Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its preexisting characters. I'm just playing with them.^^
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Never Alone, Chapter 04: Saving the Universe
Athena Amalthea Tyler was in a different universe.
To be more precise, she was in another universe's version of London, England, Earth (though not the Solar System at the moment) – in the doorway of some fancy-looking stone building that might have been a church. She'd timed it perfectly too, for two minutes and fifteen seconds later, the TARDIS was materializing in the street, right in front of her. And she could feel them in her head, the Doctor and the TARDIS - filling that awful empty space that had haunted her for so long.
It was a good thing so much was going on – if the Doctor noticed her presence in his mind, he might tell her mum, and then she'd be in trouble. But he and a woman Athena didn't know were coming out now, and then mum was appearing at the far end of the street, drawing their attention and presenting the little girl with the perfect opportunity to sneak aboard the TARDIS. She didn't have a key, mind you, but the TARDIS knew who she was, and let her in when she asked.
In fact, the marvellous ship even lead her to a safe room to hide in, once she was inside – the Zero Room, she called it, where the Doctor wouldn't even be able to pick up her mental presence. As she curled up in her safe little hiding place with one of the books she'd brought with her (backpacks were wonderful things, really, though she was rather glad to take hers off now – it didn't go with her Princess Irene costume) Athena decided that she definitely liked the TARDIS.
It wasn't long, however, before her nice little break was interrupted when the entire ship suddenly plummeted, the force of it sending the little girl flying across the room. And then the TARDIS was crying out for help – the Doctor was gone, and there was no one else to save her – and Athena was out of the Zero Room and running back to the Console Room with fires erupting all around her.
The first thing she saw when she got there – and for a moment, the only thing – was the woman from before, about to touch a hand in a jar, and a nightmare of changing timelines as a result.
"GET AWAY FROM THE HAND!" the little girl screamed at her with such force, Donna immediately leapt away from it as though she'd been stung. "WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T TOUCH IT! DON'T EVEN GET NEAR IT! Go stand by the wall, over there – I'll take care of this!"
And then Donna was moving to cling to a support strut near where she'd been directed, and Athena was flying about the controls like a madwoman – like her father, really – dematerializing them out of the core, and quenching the fires, as the TARDIS directed her.
"Who are you?" Donna demanded the moment they were out of danger, and Athena got the distinct impression that it had been censored for her benefit.
"My name is Athena Amalthea Tyler," the little girl told her. "I am almost five years old. My mother is Rose Marion Tyler, and my father is the Doctor, though he doesn't know it yet. I'm a Time Lady, and I'm going to save the universe." She was about to turn back to the TARDIS controls when she remembered her manners (sort of, anyway). "Who are you?"
"Donna," the woman replied, sounding as though she was in shock. "Donna Noble."
"Oh! You're the one mum met in the alternate universe before!" Athena happily exclaimed. "I like your name."
"Um... thanks." Donna was actually sounding a bit bewildered. "Shouldn't we be, I dunno, rescuing them?"
"We're going to! I just need to make something first," the little Time Lady assured her. "Come on, you can help me find the parts." The TARDIS had told her about the Daleks – and helped her come up with a way to beat them.
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Back in the Crucible Vault, Davros was enjoying his moment of victory; his voice trembled with excitement as he declared, "The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor and his children all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek... the time has-"
Someone giggled, and for a moment, everyone froze. The giggle repeated itself.
"Enemy of the Daleks detected," an electronic voice announced, as two of them moved to intercept the little person who seemed to have snuck in from the hallway when nobody was looking.
"The presence of two hearts suggests Time Lord origin," the second Dalek declared. "Exterminate!"
"NO!" Rose panicked, knowing in an instant who it was, and that she was powerless to save her. This response also helped to clue Jackie in as to what was happening, and the older woman could be seen grabbing hold of Mickey for support as the colour drained from her face.
But the death ray never sounded – there was only the sound of a little girl giggling in its place. All eyes (and eyestalks) turned to her hiding place, where they couldn't yet see her, but they could see the two Daleks, and they weren't moving. And then little Athena came dancing into view, the pink skirts of her Princess Irene costume swirling about her legs as she twirled, spinning a strange-looking baton above her head. Athena had always liked batons.
Had they been capable of it, the Daleks would have been insulted – the little girl was clearly having the time of her life.
"The Time Lord descendant will surrender," another of the Daleks demanded, approaching her.
"That's Time Lady, thanks," Athena corrected, pointing her baton at the Dalek with a flourish that almost seemed to be part of her dance and pushing a button. The tip lit up with a pink light, and it emitted a faint buzzing noise – and the Dalek stopped moving. As if to add insult to injury, the little girl also now appeared to be singing A Spark Inside Us, from the movie The Princess and the Goblin (it went with her costume).
The Doctor was looking terribly undignified, with his mouth hanging open as he stared at that impossible little girl in surprise – and he wasn't the only one. Even Davros appeared to be too shocked to act, which was unfortunate for him, as he was the next one to get buzzed; and it finally became clear just what she was doing. All of the machinery that he was connected to immediately stopped working, but the actual living organism (in this case, Davros) was left completely unharmed.
Leave it to the only child of the Doctor and Rose to come up with a way to stop the Daleks without killing them.
Now that the last enemy in the room had been taken care of, a grinning Athena gave her baton one last twirl, jabbed it into a perfectly fitted spot on the control panel at the centre of the room, and pressed the button. The Crucible transmitted the signal, and outside every last one of the Daleks came to an immediate stop. It was now time to take care of the Reality Bomb and the holding cells her parents were trapped in. Of course, this was rather difficult when you were too small to reach the necessary buttons, but that wasn't about to stop Athena – she simply set about climbing right up onto the control panel. And while she climbed, her muttered complaints finally broke the stunned silence that had reined from the moment she made her appearance.
"'It's too dangerous,' she says. 'You're too little,' she says. Like size has anything to do with it. I'm a Time Lady, and I can save the universe if I want to. Stupid grown-ups never think I can do anything... Ah-ha!" she exclaimed triumphantly, having finally managed to get up onto the control panel. One minute and seventeen second later, the Reality Bomb had been permanently disabled, her parents had been released from their holding cells, and Athena was gracefully hopping down off of the control panel looking entirely too pleased with herself.
Her admittedly impressive accomplishments were quickly forgotten, however, the moment her chocolate brown eyes met those of her father.
"How dare you!" Davros suddenly began to rage, trapped in place but still very much capable of speech, unlike his Dalek creations. His tirade didn't even have a chance to get started though, before Mickey conked him on the head, knocking him out and thus preventing him from further ruining the moment all the rest of them were content to watch in silence.
"Hello," the Doctor greeted with a genuine, if rather nervous, smile, crouching down before her to eliminate their difference in height.
"Hi," Athena replied, with a smile every bit as nervous as his. She fidgeted a little, but never once looked away from his eyes.
"What's your name?" he asked, his voice as gentle as anyone had ever heard it.
"Athena," the little one told him softly, before adding, "I can feel you in my head."
The Time Lord's smile widened considerably – he couldn't help it. "I can feel you, too," he assured her, giving his head a tap.
Athena's smile widened in return. "I like it," she told him.
"So do I," the Doctor told her.
The next thing anyone knew, Athena had thrown herself into her father's arms and was clinging to him as if she would never let go – and he was clinging right back. "Daddy..." the little girl whispered, her hearts so full of happiness she thought they might burst.
And Rose's heart nearly broke from happiness, of all things, when she heard the Doctor whisper back, "I'm here, Athena. I'm here, and you'll never be without me again."
Jackie was actually beginning to sniffle a little, and even Sarah Jane was fighting to keep back the tears in her eyes, when Donna suddenly appeared next to Jack and just about gave him a heart attack upon announcing, "You can hug me, if you want."
Jack took one look at the mischievous grin on Donna's face and promptly burst out laughing before finally giving the woman her hug.