The Chameleon Arch is a fascinating piece of technology. Meant to lock away Time Lords into the bio-modules.
Such a perfect method for locking Time Lords away.
It has a usual perfect method of success.
...success is a relative term. In the grand scheme, it works great!
However it wasn't intended to work on Terra's kind.
==ROTF==
MARTHA
Caroline's mind screamed out in a panic. She couldn't bear losing Martha. She didn't want to ever lose Martha.
At her mental scream of anguish something interesting happened.
All the scarecrows stopped.
The lights overhead flickered.
The people screamed.
Rebel growled, snarling in the direction of the aliens.
Caroline clutched tightly to John. Her eyes darted around in the chaotic darkness.
The lights came back on. The screaming was still going on. The scarecrows hadn't stood back up.
Martha had gotten out of the hold of Mother-of-Mine. She had flipped it around so Martha had her in a headlock. She was holding one of their guns now, aimed at Son-of-Mine.
"All right! One more move and I shoot." Martha warned.
Caroline was digging her nails into John's sleeve. Her panic had not calmed down at the slightest.
"Oh, the maid is full of fire." Son-of-Mine remarked.
"And you can shut up!" Marth challenged him.
Caroline twisted her face into a snarl. She was still terrified but something about her hated Son-of-Mine. He dared. That blithering coward!
His glare at Martha was intense in it's focus. Wide green eyes devoid of human life were ablaze with fury. He was eager for a reason to cut Martha down. Caroline didn't know her own eyes were reflecting that same rage.
The golden watch in Timothy's hand was humming.
"Careful, Son-of-Mine. This is all for you so that you can live forever." Father-of-Mine cautioned. He kept his own gun aimed at the matron's skull.
Son-of-Mine ignored this caution. He raised his own gun at Martha's head. "Shoot you down."
"Try it. We'll die together." Martha warned.
NO!
The light overhead burst out.
The scarecrows dropped.
People screamed again.
Rebel howled, taking an attack stance.
"Doctor, Terra, get everyone out!" Martha warned the two humans. The Family looked over to their subjects. John and Caroline flinched away from it all in fear. "There's a door at the side. It's over there."
Neither human moved.
"Go on. Do it." Martha ordered. "Mister Smith, Miss Brown. I mean you."
Caroline was frozen. She couldn't move. Even her thoughts seemed stuck on that one concept, of the coincidental timing.
"Move yourself, boy." Her uncle was instructing the surrounding folks. "Back to the school, quickly."
"And you. Go on. Just shift." Martha ordered.
"What about you?" Her uncle asked.
"Mister Smith, I think you should escort your ward to safety, don't you?" Martha instructed in a low tone.
"Martha." Caroline pleaded.
John took hold of her arm. She gave her friend one last glance, before her uncle led towards the exit.
Caroline tried to stop their walk. "We can't leave without Martha." She told her uncle, trying to distract him from the matron's instructions to the dance party.
John shook his head. "We need to leave, Caroline."
"No. We can't leave her." Caroline pleaded. She turned to head, trying to catch sight of the maid.
"She's too far back now! Let's go." John ordered. He brought Caroline out of the hall.
The cold air outside did nothing to calm Caroline's nerves. Even Rebel's head bumping her leg did nothing to remind her to relax. All she could think about was Martha. All she could focus on was those aliens. All she felt was tremors making her hands shake, not from the cold.
Rebel whined.
Caroline reached down, rubbing the top of his head. She couldn't find it in herself to focus on anything just now. She hadn't even realized that Timothy had wandered off, taking the two Time Lord watches with him.
Her uncle grabbed her shoulders. "What were you thinking!"
"We have to keep her safe." Caroline argued weakly. It was the thing echoing over and over in her head.
John shook his head. "You are worth more to me than she is. My priority is you."
"I can handle myself!" Caroline snapped.
"With what?! They're all mad! You can take on those lunatics!" John scolded.
Caroline wanted to argue that point. She opened her mouth, scathing words in the back of her throat. She wanted to list all the ways she could kill- all the ways she had killed- all the ways she could kill if she wanted. Things not even in her Bag that she could use for an attack.
Rebel yipped.
Suddenly, as fast as they came, all those thoughts popped from her head. Caroline couldn't remember anything she was just about to say. She knew that she'd just thought something disturbing, something that most people shouldn't have thought of in the first place.
Caroline was scared of thoughts like that.
Because she knew exactly who they came from.
John seemed to see this resolve on her face, see the terror she was holding back to save face. He pulled her in for a hug, holding her close to quell his own fears. Something in him was shattering at the idea of Caroline dying, that they would have killed her too. He already felt drowned in loss- he couldn't lose her too.
Rebel yipped again.
Caroline welcomed the hug. She wanted the assurance that she was on solid ground. Everything from the past week left her feeling adrift in her own life.
Before she could find a level of peace, Martha ran out from the dance hall. The alien gun was nowhere in sight. "Don't just stand there, move! God, you're rubbish as humans. Come on!" Martha snapped.
Caroline chased after her, ignoring the settled feeling that only came from running with Martha, Rebel, and the- her uncle.
==ROTF==
They were back at the school.
Caroline knelt by Rebel, holding the dog for comfort. The dog stood at attention. He glared around, growling as the matron got too close.
Her uncle came in, ringing an alarm bell.
"What are you doing?" Martha scolded.
"Maybe one man can't fight them, but this school teaches us to stand together." John argued. He rang the bell, shouting. "Take arms! Take arms!"
"You can't do that!" Martha argued.
Caroline shook her head, holding tight to her dog. The halls quickly filled up with students. Rebel growled at any students who walked too close. Caroline fought off the urge to run.
To hide.
She had to run and hide.
She wasn't sure what would happen if she stayed.
Just that it burned to think about.
"You want me to fight, don't you?" John snapped back at Martha. "Take arms! Take arms!"
A student ran down the stairs. He stopped by John. Caroline recalled him as the one who beat Timothy. "I say sir, what's the matter?"
Caroline startled. Tim!
"Enemy at the door, Hutchinson. Enemy at the door." John instructed. The student moved along with the orders. "Take arms!"
Caroline turned her head to Rebel. The dog licked her cheek. "Have you seen Tim? Boy, hey boy." The dog licked at Caroline's hand. "Not helpful."
She lowered her forehead on his. Rebel held still as the students rushed through the hall. She blew out a breath.
She was worried about Timothy. In all the chaos of the dance, she had lost sight of him. She hadn't even thought about him. How could she have done that? She should have searched for Tim. Why hadn't she thought to look?
'...'s okay, Mo...'
Caroline sat up in shock.
Rebel let his tongue hang out, panting.
==ROTF==
The students were preparing for war. Genuine, war. Horrific war, stretched out around them.
Caroline wanted to vomit.
Martha was ranting at John. Unashamed of the storm she was leaving in her wake. "You can't do this, Doctor. Mister Smith!" Martha shouted. "Terra tell him!"
Caroline feared if she opened her mouth she would puke.
Child soldiers.
I'm watching the creation of child soldiers.
"Redfern, maintain position over the stable yard. Faster now. That's it." John instructed everyone. He spoke counter to Martha's arguments, ignoring them. "Caroline, go up to our quarters. Don't come out until it's safe."
Caroline reached for Rebel.
I can't just leave them like this.
They don't know what they're up against.
"They're just boys. You can't ask them to fight." Martha argued further, ignoring John's ignoring. "They don't stand a chance."
They won't.
I kn-
"They're cadets, Miss Jones." John countered plainly. "They are trained to defend the King and all his citizens and properties."
Caroline let out a shuddering breath. She pressed herself against a wall, hiding back from the rushing students.
She was very stressed. Usually, she would take a walk. That's not an option right now. She wished she could run somewhere safe.
Blue.
High up in the rafters.
Laughter.
"What in thunder's name is this?" The headmaster demanded. Caroline turned her head to the headmaster. He stormed into the defense room. All the students froze. "Before I devise an excellent and endless series of punishments for each and every one of you, could someone explain very simply and immediately exactly what is going on?"
Caroline swallowed.
John went to him. "Headmaster, I have to report the school is under attack." He reported.
"Really? Is that so? Perhaps you and I should have a word in private." The headmaster warned, with an underlying threat.
Caroline bristled.
"No, I promise you, sir. I was in the village with Matron. It's Baines, sir. Jeremy Baines and Mister Clark from Oakham Farm." John reported. "They've gone mad, sir. They've got guns. They've already murdered people in the village. I saw it happen."
"Matron, is that so?" The headmaster asked her.
"I'm afraid it's true, sir." The matron answered.
"Murder on our own soil?" The headmaster gawked.
"I saw it. Yes." The matron nodded.
"Perhaps you did well then, Mister Smith." The headmaster praised. "What makes you thing the danger's coming here?"
Now John was stuttering. Caroline tried to push away her thoughts revolving around a golden watch, and second heart in her chest. "Well, sir, they said-"
"Baines threatened Mister Smith and Miss Brown, sir." The matron answered for him. "Said he'd follow them. We don't know why."
"Very well." The headmaster replied. John gave a thankful smile towards the matron. Caroline rolled her eyes, landing on Martha. "You boys, remain on guard. Mister Snell, telephone for the police. Mister Philips, with me. We shall investigate."
Caroline hissed, reaching for her head.
Martha tried to stop the boys once again. "No! But it's not safe out there."
Caroline knelt down. Rebel whimpered, trying bopping his nose on Caroline's head.
"Mister Smith, it seems your favorite servant is giving me advice. You will control her, sir." The headmaster advised coldly.
Rebel ran off towards Martha. He started pushing her back to Caroline.
"What are you doing?" Martha asked. She tried to avoid being
Rebel brought her to Caroline's panicked side. Seeing the girl in distress, Martha moved to kneel by her.
"Caroline! Are you alright?" Martha asked.
Caroline shook her head. Her face was scrunched up in pain. "The telephone...for the police...they found it. They found her."
"What are you saying?" Martha asked. "You're not making any sense."
"Why did you keep going west? Jenny saw. She saw you go. They know where the telephone for the police is." Caroline stated. She held her head in her hands. "My head hurts so much..."
Martha watched the poor girl, watched her curl on herself to hold her head in her hands. "I've got to find those watches."
The Doctor would know how to fix Terra. He always did. He just had to do it again.
Martha grabbed the girl's arm. Caroline let herself be led away. The matron followed after them.
==ROTF==
Martha ran past. Caroline, Rebel, and the matron were rushing behind her.
They all missed Timothy hiding on the back stairs.
'Hide me.' The golden watch warned. 'Hide him. Keep us closed. Beware the girl with the balloon.'
Timothy gave the watch a confused look. When he lifted his head back up, he saw a flash of a little girl holding a red balloon. He remembered her. She had been at the dance!
'The Family is our enemy. They didn't have to be your's.
==ROTF==
One thing Martha had never understood about Terra, or rather, the person that Terra was in the before, was that she should never be left alone.
Caroline wandered from her room. Rebel had led her to a window, high above, where she could see the courtyard. So she watched Son- and Mother-of-Mine arrive, four Scarecrows at their backs.
All Caroline had was the echoes of memory of a life better forgotten, a dog, a bag that felt much too heavy, and her own fears.
Yet for all her weaknesses she watched from that window feeling like an overlord.
Or an executioner.
She watched the Headmaster walk outside. She watched as Son-of-Mine ripped the arm off a scarecrow. The doll hadn't reacted to it.
Caroline made a note of that.
She could hear his request now.
"You, sir, you will send us Mister John Smith and Miss Caroline Brown. That's all we want, sir, Mister John Smith, Miss Caroline Brown, and whatever they've done with their Time Lord consciousness. Then we'd be very happy to leave you alone."
Caroline knew he was a liar.
'Men like you always are.'
'There are no men like me.'
Caroline blinked away the shudder up her spine.
She ignored the feeling in her arm. The feeling of it lying useless to the rest of her. She ignored the impulse of putting a gun in it. She didn't want a gun. Not like they did.
Son-of-Mine spoke of 1914.
Caroline ignored the thoughts of war she'd had at night. Those numbers flashing in her mind like a bright neon sign. Which would mean something if she knew what neon was.
She held up her hand in a finger gun.
She took a deep breath. "Front sight...trigger press...follow through."
Rebel perked up, tilting his head with a curious noise.
"Front sight, trigger press, follow through." Caroline stated.
She saw her target.
You don't need a gun to kill someone
Son-of-Mine raised his weapon.
She fired.
But it certainly helps.
Caroline flinched at the last moment. Her aim had been off. Not that it mattered because she wasn't holding a real gun-
A scarecrow went down.
Caroline gawked. She checked the trajectory. Sure enough, that scarecrow had been in her range after she flinched.
She had aimed for the gun.
Son-of-Mine killed another teacher. Mother-of-Mine reporter the fallen soldier.
Both of them looked to her window.
Caroline stood her ground, keeping an impassioned stare down at them.
Son-of-Mine smiled. He held up his gun again, towards her window. He shouted to the Headmaster.
"Run along, Headmaster. Run back to school. And send us Mister Smith and Miss Brown!"
He fired.
Caroline ran.
The window explained where she had been standing. She heard bits of glasses twinkling onto the floor, scattering around. She fell to the ground, looking at it. Rebel growled it's direction.
He missed.
Well, -ish.
Her heart hadn't even been racing.
She wondered if Terra lived like that. Had such power at her fingertips with such little fear. Feeling this kind of pain, taking it without flinching. She wouldn't mind a life like that in exchange for more courage.
'One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel.'
'I am on the side of angels. But never for one second think I am among them.'
==ROTF==
Caroline brushed off more bits of glass from her dress. Rebel waddled behind, holding up his paw to keep from stepping on it.
She let herself into her quarters. She walked towards where she hid her supplies for her monthlies. Martha had given her these, claiming they were 'the best'. In honesty, they were just medical bandages used for another purpose.
They were still medical bandages.
She sat by her bed. Rebel hopped over to her side, curling around her. He lifted up his injured paw for her treatment.
"What kind of person is she?" Caroline asked, mending his paw. Rebel sat silently as she carefully removed the glass piece. "In my dreams you were her dog. She called you her son. Her dog, her hairy baby. She loved you- was willing to put herself on the line for you. You must know what she was like."
Rebel hadn't said a thing. He kept his paw up for mending. Caroline did so.
"She knows how to use a gun. No gun I've ever seen- did you see what I did to them? I've never done that in dreams before." Caroline admitted. She paused. "She's no person."
Rebel growled.
Caroline sat back, eyeing her dog in surprise. He had never growled at her before. "She can't be. You saw what I did- what she must be capable of as well."
Rebel turned his head away from her.
"But why now?" Caroline wondered. She reached up to scratch at Rebel's head. "Why with me? If she's had this power...why hasn't she used it?"
Rebel blew out a breath, giving a firm shake of his head to remove her hand. He used his bandages paw to lift up bandages to Caroline.
Caroline accepted them mindlessly. "Do you think it scared her too?" She started bandaging herself up. She would have to change her dress- she'd gotten blood on it. How unseemly. "That she had this power? That maybe that's why she never uses it?"
Rebel barked.
"Hmm...I wonder." She pressed the bandaging down. She hoped it would stick. "...why am I so calm about a bleeding wound?"
Granted, it wasn't deep. Just long. Caroline wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't felt the blood dripping. The bleeding made it look worse than it was. A piece of glass must have scratched her- or perhaps a piece of wood? Broken windows are more than just shattered glass.
Rebel lowered his paw on her thigh.
Caroline glanced to the paw then to Rebel's face. "I heard your voice before, in my mind...you're not a normal puppy, are you?"
He barked again.
==ROTF==
Stepping out of her room, Caroline found herself listening to Martha and the matron searching for the infamous watches. She kept herself hidden behind the bookshelves.
"I know it sounds mad, but when the Doctor and Terra became human, they took the alien parts of themselves and they stored it inside the watches." Martha explained to a confused looking matron. "They're not really watches, they just look like watches."
"And alien means not from abroad, I take it." The matron reasoned.
Caroline glanced down at Rebel. Her dog was hesitant to put pressure on his wound.
"The man you call John Smith, and the girl, Caroline? They were born on another world." Martha explained, searching every nook for a watch.
"A different species." The matron replied.
"Yeah." Martha confirmed.
Caroline presses herself against the bookshelf. She let out a silent breath. This wasn't news to her. Martha had been saying it all day. It can't have been a game changer.
Yet still she stood.
Star struck all the same.
"Then tell me. In this fairy tale, who are you?" The matron asked, not bothering to hide any negative feelings on the matter.
Caroline knew what Martha was.
She was someone kind.
She was someone who gave so much to Caroline.
She cared about Rebel.
She put up with her uncle.
She was someone that had stayed.
Caroline couldn't imagine life without her.
It burned to even think.
"Just a friend. I'm not. I mean, you haven't got a rival, as much as I might-" Caroline felt her heart skip a beat. "Just his friend. Terra's too."
Believe me, I won't stop at nothing
To see you so I've started running
All that I'm after is a life full of laughter
As long as I'm laughing with you.
"And human, I take it?" The matron remarked.
"Human. Don't worry. And more than that, I just don't follow him around." Martha stated. "I'm training to be a doctor. Not an alien doctor, a proper doctor. A doctor of medicine."
Caroline let the song continue playing in her mind. She rather liked the tune. It made her smile. Rebel himself perked up as the melody played. She didn't even question it, just so happy with hearing about her life around Martha Jones.
I'm thinking that all that still matters is love ever after
After the life we've been through
Cause I know there's no life after you.
"Well that certainly is nonsense." The matron argued. "Women might train to be doctors, but hardly a skivvy and hardly one of your color."
Caroline herself twisted her lips into a snarl, glaring over her shoulder towards the matron.
"Oh, do you think?" Martha stood up, pointing at the back of her hand. "Bones of the hand. Carpal bones, proximal row. Scaphoid, lunate, triquetal, pisiform. Distal row. Trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate. Then the metacarpal bones extending in three distinct phalanges. Proximal, middle, distal."
Rebel, if asked, would Caroline had the biggest heart eyes. He didn't even know what those were, just that Caroline had them. She held tighter to the cloak she'd thrown over her shoulder.
"You read that in a book." The matron dismissed the claim.
"Yes, to pass my exams." Martha argued. "Can't you see this is true?"
"I must go." The matron made to leave.
Caroline pressed herself against the bookcase, trying not to be noticed.
"If we find those watches, then we can stop them." Martha pleaded.
Caroline wanted to find that watch for her. At least so that Martha could have it.
She should find Timothy.
==ROTF==
Timothy had been found by Hutchinson. He was brought to the front lines of the house. He had tried to assure Hutchinson, tell him that Timothy had seen visions of the two of them on the front lines.
He had been given the watch for a reason.
He realized that now.
He ran off from the front lines.
"Timothy, you filthy coward!" Hutchinson shouted.
"Oh yes, sir. Every time." Timothy replied, seeing flashes of a man in leather walking away from a choice.
He ran to hide, listening to the watches again. One in each palm.
"What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" Timothy asked them.
Both watches buzzed. Their voices speaking in tandem.
"Beware." Came the Doctor.
"Beware!" Came Terra, in a much quicker burst.
"Beware of what?" Timothy asked.
"The balloon!" Terra warned.
"Her." The Doctor warned.
Timothy looked up. It was a girl he had seen from Terra earlier.
Daughter-of-Mine.
Timothy stood up.
Daughter-of-Mine sniffed.
Searching for the Time Lords, Timothy could guess. "Keep away." He warned her.
"Who are you?" Daughter-of-Mine asked.
"I saw you." Timothy stated. He lowered the watches out of sight. "You were with that family. You're one of them."
"What are you hiding?" Daughter-of-Mine questioned.
"Nothing." Timothy lied.
Daughter-of-Mine glanced to his hands. "What have you got there?"
"Nothing."
"Show me, little boy." Daughter-of-Mine warned.
Timothy met her stare. He found deep inside for his own courage, his own cleverness, his own feelings for a reply. "I reckon whatever you are, you're still in the shape of a girl." He reasoned. "How strong is she, do you think? Does she really want to see this?"
He held up the golden watch.
Daughter-of-Mine was hit with a golden energy.
Timothy caught small pictures
Flashes of a small girl, sharp teeth dripping red.
Terra, standing while surrounded by fire.
Terra, a too long smile showing too many teeth.
Terra holding up a gun, firing.
Daughter-of-Mine ran.
Timothy himself flinched at the last image- momentarily thinking that Terra was aiming the gun at him.
Outside, the rest of the Family sensed the Time Lady. They sensed her presence- knowing that the Doctor would be around as well.
"You stole our watches."
Timothy whirled around to the stairs. Caroline was staring at the golden watch, expression blank. She had changed out from her dress- now it was her usual sort of darkly purple dress with a black cloak over her shoulders that covered her neck.
"I-Yes." Timothy replied. He glanced down at the watches in his hands.
Caroline walked down the stairs. Her dog came behind her, waiting on the bottom step. "I feel as if I should have known."
Timothy looked down at the golden watch, then to Caroline. He was trying to understand how the girl he had just seen was also the girl in front of him. "I didn't mean to steal them."
"That I did know." Caroline replied. She worried the skin of her lip with her teeth. "Did you only talk to me because of...her?"
"No." Timothy replied, honestly.
Caroline smiled. But it didn't look happy, Timothy thought. She looked more bittersweet. "Could...could I have mine?"
"Why?" Timothy asked.
'Honey, you got a big storm coming.'
"And the tide is coming in." Caroline held out her hand.
Timothy lowered Terra's watch into the outstretched hand.
Caroline smiled fondly down at the watch. Rebel ran in excited circles around the girl. "You're a good friend, Timothy. Thank you." She tucked away her watch into the too-heavy bag on her shoulder. She looked at the silver watch in Timothy's hand. "Hold onto him a bit. I get the feeling you'll need it."
"I get that feeling too." Timothy replied. He hadn't wanted to say, that if she'd asked for the Doctor's watch he would have said no.
At that point, the screaming started.
==ROTF==
John was helping the students to evacuate.
Martha and Joan were helping them once they escaped.
John realized in a wash of cold horror that he hadn't seen Caroline escape yet.
"Joan! Have you seen Caroline?" John asked.
"No!" Joan replied, feeling her stomach fall at the realization. "I haven't seen her for ages."
Martha turned to them. "She must have gotten out! Rebel wouldn't have let her stay in danger."
John shook his head. "No. I need to know. Now, I insist. The pair of you, just go. I have to find her."
He opened the door back inside. It was blocked by scarecrows.
He slammed the door shut-
-have to find her have to find it-
-locked it-
-where is she where is she what if she's hurt or already dead-
-then turned to the women.
"I think, retreat." John stated.
==ROTF==
They were escaping via the boy's room. Caroline kept her eyes averted.
"Hold on." Timothy held the Doctor's watch up, opening it. He slapped it shut.
Caroline glanced at it. "Why-?"
"To lure them." Timothy explained. "Away from the students. If we keep them after us-"
"They'll leave the school to chase their true targets." Caroline swirled the golden watch on it's chain. Rebel leapt to catch it. "Smart."
"Thank you." Timothy walked over, pushing the bedroom window open. "Come on."
The two of them climbed out from the window towards the forest.
As they reached the forest line, Rebel dashed off.
"Rebel!" Caroline hissed, trying not to shout to not be found. She huffed. "Timothy-"
"Go." Timothy replied.
"But what about you-"
"You need to go." Timothy insisted. Caroline tried to speak in arguement. Timothy beat her to it. "You need to find your uncle."
Caroline knew he was right. That didn't make it easy. "Don't die, okay?" She ran into the woods after her dog.
"I won't." Timothy promised, running the opposite direction as her.
==ROTF==
Rebel leapt at John.
The human man stumbled in his steps. "What the- Rebel!" John realized.
The women slowed in their steps. Martha walked back towards John. "If that's her dog-"
"Then she must be close." John stated. He looked out in the woods from where Rebel had come from. He could barely make out the trees in the darkness.
To his relief, he spotted Caroline rushing through over the greenery. When she spotted John she ran faster. John ran to meet her.
John hugged her tight, holding her close to him. Caroline hugged him back, ressauring him in calming pats on the back. He felt his panic lessen as he held his niece close. "Oh thank god. I was so worried." He pulled back, holding her shoulders. Caroline winced. "Where were you?"
"I heard the screams- I was running with Timothy. We escaped out a window, then Rebel ran off so I had to follow-" Caroline explained.
John pulled her in for a hug again. Caroline went along with it, giving him another tight hug.
Martha came up. "Sorry to break the moment- but we need to keep moving."
"We can't go there." Caroline dismissed. She pulled back from John's hug to give Martha a deep stare. Martha was unnerved- feeling like Caroline's eyes were more like Terra's as they stared into Martha. "You kept going west."
"I don't know what that means!" Martha replied. "There's nothing west-"
"Doctor! Terra!" Father-of-Mine was calling out. The party of four turned towards the shouting. "Doctor! Terra!"
John and Caroline moved to the nearby gap in the bushes. They could see Father-of-Mine standing with scarecrows, all standing guard around a tall blue box with the words 'police public call box' on the top in white light.
Something old
Something new
Something borrowed
Loud whooshing noises. Panicked questions from the people around. A bride standing at a table, proud.
Something blue.
Rebel knelt by his owner. He growled at Father-of-Mine. His owner reached up to scratch his back, silently telling him to be still.
"Oh god." Martha gasped, hand over her mouth. She suddenly understood all of Caroline's mutterings. They had hidden the TARDIS to the west. She hadn't realized that the Family would have found it. Jenny- that thing must have her memories. It had seen Martha going west.
"Come back, Doctor and Terra. Come home. Come and claim your prize." Father-of-Mine taunted. His wife and son walked out from the school, standing beside him in front of the blue box.
"It's like your police box. Small wooden box with all that power inside." Martha pointed out.
The Doctor beamed. "Oh. Oh, Martha Jones, I like you. Terra, any ideas?"...
"Out you come, Doctor and Terra. There's a good boy, good girl. Come to the Family." Son-of-Mine ordered.
"Hello. What the hell are you doing in my box?"
"I'm gonna ask you the same question."
"How long have you been here?!"
"Like, twenty minutes? She let me in. Guessing she did the same for you."
Mother-of-Mine "Time to end it now."
Thoughts of laughter in her mind.
The Box liked to argue.
The Box liked to be known.
She liked being called 'old girl' and 'sexy'.
"You recognise it, don't you?" Martha asked them.
"Come out, Doctor and Terra. Come to us!" Mother-of-Mine ordered.
We could open it with a click of our hands.
"I've never seen it in my life." John lied, quite badly.
Caroline's hands were clenching. She wanted to reach into the Bag. She wanted to use her finger gun again. She felt mad- She felt like she could- she felt like- oh she felt it!
"Do you remember its name?" Martha asked.
Idris.
Her name is-
Will be-
Always was-
She was stolen.
We stole her.
Two mad people stole a box and ran away.
She was stolen.
STOLEN!
"That's mine!" Caroline hissed. She lashed towards it- faster than any of the humans expected. John was closer, grabbing her by the waist. Caroline snarled, shaking against his hold. "She belongs to me!"
Martha was startled at the anger coming off Caroline. The personality was supposed to be more docile than this, more controlled and quiet. This...this was nothing like that. This wasn't even like Terra. Terra had never been this furious.
John tried to calm his raging niece. He moved her so he was meeting her eyes. She kept trying to break away to face the box. "Caroline! Stop it. It's nothing."
Caroline turned round to glare at him. Rebel growled at John. "Say that again. Say it to my face."
"It's nothing but a box!" John argued.
Caroline's lips curled back into a snarl.
She wanted to hurt them.
Wanted to tear them apart.
She wanted that Family to suffer.
She could summon up that power again. She felt the fiery rage of it beneath her skin, thrumming and humming and burning.
It burned.
It burned so hot she thought she would explode.
And only one man was between her and that rage.
All it would take was a click.
Then she seemed to realize that. The snarl fell away into tearful shock. "I- I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."
"I'm sorry, John, but you wrote about it." The matron admitted. John lowered his head. His hands wrung on Caroline's shoulders. She reached up to squeeze his hands. "The blue box. You dreamt of a blue box."
"I'm not." John shook his head, his voice tearful. "I'm John Smith." He insisted. He looked up to meet his eyes to Caroline's. Both of their gazes were watery. "That's all I want to be. John Smith, with his life, and his niece, and his job." He looked around Caroline, looking towards the matron. "And his love. And what about Caroline? If John Smith isn't real, then neither is she! And that's not right. Why can't we be John Smith and Caroline Brown? Aren't we good?"
"Yes. Yes, you are." The matron promised him.
"Why can't I stay?" John begged. He curled Caroline into a hug again.
"But we need the Doctor and Terra." Martha insisted, trying her best to break it gently to them.
John broke away from the hug to narrow his eyes at Martha. She was staring longingly at the box, as though expecting two particular people to run out at any moment to surprise her with one more dashing rescue. "What am I, then? Nothing. I'm just a story."
He ran into the woods.
Caroline made to run after him, taking Rebel along too. She only cared enough to look back for Martha.
Idris could handle herself just fine.
The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me they've tried.
==ROTF==
The matron brought them to a small house. She had strong armed John to bring them there, promising it safer than running a random direction.
"Oh, here we are. It should be empty." The matron panted. "Oh, it's a long time since I've run that far."
Was it far? Caroline felt quite invigorated. If circumstances weren't so dire and she wasn't so exhausted, she would ask to run farther.
"But who lives here?" Martha asked the matron.
"If I'm right, no one." The matron answered. She walked to the door. "Hello? No one home. We should be safe here." The matron let herself in.
Rebel ran past her into the house. Caroline stepped in, seeing Rebel on the couch. She sat herself down beside him, holding the dog closer. "You never who's house this was." Caroline noted.
"Er, the Cartwrights." The matron answered. "That little girl at the school, she's Lucy Cartwright, or she's taken Lucy Cartwright's form. If she came home this afternoon and if the parents tried to stop their little girl, then they were vanished." She touched the teapot on the table. "Stone cold. How easily I accept these ideas."
Caroline blanched at that. A whole family had been killed because those things had taken their daughter. What a tragedy. This wasn't fair. They shouldn't have gone through all of this.
John sat himself down at the table. "I must go to them, before anyone else dies." He decided.
"Agreed." Caroline spoke up without hesitation. She didn't need Terra's watch to know that. They had to be confronted. Whether by humans or Time Lords, they had to go down.
That rage may have been muted by horror.
But it would return.
And it would be fulfilled.
"You can't." The matron shook her head. She took a seat at John's side, holding his shoulder. "Martha, there must be something we can do."
Martha looked forlorn, plopping herself down at the table as well. "Not without the watches."
Caroline briefly considered handing over the watch. Just, letting it go so that Martha would smile in relief. Her smile to that blue box had been so gentle and perfect. She wanted that smile at her.
She knew better though.
She wouldn't be giving that watch back.
Not for anything less than death.
It was dramatic.
Caroline had learned by now that so was Terra.
"You're this Doctor and Terra's companion. Can't you help?" John snapped at Martha. "What exactly do you do for them? Why do they need you?"
"Because he's lonely." Martha answered easily, as if there weren't any other answers.
"He has Terra! How can he be alone?" John questioned.
"It's not her job to keep him from being lonely." Martha argued. "You can't put it all on her. That's not fair."
Caroline stood up from the couch. "That's right. You always do that. You ignore my feelings to make yourself feel better."
"I don't do that. I'm nothing like him! I'm not!" John argued.
Someone knocked.
Caroline went to answer.
"What if it's them?" The matron cautioned.
"I'm not an expert, but I don't think scarecrows knock." Martha replied, snarking.
Caroline threw the door open. "Hello Timothy." Rebel barked in excitement.
The boy stepped into the house. The three adults eyed him in confusion. That is, until he revealed his stolen good.
Timothy held up the Doctor's watch. "I brought you this."
Martha yanked it from his hand. "But where's Terra?"
Timothy turned to Caroline. Sheepishly, she pulled out the golden watch from her pocket. Martha glared.
"I'm sorry!" Caroline apologized. "She wanted it to be a surprise..."
Martha shook her head, turning to John. She held out the silver watch to John. "Hold it." Martha ordered.
"I won't." John argued.
"Please, just do it." Martha pleaded.
John stared down at that watch.
Caroline held tighter to her's. Her fingers were shaking around it.
"It told me to find you. It wants to be held." Timothy explained.
"You've had these watches all this time? Why didn't you return them?" The matron asked Timothy.
"Because it was waiting." Timothy explained. He glanced nervously to John. "And because I was so scared of the Doctor and Terra."
Caroline squeezed the watch. The chain on it rattled.
She could hear her.
Could hear melodies and jokes and scenes and interviews with the actors and YouTube videos explaining endings and everything wrong with the-
She took a deep breath.
"Why?" The matron asked.
"Because I've seen him." Timothy explained. "He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun." He took slow steps towards John.
"Stop it." John insisted.
"He's ancient and forever." Timothy continued walking closer. In parallel, Rebel came to walk around Caroline's skirt. "He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe."
"Stop it! I said stop it." John pleaded.
"And he's wonderful." Timothy turned around to look at the human girl, clutching the watch to her chest. "I saw Terra's too." Timothy began.
"And what did you see?" The matron asked.
"She has something ancient to her, something cruel inside that cannot be contained. Yet she's so warm and protective, fierce and unwavering in her judgement." Timothy explained.
He watched Caroline as he spoke. There were no tears on her cheeks, but it was plain to see the words had burned.
"But she is kind." Timothy added.
Caroline looked up at him. Her amber eyes were shimmering.
Terra whispered again.
Whispered promises and stories.
Whispered of the goodness and the badness.
Caroline would like to meet her sister, and also to never be in the same galaxy as her.
"I've still got this." The matron held up John's journal full of impossible things. "The journal."
"Those are just stories." John dismissed.
"Now we know that's not true. Your niece had these same stories- Martha said so." John looked to Caroline for help. She nodded her head, sucking her lip in to hold back tears. "Perhaps there's something in here-"
The house shook.
Caroline jumped back. Rebel moved into an attack position.
"What the hell?" Martha asked. She rushed to a window.
Caroline listened to the Time Lady in her hands.
"They're destroying the village." The matron spoke.
Caroline mouthed along with her. It felt like a rug had been pulled out from under her.
They had to be confronted. Whether by humans or Time Lords, they had to go down.
That rage may have been muted by horror.
But it would return.
And it would be fulfilled.
"The watches." John took the watch, holding it up.
He moved to take Caroline's. She moved to keep it.
"John, don't." The matron chided.
"Don't." Terra whispered to her.
Caroline stepped back from her uncle.
John stumbled in his steps. His hand tightened around the watch.
"Can you hear them?" Timothy asked.
"You can help." Terra whispered.
"I think he's asleep. Waiting to awaken." John explained, sounding vacant.
"She can't sleep." She replied also in a vacant tone. "She could never sleep. There was too much to be done."
"Why did they speak to me?" Timothy asked.
The Doctor shrugged. "Oh, low level telepathic field. You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing-"
Terra scoffed. "Would you stop scaring the boy, you stupid di-" She clapped her hand over her mouth. She...she had sounded so crass. So vulgar. So much like a colonist.
She'd liked it.
"Is that how he talks?" John asked, horrified.
But Martha was smiling. Giddy. Joyful. Vibrant. "That's him."
"And her? She-she's always like that?"
"Every day. Like dogs and cats." Martha laughed fondly. "All you have to do is open them and they're back."
Caroline looked at the watch again. Terra was humming beneath the lid, a song about things being totally awesome. Caroline saw no reason why this was totally awesome.
"You knew this all along and yet you watched while Nurse Redfern and I-" John ranted.
"I didn't know how to stop you." Martha admitted. "He gave me a list of things to watch out, for but that wasn't included. Terra hadn't said anything either-"
"Yes I did." Terra interjected. "I told her-"
The voice cut off.
"Falling in love never occurred to him?" John asked.
"No." Martha answered.
"Then what sort of man is that? And now you expect me to die? Expect my niece to die too?" John countered, his voice cracking.
"It was always going to end, though!" Martha excused. "The Doctor said the Family's got a limited lifespan, and that's why they need to consume a Time Lord. Otherwise, three months and they die. Like mayflies, he said. Terra said they were more like "
"So your job was to execute me, execute us." John hissed.
"People are dying out there!" Martha excused. "They need him, Terra needs him, and I need him. Because you've got no idea of what he's like. I've only just met them. It wasn't even that long ago. She saved my life, and then didn't ask for anything. She never did...does. It's just the way Terra is. She even told me that I wouldn't need to open her watch, because she would do it herself!"
Caroline flinched.
Terra did too.
It would be fulfilled.
How it burned to think of it.
"But the Doctor...he is everything. He's just everything to me and he doesn't even look at me, but I don't care, because I love him to bits." Martha revealed. She seemed shocked herself to admit it to the room. "And I hope to God they won't remember me saying this."
No one noticed the spark of pain in Caroline's eyes. Nor did they notice the way the air around her turned to heartbreak. Or how Rebel curled that much closer to her side.
There was a pause.
The house shook again.
"It's getting closer." Caroline supplied, though her voice was thick with unshed tears.
"I should have thought of it before." John stated. He held the watch up. "I can give them this. Just the watch. They won't need to take Caroline's, they could just take the one. Then they can leave and we can stay as we are."
"You can't do that!" Martha argued.
"If they want the Doctor, they can have him." John snapped.
"He'll never let you do it. She won't let you do that. If you thought I care about him, then you have no idea about how much Terra cares." Martha argued.
Her watch was buzzing.
Her rage was building.
Rising to overflow.
She wouldn't be contained.
She had to let it out.
"I can't let you do that, Uncle." Terra warned. Caroline shook her head, blinking her eyes hard. "I don't- I don't want to-"
John walked up to her. "No, Caroline, it's the only way! If they get what they want, then, then-"
"They'll kill us all anyone! People like them always do!" Caroline argued.
John reeled back. "What do you know about madmen?"
Caroline opened her mouth, then shut it. She didn't know. "These are her thoughts. She- she knows. She knows everything."
Rule 4, folks.
"She's right though. It all ends in destruction." The matron supplied. Everyone turned to her. "I never read to the end, but those creatures would live forever to breed and conquer, for war across the stars for every child. Caroline, Martha, Timothy, would you leave us alone, please?"
They stepped outside. Martha and Timothy sat on a bench. Rebel hooked up on the bench. Caroline stood in the yard, looking up at the moon.
There was an awkward quiet.
"Timothy?" Caroline began.
"I know." Timothy replied.
"How?"
"She showed me." Timothy answered. "I'm sorry it burns."
She sucked in a pained breath. "I need more air." Caroline stated.
She made to leave. Rebel hopped down to follow.
"Bewegen sie nicht!" Caroline ordered.
Rebel stopped. He whined.
"Bewegen sie nicht!" She repeated. "Stay with Martha. Do not leave her alone. Understand?"
She didn't wait for Rebel to reply. She walked off to the other side of the house.
Martha walked over, kneeling by Rebel's side. The dog whined, lowering himself flat on the ground. "It's alright." Martha promised. "They'll see. They'll open the watches. We'll get back the Doctor, and your mum."
Rebel whined. He turned his head to look at Timothy.
Martha followed.
Timothy looked up at the moon. "She didn't want to scare you."
"Why?" Martha asked, concerned. "How can I be anymore scared then I am now?"
Timothy looked at Martha. His expression saying it all.
==ROTF==
"I love him to bits!"
"I love him to bits!"
The sentence echoed in my mind. Each word sent agony everywhere in my body. It made the wound in my neck feel numb. I wanted to cry, to hide in a dark corner and let myself succumb to my pain.
"I love him to bits!"
The wound had festered. Blood oozing past my wrappings. It was more noticeable the more I walked. What did it matter anymore? What did anything matter anymore?
"I love him to bits!"
It's not like I loved her. Not- not like the Doctor loved Rose cause how could any love compare? I just...I think I could start to love her.
Caroline certainly had.
Oh, had she loved Martha Jones.
I walked onto the ship.
The Family turned to me.
"Just-" I pleaded. The world outside shook. They had thrown another bomb. I fell to the side, my cloak jostling a column of switches. "Just stop the attacks. That's all I ask. I'll do anything you want, just, just stop."
"Say please." Son-of-Mine bargained with a smug grin.
"Please." I begged, willing to put aside my pride for just this moment.
Son-of-Mine grinned wider. He flipped a switch behind him.
The attack controls powered down. I let out a shuddering breath, clutching my chest.
It hurt.
It hurt so bad.
It burned beneath my skin.
"Wait a minute." Mother-of-Mine sniffed. "Still human."
"Now I can't, I can't pretend to understand, not for a second what this is all for, but I want you to know I'm innocent in all this." I pleaded to them. "She...made me Caroline Brown. It's not like I had any control over it!"
I stumbled in my footing, falling to my knees. It left scrapes on my skin. My cloak made a loud tearing noise. The tatters fell to the ground. I wrapped the remains around my neck, panicking.
"She didn't just make herself human. She made herself an idiot." Mother-of-Mine sneered.
"Same thing, isn't it?" Son-of-Mine joked.
"I don't care about these Time Whatevers and your family. I just want you to go. So I've made my choice." I held up the golden watch. Son-of-Mine eyed it hungrily. "You can have her. Just take it, please! Take her away." I added a small sob, my whole body filled with pain. "When you kill me, I want to die as me, not her."
"Maybe not such an idiot." Son-of-Mine took the watch. "At last."
He grabbed out for me. He clutched my neck tightly, digging into the skin there.
I choked.
It hurt.
It hurt so badly.
"Stay smart, you wretch." Son-of-Mine threw me back across the ship.
As I fell, I hit more parts of the ship. My neck hurts so much now. I started to sob, her words echoing in my mind again. All pain was new and sharp. There wasn't a lot of fakery there.
"Family-of-Mine, now we shall have the lives of a Time Lord." Son-of-Mine promised.
He opened the watch.
The Family all sniffed deeply, closing their eyes to properly savor the immortality.
And they waited.
And waited.
Son-of-Mine snapped his eyes open. No golden sparkles had come from the watch. "It's empty!" He snapped.
I was still grossly sobbing on my knees, pain shooting through me.
"Wh-Where did she g-go?" I sobbed, taking breaths as my sobs grew.
Son-of-Mine coldly glared my way. "You tell me."
He tossed the watch. I caught it without looking up, taking a deep breath as if to keep sobbing.
Instead, my head snapped up. The sobbing had stopped. It was like I hadn't cried at all. Darcy would be proud of me.
"I hope you all saw that, 'cause I'm never doing it again." I lifted my eyes up to them, being sure to make it a furious look. "Huh. She might do it, though, who knows what she'll be like? Maybe she'll actually be able to catch."
The Family stared at me in undisguised fury.
"Wanna know how I did it? Simple olfactory misdirection." Shakily, I got up to my feet. I winced at the pain in my knees and stomach. "Little bit like ventriloquism of the nose. It's an elementary trick in certain parts of the galaxy. My least favorite lesson on Time Lord biology. He made it sound so fun but really, it's not useful."
Son-of-Mine sniffed deeply. His glare sharpened on me. I smirked right back at him.
"I'll tell you another thing. Time Ladies have this little trick, ya see." I threw off the tattered cloak, revealing the neck wound I'd gained several hours previous.
Yeah.
Caroline really should have gone to Martha.
The bleeding hadn't been much when it happened. Caroline hadn't given it the attention it needed, hadn't even cleaned it. She hadn't done on the bandage properly- holding it down with a cloak.
What had she expected to happen to me?
"One that I have done so much research about. I mean, when I saw River do it I had to find out everything about it."
I was starting to feel that reset. It was odd, like a burning in my chest that just kept growing and growing and it wanted out.
It hurt.
It burned.
Why hadn't he said how much it burned?
"The effect...it's big. Really, really big. In some cases, it's been known to blow whole ships apart. Especially when I'm standing near the power core that's reaching critical thanks to all those switches I fell onto." I pointed at the column. "That thing there."
Son-of-Mine looked at the monitors. They were beginning to beep- giving out a late warning.
My eyes narrowed at them. "You really shouldn't have shot at me." I lowered the collar of my dress, properly showing off the freely bleeding neck wound. I hissed as the glow started. "And you really shouldn't have let me on this ship. Or near your controls. I'm literally the bomb. You wanted the power of a Time Lord. Now you're going to get it."
The Family was beginning to look concerned now. Better yet, Son-of-Mine had the expression of a man that knew he had been beaten at his own game.
"But, in fairness, I will give you this last bit of advice." I offered. My joyful tone dropped. My smile dropped to a glare. "Run. The Doctor is merciful, and if I know one thing about her is that she won't be."
The Family did not hesitate. They ran past me.
"Get out! Get out!" Son-of-Mine screamed as they escaped.
I yelled out in pain, curling up on the ground.
'This always happens to me.' I thought dryly. 'Falling fast in love with someone that never loves me back. Figures I'd go for the one person who loved aliens, just not girl ones. Martha would never want me anyway...not like this. I'm no good for her.
The Doctor needs someone better too. This body hasn't done much to help him. She's a downer. She is cruel and unwavering.
My new face needs more...life.'
More pain shot down my side. I cried out in pain, but forced myself to stand. I didn't have long like this.
'Reighley liked Ginny the best...I mean it was Jaime Lyn Beatty, who wouldn't?'
"Ah...louette...gen...tille...alouet...louette."
'Watch her for me...please...'
==ROTF==
'...I promise, Two.'
==ROTF==
Martha couldn't let Terra do it alone.
Timothy had spilled the beans.
The Doctor had walked out- the real proper Doctor- just as Timothy revealed Terra's plan.
She couldn't let John give up the Doctor.
But she could give up herself.
The Doctor, Rebel, and Martha were running at their fastest speeds to reach the ship.
The Doctor was shouting for Terra in his mind.
He was getting no replies.
He could sense her there- she was mentally there, as Terra, but she wasn't talking back. Never a good sign from her.
The ship was getting brighter and brighter. The Doctor quickly realized what she had done.
"It's going to blow!" He warned Martha. He pushed himself harder.
Rebel howled.
As they approached the clearing, the Family rushed out from the ship. The Doctor couldn't see Terra anywhere. Rebel howled again- mournful.
The ship blew, in a fiery display of orange and green.
"No!" The Doctor yelled.
The Family were thrown to the ground. As the ashes of their ship descended, Martha made out a figure.
She hit his arm to get his attention. She pointed to the figure. The Doctor followed her line of sight.
"She never raised her voice. That was the worst thing."
Someone walked out from the flames of the ship.
The Doctor wanted to believe it was Terra, but the girl looked so different. This girl was taller, thinner, with hair the same shade as the flames behind her body. She was wearing Caroline's dress, though it was covered in burns.
"The fury of the Time Lady. And then we discovered why."
She walked past the Family, not looking their way even for a glance. The girl looked up at Martha, revealing the golden eyes that had belonged to his dearest friend. She smiled, her cheeks shifting to a bright soft pink.
The Doctor couldn't deny the girl behind those eyes. Anymore than he could deny the face behind his own.
"Butterfly." Terra Johnson recalled. "She had butterflies in her hair...such a perfect blue...totally awesome..." She blinked vaguely, lost in a memory. She came to focus at the sight of Martha and the Doctor.
"Martha!" She cheered, beaming at them in a way that belonged on a child first steps into Disney World.
The girl looked pained to gaze elsewhere than Martha. She turned to the Doctor at Martha's side. The Doctor was staring at her, and his first thought was 'she got to be ginger?'. She seemed to look a bit thinner. What the explosion had left of her dress hung loosely on her, it was all held together by the Bag over her shoulder.
"Doctor! You too are quite slow, did you know that? I knew that. I know lots of things." She chided.
Rebel barked.
"My son!" She cheered. Rushing to the ground, she pulled the dog up for a hug. She spun them both around, giggling loudly. "Oh you precious little furry baby...did you miss Mommy? Yes you did! Oh yes you did!"
"Why this Terra and her Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why they'd run away from us and hidden."
Her eyes shifted from warmth to her puppy to a dangerous cold. The kind of cold that must have been what Latimer had seen in her watch.
She turned to cold scan the four members of the Family. The Doctor saw righteous fury in her eyes, and couldn't help but glaring at them with similar discontent.
"He was being kind, and she had been holding back."
==ROTF==
Father-of-Mine screamed. He wanted to run, but his chains wouldn't allow it. They were tight around his body, like the ghost in Christmas Carol.
Terra looked at the man flatly. He would get no sympathy from her. He hurt the TARDIS, taking her away from the cottage where she had been safe.
No one hurt the TARDIS.
She knew the Doctor was behind her. He'd provided transport, and the chains. It would have been an interesting conversation, in that no conversation happened at all. The two merely exchanged eye contact, and that had been enough to know what to do with Father-of-Mine.
She walked to Father-of-Mine. She whispered in his ear, telling him a story most tragic. That he had failed as a father. His Family would stand only in testament to that failure.
She lightly tapped his shoulder. He jerked away. It was enough to push Father-of-Mine into the deepest pit Terra could find on short notice.
"They wrapped my father in unbreakable chains, forged by Terra in the heart of a dwarf star."
==ROTF==
Terra sat back against the console, passionately glaring at the woman that had been Jenny. The Doctor was at the console, keeping them steady.
Jenny had been Martha's friend, her confidant when Caroline was unable. Mother-of-Mine killed Jenny, then boasted about it in that hall to Martha's face. It was a level of cruelty Terra never wanted Martha to see.
It wasn't even that difficult, getting Mother-of-Mine to stumble into the event horizon. All it took was a few well placed threats towards her children. Mothers would do anything for their children, and this alien was no exception.
"She tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there forever."
Mother-of-Mine's grip loosened, after hearing what Terra would do to Son-of-Mine and Daughter-of-Mine. The body snatcher fell into the black hole. The doors closed behind her, as if the TARDIS was in agreement of the punishment.
Terra watched with void amber eyes.
No one hurt Martha.
==ROTF==
This one had been difficult, Terra only just managed to push through it.
It was the worst punishment she could think of, for this one. Terra could remember when she was twelve, an absolute monster of a vampire had taken her over. Terra only existed in mirrors after that, smashing and banging her fists until she bled, screamed her voice hoarse for mercy on the humans, felt revulsion every time her body gazed into the mirror with joy.
It was a horrible fifty years. Terra would still avoid mirrors, for sure, except once every year. Until now, it was a punishment she never wished upon anyone. Now, she stared at the mirror, face impassive.
The Doctor could understand this punishment. He stared at Daughter-of-Mine, hiding in the doorway. They let her have the red balloon, though neither could figure exactly why.
"She still visits my little sister once a year every year. I wonder if one day the Doctor might forgive her for I know Terra never would, but there she is. Can you see? She trapped her inside a mirror, every mirror."
Daughter-of-Mine wasn't sorry for what she did. How could she, just a child herself? Terra wasn't bothered. She had seen other children serial killers in the past, children killing other children always broke her heart. She remained strong for the Doctor and their prisoner.
So they walked away. A new countdown in her head, counting down 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, until her next mirror visit.
"If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you, just for a second, that's her. That's always her."
No one touched a child.
==ROTF==
Son-of-Mine stared forward. His green dead eyes were unable to do much more. His hair seemed to move, if only along with the breeze blowing by. His wrists were tied to the boards tight enough to hurt. A brand of torture if he were capable of feeling pain.
"As for me, I was suspended in time."
Terra hummed a random song by Fallout Boy. She liked upbeat music now, it seemed. She lifted up the scarecrow mask, making sure everything was perfect before skipping over to where Son-of-Mine was raised.
"And Terra put me to work standing over the fields of England, as their protector."
Terra remembered Baines. The bloody git that insulted Martha, which was only half the reason he was here. The other half was his casual disregard of everyone around him. The air of arrogance he wore like a Grim Reaper shroud. It suited him well to become Son-of-Mine, who was the de facto leader of the Family.
Finally! A worthy opponent!
Terra dropped the bag over his pompous head. It was no golden crown but it would suit Baines as it had Viserion. She tied it extra tight around his neck, lest a storm come by to blow it away. She tied the strings together with little bows, determined to keep checking up on the scarecrow like she would his sister. If Son-of-Mine could move, Terra was sure he would be furiously shouting at her.
She'd been talking for ages as she strung him like a puppet. The Time Lady told Son-of-Mine about his family, what she'd done to the lot of them. She almost looked pleased with herself, for what punishments she'd created in her twisted mind. Warning and visions to see as they were suspended in time, the horrors that Terra had remembered as she had come back to herself.
The Doctor watched this all from a distance.
Son-of-Mine almost won.
He deserved the most special place.
To forever stand guard over the land where he was the victor.
"We wanted to live forever, so Terra and the Doctor made sure that we did. And Terra made sure we suffered each moment of it."
==ROTF==
The house had been oh so simple looking, when you first came upon it. It was a cold bitter gray. Not the usual gray that seemed to cover London like a long cartoon style raincloud, or the gray of Eeyore when someone helped him clean his coat. No this was the gray that existed in faded out curtains, in the dust particles floating in the air from leftover creatures of the dark.
Nobody liked gray.
Why was that?
Everybody needed some gray sometimes.
Eeyore was gray ya know! Everybody liked Eeyore.
But I'd had enough of purple.
Arriving at the Cartwright house, the sudden conclusion came as I approached the door. Oh I was so underdressed! This monstrosity of colors had burnt to uselessness, so I changed into the only other clothes available in my Bag. Still, even then, the hoodie was smaller than before- though the chilled effect was nice. The jeans are just...too constrictive. They would suit until I found something better suited.
My hand was raised up, ready to knock on the door.
Pity me that I'm a filthy little sneak. I lowered my hand, taking a step closer. My ear pressed to the door, listening in.
Yes I was fully aware that, just some steps to my right, was a wide open window that one could listen from for just this purpose. However, I show respect to the classics, and so by the closed door I will spy.
The Doctor hadn't even noticed me following him. Once again he assumed I was under the watchful eyes of Martha Jones. We shall blame John Smith for this belief. The Doctor knew well and good that I did what I wanted when I wanted.
Or maybe that had changed too?
Maybe, he didn't know who he was dealing with anymore. Maybe he thought this new Terra would stay close to Martha.
Not that I didn't want to stay close to Martha. It was so lovely, speaking to her again. To know what I meant with my words, to be more concise when giving hints. Caroline was all over the place.
But her eyes...I know she had no idea who I was. Worse than being Caroline Brown- at least Caroline had the right face.
Martha would learn.
So would the Doctor.
In the meantime, Pinky will listen to the Brain.
"Is it done?" Matron Redfern asked the Doctor.
"It's done." The Doctor replied, assuring her from any future attacks by the Family were null and void.
Haha.
Void.
Get it?
Cause that's where we sent the Mother.
Ha!
Apparently all I do is tell bad jokes now...
Terrif-
No...no...that's stupid now...
"The police and the army are at the school. The parents have come to take the boys home. I should go. They'll have so many questions. I'm not sure what to say. Oh, you look the same. Goodness, you must forgive my rudeness. I find it difficult to look at you." Redfern apologized. "Doctor, I must call you Doctor. Where is he? John Smith?"
"He's in here somewhere."
"And Miss Brown?" Redfern asked.
The Doctor's answer was silent for a moment. He had shaken his head. "She changed- not just like me. Caroline is still in there, inside Terra. She's only changed her shape. It happens to...to our kind. Sometimes."
"Like a story." Redfern remarked with mourning. "Could you change back?"
It reminded me of Rose's question, when the Doctor changed before our eyes. The Doctor would be giving the same answer now as I did then. "No."
"I see. Well, then. He was braver than you in the end, that ordinary man. You chose to change. He chose to die."
I tumbled inside accidentally on purpose. My new body somersaulted over onto the floor in front of the Doctor.
"Terra?" The Doctor prompted, surprised. I sat up, crossing my legs beneath me. My smile was wide and beaming, innocent as a dandelion seed. "Were you listening in?"
"You were talking about me." I excused myself. "You said it three times so I arrived."
The Doctor's expression was confusing now. Like a man who had just been asked just exactly how many licks it took to get to the middle of finger-lickin' good chicken. "No we didn't."
"Yes you did. On the inside." My hand rested over my two hearts. The steady beats of them both gave me mixed messages of a calm self yet of dark times to come.
The Doctor gave me a small grin at that. It seems my new humor was once again, top tier.
I turned to the Matron. She wasn't looking at me with any sense of welcome or peace. It was a familiar kind of disquiet, that had made many a girl in the past rebel so she could play with her bows, let her hair flow in the wind as she rode through the Glen, firing arrows into the sunset.
This was not a welcome face I wanted for my friend to see.
It had not been welcome then
It would not be welcome now.
"Come with us." The Doctor offered Redfern.
Or it would.
Who cares about Rules anymore?!
"I'm sorry?" Redfern asked.
'Doc Brown...mind explaining?!' I asked him.
He didn't reply to me. "Travel with us." The Doctor offered.
"As what?" Redfern asked.
"My companion." The Doctor explained.
"But that's not fair." Redfern replied. "What must I look like to you, Doctor? I must seem so very small."
"No. We could start again. I'd like that. You and me." The Doctor explained. "We could try, at least. Because everything that John Smith is and was, I'm capable of that, too."
Oh this is killing me
I know I just died but this is killing me
"I can't." Redfern refused.
"Please come with us."
"I can't."
I'm dead
Gonna drop dead, right here
Ugh no this rug is gross
I'll go die outside on the grass
"Why not?" The Doctor asked, trying to hide his hurting feelings.
"John Smith is dead, and you look like him." Redfern explained.
"But he's here, inside, if you look in my eyes." The Doctor offered.
"Answer me this. Just one question, that's all. If the Doctor and Terra had never visited us, if they'd never chosen this place on a whim, would anybody here have died?" Redfern countered.
"Don't put that on us." I cautioned. Redfern was ready to argue. "No. No! The Family wasn't our dog that we let ruin your house. We're just the Trentons stuck in a car with a rapid St Bernard trying to eat us. What were we supposed to do? We had to hide, Redfern, we had to hide everything that we were, everything hidden away so Caroline Brown and John Smith could be those ordinary and brave people you praised. Have you thought about that? That we were so willing to spare them, that we changed everything about ourselves to better protect people?"
Redfern was a bit shocked.
"People died, that will always be a tragedy. Yet still- I wouldn't change what we did." I stated without question. "It led us here. I can't change the past. Only the future. Don't blame me for their choices. I accepted it once, I won't again."
With that, I stormed out of the Cartwright Cottage. I only came here to pay respects to Caroline.
==ROTF==
As I approached the TARDIS, Rebel rushed to me.
"My boy!" I cheered loudly. The dog leapt up at me- which lead to us rolling around in the grass. "Oh I missed you!"
'Missed Mommy too! Caroline was nice but Mommy is best!'
"You get it! Rebel, I am the best!" I ruffled the fur on his neck. "So are you! Yes so are you- good boy, good boy!"
My praise of my dog went on for awhile. I mean, it was raining too so now we were both getting muddy and wet but I could clean us up inside. It was only smart.
For now I wanted to play with my dog.
I hadn't gotten a chance to really play for months.
Footsteps approached from the side. Hard to miss the noise of shoes pushing against mud. It's a mud, mud, mud, mud world.
"Terra?" The Doctor prompted.
Rebel perked up. He'd ended up on top of me, pushing me back into the mud. "Howdy." I cheered, tipping an imagined hat. "What brings you over?"
The Doctor eyed me, then broke out into a grin. "Playing with Rebel in the mud?"
"I have missed him." Sitting up, I swept Rebel into a hug. "He missed me too, right boy?" He licked my face. "I love you."
I bopped his nose. 'Climb off me now- we can play inside the TARDIS too remember?'
'Garden!' Rebel perked. He climbed off me, hopping about the grass. 'Garden! Garden! Garden! I love the garden!'
I giggled, turning to the Doctor. "He missed the garden too." I held up my hand.
The Doctor pulled me back to my feet. "You've ruined that hoodie, just saying."
"You say that like it wasn't gross to begin with. Honestly- why did she want a hoodie? It's bad." I countered. Once on my feet, I turned towards the TARDIS. "Ready to go back home?"
The Doctor stared at me for a beat and a half. I stared back, daring him to start something emotional. Not cause I wanted to deal with emotions, more just cause I didn't want to deal with that so soon into my new self.
He held out his hand.
That was something I could handle.
...get it? Cause...cause 'hand'-le...it's funny.
Together, the Doctor and I walked towards the TARDIS. Rebel bounced around and between our legs.
Martha was leaning against the TARDIS. She had dressed in more modern clothing. A lesson I should've learned some time ago. Oh well the past is passed.
"Right then. Molto bene." The Doctor stated.
"How was she?" Martha asked.
"Nope." I replied, letting go of the Doctor.
"Time we moved on."
"If you want, I could go and-" Martha offered.
"Time we moved on." I pulled at the hoodie sleeves. "Need to get out of this. I am no longer in the Purple House. I must re-sort."
The Doctor looked at me with confused delight. "Resort?"
"I need a new thinking cap." I explained.
"You do need your post regeneration rest." The Doctor noted.
"I do not need a nap, good sir." I denied. Any feelings of exhaustion were unrelated.
"Er, I meant to say, back there, last night." Martha stuttered. "I would have said anything to get you to change."
No you hadn't
You said your truth
And it broke Caroline's heart.
Mine too, I think.
Having two doesn't make it hurt any less.
Reighley wouldn't have done that to me.
Just saying
"Oh yeah, of course you would. Yeah." The Doctor replied. He was being honest too-he was so stupid it hurt to think.
Martha "I mean, I wasn't really-"
"Love his we said it was time to move on, yet here we are, lingering in the past." I reminded them.
The Doctor conceded my point. "There we are, yes. And I never said. Thanks for looking after me." The Doctor replied.
Martha's face fell into a gentle heartbreaking smile. She went to the Doctor, holding out her arms. The Doctor returned the offered hug with delight.
Even if it only made me more irritated than before.
Oh she gets irritated easily, doesn't she?
Well it's not 'easily'. This feels like something specific making me mad.
So I should stop that hug. Right now. Just because this was the most cursed one-sided love ever didn't mean I had to watch it.
"Aw! How come she gets all of the credit?" I whined, frowning. "Caroline helped too! Emotional support, remember? You'd have gone mad without me."
The hug ended. The Doctor turned to me, a frown suddenly appearing on his face. "Terra, I am sorry. I am so, so sorry."
I tilted my head. "Why?"
The Doctor kept frowning. "You died-"
"Regenerated."
"You died alone." The Doctor finished.
I frowned, then shook my head. "No. I didn't die, I just re-sorted. It is all good, my dude."
"You still haven't explained what this is." Martha reminded us.
"Time Lords can change themselves once they die. Regeneration, it's called. Basically Terra Two died, and to keep the Terra-Collective alive, she regenerated into me. Easy peasy, Lemony Snickety. Which brings me to a lot of good questions about that show-"
"So...this is what you're gonna look like from now on?" Martha asked.
I looked up at her, worried. "Do you want me to change?" 'Too?'
"No." Martha replied. She looked confused as to why I even asked. "No. You're...you're still you. Just like Caroline was you but...different. If I can handle your human self, I can handle the ginger one."
"Thank you most abridgedly." I bowed, adding on the embellishing hand twirl.
Rebel barked.
"My noble breed! Yes, thank you as well." I knelt down in the wet grass, letting the dog run up to me again. He excitedly ran circles around me.
"Terra." I turned back. Timothy was waking up the hill to meet us. "Doctor. Martha." He greeted.
"Tim Timothy Timber." The Doctor cheered.
I squealed, leaping over to hug him. "You're the best!"
Timothy returned the hug. He was smiling as I stepped back.
'Rebel! Harkness!
Rebel barked, looking up at Timothy with big brown heart melting puppy eyes.
"I just wanted to say goodbye. And thank you." Timothy told us. "Because I've seen the future and I now know what must be done." He looked at me. "It's coming, isn't it? The biggest war ever."
I nodded.
"You don't have to fight." Martha tried to say.
"I think we do." Timothy replied.
"But you could get hurt." Martha countered.
"Well, so could you, travelling around with them, but it's not going to stop you." Timothy countered.
I held up my golden watch. "Timothy Latimer, I gift you with time." Holding out the watch, I offered it.
Timothy accepted it. He looked down at it. "I can't hear anything."
"But she tells time better than we ever could." I countered. "Reckon you'll be waiting for the right second, yes?"
Timothy looked down at the watch, then up at me. Looks like I hadn't been wrong- that golden watch was what he saw in his visions of the future. The future that depended on him knowing the exact second the bomb dropped on him. "Yes. I think I will."
"You're awesome, Timothy. By your own right, not by our's." I complimented.
I hugged Timothy once more.
"You were a good friend." I told him.
"So were you." Timothy replied.
We parted. I clicked my tongue. Rebel stopped running around Timothy. "Bunka, Rebel."
The dog ran to the TARDIS. Martha gave Timothy one final hug. The Doctor unlocked the door, letting Rebel inside.
"Look after yourself." She told Timothy.
Timothy nodded.
Martha walked into the TARDIS. The Doctor and I stood just by the doors.
"Pay attention, Timothy. This'll change your life!" I promised him.
I waved Timothy goodbye as we walked into the TARDIS. The Doctor went to console. The TARDIS welcomed us again- grateful to be back to business.
I sent her mental waves of endless thanks.
The noise started as the Doctor lifted the handbrake. Rebel was dancing along the floor. As much as a dog can dance.
Idea: Just Dance but for dogs.
Rebel would kill it.
I love it and need to see it.
I started dancing with him. Rebel barked in excitement, dancing closer to my feet. To the point that I almost fell a lot but this one was more agile than the last.
"Is she always going to be like this?" Martha asked the Doctor. She had her voice low, as if she were whispering. She wasn't good at it. Or maybe my ears were better now? I'll have to test it.
"Nah, she'll calm down once the regeneration settles in. This is just her getting out all the energy that came with the change." The Doctor supplied. "Maybe."
Deciding that if they were talking about me I might as well join the conversation, I came to a dead stop by the console.
"Doc Brown?" I asked.
The Doctor turned to me. "Yes?"
"Could we...could we just...make sure he's okay?" I asked.
"Course we will." The Doctor promised. "Just change into something cleaner. I don't imagine they'll let us near if we're covered in mud."
"Oh I already plan to shower 1913 off me." I told him. "Rebel too. Who knows what 1913 fleas he has now? And proper food. I'm starving for something sweet."
The Doctor chuckled. He flipped the handbrake, setting us to coast in the timeline. "Great- have to plan a whole new diet for a new tongue. No more apple pie?"
"Don't you start that too!" I warned him. "I mean it- that joke was old as soon as Captain Jack started it!"
The Doctor laughed. "Are you sure? Cause I thought it was terrific."
"I'm going to beat you with this Bag." I warned him- it fell flat when I was laughing too.
Martha looked between us. She had been with us so long, yet she felt so new.
==ROTF==
It was a memorial service for all those that had fallen while serving. Timothy had been invited, given they were honoring so many in his old squadrons. He accepted.
Something had felt brighter about this one.
As the vicar recited the poem to honor the fallen, Timothy felt it. Felt a familiar soul in the air. Someone he had not seen for many years...someone who promised to see him again.
Timothy looked out, seeing the Doctor and Martha. Neither had aged a day. Perhaps they hadn't- perhaps they had come straight here after 1913.
'And I walked the slow path'
Walking behind the Doctor and Martha, stepping between them to stand center, was her. The new Terra. She was wearing a bright blue jacket, over a long pair of jeans. Her orange hair was left in waves around her head.
She gave him a fond smile. She gave a polite wave.
Timothy nodded back.
He had missed his friend.
He was so grateful to see her again.
He held tighter to the golden watch in his hand.
The watch hummed. If one paid close attention, they could hear it humming to a familiar drumbeat.
==ROTF==
AN: Yes. Yes I killed her. No- you couldn't have stopped me. And I looked it up- it's totally possible. There's no way I'm not on watchlists for searching 'which cuts on the neck can kill you'. Or for looking up pads used in 1913. Seriously, I had to look that up.
Meet Terra Three! I've been planning her arrival basically since I started writing it. This felt the best way to honor one of my favorite two-parters. Not only that, but killing her in U/SOD/LOTTL felt cliche. So she dies here!
We'll all miss Terra Two. She was one of my first big stories in Fanfiction, so I'm going to miss her so much. She's been with me through a lot of ups and downs. I'll remember her as we go forward. Leave a comment about your favorite Terra Two line. Let's reminiscence together!
Her face claim is Monika Ricketts- a lovely cosplayer I found on Instagram that I knew instantly was my Terra Three! She's cool and fits a lot of what I want Terra Three to be like.
Also this update came on 3/3. How did I plan that so well? I'm amazing, that's how.
Keep an eye out. There's gonna be a one-shot new week about Terra Three getting her new outfit together! Stories From The Haven, by AuthorA97, coming out 3/10.
Thanks to AthenaWho, Malisixx, and HannahHPandDWfanJones, for favoriting
Thanks to AthenaWho, Malisixx, , and HannahHPandDWfanJones, for following