Author's Note: Wow, look at all the reviews! Glad so many people liked the last chapter! To reply to my guest reviewers, yep, there's always timey whimey stuff around Seo. Mostly because I just like writing it, but I think my characters have sussed that something's up, since they're always criss crossing their own timelines!
There is something disturbing about Tenth!Seo, I agree, but also something kind of wonderful. In some ways, she's the epitome of what the Doctor wanted to be in Waters of Mars - she defies history and time and any enemies she may have, to do what she feels is the "right thing", even if she has to force people to do what she says. Even though her aims are good, there's something really freaky about the way she goes about them.
(Speaking of Time Lord Victorious - for anyone out there who's a Benny Summerfield fan - just think: Time Lord Victorious versus Irving Braxiatel. Now THERE's something I'd LOVE to see! Maybe I'll have Tenth!Seo run into Brax.)
Ace is coming. You've got about 7 more stories before she shows up.
In the meantime, we've got the rest of this story to go. We're rapidly getting to the end of it. Just a few more chapters to go, basically to wrap up the Buffy-hospital, Jenny-Aychron sides of the storyline.
Poor Jenny.
Enjoy!
It all went surprisingly quickly.
And, the moment Seo sent out her message, the effects were immediate.
The power-mad dictators she'd overthrown suddenly stopped doing their charity-work. They began to realize they'd been tricked and used and manipulated, and tried to seize power, again.
It should have been utter chaos.
Except that — if you believe the rumors — a young, married couple, one of whom looked like she was straight out of the 1920's, the other whom belonged to a species that had evolved half way across the universe, both used an intricate and brilliant plan to quell the uprisings. A plan created ahead of time, by someone else, for just this occurrence.
A plan which resulted in their arrest of the dictators, before they could take back power.
And transported the dictators to Volag-Noc — the prison world.
Of course, those are just rumors.
You can't believe everything you hear.
"I can't believe you rescued yourself, before I could get around to rescuing you!" Jenny was laughing, onboard Alan's ship, heading back to Totania. "And saved the day before I could! None of my companions have ever done that!" She raised up a glass of wine, to toast Seo. "Here's to easy adventures!"
They all clinked glasses.
Drank the wine.
"Easy adventures," Seo corrected, sipping the wine, "and the slightly insane future-versions of yourself who run around, causing them to happen."
"I think that only happens to you, Seo," Jenny pointed out.
Alan raised his eyebrows. "Does it?"
"You'd never catch future me racing around purposely trying to cause temporal paradoxes," Jenny replied. Her speech slurring a little, as she took another drink of wine. "Definitely not!"
Seo waggled a finger at her. "You're just jealous!"
Jenny leaned across the table. Pointing at Seo. "You," she said. Paused, gathering her thoughts. "You…. Don't tell me future-you is the one racing around… ruining my life."
"Not me!" Seo insisted.
She was wavering, now, too. Her speech filled with giggles, and slurring at the edges.
"Because… if that's you," said Jenny, drooping down against the table, "then… then I'm… I'm gonna be… really…"
Her eyes drooped shut.
And she fell asleep.
Seo, beside her, did the same. Giving one last little giggle, before drifting off.
Alan sat, alone, at the table. His untouched wine in his glass. The two sleeping people, just beside him. "I suppose you're going to tell me that was completely necessary," he muttered.
"If we want to avoid messy temporal paradoxes," said the woman who'd called herself Theresa, emerging from the shadows, "then yes. Absolutely necessary." She paused, by the table. Looking down at the two sleeping sisters. "If Seo had remembered this — remembered that her brainwashing techniques would result in Erodz gaining untold power and being worshiped as a god — she'd never have brainwashed those leaders in the first place."
"But that's good," said Alan.
"But if she hadn't brainwashed them, how could she have known not to? See. Paradox." The woman known as Theresa shook her head. Short black hair bobbing with the motion. "No. This way's best. Make sure they don't remember, then drop them back on Totania."
Alan hesitated.
Then, softly, put in, "You've been doing this a lot, haven't you? Invading your own past."
The woman who wasn't actually Theresa froze. Caught out.
"The younger you," said Alan. "She recognized… this face of yours. She said you were around for all her greatest mistakes. She blames you for causing them. Ruining her life."
The black-haired, blue eyed woman closed her eyes.
Didn't answer.
"Did you?" said Alan. "Did you… cause the explosion that killed those refugees? Did you go back to when Aychron was still alive, and make sure you'd learn all those lessons? Did you really cause Chvorin's death, on Erpole?"
The woman started, violently, at the last one. "Chvorin?!" Her face broke in bitter pain. "I haven't done that one, yet. I… didn't want to know about it."
Alan's eyebrows raised. "So you really were there, Jenny," he confirmed, to the woman. "You… made those things happen. Turned all your own past-victories into past-defeats, in some sort of twisted—"
"They were always defeats," Future-Jenny replied. She began to pace the room, slowly. Her blue eyes fixed on the ground. "That's why I never forgot them. Why I kept going over them, again and again, in my head, berating myself for causing them." She paused. Then, in a lower voice, "Ultimately… it's why I wound up spilling details about all of those things to my sister… late one night, at a pub in the 27th century."
Alan didn't understand.
"Do you think I normally wander around, invading my own past?" Future-Jenny demanded. She pointed at her younger self. "No. I'm with her. This sort of thing should never — ever — happen. Even you telling past-me and Seo about Kate and Gnorl getting married on Hesero was dodgy enough."
"Then why…?"
"Because Seo wasn't drunk, at that pub, when I spilled the beans," Future-Jenny replied. "She remembered every word I said. Used them as reference points. Went through my personal timeline. And… undid my past mistakes, for me."
Alan didn't know what to say.
"A part of me loves her to bits for that," Future-Jenny added. Giving a small smile. "Just knowing that, even through her madness, she wants to help me. But…" She shook her head. Drooping, her face cast in shadow. "I had to redo them. Go back in time and… make sure I'd make those same mistakes again."
"But why?" said Alan. "If they've been undone… that's better!"
For a long time, Future-Jenny was silent.
Nothing but the hum of the engines, in the background, playing between them.
"There was this… villain, you know," said Future-Jenny, at long last. "Broke into Dad's tomb. Tried to rewrite his past. Turn all his victories into defeats."
Alan wasn't sure what to say to this. "I'm… sorry."
"And I just keep wondering — which is worse?" said Future-Jenny. "What the Great Intelligence did… or what Seo did?" She wiped some hair out of her eyes. "The first destroys you in the past. The second… destroys you in the present."
"I don't understand," said Alan.
"My failures — they hurt, course," said Future-Jenny. "But they made me learn. They made me grow. They made me… me. Take them away… and maybe I'll be nothing."
"You'll always be Jenny," Alan argued.
Future-Jenny shook her head. Stepped a little closer to her younger-self. "Will I?" she whispered.
She reached out to touch her younger self.
Then stopped.
Yanked back her hand.
Alan could see the weight of a thousand horrible decisions, weighing Jenny down.
"And… Aychron?" he asked. Voice barely above a whisper. "Did you… have to… make sure he… still…?"
Future-Jenny shook her head. "Seo had that much respect, at least. Let Aychron… remain dead." Her eyes fell on the sleeping Seo. "I think… perhaps… it's because of what happened with her mum, on Earth. What's about to happen, from this Seo's point of view." She swallowed, hard. "She never forgot that."
"Or like that time on Reyola," Jenny said, helping Aychron down the stairs. Steadying him, whenever he lurched and was about to fall. "Remember? I'll never forget how you faced down that rabid Pikol with just a baguette. I was sure you were doomed!"
A shadow of confusion spread across Aychron's face.
He looked around himself.
Trying to reorient himself to where he was. What was happening. "Yes," he said. "Baguette…"
His eyes stared off into the distance.
Unseeing.
As his body half-collapsed, on top of Jenny.
She caught him, using her strength to support him, until he could regain his footing and his composure. He breathed, heavily. Then noticed Jenny, beside him.
"We're… going to the doctor," Aychron said.
"Yes, that's it!" Jenny agreed. Helping him struggle down the remaining steps, and out onto the street. "Dr. Otman. You remember — we met him on Umon, saved him from a horde of hyper-intelligent rats?"
Aychron didn't remember.
Sometimes, he didn't even remember enough to maintain his pride and hide his confusion.
"We'll be all right," Jenny promised him. "You'll be all right. Dr. Otman thinks he knows what's wrong. He'll make you go back to normal, again."
But it wasn't that simple.
Not at all.
"He should have told you about this right at the beginning," said Dr. Otman. He called up the med-scans onto the screen. Pointed. "Massive temporal erosion aging certain parts of the body. While others… are like a young child's. That's what's wrong with his legs — they're not just different lengths, they're different ages."
"Should have told me right at the beginning?" Jenny shook her head. "I don't understand."
Dr. Otman sighed. "I'm sorry," he said. "The amount of temporal decay indicates… he's had this for years." He paused, his face creased in sorrow. "Knowing him… he was probably too proud to tell you he was suffering."
Jenny felt her hearts sink.
"How long has it been there?" Jenny asked, her voice just a whisper.
Dr. Otman waved the med-files off the screen. Clasped his hands on the desk, in front of her. "Jenny," he said. "I'm sorry if this is a difficult subject but… keeping in mind your cultural heritage… have you ever returned to the spot where Gallifrey used to be?"
Jenny nodded.
"That's when it started," said Dr. Otman. "There's… a reason no one goes there."
A sick dread welled up inside of Jenny. "What do you mean?"
"Rumor has it, the weapon used to end the Time War was… terrifyingly complex," said Dr. Otman. "Destructive to a degree none of us could even imagine. The planet was literally vaporized, in a single second. Vanished, as if it had never been there. Leaving behind… a lethal form of temporal radiation, in its wake."
Jenny's eyes went wide.
"You're probably immune," said Dr. Otman. "Since your biology works so differently. But Aychron… isn't." He shook his head. "I'm sorry. If he'd told you, back when the illness first started, I'd have been able to cure it. But at this stage… the radiation's already gotten inside his brain. There's no going back."
"No," Jenny said. Slammed her fists down. "I can't accept that. It's not fair! It's not right!" She leaned over, glaring at him. "Fix it."
"I'm sorry…"
"Fix it!" Jenny screamed. "Fix it! Fix it, now!"
