"The power of the jelly baby has never failed me yet." the Doctor joked. Alison leaned against him, sighing peacefully. This was where she wanted to be forever, the perfect moment. No monsters, no explosions, no running, just lights hanging above her in the endless night sky.
Nico nods in agreement. He watched the sky and looks around when he hears footsteps. Will was back. He smiles as Will sure down and rests on Nico's lap.
They stayed there for several hours, watching the stars. Suddenly, a grating, annoying sound like some sort of old telephone emitted from the Doctor's right pocket. "Not now." he muttered. "Yes?" he asked, answering a slightly modified flip-phone that somewhat resembled the blue box he travelled in. "You have a call, dearest Doctor." the Master's always-pleasant to a painful point voice pronounced. "I answered said call." he said sarcastically. "You and I both know I mean from the Celestial Intervention Agency, my dear." the Master said , his tone flat, deadpan, almost weary. "Whatever. I'll be there in a minute." he said. "Oh, and by the way, this time you get an assistant, someone from the agency, or at least someone who provides assistance from time to time. Thought you might like to know." he replied, hanging up. "Wait, who- oh, nevermind." the Doctor growled, snapping the top half of the phone shut and returning it to his pocket.
Will and Nico watch the interaction before shrugging and returning their gaze to the stars. Nico hums softly as he does so, chuckling quietly.
"I have no idea why I resurrected the fool when all he ever does is contribute cryptic remarks and sarcastic comments on my mental state. Well then, come along, three musketeers. Now those were a group that knew how to party. And it was rather fun, having the occasional 3-on-1 fencing match." the Doctor stood up, walking back to the TARDIS and beckoning the others to follow.
Will and Nico nod, Nico stood and helped Will up. Together they walk after the Doctor, seeming to wait for Alison though.
"Coming." Alison said, packing up her things and following. The Doctor got back to the TARDIS, opening up the doors and stepping inside. "Typical. Just when he knows I need to chat, he runs off to some random part of the ship." the Doctor said, looking around the empty console room. There was a series of post-it notes on the console, with geometrical, circular shapes carefully lettered out, apparently a language (one that the TARDIS wouldn't translate, seemingly) which the Doctor glanced at and punched into the main controls moodily. "Leaving stupid notes, at least he clarified the time period. Last time I ended up waiting three weeks for something to happen. At least it wasn't more." he said, taking off, and making sure to leave the brakes on just to spite his android companion.
(Gtg for a few hours, church. Sorry, I'll be back later!)
(I'm back!)
Will and Nico make themselves comfortable before Will leans against Nico weakly. "You have your meds right?" Nico asks softly. Will nods. Now that there was a better look at the son of apollo, he appeared thin and malnourished. Dark bags hung under his dull blue eyes. His usual tan was gone, only pale. He sighs quietly and shuts his eyes.
"Hey, you alright?" Alison asked. Even if the Doctor hadn't noticed anything wrong, she had and was concerned.
Nico nods, "He just had some stuff happen." he answers softly as Will slept on his shoulder.
"Do you want to stay here?" Alison asked.
"We can go, but I think Will should stay here." Nico answers.
"Right." Alison said. "You take care, Will. Call if you need anything." she said. The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors, a shuttle had landed nearby. "Well, this must be the so-called assistant." he said. The shuttle doors opened, and out stepped a hulking, broad shouldered man with a snake tattoo on his arm. "Corsair? Is that actually you?" the Doctor asked, in a slightly less pessimistic tone. "Long time no see, Doctor. You've regenerated." the man, Corsair apparently, chuckled. "As have you. You were a bad girl last I saw you, always getting into trouble. Remember when we visited Clom and, well, the incident with the Monan ambassador. You know." he said. "Ha, yeah, good times, good times. Wish you weren't being the puppet of the CIA, being kicked around time and space. We should get a drink sometime." he gave a rumbling laugh. "That we should. Corsair, this is Alison and Nico. Alison and Nico, this is the Corsair." the Doctor said.
Nico nods slowly, watching the interaction with dead eyes.
The Corsair clapped a giant hand on the Doctor's back roughly, causing the Doctor to let out a small gasp of pain. "Anyways, why are we here? My other companion who shall remain unnamed… because reasons…. didn't really tell me why we were coming here." the Doctor said. "Oh, just some war. Need to stop it before it gets out of hand, they thought you could use a helping hand. Come on, we have a meeting to attend." the Corsair explained. The weather was wet, muddy, and overall horrible out. The Doctor groaned, but followed along. This was going to be tiresome. They had been sent to negotiate an end to some kind of rebellion, which was probably good, but the Doctor had just grumbled his way through a meeting with the rebel leader, and now seemed set to grumble his way through a meeting with the government's army. Alison was cold and covered with mud, and the aliens, who were short, covered in warm-looking fur, and wearing much better boots than she was, were also completely lacking in sympathy. Hopefully the government would agree to the peace terms and they could be back inside the cleaner, if not much warmer, TARDIS soon enough. Alison would ask why they always kept the place so cold if she thought she'd get a straight answer, but she hadn't much hope on that front. Instead she just trudged along next to the Doctor, trying to remember if she still had a dry sweater she could put on when they were finished. They finally reached the gates to the government's field HQ, and were greeted by a group of soldiers and a slightly taller than average alien with a half-coat on. "That's the general," explained the Corsair "Come to see us in person."
Nico was used to the cold, so he didn't care, looking around boredly. Peace was something he wasn't used to.
"We've been expecting you, ambassadors Doctor and Corsair!" said the general, in a high, chirping voice. "Our, ah, allies in the rebel camp told us of your arrival. A great honor, the Time Lords concerning themselves with the suppression of this petty little uprising." the general explained. "You think so?" said the Doctor. "Perhaps you'll come to my office?" said the general, without changing expression. "Of course," said the Doctor. They were escorted to the general's rooms, but given seats outside, since the interior was a little small for them. Alison grimaced. At least the rebels had had tall tents for them to talk in. The Doctor laid out the terms of the peace agreement, and Alison hoped that the aliens couldn't tell how annoyed her companion sounded by all of this. The Time Lords, as the general had called them, should've sent someone who could at least pretend to be diplomatic. At least the Corsair was keeping things from getting too heated. Maybe that's why the Time Lords sent him. Actually, that was probably why.
Nico didn't care about the current meeting, nor did he care about any of the peace. His thoughts were on the weakened state his boyfriend.
"Hey, are you alright? Seriously, you don't seem alright. I'm worried." Alison said .
"It's just Will." Nico replies, looking at her.
"Listen, he'll be fine. Besides, I think it would be better to focus on getting out of here into some dry clothes." she chuckled. Finally the Doctor was done, and both he and the Corsair looked expectantly at the general. "No. We refuse to accept anything except unconditional surrender." "General," said the Doctor sharply, and Alison was surprised out how quickly he moved from bored and annoyed to vehement coldness, "that is unacceptable. By continuing to fight, you're condemning thousands from both sides to needless deaths. Why not give, just a little? What could you lose that's comparable to all those lives?" he asked. "I'm sorry, ambassadors," said the general, fur bristling. "I'm unable to comply with your suggestion. Our enemies would jump on any sign of weakness in an instant." "Mercy is not a weakness," said the Doctor dryly, suddenly back to bored again. "But we cannot prevail on you?" he asked. "No." the general confirmed. "Then perhaps we will tour the fields before we go." the Doctor said. "Of course, ambassadors. You are our honored guests." The general beckoned to one of the soldiers. "Lieutenant Havsham will escort you. Lieutenant, don't go any further than our own lines." "Affirmative." said the soldier, and Alison and the Doctor were hurried back to the gates, the general not even getting up to see them off. We shan't need a tour-guide," said the Doctor to Havsham. "The general said to escort you, sir." Havsham said, scurrying after. "Don't you have something more important to do?" asked Alison, heading the Doctor off before he started in on insults. She could tell from the way his lips twisted that he was about to do just that. "You're not supposed to go past your lines anyway, and we're headed far out into the field." Back to the TARDIS, probably. Hopefully. Havsham looked at her briefly, and then bobbed his head. Her head? And what did the gesture mean anyway? Aliens were very…alien. Apparently bobbing meant assent, because Havsham was turning away, back toward the camp.
(Sorry my responses are getting a little bit long, lol.)
Nico didn't really pay attention until he was headed in the direction of the TARDIS. He was worried about Will. The son of Apollo wasn't doing so well, and Nico wanted to be at his side.
"Ah, Corsair, could you maybe stay and try to help the general are reason? I need to check something." the Doctor said. The Corsair nodded, walking off. "Good that he's gone. I want to see to the rebel camps, but I don't think that he'd be much use."
Nico nods, humming in blatant agreement. His dark eyes travel the area, his black hair covering his eyes.
They crossed the fields, patches of barbed wire or shrapnel from bombs scattered throughout the mud. Eventually they made their way back to the TARDIS, the Doctor promptly taking them to the rebel camps. He exited, taking Alison along with and leaving Nico alone in the TARDIS.
Nico instantly went to Will's side. The young boy looked exhausted and in pain. Nico sits next to him, running a hand slowly through Will's hair.
"Ah, Mr… I never did receive your names. But I see the Doctor has left you behind, assumingly to finish his little errand with Miss Cheney. Might we get acquainted, as there isn't much else to do at the moment? Also, if I might note, one of you is looking rather poorly." the Master said, walking into the room and casually flicking a switch on the console.
Nico looks up, running a hand through Will hair. "Hello, Master. My name is Nico Di Angelo, and this is Will Solace." He says plainly, offering a small smile.
