DW OC 10_P1_The Crystal Effect

Full title: (DW OC adventures) Holly and the Doctor adventures~ The Crystal Effect
Featuring the 10th Doctor
My OC: Holly Rosenburg
Rating: G/pG-13



Part 1

         Holly woke from the best sleep she had felt in years. No more worries about someone chasing after her. No more freakish nightmares of alternate timelines or possible futures. No more headaches or feeling sick as if she had a bad taste in her mouth. If this was a Disney movie, she would have woken up to little blue birds singing a good morning to her with the sun shining somewhere in the background with a field filled with wild flowers. She woke up to the best day in her life.
         After soaking in the gracious feeling of a peacefully nights' rest, she changed into fresh clothes and nudged her mobile friend awake.
         "Wakey time Karl. How long was I asleep? Feels like a whole day."
         "Well, from the time you put me into 'sleep mode', that was about twelve point five hours ago."
         "Twelve and a half hours? Wow. I did sleep the day away. I better go check if they started sight-seeing without me."

~~~

         "Morning," Holly greeted in a sing-song voice as she stepped into the console room.
         "Aha, there's our little sleeping beauty." The Doctor said as he poked his head around from the other side on the console pillar. "I was wondering when you were coming up. I didn't want to disturb you, but I was starting to worry."
         "Well, you don't have to worry about me going off to do something dangerous. I'm feeling much better today. No nightmares. No Ranerik. No headaches. It was like heaven to finally get some honest sleep."
         "Glad to hear it. You were cranky the other day and if you don't mind me saying, it wasn't fun."
         "About that... You know what I said during our fight, about the Time War. I didn't mean it. I just have a large mouth that doesn't know when to quit."
         "It's okay. Water under the bridge as they say. Want to hug it out?"
         "I'll pass thanks. Say, where's Dante?" She asked as she looked around for the Wolf in case he suddenly jumped out of the dim shadows.
         "Most likely he's lost or he's found the kitchen."
         "Should I go find him?"
         "Nah, I have something more fun."
         He then made a big show of pressing a yellow button with a smudged smile on his face."
         Holly waited, yawned, and then waited a little more.
         "Is something supposed to have happened?" She asked.
         "Just give it a moment."
         Holly waited roughly ten more seconds and still nothing. She was about to say something when she heard Dante charging in.
         "Okay, who did it? I know it's one of you." He said bristling with fluster.
         "Did what?" Holly asked.
         "That noise! If it's one thing I hate worst than that smart mouth lizard, its dog whistles. Just so annoying and downright mean."
         The Doctor couldn't hold it together anymore and finally cracked a laugh.
         "I'm sorry, I just had to. It was the fastest way of getting you up here."
Dante snorted a growl. "I'm here now, what is it?"
         "Ground rules. You are the newest member to Team TARDIS and there's a few things you ought to know. First and for most, don't eat all the food. There's suppose to be enough to last a couple of years in the extreme case that we're stranded inside. Second, if something says 'do not touch,' don't touch. I mean it. You could very well upset the ship and she could materialize a wormhole to drop you in. I'm not joking. She's done it once or twice before. She's the real boss when it comes to her well being, so be nice. Third, my way or the highway. If I give you a direct order, you are to follow without question because your life may very well depend on it. Actually that should have been rule one. Now then, who's up for a nice walk in the forest?"
         "We can only hope the Hourglass people have lost our trail and finally be left alone for a time, 'cause I don't know about you two, but I'm loving that I don't have to jump at every shadow now." Holly interjected while the other two nodded in agreement.
         "Oh, before we go venturing off, Holly I need to give you something."
         "What is it?" She asked, intrigued of why the Doctor needed to give her a gift of any kind. Honestly being able to travel with him was the best gift he could ever give.
         He ducked behind the console in a single fluid movement and then popped back up holding a small wrapped box that was no bigger than her hand.
         "It's just a little something I had commissioned by a Venetian silver artist during the Renaissance while you were sleeping."
         "What?! And you didn't bother to wake me up!"
         "I thought about it, I really did. But, you were just so adorable sleeping with your kitten plushy."
         "One more word and I swear I'm going to slap you."
         "Oh, just open it."
         Holly peeled back the wrapping and found the most beautiful bracelet she had ever seen. She was not a girly girl and did not care much for fancy jewelry, but she could not take her eyes off from the bracelet. The band was made of two strands of silver that delicately and playfully twisted and coiled around each other. The band then looped around the setting like a lazy slanted cat eye. Within the setting was a stone similar to the small gem he had shown her earlier saying it was a power cell of the TARDIS.
         "This is so amazing. You didn't have to, but thank you so much."
         "Actually, I had it made especially for you. Now that I know exactly what's affecting you we can have it manageable. That gem was sculpted from a spare power cell I had lying around. Since it is directly connected to the TARDIS, if you are getting too much archon energy in your system it will siphon it out of you, retain it into the crystal, and then cycled out to the TARDIS. It's a win-win, and you shouldn't have any more explosive emotional shifts while the TARDIS gets an extra boost. Oh and it should help to stop or at least manage you from getting timey wimey powers. Well, theoretically." He winked.
         "Ha ha. Really funny. So you mean to say I can take this other bracelet off?"
         "Yes. You are safe to do so."
         "Good. No offence, but this other one you made... well, it's a bit ugly."
         "Noted." He said as Holly switched the bracelets on her right wrist. Once she did so, the small green gem started to glow softly. "Whoa, it's glowing."
         "And that is how you know it's working. Right then, off we go."
         "Where's my cool present?" Dante complained.
         "You get to stay aboard," answered the Doctor as he bound towards the door.
Dante shrugged his shoulders. "Guess it beats jail time for murder... again."
         "Well...Technically," the Doctor started to say as he faced his back to the door and scrunched his face at moments as he spoke. "You never went to jail because technically you didn't exist to eat you client, so technically that client is therefore alive– that is as long as someone else didn't eat them in your place."
         "Thank goodness for technicalities."
Holly stood by and waited. "Hello? Are we just gonna chat like old hens or have an adventure?"
         "All right then. I present to you, the forest of Jade."
         The Doctor opened the door and allowed Holly to step out first, followed by Dante.
         The air was thick and fragmented with earth and wild tropical blooms. The warmth and humidity was a bit of a shock from the perfectly regulated air of the TARDIS. It reminded Holly of her trips to Florida to see her grandparents and other family members during those hot summer days. Other than the wet heat, she stepped into paradise as she dreamily ventured out to get a closer look at some of the largest trees she had ever seen. Their knotted roots dipped in and out of the ground like giant serpents, some even arching so high that you could walk under them. Green vines and moss crawled up the rough dark bark, creating an illusion that the trees wore green skirts with various ranges of wild blooms as lavish embellishments. As Holly's eyes carried up to the reaching arms of the canopy above she saw that only a few strands of sunlight filtered through the thick blanket of leaves. She also took note that some of the tree limbs were so thick that it would not surprise her if there were a whole out worldly village living up there. Looking back along the forest ground, she saw countless types of vegetation. Some of the strange plants along the forest floor even glowed with a luminescent aura.
         The looks on Holly's and Dante's faces were priceless as the Doctor enjoyed pointing out everything to the tiniest detail.
         "You see this fern here?" He gestured to the red and brown leafy vine that was coiling up a tree trunk next to them. "It's called the Bleeding Crawler. The reason it's called that is because if you tried to touch it, you would learn quickly to not do so. It has micro-sized hairs on its leaves that are sharp as razors."
         He then pulled Holly to follow him to the next plot of flowers that reminded her of a Bird of Paradise, but with a large mouth like petal of an orchid. "And this here is the Imperial Crowned Dragon. Very rare, but exceptionally gorgeous."
         Suddenly, a voice boomed behind them as a squad of guards fanned out around the three of them.
         "Stop where you are!"
         The Doctor instantly went into protection mode and placed himself in front of Holly whereas Dante spun around to guard their backsides. Holly couldn't get a clear view of the guards, but she swore their armor looked as though they were hewed from trees.
'Druids? Maybe even wood elves or something similar?'
         "We don't mean any harm," the Doctor said before anyone else could talk. "We only came here to look and explore your beautiful forest."
         The captain of the guard spoke once more behind his oaken helm. "Then you are a fool. This is the Royal Forest of Jade, and no one but the royal line may venture here. Any trespassers are punishable by death."
         The captain then raised hand as the guards took their marks with... 'Ray guns? Seriously?' Holly thought. 'Okay, that rules out the elves and druids theory.'
         "Stop. Wait! We haven't done anything wrong. If you want us to leave, then we will go. You don't have to kill us." The Doctor tried to ration with the captain who clearly had his mind set.
         Just then, a new voice immerged from behind the overzealous captain.
         "Stop! Captain Oakenson, stand down." Said a gentle female voice, like a warm summer breeze playing with newly sprung leaves.
         "Your Ladyship..."
         "I said stand down. These travelers are clearly not assassins. They are not even armed."
         "If that is your wish, I will obey."
         "It is. Now let me see them."
         The guards lowered their guns and created an opening for the woman to past through. The moment the Doctor saw her he caught his breath to his surprise. Again, Holly could not see anything past the Doctor, despite him being so thin.
         "The Princess Jabe...." He said quietly to himself. "But you are–"
         "I what? Speak up."
         The Doctor stalled and blurted out a quick lie to cover for his foolishness. "I didn't realize these were your forests. Must have taken a wrong turn. I should really report this to Google Maps. We wouldn't trouble you anymore. Have a lovely day."
The Doctor then turned and started to turn Holly around as well when Jabe spoke once more.
         "Don't I know you from somewhere?"
         "Me? No, I would have remembered meeting a member of the House of Cheem."
         "It's coming back to me now. You're the Doctor."
         The Doctor stopped and turned around to look at Jabe. "How could you know that?"
         "You save me on that station when the Earth burned. You looked different then and had a different... what did you call it? Ah, companion. Moreover, if you were wondering, it was your crafty blue box that gave you away. Now come. I'm rarely in the company of such interesting guests. I would love to hear a good tale or two since we parted ways. Come, come."
         She turned and started to walk away as her captain followed her.
         Holly tugged on the Doctor's sleeve. "Are they really tree people or am I seeing things?"
         "They are so stop staring, it's rude. Besides, to them you're a pinky flesh thing."
         "You're one to talk. You were staring first." Then after a brief moment, she couldn't hold her question any longer. "She's Jabe right? The same Jabe that's suppose to be dead?"
         "Yes." The Doctor answered with a hollow tone. He should have been jumping for joy that she was alive since her death had haunted him like so many others he had seen fall while in his accompany. However, deep down he knew this was wrong. Time has been twisted and he could not forget that if there was any chance of fixing things the way they should.
         Dante then butted in to try to make light of the seriousness that shrouded the Doctor. "Another win for technicalities due to –as you coined it– timey wimey. Some die. Some are erased. Others come back to life."
         With that, the trio followed behind the escort of guards to Jabe's personal forest hut.

         Arriving at their destination, Holly realized that calling it a "hut" was a grand understatement. It was a miniature palace with several levels to climb up into the forest canopy. Holly tried to categorize the style of architecture of Jabe's home and found that it reminded her of the tree houses of the High Elves from Lord of the Rings, but more festive with the colors from the surrounding landscape. From the elegant climbing swirl staircase, to the high vaulted ceilings of the terraces, there was magical beauty in the design and structure as if the building itself was grown natural to take its shape.
         Jabe finally lead them up onto the level where they had the best viewing area arranged to look out into the forest garden of ferns and strikingly bright florescent flowers in a clearing. Once they sat down, a pair of servants came at once and placed down trays of refreshments on the small table in the center of the seating arrangements before retreating to where they stood to await orders. Jabe was the first to take a cup filled with a golden liquid that seem to glow faintly.
         "Have you ever tried Nectar before?"
         "Is it sweet? Like honey and cream with water?" The Doctor asked as he reached for a cup for himself and then passed one to Holly.
Jabe nodded. "That's a fair description. But I think you'll find it lighter and to satisfy any craving you might have."
         Dante reached for the drink but never took a sip. Holly on the other hand took quiet pleasure as she sipped her cup. The Doctor tipped his to finish in a couple gulps.
         "Whoa. That is good. What's it made from?"
         "It's harvested from many of the flowers in the garden and then brewed in the kitchens. Additional flavors can be added depending on the season. This is our spring and I honestly think it's the best seasonal brew. The chief adds in a few mint herbs and rose petals to sweeten and give the drink a cool finish." She then waved her hand. "But enough talk of brewing, I want to talk about you. How have you been? I haven't heard a word from you. What adventures have you had? Oh forgive me. You haven't introduced your companions."
         "Right," then gesturing to Holly on his right he said, "Holly Wood Rosenberg, human from Earth." Gesturing past Holly to Dante. "And Dante Ironclaw of... somewhere not around here. He's the newest to the gang."
         "Holly, such a lovely name." Jabe replied. "We have a couple of Hollys here in the forest in fact. Dante, your kind is so intriguing. I do apologize if you find the refreshments lacking. We don't require the meat of creatures to feed on. But please, enjoy your drink."
         Taking that as a note, Dante forced himself to take a sip from his cup and tried to smile, though it looked more as if he was growling.
         Jabe then turned back to the Doctor. "So, how have you been? I can't believe it's been years since I last saw you."
         The Doctor suddenly seemed squeamish in his seat as he looked to the servants that were idling by.
         "Can I first ask when the last time we saw each other was? Time travel and all. You can easily get your events out of order and such."
         "Of course. You were a little thinner of hair and wore a black jacket. Your companion was Rose. Such a lovely name. I do miss her. How is she?"
         "Happy and safe."
         Though he hid the white lie so well from Jabe, Holly knew from the quickness of his answer that something was off, but she would have to ask him another time.
         "Aha, good. Oh, back to your question. It was the day Earth was scheduled to burn and we met on the observation deck of the station. We would have died that day if it wasn't for you. That dreadful flatten selfish woman tried to kill us for money."
         "Oh, believe me, I remember her. Try having her walk around in your skin."
         "Say what?" Holly spoke for the first time since they sat down.
         "Another time." The Doctor answered and then leaned forward to Jabe as he spoke quieter. "What exactly happened the last time we met? Where and what were you doing on the station when the sun shields were failing?"
         "I was with the others in the room when you and one of my guards went to fix the manual override. Unfortunately, he died for his service. He was given the highest marks of valor and duty to protect me. Why is this so important that you must whisper?"
         The Doctor glanced once more at the servants who were obviously interested in stories while pretending to stand in the background as they stood a little closer.
         Jabe nodded and then in a demanding voice she ordered, "Leave us."
         At once, the servants and even the guards filed out of the area, leaving the three travelers alone with the princess.
         "Now that we are alone, you may speak more freely."
         "In my time, when we were on that station together it was you that helped me. You were holding the lever to stop the fans from spinning so that I could cross to reach the switch. However, it became too hot and...Jabe, I watched you burn. It was you, not a guard that died. So, now you know why I looked at you as if I saw a ghost."
         Jabe took in his words and rolled them around in her thoughts.
         "Then my dear Doctor, I think you've solved an old riddle for me." She sat back and relaxed as if a large weight had been lifted off her chest. "Ever since that day my father cased me out of the royal palace to live with only a selected troop of solders and servants on this planet. Yes, it's a thing of beauty, but I miss the song of the Mother tree back home in Cheem. My father said that I needed a stress less life so that I do not become withered and tired. That I needed to spend time away until I got better. The strangest thing about his decision was that I was never sick or ill to begin with, so why did he force me to leave? If what you say is true, then my father did the only thing a man in his power could do to bring back a loved one. He bought my time back."
         "Bought you time?" The Doctor asked astonished by the mere thought of it.
         Dante then answered, "Oh yea. Part of the Golden Hourglass's business revolves around buying time, literally. Got a dead loved one? No problem, as long as you can get the time, place, and manner, the Lord of Time can save that individual so long as there is someone else to take their place. A balance of life. ...And a balance payment of a yearly due. Miss a payment, their time gets reverted and they become dead once more."
         "Disgusting. Talking about balancing time when he's wreaked it all to oblivion."
         "It is time then." Jabe spoke as she stood up. "I will go back home and face my father to hear the truth from his own lips."
         Jabe started to walk away and gathered her servants who were all huddled outside the door.
         The Doctor jumped out of his seat, but did not follow her. "Wait, you mean now? At this instant? But we just got here?" He said in mild temperament at the thought of how short their little trip was going to be.
         "And I am glad you came my friend. However, I must do this. I have been living in a blissful lie for far too long." Then turning to the captain of her guard, she ordered. "Prepare my shuttle. I wish to leave immediately."
         During all of the commotion, no one paid any attention to Holly as she looked out into the forest. Something, she did not know what, was waiting out there. Despite the blanketing warmth of spring, a chill as cold as winters breathe, blew in from the forest. The East wind, as her favorite detective called it. An omen of something evil lurking behind the deep shadows of the trees. As every bone in her body told her that they needed to leave this paradise behind, Holly felt drawn to venture into the forest to uncover its secret.
         Without warning, Holly got up and left the room. It was only until she reached the stairs that the Doctor took notice.
         "Holly where are you going?"
         She did not hear a word when she took off running as if under a trance.
         "Holly! Blast it. Dante..."
         The Doctor turned to find that Dante was already hot on pursuit to chase her down.
         Holly, though often clumsy on her feet, she was leaping gracefully over unearth tree roots and ducked under low branches as she sped her way towards the soundless calling in the forest. She knew the others were not far behind, but that did not stop her as she sprinted on. Finally, she stopped and stared wide eyed at what had called her here to the dense heart of the forest. Behind her Dante leaped out and started to growl at her when he too looked up. About a minute or so after him, the Doctor came fumbling out from a nest of vines with a few still coiled around him. Completely ignorant of what the other two were looking at, the Doctor started to work himself up into a fit.
         "Okay, I demand a reason of why I had to run through the forest and nearly got myself strangled for following you two. I mean honestly, what in the world were you thinking Holly? Oi, you aren't even looking at me! I just might as well be talking to the trees here since you two don't even care what I've got to–" The Doctor finally turned around to see why Holly and Dante were so transfixed by. "Say..."
Before them stood the last remains of a grey building unlike any they had seen on this planet. It was certainly old by the way the forest grew around it, choking the life from it as vines and giant tree roots held up the crumbling walls and broken eliminated tile flooring. In its hay day, this building would have looked like any other sterile research lab on Earth. However, the main detail that had everyone speechless was the faded painted lettering on the side of the vine-covered wall.
         'Golden Hourglass Industrious Researching Technologies. Temporal and Quantum Physics Department.'
         "So much for thinking we could go one day without the Hourglass showing up." Dante remarked darkly as they stood by.
         The Doctor looked past the Wolf and watched Holly with curiosity and disbelief. "How did you know this was here?"
         Assuming he was asking her, Holly never moved her eyes from the painted words as she answered him. "I didn't. It was like someone was calling my name and I just followed." She then started moving towards the broken door when Dante stopped her by placing his claw on her chest.
         "No. This place is evil. Can't you smell it? It's in the air."
         "As much as I don't smell it, I do feel the little hairs on the back of my neck standing up," the Doctor said as he stepped towards them, "but I'm with Holly. I want to know why this is here. If this was their start up base, maybe we can see exactly who and what we are up against. I still can't see myself being a evil twit in the future, but I had gone to trial to defend myself against my future self. So, I suppose anything is possible these days."