"You know," Star began, sneaking into the council chamber in the Citadel and taking a seat at the large oval table, putting her feet up, crossing her ankles as she leaned back, utterly calm despite being back on Gallifrey. The one place she hated in the universe. But Ashildr had made a deal with the Time Lords to keep her street safe, they were the reason she had called them to Trap Street, to get the Doctors Confession Dial and give it to Lord Rassilon as a way of trapping the man in his own hell just so they could get the truth about the hybrid prophecy. "They'll be hell to pay now."
A few council members jumped at her sudden appearance but Rassilon just sneered at her, he had regenerated since the Naismith Mansion, now an old, balding man, "welcome home, lady Star."
"its good to be back," she lied. "oh, and I never thanked you for the regeneration energy, did I?" she smirked at him as he glared at her, "just think if you never gave me them earlier than allowed I would have died years ago!" she gasped mockingly, "doesn't that mean that mean that you also helped stop the Time War? You know, if you let me die without any regenerations, then I never would have destroyed the Moment, which means you lot would still be in hell. You're ever so welcome!"
"Lord President?" Rassilon glanced over as the General entered the room. He swallowed as he spotted Star, the girl winking at him, knowing why he was keeping away from her. She did tell him just how they saved Gallifrey, he knew she destroyed the Moment with her mind. He had all the right to be afraid of her.
"Are all the bells ringing?" he asked, "The whole cloister?"
The General nodded, speaking into his wrist communicator, "What's going on down there?"
"On my way down to the Matrix now, sir." A man responded.
"Keep the perimeter. It's ok to be afraid down there, soldier."
"Sliders are everywhere, sir. Loads of the things."
"Language, please. I'm with the President." Star cleared her throat, looking at him expectantly, "and…her."
The man in the Cloister didn't even need to ask who 'her' was, the whole planet knew Star had come home, knew the Doctor had gotten out of his Confession Dial, "Sorry, sir. The Cloister Wraiths are active."
"Do not approach them." The General warned, "Don't even enter the Cloister. Just tell me are all the bells ringing?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then we are facing great danger." Rassilon remarked.
"The Cloister Wraiths seem to think so." The General agreed.
"So, where is he?" Rassilon demanded, "Where has the Doctor gone?"
"I know." Star sang, well, she could guess. But she was certain she was correct.
"Back to the beginning," Ohila of the Sisterhood of Karn entered with two of the other sisters, "I should think."
"The Sisterhood of Karn has no business in this chamber, or on this planet." Rassilon glared.
"I heard the Doctor had come home. One so loves fireworks."
"I've brought popcorn," Star smirked, setting a bag on the table, along with a cup of coffee.
Rassilon glared at them before focusing his attention on Star, "where is he?"
She blinked up at him as he aimed his gauntlet at her. "Is that supposed to be a threat?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Where?"
She smirked at him.
She was enjoying this.
~.~
Star clicked her tongue as she sat with her feet still on the table, sipping her coffee as she, Ohila, Rassilon and the General watched via a holographic screen as Gastron took a ship to get the Doctor to come to the capitol. They could see the Doctor sitting at the table before the barn with a crowd of outsider Gallifreyans as the man had a bowl of soup set before him.
"Attention!" Gastron shouted down to them all, "Will all non-military personnel step away from the Doctor." Not a single person moved, "I repeat. All non-military personnel, please, step away from the Doctor." Still no one moved, "At least move the children away! Doctor. You will lay down any weapons on your person and accompany us to the capital. Your daughter is waiting for you."
Star snorted as the Doctor dropped his spoon on the table as he stood up, the locals parting to allow him through, "Doctor, you will accompany us to the Capitol." But the Doctor merely dug his heel in the sand, drawing a line before sitting back at the table, "Doctor? Come back. You will come back immediately. Your daughter…" he was cut off as the locals applauded the Doctor, "That is an order and this is a military vehicle."
"What's his plan?" Rassilon spun Star to face him.
"He's finishing his soup." She told him honestly, "and if you'd like to let me go, I'd like to finish my coffee before it gets cold and I pour it over your head!"
"Suggestion, sir." The General cut in, "We could talk to him."
"Words are his weapons." Rassilon hissed.
"Be afraid when he is silent then," Star folded her arms. Mockingly adding, "my lord."
~.~
Star tapped her foot impatiently as she was forced to go with Gastron and the General along with a group of other soldiers. She did a small rhythmic knock on the door of the barn, knowing the Doctor would know it was her and would therefore answer it. She smiled as he did so.
"Welcome home, sir." The General bowed his head to the Doctor, "As commander of the armed forces of Gallifrey, I bring you the greetings of the High Council."
Star just slammed the door on them, she had quickly grown tired of being on the council. She never wanted to join the council when she was young and still didn't now she was all grown up.
"Who the hell does he think he is?" Rassilon demanded on the comm.
"The man who won the Time War, sir." The General replied. Well, sort of, without Star he doubted the Doctor would have even thought of another way other than Time Locking the planet away. So really, they both ended it.
The Doctor opened the door as again, this time the whole group bowing. He slammed the door on them before sighing and rubbing his head.
"How long?" Star asked him.
"Doesn't matter." He waved her off, heading up the ladder at the end of the barn, laying on the bed, fiddling with his Confession Dial.
Star followed him, leaning on one of the poles, arms crossed, "that's not a good enough answer."
"How did you get here?"
"I'll tell you if you tell me afterwards."
He sighed, "Fine."
"Missy, of course."
He rolled his eyes at that, of course Missy would have told her how to get back to Gallifrey. especially if to mess with the Time Lords. "Did she give you the coordinates in the cargo hold?"
"Hmmm."
He held his tongue, that meant that when Missy lied in the graveyard she had known from the start, known they wouldnt have found it when they went looking, and never said, "Ever going to tell me what happened?"
"Now!?" she hissed, "really, now?"
"4 1/2 billion years."
She stormed back outside at that to see Rassilon had arrived, she walked right up to him, slapping him hard around the face. Clara would have been so proud. She would have punched him, but she only punched Missy, she could have stabbed him but hearing her hand meet his cheek was just so satisfying. She stepped back to the line the Doctor had drew, where he stood next to her, tossing his confession dial to the man's feet. "Get off our planet," Star narrowed her eyes at the man.
"We needed to know." He defended, "you have information about the Hybrid. A danger to all of us. If you'd told us what you knew, you could have walked out of there."
"Get off our planet." The Doctor repeated.
"You have nothing, Doctor. Nothing! Do you know what I have, out here in the Dry Lands, where there's nobody who matters? No witnesses."
The Doctor glared at him for that, "They matter to us."
"Take aim! Aim at them both." Rassilon ordered, "Fire on my command."
The soldiers hesitated, "sir?" the General glanced at him.
"Step forward and take aim! What's the matter with you?"
"Lord President, they're a war heroes. Some of these men served with him. Lady…"
"These men serve me! All of you! On my command." The soldiers raised their weapons, "Fire!"
Star stood watching as everyone single person, all 9 of them missed them, hitting the door behind them, she looked at them in concern, "are you seriously the best Gallifrey's got? I can do better than that with my eyes closed."
"You missed." Rassilon rounded on his men, "All of you. Every single one of you! How is that possible? What is it? Is the firing squad afraid of the unarmed man?" he grabbed Gastron by the scruff of his neck, "You, explain."
"There was a saying, sir, in the Time War."
"A saying?"
"The first thing you will notice about the Doctor of War is he's unarmed. For many, it's also the last."
"But she isn't!" he argued, pointing at Star.
"Star always makes the first move." Gastron dropped his rifle and cross the line to stand next to the pair, "I was at Skull Moon, sir. Ma'am."
Four more soldiers followed Gastron, dropping their weapons and crossing the line, "Not one more of you moves!" Rassilon yelled, "That is an order!" two more crossed, "A direct order of your President! You leave me no choice." He aimed his gauntlet at the Doctor, "How many regenerations did we grant you? I've got all night." He looked up at four ships arrived, "Excellent, General. You sent for reinforcements."
"Actually, I did." Star corrected as the remainder of the soldiers crossed the line.
"What? I am Rassilon the redeemer! Rassilon, the resurrected! Gallifrey is mine!" he yelled.
"Lord President," the General stood between Rassilon and the Doctor, "with respect, get off their planet."
~.~
The Doctor, Star and the General stood on the balcony just off the council chamber watching as a shuttle took off into the outlands.
"Gallifrey is currently positioned at the extreme end of the time continuum," the General explained to them, "for its own protection. We're at the end of the universe, give or take a star system."
"I know." He Doctor nodded, "I came the long way round."
"The President may not find anywhere to go."
"He's not the President anymore." Star shook her head.
"He was a good man once. Isn't this going a little far?"
"I have many more tricks up my sleeve, General." She lifted his chin with her fingers, "I hardly think you'd want to see most of them."
"Oh, we've barely started." The Doctor agreed, "Tell the High Council they're on the next shuttle."
"I don't like being president." Star huffed.
"You're not the president." The General informed her.
She glared at him when the Doctor rolled his eyes, "you don't even want to president."
"It'll be nice to be asked!" she pouted. No one ever asked her if she wanted presidency or not. She would make a great president. She just didn't want the job. Ever since she was young she always said it didnt want a job, wanted to travel, she got what she wanted, just not how she wanted it. but still; jobs...Boring!
~.~
Star sat in a chair at the top of the table as the Doctor sat next to her, Ohila, at the other end, watching them both carefully.
"If you wanted to know about the Hybrid, why didn't you just ask me?" the Doctor frowned as the General stood before them.
"If the Hybrid is a threat to the people of this world, why don't you just tell us?" he countered, finally taking a seat opposite the Doctor.
"What do you know already?"
They paused as the large double doors opened and a young dark-skinned girl with short curly dark hair hesitantly stepped in, looking rather uncomfortable.
"Yes?" the General snapped at the interrupting girl. Did she not know they had important business to attention to?
"I'm sorry to intrude…but I just came to see if the rumours were true," she turned her gaze to Star, locking her dark green with her icy blue, "I see now that they are." She bowed her head slightly, "I'm sorry, my lord." She turned to leave when a loud creaking of the large chairs was pushed back.
The Doctor glanced at Star as the girl stood up, eyes wide as she stared at the girl in disbelief. He raised an eyebrow at her, watching as she slowly walked to the girl who had stopped at hearing the chair moving.
"Kika," she breathed, not wanting to believe that her first friend, her best friend was alive, standing directly before her, as pretty as she had always been.
"Nova," she returned with a short nod.
"Hello again."
The Doctor cleared his throat and both girls suddenly remembered they weren't alone.
"Sorry," Kikashe shook her head, suddenly remember she was interrupting, "I'll just…"
"Stay."
She looked at Star for that.
"We need a decent person in this conversation," she leaned closer, whispering in the girls ear, "the General is an idiot in this regeneration." She led the girl to the chair as the top table, letting her sit in it as Star sat on the table between her and the Doctor, the man eying her in bemusement.
'Not a word.' She muttered.
She turned to the General, "continue."
He shook his head at her, remembering what they were discussing before the rude interruption, "The Hybrid is a legendary…"
"No." the Doctor shook his head.
"The Hybrid is a creature thought to be crossbred from two warrior races."
"Which races?"
"The Daleks and the Time Lords, it is supposed."
Star snorted, "Daleks would never allow themselves to become a hybrid. They hate anything un pure." For gods sake they had killed their own kind just because the new rainbow Daleks didn't think the others were pure enough.
"It's unstoppable." The General continued, "According to the stories."
"If they're just stories, why are you so worried?" the Doctor asked.
"Some Matrix prophecies suggest…"
"No."
"Many prophesies suggest…"
"No." this time Star shook her head. Prophesies this, prophesies that. She hated them. Telling you what you can and can't do.
The General huffed, getting irritated with the pair by the passing minutes, "All Matrix prophecies concur that this creature will one day stand in the ruins of Gallifrey. It will unravel the Web of Time and destroy a billion billion hearts to heal its own."
"What colour is it?"
Kikashe gave a small laugh at that. That was the Nova she knew in the Academy, asking the most random questions.
The General stared at Star, glancing at the Doctor. Surely she was joking? But the man was also waiting for an answer, "I don't know."
"Prophecies," the Doctor sighed, "they never tell you anything useful, do they?"
"So boring," Star agreed, "saying what you can and can't do. Trying to control your life."
"This is no time to play the fool." Ohila spoke.
"It's the end of the universe. It's the only time I've got." The Doctor argued, "And you want me to keep you all safe."
"Can you?" the General inquired.
"I'll need help, obviously."
"Gallifrey is at your command."
"Oh, not from you lot. No, you'd cramp our style. Look at your hats. I'm going to need the use of an extraction chamber, to talk to an old friend."
"No!" Star called as the man stood up to leave.
"No what?" he frowned at her.
"You can't just bring Clara back. The woman chose to die. She had a decent death that's the best she could have. "
"I just want to speak with her." he swore.
Star huffed as she watched him walked off. The General quickly stalking after him.
Kikashe walked to stand next to her as Star stared, no glared after the men.
Bloody idiots, all of them. All of them stubborn with too big of an ego.
"It's good to see you," she told the Star.
"Oh! I have missed you!" Star grinned, hugging her closer.
She buried her face in the girls neck, closing her eyes. oh, she really had missed Kikashe. No one knew her as much as she did. She stepped back suddenly, "hi..." she breathed, "Hi..."
"You should probably go." she suggested.
"Right! Yes! Idiot doing idiotic stuff. come on!" she took her hand and pulled her off after the men.
~.~
"Doctor?" Clara frowned as she stepped from Trap Street and into the Extraction Chamber, looking around the white room in confusion as she saw two operatives dressed all in white and Star crossing her arms, lips pursed as she stood next to Marcella, the girl looking uncomfortable just being in the room as they stood near the General, "Where am I? Is this the TARDIS?
"No. This is a planet." The Doctor corrected, holding the woman tightly. He didn't care that he wasn't a hugger, he was one to his family. And Clara was definitely family, human or not.
"What planet?"
"Basically, our place."
"I was about to die. I should be dead."
"Forget about that. It doesn't matter."
"Hang on, your place? What do you mean, your place?"
"Welcome to Gallifrey, Oswald." Star smiled, hugging the woman tightly. She wasn't going to lie, she had missed the woman terribly, it had taken all of her might to not get her revenge, but Clara had asked them not to and she respected her last wishes.
"No!" her eyes widened as she eyed Marcella, yup, dreadful hats, "hang on, wait. What? What? Did I miss something?"
"Well, we're several billion years in the future and the universe is pretty much over," the Doctor told her, "so, yeah, quite a lot."
"Young lady," the General shot a look at Star who glared and so he bowed his head to the human, "Miss Oswald, I'm afraid we only have a very few minutes with you."
"Who's he?" Clara whispered.
"According to the Doctor, you can tell us something about the creature known as the Hybrid."
"Oh. Oh, that's weird. What's wrong with my ears?"
"Nothing." The Doctor quickly assured her.
"Oh, it's weird. Everything sounds wrong."
"It's a side effect."
"I can hear you. I can hear you fine. It's like, I don't know, it's like, er. It's like something's missing."
"Your heartbeat." Star told her honestly, "you're missing your heartbeat. "
"Your physical processes have been time looped." The Doctor explained to her, "Frozen between one heartbeat and the next. Even your breathing is just a habit. You don't need it."
"If I'm frozen, how can I, how can I be walking about?" she shook her head.
"Because the Time Lords are very clever. It doesn't matter."
"Yes, it matters to me!"
"Star, you have to tell her," Marcella placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Star," Clara looked at the girl for that, knowing she would get more of an answer than the Doctor, "tell me; what is going on?"
"You died," Star told her, holding her chin up high, she couldn't show weakness in front of the Time Lords, she wouldn't. She had a reputation. "billions of years ago now."
Clara just stared.
"We have extracted you at the very end of your time stream to request your help." The General explained to her, "Once we're finished here, you will be returned to your final moments. Your death is an established historical event and cannot be altered. I'm sorry."
"Doctor," Clara looked at him as he avoided her eyes, "will you just talk to me!"
Finally the Doctor looked at her, "I'll try not to break your jaw."
She frowned at him, "My jaw?"
"I wasn't talking to you." He spun and punched the man in the jaw, knocking him down and grabbed his gun, aiming it at him. Clara gasped while Star barely battered an eyelash.
"Doctor, you can't do this." The man warned as he got back to his feet, "You know you can't."
"No, General, I don't know that. Everybody, stay exactly where you are! No moving about. On pain of death, no-one take a selfie!"
"These people are unarmed."
"So are you."
"Doctor, I will not let you leave here. That's the sidearm of the President's personal security. There isn't a stun setting."
"I will not let Clara die." He stated firmly.
"For crying out loud!" Star snapped at him, "She has been dead for billions of years. People die, mourn them, move on, don't let them die in vain!"
"If you tried to change miss Oswald's death," Marcella began slowly, eying the Doctor as he held the gun at the General, not backing down, "you could fracture Time itself. You cant take that risk," the Doctor just cocked the gun.
Star glared at him, her hand held out, "Give. Me. The. Gun."
"No." he argued.
"Doctor. Please," Clara tried to plead with him, despite knowing it was useless, if Star couldn't get the gun from him, no one could, "I don't want this. Put it down, please."
"Regeneration?"
"10th." The General said.
"Good luck."
"You too, sir."
"GIVE ME THE GUN!" Star barked, going so far as to startle the Doctor that he looked at her in surprise and handed it over. "thank you."
"Thank you, Star." The General nodded to her. She had just saved him the problem of dying.
"Do you really think that because I took the gun from 're not gonna die? Seriously? I'm on the verge of being a psychopath," she leaned closer, smirking, "I'm doing you a favour." She shot him in the chest, making him fall to the ground.
"Star!" Marcella gasped. Not in surprise, she knew Star was capable of killing, it was just…different to see her looking disappointed that the General thought he wasn't going to regenerate because she took the gun. How much they have changed.
"I want a neural block." The Doctor told the closest technician, "Human compatible. Quickly! Come on!" the man quickly passed him a small device decorated with 3 linked circles. "Come on, quick!" he grabbed Clara hand and pulled her out of the room before the energy surrounded the General.
Star took Marcella wrist and swirled her around, "don't follow me!" she sang as they ran off.
"You killed that man!" Clara cried, "You shot him! He's dead!"
"I was surprisingly telling the truth when I said I was doing him a favour!" Star defended.
"When you die, you stay dead." The Doctor countered.
"So does he!" Clara shouted.
"We're on Gallifrey. Death is Time Lord for man flu."
"And unlike him," Star jerked her head to the Doctor, "most don't walk into trees or steal clothes from the homeless." The Doctor huffed at that as they ran into the lift leading into the Cloisters.
Clara shook her head, knowing Star didn't care about anyone she killed and the Doctor defended her from that man, "I thought you said Gallifrey was frozen in another dimension?"
"Well, they must have unfrozen it and come back." The Doctor shrugged her off.
"How?"
"Do not ask," Star looked at her, serious. She made that mistake, she'd never regret that.
"Why?"
"It makes them feel clever." She tossed the gun aside, "can't kill anyone else without a weapon."
Clara gave her an unamused look, "you have a dagger."
"That is true but Mars isn't here to be impressed by me."
"Mars?" she frowned. "The girl you near enough danced with back there?"
"Pretty little thing isn't she?"
She stared at Star before frowning and looking at the Doctor, "Neural block? Human compatible?"
"Never mind," he waved her off, "this way."
Star walked ahead by a few steps, keeping her eyes open for any troubles in the Cloisters, her ears perked up hearing the screeches and other noises down there.
"The Cloister Wraiths." The Doctor told Clara as they walked, "Sliders, we used to call them. They guard the Matrix. We're safe in here."
"Why?"
"They only attack if you make any attempt to leave."
"How long are we planning to stay?"
"Or, actually, if you try to stay."
Star glanced back, eyebrows raised, "You realise how well that conversation went, right?"
"Starting to, yeah, a bit." He rubbed the back of his neck, his words reaching his brain.
She nodded, "you do realise that they will try to trap all exits?"
"This way, I'm fairly sure. According to the stories, there's a secret way out. If you find it, the Sliders let you go."
"Exterminate!" before them chained up with liquid running down from is eyestalk was an old battered Dalek.
"It's ok. It's ok, look at it."
"Exterminate...me."
"Is it trapped?" Clara breathed.
"Don't worry, it's been neutralised." The Doctor assured her, "Those aren't vines. In your terms, they're fibre-optic cables, they're alive and growing. We're inside the biggest database in history. Sometimes, people are stupid enough to break in."
"And?"
"It's a database. They get filed. Probably a leftover from the Cloister Wars. There's nothing we can do. Come on."
"Exterminate me." The Dalek called pleadingly as they walked off, "Exterminate me."
As they walked further along they separated slightly amongst their enemies where Clara found a Weeping Angel and she past it vanished appearing before her with another joining it, she slips past knowing they couldn't hurt her…only to get grabbed by a Cyber arm.
"Keep away from them!" Star sneered, pulling the woman free.
"The Matrix can use them as a defence. It means the secret exit must be close." The Doctor mused.
"What's to defend in a crypt?"
"It's not just a crypt. More like a stone circuit board. This is the Matrix database." He gestured to the area with a glowing circular pattern on the floor.
"Database?" she frowned, as they stopped in a clear area, "What do you mean, database?"
"Meaning that you're standing on the primary service hatch." Star nodded down at where the woman was standing
"Oh."
The Doctor grinned, nudging Clara to the side as he shifted the dirt with his boot, "Just have to work out the key. "When Time Lords die, their minds are uploaded to a thing called the Matrix. This structure, it's like a living computer. It can predict the future, generate prophecies out of algorithms, ring the Cloister bells in the event of impending catastrophe. The Sliders, they're just like the guard dogs, the firewall. Projections from inside the Matrix itself. The dead, manning the battlements."
"Was I supposed to understand any of that?" Clara blinked.
"The Time Lords have got a big computer made of ghosts, in a crypt, guarded by more ghosts."
"Didn't hurt, did it?"
"Tiny bit." He admitted, getting down on his hands and knees, running his fingers over the curved grooves.
"Why would a computer need to protect itself from the people who made it?" Clara shook her head, confused at that.
"All computers do that in the end. You wait until the internet starts. Oh, that was a war!"
"According to the stories from the Academy there was kid, before I was even born, he got in here, disappeared for 4 days." Star explained, "Showed up in a completely different part of the city. Said the Sliders talked to him, they showed him the secret passage out."
The Doctor nodded, he had heard of that story as well, "all we need is the code."
Clara frowned as the Doctor pulled out his notebook, "and you know it? The kid told you?"
"Ah, no, he didn't tell anyone anything. He went completely mad. Never right in the head again, so they say."
"Ok, that's encouraging."
"The last I heard, he stole the moon and the President's wife."
Clara blinked at that, recalling what Missy had said to her, "Was she nice?" she smirked, "at the time, the President's wife?"
"Ah, well, that was a lie put about by the Shabogans. It was the President's daughter. I didn't steal the moon, I lost it…" he trailed off, realising what he had said.
"Busted!"
"I'd know you anywhere." Clara shook her head fondly.
"I was a completely different person in those days." He defended, "Eccentric, a bit mad, rude to people."
"Look at me again." Clara remarked softly.
"Sorry, what?" he looked at her.
"In the eye. Look at me. Just do it."
"What? What is it?"
"How long has it been for you since you last saw me?"
"Oh, er, I'm not sure."
"How long?"
"I was stuck on a place. They…"
"They what? Who? Who are we talking about?"
"They wanted something from me. Information. It really doesn't matter."
Clara fought to roll her eyes at him, and asked another question knowing he wouldn't tell her anything, "What happened to your coat? The velvety coat. I liked that one, it was it was very Doctor-y."
"I changed it."
"Why?"
"Well, I can't be the Doctor all the time." He snapped as the grooves on the floor began to click, "I think I've almost got it. I think this is it."
"Tell me what they did to you." Clara ordered, "let's take it in turns," she stood up, looking down at the kneeling Time Lords, "Star, you first."
Star stood up, not liking people looking down at her, it made her feel defenceless, "I wasn't going to look at you dead body more than I had to. I took a short cut. I wasn't going to stand near pathetic little humans any longer than necessary." Her lip curled into a sneer.
Clara gave a curt nod and glanced at the Doctor, "your turn."
He sighed, knowing he had to tell her and so he did. He said that the teleport bracelet Ashildr gave him sent him to his Confession Dial that she had left on Gallifrey near the end of the universe (where they were now) and he was followed by a creature, the only way to keep himself alive was to keep confessing secrets, but he never said what the hybrid was. Of course he didn't say how long he had been there, but had found a way out.
"20 feet of pure diamond." He finished, "Harder than diamond. But you break through anything, given time."
"How much time?" she demanded.
"Miss Oswald." The General, now a woman with dark skin and a close shaved head, approached with Ohila. Marcella a few steps back, looking as though she shouldn't be with them.
Star pointed at her, "I told ya I was doing you a favour."
"Stay back." Clara warned.
"I'm sorry," the General lowered her head, "but we have to find a way to extract you."
"I said, stay back!" both the General and Ohila moved to stand by Marcella, "The Hybrid, what is it? What's so important you would fight so long?"
"It doesn't matter what the Hybrid is." The Doctor waved off, "It only matters that I convinced them that I knew. Otherwise they'd have kicked me out, I'd have had nothing left to bargain with."
"What were you bargaining for?"
"What do you think? You. I had to find a way to save you. I knew it had to be the Time Lords. They cost you your life on Trap Street, Clara, and I was going to make them bring you back. I just had to hang on in there for a bit."
"How long?"
"It was fine."
Clara glared at him and turned to Star for an answer, "you know, so tell me."
"It's none of your business, Oswald." Star shot back before mumbling, "four and a half billion years, he told me."
"He could have left any time he wanted." The General added, "He just had to say what he knew. The dial would have released him."
"Four and a half billion years," Clara gaped at the Doctor.
He shrugged, "if that what she says."
Clara dropped back to her knees before him, "No. Why would you even do that? I was dead! I was dead and gone. Why? Why would you even do that to yourself?"
"I had a duty of care. Listen, I'm nearly through here. If I'm right, there should be a service duct under here. We'll be able to get to the old workshops. They'll have TARDISes there."
"Ok, listen. I have something I need to say."
"We do not have time."
"No, my time, my time is up. Between one heartbeat and the last is all the time I have. People like me and you, we should say things to one another. And I'm going to say them now." She leaned in and whispered into his ear before she stood and walked to the other three, "You're monsters. Here you are, hiding away at the end of Time. Do you even know why? Because you are hated. You are hated by everybody. But by nobody more than me."
"What did you say to him?" Ohila eyed her.
"Oh, nothing I'm going to tell you, or anybody else. Except maybe this one part. I said," she smirked as the hatch opened, "Don't worry, Doctor. They'll all be looking at me."
Star smirked as the Doctor dropped down.
"You need to tell us what the Doctor is going to do now."
"Same as always." Star crossed her arms at Clara side, "stealing a TARDIS and running away."
"Bye!" they both waved as the breaks of another TARDIS wheezed, materialising around them. The first console room that all TARDISes have, basic and white with the roundels on the walls.
Star closed her eyes and lowered her head, the things she did for her own selfish reasons.
"You were quick." Clara remarked.
"Time machine. I backed up a bit." The Doctor replied from the console.
"Doctor! Doctor, face me!" Ohila shouted from outside. "Doctor, can you hear me? Get out of that TARDIS and face me, boy!"
"Boy?" Clara raised an eyebrow at that as the Doctor poked his head out, "You have gone too far. You have broken every code you ever lived by."
"After all this time, after everything I've done, don't you think the universe owes me this?" he asked her.
"Owes you what? All you're doing is giving her hope."
"Since when is hope a bad thing?"
"Hope is a terrible thing on the scaffold."
"It will destroy her," Marcella spoke quietly.
"She'll be fine," he waved off.
"I don't mean Miss Oswald."
He stared at her, waiting for her to look away again, but she didn't, he shut the door on them and Star quickly sent them off.
"What do you think of the new wheels?" he asked.
"Basic." Clara nodded.
"Classic! Look at the colour scheme."
"It's all white."
"It's brilliant!" Star grinned, "Absolutely gorgeous." She rubbed her hand along the console. Beautiful.
He grinned at her, pointing at Clara, "Check your heartbeat again. I think that you'll find you have one."
"Yeah?"
"It should have restarted when we broke free of Gallifrey's time zone. You're alive! Now we just have to shake off the Time Lords. There's only one place we can do that. What do you say to lunch, followed by breakfast? Because we're time travellers and that's how we roll. Then cocktails with Moses. Then I'm going to invent a flying submarine. Why? Because no one ever has and it's annoying. And maybe we should use this TARDIS to find my proper one. I need to change my shirt."
"The old girl was be terribly upset to find out you've stolen one of her sisters and then you'll just abandon her somewhere." Star gave him a look at that.
He nodded sadly, knowing exactly what she was getting out, "I'm sure you can find some use for her."
"Naturally."
"I still don't have a pulse." Clara cut in.
He rolled her eyes, "Oh, you just haven't found it yet. Try again."
"I know how to take my pulse. Look, I know how to do it. See, no pulse, right?"
The Doctor checked her pulse himself and finding nothing, he scanned the finished countdown on her neck.
"Is it still there? Don't lie to me."
He glanced at Star who swallowed hard. Clara was still dead. Marcella hadn't meant it would destroy Clara, she meant Star. of course, even after all these years, she would know what broke Star, "Er, maybe we just have to fly a little bit further, give it a bit more welly."
"They said, your lot, that if you saved me, Time would fracture. What does that mean?"
"Oh, they're exaggerating. They exaggerate all the time. History will be fine. Time will heal. It always does."
"Always?"
"It'll be fine!" Star assured her, "I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you, remember? Or have you lost all faith in me…us?"
"Not when you're shaking and stuttering." She argued. Star never did that. She was confident even when telling the biggest lies. She never stuttered she never had a reason to, she never got caught out. "So, where are we going?"
"Nowhere in space, forward in time." The Doctor answered her, already dashing around the console, "We're going to the last hours of the universe. We're going long past where the Time Lords were hiding. Literally, to the end. They won't be able to track us there. We'll just be there for a minute. I just need to...I need to make an adjustment."
"To what?"
"It's nothing, really. It's this." He held up the small device the technician gave him.
"The neural block." Clara eyed it, "Human compatible, that's what you said."
"We don't have to stay here long. Check your heartbeat again. Your timeline must have started by now. A pulse, yeah? You have a pulse, yes? Pulse?" he rolled his eyes as she shook her head, "Let me do it."
"I am checking it properly!" she cried.
"This should work. This has got to work."
"What if one last heartbeat is all I've got? What if Time isn't healing? What if the universe needs me to die?"
"The universe doesn't need anything anymore!" Star yelled, "We are at the very end! At the end of everything, we can do anything."
And then there was four knocks from outside.
"How can there be anybody there?" Clara wondered, glancing towards the door as the knocking repeated.
"Four knocks," the Doctor grumbled, "It's always four knocks. Stay in here," he told Clara as he set the sonic glasses on the console.
"What's out there?" she demanded.
The Doctor didn't answer as he went outside so Star did, "Me." She closed the door behind her, leaving them in natural lighting from the burning Citadel before them.
"I told you once, so long ago, that the universe would become a very small place when I'm angry with you. Small enough for you yet?" he asked Ashildr, as she sat on one of the large leather chairs with a small chess set on the table before her.
"Hello, Me." Star smiled, taking the chair next to her.
"You don't seem surprised to see me." She commented.
"At the end of everything, we should expect the company of immortals, so I've been told." The Doctor shrugged.
"Even the other immortals are gone. It's just me."
"The one and only!" Star chuckled, "fitting name, sitting here in a reality bubble at the end of Time itself."
"How are you sustaining it, by the way?" the Doctor furrowed his brows at her.
"Brilliantly." She responded, "I've been watching the stars die. It was beautiful."
"No. It was sad."
"No, it was both. But that's not something you would understand, is it? You don't like endings. She died, Doctor. Clara died billions of years ago."
"You killed her."
"No." Star shook her head. "She didn't." Since she had left trap street her mind had blamed Ashildr, just because she had wanted someone to blame. Ashildr had been the reason they were in trap street in the first place. But she had never place the quantum lock on Clara. Clara herself had done that. But yet, it had been her who had told the Doctor to save Ashildr back in the village, and with that little push it came back to her for the reason the Trap Street they went to even existed.
"No, I didn't." Ashildr agreed with Star, "Neither did you. Nor Star. She did. She died for who she was and who she loved. She fell where she stood. It was sad, and it was beautiful. And it is over. We have no right to change who she was."
"Ashildr…" the Doctor began.
"Me."
"Me, go to hell. By my calculations, you've got about five minutes."
"You know why we run, Doctor?"
"Because it's fun."
"Because we can't bare the pain of those we've lost." Star breathed.
"Because we know summer can't last forever." Ashildr told them.
"Of course it can." The Doctor argued, "You just have to steal a time machine."
"The Hybrid. Five minutes to hell. I think it's time to tell the truth. You were barely more than a child. You broke in here and the Wraiths spoke to you about the Hybrid. Why did that story make you so scared?"
"I don't know." He murmured, "I don't remember it."
"Sometimes you do. It's always the way with things we'd rather forget. You remember now, though, don't you? Tell me, Doctor, who is the Hybrid? Who threatens all of Time and Space?"
"Oh, but that's easy. That's very, very easy. The Hybrid is you."
"I'm human, with a little bit of Mire inside me. The Hybrid is supposed to be half Time Lord, half Dalek."
"No, its not." Star shook her head, and when they both turned to look at her she added, "The prophecy only specified two warrior races. The Daleks and the Time Lords have made assumptions."
"Humans and the Mire, both warrior races." The Doctor pointed out, "It fits perfectly."
"It's an interesting theory." Me agreed.
"Do you have a better one?"
"By your own reasoning, why couldn't the Hybrid be half Time Lord, half human?"
"It's not River, if that's what you're trying to say," Star shook her head.
Ashildr just smirked, "Tell me, Doctor, I've always wondered. You're a Time Lord, you're a high-born Gallifreyan. Why is it you spend so much time on Earth?"
"That's your best theory?" the Doctor scoffed, "I'm the Hybrid? I ran away from Gallifrey because I was afraid of myself? That doesn't make any sense."
"It makes perfect sense, and you know it. Am I right? Is it true? But I have a better theory."
"Really?"
"What if the Hybrid wasn't one person, but two? A dangerous combination of a passionate and powerful Time Lord and a young woman so very similar to him. Companions who are willing to push each other to extremes. How did you meet her?"
"Missy." He breathed.
"Missy," Ashildr smiled, "The Master. The lover of chaos, who wants you to love it, too. She's quite the matchmaker."
If only they saw Star smirking, oh, Missy didn't chose Clara at random, no, she had told her just how much Clara was like the Doctor, meaning that the woman would go down their timeline to ensure that Clara met them and kept together. But it had been Star who had been the one to create the Hybrid Prophecy. Everything that had happened had been for a reason, she had landed them in the Viking era to ensure the Ashildr became immortal, the last person at the end of the universe, a Human and Mire hybrid, to put people off who the real hybrid was. It wasn't two races, not really. Just one. Just one woman who would do anything to get what she wanted, a human who would push others to do her dirty work, her bidding. A woman who could do the impossible, a human who in an echo life had lived as a Time Lady. Human biologically but otherwise so much more than that. They'd go to hell for Clara, and she knew it. She had never meant for Clara to die though.
She'd been planning this for billions of years, way before Missy had.
The bootstrap Paradox. Very complicated time travel that only the cleverest of mind could complete, especially without being caught.
The only problem was that she had been the reason the Doctor had ran away in the first place because of her plan from the future it had meant that in the past the Doctor had run away because he was scared of the prophecy.
She didn't know how she felt about that.
"Clara's my niece." The Doctor muttered.
"I know. And you're willing to risk all of Time and Space because you miss her." Ashildr mocked him, "One wonders what the pair of you will get up to next. "
"Nothing. Nothing at all. I know I went too far. I get it. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing."
"And what would that be?"
"I'm taking her back to Earth. Somewhere safe, somewhere out of the way. I'm going to wipe her memory of every last detail of Star and I."
"No." Star deadpanned, "she would hate that!"
"You didn't complain when I did it before. Usually, I do it telepathically, but this time, I've got something better. It's quite painless."
"I didn't complain because I didn't know the woman."
"Will you tell her what you're going to do?" Ashildr inquired.
"Of course."
"When?"
"Now."
Ashildr gestured for the Doctor to go before her and followed Star into the TARDIS last where Clara turned to them.
"Considering you're not surprised to see Ashildr again, I gather you were watching," Star deducted.
She swallowed, nodding, "yeah." She grabbed the sonic glasses and the Doctor picked up the neural block, "No. Doctor, whatever you're about to do, don't do it."
"It won't hurt, it'll be nothing." He promised, "You'll just pass out for a moment."
"And then?"
"When you wake, you'll be fine."
"But…"
"Clara, just listen to me."
"Just say it. Say it. Come on. Tell me."
"When you wake up, you will have forgotten Star and I. You'll have forgotten we ever even met."
"And why would I want that?"
"Because it's the only way. That stuff in your head, the image of me, they could use it to find you."
"I, er I used these." Clara held up the sonic glasses, "on the neutral block."
"Did you reverse the polarity?" Star asked with a small grin.
"Push that button, Doctor, it will go off in your own face."
"You were trying to trick me?" he breathed.
"What were you doing to me?"
"I'm trying to keep you safe."
"Why? Nobody's ever safe. I've never asked you for that, ever. These have been the best years of my life, and they are mine." She said, firmly, "Tomorrow is promised to no one, Doctor, but I insist upon my past. I am entitled to that. It's mine."
"Oh, Clara Oswald. What am I doing? You're right. You're always, always right."
"So what happens now? Hey? Me and you, what do we do now?"
He offered her a grim smile, his thumb over the button on the neutral block, "only one way, isn't there?"
She was right, they were right. He shouldn't wipe Clara's mind without her permission. But one of them had to forget the other, for the safety of the rest of the universe. He volunteered.
Star hurried forwards the Doctor swayed slightly, a moment after he pressed the button, resulting in his memory being wiped. She helped him stay upright as he stumbled.
"No." Clara whispered, shaking her head, knowing that he'd soon forget her.
"Run like hell." he told her, using the console as support. It wasn't fair on Star to have to support him, the TARDIS could do a better job.
"What?"
"Run like hell, because you always need to. Laugh at everything, because it's always funny."
"No. Stop it. You're saying goodbye. Don't say goodbye!"
"Never be cruel and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends."
"Stop it! Stop this. Stop it!"
"Never eat pears. They're too squishy and they always make your chin wet. That one's quite important. Write it down."
"I never meant for this to happen," Star shook her head. All she had wanted was to scare the Time Lords enough to give her a reason to go home but have them know about the hybrid so they wouldn't try to kill her. She had never meant for it to go so far that they had to forget each other.
"It's ok. It's ok. I went too far. I broke all my own rules. I became the Hybrid. This is right. I accept it."
"No...It was a joke. A prank. The hybrid never existed."
"There has to be something I can do." Clara pleaded, tears beginning to fall.
"Smile for me." He looked at her, "Go on, Clara Oswald, one last time."
"How could I smile?"
"It's ok. Don't you worry. I'll remember it..."
~.~
The Doctor entered the 1950s American disguised diner in the middle of Nevada to see Star sitting at the counter, sipping a banana milkshake through a curly straw.
"Nice place you got here." He remarked, setting his guitar resting against the counter as he slid into the stool next to her.
"Did you just happen to pick up a faulty TARDIS again or was it on purpose?"
He rubbed the back of his neck, "I do have a habit don't I?"
It wasn't technically his fault, the way out led him straight down to the TARDIS repair shop and he quickly took the first TARDIS that was unlocked. Easy. This new TARDIS, clearly wanted to see the universe like her sister.
She inhaled deeply, "I'm sorry."
He frowned, "for what?"
"Thinking I was capable of doing anything."
She shouldn't have done it, created the hybrid. If she had known it would result in Clara dying and then the Doctor forgetting her then she would have never done it. She would have thought of another way to get her own TARDIS. She never wanted any of this to happen.
She sighed, "Are you looking for her?"
He shifted to face her, "who?"
"Clara."
"Yes. Do you think I should keep looking?"
"I think that when the time is right you'll see her again." Star offered him with a sad smile which the Doctor returned.
"You know exactly where she is don't you?"
"Yeah."
"And you're not going to tell me?"
"Nope."
"I don't blame you."
Even though he couldn't remember Clara he knew that they were dangerous together and that it was better with him having forgotten her. He knew he'd recognise her if he saw her. Clara was family wasn't she? she was his niece, of course he was known her. Wouldn't he?
She snorted, "You never do. Why is that?" She was curious, after all she had done, all those times she had messed up. Even after he found out she was the one who sent the Master to kill him. He had not one shouted at her, not once been mad or disappointed, he had always forgiven her. It was actually irritating.
The Doctor could only shrug, "you're my daughter. I'll always forgive you."
She sighed, of course that was his answer. She slid a small envelope in front of him, making him look curiously at it before frowning at her, "just open it." She rolled her eyes.
He obeyed and tore open the envelope for a small key to drop out along with a slip of paper with a long number scribbled in Stars cursive handwriting. "I'm allowed to visit then?" He confirmed as he pocketed the key and number.
"As long as you phone ahead." She nodded.
"So this is it then."
"This is..."
"Not goodbye." He cut in quickly.
"Not forever." She agreed just as quickly. "I mean I'll be round at Christmas. As long as you ring."
"Of course. Christmas is family time." He smiled. "I doubt you'll be alone by then."
"I'm not alone. I'm with Me."
"You did promise her time travel didn't you?" He nodded, recalling she had mentioned about taking a companion. Now she finally had one. Though he doubted they'd get on like he did with his companions of him in charge and them following. Ashildr was billions of years older than Star. She just hadn't seen as much of the universe.
Star smiled, leaning her head in his shoulder, "play me a song."
"What kind of song?" He asked, picking up his guitar.
"A sad one."
He looked at her for that, "nothing's sad until it's over."
"Then everything is."
He gave her a small smile as he stood up, shifting the guitar to a comfortable position as he played a sad song for her. Star closed her eyes as he played, knowing that just behind the doors that said it led to the rest room was Clara in the console room, listening.
"That's Clara's song." She noted. It was one of hers, one she had created herself for Clara. It had been when she had been learning to play, she had made mistakes but instead of admitting it, changed it into a new song herself. She never admitted she played the wrong notes, she was purposely creating a song. Of course she had been.
"Is it?" He paused and looked over at her.
Star shook her head at him, giving him a tight hug, "I'll see you soon."
And that was it, she turned and walked into the restroom leaving the Doctor standing in the middle of the room before she dematerialised them around him leaving him in the dirt room with his TARDIS nearby. A painting of Clara in her memory on the front doors, painted by Rigsy. Whether the Doctor could recognise her not, she didn't know.
"What?" she looked up at the two brunettes' looks.
"You wrote a song for me?" Clara teased.
She groaned. She should have known they would have been listening. They were so rude!
~.~
"It may be a while until I can fix the chameleon circuit," Star called from under the console, "the exterior may be stuck as an American Diner for a while until I can fix it."
"Sure you can even fix it?" Ashildr asked her, looking up over the TARDIS manual she was reading.
"I doubt she's as broken as the old girl, eh, baby?" She smirked as she patted the console, feeling the TARDIS humming. At least she liked her as much as the old girl did.
"Awesome." Clara grinned.
"Still no pulse?" Ashildr glanced at her.
"Time isn't healing. I am still frozen."
"You know what that means?" Star swallowed.
"It means my death is a fixed point," Clara sighed, "the universe depends on it happening."
"I'm sorry," Ashildr offered. She hadn't actually caused Clara's death but it didn't stop her feeling a little guilty since if they never went to trap street the woman would have never had to face the Raven.
"Why? Why doesn't everybody think I am so scared? We all face the Raven in the end. That is the deal. If I go back to Gallifrey, they can put me back, right? On trap street, the moment they took me out?"
"Yes." Star nodded. Knowing them, they were probably trying to trace their TARDIS right this moment to drag them back. Two of them were near the ends of their lifes'.
"Mind you...seeing as I'm not actually aging, there's a tiny little bit of wiggle room, isn't there?"
Star smirked as Ashildr raised an eyebrow, "wiggle room?"
"Wiggle room, yeah, you know, wiggle room. We could, you know, stop off on the way."
"Where are we going?"
"Gallifrey," Star stated.
"The long way round." Clara finished, pulling a lever, sending them off on their next great adventure.
She still had a book of 101 places to see to complete...