Mother, Gaia (A Thasmin Fanfiction)

Chapter One-- Holding Your Space

There is laughter in one moment and darkness in the next. Graham cracks a joke, and Yaz finds herself bent over the TARDIS console in a fit of laughter and tears. The four of them float in space aimlessly; that's how it's meant to be. The ship doors open to a brilliant nebula, shining a vast array of colors that Yaz only dreamed of when she was a little girl. The Doctor fiddles with a few dials on the console, pausing only to relish in that moment of bliss. Ryan leans back against one of the crystals that juts out of the floor, its pink glow filling his smile with light. Moments like this make Yaz sit still. Her fingertips trail over the edges of the console, and she can see her own face full of laughter in the reflective gold metal. She looks back to her friend Ryan, seeing tears in his eyes as well.

"Yaz, your face!" He jeers, pointing at her. That playful spark in his eye is the last thing she sees before the crystals sputter and die. Her friends disappear into the dark, their silhouettes only visible by a dull red glow. Yaz looks toward the door. What little light she can see spills from the universe outside the box. The nebula reaches out to them, a beacon of red flashing amongst the saturated dust clouds. Yaz turns to the Doctor, and they lock eyes with one another. The other woman is locked in time for an instant, her body frozen. Bright hazel eyes wander between the door and her companion.

"Solar flare. A little too close for comfort," the Doctor says, looking straight at Yaz, "Close the door for me?"

"Yeah," Yaz mutters, hurrying towards the red light. She stops at the edge of the door frame, feeling her stomach drop. One more step would send her plummeting into the dark. She shuts her eyes for a brief second, centering her body before gripping the handles of both doors. Her body extends out to that new star in the mist, the point of light getting larger and larger. The universe before her is mesmerizing—that light blooms out in front of her in a mere instant, filling her world red.

"YAZ!" The Doctor cries out, bringing her back to reality. She slams the doors with a bang, shutting out what little light they had left. Frantic footsteps shuffle behind her, and the TARDIS begins to whir and wheeze. The Doctor runs about the console, shaking hands fiddling with the controls.

"Come on, girl, hurry—" the Doctor is cut off as ship reels back at a sudden impact. Yaz hears the time lord shout something in the chaos. Her body hits something hard—she holds head in her hands to fight the throbbing pain. Cold metal presses against her skin. Graham curses about something beside her, but her head still swims from the impact.

"Oi, that shouldn't have upset you so much," the Doctor's disembodied voice wanders through the dark, "What's wrong with you?" The Doctor pulls herself up with a heavy sigh. Stained boots wander past the human girl and approach the console. The time lord pull a few levers, and there's that familiar buzz of the sonic screwdriver before the center crystal begins to emit a soft glow. Yaz could finally see where she landed—pushed under the console itself, wrapped in a fetal position. She quickly crawls out, only to look up at a wide-eyed Doctor. Blonde hair is illuminated pink by the crystal beside her, falling over her face in short strands.

"Yaz! Oh, so sorry about that. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think so." The human girl starts to pull herself to her feet, and the Doctor offers a hand. She takes it gratefully, hoisting herself up. "What was that?"

"That was a new star," the Doctor explains, "And a violently active one at that. Still cooking itself up in that nebula. I shouldn't have gotten us so close."