Truth is Singular
Lies are words, words, words.
-Prologue-
"The only force that could melt the snow, an entire family crying on Christmas Day," the regret in his voice echoed back from the window pane.
When they returned to the Latimer House, the family stood gathered around a body laid out on a table. Madame Vastra took in a deep hissing breath through her nostrils. This was not going to prove an easy task. She looked back at the Time Lord who stood frozen in the doorway of his time machine. The look on his face was one she had not seen in many a year. She raced after him when he stormed back into the Tardis.
"Doctor!" she called.
"No!" he growled, rearing back at her like a fierce beast protecting its young. "I will! Not! Lose her!" he stomped his way down the staircase to the underbelly of the Tardis console to begin digging through the various drawers and boxes of his strange collection of items.
Vastra's chest tightened, "This is not your fault, Doctor. There is nothing to be done. She is lost. Doing this will only cause more pain!" She wondered secretly if the Doctor would ever recover from his mourning with this fresh death on his conscience.
There was a maniacal look in his eyes as he came bounding back up the stairs with a gadget in hand. He turned a knob this way and that, played a little tune on the various buttons, and then looked back up at her. Vastra took a step back in shock.
The Doctor's eyes were bubbling with bright tears.
She got out of his way when he pushed past her and out of the Tardis once more. She knew there would be no stopping him from trying to save her.
The family barely glanced up from their tears. Jenny and Strax saw the madman striding toward them. Strax put up his large hands, "Sir. She has moments only.." The words died upon his lips.
The Time Lord was a glorious visage of fury. The red pulsating light in the room seemed to encase him in fire. There would be no argument against him, no enemy who could defeat him, and no friend who could persuade him otherwise. He took the medical machine from Strax and connected it to his own gadget.
Lights and sounds suddenly emitted like a colossal whirlwind from the combined machines. The Doctor focused it upon the body on the table. His eyes closed and his body began to quiver. Jenny and Strax could see an energy being transmitted from him, to the machine, and then to the girl they had wept over.
Something happened. Everything stood still for a moment. There was no sound or any movement in the room. Time seemed to stop.
And then came a huge whoosh! The girl took in a gasping breath. Her eyes fluttered wide open and she nearly jumped into a sitting position. At the same time, the Doctor collapsed.
Vastra and Strax leaped forward to catch him.
"Good God!" Captain Latimer exclaimed.
Jenny nearly sobbed, "Madame! Is he..?"
"No, my love, he is alive," Vastra smiled thinly. Just barely, she thought to herself. "That was an incredibly stupid thing to do." She looked down at the fried and sparking machine that now lay on the floor at the Doctor's feet. "Somehow.. I don't know how.. he used his own life energy to give the technology enough of a boost to revive Clara. Time Lords will never cease to amaze me." The red light was gone. The furious energy was gone. All that was left was a held in breath of anticipation.
Strax was quick to get back up and pull out another medical device from his pocket. He scanned the girl with a frown. He looked at Vastra and nodded. "She will live."
The children cried out and ran toward her. "Miss Montague! Miss Montague!" They grabbed her, hugged her, kissed her.
She seemed to be in a state of shock, and had not yet spoken. She looked from the children, to Captain Latimer and the maid, to Jenny and Strax, and then.. she looked down at the Doctor.
Vastra felt the Doctor stir in her arms. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief that only Jenny saw. Against all the odds, the Time Lord lifted his head and looked up at the woman he had nearly sacrificed it all to save.
Clara smiled, "Did you save the world?"
"Yes. We did," the Doctor's voice shook, but his face had softened into a small grin.
The girl's smile widened, "Well then. Where to first?"
To be continued..
Author's Note: I am a huge fan of Doctor Who, but I thought that series 7B had many enormous flaws to it, one of the biggest being the two-dimensional and poorly written modern Clara. I recently re-watched The Snowmen and thought about how awesome the Victorian Clara and her world really was. And so I thought it would be fun to go for it, and change everything.
Major changes: Asylum of the Daleks is changed to be a completely separate character, no longer tied to the character of Clara. Let's just ignore that story please, in order to completely erase the "Impossible Girl" story-arc. No souffle-girl comment. My story is going to only include the Victorian Clara as if she is the original and only Clara. So just try to imagine that in your head. Also: I will be rewriting many of series 7B stories in order to fit this new Clara story-arc, and to improve them in the ways I wish they could have been. I will be covering those series 7B episodes and throwing in my own original adventures for this Clara and the Doctor duo to go on that I had wished to see. Thank you for any support/reviews and for reading! I hope you enjoy.
Rating: T rated for violence, swearing, mature themes, sexual themes (lime, but no lemon).
Genre: Adventure/Action and Drama. Pairings: Eventual Clara/11, Jenny/Vastra, and some surprises. Additional genres, humor, romance, angst.
Disclaimer: Doctor Who is owned by the BBC, however, any original characters not seen in the show are owned by me.