Strolling through the sidewalk with River in tow, his wooden pipe bobbing, his dopey dark eyes behind his round glasses, Herman yawns, as he looks towards her, asking, "Where are you taking me?"
Her frizzy hair tied back in a bun, River grinned with her matte auburn lips as she says, "You've been working too hard. I thought I'd treat you!
Exhaling sharply, though it he couldn't smoke in the public, Herman visualized the smoke petering out of his mouth, he responded, "I haven't worked that hard, they haven't gotten to the second stack of manuscripts, yet."
He's written enough stories for the show, they haven't finished the first stack, yet.
Chuckling, River playfully tugged on his arm as she reminds him, "Oh, I know, the poor keyboards are aware of it. Herman, you need a break more than anyone. They can wait a while."
Herman hasn't done much except working on the show, that she hardly saw him, despite him reminding her that she's a grown woman, last he checked, she didn't need to hang around her old man.
"Oh hush, you," River lightly jabs him for calling himself old.
Well, Herman wasn't wrong, being he's inching five-hundred years.
River didn't see it that way, always telling him that he wasn't old.
"I'll never understand you, River," Herman sighs as River continued leading him to a place she picked.
It's a pub, unsurprisingly, but River swears it's what Herman needed after working hard for over a span of months, he deserved merry time.
"Going to that award show wasn't enough?" Herman asks River as she mischievously chuckled.
She's pulling him towards it, but Herman spotted a placard on the window, proclaiming that it's smoke-free.
He hadn't smoked for a few days and could really go for a quick smoke before they headed in.
"Grab us seats, I'll find you," Herman tells River as he took out his wooden pipe, intending to smoke in a cordoned off area nearby the pub.
Shaking her head, her frizzy sunburnt hair bobbing, River asks, "Are you ever going to stop smoking?"
Shrugging his stout shoulders, Herman responds with a dry, "No."
Rolling her eyes, River disappeared into the pub, leaving Herman to go around the side of the building with a designated smoking area.
Nobody's there and he proceeded to fill his wooden pipe with his usual concoction while leaning against the wall as smoke plumed from his pipe.
As he smokes, Herman leaned against the wall quietly, until he saw movement in the corner of his eyes, and he sees a person emerging from the alley beyond the smoking area.
Short bourbon hair, curled at the ends, fine lines around the cheeks, dark eyes, it's a woman, and she seemingly walked with purpose, until she stopped, as Herman moved from his spot, going towards her.
"Hmph, I expected more from him," Herman crossed his arms, smoke pouring out of his mouth as he stared at the woman, tilting her head at him.
Seeing him, the woman processed what he said before asking in a stilted voice, "Where is she?"
Undeterred, Herman says, "Did he not give you a brain?"
He positioned himself, keeping the woman from leaving the area, as he continued talking to her.
The woman picked up on his unwillingness to let her leave her spot, putting him in front of her, refusing to let her maneuver around him.
"What could you possibly benefit from saving her, someone that doesn't share your blood?" Herman heard the woman ask.
Exhaling smoke as he stared at her, Herman responded with, "What does he benefit from you?"
He sees the annoyance in the woman, before stating, "To me, she's, my daughter. That's good enough. So, tell me, what's our friend scheming these days, surely, you'd know?"
The woman shifted in her spot as she crossed her arms, her dark eyes focused on Herman, her mind a quagmire that even Herman wouldn't know where to begin, and she then says, "You know the answer."
Scoffing, Herman puffed smoke, before telling the woman, "He doesn't give a damn about you, you know that, right, give him time, he'll forget about you. You think you're the only one he's got?"
Uncrossing her arms, the woman had enough of Herman's interference, about to walk around him, but Herman stops her.
Aggravated, the woman states, "I don't have quarry with you."
Herman prevented her from moving, ire in his dark eyes as he tells her flatly, "You do, now."
He refused to let the woman leave his sight, knowing what she's there to do, and seeing the look in her eyes, Herman sees that she didn't expect this happening, but he did, and he sees cogs turning in her head.
Finally, he heard the woman ask him, "What do you propose?"
It's clear, the woman can't leave without finishing her mission, it needed to be satisfactory, Herman knew this, and he brokered with her, "Take me. Leave her out of this."
Despite them not related, Herman loved River like she was his own, and that never changed, not then, not now, he'll throw his own life away for hers.
Something he knows a certain someone wouldn't do, the woman especially.
"I could still go after her," the woman brought up that even if she took Herman's life, she could easily go after River, this time unimpeded, but there's a faint smile on Herman's face.
Shaking his head, his head of dark brown curls bobbing, Herman says, "No, I don't think you will. You need her, more than you think you do. I may be old, but I'm not senile. You hate him. I don't blame you. I hate him, too."
He sees cogs turning in the woman's head, she's thinking about his words, he could tell that underneath the demeanour that the woman held a grudge.
Doesn't surprise Herman much, everything he did, people have easier times finding the needle in the haystack than finding someone who'd genuinely didn't have a grudge against him.
"What if she fails?" Herman heard the woman ask him as he poured out the ash from his wooden pipe into the ashtray.
A smile on his face, Herman proclaimed, "You don't know my daughter. I couldn't ground her for what it's worth. Believe me, she's more determined than he'll ever be!"
Professing that his adopted daughter would succeed, Herman sees the woman shifting in her spot, eying him, warning him, "Your daughter won't like me, much, either."
Even if she went through it, despite Herman's reasons, River won't see it as such, seeking revenge against the woman, but Herman reasoned that River will hate the woman with every fiber of her being, but once she understands, she won't hold it against her.
Maybe feel sorry for her, being stuck doing the dirty work for the schmuck.
"She'll understand. She has always been my River, but believe me, she's a spitfire. Always has been," Herman continued to argue for River's life.
The woman stood quietly, before nodding, accepting Herman's pleads with, "A life for another, very well."
Prepared to die, Herman used the last of his life, asking the woman to give a message to "the schmuck" who put her up this, and she agreed.
"Tell him… "Sto triumphans, dum favilla cadunt, hostis ad pedes meos. Ego sum dominus temporis. regnabo usque ad diem moriar." Rub it in his damn face. He will never be triumphant. He will never be respected!" Herman hoarsely tells the woman the message he wanted her to pass along.
The old quote came from the first lord of time, who stood against all odds, battling enemies far before the Daleks, succeeding despite naysayers saying otherwise.
The reason they've called themselves lords of time, because of the first king on Gallifrey. His memory lives on because of his feats.
Even the Council wouldn't dare raise their fingers to change a damn thing, because of it.
He did more for them than anyone and had he lived thousands of years, he would've exonerated Herman from the charges, banished the Council for their foolishness, maybe appointed Herman as his hand for his quick thinking.
Had the first king been alive, he would've personally saw the execution of the man who put the woman up to this assassination.
With his piece said, Herman handed the wooden pipe to the woman, knowing that it's expected that she's to bring something back showing her success.
Holding it in one hand, the woman raised her free hand up to Herman's chest, closing all but her index and middle fingers, they elongated into two silver long spikes.
Shot through his chest in an instant, hitting both hearts dead center.
As quickly as she stabbed his hearts, her fingers retracted, reverting to normal fingers, the woman watched as Herman fell backwards, blood oozing from his chest, his eyes staring up into the skies above.
Turning away, the woman silently walked away.
"Do you intend to smoke all day?" River came out of the pub, visibly annoyed as she waited for Herman, but he hadn't shown, and went around the corner to retrieve him.
Her heart dropped the moment she saw him laying on the ground, blood covering his chest, as she screamed his name, running to his side.
Grabbing his face, his pale face, River started shouting for help as she panicked, moving her hands to his chest, holding them over the wounds.
Her shouting garnered attention from passerby causing them to stop what they're doing and calling for an ambulance as River did everything, she could to stop the bleeding.
However, despite Herman dying in her arms, River sees him smiling.
He hardly smiled, often only doing so at random times.
There's serenity in his eyes, that River couldn't explain, and as passerby came to help her, she sees life fleeting from Herman's eyes, until no matter how much shouting, slapping, River couldn't stir him.
He's gone.
Bloodied hands, River broke down crying as sirens echoed, bright lights flashing.
THE END