Summary: Spoilers for Face the Raven. While the Doctor faces off a world which was designed to terrify him, others come to terms with Clara's death as Clara's Doctor life and real life find themselves crashing into each other at full speed.
A/N: So appareantly based on a scene which was later cut from the script the Doctor tells Ashildr not to retcon Rigsby so that he can take care of Clara's body and inform her family about what happened. This fic is based on the presumption that her death is classified as dying of natural causes.
A Death Not in Vain
The principal surveyed the crowd of children obediently assembled in front of him. The mood was sombre, perhaps the rumours had already spread in the early hours of the morning or maybe the kids sensed the gloom that had overtaken their teachers. His staff tried to be brave and hide the pain behind their eyes but most of them failed at it rather miserably. He spotted the one face that stood out in the crowd of the older students and he felt a lump go up his throats as he realised that for once in her life Courtney Woods stood completely motionless as if the fight had long since left her. The past few months she was still the same Courtney, but at the same time Clara had worked wonders with that girl.
He took a heavy breath, his voice shook on the first few syllables not only in sadness but also because the man standing behind him was making him nervous. Out of all the days to come for a visit the chairman of the Board of Governors Ian Chesterton had to pick a day like this.
"Students, by now you have probably noticed that one important face is missing among your teachers. It is with great sorrow that I have to inform you about the passing of your beloved teacher Miss Clara Oswald. It is a great tragedy to lose such a young life," he told them, wondering whether they could even grasp such a concept as death. How finite it was. Of course they could. It was less than a year ago that they stood in the very same place mourning the loss of another life not fulfilled, that of Danny Pink. He could still recall Clara's face on that day, a mask of non-emotion, her eyes downcast refusing to meet their gaze: "Sometimes illness finds even the best of us unprepared. But know this, Miss Oswald left this world in the circle of her family and friends."
A shrill cry interrupted him: "That's a lie!"
"Cut it out, Courtney!" one of the teachers admonished her.
The girl crossed her arms on her chest: "I won't, I won't and I won't! Miss Oswald didn't die from an illness. She wasn't sick, she was perfectly fine just last week. She was with the Doctor! Something killed her and she probably died to save us all!"
Before the principal could find a response, Courtney ran off. One of the teachers made to follow her but he shook his head. They needed to give the girl time. The crowd which became restless at Courtney's outburst once again settled into stillness.
"I know it's hard to accept death when it finds you unprepared, but you shouldn't run away from it. It is cruel that we should have been celebrating Miss Oswald's 29th birthday today but are instead mourning her death. But listen, Miss Oswald wouldn't want you to be sad or angry. She would want you to make her proud. It's okay to mourn now but if you want to honour her memory do it by making her proud and being the best person you can be."
The crowd slowly dispersed with the pupils following their teachers. The chairman approached the principal wiping away at his eyes: "That was a wonderful speech. You'll have to forgive me if I have become somewhat weepy in my old age. It's always tragic to see someone leave so forcefully at such a young age. If there is some kind of memorial, I would like to pay my respects."
-
The principal led Ian to a small shrine that the teachers and some of the pupils who had heard the news before it broke out had managed to build. A framed picture of Clara surrounded by candles, come plush toys and hastily scribbled messages and drawings from the children.
"So what has gotten into this girl, Courtney?" Ian wondered.
The principal sighed: "Courtney is...erm...a very special child. Oh, to hell with it...she's the ultimate troublemaker. But from what I understood her and Miss Oswald were pretty close. She was on her best behaviour when around her. It has to be hard for her. I suppose making up a story in her head allows her to cope. It makes it easy to accept death when it seems to be for some grand purpose rather than when it's sudden and in vain. Oh,here we are."
One of the younger girls was huddled on the floor in front of the memorial colouring a piece of paper.
The principal recognised her: "Maebh, what are you doing here? Why aren't you in class?"
"I just wanted to finish it."
Ian looked at the drawing over the girl's shoulder: "Could I have a look?"
Maebh nodded.
Chesterton took the paper out of the girls hands and stared at it as if mesmerised. The strokes were somewhat crooked but he immediately recognised it nonetheless. That ancient blue box he had not set his eyes on for over 50 years now.
"Very nice, Maebh. I'm sure Miss Oswald would love it. Now to class, off you pop."
"But it's not for Miss Oswald. It's for the Doctor, so that he can remember. He has no pictures so I wanted to draw him one."
"Child, has Courtney been putting this nonsense into your head too?" the principal spit out.
Ian however put a hand on her shoulder: "Could you please tell me what exactly is on this painting?"
"Well, it's the Doctor and Miss Oswald. And Mr. Pink. And our class. And the forest right in the middle of London."
The principal buried his face in his hands embarrassed that the chairman had to listen to these tales. But he hoped he would understand, it was what kids did, burrying their sorrow in fantasies.
Ian Chesterton however showed no disregard for the tale the girl had told them.
"And when did this happen?" he asked her.
"Last year."
"And tell me, Maebh was the Doctor you speak of an old grumpy man? Sort of like your grandfather, yes?"
The child nodded enthusiastically: "Yes, but he was also very funny."
"Here you are, Maebh," a husky adult voice sounded as a tall man came running to them from behind the corner: "I was looking for you everywhere. Don't disappear on me like that."
As the teacher dragged her away back to her class she turned her head once more and waved to Ian. He waved back and smiled.
"I am sorry that you had to hear this nonsense, but given the circumstances...," the principal stated to apologise.
Ian held up his hand: "It was no trouble. Wonderful what a child's fantasy can come up with to cover grief."
-
"A Kate Stewart?" the principal asked his assistant: "I have never heard that name before. Was she a relative?"
"She says she's from UNIT."
"UNIT?"
"United Nations Intelligence Taskforce."
"I had no idea that such a thing even existed," he spoke more to himself than to his assistant or the chairman.
Nevertheless Ian felt the need to answer: "Neither did I."
"I wonder what that's about. Let her in," he nodded.
A woman presumably in her forties walked in. She carried herself with an air of authority. Her face was almost unreadable but Ian would swear that he caught a hint of sadness in the corner of her eye.
"Kate Steward, UNIT, I'd say it was a pleasure to meet you, but given the circumstances...," she shrugged her shoulders and shook hands with the principal.
"And you must be Ian Chesterton, you don't need to get up" she turned to the other man.
"I don't believe we've met," he answered.
"No, we haven't. But you would have met my father Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, I believe. Although I don't think you would have retained memory of that particular meeting."
"That is all and well, but I still quite don't understand," the principal interrupted her: "my assistant tells me you came to collect the contents of Miss Oswald's locker. I don't understand what the army would want with the locker of a teacher from Coal Hill. And I had no idea that Miss Oswald had any other connections to the army than Mr. Pink."
"Oh, I am sorry about the soldiers, it's just a precautionary measure. We're not a strictly military organisation. Science leads, as my father used to say. As for Miss Oswald, she assisted UNIT more than once in her free time."
"Assisted how?" Ian asked.
"I fear that the nature of Miss Oswald's work for UNIT is and will remain top secret. All you need to know is that she served humanity well. In fact UNIT would like to acknowledge that by honouring her with this," she took out a box from her bag.
"A medal?"
"Yes, in memorial. We offered it to her father and grandmother, but they declined. The wound is still too fresh for them I believe. But I wondered whether perhaps Coall Hill would like it? You could keep it safe in case their change their mind?"
"Of course. You knew Clara?" the principal wondered.
"We've met and worked together on several occasions, yes."
"So you were friends?"
"I suppose you could say friends. Or at least friends through a common friend. A very special one," a soft smiled crept onto her face as she looked at Ian.
"I still have no ruddy idea what's actually going on here but if you wait here for just a few minutes, I will bring the keys to Miss Oswald's locker," the princpal said at last
He left leaving Ian and Kate alone in his office.
"You know of the Doctor then," Ian started.
"Yes, I know the Doctor. Although I have met different faces than you."
"Different faces?"
"He's got this trick to escape death, changes his body. He's done it a two dozen times since you last met him."
"Have you also travelled with him?"
"No," Kate shook her head: "but you have for a bit, Courtney Woods, right? You can come out now. I know you're there, your hair is sticking out, you know."
The teenager climbed out from behind the cupboard.
"Clara didn't die of a heart attack, right?" Courtney challenged.
"Would it make a difference if she had?"
"How do you mean?"
"You know the kind of person she was. Would a natural death change anything about that?"
"No. But she didn't die of a heart attack."
"No, she did not. Stick around, Courtney, there's something I want to show you, both of you."
"The Doctor?" Ian wondered.
"No, the Doctor has disappeared, completely off our radars, I am afraid. But there's something else."
Ian walked to the blue box and touched the door. The paint had changed since the last time he had seen her and it looked fresh and new and of course there was the memorial for the deceased girl, but it was still very much her, he could feel it in his bones. The TARDIS.
"Thank you, for bringing me here," he turned to Kate: "I was starting to think that perhaps it was all a story in my head. The kind of tale that children and old men come up with to cover the pain. But it wasn't. It was real. The TARDIS. The Doctor and Susan. And Barbara and me travelling with all of time and space as our backyard. It was all real."
Kate smiled: "Yes, it was."
Suddenly there was an uproar at the end of the street. A young man with the hood down his face and armed with a glass bottle in his hand was yelling at them, willing them to disappear. Then he came closer and recognised Kate.
"Oh, it's you," he resigned.
"You still come here everyday," Kate addressed Rigsy.
"Is the least I can do," the young man took another sip out of the bottle: "she bloody died for me."
"I knew it! I've been telling you!" Courtney cried out triumphantly: "I knew she didn't die just like that in vain, she died to save someone."
Rigsy's face constricted with pain: "She didn't have to die, you know. There was an other way out. But she just had to do something so stupid, recklessly trying to save my life while completely disregarding her own."
"No," Kate shook her head: "that wasn't it. It wasn't about being reckless, it was about being Clara, completely selfless, without giving it a second thought."