Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
The Rings of Akhaten – Part Two
Laura thought she might have left some of her organs behind on Akhaten as they raced through space towards the pyramid and – "Merry!" cried Clara, stretching her arm out as far as she could. Charlotte did the same, leaning forward as far as she dared. The little girl reached for them as well, but just as their fingers grasped at hers, she was yanked away screaming and dragged into the temple.
"Brakes, brakes!" yelled Clara; the Doctor hit the brakes on his vehicle, which made the ones on Charlotte and Laura's moped deploy automatically. They skidded to a halt, with a lot of shrieking, on the platform outside of the temple. Clara had her arms wrapped tightly around the Doctor's chest and he winced, "Okay, time to let go".
"Yeah, Laura, get off" added Charlotte, prising her friend's arms away from her waist. They climbed carefully off their moped, relieved to find there was space for them to get off on one side, because there wasn't much on the other.
"I can't" Clara whimpered, still clinging to the Doctor, without opening her eyes.
"Clara, you have to".
"Why?"
"Because it really hurts!" the Doctor told her, and she quickly let go, apologising. They climbed off of the mopeds and the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, scanning the heavy stone door that separated them from Merry. "Oh, that's interesting. A frequency modulated acoustic lock. The key changes ten million zillion squillion times a second" he informed them.
"Can you open it?" asked Clara.
"Technically, no. In reality, also no, but still, let's give it a stab" he replied, before making a run at the door. His companions looked away and winced as he ineffectually banged into the stone and bounced off; luckily he hadn't seemed to bruise much more than his dignity. Frustrated, he hit the door with the palm of his hand – Charlotte grabbed his hand and protested, "Would you stop that! Look, just…just use your sonic to…calculate the frequency or something".
"It's not that simple, Charlotte, I can't just...unless, I use the sonic to lock onto the acoustic tumblers!" he declared, proceeding to do just that. Charlotte cleared her throat pointedly. For a moment he looked at her blankly and then exclaimed, "Oh! Good idea, Charlotte".
"Thank you".
"How can they just stand there and watch?" Clara demanded indignantly, feeling almost disgusted at the lack of action.
"Yeah, I can't believe none of them did anything. That's just…that's just selfish!" Laura agreed vehemently.
"This place is sacred to them" the Doctor explained, still trying to open the door.
"But she's just a child!" Clara protested.
"And he's a god. Well, he is to them, anyway".
"And because of that they refuse to help a little girl who is obviously scared out of her wits" Charlotte added bitterly, "It's things like this that make me glad I'm an atheist…no offence" she added quickly for Laura's benefit. The last thing she intended to do was insult her best friend.
"None taken" her friend waved it off, just before they heard Merry scream from inside the pyramid.
"Merry!" Clara cried, "Merry, hold on, we'll be there soon! Doctor" she turned to him urgently, hoping he had an idea, a plan, something. He was pointing the flashing sonic screwdriver at the door, scanning it…"Yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh, hello" he said triumphantly, checking the readings.
"'Hello' what?"
"The sonic's locked on to the acoustic tumblers, just like Charlotte said".
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, I get to do this!" he grinned, pointing the sonic at the bottom of the door. Clara gasped as the door began to rise, the Doctor almost literally pushing it up with the sonic; he got it all the way up and they could see Merry standing before a glass case with the mummy inside, and a chorister kneeling on the floor.
"Ah, hello there, I'm the Doctor" he greeted, "and you've met my friends, they were supposed to be having a nice day out. Still" – he tried to turn off the sonic but the door started sliding down again, so he flicked it back on quickly, "it's early yet. Are you coming then?" he asked. Merry shook her head. "Did I mention that the door is immensely heavy?"
"Leave!" Merry pleaded, "You'll wake him!"
Really quite extraordinarily heavy" he added, getting pushed to one knee by the force of the door bearing down on them. He glanced at his companions and complained, "Little help?!"
They quickly moved inside the pyramid and towards Merry, ignoring the chorister who was singing under his breath. "Merry, we need to leave" Clara said urgently, beckoning to her.
"No, go away!"
"We're not leaving without you" Laura insisted.
"You said I wouldn't get it wrong and then I got it wrong. And now this has happened. Look what happened!"
"And I said if things went wrong it wouldn't be your fault" Charlotte pointed out, "So blame me, okay? Now come on!" she prompted, taking a few steps towards Merry. The little girl backed away from her and cried "No! You don't know anything. You have to go! Go now, or he'll eat us all" she stated, looking over her shoulder at the mummy. Clara moved to peer at it through the glass, remarking "Well, he's ugly. But you know, to be honest, I don't think he looks big enough".
"Not our meat, our souls".
"Which is exactly why we should all get out of here" Charlotte said exasperatedly, holding her hand out to Merry. The girl quickly touched her temples and sent out a burst of purple telekinetic energy, which sent Charlotte flying backwards and pinned Clara against the glass case.
"He doesn't want you, he wants me" Merry explained as Laura helped Charlotte to her feet, "If you don't leave, he'll eat you all up too".
"Yes, and you don't want that, do you?" the Doctor called to Merry, "You want us to walk out of this really quite astonishingly heavy door and never come back" he guessed. Charlotte and Laura knew what was coming and hurried over to him as Merry replied, "Yes".
"I see! Right. Clara's right. Absolutely never going to happen" he decided. Charlotte held a hand out to him and Laura called, "Doctor, come on!"
He let go of the sonic with one hand and reached towards the two Whovians, who grabbed his hand and pulled for all they were worth, yanking him out from under the door. All three of them ended up on the floor in a pile as the stone door thundered down behind them, sending clouds of dust flying up. The Doctor quickly scrambled to his feet, wincing in sympathy as Charlotte and Laura groaned, picking themselves up more slowly.
Clara asked, "Did you just lock us in?"
"Yep" the Doctor replied bluntly.
"With the soul eating monster" she added.
"Yep" he nodded, straightening his jacket and walking up to
"And is there actually a way to get out?"
"What, before it eats our souls?"
"Ideally, yes".
"Possibly…probably… There usually seems to be".
"Well, I'm safe, I don't have a soul" Charlotte remarked jokingly. The others gave her odd looks and she admitted, "Yeah, sorry, bad timing".
Clara eyed the chorister in concern. "Doctor, why is he still singing?"
The Doctor knelt down in front of the man and explained, "He's trying to sing the Old God back to sleep, but that's not going to happen. He's waking up, mate. He's coming, ready or not. You want to run" he advised. The chorister choked off his next line and stared at the Doctor fearfully. "That's it, then. Song's over" the Time Lord said quietly.
"The song is over" the chorister agreed, getting to his feet. "My name is Chorister Rezh Baphix, and the Long Song ended with me" he announced, before pressing a button on a bracelet he was wearing and teleporting out. Well, that was helpful Charlotte thought sarcastically.
The Doctor apparently had similar sentiments. "That's it then, song's over" he repeated, pulling out his sonic and flashing it at the glass case. The mummy suddenly roared; Charlotte and Laura had actually forgotten when it woke up and they jumped in fright. "Ah ha! Look at that!" the Doctor said excitedly, looking through the glass at the mummy now banging on the walls of its prison.
"You've woken him!" Merry cried in alarm. Clara, who looked less than pleased to be trapped against the case that held the angry mummy, asked "It's awake? What's it doing?"
"What do you think it's doing?" Charlotte asked incredulously; the creature was roaring and hitting the glass, how could Clara not have noticed that? Clara glared at her a bit and replied, "Well, I was hoping it was just…just…"
"Having a nice stretch?" the Doctor suggested, before turning to Merry and explaining, "No, we didn't wake him. And you didn't wake him, either. He's waking because it's his time to wake, and feed. On you, apparently" he pointed at Merry, "on your stories".
"She didn't say 'stories', she said 'souls'" Clara insisted, as if it made a difference.
"Same thing" the Doctor replied, "The soul's made of stories, not atoms. Everything that ever happened to us; people we love, people we lost. People we found again against all the odds" –he jerked a thumb at the furious mummy and explained, "He threatens to wake, they offer him a pure soul. The soul of the Queen of Years"
"Doctor, you're scaring her" Laura admonished him as Merry fearfully backed away a few steps.
"Good. She should be scared. She's sacrificing herself. She should know what that means" the Doctor asserted, walking towards Merry. "Do you know what it means, Merry?" he asked her.
"A god chose me".
"It's not a god. It'll feed on your soul, but that doesn't make it a god. It is a vampire, and you don't need to give yourself to it" the Doctor told Merry. She still looked doubtful, so he continued, "Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story? One you might not have heard. All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago, in the heart of a far-away star that exploded and died. That explosion scattered those elements across the desolations of deep space.
"After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets. And on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart, forming shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings. Until eventually, they came together to make you. You are unique in the universe. There is only one Merry Gejelh. And there will never be another" he told Merry, and the others smiled, agreeing wholeheartedly. "Getting rid of that existence isn't a sacrifice. It is a waste" he accused the raging creature in the case.
"So…if I don't, then everyone else…" Merry said hesitantly.
"Will be fine" he reassured her.
"How?"
"There's always a way".
"You promise?"
"Cross my hearts" he smiled, after doing just that. Merry held his hand trustingly and turned to Clara, releasing her from the telekinetic hold. Clara gasped as the mummy managed to crack the glass and hurried down the steps. "Having a nice stretch?" she asked sarcastically. The five of them ran for the door, but before the Doctor could lock onto the tumblers again and open it, the whole asteroid rumbled. "Something's coming" Clara realised, "What's coming?"
"The Vigil" Merry replied fearfully, as she stood behind the four adults, all of whom were ready to protect her.
"And what's the Vigil?" the Doctor asked her.
"If the Queen of Years is unwilling to be feasted upon…"
"Yes?"
"It's their job to feed her to Grandfather".
That's horrible thought Laura. Don't worry, Merry, nobody's going to get you whilst we're here.
Three cyborg like creatures teleported into the chamber in a burst of black, wheezing metallically; they strode forward, and Merry cried "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"Don't you dare" Clara glared at them, taking Merry's hand. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the Vigil, threatening, "Yeah, stay back. I'm armed – with a screwdriver".
The lead Vigil sent out a blast of sound that sent the sonic screwdriver flying out of the Doctor's hands – a moment later Charlotte yelled "Down!" – She dragged the Doctor into a crouch and Laura pulled Clara down as the Vigil let out another blast. Then the cyborgs changed tactics, all three of them sending out a massive blast of sound. The Doctor, Clara, Merry, Charlotte and Laura all pressed their hands to their ears and resisted as much as they could, but the adults were quickly overwhelmed and sent sprawling, leaving poor Merry to cower in terror.
Helplessly, she let the Vigil shepherd her towards the Mummy. Charlotte groaned and opened her eyes, her ears ringing. I swear, if I get knocked down one more time… she crawled over to grab the sonic and pressed it into the Doctor's hand as he stirred. "Help her" she gasped out, rubbing her skull, feeling a terrible headache forming. The Vigil spun around and attempted to blast them again, but the Doctor used the sonic to create a force-field. Merry ran back to Clara, who hugged her and then said urgently, "You know all the stories. You must know if there's another way out".
"Th-there's a tale, a secret song" Merry answered, "The Thief of the Temple and the Nimmer's Door".
"And the secret songs opens the secret door?" Clara guessed, and Merry nodded. "How does it go? Can you sing it?"
Merry sang a short tune, and a door slid open just beyond the Vigil and the Mummy. "Go!" the Doctor called, still struggling to hold off the Vigil. Merry and his companions ran for it, coming around the temple to the front of it again. Clara ran back to see if the Doctor was coming and saw the force-field around the Vigil fade away. "Doctor!" she called, urging him to get out of there.
He joined them a moment later, just as the Vigil teleported out to them, and prepared to fight them back once more. Inside the pyramid, the mummy smashed its case and roared; a beam of light shot out from the tip of the pyramid and struck the sun, causing it to glow brighter. A creepy whisper murmured, "Where are you? Where are you?"
The Vigil stopped attacking and simply teleported away. "Where did they go?" asked Clara.
"Grandfather's awake. They're of no function anymore" the Doctor explained. Clara couldn't help but note his less than enthused tone. "Well, you could sound happier about it" she remarked.
The Doctor turned to look at them with a rather worried expression. "Actually, I think I may have made a bit of a tactical boo-boo" he admitted, "More of a semantics mix-up, really".
"What boo-boo?" Clara asked worriedly, as the asteroid rumbled again.
"I thought the Old God was Grandfather, but it wasn't. It was just Grandfather's alarm clock".
"Sorry, a bit lost. Who's the Old God? Is there an Old God?"
"Unfortunately, yes" the Doctor winced…and they all looked up at the sun, which was glowing and swirling and looking, for lack of a better word, angry.
"Oh, my stars…" Clara breathed; she turned to the Doctor and demanded, "What do we do?"
"Against that?" he asked incredulously, "I don't know! Do you know? I don't know; any ideas?"
"But you promised" Merry protested, "You promised!"
"I did, I did promise" the Doctor agreed, starting to pace back and forth, trying to come up with a plan.
"He'll eat us all" Merry declared, reciting a prophecy, "He'll spread across the system, consuming the Seven Worlds. And when there's no more to eat, he'll embark on a new odyssey among the stars". Above them the surface of the sun continued to boil and rage.
"I say leg it" Clara suggested suddenly, for lack of any better ideas.
The Doctor asked sceptically, "Leg it where, exactly?"
"Don't know, Lake District?"
"Oh, the Lake District's lovely. Let's definitely go there. We can eat scones. They do great scones in 1927" the Doctor rambled. Both he and Clara looked up at the sun again, and the latter stated, "You're going to fight it, aren't you".
"Regrettably, yes. I think I may be about to do that".
"It's really big".
"I've seen bigger".
"Really?"
"Are you joking? It's massive!"
"I'm staying with you" Clara decided firmly. Laura nodded in agreement and declared, "Yeah, me too".
"Well, if you're staying, I'm staying" Charlotte added, though she knew none of them would be staying with the Doctor. He wouldn't let them. Sure enough, the Doctor insisted point blank, "No, you're not, not any of you".
"Yes, we are" Clara replied stubbornly, "We can assist!"
"No, you can't".
"What about that stuff you said" she challenged, "We don't walk away".
The Doctor turned to her and replied, "No, we don't walk away. But when we are we're holding on to something precious", he glanced at Merry, "we run. We run and run as fast as we can and we don't stop running until we are out from under the shadow. Now, off you pop. Take the moped, I'll walk". He gave them a small smile and straightened his bowtie.
"Doctor?" Charlotte called, and he paused. "Good luck" she said; he smiled and nodded, before leaving to face the wrath of the sun. Charlotte sighed and looked at the others. "Come on, we should do as he says". They climbed onto the mopeds, Clara and Merry on the lead one. Fortunately Clara had seen how the Doctor started his, so she knew what she was doing.
Meanwhile, the Doctor walked out to stand before the sun, on which had appeared the silhouette of eyes and a mouth, like a gigantic fiery skull. "Any ideas?" he asked himself, "No, didn't think so. Righty-ho then" he muttered, staring up at the massive sun which seemed to frown at him, "Lordy".
Clara, Merry, Laura and Charlotte arrived back at the amphitheatre and quickly climbed off of the mopeds. They ran to the front of the semi-circular arena and looked out at the raging sun, which was clearly visible from here as well. "Isn't he frightened?" Merry asked anxiously.
"I think he is" Clara answered, "I think he's very frightened".
"I want to help" the little girl said determinedly.
"So do I" Clara nodded, but she didn't know how. Merry had an idea though; she stood up on the pedestal, and began to sing another song. "Rest now, my warrior. Rest now…"
The Doctor could hear her, and he smiled. "Okay, then" he murmured, feeling much more confident about facing down a mad sun god. "That's what I'll do. I'll tell you a story".
Merry kept singing, and much to the human's delight, the crowd joined in, helping. "Please, wake up. And let the cloak of life cling to your bones..."
/
"Can you hear them?" the Doctor asked the parasite, "All these people who've lived in terror of you and your judgement? All these people, whose ancestors devoted themselves, sacrificed themselves, to you. Can you hear them singing? Oh, you like to think you're a god. But you're not a god. You're just a parasite eaten out with jealousy and envy and longing for the lives of others. You feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow…
"So, come on, then. Take mine. Take my memories. But I hope you've got a big appetite, because I have lived a long life and I have seen a few things" he challenged. Tendrils of energy swirled out and reached towards him. "I walked away from the last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time. No space. Just me!
"I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a mad man. I've watched universes freeze and creations burn. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I have lost things you will never understand. And I know things. Secrets that must never be told! Knowledge that must never be spoken! Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze! So come on, then. Take it! Take it all, baby! Have it! You have it all!" he shouted, tears trailing down his cheeks.
The sun rolled in on itself and he hung his head, drained. Merry's song ended, and she smiled hopefully…but the sun continued to boil and froth, and Clara realised it wasn't over yet. Unbidden, two memories came clearly to her mind.
"And I will always come and find you. Every single time…"
"We don't walk away…"
Decision made, she turned to Charlotte and Laura. "I need to go to him" she told them, and they nodded immediately, almost as if they'd been expecting it.
"We know" said Laura. Charlotte added, "We're coming too".
Merry wished them luck, and they got back on the mopeds and raced back to the Doctor, who had fallen to his knees, weakened by the parasite which was already gathering its strength again. Clara landed both mopeds – pretty expertly, in her own opinion; and they ran out to face the sun. Charlotte and Laura made straight for the Doctor, getting on either side of him and helping him to his feet. The exercises they had both done were paying off somewhat, as they managed to remain standing even with the not so light Time Lord leaning on them.
Clara was facing the parasitic sun, scared, but doing her best not to show it. "Still hungry?" she asked it, opening her book – 101 Places to See – and taking out one of her most treasured possessions. "Well, I brought something for you" she offered, holding up the maple leaf, "The most important leaf in human history", the leaf that had brought her parents together, the leaf that she owed her existence to, "The most important leaf in human history".
A greedy smile appeared on the parasite's burning face. "It's full of stories, full of history" Clara tempted it, "And full of a future that never got lived. Days that should have been that never were. Passed on to me…" she said sadly, before holding out the leaf. An energy tendril reached towards it and it began to dissolve into golden particles. "This leaf isn't just the past, it's a whole future that never happened. There are billions and millions of unlived days for every day we live. An infinity. All the days that never came…and these are all my mum's".
"Well, come on then!" the Doctor challenged, walking over to stand besides Clara. Charlotte stood on his left, and Laura moved to stand on Clara's right in a show of solidarity. "Eat up. Are you full? I expect so, because there's quite a difference, isn't there, between what was and what should have been. There's an awful lot of one, but there's an infinity of the other".
The leaf turned to sparkles and tears filled Clara's eyes; she glanced at Laura when the other girl clasped her hand, and smiled gratefully.
"And infinity's too much, even for your appetite" the Doctor finished, and they watched as the sun seemed to writhe in pain. The Doctor and Clara shared a sad smile, and the sun finally imploded, folding in on itself and vanishing in a burst of light. Laura beamed and pulled Clara into a hug. "Clara, that was amazing! I'm sorry about your leaf, though".
"Oh, it's okay. My mum's still here" she smiled, placing a hand on her heart. She turned to the Doctor, who smiled proudly at her. "Well done, Clara Oswald" he praised, giving her a hug.
"Yeah, epic speeches all round" Charlotte grinned, "I kind of feel left out…" her gaze turned to where the sun had once been, and her face fell. "…Uh-oh".
"What? What's uh-oh?" asked Clara.
Charlotte winced a bit and explained, "I hate to be a downer, I really do. It's great that there's no longer a parasite terrorizing Akhaten, but…their sun's gone" she said bluntly. The Doctor seemed to miss her point, however. "Thanks to Clara" he smiled, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the Time Lord. "Doctor, you're not listening. I know the sun was like, evil and everything, but it was still their sun. You know, the thing that gave them heat and light…I'm just not sure if this new arrangement will be for the best in the long run".
Now that it had been pointed out, Laura and Clara were starting to get worried again. "Fair point" the latter agreed, "No sun is perhaps not the best idea. Doctor?" she looked at him expectantly. In fact they were all looking at him expectantly. "What?" he demanded, "You think I know what to do?"
"Well, there must be something you can do" Laura pointed out.
"Like what? Look, do you really think I can just whip up a brand new sun?"
"Well, you have to do something" Charlotte insisted.
"There's nothing I can do. I'd need a cloud of hydrogen and helium and a few other elements; I'd need to increase the gravity and the density; and even then it would take ages for it to reach critical mass. I don't have the ingredients for making a star just lying around" the Doctor explained with a tone of frustration. Clara fixed him with a firm stare and reminded him, "Well you'd better figure something out, because you promised Merry".
The Doctor stared at her, and ran a hand through his hair, agitated. He began pacing back and forth, muttering to himself, racking his brains to come up with a solution. His companions put their heads together as well, trying to think of suggestions as to how they could quickly and safely create a new star. Charlotte proposed, "What if we drew the smaller rocks and boulders to a central point and let them crush down and heat up until"-
"Nope" the Doctor shot it down immediately, "That would more likely form a black hole than a sun".
"Okay, but there's hydrogen and helium in space, right?" Clara reasoned, "Why can't we draw some of that together?"
"Yeah, and maybe there's a way to use the TARDIS to speed up the process, so that it doesn't take hundreds of years for the nebula to collapse into a star" Laura agreed eagerly. The Doctor shook his head and explained, "The particles will be too scattered, I'd have to draw a nearby nebula, or part of it anyway, over here; and the nearest nebula is about, err, five billion miles that-a-way" he informed them, pointing towards the west.
His words gave Laura a sudden epiphany, and she asked "Where's the nearest sun?"
"The nearest star that could be a sun and isn't a parasite, you mean?" the Doctor confirmed; when she nodded, he pointed north-east and replied "That star there, the brightest one, five million miles away".
"Well I just thought, what if you used the TARDIS to pull Akhaten to that other sun?"
Charlotte's eyes lit up. "That's brilliant!" she beamed, hugging her friend, "If he can pull Earth from the Medusa Cascade to the Milky Way, then compared to that this would be a piece of cake!"
Clara frowned in bewilderment. "Pull the Earth? What are you talking about?"
Oops, I forgot she was here. We really need to tell her about our origins Charlotte thought, before replying "Do you remember when the Daleks invaded? Back in…2008, I think?" I don't know how much got restored when the cracks got reversed – if they did. I'm not sure what happened back then.
"Daleks?" Clara repeated, obviously confused. Apparently, the cracks still erased a lot of history; they couldn't be reversed since they were central to the return of the Time Lords, so Amy might have only helped restore the Doctor's timeline, not necessarily the events others should have remembered.
"Never mind; Doctor, what do you think, could that work?" Charlotte asked the Doctor hopefully. He sighed, solemn, and replied "It would, if we had an external energy source like the Rift, but I can't put a 'towrope' around Akhaten without one. The TARDIS can't use her own power source to propel herself and tow a small planetoid along, she just wasn't designed that way".
His companion's expressions plummeted, none more so than Charlotte, who grabbed at her own head with a groan of vexation. "No, no. This wasn't – I was supposed to fix the problem, and now we can't, and-argh!"
"Charlotte, calm down" Laura said worriedly. Charlotte glared at her a bit and stalked back to the front of the pyramid, where the mopeds were sitting. She looked out at the mass of Akhaten, visible with the lights that they must have turned on to combat the darkness, and felt like she'd betrayed them all somehow. "Come on, let's go back. The least we can do is let them know they're all going to freeze to death" she said bitterly, climbing onto the second moped.
When they returned to the amphitheatre, Merry ran over and hugged Clara, relieved to see that they were alright. "You did it" she smiled, "The Old God is gone, isn't he?"
"Yes, he's gone" the Doctor nodded; he hesitated, and then knelt down on Merry's level. "I'm sorry, though…destroying the parasite, the vampire, also meant destroying your sun. I can't…there's no way to get you a new one" he explained. More layers of guilt were pressed down atop his hearts; Clara had given up two of the few reminders she had of her mother, they had saved Akhaten and doomed it in the same instant, and worst of all, if Charlotte hadn't pointed out what they'd done, he might have just whisked them all away and not looked back.
As it was, he was hard pressed not to flee back to the TARDIS when he saw Merry's disappointed expression. It morphed into one of thoughtfulness as she tried to figure out if they could manage without a sun. The asteroid they had built their city into was not really the place to plant and grow food, so they relied almost entirely on trade. Would anybody come to Akhaten if the Festival of Offerings no longer existed?
"Will we…have to leave?" she asked the Doctor, fearful at the thought of abandoning the only home she'd ever known. He sighed and explained, "I could find another planet for you and your people…I could have taken you to another sun, but my ship needs an extra power source".
"Isn't there anything I can do?"
"I wish there were" the Doctor admitted, "But"-
He was interrupted by Laura, who suddenly exclaimed "Oh! Um, Doctor, could I talk to you a minute? I think I have an idea".
"Excuse me, Merry" the Doctor told the little girl, before getting to his feet and walking a little way away with Laura. Once she thought they were out of earshot, she took a deep breath and explained her idea. "I just had a thought, the TARDIS is telepathic, and she can sort of sing, right? Not like a person, more like the Music of the Spheres".
"I suppose you could call it that" the Doctor admitted with a small smile.
"Well, I just thought, if Merry was connected telepathically to the TARDIS, her singing could help anchor the TARDIS to Akhaten" Laura elucidated. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, and she hastened to expand on her idea. "I mean, I don't really know how all this works, the TARDIS and what it can and can't do…but this sort of thing happens a lot in Doctor Who and it always seems to work. Craig blew up the Cybermen with love, we stopped the Great Intelligence's Snowmen with grief...sometimes emotions are just as powerful as gadgets in your show".
The Doctor's scepticism was starting to fade. Laura made a good point; there were more than a few adventures he could recall where a life-or-death outcome hung on emotional states. Still, that was no guarantee her idea would be good in practice….he looked out towards the pyramid, which was hard to make out now that it was no longer glowing in the sun.
Laura assumed he was lost in thought, and waited patiently, but in fact he was letting his sense of time come to the forefront and observing possible futures. There were many, but the two that stood out the most were a future where Akhaten fell out of orbit and into ruin, and a more unclear future where they were flourishing, with a new and brighter star to light their way.
The Doctor was tired of many things; loneliness, guilt, regrets; but most of all; he was tired of being tired, and old and morose. Well, he was old, but that didn't mean he had to act like it…at least not all the time. This idea could work, there was a chance, and however small it was, he was going to take it. He gave Laura the most encouraging smile he could muster and told her, "I think you might be onto something".
Laura explained her idea to Charlotte, Merry and Clara. Her best friend saw the logic immediately and praised her for coming up with such a clever plan; Clara protested them using Merry as some kind of tether, but Merry herself insisted that she could manage it. They returned to the TARDIS, and Merry stared around in wonder when she saw the inside for the first time. "It's…this…this is impossible!" she beamed, turning in a circle and drinking everything in.
"Follow me" the Doctor beckoned, leading her down beneath the console. He took her hand and held up a dangling wire with a sharp point on the end. "This will connect you to the TARDIS telepathic circuit; it might sting a bit" he said apologetically. Merry winced as he stuck her with the wire, and then asked him "What do I do now?"
For a moment the Doctor was floored, having not thought this particular bit through – like with most of his plans, really – but luckily Laura stepped up. "Think of home" she advised, "and how much you want to stay here. Think of how much you need a sun to survive".
"Sing a song, Merry" said Clara. She wasn't completely on board with this, but Merry was determined so the least she could do was offer her support. "Sing a song about home" she smiled. Merry smiled back; then her eyes widened slightly and she closed them. The adults watched, slightly confused, as she seemed to mumble to herself before opening her eyes and smiling at the Doctor. "Your ship is amazing. She spoke to me. She told me…she can create a sun for me".
"She did? No, wait, more importantly; she can make a sun how?"
"I don't know; she just told me to sing, and to feel, and she would take care of the rest. She told me I wouldn't have to be on board for her to do this" Merry said simply. Curious, the Doctor closed his eyes…and then opened them again several moments later, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Oh, that is brilliant!" he exclaimed, picking Merry up and swinging her around.
"What's brilliant?" Clara asked curiously. The Doctor set Merry down and beamed at them all. "I was wrong. I was completely and utterly wrong" he said happily, "I do have a way to make a sun".
/
Merry, Clara, Laura and Charlotte all returned to the amphitheatre, where the restless crowd was waiting. "Don't panic!" the Queen of Years told them, "The sun will come back, a new sun, one that isn't a monster".
"Trust us" Clara added supportively when the murmuring grew louder at this declaration. Distantly, they heard the sound of the TARDIS materialising, and turned to see it fading into existence some way above the Pyramid, hanging there in space. "I think that's your cue, Merry" Charlotte told the young girl; she stepped up onto the pedestal for a third time and sang, "Oh Akhaten, my home, my home…."
As she sang, something incredible happened; yellow orange light began to spill out of the TARDIS, swirling down and coalescing into an orb below it, shining bright enough to light up the cap of the pyramid. In the TARDIS, the Doctor raced around the console; his old girl had come up with an incredible plan, to siphon off some of her power source, the Eye of Harmony, and expand it into another star; one that wasn't on the point of collapse, no sense in creating a black hole in the making right next to Akhaten.
The new sun grew bigger and brighter, and Merry's voice grew clearer, encouraged by the beautiful sight unfolding before them. By the time her song had finished, the sun was almost as large as the Old God had been, and bathing the Rings of Akhaten in soft golden light. Those in the stands cheered and applauded, Merry bowed to the audience, and the Doctor's three companions grinned and jumped for joy.
The other aliens came forward to congratulate Merry, and also congratulate Clara, Charlotte and Laura for defeating the Old God, realising the sun needed to be reborn, and finding a way to restore their sun to them. It took a while for them to get through the crowd, even with the help of Merry's escorts, but the Doctor was waiting for them outside the TARDIS when they reached it. Now came the hardest part of all; saying goodbye.
"Thank you, Doctor" Merry smiled gratefully, "Thank you for everything".
He smiled at her and nudged her cheek playfully. "Hey, you're welcome…and if you ever need me again, just…make a wish".
"I will" she nodded, "I won't forget any of you".
"We won't forget you either, Merry" Laura promised, leaning down to give Merry a hug.
Charlotte smiled and suggested, "You can create a whole new Festival now, write your own songs and legends…you'll go down in history". Merry hugged her as well, and then turned to Clara.
Clara knelt down and put her hands on Merry's shoulders. "You are a very talented, very special young girl, Merry Gejelh. Don't you ever forget that" she insisted, before pulling Merry into a hug. They embraced tightly for a few moments, and then the Queen of Years stepped back and watched as they waved goodbye, stepped into their time machine, and flew away to parts unknown.
/
"Home again, home again, jiggity jig" the Doctor said cheerfully, as they landed outside the Maitland residence. Clara opened the door and looked out, confirming they were on Earth and on the right street, but… "It looks different" she remarked.
The Doctor looked up and replied, "Nope. Same house, same city, same planet. Hey, hey!" he grinned, pointing at the scanner, "Same day, actually. Not bad". He swung a pretend golf club, "Hole in one!"
"You were there" Clara said suddenly; giving up two reminders of her mother had brought memories rushing back, and some of them seemed…different now. "At my mum's grave, you were watching. What were you doing there?" she asked the Doctor.
"I don't know, I was just…making sure".
"Of what?"
"You remind me of someone".
"Who?"
"…Someone who died".
"…Well, whoever she was, I'm not her, okay? If you want me to travel with you, that's fine. But as me. I'm not a bargain basement stand-in for someone else. I'm not going to compete with a ghost" Clara insisted.
The Doctor shook his head in agreement and said, "No"…then he remembered something and reached into his pocket, holding out Clara's ring on the palm of his hand. "They wanted you to have it" he told her.
"Who did?"
"Everyone; all the people you saved" he explained. She took the ring, and kissed it, and he smiled proudly at her, "You, no one else, Clara".
Clara smiled at him, waved to Laura and Charlotte (who waved back), and then left the TARDIS. The Doctor turned to his other companions and saw that Charlotte looked rather disappointed. Nervously, she inquired "Did um, did you get my necklace back? I mean, it's okay if you didn't. It's not like I needed it. I was just wondering…"
Wordlessly, the Doctor pulled something out his pocket and dangled it from his fingers. Charlotte's relief was palpable; she beamed and ran forward, taking the amethyst necklace from him and putting it back on, before giving him a grateful hug. "Come on!" she grinned when she pulled away again, "Can we go and watch a supernova?" she asked eagerly; it was something she'd always wanted to see up close. He grinned and leapt into action, pulling down the dematerialisation lever. They had a universe to explore.
/
A/N: Sorry this chapter took a while, I've been busy, had a bit of writer's block, and the additional part went on for a lot longer than I anticipated. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please favourite, follow or comment if you did!
