CHAPTER 68
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ADVENTURES IN REGENERATING
As soon as I entered the TARDIS, Allison quickly set in some new coordinates and dematerialized. Per Robin's request, she had decided to take us to another world. She wanted to take us to a simpler world where she hoped that I could rest for a while without being distracted.
Of course, my family was turning out to be a huge distraction to me all by themselves just by being there. I saw Isabella sitting in the middle of the Console Room and immediately rushed to hug her. As I squeezed her tightly, I could already feel her trying to pull away from me in fear.
"Who on Earth is she, and why is she hugging me so hard for? I'm starting to go numb all over," Isabella said in dismay.
"It's okay, Izzy. It's Mum. She's just a little mixed up right now. That's all," Ron explained.
"What? She changed her face again?" Isabella asked.
"I'm afraid so, Iz. Don't worry though. I'm still your homie," I said happily as I continued to hug her.
"Iz? Homie? Has her brain been scrambled this time?" Isabella said perplexed.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot. You're from the Dark Ages. You're not down with the street slang like I am. Okay, I'll put it in words that you can understand. I'm still your friend, Bella. I just wanted you to know that. I love you. I love you so much," I said as I hugged her even tighter.
Isabella gasped for air as she said, "Lily, stop. I can't breathe."
"Sorry. I'm just showing the love," I said as I let her go and kissed her forehead.
"I appreciate that, Lily. I love you too," Isabella said as she quickly moved away from me.
"I think that you're showing a little too much love there, Mum," Allison said as she rolled her eyes.
That turned out to be a huge mistake because it just brought her to my attention.
"You know I love you too, right?" I said as I moved toward her.
She moved away in fear as she said, "Yeah, I know, Mum. I don't need a hug though. I'm just fine."
"Nonsense. Everyone needs a hug. Come here," I said as I started to hug her tightly too.
"Mum, no. Now I can't breathe. Mum!" Allison said.
"Why is she doing that? Is she alright?" Robin asked.
"She's fine. Time Lords do all kinds of weird things when they've first regenerated. It'll soon pass. Don't worry," Ivy said.
"Cleo, Cleo, Cleo! I love you too," I said as I launched myself at her.
"Yeah, I get that. I really do. Please stop before I pass out or worse. I can't regenerate like you can," Ivy said as I crushed her ribs.
Her voice was filled with fear and that snapped me out of it. At least for a little while anyway. I wasn't a homicidal lunatic after all just a little confused.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me. I've never done this before after a regeneration. At least I don't think that I have. Who can remember?" I said as I had a temporary moment of sanity.
"Lily, are you back now?" Robin asked with concern.
"For the moment. I'm not sure if I'll stay this way or not. If I don't, don't worry. There's some adjustment time for every new body where we tend to act weird. It won't be any longer than fifteen hours though at the most," I said.
"Fifteen hours?! I may not survive fifteen more hours of your special hugs," Allison said as she rubbed her ribs.
"I'm sorry, Ally. When I do things like that, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not trying to hurt you on purpose," I said apologetically.
"I know but that doesn't make my ribs feel any better," Allison said.
"I'm sorry," I said as I gave her a regular hug this time.
"Are you going to be all touchy feely in this incarnation?" Allison asked with a smile.
"Maybe. Who can tell yet? It's too early to say for sure. I just know that I love you. I love you so much," I said as I started to slip back into regeneration madness again.
"Oh, no! No!" Allison said as she realized what was happening.
This time instead of hugging her, I started kissing her forehead over and over again. I think it was me switching tactics because even Regeneration Madness Me had realized that she had gone too far.
"Mum, stop. Stop. You're embarrassing me," Allison said in chagrin.
"I'm sorry. I can't help it. I have to show the love," I said with a cheery grin.
"Lily, I think that you've shown enough love today," Robin said as he pulled me off of Allison.
Allison quickly ran away in terror as Ron teased, "Maybe I should start calling you Huggy Bear."
"Shut up or I'll start calling you Stumpy after I rip your arm off and beat you with it!" Allison threatened.
"Hey, hey! Don't do that! A sister and brother are supposed to love one another. Show me that you love one another. Give each other a big old hug," I said with a mad smile on my face.
"Now look what you've done!" Allison said in terror as she ran to the other side of the Console Room.
Ron didn't run fast enough though. I quickly grabbed him and started hugging him next. When he yelped in pain though, I instantly stopped and regained my senses again for a minute.
"I'm sorry. Are you alright?" I asked him in concern.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about it, Mum," Ron said as he quickly took Isabella's hand and moved away from me.
"I'm sorry," I said in tears as I saw everyone moving away from me while they still could.
Robin though, the poor sap, stayed right by my side the whole time. He could see how upset I was that everyone was afraid of me so he didn't move away.
In hindsight, that was a huge mistake.
"It's okay, Lily. I'm not going anywhere," Robin said.
"I know because you want to show how much you love me. Well, I love you too," I said as the madness took me over again.
This time though the madness took a slightly different form. I started to kiss him with more and more passion by the moment. The two of us were soon caught up in the heat of the moment and began to kiss non-stop without even pausing to breathe. Not that Robin seemed to mind.
"What are they doing? I mean I know what they're doing but . . ." Allison said in shock.
"I don't know what her plan is, but he looks like he's about to pass out at any minute," Ivy said as she noticed Robin's face turning blue.
Luckily her words snapped me out of it again, and I pulled away from him. He soon collapsed on the floor looking like he was nearly apoplexic.
"I'm sorry. Are you alright?" I asked with concern.
"I . . . I'm . . . fine," Robin said out of breath.
"That's it. You've got to stop me before I hurt someone. Lock me into my room until this is over with," I said to Allison.
"I don't want to do that. I wouldn't feel right about it," Allison said.
"I appreciate that. I really do. You have to though, sweetie. You have to stop me now while you still can," I pleaded with her.
Suddenly Aishwana, Holly, and Skaren came into the room, and I lost it again. I immediately ran to Aishwana and said, "I missed you so much all of this time. You have no idea how much."
This time I turned into a blubbering mess as I started crying out of control.
Aishwana recognized me instantly of course and quickly embraced me as I continued to weep like a baby. Holly and Skaren meanwhile were looking at me like I was an escapee from an asylum.
"Who is she and what is wrong with her?" Holly asked as she grabbed Skaren's hand in fear because of the way that I was acting.
"It's Mum. Don't you recognize her? I mean I know that she has a new face, but surely you've been around her long enough by now to still be able to know her when you see her despite that," Aishwana said as she held me.
Holly immediately looked ashamed as she said, "You're right. I should have known her, but she's just so different. I'm not just talking about her appearance either. She just keeps crying. Lily never acts like that. She's always happy even when she's not."
"Maybe that's why I'm doing this. Maybe I'm paying for all of the emotion that I've held in," I said thoughtfully as I stopped crying.
"Are you alright?" Holly asked me with a worried almost frightened look on her face.
"I will be. This is only temporary. I'll be fine before the day is over with," I said with a brave face.
"You should go lie down, Mum. I'll take you to your room," Aishwana said.
"She wanted me to lock her in it alone, but I couldn't do that," Allison said.
"Of course not. What kind of a request is that? She couldn't do that to you any more than I could," Aishwana said wagging her finger at me.
"Okay, okay. I was just trying to keep from incapacitating everyone. I almost kissed Robin to death a minute ago," I said with a grin.
"She almost hugged me to death. My ribs still hurt," Allison complained.
"Shut up, crybaby. You're worse than Mum," Ron said.
"You shut up," Allison shot back.
Aishwana smiled at them and whispered to me, "They act like bratty little children sometimes, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. Not after being alone for so long. Now I know exactly how you felt and why you were always so sad, Mum. I never could really understand it before."
I suddenly burst out crying again and everyone glared at Aishwana as Ron asked, "We finally got her to be normal for five seconds, and then you had to go and blow it. What did you say to her?"
"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking," Aishwana said with a frown.
"Stop it, Ronny. It isn't Aishy's fault. If it wasn't her, it'd be something. My emotions are going to be all messed up until my new body gets finished cooking. We'll just all have to deal with it. I'll go lie down in my room just like Aishy suggested," I said as I regained my sanity for a moment.
"Don't you have a Zero Room on this TARDIS? That would help you to stabilize yourself until you're finished," Ivy said.
"I used to but I jettisoned it once in order to make the TARDIS lighter. I think that was a bad idea in hindsight," I said.
"Really? You think?" Allison said as she rolled her eyes.
"Oh, hush, Freya," I said.
"Will you stop calling me Freya?!" Allison shouted.
At that point, I burst into tears again; and everyone gave Freya, I mean Allison, the look of death. She shrank before their glare, and no doubt would have started crying herself if the TARDIS hadn't landed at that moment and took everyone's minds off of everything.
The reason that I say that is because the instant that we landed the TARDIS was shaken like it had been picked up and thrown like a bowling ball. We all started being bounced across the Console Room like ping pong balls, and I really wished that I had created rubber walls for the room at that moment.
I don't want to hear any cracks about rubber rooms and insanity from those of you reading out there either.
In my messed up state, I actually thought being bounced around was fun and was laughing the entire time. I continued laughing even as the sane part of my brain made me open the door when I bounced close enough to the console to reach the controls for a split second. Then just as the still rational part of me had planned, I was bounced out of the open doors and right into the path of the thing that had been attacking us.
"Good. Mum will put a stop to whatever's going on out there now," Ron said confidently as he watched me leave.
"Are you kidding? In her current state, she'll probably hug it whatever it is instead of fight with it," Allison joked.
"So? She'll still be squeezing its guts out so she'll beat it either way," Aishwana said with a giggle.
As my children laughed together and bonded behind me, I was face to face with the cause of our latest predicament in front of me. I wasn't by myself for long though. I was soon joined by Robin.
"Where have you been? I expected you five seconds ago. You're slowing down, Robbie!" I teased him.
"What is that, my lady?" Robin asked.
"It looks like a lovely little dragon to me. Hello, little dragon! Aw! Isn't he just so sweet? Do you want a hug?" I asked as I started toward the winged creature with my arms spread out.
"The greatest warrior in the universe, ladies and gentlemen," Robin said with a sigh as he tried to hold me back.
Suddenly a sharp voice gave a command to the creature, and it kneeled down in obedience. I turned around to see a man with dark hair looking at me like I was a nutter.
"That's pretty good. Can you make the cute little dragon roll over too?" I said giggling.
"That isn't a dragon. It's a Wyvern, a cousin to the dragon," the man said.
"Thank you for helping us. That beast was attacking our ship," Robin said.
"Ship?" the man asked as he looked at my TARDIS which was still in the shape of a giant rock just as it was when I first met Allison and saw the wide open doors in the side of it showing the brightly lit Console Room within.
"Are you sorcerers?" he asked in awe.
"No, I'm an alien from another planet. That's my ship. It's dimensionally transcendental. That means it's bigger on the outside than it is in the inside. No,wait! That's not right. I'm sorry. My brain's a little mixed up today. I just got a new body you know. That does it every time. It always takes a while for a new body to cook. My name's, uh, what is my name now, Robbie?" I asked.
Don't laugh. You try being burned alive and then dying and coming back to life and see what it does to you.
"It's Lily and I'm Robin," Robin said as he looked at me in concern.
"Oh, yeah. I was going to say Atalanta, but that's not right. That was a couple of bodies back," I said with a mad grin on my face.
"My name's Merlin. Are you sure she's right in the head?" Merlin asked.
"She's just a little mixed up right now. She was hurt very badly recently," Robin explained.
"Was it a head wound? I just saw her trying to hug a Wyvern. That's not the act of a sane person," Merlin said with a raised eyebrow.
"How did you control it like that?" Robin asked.
"I'm a Dragonlord, I can control all dragons and relatives of dragons. It's a good thing for you and especially her that I came along when I did. The Wyvern would have torn her apart in seconds," Merlin said.
"It's okay. I would have just regenerated. I've done it before when something tore me apart once. It wasn't very pleasant though. Luckily that bear didn't eat me or I might not be here today. I'm not sure even I could have survived that one," I said with a small smile.
Yes, folks. I was really out of it.
"Merlin, what was all of that noise about?" a beautiful woman with long dark hair said as she came running up to us along with another equally beautiful blonde woman.
"I was saving a woman who was trying to hug a Wyvern, Cara. No big deal. Oh, this is my girlfriend, Cara, and my best friend, Sophia. This is Lily and Robin," Merlin said introducing us.
"Hello," I said waving my head at them with a big goofy grin on my face.
"Is she a little . . .?" Sophia started to ask.
"She's just a little mixed up because she was badly hurt recently. She'll be fine," Robin said.
"What did you say my name was again?" I asked.
"Lily," Robin said with a sigh.
"Sorry, Robbie. I know it's annoying. I still remember your name though so that's something, right?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah. She's just peachy," Sophia said sarcastically.
"Stop it, Soph. She's obviously not feeling well. She looks pale and keeps sweating a lot," Cara said as she felt my face with worry in her eyes.
Merlin felt my forehead and said, "She's running a fever. I should really take her to see Gaius, he's Camelot's court physician. He'll know what to do to help her."
"No, wait a minute. She's not human. He might end up doing more harm than good. I know she can't take certain medicines or they'll kill her. I don't know enough about her to tell you which they are though," Robin said worried.
"I can help. I know a bit about Gallifreyan physiology. Just enough to keep her from dying I hope," Ivy said.
"This is our friend, Ivy," Robin said.
"You seem familiar to me. Have we met before?" Cara asked Ivy.
"Nope. I'm pretty sure that you've never seen my face before," Ivy said nervously.
Then the rest of our little family poured out, and Robin introduced them as I started to feel dizzy. My fever must have been getting even worse.
"Lily?" Robin asked me in concern.
"Her regeneration isn't going right. It's failing," Ivy said in an upset voice.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. That sort of thing happens every once in a while. It'll all work itself out in the end," I said with confidence.
I heard Robin shout "Lily!" just as everything suddenly went black.
Next: Can Merlin and his friends help Lily? What is up with Cara seeming to recognize Ivy anyway, and what possible bad blood could that lead to? Also what happens when Merlin's enemy, the Triple Goddess, learns about Lily and tries to kidnap her in her weakened state?