Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The streets were dim, narrowly lit by the dim lamps that were well past their maintenance schedule. The streets were devoid of people, save for the quiet clacking of hard soles against mosaic tiles of the pedestrian walkway as a weary man trudged his way back home.

He let out a soft dejected sigh as he slung his briefcase over his shoulder as he scratched the mop of dark hair sitting upon his head. It was too late to go for those meat skewers he had been craving the whole day, which meant that he had to unfortunately settle his dinner in a convenience store.

Just his luck.

The day had been gruesome, as the technical department had been repetitively badgered by network issues and an assortment of technical faults of those working in the other departments. Such was the everyday life when working in one of the four leading giants in the hero industry — even if Fomo was one of the younger ones compared to the likes of D.O.S and Mighty Glory.

Usually, everyone got to finish their work in a timely manner by the end of the day, a policy of Fomo’s that the man had found to resonate with his own values — as well as the fact that they also paid far better than their competitors, which was obviously the most important benefit when it came to looking for a job — and that day would have been like any other…

…except that the servers had decided to tap out at the same time they all did.

Which meant the dreaded overtime for the technical department.

Normally, he would have been able to slip away unnoticed, with how he managed to make use of his trust value to keep his civilian identity unrecognisable by his colleagues.

But since luck was already not on his side that day, his manager stopped him on the way out with a stern expression and practically forced him back into his seat to work on the servers with a huff and waved around the classic, “We are all family here, and families don’t leave others behind…” shtick that she tended to spout like an incessant broken record.

And so here he was on the desolate, at two in the morning, instead of being in his warm and comfortable bed.

What a pain.

His mood lightened slightly when he spotted his usual stop — the dingy vending machine with its flickering LED display and was steadily losing parts the more he laid eyes upon it. Just a few days ago, it had lost its payment scanner, which meant that it only accepted coins and nothing else.

The man dug into his pocket and almost whooped with joy when his hands closed around metal, elated that something finally worked in his favour. The motions of ordering his favourite drink had been well-practiced by then, and before long the loud THUNK of the can impacting the bottom of the vending machine drew him out of autopilot.

He picked it up, cracked open the lid and downed the beverage like a dying man in a dessert, almost letting out an obscene moan at how the pangy sweetness and fizzy hit that spot and quenched the dull emptiness after a long day of chaos.

Once he was done, he smacked his lips in content before turning into the nearby alleyway, steps lightened as he balanced more on the balls of his feet. He tossed the can into a nearby waste bin, letting a brief smirk flicker across his usually stoic face as it clattered uneventfully into its depths before moving closer into the darkness.

It was too late to go home by metro, and cabs rarely swung by the area. Hailing a cab would have been costly and largely unnecessary, when he had a quicker and more efficient way to get around…

The man raised his hand, casting his senses wide like a fisherman in open seas as energy from beyond reality sang beneath his grasp and—

Vworp.

He nearly tripped on his feet as he heard a strange electronic chirping, brief and sharp. It sounded somewhere close yet far, echoing in his ears and also within his mind, foreign yet strangely familiar, old yet new.

And strangely melancholic.

It was calling out to him, beckoning him, pulling upon the dormant energy within him and he felt compelled to follow. His legs carried him before he knew it, further and further into the alleyway until…

…huh.

’Police Public Call Box…?’ He thought.

To the man’s utter disbelief, he realised belatedly that he had completely missed it earlier.

How odd.

It was strangely out of place. For one, it was something once common throughout the streets of England, not China… So why was it here? And secondly, if it was for public use, why was it hiding in an alleyway?

The man gingerly approached the unassuming blue wooden box, taking in the details. On one of its double doors hung a plaque, making out big words like “Free for use of Public” and “Pull to Open”. So many questions, so many mysteries, yet with no answers that he could think of to satiate his curiosity.

So why not do as he was told?

He grasped the handle—

—or at least he tried to, as when his fingertips brushed against the rusted handle, the door just… swung open all on its own.

But what greeted the man behind those doors made his eyes widen.

“I’m not dreaming… am I…?” He whispered underneath his breath as he glanced around at its impossibly spacious interior, at the high arching walls and strange circular symbols etched to the round columns protruding from the ceiling. Attached to it was a glass column lit aglow by the warm orange filaments, and beneath that an oddly complex central terminal with machinery beyond that of human technology.

He stepped back and for good measure, went around the box, scanning it from top to bottom and then towards the top again for good measure. Either he had gone completely off the rails after a long night, or the police box was bigger on the inside.

The man poked his head in and looked around, and was relieved and stumped to find out that he was in fact sober.

Then came the excitement and intrigue.

Manipulation of dimensions to such a degree was technology beyond human understanding, but was not something that ever stumped him. In fact, such finesse and execution was something that was far superior to his own and he could stand to gain some knowledge from studying how this contraption worked.

He stepped into the box, walking towards where he could feel energy coalescing, similar enough to his own that he felt at ease being surrounded by it the moment he entered.

When he stopped at the central column, with the intricate controls beyond his understanding, he reached past it and gently pressed his hand against the warm glass thrumming with energy—

—and flinched when once again something pulled on his power, more eagerly than before and it surged in response before he could react, as if sharing the same enthusiasm.

It was far too fast and far too much all at once, reminding him of the sleepless nights he went through when he first obtained this power. He immediately let go of the terminal as if he had been burnt.

Backing away, he barely registered how his hand flew to his chest as he steadied his breath, willing the bubbling energy to calm itself.

But when met with the feeling of a cool surface of a metal X-shaped pin underneath his fingers, the man looked down at himself. Sure enough, he was greeted with white instead of black. If he looked at the mirror then, he would no doubt be met with the signature swept back white hair and orange-tinted glasses he knew all too well.

It had somehow triggered his transformation. Against his will.

What. The. Hell.

In all his time as a hero — as the Number One Hero, nothing daunted the man, no situation had fallen out of his control, both friend and foe alike dancing within the palm of his hand like pieces of a chest board while he was the player.

He could feel it try to reach out towards him once again, but he smacked it away with the figurative hands of his power. With a heated glare that the hero rarely carried in his current form, he clicked his tongue in annoyance and as he deadpanned, “Don’t ever do that again.”

He was unsure of how exactly, but he could practically feel guilt emanating from the machine and then noticed how its interior lights dimmed in tandem.

Oh, it had feelings.

And now he felt bad for reacting the way he did.

Machines are simple. They never lie or cheat and only act upon their programming. Perhaps the problem does not lie with it, but rather he who was unused to such means of communication – or at least he realised what it had been.

His eyes softened.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered while placatingly stroking the console, “You just… caught me by surprise, that’s all. But it’s no excuse for how I reacted.” He smiled gently, “A brilliant machine like you just needs a little patience to be understood, that’s all. Let’s try again, shall we?”

The man’s smile stretched wider as the room lit up brightly like it had and palpable elation and relief permeated.

And thus, once more he pressed his palm against the glass.

This time its approach was far more careful and the man felt a gentle nudging against his source of power, as if it was asking for his permission. He let out a small breath and nodded before he felt another flare of energy within.

[Greetings. Salutations. Kin. Brother.]

He blinked.

The way it-she “talked” felt more like she was directly transcribing concepts and emotions into him, at a wavelength that only those that shared the same energy could. There was a strange dissonance in her words that made it difficult to focus on her words, but not impossible he found, as he just needed a little more time to understand her.

And so the man tried to emulate her, sending out a tiny wave of energy just as she did. It took a few moments of fumbling on his end as he tried to adjust the output, until-

[Uncertain. Salutation.]

The man winced as he realised that he had let slipped a few emotions along with what he had intended, but he had been more concerned as to whether or not he had done it right.

For a long while there was no answer and the man had been about to try again when-

[Greetings. Salutations. Kin. Brother. Exclamation.]

Alright… that was a lot to unpack.

“Brother?” He questioned.

[Affirmation.]

[Confusion.] That came a lot more naturally.

All of a sudden, the man felt her energy swell, enveloping him in her presence as it brushed up against his own. He could not help but let out a soft laugh as he was reminded of the street cats that would wrap themselves around his leg after he showered them with attention.

[Affirmation. Insistence. Kin. Brother.]

And it was a firm reminder that they were more alike than he had initially realised.

[Curiosity. Inquiry.] “What are you?”

[Time. And. Relative. Dimensions. In. Space.] She paused, [Acronym.]

The TARDIS’s responding pulse was confident and seemed almost like a proud chirp.

He placed a hand on his chin in thought, pondering over what she had given him.

“T.A.R.D.I.S?” [Inquiry.]

[Affirmation.]

She paused, [Curiosity. Brother. Name. Inquiry.]

The man paused in contemplation. Well, he could give her his real name. But that did not feel quite right now, not when he was assuming his hero identity and rampant dimensional energy running through his fingertips. And thus he made a decision.

"X."

[Understanding. Salutations. Kin. Brother. X.]

The concepts blinked rapidly like fluctuating energy and then, [Relief. Relief. Relief. Relief. Relief.] rang clearly, as the dissonance in the TARDIS’s pulse of energy grew steadier, yet not fading completely as he could still make out the buzzing that still interfered with her broadcast.

His smile faded.

“What’s wrong?” [Concern. Inquiry.]

The storm of emotions and concepts that hit him was volatile and turbulent and X struggled to understand what she was trying to tell him. His free hand once again stroked the console as he gently projected, [Soothe. Relaxation. Calm Down. Tell me slowly.]

[Urgency. Need. Despair. Sorrow. Pain. Lost. Solitude. Separation. Worry. Agony. Doctor. Longing. Return. Possession. Doctor. Home. Doctor.]

From what information he could gather, the TARDIS had been separated from her dearest. And since she was some sort of ship, it must have been her pilot of sorts — which he felt to her had been more so a partner or companion.

He tilted his head in silent question.

[Curiosity. Doctor. Inquiry. Inquiry]

“Doctor Who?”

And then came flashes of memories that bled through their connection, carried eagerly along the waves. An amalgamation of voices and faces, all vastly different yet the same.

An old man with white swept back hair and a sharp nose, clutching at his long black frock coat, ‘There must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me I’m not mistaken in mine.’

Then a younger man in a bowl cut who enjoyed his recorder more than he should, ‘Logic merely enables one to be wrong with authority.’

Frilly shirts, flamboyant cape and a love for velvet, ‘Courage isn’t just a matter of not being frightened, you know It’s being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway.’

A brim hat that tried and failed to tame the messy nest of hair underneath, ‘There's no point in being grown up if you can’t act a little childish sometimes.’

Blond and youthful with a love for cricket and never seen without a celery pinned to his lapel, ‘For some people, small beautiful events are what life is all about.’

An explosion of rainbow and stripes with confidence that was borderline arrogant, ‘Rest is for the weary, sleep is for the dead.’

Question marks and a stern expression, almost like a strict teacher, ‘There’s worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea’s asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke, and cities made of song.’

Preferring a more Victorian-style, with long wavy locks that fell down to his shoulders, ‘I can’t make your dream come true forever, but I can make it come true today.’

Weathered, grizzly, rugged, battle-worn, broken and with hands-stained in blood, ‘Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flames.’

Leather, dark clothes, buzz haired and large ears, ‘You were fantastic, absolutely fantastic…’

Pinstripes, spikey hair, ill-fitting converse and occasionally spotting a trench coat, ‘Some people live more in twenty years than others do in eighty. It’s not the time that matters, it’s the person.’

Bowtie, floppy hair, tweed and incapable of speaking without flapping his hands, ‘I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes. The dreamer of improbable dreams.’

Eyebrows, Scottish, a magician’s flair, grey curly hair that constantly varied in length, ‘Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones, but you still have to choose.’

And as quickly as they came, the recollections faded. X blinked, finding himself staring back at the glowing column once again. There was a quiet hum as a brief pause fell between them.

Then…

[Young. Old. Mad. Lonely. Raggedy. Kind. Adventurous. Wise. Wonderful.] Then the tranquility faded, and dissonance crashed against him with enough force to make him wince, [Mine. Need. Return. Longing. Pain. Return. Despair. Love. Lost. Solitude. Separation. Worry.]

[Understanding. Empathy.]

X gave her console a gentle pat as he projected softly in return, “How were you separated?” [Inquiry.]

[Landed. Planet. Desolate. Dark. Cold. Devoid. Wrongness. Instability. Repelled. Banished. Displaced. Unwilling.]

So the TARDIS had been the one that was lost, in a place not where she belonged.

But if her name and the power they both had contained within them were things to go by, X knew that she would have the ability to travel between dimensions and time as naturally as he could.

So…

“What’s stopping you?” [Puzzlement. Curiosity. Inquiry.]

[Power. Insufficient.]

The TARDIS passed along a slither of memory from the last time something similar had happened, how she had almost died from slipping through the time vortex and into another universe, completely drained.

A similar thing had occurred to the TARDIS this time, but with no way to return, she had been stuck in this alleyway for far longer than she wanted to be.

[Stuck. Trapped. Alone. Alone. Alone.]

Grey eyes narrowed a fraction as the emotion she shared hit a little too close to home, as the weight of the locket around his neck hung heavily, and at the bright smile he knew he would never see again.

X shut his eyes against the onslaught of emotions that he had never properly processed, that he had shoved them into the deepest recesses of his mind and vowed never to let them see the light of day. The ugly mess of guilt, injustice, loneliness, regret and sorrow churned, yet anger was the most predominant and most unquenchable.

Anger at the system. Anger at the Commission and the Hero’s Association for letting good men die for the sake of their reputation. And anger at himself, for being too late to save the one person he actually–

So lost in thought he had been then, X had completely forgotten about the connection between them until a surge of dimensional energy drew him out of his thoughts.

The TARDIS was grabbing at him again.

While it was no longer as uncomfortable now that he had been used to it, X still found the act a little too intimate. Yet since she had been so willing to share about herself and her precious companion, it was only right that he responded in kind.

And thus, resisting the instinctual urge to just shove the TARDIS away like he did before, X willed himself to relax before he sent a brief pulse of curiosity at her.

Then she directed her energy in a circular motion – or at least that was what he assumed she was attempting to do based on how his own was reacting. It almost seemed like–

[Calm. Comfort. Relax. Soothe.]

X let out a soft chuckle upon the realisation that she was trying to mimic him. He gently patted her console in return and she bleeped as the lights flickered overhead in response.

[Gratitude. Appreciation.]

She was a rather endearing little thing. Whoever this Doctor was, was a lucky man indeed.

“But we should be focusing on you, shouldn’t we?”

While it might have been too late for him, she still had the luxury of time on her side to save the one most important to her.

And he was after all, still a hero, even if it was the last thing he ever wanted to be, and it was only right that he helped out. Smile would have done the same if he had been in X’s shoes.

“All you need is power, right?”

[Affirmation.]

“I can help with that.”

The hope and elation that flared was almost palpable, contagious enough to lighten the mood. Though it quickly gave way to concern and worry as she nudged insistently.

[Power. Quantity. Inquiry.]

[Assurance.]

And then with his lips curled upwards playfully, X raised his hand and…

SNAP!

He watched in amusement as the TARDIS’ lights flared as though experiencing a power surge, even if it was an experimental amount. She let out a series of bleeps in what sounded like lighthearted giggles as the dimension within her interior shifted, growing flatter.

[Surprise. Shock. Astonishment.]

“Good enough?”

[Affirmation. Awe. Elation. Hope. Excitement. Happiness.]

[Assurance. Promise. Home.]

Straightening his glasses, X allowed his grin to smooth back into his usual confident smile as he leaned against the console as he said, “Just let me know what you need.”

Without missing a beat, a panel on the TARDIS’ main control slid open with a hiss, bathing the entire chamber in a warm and comforting gold.

[Heart.]

She explained simply.

X understood that whatever she had revealed to him was her very essence. He had been thoroughly surprised by the trust she had displayed and in return, he wordlessly stroked the console while pulsing, [Understanding. Trust. Appreciation. Encouragement.]

[Gratitude.]

And then she continued with a string of information based on her calculations.

While X was slightly surprised by the staggering amount of power she required, he remained undaunted in the slightest. There were very few things that he could call a challenge and he had learnt to cherish these rare fleeting moments that ignited, [Intrigue. Interest. Excitement.]

[Inquiry. Apprehension.]

He patted her console.

[Assurance. Calm.]

X closed his eyes, willing upon the dimensional energy within, coercing it to amass and coalesce at a point where he could reach for it with ease. It was more volatile than what he had been used to, and his hand trembled slightly from exhilaration and the power that was coursing through it.

[Concern.]

From the TARDIS’s reaction, X knew that his form must have been flickering and glitching even without looking down at himself. Yet he ignored it all, maintaining laser focus upon the roaring mass.

And then…

SNAP!

Everything exploded in a brilliant kaleidoscopic display of colour, fracturing the interior in a sea of broken glass. They each shone with the reflection of different dimensions, like windows to another world. The colours swirled and twisted, shimmering like brilliant diamonds before they swirled.

They churned into the heart of the TARDIS, slow at first and then picking up speed until it formed into a whirlpool of energy.

Almost instantly, the interior lights beamed a harsh white and the console beneath his hands buzzed with energy. X could feel the way the TARDIS seemed invigorated and supercharged, like she was about the burst from the abundance of energy. When she had finished absorbing what she could, her panel snapped shut in a blink and he could tell that she was raring to go.

[Relief. Gratitude. Appreciation. Gratitude. Appreciation. Gratitude. Appreciation. Gra–]

Being unused to her newfound strength, her power rammed into him with the force of a truck that almost knocked the wind out of him.

Yet he recovered in an instant, chuckling breathlessly.

“Alright, alright…” He waved her away, realising that she felt like an overly excited and affectionate cat at that moment, “You have someone to save don’t you? Best be on your way.”

The TARDIS paused, console beeping repetitively before she sent him a series of indecipherable emotions. Though as he focused, he could make out the one concept that kept getting repeated over and over…

[Sadness.]

X realised with a pang that that was when they had to part ways to a different dimension or universe where they would never meet again, and the thought made his chest tighten. This was one of the only few times where X met something- or someone who he understood and even enjoyed being in the presence of, and the thought of never seeing her again…

[Reassurance. Future. Reunion.] ‘Don’t worry, we will see each other again, sometime in the future.’

He appreciated the sentiment, but the pressure in his chest did not fade. Despite that, he still gave her a fond smile as he stepped away from the main console and made his way towards the wooden double doors.

[Gratitude. Farewell.]

She bid one last time.

Without turning back, X made a two finger salute as he sauntered out of the TARDIS and back into the streets of the dark alley. He stopped and turned back to the blue box when he felt the sudden shift in the air as the winds began picking up speed.

The fabric of reality bent and unravelled as the TARDIS’ engine throttled up in a renewed blaze. A wheezing and groaning resounded in the alley as she began blinking in and out of reality, carrying the sound further and further away until she vanished.

Reality folded itself back behind her and a strange sense of calm settled in the area, as if she had never been there. The solitude she left behind only heightened the weight pressing against his chest, blooming into an incessant dull ache that gnawed at him.

X frowned.

How odd.

This was not his first parting, let alone with someone he had barely met. So why did it feel like it took so much out of him, like he was running out of breath…

Oh.

His back met the wall and he slipped down against it as any remaining strength in his legs evaporated. The man realised half-heartedly that his suit had long since melded back into black like the stone walls around him, as the stunt he pulled in the TARDIS finally caught up to him.

“我去...” The man muttered quietly as the lightheadedness swung in and he squeezed his eyes shut.

This was fine.

He just needed a moment to catch his breath and he would be well on his way. He—

The man groggily opened his eyes to an alleyway that was now a lot brighter than the pitch darkness from before, lit aglow by the soft light of dawn.

Why was he in a random alley? And was 2am always this bright…?

He looked down at his watch and startled awake upon noticing the time.

What…?

What the hell had been in that soda that caused him to just keel over on the streets? Had it been spiked?

Alarmed, the man lifted himself off the wall and let out a soft hiss as the deep ache within him returned with a vengeance. And then the events of the night hit him like a tonne of bricks.

Right…

He was completely and utterly spent.

With a soft groan he flopped back against the wall, knowing full well that he definitely had to call in sick for the day.

Sighing in utter defeat, the man reached into his pocket and wrapped his hand around metal that was warm to the touch… something that was definitely not a phone.

The moment he withdrew the object, he could not help the fond huff that escaped him.

It was an ordinary looking key, yet what made it truly special was that it was cloaked in a familiar dimensional energy. The man clutched it closer towards himself and the energy that the key emitted brought slight relief to his otherwise aching core.

There was a faint link to an anchor that existed outside of his reality, so he let out a soft wisp of energy to seep through it, [Salutation. Kin. Sister.]

He smiled when he received in return, [Affection. Fondess. Salutation. Kin. Brother.] And his grip tightened around it.

So long as the bond remained, he would always know that she was out there, in another universe, venturing through the stars, and her contentment meant that she was never alone.

And that made his efforts worth all the while.

…

Unfortunately, his good mood faded within the next ten seconds upon the realisation that taking the cab was not just an option anymore.

He sighed.

It was best that he called for one before the morning crowd came in.

Chapter Text

Distance, he quickly found, was not an issue for the TARDIS.

Not a day after his strange encounter, after he spent a day on his bed completely wiped, the dark-haired man woke up to a strange sort of… incessant nudging at the back of his mind.

He recognised it-her in an instant.

With a tiny groan as he turned in his bed, the man casted a groggy glance at the key on his nightstand that glowed in the dim light. He snuggled further back into his covers, wrapping his arms around a pillow that was pressed into his aching chest, before reluctantly reaching out to the connection from beyond this reality.

[Salutation. Inquiry.]

[Salutation. Kin. Brother.] There was a brief pause, before… [Irritation.]

[Curiosity. Inquiry.]

[Irritation. Doctor.]

Ah. It was one of those calls was it?

[Intrigue. Listening. Inquiry.]

[Irritation. Doctor. Disdain. Companion. Disregard. Interior. Dirty. Loud. Stupid.]

And then the TARDIS beamed directly into his head the events that culminated to the point where she felt the need to rant to him.

Apparently, after the Doctor and his round-faced companion had entered the TARDIS after a heavy rain, she had proceeded to shake dry her umbrella in her interior and sent water droplets flying everywhere into the circuits beneath her flooring. And as someone who could not stand people walking into his house with their shoes on, the man found her concern easy to relate to.

[Understanding. Comfort.] He soothed as he then shared instances of how he had snapped people – namely Smile – into the wackiest dimension he could find and left them there for three hours all because they had dirtied his floor with his shoes despite his repeated warnings.

[Lock. Out. Strand. Dematerialise. Abandon. Throw. Into. Time. Vortex.]

At that, the man’s eyes shot open. There was no need to go that far now, was there.

[Alarm. Calm. Comfort. Understanding. Concern.]

There was silence on her end for a long while as she contemplated, before [Understanding. Terrible. Humour. Reassurance. Calm.]

They then went on back and forth, talking about topics ranging from the mundane in their lives to wacky adventures and heroic ventures. And the man was lulled into a sense of cosy comfort while his leaden body was wrapped around the warm duvet—

[Exhaustion. Slumber. Tiredness. Drained. Depleted. Empty. Core. Ache. Pain.] Snapping out of his grogginess, the man realised that he had accidentally let slip a lot more than he had intended to in his weary state and quickly pulled back before it could reach the TARDIS.

But it was too late.

[Strange. Concern. Inquiry.]

“No, I’m perfectly fine. Just had a long day at work.” The man responded a little too quickly and forcefully, with his voice shaky from strain, and it was of no surprise that the TARDIS was not so easily fooled by his terrible attempts of deceit. But how would he go about admitting his plight to the one responsible for it, albeit indirectly, anyway?

[Disbelief. Abnormal. Power. Energy. Sharing. Inquiry.]

“I-It’s really nothing you need to worry about.”

[Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. Sadness. Guilt.]

“Please don’t see it that way–”

[Kin. Brother. Self-sacrifice. Stupid. Imbecile. Moron. Lying. Hiding. Stupid.]

“Now that’s just unnecessary–”

[SILENCE.]

The force of the anger crashing into him felt raw, instinctual, guttural, wild and filled with dissonance as it carried along with it the memories of the multiple times when the Doctor had suffered, bled and even died for the sake of others. There was an explainable amount of pain, sorrow and disappointment that reverberating strongly through him–

…

[-logy. Kin. Brother. Apology. Kin. Brother–]

His eyes flickered open once more as awareness flooded back to him.

And with awareness came the throbbing that came from his core. Letting out a hiss, he curled tighter around himself. Whatever it was that she was trying to send him had been too much for his current state and his body had simply given out.

It was then that he felt a gentle, remorseful presence wrap around him, pressing against the burning sensation within him like she had been trying to stem a bleeding wound. To an extent, it had worked as the fire simmered into a dull ache and with a sigh of relief, the man loosened the death grip he had on the pillow.

His room was deathly silent, and the man had assumed the TARDIS had left, until…

[Apology.] She pulsed after a long beat of silence, [Remorse. Recollection. Unpleasant. Inexcusable. Apology. Remorse. Guilt–]

[Understanding. Apology. Remorse.] “It’s my fault for stirring up unpleasant memories.” Gingerly, the man pushed against her intangible grasp in his best attempt at offering a comforting pat, “So don’t beat yourself up more than you’re already doing, alright?”

[Impasse.]

He smiled, [Agreement.]

And then to his surprise, the gentle weight enveloped him in a warm hold – comparable to that of arms wrapping themselves around him in a hug – and the TARDIS continued to pulse in [Gratitude. Affection. Care. Love. Concern. Comfort.] all the while.

Quietly and abashedly, he softly returned, [Gratitude. Affection.] and her purrs of delight elicited a chuckle from him.

So comforted by her hold, in fact, that sleep was quickly creeping up to him.

[Rest. Recover. Kin. Brother. Self. Watch. Protect.]

…

When he blinked awake again, it was dark.

The man got out of bed with a great yawn and a stretch, feeling more energised than ever. Rest had done wonders for his body and quelled his exhaustion, and he could once again feel dimensional energy running through his fingertips.

As he rolled out of bed, his gaze landed upon the glowing TARDIS key by his bedside table, surprised that she was still there.

[Wellbeing. Inquiry.]

[Well. Energised.] He answered, then fondly continued, [Appreciation. Affection.]

[Obvious. Kin. Brother. Slept. Two. Days.]

The man did a double take.

“WHAT?!”

He immediately shot out of his bed, scrambling in panic for the phone he had left by the wall to charge overnight. Sleeping for two days would mean that his phone would have been exploding from all the incoming texts by now– and not to mention that Fomo would have definitely docked his pay for–

[Annoyance.] The man turned back towards the nightstand and glared down at the glowing key, “It’s only been eight hours.”

[Affirmation. Amusement. Mirth. Kin. Brother. Hilarious. Reaction.] Accompanied by soft, chime-like fluctuations that came from her in the comforting silence that fell between them, higher pitched than usual and fluttery like a bird’s titter.

With a soft huff, the man set his phone down.

After having slept the whole day, there was no way he was going back to bed. And so after a moment of contemplation, he decided to move to his living room to continue the conversation, taking the key along with him.

Walking into his living room that was lit gently by the moonlight streaming in from his tall windows, he settled upon the green couch as he knew that there would be a long conversation ahead. With his mind in a better state of function, the man began replaying the encounter in his mind.

TARDIS…

He examined the key.

“Who are you?”

[Confusion. Forget. Inquiry. Time. And. Relative–]

“Yes I know that. But… What exactly does that mean?”

All he had known of her and her Doctor was only in name and glimpses of her memories. He knew they were alien and ancient. But that was all that he knew.

[Uncertain. Kin. Brother. Interest. History. Inquiry.]

[Insistence. Affirmation. Curiosity.]

There was a brief flash of surprise that quickly developed into utter joy and elation. And it was a good thing that he was seated then, because in her excitement the TARDIS decided to blast him with all the memories she had – ones that spanned a few millenia at least – and if he was any ordinary human, his mind would have completely shattered from the sheer volume of information he was receiving.

He learnt of how the story began on the planet Gallifrey, home to a noble and ancient race known as the Time Lords that looked upon other races like demigods of the universe, guarding the fabric of reality and time. And then one day, a lone renegade Time Lord decided to steal an equally rebellious TARDIS from his own people and that was how their story began.

Since then, they spent all their time travelling through time and space on their grand adventure, just passing through, helping out, saving words on the occasion, learning about himself and the universe… even if he fumbled and floundered at times.

And then there was the TARDIS, who despite never taking the Doctor where he wanted to go, would always take him where he needed to go – to be the hope that others wished for in their time of need.

‘You know the sound the TARDIS makes? That wheezing, groaning…? That sound brings hope wherever it goes…’

However, where there was light, there would be darkness.

While the Doctor and her had done much to save civilisations and governments, he had also been responsible for the death and destruction of countless others. There were times where they had simply gone to too much of an extreme – even if their beliefs were justified.

This was where they came in, the ones that brought a human touch to their galavanting and life on board the TARDIS, the (mostly) wonderful humans that were brought onto the ship and introduced to the wonders of the universe.

The man supposed he should fit into that category, and yet not exactly, since he never met the guy and was thus never invited–

[Kin. Brother. Companion. Affirmation.] She interjected quickly and then, [Invitation. Key.]

Key.

He looked down, just as the glowing metal turned slightly warmer in his touch.

You’re in every way a companion like the rest of them. She seemed to be saying, Mine.

Deft fingers played with the key in his hand like how he would usually run a coin through them, its presence and his possession of it now bearing a whole lot more meaning than he had initially thought before.

The man was not exactly fond of titles and associations, which had been the main reason for his lack of allegiance to any of the major hero corporations or the commission. Those often meant that he had to prove his worth to continue being wanted, and that would make him expendable once his use expired.

However, compared to those fickle bonds built on gain and purpose, what the TARDIS offered, was one built on trust and love.

It was… strange to be a part of someone’s life, for someone to want him to be there, instead of drifting through life like a ghost, unrecognised by any and disjointed from the lives of others. While he did enjoy his solitude and being left alone, he was not opposed to experiencing more of that warm feeling in his chest at the thought.

[Acceptance. Understanding. Appreciation.]

The TARDIS purred in delight. And then it was her turn.

[Curiosity. Kin. Brother. Life. Inquiry.]

He laughed.

“Compared to yours, I doubt my life would be anything interesting…”

[Disbelief. Lie. Power. Dimension. Human. Impossible. Unordinary.]

“Well…”

It would be a long story and frankly, he dreaded having to explain it all…

…That was, until he realised that he could take a leaf out of her book and do things her way. That would certainly make things much less of a hassle.

The man closed his eyes, concentrating on the link between himself, the TARDIS key and what lay beyond that. He focused on sending information across the lines, mainly regarding the basics of his own world – of how people can obtain power by gaining the Trust of others.

And to show her what he meant, the man brought up his own wrist then, seeing the cyan numbers lighting up on them. His trust value, sitting at a comfortably low counter that would definitely not draw unwanted attention.

[Brother. Power. Unrelated. System.]

[Impress. Awe.] “Ah…” He whistled, “You’re sharp.”

She preened at his praise.

Indeed, his dimensional wielding capabilities had not been an effect caused by the Trust others have in him, but something else entirely. The man supposed that he should not be at all surprised that an ancient timeship could see right through him in an instant.

Unwilling to open that can of worms for now, he shifted the topic to how their society functioned on Trust Value, and how it can incite incredible powers in those individuals who would in turn become heroes to serve the people. These powers that the heroes obtain were greatly determined by what the masses think of them.

Although the concept of heroes had been altruistic initially, large hero corporations quickly commercialised them and these corporations were then held under the thumb of the Commission to prevent anyone from ever being too powerful.

And they do that by regulating the hero rankings.

“Every two years, there will be a tournament held to determine the next number one hero, whether they would be the reigning champion or a fresh face.” He paused, letting his wrist drop back down onto the sofa as his fingers traced along the coarse surface of fabric.

He sighed softly, turning his head towards the glass window and shared a gaze with his own reflection.

“And that person gains the title of Hero X.”

[Surprise. Kin. Brother. Name.]

At that, the man shrugged, “I didn’t exactly go by an alias when I decided to enter the competition. I just did it for the fun of it, so I didn’t expect to win as easily as I had. And X wasn’t exactly what I decided to call myself. It was just what the masses came to associate me with after all these years...”

Or perhaps he was always meant to be X, with the timelines converging like a moebius strip in an endless cycle of start to end and end to start. Well time, as the Doctor would suggest, was a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey whimey stuff with no cause to effect.

“Regardless, I’ve held onto the title for three consecutive matches now… two of which I participated in and one being differed due to an incident.” He reclined against the sofa then, staring at the dark ceiling, “And because of that… they’ll be making their move very soon.”

[Inquiry. Confusion. Concern.]

He smiled grimly, “Let’s just say that some people aren’t keen on seeing someone hold onto that sort of power for too long and want me dead.”

[SHOCK. STUNNED. Inquiry. Concern. Panic. Worry. Terror. Protective. Anger.] He flinched at the force behind her tone, realising that he might have sounded a little too casual, too flippant and so he tried to appease her.

[Calm.]

[Refusal. Confusion. Inquiry. Anger. Anger. Anger.]

“It’s because…”

He then beamed to her his knowledge of the Before Commission era and of the legendary being that brought humanity down upon its knees — known as Zero — A being who had gained so much Trust that he became a god… and then a dictator, who was later defeated by the first ever X.

But of course, that was far from over. Because the commission has been so wrapped up in their own fear that they failed to realise that Zero had never left.

And he had a plan in motion for when the time came to deal with these people.

But for now…

[Calm. Assurance.] “Don’t worry.” He assured her with a smirk, “I can handle whatever they throw at me.”

The TARDIS was silent for a long while. He knew that she was processing.

He was not someone who would offer such blind claims if he was not at all confident in his own ability. And from what power he shared with her, she knew exactly what he was capable of.

Eventually she responded, [Belief. Trust.] Yet, [Careful. Overconfidence.]

He smiled, “I know, I will be careful.” [Assurance. Appreciation. Gratitude.]

[Acknowledgement. Kin. Brother.]

[KIN. BROTHER.]

The man jolted upright in his seat, banging his knees against his work desk in shock, earning him a few head turns and concerned glances. He instantly waved to everyone placatingly before shrinking in his seat in utter embarrassment.

His head fell against his table in a soft thud.

[Resignation. Inquiry.]

[Cats. Many. Uncountable. Adorable.]

[Confusion.]

No sooner had he pulsed his response, the man was hit with an image of a creature that was most certainly NOT a cat. It looked more like a tiny eldritch tenticled and squiggly blob of something... And it was everywhere.

A frantic Doctor was running around the console room in an attempt to stop these critters from entering parts of the TARDIS, opening the doors of the TARDIS and herding them off to another planet with great difficulty.

And the TARDIS enjoying their presence all the while, letting out ticklish beeps of joy whenever one of them went the wrong way.

Though with the way they jumped around and poked at even the most interesting thing in the vicinity— yeah, he could see why she would mistake them for cats, but surely it was just a—

‘…they are Kotii of the Dominum Empire. Their genetic information has spread out amongst the stars almost a million years ago and intermingled with the DNA from primitive species in various star systems, evolving into other forms of creatures that can adapt to the planet they inhabit.’

‘Now you’re just making stuff up, Doctor.’

‘Why else do you think cats exist?’

‘No…’

‘Every cat was once a kotii. Next time you go cuddling with a cat, you might end up hugging a few extra limbs.’

Of course. Cats are aliens. He was not at all surprised to learn of that. But surely. Surely. That bit of information only applied to their universe…

…right?

…

That evening, when the man walked past the usual alley, he came across a tiny black figure perching on the dumpster, its green eyes staring at him unblinkingly, unnervingly and menacingly…

…and he realised that he could no longer look at cats the same way again.

“Donna!”

“What?”

“Did I’ve got something I need to ask you… just a teeny tiny question.” The Doctor drawled, much to the irritation of one Donna Noble, “Small and nothing really significant but–”

“Get on with it.”

“Well… I happen to have a missing key on the keyring and I was just wondering…”

“I didn’t take it if that’s what you’re insinuating.’

“I was just asking. I mean, who knows? You might have accidentally taken a–”

“You sure you didn’t lose it or anything?’

“No, I always keep them securely on the TARDIS. But when I checked them today I noticed that one of them’s just gone.” The Doctor paused, “Can you… maybe check your pockets or something?”

“I. Didn’t. Take. It.” Donna immediately grew affronted and jabbed a finger at him, “So that’s the game you’re playing now? Accusing the human because we’re the ‘lower’ lifeform?"

“No no, of course not. I mean if it isn’t you, who else could it–”

“I didn’t bloody do it you stupid martian!”

“Again, not Martian.” He mumbled but threw his hands up in a surrender gesture as he said, “Fine. I believe that it wasn’t you. I mean, why would you need an extra key. Still, I want to know where it went…”

At the Doctor’s downtrodden expression, Donna’s hard glare softened into sympathy. The keys must mean a lot to him, having passed through the hands of so many companions that have once travelled with him.

Perhaps she was being a little too harsh on him. She sighed, reaching out and offering, “If it helps, I can keep a lookout for it while I’m in the TARDIS for you.”

Only for him to lighten up and brush her off.

“No, it’s fine. I can always just get the TARDIS to forge another–”

Donna blinked.

“So we went through all that for NOTHING?!”

“No–”

“You outerspace moron–”

And while the two of them bickered, the TARDIS looked on gleefully and endearingly, quietly recording the moment for her own companion to witness – knowing full well that he would find this amusing.

[Amusement. Mirth.] “Would he ever find out?”

[Negative.]

“How long do you think he would take? Decades?”

[Century.]

“Care to share how?”

[Negative. Spoilers.]

[Confusion. Inquiry. Curiosity.] “Why not?”

[Spoilers.]

“Alright then. Keep your secrets.”

[Secrets. Kin. Brother. Abundance.]

“Touché.”

He had been on the train when she contacted him again, fighting against the morning crowd and hoards of people getting to work.

One moment the man had been staring at the dark tunnels rushing past the window and the next, he was looking at the most beautiful scenery he had ever seen.

It was the sight of a sunset on a beach, except that the planet’s twin suns reflecting off of the diamond dust in the atmosphere transformed the once bright blue sky into a multicolour faceted landscape.

All in all, it was an incredible sight that an earthling like him would never have been able to witness.

[Beautiful. Amazing. Appreciation. Gratitude.]

[Welcome. Pleasure. Kin. Brother.]

“How very strange…”

“What is it Doctor?”

“It’s the TARDIS…” The Doctor spun around to face one perplexed Amelia Pond, after squinting at the contents of the TARDIS’ monitor, “She’s been acting up lately, not in a bad way of course, just that she’s been more active recently.”

It was of the TARDIS’ artron activity, which had been fluctuating a lot more recently, though it was nothing concerning enough to warrant any worries. However, there was a nagging feeling in his gut which told him that there was something he was missing.

The waveform was interesting, irregular, with varying peaks and dips and silence between them as if they were supposed to fit a missing pattern of some sort.

It was familiar. Too familiar. In-his-face type of familiar. But…

“I can’t seem to remember what this pattern means.” He grumbled as he paced around, adjusting his sonic as he wrecked his brain for information, “And I really hate not knowing.”

“Yes we know that, Doctor.” Came the annoyed deadpanned drawl of one exasperated Rory Williams as he sighed, “We’ve had this conversation many ti–”

“Conversation… Conversation! That’s it!” The Doctor practically beamed like a five year old as he pointed, “Look at the frequency, the amplitude, the wavelength… it looks like there’s another part that accompanies it.”

“So then… who’s she talking to?”

“Good question, Rory. I have absolutely no idea.”

“Are you going to figure it out?”

“Ahhh eventually. But for now… I’ve got more important things to do.”

“Like what?”

“Like bringing you both to the Honeymoon planet for the greatest Pond honeymoon night of your life!” And then the Doctor sprung to life, twisting around the console as he kicked the TARDIS into motion with a gleeful, “Geronimo!”

[Kin. Brother.]

“Mmm…? What…?”

[Inquiry. Happening. Life.]

[Groggy. Sleepy. Annoyed.] “...It’s 3 am… please just let me get back to sleep…”

[Bored. Waiting. Doctor. Companion. Adventure.]

“Oh, well I would love to talk, but I really have to work tomorrow…”

[Sadness Misery. Alone. Alone. Alone. Kin. Brother. Talk. Conversation. Company–]

“Oh no, you’re not gonna–”

[Sadness. Hurt. Abandonment.]

“Nice try, but–”

[Devastation. Sorrow. Despair. Agony–]

“Ugh… 你这个臭丫头... Fine. Fine. I’m up.”

[Happiness. Gratitude. Elation. Affection. Appreciation.]

“You’re unbelievable…” [Exasperation. Irritation. Tired. Fondness.] “Just tell me about your day.”

“Doctor.”

There was no response.

“Doctor?”

From the maintenance hatch beneath the flooring of the TARDIS, a fluff of silver hair popped up, “Yes, what is it?”

“Doctor, what are you doing?” Clara Oswald, who was hovering by the doorway with a raised eyebrow, asked, “The TARDIS has been at it for the past hour and it’s really distracting me from my work.”

“Well nobody’s dying so I don’t see the problem.”

“I have papers to grade and I need to return them to all my students tomorrow!”

“Then your concentration needs a bit of work, old age can make it slip from you.”

“Doctor, I’m not old.”

”Ah, semantics." The Doctor replied with a dismissive wave, “Anyway I’m checking the TARDIS for something that I left hanging for a couple thousand years now that’s been bugging me recently.”

With a sigh of defeat, Clara walked up to where he was busying himself and glanced down at the mess of wires and fibre optics lining the hatch while she asked, “What is it?”

“The TARDIS has been communicating with another individual and I’m not sure who. Every signal I’ve traced ends in nothing.” The Doctor said with a slight frown, “Who knows what’s on the other end…”

Unlike his previous incarnation who often hated not having an answer, his current self enjoyed the challenge and would often be excited by the thought of having to work out a mystery.

Quietly she sat down by the hatch, watching the Doctor work, analysing him.

“You’re worried about something.”

“Aren’t we all worried about something?”

“Yeah, definitely. But for you, there’s only one thing that would make you frown like that.”

“And what would that be?”

“When it’s about Gallifrey.”

Although he had no outward reaction, the Doctor’s hands stilled for a brief moment – just slightly enough that Clara would have missed it if not for her knowing him so well by now.

Hit the nail on the head.

Given his generally estranged relationship with the Time Lords and his general touchiness regarding the topic of the Time War and the extinction of his people, of which he had recently come to learn were very much alive, his general grumpier than usual attitude and jumpy disposition made perfect sense.

And if he was worried…

“Whatever it is that’s contacting the TARDIS. You’re worried that it might have been another TARDIS.”

“Possibly.” He shrugged.

As much as the Doctor appeared nonchalant, Clara could see through him like an open book. The last time he went looking for his lost planet, things did not turn out the way he had hoped. And as much as he tried to appear unbothered about the whole fiasco, she knew just how much it weighed on his hearts.

She let out a small sigh, “Well whatever it is, don’t go finding it alone, Doctor.”

“Oh you’re fretting over no–”

“Promise me.”

“Fine, I promise.” The Doctor threw his hands up in exasperation, “Now can you please let me work in peace?”

As the Doctor glared at her with no real heat, Clara could not help the relieved yet sheepish smile that crossed her expression. She knew better than to trust his words, but she could see how he was trying to be more honest and genuine with her despite the rocky start between her and this current incarnation.

“Alright. I’ll leave you to it then.” She said with a smile before standing and striding out of the TARDIS.

She had her papers to get back to, after all.

[Doctor. Stupidity.]

“Yes, we’ve been through this.”

[Absolute. Stupid.]

[Confusion. Curiosity. Inquiry.] “What did he do this time?”

[Companion. Death. Raven. Doctor. Confession. Fractured. Time. Murderer. Life. Ruin. Immortal. Forget. Parting.]

[Confusion.] “What?”

Flashes of the events that had happened at the cobblestoned path of the trap street in London that served as a refuge street for all stranded extraterrestrials, all the way to the red sands of Gallifrey and the recklessness he exhibited down in the cold and dark Cloisters and the bittersweet moment at the end of it all.

“Ah…” [Understanding. Empathy. Sympathy. Sorrow.]

[Intrigue. Inquiry.]

“Oh, it’s nothing… just thought it sounded familiar…”

[Insistence.]

[Reassurance.] “It’s alright. No need to worry about it. Anyway we can talk later or I’m going be late for work…!”

The TARDIS knew that it was the man's poor attempt at dodging the uncomfortable topic. Despite that, she would not rush or push him to open up to her.

For she knew there would come a time in the future.

Their next conversation was a strange turn of events – because this had been the first time that X initiated a connection, even if it had been completely unintentional on his end.

After rescuing a dog from that strange fellow who could clone himself, he perched on the tiled roof of a tall terrace while enjoying his soda and watching the people going about their lives in the city. While X always enjoyed his solitude, there was now a strange pang of melancholy that came as a reminder.

A reminder that there will be no more surprise late night visits from the one person who knew his double life, no one to drink with, no one who asked how he was doing and no one who he could talk to–

Well, there was.

But…

Contemplatively, X withdrew the TARDIS key from the front pocket of the white coat that shone in the twilight, reflecting the bright neon lights from the billboards all around.

And then he hesitated.

His troubles seemed so miniscule and trivial. And she was probably off on some grand adventure in her universe where lives were at stake. He sighed, attempting to pocket the thing, then…

[Kin. Brother. Inquiry.]

The key in his hand shone dimly. And he realised that he must have accidentally alerted her.

How careless of him.

Yet as he turned towards the key, his gaze softened.

[Salutation. Kin. Sister.]

He resisted the urge to wince at the slip, having rarely relied on such forms of affection in the first place.

[Inquiry. Sadness. Concern.]

[Hesitation. Uncertainty.] X backed away but still offered her a quiet, almost desperate that he would never outright express, [Presence. Appreciate. Stay. Request.]

Honestly he was being unreasonable and this was unfair to her, after practically baring her soul out to him during her time of need. Yet he found it difficult to approach the situation and his own feeling of the matter.

X had expected the TARDIS to lash out at him, to feel betrayed by his refusal to open up to her.

Instead he was met with, [Understanding. Patience. Assurance.] As the TARDIS urged him that he need not feel guilt about needing to go at his own pace, and that she would respect and support him like a sister would.

Frankly, he was lost for words. It was like the world slowed on its axis at that very moment. He let out a soft breath he did not know he was holding onto and closed his eyes.

He had been avoiding the matter ever since that fateful day. Though perhaps her earnestness and sincerity had moved him, as he found his hand drifting towards the pendant.

In a swift motion, X withdrew it from his coat and clicked it open. He was greeted by the sight of the smiling man and his precious daughter, an estranged relationship that had once been fulfilling – and now doomed to never reunite.

[Alarm. Concern. Difficulty. Hurt. Sorrow. Question. Inquiry. Reconsideration. Assurance.] ‘You don’t have to do this if you can’t.’ She seemed to say.

“I want to.” He said simply with a sad smile, “It’s about time I stop running away from my feelings and actually talk about them.”

[Question. Inquiry. Me. Suitable. Listener. Inquiry.]

“You’re a brilliant candidate. Why do you think you wouldn’t be? After all, you’re my—” precious sister. He faltered as he choked on those words, voice thick with emotions, though he quickly disguised it with a cough. But even that did nothing to impede the [Embarrassment. Shyness. Affection.] That slipped out of him.

X began regaling the tale of how he met Smile in the hero tournament, of how they became fast friends in the name of kindred spirits bonding over meat skewers and cheap beer, drinking their sorrows till dawn and how that developed into a routine over the past six years.

And then came the hardest part – recounting the events of that day and how X had stepped into the fray, up until when he plucked the purple pendant from Smile’s rapidly cooling body drenched in a thick sludge of Fear.

While looking back at it, X realised how it hurt even more knowing that if he had not been senselessly drunk that day, or if he had been quicker and more aware of his friend’s plight, he would have been able to save the hero.

Yet things panned out the way they had, because he had been late. What good was his power if he couldn’t do something as basic as—

[Kin. Brother.]

X snapped out of his thoughts, just as the TARDIS’ presence suddenly enveloped around him, making that circular motion that she once tried to mimic from him, yet with a more practiced ease now.

[Comfort.]

‘Pain and loss, it defines us as much as happiness or love… whether it’s a world or a relationship. Everything has its time and everything ends.’

And then…

[Encouragement. Perseverance. Resilience. Determination.]

‘...And do you know what you do with all that pain? Shall I tell you where to put it? You hold it tight… till it burns your hand. And you say this - no one else will ever have to live like this. No one else will ever have to feel this pain. Not on my watch.’

It was the TARDIS’ way of showing her empathy and understanding of what he was going through, of nudging him forward in the direction that he needed to go in just like what she did with the Doctor.

…But was she also subtling telling him to overthrow his own government, given both her and the Doctor’s track record?

Well, he could not accuse the TARDIS of being a bad influence, since that was just what he was thinking.

The answer was obvious even without her spelling it out for him. Because if he alone had the power to change a fundamentally flawed system run by a bunch of trigger-happy cowards, then what was stopping him from doing so?

Nothing.

They really were alike.

X could not help that bark of laughter that escaped him, breaking their genuine and solemn moment, which earned him her confusion and a slight tinge of ire.

[Placate. Apology.] “Sorry, sorry. It just occurred to me that both you and I do have a lot more similarities than I initially realised. And I found that amusing."

[Obvious. Slow. Stupidity.]

X sighed while taking a swig of his can of soda and deadpanned, “Sass is the last thing I need from you right now. Let me enjoy the moment.”

She gave him the dimensional energy equivalent of a nudge that had caught him off guard enough that he almost spilled his drink. And X, who knew that he should have been more mature about this, retaliated with a shove.

It went on for a few rounds, until the can of soda did end up slipping from his fingers, and would have ended up splattering onto the busy street below if X had not warped it back into his hand.

And for the first time since Smile’s death, X had not felt truly alone in the world.

Chapter Text

It had not even been a month after his initial meeting with the TARDIS before another oddity sprung up in his life.

Rather, it was him that sprung up where he should not have been. One moment he had been swerving through dimensions and back with the commission hot on his tail and in the next, he ended up… here.

Tucking his hands into his pockets, X closed his eyes and reached out into the fabric of their current reality.

Current, because he knew that they were no longer in his own.

The thrum of dimensional energy running through him resonated at a different frequency than what he had been used to. It was like dropping by a newly opened coffee chain instead of his usual, and while the coffee was not exactly bad, it was just… different. And he needed time to get used to the new flavour.

“Oi, X! Stop zoning out and answer my question!”

Came distraught barking that pulled him out of his thoughts. X’s eyes shot open as glanced down at…

Ah right.

By his leg was Ahu, the recently made dog hero that rose to rank number eight after claiming the credit for taking down the mysterious cloning man, who had been revealed to be a part of the Treeman Group… And X had accidentally brought him along on the wild ride.

“Huh…? I’m sorry…” He shook his head, “What question?”

Ahu let out a frustrated growl, “Where the hell did you take us?!”

“Oh.” He nodded sagely and answered, “We’re in a different universe.”

“HUH?!” Ahu barked out in alarm, cranning his head up at a ridiculous angle as the brim of his fedora obstructed his line of sight, “How the hell did that happen?!”

“About that…” X scratched his cheek sheepishly and shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?! You’re the dimension hopping whiz!”

“I usually know where I’m going, alright? But this time…” X recalled the very moment he snapped his fingers, running calculations and visualising the intended outcome like his mind had been conditioned and primed to think. But, “...I think something pulled us off our intended trajectory.”

X looked around imploringly.

Standing around in an alley was not going to answer their questions. And that was something that needed to be rectified.

“Let’s go somewhere with a better view.”

He said with a knowing smirk and raised his hand. The mutt, having been familiar with his ability by now, leapt and clung to his pant leg for dear life as he–

Snap.

The world melded away with a snap of his fingers, blending into shapes and a brilliant display of colour before it reformed. This time, he found himself standing atop a large clock tower as he gazed down at the sight of the strangely underdeveloped architecture littered below.

The lack of neon signs and holographic signboards that took up a quarter of a building’s surface made the city seem more minimalistic and certainly far less noisy than what he had mostly been accustomed to.

“London, England.” He announced to Ahu, as he could tell from the signage – thank the TARDIS for her translation matrix somehow working across realities and making up for his otherwise limited English – which at the very least partially answered his question.

“This is… an odd place to appear in.” Ahu commented and X could not agree more.

Then again…

A gentle breeze blew then, billowing through stark white strands of hair and his equally white coat. It was bright but by no means burning, as the harsh sunlight had been filtered out by the clouds.

He let out a sigh as he took in a deep breath of air, closing his eyes allowing himself to sink into the tranquil atmosphere. The change of pace, although strange, was by no means unwelcomed. After all, X often found his own city far too noisy and stimulating for the senses.

Letting out a large yawn as he stretched, X beamed down at Ahu, “Well, sounds like a time for vacation.”

“Vacation?!” Ahu growled as he leapt onto the parapet, “We’ve somehow landed in an alternate reality and instead of going back… you want to have a vacation?!”

“Why not?”

“The hero tournament’s tomorrow!”

“All the more we should take a moment to calm ourselves. Stress isn’t good for the body, you know?”

“You're the extremely easygoing type, aren’t you?”

“And what’s the problem with that?” X turned away from Ahu and set his sights back upon the city. Well perhaps he should have a look around and see what the streets had to offer.

Vrooooooo– woom woom–

Screeeeeeeeeeee…

“What the–” Ahu exclaimed as he whipped around in alarm.

X spun on his heels lazily, just as a familiar blur of blue rushed past him.

And then his eyes widened in shock.

It was the TARDIS…

…and there was a torrent of fire spilling from her doors as she spun uncontrollably in the air.

[Terror. Surprise. Pain. Relief. Terror. Pain. Relief. Terror. Relief. Pain. Terror. Relief. Kin. Brother. HELP. HELP. HE–]

He acted almost immediately.

SNAP!

Enveloping her in his dimensional energy, he warped her into another plane of existence. It was a space that was his to control, where he could freely impose laws as he saw fit. And the one law he had decreed at that very moment was…

SAFE LANDING.

With a sputter and a wheeze, she froze in midair, twitching slightly before she plummeted downwards into a freefall, until she miraculously landed onto the roof of an adjacent building with hardly any force.

X grabbed Ahu by the collar of his tie.

SNAP!

And they appeared right beside her.

“W-What’s this?” Ahu spun on his tail and asked the very moment X set him back down on the ground, yet the man ignored him and pushed open her doors—

[PAIN. WRONG. HELP. WRONG. HELP. PAIN. HELP.]

Her energy lashed out wildly, and X winced the moment he stepped through her doors. What he thought were flames turned out to be her artron energy spilling out from the fissures and tears that lined her interior and they were still eating at her from within.

He narrowed his eyes.

SNAP!

In the blink of an eye all the cracks sealed themselves, ceasing to exist as X had wiped them from all dimensions the TARDIS existed upon.

He turned back towards the console and was immediately flooded by, [Relief. Gratitude. Relief. Gratitude. Relief. Frightened. Terrified. Relief. Gratitude. Kin. Brother. Brother. Brother–] and his eyes softened.

Gentle taps echoed in the melancholic silence as his dress shoes clacked against the grilles of the metal flooring, up until he pressed his hand up against the central column and he gazed up at the rotating columns that bore gallifreyan upon their surfaces.

[Calm. Comfort. Assurance.] X projected towards her while stroking the column until the dissonance in her wavelength eventually quietened.

[Kin. Brother. Gratitude. Relief. Affection. Reunion.] The TARDIS pulsed when she regained her bearings and X let out a quiet chuckle when her presence brushed against him in greeting, the same way as she had done when they previously met.

He knew that she had hinted upon a reunion when they first parted, yet this was completely not what he had expected.

But he was still glad to have met her again all the same.

[Reun–]

“I didn’t expect that even the number 1 hero was capable of making such a face.” Ahu, who had leapt onto the TARDIS’ control console, popped up in his field of vision.

He blinked in annoyance at the unexpected interruption, before shaking his head with barely concealed exasperation, “What face?”

“‘The expression a person makes when in front of someone that means the world to them.’ I’m told a lot of times that I make that face whenever I’m with Xinya.”

Xinya, X recalled the rambunctious girl who knew the vending machine like the back of her hand and had done more than enough favours for him by fixing it, was his owner and family. And he knew the lengths that Ahu would go to to protect her.

“This place means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”

And perhaps it was the way the mutt had asked so innocently that X found himself letting his guard down. He turned back to the column with a soft expression.

“Perhaps.” He sighed and then directed a critical look at Ahu, “Anyway why are you standing on her console? It’s rude.”

“I just wanted to grab your attention, since you were ignoring me.”

Ah. 

He did it again.

That tended to happen when he had his priorities elsewhere – like stopping someone from bleeding to death.

“And what is it?”

“I was asking, what is this place?”

“This is the TARDIS.” X patted her console and smiled as she lit up at his touch, “I bumped into her a few nights ago, and helped her out while she was stuck in our world.”

And then he turned back to the column while gesturing to the mutt, “And this here is Ahu. He was an ordinary dog until I came across him getting into trouble. He took credit for everything and turned into a hero. Made it to the top 8 straight from the get go. Impressive isn’t it?”

[Affirmation. Intrigue.]

“Right?”

That seemingly one-sided exchange between them only made Ahu more confused.

“Why are you talking to her like she’s a person?”

“Of course I am. She’s alive after all.”

Ahu tilted his head in confusion, “You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”

X immediately directed a look at the TARDIS. And playing along, she allowed her lights to flicker as she released a series of electronic chirps, much to the surprise of Ahu.

The mutt blinked owlishly and then, “So, you’re not actually delusional.”

X was partially convinced that this was Ahu’s way of getting back at him after he had dragged the mutt along with him while on the run. He deadpanned, "So that’s what you think of me.”

The rotund mutt made a strange motion with his front shoulders that X belatedly realised was a shrug, “Out of all the humans I’ve met, you’re the weirdest. So I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve a few screws loose.”

X raised a brow, “You’re a dog that can talk and you’re surprised by a sentient ship?”

“I was just an ordinary dog until I gained Trust and you know that.”

“We were all ordinary until something extraordinary happened to us.” From eyes hidden behind his orange tinted lenses, X shot Ahu a knowing glance and an amused grin, “You’ll slowly find that the ‘how’ doesn’t matter, only the ‘what’ does.”

The mutt let out a huff, yet he could not rebut against X’s words that held utmost truth in a society like theirs, “Anyway, what was the deal with the cracks earlier? That’s the first time I ever saw you looking so concerned.”

At that, all hints of mirth instantly wiped themselves from X.

“It’s because they are concerning.” He said with a sober expression that was more characteristic to that of his civilian form, a rare oddity given how unshakable and cocky his current form seemed to be.

The TARDIS was not some feeble ship that could be damaged so easily with her impenetrable shield and densely packed walls, less so when the damage was internal.

Either there was a strong foe or deception at play.

“What happened?” [Inquiry. Anger. Furious. Indignant.] Emotions and concepts that he let slip coiled around his words as he asked.

There was a brief stillness as her buttons and lights flickered hesitantly, and then flashes of her memories trickled through their connection.

She had been on Delirium for a long while, five years out of the twenty four Earth years that the Doctor had promised the Child — she kept a record for the Child’s sake.

Time passed a blur as they enjoyed their time together, and the day began like any other, romantic, uneventful and normal…

Until it wasn’t.

Because as it turned out, an old enemy of the Doctor’s had resurfaced a lot earlier than the TARDIS had expected or foreseen, which she suspected was caused by her accidental trip into Brother’s reality.

The God of Death, Sutekh.

Or what the humans of Earth had mistaken him to be when he was worshipped by the Egyptians. In reality, he was an Osirian from Phaestor Osiris located in the constellation of Orion.

The Doctor had once encountered Sutekh, and defeated him by flinging him into a time tunnel for age to eventually claim him. But little did he know, the Osirian had clung onto the frame of the TARDIS and thrived within her shields for millennia to come.

When she had gained an additional boost in power from Brother, the timelines converged and restructured, altering the course of the future. And Sutekh re-emerged earlier than he should have, completely out of her calculations. The Osirian tore through the TARDIS’s mainframe and structure in its attempt to take over her.

It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. IT HURTS—

With a sharp intake of breath, X resurfaced from their shared thoughts.

“What’s wrong?”

“I…” X frowned, forehead creasing as his brows drew together and expression pained. There were no words he could formulate, as the horror of learning that he was partially responsible for her wounds.

[Apology. Guilt. Sorrow.]

He stroked the console as he glanced back up at the column. For the first time since that day, the man felt remorse for his actions. Maybe he should have thought things through carefully before—

[Negative.] She pulsed like a beacon in his storm of thoughts and a warm presence nuzzled against him, [Appreciation. Altruism. Goodness. Love. Affection. Confidence. Action. Right.] And then an indignant and vengeful, [Sutekh. Responsible. Eliminate. Obliterate. Destroy—]

“Alright, alright.” [Surprise. Amusement. Fear.] He chuckled, “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

She chirped merrily.

“Keep it to yourselves, why don’t you?” Came the annoyed gruff from Ahu.

X shot him a sheepish smile, “Sorry about that, got a little too caught up.”

“How are you even communicating with it—her?”

“I suppose it’s like… being able to tune into a shared radio frequency.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“Right, that's fine and all...” Ahu let out a huff, “But can I at least have some context here?”

X roughly translated everything from the TARDIS to catch the mutt up to speed, and while partially through it, he realised...

“Speaking of, where is your Doctor?”

She transmitted another memory to him.

“Ah. I’ve got it.”

“Got what exactly, darling?”

“A plan.” The Doctor said with a wide grin and independently crossed eyebrows accentuated his deviousness despite the predicament they were in, as he whipped out his sonic screwdriver from the depths of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets, “Something that definitely needs a lot more testing but we can’t afford the luxury of time right now.”

Running like he was a penguin with its arse on fire, the Doctor scrambled to the doors and wrench them open, bracing himself against the doors to prevent himself from being thrown out of them.

“Right now, Sutekh is keyed into the TARDIS’s signature, so I might be able to drive him off if I undo that. It’s a good thing we’re mid-flight in the Time Vortex, which makes things a little less messy.”

“That would be a great idea dear, if it were completely possible.”

“Of course, it is.”

“How would you even do that?”

“Reversing his polarity.” Pointing the sonic at the column, the Doctor’s sonic lit up with a sharp thrill.

Immediately, there was a reaction.

Sparks flew as the TARDIS lurched with a sharp jerk, and then came an enraged roar from the unrelenting typhonian beast as he clung on even tighter. Gashes appeared in her interior and she screeched, thrashing around and crashing into the walls of the time vortex.

“The thrusters, now!” The Doctor yelled.

Wasting no time, the Child reached out to the lever before her, re-engaging the engines at full throttle.

A few things happened at once.

Sutekh’s claws loosened.

The Doctor lost his grip.

The Child was violently flung away.

Then a violent explosion erupted and the TARDIS found herself falling through space and time, her awareness swallowed by the pain of her bleeding wounds.

Until…

SNAP!

She recognised that sound and the wave of dimensional energy that engulfed her like pleasantly cold and refreshing water.

Brother.

Blinking as awareness returned to him, X gave her a serene smile while patting her, pulsing in return, [Reassurance. Presence. Comfort.]

But her memory raised another point of concern.

The Child that the TARDIS was referring to was still somewhere onboard the ship. Given her status as being a little more than human, such a crash would barely even tickle her. And given the amount of time that had passed, she would have made her way back to the console room by now.

Which meant…

[Kin. Brother. Time. Child. Behind–]

“Now, what have we got here?"

Oh, now that was interesting. Now that she finally stood in the same room as him, X could tell why she was dubbed the Child by the… mother.

Dimensional energy similar to that of the TARDIS coiled around her, twisting through her cells and weaving through her DNA strands like they were meant to, even if none of it was her own.

It was what usually happened to any being that was conceived on the TARDIS mid-flight into the time vortex, and the sole reason why the Doctor vehemently banned any… post-marriage recreational activities from then on.

“I don’t suppose you’re my husband, are you now?” A voice rang out suddenly, light and teasing, yet there was nothing cheerful about it, not when he could clearly hear the underlying threat in her tone.

She was clearly seizing up the mystery before her.

And so he smiled and played along.

“Well if I were, things would certainly get more complicated.” X squared his shoulders and turned around, flashing her his signature confident and cocky grin, “Though I’m more concerned that you don’t recognise someone you chose to marry.”

“He is a man of many faces.” She smiled, yet none of it reached her eyes, “And I haven’t been able to recognise all of them. So one can’t hurt to be too mindful.”

“Sounds like an interesting man.”

“Oh you have no idea...”

Then, her eyes mischievously looked him up and down before she slowly sauntered towards him.

“But my my, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” She leered, her rosily shadowed and mascara-lined eyelids fluttering seductively, “Do you perhaps want to take this conversation elsewhere?”

Tilting his head in question, X lifted an inquisitive brow, “Why? I think this place sounds fine.”

“Well, my husband isn’t here and there’s a handsome young gentleman standing before me. It would be a shame if we didn’t… take advantage of the situation… hm?”

Despite her scandalous suggestions, every single move she made was calculated, she had been using the conversation as a distraction to get closer to him, seizing up the mysterious individual before her — like a cat stalking its prey.

Her charm would have most definitely worked on an unsuspecting man. But X could practically smell the blaster she had hidden behind the small of her back, primed and at the ready.

His smile widened.

“That does sound lovely.” He leaned towards her ear the moment she had neared, dark eyes glancing at her from the brim of his orange aviator glasses, “But I’m afraid that you aren’t my type… Professor River Song.”

River’s eyes hardened and the muscles in her arms tensed.

Ahu let out a bark of alarm.

[Alarm. Warning.]

And X raised his hand.

SNAP!

He vanished.

For a brief moment, River was taken aback by the swell of artron energy that was similar to that of the TARDIS’s, yet different enough that she could distinctly tell them apart. The man before her was clearly human, yet he wielded power far beyond any earthling should.

And then she realised that her hands were strangely free, fingers grasping around–

With a sharp curse, River’s gaze snapped towards her now empty hands in shock and confusion. When had the man–

“Looking for something?”

She looked up, eyes landing upon the annoyingly smug man in white leaning against the mezzanine’s railings, along with the strange dog in a dark hat and a pink tie who seemed to be stumbling in disorientation.

With a bright smile, he gestured towards the pillar right beside him…

…And saw that her blaster had somehow been turned into graffiti.

What.

The man shook his head in contempt, “Casually wielding such a dangerous item in the TARDIS, aren’t you afraid of harming her?”

Ignoring his blatant jabs and attempts to divert her attention, River managed her fiercest glare towards him, “Who exactly are you?”

Though it irked her when he was completely unfazed by her aggression and went on to tut disapprovingly like she was some temperamental child.

How insufferable–

“Now if you want something from someone, threatening them isn’t exactly a wise decision to go about it, hm?”

“You–”

[ENOUGH.]

Both River and X winced at the force and volume of the TARDIS’s interjection as their heads immediately whipped towards the columns that rotated angrily.

[Aggression. Desist. Kin. Brother. Kin. Child. Immaturity.] And then she directed her attention towards X, [Foolishness. Kin. Brother. Expected. Better.]

He grimaced.

River’s eyes widened incredulously.

“Brother?”

He waved her off, “It’s just what she likes to refer to me as, not anything worth any conc–”

[NONSENSE.] They both winced again as the TARDIS screeched in indignation, [Kin. Child. Ignore. Kin. Brother. Oneself. Reveal. Truth. Everything. Meeting. Explanation. Situation.]

For the first time since she had met the man in white, other than the perpetual smugness he always bore, something else flickered across his expression – panic, albeit barely concealed, as he reached out towards the TARDIS.

“Wait, I don’t think–”

Images and moments streamed through River’s head as the TARDIS shared all that she knew with her, from the day she winded up in the alley, to meeting her new brother, to how he helped her even though he knew that it would adversely affect him, how she constantly confided in him and the one time he did the same and how he appeared before her when she needed him the most.

Like the TARDIS had mentioned, hidden beneath layers of nonchalance and haughtiness lay a kind heart big enough for those he cared about. And River found that she could no longer hold any grudges against someone like that

Anyone willing to go out of their way to aid the TARDIS in her time of need was no enemy of hers.

[Annoyance.]

Her eyelids fluttered as she returned to awareness.

[Irritation. Exasperation. Knowledge. Unnecessary.]

Having been well acquainted with the TARDIS’s way of communication, she had not thought much of what she had heard until she realised that it sounded… off.

Unlike the usual light fluttery pulse that was somewhere between a mix of an intricate windchime and an overexcited firefly, the wavelengths she felt were more like gentle waves ebbing and flowing, calm and steady.

[Kin. Brother. Understanding. Inquiry. Aid. Required. Request. Assist. Kin. Child. And. Myself. Plea. Trust. Efforts. Worthwhile. Promise.]

From behind orange-tinted, dark-rimmed aviator glasses, dark grey eyes flickered over to the TARDIS in mild annoyance, and it was only then that she finally understood.

Suddenly, ‘brother’ made a lot more sense than before. But even before that, River found it believable enough. Their personalities were a stark contradiction to each other, yet that somehow made them seem more like siblings.

[Plea. Assist.]

X’s gaze softened minutely and she saw a flash of a raw emotion she could not place.

[Understanding. Empathy. Sympathy. Loss. Exasperation. Annoyance. Despise. Overtime. Fault. Yours.]

[Gratitude. Affection.]

[Begrudging. Endearment-] The pulse cut itself off almost immediately, and brief embarrassment flashed across his expression. It seemed that despite having precise control over powers much greater than what the TARDIS was capable of, X still fell short on the nuances.

Despite that, he was quick to recover and he let out a tiny breath that was easily shadowed by how he squared his shoulders and his impenetrable smile returned, then…

SNAP!

X appeared beside River in an instant.

Her ingrained instincts kicked in, and she barely held herself back from immediately attacking the man. She was about to chastise X, only to stop short when he held out her weapon, handle first, towards her.

River took it without hesitation, instantly relaxing as her fingers wrapped around the handle. It was hard to part from the habit of always carrying arms on hand, having been ingrained in her ever since she had learnt to walk.

And handing it out as a peace offering like that, he must have known.

“So what are you going to do?”

Came a low baritone that had River doing a double take towards the dog she now knew as Ahu. She has to admit that she did not expect such a deep and silky voice from such a tiny body.

But she was not one to judge, and a talking dog was not at all surprising given what she had seen in two hundred years of time and space.

And so she quickly recovered from her initial surprise.

“Well this normally wouldn’t be a problem. I could just pop the TARDIS back where the Doctor ended up.” River said with a slight frown dimming her rosy cheeks, “But this time…”

“There’s the gigantic dog of death to worry about.”

“Which shouldn’t be a problem with someone of your calibre around…”

Humming thoughtfully, X responded with a shrug, “I’ll see what I can do.”

River gave him the most earnest and grateful expression that she could muster, before turning her attention back to the console monitor, typing furiously into the keypad.

“Now I just need to lock onto where exactly my darling ended up and when we can–”

“Wait… ‘when’?”

They both stared at him like he had grown a second head, until…

“Oh. Right.” X said as he adjusted his glasses in mild sheepishness, “I may have forgotten to mention that the TARDIS is a time machine.”

“A time and space machine, to be exact.” River piped in.

Ahu blinked owlishly.

And then he sighed, letting out a soft whine of resignation with a quiet growl of, “Why am I not surprised…?”

X quietly ran his fingers along Ahu’s back in sympathy.

Considering that Ahu had already been given a crash course on their world’s history in a separate dimension prior to them falling into the TARDIS’s world, the poor mutt must be struggling to grasp all of this… timey whimey.

“He’ll get used to it, like everyone else.” She remarked casually without ever looking up at the screen, and that was the only thing said between them until… “And there. Got it.”

Intrigued by River’s work, X glanced over her shoulder and skimmed through her calculations frown deepening. And if those numbers were correct then…

X reached out towards the terminal and re-ran his own set of equations based on River’s parameters, yet his frown only deepened when he received the exact same results.

“The Doctor isn’t in the time vortex.” He shook his head somberly, “He’s caught somewhere far worse.”

River looked back up at him in alarm, “And where would that be?”

“It’s the space between dimensions. A place that serves as a bridge between the various dimensional planes, connecting them.” X drew back to his full height while tucking his hands back into his pocket, “It’s a space of infinite possibilities, where nothing makes sense. It’s easy to get lost in it if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“But you do, don’t you?” Ahu interjected, “It’s what you’ve been doing with that weird power of yours.”

X remained silent, yet glancing at him with new found approval for his sharp observation skills.

The mutt hit the nail on the head with what little he had experienced while being dragged along with him. It was indeed a plane that he knew all too well, having dived within and through it multiple times – even shaping it as he pleased – with a simple snap of his fingers, so much so that he knew it like the back of his hands.

And if they needed access…

Removing his hand from his pocket, X smiled as he grasped upon the dimensional energy he was familiar with and brought his fingers together.

“Well if you need a way through–”

“Absolutely not.”

[Negative. Desist. Idea. Immediately.]

Both the TARDIS and her child spoke in unison.

X raised a brow in question, though their combined objections definitely convinced him from proceeding with his plan as he lowered his hand.

[Recklessness. Foolishness.]

“Yes I like to agree with that.” River shook her head with a quiet mutter of, “If I get a penny for every man in my life who turns out to be a reckless idiot, I’ll be a billionare…” And then, she casted a stern glare at him, “Transporting me and the dog wouldn’t be a problem, but the TARDIS is a multi-dimensional being that’s also bigger than Earth. You’ll burn through your Heart, like the last time you helped the TARDIS.”

At that, X could not help the slight grimace crossing his expression, recalling the unpleasant feeling of the aching that knocked him out for a day. He felt Ahu’s questioning yet slightly concerned glance, and the feeling of cool metal pressing against his fingers drew his attention to how he had unconsciously pressed his hand to his chest, to the thrumming energy beneath his palm.

He immediately peeled his hand away.

But then his brows furrowed in confusion.

“My… heart?”

He could not fathom such a tiny, albeit vital, organ containing the power of the entire space-time continuum.

“No, not that one.”

River then showed him a monitor of the TARDIS’s schematic, displaying a glowing core filled with energy in her very centre, “You know how every TARDIS has a Heart correct? For her it’s the Eye of Harmony where she stores her dimensional energy and regulates it with every jump.”

“So it’s something like a cross between a motherboard and a power supply of a CPU?” He asked, despite knowing where she was going with it.

“Essentially yes, even though my husband would through a fit at the oversimplification. Time Lords and their planet-sized egos.” River shook her head exasperatedly and rolled her eyes before she unabashedly admitted, “Anyway, I ran a scan on you earlier and what I found on you is…” As though she had not just disregarded his privacy and typed away at the terminal.

Then the screen flickered to another diagram. A human shaped silhouette that bore a likeness to him, with the same exact type of glowing core as seen on the TARDIS’s schematic, albeit brighter.

“A Heart.”

Right…

It was interesting to know that there was a name to his source of power, even more so to learn that it bore similarities to that of the TARDIS’s own. That beyond just sharing similar powers and a connection, he really was just like her.

Perhaps that was why she called him…

[Kin. Brother.]

X snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at the column, [Alternative. Method. Mass. Transport. Possible. Connect. Hearts. Share. Burden. Power.]

Perhaps that was possible.

[Understanding.] He nodded before closing his eyes and focusing on opening the connection to her.

The effect was instantaneous, as the TARDIS eagerly reached out in return and the link between them was forged in an instant. X tapped on it, feeling a secondary well of energy within his reach. Likewise he felt a pull from her end as he realised that she must be doing the same.

[Kin. Brother. Gift.] She pulsed and without warning, followed up with her entire operation menu, [Pilot. Myself. Trial.]

His eyes snapped open and he gasped in surprise.

Ahu leapt up in surprise, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” X shook his head as his brows furrowed, mentally sieving through the new chunk of information that the TARDIS had given him, “I was just surprised that she wanted me to pilot her.”

River let out a bark of laughter at that, “The same thing happened to me too, back when I first met her. Gave me a crash course and turned me into an expert in five minutes.”

[Obviously. Learning. From. Truth. Teacher. Ignore. Doctor.] The TARDIS snarked, much to their shared amusement and then, [Kin. Brother. Insist. Trial. Trial. Trial. Trial—]

[Understanding. Understanding. Placate.] “Alright alright, I suppose I’ll humour you this time.” X chuckled and moved along the circular console until he stood directly opposite River.

From what the TARDIS had shown him thus far, she was supposed to be manned by six at once, but since they only had three people right now, they would have to make do.

He rested his hand on the brake lever and after a brief pause, he directed his gaze at Ahu, “You better help out too.”

The mutt let out a bark of alarm.

”But I don’t know how to pilot it, so how am I supposed to help?”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll show you.” X then glanced up at River, “Right?”

“Of course.” She smirked, “After all you are with the very best. But it would be a little difficult without hands—”

There was a puff of smoke and suddenly Ahu seemed… taller, and a lot more human-like than he was before, now sporting a suit that matched the colour of his hat.

“Right. Of course. That would work.”

Meanwhile, X merely smiled knowingly.

[Time. Waste. Go. Start. Begin.]

“You know, for a time machine, you’re quite impatient.”

[Quiet. Kin. Brother.]

He chuckled, before pulling down the brake levers.

Outside, the winds around the TARDIS picked up as she began to dematerialise without the familiar wheezing as she slipped through the time vortex and then into the dimensional panes that X frequented.

“By the way, we have a fridge on board where I hide all the good stuff.”

”Oh?”

”Got your interest, haven’t I? It's a relief that you’re a fun uncle. I can’t have too many uptights around here.”

“Unc—”

“Uncle?! What the hell have you been up to X?!”

“It’s not what you think it is, Ahu.”

“It is exactly what you think it is, Ahu. I am the child of the TARDIS and you’re her brother… so naturally, you’re my uncle.”

“...Please don’t make this awkward.”

“Why not, dearest uncle? Aren’t you Chinese fond of proprieties when it comes to family titles and the like?”

“Not me. It’s such a pain when you have to remember the titles of all your distant relatives at once when you have to greet them all at a gathering. I don't need to add another one.”

“Fair enough. Fine. I’ll drop the title for now.”

“Thank you.”