Hey, everyone! Welcome back! So, thank you to carebear02 and bwburke94 for reviewing. Also, special thanks to bwburke94 for agreeing to be my beta.
This fanfic is almost done, about 8 to 10 chapters left. OK, maybe not almost done, but I can count the chapters!
Clara winced as she fell on ground. It hurt, but at least she wasn't floating around in the time vortex. Actually, come to think of it, that must have been much more painless.
She slowly rolled on her back, her eyes still closed. They fluttered open. "I hate jumps like that," she moaned.
The Doctor glanced at her. "Anything broken?" he asked.
Clara moaned again as she pushed herself up. "No, but something bruised. Actually, no, everything bruised."
The Doctor looked unconcerned. "It will heal," he said lightly. Then he turned his attention to Merry. "What about you?"
Merry struggled to stand up, biting her lips in pain. "I'm fine," she said, trying to hide the pain. Despite her incredible acting skills, she just couldn't pull it off.
The Doctor scanned her. "No, you're not," he countered. "You've twisted your ankle."
"Ok, maybe I twisted it," consented Merry. "But it's nothing serious."
The Doctor appeared as if he was going to argue with that, but Merry cut in. "Where did we land on?" she asked.
"The grass," said Clara flatly.
"No, but where in Akhaten?" Merry explained.
The Doctor looked at the surroundings. "She's right, not a lot of places in Akhaten are this green, and we're supposed to be right where we were."
Clara snorted. "I'm sorry, but we've just jumped from the time vortex. How are we supposed to be where we started?"
The Doctor sent her a withering look. "I programmed the TARDIS to 'land' here while you were panicking and not helping."
Clara placed her hands on her hips. "Ah, but this, this is not right where we were. This is Akhaten, a hundred years ago." She had known, because she read one of the books Ashildir bought in the Library. The one that had been infested with Vashta Nerada.
The Doctor laughed. "And you think you're impressive?" he asked. "That's 23 years off the mark!"
Clara colored slightly, out of anger or irritation or embarrassment, she didn't know. "Shut up," she told him. "You're just shocked that I knew that." The Doctor shut up indeed, and his eyes lost their amusement and instead looked peeved.
Merry, who focused on the more serious problem, looked optimistic. "That's great! That means we have a hundred years to save Clara's friend!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Merry, that's not gonna work," he said.
"Why not?" Merry questioned, her optimism dampening.
"Because A, - did you just say 'Clara'?" The Doctor said, puzzled.
"Um, I mean Jenna," said Merry nervously. She looked down.
"Why did you call her Clara?" The Doctor looked at Clara. "Why did she call you Clara?" he asked her. Before she could reply, the Doctor spoke again. "Aren't you the waitress in the diner? The one who believed my story?"
Clara giggled nervously. "I think you're mistaking me for someone..."
"No," persisted the Doctor. "No, I'm not. You had brown eyes and hair, and looked exactly like you. I told you about my Clara, the Clara I lost. I told you about the extraction chamber, and you didn't seem to be bothered! You said that Clara could be you, and I said no!"
"Doctor..." said Clara.
The Doctor ignored her. "I told you about the Time Lords, and my confession dial, and the extraction..." he trailed off.
"You said it could be you..." he said. "And you experienced an extraction chamber. You said that someone else did it to you, and you told the truth! You didn't do it, I did!" He looked at her.
"You're my Clara!" he exclaimed.
Clara stared at him, and her eyes stung with tears that were threatening to flow. He couldn't remember her, he shouldn't.
"Doctor, I'm sorry," she said.
"For what?"
"For this." She knocked him out with a rock she picked up, and then checked for a concussion. Luckily, he was fine. She took out the device she used to mind-wipe him before from her pocket and used his sonic screwdriver to restore it. She used to always carry the mind-wiping thing around for memories.
She waited for him to come around, then knocked him out again, this time by mind-wiping him.
"What did you do?" Merry asked in a frightened voice when she saw Clara.
"Wiping his mind," she said. "Don't worry, I adjusted the settings. He only forgot what happened ever since we jumped."
Merry nodded uncertainly. "So we'll just pretend he was knocked out from his fall?"
This time it was Clara who looked uncertain. "I guess..."
Merry groaned. "You mean you didn't think up your excuse?"
Clara shrugged. "Whoops."
After about an hour of debate between Clara and Merry, then 30 minutes of interrogating Clara on how in Akhaten was she not breathing or why in the name of the Vigil Clara's heart wasn't beating, and another hour of Clara telling her story ever since she had to face the raven, the Doctor finally came around.
"Is everyone alright?" questioned the Doctor as he groggily lifted himself up.
"Oh, I'm fine," said Clara. "But Merry has a twisted ankle." She gently prodded the younger girl's ankle. "Slight twist, should heal in a few weeks. She can walk,but she needs something to support her." Merry stared at her. Clara winked. "I took a health course."
The Doctor changed the subject, clearly trying to hide his amazement. Clara smirked amusedly.
"We need to get to the TARDIS," he said.
"How?" Clara asked. She dropped her smirk.
"I enabled a feature in it. I just have to get the right blip," he pressed a button on his sonic screwdriver. "And it's coming back."
Merry looked confused. "But it's full of Vashta Nerada!"
The Doctor shifted uncomfortably. "Ah. In that case..."
"Really?" complained Clara. "Stranded? Again?"
Merry sighed. "And there's Vashta Nerada heading for us."
Yes, so the Doctor figured it out! Unfortunately, he just shouldn't remember.
I know a lot of you are disappointed, and I am too, but the plot just couldn't permit him remembering Clara.
Sorry! :-(
Actually, that scene wasn't supposed to happen. It's just that I was typing, and then suddenly, the scene was there! I liked it too much; I couldn't change it.
