Will

For Adelaide, Skaro was a sore place of discussion. Once, a Time Lady was killed by her people while attempting to visit Skaro as it healed from the Thousand Year War. Perhaps if she'd gone, she would have found the creator of the Daleks just as he created them. Perhaps, if she'd been a different person in any of her regenerations, she would have stopped him before they destroyed the Thals.

Perhaps.

But she was also the Time Lady who'd run from the Time War with a little boy bred to be a warrior for the Last Great Time War. Who'd honestly not known if she would have still run with him if she'd known who he was, despite how much she relied on logic.

Sadly, even the Betrayer can be betrayed, and the Time Lords were beginning to get protective of the Protector. She never got to Skaro.

Not, of course, until much later in her long life. Not until her sixth face.

But, of course, if there was one thing she attempted to hold true, no matter which face she wore, it was that she wanted to avoid the battlefield. It was not the side of the universe that she desired to learn about.

So when the TARDIS landed in the middle of a war zone, it was the Predator who emerged from the ship, hearing a child in the fog. "Help me! Someone, please! Help me! Help me!"

He threw his sonic to the child. "Your chances of survival are about one in a thousand. So here's what you do. You forget the thousand, and you concentrate on the one. Pick it up. I said, pick it up!" the boy obeyed. "I'm straight ahead of you, about fifty feet. Can you see me?" the smoke cleared, letting the Time Lord actually see the little boy surrounded by hand mines. "The device in your hand is creating an acoustic corridor so that we can talk. Do you understand?"

The boy frowned at him. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm just a passer-by. I was looking for a bookshop; Adelaide has one that she keeps talking about that I want to get her. How do you think I'm doing?"

"This isn't a bookshop."

"No, this is a war. A very old one, going by the mix of technology. Which war is this? I get them all muddled up."

He shook his head. "It's just the war."

"Where am I? What planet is this?"

"I don't understand."

"Well, neither do I. I try never to understand. It's called an open mind and a love of mysteries. Now, you have got to make a choice."

"A choice?"

"Yes, you have got to decide that you're going to live. Survival is just a choice. Choose it now."

"If I move," he looked down at the hand mines, "they'll get me."

"I told you, you have one chance in a thousand. But one is all you ever need. What's your name? Come on, faith in the future. Introduce yourself! Tell me the name of the boy who isn't going to die today."

"Davros." The Doctor stilled. "My name is Davros." And then the fog closed again. "Hello? Are you still there? Please, you've got to help me. You said I could survive. You said you'd help me. Help me!"

|C-S|

This was not the first time that Adelaide had witnessed someone performing the necessary steps prior to a Time Lord's death, though this was the first time she wasn't actually doing it herself. The Doctor, currently, was alone in the top room of a tower surrounded by candles, attempting to meditate.

Adelaide, meanwhile, was outside the room reading a book. Though she had shown she could remain focused for a limited amount of time, the fact that the Doctor was, so far, seeming to be able to do the same was a testament to how serious the situation was.

Bors, a man whom the Doctor had made friends with almost immediately upon landing here, came up the stairs. "Lady Adelaide," he said, bowing slightly to her.

"He's not meant to be interrupted," she reminded him, at the same moment the Doctor called, "how many days have I been here?"

"About three hours," Adelaide told him before Bors could.

"Three hours?"

She glanced at Bors, who shrugged. "Nearly.

The Doctor sighed. "Maybe Clara's right. She keeps telling me I've got Attention Deficit...er...something or other." He picked up the goblet to his side, taking a drink and making a face at the taste, which had Adelaide raising her eyebrows.

Bors stepped forward. "What is your journey?"

"You can't go with him, Bors," Adelaide said.

"I'm pledged to your service" he looked to the Doctor "ever since you saved my life.

The Time Lord sighed again. "I didn't save your life. You had a splinter."

"Where is it you go, and why must you meditate first?"

"Someone I know is very sick. He'll want to see me before..." the Doctor paused, holding Adelaide's gaze, "While there's still time."

"An old friend?"

"Someone I've known a very long time."

Bors straightened. "If there is danger, let me ride at your side."

"You can't help me, not where I'm going. Not even Adelaide can. But I have to get myself ready. I have to be alone. I have to think. No more distractions."

Bors nodded, bowing slightly. "As you wish, Sir Doctor." He turned to leave just as the Doctor took another drink, making another face.

"Urgh. Hang on a minute." He stood, turning. "The water."

"The water, sir?"

"I don't like it. I can't meditate properly without decent water." The Doctor gave the goblet to Bors as he left, the man sniffing the liquid.

Adelaide, sighed, followed him down the stairs.

|C-S|

For the Doctor, the planet Karn has always held a strong place in his hearts. It was, after all, where he became the Warrior that ended the last Time War. Where he'd, unknowingly, first heard of Adelaide and what she had done instead of fight the war.

And now, it was where he ran when Colony Sarff was looking for them.

For Sarff was looking for both Time Lords...even if it wasn't clear if Sarff was looking for Adelaide in order to find the Doctor.

Thankfully, no matter the reason, Karn was always willing to protect him. Always willing to offer him some sort of salvation.

When Sarff came to Karn, it was Ohila, the woman who turned the Doctor into the Warrior, who faced them. "Welcome, Colony Sarff. We are the Sisterhood of Karn. If you do not leave our world immediately, we will take your skin."

"Where are the Doctor and the Protector?"

"Where they always are. Right behind you, and one step ahead. Tread carefully when you seek the Time Lords Victorious, Colony Sarff, or they will be the last thing you find."

"Davros, creator of the Daleks, dark Lord of Skaro."

Ohila nodded. "What of him?"

"Davros is dying."

"Davros is ancient. He should have been dust centuries ago."

"He has a message for the Time Lords Victorious."

"Then you will give it to me." Colony Sarff writhed, attempting to shift as their powers normally allowed. "Your powers mean nothing here. Give me the message and leave."

"Tell the Doctor...Davros knows. Davros remembers. Tell him that he must face Davros one last time." There was thunder and lightning as Colony Sarff turned to leave. "Davros knows. Davros remembers."

Only once Colony Sarff was out of sight did Ohila turn to address the Time Lords close behind her. "Doctor?" for even though Colony Sarff sought Adelaide as well, this encounter proved that, as they'd guessed, it had been to find the Doctor. "What have you done?" The Doctor did not look at her, only turned slightly more to face Adelaide, who stood at his side, the Time Lady standing with crossed arms. "He has asked to see you. His servants seek you everywhere. Will you go?"

"No."

Ohila shook her head. "Why do you always lie?"

"Why do you always assume I'm lying?"

"It saves time," Adelaide told him, making him smile slightly.

"The truth; will you go?"

"No."

"When?"

"Soon."

"Why? Did something happen?"

"No."

"Was it recent?"

"Yes."

Ohila shook her head. "Whatever it was, you owe that creature nothing."

"He and I've known each other a long time."

"You've been enemies for all of it."

The Doctor shrugged. "An enemy's just a friend you don't really know yet." He paused, looking at Ohila. "Sorry. What, was that me being cynical again?"

"Aren't we friends, Doctor?"

"That's different." He waved a hand. "I don't like you!"

Ohila laughed. "Which means you can trust me."

The Time Lords looked at each other again. They'd guessed what Colony Sarff wanted to find them for, they'd discussed what they'd need to do. What the Doctor would need to do, because Adelaide had been right as she'd gone to death in her last regeneration. "You know who to give this to?" He drew a disc from his coat, giving it to Ohila. "I won't go straight away. We'll hang out for a bit. Probably meditate on a rock somewhere. Get myself ready."

"You are embarking on an enterprise that will end in your destruction."

He shrugged. "You could say that about being born."

"Wherever you go, there are people who care enough to find you."

Adelaide nodded. "Help me look after the universe for him. He's put a lot of work into it."

"Anyone can hide from an enemy, Time Lords. No one from a friend."

|C-S|

The Doctor led the peasants, carrying shovels, around the outside of the castle, Adelaide at the back of the group. "We're going to dig a well!" he announced. "Right on..." he stopped, looking down, "this spot. There will be excellent water here."

"How'd you know?"

"Oh," the Doctor shrugged, "I'm very good at water."

Five days later, the Doctor had picked, once more, another spot. "This is definitely a good spot for water."

Bors shook his head. "But this is the twelfth place you've made us dig."

Adelaide, who now stood next to the Doctor, sighed. "Twelve is his lucky number."

More days, more failing to dig a well. "Here...no, here...look at this grass...this is watery grass...follow the squelchy..."

It was only on the twelfth day that the peasants had finally found actual water and built an actual well, Bors drawing a bucket of water for the Doctor. "Well, you've all the water you need and it is the finest in the land. Your meditation can begin."

The Doctor looked to Adelaide who, honestly, had grown more and more annoyed at how much the Doctor was goofing off. "Yes, I suppose it can. Except..."

"Except?" Adelaide said.

"Do you know what this well really needs?"

"Nothing. It's perfect."

"A visitor's center."

Adelaide just put a hand on her forehead and sighed.

By the seventeenth day, the Doctor sat by a fire outside making coins disappear, Adelaide in her own chair with a journal attempting to draw a diagram of a plant she'd found that she was fairly certain was actually alien.

Bors, caring an armful of scrolls, approached them both though, as the Doctor was the one who'd gotten involved, he addressed the Time Lord. "Everyone has agreed on the plan for the throne room extension, but we're...we're not quite sure what you mean by a sunroof."

"Look at this coin." The Doctor held one up. "You see it?"

Bors, dropping the scrolls, leaned closer. "I see it."

The Doctor waved his hands, fisted, in the air. "Where is it now?"

"There." Bors pointed to a hand.

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is. I saw it."

"Are you sure? I'm really a very good magician."

Bors frowned at him. "What is it you dread?" That made Adelaide look up.

"Why would I dread anything?"

"You're always making jokes. You never sit still, like you're running in fear of days to come."

The Doctor turned to look at him. "I thought you were an idiot."

Bors nodded. "I know. I thought that too."

"Good. I was worried I would have to break it to you, and Adelaide would probably hate me for that."

|C-S|

For Clara, teaching was always what she returned to. Sure, traveling the universe with two aliens who were so in love that before they'd admitted it to each other she'd just wanted to shove them together as much as physically possible was fun, but teaching was always what she preferred.

Even when she was catching kids chewing gum.

"Will I get it back after school?" Ryan asked, leaning back from spitting it into the wastebasket. The rest of the class made faces of disgust at that comment.

"How will you know which one's yours?" the class laughed. "Fine, then. Right. Now, where was I?" she deposited the basket, starting to walk back through the desks. "Jane Austen. Amazing writer, brilliant comic observer, and strictly among ourselves, a phenomenal kisser." As she neared the window and looked out, she paused.

No...

"Miss?" Alison asked. "Miss?"

"Miss?"

An airplane had stopped in the sky.

"Is she okay?"

Clara ran to her desk, grabbed a marker, and returned to the window to draw a circle around the plane. "Everybody turn on their phones. News websites and Twitter." She opened the window, looked out, then closed it again, but the plane was in the exact same place.

"Twitter?" Ryan frowned.

"Hashtag: 'ThePlanesHaveStopped'."

Another teacher, Mr. Dunlop, appeared at her door. "Miss Oswald, a call at the office."

"Yeah," Clara nodded, "that would probably be UNIT."

"They're telling me you're needed. They were going to put me through to the Prime Minister."

Clara stepped out of her room. "Mr. Dunlop, sorry. I have to take the rest of the day off owing to a...er...personal crisis."

|C-S|

On the twenty-first day, the Doctor returned to the room.

"Are you sure?" Bors asked him.

The Doctor nodded. "I've been avoiding it. One last night, then we have to go."

"Do you wish to be alone?"

The Time Lord moved to the side, beginning to rearrange the candles. "I have to prepare myself."

"But why?" Bors looked to Adelaide. "You've never explained."

"The Doctor did something wrong," she explained, for even if she was joining him the guilt still lied with him. "He let somebody down when...when he should have been brave enough and strong enough to do better."

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Tomorrow, I pay the price. Tonight, I make myself ready." He took his spot.

"Goodbye, Magician," Bors said, stepping forward and holding out his hand to the Doctor. "You have widened my mind."

The Doctor stood again, taking Bors hand. "You do realize you're still an idiot."

Bors nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. I have to be quiet now. Quiet as the grave."

Bors smiled. "I do not believe you are capable of silence. Her, perhaps," he nodded at Adelaide, "but not you, Magician."

"Oh? Oh, well, we'll see about that, shall we?"

"We shall, Sir Doctor."

Bors left, the Doctor taking his chalk and beginning to write on the floor, Adelaide merely watching from the doorway. "No more distractions," he mumbled to himself. "Got to focus. No more distractions..." he glanced over to the Time Lady. "Bors!" The man returned as Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "Are you any good with a broadsword?"

"Yes."

The Doctor held up his spoon. "Fancy a friendly?"

"Enough, Magician!" The Doctor paused. "I do not believe that you will meditate. It is not in your nature. If this is to be your last night here then we shall celebrate. There shall be revels. But first, tell me your story." He looked between them. "Both of you, even if you do not meditate, Scientist. Tell me how you came to this place and why now you are compelled to leave it. I will not depart this room until you do so."

The Doctor stood. "I suppose I do owe you."

"I have served you loyally, Sir Doctor."

"Yes. Yes, you have."

"Then begin your tale."

He looked back to Adelaide, the Time Lady nodding, before speaking. "Well, a little while ago, a very long way from here, I was looking for a bookshop to buy a present. Instead, I found a battlefield." He sighed. "Story of my life, opposite of Adelaide's. I've seen many battlefields, and her so few. But this one will be different. This one will be my last."

|C-S|

Clara entered UNIT headquarters as Kate spoke. "...radio silence. I've got to go. Tell the President I'll call him back." Kate looked to the side. "She's not answering their phone. Have you tried?"

"We don't know enough yet. He doesn't appreciate gossip."

Kate frowned. "Gossip?"

Clara stopped beside her. "How many planes?"

"4,165 aircraft currently airborne," Jac, one of Kate's employees, said.

"That's a lot of passengers."

Clara nodded. "That's a lot of fuel."

Kate's eyes widened. "Oh, dear God. Yes, it is."

"Okay, so, what could you do with 4,000 flying bombs?"

"Ah, well, 439 nuclear power stations currently active."

Kate nodded. "What else?"

"I dunno." Clara shrugged. "Er...fault lines. Earthquake...a tsunami?"

"Running simulations now."

"So this is an attack?"

But Clara shook her head. "What kind of an attack advertises? Why show somebody what you can do? Why not just do it? What's actually happened to the planes? What are the pilots saying?"

Kate glanced to the side. "We...we can't contact them."

"The planes haven't stopped, they're actually frozen," Jac explained. "Like, frozen in time. Pardon my sci-fi, but this is beyond any human technology."

"Okay," Kate nodded, "so we need the Doctor."

"Kate, we can't just phone the Time Lords and bleat, he'll go Scottish before she can stop him. Come on. What have we got? What do we know? It's not an attack, it's not an invasion, because, well, that doesn't come with a fair warning." Clare frowned. "So, somebody needs our attention. Somebody who needs to put a gun to our heads to make us listen." She looked down, seeing something on a screen. "Oh."

"Oh?"

"We've got a message," Mike called. "The TARDIS channel."

"Sorry, what?"

"They never use it," Kate said. "I doubt either of them remember it even exists."

"Then who is it?"

"Decrypting," Mike said, getting to work. "We're getting text through, I think."

"Texting?" Clara shook her head. "Definitely not the Doctor or Adelaide."

The computer beeped as it started to display the message: 'You so fine'.

"Have you got any more?"

Mike nodded. "Coming."

'You blow my mind. Hey Missy, you so fine, you so fine, you blow my mind! Hey Missy!'

The image switched to Missy herself. Very much not dead. "Today, I shall be talking to you out of..." her face burst out of the screen, "the square window!"

"What the hell was that?" Kate gasped, stepping back. "How did she do that?"

"Dunno." Jac shook her head. "Some sort of psychic projection, or something."

"Oh great, thanks."

"Okay, cutting to the chase," Missy continued. "Not dead, back, big surprise, never mind. I'm in a lovely little square in one of your, oh," she looked around, "I don't know, hot countries. There's a light breeze coming from the east, this coffee" she held up the cup "is a buzz-monster in my brain, and I'm going to need eight snipers."

Kate frowned. "Eight what?"

"Three for each heart, and two for my brain stem. You'll have to switch me off fast, before I can regenerate. How fast can you get here? Ooo, I'll need to arrange you in a flight corridor." Missy licked her finger and began to mess with her controller.

"Why do you need snipers?"

"Because it's the only way she'll feel safe enough to talk to me." Missy looked up, somehow managing to look directly at Clara. "Shall we say four o'clock?"

|C-S|

Clara was extremely wary as she emerged from the car in the square Missy had commandeered. The woman in question was sitting at a table sipping her espresso, looking entirely unbothered by the snipers and various other agents surrounding her.

When Clara walked across the square, the birds that had gathered scattered. Missy gestured for her to sit. "Go on, then." Clara did so, the Time Lady taking another sip. "How's your boyfriend? Still tremendously dead, I expect."

"Still dead, yeah." Clara crossed her arms. "How come you're still alive?"

"Death is for other people, dear. Would you like to sit in the shade? I know how you humans burn." She used her controller to bring a plane above them, covering them in shadow. "Better? I expect you've tried to contact them by now. Well, you should know, I can't find them either. No one can."

"That happens, now and then, especially when Adelaide gets distracted."

"Not like this." Missy pulled a disc from her pocket and placed it on the table. It was covered in what Clara recognized as Gallifreyan, but couldn't translate. "It's a confession dial."

"A what?"

"In your terms, a will. The Last Will and Testament of a Time Lord known as the Doctor," she gestured at it. "To be delivered, according to ancient tradition, to his closet friend on the eve of his final day."

"Where's Adelaide's?"

"Unless you have not received one, it appears that she is not set to die this time."

Clara frowned. "Me?"

"With the Doctor otherwise engaged," Missy nodded again at the dial, "I do believe you are Adelaide's next closest friend. She and I only had what one could call a 'work relationship'."

"Then why did you get the Doctor's?"

"Well, of course it was sent to me. I'm his friend. You're just..."

"I'm just what?"

"See that couple over there?" Missy nodded to the couple walking, entirely unbothered by the state of the square, a bit away. "You're the puppy."

"I'm Adelaide's assistant."

"Yes, but that means nothing to your relationship with the Doctor and mainly speaks to the fact that Adelaide was never the sort of person who made friends, giving her very few options in the confession dial delivery department."

"But why didn't Adelaide get it? And since when do you care about the Doctor?"

"Since always." Missy smiled. "Since the Cloister Wars. Since the night he stole the moon and the President's wife. Since he was a little girl." She smirked. "One of those was a lie. Can you guess which one?"

Clara shook her head. The fact that, out of the entire universe, Missy claimed that she would be the one to receive Adelaide's confession dial if the situation came to it gave her a bit of confidence at the moment. "He's not your friend. You keep trying to kill him."

Missy shrugged. "He keeps trying to kill me. It's sort of our texting. We've been at it for ages."

"Mmm, must be love."

"Oh, don't be disgusting," Missy scoffed. "We're Time Lords, not animals. Try, nano-brain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. A friendship older than your civilization, and infinitely more complex. And besides, the two of them are Aligned, which my dear friend has taken to mean they're destined to be together forever. Sad, really, that she doesn't always agree..." her smirk returned. "Oh, but that's some spoiler, isn't it?"

"You never said why Adelaide didn't get his confession dial."

"Have you not been listening? The Doctor and Adelaide may think that Aligning means they're destined to be together forever, but I have known the Doctor for far longer regardless. I know him far better than she could ever hope to; your boss is still attempting to figure out exactly what type of person he is."

Clara crossed her arms. "So the Doctor is your bezzy mate and I'm supposed to believe that you've turned good?"

A/N: Hmm...maybe we'll finally get some more answers on the Aligning front...and what does Missy know will happen that she's not telling us...;)

Welcome to the seventh part of this series! Must say, this is a good two-parter to open this story with. Missy has always been my favorite, and particularly with this story and Adelaide.

As a refresher, I picture Adelaide's current regeneration (her 6th) to resemble Julianne Moore. She tends to favor dark pants, dark green/black tank-tops, and a longer leather-style coat or sweater. Her Polyvore set (and those of all her regenerations) is viewable on my Tumblr, if you're curious.

Hope you enjoy!