"What is that? Why is that?" Scarlette asked, too busy crying to really think about her surroundings.
"Did you sense that?" A Doctor walked into the room, followed by an angry Amy.
"Nova?" The other Doctor sitting nearby approached Scarlette's shaking form.
River grimaced in pain as she rushed to shield Scarlette from the Doctor with her body. "No! Don't..."
"Don't what?" The Doctor asked, confused and somewhat annoyed.
Scarlette slowly stood up. "Holy fuck."
"Wow, I didn't know you cursed, Nova," Amy chuckled a little through her anger at the Doctor.
"Who's Nova?" Scarlette asked.
Everyone fell silent, even Cleaves and what remained of her team.
"What do you mean, who's Nova? You're Nova." Amy stated.
Scarlette squinted a little, trying not to panic and piece together information. "Supernova?" she asked River. "Did I name myself after... supernovas?"
"Well I think it was more the philosophy behind them..." River shrugged.
"What's going on? Why don't you remember you're Nova?" Amy asked.
"Ow!" Scarlette spasmed and fell to the ground. "Oh my god!" She exclaimed, almost as if shocked by the pain.
Her eyes welled up with tears immediately, and slowly, her hands started to glow.
"What is happening!" Scarlette shrieked, feeling a burning in her hands, holding them up.
One of the Doctors crouched down to comfort her, and the other glared down at River. "Was she brainwashed?"
"Yeah."
"At Area 51?"
"Yeah..."
"Who did it?" His voice was calm, but River noticed his hands were in tight fists.
"Well technically, she did it to herself."
Scarlette hissed through clenched teeth, still trying to control herself on the floor. "That is a lie! You pressed the buttons, I didn't do anything, I don't remember anything! For all I know you could be lying to me about whatever my past self did!"
"I'm not! You switched our bodies, you made me brainwash you in my body, and then we switched back!"
"Who switched you back?" The Doctor asked.
"Dylan." River answered.
Scarlette shook her head. "How do I make this stop?" She whimpered to the Doctor that was crouched down with her, too overwhelmed with pain to argue.
The Doctor opened his mouth as if he was about to speak, but instead just intertwined her hands with his and closed his eyes, squeezing her hands and shaking until the glowing and the pain disappeared.
He opened his eyes, and slowly, reluctantly, let go.
"What did you just do?" Scarlette asked, staring at her hands.
The Doctor shook his head. "I made it stop."
Scarlette barely registered what he was saying. She kept staring at the floor, breathing heavily. "I'm so tired. I don't understand anything."
The other Doctor left River and also sat in front of Scarlette, holding one of her arms. "Hey, Nova..."
"I don't know who that is." Scarlette stated this as a fact. She still didn't look him in the eyes.
"Please," The Doctor gulped and grabbed her arm a little more tighter, resisting the urge to lift her head to face him, to hug her, to do anything. But this wasn't Nova. This was someone he had never done any of those things to before.
But then she finally looked up at him, and he looked into her eyes, and he knew it was still someone he cared about.
And it killed him to see her like this.
"At Area 51, what did they use to extract your memories?"
"Mercury scanner."
The Doctor sighed deeply. "Nov- Scarlette, I'm sorry, but your biology is that of Nova. You're a Time Lord. And Time Lords don't react well with mercury scanners. Normally you would just regenerate, but you can't, and I won't be powerful enough to keep holding it off. This body probably won't last more than 20 minutes."
"This body." Scarlette laughed and stood up, hugging herself. The Doctor knew it was because she didn't feel safe. "That sounds so insane. I'm fine, I'll be fine."
The Doctor stood and held her by her arms again. She almost flinched, and again he reluctantly let go.
"You will be, just not in this body. I'm sorry."
Scarlette felt some sort of pang in her chest, almost as if she was sorry for him or something, and it was confusing and frustrating.
"Okay, so what do you want me to do? Kill myself?" She threw her arms up and stepped back, away from him.
The Doctor huffed in both frustration and pain as she stepped back. He felt like he had lost her, and like it was his fault, just like Nova told him before she left.
He should have known.
"No, no, never, we're just warning you, because you should know."
"We," She laughed again, but the Doctor could hear the fear in it. "But you know what? Technically, I won't be killing myself, because you killed me." Scarlette turned to River. "You did this."
"Guys--" Amy tried.
"Oh my god," River put her head in her hands. "I don't even know you yet. I'm just as clueless as you are."
"What does any of that mean!"
"It means that--"
Amy panicked. "Doctor, I can't find--"
"It wants to be alive!" Scarlette shouted manically, her eyes widening.
"What?" River exclaimed.
"It wants to be alive!" She breathed. "It wants to live!" Scarlette ran up to Amy and shook her by the shoulders. "We want to live! It's so strong!"
The Doctor grabbed Scarlette from behind and held her back from a terrified Amy. "Scarlette, calm down. You're just feeling the flesh."
"What?" She was sweating and shaking.
"You're a very female Time Lord, you're flesh yourself, and you have nearly a clean slate in your brain to receive telepathic messages. You feel flesh stronger than any of us." The Doctor explained, not letting her go.
"Oh my god, like, I feel sorry for it, but I can't even think!" She exclaimed.
"You just need to concentrate on something else."
"Oh, right. I'm dying!" Scarlette wriggled out of his grasp. "Let go of me!"
"I'm sorry." The Doctor apologized again. "I promise, I would never hurt you."
Scarlette sighed, ignoring him. "What's supposed to happen now?"
"Guys, I can't find Rory. I'm going out there." Amy answered.
"Oh, forgot about him. And that other girl." Scarlette said, trying to collect herself, remember where she was in space and time
"Wait, how do you know about Rory and Jen? Isn't your memory erased?" Cleaves, one of the scientists, asked. Her and her team had been working at the monitors the entire time, not wasting a second just because a stranger was having a breakdown.
"Well yeah, but not the parts where..." A loud piercing rang through her brain.
"No! Scarlette, don't try saying anything..." The Doctor instructed her.
"How can it still be there when she's brainwashed?" Amy asked.
"I don't know," The Doctors both answered.
"What?" Scarlette had no idea what Amy was talking about. "I'm trying to say, I know about Rory and Jen because..."
A Doctor rushed up to catch Scarlette before she collapsed to the ground.
a/n: yeah lmao
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