The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 35
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. However, anything that I created, like Sunehri, belongs to me.
A/N: Here's the final chapter for Tooth and Claw. Here's hoping that Rhea will get a chance to go off at Queen Victoria. And the Koh-I-Noor, I wonder what Rhea's reaction will be to that?
Notes on Reviews:
grapejuice101: I think she was just trying her hardest to be like the Doctor in this season, and it got very irritating after awhile. I think it was this one and The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit that annoyed me the most. I'm glad you're liking the Doctor/Rhea scenes, I do love writing them :)
Princess-Amon-Rae: I felt like Tooth and Claw was the most boring episode out of Season 2, this and probably Fear Her, but Fear Her will be very important in this story, especially for Rhea. If I were being absolutely honest, I didn't like any of the characters in this episode, except for maybe Sir Robert, even the Doctor was a bit irritating in this episode too. I might even get killed for that remark. I'm so glad you liked the chapter!
Marmalade1512: I'm glad you're still liking it. This is probably the longest story I've ever written. I can't believe I've kept it up this long, to be honest. Let's hope I can keep going. It's okay if you liked the joke. I think it was an okay joke (I didn't really get it at the beginning) but I think it was a little tactless for Rose to joke after people had just died. To me, it just felt a bit disrespectful in that situation. I hope people don't take it that I don't like Rose. I do like her quite a bit and I can appreciate her as a companion. But do I think she's the most important companion in New Who let alone the whole series? No, I don't. I just disapprove of some of the things she does and her choices in some episodes, like Dalek, School Reunion, The Parting of the Ways, The Christmas Invasion, and really just most of Season 2. I think her character deteriorated in Season 2 because I felt like everyone was just trying to slam it in our faces that the Doctor was in love with her and she's the most awesome being in the whole universe. So it just made me annoyed in most of them. I am definitely doing School Reunion and The Girl in the Fireplace. The second one's going to be incredibly angsty, I promise. And I think I'm doing School Reunion in like 10-12 episodes, so it'll probably be around Chapter 60. As for Sarah Jane and Rhea, we'll just have to wait and see ;) I'm sorry that you have to keep checking whether I've updated, but don't bother checking every day, even if I finish the chapters early, I most likely won't update every day, I'm trying to go for every 2-4 days if I can possibly update, but I'm not sure how that's going to work. I can't really give you a day that I will always update, but I should really update every Saturday/Sunday. One of those days is certain. Sorry about that :(
skinnerwho: I'm so glad you like the story so far :)
Warnings: Swearing, sexual innuendo, chewing out of a prominent monarch about sensitive issues related to imperialism (sorry if it offends anyone).
Tooth and Claw: Mountain of Light
Rhea grabbed onto the Doctor's arm, pulling him along with her. "Come on!" She said, urgently.
The werewolf stood tall, free of the cage. He threw the top of it across the room, narrowly missing the Doctor who finally stopped staring and made a run for it. Rhea and the Doctor slammed the door behind them and he locked it with his sonic screwdriver, panting with relief as they took a few steps back from the door.
The steward handed guns to all of the men.
"Arms... and your strife... ready everyone?" The steward asked. He, then, turned to Lady Isobel. "Take the girls. Get them out through the kitchen."
Lady Isobel approached her husband. "I can't leave you. What will you do?" She whispered.
Sir Robert gazed down at his wife with intense eyes, wanting so hard to say so much more but being unable to. "I must defend her Majesty. Now, don't think of me, just go." He urged.
Lady Isobel hesitated for a moment before surging upwards and kissing Sir Robert hard on the mouth. When they broke apart, she turned to her maids, gathering them all together.
"All of you at my side, come on!" She ordered, before the group of women headed towards the kitchen.
The Doctor, meanwhile, was using the sonic screwdriver on both Rhea's and Rose's wrists to relieve them of the handcuffs.
"It could be any form of light modulated species triggered by specific wavelengths," The Doctor spoke a mile a minute. He, then, paused. "Did it say what it wanted?"
Rhea rolled her eyes. "The Queen, the Crown, the throne, you name it, he said it."
Suddenly, they heard a thumping sound coming from the direction of the cellar and the three looked around. The Doctor and Rhea ventured out into the corridor to investigate further, their hands tightly clasped in each other's. They paled and stood still when they realised where the noise had in fact come from. The wolf had managed to knock down the door and now stood at the end of the corridor.
"Fuck." Rhea breathed, her grip around the Doctor's hand tightening further. Okay, so, this is the part where the wolf rushes at us and turns us into his personal chew-toys. Great.
The Doctor and Rhea stared at the wolf for a few moments, before the werewolf growled. The Doctor's eyes widened and he yanked on Rhea's hand, pulling her back into the room, grabbing Rose's hand as well, and pulling the two with him behind the line of men with guns poised and ready.
"Fire!" The steward shouted.
Each man simultaneously pulled their triggers, their guns aimed at the wolf, who stumbled back a few steps.
"Fire!" The steward ordered again.
Rhea pulled Rose's head into her shoulder, covering her ears with her own hand, so that the damage to her ears would be less, knowing how shocking gunshot sounds could be, especially when you weren't used to hearing them.
Finally, the room was full of smoke and there was no sign of the wolf.
The Doctor clucked his tongue and turned to the soldiers. "All right, you men, we should retreat upstairs, come with me." He ordered.
The steward shook his head, stubbornly. "I'll not retreat. The battle's done. There's no creature on God's Earth that could survive such an assault."
The Doctor grit his teeth. "I'm telling you, come upstairs!" He growled, angrily.
"And I'm telling you, sir, that I will sleep well tonight with that thing's hide upon my wall."
"Are men always this stupid?" Rhea muttered.
The steward strode across the room to look down the corridor, checking for the wolf. Rhea reached out, seeing that the Doctor was watching him, looking extremely angry and concerned, and curled her hand around his bicep as a soothing gesture. The steward, apparently not seeing the wolf, strode back to them, triumphantly.
"Must've crawled away to die-"
Everyone screamed and Rhea's eyes widened as the steward was gripped tightly around the throat by a hairy paw and lifted cleanly through the ceiling. Rhea's eyes closed as she heard screams of pain and the tearing of flesh before all was silent.
"There's nothing we can do!" The Doctor shouted, pushing Rhea and Rose from the room with him, as the firing squad stood frozen before they were devoured by the wolf.
The Doctor, Rhea, Rose and Sir Robert hurried into a room. Rhea slammed the door behind them and the Doctor locked it with his sonic screwdriver.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" Sir Robert called out, frantically.
Queen Victoria came down the stairs of the room. "Sir Robert! What's happening?"
The Doctor pulled Rhea along with him to the other doors of the room, searching for a possible escape.
"I heard such terrible noises." Queen Victoria said, looking around at all of them.
"Oh, of course she has," Rhea muttered, sarcastically, to the Doctor. "But does she come out and see what caused those noises? No, of course not."
"Your Majesty, we've got to get out. But what of Father Angelo? Is he still here?" Sir Robert asked, looking around.
Rhea narrowed her eyes at the queen's hesitation before speaking. "Captain Reynolds disposed of him." Queen Victoria said, blandly.
The Doctor and Rhea joined the others. "The front door's no good, it's been boarded shut. Pardon me, Your Majesty, you'll have to leg it out of a window."
The Doctor gestured through a door and Queen Victoria obliged with her head held high. Sir Robert followed and they found themselves in another upstairs room.
"Excuse my manners, Ma'am, but I shall go first, the better to assist Her Majesty's egress." Sir Robert explained.
Queen Victoria looked at him surprised. "A noble sentiment, my Sir Walter Raleigh."
Rhea rolled her eyes. "Yeah, any chance you could hurry up?" The Doctor asked, impatiently.
Sir Robert climbed onto the window sill and had to immediately dodge out of the way as he is shot at by the Monks standing outside. The Doctor and Rhea stared out of the window, eyes wide.
"I reckon the monkey boys want us to stay inside." The Doctor commented, turning to Rhea.
"Oh, really, no way." Rhea said, sarcastically. "What clued you into that? Was it the gunshots?"
The Doctor glared at her. "You know, that's not really helping."
"Do they know who I am?" Queen Victoria asked, hesitantly.
"Yeah, that's why they want ya. The wolf's lined you up for a..." Rose searched for the best way to phrase it. "A biting."
"Now, stop this talk. There can't be an actual wolf." Queen Victoria shook her head.
The words were no sooner out of her mouth than a howling rung through the house, making the queen freeze in her spot. The five spun around, alarmed, and left the room, hurriedly, thinking that the wolf was right behind them. They ran into a hallway, while the wolf was battering on the door.
"What do we do?" Rose asked the Doctor, worriedly, desperately hoping that he had some sort of a plan.
"We… run!" The Doctor decided.
Rhea raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have anything better?!" She asked, incredulously.
"You got any silver bullets on you?" The Doctor asked, defensively.
"No, not on me, sorry, left them in my jeans." She replied, snarkily.
"There we are then, we run." The Doctor turned to Queen Victoria. "Your Majesty, as a Doctor, I recommend a vigorous jog." He explained, jogging on the spot to demonstrate. "Good for the health. Come on!"
He grabbed the Queen's hand and led her from the room. The five ran up the staircase as fast they possibly could. They ran all the more faster when they heard the wolf break down the door and bound after them up the staircase.
"Come on! Come on!" The Doctor shouted, his hand on the small of Rhea's back as he pushed her up in front of him.
Having reached the top of the stairs, they ran through the corridors, the wolf close on their tails. It was nearly on their heels, ready to pounce, when Captain Reynolds appeared holding a gun, cocked and ready and pointed at the wolf. He shot at the werewolf and it reeled backwards, not injured, just stunned, down the corridor. The Captain ducked behind the corridor where the others were standing, out of breath and clutching onto bits of the structure for support.
"I'll take this position and hold it. You keep moving, for God's sake!" Captain Reynolds turned to Queen Victoria. "Your Majesty, I went to look for the property, it was taken. The chest was empty."
"I have it." The queen assured him. "It's safe."
"Then remove yourself, Ma'am." He turned to the Doctor. "Doctor, you stand as Her Majesty's Protector. And you, Sir Robert, you're a traitor to the crown." Captain Reynolds cocked his gun, ready to stride back into the middle of the corridor.
"Bullets can't stop it!" Rhea protested.
Captain Reynolds shook his head. "They'll buy you time. Now, run!"
He positioned himself at the end of the corridor, gun held ready. Queen Victoria, Sir Robert had already started running in the opposite direction, followed by the Doctor and Rhea, and finally by Rose, who stared at Captain Reynolds in dismay for a few seconds. The Doctor, Rhea, Sir Robert and Queen Victoria ran into the library. Rose stopped outside the door and watched as Captain Reynolds shoots at the werewolf as it bounded down the corridor towards him, pounced upon him and then ripped him apart. Rose was frozen in horror and neglected to move.
"Rose!" Rhea shouted and she rushed out into the corridor, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her into the library just in time for the door to slam shut.
Rhea grabbed random bits of furniture, chairs and bits of wood, and shoved it in front of the door, helping Sir Robert and the Doctor barricade the door.
"Wait a minute, shh, shh, wait a minute..." The Doctor made everyone stand still.
The wolf howled through the silence.
"It's stopped." The Doctor murmured.
He jumped onto the chair that was piled up on top of the other furniture, stacked against the door, and pressed his ear against the door. He waited for a few moments, hearing snuffles and growls before silence.
"It's gone." The Doctor told the others, as they could hear padding around the room.
Before someone else could start talking, Rhea held a hand up to silence them. "Listen…" She said, urgently.
The Doctor climbed quietly down from the chair and there was dead silence in the library as they followed the wolf's progress around the room, absolutely still in their terror. Rhea saw, out of the corner of her eye, that the queen was shaking violently. She felt a pang of pity for a woman who was not used to anything of this nature.
"Is this the only door?" The Doctor whispered to Sir Robert.
"Yes." His eyes widened. "No!" And he dashed to the other door with the Doctor and they barricaded it shut.
"Shh." Rhea whispered, furiously, silencing them.
They all looked around, uneasily, as they heard the sounds the werewolf was making, and, then, for some reason it stopped. Footsteps padded away into the distance.
"I don't understand." Rhea shook her head. "Why isn't it just breaking the doors down?"
"Something in this room." The Doctor mused.
Sir Robert sat on one of the chairs barricading the door and put his head in his hands.
"Why is it? Why can't it get in?" The Doctor asked, confusedly, as he paced around the room.
"Well," Rhea drawled. "There is something…"
The Doctor frowned and turned around to look at Rhea. "What?"
"Werewolf…" She whispered, a glint in her eyes.
A smile lit up the Doctor's face as he stalked back over to her. "I know!" He crowed, excitedly.
Rhea half-laughed at the absurdity of the situation and she threw herself into his embrace, his arms locking around her body, protectively. She pulled back, his hands still on her waist, and he leaned down, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips.
"You all right?" He asked, worriedly.
Rhea nodded, slightly confused by the kiss, but thinking no more of it, at least not now. "I'm fine."
The Doctor turned to Rose, extracting himself from her for a brief moment to hug Rose in relief. "Rose, you okay?" He went back to holding one of Rhea's hand and bringing her into his side, just to make sure she was safe.
Rose smiled, weakly. "Yeah, I'm okay."
"To be honest, I'm more of a vampire girl." Rhea mused and Rose let out a breathy laugh, nodding in agreement.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am." Sir Robert said from behind them, making everyone turn and look at him. "It's all my fault. I should've sent you away. I tried to suggest something was wrong, I... thought you might notice. Did you think there was nothing strange about my household staff?"
"Well, they were bald, athletic... your wife's away, I just thought you were happy." The Doctor remarked, then winced when Rhea punched him in the arm.
"Happy?" Rhea raised an eyebrow.
"Him, not me." The Doctor said, hurriedly, trying to pacify her, instead making her roll her eyes and ignore him.
"I'll tell you what though, Ma'am, I bet you're not amused now." Rose said, slyly, taking one more shot at it.
Rhea spun around and glared, furiously, at the young blonde girl, who shrunk back, realising the situation. "Rose, people have died," She growled. "Do you think this is really the time for that stupid joke?"
"No, sorry." Rose said, meekly. She hadn't meant to bring up the stupid bet, sometimes she just forgot how others reacted when faced with what she saw on such a frequent basis. The way she saw the Doctor and Rhea and how they travelled around the universe was so different to people who only saw them once and in such awful situations. To her, the travelling, the Doctor and Rhea, they were exhilarating. To others, it was terrifying.
"What, exactly, I pray someone please, what exactly is that creature?" Queen Victoria hissed, looking between the three strangers, who seemed to know so much but said so little.
The Doctor scratched the back of his head. "You'd call it a werewolf, but technically it's a more of a lupine wavelength haemovariform."
"Sometimes, I feel like he just makes words up to impress us." Rhea muttered to Rose, who giggled.
"And should I trust you, sir? You who change your voice so easily?" The Doctor stared at her in confusion. "What happened to your accent?" She asked, sharply.
The Doctor's eyes widened as he realised that his Scottish accent had dropped. "Oh... right, sorry-"
"I'll not have it. No, sir, not you... not your wife, not that thing... none of it. This is not my world." Queen Victoria finished, finally.
Rhea snorted, resentment against Queen Victoria and protectiveness over the Doctor rising in her, making the Queen glare at her and everyone else look at her. "What?" Rhea looked around. Her gaze settled on the queen. "Were you expecting me to express some sympathy for you?" She asked, incredulously. "Never mind the fact that you embody everything that is wrong with the world, how is it our fault that you're a part of this?" She waved her around the room. "In fact, we should be blaming you. The reason why we might all die is because of you."
"Well, I never-" Queen Victoria began, scandalised.
"Oh, shut up." Rhea growled, rolling her eyes.
"Rhea, don't start-" The Doctor warned, but Rhea cut him off as well.
"Shut up, I'm doing this for you." Rhea muttered to him, but she knew it was partly a lie. He was only half the reason why she was saying these things that had been on her mind the minute that carriage had opened. "You think you're entitled to some sort of specialised respect from all of us? Why? Because you're a queen? You sanctimonious, judgemental bitch." Rhea hissed. "He's trying to save you and you have the nerve to suggest that you have a choice in the matter. Do you have many people that are offering to save you from this thing, 'cause he's pretty useless." Rhea gestured to Sir Robert, who hung his head.
"How dare you?" Queen Victoria blustered. She had never been more insulted before in her life, and by one of this woman's race.
"No, as far as I'm concerned, you could die here and I wouldn't blink. I really wouldn't. But for some reason, and I'm really not sure why, he thinks you're worth saving." Rhea said. "And you're throwing that back at him? Who the hell do you think you are?"
"I am the Queen of the United Kingdom!"
Rhea's eyes widened, comically. "And that makes you better than us for some reason?" Rhea asked, incredulously. "You're the woman who walked into a country you had absolutely no fucking right to and decided to proclaim yourself 'Empress of India'" She said, mockingly. "Your stupid sense of self righteousness and entitlement destroyed an entire country that took them years to recover from!"
"We made the country civilised!" The queen protested.
"Who the hell are you to say we weren't civilised before you came into the picture?" Rhea swore. "People think that you're some great paragon and you deserve to be remembered, but all I see when I look at you is everyone who died in the name of the British Empire. Everyone who got hurt. Not just Indians, British people too. Men, women, children who died because of your selfishness. So, you'll excuse me if I don't feel entirely sympathetic to your situation." Rhea growled. She took a deep breath, slightly annoyed at herself for losing control so quickly and turned her back on the queen.
She raised an eyebrow when she saw Rose looking at her with badly concealed shock and the Doctor pinching the bridge of his nose. "Had to be said." She said, bluntly, to them. "I'm glad I got a chance to do it."
"Rhea." The Doctor said, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Oh, shut up, I was doing it for you. She was treating you like crap for no reason at all." Rhea moved over to the Doctor, lightly bumping her hip against his as a form of apology.
The Doctor sighed and reached out, pulling her into his arms and kissing her hair, gratefully. "Thank you for defending my honour." He teased.
Rhea sighed, mock-exasperatedly. "Yes, well, don't get too used to it." She joked.
He looked down at her, his brown eyes suddenly warm, making Rhea very uncomfortable, but she didn't show it. "I won't." He said, softly. But he didn't mean it. He knew if this Rhea, this early, was willing to mouth off at the Queen of Great Britain for him, he knew there would so much more of this in the future. He kissed her again, this time square in the middle of her forehead, making her smile, reluctantly.
The Doctor noticed something on the door and immediately broke away from Rhea, rushing over. He touched the woodwork, stroking a carving of mistletoe on the door.
"Mistletoe... Sir Robert, did you father put that there?"
Sir Robert shrugged. "I don't know, I suppose..."
"On the other door, too... a carving wouldn't be enough... I wonder..." He reached forward and took a long lick of the wood.
Rose grimaced and looked at Rhea, questioningly. "Yeah, he does that sometimes." Rhea said, mournfully.
"Viscum album, the oil of the mistletoe, it's been worked into the wood like a varnish! How clever was your dad? I love him!" The Doctor said, excitedly. He turned to Rhea. "Powerful stuff, mistletoe. Bursting with lectins and viscotoxins."
"And it's great for kissing." Rhea teased, making the Doctor flush. She turned serious. "Is the wolf allergic to it?"
"Well, it thinks it is. The monkey monk monks need a way of controlling the wolf, maybe they trained it to react against certain things."
"Nevertheless, that creature won't give up, Doctor, and we still don't possess an actual weapon." Sir Robert protested.
"Oh, your father got all the brains, didn't he?" The Doctor muttered.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "You're being rude!"
"Good. I mean that one." The Doctor said, making Rhea chuckle. He strode towards the book shelves.
"You want weapons? We're in a library. Books! Best weapons in the world." The Doctor put his glasses on. "This room's the greatest arsenal we could have."
"Oh, I love the brainy specs on him." Rhea breathed. "He's so hot that it's not funny." The Doctor turned to look at her with a dark, promising look in his eyes, making Rhea bite her lip. Hello, handsome, wanna play doctor?
"You're insane." Rose said, shaking her head.
The Doctor pulled some books off the shelf and chucked some at Rose and Rhea, who caught them, haphazardly.
"Arm yourself."
Rhea, Rose, the Doctor and Sir Robert were frantically flicking through the books, talking over each other.
"Biology, zoology... there might be something on wolves in here..." Rose muttered.
The Doctor chucked another book at Rhea. "Hold on, what about this?"
Sir Robert's eyes scanned the pages. "... some form of explosive..."
"Hmm, that's the sort of thing."
"Ooh…" Rhea hummed, drawing everyone's attention, as she went to spread the book across the table. "Oh, I'm good, tell me I'm good, matchstick man." Rhea teased.
"You're very good." The Doctor teased back and flipped over to the next page. "Look what your old dad found. Something fell to Earth."
The four could see an illustration of a rock falling to Earth from the sky on the open page.
"A spaceship?" Rhea clarified.
"A shooting star." Sir Robert replied. "'In the year of our Lord, 1540, under the reign of King James the Fifth, an almighty fire did burn in the pit.' That's the Glen of Saint Catherine just by the Monastery."
"But that was over three hundred years ago. What is it waiting for?" Rhea asked, confused.
"Maybe just a single cell survived. Adapting slowly down the generations. It survived through the humans. Host after host after host."
"But why does it want the throne?" Sir Robert asked.
"But that's what it wants. It said so, the… Empire of the Wolf." Rhea explained.
The Doctor paled. "Imagine it... the Victorian Age accelerated... starships and missiles fuelled by coal and driven by steam... leaving history devastated in its wake..." He growled.
Rhea clapped her hands. "Well, then, let's go stop the Big Bad Wolf." She paused. "I cannot believe I just said that." She said, grimacing, making the Doctor and Rose laugh at her.
"Sir Robert!" Queen Victoria called out, suddenly, standing up. Sir Robert went over to her. "If I am to die here..."
"Don't say that, Your Majesty." Sir Robert protested.
"I would destroy myself rather than let that creature infect me. But that's no matter. I ask only that you find some place of safekeeping for something far older and more precious than myself." She started to open her purse.
The Doctor snorted. "Hardly the time to worry about your valuables."
"Thank you for your opinion. But there is nothing more valuable than this." And she took quite a large diamond from the purse and held it out in her hand.
Rhea paled and took a step forward. She had only ever seen the Koh-I-Noor once, in its case in the Tower of London when she was very young, but she didn't think she'd ever forget what it looked like.
"Is that the Koh-I-Noor?" Rose asked, amazed.
"Oh, yes... the greatest diamond in the world." The Doctor murmured, the three shuffling forwards to get a better look.
"Given to me as the spoils of war."
Rhea snorted. "Given? You mean you stole it." Queen Victoria glared at her, but she ignored it.
"Perhaps its legend is now coming true. It is said that whoever owns it must surely die."
"Well, that's true of anything if you own it long enough. Can I...?" The Doctor held his hand out for the diamond. Queen Victoria gave it to him after a second. He pushed his glasses down his nose to take a closer look at it. Rhea stroked it, reverently. When was she ever going to get this chance again?
"That is so beautiful." The Doctor breathed.
Rhea swallowed. "It means 'Mountain of Light' in Hindi." She whispered.
"How much is that worth?" Rose asked, her fingers shaking as she grazed it.
"They say... the wages of the entire planet for a whole week."
Rhea clucked her tongue. "Glad my dadi's not here. She'd be fighting the wolf off with her bare hands for the diamond." She whispered, a pang of sorrow hitting her. She was surprised when the Doctor's other hand reached for hers and took it into his, squeezing it tightly in comfort.
"She'd win." The Doctor murmured. He had heard many stories about her father's parents over the years. He knew why seeing Queen Victoria, this diamond, was so painful for her. If Rhea was anything, she was beyond loyal to her family. She would never give them up for anything. To Rhea, her parents were like God, and her grandparents, at least, her father's parents, were her role models. Revolutionaries in a time where revolution was imprisoned. They were his kind of people.
Rhea smiled, sadly. Her grandmother had taught her so much. Half of the person she was now she owed to her grandmother. She had taught her to never take anything lying down. To stand up for what she believed in. Her grandfather, a resistance fighter in the Indian independence movement, had gone to prison more than once before and after the Partition. Her grandmother had shown her some of the love letters they had exchanged during his times in prison. She still had some of them in her apartment in San Francisco, those along with some jewellery belonging to her grandmother and her grandmother's mangalsutra. If anyone gave her the courage to lose it at the queen, it were her grandparents.
"Where is the wolf?" Sir Robert asked, walking away. "I don't trust this silence."
Rhea narrowed her eyes at Sir Robert. He was right. It was too silent. This was wrong.
"Why do you travel with it?" The Doctor asked the queen.
"My annual pilgrimage. I'm taking it to Helier and Carew. The Royal Jewellers at Hazelhead. The stone needs recutting."
"Oh, but it's perfect." Rose murmured.
"My late husband never thought so." The queen said, a sad glint forming in her eyes.
The Doctor pulled off his glasses. "Now, there's a fact, Prince Albert kept on having the Koh-I-Noor cut down. It used to be forty percent bigger than this. But he was never happy. Kept on cutting and cutting."
"He always said... the shine was not quite right. But he died with it still unfinished." Queen Victoria whispered.
Rhea snorted, still looking around the room, suspiciously, listening to some sort of sign that the wolf was trying to get into the room. It didn't make sense that it would stop so suddenly. "Of course, he'd think that." But there was less bite in her words than how she had addressed the queen. She didn't like speaking ill of the dead, whoever they might be, especially when his widow was standing right there, obviously still in mourning for him. It wasn't the right thing to do.
"Unfinished... oh, yes!" The Doctor exclaimed, with realisation. He tossed the Koh-I-Noor back to Queen Victoria, who caught it, abruptly, a little shocked by the way he had handled such a valuable piece of jewellery.
"There's a lot of unfinished business in this house. His father's research," The Doctor turned back to Queen Victoria, his eyes wild as his mind worked it out in the speed of light. "Your husband, Ma'am, he came here and he sought the perfect diamond, hold on, hold on," His hands ruffled his hair, violently, in his eagerness to work it out. "All these separate things, they're not separate at all, they're connected! Oh, my head, my head!" The Doctor growled.
"I'm going to assume he does this a lot in this body." Rhea muttered. His previous body was all stoic and his next body is hyper like this, but more like a kid on a sugar rush. I wonder if I have to get used to this.
"Doesn't he do this in any of his other bodies?" Rose asked, a little uncomfortably. She was still getting used to the concept of regeneration. It was strange to think that someone could change their face so many times. She didn't know how Rhea dealt with it.
"His next body's hyper, but not as bipolar as this one." Rhea said, dryly.
"What if, this house, it's a trap for you, is that right, Ma'am?" The Doctor asked the queen.
"Obviously."
"At least, that's what the wolf intended. But! What if there's a trap inside the trap?"
"Explain yourself, Doctor." Queen Victoria ordered.
"What if his father and your husband weren't just telling each other stories? They dared to imagine all this was true. And they planned against it. Laying the real trap not for you... but for the wolf." The Doctor paused when a sprinkling of plaster fell from the oculus in the ceiling. They all looked up, slowly, Rhea closing her eyes in dread, and saw that the werewolf was walking over the glass dome above their heads, looking down at them and growling in anticipation.
"You mean that wolf there…" Rhea murmured.
They all paled when the glass of the dome started to crack, the Doctor, Rhea and Rose threw their books down on the floor and the five ran to the door as quick as they could.
"Out! Out! Out!" The Doctor shouted.
As the werewolf crashed through the ceiling, smashing the desk, the Doctor, Rhea and Sir Robert destroyed the barricade they had constructed in front of the doors, running out into the corridor.
"Your Majesty!" Sir Robert shouted, pulling the queen along.
The Doctor took one last look at the roaring wolf before slamming the doors closed.
The five of them ran down the corridor.
"Gotta get to the observatory!" The Doctor shouted.
They careened around a corner, the werewolf close behind. Rose turned around, suddenly, and was transfixed by the wolf. She stopped still and simply stared at the wolf. Just as the wolf was on her, Rose screamed. Rhea reached out, taking a quick glance to the side, and wrapped an arm around Rose's waist, pulling her back, just as Lady Isobel threw a bucket filled with water onto the wolf. Rose breathed, sharply, holding onto Rhea's arms, which were still around her waist. The werewolf hissed, stung, and bounded back down the corridor.
"Good shot!" The Doctor rushed over.
"It was mistletoe!" Lady Isobel cried.
The Doctor and Rhea followed the wolf away down the corridor.
"Isobel!" Sir Robert shouted. He pulled his wife into a long, emotion-fuelled kiss.
The Doctor, Rhea and Rose made sure that the wolf had gone.
"Get back downstairs." Sir Robert ordered his wife.
"Keep yourself safe." Lady Isobel murmured.
He nodded and they kissed again. "You go." He told her.
"Girls, come with me. Down the Back stairs, back to the kitchen. Quickly!" Lady Isobel ordered and she and her maids went past Sir Robert and made their way back to the kitchen.
As they ran off, Rhea watched as Sir Robert stared after his wife, with a look that suggested he doubted whether he was ever going to see her again. She bit her lip, but didn't know what to say to him.
"Come on!" The Doctor shouted and they all set off and run again down the corridor.
"The observatory's this way!" Sir Robert shouted.
They reached the central staircase and hurried up it as fast as they can but the werewolf recovered after a few minutes and started to return to the chase. They finally arrived at the observatory, the Doctor in the lead.
"No mistletoe on these doors, your father wanted the wolf to get inside! Get inside I just need time! Is there any way of barricading this?!" The Doctor asked, resting his hands on the door frame.
"Just do your work and I'll defend it." Sir Robert said, calmly.
"If we could bind them shut with rope or something!" The Doctor, seemingly ignoring Sir Robert, said.
"I said I'd find you time, sir." Sir Robert said, determinedly.
Rhea, Rose and Queen Victoria stared at him, aghast at what he proposed to do.
"No!" Rhea protested. "You're not collateral damage here."
"Mrs McCrimmon," Sir Robert smiled, sadly, at her. "It's fine." He looked at the Doctor. "Now get inside."
The Doctor stared at him for a second, realising that there wasn't anything he could do to change his mind. "Good man."
Sir Robert closed the door and the Doctor ran to the queen.
"Your Majesty, the diamond." The Doctor said, hurriedly.
Queen Victoria frowned. "For what purpose?"
"The purpose it was designed for." The Doctor said, grimly.
Queen Victoria handed over the diamond from her purse and the Doctor ran over to the mechanism for the telescope.
"Rhea!" The Doctor shouted. Rhea rushed over to the Doctor. "Lift it! Come on!"
Rhea and the Doctor struggled to turn the wheel, but the cogs started to shift and telescope began to rise.
"Is this really the right time for stargazing?" Rhea asked, sarcastically, despite the effort she was using to turn the wheel.
"Yeah, it is."
"Oh, you suck." Rhea growled, shoving her hand up to push the wheel forward. She flinched when she heard the final screams of Sir Robert before he was devoured by the wolf. Queen Victoria held up the cross around her neck, muttering a prayer under her breath, furiously.
"You said this thing doesn't work!" Rhea protested.
"It doesn't work as a telescope because that's not what it is! It's a light chamber! It magnifies the light rays like a weapon. We've just got to power it up!"
Rhea pushed as hard as she could. "But there's no electricity!"
The Doctor grunted and turned to the light chamber. Rhea looked up as well, working it out as she followed his gaze.
"Moonlight! But it needs moonlight! It's made by moonlight!" Rhea exclaimed.
"You're seventy percent water but you can still drown. Come on!" The Doctor shouted, as the Light Chamber finally started to align with the moon. "Come on!"
At last, it was properly aligned. Rhea and the Doctor stepped away from the gears as the moonlight bounced off the prisms. Just as the werewolf broke through the doors, the light emitted from the end of the light chamber onto the floor far short of the werewolf. The werewolf advanced on the queen, raising its claws, but the Doctor dove across the floor and threw the Koh-I-Noor into the beam of light. A beautiful, prismatic beam of light hit the werewolf. He was lifted off the floor and was suspended in the air, caught in the wash of the moonlight, like some mockery of being crucified. As they looked on, the werewolf began to transform back into a human man.
"Make it brighter. Let me go." The host said, quietly.
The Doctor pursed his lips and slowly walked across to the light chamber and flicked a switch. With a final howl from the wolf form, the creature vanished and the light shut off. Rhea and Rose breathed a huge sigh of relief. The Queen, however, was staring intently at a wound on her wrist. The Doctor frowned, noticing her.
"Your Majesty? Did it bite you?" The Doctor asked her, carefully.
"No, it's... it's a cut."
Rhea raised an eyebrow, joining the Doctor. "If that thing bit you…"
"It was a splinter of wood when the door came apart." The queen protested.
"Let me see." The Doctor murmured.
The queen pulled her hand away sharply. "It is nothing."
The Doctor and Rhea stared at her, obviously not believing her.
The Doctor, Rhea and Rose stepped forward and knelt before Queen Victoria. Everyone was present, including Lady Isobel, decked out in mourning black, and the maids.
Rhea chanced a sorrowful look at Lady Isobel.
"By the power invested in me by the Church and the State, I dub thee: Sir Doctor and Dame Sunehri of TARDIS." Queen Victoria said, tapping both the Doctor and Rhea on both of their shoulders.
"Oh, no, not 'dame', anything but 'dame'. It's too imperialist." Rhea complained.
The queen glared at her. "Very well, then, by the power invested in me by the Church and the State, I dub thee: Begum Sunehri of TARDIS."
"You're a begum, because you felt being a Dame was too imperialist."
Rhea smirked at that. Now she understood why the Doctor had called her Begum Sunehri when they had visited Shakespeare with Martha, and why the Doctor was 'Sir Doctor of TARDIS'. Idiot… She thought, fondly.
Queen Victoria turned to Rose. "By the power invested in me by the Church and the State, I dub the: Dame Rose of the Powell Estate." She intoned, tapping her on each shoulder with the sword.
Rhea and Rose exchanged excited little smiles. It wasn't every day that a girl was bestowed an honour by a crowned queen, even if, in Rhea's case, she hated the crowned queen's guts.
"You may stand." Queen Victoria ordered.
The Doctor, Rhea and Rose raised themselves to their feet.
"Many thanks, Ma'am." The Doctor said, with a massive grin, nudging Rhea in the side, who gave the queen a tight smile.
Rose grinned at the queen. "Thanks! They're never going to believe this back home."
"Your Majesty, you said last night about receiving a message from the great beyond; I think your husband cut that diamond to save your life. He's protecting you even now Ma'am, even from beyond the grave." The Doctor said, smiling softly at the queen.
"Indeed. Then you may think on this, also: that I am not amused."
The Doctor groaned, Rhea smacked her forehead while Rose looked jubilant.
"Yes!" Rose crowed.
"Rose, I will punch you." Rhea threatened. Rose made an effort to wipe the smirk off her face.
"Not remotely amused." The queen told them, darkly. "And henceforth... I banish you."
The Doctor and Rose looked stunned, while Rhea's lips curled into a smirk.
"I'm sorry…?" The Doctor asked, confused.
"I rewarded you, Sir Doctor. And now you are exiled from this empire, never to return. I don't know what you are, the three of you, or where you're from, but I know that you consort with stars, and magic, and think it fun. But your world is steeped in terror and blasphemy and death and I will not allow it! You will leave this shores and you will reflect, I hope, on how you managed to stray so far from all that is good. And how much longer you will survive this... terrible life." The queen said, angrily, stepping away from them. "Now leave my world. And never return." She said, commandingly.
Rhea rolled her eyes and went over to Lady Isobel, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I am very sorry for your loss." She said, sincerely.
Lady Isobel nodded, gratefully, giving the largest smile she could offer her.
Rhea turned back to the Doctor and Rose, clapping her hands. "Okay, let's blow this popsicle stand." She turned to the Doctor. "We're going to see Anne Boleyn, you've been promising for ages." She said, sternly.
The Doctor walked over to her, wrapping his arm around her waist and leading her out of the room. "Looks like we're going to see Anne, huh." He turned back. "Coming, Rose?"
Rhea, the Doctor and Rose jumped off the back of a farmer's cart, having hitched a lift on it, once it came to a halt in the highlands near where they had parked the TARDIS.
"Cheers, Dougal!" The Doctor exclaimed, raising a hand and waving, once they walked away and the farmer drove off. The three started walking down the trail back to the TARDIS. "You know, the funny thing is, Queen Victoria did actually suffer a mutation of the blood! She's a historical record haemophiliac. It used to be called the Royal Disease! But it's always been a mystery because she didn't inherit it. Her mum didn't have it, her dad didn't have it, it came from nowhere!"
"What, and that's a wolf bite?" Rhea asked, incredulously.
The Doctor shrugged. "Well, maybe Haemophilia is just a Victorian euphemism."
Rhea snorted. "For what, werewolf?"
The Doctor smirked, loving this. "Could be!"
"Queen Victoria's a werewolf?" Rose had to clarify.
"Could be! And, her children had the Royal Disease. Maybe she gave them a quick nip."
Rhea laughed in disbelief. "So, the Royal Family are werewolves?"
"Well…" The Doctor drawled. "Maybe not yet. I mean, a single wolf cell could take... a hundred years to mature... might be ready by… oh… early 21st century...?" He guessed.
"No way." Rhea shook her head.
"Nah! That's just ridiculous!" Rose agreed, then, she paused. "Mind you… Princess Anne..."
The Doctor shrugged. "I'll say no more."
Rhea narrowed her eyes at him. "You're loving this." She accused.
The Doctor laughed, loudly, yanking her into his arms. "It's fun, Rhea. Even you thought so."
"Yeah, sure, when I wasn't running for my life from the Wolfman." Rhea said, dryly.
"And if you think about it... they're very private. They plan everything in advance. They-they could schedule themselves around the moon, we'd never know!" Rose crowed.
Rhea snickered as they reached the TARDIS and the Doctor unlocked the doors. The three bundled inside.
"They like hunting! They love blood sports!" Rose went on.
The Doctor and Rhea laughed as they stalked up the ramp, the Doctor pressing down the button that would start dematerialisation.
"Oh my God, they're werewolves!" Rose shrieked with laughter.
The three started to cackle over the sound of the TARDIS engines.
The Doctor walked into the TARDIS and stopped short, seeing that Rhea was on the phone, leaning against the console.
"Yes, mama, no, mama." Rhea sighed. "Yes, I'm eating well. Mother, I am twenty-seven years old, I think I know how to eat." Rhea looked up and saw the Doctor standing there, holding up a hand to indicate that she would be finished with the call soon. "Really," Her voice went low and soft, trying to soothe her mother. "I'm fine. Just travelling a bit." She chanced a look at the Doctor, winking at him. "Getting a chance to look at all of the wonderful places in the universe."
The Doctor smiled at her.
"I don't know when I'm coming home, Mama. I'll let you know." She looked at the Doctor, quickly. "I may be awhile." She smiled to herself. "Yes, I promise I'll let you know." The smile grew bigger. "You can meet me at the airport. Bye, mama. Yes, bye." And she switched the phone off, turning to the Doctor, who joined her.
"You don't want to visit her?" The Doctor asked. "I can take you there."
Rhea shook her head and smiled. "Maybe later. Not now." She blinked and turned to look at him. "Where's Rose?"
"Oh, she fell asleep. Said she was too tired, she needed a nap." The Doctor told her. He stood next to her, their hips slightly touching. "You okay?"
Rhea rolled her eyes. "I'm hearing that a lot after every adventure. I'm not made of porcelain, honey. I won't break that easily." She patted the Doctor's hand, reassuringly.
The Doctor took the chance to take her hand in his, playing with the rings on her fingers. "Oh, I know that. But I know you don't like it when you start remembering your family."
Rhea rolled her eyes. "Of course you know." She muttered, a little frustrated that this was another thing he knew about her, even though she hadn't told him. She bet she would though. For some stupid reason, she seemed to trust him. She smiled at him. "I'm fine, really, Doctor. I mean, I got the chance to tell off Queen Victoria herself. I'm pretty sure that was on my bucket list." Rhea teased, elbowing him, playfully, in the side.
She pushed herself off the console and turned to walk out of the console room, stopping suddenly when she reached the end of the ramp.
"Doctor?" She called out and his head lifted up, looking at her, questioningly. "You should do that Scottish accent more." She said, teasingly.
The Doctor grinned at her. "Why?"
She clucked her tongue and her lips curled into a smile. "Kuch kuch hota hai." She murmured to herself, chuckling, and walked out of the console room.
A/N:
Dadi – paternal grandmother
Mangalsutra – sacred necklace that a Hindu groom ties around the bride's neck during the wedding ceremony. It'll be important, I promise.
Kuch kuch hota hai – Something something happens.
I hope you guys didn't think the ending was stupid and rushed. I wanted it to be related to how the events of the episode brought back Rhea's memories of her family. And I used this episode to show how Rhea reacts in situations like this. She got the chance to speak to her mother, which she hasn't done since The Poison Sky. We might even get the chance to meet her mother in the future. Hopefully. I actually had a completely different (and more racy) ending planned for this chapter, but I thought it would be nice to end with something about Rhea's family. I hope you didn't think her blow up at Queen Victoria wasn't too much. I think it suited Rhea just fine, because she is quite reckless in that sense. If she has something on her mind, she's not afraid to say it to people. And she got quite pissed off at Rose because of the 'not amused' joke too. Rhea got the chance to go off at a lot of people in this chapter. The Begum bit comes from The Shakespeare Code, which is Chapter 23, where the Doctor did give a hint why Rhea's a Begum instead of a Dame.
Next episode, we go back to the Eleventh Doctor, it has been around four episodes since we've seen him. In fact, another special someone will be a part of that episode and Rhea will have heaps and heaps of fun.
Question to everyone because I'm bored: Who is your favourite companion and why?
Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to review! Oh, and my Tumblr has the scene from The End of the World, so go and check it out!