A/N: This chapter isn't very good, but I'll be editing it so it flows better sometime soon!

"Where's Bennett?" the Doctor asked, her hands stuffed into her trouser pockets as O'Donnell and I exited the TARDIS. "We need to get going."

O'Donnell rolled her eyes. "Oh, he's still throwing up. One small step for man, one giant blegh," she said, adding a gagging sound for effect.

The Doctor shrugged. "Oh, time travel does that sometimes."

"Somehow I doubt that Rose or Martha or Amy lost their breakfast on their first trip. What about you, Diana?"

I froze. "Huh?"

"You lose your breakfast the first time you had a go in the TARDIS?"

I looked over my shoulder at the ship and smiled, burying my face in the scarf I'd wrapped around my neck. "No. It was nice."

O'Donnell nodded. "There, you see?"

"You seem to know an awful lot about me," the Doctor noted.

"I used to be in military intelligence. I was demoted for dangling a colleague out of a window."

The Doctor raised her eyebrows and I saw the smallest hint of her breath hang in the air. "In anger?" she asked.

"Is there another way to dangle someone out a window?" O'Donnell scoffed. The Doctor smiled. "What year are we in?"

Sucking on her index finger, the Doctor held it in the air and concentrated for a moment. "Mm, 1980," she said.

"So pre Harold Saxon, pre the Minister of War, pre the moon exploding and a big bat coming out."

"The Minister of War?" the Doctor said as I asked, "Big bat?"

O'Donnell looked like she was about to explain, so the Doctor raised a finger to silence her. "No, never mind. I expect I'll find out soon enough."

Bennett stepped out of the TARDIS then, trying very hard not to look like he had just vomited for several minutes. He awkwardly slipped his glasses on. "Sorry about that. Had a prawn sandwich. Might have been off."

"Uh huh. Well, no worries." The Doctor raised her eyebrows expectantly. "Shall we go?"

"Just one sec," O'Donnell said, suddenly hopping onto one foot. "I've just got something in my boot."

The Doctor extended her elbow to me. "Come on, then." I stared wide-eyed at her and something seemed to click in her mind because she quickly looked away. "Ah, sorry, er-"

"It's fine." She glanced back at me and I smiled, slowly wrapping my arm around hers. "Thank you."

We walked across the platform the TARDIS had landed on, moving from concrete to soil and grass in a few steps. Dozens of brick buildings roofed with metal surrounded us, almost every single wall covered with posters in Russian writing. The town was situated in a valley and the mountains that loomed over us on either side were tall and breathtakingly beautiful.

Bennett and O'Donnell came up the path after us, their boots crunching on the ground. "Are we in Russia?" I asked.

"No, we're still in Scotland."

"Still?"

"This is the town before it flooded, where the base was built," the Time Lady explained. "The TARDIS has brought us to when the spaceship first touched down. But here and now, it's the height of the Cold War. The military were being trained for offensives on Soviet soil."

"Is that the church?" O'Donnell asked. She pointed at the building in front of us and we could just see a small trio of spires on the opposite end, Orthodox crosses set at the tip of each one.

The Doctor huffed and marched around the building with myself in tow. I had stubbornly refused to change my shoes, only drying my feet off before changing into a dry skirt, and was already starting to regret leaving my toes bare and exposed to the cool weather. But I was also stubborn enough not to admit that I'd made a mistake, so I stumbled alongside the Doctor somewhat miserably and very silently.

As we rounded the church, the Doctor slowed to a halt. The large, pristinely white ship that was back in the base was standing right in front of the church. The Doctor looked down at me and I blinked, burrowing my face further into my scarf as I zipped up my borrowed jacket.

I released the Doctor's arm to go up the stairs after and immediately missed her warmth, crossing my arms to try and regain some of it. The large, white rectangular object Bennett had discovered with his submarine was onboard and behind it, on the large pedestal, appeared to be a body wrapped in cloth.

"Is that the pilot?" O'Donnell asked. "My God, look at size of it."

"No, that's the body."

"What do you mean, the body?"

The Doctor hummed lowly. "This isn't just any spaceship. It's a hearse."

A shiver ran down my spine and I instinctively huddled closer to the Doctor. She glanced back at me when my hands knocked against her back and she smiled briefly, but behind that smile was a worried expression and a furrowed brow.

"The suspended animation chamber's still here and the power cells for the engine," Bennett said.

"And there are no markings on the wall."

The Doctor nodded. "Yet," she added softly. Her eyes flitted to me again and her breath clouded. "You should have worn something warmer."

"I'm fine," I insisted.

She raised an eyebrow and shot me a skeptical look. "You're practically shivering," she noted. "You should have worn trousers instead."

"I'm fine. I like the cold."

"Doctor?" O'Donnell had circled the pedestal so she could grab the Time Lady by the sleeve. "Look."

I followed the line of her arm to the church, where a man in a suit and top hat was running towards the ship waving a handkerchief. "Hello, hello! Greetings!" he called.

The Doctor started down the steps, with Bennett, O'Donnell and myself just behind her. "It's him," O'Donnell breathed. "That's the ghost from the Drum."

The man wasn't a man at all, but an alien; the Whoville alien that had chased myself, Clara, and the Doctor across the base. The alien leaned forward, his nose almost touching the Doctor's, and then suddenly turned to look at me. "Remarkable," he murmured as he squinted at me. He turned to Bennett and O'Donnell with an astonished expression. "Oh, and humans too!" Whipping out a few business cards from his jacket, the alien handed one to each of us. "Albar Prentis, Funeral Director."

The card was white with simple, neat black lettering that read: Albar Prentis, Universal Funeral Director. May the remorse be with you. The Doctor tossed hers aside and stuffed her hands in her coat pockets.

"You're from Tivoli, aren't you?" Bennett said.

Albar laughed and nodded. "The most invaded planet in the galaxy! Our capital city has a sign saying, 'If you occupied us, you'd be home by now.' "

"Yes, I've had dealings with your lot before," said the Doctor. "I can't say I'm a fan."

"No, we do tend to antagonize!"

The Doctor narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Albas exclaimed and hurried inside the ship, placing a hand on the pedestal. "This is the Fisher King. He and his armies invaded Tivoli and enslaved us for ten glorious years!" The Doctor and I shared an incredulous expression. "Until we were liberated by the Arcateenians. But, thank the Gods, soon we'd irritated them so much, they enslaved us, too!" the alien said with another incredibly annoying laugh.

"My first proper alien and he's an idiot," Bennett mumbled, rubbing his temples.

"And now, in accordance with Arcateenian custom, I've come to bury him on a barren, savage outpost."

O'Donnell sniffled. "You mean the town?" she asked.

The Doctor half scoffed, half chuckled. "He means the planet."

Albar hurried down the steps again. "Although, at the risk of starting a bidding war, you could enslave me." He looked to the Doctor and grinned, leaning towards her again so their faces were nearly touching. "In the ship I have directions to my planet and a selection of items that you can… oppress me with."

I wrinkled my nose. "Gross."

The Doctor stepped back a little. "Listen, we've come from the future. You're about to send some sort of signal. How do you do it? Is it a special pen?"

"What are you talking about?" the alien wondered.

"The technology you use. The thing that wrenches the soul out of the body and makes it repeat your coordinates for eternity. Give it to me now. I'm going to take the batteries out."

"We don't have anything like that," Albar laughed. "Even this belongs to the glorious Arcateenians."

The Doctor furrowed her brows. "So who sends the message?" She looked at the body inside the ship, then down at me and pursed her lips. "Back to the TARDIS. I need to talk to Clara."

The Doctor dialed a number into the phone attached to the console and, a few rings later, Clara's face showed up on the scanner. "Doctor? Doctor, are you alright?" she said.

"Yeah, fine," the Time Lady said dismissively. "So listen, the spaceship? It's a hearse." The Doctor paused when she noticed Clara's eyes watering. She leaned closer to the screen. "Clara, what's wrong?"

She swallowed her tears. "Another ghost has appeared."

"What? Who? Has someone died?"

Clara glanced off-screen, presumably at the ghost, and exhaled heavily. "Doctor, are the others there? Can they hear me?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Can I just talk to you?"

The Doctor nodded and scrambled to grab the phone receiver. "Clara, what's going on?" She leaned against the console, the fingers of her free hand fidgeting with the buttons on her jacket. Suddenly, her hand froze and her sharp intake of breath made me look up. Her face had gone very pale and her eyes were shut. "You're sure?"

I had taken a seat at one of the plain black chairs situated along the edge of the console platform, but I stood up when the Doctor made a noise that wasn't quite a cough. "Doctor? Are you okay?"

Her eyes flew open and locked onto me. She stared unblinkingly at me for several impossibly long seconds before flashing me the most painful smile I had ever seen. "I'm fine," she said softly. Then she turned her back to me and grabbed onto the edge of the console, the phone pressed firmly to her ear. "This is the future. It's already happened for you. Even the tiniest change- the ramifications could be catastrophic. It could spread carnage and chaos across the universe like ripples on a pond-… Clara, I have many rules that I must follow to ensure the safety of the universe. But if you think I'm just going to let this happen, then you don't know me at all."

Facing the console head-on, the Doctor replaced the receiver and Clara's face showed up on the scanner again. "So, this ghost. You've got a better view than me. How does it look? Any signs of trauma, any scars? Any clues as to how it dies?"

O'Donnell and Bennett, who had been sitting on the stairs on the opposite end of the room, stood in front of the scanner after the Doctor waved them over. Clara took a seat in one of the yellow plastic and metal chairs in the mess hall. "No, nothing. It's the same as all the other ghosts with the weird black eyes. I mean, i-it's wearing different clothes, but that seems to be the only difference."

"Let me see."

"But-"

The Doctor grabbed the scanner and brought it around to the other side of the console so no one else could see it. "Show me." She scratched her chin with a thoughtful expression. "I assume it's just saying the same thing as the others."

"No. It's saying a list of names," I heard Clara say. "Our names, mainly. Moran, Pritchard, Prentis, O'Donnell, Diana, Clara, Doctor, Bennett, Cass. Who's Prentis?"

"The mole-faced chap." The sound of something clattering startled me and the Doctor's face grew worried. "What's the matter? Clara, what's happening?"

"She's moved inside! She's inside here now, in the mess hall!"

The Doctor pursed her lips. "What is she doing?" she asked.

"Uh, well… nothing. She's just standing there."

The Doctor glanced briefly at me over the scanner. "She's not trying to kill you? Why is she not trying to kill you?"

"No. No, wait, she's moving, going towards the control panel," Clara said slowly. There was silence for a few moments and then I heard Clara gasp. "She's opened the Faraday cage. She's let the other ghosts out. Doctor-"

"I need to talk to her. Now."

"Didn't you hear me? She opened the Faraday cage! The other ghosts are outside. Shouldn't we be hiding?"

"In a minute. I need to talk to the ghost."

"Doctor, does that really matter right now?" O'Donnell asked. "They need to be somewhere safe so the ghosts don't kill them!"

"And don't you think we should see what's going on, as well?" Bennett added. "Who's the ghost? You said 'she', so it can't be me or Lunn."

"Well it's not you, so it's none of your concern," the Doctor snapped. "Now all of you be quiet so I can talk to this ghost."

"We have a right to know!" O'Donnell countered, her hands crossed over her chest and a stubborn frown on her face. "At the very least, Diana and I deserve to know since it could be either of our lives in danger."

The Doctor looked seriously at her, obviously unwilling to tell us who the ghost was but also aware that both Bennett and O'Donnell were right. She sighed and glanced down at the console for a moment. Then she lifted her gaze again and took a deep breath. "It's me," she said. "The ghost is me."

O'Donnell's mouth fell open. "What?"

The Doctor's eyes flitted to me and something stirred in the pit of my stomach, an uneasy feeling that somehow made me feel as if she wasn't telling the truth. I frowned, searching the Doctor's face for any sign that I was just being paranoid.

"I have to die."

"Doctor?" Clara called, snapping the Time Lady out of her trance. "The ghost stopped talking. Oh. No, wait, she's started again."

Lunn's voice came through the speakers. "Her message has changed. She's saying something different. She's saying-…"

"What?" Clara urged.

The Doctor waved her arms impatiently. "What?"

"She's saying, 'the chamber will open tonight.' "

Something in the Doctor's expression changed and she leaned closer to the scanner. "Clara, now that the ghosts are out, go to the Faraday cage. They won't be able to get you in there." She paused and lightly smacked herself in the forehead. "Oh, there's a problem."

"Oh, really? Problem? What problem?" Clara demanded. "Because everything else is going so smoothly!"

"The phone signal won't be able to get through. What you'll have to do, Clara, is put the phone outside and you can watch it through the little round porthole. And when you see it ringing, if it's safe to do so, go out and answer it."

"Okay, how long are you going to-"

"Clara, listen to me. Don't let that phone out of your sight. I need to be able to reach you, I need to know everything my ghost does. Do you understand? I'll come back for you," she said, her voice suddenly low and gentle. "I swear."

The call ended and the Doctor pushed the screen to the side. She sighed, closing her eyes for a few moments as she seemed to regain her composure. Then she darted around the console and started for the doors. "Come on." But she stopped just short of the doors and whirled around. "Oh, wait a minute. Not you two," she said, gesturing to O'Donnell and I.

"What, why?" I asked.

"Someone needs to stay here and mind the shop. What if Clara calls?"

O'Donnell scoffed. "The last bloke that said something like that to me got dangled out of a window."

Bennett glanced at the Doctor, then at O'Donnell. "Maybe the Doctor's right. Maybe it's best if you both stay here."

"Never going to happen! Seriously, have you two met me?"

She started to push past the two, but the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Look, it's going to be very dangerous out there. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but I don't want either of you getting hurt."

"So why is Bennett going with you?"

"Will you just trust me?"

"I'm not just going to stand around here, doing absolutely nothing, while you two go out on an adventure to save everyone! And I know Diana won't either."

The Doctor set her jaw and loomed over O'Donnell, her eyes hard. "Perhaps you haven't noticed, but Diana isn't up for much adventuring lately. She isn't the woman you read about in all your military files. She's much younger, much more inexperienced, and much, much more afraid. I'm trying to protect her and this is the only way I know how. So please. Just stay here with her."

She released her grip on O'Donnell's arm and stepped back, her eyes focused on the floor. I reached up to grab my necklace, fishing it out from under my shirt and clasping it tightly in my hand. I staggered back a few steps as I tried to process everything the Doctor had said.

"Diana." I hesitantly met the Time Lady's gaze. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head, reaching out for the railing with my free hand. "I don't understand."

"I know. But… just promise me that you'll stay in here until we come back. The TARDIS will keep you both safe."

O'Donnell put a hand on my back. "Come on," she said. "Why don't we sit down?" She looked back at the Doctor. "You'd better explain yourself when you come back."

"I will."

The doors had barely shut behind Bennett and the Doctor before O'Donnell guided me to one of the chairs by the console. The TARDIS whirred softly overhead, making O'Donnell glance around the room as she sat down next to me. "She's talking to us, isn't she? She really is sentient," she murmured. "I'd read in one of the older files that she was, but I-I never actually believed it."

"Did you read about me?" I questioned.

"What?"

I rubbed my thumb across the pendant around my neck. "In your files. The ones with Martha and Amy and Rose and the TARDIS. Did you read about me in them?"

"Yes. You're in all of them."

"And the Doctor?"

O'Donnell laughed softly. "Wherever the Doctor goes, you seem to follow. And we had plenty of files on the two of you." I slumped in my seat and stared up at the ceiling, watching the top of the console spin slowly, wondering what each Gallifreyan symbol meant as they trailed in and out of view. "You okay?"

I nodded. "Just thinking."

A loud roar sounded then, rattling the doors and echoing through the room. O'Donnell and I sat up a little straighter, looking hesitantly at one another. "What was that?" she asked.

I looked back at the door and felt my heart drop to my stomach when the TARDIS whirred nervously. "I can't remember," I said. "It's just out of reach. But it's not good."

A few seconds later, another roar sounded, this time much closer to the ship and much louder. The doors rattled again and O'Donnell stood. She hurried up the ramp and made sure the lock was in place before stepping back a few paces.

I got up and placed a hand on the console. The scanner crackled to life and a grainy image of the area immediately outside the doors appeared. "O'Donnell, look!" She skidded around the console and grabbed hold of the screen. "It's the Fisher King."

"What? That thing in the sheet? I thought it was dead!"The doors jolted as the scanner showed the Fisher King banging on them. "He's trying to get in."

"Nothing can get through those doors," I told her. "Not even the hordes of Genghis Khan and, believe me, they've tried."

"Are you sure?"

The creature delivered another blow to the doors and they rattled again. The TARDIS wheezed angrily and the Fisher King paused, eyeing the ship with his arm raised midair. He roared again, loud enough the O'Donnell and I were forced to cover our ears, and beat his enormous arm against the doors.

Something on the screen caught my eye and I smacked O'Donnell in the arm. "Look. Look!" I shouted, jamming my finger against the scanner. In the corner of the screen I could see the Doctor and Bennett, their faces peering around the edge of the building.

The Doctor stepped out, waving her arms and shouting. The creature stopped and turned to face her, its frustrated grumble drifting through the doors. It stepped forward then, the TARDIS completely forgotten.

"Oh my god," O'Donnell breathed. "It's gonna kill him. We have to do something!"

She ran frantically around the room, searching for something. Finally she stopped, reaching under the console for a fire extinguisher. Then she ran for the doors and unlocked before I could do anything to stop her.

Images of her bloodied dead body flashed across my mind's eye and I stumbled after her. "O'Donnell, wait!" I screamed.

"Don't you dare, you big bloody bastard!" she shouted before beating the creature's spine with it.

The Fisher King howled in pain as she managed to hit it twice in quick succession. Then it turned and smacked her across the chest, her body flying several yards before landing in the grass. Bennett cried out and sprinted after her, kneeling by her side as he checked her injuries. I was standing in the open doorway, frozen in shock as the Fisher King advanced on me.

"Diana, get inside!" the Doctor shouted. "Go!"

I wanted to run. I wanted to hide, to get as far away from the creature as possible. I wanted to wake up from the nightmare I was immersed in and steal a hug from my mother. But my legs refused to move and even as the Fisher King drew closer, I was too terrified to do more than just breathe. I could see every tube running out of the creature's face, the gaping hole that served as its mouth, and the claws stretching out from its hands, yet still I couldn't move.

The creature stopped, his left arm extended towards me with a gun pointed at my head. He sniffed, then lowered his arm and marched towards Bennett and O'Donnell. My legs wobbled and gave out, and I collapsed. I watched as the Doctor sprinted after the Fisher King and knocked it to the ground, her body sprawled out beside him. The gun flew out of its hand and landed at O'Donnell's feet. Bennett scrambled to grab the gun groaned as he managed to pick it up.

A shot echoed throughout the town and blood spattered across the grass. My head started pounding, the world around me started spinning, and then everything went black.

When I woke up, I could hear gentle, steady beeping somewhere above me. The lights overhead were dimmed slightly and I blinked, trying to clear the sleep from my eyes. Then I remembered what had happened before I passed out and I sat up with a gasp.

I was on a bed with white sheets and a gray blanket draped over my legs. Next to me was an identical bed with O'Donnell fast asleep below the covers. Her arms rested on either side of her torso with an IV sticking out of the back of her hand. I quickly looked away, trying to erase the image of the needle stuck under her skin. I glanced at her face and the machines placed around her bedside; she looked as if she was in a hospital.

An EKG machine stood just behind her IV rack, the source of the beeping I had woken to. That meant she was alive. Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I slid to the ground and hissed when my bare feet touched cool tile. It was then that I spotted Bennett fast asleep in a chair on the opposite side of O'Donnell's bed. He had fallen asleep with his head on the edge of her bed and his hand clasping hers.

I'd made it halfway across the room when the door opened and the Doctor stepped inside. I froze mid step, feeling as if I'd been caught stealing cookies from a cookie jar, as the Doctor stared silently at me. She smiled and I could see the relief written plainly across her face. The door shut with a light click as the Time Lady approached me.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

She glanced at the other bed. "I see O'Donnell's alright." Her sonic shades were cupped in her hands and I could see the Doctor's fingers trembling slightly as she fiddled halfheartedly with them. "I, um, I'm sorry I had to leave you in here. I had to help the others. The ghosts are trapped in the Faraday cage now."

"Is everyone okay?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes. They're waiting in the bridge for me, but I had to check on you before I did anything else."

The doors swung open then and Clara burst through the doorway. "Where is she?" she demanded. Her eyes landed on me and, with a sob of relief, she raced across the room and wrapped her arms around me. "You're alright," she breathed into my hair. "I was so worried."

I awkwardly patted her on the back, shooting the Doctor a confused look. "Um, yeah. I-I'm fine," I stammered.

"I thought- I thought I might not see you again. When that ghost appeared, I was so scared." She pulled back and trailed her fingers across my face, brushing away a few stray pieces of hair. "But you're here, you're okay."

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" I asked.

Her brows furrowing together, Clara looked over her shoulder at the Doctor. "You didn't tell her the truth?"

"Well I didn't have a lot of spare time to do that, now did I?"

I pulled out of Clara's grasp and glanced skeptically between the two women. "Tell me what? What's the truth?"

"The ghost wasn't me," the Doctor said. She quickly avoided mine and Clara's eyes for her sonic sunglasses instead. "The, uh, the ghost was you. That's why I wouldn't let you or the others see. I didn't want to frighten you."

"What?"

"You were never in any real danger, Diana. I didn't realize it at the time because I-I-I was so focused on the thought that I might lose you, but you never saw the writing in the ship. The Fisher King and the ghosts were only killing people who had seen the writing, but you never did. Once I realized that, Bennett and I came back to the TARDIS but the Fisher King was already here and, well, you know the rest."

"So it never would have killed me?" I said.

The Doctor shook her head. "No."

"Then why did it come after me? I thought I was going to die."

"It must have only realized you hadn't seen the writing right before it killed you. Without the writing, you're completely useless. So it went after O'Donnell because she was hurt. She would've been an easy kill."

"Doctor!" Clara scolded.

"What? It's true!" she replied.

"No." Clara pointed to something behind the Time Lady: O'Donnell, wide awake and watching us with a pained smile. "See?"

O'Donnell waved her hand dismissively and managed to laugh with only a tiny wince. " 's alright. I know I'm lucky to be alive. If it wasn't for this lump," she said as she patted Bennett on the back, "I probably wouldn't be here. And you too, Doctor."

The Doctor smiled. "How're you feeling?" she asked, checking the EKG and IV after briefly scanning her with the sonic shades.

"Well, I feel like a monstrous alien from outer space whacked me in the chest. But other than that, y'know, I'm feeling great."

"You'll live, luckily for you. All that's left is for me to erase the writing from yours and Bennett's memory. Once that's taken care of, the three of us will be on our way."

O'Donnell hummed softly. "As if you were never here."

"Something like that, yeah."

And so, hardly two minutes later, Bennett and O'Donnell's memories were fixed and we were ready to leave. "Now, once the ship dematerializes, it will leave the two of you behind. Your bed and little machines will stay with you, free of charge," the Doctor explained. "And UNIT will be able to take care of you after that."

Bennett rubbed the sleep from his eyes under his glasses. "Thank you," he said. "For looking after her."

"Bennett," O'Donnell groaned. "I can say thank you on my own."

He smiled. "I know. But I needed to say it, too."

"You're both very welcome," the Doctor replied. She held out her hand to Clara with a grin. "Shall we go?"

"Oh, could I speak to Diana for a sec before you all go?" O'Donnell asked.

Clara and the Doctor glanced at each other before nodding. "Of course," Clara said. "Just come back to the console room when you're done."

Once the pair left, O'Donnell reached out for me, wiggling her fingers while she waited for me to take her hand. I smiled at her, a little confused as to why she wanted to talk. "I just wanted to tell you something. I saw how scared you were today. The girl I read about in my files, the one who fought off monsters and saved the day? I know she's in there somewhere. And if it takes you ten years to become that girl, that's okay. Being brave is something you have to learn sometimes. But I know she's in there, waiting for you.

"Oh, and one more thing." She looked at Bennett and squeezed his hand. "Clara and the Doctor? They love you. And if you love them at all, in any way, you need to tell them. Don't wait til you're about to die to tell them how you feel. Okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

O'Donnell grinned. "Atta girl. We'll see you around, right?"

The TARDIS hummed softly and I nodded again. "I think so. Maybe. Take care of yourself."

"So what will UNIT do with the ghosts?" Clara asked, leaning back against the console as the ship wheezed.

The Doctor approached her and pressed a feather light kiss to her forehead. "Drag the cage into space, away from the Earth's magnetic field. With nothing to sustain them, the ghosts will eventually fade away," she explained, fiddling with a few controls on the console.

"Here's what I don't understand. You did change the future. You stopped the Fisher King from returning with that fake ghost of Diana you created."

"The Fisher King had been dead for a hundred and fifty years before we even got here. But once I went back, I became part of events. But here's the thing. The messages Diana's ghost gave, they weren't for you, they were for me. That list of names. Everyone after you and Diana was random, but the both of you being the next two names, that's what made me confront the Fisher King."

"And saying the chamber will open?"

"That was me using Diana's ghost to tell me to get inside and when to set it for, since the TARDIS wouldn't take me to the bridge because it was too close to the ghosts."

Clara nodded with a smile. "Smart."

"Mm. Except that's not why I said them."

"How do you mean?" Clara asked, her brows furrowed as the Doctor circled round the console.

"I programmed my ghost to say them because that's what my ghost had said. And the only reason I created my ghost hologram in the first place was because I saw it here. I was reverse engineering the narrative."

Clara shrugged. "Okay, that's still pretty smart."

"You do not understand," the Doctor said with a smile. "When did I first have those ideas, Clara?"

"Well, it must have been- Oh." She grinned. "Wow."

The Doctor hummed. "Exactly. Who composed Beethoven's Fifth?"

Clara tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

A smile flitted across the Time Lady's face. "So there's this woman and she has a time machine. Up and down history she goes, zip zip zip zip zip, always getting into scrapes." She started up the stairs leading to the second floor, rummaging through a stack of old vinyls. "Another thing she has is a passion for the works of Ludwig van Beethoven." She waved a vinyl labelled 'Beethoven's 5th' at us and then set it down. She paced across the walkway, circling all the way to the opposite end of the room, passing numerous bookcases and a chalkboard. "And one day she thinks, what's the point of having a time machine if you don't get to meet your heroes? So off she goes to eighteenth century Germany. But she can't find Beethoven anywhere. No one's heard of him, not even his family have any idea who the time traveller is talking about." Sitting on a small table was a bust of Beethoven, which she picked up and cradled against her chest. "Beethoven literally doesn't exist." She came back to the main level of the room. "This didn't happen, by the way. I've met Beethoven. Nice chap. Very intense. Loved an arm-wrestle. No, no, this is called the Bootstrap Paradox. Google it."

She started down to the lower level of the room then, the bust of Beethoven still in her arms. Clara grabbed my hand and guided me downstairs. "The time traveller panics," the Doctor continued, setting the bust down on a cushioned footrest with sheet music scattered across it. "She can't bear the thought of a world without the music of Beethoven. Luckily, she brought all of her Beethoven sheet music for Ludwig to sign. So he copies out all the concertos and the symphonies, and he gets them published. He becomes Beethoven. And history continues with barely a feather ruffled." She grabbed an electric guitar from its stand, slipping the strap over her shoulder to situate the instrument as she flipped the amp on and adjusted some of the dials. "But my question is this. Who put those notes and phrases together? Who really composed Beethoven's Fifth?"

The Doctor grinned and winked at Clara and I. With a brush of her fingers on the strings, the beginning notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony sounded through the console room.

A/N: I'm sorry it's been so long, you guys! All I can say is that I have a lot of stories that I'm working on at the moment and writer's block is a very old friend of mine. But aside from that, I hope you all liked this chapter. It's crazy how much a story changes when you keep just one person from dying. Leave me a review telling me what you liked (or didn't like) and how I can improve so I can keep all of my readers satisfied!