Full Summary: Sequel to 'Taken'. Twelve years from then. Their family is very abnormal but that doesn't mean the team can't band together to save a missing member on an epic and unforgettable journey through the desert fighting perilous obstacles: sweltering heat, dwindling water supplies, holy monsters set on a sacrifice and a brother who will stop at nothing to retrieve the love of his life no matter how many of his siblings he puts in mortal danger.
Hey, guys, I'm back! Bet your pleased! I really hope you like this new story. This first chapter introduces the characters, how they've changed and what their personalities are like. Its ridiculously long and I dont know how I wrote so much! Don't expect any of the following chapters to be as lengthy! This was like NINE pages on Word!
Anyone see Utopia? Absolutely bloody awesome, up to the bit I saw anyhoo before the recorder went distorted. Damn it!
"Alright, that's it, detention for all three of you!"
"Um, Dad, sorry to burst your ultra big, multi-coloured bubble, but you can't give us detention. There are only three of us in the class."
"Oh….fine, you're grounded," the Doctor stated, pointing a finger at them.
"Right, well technically our home is the TARDIS and as we don't leave it very often considering we're floating through time and space we don't really mind. Now, if you've finished, can we go?" The Doctor scowled at his youngest daughter who gave him a mega watt smile in return, one that could rival one of his own.
"Phoenix," he warned.
"What? It is the end of the lesson," Phoenix replied, sweetly.
"Huh?" the Time Lord frowned and looked at his watch, "Ok, I guess you can go. I could've sworn we still had twenty minutes left."
"See ya in a bit, Dad," Ember grinned and the three children leapt off their seats in the control room and dashed out of the door down the corridor.
"Oh my god, I can't believe he actually fell for it!" Ember giggled as soon as they were out of earshot.
"I know, but that's because we have a genius for a brother," Phoenix patted Ray heartily on the back. Ray gave a small smile.
"It was really pretty easy," he said modestly, "All I had to do was fiddle with the hands a bit and rig it so it skipped a certain amount of time."
"Ah, but now we have free time," Ember pointed out.
"Yep, what do you wanna do?" Phoenix asked, looking at her fellow triplets.
"Er…."
"Hey, Mini-T's what you doing?" Alfie appeared from a nearby door.
"How many times do we have to tell you, Alf, we hate that nickname?" Phoenix growled at her older brother.
"Which is exactly the reason I use it, you are mini Time Lords after all," Alfie smirked, running a hand through his dark brown hair, "Now, what did you do to, Dad?"
"What makes you think we did anything to, Dad?" Ember narrowed her eyes.
"I can just tell, sixth sense," Alfie retorted, an amused look playing across his handsome features.
Alfie had grown a lot over the last twelve years. He was seventeen and good looking. He'd had one regeneration so far, much to Rose's dismay. He was fifteen when he had a Jet Ski accident on a paradise planet the Doctor had taken the family on for a holiday. He had been challenging his father to a race but as they skimmed across the turquoise waters he had lost control and careered into a pontoon. It was a very messy death but it was the moment of truth to see whether he would have the ability to regenerate. Luckily he had.
His new body was not a lot different to his last one. He still had short brown hair though it was slightly darker than his previous and chestnut brown eyes but this time he was taller. This thoroughly disgruntled the Doctor as his son was now taller than him and more muscular.
"Pah, whatever," Phoenix blew him off, knowing her brother was just winding them up. She loved him but he could be a real pain in the ass.
The triplets were now twelve years old and therefore, pre-teenagers. The Doctor and Rose had thought it was hard when Alfie turned teen but it was nothing compared to the triplets.
Phoenix was the worst, with her feisty, sarcastic character and fiery temper. She was the loudest and most outspoken of the triplets. Her flaming red hair was always tied back in a messy ponytail allowing several strands to fall over her forehead. Freckles were scattered over her nose but she didn't have as many as her sister. She was always the mastermind behind all the schemes to get out of chores and schoolwork because she had an incredibly, wacky imagination.
Ember was the eldest of the triplets and therefore should be the most sensible but that wasn't the case. She was almost as bad as her sister but fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the way you looked at it, her temper could smoulder for weeks, cooped up inside her, brewing until she suddenly snapped and there was an eruption of fury. Other than that, she also had auburn locks and plenty of freckles splattered across her face and a cheeky smile that she endlessly used when they were up to mischief.
Ray was the quietest of the three. He was extremely intelligent and had a very quick wit when he wished to use it. He still possessed his unnatural yellow eyes and jet black hair which gave him a very mysterious, unnerving complexion. Whenever he met strangers they got freaked out by the young boy and had to be reassured that he wasn't some weird alien; although he was. His sisters were the only ones unaffected by these qualities as they seemed to have some kind of connection. Even the Doctor and Rose found their son abnormal at times.
He was still as handsome as his brother, having also inherited his father's wild, bouncy hair and impulsive nature. He was also passionate about pretty much everything, especially gadgets and machines. He could manipulate any computer or engine to do what he wanted, which is why he managed to change the Doctor's watch.
"Seriously, what did you do?" Alfie raised his eyebrows, questioningly.
"None of your business," Ember retorted.
"Fine, Ray?" the older boy turned to his brother.
"Why d'you wanna know? Just cos you didn't have to do this damn home tutoring, that Dad insists on us doing, when you were younger," Phoenix interrupted before Ray could answer.
"That's because I much cleverer than you," Alfie tapped his little sister on the head, smirking.
"No your not," Phoenix replied swiftly but she knew it was the truth.
Both the Time Lord boys seemed to have much more intelligence and knowledge than their female siblings. The Doctor didn't know why. It wasn't that Phoenix and Ember weren't bright, they just didn't seem as intellectual as their brothers.
That was why the triplets were being home tutored by the Doctor. He thought it would be more beneficial for them to learn about the stuff they needed to know rather than, in his own words, 'some twaddle at a stupid school'. They were only schooled three days a week; well it was hard to tell the amount of time gone since they were constantly travelling through time, but it was roughly that. It only lasted four hours but the triplets bored easily, especially Ray who seemed to naturally know it before and was only doing it to be with his sisters.
It definitely wasn't like normal school as it was much more advanced and they learnt about machines, science formulas way beyond most humans, how to drive the TARDIS, how to use language to their advantage and history. History was probably the most interesting subject as they got to go on plenty of trips back in time to see exactly what happened. They also learnt about nearly all the aliens in the universe and how they could be identified and defeated. It was sort of a Time Lord in training school.
"Ah but I am, so why don't you skedaddle," Alfie pushed the girl lightly in the small of the back.
"Fine, d'you know where Mum is?" Ember asked.
"Er, with Uncle Jack in the kitchen I think," Alfie answered, ruffling his hair as he thought.
"Ok, come on, Nix," Ember grabbed her sister's arm and dragged her down the corridor, "You coming, Ray?"
"Nah, he's coming with me to play footie aren't you little bro?" the seventeen year old Time Lord looked pointedly at Ray.
"Yep," Ray replied, "See you in a bit, Em."
The two boys disappeared down the opposite passage towards the control room. As they entered they saw a pair of legs sticking out from under the console.
"Hey, Dad," Alfie greeted the limbs.
"Hello, oi, Ray, I want a word with you!" the Doctor sat up hastily and cracked his head on the underside of the panel, "OW!" Ray began sidling towards the door, a sheepish expression on his face. "Wait there young man…Time Lord!"
Finally the Doctor's head popped up looking very bedraggled. He was clutching the side with his hand.
"You, have some talking to do."
"About what?" Ray asked innocently.
"You know what. I know neither of the girls is that expert with mechanisms but you are. What the hell did you do to my watch? I can't get the damn thing working!" the Doctor tried to look angry but failed miserably. Even the pointing finger was half hearted. Why was he never any good at telling off his children when he could easily tell an evil, psycho alien what's right and wrong?
"Look, I'll show you," Ray sighed and walked over to his father, "See this?" He pulled off the back.
"Hey! You'll break it!" the Time Lord gaped.
"No, you just pull this thing out, flick that, rewind this bit and turn the knob seventy three degrees. Finally, click this button and voila!" Ray placed the metal back on the watch back and handed it to his father.
"It works! How did you do that?" the Doctor was impressed, "Without a sonic screwdriver?"
"I dunno, I just seemed to know," Ray shrugged, "Now, can I go?"
"Nope, you, sir, are in a bunch of trouble, therefore you are staying here to help me with this stupid panel. I'm having a bit of trouble with the syritis extractor," the Doctor admitted, pulling his youngest son to the console, "See if you can work your magic there. Want the sonic screwdriver?"
"Don't need it," Ray replied confidently.
Ray dived under the console, his black, tufty hair brushing the underside ever so slightly. They heard a muffled grunt and a torrent of swear words issuing from the panel.
"Ray! Watch your language! Where did you learn that?!" Luckily the Doctor didn't notice Alfie looking very guilty.
"Sorry," Ray muttered, "Now, if I can just disconnect this thingamajig and link this wire to that." Ray watched in anticipation as the wire caused several sparks and then there was a whir as it spluttered into life, "Yes, done!"
"What?! It took me hours just to work out what the problem was!" the Doctor's scowl of annoyance was visible as the boy scrambled out of the hole and wiped his dirt streaked hands on his jeans.
"Ah well, can we play football now?"
"Sure, sure, whatever," the Doctor waved them off with one hand whilst scratching the back of his head with the other a look of bewilderment and incredulity creasing on his face, "How?" he mumbled.
Rose and Jack were sitting in the kitchen talking over a plate of jammy dodgers and a cup of tea.
"I feel like an old woman," Rose chuckled as she nibbled a biscuit and sipped her drink.
"Well, you are getting on a bit Rose," Jack grinned and received a sharp kick on the shin, "Ow."
"Serves you right, how rude, what happened to the gentlemanly manners you had when we first met, Captain Jack Harkness?"
"Ah, that was just a show, like the rest of me," Jack smirked.
"Pah," Rose shook her head, exasperated, "That seems like so long ago, you were a different man and so was the Doctor."
"I know," Jack grinned, "Literally."
"Shut up."
"Mum!" Phoenix skidded into the kitchen and almost crashed into a chair as her socks slid on the smooth tiles, "Argh!"
"Yes, Phoenix?" Rose raised her eyebrows at her daughter.
"Ooh, jammy dodgers!" the girl ignored her mum and dived in for a biscuit just as Jack's hand darted out and grabbed her round the wrist, "Hey."
"Ah, ah, ah they are our jammy dodgers," Jack grinned.
"That's not fair," Phoenix glowered but her face perked up when she saw a fruit bowl on the side, "BANANAS!"
"Christ, what is it with Time Lords and bananas? Its like you worship them," Rose sighed as her daughter pulled a yellow fruit out and peeled.
"We do not," Phoenix said. Just at that moment Ember appeared through the door, a huge smile on her face.
"Mum…oh…jammy dodgers!"
"No," Jack replied on reflex.
"Bananas!" The girl turned to the bowl and grabbed a banana too.
"Ok, maybe we do, didn't Dad ever tell you back on Gallifrey they had whole temples dedicated to bananas and also a god called Bananagarba that they held festivals and sacrifices for?" Phoenix stated.
"What?"
"Gotta go, see you, Mum, Uncle Jack!" the two girls scurried from the room.
"Hey, wait, what were you gonna ask me? And aren't you supposed to be in lessons?" Rose called.
"And what about the banana temples?" Jack added.
The girls sprinted down the corridor and into the control room, whistling past a befuddled Doctor as they went.
"Hey, Dad!" they yelled in unison before tumbling out of the front door to the TARDIS.
"How did you know we'd landed? You could've fallen into the vortex!" the Doctor cried after them but they didn't reply. "What have we raised?" he muttered to himself, "Those three are absolute terrors and way too clever, inventive and confident for their own good."
Ray looked up at his sisters as they stumbled, giggling and smiling from the TARDIS. He was in the middle of kicking the ball to Hollie and mistimed it completely causing it to rocket into the air and into the sandy dunes that were behind the teenager.
"What d'you do that for, you dumbass?!" Hollie groaned and set off for the hard slog up the steep, burning dunes to retrieve the ball.
Hollie had grown considerably over the years. Her figure had obviously changed a lot: she was taller, slimmer and shapelier. Her face had lost the baby fat to reveal a well defined, high cheek-boned almost adult look. All her features were pretty much perfect, much like her father, with her sapphire blue eyes that always sparkled with charm, her full lips and wavy dark brown almost black hair that fell, flowing around her shoulders.
Although that hair was swept up right now in an untidy bun allowing the cool breeze that occasionally passed through the desert planet of Saharabi to reach the hot skin. Her cheeks were flushed with the sweltering temperature and she was wondering why she'd agreed to do anything, other than rest and try and get a sun tan, as strenuous and exerting as playing football with two Time Lord Boys that had boundless energy and seemed largely unaffected by the weather. True, they had removed their baggy t-shirts and were in shorts and bare feet so the sun must be reaching them a little bit.
As she reached the ball, out of breath and sweating badly, she collapsed on the sand and surveyed the scene before her. Phoenix and Ember had just left the TARDIS and the boys were talking to them. Ray, although having completely different hair and eye colour still bore an uncanny resemblance to his fellow triplets as he stood beside them. He also looked like Alfie quite a lot. The same tall toned figure and brown skin tanned by the merciless sun only one a bit shorter. The same face shapes and characteristic traits that Hollie was sure they got from their father. They even had the similar postures as they stood.
The only difference between the two was that Hollie loved one of them. She had since she was five years old. She was pretty sure he loved her too as he had saved her life. It had scared her half to death when Alfie had had the jet ski accident but when he survived as a completely different boy it broke her heart. She didn't think he was the same. The girl hadn't talked to him in days after the incident but when she finally did, after he had cornered her and asked her what was wrong, she found he was barely different from before - still the same personality, just another body.
It wasn't that she didn't love Ray, she loved him with all her heart, as a brother, who annoyed her no end but she would never hesitate to take care of and protect. Phoenix and Ember too, they were her family, not by blood, but by the bond they shared from living in the TARDIS and sharing so many experiences.
Her family was very strange, she had two fathers, one whom was alien and the other couldn't die and was omni sexual, a mum, who was the most normal out of the bunch and two brothers and two sisters, all of which were half alien and impossibly clever. They lived in a blue box that was bigger on the inside than the out and could travel in time and space. They spent most of their days battling aliens and the rest of the time mucking around playing games and irritating the hell out of each other. What a life! But she loved it and wouldn't change it for the world. Considering twelve years ago she lived in an orphanage and had no one to love or be loved by.
"Hey, Hol, you bringing that ball back or what?" Ray shouted up to her, an impatient look on his face.
"Sure, right after you catch me!" Hollie grinned, leapt to her feet and slid down the other side of the giant dune, feeling the warm orange sand beneath her skin as it churned passed her.
"Hollie!" she heard Ray bellow behind her and knew they were giving chase. She hared up the next dune but just as she reached the top she was met by a rather horrible face which caused her to scream in fright.
The creature she was faced with was vulgar. It was sandy in colour, to match the desert but was covered in ugly green boils, like something out of a plague, several of which had burst and spattered down its wrinkled skin. Long coarse hairs, black in colour, crowned the top of its irregular shaped head and razor sharp jagged teeth lined its jaw, glinting in the bright sunlight. Red almond shaped eyes narrowed dangerously as it caught sight of the human girl.
"Intruder!" it grated.
"Er…hi," Hollie said nervously just as seven more of the sand creatures appeared over the crest of the hill, "I think I better go."
"Intruder!" the first alien cried again, leaping forward and catching Hollie before she could move an inch. Its claws gripped her arm painfully, breaking the skin and drawing blood.
"Look, I'm sorry for whatever I did, please let me go!" Hollie tugged at her injured limb.
"Who are you, human?"
"Er…Hollie," Hollie whispered, "Who are you?"
"I am Berlik of the Xaom, secret people of the sand."
"Well you're not doing a very good job of being secret are you?" Hollie said before she could stop herself immediately clamping her hand over her mouth in terror.
"You insult us! You insult our sacred species! You will be sacrificed to cleanse our souls!"
"You have souls?" Hollie looked sceptical for a moment as she took in their appearance and then suddenly realised they were glaring at her with utmost malice, "Uh-oh. Sorry, me and my big mouth."
"You will die."
Alfie was in the lead of the chase after the ball; he had the longest legs and therefore could cover the most ground. It was still a battle to get up the first dune in the stifling heat. Once they reached the top he put his hands on his knees, drawing in deep, much needed breaths. He had a killer stitch in his side. As he looked up he thought he saw several black shapes on the next dune but when he blinked and looked again they had disappeared. Must be a mirage, he thought as it seemed none of his siblings had noticed.
Hollie seemed to have vanished from sight, he observed, she must be bloody good at running he thought as he saw the next sand hill towering over. It looked like more hard work. He began scaling the dune, the muscles in his legs straining viciously against his skin, standing out lividly on his calves. Ray was beside him followed by the two girls who were panting at the back.
As they slumped over the top of the dune Alfie began to get worried. The terrain from there onwards was mostly flat so therefore he should be able to spot Hollie even if she was miles ahead but he couldn't. The teenage girl was nowhere in sight and he felt his hearts clench painfully at the thought of anything happening to her.
"Where the hell is she?" Ember spluttered as she also scanned the bleak landscape.
"I really don't know," Alfie replied, "But I may have an idea, I think I saw some creatures a few minutes ago, they may have captured her."
"She better not lose the ball, that was mine and if she does I'm blaming you Ray," Phoenix scowled.
"Hey, why me?"
"Cos you hoofed it over here that's why," Phoenix retorted.
"Point taken," Ray raised his hands in defeat.
"I think you're kind of missing the point here, guys," Ember interrupted, "Hollie's missing."
"Oh, right, yeah."
"Well, lets go find her," Alfie decided.
"What?" Ember frowned.
"We'll go look for her," Alfie repeated, setting off down the steep hill.
"Hey, hey, wait a moment," Ember grabbed his arm, "Shouldn't we be telling the adults?"
"Why do we need to tell the adults? We're hardly little babies, unless of course, you're too scared."
"But-but…" Ember was desperately trying to be the sensible one now that her brother was being so reckless but failing miserably, "We dunno what to do! What if they have guns? What if they're miles away? We're hardly prepared; we have no water, no food, no weapons!"
"And, doesn't that make it all the more exciting?" Alfie grinned, not realising at that moment how much he resembled his father, "I thought you lot were training to be Time Lords? Well here's your first real adventure, without Dad."
"But…" Ember could think of no more excuses about why this was a stupid idea, not that she wanted to. She could feel here whole being begging to go on this rescue, "Ok, let's go."
The four Time Lord siblings headed down the dune, the fierce sun beating down on their backs and the buzz of an adventure on all their minds.
Ha ha, I thought I'd just jump right in with the action! What do you think? Good? Bad? Please review, and to keep wth tradition, have some candy floss.