A/N: This story will be from Amelia Rose's POV from here on out.

The Rings of Akhaten- Part 1

Drax Three- March 18th, 2041

The Harkness Estate

I was in my room, lying on my bed talking to my best friend Arya Quiar, and two other friends, Genesis Krell and Lysa Victory, over Draxiaon Systems, 'the Drax version of Skype' as my Mum puts it... whatever Skype was.

At that moment, Arya, Genesis and Lysa were all clammering on at once, trying to be the loudest so the others could hear them, "Guys!" I shouted into my headset.

Instantly I heard 'ows!' and cries. "Why would you yell like that!" Genesis fake cried. "That hurts."

"Sorry guys. I just couldn't hear myself think." I retorted jokingly. "Anyway, did you hear that Generation Productions is working on warp speed?" I asked, generally interested in the sciences, especially because of The Doctor.

"Eh, it's cool and all, but companies like that have been claiming things like that for years." Lysa put in.

"Lia! Dinner!" Mom's voice drifted up from the floorboards.

I sighed, "Guys, I have to go. Mom's calling for dinner." Instantly everyone began to protest, "I know guys. I see you at school tomorrow." I said and canceled my part of the call. I straightened my hair, pulling it back into a high bun and went down stairs.

We were about to start eating when the sound of the Tardis filled the room. Mom groaned putting her fork that she had just picked up, back down on the table, "Just when we were about to eat."

The Tardis appeared in the corner of the kitchen where nothing was in it's way. The Doctor stepped out. "Susan, can I talk to you and Jack for a moment?"

Mom and Dad shared a look. "Sure," Mom answered. She then turned to me, "Stay here."

I huffed and crossed my arms as Mom and Dad followed The Doctor into the Tardis. It was a while before Mom and Dad came back out. So long that I had finished my dinner, wrapped up Mom and Dad's plates, put them in the fridge and washed and dried the dishes. I was a third of the way into my homework at a clean kitchen table before my parents came back out with The Doctor.

I looked up, "That took a long time." I stated.

"Yes, it did." Mom said. "Captain, do you want to tell Lia or do you want me to."

I frowned. "Tell me what?"

"Let's go sit in the livingroom." Dad suggested.

I eyed my parents but reluctantly followed them into the living room and sat down opposite my parents, "Now, what is it?"

"On Gallifrey, the home of the Time Lord's, once one of their young would reach a certain age, they would find an apprenticeship. It could be anything from tailoring to shadowing one of the council members. Since you grew up on a human world and you are part human, part time-lord, your current age allows you to be eligible for apprenticeship." Mom started.

Dad continued, "Since," He glanced at The Doctor, "Since doing this the normal way is impossible, The Doctor would like to offer you a chance at an apprenticeship." Before I could open my mouth to say 'yes', Dad said, "Wait and listen before you accept. You would be learning about the Time Lords and your abilities. In a normal apprenticeship, the apprentice would leave his or her home to live with his or her mentor until their training is complete, which would be more like two hundred to three hundred years."

Mom started talking again, "We thought we would give you a trial run before you say 'yes' to the actual apprenticeship, which is binding. In this trial run, you can come home and see us, every once and awhile. Mostly you would stay with The Doctor."

I could already tell Mom didn't like the idea of me staying with him.

"The trial would be for a year." Dad said.

"You don't have to answer right away. Give us your answer tomorrow after school. The Doctor will be back then."

My parents left me on the couch and headed into the kitchen with The Doctor. A couple minutes later, the Tardis sound told me The Doctor had left.

Drax Three- March 19th, 2041

School didn't really help. All day I was distracted and even my friends noticed something was off. I knew I did poorly on that history exam. I came home and went directly to my room without a word to my parents.

I dropped my backpack by my desk and lay on my bed and closed my eyes. Here it was. My dream: to see space. But I had to go away for a year. A year without my parents. I wasn't a fool. I knew The Doctor's adventures were dangerous. I knew people had died.

I had been on some of The Doctor's adventures before. I'd seen the Dalek Asylum. I'd met Queen Nefertiti and saved Dinosaurs on a spaceship. I've faced an alien gunslinger and snowman victorian London. Why was I so scared to go with The Doctor?

There was a knock at my door, "Lia, it's me." It was Dad.

"Not now Dad," The door opened and then closed. I sighed. Apparently saying 'not now' means 'come in'. I felt a dip in the bed as he sat down. We were silent, "I don't know what to choose." I opened my eyes to find Dad looking down at me.

Dad eyed me like he didn't believe me, "Is that all? You love science and space. I would have thought it would be an easy choice for you."

I rolled over and stared at my purple wall, "I'm scared."

"Of what?" Dad said softly.

"I'm not sure. That's why I'm scared." I picked at the frayed strands of my patterned blanket. "I do want to know more about my species."

Dad sighed, patted my shoulder and said, "I'm sure you'll make the right choice." He waited a couple more minutes and left the room.

I walked into the kitchen to find The Doctor and my parents waiting for me around the table. I heard the Tardis land at least an hour ago. I took a deep breath and said, "I accept."

After I had said goodbye to my parents, I was shown my room, which was an exact replica of mine. I then put my clothes away in the dresser and met The Doctor back in the counsel room. I had changed my cloths while I was putting way my others.

I was in dark black jeans with a small ripped hole above of both knees. I was wearing a white blouse and black faux leather jacket. I had it zipped up. I also wore white sneakers and my red hair in a pony-tail.

The Doctor was messing with the controls. "So, what are we doing now?" I asked.

The Doctor looked at me and smiled. "We're going into the past of Clara Oswald."

Autumn 1981

A breeze flows through, making the map that a young man's has bend and fold as he tries to look at it and walk down a street at the same time.

The Doctor and I are hiding behind the Beano Summer Special 1981, and the Specials 'Ghost Town' is setting the musical scene. Suddenly a dead leaf flies into the young man's face, and he staggers in surprise into the path of an oncoming car. My eyes widened but The Doctor put an arm across me, preventing me from doing anything.

Then an arm pulls him to safety.

"Oh, my stars. Are you alright?" A young woman asks, whom I know to be Ellie, Clara's mother.

"Yeah."

"So, I've got something for you." Dave said.

"What?" Ellie asks. Dave shows Ellie the dead leaf.

Ellie stares at Dave, "You kept it?"

Dave smiled, "Of course I kept it."

Ellie shook her head, "Why?"

"Because this exact leaf had to grow in that exact way in that exact place so that precise wind could tear it from that precise branch and make it fly into this exact face at that exact moment. And if just one of those tiny little things had never happened, I'd never have met you. Which makes this the most important leaf in human history."

The Doctor turns his face as they kiss and we go back into the Tardis.

"Give it a kick." Dave encourages Clara. The Doctor and I are watching nearby. The little girl kicks a football which hits the Doctor in the face. He adopts a defensive martial arts posture. I laughed.

Ellie runs over, "Oh, my stars! Are you alright?"

"Fine. Marvellous. Refulgent. Possibly a bit embarrassed. That's not dangerous, is it?"

Ellie looked puzzled, "What's not?"

"Embarrassment," The Doctor stated.

"Not usually. Not to my knowledge."

"Good. Hey," The Doctor said to Dave, who had just walked up, "Phew."

"Mate, I'm so sorry. She wants to be Bryan Robson."

"No worries. My fault. No harm done." The Doctor crouched down to look at Clara, "Hello there." Clara smiles but doesn't say anything.

"Clara." Ellie says.

The Doctor looks up at Ellie then back down at Clara, "Ah. Hello there, Clara."

The Doctor and I watched as Clara and David Oswald looked down on a stone that read Ellie Oswald, beloved wife and mother, born 11th September 1960, died 5th March 2005.

"Come on." The Doctor whispered. We walked back to the Tardis in silence.

"She's just a girl. How can she be?" The Doctor asked. The scanner pops up her ID from the Spaceship Alaska, The Doctor went on before I could suggest answer, "She can't be. She is. She can't be. She's not possible."

"Maybe she's like Dad." I suggested.

The Doctor glanced at me, "That's a good guess. No, that's too easy. Besides, I would feel it if she was like Jack."

"What do you mean, feel it?" I asked.

The Doctor quickly changed the subject, "So, let's pick up Clara!"

"So we're moving through actual time? So what's it made of, time? I mean, if you can just rotor through it, it's got to be made of stuff, like jam's made of strawberries. So what's it made of?" Clara rambled on while I was leaning up against the railing, watching.

The Doctor snorted, "Well, not strawberries. No. No, no, no. That would be unacceptable."

"And we can go anywhere?" Clara asked.

"Within reason. Well, I say reason."

"So, we could go backwards in time."

The Doctor nodded, "And space, yes."

"And forwards in time."

The Doctor grinned. "And space. Totally. So, where do you want to go, eh? What do you want to see?"

Clara stared at The Doctor, "I don't know. You know when someone asks you what's your favourite book and straight away you forget every single book that you've ever read?"

The Doctor shook his head, "No. Totally not."

"Yes." I said.

Clara glanced at me then turned back to The Doctor, "Well, that's a thing that happens."

"And? Back to the question?"

"Okay. So. So. So. So I'd like to see. I would like to see. What I would like to see is, something awesome." Clara says.

The Doctor guides Clara out of the Tardis with her eyes closed while I followed closely behind. My eyes were wide when I saw the sight beyond the asteroid we were on. We were standing on a small ledge overlooking an asteroid belt circling a massive star. It was beautiful sight. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by The Doctor.

"Can you feel the light on your eyelids?" The Doctor asked Clara, who nodded. "That is the light of an alien sun. Forward a couple of steps. Okay. Are you ready?"

"Yes. No. Yes?"

The Doctor took his hands off Clara's eyes, "Welcome to the Rings of Akhaten."

Clara was stunned, "It's."

The Doctor smiled. "It is. It so completely is. But wait, there is more."

I leaned up against the asteroid, crossed my arms and felt the warmth of the sun.

"More what?" Clara asked.

"Wait, wait, wait." The Doctor looks at his wrist watch. "In about five, four, three, two." The asteroids move on to reveal a golden pyramid glinting on a rock closer to the sun.

My mouth dropped open. I'd never seen anything like it. "What is it?" I asked.

The Doctor glanced back at me, "The Pyramid of the Rings of Akhaten. It's a holy site for the Sun Singers of Akhat."

"The who of what?" Clara asked.

"Seven worlds orbiting the same star. All of them sharing a belief that life in the universe originated here, on that planet."

"All life?"

The Doctor nodded, "In the universe."

Clara, still looking at the pyramid asked, "Did it?"

"Well, it's what they believe. It's a nice story."

Clara looks to The Doctor, "Can we see it? Up close?"

We were now in what looked like a shopping area. Many aliens go about their daily business without a thought to our arrival.

"Where are they from?" Clara asked, looking around with wide eyes.

"Oh, you know, the local system, mostly." The Doctor responded.

"What do I call them?" Clara asked.

At this point, I listened closely, wanting to meet new aliens.

"Well, let's see. Ah! There go some Panbabylonians. A Lugal-Irra-Kush. Some Lucanians. A Hooloovoo. Ah! Qom VoTivig." They exchange a greeting that concludes with a pelvic thrust. "That chap's a Terraberserker of the Kodion Belt. You don't see many of them around any more. Oh! That's an Ultramancer. Do you know, I forget how much I like it here. We should come here more often."

"You've been here before?" Clara asked.

"Yes, yes, yes. I came here a long time ago with my granddaughter." The Doctor dashes off through the crowd and I followed closely behind. I remembered Mom talking about her namesake before but

I never met his granddaughter in person.

"Hang on!" Clara yells after us and runs to catch up.

I'm standing beside The Doctor who is looking at a basket of blue glowing globes when Clara catches up. "Exotic fruit of some description." The Doctor scans it with his sonic as Clara picked one up. "Right. Non-toxic, non-hallucinogenic. High in free radicals and low in other stuff, I shouldn't wonder."

Clara tries it and makes a face.

"No?" The Doctor asks her. Clara shakes her head, "What about you, Lia?" I grimaced and took a steep back.

"So, why is everyone here?" I asked The Doctor and we started walking away from the food.

"For the Festival of Offerings. Takes place every thousand years or so, when the rings align. It's quite a big thing, locally, like Pancake Tuesday."

The Doctor and I walked on until Clara called, "Oh! Er, Doctor?" The Doctor rushes back to Clara and the alien. The Doctor starts barking. "What's happening? Why is it angry?" Clara asked, panicking.

The Doctor looks back at Clara, "This isn't an it, it's a she. Dor'een, meet Clara. Clara, meet Dor'een."

"Doreen?"

The Doctor shrugged, "Loose translation. She sounds a bit grumpy but she's a total love actually, aren't you? Yes, you are. No, actually, she's just asking if we fancy renting a moped."

"So, how much does it cost?" Clara asked.

"Not money. Something valuable. Sentimental value. A photograph, love letter, something like that. That's what's used for currency here. Psychometry. Objects psychically imprinted with their history. The more treasured they are, the more value they hold."

Clara stared at The Doctor, "That's horrible."

"Better than using bits of paper."

"Then you pay."

"With what?"

"You're a thousand years old. You must have something you care about." Clara turns around looking at the different surroundings.

"Are you okay?" I stepped next to Clara and looked at her, asking with genuine concern.

Clara gave a smile, "Yeah, it's just a lot to take in."

I smiled, "Same thing happened to me. Don't worry, it's normal."

Clara looked around. "Doctor? Doctor?"

My eyes widened and I spun around, looking in every direction. He was gone.

Suddenly a young girl dressed in a red gown runs round the corner and into me. I stumbled a bit and we both stared at each other, "Are you okay?" I asked. The girl runs on. Then two tall men arrive on the scene.

"Have you seen her?" One of the men asked.

"Who?" Clara asked.

"The Queen of Years."

"Who?" Clara repeated. The men split up to search.

I grabbed Clara's hand and said, "Come on." We followed the girl.

"Are you sure about this?" Clara asked as we tried to figure out where the young girl went.

"Yeah, completely." I lied. I wondered why the girl was running from those scary looking guards.

After a few minutes of pursuit, we entered a storage room. It was dark inside and filled with different shaped boxes in a seemingly random order. "Hello?" I called.

Something bangs which makes Clara jump. Then the girl from earlier appears. I bent down to her hight, "Hey. Are you okay? Are you lost?"

The girl runs off. We found each other after a minute or so, still in the same room. This time Clara speaks. "Are you alright? What are you doing?"

"Hiding." The girl responds.

"Oh." Clara says. "Why?"

"You two don't know me?" The girl asks, looking at us, trying to figure out if we were a danger to her or not.

"Sorry. Actually not." Clara said.

"So why did you follow me?" The girl asks.

I smiled briefly, "To help. You looked lost."

The girl shakes her head, "I don't believe you."

"I've got no idea who you might be. I've never been here before. I've never been anywhere like here before. I just saw a little girl who looked like she needed help." Clara said. I let Clara take it from here, it looked like she was able to get through to the girl when I couldn't. I guess I wasn't good with children.

"Really?"

"Really really."

"Can you help me?"

Clara gave the girl a reassuring smile, "That's why I'm still here."

"Because I need to hide."

Black smoke materialises into three possible robots. A voice whispers in the air. "Merry. Where are you, Merry?"

Clara smiled, "I know the perfect box." Clara glances at me and I nodded, telling her it was alright with me. Merry takes Clara's hands and we dodged around the items and boxes in the storeroom.

The creepy voices still asking, "Merry, where are you? Merry. Merry."

Clara and I hide Merry behind us as people pass by. Then we go to the Tardis.

Merry stares up at outside of the Tardis with wonder, never seeing anything like it before, "What's this?"

"A space-shippy thing. Timey, spacey." Clara said.

I giggled and rolled my eyes, "It's a spaceship that travels through time and space."

Merry's eyes widened, "It's teeny."

Clara smiled at Merry. "You wait." She tries the doors. The doors don't open for her. "Oh, come on."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I don't think it likes me. Come on, let me in." Clara says, pounding her hand on the door. Before I could ask if I could try, Merry runs around the back of the Tardis and sits down.

"Hey. Hey, little girl." Clara called, going around the Tardis. I followed, keeping an eye out for those things that were after her.

"My name's Merry." Merry says. Clara sits with Merry round the back of the Tardis while I stood behind Clara.

"So, what's happening? Is someone trying to hurt you?" Clara asked.

Merry shakes her head and I gave a sigh of relief. "No. I'm just scared."

"Of what?"

"Getting it wrong." Merry responded.

"Okay." Clara said, completely out of her depth, "Can you pretend like I'm totally a space alien and explain?"

"I'm Merry Gejelh." Merry said. My eyes widened. I remembered reading about a Merry Gejelh at school in my history class. She was the Queen of Years. She knew everything about her people's history.

"Really not local. Sorry." Clara said.

"The Queen of Years? They chose me when I was a baby, the day the last Queen of Years died."

"Okay."

"I'm the vessel of our history. I know every chronicle, every poem, every legend, every song."

Clara's eyes widened, "Every single one? Blimey. I hated history."

Merry continued, "And now I have to sing a song in front of everyone. A special song. I have to sing it to a god. And I'm really scared."

Clara took Merry's hands, "Everyone's scared when they're little. I used to be terrified of getting lost. Used to have nightmares about it. And then I got lost. Blackpool beach, Bank holiday Monday, about ten billion people. I was about six. My worst nightmare come true."

"What happened?" Merry breathed.

"The world ended. My heart broke. And then my mum found me. We had fish and chips, and she drove me home and she tucked me up and she told me a story."

"And you were never scared again?" Merry asked.

"Oh, I was scared lots of times, but never of being lost. So, this special song. What are you scared of, exactly?" Clara asked.

"Getting it wrong. Making Grandfather angry."

"And do you think you'll get it wrong? Because I don't. I don't think you'll get it wrong. I think you, Merry Gejelh, will get it very, very right." Merry hugs Clara and then smiles up at me.

We went back into the bazaar and reunite Merry with the Chorister, who puts a lei around Merry's neck and gently leads her away, Merry glancing back at us as she went.

The Doctor appears at Clara's elbow, eating one of the blue glowing fruit, "What have you two been doing?"

Clara and I smiled at each other and Clara answered, "Exploring. Where are we going now?"

A/N: I now have a Guardians of the Galaxy story started called Valkyrie. That story will be updated on the second Saturday of every month.

Thank you to my favorite: hrodenhaver

Review:

alwaystherereading: Yeah, she does get knocked out quite a lot.