"The Theater, The Theatre"
35. Fallen No More
New York City, in the year 2047
Of all the things they would have expected to find, it would not have been the golden couple in a face off. But as the Doctor & the Angel came upon Cassie and those who'd followed her, all had stepped aside save for Brian, who had the way barred from the door out of the theater.
"You can't just go, Cassie, please," Brian was telling her.
"I can just. I can, if I want to survive," Cassie was staring at him like she was trying to plot out an escape.
"Well, I want to survive, too. It's you and me always, remember?" He held up his palm, which was crossed with a jagged scar.
"But it won't!" Cassie threw back. "You… you won't, I… I can see it now, I don't know why, but I know… you're going to die, Brian… no forever."
"What are you talking about?" Brian frowned.
"It's true," the Angel spoke, and the ghosts turned. "I have memories, too. You became real, and this is the consequence."
"Cassie, I'm right here, I'm not going to die," Brian insisted and, with a sigh, he stepped away from the door. He wanted to prove himself to her.
"Go on," the Doctor nodded to the Angel. Maybe it was that she had her grandmother's face, or that she was about to be born, but looking at the Angel now, it was hard not to back her up as she might her – future – companion. "You know what to do." The Angel had stepped forward, capturing their attention.
"Look at her," she told Cassie, pointing at Lady Hanlon. "Really look at her. She doesn't simply look like you, she is you. The both of you are characters, same as we all are," she indicated herself and the other ghosts. "And I think that you know this now. When you became real, it started, and now you know more than ever. You and I are friends, our portrayers are, I should say. They would trust one another so I ask you to trust me now."
"I fought too hard, for too long, I won't fade away…"
"You are not her!" the Angel rose her voice, startling more than one. "You are not either of them. This is not life. We were brought here by that device you hold," she pointed to the disc.
"It changes nothing," Cassie shook her head, determined but just barely shaken. "I'm leaving."
"And what does that make you? One more for the dark," the Angel intoned, and the Doctor looked at her. Her whole stance had changed and it sounded to the Doctor almost like… recitation. It had to be from the show, from Rise of the Fallen.
"What?" Cassie asked, with a nervousness that told the Doctor maybe she recalled the words from somewhere in her she wished she could deny.
"If you give in now, you will always be this one, but if you could only hold on… There is a place for you in the light." Cassie wasn't moving, although the Doctor could see her stealing glances toward Lady Hanlon, the woman who shared her face. She looked to Brian, her eyes watering.
"Forever?" she asked, and he showed his hand again. She looked to her own palm, which required for her to move the disc from one palm to the other. "I want our forever. If I give this back, we'll have it, right?"
"We will," Brian vowed. Cassie turned back to the Doctor. She tossed the disc at her feet, still some part of her coming off as defeated. The Doctor picked it up, looked back to the Angel; she had done well.
"Before we go, Doctor," the Angel said, "I have a small request, if you may."
Before they could do anything else, they had taken care to return what had been taken. Chloe and Tom were made whole again, while Cassie and the Angel were returned to their non-corporeal state. Having learned from Young Cosima, they knew this release would cause them to fade away. They hung in as best they could, especially so they might experience what the Doctor had agreed to let them do.
While the Time Lady held the disc, and the ghosts followed behind, they went through the door, out into night time in New York City. The Doctor would carry this memory with her, she knew. She would remember the ghosts, all in a row, staring up in awe at the night, the buildings, the people… they had never seen anything like this, and they wouldn't again after this night, but that wasn't the important part. The important part was that they'd seen it.
When they had finally been ready to return inside, everyone was silent, but they went nonetheless. They filed into the auditorium and they came to stand together, side by side, across the stage. This was where they truly made their lives, and this would be where they would stand, before they were allowed to fade.
"Are you ready?" the Doctor asked them, standing back.
"Is anyone ever ready?" Etta asked. Like all the rest, she was determined but inwardly terrified.
"I wasn't… not once," the Doctor admitted.
"But we must," Prince James shakily nodded – the sentiment followed.
"Take comfort, all… you will never be forgotten, thus you can never die."
It left them with a swell of pride, and it was on that thought that the Doctor released them, adjusting the disc to cancel the field. Soon, just as Young Cosima had done, the ghosts had faded away, until there were none.
The Doctor looked at the disc, debating for a moment whether or not to destroy it. In the end, she had slipped it down into her pocket. Who knew when it might come in handy?
A cry out in the distance reminded her of the other situation still at hand. Sophie's labor was intensifying, by the sound of it. The Doctor needed to get back to her, for her, for her mother, and for Gemma. There were so many things she wanted to say, some she could, some she must, and others she must not, under any circumstances, no matter how much it would kill her not to.
TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)