Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of it's characters. Inspiration and characters for this peice come from Late October's story "Dalek Xol". Some lines and the description of Centauri IV come from their story.
Home is Where Your Hearts Are
ch. 1
Centauri IV is a beautiful place. In the spring there are flowers that bloom onliy at night. Bio luniesont flowers that glow pink and green. Every year the Centaurians hold a spring festival where hundreds of species flock to enjoy the festivities.
Now the seasons have begun to change. The pink flowers on Centauri IV have withered. The faded petals fell from their stalks and covered the ground.
Little feet crunched the drying petals as they trotted down the path to a small town. The owner of the little feet observed the town with curious eyes. Before he had only seen the town at night. It was strange to see sunlight illuminating the paved stone roadway instead of seeing the stones glitter with glowing mica. Staring at the town with new eyes, the small child didn't notice the attention he was receiving from the locals.
A Centaurian male with a prominent crest approached the child. Noticing the boy's lack of clothing, the Centaurian removed his jacket.
"Hello, little fellow", he greeted the child and catching his attention as he kneeled down to the boy's level. He wrapped the jacket around the boy's shoulders. Catching sight of the child's eyes he couldn't help but take notice of how bright they were. There was something familiar about those eyes to the blue male.
"Aren't you cold, child?"
The boy's eyes wandered to a modrate sized crack in a wall and answered distractedly, "No. The am-bient temp-er-ature in plea-sant."
The Centaurian quirked a brow at the boy's unusual halting speech pattern. Again, there was something familiar about the boy. The older male tilted his head to the side, about to ask a question when the child returned his focus to the man.
"I thank you, Tarvella. The cloth cover-ing is warm."
Raising both brows now, the named man leaned back to better look at the child.
"Do I know you?", he asked curiously.
The boy nodded, somber, "Yes. We met at the Spring Festival. You in-formed me I would find this a peace-ful place. My prec-ence des-troyed that peace. I am sorry. I am so, so sorry."
Tarvella gaped at the boy who was clearly on the verge of tears after his confession. His heart went out to the child who couldn't have been more than five years, who believed himself responable for something he couldn't possibly have in control of.
Tarvella scooped the little boy into his arms, holding him tight.
"Hush now, child. You did no such thing. Look", the older male gestured to the street and homes, "There is peace here! We still have peace, even after those metal beings showed up. No one was hurt, just a few buildings need repairs. You didn't destroy anything."
The child observed the homes and people around him. They were happy. Surely, if anyone had been harmed or killed by the Daleks there would not be so much smiling. Blinking away the tears that had threatened to fall he blinked up the Centaurian.
The blue man smiled and the child did so in return.
"So, you know my name, little fella. What's your name?"
"My name is Xol, son of the Doc-tor."