I finished the last chapter! Just got an epilogue to go, and then I've finished the story at last! :D Over a year of writing, and now... I have to say goodbye to all of my characters... ;(
Anyways, thank you all so much, every single one of you, for taking your time to have a look at this very long fanfic. I do appreciate it so much! :D
So, now, the whole story is just wrapping up now. Let's go!
(Also, kudos to anyone who can guess at what inspired the chapter title)
Chapter 29- 1 Hour that Changed Everything.
*59 minutes, 30 seconds*
Meanwhile, in the Byakko alliance, the president sat in his office. He sighed. The elections were coming up soon, and the polls showed that he was going to be kicked out of office after 12 years in power.
He needed to start Operation FrozenStorm. The patriotism would carry him to victory in the elections. As long as he could portray the deaths of the Byakko people in Sycoran as being due to the rebels.
If not, all of it would go to waste.
He smirked, thinking on how many Juneid scum would die as a result of the operation. They were inferior to the might, grace, intelligence and beauty of the Byakko people. They were subhuman.
Eventually though, he became somber again, and planned the campaign for the latest elections.
Hopefully, he would win again.
*56 minutes, 12 seconds*
"We need to get out!" Reid tried again to convince the receptionist to leave the building with him.
The receptionist laughed, "Oh, yeah, there's a bomb in the headquarters? Really? The alliance would never plan to kill innocents! You must have heard Rebel propaganda from one of those you interviewed, Tom. Don't trust them."
Reid sighed in frustration, "I am being serious! I was told by a scientist that there was a bomb. And it's about to go off!"
She smiled back at Reid, obviously not believing him, "Until I see evidence, I won't believe you. If you want to leave, fine. I am not coming with you. Most of us won't."
With a sigh, Reid walked away from the receptionist, and finally left the building. He looked down at the map of Sycoran he had found, before he scanned for the quickest route out of there.
He saw it. A disused train line, which ran straight out of the city and towards another boarder city. If Reid ran the whole distance, he could get out in half an hour. Not only that, there were people who lived in that district...maybe he could try to get them out.
On the other hand, would they believe him if he said that there was a bomb in the headquarters, planted by the alliance itself? If anyone bar the Doctor had told him that a country planned to blow up their own headquarters, he wouldn't have believed them.
And he wouldn't have been alive when the bomb finally blew up.
He shrugged those thoughts out of his head. He needed to try and get people out, and he needed to ensure his own survival. Worrying wouldn't do him any good.
Reid began to run, as if his own life depended on it.
*49 minutes, 48 seconds*
Jill and Ruby ran down the street, dragging an unconscious Violet with them (They had found her and knocked her out a couple of minutes ago) . They were so close to the outskirts of the city. They just had a little further to go.
Ruby saw the look of concern on her friend's face when the latter looked at her sister. Jill just wanted to save her sister. Even if she had to die. Even though Violet hated her. Ruby wanted to help Jill achieve this.
As they ran, Ruby could see the look of disdain, curiosity and venom on everyone's faces. But then, they were the only two Sycorans working for the Byakko alliance, they were hated. Hated for becoming turncoats.
In reality, they were the loyal only to Juneid, and the country they were born in.
Jill meanwhile, was shouting in desperation to the people around them to evacuate the city. No one listened.
No one cared.
Then the words of abuse were thrown- the Byakko scum were tricking them into making them desert their homes, just so that they could move the Byakko people into the city. And the two of them were evil for acting out their orders.
Finally, they were there. They just had to get past the boarder guards. If they could do that, then they would be safe.
Ruby opened a door leading to an underground passageway. Ruby went in first, before helping Violet and Jill into it. By now, Violet had began to stir.
"Little sister." Jill whispered, "It's okay. We're nearly free. Just wait for a moment. Answers will come soon."
"M'kay." Violet muttered weakly, still half asleep, "Sis, promise you're going to protect me? Protect me from the bad men?"
Jill smiled, tears forming in her eyes, "I promise."
*47 minutes, 59 seconds*
The Doctor had gathered a group of small children he had rescued from a small orphanage. It was certainly more than ten, but then the Doctor didn't care about the whole "Fixed point in time" business.
Innocent people were going to die, and he was going to intervene. It was only a small thing. Time wasn't going to be put into disarray because of it. Sycoran will still blow up after all. He just couldn't let the children die.
He hated the Time Lord laws. How restrictive they could be at times. Look, never meddle. Let time run as it should do. The Doctor hated the apathetic nature of his kind. Especially when, in situations like this, they let the innocent people die.
The TARDIS materialised around them, and the Doctor set course for the outskirts of the city, near the disused train tracks. The Doctor knew that it was the shortest route that allowed safe passage into Juneid. Most likely route for any of his companions to take as a result.
Meanwhile, the children looked scared. The Doctor understood why. They were being taken away from the lives that they knew. They were in an environment they weren't sure of. With someone that they didn't know.
The TARDIS dematerialised, and the Doctor was finally out of the city. The children were finally out of the city. They were all safe (unless of course, the TARDIS decided to send them into a war zone.)
Soon afterwards, luckily, they materialised at the outskirts of the city. The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors, before leading the other children out of the TARDIS.
"We're safe now." The Doctor muttered to the children, "The bad men were going to destory the city."
The children looked at the Doctor, thunderstruck about what he had said. Eventually, one of them replied, "Thwank you for savin us!"
He smiled back at the children, as glad that he could change history for the better.
*32 minutes, 1 second*
"We're safe." Harrison muttered into Marilyn's ear, "The bomb isn't going to kill us, or meddle with my plans. We're going to work for the company, and we're going to make a fortune and run the galaxy!"
Marilyn paused, "Why do you want me in particular? There were others, like Benedict..."
"Matthew Di Angelo?" Harrison asked, "Yes, his language expertise would have been useful...But...You offer the company something far greater."
"What?" Marilyn asked.
"Your gadget there. The one that reads what species someone is. You had designed it during those 5 weeks. Sadly, you burnt the blue prints before I wiped your mind." Harrison sighed sadly.
Marilyn shook her head, "I only invented it just before I went with the Doctor. You're mistaken."
"No. I saw you design it. That's why I waited..." Harrison paused.
"Waited?" Marilyn paused.
Harrison smirked, "Audrey works for us. Our culture and history specialist. She has been monitoring you for the past year. As soon as she told me you had remembered the blue prints, I came for you. But you had gone with the Doctor."
Marilyn nodded, mentally telling herself off for not noticing Audrey's treachery, "So. Now what?"
"The city is gonna blow. I'm gonna talk to the Doctor on the phone. Lead him into a trap. Then, I have you." Harrison smirked.
*31 minutes, 45 seconds.*
The woman, recalling what was going to happen to Sycoran, activated her teleporter.
Setting it for the outskirts of the city, she prayed that Harrison and Anastasia had not left yet. She would get fired for that mistake. Along with all the other previous mistakes that she had made.
The woman loved her job. She loved preserving peace and creating justice. She loved helping the innocent and destroying the guilty. She loved making the world right.
And Harrison Daanish Jackson Matthews III and his son, Tobias Andrew Isaac Matthews IV threatened to destroy this.
*22 minutes, 33 seconds*
"We're safe!" A woman muttered, hugging John happily, "Thank you sir for saving us!"
John smiled back, "It's alright, Madame. I just did what most people should have done. I'm just glad to see that you are all alive."
The Doctor slowly approached John and the crowd of people that he had evacuated. John rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly noticing the amount of attention he was getting. He had done a good thing. The right thing even. Because of him, 50 people's lives had been saved. That made him feel all happy inside. He was overjoyed that there would be people who could now live new, better lives than they would've done if they had lived in Sycoran.
"Where is Reid and Marilyn? What about Jill, Vi and Ruby?" John asked.
"Apart from Marilyn, they all are present and accounted for." The Doctor replied with a frown, before smiling at John "You did a good job today, John. I'm proud of you."
John muttered, "Thank you." No one had ever said that they were proud of him before, so the Doctor saying that made him feel appreciated. After that, he decided to walk closer to Reid.
"Did you get anyone out?" John asked quickly.
"Yeah, I got 15 people out of the city. They were resistant at first, but then they decided not to risk it. You?" Reid replied, a small smile on his face.
"Same with me. No one believed me at first. When I told them that I worked for the Alliance, they believed me more, but didn't trust me. It was only when I said that I was actually trying to free Sycoran from the invaders when 50 people decided to come with me." John replied, "Why don't people ever believe that a crisis is about to occur?"
"It could be due to the Ostrich effect." Reid rambled, "This effect means that people try to deny an obviously negative event which is about to occur. For example, in Pompeii in 79AD, the civilians still went about their daily lives, even though the mountain was acting differently to what it had done in the past..."
John continued, "And you're saying that even though we worked for the Alliance, and that we would know that the event is about to occur, the Ostrich effect is making those people deny the event?"
Reid nodded, "Exactly."
John looked back towards the city. They only had 20 minutes left.
And then the people that they couldn't save would perish.
*30 seconds.*
"So, you're saying that you only worked for Byakko in order to try and defeat them from within? Both of you?" Violet asked, disbelief in her voice.
Jill nodded, "I am. I'm sorry I had to lie to you. I'm sorry that I couldn't always protect you, or tell you the truth. Will you forgive me?"
Violet smiled, nodding very quickly. She was happy. Her sister was actually telling her the truth, and hadn't wanted to oppress the people of Sycoran. She could love and trust her sister again.
She couldn't wait to make up for those lost years.
As time finally began to run out of the city, Jill and Violet were locked in a tight embrace, that no one could ever hope to demolish. Tears flowed out of both of their eyes, as they finally had each other again.
*5 seconds*
*4 seconds*
*3 seconds*
*2 seconds*
*1 second*
*0 seconds*
An explosion coursed through the city, as Operation FrozenStorm finally activated. The Doctor was sad that, whilst they had saved so many lives that day, they still weren't able to save the city.
Just then, his phone began to ring. The Doctor curiously picked it up, and answered the call.
"Hello?" He muttered, "Marilyn?"
"Marilyn is with me, Doctor." The voice at the end of the phone replied darkly, "I finally get the honour of talking to you. I am Harrison Daanish Jackson Matthews the III, and if you want Marilyn back, I want you to take the TARDIS to these co-ordinates."
The Doctor listened to the co-ordinates, remembering them exactly. He needed to get Reid and John. He couldn't leave Marilyn with Harrison. He had to go and get her back.
"Reid, John!" The Doctor shouted. He then saw his two companions run towards them, confusion on both of their faces.
"What's happened?" John asked.
"Is it about Marilyn?" Reid added.
The Doctor nodded, "Yes. Marilyn has been taken."
