Aneres watched Mickey and Sarah Jane exit the chip shop with K9, heading over to the car parked beside the sidewalk. "So what's the deal with the tin dog?" Mickey asked, helping to place the beloved robot into the boot of the car. "The Doctor likes travelling with an entourage. Sometimes they're humans, sometimes they're aliens, and sometimes they're tin dogs," Sarah Jane explained, closing the trunk and leaning against it before turning to face Mickey. "What about you? Where do you fit in the picture?" She asked, frowning at the man ever so slightly. "Me? I'm their Man in Havana. I'm the technical support. I'm-" Mickey's prideful words suddenly stopped at his realization, "Oh, my God. I'm the tin dog." He whispered, slumping slightly and ignoring the familiar pang of envy he had for the Doctor, and all the man's useful traits.
"On my command," Finch hissed out, his voice a dark rumble as his eyes traced the figure of John Smith, his wife Annie, and that one dinner lady, the blonde one. He held out his hand, the Krillitane next to him crouching in anticipation from their place on a roof across from the chip shop.
"How many of us have there been travelling with you?" Rose asked, rushing out of the chip shop after the Doctor, while Aneres remained with Sarah Jane instead. "Does it matter?" The Time Lord replied, his voice taut and his eyes narrowed at Rose's words. "Yeah, it does, if I'm just the latest in a long line," Rose snapped. At that, the Doctor stopped, confusion replacing the irritation in his voice. "As opposed to what?" He asked, frowning at the woman before him in genuine confusion, the latter looking as if he had struck her clean across the jaw. Aneres winced, her Time Lady hearing picking up his words with blinding clarity. "Oh dear," She murmured, her eyes trained on her Tether. Her clueless, adorable, dense Tether.
"I thought you and me were," Rose stopped herself at the flash of complete and utter disgust that flew across the Doctor's face. "I obviously got it wrong. I've been to the year five billion, right, but this? Now this is really seeing the future. You just leave us behind," She continued, her hurt quickly festering into a self righteous anger that overpowered any rational thought she may have had. "Is that what you're going to do to me?" Rose demanded, glaring at the wilted man before her in fury. A sigh escaped him and her eyes widened in shock. "Oh my God you are…" She whispered, her eyes stinging slightly. "Rose," The Doctor cut her off, "I don't age, I regenerate, but humans die in a blink of my eyes." He started to explain, a pained look appearing in his chocolate orbs. "I have lost so many, and I hate watching it happen, so I just… Run. Keep on running as I always have, in hopes it won't catch up to me," A tear leaked from his eye, paving a salty trail down his stubbled cheek. "You can spend the rest of your life with me," The Doctor finally whispered, wiping the tear away and clearing his throat, "but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on, with Aneres," He finished with a despondent sigh.
"You don't have to do that," Rose murmured, "Live with just her." The Doctor's eyes flicked to Aneres, much to Rose's displeasure. "We could find a way to make me live forever, you'd never be alone again," She continued, smiling at her obsession. "Rose, there is no way to do that. Even my race has a cap, we will die just as you do, just later in the future," He attempted to explain gently, "Time Lords aren't immortal, we just have many second chances." Rose's smile morphed back to a frown at the reminder of just how different they were. "No, not too different. We can still be together," her thoughts snarled, shaking off the discouragement the universe seemed to love doling out lately. However, their words caught the attention of a far deadlier creature than the jealous human.
"Time Lord," Finch snarled, his eyes flicking to Aneres as he waved the Krillitane forward. The Time Lady looked up and yelped at the sight of the bat as she pulled Sarah Jane to the pavement with her. "Was that a Krillitane?" Sarah demanded, her heart racing at a million miles an hour as her eyes traced the bat-like figure flying away from them. "But it didn't even touch her. It just flew off. What did it do that for?" Rose whispered, running to stand behind the Doctor, who had eyes only for Aneres. The woman in question helped Sarah Jane up and coaxed Mickey out from behind the car while her body shook all the while with terror. "We're all fine, don't worry," She called out, smiling as the Doctor approached and they departed in Sarah Jane's car.
TEotOS
Aneres pulled the car into a parking spot in the car park, students weaving between the aisles as they made their way into the school that next morning. The entourage made its way out and over to the main entrance, stopping just shy of the double doors. "Sarah, you go to the Maths room. Crack open those computers, I need to see the hardware inside," He ordered, fishing in his pockets, "Here, you might need this," Aneres said with a mischievous smile, pulling the sonic from the back pocket of her jeans and passing it over to Sarah Jane.
"Still the same settings as the last one?" Sarah Jane asked, looking down at the sonic screwdriver with a hint of nostalgia. "Yep, you're all set," The Doctor chirped, Aneres smiling and nodding at his words. "Mickey, surveillance. I want you outside," The Doctor ordered, staring the man down, and rolling his eyes slightly at the frustration in Mickey's face upon hearing that statement. "Just stand outside?" Mickey demanded, his voice ringing with outrage. Sarah Jane rolled her eyes at the complaint and sent a look to Aneres that both Mickey and Rose caught. "Here, take these you can keep K9 company," Sarah Jane snarked, throwing her car keys at the man while she walked into the building so she could get on with her job. "Don't forget to leave the window open a crack," The Doctor added on, earning glares from Mickey and Rose and a mild smack to the shoulder from Aneres. "But he's metal!" The other man continued, his outrage turning to genuine anger at the Doctor and his lack of care for Mickey. "He didn't mean for him," Aneres piped up, chuckling at the daggers Mickey sent her with his eyes before stalking off to the car.
Another voice soon distracted the Time Lord and Lady, "What am I supposed to do?" Rose asked, her arms crossed across her chest and an eyebrow raised. "Oh," The Doctor stammered out, his ears red with embarrassment as he addressed his forgotten companion. "You can help Sarah Jane hack into the computers," Aneres finished, ignoring the Doctor's incredulous glance at her. Rose frowned at the order, but complied when the Doctor nodded and waved her off. "I hope you realize that those two can't stand each other," The Doctor murmured to Aneres. The raven scoffed and shook her head. "Rose needs to understand that you have other people in your life besides her. Spending time with a companion as treasured as Sarah Jane might help her realize just how much everyone matters, not just her," Aneres explained, her eyes fixed on the Doctor's as his discomfort shone on his face like a blinding sun. The man coughed, turned back to the doors and mumbled, "It's time we had a word with Mister Finch." Aneres chuckled and followed after him, excited to end the Krillitanes' plans for the children of this school.
TEotOS
Aneres pushed open the doors to the swimming pool, the smell of chlorine hitting her nose and forcing her eyes to water slightly. The Doctor frowned at the sight of Mr. Finch standing on the opposite side of the room. "Who are you?" The Doctor demanded as they walked further into the room, their hands interlocked between them. The principal smiled and walked towards them at a relaxed pace. "My name is Brother Lassa. And you?" The man asked, his eyebrow raised inquisitively at the two aliens before him. "The Doctor, and the Grief," The Doctor replied, using Aneres' formal title instead of her preferred name. A smirk came to his lips when the Krillitane flinched at the sound of their names. "Since when did Krillitanes have wings?" Aneres asked innocently, staring Finch down with chilling intensity.
Brother Lassa swallowed briefly before answering, "It's been our form for nearly ten generations now. Our ancestors invaded Bessan. The people there had some rather lovely wings," He explained before drifting off onto memory lane, "They made a million widows in one day. Just imagine." A disgusted scowl came to Aneres' lips as she remembered the widows from the war. Crying on the bodies of their husbands, clutching their children's corpses to themselves, falling to their knees before the Daleks and letting themselves die because they had lost… everything. The Doctor tensed as her thoughts brushed against his, fury rising in him at how other races had been forced to endure that sheer soul-crushing misery and that the perpetrator was standing before them, calm as a cucumber. "And now you're shaped human," The Doctor murmured, his eyes unwavering from Finch, who merely shrugged before continuing.
"A personal favorite, that's all," He explained, gesturing at his figure. Aneres frowned slightly, remembering that the other Krillitanes had maintained their true forms. "And the others?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "My brothers remain bat form. What you see is a simple morphic illusion," Finch explained, his eyes locked Aneres and occasionally roaming to gaze at the entirety of her figure. The Doctor glared at the Krillitane and pulled Aneres back slightly, flinching when she stood her ground. "Scratch the surface and the true Krillitane lies beneath," Finch continued to explain before moving to his own questions. "And what of the Time Lords?" He asked, frowning as both of the Gallifreyans before him flinched in response to the inquiry. "I always thought of you as such a pompous race. Ancient, dusty senators, so frightened of change and chaos," Finch mused to himself as rage started bubble even more in the minds and bodies of the Doctor and Aneres, "And of course, they're all but extinct. Only you. The last." With a deep breath, the Doctor buried his anger to address the more pressing issue.
"This plan of yours. What is it?" He asked the Krillitane, moving past Aneres' stock still figure to stand a mere inch away from Finch. "You don't know," The alien replied slowly, his voice smug and eyes filled with delight at the Doctor's lack of knowledge. "I know you're using children," Aneres spat out, drawing both of the males' attention to her. "But, other than that," Finch whispered, "You don't know." The Doctor's eyes narrowed further, "That's why I'm asking," he replied, his hands moving to slip into his pockets. "Well, show me how clever you are. Work it out." Finch's reply was as nonchalant as possible, his arrogance bleeding off of him in rivulets that made Aneres start to see red in the corners of her vision. "If I don't like it, then it will stop," The Doctor murmured coolly, his normally warm and kind eyes hard like dark steel. "Fascinating. Your people were peaceful to the point of indolence. You seem to be something new. Would you declare war on us, Doctor?" Finch asked, his head tilted to the side. "I'm so old now. I used to have so much mercy. You get one warning. That was it," the Doctor muttered hatefully while he turned on his heel and guided Aneres from the room. "But we're not even enemies," Finch called out as they left, smirking when Aneres turned her head to snarl at him, "Soon you will embrace us. The next time we meet, you will join with me. I promise you," He finished, gazing at the Time Lady with a predatory intensity as she departed.
"If you do not strangle that man with his own wings I will," Aneres growled out, cracking her knuckles as they walked towards the math wing. The Doctor shook his head in disappointment, "Annie you can't do that, we need to show some level of control when dealing with them." His reprimand hung in her ears and caused her legs to speed up their pace until she was sprinting away. "Annie, get back here!" The Doctor shouted in her mind, worry for her safety clouding his annoyance at her previous words. She had no regard for him though as she continued her trek across the school, fury at him, the Krillitanes, and the memories she couldn't seem to shake off pressing her onwards.
TEotOS
Meanwhile, as Aneres was making her way back to them, Sarah Jane was getting audibly frustrated with the sonic screwdriver. "It's not working," She snapped, fiddling with the temperamental device in her hands. Rose grinned at the woman's perceived ineptitude and made her way over to the older woman, her hand held out for the screwdriver. "Give it to me," She ordered haughtily, causing Sarah Jane to bite back some colorful words lest the Doctor return to see her verbally abusing the child before her. "Used to work first time in my day," Sarah Jane mused as she passed the screwdriver over and stepped back to lean against a nearby table. "Well, things were a lot simpler back then," Rose mocked while crawling under the tables to sonic the various parts of the computers. Sarah Jane sighed at the bitterness and hatred in Rose's voice, a sign of her ignorance and immaturity.
"Rose, can I give you a bit of advice?" She asked, hoping she could dispel some of the fantasy that companions inevitably dealt with at some point when with the Doctor. Rose scoffed at her words, any possible wisdom the pretentious cow could offer was unwanted in every respect. "I've got a feeling you're about to," She snapped out, wiggling her way out from underneath the table to glare at Sarah Jane. "I know how intense a relationship with the Doctor can be," Sarah began, exhaling harshly as she tried to say this kindly, "and I don't want you to have expectations that set you up for disappointment later on." Her words did not have their intended effect, serving only to spur the blonde into a fury.
"I don't feel threatened by you, if that's what you mean," Rose retorted sharply, moving to stand a mere inch from Sarah Jane. "Right. Good," Sarah Jane breathed out, "But it isn't me you might be threatened by," She continued slowly, watching a myriad of emotions sprint across Rose's pug-like face. "And who exactly should I be threatened by?" The blonde demanded, her eyes wide with frustration as she regarded the former companion. "You don't threaten me, who else could? Definitely not Aneres, she's got nothing on me," Sarah Jane's eyes widened at those words, everything starting to fall into place. Rose didn't know about Aneres and the Doctor, and if she did she was absolutely delusional to be saying things like that. However, her words didn't end there.
"The thing is, when you met him they'd only just got rid of rationing, and Aneres is all screwed up anyways. No wonder all that space stuff was a bit too much for you, it'll be too much for her too most likely," Rose said as she turned her back on the older woman and walked around, her voice taking on a dreamy quality. "I had no problem with space stuff. I saw things you wouldn't believe, as has Aneres" Sarah Jane snapped, her attempt at kindness long forgotten as she continued to be insulted by the utterly idiotic bimbo before her. "Try me," Rose challenged, smirking at her words' effect on Sarah Jane. "Mummies," Sarah Jane started. "I've met ghosts," Rose countered, crossing her arms over her chest. "Robots. Lots of robots," Sarah Jane tried, only to be cut off by, "Slitheen, in Downing Street," from Rose. "Daleks!" Sarah Jane called out, her voice steadily rising in volume. "Met the Emperor," Sarah Jane winced at Rose's reply but refused to back down. "Anti-matter monsters," She continued, glaring at the blonde who merely replied with, "Gas masked zombies." The two women continued their argument, not noticing the raven-haired woman standing in the door, watching them with some degree of amusement.
"I believe," Aneres called out, drawing both of the women's attention to her, "that you also saw dinosaurs, the Loch Ness monster, Cybermen, Macra, Sontarans, and many others. Not only did you see aliens, you also met FDR, several Time Lords, and many a monarch throughout history." Sarah Jane blushed and smiled at her friend defending her, which only served to further enrage Rose. "If you do not want to be shown up, do not start petty arguments," The Time Lady continued, her eyes locked on Rose, who decided to make her voice heard. "That's not fair, the Time Lords are gone, and I haven't gone through time as often!" She cried out, stamping her foot like a toddler. "Well, if she's gone through time and space more often, are you really in a position to say she couldn't handle it like you have?" Aneres questioned, grinning as both Rose and Sarah Jane's mouths dropped open. Once Rose managed to regain control of her mouth, Aneres continued.
"I have quite patient with you Rose, but insulting my friend and hindering our mission to help people are two transgressions I will not stand for anymore," Her voice was a steel knife that cut through the air with stunning clarity, halting Rose's petulant retorts, "You get a pass this time, but do it again and I will be informing the Doctor and I don't think you want that. Now, give me the screwdriver, I need to see what's going on here." Aneres finished her rant with her hand outstretched towards the sonic device in Rose's grip. The blonde passed it to her silently, tears stinging her eyes as she stepped back to stand next to the wall and watch the Time Lady. Sarah Jane crouched next to Aneres, her voice lowered to a nearly inaudible whisper. "Does she know? About you and the Doctor, I mean?" She asked, watching the Time Lady fiddle with the computers. "She does not," Aneres replied, "And don't think that you are completely right either in that argument. I know you, Sarah Jane, you don't freak out over what a child says to you." The human blushed in shame, her eyes focused on the ugly carpet beneath her. "She insulted you, your bond with the Doctor, I just lost it. I'm sorry." Aneres smiled at Sarah Jane's apology and turned to say something more, but was cut off by the Doctor entering the room.
"Did you guys find anything?" He asked, making his way over to Aneres and Sarah Jane. "Unfortunately, these are proving difficult to shift," Aneres responded, changing the setting on the sonic to a higher frequency. "Is it a deadlock?" The Doctor asked, crouching next to her to inspect the devices himself. "I don't believe so, but if it doesn't open up in a bit we will have to assume so," Aneres replied, wiggling closer to the device. "Annie, I'm sorry for what I said. I know that what he's doing is wrong and that it must be hitting you hard after everything you've seen," The Doctor's thought hummed in Aneres' mind, the latter waiting for the inevitable, "but I don't want to just go straight to violence. I swore I never would after the War unless necessary," the Doctor finished, bringing a sigh from his Tether. "I'm sorry too. It's just been hard to adjust back to your moral compass. I haven't had much time since everything that happened to adjust to giving mercy or kindness after so much violence from both myself and others." Aneres' explanation, while it was sensible, made the Doctor sigh to himself in frustration and slight sadness. They were all pulled from their thoughts a moment later though, as students entered early from break and started making their way over to their classroom.
Rose ran to the door, her stride frantic as well as her arm gestures as she turned students away from the door. "No, no. This classroom's out of bounds. You've all got to go to the South Hall. Off you go. South Hall!" She shouted, turning some of the students manually and pushing them down the hallway. "Thank you Rose," Aneres shouted from under the table, "Needed a tad more time!" Rose blinked at her words, stunned momentarily considering the tiff with Sarah Jane not even five minutes ago. "Ye-yeah, um, no problem," The blonde stammered out as the two TIme Lords continued to work.
Two or three more minutes passed before a screech of frustration echoed through the computer lab, "I can't shift it!" Aneres shouted, chucking the sonic at the Doctor as she ran her fingers through her hair and wiggled back out from under the table. "I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything!" Sarah Jane shouted as the Doctor pulled it out and wrapped some of the wires around his neck to reach it easier. "Anything except a deadlock seal," The Doctor explained, "There's got to be something inside here. What're they teaching those kids?" He muttered to himself, looking up as the sound of doors slamming shut echoed through the hallways. "He's closed the school down," Aneres whispered, fear for the kids thrumming in her veins. "Gotta hurry then," The Doctor whispered, fiddling with the computer frantically.
I AM SUPER SORRY GUYS! I know this update took forever, but I had finals, family trouble, and some friends/romantic drama to deal with. Thank you so much for being understanding and amazing readers though, and I hope that now I'm less busy I can update more often. Unfortunately, I did end up splitting this episode into three parts after all, but I should have the final part of this episode out in a week or so. Once again, thank you guys, so very very much. This story wouldn't be a story if you guys weren't here, and hopefully, it will continue well into the future. Have an amazing day, follow the Instagram if you want ( christmasangel1225), leave a review if you have any questions or critiques, and I hope that you are all doing well!