Here you go~ Chapter 24!
Once I finish uploading all the Chapters, I'm going to go back and remove all my Author's Notes. Just thought I'd tell you in advance. I haven't started the others in this series yet, but I am slowly working through my Torchwood story. It'll have at least a T rating though.
Anyway, Enjoy~

Chapter 24: Truth Never Lies

Eyphah stood doubled over, still surrounded by the whirling mass of white and black. She threw back her head, screeching as something ripped itself from her body. Something dark and cloud-like.

The woman jerked, smacking the cloaked figure to her right. They rushed forward, throwing back his hood. His skin was green, in stark contrast to the woman. He bent forward and breathed the smoky substance in, then collapsed.

Eyphah crumpled once again, no longer lit up so strangely. Her skin held an orange glow, her eyes were tinted with yellow, but it was as if someone had frozen her in the early stages of a regeneration.

River rushed forward, attending to Eyphah, whilst the Doctor slowly approached the man on the floor. Jack watched from beside the woman as the Doctor crouched beside the man.

The Doctor watched in mild surprise as the man's skin started to change colour. Slowly the green gave way to pale blue, his hair from moss to ice. And as he watched, he noticed something else. He was becoming a she.

Next to Eyphah, River gasped. She was staring at the girl with wide eyes as she lay limp in her arms, ginger hair splayed out and bright green eyes beginning to full and flicker as she bled. "Doctor," River shouted, "Doctor!"

He turned. "Wha-" he looked at River, and he saw the girl. He stepped towards them, his eyes widening in disbelief. "How didn't we see...?"

The man - woman now - cut him off. She raised herself from the floor and dusted herself down. "Perception filter, one of mine," she spoke again before the Doctor could interject. "Please, spare me the I-Care-About-Your-Lies speech - you didn't bother in the future, so spare me it now. I'm Eyphah. And you; you are the Doctor, Destroyer of Worlds. I should know..."

Eyphah's eyes grew distant as she recalled an event long since passed. She hissed angrily, and the red woman flinched. Eyphah noticed her and her hooded companion suddenly.

"So, Ula, you came after all," she hissed, "Why are you here then, hmm? Out of duty or out of guilt?" Eyphah circled the red woman like a hunter inspecting its wounded prey. The woman - Ula - stood firm and raised her chin in defiance.

"Neither," she spat, "We're here to stop you! Donahue!" She gestured at the cloaked figure beside her. He didn't move. She gestured again. "What are you waiting for? Get her!"

But Donahue had other ideas. Ula tried to turn around to face the insubordinate male, but was stopped partway through the movement - stopped by a blade stabbing into her back.

"Donahue...?" Ula's voice was weak. He ripped the blade back out of her back and stepped over her as she crumpled to the ground. The Doctor was by her immediately, watching as River cradled the girl. He knew who she was now, and she was certainly not called Eyphah.

The real Eyphah laughed coldly - it sounded more like broken glass hitting a stone floor. She addressed the fallen red woman with relentless anger, spittle flying from the corners of her mouth as she raved. "You were always so sure of yourself, Ula. So blind to yourself. That was your greatest downfall. You looked out at the worlds through rose tinted glasses. But Donahue was smarter - Did you really think I would make this move without backup? Ha!"

Another cackle bubble up from within Eyphah's chest. This time Donahue joined in. The effect was deeply disturbing. Ula groaned from the floor, trying to disguise the pain she was in.

"Oh shut up! That cackling is giving me a headache..." Complained Jack, loudly. Too loudly it would seem, for the moment the words were out of his mouth, Donahue moved. He snapped Jack's neck with agile ease. Ula screamed at him, but he ignored her, facing the time travellers. "He was unnecessary," he said deeply. The Doctor stared at him.

He wasn't that surprised or bothered about Jack. When you're immortal, you can say those kinds of rash things, and you don't expect your friends to freak when you're killed for it.

No, the Doctor was staring at Donahue. In attacking Jack he'd allowed his hood to fall back, revealing his face. It was the man from the Orphanage; the man whom the Doctor had found tearing memories from Eyphah's head. Or rather, copying Not-Eyphah's memories for some obscure reason.

It was now that Not-Eyphah managed to speak. She was dying, slowly losing her grip on this world as she was pulled into the next. And yet, even as her last breath began to rise within her, Not-Eyphah managed to say a single word. A family name, to be precise. And not any old family name either, this one was Gallifreyan. And it made River and the Doctor stare at the child as the last layer of the perception filter melted away.

Not-Eyphah spoke a combination word; a family name. The combination word meant "Doctor and River". And there was only one child in all creation who could know that word in the context it was in.

Blysse.

By the way - Ula means 'Red'. Every name in my story has a meaning - feel free to look them up!