first things first, loss of a legend in elizabeth sladen, not sure what else to say cept she will be missed. final chapter in what might possibly end up being my final story, thanks to TKLee and DannyP(who is a girl just so nobody else makes my mistake) you guys have been amazing and consistent reviewers, unfortunately the spell checker i've been using seems to have permanently given up, so you may find some mistakes, but anyway please enjoy
"Jake! get out of bed right now, come on mum says we're going to be late for school"
Lisa was beginning to lose patience, she had been ready for ten minutes, and her little brother hadn't even gotten out of bed, eventually a scruffy young boy stumbled down the stairs
"yeah i'm up, now stop shouting"
rolling her eyes at her little brother Lisa straightened out his school uniform, their mum appeared round the corner
"have you two seen my keys, i know they're around here somewhere"
reaching into his mothers pocket, Jake retrieved her keys
"found them"
his mother grinned and ruffled his hair. ten minutes later they were ready and in the car, after a few minutes in the car jake let loose a big yawn
"are you alright little brother, did you stay up late watching cartoons again?"
it wouldn't be the first time her little brother had done it
"no i had bad dreams, it was a strange dream, that man from the big house was in it"
Lisa didn't mention it, but she had a stange dream as well
"you mean Luke smith?"
lisa had no idea why he would be dreaming about him
"yeah it was him and this other guy in that funny yellow car, and when i woke up my puzzle piece was glowing"
they had both recieved them as gifts for jake's birthday, Lisa took hers out and looked at it, it was cool metal and it fit together with Jake's although they didn't have all the pieces to finish it, the note had said 'keep them close it's important'
"it's probably nothing, just a bad dream"
he looked down at his feet, they had both only met Luke once, but Jake had loved asking him random questions to see if there was something Luke didn't know
"I wish he hadn't died, his mum was all sad after his funeral"
Lisa had heard about it at school, her mum and sarah-jane had been pretty good friends when they moved to Bannerman road but after Luke's funeral Sarah-Jane stopped talking to everyone, mum hadn't seen her in ages
"ok out you get, have fun at school both of you"
school went by as it always did, but Lisa couldn't stop thinking about the dream she had, that night after she finally fell asleep she had it again, she was in Sarah-Jane's house walking up to the attic, her mum had volunteered her to help move some stuff around the house, she could hear Sarah-Jane talking to someone, she opened the door and saw Luke on the computer screen, and...before she could focus on the other person Jake woke her up by bouncing on her bed
"Lisa wake up, i had the dream again"
she pushed her hyper brother off the bed and looked at the clock, it was two in the morning
"Jake its the middle of the night"
he picked himself up off the floor
"but my puzzle piece is glowing look"
he was holding it in his hand and it was glowing a faint blue, grabbing her piece from beside her bed she found it was glowing as well
"ok this is just weird, i had a dream too, there was something up in the attic that i saw, but i can't remember what it was"
he bounced back onto the bed and held them close
"well come on then, lets go look and see what you can't remember"
with that he bounded off of the bed and ran down the stairs, groaning in frustration she pulled on some clothes and chased him down the stairs, he was already out the front door and running across the street, she finally caught him at the front door of 13 bannerman road
"Jake get back here, what are you doing?"
he was lifting up all of the pots
"i saw that girl Rani doing this once"
under the third pot he found the key and before she could stop him he was in the door
"Jake this is breaking and entering, now will you get back here"
he ignored her and ran up the stairs, Lisa found the house kinda spooky in the dark, she ran up the stairs after her brother. she finally caught him as he ran through the attic door
"this place isn't nearly as cool with all the stuff gone, now do you remember what you forgot?"
her brother made about as much sense as always, but looking around she was trying to focus on what she saw
"ugh i don't know little brother, i'm trying to remember but its all fuzzy"
he sat down on the step and gazed around the empty attic
"this place is kind of cool, its a shame Sarah-jane isn't here anymore, she was always fun"
sighing she sat down next to him
"i know little brother, now come on we shouldn't be here"
"agreed you shouldn't, one of you want to tell me what the hell you're doing up here?"
they jumped up from where they were sitting and looked at the man who came into the attic, Lisa recognised him
"i'm really sorry Clyde, i know we shouldn't be in here"
he looked furious
"yeah you shouldn't, now get out both of you"
he stepped further into the attic glaring at both of them
"wait we can't go, we haven't remembered the forgotten thing yet"
Clyde's glare turned to a look of confusion, Lisa stepped in to try and explain
"i know we shouldn't be up here Clyde, but we've both been having weird dreams, and then our puzzle pieces started glowing, we just needed answers"
they held up the still glowing puzzle pieces and his eyes widened in surprise
"where did you get those? they look like they're made of the same stuff...its not possible" he stepped passed them into the attic and stood in front of the fireplace "Mr Smith i need you"
the children jumped back in surprise as the entire wall opened up, revealing a giant computer
"oh cool!"
Jake looked like christmas had come early
"sorry you two explanations will have to wait, Mr Smith scan those pieces of metal and tell me they're what i think they are?"
he took the puzzle pieces and placed them on a tray
"if you thought those pieces of metal were the same metal cube that protects from the tricksters power then yes you are correct, although is it wise to be discussing this in front of those two"
Clyde turned to look at both of them
"they're part of this Mr Smith, i'm not sure why but they are, you both said you were having weird dreams right, i don't think they were dreams, i think you were remembering stuff, but it isn't coming through clearly cause you only have pieces of the cube"
Lisa looked skeptical
"OK this is crazy, you're crazy, Jake we're going come on"
she tried to leave but Clyde blocked her way
"no! you're both staying until you tell me what you dreamt about, now talk"
Lisa stepped between Clyde and her brother, he was frightening both of them
"chill out and we'll tell you"
he took a deep breath and then let it out
"sorry, please can you tell me what you saw"
satisfied she closed her eyes and tried to remember
"i came up to the attic this one time looking for Sarah-Jane, she was talking to Luke on her computer, there's something there, but its, i can't remember"
it was so close but she couldn't quite focus
"come on focus, i let Luke down once, if the trickster is involved i might be able to save him, please"
she let out a deep breath and tried again
"there was Luke on the screen, and, another guy on the screen, i don't recognise him though, but i think i saw him kissing Luke"
Clyde's face lit up in surprise
"are you sure?"
Lisa nodded before turning to her little brother
"what did you dream about?"
he scrunched up his face in concentration
"i saw Luke when he was driving back to university, and there was a guy in the car with him, he was fiddling with this thing around his neck and then his hiar turned all red and stuff" his sister looked at him face full of disbelief "its the truth, his hair was brown and then it turned bright red"
Lisa turned to Clyde who shrugged before turning to Mr Smith
"alright Mr Smith, if the Trickster is involved then maybe this guy is someone we used to know, any clues who he might be"
Mr Smith's screen glowed and loads of records popped up
"i cannot be definitive with who this man might be, or his species, i have narrowed it down to the most likely possibilites"
Lisa could see a smile creep across Clyde's face, it made a refreshing change from the grim expression he usually wore
"OK we need to bring Rani into this, and the brigadier, and maybe we could even get the doctor involved"
before Clyde's rant could continue Mr Smith started flashing in warning
"oh i'm afraid not Clyde Langer, there is no undoing what i have done"
Jake and Lisa backed behind Clyde as shadows formed a terrifying figure
"Mr Smith we need a hard copy of that information" Mr Smith obeyed the command and a small handheld device slid out of him" you two take that and find Rani, tell her the Trickster is back and you two need to get to Sarah-Jane"
they took the disk but the trickster blocked the door
"there is no escape for any of you, i will make sure of it"
Clyde turned to the kids behind him
"i'll buy you some time, now run"
Clyde looked down at his hand, it crackled faintly with blue energy
"that is not enough to stop me, not this time"
Clyde ran forwards and grabbed the Trickster, using the energy to hold him at bay, grabbing her brother Lisa ran from the attic, down the stairs as quickly as she could crashing through the front door, they ran out into the street, before they could get far and explosion ripped apart the attic with a cloud of black and blue energy
"jake!, jake are you alright?"
jake slowly stirred and she helped him up, a lot of people had already left their homes to see what happened, looking around Lisa saw Rani rushing across the street
"Rani wait"
she turned to look at them both, a shocked look in her eyes
"are you alright, what are you two doing out here?"
she wasn't really paying them any attention just staring at the wreck of Sarah-Janes' house
"Clyde sent us he told us to tell you that the Trickster is back and that we need to get to Sarah-Jane"
she almost screamed at them
"Clyde's in there, we have to help him!"
before she could get to the house Lisa cut her off
"Rani, Clyde stayed in there to buy us some time, i think he's..."
Lisa couldn't bring herself to finish, Rani looked ready to break down, but she steeled herself
"alright both of you in my car now"
she opened her little car and they jumped in, hitting the accelerator her car sped out of Bannerman Road. behind them in the attic a cruel shape reformed out of the shadows, letting loose an echoing laugh
"hey Rani where is Sarah-Jane, mum lost contact with her after Luke died"
Rani kept her eyes fixed on the road in front of her
"she is in a care home, after Luke she...she lost it, broke down, couldn't look after herself, i'll take you both to her, we have to hope she can help"
Lisa let her brother fall asleep against her side
"Rani are you alright?"
she saw Rani visibly tense when she spoke
"yeah i'm fine, what about the two of you, this must seem kinda crazy"
for the first time that night lisa let a grin creep across her face
"yeah completely crazy, but no less real because of it" this made Rani smile a little as well "Rani what is the trickster, what does he do"
she let out a deep breath
"i'm never entirely sure, Sarah-Jane says that he changes moments in time and then feeds of the chaos it creates, he must be the reason Luke died, he changed a moment in time"
Lisa took a moment to process
"so the dreams me and Jake have been having are memories like Clyde said"
Rani nodded her agreement
"not just that, they must be memories from the timeline before the Trickster changed things"
that made sense to Lisa
"ok so how do we stop him, what do we do?"
Rani tapped her fingers on the wheel for a few seconds
"we need to find the person he struck a deal with, his deals are what give him power, if we can get them to break the deal the trickster is finished, but who could it be"
Lisa looked at the device Mr Smith had given them, she flicked through all of the different species on the list
"Clyde helped us figure it out a bit, there is this guy in the dreams we both had, we think he was one of the alien species Mr Smith found on this device, maybe he was the guy that made the deal"
Rani pulled her car into a car park, they had reached the care home
"i think you're right, if we can figure out who that was we'll be able to defeat the trickster, come on we'll have to sneak in to see Sarah-Jane"
waking up Jake they slowly crept up to the side doors of the care home, it was empty in the corridors, after a few twists and turns they arrived at Sarah-Jane's door she was sat inside on her bed, the TV flickered in the corner
"i was waiting for you, Hello again Rani"
Rani gave her mentor a small smile before she lead the kids into the room
"Sarah-Jane its good to see you again" jake bounded up and sat beside her on the bed "we need your help"
Sarah-Jane smiled and ruffled his hair, Lisa sat down on Sarah-Jane's other side
"oh thats nice dears, what help do you need, i've been practicing my knitting you do look a little cold jake, maybe you should have worn a coat over your pyjamas, i could knit you something warm to wear"
the children shared looks of dismay, they had thought Sarah-Jane was her same old self, but something was missing her eyes were unfocused
"hey Lisa maybe we should let her hold these, they might help her remember"
he was holding his piece of the tricksters box
"oh no dears, they aren't meant for me, you must find the one they do belong to, hidden among the stars"
Rani turned to look at Sarah-Jane in surprise
"yes thats what we need to do Sarah-Jane do you know who that is"
Sarah-Jane just looked at Rani a small smile on her face
"i'm afraid not my dear, now Jake hold still i need to measure you up for this sweater"
Rani turned away again back to the TV, there was a news report on Bannerman Road
'no clue yet on exactly what caused the explosion, but we can now confirm that there was one person killed in the blast, we will bring you more news as we discover more'
Rani started crying holding herself, tears streaming down her face Lisa heard her whisper Clyde's name, she got up and put a comforting hand on Rani's shoulder
"i'm sorry Rani"
her crying continued and they both watched the news report while Jake sat with Sarah-Jane, her eyes caught sight of the television report
"i was so sad when Luke died, after all the trouble we went through to get him back from the pirates, and then he was taken again by that witch serena, K-9 said he just froze, it was like he was paralyzed by fear, oh Luke"
Jake gave her a hug and she patted him on the head
"right thats enough crying from both of us Rani, you have to get going, he is coming and you haven't got much time"
Rani couldn't believe what she heard
"Sarah-Jane?"
She smiled at Rani, a flash of the old Sarah-Jane burnt in her eyes
"you need to get to this planet, UNIT can help, the planet you are looking for is this one" she brought up the record on the handheld they had "now lets get going"
Rani nodded wiping the tears out of her eyes, grabbing the handheld she opened Sarah-Jane's door, all four of them snuck out of the care home, Sarah-Jane fell behind in the car park
"Sarah-Jane come on we have to hurry"
Sarah-Jane gave them all a warm smile
"you need more time Rani, i'll keep the Trickster occupied, you get those two to the black archives, they have the teleport relay you need"
Rani hugged her friend one more time before getting in her car, Lisa and Jake got in after Rani, they sped away down the road, Sarah-Jane waited in the carpark quietly after a few minutes she looked up, staring into the featureless face of the trickster
"Sarah-Jane its good to see you again, to think all i'd need to do to defeat you is get rid of that pathetic son of yours, its was almost too easy, and now i've had so much time to feed on the chaos it created and gain strength, not even your precious doctor can stop me now"
Sarah-Jane held the Trickster with a calm and unwavering gaze
"you're right, the doctor probably couldn't stop you know, but he doesn't need to, there is another working against you, and he gave me this, now normally i hate using these things, but i'll make an exception for you"
she pulled a weapon out of her pocket, it was small but the core crackled with artron energy, pointing it at the trickster she fired, and he was enveloped in blue energy.
already a few miles away Rani saw the light in the distance, she was the last one standing, Lisa was looking at all the information Mr Smith had on Solarans
"hey Jake look at this, the Solaran royal family, look at this guy"
Jake looked at the picture and his mouth opened in surprise
"thats him, the guy in the car, whoa he's the prince of a whole planet, how did he end up on earth?"
Lisa looked to Rani for suggestions
"i don't know, but Sarah-Jane told you that you need to bring those pieces of the Tricksters box to someone who is hidden amongst the stars, she must have meant him, if you give him your pieces of the box then he'll be able to remember more"
Jake and Lisa looked at their pieces of the box, they had remembered, so could the prince. Rani kept her eyes open, she had only been to the archives once but she could see familar signs as she drove, taking a quick look in her rear-view mirror her heart stopped
"oh no, hang on you two!"
behind her car and building was a dark storm, she could see the tricksters face in the middle of it, the ground was being torn apart in the wake of the storm
"Rani what do we do?"
lisa turned to look out the back window, the storm was tearing at the back of the car, with a scream Rani's car spun off the road and into a ditch. Lisa opened her eyes slowly, outside the storm was building around them, laughter echoed around them cruel and chilling.
"Trickster! leave them alone"
Lisa crawled out of the car with her brother, they could barely make out the person shouting at the edge of the storm
"your allies are falling one by one, you cannot stop me"
Lisa heard the stranger whisper Rani's name, his voice full of sadness
"leave the kids alone, its me you want, i can keep sending people to stop you"
the Tricksters face turned to the stranger, with a flash of pointed teeth the trickster stormed towards the stranger, who disappeared with the device on his wrist, the storm faded, Lisa wasn't sure what to do for a second, she screamed when she felt an unfamiliar hand on her shoulder
"relax, my name is River, i'm here to help"
jake had climbed back into the car to check on Rani
"jake"
he was crying silently
"i'm sorry both of you, but we have to get going, the Trickster will only be off our backs for so long"
Lisa helped Jake out of the car and they both followed River along the side of the road
"hey River, who are you exactly, and why are you helping us"
despite the danger Lisa saw River smile
"oh isn't that a question, for now i'm here to help because its in my best interests, i can help you get to Solaris, from there you'll have to get Marcus to help you, he's the prince you found on the datapad, my associate, the one who is distracting the trickster, he's almost certain that Marcus is the one who made the deal with the Trickster, you have to get him to take back his agreement"
she didn't give them anymore answers than that, after walking for ten mintues they came across a dark and forboding facility
"alright both of you, just follow my lead"
River marched up to the front gates, almost immediately two soldiers appeared weapons drawn
"identify yourself"
River seemed completely unfazed by there aggression
"very well, code 172-509"
responding almost instantly the front gates swung open, the stunned soldier turned to River
"how did you do that?"
River just smiled
"i had an old friend install it a very long time ago, now take me to whoever is in charge"
the soldier lead them into the archives, the soldier that greeted them had a stern gaze that made Jake shiver in fear
"you have exactly sixty seconds to tell me why i shouldn't have you all thrown in jail"
Lisa wanted to hit this guy for threatening her brother
"i can manage that in ten, because if you don't help me right now you will be responsible for the end of the world" everyone was shocked into silence, but the tone in her voice left no doubt in the soldiers mind "now these two need to be teleported to these coordinates, take them and be quick about it"
the captain motioned to one of his men, River turned to Jake and Lisa
"you two go with him, he'll get you to Solaris, i'll buy you all the time i can"
they followed the soldier into the archives leaving River at the front gates, in the distance she could see the Trickster's storm building after a few more minutes of waiting he was in front of her teeth clenched in anger
"to think even you would be involved in this as well, truly this is turning into an interesting day"
River just smiled, her usual enigmatic smile
"yes well today you picked a fight with the universe, Luke may seem small in the grand scheme of things, but even the smallest parts have a role to play, and his is more vital than even you realise"
the Tricksters teeth broke into a sinister smile
"and your part is even greater still, how much chaos will your death cause i wonder, perhaps it will even bring an end to the life of your precious doctor"
Rivers smile broke and was replaced by a steely glare
"you cannot even wipe one human from existence, he is far beyond your reach Trickster, and as for threatening him, you'll regret it, Captain now!"
at her command the soldier leapt from their hiding places, the weapons River had given them all aimed at the Trickster. he screamed in agony as beams of blue energy ripped through him, but even under this onslaught River could see him growing. one by one the soldiers in the courtyard disappeared into the darkness until only the Captain remained
"Dr Song i suggest you retreat"
she nodded her thanks before turning away from the fight, in front of her the stranger appeared
"come on, those weapons will only block the interference for a few more seconds"
placing her hand on the vortex manipulator they both disappeared. the lone soldier lead Jake and Lisa deep into the archives, to a perfectly spherical room in the centre of the room was the teleport relay, even from a distance they could hear it humming
"right stand in the centre of the relay, i'll operate it from here"
Lisa started moving but Jake wouldn't budge
"what about you, you'll be left behind"
the soldier exchanged a grim look with Lisa
"yes sir, someone needs to stay behind to operate the machines, now before you go i need some coordinates"
Lisa handed him the datapad, and Jake obediently followed his sister above them they heard echoing screams.
"thanks for your help mister"
the soldier gave them both a grateful smile
"your welcome, and the names Oliver"
typing quickly the soldier hit a switch and Lisa felt her entire body tingle and she had to close her eyes against the bright light, when she opened them again she was standing in a palace her little brother at her side, and for the second time that day she was surrounded by soldiers
"teleporting directly into the palace of Solaris is strictly forbidden, i should execute you where you stand, who are you?"
she wasn't sure what to do but Jake had spotted someone standing behind the guards, an amused expression on his face
"hey you're prince Marcus the guy we're supposed to find, oh cool your hair really does change colors"
Marcus broke into a grin behind him both his mother and father were smiling as well
"easy Krell i don't think those two are all that dangerous" the guards relaxed and Marcus walked towards Lisa "now what are the two of you doing on Solaris, and where did you come from"
they had found him, after all that happened today Lisa felt close to tears, the story spilled from her lips, every now and then Jake pitched in with a detail he felt was important, it took them more than 10 minutes to explain it all, once finished Marcus was staring at them in disbelief
"thats one amazing story" he turned to adress the two people sat on the thrones behind him "mum, dad could any of this be true"
Lisa and Jake both turned to look at the king and queen, the queen was beautiful, but not covered in the jewels and other symbols of royalty Lisa had expected, she had a simple beauty, the king on her other side was dressed similarly, no symbols of royalty but he had an air of authority, and Lisa didn't doubt for a second he was in charge
"come now Marcus, after all the tales i have told you of the pantheon of dischord, you shouldn't disbelieve such a story"
Jake could see an embarassed blush creep up Marcus's face and he surpressed a giggle
"indeed and even without such knowledge i cannot detect a shred of a lie in them"
Marcus nodded to his father before he turned back to Jake and Lisa, his hands outstretched
"alright then, let me hold those pieces of the cube you both have, lets see if i can see what you need me to remember"
silently they handed over the cube pieces to Marcus, he held them eyes close in concentration, they could see flickers of colour flash through his hair as he experienced old memories, with a start he dropped the pieces and stepped back
"they are telling the truth, those memories, those feelings, i remember them, but how? it's like a whole other life inside my head"
Lisa retrieved the cube pieces before stepping closer
"the trickster makes deals with people, he changes moments in time, our guess is he came to you and changed something in your life that stopped you from leaving the planet, thats why Luke died on our world, he didn't have you to help him"
Marcus shook his head in confusion
"but wait Luke he warned me about the Trickster, i knew how dangerous he was, why would i make a dea...oh, i see"
everyone stared at him for a few seconds, eventually Jake spoke up
"so what did you see?"
he had his eyes closed again, only this time Lisa could see a deep blue pass through his hair
"in this other timeline, your dead" he turned to his mother "and Solaris is in ruins, if that is all true, then i'm not surprised i made that deal"
his mother and father shared a look
"i'm sorry you have to do this, but the Trickster is coming, and he's only getting stronger" Lisa hated herself for uttering those words, before anyoen else could speak there was an explosion outside the palace "he's here already, please you have to take back that deal"
Marcus looked torn between his mother and Lisa
"how can i do this, if i take back this deal then my mother will be dead and my home will be destroyed"
Jake slowly backed away from the palace doors as the terrifying sounds outside got closer
"Marcus Reylan-Vensera shame on you" his fathers booming voice cut through even the noise outside "i raised you to be a king, a leader who can make hard choices, this abomination that has been set loose must be destroyed, it pains me that the cost must be so high, but you must never shy away from the right decision"
his mother stepped down from the throne and hugged Marcus
"it is the right thing to do"
hugging her back Marcus nodded his head, stepping in front of Jake and Lisa he faced the palace door, after a few seconds they were blown of their hinges, and the Trickster towered in front of them, Krell stepped forwards gun in hand
"relax Krell, i got this"
steeling himself Marcus took a step closer to the trickster who turned to him
"it seems those insects have run far to reach you, but the question is, have they run far enough"
the Tricksters confidence unnerved Lisa, something felt wrong
"you are a pathetic being, you have taken something very important from me, and to get him back and defeat you i have to give up something just as important, but i'm not going to let you win, i take back my agreement"
the Trickster paused in the air for a moment, before letting loose a triumphant bark of laughter
"fool, i appear to those who are dying and grant them their wish, but i didn't appear to you" Marcus turned to his mother but the Trickster already knew what he was thinking "oh it wasn't her either, although i did try, far to noble for me to corrupt, but now i have strength enough to destroy you all"
the Trickster rose growing bigger until he filled half the room, he lunged but a fierce light held him at bay, it was radiating from Marcus's father a golden glow that burnt away the darkness in the room
"Marcus go take the children and leave quickly, if you are not the source of this creatures power then you must find the person that is, now hurry"
obeying his father Marcus took the hands of Lisa and Jake and they all ran from the palace, Marcus's mother stepped up beside her husband and slipped her fingers into his, the light intensified
"you two cannot restrain me for long, decrepit old fools"
the kings face contorted in anger
"you stand before the king and queen of solaris creature, i suggest you remember your place"
the light grew until it blocked the king and queen from sight, outside of the palace Marcus could see it, he said a silent goodbye before leading the way to his ship
"alright inside both of you, Aphelion can get us off world, buy some time for use to figure out who we need to find"
Aphelions engine roared to life and they shot away from the planet surface, the ship shimmered and disappeared from sight
"okay this guy made a deal with someone, we thought it was you but the Trickster only appears to people who are dying, so it can't be you, but your life was affected so it must be someone you know"
Marcus had his eyes closed concentrating
"in both memories the war started but the difference between the two is the death of my mother, she survived in this life, so my father gave peace a second chance, so it had to have been her, but it wasn't, who could it have been?"
he threw up his hands in defeat, Jake was playing with the puzzle pieces next to the console
"so maybe your mother being alive and Luke dying was just an accident, something he didn't mean to happen on purpose, it stopped you from leaving home, so it must be someone you met after you left"
Lisa grinned at her brother, every now and then he had a habit of being brilliant
"good thinking kid, alright people i met in my other life after i left Solaris, well there's Luke but he died, i doubt it would be his family, maybe it wa..." Lisa stared at Marcus, waiting for him to finish "aphelion were those your memories"
Jake was watching them and the cube pieces were on aphelions console
"yes i believe they are, its most confusing, so much conflicting data"
the console flashed and brought up a blurry record of a woman on the ship
"Mara! oh my god its her, aphelion you were crashing, its got to be her, plot a course for stormcage, quickly"
he jumped into the seat and helped with the coordinates
"wait how can your ship remember?"
lisa looked around the spaceship, it looked all metal
"oh it involves an imprinted conciousness on a crystal matrix, i am rather unique afterall"
that made sense but something still bothered her
"ok so Mara is they key, but how did we go from saving her life to your mother being alive"
the two didn't seem to connect
"she was caught breaking into the Solaris vaults, but before she could be taken to stormcage she requested to speak to my mother, my guess the trickster told Mara to warn my mother, then Mara escapes the prison escort, falls to earth but she never met me or aphelion, being taken back to stormcage spared her life"
Lisa nodded and took her seat as aphelion powered them towards the prison, the flight took barely an hour, although to Lisa it felt longer, any second now she was going to hear the Tricksters laughter behind them, finally the prison was in sight, everything about the dark walls made Lisa neverous, jake had a frim grip on his sisters hand and was refusing to let go
"alright the guard's letting us in, we have to find her cell, i don't think we have long"
behind them they heard the guard scream the trickster appeared behind them in an almost bestial form
"lisa take your brother and run, i'll hold him back"
the same light radiated from Marcus as he walked forwards, restricting the Tricksters movement, Lisa and Jake ran, she wasn't even sure who she was looking for, a couple of cells down someone called to them
"wait are you two looking for me?"
the woman who talked to them wore a somber expression
"are you Mara, listen we need your help, you aren't going to believe us but there's this thing called the Trickster, and you made a deal with it and we need you to take it back"
Lisa put a hand over her brothers mouth to stop him from talking so Mara could process what he said
"oh don't worry children i believe you, he came to me at the end of my life, and in fear i took the deal, to save my life all i had to do was pass on a little message, it seemed so simple, so harmless, Trickster indeed, his names appropriate, here i am alive, but this is no life trapped in a cell"
she seemed so sad, behind them they all heard Marcus scream, seconds later the Trickster surrounded them roaring in frustration, before he could hurt Lisa or Jake Mara shouted at him
"leave them alone, i know you now for what you are, and i would rather die than let you walk another second in this universe, i take back my agreement!"
the Trickster screamed and all around them was a storm of energy, so bright Lisa had to shut her eyes, when she opened them again she was home and sat on her bed, a couple of seconds later Jake exploded through the door
"what happened, how'd we get home?"
they were home and the sun was shining in the sky
"we're back where we should be, if the Trickster hadn't messed with time"
he was only silent for a few seconds before another questions bubbled to the surface
"ok but how do we remember, we shouldn't remember, or should we, oh head rush"
he collapsed dramatically onto the bed
"we still have the cube pieces, now come on i want to check outside"
jumping down the stairs they both ripped open the front door the street outside looked normal, and looking at Sarah-Jane's house they could see the roof was back to one piece, they jumped when they noticed a stranger beside them
"not bad you two, i'm impressed"
the stranger who had rescued them from the Trickster stood beside them, down the street they spotted River
"is it over?"
Jake's question mirrored his sisters thoughts
"yep you did it, i never would have thought it could have been Mara though, i'm impressed you figured it out"
he smiled but now that she was certain they were safe Lisa's anger pushed to the surface
"then why the hell did you make us do it, we almost died several times over, why couldn't you do this"
his smile faltered and he looked ashamedly at his feet
"the Tricksters power was preventing safe time travel, we could only safely travel between now and the moment of Luke's death, the time the Trickster changed, and with him following me everywhere i barely had time to give you all the clues you needed, if i had tried to find Marcus in this timeline myself the Trickster would have killed him, and then you would never have had the chance to speak to him"
she was still angry but she accepted what he said
"what about Mara, whats going to happen to her"
the stranger looked thoughtful
"thats one of the reasons i set all this happening now, because not only is this the day you defeated the trickster, in the proper timeline this is also the day the Mara crashes, its just a shame nobody knows that it's happening"
with that he turned on his heels and walked off they watched as he and River disappeared
"come on we have to hurry"
before she could question her brother he was across the road and baging on Sarah-Jane's door
"Sarah-Jane open the door we need to talk to you"
before she could stop him the door opened and Sarah-Jane stood in front of them
"what's all the noise, and where do you think you're going?"
Jake had already pushed passed and was running up the stairs, Lisa apologised and they both rushed after him they heard him in the attic yelling for Mr Smith at the top if his lungs
"now what are you doing?"
Jake was banging on the wall containing Mr Smith who wasn't coming out of the wall
"the guy said that this is the day that Mara crashes but nobody knows, so we have to tell them, please Sarah-Jane we need Mr Smith"
forgoing the obvious questions she stepped forwards
"Mr Smith i need you" the fanfare blared and Mr Smith opened from the wall "Mr Smith i'm not sure what exactly is happening but these two need your help"
Lisa stood next to her brother, she finally realised what he was trying to do
"we need to contact Luke and Marcus, its about a friend of their's called Mara"
Mr smith opened a window and Luke and Marcus appeared on the screen
"oh hey mum i was just coming online to talk to you, who are those two?"
he had a confused expression
"sorry Luke we'll explain in a second, your friend Mara and Marcus's ship Aphelion have crashed on a planet somewhere, you need to get someone to help or Mara is going to die"
Marcus's eyes widened in surprise but he pulled out his scanner anyway
"Mr smith can you help me connect to Solaris" a second window appeared on the screen and Krell stood at the screen "i know what you're going to say Krell and i know this is a private secure line but this is important, i need you to find my ship, its been involved in a crash and the pilot is injured"
Krell accepted the order worldlessly and stepped away from the screen to send out a search party, he cut the connection promising to contact them when they had found something, Luke turned back to the screen
"ok now that's sorted can you two explain how you know all this?"
it took almost and hour to explain during which time Marcus got a message telling them that Mara had been recovered alive, and was being treated, Jake had jumped up and down at that point making everyone laugh
"the Trickster is a powerful villain, i'm amazed you managed to defeat him, why don't you come down for some cookies, i think it's the least you both deserve"
they waved their goodbyes to Marcus and Luke and followed Sarah-Jane down the stairs. at oxford university Luke and Marcus were still processing everything that happened
"your mum is right the trickster is one dangerous villain, i'm glad Lisa and Jake managed to stop him, the two of us never saw him coming"
the last thing Luke could remember was the fight with assassin in the Tardis, and then waking up this morning, hard to believe it all had happened
"i wish we knew who this stranger was, how does he know when to appear and what to do?"
Marcus shrugged his shoulders in confusion, neither of them notcied the door to the room open
"who indeed"
they both jumped up from where they sat and stared in disbelief, the stranger in front of them pressed a button on the perception filter around his neck and neither of them could believe who they saw
"Luke, it's you"
Luke stared at the future version of himself, he looked more or less the same just a little older and more experienced
"so it's you thats been helping us all this time...and you knew when to help because i had already seen it, but then when are you from and what timeline"
the future Luke smiled
"i'm from this timeline 362 days into your future, i found the tricksters box on my desk one day, next thing i know the timeline warps around me, and the Trickster has a hold over the entire world, i found River and escaped back in time, interfered in the moments i was supposed to and all the while tried to figure out what the Trickster had done"
Marcus collapsed into the computer chair
"so you're from his future, the Trickster messed with the past to gain strength to take over in the present, that about right"
both Luke's nodded their agreement before the younger Luke looked at himself
"so what now?"
his future self looked around the room for a second before speaking
"362 days from now mark the date you have to come back and do all this, interfere in time but it will be much easier for you because the Trickster will be out of the picture, make sure you keep the timeline from getting out of shape, as for me i'm headed back to my own time, where hopefully everything is back where it should be" he turned to leave but before he got out the door he turned to look into the room "be careful with River, her help didn't come for free, she needs us for something, i don't know what cause it hasn't happened yet, so just enjoy this next year OK"
young Luke nodded his head and the stranger disappeared with the device on his wrist, he felt the usual stomach churning feeling of time travel without a capsule and when he had solid ground under his feet again he was face to face with River
"i've held up my end of the deal, now it's your turn Luke, and i'm sorry, but for you, this is when everything changes"
i've left myself a few things to play with if i ever go back to this story, but for the forseeable future this is the end of this storyline, hope you enjoyed