Raven crossed her arms as she sat in her chair in the console room, watching the Doctor pilot them to Bills flat, deep in concentration as he focused on squeezing into her room, which would be a very tight squeeze seeing as how the Doctor, for some reason, had agreed to help Bill move out with her university mates, so her room was full of moving boxes.
"Remind me why you agreed to this again?" She called.
She had just been minding her own business when the Doctor had come over saying he needed her help, how he had agreed to help Bill move out of her foster mothers and into a place of her own with friends.
"Well, Bill is our friend," the Doctor replied, rolling his eyes at Ravens snort, "my friend." she raised an eyebrow at him, "I tutor her, and so I offered to help..."
"You weren't listening and just agreed to get her to shut up didn't you?" She guessed, smirking down at him. "And once you realised what you agreed to it was too late to back out." She grinned at his silence, "I know you too well."
"Shut up." He muttered, materialising around Bills boxes as the woman herself entered. "That's all you've got?" He frowned at the few boxes, "I thought you'd have loads."
"Thanks for helping, yeah?" She grinned, "You should hire this out, like a removal service."
"Removals? Bill, we're Time Lords."
"Time Lord?" Bill repeated, scoffing, "What's that, your job?"
"It's our people." Raven explained, heading down to join them at the console, "our rank once we finish the academy."
"Sounds posh, like, yes, my lord. Anything you ask, your ladyship." she chuckled at Ravens glare, "Doff my cap."
"Oh, well, that's why I gave it up." The Doctor chuckled, "Ran away."
"Time Lords. That's hilarious. Do you wear robes and big hats?"
"No. Er, big collars mostly."
Bill leaned against the console, "Do you want the postcode?"
"Sorry?"
"To find the house."
"Bill, the TARDIS uses multi-dimensional space-time coordinates."
"So you know where it is?"
Raven laughed at his sour face, "just write the postcode here." She led Bill to the scanner.
"Saw the bedroom." Bill answered as she wrote it down, "Do you sleep here?"
"Not so much anymore." She answered, setting them in motion as Bill finished with the postcode.
"Not so much anymore," Bill repeated. "What does that mean?"
"What it means is..."
"Sleep's for tortoises." The Doctor cut her off.
He knew what she meant, she rarely slept in the TARDIS now, Raven was the type of person who tended to crash and take naps in the most obscure places, whether that be relaxing in the window while tinkering away or while he was trying to stop Missy's evil plans. But lately she had gone to sleeping in the vault for a few hours and he didn't see her again for a while only for her to drag her feet back up to the TARDIS.
"Not Time Lords?" Bill sniggered.
"No! Unless we've regenerated or had a big lunch."
"Regenerated?"
"When we die we change our appearance." Raven said.
"What? How does that work?"
"Oh," She smirked, pulling the scanner round and bringing up the Doctor previous regenerations, Bill and herself sharing a chuckle at his bad fashion sense. "You haven't seen the best part." She laughed as his previous self came up, bow tie, floppy hair and delicate eyebrows.
"So, it's random yeah?" Bill guessed, continuing on at their surprised faces, "you know, because you look like that girl, the old Prime Ministers daughter. The Saxons…" she had been young herself back then, too young to fault, but she recalled seeing him on TV, the little family, the blonde wife and the darked hair daughter." Raven nodded slowly as Bill recalled that year, "what was her name?"
"Raven." She supplied.
"Oh, god that was it!" Bill gasped, she stared at Raven, as though seeing her with long dark hair, "oh my god. We elected an alien for Prime Minister..."
Raven shifted uncomfortable, "I don't want to talk about it."
"Yes, well," the Doctor cleared his throat. "Shall we go?" The Doctor picked up a few of Bills boxes and headed out once they landed, which thankfully was moments later so the conversation couldn't continue. "I'll use the TARDIS, take it all to your room."
"Firstly," Bill began, "I don't know which one my room is. And secondly, that's weird and I want to make a good impression. It's cool, I'll just, er, get everything out of the TARDIS and then you can go. Thanks for the lift, though! Bye!" She took a box from Raven, still eying her curiously.
"That's your house?" Ravens stared up the driving way at the large wooden house, the tower standing tall against the trees blowing.
"Sharing, yeah. Six of us, renting."
"Must have been cheap."
"Must have been?" She frowned, "it's fine, just a bit draughty."
"Draughty?" The Doctor repeated, wetting a finger and resting the wind.
"I meant draughty inside."
"Interesting." He mused, "we'll help you in."
"We will?" Raven cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Yes, we will."
"No, no, no. It's fine." Bill waved them off, "You really don't have to. It's not..."
"Really not a problem." He grinned, setting a box he was carrying on Ravens arms.
"No, wait, honestly." Bill tried to stop him, but he had already hurried up to the house. "Um, if you just er. If you just go and do history or whatever." She sighed, "is he serious?"
"Never knowingly." Raven sighed.
"So Harry Saxon an alien?" Bill asked her.
Raven hesitated. Screw it, Bill pretty much already knew the truth now, "yes."
"Why? Why did he want to be prime minster, just to kill the president of America. What was the deal with you and him? You pretended to be his daughter. Is he actually your dad? Do Time Lords reproduce differently to humans?"
"Not now." Raven swallowed, "Please, I don't want to talk about it."
"Why?"
"Because you'll never look at me the same again."
Bill watched as Raven stalked up to the house, dumping the box back on the Doctor as he frowned at her in concern, knowing they had just talked. She shook her head, she would never understand that girl. She could have sworn she had seen her lip quiver as she walked off, which was strange in itself as the girl never really let her emotions out, well, she did, just the negative ones. Raven certainly let people know when she was annoyed (which was most of the time).
She shrugged following them, they were aliens after all.
~.~
"Hey." One of Bills friends grinned as soon as they stepped through the door, "Where have you been? I thought..." she trailed off as she noticed the Doctor, "Ah, you're the Doctor."
"Yes. Hi." He nodded, "Can I get past?" He squeezed past her.
"Er yes, he's just helping with the move."
"Helping?" Her friends frowned until she also noticed Raven holding a box of Bills. "Er, Hi."
"Sorry." Raven mumbled, "excuse me." She too squeezed past them, setting the box on the table, readjusting her hood.
"They're just my..." Bill began to explain.
"Friend." The Doctor finished for her.
"Yeah, once you get past Ravens touch and bitter exterior she's a really good friend. She's a Hufflepuff pretending to be a Slytherin."
Raven glowered at her, "it's scandalous to think I'm anywhere other than Ravenclaw."
"Seriously?" Bill gaped at her, "you've read Harry Potter?"
"I think most people on this planet have," she replied, stiffly, "and know their own house."
"Yeah, but your'e not..." Bill caught herself and shook her head, "we were able to get a ride with her granddad, the Doctor."
"She's not my..." the Doctor began automatically only to blink at Bills words, "I'm not old enough to be her granddad."
"All this time you didn't assume I'm his daughter because you were assuming I'm his granddaughter." Raven blinked at her, "wow."
"I'm not." The Doctor shook his head.
"How exciting is this?" Another girl came bouncing down the stairs followed by two boys.
"Oh, wow. Doctor. Legend." The shorter of the two boys held up a hand to high-five the Doctor but lowered it wrong he wasn't going to retrieve one back.
"You two really can go now, though." Bill took the boxes from the Doctor, setting them on the table, "Thanks for the help. Job done."
"Good." Raven turned, "I have places to be."
"Bye." The Doctor offered a wave before quickly following her.
"Bye." Bill watched them go before turning to her friends to settle into their house.
~.~
"Doctor!" Raven hissed as the pair stood in the small pantry in the kitchen having snuck in seeing how Bill and her friends were busy gossiping away in the living room. "She will kill you."
"It's fine." He waved her off, "there's something off about this house, don't you feel it?"
"Yes but..."
She trailed off as the door open and Bill and her friends stood there, all of them looking like deer caught in the headlights as the Doctor turned to them, obviously he has been louder than they were going for and they had come to investigate.
"There isn't any." He answered, having heard one of them suggest the strange noises of the house are just the central heating.
"I thought..." the younger girl frowned.
"They'd gone home." Bill sighed, "Me, too." She sent a look at Raven having really been hoping she would have kept him away, seemed she had been wrong, "Isn't any what?"
"Central heating." He said, "I've been looking around, inside and out. Very interesting. Lots of wood."
"Er, why are you still here?"
"Do you know what that is?" He held up an old, rather battered, oil burner and handed it to Bill, "That's an oil-burning heater. You might need it. There's no washing machine either. The hob is from the Thirties." Bill passed the heater to one of the boys, "The power sockets will not take your devices."
"Oh, I thought it was just my room." The first girl laughed.
"No, no, no. They're out of date. What's that smell?" He sniffed, "Is that Chinese food? I love Chinese."
"Doctor." Bill sighed as they followed him into the main room where sure enough there was the left over Chinese take away, "There might be a few old things, but it just needs updating. It's not like there's some massive mystery going on."
"Did you hear the trees creaking outside when we arrived?"
"Yeah. It was the wind."
"There wasn't any wind. You should find another house."
"Mmm, I don't think so." The first girl shook her head.
"The rooms are really big." One of the boys agreed.
"Exactly." The other, with a slight Scottish accent, nodded besides him, "And it's still the best place for the money. I'll just call the landlord, sort it out."
"You can't." The first girl called, "No reception."
"Ok, so I'll go down the hill. Oh, hi..." he tailed off as seeing in the corner of the room with a grey haired man in a brown suit.
"Didn't hear you come in." The other girl eyed him.
"For a man such as myself, discretion is second nature." The landlord remarked, "So, a gathering. You're all here. No, except one."
"Pavel's upstairs." The first girl explained.
"And two in addition."
"He's the Doctor." The smaller, non-Scottish boy, introduced, "And she's Raven."
"Doctor?" The landlord turned his gaze to the man who helped himself to a prawn cracker.
"Yeah, er, he's Ravens grandfather, she's just a friend." Bill explained.
"You're assisting with the relocation?"
"That's right, yeah."
"It's a heart-breaking experience, to leave one's charge behind, all alone in the big wide world."
"Indeed, yes." The Doctor nodded slowly, watching the landlord curiously as he caresses the wood panelling, "You got children?"
"I...yes, a daughter. But I'm most fortunate, she's still under my protection. So long as that's the case, I'm most content. So, I was calling to see if everything's satisfactory?"
"Actually, there are a few things." The second girl began.
"Yes, I see. Go on."
"No central heating?"
"The power sockets are wrong." The first girl added.
"And a landline." The Scottish boy cut her off.
"Some new furniture." The other boy suggested.
"I need some curtains, carpets."
"Have you got a cat?" Bill asked
"A cat?" The landlord frowned at her.
"Er, er, yeah. Er, Harry said that he heard some, some noise upstairs, like walking around?"
"No cats. No pets. You understand I won't be able to do any of this tonight. But as soon as possible, yes. Knock on wood." He knocked on the wood panelling as it creaked, "Do what I can."
"That's another thing." The first girl spoke again, "This house is really creaky. Everything you touch, it's like uuuurrr!"
"It's unavoidable, my dear."
"How do you get into the tower?" The shorter boy asked.
"You don't." The landlord turned sharply to him, "The tower is specifically excluded from the terms of our agreement."
"Oh, right, well, thank you. No tower. Got it."
"Right. Oh, are you staying here tonight?" The landlord looked at the Time Lords.
Raven stretched, "Well, he's my ride home." She shrugged.
"We're staying." The Doctor nodded.
"Er no, they're not." Bill argued.
"Well, I'm not sure."
"There's no reason to."
"We probably will."
"I don't want to." Raven stated.
"There isn't a bed." Bill agreed, "So..."
"All right." The landlord looked between them, almost bemused.
"Excuse me," Raven called as the man walked past, "who's the prime minister?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Margaret Thatcher?" The Doctor offered, "Harriet Jones? Wilson? Eden?"
"I think it's better for you and your granddaughter to leave her friend here with her friends." The landlord said, quietly. "They seem respectable, and I'll keep an eye, of course. You two can leave." He tapped a tuning fork against a wood panel, "I'll attend to your requirements in the morning. In the meantime, sleep well." And rested it on the panel, receiving a steady hum before he left, smiling.
"I take it back." The second girl called after him, "You're fine. He's weird."
"Oh! The washing machine!" The first girl remembered quickly following the landlord only to return a moment later, frowning, "He's not there."
"That's it." The shorter boy gasped, hearing a noise that sounded like a fingernail quickly scratching on the wood. "That's the noise I heard."
"Fascinating." The Doctor mused as he followed the noise across the ceiling and to the wall where the Doctor set his hand on a panel. The sound cut off.
"It's just pipes." The Scottish boy shrugged, "I'm going to bed."
"Yeah. Might go up, as well." Bill agreed.
"Me, too." The second girl nodded, "Locking my door though."
"Er, Doctor?" Bill waved a hand before his face seeing he was staring at her friends, "Hello. Yeah. Perhaps you should leave now?"
"No, no, I'm fine." He shook his head.
"Raven?" She turned to her.
"Yeah, we should go. We have things to check up on." She gave the Doctor a pointed look, "things I don't trust Nardole to do."
"Er, are you two tired?" The Doctor asked.
"Well, I was..." the shorter boy began
"Good. No, I'm going to hang about with Simon."
"Harry." Bill sighed.
"And Florence."
"Felicity." She corrected, "Yeah, why?"
"Well, we're gonna, we're gonna chill. Yeah?"
"Yeah." Felicity smiled, glad that she wouldn't have to be alone in this creepy, creaking house, "Ok, yes!"
"Put some tunes on, yes?"
"Yes."
"All right." Harry said.
"See? I'm good at making friends," the Doctor grinned, "Give me your phone."
"But why?" Bill questioned, "There's no reception."
"Phone." She handed it over and he strolled through her song list before selecting one by Little Mix, it seemed popular giving how it was the most viewed on the playlist, "I love this."
"Do you know who this is?" Felicity laughed.
"Do I know who this is? Yes, I know who this is."
"Yeah, it's Spotify so it's probably random." Bill shrugged them off.
Raven snatched the phone, scrolling through the playlist, "Ooh, there is a whole playlist of a Little Mix here."
"You like Little Mix?" The Scottish boy sniggered.
"Are they the ones who did that Salute video all on black leather?" Raven frowned.
"Yes." Bill groaned.
"Nice."
The girl first snatch the phone from Raven, "What else have you got on it?"
"Can I have a word, please?" Bill hissed, ushering the Time Lords out into the hallway to speak in private. "Honestly, Doctor, there's nothing going on. Nothing weird, nothing alien. Just an old house and a dodgy landlord, which is pretty standard for students. I'll see you later for more exciting TARDIS action, but, basically, this is the bit of my life that you're not in. Do you know what I mean?"
"I know what you mean." He muttered.
"Thanks."
"So, up the wooden hill you go. Sleep well. Maybe before you do, you should check on your friend who hasn't been seen for a day, and who has strange music coming out of his room."
She fought to roll her eyes at that, "They said he just does that."
"Nobody just does anything."
"You're not leaving, are you?" She sighed.
"No. Your friend will probably be fine." He knocked on a panel, "Knock on wood."
Bills friend poked her head out of the room, "We need to have a talk about your taste in music."
The Scottish boy followed, "You coming up?"
Bill nodded as the pair of them headed up and she followed, excepting the fact that the Doctor and Raven were staying for the night.
"Do you like this music, Raven?" Felicity asked as the reentered the room.
"I don't like music." She stated.
"Oh." Who didn't like music?
"Reminds me of Quincy Jones." The Doctor murmured, "I stepped in for him once. The bassist he'd hired turned out to be a Klarj Neon Death Voc-Bot. What was worse, he couldn't play. This is very interesting."
"The door?" Harry frowned, as the Doctor walked to the front door.
"Because it isn't."
"Isn't?"
"A door, anymore. Try to open it."
"Come on." Felicity moaned as Harry struggled to open the door, pulling and pushing, "Shireen did it a minute ago. So, it's locked."
"No," Raven ran a hand over the doors, "it's completely sealed."
"I don't understand."
"We should have left when we could."
Felicity turned at the loud banging back in the main room, finding the shutters had closed over the window, "The shutters."
"What about them?" Harry asked.
"Closed by themselves." The Doctor muttered, "Sealed."
"So, we're trapped?" Felicity swallowed.
"Maybe that's the idea."
"What do you mean?" Harry shook his head.
"What's that?" Felicity looked up hearing the scratching noise above them, the wood creaking, causing dust to fall, "No. No, no, no! There's something in here. I can't be trapped!" She yelled, "I can't!"
"Wait!" The Doctor yelled as she ran off into the kitchen as the shutters began closing over the windows, she grabbed a set to prevent them shutting and trapping them, "Don't go out there!" He warned.
"I can't be trapped!" She cried, hoping on the counter and pushing the window open. And jumping outside as the shutters slammed shut behind her.
"Great." Harry groaned, "Now we're stuck here. Why'd you try and stop her?"
"Listen." He shushed him.
"To what?" Raven huffed.
It was then they heard Felicity screaming from outside.
"What's happened to her?" Harry demanded, "What's going on? Do you think it's like she said? A thing?"
"Maybe." The Doctor said.
"And so is it out there now? Or in here?"
"Or both." Raven breathed.
"I'm scared."
"Don't be." The Doctor remarked.
"Why not?"
"It doesn't help." He tapped on the shutter, getting a creak in reply, "Who's there? What if something's got into the wood? Into the lathes, behind the plaster, into the very fabric of the house? Wood nymphs, tree spirits, dryads. Anything's possible."
"Doctor, what are you doing? We need to get out and call the police!"
"You got signal?" Raven cocked an eyebrow at him as he checked his phone and slumped. No, he did not.
The Doctor pressed again the cupboard door, "Who's there?"
"Doctor, you're provoking it." Harry hissed as the creaking increased, "It's getting louder!"
"Wake up!" The Doctor thumped on the door, "Wake up! Out you come!"
He grinned as the wood grain parted and a large woodlouse with glowing antennae, scuttled lit along the worktop.
"Oh! I was expecting something quite different, you know, like a gaseous creature, or microscopic! Did you see it move through the wood? Interacting at a cellular level. This must be alien! Got to be alien! What are you doing here? On your holidays? Raven, get a matchbox or something. Don't let it get away!"
"What do you mean, alien?" Harry frowned as Raven rummaged through her bag from something to trap the creature.
"Oh, little one!"
Raven gasped as a large group of the creatures crawled into the kitchen from the walls, she stopped rummaging, "Doctor." She whacked his arm.
He turned to her, "Ah. Now, this starts to make sense. Yes. Dryads indeed. We need to get out."
"We can't!" Harry shouted.
He opened the door to the pantry, ushering them in, "in here!"
"What's the point of hiding in a cupboard?"
"Because it's not a cupboards." Raven simplified, pulling down a handle on the wall, the gates for the lift crossing before them as they lowered down into the basement. "Torch." Raven mumbled, rummaging around again, "there you are!" She flashed it around the stone basement.
"What are they?" Harry breathed, looking around cautious of more should appear, "They look like insects but you're saying they can shut doors, trap us?"
"They're not just in the wood, they're becoming the wood itself." The Doctor remarked, "Total infestation. Infestation of the Dryads!"
"You're talking like you've seen things like this before..."
"No, actually."
"But you said they were alien."
"Well, they could be native to this planet, but I've never seen them before. Have you?"
"That's what they're called? Dryads?"
"Well, that's what I'm calling them, yes."
"You've gone crazy."
"He did that years ago." Raven deadpanned.
"Oh shut up." He rolled his eyes at her, "I can't just call them lice, can I?"
"Space lice."
~.~
They walked through the basement, following the light from Ravens torch as they found a storage room full of old portraits and boxes full of letters and random old junk from previous owners.
Most of the boxes were full of stuff teenagers and students would have owned, along with tenancy agreements, six, the same amount of students currently sharing the house. All of them students. Every 20 years more students arrived at the house, got settled and that were infested by the Dryads.
According to the landlord who had quietly snuck up on them from the other way down, they were still in the house, in the wood. The landlord had claimed what he was doing was all for his daughter, the dryads has apparently helped to save her and so was repaying the favour.
Harry had made a run for it seeing the landlord was distracted speaking to the Doctor, running up the stairs only for his foot to get stuck in the wood, the landlord using his tuning fork, the dryads swarming over the screaming Harry before leaving no sight that he had ever been there.
Of course, thinking quickly as the Dryads began to swarm around the pair of them the Doctor had managed to get the landlord to call them off, offering to look at the mans daughter to see if he could help. He was a Doctor after all.
Which was why they followed the landlord back up the house, thought a bookcase hiding the secret staircase up to the forbidden tower, finding Bill already there, standing before a wooden young woman.
"It's upsetting, I understand. But Father says we have to survive."
"Eliza, do not fear these people." The landlord smiled at the wooden woman, clearly his daughter, the reason the tower wasn't in the contract as his wooden daughter was secretly living in the shut off room, "He says he might be able to make you well."
"Bill, how are you?" The Doctor eyed her, seeing she was close to tears.
"Yeah, yeah," she swallowed thickly, glancing down to where her friend had been taken by the weird alien bugs, "I'm ok. Shireen..."
"The lice?"
"Yeah."
"Harry, too." Raven rested her hand on the woman's shoulder, "Sorry."
"Um, in brief, he's her dad." The Doctor explained, gesturing between the wooden woman and the landlord, "He's been keeping her alive with the bugs for about seventy years. Your friends are the food. I said that I could help. Now, you must be Eliza. How are you feeling? Rotten?"
"I am quite well." Eliza smiled, not understanding his pun.
"Administer your treatment, Doctor." The landlord glared at him.
"Well, what's the medical history here? What happened? Eliza, you were very ill?"
"Yes." She replied.
"Yes? The doctors had, er, given up on you, but then one day your father brings you a present. Where did you find them? What, on the roof? In the garden? You find the insects. You bring them into the house because you want to show them to her, presumably just to just to amuse her. You couldn't have known what they were."
"Can you help her or not?" The man demanded.
"I am helping. This is me helping."
"How did you find out their unique abilities?" Raven frowned, something about the mans story just didn't quite fit right with her. She'll kick herself when she realised just how obvious it would be. "Did you bring them in here? You brought them in here, right, but what activated them? You use a tuning fork now but not back then..."
"Pavel had that record on." Bill offered, "A violin?"
"High-pitched sounds." The Doctor nodded, "Yes." He licked up the small music box from the besides table, opening it as the soft music began to play and the Dryads appeared, "Soothes her to sleep. High-pitched sound. You leave your daughter alone for the night, or so you believe. The music wakes them. They set to work, and in the morning, you find her revitalised, just slightly wooden. "You realise there's a way she can survive."
"Enough!" The landlord cut in.
"No, wait." Bill frowned as she climbed on the chest box to avoid the swarming Dryads by her feet, "Doctor, that doesn't make sense."
"It doesn't, does it?" Raven agreed.
The Doctor snapped the box shut and the Dryads disappeared back into the wood as he glared at the pair, "Can you not interrupt? I'm doing my thing here."
"You have a habit of being wrong in public." Raven shrugged, "here I am helping to change that."
"But why would he pick up insects from the garden and bring them in to see his ill daughter?" Bill questioned.
"Everyone loves insects." The Doctor defended.
"I don't!"
"They're fascinating."
"I remember I used to find them in the red grass at my family's estate. Dad always used to get a good kick out of it when the servants would find random bugs in the house." Raven smirked at the memory, faltering as she realised something.
"You alright?" The Doctor frowned seeing her mind wander.
"Yeah, no, it's not want you think." She shook her head, "it's just...why would a parent bring in hugs from the garden to show his sick child? Children bring the bugs to show their parents because they like the play in the mud and the dirt to grab them. A fully grown adult is not going to bring them inside to a child's room-that's just unsanitary-as any parent would know. But a child..."
"What are you getting at?" The Doctor frowned at her.
"She was preserved 70 years ago." Bill murmured.
"It's easy to forget the humans lifespan when you're not." Raven continued, "70 years ago she would have been 30? 40? And he." She nodded to the landlord, "would have been a child."
"I do not understand." Eliza shook her head.
"Do not let them trouble you." The landlord tried to assure her.
"Shh you." Raven pointed a finger at him. "Don't interrupt when I'm calling you out on your crap. Eliza," She turned to the woman, "What do you remember of the past?"
"My father," She murmured, "he knows what's best."
"Yes, the lice preserve the appearance and the voice, but not so much the memories." The Doctor remarked.
"But he isn't your father!" Raven argued.
"No!" The landlord yelled, "Stop talking!"
"Absolutely not! I'm on a roll here!"
"Father, what's the matter?" Eliza frowned at him, "I don't understand."
"Your father would have had more important things to do than find bugs in the garden." Raven told her, "but he isn't your father. He's your son, sent outside by the doctors failing to save his mother!"
"His mother?" Eliza repeated
"He's your son."
"My son?"
"Forgive me." The landlord sobbed, "Forgive me."
"When you saw what the creatures had done, you understood, didn't you?" The Doctor turned to the man, "The lice could keep your mother alive if you protected them, tamed them, fed them."
"If you could save the one who brought you into this world, wouldn't you?" He hissed.
Raven was silent at that, of course the answer was yes. Just now with Missy and the vault, it was murder rehab at the university or she would have been killed. The woman didnt think it was for the best, but her intentions were obvious. Even the Doctor, despite their past and how many times she tried to kill him didnt want his best enemy dead for good.
"Your silence is a confirmation"
"I did what you told me because I thought you knew best." Eliza muttered, "But I...I am your mother?"
"Yes." The landlord nodded.
"And you, all these children you've taken. You told me it was necessary, that we had no choice."
"That's right, it was." His lip quivered as he wiped his eyes, "It meant we could stay together. Don't you understand? We were happy! I kept our lives a secret, and a secret we must remain." He turned to the Time Lords, "You have brought her nothing but misery and confusion! You will be taken, like the others!" He moved behind the shutting the doors, stabbing his tuning fork in the walls, summoning the Dryads.
"Ok," Bill swallowed as the Dryads began to swarm, "now's the time for the plan."
Raven turned to the Doctor, "you're turn."
"I've got nothing." He sighed, "Info dump, then busk. You can continue."
"Well I got this far, you finish off."
"Well, start busking." Bill called.
"Eliza," the Doctor spun to her, "people have died and will continue to die unless you stop all this right now."
"How can I stop it?" Eliza wept.
"You're the parent. You're in charge!"
She nodded slowly at that, raising her arms out before her and the Dryads split into two groups.
"That's it!" The Doctor cheered.
"Do what I say!" The landlord cried, tapping the tuning fork but the Dryads ignored him, listening to Eliza, "I control you!"
"No. It's me." Eliza countered, "I control them."
"Eliza, finish them now. Take them, or you'll die! They'll destroy you!"
"What's the point in surviving if you never see anyone," the Doctor reasoned, "if you hide yourself away from the world? When did you last open the shutters?"
Eliza turned to the window, commanding the shutters open, revealing the fireworks display in the nearby park.
"It's the freshers' party in the park." Bill smiled.
"Exactly. New friends, fireworks. That's what life should be."
"I remember." Eliza breathed, "My son, leave my side at last. Go and see the world."
"No, I don't want to!" He pouted, childishly, "If you won't finish them, I will!" He sneered only for Eliza to grab his wrist, stopping him as Dryads ran down her arms to him.
"My little boy, this has to end." She whispered.
"No, we mustn't end. We have to destroy them."
"It's our time."
"No, I don't want to!" He cried, sobbing as Eliza pulled him into his arms as the Dryads crawled over them.
"Thank you." Eliza breathed, looking over at them as the Dryads covered them and they disappeared into the house, which began to shake, causing them to run but not before Bills friend returned from the wooden floor, the others returning as well, thanks to Eliza, as they ran outside, the group watching on silence as the house crumbled before them leaving nothing but a cloud of wood dust.
"Bang goes our deposit." Felicity sighed.
"Oh man, that's our house." Shireen groaned.
"Gone." Harry stared.
"Right, you lot, back to the estate agents." The Doctor said to them.
"Better luck next time." Raven smirked as she followed the Doctor down the drive to the TARDIS Park just outside the gates, leaving the students staring at what had been their new house, "Hey!" She playfully punch the Doctors arm, "I'm feeling Mexican food. What do you reckon?"
"You're paying."
"Urgh!"
~.~
"Oh, here they come." Nardole said, happily, as he saw the pair approach the vault, Raven carrying two bags worth of Mexican food as he finished up fiddling with the vault.
"Leave." Raven commanded.
"Are you being cheerful?" The Doctor frowned at the man, "I'm against cheerful."
Nardole ignored them, "Bill told me you went on a little adventure. You see? You don't have to go to outer space to find monsters. There's plenty of things that want to kill you right here on Earth."
"Result."
"Oh." Nardole noticed the bags of food, "Actually, I'm not that hungry."
"Who said anything about sharing with you?" Raven scoffed. "You've got the night off. Now go. Before I dock you're pay."
"Go on, go and do whatever it is you do." The Doctor ushered him off, "Actually, what do you do? No!" He shook his head, "Never tell me that."
"I just want to have a look at this." He turned back to whatever he had spent the day doing, "Our friend inside's been a little restive lately."
"It's fine." Raven stated.
"No, it's all right, I don't mind."
"It's fine." She repeated.
Nardole straightened at her tone, turning to see the pair really did want him to leave, "right." He readjusted his waistcoat, "Goodnight, ma'am, sir. See you in the morning." He walked passed them when a time from a piano ran from inside the vault, "A piano? You've put a piano in there? Why?"
"Goodnight, Nardole." Raven looked at him, "The longer you stay here the more of wages I'll dock."
"Oh, you don't learn, do you?" Nardole shook his head at them but finally left them.
"Hey!" The Doctor lightly knocked on the vault doors as Raven watched until Nardole had headed up and outside. "Do you want dinner? I've got Mexican. Raven paid, a lot, actually. I think she over did it on the food." He waited, sighing as he heard nothing, glancing at Raven as she looked down, sad, "Look, I know you miss it all, but I'm stuck here too, you know? We're both prisoners. So what do you say, dinner? If you don't want me there that fine, just at least eat dinner with Raven. She's hurting too you know."
"I'm fine." She murmured. The Doctor looked at her, sympathy in his eyes.
"And I've got a new story for you, too." He turned back to the vault doors, "There's a haunted house and woodlice from space." He paused, knowing exactly what she'd want to hear, "And lots of young people get eaten." He grinned as 'Pop goes the Weasel' sounded on the piano before he unlocked the doors. "That's what I thought."
~.~
"And so I shushed him- how dare anyone, let alone an old man- cut across me. I was in my zone. And do you know how I worked it out?" Raven grinned at Missy as the trio sat in the vault, having already demolished all of the Mexican food. Both the Doctor and Missy in the armchairs near the small electric heater as Raven sat on the ground, sat on her knees between the pair, facing them with her back to the doors.
"How?" Missy asked quietly.
"I remembered when I was a wee little one," She mimicked her Scottish accent, "and used to show whatever I had found to you and set them loose to piss of the servants."
"I remember."
Raven hummed, hating the bluntness she was receiving. She finished her wine in two large gulp, setting it in the table before her and stood, "in going to bed."
"Raven!" The Doctor called after her. Knowing she was leaving because of how Missy was acting it was like she didn't want to be a part of Ravens life at the moment. Just nodding along in silence as the girl raved about the day. No one would want to be around that.
"Goodnight!" She waved and shut the door on them, keeping her head held high before slumping against the doors.
It wasn't like she wanted it to be like this either, but whether it was this or death well, there was no question what she would choose.
Why did her mother have to be so unapologetically stubbornly evil?
Did she not think it was also messing with her life?
Thinking about it, this was the most she had seen of her mother in years, and it was only because she couldn't leave.
It was no wonder why people questioned why she still loved them.