A/N: I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! Rude author is rude!
- 1918 -
- Siberia -
"However," there was some reprisal in Yurovsky's tone and Calypso clung to it desperately. "We feel you would be of more use to us alive." The way he smiled made Calypso's heart go cold. It was not the smile of a man who intended to save them, no matter what he said. His pistol was still leveled at Nicholas' head and they stood frozen, uncertain of what to do next. She was afraid to breathe at all, thinking that any movement might set off the firing squad, but she was desperate to do something even as her heart raced in her chest. "Gentlemen." Yurovsky looked over his shoulder to the guards who were lined up opposite of the family. "It is time to change." They didn't ready their weapons, which Calypso half expected, despite the strange order. Instead, their faces began to change, melting strangely away. It wasn't just their faces that shifted though, Calypso noticed with growing horror, their bodies changed as well until she realized that the faces were again starting to become recognizable.
She blinked several times, thinking there must be something wrong with her eyes. She turned her head to look at the family behind her, and then now, at the same family before her, the only difference was that the ones across from them were still wearing their guard uniforms, and were still armed. Her chest tightened as she saw even herself portrayed across the room, the same long dark hair and olive skin. They even mimicked how gaunt she looked now, with her poor nutrition and lack of sleep. What made her skin crawl was seeing her own bright green eyes reflected back at her, familiar, and yet not. Only Yurovsky remained himself, still wearing that smug grin as he enjoyed the rising panic from the rest of the family.
"You can't do this. I will not let you!" Nicholas barked as he charged forward, not understanding what was happening, but knowing that this man intended to hurt his family. The officer squeezed the trigger and sent a bullet straight through the former czar's skull with a sharp crack that echoed in the tiny basement. The girls screamed at the noise, and the spray of blood that shot out at them and against the wall. The screams turned more frantic as the man they knew as their father slumped and fell forward, his body lifeless as he hit the ground. Calypso just stared in silence, unable to make a sound. Unable to comprehend that all of this was really happening. Whatever hopes she'd had for a last minute reprisal were dashed away as a puddle slowly grew around Nicholas' head. This is what the Doctor had meant, had tried to warn her of. The guards were not meant to protect them, they weren't even human. The family had been brought here to be executed.
"He was only going to be a bore." Yurovsky said in a tired voice, trying to speak above the screaming sisters as he tucked his pistol away in his holster.
"Nicholi!" Alexandra finally stopped shrieking long enough to call her husband's name. She dropped from the chair she had been sitting on and crawled over to his still form, weeping as she went.
"Who are you?" Calypso dragged her eyes away from Alexandra as she cradled Nicholas' head, staining her gowns with blood as she rocked back and forth. "What are you?" Her eyes shifted from the officer to his guards.
"It is not important. We have use for your position in Earth's hierarchy. That is all you need to know." He said with the same unpleasant grin.
"But this…this is impossible." Calypso shook her head, knowing how fruitless it was to say. Not believing it could happen didn't make the men change back any faster. She had seen it with her own eyes, refusing to accept it didn't make anything different. Still, she was no closer to understanding it.
"Quite the contrary. It is not only possible, but also relatively simple to accomplish with your elementary species. Vinvocci, now, those people are a challenge." He nodded thoughtfully. Calypso didn't suspect now was the appropriate time to mention that she didn't share a species with the rest of the family, it would make little difference for any of them. "Now, I'm afraid people will grow suspicious with two sets of the Romanov's roaming around, so we will need to amend that here. Gentlemen at the ready," He said with a grin, raising his hand and the rifles rose up to aim at the family once more. Despite looking like their mirror, it was no less certain that they were facing a firing squad.
The small window in the high corner of the room burst open, shattering glass falling to the stone floor as a man in a brown pinstripe suit dropped to the floor in an uncoordinated flop.
"Hello!" he managed to catch himself before landing on his hands and knees, straightening to his full height. "Hi, am I late? No, course not. Always right on time. Helps when you're a lord of time," he said smugly, brushing the dust and glass from his sleeves. "Hello Calypso, how have-" his words trailed away as his brown eyes caught the blood spray and followed it to the source on the floor where Alexandra still knelt with her husband clutched in her arms. The Doctor swallowed once and looked up at Calypso again, a wave of guilt smothering the cheer he had arrived with. "I'm…I'm so sorry." His eyes turned to the rest of the family, realizing in fact, he had arrived a moment too late.
"What is the meaning of this?" Yurovsky barked, dragging the pistol back out to aim at the Doctor. "Who are you?" The rest of the guards kept their weapons at the ready, but looked unsure of what they should do about the newcomer. The Doctor's eyes narrowed as he strode forward until the gun was nearly touching his chest.
"I'm the Doctor, and I'm giving you exactly one chance to stop what you're doing before I stop you myself."
"Ah," the man smiled, giving a soft chuckle. "Yes, the Doctor. I have heard of you before. You are quite the busy man. But I'm afraid there is little you can do. We are well armed as you can see," he nodded for his men to continue. Calypso felt her heart in her throat as she watched the two men standoff, feeling completely helpless. The Doctor was just as likely to be gunned down as the rest of them now, and there was little that could change that.
"I'm warning you." The Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver, flipping up a switch on the side causing it to whir angrily. "You've got less than three seconds."
"A biorefractor?" Yurovsky asked with a frown, his hand still poised in the air, waiting to drop to give the order to fire. "You're bluffing. You would kill the mortals as well." He said suspiciously, and then nodded, as though convincing himself as he dropped his hand.
Simultaneously, the Doctor pressed his thumb against the trigger and shouted "Down!" at Calypso. Her knees buckled as a reflex and she fell to the floor. A blue light exploded out from the screwdriver a moment later and her ears popped as the pressure in the room pulsed and shook the foundations of the building. The candles all extinguished themselves and plunged them into darkness and the screams of the girls were cut to silence. Calypso's eyes strained in the dark, struggling to see if the guns had fired somehow and she'd managed not to hear them.
"Calypso? You alright?" The Doctor's voice called out in the gloom.
She pushed herself up from the ground where she had landed shakily, unsure for the moment how to answer. "I…I think I'm okay." She reached out in the darkness and found the Doctor's hand grasping for her own. It felt reassuringly solid and she let out a relieved sigh as he helped her to her feet. She stumbled as she rose, nearly falling but the Doctor's arms were there to catch her. Now her heart was racing for some entirely different reasons.
"Guess it's a bit dark," he mumbled near her ear and she heard the sonic whirring again as the lanterns reignited. "There," he held her chin and tilted her face to the side, inspecting her carefully. "Everything seems to be in order." He grinned, brushing his hand against her cheek. "Tried to give me a bit of a scare there."
"Like to keep things exciting." Calypso smiled faintly, her thoughts going to the beaded necklace around her throat and wondering how many the Doctor had to her twelve.
"What have you done?" Alexandra's hushed voice interrupted their quiet moment and Calypso stepped back, untangling herself from the Doctor's arms. The rest of the family, along with the guards who had threatened them, had collapsed to the floor. Unconscious or dead, she wasn't sure.
"Doctor, the family, are they-"
"Oh, they're quite alright." He nodded soundly. "The pulse was only meant to effect certain types of organic matter, specifically types that have been exposed to extraterrestrial radiation." He gave her a warning look that suggested if she hadn't ducked in time, she might have been much worse off.
"What have you done?" Alexandra released her husband as she searched her children for signs of life, tears streaked down her face and her eyes were wild. Calypso reached out to reassure her but the woman swatted her hand away.
"Now, just, calm down." The Doctor spoke soothingly as Alexandra rose to her feet, looking surprisingly dangerous for a woman her age. "They're all alright. Mind you they'll have a bit of a headache when they wake, but nothing like the Synchoflax here they'll not be-" he stopped himself as Calypso raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Er. Yes. The bad men. They won't be getting up. And what's important is that they won't be hurting you or your family." He smiled, but if anything, Alexandra seemed more hostile as she reached Alexi who had slumped in his chair, but was slowly showing signs of stirrings.
"What kind of madness is this?" She asked suspiciously as she dragged the back of her hand across her face, drying her eyes. "Witchcraft?"
"Yes! Brilliant, exactly witch-" his grin faded suddenly. "Hang it, when are we? Early 20th century? Oh sure, you were a fan of all that sorcery stuff. Yes. Witchcraft it is. But the good kind." He nodded resolutely. "Calypso, if you could get everyone up, I'm afraid we need to get going. Sooner or later someone's bound to wonder what's happened, and ideally, we'll be far far away." He ran halfway up the stairs to investigate their only exit and Calypso nodded, turning to the girls.
"Callie?" Olga asked, blinking the grogginess out of her eyes. "What's happened?" Calypso helped her to sit up while Olga held her head as though she were afraid it would fall off. "I…I saw a light…"
"A sorcerer." Alexandra said resolutely as she helped her boy sit upright, she still looked dubious.
"It's okay." Calypso turned to them both. "He's my friend. He's come from the village. He's here to keep us safe." Her eyes lingered on Nicholas' body only for a moment. With Olga's help, Calypso managed to wake the rest of the girls, all who were equally upset and frightened about what had happened. Calypso was just relieved that they were too shocked to think to ask too many questions, questions she didn't really have answers for.
"Yes, right then. Everybody up?" The Doctor jumped down three stairs and landed heavily on the hard floor, stuffing the sonic back into his pocket. He gave a nod of approval as he saw they were all upright. "Good. We need to move quickly if there's to be a chance. And," he paused looking to Alexandra more seriously. "I'm sorry, but once you leave this room, I'm afraid you and your family are no longer Romanov's. Not if you want to survive."
"Are you after the crown?" She leveled him with an intimidating glare that even Calypso felt herself shrinking back from. It was obvious from the way she stood between the Doctor and her family that she still didn't trust him, she was determined to keep them safe.
"No. But they were." He pointed to the guards sprawled on the floor that still looked chillingly like the family. Only Yurovsky looked like himself, though he too was unmoving on the ground. "And I imagine they weren't the only ones here. I don't know the extent of their plans, but I can say with some certainty, they probably weren't good."
"But they changed…" Alexandra stared at the forms on the floor.
"Yes, they did. And I'm sorry but I haven't really the time to get into that." The Doctor beckoned her urgently toward the stairs. Calypso started forward, Olga following close behind, she hoped that maybe by leading they would all just follow. Alexandra looked at the Doctor for a long moment before turning her attention to Calypso.
"You say you know this man?" She asked in a clipped tone.
"Yes," Calypso stopped in her tracks and nodded quickly.
"And you would trust him? Trust him with my life, and the lives of my children?"
"Absolutely," she nodded quickly and the Doctor gave her an appreciative smile. "I do your highness."
"Well," she said after a long pause. "It's not highness anymore." She turned her gaze back to the Doctor. "Not if we're to survive anyway."
"Atta girl- Er…lady. Ma'am." The Doctor corrected himself quickly under the scrutinizing look from Alexandra. "We need to get into town first, and then the train. That should be the fastest way out. Come on." Alexandra, showing surprising strength, took Alexi's arm over her shoulder and helped him toward the stairs while the rest of the girls followed. "Allons-y!" The Doctor said with a wink as he grabbed Calypso's hand and led her upward.