A/N: It's quite long...

Chapter 33 - The Funeral

The Doctor was keeping a close eye on Seth as the teenager sat with them to eat their 78th century takeaway. He'd been introduced and the TARDIS occupants were all talking to him, though he was clearly bewildered by everyone and everything around him. A human teenager who'd grown up in poverty on a planet in the year six billion and eighty-six was sat in the company of humans from his ancient history, in a room full of objects that made no sense to him, eating food he'd never seen before. It had to be disconcerting.

He was looking at everyone in turn, being very polite. 'So you're from …?'

'21st century Earth,' Martha said kindly.

'That's so weird,' Seth murmured, and looked at Jack. 'And you're 51st century, right?'

'Yep.'

'But … I've seen texts from Post-Modern Earth, I don't understand the language. How are we all talking?'

'It's the Tardis, she's translatin' us for you, and you for us,' Rose explained. 'She gets inside your head.'

'Right,' Seth said, still seeming incredibly nervous. He looked at the Doctor, who offered the most reassuring smile he could with his mouth full of food. 'What are we gonna do for the Time Lady's funeral?'

'We can't do a proper Gallifreyan burial, but we can do a pyre.'

'Time Lady?' Brax suddenly echoed, looking surprised.

Rose, who was sitting next to Brax, lowered her tone to speak to him. 'Va'A'gnorn had this Time Lady's body on display. He said he'd killed her.'

'Oh,' Brax muttered.

'I don't think I've got anythin' black,' Jackie muttered.

'Don't worry about that. White is the colour for death in Gallifreyan society, but you don't have to dress up,' the Doctor said.

'Hey, Seth's gonna need some clothes,' Rose pointed out, looking at the rags the teenager was in.

'I'll do that,' Gwen said helpfully.

'Me too,' Jackie added.

The Doctor nodded. 'I'll drop you off at a shop. Will have to be an intergalactic human shop from the future, since we can't go to Earth. I'll tell you what to look for.'

Jackie looked delighted at the prospect of shopping in an future complex. 'How much money 'ave we got?'

'Don't worry, I once saved the shop from a squikarn invasion and the owner gave me free shopping for a lifetime there,' the Doctor said. 'I'm not quite sure he knew what he was getting himself into with that one.'

Jackie looked beyond elated. 'You mean we have unlimited shoppin'?'

'Um, yes?' the Doctor asked, slightly bewildered.

'Can I go?' several people suddenly piped up. The Doctor looked at Brax, who shrugged. Humans.

'Granny, I don't like flowers!'

'Don't be silly, sweetheart, what little girl doesn't like flowers?' Jackie asked, straightening the bow on her granddaughter's head. Leah just stood there red in the face from embarassment, dressed in a bright pink dress that was covered in prints of lilies, with the matching bow in her hair.

'I don't!' Leah insisted.

'But Leah, sweetheart, you look so pretty!' Jackie insisted.

'Are you really sure about this?' Seth asked from close by, emerging from the changing rooms in a salmon pink short-sleeved shirt, with a black bow tie and long tweed shorts.

'Sweetheart, you look like a very smart young man!' Jackie insisted. 'Though you ain't got any body hair have you? Someone's gonna need a word about puberty with you,' she joked, laughing.

Seth looked bewildered. 'What's that?' he asked.

'I want this one!' Leah demanded, point at the screen on one of the clothes vending pods. It was a complete outfit; an oversized purple jumper with a cartoon bunny print, stripy leggings, odd socks and low-top black converse.

'You can't walk around with odd socks on!' Jackie said, aghast.

'Why not?' Leah wanted to know.

'Because you'll look a mess!'

'So?' Leah asked seriously.

'This shirt's too big for me,' Seth said suddenly, pulling at the excess hem he had hanging around his midriff.

'Tuck it in, sweetheart,' Jackie said.

'But then I get really big hips,' Seth replied, doing as instructed to show her.

'You'll grow into it!'

'I'll what?' Seth asked, confused.

'Leah, stopped tuggin' on ya neck line,' Jackie chastised.

'I'm gonna get changed!' Leah decided, and marched into the changing area without another word.

'Me too,' Seth agreed.

'You don't like this one either?' Jackie asked.

'Sorry, I just don't think it's very me,' Seth replied, shrugging a little.

'You're gonna 'ave to make a decision at some point, sweetheart!' she said, and started looking around. 'Where'd Alex get to?'

Seth could see the boy hiding underneath a rack, just out of Jackie's view. When Seth looked at him he closed his eyes; curling up. He was hiding. Tony had already run off to hide twenty minutes ago.

'He went with Mickey,' Seth lied.

Jackie sighed. 'He'd better bring him back soon, he'd look absolutely adorable in these little clothes!'

Seth looked at Alex. He buried his head a little more.

'Definitely went with Mickey,' Seth concluded.

Leah re-emerged in the outfit she'd wanted, looking very happy. 'Can I have it?' she asked her gran.

Jackie pulled a face. 'Sweetheart, don't be silly.'

'Please?' Leah tried, trying to look sweet and adorable.

'No.'

'But I want it!' Leah complained. 'Daddy lets me get what I want! He just sits there and nods!'

'Sweetheart, I've seen your daddy on a shoppin' trip. It's the only time I've ever seen 'im brain-dead. He's bloody useless.'

'Seth.' Gwen arrived, handing him a chip from a clothes vending pods, her imprint of an outfit on it. 'Try this.'

'Okay,' Seth replied, and disappeared back into the changing area.

'Auntie Gwen!' Leah yelled happily, running to her. 'What do you think?'

'Love it,' Gwen said smiling.

'Granny won't let me have it!' Leah moaned.

'How much have you bought?'

'Nothing! She won't get anything I want!' Leah complained.

Jackie sighed. 'All right, have whatever you want!'

Leah shrieked with delight and ran back into the changing area.

'Oh, Alex, what are you doing down there?' Gwen asked the boy. Alex made a squeaking noise and attempted to bury himself further in the rack, but Gwen had already picked him up.

Jackie looked delighted. 'Alex! C'mere, I've found the perfect outfit for you!'

Gwen immediately realised her mistake. 'Oh, I think Mickey wanted to …'

'C'mon, Alex!' Jackie said, plucking the boy out of Gwen's arms. 'Let's go and try this on!'

Jack and Rose cut the Time Lady down, and they all gathered around the body.

'Where should be bury her?' Brax asked his brother.

'I was thinking Emphasia,' the Doctor said.

Brax nodded. 'Yes. Good idea.' He paused, and then spoke again as if having to pluck up the courage beforehand. 'How did she die?'

The Doctor didn't look at him. 'Va'A'gnorn tortured and raped her, then hanged her so she kept dying and regenerating until she ran out of bodies.'

Brax flinched. 'That's horrific,' he muttered.

'At least we can do a proper funeral now,' Rose said quietly. 'With respect.'

Everyone nodded.

After the pyre had been set up, everyone got changed into funeral clothes, and the Doctor and Brax piloted in tandem to get back to the shop to pick everyone up. This was shortly followed by the transportation of roughly seventy-eight shopping bags into the TARDIS and some very happy and chatty people. Tony was first in.

'Hey Tony, did you …' Rose began, but the boy had already run past the console and straight into the corridor at a blisteringly-fast pace. Seconds later Leah burst in, who ran straight to her parents, hugging their legs simultaneously.

'Please don't ever make me go shopping with Gran ever again!' she begged.

'What?' the Doctor asked.

'She tried to put me in flowery dresses and bows!' Leah wailed. 'I don't like flowers or bows! And she made Alex dress up!'

Alex appeared in the doorway, utterly red in the face. He was wearing a spotty t-shirt under a pair of bright orange dungarees, which he was trying to get off but was having very little success. The moment he saw his parents he ran to them, pointing at the catches on the dungarees to ask for help.

Rose looked at the Doctor, who was smirking.

'That's your son,' she reminded him. He immediately wiped the smirk off of his face.

'That was amazin'!' Jackie declared as she strolled in, immediately moving to kiss the Doctor on the cheek. 'Sweetheart, we'll have to go back with you and get you properly dressed!'

The Doctor looked at his son, and then pulled away to subtly hide Rose for protection. 'Yeah, we'll have to,' he echoed, sounding a little frightened.

Rose sighed, rolling her eyes. 'Did you get somethin' for Seth?' she asked her mum, just as the teenager entered the TARDIS. He was dressed in a leather-style jacket, t-shirt and futuristic jeans with trainers and was carrying several bags. He looked like he'd had a very bad day.

'I never wanna do that again,' he declared, dropping all of the bags onto the floor.

'Don't be silly, we all had fun, sweetheart,' Jackie said happily. 'Now where did Tony run off to? He's got loads of new stuff!' she said, and left with her bags to her room.

'Sorry,' Rose said seriously to everyone as her mum got out of hearing distance. 'She was always tryin' to put me in outfits when I was a kid.'

'She had me in this weird cotton thing,' Seth told them.

'It was a sweatervest,' Gwen explained.

'And this other outfit had this shirt that was way too big,' Seth continued. 'She said I'd grow into it.'

'Oh god, I hated it when she said that,' Rose moaned. 'That meant everyone was gonna laugh at me in school for six months. Did you get somethin' for the funeral?'

'Yeah,' Seth replied. 'Where can I change?'

'Oh yeah, we've gotta give you a room.' Rose looked at the Doctor. He nodded, as Alex tugged on his trousers, and pointed at his dungarees again. Rose dropped to him and undid the catches, with a little difficulty. The boy immediately jumped out of the dungarees and ran off into the depths of the TARDIS.

'Can you go and get your brother dressed for the funeral?' Rose asked Leah. Leah nodded, and ran after Alex. Rose turned to Seth and smiled. 'This way.'

The Doctor explained the current layout of the TARDIS to Seth as they walked, but also added that the TARDIS had a tendency to rearrange rooms of her own volition for no apparent reason. Seth could only nod and pretend that was normal.

They passed Jackie and Tony on the way, the latter of which was staring at his mother in terror as she tried to get him to dress into something wildly uncool. They finally reached the end of the corridor and the Doctor pointed into the room.

Seth blinked a few times, stunned. It was fairly spacious, with golden walls that seemed to be alive, with some strange liquid gold substance coursing through. It had a very large, comfortable-looking bed, a bedside table, a big rectangle black thing in the corner, with a strange black box sat below. There was a couple of doors leading off, which Rose explained as a walk-in wardrobe and an ensuite bathroom.

'Wait,' Seth said, spinning on his heel inside the room. 'I get my own room?'

Rose nodded, grinning. 'Yeah. Me and Jack designed it while you were shoppin'. If you don't like anythin' you can change it.'

'It's as close to a 21st century human set up as can be managed with the Tardis customisation,' the Doctor added, and pointed at Rose. 'She made me humanise the whole Tardis system.'

'Oh,' Seth muttered, utterly bewildered. He dropped to sit down on the bed, testing it. He nearly fell off. 'It's huge, and really bouncy,' he said, confused.

'What have you been sleepin' on before now?' Rose wondered.

'I had some wooden planks,' Seth explained.

'You slept on wood?'

'Yeah.'

'Welcome to a proper bed,' she said, sitting down beside him.

'The Tardis has had her own simulated twenty-four hour day for the 21st century humans for a while now, since they're always in the Tardis,' the Doctor explained. 'Else I found that I tended to forget that they all needed to sleep and they kept walking into walls. But I know you don't sleep as much as them, so go to bed when you want, but nobody in here is allowed to be awake before 8am or overly-cheerful before 9am. Washing has a manual system, just put it in that,' – he pointed at some dispensing thing in the wall – 'press the button and it'll be done in three seconds.'

'You don't hand wash things?' Seth asked, bewildered.

'Oh no. It could be fully automatic but humans like to feel they have control over their washing for some reason,' the Doctor replied, shrugging slightly. Rose kicked him lightly in his good leg. 'What?' he asked, bewildered.

Seth looked around the room a bit more, and he caught sight of the weird square things again. 'What are they?' he asked, pointing.

'TV and game console,' Rose replied. 'Mickey and Jack'll show you how they work.'

Seth fell silent, just staring at TV for a moment.

Rose looked at the Doctor, who promptly sat down on the other side of Seth.

'If there's too much of a culture shock, let me know,' the Doctor said. 'I can put a bit of the year six billion in here for you.'

'No, it's great,' Seth said honestly. 'It's just …'

'What?' Rose asked.

'I'm so different.'

'How so?'

'I don't have any of this stuff. I dunno how it works.'

'We'll teach you,' Rose assured him.

'But I don't look like anyone either.'

'What d'you mean?'

'I look different,' Seth said, pointing at his face. 'Everyone else has smaller heads, smaller eyes, thinner necks and no one's skin is the same colour as mine.'

'You're the product of billions of years of evolution,' the Doctor replied. 'Your head has had to get bigger to accommodate your larger brain. Your eyes have got bigger because humans needed them to be bigger. Your neck is thicker to protect your spine and support your head better. Your ancestors interbred between skin colours of humans and aliens, and that means that you are a completely neutral skin colour.'

'Jackie put me in shorts and when I came out she said I had no body hair and made this joke about something called puberty,' Seth muttered. 'Does that matter?'

'Again, humanity evolved only to need head hair and eyebrows for aesthetic purposes. In evolution, the only aim is to maximise your chances for breeding. For maximum chances, evolution decided you needed to be good looking to everyone, well-protected from injury, smart, and without unnecessary bits like body hair. You've also been through puberty already, you probably weren't aware of it. It happens younger and quicker for your lot.'

'She kept saying I'd grow into things too. What does that mean?'

'Misconception,' the Doctor said. 'In the 21st century, humans hit their adult build by age twenty-one. By your time, humans are at that stage by thirteen. She doesn't know that. You're taller too, though you've been a bit malnourished so you've been stunted slightly. You've also got a longer lifespan, and stay younger for longer. You evolved, just like you should. Consider yourself an upgrade,' the Doctor said helpfully. 'Human point two.'

'Don't you ever think that being different is actually important, cos it's not,' Rose told him. 'Sorry about mum. She's not used to this stuff.'

'Do you have lyrium?' the Doctor asked.

Seth nodded. 'Elliott said everyone did on my home planet. Don't 21st century humans have lyrium?'

The Doctor shook his head. Seth winced a little more.

'What's lyrium?' Rose asked.

'It was a year six billion thing, an injection into the bloodstream on birth that stops a lot of diseases,' the Doctor explained. 'When Seth gets excited or scared or feels anything to make his blood rush, it shows up as red lines under the skin in his arms and legs.'

'Oh,' Rose realised, and caught Seth's expression. 'Don't worry, we'll talk to everyone so they stop making dumb comments. Just settle in and we'll deal with everyone else, yeah?'

'Okay,' Seth said, and looked up at the Doctor. 'When's the funeral?'

'When everyone's ready,' the Doctor replied. 'No rush.'

Emphasia was absolutely beautiful.

The Doctor explained to the company that it was one of the few planets left in the universe that was undiscovered by civilisations, and unpopulated by any animal. It was full of amazing and magnificent vegetation, all of which strange and alien and wildly out of control. The red sun was setting on the horizon, bathing the entire place a warm, red glow. He warned them to avoid a few particular plants, and then led them to the pyre that he, Jack, Brax and Rose had put together in their absence. It was in a clear, open space that was surrounded by beautiful, alien flowers.

The Doctor took the honour of lighting the torch, and looked at Brax.

Brax nodded, resting a hand on his brother's shoulder. 'N-cera'qe-ia'zachit-ia ici ce'chira.'

'N-cera'qe-ia'lola-ia ye wi-alok'mira,' the Doctor said.

'N-cera'qe-ia'gricha-ia terna iviran'kyea.'

'N-cera'qe-ia'veera-gea ici ce wi-aiiw'wrea.'

'N-qe, ei'baniora, ei arit aroinab-n.'

'N-miho ce'celerial-ia'kaiti joh kai cen hira,' the Doctor completed, stepped forward, and lit the pyre. The fire crept up quickly, until it consumed the wrapped body. Then the Doctor and Brax stepped back, rejoining the humans to watch the unknown Time Lady finally be put to rest.

Jack stepped up to Brax, away from the Doctor. 'You knew her,' he concluded in a mutter.

Brax looked at him. 'Yes,' he replied honestly.

'Who is she?'

'It doesn't matter,' Brax dismissed. 'I just knew she went to Sirrus and never came back. I'd heard the rumours of what had happened, but I didn't want to believe them, despite knowing they were probably true.' He paused, then looked at Jack. 'Don't tell Thete this.'

'Why not?'

'Because he'll work out who she is,' Brax replied.

Jack frowned. 'But if he knows her, you should tell him.'

'He doesn't need to know. To him, she is already dead. I'm not killing her again. He doesn't deserve that, not now.'

Jack paused, looking at the Doctor, who was surrounded by his family all gazing at the pyre. 'This is why you were so desperate to keep the Doctor safe,' he realised.

'... Yes. I made a promise to his mother when he was young that I would be there for him. A promise I abandoned for a very long time, to his detriment. Ever since I found him again I've been trying to honour that promise, in his mother's memory. But, I must confess … I'm beginning to think he doesn't need me.'

Jack looked at him seriously, getting what he was inferring. 'You're not gonna leave, are you?'

'I don't know,' Brax confessed. 'But I keep worrying about him and he keeps defying me and doing ridiculous things, somehow managing to get out the other side. I don't believe he needs me anymore, because he certainly doesn't listen to anything I say. Perhaps I should leave him to get on with his new life.'

'That's just the Doctor, that's what he does. He ignores people and does his own thing,' Jack told him firmly.

'He listens to you. He listens to Rose.'

'Doesn't mean he actually takes any notice,' Jack replied. 'He just knows us better. That's all it is.'

Brax laughed, half-heartedly. 'I'm his brother. I've known him since he was born. Then I abandoned him to his cousins, and now he knows you better than he knows me. And you clearly know him better than I do too.'

'Being there for him isn't about worrying about him, it's about being someone who's around. It would devastate him if you left. Talk to him,' Jack persisted. 'He'll want you to stay. I guarantee.'

'Around,' Brax scoffed. 'I was never around and that's what he's adapted to. That's why he didn't cry out for me.'

'What?' Jack asked.

Brax sighed. 'His flashback. His cousins used to torment him, and Glospin was the ringleader. Once, Glospin and the others found this old abandoned shobogan mine, dragged him there and threw him in. They locked the door so he couldn't get out. He cried out for help. Did you notice? He didn't call my name, because he knew I was never around. And now I am, he doesn't need me anymore, and he never cries out for me. He learnt that I will never come.'

'Talk to him,' Jack reinforced.

Brax shook his head. 'I have worse news to deliver to him than that.'

'What?'

'I can't tell you,' Brax said. 'I need to wait for the right moment. It's not now.'

'Do I need to worry?' Jack asked seriously.

'You need to be yourself. Be someone he trusts; someone he relies on. He's going to be devastated and he will need you.'

Jack's eyes narrowed. 'Tell me what's going on.'

Brax looked at him briefly, shook his head, and didn't say another word.

A/N: MUST be review reply time. I forget when I do these things. Ask away! :D

Translation

All those thunders in the sun

All those moments of painful fun

All those poems with empty verse

All those flights in a tiny universe

That, I remember, and I will never forget

How the stars shined when we first met