A/N: Wow. Forty-two reviews. I had no idea this story would become this popular! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter loads and please review it if you can! The drama sort of starts in the next chapter, and that's when I begin my AU rewrite of series 2. Eek!
And if you have time on your hands, check out my two new one-shots- Flash Back and The Last Page. Leave a review if you want, I'm just testing my one-shot writing abilities.
Disclaimer: Only own Ava. As well as the Glass Planet.
*CHAPTER REWRITTEN 28/05/12*
"It doesn't matter," the Doctor tried to assure me as he ushered me to a set of doors.
"Don't give me that crap, Doctor," I warned, "I know you're not human. And now I've sort of ran off with an alien, I kind of want to know what planet you originate from."
The Doctor paused at the door, his expression angst-riddled and a picture of cold sadness. I almost regretted asking him, due to the look on his face- almost. You can't begin travelling with someone you barely know anything about. "I'll tell you. If you really want. But not here."
My tone softened. "Fine."
The Doctor offered me a small smile, before flinging open the doors.
Woah. Now I could tell why so many people wanted to get close to 'The Core', even though you could see it through the glass.
It was so beautiful.
Beams of light danced off it, reflecting off the glass and making rainbows spin wherever you looked. I grinned as my arms glittered with the sparkling starlight. The Doctor's expression from before quickly evaporated into a look of ecstasy, as he too admired the shimmering dust. Something about the beauty of it just made you, well, happy.
I twirled on her toes, trying to catch the rainbows with my arms. Words couldn't describe the feeling. "This… Oh god, this is amazing!"
"I told you," the Doctor half-whispered; he was mesmerised. "I've been here so many times, but it never gets any less incredible."
"How does it work?" I asked, "How come everything is just amplified in this room?"
"It's the glass," the Doctor said; I noticed that he'd pulled a pair of those funny red and blue 3D glasses over his eyes. "It really is amazing: it's made up of millions of different particles from millions of different galaxies. And all these millions of different particles have different purposes, so the scientists who made this planet adjusted the glass to a specific purpose. With a flick of a switch, they can change the light filters and the heat filters. For this room, they just lessened the endorphin filters so you can really feel the benefits!"
"Endorphin filters?" I questioned, reaching out for the dust that was streaming across the room.
"Yeah!" exclaimed the Doctor, who sounded a little high. Mind you, I felt a little high. "These stars in the Corpian galaxy have very high levels of endorphins- you know, feel good chemicals. If you increase or reduce the endorphin filters, you're literally adjusting the levels of happiness in the room. Isn't that just brilliant?"
"Happy stars!" I cried, "That is brilliant!"
"Happy stars!" the Doctor repeated, laughing loudly. "That's definitley what they are, Ava. Happy stars!"
"Now, I can totally understand why people want to come here so badly. Who wouldn't want to feel like this?"
"I don't know, Ava. I really don't know."
A beat.
"Doctor, does your home planet have happy stars?"
-x-
The Doctor had taken me away from the central room, to a place where the light was just as bright and beautiful but the endorphins were at a lower state. I was sort of glad of that; I was beginning to get a bit light-headed.
One of the stewards had handed me a complementary picnic hamper filled with food, so I accepted it graciously before settling down next to where the Doctor had sat himself.
I crossed my legs, pushing the hamper in front of the two of us. The Doctor didn't acknowledge this at all, he just kept staring out into the light; but he wasn't even looking at that. He was just staring, a look of distance in his ancient, faraway eyes. I didn't know how to respond to him, so I just did what he'd done to me hours earlier.
I pressed my hand on top of his.
The Doctor blinked, dragging his eyes away from the light. "Sorry. I zoned out."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Doctor," I whispered. "You've just met me, after all."
"No no no," the Doctor shook his head, "I want to. I do. You've told me all about you, so I need to tell you stuff about me."
I shook my head. "No-"
"I'm not human." the Doctor said quietly, "But I'm sure you've established that already. You are a genius."
I chuckled a little. "Your words, not mine."
"As I was saying, I'm not human. I'm from a planet, a long long way away from here. Gallifrey." the Doctor said, his eyes going back to looking faraway and distant. "I'm part of a species called the Time Lords."
I let out a long breath. "Time Lords. Woah. Kind of fits with the whole time machine thing though." I paused. "But why do you look so human?"
"Why do you look so Time Lord?" the Doctor retorted, "We came first."
"Oh. Good point." I laughed. "But what differentiates humans from Time Lords then? I mean, we look pretty much the same. As far as it goes."
"Off the scale intelligence," the Doctor grinned before pointing to his chest, "And two hearts supported by a binary vascular system."
My eyes almost bulged out my head. "Seriously…? Can I?"
The Doctor rummaged round his pockets and chucked me a stethoscope. I plugged it into my ears and leaned forward, pressing it to the side of the chest where a heart should be beating. Sure enough, yes, there was a steady heartbeat.
I took a quick glance at the Doctor, who waggled his eyebrows. "Try the other side."
I hoped I didn't look like an idiot when I pressed the stethoscope to the other side of his chest.
I supressed a gasp as another just as steady heartbeat pumped through to my ears.
Still amazed, I took off the stethoscope and handed it back to the Doctor. "That… That is incredible. I'm mind blown. You really are an alien."
"Yep," he popped the 'p'. "I guess I am."
"But why wouldn't you want to tell me that?" I queried, "You've just taken me to a planet made entirely of glass in a time machine. It's not like I'm going to contradict that."
The Doctor stammered on his words. "Ava, I'm… Well, I'm the last of the Time Lords."
I felt like all the wind had been knocked out of me. I wasn't expecting that. "Oh god… What happened?"
The Doctor waved a hand dismissively. "It was a long time ago. There was a big war."
My eyes were wide and full of emotion. "Did you fight?"
"Yes. Yes, I did. On the front line. But I couldn't… Nobody could." the Doctor shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "But it's all over now."
I only knew one way too react.
I wrapped my arms round him and enveloped him in a hug.
I didn't expect the Doctor to hug me back, but he did.
"I'm nine hundred years old, Ava." said the Doctor, as I nuzzled my head into his shoulder. "Would that surprise you?"
"No." I replied straightaway. "I've only known you for what, eight hours? And you've already shown me that absolutely everything is possible."
The Doctor let go. "That offer, of travelling with me and Rose. It still stands. We could do with an extra point-of-view."
I raised an eyebrow. "Is that the only reason?"
The Doctor grinned. "No, Ava, it's because you're brilliant."
I shrugged, "I can live with that."