A/N: Hello everyone. It's been a while since I last posted, and I do apologise for that. The past few weeks have been pretty difficult for me and I haven't really been able to focus on my writing. However, I've been doing my best to pull it together and I've managed to get the next chapter ready for you all. I hope you enjoy it.
The Doctor had managed to reach Kari and had his arms wrapped around her tightly as the wind blew in all directions. "What are you doing here?" He asked her, hoping she could hear him over the impossible wind.
Just as Kari was about to answer him, the wind stopped, and everything began to settle down. "What do you think I'm doing here, Doctor? I've been here for weeks." She really was starting to get annoyed with him asking her that every time she showed up somewhere he ended up. "It's you that's late." She felt his arms wrap around her a little tighter as the wind picked up a little more.
Both of them ended up closing their eyes for a brief moment as a strong bright white light filled the room and blinded them to anything. Kari could feel her stomach churning, a pounding quickly starting in her head as they were swiftly pulled from one moment of time and tossed into another. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to like the trip, past experience with other forms of time travel had lead her to that conclusion, and she was right.
Her grip on the Doctor tightened as she waited for that awful feeling to pass. To her relief, it didn't take as long as she thought it would. "It's all right, it's over now." The Doctor assured her, knowing that she was nervous and not happy about what had just happened. "You'll feel better in a minute, I promise."
She couldn't help but let out a groan. "And I thought travelling by vortex manipulator was bad." Although it was pretty bad, that kind of travel had definitely been much worse. "I never want to travel like that again, I think I'll stick to TARDIS travel. At least that doesn't give me a headache or make me feel sick." Of course she knew that she would never be able to only travel by TARDIS, she had no choice but to be pulled through all of time and space for the rest of her life.
"Just give it a minute, you'll be fine. You always feel so bad because of the time vortex, it doesn't react very well with other forms of time travel." He told her, still holding onto her, but not as tightly. His arms had relaxed a little, and he was simply giving her a comforting hug instead of trying to protected her from the world around them. "You look lovely, by the way."
After taking another deep breath, Kari pushed him away slightly and looked up at him. "You look the same as always. Suit, trainers, and really great hair." She told him, before lightly running her hand through the silky hair on his head. "Hmm, definitely great hair."
"Oh, hush." The Doctor quickly said, before lightly pressing his lips against hers, silencing her. "Now, what are you even doing here?" That was something that had been bothering him since the moment he had seen her. He had known that something had been wrong, he had sensed it and something seemed to have been pulling him towards Sarah Jane Smith. The Doctor just never expected to see Kari there, in a bridesmaid dress.
Kari simply shrugged her shoulders at him. "Oh, you know, the usual. Just dropped in to say hello, something felt a little wrong, so I ended up playing bridesmaid to one of my best friends. And, just to make it even more interesting, my brother has paid for this wedding." The way she spoke was so casual, as if it really was nothing of importance, that everything that was going on around her was a walk in the park.
"You know what's going on here, don't you?" The Doctor knew Kari, and he knew when she was hiding something, or just trying to avoid the truth. "You knew that he was after her, that's why you're here." Reluctantly, Kari nodded her head at him. "Well then, we better get this lot up and to work."
A few minutes later, and the pair of them had managed to wake Luke up. "What, what happened?" The young man asked, before suddenly remembering. "Mum and the Trickster…"
"Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke, listen to me. Everything's going to be all right. I can find Sarah. I can bring her back, I promise. But I need you to be strong for me, just like you were before. I know you can do it." The Doctor told him in a hurry, doing his best to stop him from freaking out.
While he was doing that, Kari was helping Clyde and Rani as they both woke up. "Hey, you two all right?" She asked them, holding out a hand to help Rani pull herself up.
"Yeah, fine. What was that? What happened?" The young woman asked, a rather confused look on her face.
Before Kari had the chance to answer, Clyde's voice broke through the air. "Yeah, and who the hell is he?" He called, looking straight at the Doctor.
As he said that, Rani noticed the slight tint appear on Kari's face. She also noticed the way that Kari was looking at the man, they way her eyes were sparkling. That was when it clicked. "Wait a minute, you must be…" Her eyes flickered between the man before her and Kari. "It's you, isn't it?"
The Doctor looked at Kari, and saw the pink tint on her face. He couldn't help but grin at her a little, before pretty much lying down on the floor, before getting up and running along the red carpet in the centre of the room. "That's me."
"The Doctor, Kari's fiancé. It is, isn't it? I'm right, it's him." Rani was very confident that she had it right, she could see all the signs.
"Yeah, that's him, my great big idiot." Kari finally answered, letting out a long sigh. "My great big idiot who is going to do a thing and save the world, again."
The Doctor couldn't help but smirk a little once more while Clyde gave him a very firm look. "I hope you're as good as Sarah Jane says you are." Of course, he would be the only one who wasn't completely blown away by the fact that the Doctor was there, he was going to be a lot harder to impress.
By now the Doctor had his ear to the ground and was squinting through one eye. It was clear to see that he was checking something, already doing what he could to work out what was going on. "Well, you know journalists, always exaggerating." He told them, before quickly getting himself up off the red carpet and spinning on the spot. "But yeah, I'm pretty amazing on a good day."
Kari couldn't help but roll her eyes at him before a robotic dog decided to roll out of wherever he had been hiding. "Master, query. Where is Mistress Sarah Jane?"
It seemed that Kari had forgotten how much the Doctor really loved that tin dog, as the smile on his face simply grew bigger. "K9! Did you miss me? Did you miss me, eh?" He asked, petting the heap of metal and making a big fuss of it.
"Repeat. Whereabouts of Sarah Jane? Where is she?" K9 was definitely more worried about Sarah Jane than he was happy about seeing his old master again.
While the children all pondered over where they were, the Doctor walked down the aisle and towards Kari, the big stupid smile still on his face. She actually felt like whacking him, they were in a pretty serious situation, Sarah Jane had been taken by the Trickster, and all he could do was grin like an idiot. "There's been a dimensional shift." Kari told the three youngsters, at exactly the same time as the Doctor began telling them. "Time's moved on but us, and this entire building, we've been left behind."
Three pairs of eyes managed to draw their attention away from the window to look at the pair, who were not standing directly behind them, the Doctor's arm tightly around Kari's waist. "There's nothing out there." Rani informed them, before they all looked out of the window again and saw the nothingness that surrounded them.
The whole building seemed to just be floating in nothing, stuck nowhere. Everything outside of the building was just nothing, there was no ground that they could see, there was no sky high above them, nothing. It was as if someone had just dug up the building and dumped it in a mass of thick clouds.
"I said all along, I knew there was something wrong about all of this." Clyde said, sounding more annoyed than anything else. He had been so sure that something was wrong, and Kari had been on his side with that one, he just wished everyone else had listened to him and taken him seriously. "And what exactly is going on?"
By now the Doctor was wandering around the room, dragging Kari along with him. "I'll explain later."
"Bad decision." Kari warned him, knowing exactly what was going to happen next. All he could do was frown at her, before all three of the youngsters started talking at once, throwing questions at him without even pausing for breath. "Oi, you lot! Be quiet!" Kari ended up shouting, getting them all to stop talking and just stare at her instead. "Much better, thank you. Doctor?"
He couldn't help but smile at her and the way she handled the situation. "Yes, thank you." He said, before lightly kissing the top of her head. "Here's the answer to all your questions. Yes, that was the Trickster." As he said that, Kari had to stop herself from shivering. "Yes, we're trapped. Yes, We're the only ones who can get us out of the trap. Yes, we're going to bring Sarah Jane, and your mum and dad, and all the others back safe. But we can't do any of it without you."
Now it was Kari's turn to smile, because she really did love when he made those kind of speeches. The three youngsters we're just standing there, gawping at the Doctor. It was Clyde who was the one to break it. "You… you need us?" Clearly he just couldn't believe it.
"Just like Sarah Jane needs you, all of you." Kari ended up telling them softly. "You have no idea how brilliant you all are. Yeah, my Doctor is pretty fantastic, even on a bad day, but you, you guys are amazing. Just listen to the Doctor, do everything he says and we'll all be back home in time for tea."
That was when she noticed the way that Luke was smiling at her. "I saw them both save the world."
While Kari sang 'spoilers', the Doctor had something else to say. "You helped us save the world, Lukey boy." He said, lightly slapping the boy's cheeks in a friendly manner. Like an aunt that you haven't see for a while who always calls you 'sweetheart'. "Right, come on, we can use the TARDIS." The Doctor added, barrelling towards the door, dragging Kari along with him, before stopping suddenly. "I assume everybody knows what the TARDIS is, unless you've really not been paying attention."
Kari couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah. Allons-y!" She called, before giving him a shove and making him move again. "Quick warning, be prepared for some disappointment."
Once again he frowned at her, before they stopped at the spot where the TARDIS had once been parked. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. It was there. It was right there." He said, before pushing everyone back as he heard something in the distance. "Wait, wait, wait…"
Everyone that was standing there heard the rough grinding noise, the magical noise of the TARDIS. "That noise, I've heard it before…" Rani pointed out, even though Kari already knew that they had all heard it somewhere before. She had heard it, so many times.
"That was me, trying to break through. Got knocked back by the Trickster." The Doctor informed them all, glancing at Kari and wondering why she was being so quiet.
She looked down at the ground before opening her mouth to speak. "Yeah, the only reason you managed to break through was because of me. There's a temporal schism preventing her from landing. She can't materialise right now." There was actually a hint of sadness in her voice, because she really wanted to see the TARDIS, she was desperate to get back in that big blue box.
It appeared, but only slightly. Just enough for everyone to get a glimpse of what it really was. "Wait a minute, that's the TARDIS? It's just a wooden box." Clyde protested, his opinion of the Doctor dropping by the second. He was certainly not impressed so far.
Although the Doctor was encouraging their ship, telling her that she could do it, the image of the TARDIS faded away. It was at that point that the Doctor ran a hand through his hair, before wrapping both his arms around Kari while standing behind her. "Okay, got no TARDIS. It can't materialise here until time moves forward."
"Well then, we better get cracking then." Kari didn't want to hang around there any longer than she needed to. The being who was behind it all was not something she wanted to be involved with. Everything that happened with the Trickster before kept flashing in her mind, and she hated it. "So, where are we? My guess is nowhere, with a hint of nowhen thrown in there. What do you think, Doctor?"
There was concern etched all over his face now as he looked at her. He knew when something was wrong, and he could see that there was something that she wasn't telling him. "Exactly. Time hasn't stopped, we're caught in a loop. Look at the clock, look at the telly. Twenty three seconds and twenty three minutes past three o'clock. And we're caught inside it, a time loop, in this one second."
Finally everything was starting to click together for the youngsters. "So we've been kept behind in this second. But the rest of the world, mum and dad and everyone else, they've moved on from here, forwards in time. Why has the Trickster trapped us here?" Rani was pretty clever, and Kari loved that she was on track and asking all of the right questions. All she had to do was give her a look and she started rambling on again. "We're Sarah Jane's friends, all of us. Her best friends. Which means, we're hostages. He can use us to get at her."
"You are going to be even more amazing in the future, Rani, you know that, right? You're amazing now, but one day you will be even better." Kari was actually really proud of her, because she had managed to piece it all together without the Doctor having to prompt her on anything.
"We've met the Trickster before, but we've never found out who he is." Clyde was referring to the time when the Trickster had tried to get rid of Sarah Jane, to remove her from time.
Another shiver went down Kari's spine. "Trust me, you really don't want to find out who he is." She mumbled, forgetting that the Doctor was right next to her had no idea of the experience she had with the being.
He gave her a rather worried look before giving Clyde and the rest of them the information that they wanted. "The Trickster is a creature from beyond the universe. Forever trying to break into our reality, manifest himself. He's one of the Pantheon of Discord." As he spoke, his eyes kept glancing at the woman beside him. He had seen her tense up while he had been speaking.
"That's a good name for a band." Rani rolled her eyes at Clyde, on he would think of something like that during a rather serious situation.
The Doctor, however, agreed with Clyde. It was also the kind of thing that he would think about. "Yeah, actually, not bad." He commented, before getting back to the point. "He's an eternal exile, who exists to wreak havoc. But we can fight him, the six of us, and we can win." There was so much confidence in his voice, and although Kari knew they would all get out of it just fine, she couldn't help but worry.
They were all interrupted when Kari quickly dug into the Doctor's jacket pocket, pulling out his screwdriver which had been beeping for some time. "There's a time trace. It's picking up Sarah Jane." She held it tightly in her hand, really wishing that she had her own one with her. The past few trips she had been pulled away without her things, and she didn't like that. She didn't feel comfortable without her sonic screwdriver, psychic paper, and vortex manipulator.
Someone gently took the screwdriver from her. "Kari, what's wrong?" The Doctor asked her as he gazed at her. He was able to see the fear and worry in her eyes, and it just made him even more concerned.
"Nothing's wrong, Doctor. Why would you think that?" She didn't want him to know, he couldn't know. It was far too early for him, it hadn't happened for him yet. Either way, her stomach was still doing flips.
"Because you're scared, Kari, I can see it in your eyes. You're terrified." It really didn't matter how hard she tried to cover up her feelings, he would always know, always see through the facade that she was wearing. "Something's happened, hasn't it?"
She quickly shook her head at him, doing her best to keep herself together. "No, nothing has happened. I just… the Trickster freaks me out a little, that's all." It wasn't quite the truth, but it was no lie either.
The look that she was receiving from the Doctor informed her that he really did not believe what she was telling him. "Why does he freak you out? What happened?" He knew that there had to be a reason for why she was so scared, the Doctor knew that something had to have happened.
Kari quickly shook her head at him. "I doesn't matter. We need to focus on finding Sarah Jane." She told him, this time aloud so that everyone could hear her. The trio of youngsters were all just standing there, watching them, very confused looks on their faces.
Suddenly, Rani shivered. "What was that? Felt like someone just walked over my grave." She rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms, trying to warm herself.
Finally, the Doctor snapped back into action and listened carefully to his screwdriver. The beeping was getting quicker, and louder. "Oh, oh, oh, she's here. She's here! Sarah!" He called, hoping that he could hear her. He was pretty sure that they were in the same part of the building, just trapped a second ahead or behind them.
"Sarah Jane." Rani quickly said to the man holding the sonic device. "She doesn't like being called Sarah."
Kari rolled her eyes, while the Doctor gave the young lady a confused look. "She does by us." He told her, before turning his attention back to his screwdriver. It was beeping even louder now. "K9?"
Straight away the tin dog knew exactly what was being asked of him. "Scanning, Master."
While the robotic dog scanned, the voice of Sarah Jane Smith echoed through the room. "Doctor! Kari!"
Before the Doctor had a chance to say anything, Kari had jumped in. Her nerves were starting to get the better of her, and she wanted to situation to be over with already. "It's a temporal schism, divided into two." She informed them all, doing her best to keep herself calm. "We're trapped here, and she's trapped here too. The only thing is, she is in another second."
Suddenly the Doctor's eyes lit up. "Oh, of course. The Trickster doesn't want us helping Sarah, so he's separated us, trapped us in two different seconds." It was finally all starting to piece together for him, but there was something else that was still bothering him. "Luke, K9, stay here and watch for the TARDIS, you see it coming back, shout the place down." He ordered, grabbing Kari's hand tightly. "You two, with us. Spit spot!" He said, before dragging Kari off and up the stairs.
"This isn't going to work, Doctor!" Kari called to him, not liking the way that he was pulling her around. "And I really do not feel like running around for no reason at all."
The moment she said that he stopped, causing her to nearly crash into him. "Then tell me what's wrong." He said, while Rani and Clyde caught up to them.
"I've told you, there is nothing wrong." She assured him, hoping that he let it drop and stopped pestering her about it.
However, the Doctor gave her the look. "You're lying, Kari. I always know when you're not telling me the truth. So please, what is it? What's wrong?" There was worry etched all over his face, because he just wanted to know what was going on. He could see that something was wrong, that there was something bothering her, he just wanted her to tell him.
"Doctor, please, not now." She pleaded, not wanting to deal with it. Kari would tell him, once everything was over with, she would tell him that somewhere in his future there was an encounter with the Trickster.
Once again, he was not satisfied with her response. "No. Kari, you need to tell me. Whatever it is, it is terrifying you. You keep saying that you're just scared, but I know you, I know you Kari. Please, just tell me the truth." Clyde and Rani had been completely forgotten now, and so had Sarah Jane. He was too focused on Kari, and finding out what was worrying her, to find out why she was so on edge.
"I've told you, Trickster just freaks me out, that's all it is." Even as she said it, she knew that it was lame and that he wouldn't believe it.
"Kari…"
This time, she snapped. She couldn't stand the way that he was looking at her, the way he was speaking to her. Kari knew that it was only because he cared, but there was something else that they had to deal with, something that was more important than how she was feeling. "I'm scared, okay?" She ended up shouting. "I am absolutely terrified of the Trickster. I'm terrified of what he can do, of how he can make me feel. I am petrified that he is going to try the same tricks on me again someday. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Kari knew that she had lost it, but she didn't care, she was too confused with her emotions to care. "He has messed with my head once, and he isn't afraid to do it again."
The Doctor didn't know what to say, neither did Clyde and Rani. The three of them just stared at her, but the Time Lord was the first to move towards her and wrap his arms around her. "Why didn't you just tell me?" He asked her softly, knowing that he had pushed her just a little too far.
"Because we have other things to be dealing with. Plus, you know, I kind of didn't want him to know how much he scared me. So much for that." That was why she had been so careful to keep herself hidden and unknown. There was a very good reason why she had never allowed Peter to know her actual name and how she really knew Sarah Jane. "It's too early for you, but you'll understand why he scares me one day."
He couldn't help but laugh at her comment, it was usually him who was telling her that it was too early and that she would understand one day. The tables seemed to have turned. "I never imagined the day that you would be telling me that it was too early." It was really all he could think of to say, as he wrapped her up tightly in his arms. "It will be all right, Kari, I promise."
She couldn't help but scoff at him a little. "Yeah? You know that for sure, do you? I've already been there, Doctor, I know what he is capable of. What he is doing to our Sarah is nothing compared to what he will do." He didn't know it, but it was really taking a lot for Kari not to break down. It had taken her a long time to get over it all in the first place, now it had all just flooded back, and it was hurting her.
"Yes, I do. And before you ask how I know that, I know because you're here. You've been there, but you're here. Whatever he has done to you, I will make him pay for it, I promise you." The Doctor assured her, before lightly kissing the top of her head. "Okay?" Kari simply nodded her head in response. "Lovely. Now, shall we go and save our Sarah?"
A few minutes later, and a few concerned looks from Rani and Clyde, the four of them were back to charging around the rather large manor house and trying to find Sarah Jane. Until they ended up back in the main room where the Doctor first made his entrance. "How did we end up here again? Rani asked, looking around at the empty chairs with white cloth covering them.
"It's a spatial loop mixed up with a temporal loop." Clyde announced, speaking with so much confidence without even thinking about it.
Rani, however, ended up looking at him with a rather weird look on his face. "How did you work that one out?"
"Well, we've been doing this for a while now. I have taken notes." It was easy to see from the way he was speaking that he was rather proud of himself. Sometimes he was treated like the clown of the group, but he was actually a lot smarter than people thought.
The Doctor still had a hold of Kari, and was still dragging her around. He was glad that she had told him what was really bothering her, but it had just made him worry more. "Come on, come on, come on, Sarah. Let me find you."
"She's here, Doctor, I know she is." Kari told him as she closed her eyes, watching it all playing out in her head. "Peter is telling her the truth, about how this so-called angel came to him, gave him a new life and brought her to him. She'll finally learning the truth about it all." After a little bit of tugging, she finally managed to pull herself away from the Doctor and sit down in one of the many vacant chairs. "And she's telling him the truth as well."
There was only one person who had noticed the tears brimming in her eyes, and that wasn't the person who began speaking next. "Hang on though, this is mad. The Trickster, he's this all-powerful immortal who wants to cause chaos throughout the stars, and he wants Sarah Jane to get married. What does he get out of that?" Rani asked, trying to make sense of why he would do it now that she had more information.
Kari looked up at the Doctor, who was crouching on the floor beside her. "He gets the whole universe. He lies and tricks people, and he does it ever so well, to turn the situations around to benefit him. There is nothing that creature would not do to remove certain people, people that stand in his way, that can stop him from getting what he wants." The whole time she had been speaking, she had not taken her eyes off the Doctor.
He hadn't taken his eyes from hers either. The Doctor knew that she was telling him something important, that this was about more than just Sarah Jane Smith. "Is that what he did? Did he try to get rid of you?" Her head slowly nodded at him as a wave of tears fell.
"It broke me, Doctor, it really broke me." Although the tears were falling she was still trying to keep herself together. It wasn't just the Doctor who was looking at her, it was Clyde and Rani too. "The things he showed me, the way he messed with my head, it was terrifying." Kari told him, stopping for a moment to try and pull herself together. "And the worse thing is, he messed with my friends as well, and you."
"Hey, come on, it's all right, Kari." He couldn't ignore how upset she was, or how much she was trying not to show it, and he quickly wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Whatever it is he does, we get through it. I may have it all still to come, but you've survived it."
Kari knew he was right, but it really didn't make it any easier. "I know, but this has all just been too much. I don't think he even realises that I'm here, that it's me. If he did…"
That was it for the Doctor, he was not going to let it rest now. He was doing his best to be calm, to not turn into the Oncoming Storm, but that was all about to go out of the window. He could understand that something happened with the Trickster in the future, but his Kari was so terrified that if he noticed her that he would turn to her again. He was not going to stand for that. "Trickster!" He ended up shouting, making both the youngsters flinch and back away from him a little. Even they had heard the fury in his voice. "Trickster!"
Suddenly, the strange being appeared, all dressed in black, his sharp pointy teeth on display for all to see. "Doctor, and his Angel." The moment he said that, Kari felt like the whole world was falling apart around her. The memories all came flooding back, along with the fears of what he would do now that he knew she was there.
A/N: As I said before, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. I am working on the next one, and I do hope that things will be back to normal soon.
I would just like to say an absolutely massive thank you to all of you wonderful people who have stuck by me and my stories through these horrible times. It's because of you that I don't give up, even though I sometimes feel that it would be the easiest option. You've kept me going, and I really an grateful for it.
I'm not going to chatter on like I sometimes do, I have to keep on working while I've got the focus and determination to do so. Hopefully I'll be posting agains soon.
Until then...
Pippa.