21 questions, or less (The Doctor)

[Alex]

Alex sat in the history classroom, waiting for The Doctor to come. After his talk with Luyu, he decided to track down the Doc and get the answers he wanted to his questions, questions regarding his father's death. He had left the Doctor a note in the history room, the note he wrote read,

Doctor, you and I need to talk. Kindly meet me in the history room after classes are over tomorrow.

- Alexander Hikari

Alex sat in a desk near the window, as he stared out at the school grounds, the sun was starting to set. He had arrived in the history room minutes after his classes were over, but when he arrived, The Doctor hadn't come yet. " I hope he shows, I really want to find out the answers to my questions." he thought, his chin cradled in his hand. A sound coming from somewhere close made Alex look around, a puzzled look on his face. " What the...?" he muttered, as he took a quick glance at the door.

" Doc, you better show, I have a feeling you tie in with my dad's death more than anyone, even more than Luyu." he continued muttering, hell, Luyu was his dad's fiancee, how can anyone get tied to him more than that? The Doctor could, and Alex would find out, one way or another.

[The Doctor]

The Doctor walked in, he had been experimenting, and his back was sore, he had been asked to meet Alex and he wasn't going to stand the kid up. He opened the door and walked in quietly to his desk. Alex was sitting in a desk and seemed a little on edge. The Doctor sat in his chair and looked up, not quite saying anything.

"So then," The Doctor said, laying back in the chair and putting his feet up on the desk. His hands went behind his head and fingers interlaced. His left foot resting over his right, he looked over to the boy, "You said we needed to talk?"

The Doctor knew the boy probably had questions, he wasn't quite sure what they were, but the Doctor knew it must have been about his father to some extent.

[Alex]

Alex looked up as The Doctor walked into the classroom. looking tired. He watched as The Doc sat as his desk, and looked up before speaking. "So then, you said we needed to talk?" Alex stood up, and sat down in the desk directly in front of The Doctor's desk, and looked straight at him.

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you, I have questions, and you're the only person who can answer them." Alex replied, going straight to why he called The Doc here. He saw the Doc lean back in his chair and put his feet up, and waited as the Doc put his hands behind his head.

" I know my father died due to being caught in an explosion. What I want to know is, what caused that explosion? Why was he so close to it? And what part did you play Doctor? Are you too, part of the Guardians?" Alex asked, his eyes hard as flint, his arms folded. Time to play 21 questions, and today's contestant was The Doctor himself. Alex wanted to get this over as quickly as possible, the Doc looked tired as hell, and after he'd got his answers, he'd let the Doc rest.

" Doctor, don't lie to me, just tell me the truth, and this'll be over as quick as possible, alright?" Alex added, he wanted to know, but hid the anxiousness in his voice. " I want to know, or I'll never be able to tie everything together." he thought, as he waited.

[The Doctor]

The Doctor saw that he was going to come clean about more then just Alex's father. "I'm the Doctor, I'm a Time Lord, I'm the last of my kind and I do my best to keep the time line intact. Your father seemed to have a hand in this machine known as GlaDOs. An alien being without any conscious about killing humans, and I joined up as a one shot job with the Guardians, I am however, not a member."

The Doctor continued, "The machine had many strong weapons, it killed many of your fathers... personalities... to say the least. I had my TARDIS there... but I had lost the key inside GlaDOs. I had to send them back, Luyu, Akuma, Myou, the guardians who were still alive, and your father. I used my Qi, I told them they had to keep their eyes shut, or else they wouldn't be saved. Your father had apparently kept them open in order to make sure Luyu was saved. My Qi ran short, and me and your father will still there..... it was too late to stop Solaris from sending the Ion cannon, we didn't have a way to communicate with him. I only had enough Qi to turn myself non-corporeal. You're father charged GlaDOs just as the cannon came down hard. GlaDOs was obliterated by the cannon. I was the only survivor from ground zero......."

He then stood up and walked towards Alex, "The entire group had made mistakes, we went in ill prepared. You're father was the cost of that, but he died fighting, and he died knowing he saved everyone. In all my 900 years of living, I never seen somebody go out that great."

[Alex]

"I'm the Doctor, I'm a Time Lord, I'm the last of my kind and I do my best to keep the time line intact. Your father seemed to have a hand in this machine known as GlaDOs. An alien being without any conscious about killing humans, and I joined up as a one shot job with the Guardians, I am however, not a member." Alex had to take a few moments to let that bit of information sink in. The Doctor was...a Time Lord? Even though it sounded completely ridiculous, Alex reminded himself that he had told the Doc to tell him the truth, so it must be true.

He heard the Doctor continue, so he focused back on him. "The machine had many strong weapons, it killed many of your fathers... personalities... to say the least. I had my TARDIS there... but I had lost the key inside GlaDOs. I had to send them back, Luyu, Akuma, Myou, the guardians who were still alive, and your father. I used my Qi, I told them they had to keep their eyes shut, or else they wouldn't be saved. Your father had apparently kept them open in order to make sure Luyu was saved. My Qi ran short, and me and your father will still there..... it was too late to stop Solaris from sending the Ion cannon, we didn't have a way to communicate with him. I only had enough Qi to turn myself non-corporeal. You're father charged GlaDOs just as the cannon came down hard. GlaDOs was obliterated by the cannon. I was the only survivor from ground zero......."

Alex had a look of concentration on his face, his mind was processing the information he had heard, but he still managed to ask one very crucial question. " Doctor...you and Solaris...caused the explosion, the explosion that took my father's life from him?" Alex said quietly, though his tone of voice could make someone flinch as if he had shouted at them. " And you're not with the Guardians, you only joined as a one shot job? I see then..." Alex looked straight at the Doctor, his eyes emotionless and hard. It would be hard for anyone to tell what Alex was thinking at this point, for his entire face was devoid of emotion.

He watched as The Doctor stood up and walked over to him, speaking as he walked. "The entire group had made mistakes, we went in ill prepared. You're father was the cost of that, but he died fighting, and he died knowing he saved everyone. In all my 900 years of living, I never seen somebody go out that great." Alex nodded his head slightly, he had no tears to shed, he had cried them all beforehand. " That's my father, Kane Hikari for you. Always going out with a bang." he agreed, standing up and faced The Doctor.

" Doctor, I will say this, I do not blame you for killing my father, nor do I place the blame on Solaris. Both of you were only doing what you thought was right. I do however, fault my father slightly for keeping his eyes open, if he hadn't done that, and trusted that Luyu would be safe, he wouldn't have died. However, no amount of blaming will change the fact that the Ion Cannon that Solaris fired killed him, and that machine, GlaDOs. I could blame and curse you both for the rest of my life for taking my father's life, but that would change absolutely nothing. So instead, I thank you, because at the cost of one life, one life precious to me, you saved millions." Alex looked right at his face, his emotionless eyes burrowing into the Doc's. " But a small part of me hates you and Solaris, though I doubt that part will disappear, my father is gone after all."

[The Doctor]

"Fair enough." The Doctor said, knowing this was true. Funny, how some part of Kane seemed to dislike the Doctor, and it seemed that Alex would have that same small amount of dislike for him. He really was his fathers son. The Doctor reached out and put his right hand on the boys head for a second then turned away starting to leave towards the TARDIS. He could have told the kid about his father, he could have told him some story of his fathers past that he could have researched... quite possibly while he was trying to find out if Kane was evil or good, never quite getting an answer but finding out a few interesting facts.

"I wouldn't recommend confronting Solaris about this. He has an inappropriate sense of humor at the worst times. Otherwise, you best be off. Check on your sister, talk with miss Kodiak, you two could probably use each others company."

The needs of the many......

"Just take this bit with you, Alex...... know that there was once a time like this.... earth was at stake, and the cost of that mistake was someone I......"

The doctor shed a tear, remembering rose, remembering her last words to him, her confession of her love to him.

"I lost her forever.... to save the world.... just so you know. You may hate me for it, but I will do absolutely anything it takes for this planet. You may go now."

OOC: Reference much? youtube.com/watch?v=d7GEuLnaACU in case anyones interested.

[Alex]

"Fair enough." Alex continued to look straight at him, as The Doctor reached out and placed a hand on Alex's head. "I wouldn't recommend confronting Solaris about this. He has an inappropriate sense of humor at the worst times. Otherwise, you best be off. Check on your sister, talk with Miss Kodiak, you two could probably use each others company." " I honestly had no intention of speaking to Solaris, he doesn't strike as the type to be...sympathetic." Alex replied, a small smile on his face, as he looked down.

Well, he did talk to Luyu, for a long while actually, and he would talk to Kyoko, if he knew where she was. He hadn't seen her for a while, and honestly, he was starting to get worried about her. "Just take this bit with you, Alex...... know that there was once a time like this.... earth was at stake, and the cost of that mistake was someone I......" Alex looked up, only to be shocked, he saw The Doctor shed a tear, one single tear. " D...Doc?" he asked, surprised at this. "I lost her forever.... to save the world.... just so you know. You may hate me for it, but I will do absolutely anything it takes for this planet. You may go now."

" Doctor..." Alex began, so The Doctor had lost someone precious to him, just as Alex lost his father, the person precious to him. Alex was starting to see that The Doctor and he had something in common with each other. " I see now...why you will do anything to save this world. Saving the world, at the cost of someone you loved..." Alex stopped, and nodded his head, before moving towards the door. His questions had been answered, he was satisfied, more or less. He then stopped, his back to The Doctor. " Doctor, if you were in that situation where you had to save the world at the cost of someone precious to you, would you do it all over again? Would you sacrifice that person to save the world?"

[The Doctor]

"Every time."

The Doctor then turned towards the TARDIS looking at it, staring at it. He knew what he could do now, and he wasn't going to show Alex. Alex would be the last person to show. So he waited, as he waited he just stood there and stared.

"Every single time....."

The Doctor had given his life time and time again for this planet, but he had given his life for Rose once too. Only to have her be lost in a parallel dimension, nearly losing her in the void altogether.

[Alex]

"Every time. Every single time....." Alex, after hearing him say that, turned his head slightly, only to see The Doctor staring at the TARDIS. After this, it didn't matter to him what The Doctor did at this point, so he walked out the door, and headed out of the History building.

He now knew what caused the explosion that killed his father, and he more or less knew some information about the Guardians, and what it was he had done when he left in the middle of the night on that day.

"Damn it dad, why didn't you have enough trust in The Doctor to know that Luyu would escape safely? Oh well, what's done is done, no amount of cursing will bring him back." Alex thought, sighing. He headed back towards his room, he would go and find Kyoko, whether she wanted to be found or not.