Lady A: Hey everyone and welcome back to Phoenix Saga: Origin! I apologize for being super late but I'm having some difficulties sorting through Tooth and Claw. Not to mention, doing Tooth and Claw in another story around the same time. It's like too much Tooth and Claw at the same time! *eyes spin a bit before she shakes her head vigorously* Okay, that's beside the point. On we go!
Brief Recap: The Doctor and Artimes reveal to Clara that time is leaking on board the Tardis, causing echo versions of themselves to appear all over the ship. They get chased by a burnt, red eyed bipedal creature and Artimes's does something brilliant. They find the salvage brothers and Artimes loses her temper, thereby enabling her to call on the Time Vortex inside of her to save Tricky from where had been pinned. The group then travel to the center of the Tardis and Artimes tries to sort out just who exactly she is to the Doctor.
Looking Forward: They enter the room where the power source for the Tardis is located and secrets are revealed, both to Clara and to the time/space jumper. The heat is rising and lives are lost. The Doctor has a choice to make and in the end, it is decided for him and he doesn't like it.
Now enough of the sneak previews. On with the show!
Warning: Strong usage of graphic imagery near the end of the chapter.
Chapter Twenty One: Eye of Harmony
With the assistance of Clara, Artimes and the others enter the power source room and were immediately enveloped in a hot, orangey atmosphere. The ginger had to remember how to breathe because the air so hot that it felt like her lungs were burning.
"Okay, move, move, move. Artz, you explain." The Doctor ordered as the group moved along the catwalk at a fast pace.
Artimes looked up at the exploding star, her eyes wide in shock and awe. It was beautiful yet also terrifying. It had the capacity to kill them all and yet was probably one of the most awe inspiring things she had ever seen. She ripped her eyes away from it and focused her mind on remembering the Doctor's counterpart's explanation for this scene.
"Welcome to the Eye of Harmony, an exploding star in the act of becoming a black hole. You rip the star from its orbit and suspend it in a permanent state of decay. It's Timelord engineering." She explained inwardly proud that she had remembered it so well and so quickly too.
The Doctor beamed at her and if she hadn't already been red from the heat, she would have been blushing. He looked at her with such pride and happiness that it made her stomach fill with butterflies. He quickly redirected his attention to the people who had stopped and stared at the astronomical miracle above their heads.
"This way…quickly!" He instructed getting them to move again.
One of the creatures appeared in the window of the door they were heading towards, making them stop in their tracks. They glanced back at the other door and they saw the female one in its window, effectively trapping them inside the Eye of Harmony. Clara released Artimes so she could move closer to the Doctor.
"There's no way out. We're trapped!" Gregor exclaimed fear etched on his face and swirling in his eyes.
"There's always a way out. Now shut up and let us think!" Artimes snapped still not happy with Gregor in the slightest.
Said man immediately shut his mouth but was still terrified. Tricky started pulling out the DNA scanner and the ginger knew what was coming next.
"You're going to tell me right now. If we're going to die here, you're going to tell me what they are." Clara demanded staring into the Doctor's eyes with determination.
The Timelord glanced at Artimes before looking back at the brunette.
"I can't." The Doctor replied not wanting to reveal the truth to his friend and companion.
Artimes moved forward and came to stand next to Clara.
"But I can." The ginger stated looking at the brunette with a resigned expression.
"Artz, don't…please." The Timelord pleaded his eyes begging her not to.
She gave him an apologetic look before gesturing behind her to the salvage brothers.
"She'll find out in a matter of moments anyway and I'd rather she hear it from us than that scanner." She replied her sapphire eyes asking the Doctor to trust her.
He nodded slowly, his eyes showing just old he was in that moment.
"Tell me please." Clara begged softly, tugging on the red head's hand.
The ginger's eyes focused on the brunette once more, heavy with sadness and knowledge.
"It's us." She stated quietly, pausing a moment to lick her dry lips and swallow the lump in her throat, "It's us from the future, Clara. I told you earlier that the Tardis was leaking time. The Doctor said it was the past, echoes and memories of recent history, but time works both forwards and backwards. That's what it means to be a time traveler. These creatures are here because if we fail to get out of the Eye of Harmony, they are what we become, burnt creatures that slip through the time rift and try to kill our past selves."
Clara stared at her in shock, not quite believing the red haired time/space jumper. Dead was dead, not burnt homicidal zombies. They turned their attention to the DNA scanner that the salvage brothers were using to identify the female creature pounding on the door.
"Sensors detects animal DNA. Human core element. Calculating data, calculating data. Lancashire. Sass. Identifiable substance: Clara." The computer verified.
The results hit the brunette like a ton of bricks and now she was wishing she didn't know. She looked back at the Doctor and Artimes. They had both known what was going on, what those creatures were, and they had to carry that burden the whole time. She understood why they didn't want to tell her. Who would want to know how they died and more importantly that a future version of yourself was trying to kill your present self? It was wrong, it was so wrong. Why did they have to bear that kind of burden by themselves?
The Doctor started running a hand through his messy, brown hair, a look of devastation plastered on his face. His eyes were swirling with so many emotions that neither Clara or Artimes could comprehend them all.
"I brought you here to keep you safe, but it happened again. You died again." The Doctor rambled, the ginger already knowing about Clara, but his next sentence shocked the living daylights out of her, "Both of you died again."
Artimes's head snapped up, her eyes wide in shock. She was completely taken aback by his statement.
"What?" The red head asked completely stunned and her tone very similar to Ten's.
She knew about Clara because of the whole thing about her entering the Doctor's timeline at his grave, but why the hell did he say both of them died again? When did she die the first time? Does she die repeatedly like Jack? Jack…was it possible that she died on the Game Station and Rose bought her back to life? Did she enter the Doctor's timeline at Trenzalore with Clara? Or did it have to do with how she could tap into the Time Vortex inside of her?
Her head ached with the thousands of questions bashing around her cranium. Too many questions…way, way too many questions. Her confusion was evident by how her face was scrunched up and the almost pained look in her eyes. Clara noticed this and decided to get answers for the both of them.
"What do you mean 'again'?" Clara demanded.
Artimes put aside her rampaging thoughts as she glanced over at the salvage brothers who were now leaning against the door to keep it closed. Her eyes lit up as she remembered what the Doctor's DW counterpart had said in the show and the Doctor seemed to be too focused on the fact that they were supposedly dying again.
"Doctor, look at me!" She ordered and he turned his attention to her, "There's a chance to fix this and no one has to die."
"How?" He asked calming down.
"As long as we interrupt the timeline of cause and effect, this can't happen." Artimes answered gesturing to the burnt versions of themselves.
His eyes lit up and he placed a quick kiss on her lips before rushing over to the salvage brothers like a maniac. Clara gave her an impressed look along with a raised eyebrow at how the ginger had effectively focused the hyperactive Timelord, but had side stepped the whole 'dying again' question. Artimes simply shrugged and sent her a look that said 'We'll ask him later'.
"Don't touch each other, otherwise the future will reassert itself!" The Doctor yelled pulling them back.
The creature broke in and clawed at Gregor's backpack which contained the circuit he had stolen before.
"Gregor, Gregor, let go of the circuit!' The Timelord commanded.
"Just let it go!" Both Artimes and Tricky yelled together, the ginger finally refocusing on current events rather than her silent conversation with the brunette.
Gregor continued to struggle, but was still holding the light bulb shaped circuit.
"Gregor, Gregor!" The Doctor tried again.
Tricky knocked the creature off the catwalk and a few seconds later, both the conjoined creature and burnt future Clara broke in at the same time.
"Okay…er…er…" The Timelord started unsure of what to do, his head whipping back and forth between the creatures.
Artimes took that moment to bust off part of the railing that was lining the catwalk to use as a staff. She knew that this wasn't going to be pretty but she had to have absolute faith in the Doctor. He would fix things and everything would be alright, but it might mean she had to do something pretty damn stupid before he got clever. It seemed to be a recurring theme with her jumps. She just hoped that she didn't have to get herself killed just for him to get his ass moving.
The ginger managed to good whack on future Clara and sent her toppling over the edge of the catwalk and Tricky attacked the conjoined creature. She hadn't paid that much attention to how he threw the creature off the catwalk but she did notice when he was left dangling and barely holding on.
"Tricky!" Gregor and Artimes shouted in alarm.
Artimes moved forward as Clara called out to the Doctor. She knew that time would reassert itself and the brothers would become the creature. She needed to buy the Doctor and Clara time to escape so they get to the engine room and perform the reset.
"No, don't touch him or time will reassert itself!" The Doctor warned.
Gregor pulled Ricky up onto the catwalk and they transformed into the conjoined creature. Artimes placed herself in between it and her friends, blocking its path.
"Go now, both of you!" The ginger ordered dodging and parrying the creature's attempts to take a chunk out of her.
"I can't leave you here! You'll die!" The Doctor exclaimed terrified.
Of all the times for him to become overly emotional,he had to choose now to do it. She needed him to calm down and focus on what needed to be done. A look of realization crossed her face as an idea formed in her mind.
"Not if you do something clever when you get to the engine room." She started jumping back from a wild swing and putting her idea into motion, "Got to love human skin, so impressionable." She blocked another hit with her staff, "You can easily leave yourself a note."
She pushed the creature back a few yards and gave it a good whack across both heads, making it stagger back farther. The Doctor didn't know what to do. He couldn't just leave her. He had promised to keep her safe, to make her happy, to always be there for her and now she was asking him to leave her behind and let her die. He simply couldn't do it, his hearts would never allow him to just abandon her, not after everything that has happened to them. As if sensing his impending refusal, she turned and faced him for a moment, a smile on her face.
"Run. Run, you clever boy, and remember." She stated her belief and trust in him shining brightly in her eyes.
He stared at her a moment longer, his eyes filling with tears. She believed in him, she always believed in him, always trusted him, and always had faith in him. He knew he had to trust her like she trusted him and it hurt him to do so. He could only hope that she would make it out in time. He tore his eyes away from her, grabbed Clara's wrist, and dragged the brunette out of the Eye of Harmony and towards the engine room, his hearts breaking apart at his decision.
Artimes heard the growl from behind her and immediately refocused her attention on the conjoined creature behind her. It rushed her, only to be grabbed by another creature. The ginger's eyes widened as she saw the glowing gold eyes and knew it was her future self, aiding her yet again. Her burnt self dragged the conjoined creature to the edge of the catwalk and threw both of them off into the abyss below.
The red head shook herself from her stunned state, dropped her impromptu weapon and tried to make her way to the door. Her lungs were on fire and she could barely breathe. She staggered, her vision going blurry as she heard her skin beginning to sizzle. Tears flowed down her face as she tried to push through the pain and get to the door. Her vision went white as her palm pressed against the door, the metal burning her hand. The pain in her body sky rocketed as her clothes and hair caught on fire. She tried to scream verbally but her throat constricted, cutting of her airway. Unfortunately, her link to the Doctor was still active and she screamed internally in agony before death finally claimed her conscious mind.
Lady A: *coughs* Yeah, I think I got a bit too detailed with that last bit. Anyways, Chapter 21: Eye of Harmony is over. Leave tons and tons of reviews and be on the lookout for Chapter 22: Frozen Burning! Stay tuned!