me? You know, the one I'm not gonna believe? Because it's probably as insane as you are." They stared at each other momentarily, as he glared at her for interrupting his mad deductive skills. She rolled her eyes at him, gesturing for him to speak. "Spit it out already! I'm giving you exactly two minutes to say what you have to say." she said as she walked over to her electric stove, setting the timer before walking back to where he was standing. "Two minutes. Then, I have every right to claim self-defense and wound you. Severely." she ended, frowning at him. He laughed, before shaking his head in agreement.

"Sounds fair. Now listen." He began, growing instantly serious. "I know there's a great big chance you won't believe me, but -"

"Yea, yea, I've got to believe you and the world I've always known is wrong and blah blah blah, you're a walking insane asylum. We've been through this already. Now could you speed it up? You've only got a minute and a half left, and I'd like to go find something to strike you with before you find an opportunity to run away."

"Fine, fine, no need to get snippy." he murmured. "Aixlana, there are aliens on Earth right now, and not the kind you'd want to invite to tea, not like me. Well, not that you'd want to invite me over for tea anyways, but that's not my point. They're taking over people, Aixlana, they're messing with humanity. And I've got to stop them, but I need your help. I know this sounds mad, but it's the truth." he turned to her, a pleading look in his eyes. Aixlana stared at him, mouth agape for a few moments. "Are...you all right there?" he asked her.

"What?" she stared at him before blinking. "Oh, of course, I am, Doctor. Why wouldn't I be?" she smiled sweetly at him.

"Really? Great! Well, then -" The Doctor was cut off by a slap to the face. "Now what the hell was that for?!" he whined, rubbing his cheek.

"Oh, I was being sarcastic!!" she yelled over the beeping kitchen timer. "Aliens?! You've got to be joking! There's no such thing! And now you're supposed to be an alien? What the hell, man?! Are you seriously mental?! And what kind of moron do you think I am that I'd believe that BS?!" she fumed, storming back over to turn off the screeching timer.

"I don't think you're a moron!" he defended as she walked back into the room. "I think you're clever! Brilliant, even! I swear to you, Aixlana, I'm telling you the truth! You've got to believe me!"

"Why should I?! You're babbling nonsense! You're talking about things that don't exist!"

"You said it earlier today, Aixlana." he looked at her with his wise, warm, eyes. "What would I gain from lying to you? We've only just met." Aixlana looked at the Doctor, stunned. A moment of silence passed between the two, before the golden eyed girl let out a deep sigh. She took a seat on the couch that was against the wall of the room, pointing to the chair across from her and locking her sunburst eyes on his chocolate ones. He took the seat he was offered, and faced his host.

"All right." Aixlana said earnestly. "I'm listening."

To Be Continued

So here's chapter 2, guys! Chapter 3 will (hopefully) be up soon, but I haven't started on it yet, so I'll have to get back to work. So thanks for reading, and please feel free to review. :D

-- Roxas-Uke