A/N: Welcome back, my fellow readers! I hope you enjoy this brand-new chapter! This one is a bit more tense than my previous chapters. Also, I hope I haven't written the Doctor and River too out-of-character (and if so I apologize in advance), but once you finish the chapter it will make better sense.
On with the chapter :)
*** Minor grammar and continuity errors were edited in this chapter ***
Chapter 3: An Awkward Family Reunion
"Mom!" I exclaim, happy to see her after months of being apart; though at the same time it feels like we've been apart for years—sixteen years, to be exact.
"'Mum?'" she says with a confused frown, a look of genuine unfamiliarity evident on her face, which I find strange. "I think you might be mistaken, young lady. I don't believe we've ever met prior to this moment. You must have me confused with someone else."
"Sure we've met," I frown back at her in my own confusion as to why she doesn't recognize me.
Immediately after I say this, it suddenly dawns on me. When I glanced at my reflection, I seemed to possess an entirely different face from the one I donned in my dream; knowing this, of course she wouldn't recognize me. I no longer look like my mother anymore.
"Or…we were supposed to know each other…" I add in a slightly unsure tone. "In another life…"
"Wow, Syd, that didn't sound creepy at all," Hazel mutters under her breath loud enough for only me to hear.
Thinking back on my previous statement, I realize that it could've been phrased much better, whereas my words just escalated the awkwardness in the room. This I can tell just from River's genuine look of uneasiness. "Yeah, sorry, that did sound a little creepy," I admit, shaking my head. "What I meant to say is we do know each other; rather, I know you, but in another life." I pause, realizing I've made yet another unintentional error in my words and brought in more discomfort between us. "No, wait, that's exactly what I said before, just worded slightly differently. Anyway, my point is that I kno—"
I am interrupted mid-sentence when I hear another familiar voice—this time a man's voice—enter the vicinity from the darkness behind River, as well as a high-pitched buzzing sound from what I immediately recognize to be a sonic screwdriver. "River?" the man calls to her as he emerges from the darkness, revealing the all-too-familiar ancient-but-young-looking face of my father, the Doctor. "Are you alright? Did you take care of the Sontaran?" He brandishes his sonic out in front of him like how a shiny-armored knight would use a sword to ward off an evil threatening his distressed damsel.
In fact, River is far from your typical damsel in distress; usually she is the one doing all the rescuing. However, this time she stands there, staring, perplexed, at the downed, motionless alien on the floor between us. "Not exactly, sweetie," she says to her husband. "It seems these girls beat me to it. And surprisingly well, in fact." She glances back-and-forth between the Sontaran's body and me as if trying to comprehend how I acquired the skill to do such a thing.
However, I am too focused on my father to have any care in explaining at the moment. "Da—" I start to exclaim in excitement, but I immediately stop myself and correct myself, remembering how River reacted to me calling her 'Mom' earlier. "Er, Doctor! It's so good to see you again!"
"How did you handle the Sontaran on your own?" he frowns at me, puzzled. "Also, how do you know me?"
"How else?" I say in a tone like it should be obvious, shrugging. "I went for the weak spot—the back of its neck. As for how I know you… Well…that's complicated…"
"Try me," my father says in a careless tone, shrugging back. "I know a thing or two about 'complicated.'"
"Understatement," I snort loudly, and, surprisingly, I hear River say it at the exact same time. We both glance at each other in absolute shock—at least, River looks at me like that, clearly not expecting a strange girl to say something that said strange girl knew she was going to say as well—and the Doctor glances back-and-forth between us in seeming confusion or offence (I honestly can't decide, as it's very hard to tell with him sometimes).
"Tell me!" he says again, steering back on topic. "How do you know me?" He then shakes his head. "Actually, let me rephrase that. How much do you know about me?"
Gosh, where do I even start? I think sarcastically in my head. "Honestly, everything," I say with a sigh, deciding to just wing it. "Well, not everything, per se. I don't know your true name, but I do know you usually go by 'the Doctor,' or sometimes 'John Smith.' I know you're a time-traveler and the last Time Lord of Gallifrey in the Constellation of Kasterborous. I know you travel around in a blue police box, which you call a 'TARDIS,' that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. I know you've lived at least twelve lives in twelve-hundred years. I know you married the woman who was originally meant to assassinate you but ultimately refused to assassinate you—awesome job making that decision, by the way; serves those 'Silence' sickos right, am I right?" I say this last bit with a thumbs-up toward River before listing all the things I know about her.
"And you, Doctor River Song—or is it Professor Song now?—your life is much more complicated. Your birth name was Melody Pond, funnily enough, named after yourself twice over—the first time being named after your parents' childhood best friend, and the second time being named after the Doctor's best friend, now lover. You were stolen from your parents, Amelia Pond and Rory Williams, at birth by a wicked organization called the Silence to be trained to kill the Doctor, at least before you found out the truth about him, fell in love with him based on that truth, and married him. You received a doctorate in Archaeology at Luna University in the 51st Century and have been weaving your way through Time and Space, meeting various incarnations of your husband at different points in his life out of the correct order of Time."
I pause, suddenly noticing my parents' bewildered faces, and I finish with a shrug, "I could go on." However, I purposefully choose not to add in the fact that they supposedly have a daughter named Nova, since I'm not fully certain as to what happened to her, despite what the Sontaran said about her. It just can't be true…can it? It just can't…
"Impressive…" my father admits with raised eyebrows. And totally not creepy at all, he adds in his head; at least that's what I imagine him to be thinking, based on the incredulous look he gives me.
Though at the same time, I can't help but think how utterly surreal this all feels. As my parents, you'd think the Doctor and River would know exactly who I am, therefore they would accept my knowledge of them with no problem. However, it's the exact opposite. They don't know who I am, and yet they seem to struggle to comprehend how a complete stranger would know so much about them. Perhaps they think I am someone they will inevitably grow close to in the future (a thought that immediately makes me think of that one word my mother always says: "spoilers"), but in reality that's not the case at all. I honestly don't know what is happening in this world, but one thing I do know is that this shouldn't be happening. This event was supposed to happen much differently. I was supposed to run with Hazel back to her house and heal her arm with my Regeneration Energy and meet my parents in London a few years later, but instead I am meeting them here but as a regular human—someone who is not their true daughter, hence why they don't know who I am. This event wasn't meant to happen like this, and yet it did, and I don't know why or what led to it happening in this way. Did my life get rewritten somehow? Did I somehow get zapped to a parallel universe where the same events happen, but they happen differently?
Or is this some kind of test? Could I be stuck in a twisted simulation, and I am being tested? If so, what is the test, and what am I supposed to do to pass it? Why am I being tested? What will happen once I pass the test? Would I be sent back home, back to being who I was before? Would my life be back to normal? Would I go back to my real world as a Time Lord, or will I stay human? Would things be the same once I go back, depending on whether I'm Time Lord or human, or will they be different?
What the hell is going on?!
I shrug, completely unable to comprehend any further on the situation. "Like I said, it's complicated as to how I know all this stuff. I'd tell you, but I fear I'll rip a hole in Space-Time doing so. I don't exactly belong here—in this world, I mean. That, in itself, is especially complicated to explain." Hazel sighs and rolls her eyes in seeming boredom at this, which I ignore.
The Doctor looks like he's about to speak when River beats him to it, saying in an urgent tone, "Doctor, we need to wrap this up. I can already hear police sirens outside. Needless to say, I don't want to spend another twelve-thousand life sentences in prison, and I don't think you want to either." Now that she mentions it, I begin hearing police sirens as well.
"Noted," her husband nods, gesturing down at the Sontaran's body. "Send this guy off, and we'll be on our way."
"No need, my love," River says, shaking her head as she kneels down by the bald-headed alien's body. "He's dead."
"What?" the Doctor and I both exclaim in unison. I actually killed him? I think to myself in shock; though, admittedly, I can't decide if I feel grateful or remorseful about the murder, considering how many people he killed.
"This is its Probic Vent," River confirms as she raises a small, circular disk between her fingers. "It appears to have been knocked completely off of its armor, therefore killing the Sontaran outright." She then says, glancing up at me knowingly, "Clearly you have some remarkable skill in handling Sontarans, young lady. I must say I'm impressed." Her face then changes into a seemingly distrustful glare. "But I am also curious as to how you know so much. A girl your age shouldn't possess such knowledge, and yet you do. Clearly it wasn't out of sheer luck."
Admittedly, a small part of me wants to lie and say that it was just luck, but, knowing my parents, they can, in fact, see right through lies ("Rule 1: the Doctor lies"), so I tell them the truth.
"I've dealt with Sontarans before," I shrug, trying to make it sound like it's not overly important. "I've fought a few in my other life, even befriended one. Your ol' pal, Strax, of the Paternoster Gang?" I figure my parents' relationship with them hasn't changed, at least much.
River frowns at me, confirming my theory. "How do you know them? They're from way before your time—from back in Victorian Times. And what is this 'other life' you keep mentioning? Who are you?" The more she speaks, the more suspicious and stressed out she sounds.
The Doctor must sense this, because he speaks up and says calmly as a way to ease the tension between us, "River, we can discuss this later, once we get back to the TARDIS. If this guy is truly dead, we'll take him with us, and I'll fly us to the nearest star to have his body burned." At these words, River reluctantly does what he says, taking out a futuristic device that I don't ever remember seeing her use, seemingly preparing to use it to teleport the alien dwarf's body to the space/time-ship.
"By 'nearest star,' you mean The Sun, right?" I ask to clarify. "Our Sun?"
"Yes, obviously," he nods before pointing at me, "and you are coming with us."
"I am?" I ask at the same time as River asks, "She is?" However, she asks the question like it's the most ridiculous idea in the universe, and I can't help but feel slightly hurt at her seemingly intended rudeness.
However, at the same time, I understand why she would be reluctant to agree to let me accompany them. Obviously, they don't know me (at least the real me), so inviting me into their dangerous life and exposing me to their darkest secrets would be absolute insanity. However, what they also don't know—at least in this world—is that I am already familiar with their dangerous life and dark secrets that accompany it, having lived it all for several months in my world. Perhaps the Doctor senses this about me (of course, as we're still technically telepathically linked…right?), which is why he's seemingly choosing to trust me and, therefore, permit me to go with them.
"Yes," he says with a sincere nod, confirming my theory to be true. "I sense something highly unusual about you, specifically your knowledge of Sontarans and, by extension, us. I'm highly interested in knowing how and even why."
I shrug. "Like I said, It'd be very hard to explain, since I feel like this isn't my proper world."
At this point, I'm starting to think my 'parallel universe' theory might actually be true, since it's starting to feel more like that now. Then again, my 'simulation' theory could also be true. Or perhaps I'm dealing with both scenarios at the same time, if that's even possible. Once I actually bring up the courage to admit my theories, perhaps my father might know whether it's possible or not.
My thoughts are interrupted when the dead Sontaran suddenly vanishes into thin air, a bright light taking its place and vanishing just as suddenly, leaving the feeling of static electricity in the air between us. "Whoa!" I gasp on instinct, despite being used to seeing things like this with my mother when she uses her Vortex Manipulator to teleport across Space-Time.
"The deed is done, my love," she says to the Doctor as she returns the device back in her pocket. "We should go."
He nods. "Yes, let's go out the side door and loop back around to the TARDIS to avoid the police."
"What about the cameras?" I ask, remembering there being cameras in the arena to watch the players as they play the game, which is something that I often forgot when I played in the past (though whether this is a true 'Sydney' memory or a true 'Nova' memory, I don't know). "There are cameras all over this area as a way to watch the players. Wouldn't they have caught everything?" This statement also makes me remember the 'Nova' memory in which I saw my parents on the CCTV footage that was caught shortly after Hazel and I fled from the scene, only for it to have disappeared from the entire Internet when the Doctor was deleting himself from History in order to hide from the Silence so they didn't discover that he was still alive after the 'Lake Silencio' incident (I can't believe that was two years ago, at least in this world).
"Don't worry," my father assures me as he raises his sonic. "I used this to disable the cameras before we came in here. We're perfectly safe. Come on." He then asks, glancing to Hazel, "I'm assuming she knows as well?"
"No!" Hazel says at the same time as I say, "Yes!"
The Doctor immediately frowns at this, prompting me to add with a shrug, "She sort of knows. I'll explain it more when we're out of here. She's coming too." Hazel immediately frowns at me in absolute disbelief, but I ignore her.
"Fine," he nods, narrowing his eyes in a way like he can't decide whether or not to trust me. He then says to Hazel with concern, noticing her arm, which she clutches in pain, "You're injured."
I nod, sighing shamefully, "Yeah. The Sontaran shot her…again." I mutter the word 'again' under my breath in anger and feeling more ashamed now that I've made this happen twice in the same way.
My father shakes his head with a smile. "Don't worry, I can fix it back at the TARDIS. You know this place better; where's the back exit?" Once we tell him, he nods again, saying, "Okay, follow us. Don't get caught." River continues to frown distrustfully at us as she passes us and immediately follows her husband down the lit back 'employees only' hallway, and Hazel and I follow wearily after them.
"Syd! What the hell is going on?" Hazel demands once the duo are out of earshot.
"Remember the time-travelers I told you about that were my parents?" I sigh. "The two Time Lords; well, Time Lord and half-Time Lord?"
"Is that them?" Hazel nods at their backs as they continue down the hall, seemingly paying no attention to us.
I nod before saying in a smug tone, "Yup. I told you they were real." I then mutter under my breath, suddenly thinking of my alleged evil twin, "The question now is: where is Nova?"
"Nova?" River speaks up in a shocked tone, having overheard me. "You know my daughter?" The Doctor also pauses in his tracks, but he keeps his back to us, seemingly refusing to let us see his face and how much that name affects him, which appears to be negative.
I pause, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "I… She's real?" I awkwardly rephrase my question once I see River's confused look. "I-I-I mean, is she with you?" Thinking back on what the Sontaran said about their daughter having allegedly taken over Madame Kovarian's 'leader' position, assuming it's actually true (Dear God, please don't be true), I begin wondering if they already know what happened to her, and if they don't, I dread to find out how they would react once I tell them the horrible truth.
A tense silence fills the hallway before it is broken by the Doctor's deep, angry whisper, "She's gone."
"W-What do you mean?" I hesitantly ask, even though I feel I already know the answer. Perhaps they do know what happened to her… "What hap—?"
"I don't want to talk about it!" he snaps abruptly, shaking his head, before he stomps furiously out of earshot, not wishing to continue the subject any further. Another awkward silence fills the hallway as a result.
"She was taken from us," River whispers after a few seconds with a mournful sigh and a slight choke to her voice, her emerald eyes filling with tears as she watches her husband. "Kidnapped at birth. Just like me…"
"By the Silence," I nod understandingly, remembering the same thing almost happening to me in my other world.
"Yes," River frowns again, turning back to me. "How did you—"
"I told you, I know everything," I remind her. "I'll explain it all at the TARDIS. And yes, I'm fully aware of what that is too—rather, what she is. 'Time and Relative Dimension in Space.' Or, as I like to call her, 'Idris.'"
"Hmm…" River says, raising a quizzical eyebrow. "It seems you have quite a lot to explain. More like an entire story to tell."
Mother, you have no idea, I snort to myself.
Thinking about it, it feels ironic saying it now, since River should know everything as my mother, at least in my world. It feels almost sacrilegious for the Doctor and River not to know anything now. Apparently things are very different in this world in contrast to mine, and I wonder if the reason why I was sent to this world is to correct what's happened and turn it back to the way it was supposed to happen in my world. Perhaps I'm supposed to bring the Time Lord family back together again by saving their daughter from the Silence and turning her back to who she was supposed to be, from before the Silence succeeded in taking her away. Whatever happened that made the Doctor fail in saving his daughter this time, perhaps I'm supposed to correct that moment, and only then would I be allowed to be sent back to my universe.
The question now is: how am I supposed to go back and change it? Normally that can't be done since I'd be going back on my own timeline, but this may not be my timeline but rather Nova's—as in the 'Nova' from this universe—so maybe I (Sydney) have a chance, since I'm from a different universe. Or, if I can't go back to that moment at all, how would I change her in the present/future? Considering how long she's been in league with the Silence, it seems impossible, but maybe this is my only option, or I'm stuck here with this identity forever.
"If it's true you say you're 'from another world,'" River says, interrupting me from my thoughts, "and you know our daughter in that other world, perhaps you can explain to us how to get our daughter back in this world."
My eyes widen in shock. Whoa… Did she just read my mind?
"That might be a bit difficult," I admit with a shrug. "For all I know, maybe I might actually be in a parallel world. The Doctor did tell me about them once—er, my Doctor, anyway." Here, I decide to leave out the part about him being my true father and decide to save it for later when I reveal everything to them. "Although," I continue with a shrug, "I can't seem to remember how I got to this world to begin with. Something must've happened to me, but I can't remember."
Try as I might, I can't remember anything. The only thing I can do is guess what happened. Perhaps something happened to me on a recent adventure with my father that zapped us—or perhaps I was the only one who got zapped and not him—to this world, and somehow whatever 'zapped' us gave us new identities. It seems as though I was given back my 'Sydney Elise' identity, but I am uncertain as to what identity my father was given if he was also zapped with me. If this is true, then the Doctor who stands on the other side of the hallway is not my true father—in other words, that Doctor is a Doctor from this universe and not my own—but my true father could be somewhere else with a completely different identity; he could literally be anyone in the entire world. If this is true, I wonder where my true father is and how to turn him back to his true 'Doctor' persona as well as my own.
Speaking of 'turning us back into our true selves,' I wonder if this is the so-called 'test' I have to pass, if it's true this is all a sim. My 'test' is to find my parallel self ('Evil Psychopath' Nova) and turn her back to who she was originally supposed to be—kind, loving, adventurous Nova a.k.a. me. If I accomplish this task, I can go back home to my true family. In other words, I can 'wake up' back to my world; perhaps that was what that crazy guy outside the arcade meant when he was screaming "wake up" continuously in my face. Perhaps I was right all along; this 'world' isn't real, after all. The only way to be certain is that I do whatever it takes to help my parents in this world get their daughter back, and I have a feeling it will be no easy feat; not by a longshot.
"I'm sure the Doctor—my Doctor—will figure it out," River smiles at me in an assuring manner. "Is your friend from your world?" she asks, glancing back at Hazel, and for a moment I actually forget that she's there.
I glance back at her as well, her mannerisms appearing to be quite standoffish from the way she shuffles awkwardly on her feet. "I don't think so. If she was, she'd know you guys as well."
"I thought you said she did know us," River says, raising a quizzical eyebrow.
"Through me, yes," I confirm, "but…not really."
"So you lied?" my mother frowns before turning back toward her husband's back, "Hmm, sounds like another person I know."
I do get it from him, I snort in my head before I admit out loud with an exhausted sigh, "It's not like that. I mean, I kinda lied, but not really. I just don't know how to explain everything in a way that you'll believe me. Trust me, everything I will say later will totally shock you, and I seriously doubt you'll believe me afterward. Though at the same time, depending on how you react, it may prove my 'me being from another world' theory to be true." That, or my 'sim' theory, I add in my head.
"We shall see, won't we?" she says before saying "Excuse me," as she runs to catch up with her grieving husband, and they begin having a private conversation that I can't hear.
"I don't know about this, Syd," Hazel speaks up for the first time in several minutes once both of my folks are out of earshot.
I frown. "What're you talking about? I told you, they're my parents—my real parents. We can trust them." I don't see why she wouldn't.
"I don't mean that," she shakes her head. "I mean I don't know if I should be here; like here, here. I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on, and because of that I should leave. We should leave. Besides, I need medical attention, anyway."
"Dad said he could help you—the Doctor, I mean," I assure her, even though it doesn't seem to be working. "I bet he's gonna heal you exactly the way I healed you last time. He's gonna use his Regeneration Energy. Trust me, that'll be way batter than going to a boring hospital. You'll see; it's absolutely amazing."
"I don't think I should go with you," she says, shaking her head again. "Honestly, I feel like a third wheel at this point—er, fourth wheel, I guess. Plus, I get the feeling that those people are not safe to be around."
"That's not their fault," I say in another fruitless attempt to change her mind. "Yeah, it's part of their lifestyle, but that's not something they can control. But they are good people."
I immediately stop talking when I hear my parents begin yelling at each other, seeming to have a serious disagreement.
"I really think she can help us, sweetie," River says to her husband, seeming to assure him of something else, but she seems to also be failing at it. "She knows her. Just give her a chance."
"It's been sixteen years, River!" the Doctor argues back at her. "There is no fixing what they did to our daughter! She's been under their control for too long! You remember the last time I tried to even talk to her normally? That didn't go well at all! There is no way to save her! It's impossible!"
"Since when are things truly impossible for you, Doctor?" she says in a way like she knows him much better than that, and she's astounded that he doesn't know any better. "We'll find a way! We always do. With her knowledge, she can help us find a way; I guarantee it. I trust her."
It is now evident to me that my mother is fighting to have my back, seeming to believe everything I've told her so far, but my father seems far from believing me and is too blinded by his own rage to give me a chance to help them, which makes me sad for him but also slightly guilty, as I remember treating him in the exact same way when I first met him in my other life, not believing him when he said I couldn't have a normal life as a Time Lord and as his daughter.
"We don't even know her name!" he protests. "Who's to say she could be another one of their pawns? She knows too much already—things she's not supposed to know! We can't trust her, River."
Okay, this is insane. Apparently, he—my own father—thinks I'm secretly working for the Silence, and that's why I know so much about him! Seriously?!
Thankfully, River seems to think otherwise. "But she knows our daughter, at least one from her universe! At least, that's what I understand from what she said. Isn't that enough? She could use what she knows about her Nova to bring back our Nova! Please, Doctor, give her a chance."
Apparently, this is the last straw for my father. "I can't!" he exclaims. "I can't lose anybody else to them! Not today! Not ever again!" Having had enough, he stomps off out of building and toward the TARDIS, leaving River alone with us once more. She sighs and glances sadly back at us, seeming to have given up trying to convince her husband to trust me into helping him save his corrupt daughter, a task that does seem truly impossible. After a few seconds, she turns back toward the door and rushes after him.
I immediately follow as Hazel says, gesturing toward them, "See? Even they seem to agree that we should go. They clearly don't trust us; that being said, we should leave."
"No," I say, shaking my head as we exit the building entirely and watch as my father forces his way into the TARDIS, my mother following close behind but leaving the door slightly ajar for us to follow when we're ready. Meanwhile, several Emergency Service members, including police and medical officers, rush in and out of the building, helping anyone and everyone in need. "I think… I think River is right. I think I can save her daughter. Maybe that's the key to return to my universe; that is, if I'm truly from another universe… I turn my evil self back to being good—the girl that she was supposed to be—I can go home."
Hazel frowns, seemingly thinking my idea to be absolutely ridiculous. "Do you honestly think you're from another universe? Really?"
I shrug, glancing back toward the open TARDIS. "I can't really be certain, but if I go with them, maybe I can find out." I then say, turning back to Hazel, "You coming?"
She huffs, stepping back, "I can't! This is crazy! All this time you talked about all this like it was a dream, but it's not; it's all real! I just… I can't even begin to figure out how to believe all of this! This is insane! I want no part of it!" In seeming panic, she begins rushing back to her car rather than toward the ambulance that accompanied the police.
"Come on, Haze, don't go!" I call back to her in absolute disbelief that she chooses to abandon me rather than help me like a true friend should. "I need your help! I can't do this without you!" Normally at this time I would use the phrase 'friends stick together for better or worse,' knowing that to be our sacred oath, but I am now starting to accept that this Hazel isn't my Hazel from my universe, so that phrase won't work on her. Not this time.
Astonishingly, my theory is confirmed when she says, shaking her head, meaning every word, "Either you come with me, or I'm saying 'goodbye!'"
"What?" I say, in total disbelief. Is this a joke?!
"You've changed!" Hazel says, in tears at this point, seeming like she is genuinely afraid of me now. "I don't even know who you are anymore! I thought you were my friend! Who the hell are you?"
Seriously?! What the actual hell?!
I snort, still thinking this to be a joke, even when it is now clearly evident that it is far from a joke. "Haze, you know who I am! We've known each other since the First Grade! Why are you saying this?"
At this point she seems to have had enough. She raises her hands up in surrender, wincing as she does so, as she continues to step backwards away from me and toward the busy parking lot. "Forget it! I'm done! Have fun with the other freaks in your freakshow! Leave me out of it! It's over!"
I laugh, refusing to believe this is actually happening. "Haze, come on! You're being ridiculous!"
She immediately pauses, seeming offended. "Oh, I'm being ridiculous? Why don't you speak for yourself, freak! You're living in a fantasy! Wake the hell up, Syd! Wake up!" At this, she turns on her heel and walks away for real, legitimately turning her back on me and heading back toward her car.
I continue yelling after her in a fruitless attempt to change her mind, desperate for her not to leave me. "Haze! Come back! Please!" She doesn't listen as she continues back to her car, never looking back. I watch as she gets in her car and drives off without a second thought, leaving me behind seemingly for good.
I begin sobbing uncontrollably at the fact that I had just lost my best and only friend, all to some stupid dream. If it hadn't come to life like it has, this would never have happened. Then again, maybe it was always meant to come to life; in fact, it was always real from the very beginning. Unfortunately, Hazel will never believe it, and at this point I don't care if she won't. As much as I hate to admit it, she's not my Hazel and never will.
Unexpectedly, a gentle hand grips my shoulder, and, fortunately, I have felt this particular hand on my shoulder so many times to recognize it as my mother's.
"I'm sorry," she whispers apologetically from my side.
I don't even think twice as I wrap my arms around her, finding comfort in her embrace. "If only she could understand… I wish she could understand…" I don't admit this to her, but a small part of me misses my old life as Nova—the proper Nova from my universe—and I desperately want it back.
"Unfortunately, this is something she will never understand," River sighs sadly, laying her head on top of mine sympathetically like a true mother would. "Very few people understand, and we're some of the lucky few who do."
"I wouldn't really call it 'lucky,'" I mutter under my breath in disagreement.
This statement makes me think back to my 'Nova' life, remembering how I felt when I first found out I wasn't human when I first met the Doctor and River, and even them admitting that things would get more complicated as a non-human, and I remember how much that sucked. Now, I feel like I'm feeling all of that all over again, and it makes me more desperate to return to my other world, remembering how I was actually starting to get used to being non-human with my father's help toward the end.
However, in this world, my father seems to want absolutely nothing to do with me, which isn't like him at all, but at the same time I completely understand how he feels. Obviously he feels immense anger and guilt toward himself for what's happened to his daughter, and he desperately wants to fix it but doesn't seem to know how, no matter what he tries to do, and because of this he seems to have given up, which is also not like him. In fact, this goes against everything he stands for—"Never be cruel or cowardly. Never give up. Never give in"—and I'm pretty sure he knows it, but he doesn't seem to care anymore. Even when my mother tries countless times to convince him otherwise, it still doesn't change his mind. He seems to have completely lost hope, and I desperately want to help him regain that hope.
If only he would let me help him. More than that, if only he would accept me as his true daughter, since I am his true daughter (even if I am from another universe), maybe this will help him change his mind. If only…
"Perhaps 'lucky' was the wrong way to describe it," River chuckles like it's a joke, even when it really isn't, "but I understand what you mean."
"It hardly matters anymore," I sigh, shaking my head and pulling away from her embrace. "This isn't my world, anyway. My Hazel understands. Though, maybe not all of it…"
"I know," she sighs back, rubbing my shoulder. "It's tough living a life like this, but we learn to make the best of it anyway. I'm sure you have with us in your world, Nova."
I smile at this. Oh, trust me, mother, I definitely ha—
Whoa, wait! Did she really just call me that?
"'Nova?'" I frown, completely astounded. "Why do you call me 'Nova?'" Why did she just call me by her daughter's name, even when I'm technically not her true daughter?
"You know why," she says, smiling in the way that she always does. She then nods toward the TARDIS, "Come. Your father is waiting to hear your big story, even when he doesn't seem to want to hear it, but he does."
"Why do you call him my father?" I ask, feeling this situation to be getting weirder and weirder by the second.
"You know why," she says again. Of course, she doesn't say anything else. Instead, she just continues to smile at me in that cryptic way, like she knows something I don't and won't know until I am meant to. In other words, which are also her words, 'spoilers.' Typical.
Despite everything, I can't help but frown at her, wondering how and why she seems to be starting to know who I really am, despite being from another world, even when I, myself, am not fully certain that I'm from another world. Then again, I've always known my mother to be a super-genius like my father, and not just because she was conceived in the Time Vortex. Despite everything, I feel happy that at least one person seems to believe me—that person being my mother. If only everybody else, especially my father, would believe me, then things would be so much better. Hopefully my story will change his mind.
A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!
Again, I apologize if I've written the Doctor out-of-character, but at the same time it makes sense. Obviously he lost his daughter, not knowing if he'll ever get her back, so it makes sense for him to be a bit more gruff than usual around people, even when he normally wouldn't act like that. That being said, don't worry; things will get better between the trio in later chapters.
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