Comment fics (various fandoms)
More commentfics... mostly crossovers this time.
Torchwood/Doctor Who, Jack/Ten, "Where were you?"
Jack wasn’t trying to find him. But they found each other anyway, on Raxaflorian 5, a planet that was, at that moment, engaged in the beginnings of a civil war.
Jack had been (grudgingly - because he didn’t want to be involved at all) helping the rebels, who were mostly idealistic kids, and making sure that they knew which end of a gun to hold. The Doctor was headed straight to the commanding officers, aiming to talk them out of an ultimately pointless war.
They saw each other in the street. Jack noticed the Time Lord first, and stopped dead, staring straight ahead. Then the Doctor saw him, and walked over.
The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when Jack said,
“Where were you?”
The Doctor swallowed, his current body’s Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “Uh…”
“Every time the Earth is in danger, you show up. The Sycorax. Canary Wharf. The Racnoss. The Slitheen. The Sontarans. The Daleks. Every time, you showed up, sorted everything out and saved the day. So where the hell were you?”
“I… I can’t be everywhere. I thought Torchwood…”
He was cut off again as Jack almost hissed, “Do not say that word.”
“…I thought you had it covered.”
Jack rubbed a hand across his face. “I’m not you! I tried… for a century, I tried. And I couldn’t do anything. I lost everything that mattered to me. Because you weren’t there.”
“I…”
Jack shook his head. “Don’t. There’s nothing you can say. Don’t try to find me.” With that, he turned and walked back the way he’d come, not looking back even once.
The Doctor opened and then closed his mouth, and sighed sadly. He didn’t have much time for reflection, though, as soon enough there was someone calling for him, and he turned and ran to see what was happening now.
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Star Trek XI/Heroes, Spock & Crew, in a centuries old history book, Spock finds a relative by the name of Gabriel "Sylar" Gray and begins to research him
Spock’s research into the history of his human ancestors began, as things frequently did on the Enterprise, with Jim Kirk trying to get his first officer to show his human side. Somehow, this involved Jim persuading Bones that Spock was the perfect person to watch his daughter Joanna, who was visiting at the time, for a few hours.
All things considered, the plan didn’t go too badly, and all parties involved survived mostly intact. Joanna had brought her schoolwork with her - a project that involved researching her family history, and that was something that Spock found interesting, and after Joanna had been reclaimed by her father, he headed for a computer terminal, thinking that though he knew the names of many of his Vulcan ancestors, he knew very little about his mother’s family.
His first discovery was that her family name, ‘Grayson’, had been ‘Gray’ until just under two hundred years before she was born. This was both useful and frustrating, as Gray was far more common. He did know, however, that his mother’s family originated from the Earth city of New York, and this allowed him to narrow the search significantly. Some hours later, he located a newspaper article from the early twentieth century, about the murder of a woman named Virginia Gray. The article suggested that the police at the time had considered her adult son, Gabriel, to be the most likely killer.
This intrigued Spock, so he searched for more files on this Gabriel Gray. This search took a little longer, but yielded a greater result - he found a government file on Gabriel Gray that had once been highly classified. Opening the virtual document, he was shocked to see that, though Gabriel had obviously lacked his own Vulcan anatomy, there was a startling resemblance between him and his ancestor. He received an even greater surprise when he read several reports stating that Gabriel had possessed so-called ‘superhuman’ abilities, and that he had killed dozens of other people to obtain these skills.
Jim chose that moment to look in. “You look… more serious than usual. What’s wrong?”
Spock looked up. “I have been investigating the history of my human ancestors.”
“Oh. Find anything?”
“Yes. A man, Gabriel Gray. It would seem he is one of my direct ancestors, through my mother.”
“And….”
“He was a murderer. He killed dozens of people in pursuit of power. He killed his own mother.”
“Ah. Maybe you should leave the genealogical research for another day…”
“Perhaps. I must find out how he was able to do those things before being stopped, though. I could research the law enforcement of the period…”
“Yeah, or you could speak to someone who’s good at history.” Jim frowned in concentration, then grinned. “Yeoman Bennet, maybe, in Communications. I think she said something about studying history. Or maybe it was criminology… either way, she’d probably be able to help you out.” Jim wasn’t too certain of that - but then, all he was really certain about concerning Yeoman Claire Bennet was that she was blonde, she was cute, and she could really hold her liquor. Not that he was admitting knowing that last one to Spock.
Spock was not so confident. Yeoman Bennet tended to avoid him for some reason, and whenever circumstances forced them to be in the same place, she always seemed very nervous around him. He didn’t tell any of that to Jim, though, and merely said, “You may be right,” before walking out of the room.
Before leaving, Jim glimpsed at the terminal, where a photograph of Gabriel Gray was displayed. Wow, he thought, that guy does look a lot like Spock. No wonder he’s worried…
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Doctor Who, Rose/Romana, Romana ended the Time War and the Doctor is missing
All Rose had planned to do was take the lottery money down to Winston in the basement, then go home, eat her dinner, and spend the evening watching TV with her mum.
Then she got attacked by an old mannequin in the basement, and a woman with short dark hair and sad eyes grabbed her arm and told her to run, so she ran.
She made it out of the building just in time, before the explosion, and soon on the pavement opposite, staring at what had once been her job. Then she caught a glimpse of the basement woman, and ran after her.
“Hey! Hey, you, wait!”
The woman stopped and turned. “What?”
“You just blew up my job, lady, what are you doing? Are you some kind of terrorist? I’ll call the police.”
The woman shrugged. “Your police won’t be able to do anything. And I won’t talk about it here. Is there somewhere quieter?”
Rose thought for a moment. “The park? Won’t be many people there this time of year.”
“It will do.” Rose took her to the park, and they sat on a bench together in the cold. The woman introduced herself as Romana, and said that she regretted the destruction of the building, but it had to be done, in order to prevent something terrible from happening.
“You look tired,” Rose said.
“I am.”
“Must be all that running around. Isn’t there someone who could help you?”
“There was,” Romana sighed. “But he is missing. I haven’t seen him for a long time.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“It’s all right. If you ever meet a man called the Doctor… tell me. It’s been so long.”
“ ‘The Doctor’? What kind of name is that?”
“It isn’t. But his true name hasn’t been used for a long time. Even I don’t know what it is. He’s just the Doctor.”
Rose shrugs. “Oh.”
Later, Romana asks Rose if she’d like to come with her for a while. Rose considers her life at home, and says yes almost straight away, heading off with Romana in her self-camouflaging time machine after quickly hugging Mickey and her mum goodbye.
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True Blood/Twilight, no pairing, blood, fangs, tears
Bella froze when she heard soft footsteps behind her, and bit down on her tongue to keep herself from crying out as the unknown person grabbed her shoulders, turning her around. As she looked up to see a tall, pale woman smiling at her, in a way that suggested a tiger that had just spotted its prey, she tasted the coppery tang of blood in her mouth and realised that she must have bitten harder than she had thought.
“Well hello there…” the woman’s gaze flicked over her, “… and what would a little girl like you be doing in a place like this?”
“I… I heard there was a vampire bar in there,” Bella nodded towards the building behind them. “I was curious.”
The woman smiled. “Curious? Well, I can help there…” Bella was shocked to see two pointed, almost delicate fangs emerge from behind the woman’s teeth. “What would you like to know?”
Bella was struck by the sudden and certain knowledge that she was in deep trouble here, and that she really, really needed to be… well, pretty much anywhere that wasn’t right here.
“Oh. Um… I have to… go. I just remembered, I have something I need to do…” she turned to leave, but the woman grabbed her arm, moving faster that she would have thought possible.
“I don’t think so, little girl. You wanted to know about vampires. Looks like you get your wish.” Seemingly effortlessly, she dragged Bella inside the building.
Swallowing, Bella looked around quickly. It looked like an ordinary bar, even if the décor seemed a little tacky. It was empty, though - Bella and the woman were the only people inside.
“There. You saw your first vampire bar. Curiosity satisfied?”
She nodded quickly. The woman seemed to consider something for a moment, then shrugged elegantly. “Then you should go.”
“Oh, of course, thank you…” she said, as her eyes filled with tears of sheer relief, and she stumbled for the exit.
As the young human girl ran out, Eric stepped out of the shadows. “You shouldn’t play with them like that.”
“It’s just a little fun. She’s fine. Unless you want curious human children running around?”
“You know we can’t let that happen.” As an afterthought, he added, “Be careful. Games are one thing. Don’t let them get out of control.” Then he walked away.
Pam scowled to herself, and went back outside to see if any customers had arrived.
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Buffy/Good Omens, Adam and Buffy, "Define human."
They’d been tracking the signs for weeks - odd sightings and unusual events spread over the English countryside - and a pattern was emerging. A pattern that was pointed squarely at the village of Lower Tadfield.
Buffy had headed down to check it out herself, with Dawn riding shotgun and a couple of the younger Slayers as backup, should backup prove to be necessary. The closer they got to the village, the more she became sure that there was something, or someone, dangerous in this village.
The problem was that Lower Tadfield didn’t just look like an ordinary English village, it looked like the perfect English village - it could have come straight out of some children’s storybook.
After driving around the village a few times, they were able to work out a more specific location that the signs were emanating from. It turned out to be the most ordinary-looking detached house imaginable. When they stopped outside, Dawn took one look and said, “Well, that’s kinda anticlimactic.”
Leaving the junior Slayers in the car, the sisters got out and Buffy was soon knocking on the front door. It was answered by a guy who looked like he should be some kind of Greek god - tall, tanned, blond curling hair and blue eyes. He looked at them, surprised at first, then they saw a curious look in his eyes.
“Hi. Anything I can help you with?”
Buffy shook herself discreetly. “Uh, yeah. Have you… noticed anything weird around here recently?”
The guy looked at her for a long minute, sighed, and said, “You’d better come in.”
Soon they were sitting down in his front room. The guy, though, was leaning against the wall, in a pose that would have been relaxed for anyone else.
“Right,” he said, “Who are you two representing, then?”
“Heard of the Slayer?”
He thought for a moment. “Rumours. Why, you’re from her?”
“I am her,” Buffy said. “Well, there are a few more of us now. But I’m the Slayer, yeah. This is Dawn.”
Dawn smiled nervously, and tried not to stare too hard at their host.
“Nice to meet you both. I’m Adam. You’re here because of me.”
Buffy opened her mouth to answer. Adam got there first. “…yeah, I know why you’re here. Weird stuff was happening, you followed the portents, put two and two together and they led you here. This actually happens to me a lot.”
“Who are you?”
“…ok, I was expecting you to have heard. But you obviously haven’t… to cut a long story short, I’m the Antichrist.”
“But you’re… human. You are human, right?”
Adam shrugged. “Define ‘human’. If you mean, have I got human DNA, then yes. My mum and dad - the people I call Mum and Dad, at least - are human. My friends are human. My girlfriend’s human. It just happens that my father, my real one, is Lucifer. Either way… I’m as human as either of you,” he said with a wink.
Buffy realised at that moment that he knew a lot more than ‘rumours’ about her, and suppressed a shudder. “So, what about these signs, then? What do they mean?”
“Not a lot, to be honest. Sometimes I think they’re there to point people in my direction, and from the number of times I’ve had to help out people like you, I’d say they’re doing their job. But an angel I know says that they’re only happening because the wards laid down around this place when I was a kid are still here, and somehow that causes the weird stuff people see. Sorry, it’s not very impressive. You didn’t come far, did you?”
She shook her head. “Scotland.”
“Oh. Could have been worse. Like the time those two guys came over all the way from America with an angel in tow. Had to let them down gently. They said something about an Apocalypse, wanted to know if I’d had any weird dreams or visions. There wasn’t much I could do… I did give them a few pointers for their apocalypse though. They’ll probably be fine.”
“You’ve averted an apocalypse?”
“Yeah,” he said nonchalantly. “Had some help, though, I was only eleven at the time.”
Without really knowing what to say to that, Buffy quickly made an excuse and they were soon back on the road and heading home. Back at Slayer HQ, she made several, emphatic notes that Lower Tadfield and its area were to be treated with extreme caution and avoided if possible.
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Torchwood/Doctor Who, Jack/Ten, "Where were you?"
Jack wasn’t trying to find him. But they found each other anyway, on Raxaflorian 5, a planet that was, at that moment, engaged in the beginnings of a civil war.
Jack had been (grudgingly - because he didn’t want to be involved at all) helping the rebels, who were mostly idealistic kids, and making sure that they knew which end of a gun to hold. The Doctor was headed straight to the commanding officers, aiming to talk them out of an ultimately pointless war.
They saw each other in the street. Jack noticed the Time Lord first, and stopped dead, staring straight ahead. Then the Doctor saw him, and walked over.
The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when Jack said,
“Where were you?”
The Doctor swallowed, his current body’s Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “Uh…”
“Every time the Earth is in danger, you show up. The Sycorax. Canary Wharf. The Racnoss. The Slitheen. The Sontarans. The Daleks. Every time, you showed up, sorted everything out and saved the day. So where the hell were you?”
“I… I can’t be everywhere. I thought Torchwood…”
He was cut off again as Jack almost hissed, “Do not say that word.”
“…I thought you had it covered.”
Jack rubbed a hand across his face. “I’m not you! I tried… for a century, I tried. And I couldn’t do anything. I lost everything that mattered to me. Because you weren’t there.”
“I…”
Jack shook his head. “Don’t. There’s nothing you can say. Don’t try to find me.” With that, he turned and walked back the way he’d come, not looking back even once.
The Doctor opened and then closed his mouth, and sighed sadly. He didn’t have much time for reflection, though, as soon enough there was someone calling for him, and he turned and ran to see what was happening now.
-------
Star Trek XI/Heroes, Spock & Crew, in a centuries old history book, Spock finds a relative by the name of Gabriel "Sylar" Gray and begins to research him
Spock’s research into the history of his human ancestors began, as things frequently did on the Enterprise, with Jim Kirk trying to get his first officer to show his human side. Somehow, this involved Jim persuading Bones that Spock was the perfect person to watch his daughter Joanna, who was visiting at the time, for a few hours.
All things considered, the plan didn’t go too badly, and all parties involved survived mostly intact. Joanna had brought her schoolwork with her - a project that involved researching her family history, and that was something that Spock found interesting, and after Joanna had been reclaimed by her father, he headed for a computer terminal, thinking that though he knew the names of many of his Vulcan ancestors, he knew very little about his mother’s family.
His first discovery was that her family name, ‘Grayson’, had been ‘Gray’ until just under two hundred years before she was born. This was both useful and frustrating, as Gray was far more common. He did know, however, that his mother’s family originated from the Earth city of New York, and this allowed him to narrow the search significantly. Some hours later, he located a newspaper article from the early twentieth century, about the murder of a woman named Virginia Gray. The article suggested that the police at the time had considered her adult son, Gabriel, to be the most likely killer.
This intrigued Spock, so he searched for more files on this Gabriel Gray. This search took a little longer, but yielded a greater result - he found a government file on Gabriel Gray that had once been highly classified. Opening the virtual document, he was shocked to see that, though Gabriel had obviously lacked his own Vulcan anatomy, there was a startling resemblance between him and his ancestor. He received an even greater surprise when he read several reports stating that Gabriel had possessed so-called ‘superhuman’ abilities, and that he had killed dozens of other people to obtain these skills.
Jim chose that moment to look in. “You look… more serious than usual. What’s wrong?”
Spock looked up. “I have been investigating the history of my human ancestors.”
“Oh. Find anything?”
“Yes. A man, Gabriel Gray. It would seem he is one of my direct ancestors, through my mother.”
“And….”
“He was a murderer. He killed dozens of people in pursuit of power. He killed his own mother.”
“Ah. Maybe you should leave the genealogical research for another day…”
“Perhaps. I must find out how he was able to do those things before being stopped, though. I could research the law enforcement of the period…”
“Yeah, or you could speak to someone who’s good at history.” Jim frowned in concentration, then grinned. “Yeoman Bennet, maybe, in Communications. I think she said something about studying history. Or maybe it was criminology… either way, she’d probably be able to help you out.” Jim wasn’t too certain of that - but then, all he was really certain about concerning Yeoman Claire Bennet was that she was blonde, she was cute, and she could really hold her liquor. Not that he was admitting knowing that last one to Spock.
Spock was not so confident. Yeoman Bennet tended to avoid him for some reason, and whenever circumstances forced them to be in the same place, she always seemed very nervous around him. He didn’t tell any of that to Jim, though, and merely said, “You may be right,” before walking out of the room.
Before leaving, Jim glimpsed at the terminal, where a photograph of Gabriel Gray was displayed. Wow, he thought, that guy does look a lot like Spock. No wonder he’s worried…
-------
Doctor Who, Rose/Romana, Romana ended the Time War and the Doctor is missing
All Rose had planned to do was take the lottery money down to Winston in the basement, then go home, eat her dinner, and spend the evening watching TV with her mum.
Then she got attacked by an old mannequin in the basement, and a woman with short dark hair and sad eyes grabbed her arm and told her to run, so she ran.
She made it out of the building just in time, before the explosion, and soon on the pavement opposite, staring at what had once been her job. Then she caught a glimpse of the basement woman, and ran after her.
“Hey! Hey, you, wait!”
The woman stopped and turned. “What?”
“You just blew up my job, lady, what are you doing? Are you some kind of terrorist? I’ll call the police.”
The woman shrugged. “Your police won’t be able to do anything. And I won’t talk about it here. Is there somewhere quieter?”
Rose thought for a moment. “The park? Won’t be many people there this time of year.”
“It will do.” Rose took her to the park, and they sat on a bench together in the cold. The woman introduced herself as Romana, and said that she regretted the destruction of the building, but it had to be done, in order to prevent something terrible from happening.
“You look tired,” Rose said.
“I am.”
“Must be all that running around. Isn’t there someone who could help you?”
“There was,” Romana sighed. “But he is missing. I haven’t seen him for a long time.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“It’s all right. If you ever meet a man called the Doctor… tell me. It’s been so long.”
“ ‘The Doctor’? What kind of name is that?”
“It isn’t. But his true name hasn’t been used for a long time. Even I don’t know what it is. He’s just the Doctor.”
Rose shrugs. “Oh.”
Later, Romana asks Rose if she’d like to come with her for a while. Rose considers her life at home, and says yes almost straight away, heading off with Romana in her self-camouflaging time machine after quickly hugging Mickey and her mum goodbye.
-------
True Blood/Twilight, no pairing, blood, fangs, tears
Bella froze when she heard soft footsteps behind her, and bit down on her tongue to keep herself from crying out as the unknown person grabbed her shoulders, turning her around. As she looked up to see a tall, pale woman smiling at her, in a way that suggested a tiger that had just spotted its prey, she tasted the coppery tang of blood in her mouth and realised that she must have bitten harder than she had thought.
“Well hello there…” the woman’s gaze flicked over her, “… and what would a little girl like you be doing in a place like this?”
“I… I heard there was a vampire bar in there,” Bella nodded towards the building behind them. “I was curious.”
The woman smiled. “Curious? Well, I can help there…” Bella was shocked to see two pointed, almost delicate fangs emerge from behind the woman’s teeth. “What would you like to know?”
Bella was struck by the sudden and certain knowledge that she was in deep trouble here, and that she really, really needed to be… well, pretty much anywhere that wasn’t right here.
“Oh. Um… I have to… go. I just remembered, I have something I need to do…” she turned to leave, but the woman grabbed her arm, moving faster that she would have thought possible.
“I don’t think so, little girl. You wanted to know about vampires. Looks like you get your wish.” Seemingly effortlessly, she dragged Bella inside the building.
Swallowing, Bella looked around quickly. It looked like an ordinary bar, even if the décor seemed a little tacky. It was empty, though - Bella and the woman were the only people inside.
“There. You saw your first vampire bar. Curiosity satisfied?”
She nodded quickly. The woman seemed to consider something for a moment, then shrugged elegantly. “Then you should go.”
“Oh, of course, thank you…” she said, as her eyes filled with tears of sheer relief, and she stumbled for the exit.
As the young human girl ran out, Eric stepped out of the shadows. “You shouldn’t play with them like that.”
“It’s just a little fun. She’s fine. Unless you want curious human children running around?”
“You know we can’t let that happen.” As an afterthought, he added, “Be careful. Games are one thing. Don’t let them get out of control.” Then he walked away.
Pam scowled to herself, and went back outside to see if any customers had arrived.
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Buffy/Good Omens, Adam and Buffy, "Define human."
They’d been tracking the signs for weeks - odd sightings and unusual events spread over the English countryside - and a pattern was emerging. A pattern that was pointed squarely at the village of Lower Tadfield.
Buffy had headed down to check it out herself, with Dawn riding shotgun and a couple of the younger Slayers as backup, should backup prove to be necessary. The closer they got to the village, the more she became sure that there was something, or someone, dangerous in this village.
The problem was that Lower Tadfield didn’t just look like an ordinary English village, it looked like the perfect English village - it could have come straight out of some children’s storybook.
After driving around the village a few times, they were able to work out a more specific location that the signs were emanating from. It turned out to be the most ordinary-looking detached house imaginable. When they stopped outside, Dawn took one look and said, “Well, that’s kinda anticlimactic.”
Leaving the junior Slayers in the car, the sisters got out and Buffy was soon knocking on the front door. It was answered by a guy who looked like he should be some kind of Greek god - tall, tanned, blond curling hair and blue eyes. He looked at them, surprised at first, then they saw a curious look in his eyes.
“Hi. Anything I can help you with?”
Buffy shook herself discreetly. “Uh, yeah. Have you… noticed anything weird around here recently?”
The guy looked at her for a long minute, sighed, and said, “You’d better come in.”
Soon they were sitting down in his front room. The guy, though, was leaning against the wall, in a pose that would have been relaxed for anyone else.
“Right,” he said, “Who are you two representing, then?”
“Heard of the Slayer?”
He thought for a moment. “Rumours. Why, you’re from her?”
“I am her,” Buffy said. “Well, there are a few more of us now. But I’m the Slayer, yeah. This is Dawn.”
Dawn smiled nervously, and tried not to stare too hard at their host.
“Nice to meet you both. I’m Adam. You’re here because of me.”
Buffy opened her mouth to answer. Adam got there first. “…yeah, I know why you’re here. Weird stuff was happening, you followed the portents, put two and two together and they led you here. This actually happens to me a lot.”
“Who are you?”
“…ok, I was expecting you to have heard. But you obviously haven’t… to cut a long story short, I’m the Antichrist.”
“But you’re… human. You are human, right?”
Adam shrugged. “Define ‘human’. If you mean, have I got human DNA, then yes. My mum and dad - the people I call Mum and Dad, at least - are human. My friends are human. My girlfriend’s human. It just happens that my father, my real one, is Lucifer. Either way… I’m as human as either of you,” he said with a wink.
Buffy realised at that moment that he knew a lot more than ‘rumours’ about her, and suppressed a shudder. “So, what about these signs, then? What do they mean?”
“Not a lot, to be honest. Sometimes I think they’re there to point people in my direction, and from the number of times I’ve had to help out people like you, I’d say they’re doing their job. But an angel I know says that they’re only happening because the wards laid down around this place when I was a kid are still here, and somehow that causes the weird stuff people see. Sorry, it’s not very impressive. You didn’t come far, did you?”
She shook her head. “Scotland.”
“Oh. Could have been worse. Like the time those two guys came over all the way from America with an angel in tow. Had to let them down gently. They said something about an Apocalypse, wanted to know if I’d had any weird dreams or visions. There wasn’t much I could do… I did give them a few pointers for their apocalypse though. They’ll probably be fine.”
“You’ve averted an apocalypse?”
“Yeah,” he said nonchalantly. “Had some help, though, I was only eleven at the time.”
Without really knowing what to say to that, Buffy quickly made an excuse and they were soon back on the road and heading home. Back at Slayer HQ, she made several, emphatic notes that Lower Tadfield and its area were to be treated with extreme caution and avoided if possible.
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