Hello again! Two in one night, you guys are lucky. It's another quick one but you'll have to get over it :D
*BBC owns Doctor Who and stuff*
"Now, what seems to be the question of the hour, Nebula my friend, is how are you here?"
She gave him a small smile as she pulled away from the Doctor and resumed her position from before. "That's another story, and a much less exciting one than yours."
"A story we'd both like to hear," River remarked and her husband nodded in agreement. Nebula sighed and shook her head slightly.
"A long, long time ago," she began, "521 years to be exact, my father passed away. He was killed in the war, like every other Timelord at the time. My brother was there when he died, even held his hand in his final moments. He made my brother promise to do whatever he could to keep me safe, to make sure I survived the war.
"One afternoon, my brother came home. I sat up in my room trying to listen as he talked with my mother downstairs, but I heard nothing. After a few moments my mum came into my room crying and saying… saying she loved me and that she would miss me," Nebula took a deep breath and wiped a few tears off her face before continuing. "My brother took me away. We ran down the street to where Dad's old TARDIS was parked and unlocked the door with the key that Mum must have given him moments ago. He pushed me inside, ignoring my questions, and began punching in a date and a location.
"When we landed he… he turned to me and said 'I'm sorry star gazer. I love you. We all love you.' And then… it was all a bit of a blur. All I know was that I blacked out and when I woke up, I was surrounded by humans asking me if I was alright and what my name was. I couldn't answer because I didn't know."
"What did your brother do?" River asked.
"He used the Chameleon Arch," the Doctor answered quietly. "He turned you into a human."
"Yes," Nebula replied simply, pulling off the pendent she wore around her neck and tossing it to him. Upon closer inspection he saw that it was actually a silver fob watch strung on a simple chain.
"'Look up star gazer'," he murmured as he traced a finger over the words engraved on its front in Circular Gallifreyan.
"That's what my Gallifreyan name meant," Nebula said. "Star gazer. I didn't know that at the time of course, I couldn't even read it. The humans named me Nebula after the planet and that's been my name ever since."
"But how – You're not human now," River stated raising an eyebrow at her.
"My brother left me one memory. It was just him saying 'Open the clock when you see a great light in the sky'."
"Great light?"
"Gallifrey exploding," the Doctor answered. "You were human at the time so it didn't affect you. Clever boy, your brother."
Nebula smiled and took the clock back, returning it to around her neck. "I opened it and got my memories back, as well as my other Timelord parts. It hurt like hell."
"So you were alive, but trapped on a foreign planet with a whole bunch of humans."
"Yep. It took them 78 years to realise that I was telling the truth about me being a Timelord. That was the first time I regenerated."
"How many times have you-?"
"Well, just then was my fourth," she grinned. "And don't you go feeling special because I gave up a regeneration to save you; I did that for all my deaths."
"What on earth do you mean?" River laughed.
"The humans nicknamed me 'The Matyr' because I died for them… several times," Nebula smiled ruefully. "You're not the first man I jumped in front of a bullet for."
"You're definitely an interesting soul, Nebs," the Doctor smirked. He stood up and brushed himself off, opening the TARDIS doors with a click of his fingers. Both females stood, Nebula dancing past the Doctor to run inside the time-machine, laughing excitedly. River moved to follow her but he pulled her aside gently.
"You alright, dear?" he asked quietly, his eyes looking her up and down. She smiled and leaned forward to kiss him softly.
"As long as you're happy, I'm perfectly fine," she murmured into his neck as he hugged her.
"I meant the baby, River," he muttered as he pulled her through the door.
"He's fine, sweetie."
"He?"
"I've decided it's a boy," she grinned and he rolled his eyes. She made her way up the few steps to the flight deck and plonked herself down on the seat.
Nebula waved out the door before the Doctor closed it. "Goodbye humans! I'll be back in… I don't know, a decade or so."
The Doctor grinned at her as he jumped up to the console, adjusting his bowtie as he went. "Not going to head back and pack, Miss Nebula?"
"I've got everything I need," she smiled back.
"Well then, away we go!" the Doctor laughed as he pulled that lever that threw them into the time vortex.
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