Last Christmas: Christmas Ghosts
Clara slept soundly, for once in a very long while, a small smile on her face, which was surprising given how excited she was for the very next morning, Christmas Day! Her first with Danny. They spent so much time together since he'd returned to her and it wasn't enough. He'd been around her house a lot, had his own spaces for his clothes and bathroom things, had even helped her decorate her tiny tree and set up her presents and wrap her banister with garlands. She'd invited him to stay over for the night, but he'd insisted he had to go back to his flat. For as organized as he was at school he was surprisingly disorganized and quite a procrastinator when it came to gifts, agonizing over what was a good one and waiting till the last second to wrap them in case he decided to return a gift for a different one. He wanted to be ready for morning and so they had to separate.
He also might have told her that he needed time to mentally prep himself for meeting the family later that night. Something always seemed to come up whenever it was time to do a family gathering that kept him away, and this would be his first time meeting them all in person. He was a nervous wreck despite all her reassurances they would love him…then again, she could remember how much she freaked out and anyone being confronted with an ocean of Ponds would be right to be a little overwhelmed. It would also be the first time he'd be confronted with the Time Lords again. They'd parted on a better note last time, but she knew he hadn't been a large fan of the Doctor and she was a tad worried how the night might go.
Ok, so they probably both needed time to sort themselves and prep.
For her, a good night's sleep was essential for having enough energy to keep up with the Pond children and Captain Jack, she didn't know WHERE that man got that energy. Right now though…her sleep was being disturbed by a loud noise outside that had her jolting awake, listening carefully to hear a man yelling at someone.
"Agh! Moron! Numbskull! Elf!"
"That's racist!" a second man snapped back.
"Of course it's not racist, you ARE an elf!"
'What?' Clara mouthed to herself, before scrambling out of bed and hurrying to grab a robe, heading for the roof of the complex to see what was going on.
Stepping out into snow, with three men arguing over by a sleigh, two dressed as elves with one as Father Christmas, while trying to gather up fallen presents and scattered tangerines, was not what she expected.
"Chimneys?" the one dressed like Santa called to one of the elves.
"I'm sorry!" the first huffed.
"I'm just checking that you can see these massive chimneys."
"I...er...they're hard to miss."
"As you've clearly demonstrated, Ian!"
"Donner!" the second elf, whose vest had 'Wolf' embroidered on it, huffed, ringing a bell and staring at the sky, "Donner and Blitzen! Come on down, down here, boys!" Clara looked up to see there were, in fact, reindeer hovering above them, one with a glowing red nose, "Good boys, good boys. Rudolph!"
"Just…just clear all the tangerines up," Santa huffed to Ian, "Pick 'em up, all of them, Ian."
"You know no one really likes the tangerines, don't you?" Ian grumbled.
"How dare you! That's my signature gift! That and the walnut."
"Down here, boys!" Wolf continued to try and lure the reindeer, grabbing a tangerine and waving it to entice them, "Come on. Rudolph?!"
"Er, sir?" Ian froze in his efforts when he caught sight of Clara standing there, gaping at them, "We've been seen."
Santa spun around, blinking at Clara, "Hello..."
"Hello?" Clara asked, more a question than a greeting.
"Hello!" Wolf laughed.
"Hello, human," Ian greeted.
"You can't call her human!" Wolf hissed at him.
"It's not racist. They don't mind."
"Hush up, both of you," Santa chastised, turning to face Clara with a soft smile, "Oh, sorry about this...girl? We...are just three passing, perfectly ordinary...roof people, doing some emergency...roof things."
For a single moment, Clara had to consider if this was the Doctor, Angel, and Tailor in disguise, because truly that excuse was so bad only the Doctor could do worse. But the thought quickly left her, Angel and Tailor would have gone for a more subtle surprise and likely kept 'Santa' from being spotted if it was.
"Carry on," Santa continued, "Merry Christmas. If it IS Christmas, I mean...ha ha! I don't much care for things like that, myself. Pfft! I mean, Christmas!" he chuckled weakly.
"Are you...Santa Claus?" Clara asked him slowly.
"Me?!" he scoffed, "No! Oh, no! It's ridiculous. Ha ha. No, no, no, ho ho ho! Ho ho..."
Clara just pointed behind him where the reindeer had taken to flying, completely ruining his lie.
"Rudolph!" Wolf turned to try and get them back and hidden, "Rudolph! Down here!"
Santa sighed, "Alright, fine, yes. Yes, it's me. Ha! Guilty. How did you recognize me?"
"You know how you grew that beard as a bit of a disguise?" Wolf muttered, "People have picked up on it."
"Ok, no," Clara shook her head, "Hang on, stop, shut up. What? Seriously, you...you're Father Christmas? You're real?"
"Of course I'm real!" Santa looked quite offended she would think otherwise.
"How could he not be real?" Wolf looked equally horrified at the prospect.
"Huh? How do you think those presents got under the tree every year? By magic?"
"Well, I thought it was my mum and..." Clara began.
"Mum and Dad?!" the elves gaped at her.
Ian snorted, "Well, of course it was!" he muttered sarcastically.
"I mean, it makes perfect sense!" Wolf agreed.
"Your mum and dad, one day a year, for no particular reason, just out of the blue, suddenly decide to give you a great, big pile of presents."
"No, no, no. Because 'they love you so much!' It's a lovely story, dear."
"Yeah, but it's time to start living in the real world, yeah?"
Santa shook his head at them, pulling out a book from his pocket and quickly checking it, nodding to himself when he got to what he needed, "Ok, right. Clara Oswald. Mostly favors travel books, science kits. Strict ban on hair products. Marginal for the naughty list, '93," he clicked his tongue, "Believer until the age of nine. Why did you stop?"
"Because you're a fairy tale," she stated, "I grew out of fairy tales."
He sighed, giving her a pointed look, "Did you, Clara? Did you really?"
Not a moment later the wheezing sound of the TARDIS filled the air as the box began to materialize on the roof a few feet away from her, the Doctor stepping out, but gesturing Tailor, who was at the door, to stay inside.
"Clara," he began, his eyes trained on Santa and the elves, "I want you to step inside the TARDIS. I don't want you to talk, I want you to do as I ask. Please."
"That was good, with the box," Ian remarked.
"Hmph!" Wolf snorted, "Not often we get upstaged on a rooftop. Hmm!"
"Aunt Clara, really," Tailor called, "Come here, please."
Clara glanced at the others and turned to step past the Doctor, into the TARDIS, hugging Tailor tightly as the Doctor turned to face the others, "I know what this is," he warned the man, "I know what's happening, and I know what's at stake."
Santa sighed, sad, shaking his head, "I don't think you do, Doctor. But I promise, before this Christmas Day is done, you'll be glad of my help."
He scoffed, "Happy Easter!" he called, moving to the doors.
"Brutal!" Wolf hissed.
"Cool exit line, though," Ian had to give him that.
"Be sure to save some room for a tangerine, Doctor!" Santa called after him.
"Nobody likes tangerines," the Doctor replied, entering the TARDIS and shutting the doors behind him, letting out a breath and resting against it a moment before pushing off and heading to the console…only to stop when he saw Tailor there, rushing around it, frowning.
"Dad…" Tailor looked over at him, "Where's mum?"
"She answered the phone," he said, hurrying over to the console and checking the phone, but Angel wasn't there. He moved to the monitor, punching in a few codes, scanning the box for her and frowning deeply, "She's not onboard…"
"But she was JUST here!" Tailor insisted. As soon as 'Santa' had appeared, her father had all but shoved him out of the box and they'd flown straight to Clara…somehow Santa had beaten them there, but there was no way her mother walked out of the box or the room without them seeing it.
"Did she teleport?" Clara asked, moving to join them, seeing Tailor was genuinely concerned.
The Doctor looked at the Gallifreyan symbols on the screen, before shutting it off and closing his eyes, trying to sense her past the dull throb in his mind. He found that light warmth, that tingle in his mind that he knew was his Mate and reached for it…
Only to frown, his eyes snapping open when it wasn't Angel but a memory that flashed across his eyes.
"She's fine," he said, straightening, "If I know her, and I do, she's working on getting us help," he told them, moving to the other side of the console to set some more commands, though he was tense and they could tell he was not happy about something.
"Dad…" Tailor began, "Is mum in danger?"
"No," he turned to her, more sure this time, "No, she's safe, sweetheart, I promise," he crossed his hearts, "This…isn't the first time something like this has happened."
It was just the first time his subconscious had taken on such a ridiculous form as Father Christmas, and he'd thought the Dream Lord was bad!
He was relieved Angel wasn't there, if this was happening again, he didn't want her trapped here while he worked out whatever trap or plan or danger he needed to work through before they could all wake up. He didn't want to just blow up the TARDIS, he needed to be sure this is what it was. And if it was? He really needed to clean out the rotor more often, he'd had enough psychic pollen to last him a good many lifetimes already.
"So…I'm really back in the TARDIS then?" Clara asked, "This is...this is real, yeah?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" Tailor frowned.
"Well, Santa Claus is right outside," Clara pointed out, "What's that about? What's happening?" Tailor could only shrug while the Doctor, intent and focused, and seeming in a bit of a rush, merely threw down a lever to start the dematerialization process. Despite all of that madness, Clara had to smile at the familiar wheezing, "Oh, that noise. Never knew how much I loved it…"
"Clara," the Doctor finally spoke, coming around the console to face them, looking more at Clara than Tailor, "There's something you have to ask yourself, and it's important. Your life may depend on it, everybody's life. Do you really believe in Santa Claus?"
Clara considered it a moment, before glancing from Tailor to the Doctor, thinking about something she'd wanted for Christmas, but hadn't had the heart to tell Danny about, and nodded, "Do you know what? Yeah. Right now, yeah. I think I do."
~8~
In the middle of an icy wasteland, a blizzard of snow covering the land around it, a base was nestled. Deep within the base, in its main control room, two women and a man were gathered around, watching another woman on a monitor as she stood in the middle of a corridor, a radio headpiece around her ears just like they, too, were wearing.
The first woman spoke into her radio, calling out to the woman on the monitor, "You are now 20 feet from the infirmary," she said, "In a moment, as soon as you're ready. I'll disable the security protocols."
"Your neural link is good and holding," the second woman reassured her, "We stand ready to abort and extract at the first sign of an anomaly."
"We're going to be with you every step of the way, Shona," the man added, able to tell, just in how the girl on the monitor was fidgeting, how nervous she was.
"We're all depending on you and we know you won't let us down," the first woman spoke, "Shona, I'm opening the door," she leaned over to flick a switch, watching as another screen read 'Auto door lock system PURGE' before the heavy doors in front of Shona swung open to reveal another corridor with a closed door at the end.
"I need the toilet!" Shona called into her comm..
"No, you don't," the second woman glanced over at a monitor displaying every possible scan of the girl's body and its levels, "We're monitoring your bodily functions."
"And how are you monitoring THAT? Cos that's rude! That is...perverted."
"Do you remember my briefing, Shona?" the man asked her.
"Yeah," Shona answered instantly, before wincing, "Well, no. I remember some of it," she took a breath and slowly began to walk down the corridor.
"Some of it?" the first woman frowned, glancing at the other two. If this girl wasn't prepared for the task…if she hadn't paid any attention…this could go very wrong, very quickly.
The second woman was of the same mind, "How much?"
"Till he put his hand on my knee," Shona answered, "And then I was just grossing."
"It was intended as a comfort!" the man defended when the other women looked at him.
"For whom?" the second gave him a look.
"All I could see was his nose," Shona continued, seeming to be a little more comfortable with her task if she could keep talking, "With all the little hairs coming out of it. Have you seen those? It's like he's got insects trapped up there, all trying to escape, with their wee, wiggly legs," she wiggled her fingers for further emphasis.
"Ok," the first woman shook her head, focusing, "Let's just go through this again. There are four sleepers inside the infirmary. You're fine, so long as they don't wake up."
"She's in range," the second woman warned, seeing Shona arrive at the last door.
"Shona, I'm unsealing the infirmary," the first woman leaned forward to flick a switch on the panel, "From now on, everything you think and feel, everything you see, will be available to them. Most of it's fine, like traffic noise when you're sleeping. So long as you don't think about them. So long as you don't look at them. So don't think about them...don't look at them."
They watched as the door slid open to reveal a typical looking infirmary, with four beds occupied, sheets pulled all the way up, covering the patients almost as though they were dead, hiding their faces.
"I thought there was going to be music," Shona murmured, she'd requested as much, hoping that the music would help her focus on something else, lyrics and beat instead of what was beyond the door.
"We've got your playlist, ready to go," the second woman assured her.
"Focus on the words of the song," the first agreed, it was a good plan, "Try to remember what comes next. That will work like interference."
"Here comes your earworm," the second pushed a few buttons and 'Merry Xmas Everybody' by Slade started to play in Shona's ears.
"Keep your eyes on the floor," the first continued, "Shut them where possible. Focus on the music and move forward through the infirmary."
They watched carefully as Shona started to shuffle forward, swaying to the music more and more as she went, getting into it so much that she even started to dance and hum, not even jumping when the door shut behind her.
The second woman put a hand over the microphone of her headset, turning to the first, "Oh, dear Lord, she's not actually..."
"If dancing works, it works," the first defended.
"This is insane!" the man grumbled, continuing to watch as Shona moved about.
"This is working!" the first woman breathed, relieved, even as Shona really got into it, dancing and shaking across the infirmary.
"Hold on, what's that?" the second woman frowned, leaning forward, having seen a flicker where the exterior door was but unable to see it fully from the monitor.
Shona, mid-dance, turned in that direction, and suddenly screamed, nearly scrambling back.
"Shona?" the first woman called, "Shona, what's wrong?"
"We've…we've got ghosts!" Shona spoke, her voice trembling, clutching her hands to her chest as she stared in the direction of the door.
"Ghosts?!"
"Yeah, yeah, it's a skeleton man, a snow beast, and a girl in a nightie!"
"What?" the man scoffed, leaning forward to try and move one of the security cameras into a better position…and sure enough, right there on the monitor were three new people, two girls and one very tall thin man, standing in the doorway.
One of the girls, with dark hair, was wearing boots and a jacket, but clearly not dressed for the low temperatures as they could see the bottom of a nightie and robe sticking out from under the coat. The other, with lighter hair, was more than prepared, with a fur-lined hood on her jacket, goggles over her eyes, a scarf covering her mouth, a thick jacket, with mittens, snow pants, and thick boots, though when she moved to pull the scarf down and the goggles off they could tell she was quite annoyed with either how bundled up she was or by being called a 'snow beast' for it, and very young, younger than Shona even. The man though, he was wearing just a normal coat, no scarf or hood or anything.
The three looked at Shona, before their attention turned to the patients in the beds.
"Doctor?" the brown-haired girl spoke, the three of them able to hear her through Shona's comm.
"No, no!" Shona gasped, "You're making me think about them, don't make me think about them!" she quickly shut her eyes and put her hands to her head as though it would help.
"What are they?" the younger girl frowned, jumping back when the patients all sat up in their beds as one.
"Look, just don't ask, yeah?" Shona tried to explain, backing away, "And don't look. Don't make me think about them!"
They could only watch as the sheets fell off the patients, revealing something covering their faces, latched on so tightly it almost wrapped all the way around the head. The man, despite Shona's warning, stepped closer, flashing some sort of metal stick at them.
"Deaf," the man assessed, "Blind. How can they see us? How do they even know that we're here?"
"They can only see you, yeah, if you see them," Shona told them, "So just don't look, don't even think about them!"
"Oh, they're telepathic," the younger girl realized.
The man nodded, "They can home in on their own image in someone else's brain. Third-party perception. Mind piracy," he looked at the two girls he'd come with, "We're being hacked."
"What does that even mean?" the brown-haired girl spoke.
The man looked back at the patients as they continued to rise, now moving to stand beside their beds, "The visual input from your optic nerve is being streamed to their brains. Stop broadcasting. Close your eyes!" he spun around, moving his hands over his eyes for emphasis, the two girls immediately doing as instructed.
The trio watching, glanced at each other, seeing the things on the patients' faces stretching and distorting, a faint chirruping sound coming from them, but the patients just kept moving, heading for the group of four.
"They're still coming, aren't they?" the brown-haired girl asked, tense.
"It's because you're still thinking about them," the man stated, "So long as you retain them as an active memory, they can still home in. Think about something else."
"How?!"
"Oh, I wish mum was here…" the younger girl muttered.
The man frowned, his head tilting to the side as though he'd heard something the others didn't, "You are my sunshine?" he spoke, sounding more like he was repeating something than saying it himself.
"My only sunshine," the younger girl began to sing, "You make me happy, when skies are grey…"
"You'll never know, dear," the brown-haired girl joined in.
"How much I love you," as did Shona.
"Please don't take my sunshine away," they all began to sing, repeating the song over and over.
The trio in the control room could only watch as one of the patients approached, its face cracking open into what looked like an enormously slimy mouth. It opened more and more, until a human face was peeking out from beneath it.
"Go!" the second woman shouted, the three of them getting up and grabbing their weapons, rushing out of the room and heading for the infirmary, they could still hear the four within, singing that tune, even as they burst through the doors, aiming the weapons at the patients who had remained standing, though the mouths appeared to have closed.
"Go!" the first woman ordered, "Run, now, now, now!"
The four opened their eyes, not daring to look back, and hurried past the three, only turning when they were past them to see what the humans would do.
Something chirruped above them and the man aimed his weapon up, "Here they come!" he warned.
And suddenly creatures that looked like spiders began to lower themselves from the ceiling by a thread, all around the room.
"What are they!?" Clara gasped, reaching out to Tailor, the closest to her and tugging her back, trying to protect her.
"Dad!" Tailor shouted in warning.
He looked up and yelled, "No!" just as a spider fell right for him...
~8~
Just outside the base, an explosion went off.
~8~
The Doctor, Clara, and Tailor flinched back as the exterior door of the infirmary, the one they had entered through, was blown in…a tangerine rolling across the floor, followed by two slinky toys, and an army of toy robots. The group just stared, stunned and confused, as the toys went past…and then Santa, riding Rudolph, appeared in the doorway, the reindeer rearing up and whinnying.
"Whoa, whoa!" Santa pulled on the reins, calming the beast, before dismounting, patting him on the side of the neck, "Good boy," he turned and strode into the infirmary with Ian, carrying a balloon toy, and Wolf, holding an air gun, "Well, now," he looked around, "What seems to be the problem? This is the North Pole. We don't want any trouble here," he sighed, hearing Rudolph braying, "Rudolph?" he turned, using a fob to remotely lock the reindeer, a beep and flash coming from his nose to show he was secure, "Easy, son," he turned back to them, crossing his arms at the patients, "Oi! Sleepy heads! It's Christmas Eve, early to bed!" he clapped his hands and, without fuss, the patients moved to get back in their beds.
"Who the hell are you?" the first woman stared at him.
"Oh, take a guess, go on," the Doctor huffed, "Push the boat out! Tooth Fairy, maybe? Easter Bunny?"
"Shut your mouth, wise guy!" Ian turned on him with the balloon, "Or you get yours!"
"It's a balloon animal," Wolf pointed out.
"That's a toy gun," Ian returned with a gesture at Wolf's 'weapon.'
"Yeah, well, at least it's unsuitable for children under four! Parts small enough to swallow. So watch out."
"I honestly don't know what's going on right now," Tailor blinked, trying to work it out but it was so mad that her head was actually starting to hurt trying to keep up.
"This is ridiculous," Shona stated, "Am I dreaming?"
"Oh, very good!" the Doctor perked up at that, she'd caught on faster than Amy and Rory had.
The first woman shook her head, "I need to know exactly who you are, and what's happening here."
"Hello, Ashley," Santa greeted, "Lead scientist on a polar expedition! That microscope really paid off, didn't it? Now, your mum and dad wanted me to get you a toy one, but, sometimes, I take a chance."
Ashley looked startled, "Who are you? Why are you dressed like...that?"
"Why do you think?"
"Come on," Shona scoffed, "This is mental! This is totally not happening."
"I got three words, Shona. Don't make me use 'em."
"What three words?"
"My. Little. Pony," he said, counting them each on a finger.
Her eyes flew wide, her cheeks flushing, "Shut up, you!"
"Yeah? I've got lots more, babe."
"I will mark you, Santa!" Shona threatened, holding her hands up like she was inches away from clawing his eyes out.
"Dad…" Tailor turned to her father, "What exactly is going on here?"
"Upper Leadworth," was all he said.
But that was all that needed to be said for Tailor to catch on, for her eyes to widen and her mouth to drop open. Of course she knew what Upper Leadworth meant. The stories of her Uncle Rory and his adventures were her absolute favorite to hear, of her human family. She just had a special bond with the man that she didn't have with the others…and really the only way she could hear about her Uncle was in stories now. She could go and ask her sister Jenny or her aunts or uncles anything she wanted and they could tell it themselves, not her Aunt Amy or Uncle Rory. She knew about how psychic pollen had created the Dream Lord, trapping them between Upper Leadworth and a cold star. This was her father's way of warning her they were in the middle of some dream induced crisis…
And it explained why MK9 and her mother weren't there. The pollen wouldn't affect a robot and the psychic nature of it wouldn't work on her mother, psychic cancelled out psychic…so what did that mean for HER? Was she not psychic enough? She shook her head, now wasn't the time to have her own crisis over her abilities. The point was, they were trapped and her mother was probably trying her best to help them wake up…
And now she understood why her father didn't appear to be freaking out, why the Mating instinct wasn't sending him into a panic. He knew his Mate was safe, HE was the one in more danger right now, him and his daughter. So he was tense and alarmed and angry, but able to focus and think better than if her mother had been there and in danger too. It also revealed why he had begun talking about her old lullaby out of nowhere. He'd told her, when the Dream Lord happened, he'd get vague glimpses of her mother around places and hear whispers of her voice, right when he really needed it. Her mother WAS there, just in the waking world, and she was trying to help through her connection to her Mate.
She didn't like this, she never liked this. Every time there was a danger and her parents were separated, not by choice, it always made her think back to Kovarian. It always made her feel like one of her parents was in more danger because they were alone and didn't choose to be. If they agreed to separate, it was because they knew or felt or trusted the other could handle it, or that THEY could handle it alone. But when they were forced apart they didn't have that security.
She could only hope her mother was actually safe and this wasn't some new ploy by the Church to knock her and the Doctor out so they could kidnap her mother.
Ok, now she really, really wanted to wake up.
Except, she was also realizing, she didn't know how to…and neither did her father. If he had, they'd have done it by now and…well…this wasn't actually happening like with the Dream Lord. They weren't hopping between different realities, there weren't two dangers to face, and why on Earth would the Dream Lord adopt the guise of Santa Clause? Was it just her father's subconscious learning from his past mistakes? Was it merging two realities and dangers into one? Was SANTA the danger?
She rubbed her head, this really was doing her head in something terrible.
"What?" Clara looked at the Doctor, caught off guard by his answer, "What's Leadworth got to do with this? We're not in Leadworth."
"We're in the North Pole," the other man, the one set up in the base spoke.
"It's an invasion, Miss Oswald," Santa gave them at least a more reasonable answer…which wasn't much by ways of being reasonable at all given how the Doctor usually operated.
"An invasion of what, elves?" Clara scoffed.
"Whoa!" Wolf pointed at her accusingly, "THAT is racist."
"Elfist!" Ian agreed.
"Which is a bit hypocritical, from someone of your height."
Clara just crossed her arms at them, pulling her coat tighter when a chill swept through the room. Santa had gone outside for something and returned, bringing a waft of cold air with him, though that thought quickly faded when they saw he was holding a clear container with one of the spider things in it.
"You seen them before, Doctor?" Santa asked, approaching the man as he stood a little off to the side, Tailor next to him.
"I've heard of them," he replied, reaching out to tug Tailor back when she moved to lean in and look closer at it, not wanting her near that thing if it was what he thought it was.
"The Kantrofarri," Santa nodded, handing the container over.
The Doctor frowned, holding it up to see better but trying not to get too close, "Colloquially known...as the Dream Crabs."
A/N: Hmmm, Angel appears to be missing and given the last time it happened, in a similar way, the Doctor assumes it's the Dream Lord come again, some psychic pollen they missed last time. I wonder if he'll realize what happened or think the Dream Crab is just 'this realities' threat' like the cold star or the elderly were }:)
Tailor does have a thought going about all of it, psychic cancelling out psychic but SHE's there, so does it mean she's not psychic enough? Or does she just not have enough control? Or will she one day be that strong but isn't yet? Will she ever be? }:) She's sort of gone back and forth about her abilities, touching on her own psychic nature but not quite...there yet, is she? We'll see a bit more of that work itself out in the next story though ;)
As for Clara, she and Danny are together, he's alive, so how will that affect how she handles this dream world? How will it affect what she sees in her dream world later? We'll find out very soon ;)
Last note, the poll is closed! I've put the results up as being viewable, but please keep in mind that, just because one story/OC might have more votes than another, it may not mean that particular one will come first in terms of the update order when I finish Angel. I have some votes written down on a separate list of messages and reviews and asks that came in from people who weren't able to access the poll, though they seem to follow the same trend as the FF poll results. For the most part, the poll was to show me what you're most excited for, to help me work out an order to post what comes next. But there are a few criteria I have that will narrow it down even more and help me really work out what to focus on going forward.
I can say I have a very strong idea of what order I'll post in now, I just need to work out what fits best.
We'll have the next set of stories I'll update, and probably even an order for 2021, in the last chapter of this story ;)
Some notes on reviews...
Thank you for the votes! I've added them to the list I have from a few others who had the same problem ;) I'm glad you're liking the story so far :D
You have a very good eye ;) Before this story is over we'll be able to get a moment of Danny actually speaking to the Doctor about things he learned while being a Cyberman and how it's caused him to reflect on things he may have misunderstood or assumed before ;) Series 9 was definitely hard on Clara, I agree. I felt a lot of it was her just sort of giving up, like she put so much into being with Danny that without him there she just didn't care about herself and, perhaps on some level, was as reckless as she was because she wanted to be with him again and if she died on an adventure then so be it :( But now, with Danny alive, IF she does continue travelling, she would definitely be very, very careful, she has a lot to live for now. And, I think, even if Danny had passed like in the episode, she had a much bigger support system and family looking out for her, and people would would most certainly notice the signs of her not caring about her own life, like Jack and Angel and they would have stepped in :)
Clara is definitely going to be very attached to Danny. If she travels, she'd be very super careful and, perhaps that might be what finally turns her to willingly giving up the travels for the right reasons, not out of fear of losing him or having lost him, but just realizing there's more to her life than the travels and she really IS ready to stay on Earth and be normal :) We'll have to wait and see what she does ;) Angel and the Doctor would very much understand. I think Clara sort of put them through the wringer a bit with the back and forth 'I'm leaving, no I'm staying, no actually leaving' bit, but partly it would help them start to let go like they began to do with the Ponds but just never finished doing on their own terms. Lol, no worries, I'm also very much looking forward to when I can get to Sleepy Hollow ;)
Oh I loved Lady Christina, she was very fun :) She'd definitely be startled to see Angel and the Doctor so different and with a child, and his new attitude, but I think she would adapt very well and keep on going lol :) I can say we'll definitely see some past companions resurface in the next story ;)