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Hey, y'all This is the first bit of my first TDTO story. I'm not sure how many parts it'll come out to, but you'll know when I'm done. Characters from DW canon are few and far between in this one, so if that's your bag, you might as well bail now. Just thought I'd warn y'all up front. THEN DO THAT OVER: SHE TALKS TO RAINBOWS Part 1 by BKWillis **** 'She's a little lost girl in her own little world She looks so helpless She looks so sad Oh yeah. Oh-oh yeah. She's a little lost girl in her own little world I'd like to help her I'd like to try Oh yeah. Oh-oh yeah.' --The Ramones **** "Your transcript is most impressive, I must admit. Top marks in all your courses, active involvement in extra-curricular programs, a whole list of awards and commendations for your literary achievements, and nothing but glowing praise from your instructors. And a spotless disciplinary record to top it off. You would, in short, appear to be the perfect student." The girl pinked a little, casting her eyes down and giving a self- deprecating shrug that made her wings flutter. "You're too kind, Mr. Maxil," she said. "I just always try my best, is all." The Assistant Headmaster harrumphed noncommitally as he closed the file and leaned back in his chair. He was considered gruff and unyielding by the students, he knew, and in fact took pains to cultivate that very image, but just now it was something of a struggle to keep his sternness about him. The new transferee standing before him was just too wonderful a student, just too nice and sweet and friendly a person to feel anything but happiness around. The suspicious part of his mind -- which is to say, most of it -- tried to seize on that _too_ perfect bit, but it was hard going in the face of such a sunny disposition. "That's an admirable attitude to have," Maxil agreed, looking her over. She was a smallish girl, slim and possessed of a tranquil, self- confident beauty that would doubtless break many a heart in a few years. Her curly brown hair had been tied back in a neat ponytail and flipped across her right shoulder, so as to leave her wings -- blindingly white and not a feather out of place -- unobstructed on her back. "An outlook like that will stand you in good stead here," he went on, "and yet..." "Is there a problem, sir?" Her voice became timid, with a quiver that seemed to indicate that tears might be forthcoming at some point. "Possibly, but not with you," he hastily reassured. "That is to say, there are always problems that arise, even for the best of us. People and institutions." He turned and gazed out the window, frowning at the schoolyard below. "This school, I regret to say, has a problem, and I fear it may become your problem." "What problem is that, sir?" A sneer curled along Maxil's lip as he spat the word, "Delinquents!" His scowl deepened. "This school is infested with them, I fear, in spite of our best efforts. Oh, we've managed to keep some of the offenders under control, and others we've gotten rid of, but the disruptions and... infractions... continue." He turned back to face her, a warning finger held up. "There are people to beware of in this school, elements that you don't want to get caught up with. A good student like you doesn't need to involve herself with hoodlums, one way or the other. Avoid trouble, and trouble will avoid you." "I'll take that advice to heart, Mr. Maxil. Thank you for warning me." Now the Assistant Headmaster did allow that smile to go ahead and form. "Excellent, Miss Nyssaias. I look forward to having you as a student here. Now, if you have your schedule, you may report to class." As the girl made her way out, Maxil's habitual gloom returned. He found himself staring out the window again, frowning at the two groups of students assembled on opposite sides of the yard. Even at a distance, the tension between the two was evident, hard looks and the occasional low-voiced taunt flying back and forth. Maxil sighed. Just when he thought he'd gotten the Master brothers under some sort of control, these two gangs of hooligans had to transfer in and start causing trouble. When they weren't fighting each other, they were intimidating and -- rumor had it, though he as yet had no real proof -- extorting money from the other students. And that was probably just the tip of the iceberg, too. It was almost as bad as it had been before, when _she_ was here. But, at least that was one problem he could count as well and truly solved. One less troublemaker to disrupt the flow of school routine. He noted a sudden commotion near the front gate, students pointing and whispering as they gathered to stare at _something_. Maxil let his gaze follow those fingers and stares... "No. NO. Absolutely NOT!" His chair skidded across the office as he leaped up and ran for the staircase. ---- Babydoll craned her neck to try and see what was going on over by the gate. "Hey, boss," she asked, "what do you suppose is going on over there?" Cain shifted his eye from Kali's gang to the gate, then back. "Dunno, babe. Don't care much, either. I'm more interested in how we're gonna get that bunch of punks off our turf." "Aye," agreed Rahaaz, pounding his green fists together. "This be a large school, but not so large that _two_ bosses may both profit." "There's that," Cain agreed, "but Kali's gang's a little too rough and blatant for my tastes, anyway. You need finesse to run an operation in a place like this without bringin' the staff down on your head. That Maxil, now, he's a sharp one, and the more waves Kali's bunch makes, the more likely he'll be to come down on _all_ of us." "We can take them in a fight," Bella offered. "Easily. Why don't we just rumble with them and get it over with?" "'Cause, like I said, the more waves get made, the more likely Maxil gives us all the boot. And, speak of the Devil..." Cain's gang all tried to look as casual as possible as the Assistant Headmaster came storming out the door. But Maxil's eyes were on something else, on the group of students clustered around the gate. "Well, well," Cain remarked as he went past. "I wonder what's got _his_ shorts in a knot..." ---- "I wonder what's going on over there?" Rhanda wondered. "That smug git's plotting to jump us and shut us down, that's what," Kali spat back, glaring at Cain's gang slouched against the opposite wall. "Not with him," Rhanda corrected. "Over by the gate." Kali dismissed that with a wave. "Hah! Who cares what these sheep get up to, as long as they're here for shearing. There's money to be made off these rich brats, and I don't intend to share it with that dork, Cain." Shanka coyly batted her eyes at Kali. "Aw, if you're still ticked off about him dumping you, you know that _I'm_ here for you." She ducked as Kali's knuckles whipped just over her head. "Can it, Shanka," she snarled. "And everybody else cool it, too. Old Mad Maxil is headed this way." ---- "Move along! Get to class, all of you! Move it!" Maxil shouldered his way through the throng of students, which was beginning to break up even as he approached. Though not from his presence, which went almost unnoticed as the crowd milled apart and back like the Red Sea retreating from Moses. In moments, the students had all dispersed, though not out of good watching distance, leaving him almost alone in the gateway. Almost alone, but for one other person. She was a short girl of about fourteen, clad in the standard girls' uniform dress of H. G. Wells School. Flame-red hair fell unbound to well past her waist and shadowed her eyes, while two leathery black bat-wings jutted from her back, stirring restlessly as she walked. She stopped with her toes just short of the line across the gateway that marked the edge of the school grounds. Maxil stood in front of her, just on the other side of that line, face grim. "What are _you_ doing back here?" he demanded. "I thought you were in the Reformatory?" "I was," she replied simply. "They let me out and sent me back." She held out a letter to him, which he gingerly took and read over. "So they _have_ let you out," he grunted when he'd finished, "and I'm obligated to let you back in this school. Fine. But I'm _not_ obligated to like it, nor to make your stay here an easy one." "I don't like it any more than you do, Maxil." She strode forward, the Assistant Headmaster's lip curling in distaste as she crossed onto the school grounds. "I don't want you here, Embericles," he hissed. "Make no mistake about it. The Reformatory is where you belong, and the first chance you give me to send you back there, I intend to take. Do I make myself clear?" She didn't look at him, her eyes instead roving aimlessly among the student faces watching from afar. "I understand. But Maxil, if you want me gone so badly, all you have to do is take me by the hand and escort me off." She held up a hand, waiting. Maxil stared hard at her as he started to reach for her, then stopped, his fingertips a few inches from her own. He swallowed, set his teeth, and reached forward again, but again stopped just short of touching her. His hand dropped back to his side. "One chance I'll give you," he said at last, voice shaky. "But only one." "Want to shake on it, Maxil?" she asked, a hint of teasing in her tone. He scowled mightily and jabbed a finger at the school building. "Get to class, Embericles. And remember, one incident is all it takes, and the police can come take you back. Just give me that excuse, and out you go." ---- "Good morning, class. We have a new student joining us today." Miss Wright gestured at the pretty, white-winged girl beside her. "This is Nyssaias, who has just transferred in from another school district. Why don't you tell the class a little about yourself, dear?" Xeffy noticed the looks on the boys' faces when the girl smiled at them all. She sent a glance across to her sister Ayna, who returned it with that same knowing expression. The competition had just arrived. Big time. She looked the newcomer over as she spoke, automatically weighing the girl's characteristics against her own. "Hello, everyone," the winged girl was saying. "My name is Nyssaias and I've only just arrived here from my homeland. My hobbies include writing and playing sports. I don't know anyone here, but I look forward to making lots of new friends! I hope you'll all be patient with me until I've learned my way around." "I'm sure you'll do well here, dear," Miss Wright replied, overriding a snicker from Rhanda in the back row. "You can take the empty desk beside Xeffy. Xeffy, please share your book with Nyssaias until we can get her her own." "Yes, Miss Wright." "Now, if everyone will open their books to Chapter Ten, we'll pick up where we left off yesterday with the struggle between Persia and Byzantium..." Miss Wright turned to the chalkboard and began drawing up lists as she launched into a lecture on Middle- Eastern history. Nyssaias took the empty desk and scooted it over against Xeffy's, who placed her textbook in the middle where both could read it. "Thanks," said Nyssaias, offering her a bright smile. Well, even if she _was_ competition, she still seemed nice. Xeffy gave back a smile of her own, whispering, "No problem." She considered for just a moment, then stuck out her hand. "I'm Xeffy. Want to be friends?" "I'd like that..." ---- By the time lunchtime rolled around, the usual Xeffy-Ayna duo had become a trio. "...us winged girls should stick together, after all," Nyssaias was saying. "I just wish mine were as pretty as yours," Ayna replied as they took their seats. "That's nice of you to say, but feathers can be a royal pain to keep up. And I feel so embarrassed when they shed. Do you know how many times I've had to say, 'pardon me, I'm molting'?" The three shared a good-natured laugh. "No, your wings are so much more efficient, Ayna." "Wish _I_ had wings," Xeffy sighed. "That'd be so cool..." "But you can run faster than us," Ayna retorted. "Way faster, without two big old drag-chutes on your back." She gave her sister a nudge. "Means you can catch more boys. And outrun the geeky ones." "You won't drop feathers into people's soup, either," Nyssaias offered. Xeffy sighed again before perking back up. "I guess so. Besides, Dad says I'm awkward enough with four limbs. Who knows how much damage I could do with _six_?" The banter went on as the three girls dug into their lunches with the speed and power that only teenaged girls at a dinner table can achieve, especially while carrying on a conversation. Food flew, faces were made, giggles sounded, and squeals were emitted in the usual proportions for such a gathering. Nyssaias was just about to pop the last fish stick into her mouth when something -- or rather, some_one_ -- caught her eye. "Hey," she said, tapping Ayna's shoulder and pointing. "It's another member of the Winged Brigade. Who is she?" Ayna looked, then spat out a mouthful of baked potato as a coughing fit seized her. "You don't _know_?!" she demanded, then bapped herself on the forehead. "Duh. Of course you don't. You just got here." Xeffy elbowed her in the side. "Keep your voice down, Ayna!" she hissed. "Do you want her to _hear_ you?" The girl Nyssaias had pointed toward was sitting alone at the very back of the lunchroom. Her entire table was empty, as were the two closest to it, and the students who sat anywhere nearby kept casting spooked, edgy looks her way. But Nyssaias could see no reason for any of this behavior; the girl simply ate her lunch in silence, looking at no one and speaking to no one. Why would people shun someone so completely? The girl wasn't ugly -- far from it. Perhaps it had something to do with the dark, bat-like wings folded against her back? But everyone seemed to take things like that in stride around here. Ayna was evidently quite popular, and no one had said anything but good about her own wings. "So who is she?" Nyssaias repeated. "And why does everyone treat her so oddly?" "'Oddly', she says," Xeffy muttered. "That's Embericles, the meanest, scariest girl in this school. Even the teachers are afraid of her. She just got sent back here from the Reformatory." "Really?" Nyssaias kept watching the girl, who continued to peacefully eat her lunch. "She doesn't look mean or scary. She's pretty, actually. And she doesn't seem to be bothering anyone." The two sisters shared an incredulous look. "She doesn't _bother_ people," Xeffy explained with a certain degree of relish. "She just tries to kill them." Now it was Nyssaias's turn to look disbelieving. "No way," she breathed. "You're joking, right?" Ayna's voice was graveyard-grim. "She threw two upperclassmen out of a third-floor window. Actually, she threw them _through_ it, since it was closed at the time." "And that's not all of it," Xeffy chimed in. "In the course of the fight, six other kids ended up in the hospital, too." "They say she even hurt one of the cops who came to take her out afterwards," Ayna finished. "Trust me, Nyss, that girl is bad medicine." Conversation in the lunchroom died away as Embericles stood and carried her tray back to the lunch window, scores of eyes silently watching her every move. If she was conscious of the attention, she gave no sign, calmly putting her tableware away and walking off toward the classrooms. As soon as she was through the door, an audible sigh of relief washed through the room. "Bad medicine," Ayna repeated. "Just walk past her sometime if you don't believe me. You can feel it just from being around her. Evil, and nothing but." ---- As Embericles left the lunchroom behind, a figure detached itself from the shadows in the corners of the hallway and made a point of watching her go, a slight, pale girl in upperclassman's dress. She cast a look at the cowed students in the lunchroom and gave a soft whistle. "Impressive," Bella mumbled, flicking her tongue across her fangs. "I'll have to make sure the boss knows about this." ---- In the lunchroom, another set of eyes had been tracking the redhead's movements with keen interest. Rhanda tapped her pen against her lip, considering. As things stood, their gang was still too weak to take on Cain's bunch and win, especially with all the first-year Servii students Cain kept around. The addition of someone who even the faculty feared to their gang could well shift the balance to their favor. It was worth a shot, at least. She excused herself from the gaggle of second-year girls she'd been sitting with -- most of whom were glad to see her go -- and set off to find Kali. ---- All through the day, Nyssaias kept noticing _that girl_. Not that this was especially hard, mind. As soon as Embericles put in an appearance anywhere, conversations would drop to a muted hush and there would come a sudden press of students clambering over each other to get out of her path. It was as though she lived in the eye of a storm made of human panic. But if she noticed any of this, if she resented it or relished it or simply accepted it as her due, she gave no outward sign. She simply moved among the crowds, always alone, never offering to help or hinder, neither seeking nor avoiding the eyes of others. Still, it came as somewhat of a surprise to find that she shared a class with this mysterious pariah. It was English, her favorite subject, and she wondered how the class would react to the girl's presence, and whether a class could even function around her. As it turned out, the English teacher, Mr. Borusa, had a very simple method for dealing with the situation. He pretended that there was no such student as Embericles in his classroom. It started when he called the roll. Her name was not called with the others, nor did she offer any words herself. When Mr. Borusa came to her name, he simply glanced up to see that she was there, made a mark on his list, and went on to the next. Most of the students picked up on his lead and did their best to ignore her as well, giving her no acknowledgment aside from scooting their desks as far away from hers as they could without being _too_ obvious. Through the class, the teacher never called upon her or let his gaze linger too long near her, while for her part she never raised a hand or uttered even a word. Nyssaias was the exception to this. She kept finding her eyes drawn back to this strange, abhorred beauty. She kept trying to remind herself of Mr. Maxil's warnings about trouble and avoiding it, and to her new friends' whispered cautions, but still her gaze would inevitably wander over to the girl in the far corner of the room. What was it about her that drew the eye? It was something more than just her looks, it had to be. The danger element? Nyssaias was mature enough and introspective enough to consider the possibility that it might be something of the 'forbidden fruit' aspect that fascinated her, but she soon rejected this. She'd been struck by something about the girl before she'd ever known anything about her. It had to be something else. Nyssaias was not the kind of girl who backed down from a challenge, nor dropped a thread of inquiry before she had an answer. She nodded firmly to herself. She'd just have to make it her task to find out the truth and solve the riddle of this Embericles, the whats and whys that made her who she was. That was the only way to solve the far more important, nagging question... Why did she care? (to be continued) --BKWillis Copyright Notes: 'Doctor Who' is property of the BBC. 'Then Do That Over' concept created by Paul Gadzikowski. Xeffy and Ayna created by Imran Inayat. 'Desert of Fear' characters created by Clive May, Ken Young, BKWillis, and Brad Filippone. Story title and opening quote are from the song 'She Talks to Rainbows', by the Ramones. Other original characters created by BKWillis. (And in case any anime fans are wondering, the gateway scene is an _homage_ to 'Sukeban Deka', _not_ a shameless ripoff of same. That's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking to it.) Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8
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