Author's Note: Yes, I left you in a cliffhanger at the end of the last story, "Confession". Here's the recap, just in case you guys forgot...
Then we'll head on to the story proper...
Previously, in the Child of Balime…
The Daleks needed two of them to end the universe. And Dawn had worked out that… well, with Daleks being so trigger-happy and hateful… she just had to provoke the Daleks so they killed her using an extermination beam. And couldn't kill her by accessing her Key energy, to destroy the universe.
She'd almost succeeded.
But then Seo had discovered what she was doing. Wrenched open her chains, and darted forwards, fast as she could, as the Daleks shouted:
"EXTERMINATE!"
The beam struck Seo full-on.
Seared through her, entire body lit up in a bright burst of light, skeleton shining through as a scream of utter agony was wrenched from her lips. It lasted only a moment, one blinding, horrible moment, before Seo dropped to the floor, by Dawn's feet.
Dead.
Dawn stared. Her heart pounding. Her brain unable to register it. No regeneration. No fake-outs. No nothing. Seo was dead. Really dead. Struck-down-by-a-Dalek dead.
That was supposed to be Dawn! Seo had been supposed to survive! She'd…
She'd…
She was…
"You killed her," Dawn breathed. The words burned in her throat. "You actually…!" She struggled, trying to suppress a horrible sob. "So go on! Kill me, too!"
The Daleks didn't move.
"Your experiment's useless!" cried Dawn. "The IPSA missiles will blast this whole ship into oblivion in a few seconds, anyways! So just do your damn job as the universe's mini-Hitlers and KILL ME, ALREADY!"
"THE EXPERIMENT HAS NOT BEEN COMPROMISED," said one of the Daleks.
Dawn's blood ran cold. "What?"
"DISK REGISTERS RAPIDLY RISING, CONTROLLED DIMENSIONAL ENERGY RESERVES," reported another. "DELTA TRANSFER HAD COMMENCED AT TIME OF EXTERMINATION. FULL MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONTROL IMMINENT."
"CONTINUE WITH USE OF SPECIAL WEAPONS DALEK!" shouted the Dalek in charge.
The Special Weapons Dalek advanced forwards.
No.
No!
Either of their deaths should have been enough to halt the end of the universe, but… it looked like Seo wasn't exactly like Dawn, after all. Her energy could be released even without blood. Just by dying forever.
The universe was doomed.
Dawn was doomed.
Seo was dead, the IPSA missile would never strike in time, and the Daleks would use the power to rule every single dimension and every single universe, across all of time and space and the infinity of creation, and there was nothing Dawn could do about it! Nothing…!
The Special Weapons Dalek halted the moment he hit the disk. Froze, as if completely immobilized.
"WHY HAVE YOU STOPPED?" demanded the Dalek in charge. "EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN!"
The Special Weapons Dalek tried to move forwards, but the effort clearly was doing nothing for him. "I CANNOT MOVE. I…" The Special Weapons Dalek twitched. "SENSORS DETECT MASSIVE… ENERGY… DECREA…"
Then the eyestalk drooped. And the light in its eyes went dead.
"ALERT!" shouted one of the Daleks. "ALERT! ANOMALOUS READING EMITTED FROM DISK!"
"IPSA MISSILE COLLISION IN FIVE RELLS!" shouted another.
The lead Dalek began jumping and jolting in irritation. "THE DIMENSIONAL GATEWAY MUST BE CLAIMED!" he shrieked. "THE DALEKS MUST REIGN ACROSS…!"
The flash and crash and bang swept across Dawn's eyes, as the bomb struck.
Except…
Dawn peeled open her eyes, again.
It… had struck, right? She'd felt it striking the ship. She'd felt the air beginning to ignite and burn away. She'd felt…
"WHAT IS HAPPENING?" shouted the lead Dalek, clearly just as baffled as Dawn was. "REPORT! REPORT!"
A low laugh echoed from down by Dawn's feet. A low laugh… coming from…
Seo picked herself up, off the ground. "Oh, now that feels good," she said, stretching as if getting up after a long nap. "Mmm, mmm, mmm! Power-sucking a high-grade explosion. Brilliant! Never get enough of that." Her eyes fell on the Daleks. "Oh. And you must be the boys who let me out."
The Daleks, clearly floored that they hadn't actually killed her, began to shout, "EXTERMINATE!"
The beams flashed through her, as Seo spread open her arms, and let them strike, every single beam illuminating her skeleton for a single second, but not felling her. She laughed, as they ran through her.
"Keep it coming!" Seo shouted. "All that energy? Massive head-rush. No, actually, on second thought…" She reached out and caught one of the beams, frozen in midair, in her hands. Then yanked on it, hard, until the Daleks around Seo and Dawn began to scream, and harsh light zipped from their metal husks. Swirling towards Seo. "Just like that! Come on! You know you want to!"
"Seo… what…?" Dawn stuttered, as the lights on the space ship began to flicker, the systems began to power down.
"Do you know what the difference is between a Key and a Dimensional Node?" Seo asked. She grinned. Gesturing around her. "Energy. Dimensional Nodes have to suck up energy from everything around them. The whole dimension and the whole universe. But us? We've got our own energy. Don't have to suck anything from anyone." She laughed. "But it sure feels good doing it, anyways!"
Oh, God.
That was what she was doing.
Draining energy from the Daleks, from the ship, from everything and everyone around her, even draining energy from the IPSA prisoners, the humans screaming out in agony as Seo laughed with delighted glee. Draining their life. Extinguishing both Dalek and human alike.
And loving it.
Dawn shuddered. She had a horrible feeling… that whomever had survived that Dalek blast wasn't Seo.
Not at all.
The Daleks drooped. The ship fell silent. Not even a sound from the IPSA prisoners. No one and nothing survived… except for Dawn, still restrained. And Seo, her eyes crazed, the last tendrils of energy still zipping around her.
"Locked up for over a century!" Seo breathed. "And finally — finally — she's gone. Forever. And I'm free." She turned, a huge grin on her face, exactly that Glory-insane look in her eyes that Dawn remembered from the real thing. "Looks like it's just you and me, now. Key."