[April's Fool] - Chapter Two - Glitch
Chapter One
April's Fool
Chapter Two - Glitch
“Jack,” the Doctor started as Jack revved the engine of the Torchwood SUV, “I'm not here just for Fay.”
“So you picked it up too?”
Taken aback, the Doctor looked levelly at Jack, “And it's not you or any of your team that's causing it?”
“Nope, must be some kind of...” Jack searched for the word, “Anomaly.”
“Pretty big anomaly, to make a rip that size...”
-
As soon as Fay could see the black of Kurogane’s cape and the green of Syaoran’s, he happily turned to the Doctor.
(“Thank you for helping me get back, I really appreciate it!”)
The Doctor looked puzzled and Jack said something to him, when Fay realised with confusion that his language was still unintelligible to them. He was certain that he was in Mokona’s range, but for some reason Yuuko’s translation spell wasn’t working on him any longer.
Noticing he’d fallen behind, he ran forward and instead of slowing down when he drew level with everyone, he kept going and threw his arms around Kurogane, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR, CRAZY BASTARD?!”
Fay grinned, (“it was your magnetic personality, Kuro-chan!”) he purred, mock-nuzzling him. Kurogane threw the lanky wizard off of him and drew Souhi.
“Stop talking crap at me, you wiry little shit! AND IT’S KUROGANE!”
Mokona bounced out from nowhere and landed happily on Fay’s head.
(“Ah! Kuro-puppy’s mad!”) Fay said, giggling, and even though it was in a different language, Mokona and Kurogane both knew what he meant,
“His face is all scary!” Mokona joined in with their practically scripted argument before Kurogane exploded from rage and they were off, running around the street, Fay and Mokona laughing insanely.
“GET BACK HERE; I’LL CUT YOU BOTH IN HALF!”
The teenagers both ignored the adults’ actions and Syaoran turned to Jack and the Doctor.
“Thank you for finding Fay-san.” he said, bowing.
“Erm, yeah. Shouldn’t you be trying to stop them?” the Doctor pointed out confusedly, but Syaoran just chuckled. They started running back to the group and Jack was about to step in when Fay turned and threw Mokona at Kurogane, hitting the ninja square in the face.
Strangely, this seemed to stop the chase.
The Doctor and the members of Torchwood all thought the little group could surprise them no more, until the white rabbit’s eyes opened and it gave a yelp of “MEKYO!”
Gwen would have questioned Mokona’s outburst when suddenly Fay, who was now a little way behind them, bent over and immediately threw up.
All in all, they were an odd little group.
-
Fay made sure Mokona was securely perched somewhere on his person before re-entering the TARDIS. He had told it to not say anything about his plan while they were inside the TARDIS unless specifically instructed to.
He wasn’t foolish enough to believe he had tricked the Doctor, or earned his trust. He knew when the chocolate brown eyes were studying him. He would describe it as being similar to how Kurogane’s eyes observed, and he would have been insulted, just short of enraged, had he not known that the Doctor’s interest was more scientific than the ninja’s was.
For some reason, even though he had just emptied his stomach not ten minutes earlier, he felt absolutely fine. No nausea, no weakness, no nothing. Even the sickness that he had felt while he had been inside the TARDIS had dissipated before he had entered what he now knew was called Torchwood.
That was another mystery. He now understood everyone perfectly. Mokona had bounced around as if nothing was wrong, saying that perhaps Yuuko was having an off day.
But Fay knew better.
Yuuko-san was the most famous witch of them all. Her power exceeded the total of the Council of Celes's mages put together, and he doubted it was any different across the dimensions. Also, he knew she was a woman who enjoyed her liquor, and she had undoubtedly had a few hangovers in the time they had been travelling without anything affecting them. He was willing to bet that she would have to be on her deathbed to be even considered to be having an ‘off day’.
“If you had lost anything, I’m sure the scan would have picked up on it.” the Doctor re-iterated.
Fay made sure his smile was in place before turning to face the taller man, “I know, but it can’t hurt to check, right?” he replied with the practised air of a complete idiot who couldn’t find a needle in a needle stack.
“...Of course.” the Doctor said warily, though he didn’t move from the door which he was leaning against.
Fay almost cursed to himself. He couldn’t do this if the Doctor was watching him so carefully. He regretted bringing the magical creature along with him for a moment, then remembered why it was with him in the first place.
“Mokona? Just out of curiosity… How are you feeling?”
Mokona paused for a moment, as if considering its words.
“Mokona feels like… like Mokona ate bad sushi that Mokona needs to bring back up.”
The Doctor looked rather worried at the thought of having to get rabbit-vomit up off the gratings, but Fay just nodded in understanding.
“Mokona knows what Fay is feeling too,” Mokona chirped, “Mokona knows that Fay doesn’t trust Doctor-san… but Mokona also knows that Doctor-san is kind and that Fay should trust him!”
Fay nodded and continued his search with real enthusiasm. Mokona was a superb empath; it wouldn’t tell Fay to trust the Doctor if he couldn’t.
“That’s a handy trick,” the Doctor commented from across the room, “Do you let people pull you out of a hat by the ears, too?”
Fay had the sudden impression of Kurogane in a penguin suit doing just that to the poor rabbit, and giggled softly to himself.
“It’s one of Mokona’s 108 secret special abilities!”
“That leads me to assume the other 107 are still secret,” the Doctor commented, looking amused and slightly intrigued. Mokona giggled and nodded its head before transferring itself to the Doctor’s shoulder.
“Maybe Mokona will-“
“Got it.”
They looked over to Fay, who was across the room from them but still in sight. He was stood with his hand above his head, his eyes focused and dark with concentration. Something in the air sparked, and out from nowhere appeared a feather.
Fay noted idly that his feather was nowhere near as elaborate as one of Sakura-chan’s, and in a bid for his own self esteem he supposed it was because his was not a memory feather.
“Fay!” Mokona squeaked, “That’s-!”
“The air’s full of them,” Fay stated calmly, “it makes sense now.”
“It’s a feather.” The Doctor reminded him, and Fay smiled at him, the coldness in his eyes gone.
“You’re a smart man, Doctor. You know this isn’t just a feather.” he replied lightly, twiddling the golden-white feather between his index finger and thumb.
“Fine, so what is it?” the taller man asked, reaching to pick the plume out from the blonde’s fingers, but it was pulled away at the last second.
“Do you believe in the energy of magic, Doctor?”
The Doctor raised an eyebrow, and tried to take the feather again.
“Magic energy? Oh-kay...” he grinned, obviously humouring Fay, “Just give it to me so I can scan it.”
“If we leave the TARDIS, the feather will no longer have a physical form. The same will happen if it leaves my grasp. Magic is not a physical thing, Doctor, and to a man of science such as yourself, I can see why you are so unwilling to believe this kind of energy exists.” Fay said. He winked and walked slowly around the console, all the while playing with the shimmering feather.
“So you’re saying that magic exists.”
“Of course,” Fay assured, “After all, if magic is energy, then what is a wizard but a man who can convert this energy and use it as he so wishes?”
“Fay…” Mokona interrupted, its voice feeble, “That feather… I don’t feel well, Fay!”
Fay held the Doctor’s gaze for a while before releasing the feather, and it dissolved into the air with a shimmer of gold.
“How did that solve anything?” the Doctor asked. He wasn’t usually this blunt, but they were inside his ship. Inside his TARDIS. And the enigmatic blonde had just told them that the air was filled with magic with the same tone of voice as if he had been talking about how tall the sunflowers are this year.
“Well,” Fay began, sighing, plopping into the captain’s chair, “For a start, magic is very stable, and very fixed. Magic is hereditary, however it doesn’t mutate; it isn’t like DNA. For countless generations, magics have remained the same as when they came into existence…” he looked up at the Doctor, “I’m right in assuming that this ship of yours has defence systems, yes?” the Doctor nodded, “Well, to have broken those would have taken tremendous power on my part, and it would have taken even more to protect myself also. More than I have, by the sounds of things.”
He looked up. The Doctor was leaning against the console in front of him, the scepticism in his eyes being replaced by wary understanding. Fay licked his lips.
“Something wanted me in here.”
“What makes you say that?”
“My magic fused with Mokona’s. If it hadn’t, I’d most certainly be dead. But, magic is unwilling to let itself die out, so it fused itself with Mokona’s magic to get me through the defences. Unfortunately…” Fay paused, suddenly looking very ill in the green light, “it came with some side effects.”
“That’s why we couldn’t understand Fay…” Mokona murmured, hiding itself in the Doctor’s collar, quivering uncomfortably.
Fay nodded wearily. “Seeing as this is where it happened,” he got up and headed for the door, “we should be fine when we leave the ship.”
The blue door creaked as he stepped through, and it snapped shut behind him. He blinked confusedly, finding himself across the room he’d just been in.
He checked the door he’d just walked through.
It was a corridor.
He crossed the console room and, ignoring the very odd look from the Doctor, passed through the exit door again.
“What in the…?”
No matter how many times he passed through the door, he just ended up on the other side of the room. He slumped into the captain’s chair and sighed in frustration.
“Another side effect?” the Doctor asked, unable to hide the hint of amusement in his voice.
“If you knew how close I was to projecting whatever I have left in my stomach onto this chair, I have a feeling you wouldn’t mock me.” Fay grumbled.
“The rabbit thing left fine.” The Doctor gestured outside.
“My magic fused with its, not the other way around. More of my magic was in the equation; Mokona shouldn’t get as affected as me.”
The Doctor nodded, “Good to know.”
“Sorry about this,” Fay murmured, “It’s probably not every day you get random people zapping into your home…”
The Doctor grinned, remembering a certain fiery redhead, “You’d be surprised.”
Fay managed a smile.
“I think I should try and nap… You don’t mind, do you?”
The Doctor was about to reply, but he noticed that the blonde was already fast asleep.
-
“So… what is it you’re looking for?” Jack asked again, staring down at the two teenagers who kept exchanging odd glances.
“My feathers,” Sakura replied timidly, “it’s very important that I retrieve my feathers…”
“Feathers?” Gwen repeated sceptically. She traded a disbelieving look with Jack when the two brunettes nodded enthusiastically in response.
“We’re looking for them because each one leads us closer to finding Sakura-hime’s-“
“Parakeet.” Kurogane cut in quickly.
Syaoran, though he had no idea where his mentor was going with this, went with it.
“Sakura-hime’s parakeet.”
“...My parakeet?”
Kurogane resisted the urge to slap his own forehead.
“Yes, Hime… your parakeet.” Syaoran said forcefully, staring at her, willing her to understand.
Realisation dawned on the princess and she ‘ohhhh’ed. “Yes, parakeet! I was confused because I remember wanting an… um… a budgie!”
“We called the Parakeet ‘Budgie’ to compensate.” Syaoran explained to the Torchwood members, who looked like they didn’t believe a word of it.
“And this… Parakeet,” Tosh started, “It travelled dimensions?”
Syaoran and Sakura paused, stumped.
“It was a special Parakeet?” The princess insisted, meekly.
“Very special.” Syaoran agreed, “Which is why we must retrieve him!”
“Her.”
“Her!”
Jack and Gwen glanced at each other again before Jack sighed in defeat.
“Let’s find your feather then. Have you got a picture or something?”
Sakura nodded, “It looks like that.” she said, pointing to a photograph that had been blu-tacked to the edge of Tosh’s monitor.
.