"Tanith, wait!" the Doctor called.
"Oh, he does know," Tanith muttered before glancing back to the Doctor as she continued to run, "As much as I'd love to talk, Doctor, I really need to find Pete Tyler."
"Why?" the Doctor asked as he finally managed to catch up to her.
"Why not?" Tanith shot back, "Him being alive is the reason the Reapers are here, the reason I'm here. He is at the epicentre of all of this mess and if he doesn't die, they won't stop."
The Doctor grabbed her arm as he stopped running, forcing Tanith to stop as well, "You can't just kill him," he told her, unbelieving that she would even consider killing anyone.
Tanith furrowed her brows at the Doctor, "And what, you have a better idea to correct this mess? There is a wound in time, and as Time Lords, we have a duty to fix this. That means that Pete Tyler has to die," she said before removing her arm from his grip and heading off again towards the church.
The Doctor was quick to stop her, however. "I can't let you do this. You're talking about murder and I won't let you do that," he told her firmly.
Some unknown expression passed across Tanith's face before she raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. "Look, I'm sorry that your little human girlfriend stuffed up and saved her father, but the laws of time need to be upheld," she told him firmly, "The Reapers won't stop until he is dead, and at the cost of one life against all of reality, I will do what is needed to fix this."
"She's not my girlfriend," the Doctor sputtered before refocusing on the rest of what Tanith had just said, "Give me a chance to fix this. No one needs to die."
Tanith eyed him silently for a moment before nodding once.
"You get one chance, Doctor," she held up one finger, "One. When that fails, I will do what is needed to fix this."
"Thank you," the Doctor breathed in relief.
"Don't thank me yet, Doctor," Tanith told him before they both started running to the church.
As they reached the church, the Doctor spotted Rose.
"Rose!" the Time Lord shouted, causing the blonde to turn to him with a smug smile, though it vanished when he continued, "Get in the church!"
A Reaper appeared behind the blond and Tanith cursed under her breath as Rose spotted it and screamed.
"Humans," the red head muttered under her breath in disgust as she flicked her hand forwards, her magic shooting towards Rose and pushing her to the floor, just as the Reaper swooped in an attempt to get the blonde. "Get in the church!" she yelled as two more Reapers appeared.
"Oh, my god. What are they? What are they?" a woman exclaimed.
"Inside!" the Doctor ordered as the humans begun to panic.
An older man tried to run away, but was pounced on by one of the Reapers and he vanished. Another woman was blocked from the church as one of the creatures stopped in front of her and she screamed. The Reaper changed its mind however, and went for an older man near her.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Tanith exclaimed in frustration before she started firing spells at the Reapers, and although they did seem to distract the creatures, the spells didn't seem to harm them. "Get in the bloody church!" she ordered the remaining humans as she approached the church.
The moment the humans were inside, the Doctor grabbed the back of Tanith's coat and dragged her inside as well before slamming the doors closed and stopping the Reapers from entering.
Tanith rested against the door, frowning at how drained she felt before realising that as Zaly, she hadn't had the time or experience to train as much as she once had and her powers had dwindled over time.
This isn't good, she thought.
"They can't get in," the Doctor explained, "Old windows and doors. Okay. The older something is, the stronger it is. What else?" he questioned no one in particular before noticing that the humans were just standing around, "Go and check the other doors!" he ordered them, but no one moved, "Move!"
The humans were quick to follow after that and started checking the doors as the Doctor turned to Tanith, his eyebrows furrowed after having witnessed what she had done outside. Though his thoughts were quick to derail and turn to concern when he noticed how pale and tired she looked. "Tanith, what's wrong?" he asked her.
Tanith glanced at him as she took another deep breath before letting it out slowly. "Out of practice," she told him.
"What exactly did you-" he begun to ask, but was cut off.
"What's happening?" an older blonde asked the Doctor, "What are they? What are they?"
"There's been a wound in time and the Reapers are here to, eh, what's that human term?" Tanith asked before she continued, "Ah, that's right. Reap. They're bacteria that live in the time vortex and when a wound in the fabric of time is made, they take advantage of it."
"What do you mean, time?" the woman asked as Tanith frowned as her eyes narrowed on the blonde, "What're you jabbering on about, time?"
"Do I know you?" Tanith asked as she pushed off from the doors, but the blonde shook her head in the negative.
"Oh, I might've known you'd argue," the Doctor cut in rudely, "Jackie, I'm sick of your complaining."
"How do you know my name?" Jackie asked him.
"Oh, Jackie Tyler," Tanith said before she stuck her tongue out like she tasted something fowl, "Oh, yes. Now I remember."
The Doctor rolled his eyes at Tanith, though he did find her statement rather amusing, more so when Jackie got offended by her remark.
"I've never met you in my life!" Jackie told the pair.
"No, and you never will unless I sort this out," the Doctor snapped, "Now, if you don't mind, I've waited a long time to say this. Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go and check the doors," he ordered her loudly.
"Yes, sir," Jackie said before doing just that.
"I should have don't that ages ago," the Doctor murmured.
"Oh, hope she doesn't remember that," Tanith said with a snicker, "Be terrible if she ended up as your mother-in-law."
The Doctor's head snapped to her and he glared at Tanith. "Zaly, not now. And Rose is not my girlfriend," he snapped before he paused, having realised what he had just called her.
He pointed at her when Tanith raised an eyebrow before he frowned, "You said the wound in time was the reason you're here. What did you mean by that?" he asked her, rather confused as to how it was possible, more so when he realised that he couldn't sense another Time Lord, or Lady in her case.
"Well, it's quite simple when you think about it," Tanith said before they were interrupted by a man dressed in a suit approaching them.
"My dad was out there," the man said.
"You can mourn him later. Right now we've got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive," the Doctor told him rudely, having found his interruption annoying.
"My dad had-"
"There's nothing we can do for him," the Doctor cut him off, pointing at Tanith when she went to say something, causing her to close her mouth with a raised eyebrow.
"No, but he had this phone thing," the man continued as he held up a brick phone, "I can't get it to work. I keep getting this voice."
Tanith took the phone off him and held it up to her ear.
"Watson, come here. I need you. Watson, come here. I need you."
"That's Alexander Graham Bell," Tanith remarked as she handed the phone to the Doctor to have a listen.
"The very first phone call," the Time Lord agreed, "I don't think the telephone's going to be much use," he told the man.
"But someone must have called the police," the man stated.
"Police and help you now. No one can. Nothing in this universe can harm those things," he continued, causing Tanith to furrow her eyebrows in thought, "Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilize the wound," he looked to Rose, "By consuming everything in sight."
"Is this because?" the blonde swallowed, "Is this my fault?" she asked.
The Doctor continued to stare at her for a moment longer before turning back to Tanith, only to find the red head deep in thought.
"There's smoke coming up from the city but no sirens," Pete told the Doctor as they stood by a window in the vestry a little while later, "I don't think it's just us. I think these things are all over the place. Maybe the whole world."
The Doctor didn't answer as he watched a beige car appear at a corner on the road outside the window. The same beige car that should have killed Pete earlier. The car turned and the driver covered his face before the car disappeared again.
"Was that a car?" Pete asked the Time Lord.
"It's not important," the Doctor told him, though Tanith's words echoed in his mind. He would fix this, he just had to find a way. "Don't worry about it," he continued before walking away, pausing when he noticed Tanith watching them.
She raised an eyebrow at the Doctor before turning away and back towards the front doors of the church.
The Doctor frowned before he followed, wanting to get to the bottom of why she was here, or even how.
He had checked Zaly Pond over for any injuries after she had appeared in the TARDIS and found that except for increased brainwave activity, she was a normal, healthy human, and after learning about her repressed memories helped to answer that increase.
But it didn't explain how she was now claiming to be Tanith. He had not sensed another Time Lord or Lady in what felt like an eternity and was rather baffled as to how the human was claiming to be someone whom he had believed to be long dead.
"So, have you figured out how to fix this yet?" Tanith questioned as she sat down in a pew.
The Doctor's frown deepened as he sat down next to her. "Not yet," he admitted, causing the red head to sigh. "But I will," he added quickly.
Tanith pinched the bridge of her nose as she watched Peter and Rose talk. It had taken her a while to realise what she was doing here, and although she immediately wanted to be somewhere else, dealing with things she felt long overdue, this situation was critical and had to be fixed.
"You always picked the good ones, didn't you?" she questioned, glancing at the Doctor. She couldn't help but ask, having seen the way Rose seemed to just walk into trouble.
"She didn't know," the Doctor replied.
"Well, I hope you figure something out soon," Tanith remarked as she turned back to Rose and Pete, "Otherwise I'm going to have to end this."
"No one is going to die," the Doctor hissed at her.
"Oh, of course not," Tanith said as she looked to him, her eyebrow quirked, "All those billions of humans out there are just playing a very good game of hide and seek. Evolution must have hit them very fast, because I can't seem to find them. I wonder if it's camouflage or invisibility," she said as she pretended or think about it.
"Is this just some big game to you?" the Doctor questioned as he stood up and glared at her, "What would your mother think of the way you're acting, cause I know she would be sorely disappointed in you right now."
Tanith was on her feet in an instant and the Doctor took a step back in shock when he felt the pressure around her drop as she glared at him. He had thought when he first met Zaly that she was angry, but that was nothing compared to what he could feel rolling off Tanith right now.
"Don't you dare speak of my mother," she snapped as the air around her crackled with energy, "Don't you dare speak to me about how she would feel. If it wasn't for this infernal species you seem so fond of, she would be here right now instead of me," her hands clenched as she tried to pull back her emotions, "You have one chance, Doctor."
Tanith spun on her heel and walked away, leaving the Doctor to stare after her in shock before he swallowed heavily.
He had no idea what had happened to Serenity and Tanith and to hear that Serenity was dead, although it wasn't new information, it still hit him hard. Especially coming from her daughter. But his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to figure out what Tanith had meant.
Had it been humans that had killed Serenity, and if so, why? And what had Tanith meant by Serenity would have been here instead?
"Ah, excuse me, Mister?" the man from earlier spoke as he hesitantly approached the Doctor having witnessed the argument he had just had with the red head.
"Doctor," the Time Lord said as he shook his head before turning to the man.
"He had no bloody right," Tanith clenched and unclench her hands as she paced near the choir stalls, trying to calm down, "None at all," she continued to mutter angrily to herself before sighing.
"But, he didn't know," she finished, sinking heavily into a chair as she hit her forehead with the palms of her hands, beyond frustrated.
The last thing she truly remembered was losing her mother. After that, it was memories that didn't feel like hers, memories of Zaly.
They were odd, the memories she had of Zaly. The were almost like memories she had of her previous regeneration before starting at Hogwarts. Tanith knew that she and Zaly were the same person, but it didn't feel like it.
Whatever effects had come from what Dumbledore had done after her mother had fallen to that rat, it seemed to have caused Tanith to regenerate, but not at the same time and she wondered if the bracelet her parents had created were a reason behind what had happened.
Tanith let out a groan as she buried her head in her hands, wondering why her life always seemed so bloody complicated, only to snort a moment later when she had done the same thing as Zaly before running into the Doctor the second time.
"Excuse me," a familiar voice spoke up, causing Tanith to look up and see Jackie standing in front of her with a carrycot.
"Yes?" Tanith asked, pulling her head up to look at the woman properly.
"I, uh, I was hoping, since everyone else seemed busy, if you could watch over my daughter for a moment?" Jackie asked hesitantly.
The red head raised an eyebrow at the blonde before glancing at the carrycot, not even considering saying yes. There was no way she wanted to babysit some human, let alone the one behind all this mess to begin with, baby or not.
"It's ok, I'll watch her," the Doctor spoke as he approached them.
"Oh, are you sure?" Jackie asked him, rather surprised that he would offer.
"Yeah, its fine," the Doctor replied.
Jackie smiled before leaving baby Rose with the Time Lord. Tanith made to get up as well, but the Doctor stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder as he sat beside her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know," he told her quietly, "And I shouldn't have said what I did."
Frowning, Tanith glanced at him before shaking her head. "You didn't know," she replied equally quiet.
They sat there in silence for a moment before the Doctor spoke.
"What, um," he cleared his throat, "What did you mean before? About your mother?" he asked tentatively, not wanting to upset the red head.
Tanith didn't say anything for a moment and the Doctor sighed as he looked away, wondering if he had asked the wrong question.
"She was killed saving me," Tanith said softly, almost to low for the Doctor to catch, "There was a...disagreement and she...she saved me."
"What happened?" he asked, resting a hand on hers.
Tanith frowned and moved her hand from beneath his, "It doesn't matter," she replied, shaking her head when the Doctor went to ask something else. "Just fix this, Doctor. The longer I am here, the more damage it will do."
"Tanith?" the Time Lord questioned, growing confused once again. Though he could understand her reluctance to speak of what happened to Serenity, he was still unsure as to how she was here.
"I told you, Doctor. When that human," she nodded towards the carrycot with a look of disgust, "Decided to save her precious father's life, she created a wound in time, causing a disruption within time itself. That disruption also caused the block in Zaly's mind, well, my mind to be corrupted."
"Your mind?" the Time Lord questioned, his eyebrows creasing before they flew upwards when he realised what she was saying, "But that means..."
Tanith nodded, "Zaly and I are one and the same," she agreed.
"But she's human," the Doctor frowned, "That shouldn't be possible."
"Of course she's not human," Tanith scoffed, "She just thinks she is."
The Doctor's frown deepened, not following and Tanith sighed.
"Zaly doesn't remember," she explained, "And the fact that you've gone and placed that wall in her mind, it means she won't be anytime soon."
"Wait, I stopped her, er, you from remembering?" he asked in alarm.
"Oh don't get your panties in a twist," Tanith told him with a roll of her eyes, "If anything, I really should be thanking you for doing it."
The Doctor grew confused again, once more not following where Tanith was going.
"And I really thought you were the smart one," the red head muttered, earning herself a raised eyebrow from the Doctor. "What happens to a human brain when you try and dump centuries worth of memories on it?" she questioned, trying to simplify what she was trying to say.
Frowning, the Doctor thought on her words. "The brain wouldn't be able to handle them and it wo...oh," his face lit up in realisation, "It would burn up."
"Now he gets it," Tanith declared sarcastically, although she sounded a little tired.
The Doctor looked at her in concern, but she waved him off.
"So, Zaly cant remember because it would burn her mind," he said instead, his eyebrows creasing with worry at the prospect of what he had just figured out meant.
"Yep," Tanith agreed, "And right now, she's safe in here," she tapped her temple. "I managed to protect her part of my mind when I surfaced, but I don't know how long I can do that for," she explained, seeing the Doctor's questioning gaze.
"But how?" he asked, "I mean..." he tugged on his ear awkwardly, unsure how to voice his question.
"I don't know," Tanith replied, "During the...disagreement, a friend tried to get me to leave, but I was just so angry. I...there was an explosion. The next thing I know is waking up over a pile of books with memories that were mine, but not."
"Zaly's," the Doctor said and Tanith nodded.
"It took me a while to figure out what was happening, but," her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to find the words, "It's like I regenerated, but I hadn't. I was still me..."
"I'm sorry," the Doctor murmured, unsure what else to say. He couldn't even begin to try and understand what Tanith was going through.
"Don't be," the red head muttered, shaking her head, "You didn't know what happened," she stood up, "Have you figured out a way out of this?" she asked, changing the topic, "Or do I just go and throw Peter in front of the car you were watching earlier?"
"No!" the Doctor stood up, now angry, "No one is throwing anyone in front of a car," he snapped, unbelieving that she would even consider doing that, "No one needs to die."
"You really believe that, don't you?" the red head questioned as she eyed the Doctor, "You really believe you can save everyone?" she stared at him for a moment longer, an unknown emotion flickering through her eyes before she shook her head, "Well, I've got news for you, Doctor. Not everyone can be saved and the moment your little blonde companion decided to push her father out of the way of that car, people have been dying all around us."
"She didn't know that this would happen," the Doctor shot back, "She doesn't know the laws of time."
"But you did," Tanith told him, causing the Doctor to pause, "And you still brought her back to a place where there were already a set of you two running around."
She paused, remembering she had also run into whom she guessed to be a future regeneration of the Doctor before shaking her head. There must have been a reason for him being there, she told herself, though she couldn't help think as to why the Doctor wanted her here.
"Enough of that," she said aloud, her eyes changing as golden particles passed over them, causing the Doctor to inhale sharply, though she took no notice. "I have about thirty minutes until the walls I've placed around Zaly's mind start to crumble and if you haven't fixed it by then," she tilted her head to the side, "I'm sorry, but I will do what is needed to be done."
"No one needs to die," the Doctor told her as he grabbed her arm and Tanith inhaled sharply at the action before she pulled her arm from his grip, almost as if it burned.
"You see, there's your problem, Doctor," she said, trying to calm her rapidly beating hearts as her eyes returned to their normal dark brown, "You are so focused on saving these precious humans, that you don't even see what is happening right in front of you," she leaned in close to whisper in his ear, "I'm already dying."
The Doctor froze as Tanith walked away, his thoughts running a mile a minute at what she had just told him.
The Doctor sat on the pew, talking to baby Rose as he kept a subtle eye on Tanith who sat a little further away, reading a book.
"Now, Rose. You're not going to bring about the end of the world, are you? Are you?" he asked the baby sternly as he thought over what he had learnt.
He wasn't to sure how to completely feel right now. Sure he was glad that he wasn't the last of his kind anymore, but after hearing about what had happened to Tanith, to hear that she was essentially locked away in the mind of Zaly...he wasn't too sure how he felt.
Then there was Peter Tyler and the mess that had been created after Rose had saved him.
Deep down, the Doctor knew Tanith was right. Having Pete die would fix everything, but there had to be another way. He knew he had to fix this as there was no way he was going to let anyone else die, including Tanith.
There was no way he wanted to lose her after just realising exactly who she was.
"I better be careful," Rose said with a sniffle as she approached the Doctor, breaking the Time Lord from his thoughts, "I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken."
She went to pick up her younger self, but was suddenly pushed backwards by something unseen.
"I wouldn't recommend doing that," Tanith said as she closed the book she had been reading and glanced at Rose, who was looking to her in surprise, "The last thing we'd want to happen is for a paradox to occur and let those nasty Reapers getting inside the church," she paused as she stood up, tucking the book away in her coat, "Unless, of course, that was what you intended all along? Which, I will admit, is a pretty good way to go about the end of the world."
"Tanith," the Doctor warned and she rolled her eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Tanith said mockingly before looking between the pair, "Did I hurt you little girlfriends feelings?"
"I'm not his girlfriend!" Rose snapped, though Tanith only smirked at the glance the blonde gave the Doctor, "And who the hell is Tanith?" the blonde asked, looking back at the red head.
"Why, me of course," Tanith said, pointing to herself before approaching Rose, "But I guess you didn't know that. I believe you know me as Zaly. But enough of the introductions. You," she poked Rose's forehead before stealing a hair of the blondes head, causing Rose to exclaim in outrage, "Don't touch the baby," Tanith continued as she pressed the palm of her hand on the edge of the carrycot.
There was a light emitting from her palm before it vanished, and when Tanith removed it, the hair she had taken from Rose looked to be burnt into the carrycot.
"What did you do?" the Doctor asked curiously as he took out his sonic and pointed it at the cot.
"Oh, what did I say," Tanith said, tapping her chin as she tried to recall something. "Ah, that's right," she said with a grin as she looked to the Doctor. "Magic," she told him as she made a rainbow with her hands, copying the same thing she had done as Zaly hours earlier.
The Doctor frowned as he looked between the carrycot and Tanith.
"What do you mean, magic?" Rose asked as she glared at the red head.
"Oh, how to put it?" Tanith said before she started digging around in her jacket before smirking, "There it is."
Rose's eyes widened as Tanith pulled a book from her jacket pocket.
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," the red head continued as she tapped the cover, "Must admit that I loved the snake in this one, though I am amazed that they never found the door to the right of the statue. I always loved that library," she muttered with a frown, "And the way they portrayed some of the professors was just a lie. McGonagall was not as uptight as Rowling made her out to be."
"Oh, I love that story," the Doctor commented, "Did you ever read book seven?" he asked Tanith.
"Who said it was a story?" Tanith asked him with a secretive, but sad smile, causing the Doctor to pause.
"What on Earth are you going on about?" Rose demanded.
Tanith looked at the blonde with a raised eyebrow, "Harry Potter, of course," she said, missing the Doctor's eyes widen.
"I'm not an idiot," Rose told Tanith.
"Well, you certainly have acted like one," Tanith said with a raised eyebrow before she sniffed the air, "Why does it smell like burning leather?" she questioned as she looked around.