"Wha-what was that?" Lupus blinked as he asked aloud what they witnessed.
Berkley described it like a flash, but that's about it.
They struggled to walk as they're dazed but they recovered quickly when they saw the door knobs clicking and Ripley grabbed them tightly, holding them in place.
"Not again!" Ripley groaned as she held the doors back against the Choeras Zygon that recovered from it's daze.
Matt helped her once more, but the already resigned insect wasn't giving up so easily, and pulled it's last of the strength to push against the doors.
They nearly fell backwards from the sudden rush against the doors and held the doorknobs tighter.
Pulling from resource, the Choeras Zygon pushed against the doors.
Poor Matt and Ripley couldn't keep their holding as the insect pushed against them.
Jenna and Lupus helped, getting on the opposite sides of Matt and Ripley, pushing against the door.
Despite the four pushing their weight against the doors, it's not enough and the sudden push sent them flying backwards.
Matt flew into a potted plant. Jenna flew against the display with a bust and it toppled over and broke. Lupus slid into the display case with all the trophies from won games. Ripley flew against the wall with an audible thud.
Struggling, the four tried to recover as they see the large compact eye poking through the slightly opened doors.
With a detached flag pole he yanked from the wall, Berkley ran with it towards the Choeras Zygon and attempted to attack it.
Relentless, Berkley attacked it, trying to hurt it.
"God save the queen!" shouted Berkley as he tried stabbing it through the eye, but the insect wrapped it's black spiny arms around it and yanked it forward, sending him towards the doors.
Slamming against the doors, Berkley's dazed as he tried to push away from the doors. He kept his grip on the flag pole, but it wasn't enough to keep the Choeras Zygon from picking him up with it.
Before he could've released his hands and drop to the ground, Berkley felt a light prick in his abdomen and suddenly the Choeras Zygon dropped the flag post, sending him the ground.
The four recovered and hurried towards him, helping him up.
"Come on," Matt coughed as he led the boy away from the door as it remained quiet.
Rushing through the hallway toward the science lab.
As they hurried, they smelled the fire and felt the heat.
While running, nearly towards the science lab, the five heard a loud crash and saw the ceiling collapsing.
Lupus, Matt, and Jenna flew forward away from the science lab.
Ripley and Berkley flew backwards, towards it.
The flaming debris kept the five from reuniting.
Shouting, Ripley told them to get out of the school.
Berkley shouted too, saying that there's a broken lock in the classroom over that they can use to escape the school.
"What about you?" Matt cried out.
Ripley called out, "Don't worry about me, get them out of here, boss's order!"
Hearing footfall, Ripley coughed as she helped Berkley up from the ground. Berkley groaned as Ripley held him.
"It's okay, I got you," Ripley assured him.
Blinking, the two noticed at the end of the hallway they came from, the angry Choeras Zygon flying towards them at warp speed.
"Aw, come on!" Ripley yanked on Berkley's arm and hurried with him into the science lab. Closing the door, Ripley looked around the science lab. She saw the bookcase and had Berkley help her.
"You think he's going to break down the door?" Berkley asked.
Ripley replied, "I'm counting on it!"
Helping her, Berkley heard the low buzzing as the Choeras Zygon flew towards the door and attempted to destroy it. It's not going to push it down, it's going to tear it down with it's stinger.
"On my mark!" Ripley called to Berkley.
They counted in their heads as they heard the Choeras Zygon tearing holes into the door. The moment they heard the insect break it open, timing it, they pushed the bookcase over.
Within seconds it collapsed on the Choeras Zygon, it's head poking out from under it.
Thinking on his feet, Berkley ran into the closet and grabbed bottles and broke off their lids. He looked down at the trapped Choeras Zygon, stuck looking up at them.
It's clear that it's not dead, the exoskeleton far more resilient to allow the bookcase to crush it to death.
Berkley threw the liquid from both bottles, causing a chain reaction that caused the exoskeleton to bubble and warp. The liquids touched the compound eyes and started wreaking havoc on the Choeras Zygon's vision.
Pouring all the liquid onto the head, smoke rose as the chemical reaction melted through the exoskeleton and into the body.
"H-He said, hydrochloric acid, melts 'em," Berkley coughed.
Apparently, John Smith knew how to deal with these pests more than he let on.
Seeing where they are, Ripley didn't celebrate with Berkley as they've taken down the last of the Choeras Zygon. Instead, she grew solemn and upset.
This was the room Berkley dies in.
She noticed Berkley unconsciously holding his abdomen and asked, "Did he sting you?"
Berkley looked at her, "Just a prick."
Ripley shook her head.
"He injected you with his venom, didn't he?" she softly asked him.
Berkley didn't understand Ripley's change in behavior until he felt the weight of his body collapse backwards and he's unable to move.
No matter how much he tried, his legs wouldn't move. His arms barely moved and he felt blood pushing through his wound.
"W-what?" Berkley's shocked.
Unable to leave him like this, Ripley knelt beside him.
Ripley, visibly stricken, stared down at Berkley as he held his bleeding abdomen. Labored pains as he was on the ground. She held his free hand as she tried to comfort him as they both realized that Berkley didn't have any time left once the venom took.
Bleeding heavily, Berkley might've died from the blood loss before he felt his insides melt. That would've been a best-case scenario.
"D-did he escape?" Berkley asked about Lupus.
Ripley nodded.
Berkley smiled weakly as he's happy for that.
"R-rotten luck," Berkley noted that his luck hasn't been the greatest.
Ripley held his hand as he coughed, visibly in pain. Blood seeped from his reddened dress shirt as he tried to talk to Ripley as she knelt by him.
"W-why are you here?" Berkley wanted to know why Ripley's staying with him despite knowing that the fire's coming their way and that Berkley doesn't have much time left.
Ripley replied weakly, "I've faced death many times. I've faced the Devil and his demons. You haven't."
She almost died numerous times and faced a representation of Victor and the demonic avatars of her friends that he corrupted. With what Ripley's seen firsthand, for the lack of better words, it's better for her to tend to Berkley in his final minutes than Matt and the others.
"A-aren't you afraid?" Berkley struggled to ask why Ripley isn't afraid of getting caught in the fire.
Ripley truthfully told him, "To tell the truth, I've been afraid for a very long time. I've been so afraid I've stopped living."
Because of Dr. Almar and the AID bringing back the memories she tried so hard to repress, Ripley no longer lived life proper. She hid in her shop and barely left it anymore, with the only exception so far Karen and Arthur's wedding, but she wanted to change.
Matt's right.
She can't keep hiding.
She can't keep being afraid.
It's neither right or healthy.
Victor's winning by keeping her afraid and hiding in her shop.
She doesn't want to live that life, anymore.
"W-what happened?" Berkley inquired.
Normally, under circumstances, Ripley never uttered her story outside Matt, Karen, and Arthur. However, Berkley's on the brink of death and deserved to know the truth.
"In 2010, fifty years from now, everything's destroyed and people's lives lost. I was the unlucky one to survive," Ripley told him.
Berkley seemed confused as she told him of the future.
"A-a-aliens?" Berkley mustered.
Ripley shook her head.
"I don't know," Ripley replied. "They came and swept through here, like a sea of red."
Ripley recalled a saying that's shared around the Children of All-Mother, describing the Red.
Like the sea, the Red swept through the country after the initial attacks, and destroyed everything that the other Colours missed.
Berkley struggled to ask if Ripley's from the future and she told him the truth, "I am. When you die and the brotherhood burns down, it'll become a public school, and it'll be named after you. Lupus becomes the headmaster for it."
Stroking his hand as Ripley saw a mix of fear and confusion with bits of curiosity showing through. He inquired about Lupus and Ripley affirmed that he'll become the new headmaster for John S. Berkley Public School.
Berkley couldn't believe his best friend, a rebel at heart, would've become a headmaster, and Ripley told him that his death changed the boy at his very core.
"Knowing the truth, it made him change his outlook in life. He became my headmaster," Ripley revealed that Lupus eventually became her headmaster.
She didn't hold back as she admitted to Berkley that she didn't treat him very well, purely because she was "a git teenager" and didn't like his rules.
"D-did-did he talk about me?" Berkley asked.
Ripley slowly nodded.
"Every year, on this day, he talks about you. He always gets emotional about it and always had us observe the anniversary of your death. There's even a plaque with your name on it in the school lobby," Ripley told him.
Berkley's death changed Lupus from the rebel without a cause to a headmaster with a cause.
"Guess that's why he never expelled us," Ripley realized why Lupus never expelled her and the others despite having every opportunity to do it.
Like her, he had his own problems.
Rejected by every potential family and having to form his own family with Berkley, Lupus lashed out against everyone out of misplaced anger. He acted out and did the things he did because he didn't have an alternative to vent his frustration with the hand life dealt him.
"W-what happens to the foundling?" Berkley's curious.
Ripley replied that it was still open and she came from there.
"Y-you?" Berkley blinked.
Ripley nods.
He asked if she was one of the lucky ones and she shook her head. She told him that she had to form her own family with two other kids who weren't lucky, either.
"W-what happened to them?" Berkley inquired.
Not shying from the truth, Ripley softly told him that they both died. She's the only left. Berkley gave his condolences and she thanked him.
"Wh-why is fate so cruel?" Berkley asked her.
Ripley shook her head as she replied, "I don't know. I guess it has to be cruel time to time to remind people that it's not all fun and games. Sometimes, you'll get lucky. Sometimes, you're wishing for one good day."
Fate isn't kind, but it's not omnipotent, so it doesn't do this out malice.
It's balance.
People can argue, but unfortunately, it's fair.
Equal, as it were.
Everyone can suffer, including elderly and children.
However, as they can suffer, they can live long healthy lives.
Fate's not about cosmic judgement, that's just something humans came up with to explain why a terrible person suddenly suffers bad luck and ends up dying a karmic death.
Struggling to breath, Berkley spat out blood as he exhaled sharply.
"It's not fair," Berkley lamented.
Ripley agreed with him.
"I know, sweetie, I know," Ripley squeezed his hand. "Sometimes you have to make do with what you got, even if it's not much."
Ripley, Jamie, and Mercy didn't really have anything when they left Brookhaven. They barely made money in the small town doing odd jobs. It's a miracle they got the funds to open their own store. Even though it's probably as good as they'll get in life, Ripley wouldn't want it any other way.
"S-so, yo-you're from the future?" Berkley drew attention to the fact that Ripley's from his future.
Ripley nodded.
"W-wha-what's it like?" Berkley wanted to know if they had their spaceships, houses on the moon, mars, everything that the medium at the time portrayed.
Ripley softly told him, "I hate to disappoint you, but we don't have hover cars or anything like that. No aliens, either. But our sci-fi movies are a lot better."
She didn't have the heart to lie to him and he took it in stride.
Despite what the 60's believed would've been the future, it's far from what it imagined. Nobody had their own ships and nobody lived in condos on the moon. No hover cars or anything like that. It's still sci-fi as far as Ripley's concerned. However, the hindsight, despite the shortfall, the movies and shows continued to show the possibilities of the near future.
"Lame," Berkley weakly smiled, revealing his bloody teeth.
Ripley nodded as she said, "Yeah, bummer, innit, really looked forward to having my own spacecraft."
She comforted Berkley as he resigned in his inevitable death. In the air, the smoke that slowly made it's way towards them. It started getting warmer and the two felt the heat rising.
"Y-you bet-better get out of here," Berkley wearily told Ripley to leave before the fire caught up.
Ripley told him that she didn't want to leave him alone.
It'd feel wrong to let him agonize alone, so Ripley decided to stay with him until he passed, she knew that she risked getting caught by the fire, but she didn't want him to die alone.
John never said she couldn't do that, so she's doing it, because it's the right thing to do.
"S-s-so wha-what's your name?" Berkley asked her.
In a rare instance that never would've happened under any normal circumstances, Ripley told him her name. Her real name.
"Promise not to tell anyone?" Ripley weakly asked him.
Berkley smiled, "Not a soul!"
Nodding, Ripley told him, "Elieen Freeman."
Berkley nodded and told her his, "John S. Berkley."
Ripley weakly smiled, "I know."
Blood gushed from his lower abdomen as Berkley started coughing relentlessly. He ended up vomiting blood over himself and whimpered.
Ripley stayed by his side, holding his hand, as she watched life disappear from his eyes. She checked his pulse and found none. Just to be sure, she checked repeatedly, but there's no pulse, not even a murmur.
Closing his eyes, Ripley rubbed her own eyes as she stood up from his body, and miserably walked towards a box filled with lab coats and covered his body. Once she's sure she did a good job, Ripley left the chemistry lab through the window.
The moment her feet touched the ground, she felt two pairs of hands on opposite sides of her arms as Matt and Jenna pulled her away from the school where Lupus stood, tears quietly running down his face. The smoke started bellowing from the windows as they retreated and watched helplessly as the fire engulfed the school.
Ripley watched the fire burn the sixty-year-old school down, the finery red flames danced in the cool breeze, and she held back her tears as she felt them push against her eyelids. Mix of the irritation from the smoke and her emotions, but no tears came out.
Jenna openly cried and Matt held her, a look of sorrow on his face. He corralled Ripley and Lupus, holding them with his other arm, holding them close as he hid his face behind Ripley.
Ripley held Lupus as he visibly shook from the sight.
In the distance, they heard the sirens, and Matt led them away from the blaze.
Lupus felt lost.
He'd lost his adopted brother and there's no reason anyone's going to believe him and the others about what happened.
"Why…" Lupus wept.
Matt told him, "Samuel, I'm… I'm so sorry."
Within hours, the school, and the student dormitory, burnt to the ground.
The police arrived to take statements and there, the four learnt that the teachers and the headmaster reappeared with no explanation and they're devasted at the sight of the smoldering rubble of the school.
John Smith never resurfaced and it appeared that none of the teachers or Headmaster MacDonald remembered him much.
Lupus gave his statement and nearly broke down into tears as he told what happened, omitting the obvious.
With Matt and Ripley's CSS, it convinced the police that Lupus spoke the truth and left it at that.
It's at this point, the trio decided that it's best if they leave.
The insects destroyed at the expense of one innocent life, doomed as it may be.
Lupus received care and attention as the trio slipped away from the crowd, returning to the inn, and slipped into Ripley's room where the blue beauty waited for them.
Matt attempted at one last chance to have the TARDIS send them back and didn't hold his breath as it sprung to life.
The air shifted and cooled. The sounds of metal sheets rubbing against each other echoed throughout the console room, until it ceased.
Stepping out of the TARDIS, the three looked around, and realized they're in the backroom of the Odds & Ends, at the correct time and era.
Ripley locked the TARDIS behind them as she walked with them out of the backroom, locking it too.
Jenna looked at her mobile and remarked, "We've been gone a day!"
Matt and Ripley stood near her as she showed them her mobile. Looking at theirs, they're shocked when they realized she's right.
The adventures lasted a whole day.
"The only thing that matters, we're back here, safe and sound," Ripley told her as she went towards the counter and sat down.
Jenna nodded, agreeing with her.
Matt remarked that he didn't think they'd get home. It felt like a marathon, back to back, seemingly no end. As much as he liked adventuring, he's rather done for the time being, and wanted to relax in his jelly bed.
"So, what now?" Jenna asked what's the standard operation when they returned from an adventure or three.
Ripley replied, "We relax, reflect, and reminisce."
Not exactly in that order, but it's pretty much the standard at this point.
They've been adventuring since yesterday and Ripley's done with adventuring for now. She wanted to relax and think quietly to herself.
"This doesn't always happen," Matt told her about the bizarre adventures they had. "Sometimes it just does that, I don't know why."
One point in time, he'll ask Jodie why she does the things that she's prone to do. Maybe she'll tell him why, maybe she won't. It's not every day Matt gets to talk to a sentient time machine, but it's one of those days.
"Well, Jenna, on behalf of Matt and the TARDIS, sorry that it got carried away like that," Ripley apologized for the nonstop adventuring.
Jenna waved her hand and said that it's fine, they never meant to do it, and it seemed like the TARDIS has a mind of it's own.
"Oh, it does," Ripley heavily sighed.
Matt saw Jenna off as Ripley quietly sat in her chair. On her mind, everything.
Headmaster Lupus, the man who always gave her and Jamie grief about everything, really wasn't what he appeared. All the times he droned about Berkley, because they were like brothers, and that he misses him. It hurt Ripley knowing that she'll never get a chance to apologize to Headmaster Lupus.
The fact that he knew all-along what happened in the school and that the teachers wouldn't know what happened to them, the pain of knowing and never getting off his chest.
Ripley now understood why he stayed with the school for as long as he did.
Depressingly, she knew that Headmaster Lupus didn't survive the onslaught. There's no chance they would've taken him into the four armies. He died by whatever means.
An end, to a misunderstood headmaster.
Like her, Jamie, and Mercy, he suffered the same problems as them and the real reason he never expelled Jamie and Ripley, because of what he did when he was their age. He knew the struggles they faced and sympathized with them.
"Lupus, I don't know if you can hear me up there, but, if you can, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Ripley whispered. "I understand you now."
She wished he'd told her sooner, that maybe she wouldn't hated him so much if she knew the truth sooner. Having someone like him understand how they felt, that's a rare commodity.
"Berkley, if you can hear this. I'm sorry. I wished it could've gone differently. You deserved better. Too bad life dealt a bad hand for you. You're a hero, even if nobody knows that," Ripley continued.
Berkley died a hero.
He saved the world from the Choeras Zygon.
Alas, the world wouldn't know of this event.
The world wouldn't know of any event, now.
Shaking her head, Ripley frowned.
With the point fixed, the brotherhood becomes Berkley, and Ripley, Jamie, and Mercy attended it. Headmaster Lupus went on to lead the school without uttering the past.
Matt entered the shop and Ripley asked him how it went with Jenna.
Matt told Ripley that Jenna's overwhelmed with what happened, but she kept her promise of not telling anyone about the TARDIS. All she wanted to do was go home and reflect on their adventures. She told him that she might come around again tomorrow to talk to them about what happened, but depending on how it went with packing, she might not get the chance to swing by.
Matt asked Ripley if she wanted to talk about it.
"I couldn't do what you did," Matt admitted to her that he wouldn't have the strength to give the last rites to a dying person, especially one destined to die.
Ripley acknowledged the feat and asked, "It never gets easier, does it?"
Matt shook his head as he said probably won't.
"It's not fair," Ripley mourned.
Berkley didn't deserve to die, it's cruel that he died, but someone cruel like Victor didn't.
Matt comforted her as he took a seat next to her as they discussed what's on Ripley's mind.
"I know," Matt frowned.
It's shared that they all didn't want Berkley, a bright young student, to die the way he did.
"He was right," Ripley acknowledged what John told her. "The fire didn't kill him."
Blood loss did Berkley in. Painful as it is, it's better than the alternative of the venom melting him from the inside out. It's better if his body was never recovered from the blaze, if only to spare the public the grisly sight.
"Lupus never said a word about what happened?" Matt asked.
"He never told me," Ripley mournfully said.
Matt patted her shoulder as he told her, "He had his reasons."
Ripley mustered, "If he'd told me, I wouldn't acted like such a git towards him."
If Headmaster Lupus told her the truth about himself and Berkley, then she wouldn't treated him so poorly. It would've changed her opinion of the headmaster and allowed her to understand why he's the way he was.
"Maybe he had a difficult time, too?" Matt brought up.
Like Ripley, he didn't know how to tell people what really happened, afraid they'd never believe him. So, instead, he kept it to himself.
"Maybe," Ripley frowned.
Matt asked what he was like in his adult years and Ripley told him everything.
"He'd never expelled us, even if he should've," Ripley held her hands under her chin.
All the times she and Jamie got into trouble, the times where the headmaster would've normally expelled them from the school, but he never did.
"You seen him," Matt reminded her.
Ripley nodded.
He knew how they acted because of his youth.
"I wish I could tell him… I'm sorry," Ripley admitted to Matt.
If things were different, Ripley would've gladly apologized for her trespasses with the headmaster. She knew the truth and felt terrible about it.
It stung knowing that day won't ever come.
"I know," Matt frowned.
Remembering, Ripley asked Matt if he'd like to talk to her like he wanted, but he told her, "It can wait."
As much as Matt wanted to talk to Ripley about what's bothering him, he saw how beside herself she was about having to tend to a dying Berkley, knowing she couldn't do anything, and knowing the truth about her old headmaster. What he hid from her and the other students. The real reason he never told anyone.
Matt asked about John Smith, the drama teacher that disappeared after the fire once he recovered the teachers.
"Who is he, John Smith?" Matt wondered.
Ripley hedged a guess, but opted to not share with Matt.
"Just a clever man, I guess. I don't think we'll see him, again," Ripley replied.
John Smith, wherever he may be, tried so hard to save Berkley, but found pain and heartbreak. He did what no man could've done and caused the events that led to Berkley's death, so that'd the Choeras Zygon never escaped the school nor their technology.
Destroyed, nobody could've reclaimed remnants.
Alas, poor Berkley, only wanting to go Oxford, dealt harshly by life. Survived by his adopted brother, Lupus, who died decades later in the Colour War, never to tell the world the truth.
"Want me to come in tomorrow?" Matt asked her if she wanted him to come in and help around the shop.
Ripley asked instead if he'd like a day off to rest from their adventures, but Matt said he didn't mind coming in if she needed him. Rather, he didn't want to spend time alone. He could tell it's shared with Ripley.
"I mean, if you're sure," Ripley slowly blinked as Matt nodded.
Seeing him off, Ripley stood near the doorway as she talked to him.
"You'll be okay by yourself?" Matt asked her.
Rubbing her neck and lightly touching her healed lip, Ripley told him that'd take more than those to bring her down. She's not a wallflower.
Matt asked if she's sure and she told him if anything changes, he'll be the first to know about it.
Watching him leave, Ripley returned to her shop, and locked everything up.
Going up to her flat, she spent time sitting at the kitchen table, hands under her chin as she thought about what happened.
It dawned on her that John Smith did everything he could to save Berkley, but it never took.
She wondered, if possible, he tried to save her world yet again, this time from the Children of All-Mother, and subsequently failed.
Perhaps, it was a fix point and if he changed it, an even far worse event would've happened in it's place, one that Ripley might've not survived. She barely survived as is, no doubt Jodie couldn't save her from the alternative.
It saddened Ripley.
She may never see her old friends again and that nothing she can do would've changed that.
It'd be selfish if she tried, bringing about events far worse than the Children invading just to see Jamie and Mercy again.
Painfully, Ripley concluded that even if she would've in a heartbeat, she couldn't change what happened.
She had Matt and the others to worry about and it wasn't fair for them.
Torn, Ripley loved them all, but knew she couldn't have her cake and eat it too.
Eventually, Ripley got hungry and made herself something to eat. Nothing fancy, just something she fixed up within a few minutes and sat at the kitchen table as she thought about other things bothering her.
As she ate, it crossed her mind.
"They got through a rift," Ripley realized.
Like the Choeras Zygon, the Children of All-Mother came through another rift.
With the rift opened for a long period, they had enough time to get their men and banner animals through it.
It'd explain how they got to her universe.
Though, where they came from still up for debate.
It's hard to say if they were aware of where the rift took them, but Ripley isn't up to find the answer.
She's curious, though, on how they left her world.
They didn't plan to stick around, that much she knew.
The rift they took would've closed by the time they invaded her world.
Like John said, rifts are rare as it is and tears too fickle to control easily.
"Where did you come from?" Ripley mustered as she pondered the mystery.
As said, rifts can go anywhere, and more than not, places people didn't want to end up.
It made her question how the Children of All-Mother discovered the rift that led into her world and if they used another to get back to theirs.
Or simply move on to another world.
Thinking on it more, Ripley didn't want to even imagine.
Sighing, Ripley scooped food into her mouth as she tried to think of something else.
Tomorrow, she'll get to work in her shop as usual.
Yet, something Matt said sometime ago started resonating with her.
"I want my life back," she shook her head.
He wasn't wrong when he said she didn't need to hide in her shop.
It's inevitable that regardless of what she does, Victor would've discovered that he didn't finish the job.
It's a matter of when.
Ripley decided that if fate brought him back into her life, then so be it.
This time, she's ready for the inevitable. She knows all their tricks and he can't pull one over her, again.
Finished, Ripley cleaned up and readied for bed.
Looking on her mobile, she checked up on Jenna and Matt.
Jenna's leaving for her new job next week and has everything put up in storage. She's excited about the new opportunities and promised to make it back for the holidays.
Matt didn't say much, she could tell he fell asleep, because usually he'd have a few things posted by now. So far, it's stuff he posted the day before.
Putting her mobile back on the nightstand, Ripley fell asleep herself.
Tomorrow's a new day and a new start, for Ripley.
The End