Running Through the Stars (Book One of the Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Interlude: War Stories

The Doctor snagged a table outside and watched Jessie walk over to one of the stores. He frowned, thinking over what the Face of Boe had said. He'd hinted that something had happened to Jessie, something that obviously made her how she currently was. Maybe now was a good time to start trying to help her open up.

She plopped down in front of him, grinning. "Oh, these are to die for," she sighed, pushing one basket to him. "Jemma made these all the time on the bus. She makes the best chips ever."

"Simmons?" the Doctor guessed as he speared one.

"No," she drawled, and he snorted. "Johnson."

"Jemma Johnson," he tried out, before snickering as she burst out laughing. "Certain ring to it." He watched her continue laughing, then decided to ask. "Tell me a little bit about yourself?" She quit laughing and looked at him. "Not a whole lot," he added quickly. "Just give me enough so I know a little more about you than the fact that you can anger the last human that well."

She used her fork to move her chips around before sighing. "Well," she said slowly, "my name's Jessie Nightshade. Currently at age twenty, I've traveled between at least fifteen different schools, fourteen before my freshman year of high school."

"Fourteen?"

"It was always Saleen and Jessie, Jessie and Saleen," she replied. "When we found out we were mutants, we were always like - " She held up crossed fingers. " - that. Sometimes she had to run. Sometimes it was me. When I was fifteen, SHIELD found us . . . more like we found them. Frost Giants and Chitauri were after us for some reason, and the Avengers took us in. We fought off yet another invasion of Earth, but . . . " She swallowed.

"You don't have to go on," he told her softly, even though inside, he knew he probably wouldn't be able to get her to talk this easily again.

"No," she replied thickly. "This needs to get off my chest. You know I'm half Asgardian. Might as well know the whole story why."

He looked at her, saw the vulnerability in her eyes, and silently agreed. She needed to get it out. "OK," he agreed.

She jabbed another chip half-heartedly. "I was actually working here in London a couple months back," she began. "With Jane Foster, Thor's Midgardian girlfriend. There were strange energy readings coming from one building, so I went to investigate. I was sucked into another world, one I had no idea even existed. There was this red energy glowing inside of a rock, and when I went to touch it, I absorbed it somehow. I thought I was gone for a few moments, but when I returned to the building and met back up with Jane, she said I'd been gone almost five hours."

"Funny thing, time and space," the Doctor mused.

She snorted. "Yeah, I'm just beginning to realize that. So, anyway, it begins raining, but it's really odd, because Jane and I aren't getting wet at all." She chewed a little, then took a rather large swig of her drink. "And then Thor's there, knowing that I had gone missing. When police tried to arrest me since I was apparently 'trespassing' - " She made the quotation marks, and the Doctor snorted into his chips. " - the energy protected me. Thor took me to Asgard, and we found out I had absorbed the Power Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones."

The Doctor thought for a moment. He'd heard about the Infinity Stones before, and the Power Stone was - "The Aether?"

"Bingo," she confirmed, jabbing her fork at him. "So there I am, stuck on Asgard, and next thing I know - boom, Dark Elves have broken through the Bifrost, which is nearly impossible. Queen Frigga kept me close by her side . . . she died keeping me safe." She swallowed. "Odin was furious. I swear he would've killed me had the Aether not kept saving my ass."

"So what did you do?"

"Something incredibly stupid that it's the new definition of stupid," she replied, grinning. "We broke Loki out of prison and escaped Asgard to the Dark World to find a way to destroy it."

The Doctor choked on his chip. "Yeah, that's stupid," he admitted, looking at her with new respect. "Did it work?"

"Eventually," Jessie admitted. "The Dark Elves were defeated, but the Aether wasn't destroyed. Good news is that Loki's officially not labeled as a villain now. Bad news . . . " She looked around, then held out a hand. Red and black energy swirled around in it. "I've still got some of the stupid thing in me." She withdrew her hand, pushing her chips away. "And when Frigga died, she passed her magic on. I got fire and air."

The Doctor looked at her appraisingly. That was more than what he had expected. But this was not the battle the Face of Boe had implied she was still suffering from. Just have to wait and see then, he decided. "Thanks."

Jessie looked up, startled. "For what?"

"For telling me," he replied honestly. "For just letting it out. Does it feel better?"

She hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah," she admitted, laughing. "Yeah, it does."

"Right then," he declared, standing. "We've had our chips. Ready for another adventure?"

"You bet," she replied.

Laughing, the two of them ran back towards the TARDIS, keeping in stride easily.

***

So it's more than Doctor Who that's AU. Thor: The Dark World is, too. Loki didn't betray them or become evil, so it is still Odin on the throne. Jessie seems to change a whole lot of stuff, doesn't she?

"The Unquiet Dead" may or may not be up tonight. It will be soon, though!