A/N: Welcome to the post-regeneration chapter. I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 46: After the End

Beepbeep…beepbeep…beepbeep…

I wake to the familiar sound of a low, constant beeping from somewhere to my right. The sound of a heart monitor keeping track of two hearts at the same time—my own two hearts, both beating calmly but strongly.

Opening my bleary eyes, I see that I am back in the familiar white room that is the TARDIS Med Bay, the scene making me think back to that time I woke up here after I almost completely drained myself of physical energy when I used my Regeneration Energy (which I, thankfully, did not completely drain) to resurrect my father after our unfortunately-not-so-fun Contraxia adventure. The setting now is almost exactly the same, except this time, instead of seeing the familiar face of my father, I am surrounded by a couple of other familiar faces—a young brunette girl, Hazel, and redhead, Amy.

"Nov?" Hazel questions me with uncertainty, much like before when I woke up from unconsciousness after being unexpectedly stabbed by my own mother.

"Haze…" I say weakly, my voice sounding like a dying toad's yet again, but I manage a light smile regardless. In fact, my voice sounds slightly different in general; it's slightly deeper than usual, and I'm honestly not sure why. Perhaps from my throat feeling so dry, like someone stuffed over a dozen cotton balls inside my mouth, I think to myself.

"Nov!" she cries, relieved that I am awake. More than that, she also seems to be relieved that I still remember her (Um, duh, of course I would; how could I ever forget my best friend?). "You're okay! Thank God! I was so worried!"

"Nah," I chuckle, wincing as I do. "Other than feeling like I've been run over by an eighteen-wheeler, I'm fine." More than that, my entire body feels different somehow; though I don't tell her this, as I'm struggling to understand how, or even why, myself. At least I still have my regular American accent, I think, even if it is slightly deeper in tone.

"Hey, Nova," the redhead says a little timidly as she gently leans over me. "Um…I'm not sure if you remember me… I'm A—"

"Amy," I say, nodding in remembrance. "My grandmother. Yeah, I remember. It's good to finally meet you in person."

"It's good to meet you as well, Nova," she says in her thick Scottish accent, smiling back at me. "It's especially good to see you awake. You've been out for almost two days."

"Two days?" I say in shock but also relief. "Hmm… At least it wasn't three days or more. That happened last time." Sure, being unconscious for two straight days is much better than being unconscious for three straight days, but two days is still a long time regardless.

"Well, more like a day and a half," Hazel shrugs in response, "but yeah. At least, that's how it's felt like. In this place, time is kinda…weird."

"Time-Machines will do that to you," I shrug back with a chuckle, as does Amy.

"I'll go tell your father you're awake," my grandmother says as she gets up from the side of my bed and walks over to the other side of the room behind a curtain that hangs around another bed where I can hear the muffled voices of my father and grandfather, who appear to be working behind it, but on what, I don't know.

"So now you believe me?" I chuckle jokingly to Hazel shortly after Amy is out of earshot, thinking back to when I told Hazel about my father—without knowing he was my father at the time—and his strange blue box, and she didn't believe me when I told her my theory that the blue box was a time-machine, which is obviously not a theory anymore.

She chuckles. "That time-machines are real? I guess I have no choice now, since I'm actually in one. This is absolutely insane!"

I shrug. "Yeah. You get used to it after a while."

"I don't know if I'll ever get used to this," she sighs, still looking around in disbelief. "I mean, a box that's bigger on the inside; especially one that can travel through Space and Time? How crazy is that? Mind you, it's got some pretty sweet rooms. Have you seen the pool? It's in a freakin' library! That's not the first place I'd think to put a pool, but it sure as hell is cool! And no, I totally did not intend to make that rhyme; it just came out like that."

"There's a pool in the library?" I frown at her strange words. "I totally missed that. I should go check it out the next time I'm in there." Who in their right mind would think to put a pool inside a library, I wonder? What if the TARDIS crashes; wouldn't the water be tipped out of the pool and destroy all the books? Then again, maybe other rooms aren't affected by the rooms that are generally affected by a crisis. Who really knows.

"I wish I could show you right now," she says excitedly. "It's pretty dope."

"Perhaps in another day or two," the sound of my father's voice responds to Hazel from the opposite side of the room. "Right now, Nova needs her rest."

"Hey, Dad," I smile at him as he approaches us.

"Hey, kid-o," he smiles back as he leans over me and places a gentle hand over my forehead to check my temperature. "Glad to know you're awake and alright. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been run over by an eighteen-wheeler a million-and-one times," I say honestly with a small chuckle. They chuckle back in response before I ask nervously, "What happened? The last few things I remember… I was stabbed… Then you took me to that cliffside… And then…there was a bright light; not from the sun but from…something else…" I then pause, suddenly remembering. "Wait… No… It happened, didn't it? Did I… Did I reg—"

"Regenerate?" They both confirm in unison.

"Kinda," Hazel continues, glancing with uncertainty between Dad and me. "You actually don't look any different. Well, you do. Your hair…"

"What about my hair?" I ask, puzzled. I immediately reach up to pat the top of my own head, and I gasp upon feeling the large halo of curls wrapped around my entire head. "Whoa! It feels curly! Really curly!" I try combing out the curls with my fingers, but they end up getting tangled in the mess.

"It's actually really cute," Hazel says in an assuring tone. "You should keep it like that. It really suits you. You look much more like your mom."

"Do I?" I say with a raised eyebrow. If only I could actually see what it looks like, I think dismally. But, then again, I'd be a little concerned about what the rest of me looks like, since she and Dad confirmed that I had, indeed, regenerated, and it wasn't all a dream like I previously hoped.

"Clearly you don't know anything about spoilers," Dad chuckles at her as he returns to my bedside with a small mirror. "But yes, she is correct," he nods as he hands me the mirror. "Go on and see for yourself."

I nervously take the mirror from him and inspect my new appearance. "Wow…" I exclaim in shock at my new appearance.

Thankfully there are not very many differences from my old appearance. The only major difference is the large, yet familiar, halo of dark-red curls wrapped around my entire head. Thankfully, the rest of me appears the same, thanks to the Silence's experiments (and no, I can't believe I thought of such a ridiculous thing either. I know; what was I thinking?!).

"I must say, I'm a little jealous of your hair color," Dad says with a slight shrug. "I've always wanted to be ginger."

"I'd say it looks more auburn," I shrug back, still admiring my new hairstyle, "but I love it all the same." I then say disapprovingly, noticing another small change that I hoped I'd never have to deal with again, "Hmm… Is it just me, or does my chin look more prominent than it was before?" before shrugging, "Maybe not, I don't know; maybe I'm just seeing things." I then say as I put the mirror aside, "Whatever, I'm not changing anything else. In fact, I've decided I'm never gonna regenerate again. That was the last straw for me."

"Never say 'never,'" he chuckles as he takes back the mirror and gets up from my bedside. "I have to get back to your mother now. You, young lady, need to rest."

"Aw, come on," I groan with a roll of my eyes. "Not this again."

"Nova…" he sighs back. "Don't give me that. You need it. You're still a bit weak after that rough regeneration."

"Honestly, it wasn't actually that bad," I shrug in response. "Though, I still felt like I was being roasted like a marshmallow, but other than that…"

"'It wasn't actually that bad?'" Hazel scoffs incredulously. "Girl, you almost knocked the entire box over with your explosion! We all felt it from inside! Because of that, maybe I should start calling you 'Supernova' from now on. That's definitely how it felt, even from the inside."

"Wow, I didn't realize it was explosive," I say, raising my eyebrows in shock. I then shrug. "But yeah, there is excess energy from an actual supernova inside me, so I guess it makes sense. It all had to come out in some form or another; it just happened to coincide with my regeneration."

"There's an actual supernova inside you?" Hazel frowns in amazement. "What do you mean?"

"I mentioned before that Kovarian said she used the energy of an exploding star to make my regeneration energy much more powerful," I explain. "They were experimenting with ways to weaponize my regeneration energy with it to use against my family."

"So they basically turned you into a literal supernova?" she asks to clarify, still frowning in disbelief.

I nod. "Yeah, and what you felt inside the TARDIS during my regeneration was exactly that."

"I saw it too," she adds with a nod. "We could see you on the main screen. It looked insane, even beautiful. Like a phoenix bursting into flames when they die. It was the most surreal thing I've ever seen."

"Yeah," I chuckle. "Regeneration is…trippy."

"Very much so," Dad chuckles in agreement.

"So what now?" Hazel asks in a nervous tone. "Is all that extra energy from the star gone now? You can regenerate properly now?"

"I don't actually know," I shrug with a frown. I turn to my father, hoping he would know.

"Unfortunately, I don't know either," he says with a sad sigh. "Only thing I do know is that you're alive. That's all that matters to me. Now there's your mother to worry about."

"Where is she?" I ask as I slowly sit up. "I want to see her." The last thing I remember of my mother is seeing her laying on the TARDIS's Control Room floor unconscious in Amy's arms.

"I'm sorry, Nova, you can't," Dad says, shaking his head apologetically. "She's not allowed visitors at this time, hence why the curtain is drawn. Rory and I had just been able to remove the chip right before you woke up. It took us a lot longer to remove the chip than we previously expected. Plus, she's not even awake yet; it'll be another day or two before that happens. She has a long recovery ahead of her, as do you. She'll be alright, don't worry. For now, get some rest. You'll be able to visit her tomorrow."

"Amy's over there right now," I point out, glancing toward her bright red locks slightly sticking out from behind the curtain.

"Yes, well, she's technically not allowed to visit her either," Dad says with a shrug, "but I'm letting her anyway, since she's her mother."

"So why can't you let me visit my mother?" I frown at him, thinking this situation to be a bit unfair. After all, It's my fault that she's in this mess—that we're all in this mess—though I don't say this out loud.

"You want to visit the one person who killed you?" Hazel frowns incredulously at me before realizing her mistake and glancing awkwardly at Dad and swiftly saying, "Uh, no offense."

"She didn't kill me," I say defensively. "Well, she did, but…" I then shake my head, feeling a slight headache, "It's complicated."

"Like I said, you'll get your chance to visit your mother soon," my father assures me, "just not now. Right now, you need to rest. Don't make me force you to sleep. You've seen me do it before."

Yeah, except the last time you did it on Mom it didn't work, I think about saying but don't. Instead, I say out loud, "Can I at least do it in my own room?"

"Nova…" Dad sighs again, but I don't want to hear it (again).

"I swear, I'm not trying to get out of resting," I half-lie. "I just…think the noise from all your work will keep me distracted from sleeping properly. I'll feel much better sleeping in a much quieter place." At this, I see Hazel gave me a sideways glance with a smile, like she's impressed with my clever 'excuse.'

"And I'll stay with her to make sure she sleeps properly," she adds a bit too swiftly.

Thanks, Haze, I say internally, glancing back at her. Though, needless to say, if Dad disagrees, then I will have to say 'no thanks' instead.

After a few seconds of indecision, Dad reluctantly sighs, giving in. "Oh, alright. Fine. But you must promise me that you will get some proper sleep and not stay up all night gossiping like a bunch of teenage girls."

"We are teenage girls," Hazel points out in an obvious tone.

"You are," I chuckle teasingly as Dad begins detaching my IVs. "I might be a hundred years old, at least in Time Lord years."

"That's still considered 'teenage years' for a Time Lord," Dad chuckles back before sighing again after detaching the last IV. "I'll let Rory know I'm temporarily discharging you, and I'll come back to carry you to your room." I nod as he leaves to rejoin my grandparents behind the curtain.

"Clever," Hazel sniggers once he's out of earshot.

I shrug. "I get it from my dad."

I then pause, suddenly thinking of my mother-guardian and my guilt that my genocidal plan was what led to her making the decision to sacrifice herself in the way that she did. That she took my place so I wouldn't have to do it myself. If it weren't for me, she'd still be here. She'd still be alive! She didn't deserve to go out like that, and it was all because of me! God, how could I have been so stupid?!

"What's wrong, Nov?" Hazel asks me with concern, seemingly sensing my sadness and guilt. Instead of answer, I just glance sadly at her, confirming her assumption, to which she nods apologetically and murmurs softly, "Oh… Your mother-guardian…"

I nod while failing to fight back tears. "It was my fault. If I hadn't been so stupid…" I immediately stop myself before I explode in anger, hesitantly asking, "Does Dad know?" From what I vaguely remember, my mother-guardian did seem to let slip of my plan to him before I passed out again, even when I told Strax to keep the secret just between us; she must've overheard us anyway.

Hazel is about to answer, but Dad immediately stops her as he returns to my bedside. "About what? About your mother-guardian?" he says before sighing sadly. "I'm sorry. About both of them—your father-guardian too. Hazel told me what they did."

"They didn't die in vain," Hazel assures me. "They were trying to protect you. They were trying to save you. They saved all of us."

"But my father-guardian didn't do anything wrong," I say as Dad gently lifts me up into his arms. "He just spoke out against them, and they killed him for it. There was absolutely no mercy there."

"But your mother-guardian was brave," Dad speaks up as he begins carrying me toward the curtain hanging over the other bed. "Like Hazel said, she sacrificed herself to save us. To save you. She will always be remembered for her heroism."

"But she died because of me," I can't help but admit regretfully, even though I hadn't planned to tell him the terrible truth as of yet. At this point, I also can't help but think that he actually does know what I originally planned, which ups my guilt even more.

Thankfully, he senses my unwillingness to discuss the topic at this time, because he sighs with a hint of disappointment and anger, "We'll talk about it later, after you're recovered." Though it still sends waves of dread up my spine, knowing that we'll have to discuss it eventually.

Thinking more about it, I begin to feel even more ashamed of myself that I bury my face in the side of my father's neck, failing to fight back more tears that manage to escape my eyelashes. However, once I do, I immediately feel Dad lay his own head on top of mine in seeming forgiveness, which washes some of the dread out of my spine. I cling more tightly around his neck in response.

As we pass the curtain, I briefly catch a glimpse of my mother laying on the bed on the other side, my grandfather hovering just slightly over her head; however, I'm not able to see any major details besides those two listed. Just seeing my mother like this sends another wave of guilt to rush up my spine and flood both hearts simultaneously.

"I'll be back, Ponds," Dad calls through the curtain as we pass. "Taking Nova to a much more comfortable place to rest."

"We'll be here," my grandmother calls back to us. "Hope you feel better, Nova."

"Thanks," I murmur as my father carries me out of the infirmary with Hazel following close behind.

"Dang!" Hazel exclaims in amazement after a few minutes of walking. "This place is huge! How can a ship this size fit inside a space that's the same size as my grandpa's tool shed?"

"Magic," I snort in a joking manner.

"Time Lord technology," Dad confirms with his own chuckle. "And yes, I suppose you could also call it 'magic.' We'll just call it that since it'll be too complicated to explain to an undeveloped individual such as yourself."

"Dad!" I say in an offended tone, frowning at him. "Don't be rude. She's only human."

"Exactly," he shrugs back. "Even a fully-developed human brain would never completely understand how Time Lord technology works."

"I seriously doubt anyone—even Time Lords—would understand time-travel in general," I admit with my own shrug. "Even you said yourself that time-travel is never going to make any kind of sense, and you've been travelling through it for seven-hundred years and are still struggling to understand it."

Dad pauses for a few seconds before sighing, "Alright, fair point. Sorry, Hazel."

"It's okay," she says in an assuring tone. "I get it. Actually, I don't care if I won't ever understand it. I'm inside a freakin' time-machine! Not to mention one that's bigger on the inside! That's so cool! I never want to leave this place!"

"What about your family?" I chuckle at her.

"They can come too," she says before pausing and saying to Dad in a hesitant tone, "Uh…that is, if you wouldn't mind us all living in your ship."

"I'll think about it," he chuckles back, though his statement makes me think the odds of that happening are low, since the TARDIS is technically family-owned. Even still, the idea would be really cool in my personal opinion.

"Here we are," he says a few minutes later as we arrive in a familiar room that is my bedroom. "Your room this time."

"What, not yours?" I tease him, remembering when he made the mistake of taking me to his own room last time.

"Would you prefer my room?" he pauses, staring at me with a puzzled frown.

I chuckle. "No, I definitely prefer mine. I was just kidding since you took me to yours by mistake last time. Though, I will say your bed is much more comfortable than mine."

"Very well," he chuckles back as he enters the room while Hazel turns on the overhead light.

"Wow," Hazel exclaims once the room is illuminated in bright light. "It's just like your room at home. Almost identical."

"It is," I say as Dad gently places me on my bed. "That's how my parents designed it. If they hadn't before, I definitely would've asked them to later."

"That was exactly why we had it designed that way," he smiles. "We knew you'd want your room to be just like home."

"I am home," I say, smiling back. "The TARDIS is my home now. In fact, it's always been my home."

A third wave of both sadness and guilt washes over me again as I think back on what I just said, and I instantly regret having said it out loud, suddenly thinking of my guardians, as do Hazel and Dad. An awkward silence fills the air between us as a result.

Dad eventually breaks the silence as he says with a sigh, "I'll leave you girls to it then. Don't stay up all night. Get some sleep."

I snort at this. 'Don't stay up all night.' Joke's on you, Dad. We're teenage girls; what do you expect? I then say out loud, rolling my eyes, "Yes, Dad. Whatever."

"Goodnight, girls," he says as he backs into the hallway outside the room, flipping off the overhead light.

"Goodnight, Doctor Nova's Dad!" Hazel calls after him.

I instantly laugh at her nickname for him before shaking my head. "No, just call him 'Doctor.' That's what he prefers."

"Goodnight, Doctor!" she corrects herself as Dad exits the room and shuts the door behind him, leaving us alone. Hazel continues laughing, saying, "Sorry. I don't know his actual name, so 'Nova's Dad' was the first name that came to mind."

"It's fine," I shrug as I begin changing into comfier sleepwear. "Makes total sense." I then tell her that I still had all of her belongings that she brought to London with her in a pile in the far corner of the room, and she thanks me as she rushes to them and digs around for a pair of her own comfortable—as well as clean—sleepwear.

"Do you know what his actual name is?" she asks as she begins changing into her own set of PJs. "Did he tell you?"

"No, he didn't," I shake my head, "and even if he did, I wouldn't tell you what it is."

"Why not?" she frowns at me.

"He doesn't give his real name out because he doesn't want people to know his true identity," I explain. "Even if he were to tell someone, it would have to be behind closed doors in case his enemies overhear, and it would have to be to someone he greatly trusts—someone who he knows wouldn't accidentally give it away. Not many people know his true name; in fact, besides himself, only my mother knows what his true name is. I mean, it makes sense, since they're married; he must've told her shortly after their marriage. In fact, I remember my father once telling me that she made him tell her his name, though he didn't say how she made him; only that she did."

"Do you think he'll ever tell you his true name?" Hazel asks curiously.

"Maybe," I shrug. "Maybe not. It'd be interesting to know what it is. Though, he said it was very hard to pronounce, so maybe not. Honestly, I don't care if he tells me or not. I think calling him 'Dad,' or even 'Doctor,' is just fine. I tend to go back and forth anyway."

"Well, I'm gonna be honest," she says in an embarrassed tone while her face turns beetroot red, "and please don't laugh when I say this. I think I've got a mega-crush on your dad. Those eyes…"

I laugh anyway as I lay back in bed and pull the covers over me. "Sorry, he's taken. Plus he's a thousand times your age—for real. He's literally twelve-hundred years old, maybe older. Actually, he doesn't know what his true age is anymore. He just guesses at this point; that's how old he is."

"Don't tell him I said that," she says, her face's tinge deepening by the second.

"I won't," I assure her. "Though, Idris has a big crush on Rory, despite him being married to Amy, so it's cool." I'm honestly still having trouble believing that fact.

"'Idris?'" Hazel asks, puzzled at the unusual name. "Who's that?"

"That's my name for the TARDIS," I say, pointing up at the ceiling. "Actually, the TARDIS chose the name herself. 'Idris' was the name of a woman the TARDIS possessed when she escaped out of her shell—the police box—to protect herself from a living asteroid that feasted on other Time Lords' TARDISes. To honor the woman's memory, the TARDIS decided to take on the name as her own, so that's what I call her now. I think Dad has recently started calling her that too. Personally, I think 'Sexy' is the weirdest name to call a time-machine, but to each their own, I guess. You can talk to her if you want. She can hear you."

"For real?" she frowns at me in a way like I've lost my mind. "You want me to talk to a machine?"

"A living machine," I point out. "She's got a real soul, just like you and me. Go on, say something to her. It may seem weird at first, but once you talk to her more, it'll feel normal like talking to me. Trust me." However, instead of taking my advice, Hazel just stares at me, so I shrug and say, "Okay, I'll start. Idris, this is Hazel, my best friend I've known since Elementary School. Hazel, this is Idris a.k.a. the TARDIS, my father's trusty transport through Time and Space." I then gesture at her, indicating that this is the moment when she says some form of greeting back.

"Uh…hi?" she says in an uncertain tone, which was how I didn't expect her to respond at all. I just give an unimpressed sigh at this in response.

The TARDIS immediately responds in a sincere tone, despite Hazel's unconvinced greeting, 'Hello, Hazel. It is a pleasure to meet you.'

Hazel jumps in shock. "Whoa! Did you hear that? Who said that?" she says before looking around the room in fright. "Is there a ghost in here? Is this ship haunted?"

I can't help but explode into a fit of laughs. "Nope, it's not a ghost. That was Idris you just heard—the TARDIS herself. She communicates through Telepathy. That's pretty common for Time Lords."

"So she spoke in my head?" Hazel asks with a frown, still not seeming convinced.

I frown back at her, saying in an obvious tone, "Uh…yeah. That's what Telepathy is."

"No, I know that," she says, shaking her head. "I just… I never expected to hear a random woman's voice in my head. That's not normal."

"For humans, no," I explain, "but for Time Lords, yes. The first time I discovered my telepathic abilities, I was very creeped out; but now I've grown used to them, though they still kinda creep me out to this day. Apparently I have several other telepathic abilities that Dad hasn't even taught me yet. I may even have some abilities that Dad doesn't even have, such as Psychic Projection."

"Psychic Projection?" she says with a raised eyebrow. "You mean, like, projecting your thoughts into someone else's?"

"Exactly," I nod. "There were times when I did this to you when we were kids. Sometimes I would say something in my head, and somehow you would hear them, even when I didn't mean for you to. Like when we saw the TARDIS outside the arcade—not that we knew it was the TARDIS at the time—and you responded to my internal thoughts."

"Yeah, and you almost got us into a car accident," Hazel teases.

"I didn't mean to do that," I sigh, rolling my eyes, "That was just an example. Anyway, Dad has this ability too, but he can only project his mind into someone else nearby, but for me I can somehow project my mind across all of Space-Time. Apparently, there's a word for Time Lords with these types of advanced abilities. They are called 'Deviants.'"

"Is your mom or dad 'Deviant' too?" she asks curiously.

I shrug. "I don't know. Mom might be, so maybe I get it from her. She and I were conceived within the Time Vortex, so maybe we get our so-called 'Deviancy' from that. But for Dad it's different somehow. He got his powers from looking into a sort of 'hole' in Space-Time that allowed him to see into the Time Vortex, and looking into it for a vast amount of time somehow gave him his abilities. It was part of some 'Initiation' ritual on his home planet, Gallifrey, when he was a kid. That was how Gallifreyans became Time Lords. 'Time Lord' isn't a species; it is a rank. Dad recently taught me this."

"Wow," Hazel exclaims in amazement. "That is really confusing."

"Yeah," I chuckle in agreement. "I'm still figuring it out myself. There's still a lot to learn, and I still haven't fully learnt the basics yet. All that stuff I told you so far was just 'Tutorial Level' stuff. I haven't even gotten to Level 1 yet."

"Wow," she says again. "Good luck with all of that. I don't think I'll be able to understand any of it, no matter how hard you try to get me to."

I chuckle again. "Nah. I'll just tell you about all the ass-kicking I'm going to do. Dad has a lot of enemies out there, not just the Silence."

"They're gone now, right?" she asks in a hopeful tone. "The Silence, I mean. That witch, Kovarian, is gone for good? I mean, she disintegrated when your mom shot her."

"Not exactly," I groan, feeling angered. "I didn't get around to telling you this before. Apparently, she survived."

Hazel frowns incredulously. "What? How?"

I sigh before explaining. "Apparently, that version of her that disintegrated wasn't really her. It was a Flesh avatar—a duplicate that was put in her place to protect herself. She did this to my mother and grandmother as well to trick us."

"Trick you?" she asks, puzzled.

I nod. "Yeah. When my grandmother was pregnant with my mother, Kovarian somehow found her and swopped her real pregnant body out with a Flesh duplicate, tricking my father and grandfather into thinking the duplicate was my real grandmother. It wasn't until my real grandmother was going into labor that my father and grandfather found out she was a Flesh duplicate, and they disintegrated her and went in search of my real grandmother as she was giving birth to my mother. Kovarian waited until my mother was born to train her as an assassin against my father and her parents, and they succeeded. The Silence did the same thing to my mother when she was pregnant with me and planned to do the same to me as what they did to my mother, at least until my father was able to find and connect with me through our psychic link."

"So that witch is still out there?" Hazel groans as well, angry that her kidnapper hasn't gotten the punishment she so desperately deserved. As if being reduced to mashed potatoes wasn't enough, I think dismally.

"Yeah," I sigh, feeling just as angry, "no doubt to continue her fiendish plots to kill us. It would explain why it was so easy for Mom to kill her at the time. If that was the real Kovarian, Mom wouldn't have had the ability to kill her directly like she did on the stage. At the time, the chip in her head prevented her from killing Kovarian directly, but the version we dealt with on the stage wasn't the real Kovarian, so the chip didn't work like it should've, hence why it was so easy for Mom to kill her." I then say with a growl, "That was a cheeky move."

"I'm sorry," Hazel sighs apologetically. "I can imagine how frustrating that must feel to you."

"You have no idea," I sigh back. "I won't rest until she is found and killed for real. That's a promise."

She shrugs. "I wish I could help you, but after what all I went through with them, I don't want anything to do with them. They've scarred me for life."

"Same," I nod in agreement. "They've scarred all of us, and they will pay for it."

"Do you think other Silence members have survived?" she asks curiously.

I nod, releasing a huge puff of air. "Probably, if she has. If they have, we'll find them and take them down."

My statement briefly makes me think of that cute boy who saved me and Jenny, making me wonder if he was one of the survivors. A small part of me feels bad to have killed him along with everybody else, as I admittedly had slight feelings for the boy (yes, 'had.' Past tense, not present tense). For some unknown reason, I get the feeling like he wasn't an ordinary boy, and I hoped to learn more about him. If he truly had died along with everyone else, I guess his identity will sadly remain a mystery for the rest of eternity.

A massive yawn escapes Hazel's mouth as she says, "I'm getting tired now. I'm gonna go to sleep…or at least try to. I haven't had any proper sleep in a while." She turns over on her side with her back to me.

I nod. "Okay. I'll be here with you, so…you won't be alone." Admittedly, I still feel highly ashamed to have let this happen to her and figure that she had spent a lot of time—perhaps too much time—alone without the protective arms of her parents around her.

"Thanks, Nov," she smiles back at me. "Being alone is the last thing I want right now."

"I totally understand," I nod sincerely. "I'll probably try to sleep as well, so don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."

"Goodnight," she says as she turns back around and closes her eyes.

"Goodnight, Haze," I tell her as I settle myself in a comfortable position; or at least try to, since I'm not used to my massive curls acting as an extra pillow that isn't needed. Ugh, this is going to take forever to get used to.

As Hazel drifts off to sleep, I stay awake a little while longer, thinking about my family and everything that's transpired since Hazel's kidnapping. My eyes fog up with tears again as I involuntarily think back on my past regrets and how much I wish I could fix them, despite knowing I can't physically fix them at all, since at this point they are considered as 'fixed points in Time.'

Unable to hold back my tears any longer, I turn over to the opposite side of the bed, away from Hazel, and cry myself to sleep, thinking of my deceased guardians.

A/N: TO BE CONTINUED….

Two more chapters to go, and Part 1 will officially be over! But don't worry, Nova's story isn't completely over yet; not by a longshot!

Friendly reminder to also check out my other story "Arising: A Nova Sue Prequel" if you haven't already, which is about the events leading up to Nova's birth. So far I've only got a few chapters written on that, but they are still worth the read.

Also, friendly reminder that kudos, comments, and favs are appreciated and will keep me motivated to post more often. I see that many of you are reading this story but not subscribing, favoriting, or commenting on it. I always encourage feedback from my readers and enjoy reading about my readers' favorite moments. I'm sure everyone has at least one favorite moment. Please, please, please share them! I would love to talk about them :)

I also post on and Wattpad under the same profile name, so go check me out on those sites as well if you are frequent users/readers on them. On Wattpad, I have a slightly different layout on this story on that site that might be preferable with some readers. It's got pictures on almost every chapter that I added to give the story a little more pizzazz. I combined the prequel with it as well, so you don't have to read it as a separate story over there.