Chapter Text
It was such a strange feeling. I felt as if I was being pulled into something. Then it happened. I could feel. I could touch. Then there was the energy welling up inside me. The energy I hadn't felt in a while. The energy that I thought I could never feel again, but it was stronger. It was much stronger. Before I could realize what was happening, I was enveloped in warm light. I could see everything. I could see the past and the future. I knew I was regenerating, but it was different. Something was living inside me. I shut my eyes as the energy burst from me with explosion, and I found myself on the TARDIS. This is definitely the last place I want to be. It looked different, and I knew why. It was a different Doctor. My Doctor was gone... he was gone forever. All at once, I could see him though. I could see all the dates we'd had together. All the adventures. It was almost as if I could see through time. I grew angry at the images. They were images that could never be again. I screamed at the TARDIS for what she had done to me. I knew I had regenerated into someone different. My skin color had changed. I was as dark as when I was Mels. My hair was the same but darker. Looking into a mirror, I found my eyes were just as dark. My eyes. There was something in my eyes. I saw and understood. The TARDIS had given me what she could. She had made me a vessel for the time vortex. I didn't understand how she did it, but I did understand that I wanted her to leave me alone. The Doctor has probably forgotten about me, and I want to forget about him. So I did it... I let myself become...
Hello. Who are you and what are you doing here?" came a voice.
"You're the Doctor, and this is the TARDIS," the girl responded.
"Okay. Not answering my question," the Doctor said, "Were are you from, what species, what time?"
"Um... I don't know, human, I don't know," the girl responded.
She was on her back on the floor. "The only thing I know is that you're the Doctor, this is the TARDIS, and I'm human."
"How do you know that?"
"I don't know."
"Have we met?"
"I don't know."
"Did something happen to you?"
"I don't know."
The Doctor flipped some switches. He was silent doing some random things around the console. Finally, the girl spoke up, "Can I travel with you?"
"What?"
"The TARDIS travels through time and space. I know that. Can I travel with you?" the girl asked again.
"No," the Doctor replied.
"Why not?"
"You can't handle me. Not this me. Maybe another me, but not this me. This me is the beginning of a whole regeneration cycle. I feel young, but in reality I'm so old. Too old. I can't deal with the presence of a human being right now or anything for that matter. They all want the past Doctors, but they aren't me!" the Doctor slamming his fist on the console, "I don't just travel for traveling's sake anymore. I search for wrong. I right it. I'm tired of seeing so many lives wasted. I've done wrong. I'm doing something about that."
"Still not a valid excuse for why I can't stay. I have nowhere to go, and nothing to lose. How about I stay until I regain my memory? If you're going to go about righting the wrongs of the universe, you're not going to do it alone," the girl said standing up.
The Doctor looked as if he was thinking. He looked at her and searched her face. No, she was not lying because her eyes were blank. There was nothing there. It was almost as if she had just started living. Another mystery for him to solve. The case of the human who had never been born. "First thing's first then," he said looking straight at her with icy, blue eyes.
"And what's that?" the girl asked.
"We've got to find you a name."
"Oh. A name? I don't know my name," the girl said.
"Figured that," responded the Doctor suddenly bending down to look at something on the console.
"This is fun. Finding a name for myself. I like the name Brooke. I don't know why. I just do. Maybe Brooklyn to make it sound better," the girl said to herself thoughtfully.
"Brooklyn. Now that's settled, off we go," the Doctor said pulling a lever.
The TARDIS suddenly lurched. "Wow! I've never seen her this excited before. What are you so happy about?" the Doctor asked the TARDIS.
Brooklyn was not really paying attention. For a minute she thought she saw a man in a bowtie and tweed jacket smiling at her. He disappeared, and Brooklyn felt an unexplained sadness. Maybe he was someone she knew.