CHAPTER 4

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LET THE GAME BEGIN ANEW

"Attention, all members of the Chancellery Guard! This is Rassilon. The Capitol has just been invaded by an unknown alien intruder. They must be found at once and summarily executed for daring to break into the very heart of Gallifrey herself. This breach of security must not go unanswered!" A furious voice screeched as alarm klaxons began to go off everywhere in the city at once.

"All I did was take a quick little peek into the Matrix, Tyrant Boy. No need to go all ballistic. It's not like I nicked the family silverware or had a secret midnight tryst with one of your kids or something. Although I do have to admit that your daughter was kind of h . . ." Clara muttered to herself with a sly smile as she raced through the Capitol's corridors wearing an invisibility watch that she hoped would be enough to keep her from being undiscovered until she could get back to the TARDIS.

"Clara!" An angry voice suddenly shouted in Clara's ear over the comlink that she wore to keep her in constant contact with the ship.

Clara immediately winced and gritted her teeth together as she said, "Now I'm in trouble."

Ashildr sounded angrier than Clara had ever heard her as she said, "You'd better believe that you are. Kindly explain to me why we're currently in the middle of the Capitol on Gallifrey back in the founding days of the Time Lords. It seems like every single time that I go to sleep lately I wake up to find you hip deep in trouble. Are you going through your second childhood again lately or are you actively trying to completely rewrite the entire history of time and space?"

"Calm down, Viking Girl! I have it all completely under control. I promise," Clara said in a reassuring voice even as several staser blasts began to fire all around her.

"The intruder's here somewhere. I heard a voice," One of the Capitol guards shouted as he continued to fire in her direction despite being unable to see her.

"Or I did until you called anyway, 'Mum'," Clara said to herself in an angry voice as she used her martial arts skills to quickly knock out the guard who had found her before he could say anything else.

"What was that?" Ashildr snapped even as several other guards came around the corner to see the now unconscious guard lying there and began firing wildly in all directions as they too shouted for help to the others.

"The intruder is over here somewhere! They apparently have some kind of advanced cloaking technology that hides not only their appearance but also their life signs from detection however. Proceed with extreme caution. This could be an advanced scout preparing the way for an invasion of Gallifrey by some new unknown enemy force. I would prefer you to take them alive but permission is given to terminate them with extreme prejudice if there seems to be no other way to prevent them from leaving the Capitol. They must not be allowed to escape with whatever information that they took from the Matrix," The commander of the guards warned the others over his communicator as he came on the scene.

"Wonderful. I just had to run into yet another paranoid Maxil type. You know if I didn't know any better I'd swear that you were actually trying to sabotage me on purpose, Ashy. I had almost gotten away without being spotted until you started yelling. Now thanks to you half of the city guard knows where I am," Clara whispered in an annoyed voice.

"It would serve you right if they did find you. The Time Lords have only been trying to hunt you down for centuries now to send you back to what you know is your certain doom so what do you do? You go right to their front door! What is wrong with you? Do you want to die, Clara? What possible reason could you have to do something this reckless?" Ashildr said in a voice that was now beyond angry.

Clara sighed now because she could easily hear the almost paralyzing fear in Ashildr's voice that she was carefully trying to hide thanks to so many long centuries of having known her. Her friend was scared to death for her.

"First of all, I went back to Gallifrey's distant past where no one knows who I am, and I'm using this watch which is thankfully far too advanced for them to override. Plus I'm using an echo device that I picked up on Draxus Alpha that distorts my voice and makes it sound like it's coming from all over the room at once to throw people off. Don't worry so much. I'm almost back to the TARDIS so you can yell at me in person any minute now," Clara said in a reassuring voice.

Suddenly a massive explosion went off behind her as one of the trigger happy guards' shots hit something vital in one of the walls near her. The resulting shockwave from the blast almost knocked her off of her feet and caused her to slow up just long enough for the other guards to finally catch up to her at last. She was now in serious danger of being surrounded as the guards began to close in on her.

"Although I wouldn't mind it too terribly much if you could just come and get me. Don't be worried about damaging my fragile ego, Ashy. I can take it," Clara said in a worried voice as she began rapidly dodging multiple blasts that were coming just a little too close to her for comfort now.

They probably couldn't seriously harm her but they could cause her enough pain to momentarily stun her and that would easily get her captured. She couldn't afford to allow that to happen.

Then she'd definitely never see the Doctor again, and that was what this was all about wasn't it?

"Don't worry, Clara. I'm coming. I'm not about to let my favorite pilot go down this way even if she is a stubborn, self-absorbed narcissist," The voice of the TARDIS's human self said over Clara's comlink.

"Hear that, Ashy? I'm her favorite," Clara said with a smile as she suddenly heard the materialization sounds of the TARDIS around her.

"Yes, that is what you would take from all of that isn't it?" Ashildr said with a groan.

"Stop them! They've stolen a capsule somehow!" A guard shouted in alarm.

It was already far too late however.

"And your point is?" Clara said to Ashildr with a smirk as she teased her in person now while the TARDIS finally surrounded her completely and immediately began to take her to safety.

Ashildr growled in frustration now as she said to the TARDIS' human self in an annoyed tone, "Eleanor, just how much damage did she do to Gallifrey's history by pulling this little stunt?"

The TARDIS had taken the name Eleanor after Clara's mother, Ellie. She had told Clara that she had always liked that name and since Clara probably couldn't pronounce her real one that it would serve her just as well as any.

Eleanor smiled while quickly checking her mechanical alter ego's console as she said, "Amazingly enough the old Oswald luck just came through for my favorite girl all over again, Ash. Rassilon, who has an even bigger ego than Clara's believe it or not, quickly hushes this whole thing up because he doesn't want anyone to know that someone could get in and out of the Capitol under his very nose without getting caught. Having that sort of thing leak out wouldn't exactly help his public image of being all stern and tough now would it?"

"Why do you insist on constantly rubbing it in my face that she's your favorite? I get that. I understood it right from the very start long before you could ever speak a word to me. You don't have to keep mentioning it," Ashildr said with a frown.

"Hey, don't be jealous, Ash. I love you too. You know that," Eleanor said as she quickly hugged Ashildr whose frown deepened even more in response.

"Again with the hugging. Always with the hugging," Ashildr muttered.

"Don't pay any attention to her, Ashy. I'm not really her favorite. She loves us both equally. She just says that to get your goat because she knows how uptight you are. It's the very same reason that she's constantly hugging you too by the way in case you haven't figured it out by now. She knows it bothers you," Clara said as she watched Ashildr cringing in Eleanor's arms with an amused chuckle.

"This doesn't disturb me half as much as what you just did does. What on Earth were you thinking, Clara? What was so important in that time period that you almost wound up getting yourself killed for good over it?" Ashildr demanded.

Clara took a deep breath because she knew what Ashildr's reaction would most likely be as she said, "Information. I had to know where the prophecy of the Hybrid came from and who first came up with it. According to the other trips to Gallifrey's past that I've made, I learned that the earliest mentions of it came from this time period so I came here to read the original version so that I could see exactly what it said for myself."

"Earlier trips? You've been to Gallifrey's past before?" Ashildr said in disbelief.

Clara smiled at her mischievously as she said, "Several times actually while you were peacefully dozing away. Oddly enough I got in and out without being discovered each and every time before. I was doing just fine this time too until someone had to start screaming in my ear. You're not my mother, Ashy, so please stop trying to fill in for her."

"Well, obviously someone has to watch out for you. You're going to wind up completely wiping yourself out of existence if you keep this up and all just to learn what you already know. You and the Doctor are the Hybrid, Clara. You always were. You can't change that no matter how much you don't want it to be true. You can make as many trips to the past as you want, but it won't make any difference whatsoever," Ashildr admonished her.

Then her face softened as she continued in a far kinder voice, "I'm sorry, Clara. I really am. I know just how badly that you want to travel with him again but you can't. You know that. It just puts both you and the universe in far too much danger. It's better this way. Trust me."

Clara smiled because she knew that Ashildr truly did love her and was looking out for her in her own way. This time she was just plain wrong though. She knew that now with absolute certainty after this last visit to Gallifrey.

"What if everything that we think that we know is wrong though?" Clara said with a renewed look of hope on her face.

"What are you talking about? I thought that we settled all of this long ago. You already found out centuries ago what the prophecy said and agreed yourself that it sounded far too much like you and the Doctor to be a coincidence," Ashildr said with a weary look.

This was hardly the first time that Clara would look for a way to go back to him after all. She had been through all of this with her several times before and each time she had to see the same look of heartbreak on Clara's face as she realized that things weren't going to work out for her. She really didn't care to go through that again.

This time would be different though.

"Yeah, exactly and that's when I should have known that something was up. The actual prophecy was always just a little too descriptive and way too close to the mark and that's always bothered me. It's almost as if it was designed specifically just to break the two of us up," Clara said in a conspiratorial tone.

"That's because it was some long forgotten Time Lord seer's vision of the future. Obviously this person was a very powerful psychic to have foreseen what was to come so well. That hardly makes it a conspiracy, Clara," Ashildr said a patient voice.

"What if the prophecy just seems to come out of nowhere, Ashy? What about then?" Clara asked with a smile.

"What are you getting at?" Ashildr said in confusion.

"I've been slowly tracing the origins of the prophecy throughout Gallifrey's history to find out exactly when it came about and who first came up with it. It took a while but I finally found out exactly what I wanted to know. Supposedly someone named Serena, who was a high ranking member of Rassy's government, had a vision of the future that eventually turned into the whole Hybrid prophecy. In fact, she had this vision on the very same day that we just escaped from a minute ago. That's why I visited there to see if I could find out more about this woman so that I could find her and go talk to her right after she had the vision. I wanted to hear it all straight from the source," Clara explained.

"Well, obviously that's not going to happen now. You can't risk going back there again, Clara. They'll be expecting you next time," Ashildr warned.

"You don't have to worry about that, Ashy, because it turns out that I won't have to after all. There is no Serena. There never was," Clara said in triumph.

"So maybe history got some of the details wrong or Rassilon changed the official story for some reason like he did about your little visit there. That doesn't mean anything," Ashildr reasoned.

Clara shook her head profusely as she said, "All of the historical accounts agree that Serena had the prophecy at that exact time and place in Gallifrey's history. They even have a fake biography of Serena that supposedly tells people all about her. It's in the Matrix itself. And yet when I went into the Matrix just now on the day that Serena is supposed to have had the prophecy there's not a thing on her. That's because she never existed. There is no Serena in Rassy's government and never has been and there's no recording of the prophecy at all. You know that Rassilon always made sure to record and document every prophecy just in case they came back to bite him later on. He was very serious about that sort of thing. There's no way he wouldn't have had that recorded in the Matrix immediately by the end of that day which is when I went to visit."

"Clara, I'm sure history just got the details a bit wrong is all. You can't always go by what it says. Trust me. I know from first hand experience exactly how the official account of the past tends to get certain details wrong. Care to know exactly how the great London fire in 1666 got started for instance? I guarantee that history definitely didn't record the details of that one correctly," Ashildr said with a wicked smile.

Clara frowned as she said, "Yes, I know all about the Terileptils and the Doctor's role in that and how he was there when Rome was set on fire too. I know exactly how history can get things wrong after the fact but this is different. This all seems to be very deliberate, Ashildr. A biography of this Serena person just suddenly shows up in the Matrix out of nowhere one day with a whole list of events from her life in it that I've since found out are absolutely phony. I haven't been able to pin down exactly when it was first put in there, but I do have a pretty good idea about who did it though."

Then she became very serious as she looked directly into Ashildr's eyes and said, "What I don't know is why."

"What? Why are you looking at me that way?" Ashildr asked her with a perplexed look on her face.

Clara studied her closely for a moment without saying anything and then she finally said, "I thought maybe you had come to the same conclusions that I had. That would explain why you didn't want me to look any further into it."

Ashildr gave her a thoughtful look then as she said, "Why wouldn't I want you to find out the actual truth about the prophecy though? Unless . . . Unless it had something to do with Missy. Is that it? Are you going after Missy? Did she plant that whole prophecy in the Matrix? She's always had easy access to it in the past so she could easily do that. Don't even think about going up against her again, Clara. She almost got us all killed the last time that you tangled with her and that's a very clever trick to pull off too considering that both of us are immortal."

"No, not Missy. She had nothing to do with any of it even though I think that's what anyone who looked too closely into it was supposed to think. Someone was really trying to cover their trail so that I couldn't find it. It doesn't make any sense anyway. She's the one who brought us together in the first place so why would she try to split us apart? You know I think she was actually angry at me that I left him and that's why she tried to kill me when we met her at The Battle of Wolf Mountain. She never truly did before that. She always tried her best to kill everyone else around me but never me personally until then. I honestly think in her own twisted way she wanted me there on the TARDIS to look out for the Old Man. She seemed to actually be teaching me how to be a better partner to him the last time that I saw her while traveling with the Doctor, and she also seemed to be trying to teach the Doctor something too then. She kept telling him that he had to learn to see the enemy inside of a friend. Neither of us really understood what she meant by that then but now I think I do. She knew. She knew exactly what was going to happen to us in the near future and was trying to warn him about it. She knew that he'd never believe her if she told him outright because she's lied to him far too often so she was trying to tell him in the only way that she could," Clara said as she continued to give Ashildr an intense look that seemed to actually be puzzling her.

"Clara, just what is it that you're trying to say? I know you far too well not to know when you're beating around the bush. What I don't know is why. Come out and say it, Clara. Just say whatever it is that's on your mind," Ashildr said.

Clara briefly looked at Eleanor who had been oddly quiet this entire time and saw from her expression that she was definitely on the right track now. Even in her human form, Eleanor still knew the truth apparently. She had always known right from the start of course. She was a TARDIS after all.

Clara finally nodded at Ashildr then and said, "They always say that when you're looking to find out who committed a crime that the most important question that you have to ask is "Who benefits from it?" Missy wouldn't benefit at all from splitting us up. In fact, no one would really except for one particular person. There's only one person who would have two very good reasons to split us apart. It's so obvious that I should have seen it a long time ago but I just didn't want to because . . . because I care so much about you. It had to be you though."

"What . . . What are you saying? I – I wouldn't . . . I could never do something like that to you. Not to you," Ashildr said in what seemed to be a genuinely shocked voice.

Clara gave her a sympathetic look now as she said, "You didn't really know me then though. You only became close to me later long after the Doctor and I had split apart. I'm sure you were afraid to tell me the truth by that point because you didn't want me to hate you for it. I don't though because I know you were a different person back then. You were nothing like who you are now."

"Clara, none of this is true," Ashildr insisted.

Clara persisted with her story however as she said, "You created that whole fake prophecy in order to split the Doctor and I up as your way of hurting him for not taking you along with him on his travels. You also wanted someone to take you traveling through time and space, and you knew that I'd never want to quit traveling even without the Doctor so there you were ready and willing to go along with me as my new partner. You got your revenge on the Doctor and found a way out of being destroyed at the end of time at the very same moment. You really did plan this whole thing out very well. I'll give you that."

"Clara, no. It's not true. I had nothing to do with any of that. I promise," Ashildr said in what Clara was almost certain was a truly earnest tone.

Or maybe that was just what she wanted to believe.

Is this all true? I thought that I had access to all of your knowledge and yet I've seen nothing of this in your databanks. What else are you hiding from me, little TARDIS? Akhaten asked Eleanor mentally with a tone that was filled with a clear and unmistakable sense of menace.

It is true . . . in a way. Eleanor replied mysteriously.

Don't play games with me! Tell me exactly you've been keeping from me. All of it. Now! Akhaten shouted in the TARDIS' head.

To be honest, thanks to you I no longer remember all of it myself. All I have for sure is a vague feeling that everything isn't as it seems to be. You probably wiped out quite a bit of my memory by replacing me within my own matrix like you did. You're lucky that's all of the damage that you caused really. You could have just as easily wound up killing us both by pulling that little mind swapping stunt of yours so don't yell at me if a few of my memories happen to be lost here and there. You did that all by yourself. Eleanor challenged him.

Akhaten seemed to finally believe that answer because his next communication to Eleanor was in a far calmer voice.

I suppose it doesn't really matter what the actual truth of this matter is now. Soon that will all become completely irrelevant. All that really matters is that both of your pilots are thoroughly distracted by their own petty little differences at this point . . . and that makes this the perfect moment for me to finally strike at last. Akhaten replied in a voice filled with undisguised glee.

What are you doing? Eleanor asked in alarm as she noticed from looking at the readings on the console that her former shell was starting to overheat.

Now that neither pilot is paying attention to what's going on in the background I'm finally putting my end game into place at last. This entire ship is about to explode in a matter of moments and take all of you along with it. Only I will survive and feed off of the immense amount of energy that will be created in the aftermath. With it I will regain my former glory and majesty and Akhaten will live again! Isn't it ironic that in the process of my rebirth that Clara Oswald will finally die forever? Not even someone taken out of their own timestream can survive the temporal destruction that a dying TARDIS will leave in its wake. She will finally be destroyed forever and then no one will be left to stand in my way. And the best part is that she's too busy fighting with her partner to even notice. This is perfect. Akhaten replied in a tone of pure malice.

Eleanor now watched helplessly as the only people that she had ever been fortunate enough to call her friends in her long, long life, who she would have willingly died to protect under normal circumstances, continued to pointlessly debate whether Ashildr had truly betrayed Clara or not. She desperately wanted to warn them about what was coming somehow in some way but Akhaten completely controlled her in every way. She was nothing but his mindless puppet in this instance and could do nothing but stand by helplessly and watch the moments passing by until their final destruction came at last.

I win, Clara Oswald. Finally . . . I win! Akhaten secretly proclaimed in triumph with only the powerless Eleanor being able to hear him.

Or so he thought.

Amazingly the TARDIS suddenly started cooling down again all by itself despite Akhaten's best efforts to stop it, and he quickly found himself being just as powerless and helpless as Eleanor. He was now basically in the very same position as she was because he no longer had any control of the time ship whatsoever.

What is happening? How are you doing this? Akhaten asked Eleanor in a completely mystified voice.

No. It . . . It's not me. I have no more idea what's going on than you do and that . . . is scary. It's really and truly properly scary. Eleanor said in a terrified tone that Akhaten knew was all too real.

Who is doing this? Akhaten demanded.

You will be allowed to retain control of the TARDIS as long as your plans do not interfere with my own. Any attempt to do otherwise in the future will be nullified just as swiftly as this one was. An unfamiliar voice suddenly said in Akhaten's mind.

Who are you? Akhaten demanded in a furious tone.

I am your new master. That's all that you need to know for now. Be grateful that I let you and your servant keep that knowledge. I shall also let you continue to exist but only as long as you serve your purpose. My true goal has not yet been accomplished and until it is I cannot allow you to steal my current vessel away from me. That is why you will be allowed to remember the truth when others will not. The mysterious voice replied.

What? Akhaten asked in confusion.

Then all was suddenly made clear to him when Ashildr's eyes began to glow with power and Clara said in a startled voice, "What? Ashy, what's happening to you?"

"So you have figured out the truth once again, Clara Oswald. How very much like your mentor you are. Even I have forgotten just how many times that you have remembered over the centuries and yet every single time you come close to completely unraveling the truth I still triumph just as easily as I do now. Every time you come close to finding out the real truth about your separation from the Doctor I simply erase your mind of all of your doubts and suspicions about the prophecy . . . just as I am now," A voice that wasn't Ashildr's said through her mouth.

"No! I won't let you. I won't . . ." Clara said in a desperate voice.

"You have no choice in the matter, Clara. No more than your friend, Ashildr, does. She truly is completely innocent in all of this just as she claims to be. None of her actions can ultimately be seen to be her own not since the day so very long ago that I first gained control over her. She is just as much my pawn in all of this as you yourself are. And now both of you will forget all of this and go back to your seemingly innocent adventures in time and space alongside one another while never realizing their true purpose. My purpose," The mysterious voice said through Ashildr.

"No! Doctor!" Clara said in a mournful voice as she could already feel everything that she had learned about the prophecy slipping from her mind's grasp.

"Don't worry, Clara Oswald. Soon you will be reunited with your Doctor once more. I promise you this. I almost have the means to my ultimate freedom within my grasp once more and when that day comes you will be with your Doctor one final time. And on that day, he will play the game of Fenric once more and he will die! Then I will finally be freed from the prison he placed me in at last!" Ashildr said in the voice that wasn't her own just before her eyes stopped glowing and both she and Clara simultaneously collapsed to the floor unconscious.

"This . . . This is why I couldn't remember the truth. This Fenric must have always erased it from my mind too every time that he erased theirs," Eleanor said out loud as she finally understood everything at last.

Then why is he letting us remember now? What makes this time different? Akhaten asked.

Even as he asked this, he already knew the answer however. He was there this time and he knew that somehow he was going to be made to play a part in Fenric's plan whatever it was. How ironic that in trying to help himself he had just put himself into an even worse position as Fenric's unwitting puppet.

He was determined that he wouldn't allow himself to be used however. Somehow in some way he would escape from the control that Fenric had over him, and he would regain his full power again at last. Even if in order to do that he had to help Clara to defeat him.

He could always kill her later after all.

Meanwhile back on Earth in the year 1989, Commander Maxil was learning a whole new definition of humility as he was forced to answer the same pointless questions over and over again for the twentieth time that week. He had been pointedly avoiding telling his interrogators anything that they wanted to know even his name for days now and would continue to do so.

He never wanted anyone to know what ignoble fate had befallen the great Commander Maxil after all. Least of all the Time Lords.

Not that they probably didn't know already. He was sure that they were all watching and laughing at him at that very moment in fact.

Then he became sure of it as his cell door opened and an old man with extremely bushy eyebrows that he instantly recognized said in an amused voice, "I can't believe that they actually thought that you were me. Even Rainbow Man never let himself slip this far down though. How far the mighty have fallen, eh?"

"Come to gloat, Doctor? Does it make you laugh that your friends in UNIT, the lowly humans, captured me while I was separated from my men as I searched for any signs that might put me back on your precious Clara's trail once more?" Maxil said in disgust.

"Clara? You know Clara? You've seen her?" The Doctor said in surprise as his eyes suddenly filled with renewed hope.

It was only now that Maxil realized the truth. He hadn't known that the Doctor had no more idea of where Clara was then he did. He had always thought that the two of them were working together to keep her hidden from the Time Lords.

"Yes, I've seen Clara and it was quite recently too in fact. I've been tasked with bringing her back to Gallifrey to be placed back into her proper place in her own timestream once more," Maxil freely admitted.

The Doctor glared at him as he said, "Yes, I bet you have. Never mind that it was the Time Lords who were responsible for her being killed in the first place and that they owed her a new life for the one that they stole from her. No, never mind any of that. Everything has to be put neatly back in its place once more. That's all that counts, isn't it?"

"I'm only following my orders, Doctor. I neither know nor care to know any of the details surrounding the matter. My role in it is quite clear," Maxil said without hesitation.

"Yes, you always were just a mindless stooge weren't you? Never thinking, never questioning anything. See where that got you?" The Doctor said with a smirk.

"Just do whatever it is you've come here to do and get it over with," Maxil finally said in a curt tone.

"I was actually thinking of letting you stay here for a couple of decades once I was sure that it was actually you. I thought it would be fitting in a way. In your own way, you're just as dangerous as the Master ever was. You know Clara though. You remember her. You remember her face, her voice, her . . . smile. I don't even remember her smile. I know I used to love it. I actually treasured it but I don't remember why. I can't . . . remember," The Doctor said in a heartbroken voice.

Maxil almost felt a moment of compassion for him in that instance. That feeling was quickly forgotten however as his cunning mind rapidly figured out how he could suddenly turn this to his advantage.

"I will share all of my memories and knowledge of her with you, Doctor. They won't be your own but at least you'll finally be able to picture her face once again. All I ask in return is for you to convince your human friends here to let me go," Maxil said with a wicked smile.

"That and to never mention anything about this whole ignominious affair to the Time Lords I imagine," The Doctor said with a brief smile.

"Yes," Maxil said with an extremely embarrassed look on his face.

The Doctor was lost deep in thought for a moment and then he finally gave Maxil an intense, scrutinizing look that actually made him briefly shiver. He truly had no idea what the other man was thinking at that moment and what if anything that meant for him and his future.

Then the Doctor finally spoke at last as he said, "Done. Brigadier Bambera owes me one for that whole Merlin incident anyway. You should be free within the hour."

Maxil found himself actually sighing in relief as he said, "We have a deal then. You do realize of course that I'll be chasing after her once more just as soon as I've been let go."

"Yes, I know," The Doctor said in an emotionless voice.

"As long as we're both clear on that, then you're free to share any memory I have of her that you choose," Maxil said.

Maxil then placed his hands on the sides of the Doctor's face as the Doctor did the same to him. The Doctor's impassive face briefly filled with emotion, and he actually truly smiled for a single instant as he finally remembered his Clara again at last. He could remember those large, beautiful eyes of hers that seemed to be able to inflate at will, the way she laughed, the contours of her face, and more importantly her smile. It was impossibly loving, happy and yet sometimes incredibly sad all at the same time, and yet it had never once failed to fill his hearts with warmth every single time that he saw it.

And now he swore to himself that he would see it live and in person once again somehow. Prophecy or no prophecy, he would find a way back to her using the knowledge that Maxil had given him. He would defy the prophecy somehow and make things work out for them no matter what it took.

Just as he would always keep Clara safe no matter what it took.

As soon as they were finished sharing memories, Maxil said, "Before you go, Doctor, I must warn you that your help here won't protect you from me in the future. You won't get any special favors from me whatsoever. If you decide to interfere in any way with my orders to retrieve Clara Oswald, then I'll arrest you and bring you back to Gallifrey right alongside her. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly," The Doctor said as he started to leave.

"Good bye then, Doctor. Thank you for your help but I hope you'll understand when I say that I truly hope to never see you again," Maxil said as the Doctor exited his cell.

"The feeling is more than mutual, Maxil. Believe me," The Doctor said with a frown.

As soon as he was out of earshot of his fellow Time Lord however he said, "And good luck finding her with those false memories that I just planted in your mind. You'll be lost halfway across the universe in no time. Have fun dealing with the Terrible Zodin, Maxil. I'm sure she'll have great fun with you. Quite frankly, the two of you deserve one another."

"What was that, Doctor?" Brigadier Bambera asked as she waited for him outside.

"Nothing. Just thinking about how two of the most annoying people in the universe are just about to enjoy one another's company is all.

"Oh, shame," Bambera said with a frown that quickly became a smile.

Even the Doctor could tell that she thought no better of Maxil than he did.

"Oh, he won't be in any real danger. Zodin wasn't truly evil just very, very irritating. You know maybe I'll get lucky and they'll both fall madly in love with one another," The Doctor said with a brief chuckle.

"I don't care what happens to him as long as I don't have to hear him whining about how inferior humans are anymore. If he'd kept it up for much longer, I'd probably have forgotten all about the Geneva Convention for a while. So where are you going next? It must be somewhere very special," Bambera asked him curiously.

"How do you know that?" The Doctor asked in surprise.

"It's because you have this intense look about you. You look more determined than I've ever seen any version of you look before," Bambera admitted.

"I'm about to find someone that I've been searching for a very long time now, and this time I will find them. And when I do, I'll never let anyone or anything part us again," The Doctor said in a voice filled with emotion.

Somewhere in the Vortex, Fenric was watching this from deep inside of Ashildr and smiled in triumph as he said, "Soon now. Very soon now we will play our eternal game together once again, Time Lord."

Next: The Doctor goes in search of Clara with no idea whatsoever of the hidden danger that awaits him. Will he actually be able to find her and even if he does will their reunion wind up being a short one? What role will Akhaten and Eleanor play in all of this and what is Fenric's ultimate plan?