The Shakespeare Code

All Hallows Street, Southwark, London
1599

"Lilith!"

Lilith nearly sighed tiredly at his voice, but she restrained it beautifully. Moving her way through her disgusting hovel, she motioned for her two "Mothers" to hide themselves within the darkness of the room, and she crossed up to the window, and assumed her fair face. Normally, one of her kind would look like what these strange creatures call "Witches", with wrinkled skin, filed teeth, deadly piercing eyes and long, scythe like nails, dressed in tatters and rags, and speaking in either hoarse or high-pitched voices. Hers would normally be high pitched, as she was "Younger" than the other witches, but not really by much, since they have all been around for a very long time. Now, in her fair face, she looked like a very beautiful young woman, with alluring blue eyes and soft red hair that reached down just past her smooth, pale shoulders. Her voice even had a seductive, purring quality to it that made seducing suitors breathlessly easy. She took a candle, lit the flame to help show her "Lover", Wiggins, her approval, and she opened the window, looking down upon the brown-haired man- Wait no, boy, who held a musical instrument in his hands. I can never remember their names. There's one they put by their mouths, and one like this that they use their hands with. That's about all I know. Pushing her inner thoughts aside, as she already assumed what Wiggins would be hoping from her on this night, she gave him a soft yet seductive smile as she leaned against the windowsill and he lifted the instrument in his hands and began to sing.

"Her face was like a winter moon that lights the traveller's way. Her smile was like a summer bloom that bursts then fades away. My love is night, my love is day. My love, she is my world."

As he finished, Lilith gave him a chuckle of approval. "Such sweet music shows your blood to be afire." And it will be…no, not yet, little Lilith. "Why wait we on stale custom for consummation?"

His smile grew wide and full of life, with an added splash of nervousness from an obvious first-time lover. "Oh yes. Tonight's the night."

Lilith sped down the stairs of the two-story hovel, sliding up to the curtain that hung behind the front door, where upon the entrance of Wiggins, she drew it back just a tad to let her face, bearing a very seductive smile, show in the candlelight. "Would you enter, bold sir?" She purred.

"Oh, I would." He returned, and she drew the curtain back, allowing him to enter. She could tell even with her head turned away from him that some of his bold bravado had evaporated upon the sight of her home. She wondered very briefly if he would blame it on the smell or the rotting animal corpses, the bubbling cauldron over the fire or the bags of bones, or the masks of her ancient brethren. She also silently thanked her brethren comrades, Mother Doomfinger and Mother Bloodtide, for they had hidden themselves away so beautifully well into the shadows that even she could not see them. She set the candle in her hands down on a barrel in the corner and walked up to Wiggins' back, just as his breath continued to hitch up at the abhorring sights his eyes laid upon. "Lilith, this cannot be the home of one so beautiful." He said with a slight whimper.

Lilith gave the ghost of cocking her eyebrow behind his back, which faded as he turned to her with a look that grew paler by the second. However, his fear turned to concern as he laid eyes upon her again for but a brief second. Hmmm, my fair face is very fair indeed. Thanks, my elder Mothers.

"Forgive me, but this is foul." Wiggins continued, unknowing to her inner thoughts.

"Shhh." She purred, placing her finger upon his lips. "Sad words suit not upon a lover's tongue." The man without another second of doubt moved forward and placed a very inexperienced kiss upon her lips, and as his eyes closed, Lilith let her fair gaze drop like a waterfall, and she pulled back, relishing at his dreadfully terrified face. "Oh, your kiss transformed me." She mocked, her voice now higher and absent of her seductive purring. Her hair had even turned sickly black, messy and knotted with no care whatsoever. "A suitor should meet his beloved's parents." She then called out into the room, "Mother Doomfinger." Said Carrionite popped out from the shadows, and her ghastly old and wretched crone like face made him gasp in shock. "And Mother Bloodtide." She called again, and the answer was a hoarse shrilling laughter that pierced the young boy's heart as she swept into the room. Then, without warning, they sprung upon the terrified man, whose screams of pain and agony were cut short as Lilith reached her hand around and sliced open his throat, but not enough to end his life. Mother Doomfinger dragged the boy off his feet, letting his head bang upon the ground, before she and Mother Bloodtide began to feast upon the boy. Mother Bloodtide drank greedily from the flowing rivers of his neck, whereas Mother Doomfinger gave punishment for his attempt of "Seduction" by removing him of his manhood. Once the boy had stopped any form of resistance, not that it was doing anything, Lilith ripped out his barely beating heart, and devoured it whole. "Continue to gain your sustenance, my Mothers." Lilith purred, and they gave her a very grateful and warm smile. Ones that Lilith were sure the Humans would find unnerving and chilling, but to Lilith, it meant everything to her. "Soon, at the hour of woven words, our sisters and mothers shall rise again, and this fleeting Earth will perish!" She declared proudly before giving out a cackle of shrilling laughter. And she had nothing to fear. Not even their "Neighbours" could hear them, for their magic was just too good.

TARDIS

"But how do you travel through the "Vortex"? What makes it go?" Martha asked as the Doctor and Clara raced around the console.

"Oh, let's take the fun and the mystery out of everything." The Doctor muttered sarcastically to himself.

"Martha," Clara started, earning the woman's attention, "you don't want to know. It's a story too long and complicated."

"Hold on tight!" The Doctor and Clara braced themselves against the console while Martha held onto the handrails, and the TARDIS gave a sudden lurch and a thud as they landed, and the room ceased into a calm standstill.

"Blimey." Martha muttered, the three of them standing up with a small groan. "Did you have to pass a test to fly this thing?"

"Yes, and I never took it." Clara said with a shrug.

"And I failed. A lot." The Doctor said, as he took his overcoat, and with Clara's help, slipped it on before they raced to the doors with Martha in tow. "Now, we're giving you one trip, so, make the most of it." The Doctor said as he grasped the handles, Clara leaning on him with her elbow on his shoulder. "Outside this door, brave new world."

"Well, not really "New"." Clara retorted, and he shrugged.

Martha's gaze just flittered between the two of them. "Where are we?"

"Wrong question." They said in unison.

Martha blinked. "Okay, when are we?"

They smiled and the Doctor opened the door. "Take a look." Martha smiled and went straight out the door before the Doctor took Clara's elbow and linked his arm through hers. "Come on, Clara." He winked, and she readily went with him outside, just as they heard Martha exclaiming-

"Oh, you're kidding me. You're so kidding me." She had her jaw dropped as they stared out into the busy Elizabethan street of London. "Oh my god, we did it. We travelled in time." She smiled and looked at the beaming couple. "Where are we-no, sorry. Wrong question again. When are we-"

"Watch out!" They interrupted, taking Martha's arms and yanking her back just as a man in a two-story window above them yelled-

"Gardez l'eau!" They watched him tip a bucket upside down, spilling its contents out into the street before them, and it would've hit Martha had she not been yanked back.

"We are somewhere before the invention of the toilet." The Doctor said simply. "Sorry about that."

Martha just shrugged, since it didn't bother her…that much. "I've seen worse. I worked during the late-night shift, A&E. But are we safe?" She asked, and they blinked at her. "I mean…can we move around and…stuff?"

"Yeah." They said obviously in unison.

Martha slouched her shoulders with a small sigh. "It's like in films; You step on a butterfly; you change the future of the Human race."

"Movies aren't always accurate." Clara said simply. "It's why they're movies, not documentaries. Besides, what have butterflies ever done to you?" She asked with a frown.

"Nothing-"

"Good." Clara interrupted with a nod. "So, don't step on any butterflies."

"But what if I kill my granddad by accident or something?"

"Will you?" They asked in unison, and Martha was still a bit freaked out by how perfectly timed and in sync they were with each other.

"No." Martha said obviously.

"Well then." They retorted, and started to move off, leaving Martha standing there for a short moment with her jaw dropped again, before she raced to catch up with them.

"So, this is London?" She asked.

"It looks like Elizabethan. So it could be the very late 16th Century." Clara said with a nod.

Martha blinked. "How did you guess-"

"I was a teacher." Clara answered before she held up a hand. "Okay, to be fair, I wasn't very good at history, teaching or otherwise." She started to get a bit flushed from Martha's raised eyebrows, and she elbowed the Doctor softly. "Come on, help me out here."

"1599." The Doctor answered instantly.

"Wait, wait, hold on." Martha quickly said, making them frown at her. "Am I all right? I'm not going to get carted off as a slave, am I?"

"Why would they do that?" The Doctor asked with genuine curiosity.

"Not exactly white, in case you haven't noticed." Martha answered, pointing to her dark skin.

"He can't notice." Clara inputted. "Time Lords and all. With them, everyone starts to look the same."

"Well, I haven't gotten there yet." The Doctor defended, but only lightly. "Besides, I'm not Human and Clara's…something-something-such-and-such. Just walk about like you own the place, it works for us. Also, you might be surprised. Elizabethan England is not so far off from your time." He then pointed to a few dark-skinned ladies in somewhat decent clothes walking together down the street, having a nice chat with calm and peaceful smiles on their faces. "Look over there." The Doctor said, Martha looking to where he was pointing, seeing a man shovelling a pile of horse manure and loose hay piles into a bucket.

"Water cooler moment." Clara said, nodding to a couple of men leaning on a water barrel, drinking from it in small sipping cups. The trio then went under an archway, getting closer to a man that had been yelling incoherent nonsense for the last few moments, but now they could understand him.

"And the Earth will be consumed by flame!" He yelled.

It's a preacher. Great. Clara just leaned over to Martha and said not in a whisper, "Yeah, global warming." Martha laughed at that, while the Doctor chuckled, and the preacher's face fell a bit.

"Oh, and there's entertainment." The Doctor said. "Popular entertainment for the masses. Now, if I'm right, we're just down river by Southwark, right next to…oh, and it's blocked by buildings." The Doctor groaned to himself, taking Clara's hand and racing off down the street, down past London Bridge, where they turned a corner and their desired destination came into view. A massive round building made of blue on the roof and white on the walls with every window streaming with light.

"The Globe Theatre." Clara introduced as the Doctor just stared at it in barely restrained childish excitement. "Okay, technically it's not a globe. It's a tetradecagon, 14 sides, not a giant circle like the Colosseum." Clara explained to Martha. "Just opened, brand new and containing the man himself."

"Oh, I've always wanted to meet him." The Doctor almost squealed, which made Clara shake her head at him as she took his arm.

"Why do you think we're here, then?" Clara quipped, and he gave her a quick peck on her lips before laughing. "You coming?" Clara asked Martha.

Martha's eyes, which had been locked on the Globe, had widened in disbelief. "You mean it? Shakespeare's in there? The real Shakespeare?" She asked, pointing to the building.

Clara just cocked her eyebrows up for a brief second in answer. "Miss Jones, will you accompany us to the theatre?" Clara asked, holding out her hand, which Martha took readily, keeping her excited eyes on the Globe.

"Miss Oswald, I will." She returned and they started to walk up to the building.

"When you get back after this, you can tell everyone you've seen Shakespeare." The Doctor said.

"Then I could get sectioned." Martha quipped, making them laugh. Walking through the building, they bought, or rather swindled their way through the front, before finding themselves slap bang in the audience, with what looked like a hundred or more people crowded into the Theatre, all of which were clapping in applause and excitement as the actors, all dressed up in garb, came out onto the stage and waved at everyone with smiles on their faces. "Oh, that's amazing! Just amazing!" Martha squealed in joy as the trio clapped and whistled with the audience. "It's worth putting up with the smell." Martha, while her excitement didn't falter in the slightest, did frown ever so slightly at the sight of some actors dressed up as women, complete with pale face makeup, red dots on their cheeks, dresses and corsets, the lot. "And those are men dressed as women, yeah?"

The Doctor and Clara just shot each other an amused look. "London never changes."

"Well, where's Shakespeare?" Martha asked, looking around the room and double checking the stage but there was no sign of the iconic man. "Where is he? I want to see Shakespeare! Author! Author!" She called, then blinked and looked at them with a nervous face. "Do people shout that? Do they shout "Author"?"

"Author!" A man called behind Martha, making the trio's eyes widen in bemused confusion. "Author!"

Then before long, to their bewilderment, the entire crowd was chanting or screaming, "Author! Author! Author! Author! Author! Author!"

"Well, they do now." Clara said, still clapping despite her puzzlement.

"Author! Author! Author!" Then, the doors that led to the backstage were flung open and a man with brown hair, a brown beard, and wearing a simple yet somewhat dashing black suit, with a white shirt that was unbuttoned at the top and black trousers came on to the stage. Once he did, the whistling and cheering grew ten-fold, and the man gave an ecstatic jump kick of his right leg before flourishing his right arm into the air, giving the entire audience a warm smile of gratitude and welcome. He then started to pace around the front of the stage as the actors behind him joined in the cheering and clapping, while he kissed and waved to as many people as he could see.

"He's a bit different to his portraits." Martha commented, which made Clara shrug, yet the Doctor just couldn't help but grin in admiration.

"They're paintings and drawings, Martha." Clara reminded. "They're always bound to miss out A detail."

"Genius." The Doctor muttered.

"What?" Clara asked, almost missing the word, and he took his eyes away from Shakespeare and back on her. She felt rather amused and a bit swooned that the admiration in his eyes on Shakespeare was very different and very weak compared to the adoring admiration that he gave her. Dammit, he knows how to be sweet.

"He's a genius. THE genius." The Doctor grinned. "One of the most Human Humans, and now we're going to hear him speak." He squealed in joy. "Always, he chooses the best words. New, beautiful brilliant words-"

"Ah, shut your big fat mouths!" William called to the audience, which made them all roar with laughter, but the Doctor's face fell into disappointment.

"God dammit." He muttered, and Clara quickly nuzzled him in close, which did the job and quickly improved his mood. "Thank you, Clara." He said with a smile again, pressing a kiss upon her forehead.

"He should never meet his heroes." Clara said to a smirking Martha. "That's his problem."

"Oi!" The Doctor whined.

"You've all got excellent taste; I'll give you that!" William called as the cheering and clapping died down, but the excitement that filled the Theatre did not drain in the slightest. "Oh, that's a wig." He said nonchalantly, pointing to a man with loose brown hair in the audience, who quickly became the target of laughter, but the man accepted it graciously, tearing off his hair to reveal his bald head, and it even got a few whistles from some of the actors on stage. Then, once the clapping died down yet again, William obviously cleared his throat to speak clear and true to the audience. "I know what you're all saying. "Love's Labour's Lost". That's a funny ending, isn't it?"

The audience gave a cheer of "Yeah!" and he just shrugged.

"I know. It just stops like that." He said with a snap of his fingers. "Will the boys get the girls?" He cocked one eyebrow with a smirk. "Well, don't get your nose in a tangle, you'll find out soon."

"When?!" The audience cried and William just held his hands up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." He quickly said, and the audience shushed. "All in good time. You don't rush a genius." He quipped with a bow, earning laughter, before he shot back up, causing everyone to laugh again, this time with a bit of puzzlement. Clara noticed however that the gleam he had in his eyes was no longer genuine but…not so genuine. "When?" He asked rhetorically, pausing for a moment of silence, yet Clara and now the Doctor noticed his eyes darting off to the top seats of the building for but a split second, however those seats were out of their viewpoint. "Tomorrow night!" The audience roared with cheering and whistling, and his grin grew broader, although the actors beside him had some nervous puzzlement in their eyes that they exchanged for a brief moment. "The premiere of my brand-new play, a sequel no less and I call it: "Love's Labour's Won"!"

The cheers returned in full force, the audience clapping at his declaration, to which he and the actors just bowed before they left the stage and the audience began to shuffle out of the Globe. Martha had joined in with the clapping for a few moments, but she stopped upon seeing the frowns that the couple bore, all the while they had been deep in thought upon William's declaration. Once they had exited the Globe, Martha spoke up to relieve the silence. "Okay, I'm not an expert on Shakespeare or anything, but I've never heard of "Love's Labour's Won"."

"Because there never was such a play." Clara responded. "It's mentioned in the lists of his plays, but it never turns up. No one knows why. It just doesn't exist, only in rumours and whispers."

"Have you got a mini disc or something?" Martha asked, making them blink.

"A what?" They asked in unison.

"We can tape it. We can flog it." Martha explained. "Sell it when we get home, make a mint."

"No." They immediately said, and Martha promptly nodded.

"That would be bad." She agreed.

"Yeah."

"How come it disappeared in the first place?" Martha asked, and the answer she got was a small whine from the couple.

"Fine." They groaned.

"We were just going to give you a quick little trip in the TARDIS." The Doctor said with a pout. "But fine, we can stay a bit longer."

Martha nodded, but she was still confused over the lost play. "So, where do we find Shakespeare?"

"At an inn."

The Elephant

"Here you go, Will." William looked up from behind his candlelit desk to see the landlady, Dolly Bailey, a woman with dirty blonde hair, walking into the room and placing three mugs onto the desk for him and the main acting pair from his troupe. "Drink up." She said cheerily. "There's enough beer in this lodgings house to sink the Spanish."

William, with a thankful smile, took one of the mugs and sipped the drink. "Dolly Bailey, you've saved my life." He said as he placed the mug down.

"I'll do more than that later tonight." She flirted, and William just raised his eyebrows at her in a small challenge, before she took the empty tray and stood up, turning around to look at a brunette servant girl, working away in the corner of the room. "And you, girl, hurry up with the tasks. The talk of gentlemen's best not overheard." She said with a smirk.

"Yes ma'am. Sorry, ma'am." The girl quickly said, but everyone missed the small glare of fire in her eyes that disappeared as quickly as it appeared. After Dolly left the room, one of the actors picked up from the table a page from William's new play and gave it a small scrutinizing look that blended with incredulous nervousness.

"You must be mad, Will." Said the actor on the left, Richard Burbage, who had brushed black hair and light, scruffy hairs on his face, the beginnings of a beard. ""Love's Labour's Won"? It's supposed to be next week and we're not ready." He pointed out as he placed the paper back on the desk. "What made you say that?"

"You haven't even finished it yet." Inputted the actor on the right, Will Kempe, who had messy brown hair and a scruffy goatee.

William just sighed. "I've just got the final scene to go. You'll get it by morning." He reassured before taking another drink from his mug.

"Hello!" The three looked at the door as two voices spoke in unison, before a rather handsome man in a brown suit and a beautiful brunette in a rather odd sweater came into the room with beaming faces.

"Not interrupting anything, are we?" Clara asked.

"Mr. Shakespeare, isn't it?" The Doctor asked and William groaned.

"Oh, no." He muttered before placing his hand on his face. "No, no, no. Who let you in?" The pair blinked and he rolled his eyes. "No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me, and please don't ask where I get my ideas from. Thanks for the interest. Now, be a good boy and girl and shove-" He stopped short when he saw the pair's companion enter the room behind them. My lord, she is just…*Growls* "Hey, nonny, nonny." He purred, and Martha just raised her eyebrows in surprise, earning amused looks from the pair beside her. "Sit right down here next to me." He said in invitation before looking at Richard and Will. "You two, get sewing on them costumes. Off you go." He said as Dolly entered the room to get their empty mugs.

"Come on, lads." She said, patting them on the shoulders, as they gave her amused looks, to which she returned. "I think our William's found his new muse." She said, taking the empty mugs and the three of them left the room, allowing Martha to sit in one chair and Clara in the other, the Doctor standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

"Sweet lady." William said to Martha, looking over her…very sensual form. "Such unusual clothes. So…fitted."

"Um…" Martha started with a stutter, "verily, forsooth. Egads!" She said, making William blink.

"No." The pair said in unison, which made William blink again. "Don't do that."

Then, the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a leather wallet. "I'm Sir Doctor of TARDIS. My fair lady here is Dame Clara of TARDIS." He introduced, and William didn't miss the wink he gave to Clara, or the beaming smile she sent him in return. "And this is our companion, Miss Martha Jones."

William cocked his eyebrows, but his gaze remained on the paper. "Interesting, that bit of paper. It's blank."

The Doctor's jaw dropped while Clara frowned. "Oh, that's…very clever." He grinned and Clara just let the frown melt, before raising her eyebrows up slightly. "That proves it. Absolute genius."

William just shrugged with a smug smile, while Martha interrupted with a blink. "No, it's says right there." She said, pointing to the paper. ""Sir Doctor, Dame Clara, Martha Jones." It says so."

"And I say it's blank." William retorted.

"Psychic paper." Clara interrupted Martha before she could continue. "Long story."

""Psychic"?" William questioned, leaning back in his chair to stare at the pair. "Never heard that before, and words are my trade. Who are you, exactly?" Then, he blinked with a smile. "More to the point, who is your delicious blackamoor lady?" He winked.

Martha just stared at him with her jaw dropped again. "What did you just say?" She asked with a small chuckle under her breath.

"Whoops." William said, leaning his elbow on the table and placing his head upon his hand. "Isn't that a word we use nowadays? An ethiop girl, a swarth, a Queen of Afric?"

Martha just stared at the pair beside her with a smile. "Can't believe I'm hearing this."

"It's political correctness gone mad." The Doctor said, him and Clara shaking their heads at William's flirty behaviour.

"Martha's from a far-off land." Clara inputted. "It's called-"

""Freedonia"." The Doctor interrupted, before Clara slapped his hand. "Ow!"

"Freedonia sounds like a dead-end pub you'd find in Ireland. A poor man's version of Ireland at that." Clara admonished.

William just looked between the two of them before glancing at Martha. "Couple?"

"Couple." Martha answered with a nod.

"Excuse me! Hold hard a moment!" A man called before swiftly entering the room, making William and the servant girl frown at his entrance, while the trio just blinked in puzzlement. The man was dressed all up like he was very rich and important, complete with an embroidered black hat, a large golden necklace, and even his white frill ended in golden lining. "This is abominable behaviour. A new play with no warning?" He shook his red bearded head with a scoff. "I demand to see a script, Mr. Shakespeare. As the Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed."

"Tomorrow morning, Lynley, first thing." William said to the man. "I'll send it round."

"I don't work to your schedule; you work to mine." Lynley growled. "The script, now!"

"I can't." William said with a clenched jaw.

"Then tomorrow's performance is cancelled." Lynley announced.

"Blimey." Martha breathed out, looking over at the TARDIS couple. "It's all going on around here, isn't it?"

"I'm returning to my office for a banning order." Lynley declared as he moved to the door. "If it's the last thing I do, "Love's Labour's Won" will never be played." Then, without a word, he sped from the room, nobody gaining notice of the servant girl having disappeared as well.

"Well then, mystery solved." Martha quipped to the couple, and they just smirked at her in return. "Although, I thought it might be something more…you know…mysterious." The couple just shrugged at that. Then, upon a sudden, they heard Lynley screaming and gagging in agony outside, and it was quickly accompanied by the horrified shrieks of nearby men and women. "Bloody hell, I spoke too soon." Martha muttered, the three of them and William rushing outside to the source of the noise.

Lilith, keeping her head down to remain somewhat anonymous, managed to sneakily bump into Lynley, who frowned down at her. "Oh, sorry sir." She quickly said with a small squeak, and it did the job by somewhat lessening his frown. "Begging your pardon, sir. Mind you don't hurt that handsome head of yours, sir." She said, using her small scissors to snitch a small lock of hair from the back of his head, which he didn't notice.

"Hold hard, wanton woman!" He spat, and Lilith took the initiative to appear aghast at his words, and it made him clear his throat in apology. "I shall return later." He said with an approving eye, and Lilith blushed, which made him wink before he turned and walked off without a word. Lilith, who's expression went from blushing and ever so slightly swooning to a very dull glare, dashed off into a hidden corner blanketed in shadow, where she took a barrel of water and removed the lid before pulling out a small doll and began to tie Lynley's stolen hair around its head. "Oh, my Mothers." She breathed in a whisper. "One seeks to stop the performance tomorrow."

"But it must be tomorrow." Mother Doomfinger replied in her head.

""Love's Labour's Won" must be performed." Mother Bloodtide inputted.

"Shhh." Lilith said with a small smile. "Fear not, my Mothers." She reassured under her breath. "But I require your aid. Chant with me." Upon her words, she finished tying the hair around the doll, and she heard her Mothers breathe in a deep sigh inside her head.

"Close your eyes, Lilith." They whispered to her and she did so, stroking a hand along the head of the doll.

"Water damps the fiercest flame, drowns down girls and boys the same." She spoke, her Mothers whispering the chant in unison with herself. "Water damps the fiercest flame, drowns down girls and boys the same." Then, she took the doll and plunged it into the water, keeping it within the ice-cold liquid until she heard the acknowledgment of her work by Lynley gagging and screaming distantly, quickly accompanied by the sweet shrieks of horror. Just a few more moments, Lilith. Just a few more. She let herself count up to 5, before taking the doll out and grasping her scissors in her other hand. "Now to halt the vital part. Stab the flesh and stop the heart. For eternal sleep shall be thine." She then pierced the chest of the doll, twisted the blade, then removed it before twisting the doll's neck. She heard the distant thud of a body slamming the ground, and she smiled. "Thank you, my Mothers." She whispered earnestly before she moved out from her hiding place within the shadows.

"It's that Lynley bloke." Martha muttered as they exited the inn to see Lynley gagging and spluttering water like nobody's business.

"What's wrong with him?" Clara asked.

"Leave it to me." The Doctor said, moving to catch Lynley by the shoulders. "I'm a doctor."

"So am I." Martha said, moving forward before adding under her breath, "Well, near enough." Without warning, Lynley gave a wrenching choke before he collapsed to the ground, gagging on the water no longer, and his body went still. "Mr. Lynley." Martha said, while Clara and the Doctor just gazed around with squinting eyes but found nothing to answer the man's death. "Can you hear me?" The answer came from more water bubbling up from within his throat, and Martha recoiled before looking at the couple as they squatted down beside her. "What the hell is that?"

The Doctor just gently took Lynley's face in one hand to gaze into his throat. "I've never seen a death like this. His lungs are full of water. He drowned and then…a blow to the heart. An invisible blow."

Clara just placed her hand on Lynley's eyes to close them before standing up and looking at Dolly, who was standing with William and a small group of people, watching the scene unfold. "Good lady, this poor man had died. A sudden imbalance of the humours. A natural yet unfortunate demise. Call the constable and have him taken away."

"Right away, ma'am." Dolly nodded before the servant girl gently placed her hand on Dolly's arm.

"I'll do it, ma'am."

"Thank you, dear." Dolly nodded gratefully before the servant girl left and Clara went back to squat beside the Doctor.

"And why did you tell them that?" Martha asked Clara.

"This lot still have one foot in the dark ages." Clara answered. "Tell them the truth, they will panic and think it was witchcraft." Martha just nodded silently before Clara asked the Doctor, "How did he die?"

"Witchcraft." He answered simply, and Clara just gave him a dull glare.

"Bloody hell, I was only half serious." Clara muttered to herself. They then left to re-enter the inn after the body was removed, and they went into William's room, before Dolly came to the door and looked at the couple.

"I got you a room, Sir Doctor, Dame Clara. It'll be just across the landing." She said before looking at Martha. "You're a bit lucky. There's a spare mattress for you, but it'll have to be on the floor." She said, and Martha just shrugged.

"It's fine, thank you." Martha returned as Dolly swiftly left the room.

"Poor Lynley." William muttered as he sat at his desk. "So many strange events. Not least of all, this land of "Freedonia" where a woman can be a doctor."

"Where a woman can do what she likes." Martha retorted and William just raised his eyebrows in interest before looking at the couple.

"And you, Sir Doctor, how can a man so young have eyes so old?"

"I do a lot of reading." The Doctor said, keeping any grim tones from his voice.

"A trite reply, yeah. That's what I do." William remarked, earning a smirk from the Doctor. "Don't think I missed that, Dame Clara." He said, pointing to her unconsciously taking his hand. "Then again, Martha looks at you like she's surprised you exist."

"What?" Clara muttered but William held up his hand.

"Not like the kind that you and your Doctor look at each other. No, it's more…confused. Bewildered than…romantic."

Clara just nodded. "Trust me, I'm as much of puzzle to anyone as I am to myself."

William just sighed. "Well, I must to work. I've got a play to finish before tomorrow morning. And hopefully, I shall get my answers tomorrow, Doctor. Both you and Clara, and why this constant performance from the two of you."

"All the worlds a stage." The Doctor remarked, and William gave a look of approval.

"Hmmm, I might use that." William said to himself before smiling. "Goodnight Doctor, Clara."

"Nighty-night, Shakespeare." The Doctor said before he led Clara out of the room, Martha following closely behind. They entered into their allotted room, which the couple mentally agreed that it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It did have a wardrobe, a king-sized bed and a mattress beside it on the floor, all of which had blankets and pillows, thankfully.

"Not exactly five-star, is it?" Martha quipped.

"Oh, it's all right." The Doctor returned. "I've seen worse."

"We haven't even got a toothbrush." Martha muttered.

The Doctor patted his pockets, but he didn't find what he wanted. "Damn, it must be in the other suit. Shame, it has Venusian spearmint. Really good." Then, he lay back first onto the bed, Clara snuggling in beside him, while Martha took a seat on her mattress.

"Mmm. Not bad." Martha said to herself as the mattress was decently soft. "So, magic and stuff. That's a surprise. It's all a bit "Harry Potter"."

"Wait until you read book seven." The Doctor said as Clara rolled over to the side of the bed to look at Martha, while the Doctor just placed his head on her shoulder. "Oh, I cried."

"But is it real, though?" She asked. "I mean, witches and black magic and all that, it's real?"

"Eh, kind off." Clara said with a shake of her hand. "It looks like witchcraft, but it isn't."

"There's such a thing as psychic energy but a Human couldn't channel it like that." The Doctor said, scratching the back of his head. "Not without a generator the size of Taunton, and they would've spotted that. No, there's something I'm missing Clara."

Clara shifted herself around to look at him properly. "How'd you mean?"

"There's something really close, staring at me right in the face and I can't see it." His tone and expression went suddenly solemn. "I really am getting old, because I should know, but I don't remember it."

"Do you forget everything?" Clara asked, stroking his hand.

"I forget things I shouldn't. I only had one partner before you." He said, and his tone now went sorrowful. "And I can't even remember her name. Or the family we had, all but Susan. And they're all gone now. Even my friend."

Clara blinked. "Your friend? The TARDIS?"

He shook his head. "No, not her. I had a friend before I had a family. Just one friend, but he was, and still is, my oldest friend. He was so much like me, and oh the times we had. I used to go to his father's land all the time. We'd run practically all day, right on through the red grass and calling the most random nonsense up at the sky." He sighed, but it was very shaky. "Then the time came for the Academy, and after the initiation he..." He trailed off with a shake of his head. "We tried to remain friends, always meeting, always talking, even when we travelled separately, even on Earth. But when the War came, he just disappeared. And I know that he is not coming back. And now I…I miss him. I miss him, Clara." He admitted softly.

"What was his name?" She asked as she took his cheek in her hand.

"His name was "The Master"." He muttered with a gulp. "Even right here, right now, he'd know exactly what to say. He always did. Sometimes he could be smarter or thicker than me, but he'd always know what to say. And now he's gone."

"You must still have hope." Clara reassured, but he shook his head, still gazing at her with sad eyes.

"That's the trouble with hope, Clara. It's hard to resist."

"Lilith." Mother Doomfinger mewled as Lilith re-entered, changing in a flash from her servant girl outfit and back to her black rags. "The potion is prepared. Now, take it. Magic words for the playwright's fevered mind."

Lilith gratefully took the small bottle filled with a green gas. "Shakespeare will release us. The mind of a genius will unlock the tide of blood." Mother Bloodtide purred.

Lilith just smiled. "Upon this night, the work is done. A muse to pen "Love's Labour's Won"." Lilith's smile grew while her Mothers giggled, but they quickly silenced themselves. "Not yet, my Mothers. First, a visit." Then without another word, she disappeared from the room, moving in silence through the night until she stood below the candlelit window of William's room, where with a wave of her hand, the window unlatched and slowly swung open. Then, she hovered up into the air, peaking her head in where upon the sight of William on his own and his back turned to her, she took the potion and blew it gently in his direction, where upon he shuddered, swayed for a moment before falling fast asleep on the table, his quill still in his hand. Lilith then hovered right up into the room, coming down onto her feet before she took out of her pocket a puppet of Shakespeare, wrapped in his own hair and attached to strings. She placed her free left hand on the puppet's head and caressed it softly with a small smile. "Bind the mind and take the man." She whispered with a low purr. "Speed the words to writer's hand." Then, she gently tugged the head up, and William's own head echoed it, popping up with wide open eyes, yet his body and mind remained fast asleep. Lilith with the puppet began to write the necessary key words as the last sentence of the play, each scritch and scratch of the quill made her want to grin, but she held it in patience. Then upon finishing, she let William's head drop back onto his desk, where she placed the puppet back into her pocket and put her hand upon his head. "Thank you." She whispered earnestly, placing a kiss into his hair-

"Will!" The sudden voice of Dolly made Lilith shoot up in shock for a moment, before she caught it and let it melt away into nothing. "Finished cleaning, just in time for your special treat." Lilith heard Dolly enter the room before the sound of her broom touched the floor and then came a sigh. "Oh all right. Not the first then."

Lilith, with a malicious smile, turned around with her fair face melted into her true face, and she stared at the now horrified Dolly, but more specifically, her broom. "I'll take that to aid my flight, and you shall speak no more this night." Then, upon baring her teeth, she gazed at Dolly, but she decided to not give her a grim death, but instead a merciful one. She quickly whispered an incantation under her breath that went unheard by Dolly, before she dashed at her, and the woman screamed, dropping the broom straight into Lilith's hands before she collapsed to the floor, unmoving and dead. Quick, and easy. That is our mercy.

The Doctor and Clara shot up from their entangled embrace with a start upon hearing the horrified screams of a woman in agony. "Dolly." They muttered, racing from the room with Martha quick in tow, entering into William's own room as he stirred from his sleep, the window having been flung open before they entered.

"What?" He muttered, blinking the sleep from his eyes. "What was that?"

The Doctor and Clara knelt down beside Dolly's deceased body, while Martha ran to the window to see Lilith's shadow as she sped off into the night sky upon Dolly's broom, cackling like nobody's business. "Her heart gave out." The Doctor said after a moment. "She died of fright."

"Doctor, Clara." Martha called, and the couple raced over to the window.

"What did you see?" Clara asked.

"A witch." The couple didn't respond to that, but they squinted ever so slightly at that knowledge.

"Dolly, I am sorry." They heard William say as he had left his desk and knelt down beside her body. "I am so sorry."

"We need to get the constable, have her taken away." The Doctor said solemnly, and William agreed. Without another word, he hoisted up Dolly's body into his arms and removed her from the room.

Dawn, the Next Day

"Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey." William sighed as he stood by the window, looking out at the now clear sky, while the TARDIS trio just sat in silence around his desk. "She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place. We'll run like rats." He turned around to lean against his desk with his hands braced upon it. "But what could have scared her so? She had such enormous spirit."

""Rage, rage against the dying of the light"." Clara quoted.

"I might use that." William said in admiration, but Clara shook her head to his disappointment.

"You can't. It's someone else's."

"But the thing is, Lynley drowned on dry land, Dolly died of fright, and both were connected to you." Martha pointed out.

"You're accusing me?" William asked in defence.

"No." Martha quickly responded. "But I saw a witch, big as you like, flying and cackling away, and you've written about witches."

William looked astounded. "I have. When was that?"

"Spoilers." The Doctor quickly said to Martha.

William gave a low "Hmmm" under his breath. "Peter Street spoke of witches."

"Who's Peter Street?" The Doctor asked.

"Our builder. He sketched the plans to the Globe."

"The architect." The Doctor muttered with squinting eyes. "The architect. The architect. The architect!" He exclaimed, slamming his palms on the desk before speeding off out of the room. "The Globe! Come on!"

Martha and William glanced at Clara, who just sighed. "Just do as he says." She said, right as William took the entire script in hand before the three of them sped off to catch up the Doctor, leaving the inn and going down the streets before entering into the empty Theatre. The Doctor went to stand in the middle while Clara stood beside him. "Doctor?" She asked.

"Columns there." He pointed to the stage, which indeed had two large mahogany brown and golden columns on either side. "And there's 14 sides. Doesn't that strike you as odd?" He asked Clara. "Why 14?"

Clara just shrugged. "Why 14 sides, Will?" She asked, yet she kept her frowning face on the Doctor.

"It's the shape Peter Street thought best, that's all. Said "It carries the sound well"."

"14." The Doctor muttered. "Why does that ring a bell, Clara?" He asked.

"There's 14 lines in a sonnet." Clara said with her arms crossed. "14 sides, 14 facets. Words and shapes following the same design."

"That there is." The Doctor agreed before smacking his head. "Oh my head! Think, think, think!"

"Come on, this is just a theatre." William inputted.

"But a theatre is magic, isn't it?" Clara retorted. "You should know, you stand on this stage and say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time…you can make men weep or cry with joy, you can change them."

"Change them." The Doctor muttered under a breath, making Clara turn around.

"Doctor?"

"You can change people's minds, Clara. Just with words in this place. So you exaggerate that…say the right words…oh." He whined. "It's staring me in the face, Clara, and I can't remember it."

"It's like the police box." Martha interrupted to their relief. "Small wooden box with all that power inside." She said dramatically.

"Oof." Clara said with a smile. "Martha Jones, we like you."

"…Thank you." Martha said despite her confusion. "Was that a compliment or what?" She whispered to William, but he just shrugged.

"Tell you who would know. Peter Street." The Doctor said. "Can we talk to him?"

"You won't get an answer." William said, shaking his head. "Month after finishing this place, he lost his mind."

"Why? What happened?" Martha asked.

William shrugged. "Started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling. His mind was addled."

"Where is he now?" Clara asked.

"Bedlam."

"Bedlam? Bedlam what?"

"Bethlehem hospital. The madhouse."

"Then that's where we're going." The Doctor said, taking Clara's hand. "Come on."

"Wait! I'm coming with you." William called as they moved to the exit, just as the two actors, Richard and Will, started in. "I want to witness this at first hand." He then handed the full script he had in his hands to Richard. "Richard! The last scene as promised. Copy it, hand it round, learn it, speak it before the curtain goes up. Always remember: Project, eyes and teeth, for you never know. The Queen might turn up." He then turned to catch up with the TARDIS trio before rolling his eyes. As if. She never does. Walking back alongside them, he regained Martha's attention. "So, tell me of Freedonia. Where women can be doctors, writers, actors."

"This country's ruled by a woman." Martha retorted.

"Ah, she's royal. That's god's business. Though you are a royal beauty." He flirted, and Martha laughed with her jaw dropped.

"Whoa, Nelly!" She said with her hand up. "I know for a fact you've got a wife in the country."

"Martha, this is town." He purred.

"Come on!" Clara interrupted as her and the Doctor stopped walking. "We can all have a good flirt later!"

"Is that a promise, Clara?" He flirted.

"Oi!" The Doctor interrupted. "Leave her alone!"

"And who would leave you alone?" William flirted, and the couple just gave each other a look of dread.

"Oh, fifty-seven academics just punched the air." He muttered. "Now, move!" He ordered, and the group rushed back up onto their trail.

"The light of Shadmock's hollow moon doth shine on to a point in space betwixt Dravidian shores-"

Mother Doomfinger, turning with a frown to the cauldron, moved towards it before grabbing a handful of dust and whispered, "Globe Theatre". She then tossed the dust into the cauldron, the liquid shimmering with a grim light before the faces of Richard and Will appeared, both of which were standing on the stage in the Theatre and holding pages of a script in their hands. Then, she quickly motioned for Mother Bloodtide and Lilith to join her.

"Dravidian shores and linear 593016-" Richard stopped upon hearing and feeling a sudden rush of wind, causing him to look about the Theatre in puzzlement.

"A spirit stirs the ether." Mother Doomfinger reported as the wind came with a small hissing of one of their brethren. "Too soon, too soon."

"Not too fear, my Mothers." Lilith said reassuringly. "Tis merely a rehearsal of what's to come." Upon her words, the Mothers relaxed with a calm smile as the actor went on.

"And strikes the fulsome grove of Rexel 4." Then, their eyes widened as they stared up above their heads, and the Mothers and Lilith quickly guessed that they had seen a mere shadow of one of their brethren.

"By all the saints." Will muttered. "What was that?"

"…A spirit." Richard answered in a low murmur. "A vile shade." They quickly looked down at the pages, then back at each other, and Richard said, "I think we should never speak of this again."

"Good idea." Will readily agree. "Else we'll end up in Bedlam ourselves."

Bethlehem Hospital

Already the TARDIS trio, and even William, had wanted to leave this awful place. The agonized wailing of those imprisoned within these murky and gloomy walls made them shiver down to their bones. As the Warden let them inside, he unlocked a corridor door with the jangle of his keys, and they walked right on inside, the first "Patient" to greet them muttering, "Please. Please." When they gave him no answer, he rattled against the cell doors, even going as far as to smash his own head against the bars, only stopping when the Warden whipped his hands with his lash. William remained grim yet silent, the couple looked on in restrained, seething anger, while Martha was utterly disgusted.

"I would make a Dark Souls joke here, but I'm not going to." Clara growled to the Doctor, who just gave a slight nod of his head, but did not speak.

"Does my lord Doctor and my lady Clara wish some entertainment while they wait?" The Warden asked over his shoulder. "I'd whip these madmen. They'll put on a good show for you. Mad dog in Bedlam."

"Yes." Clara snarled, and they heard the Warden gulp. "Get on your knees and whip your own back." The Warden gave her a wide-eyed look of incredulous terror, and she gave a thin, cold smile. "Don't make that kind of offer again." She warned, and he quickly nodded.

"Well, if you wouldn't mind waiting here, my lady, I'll make the man decent." He quickly trotted off down the corridor as if he himself was being whipped, and Clara let her smile fade back into anger, quickly grasping the Doctor's hand to keep herself calm.

"Sorry." She muttered to him, and he stroked his thumb on the back of her hand, which worked…somewhat.

"Is this what you call a hospital, yeah?" Martha asked William in clear disgust. "Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry, and you put your friend in here?"

"It's all so different in Freedonia." William retorted, but it had no bite whatsoever.

"Do you honestly think that this place is any good?" Martha asked.

"You may think me clever, but I'm not all the time." William responded. "I've been mad. I've lost my mind. Fear of this place set me right again. It has a purpose, even when nobody likes it."

Martha went to make another question, but she held her tongue for a moment to calm herself. "Sorry." She muttered, and William nodded in forgiveness. "Mad in what way?"

"You lost your son." The Doctor inputted.

"My only boy." William said sombrely with a nod. "The Black Death took him, and I wasn't even there. It made me question everything. The futility of this fleeting existence, to be or not to be-" Then, for a small moment, the TARDIS trio managed to get amused, serene smiles as his eyes widened. "Oh. That's quite good." He said in obvious approval.

"You should write that down." Clara agreed.

"Mmm," William started with a shake of his hand, "maybe not. Bit pretentious?"

"You'd be surprised if you use it right." Clara disagreed.

The Warden came walking back up to them, still looking nervously at Clara as he reported, "This way, my lord, my lady." They followed him down the corridor until they arrived at a dead end, where the Warden unlocked the door and let them into the cell. The "Patient" within was Peter Street, but he was hunched over, sitting on his ruined bed with his back turned to them. "They can be a bit dangerous. Don't know their own strength." The Warden said, but from the look on the Doctor's, Martha's and even William's faces, he immediately regretted it.

"It helps if you don't whip them, idiot!" Clara retorted in a snarl.

The Warden retreated from the cell, right as the Doctor stroked Clara's hand with his thumb to calm her again. "Clara." The Doctor whispered, his voicing making Clara give a sigh. "Please stop."

Clara just gave him a small, yet sad look and she nodded. "I'm sorry."

He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "No more of that today, okay?" Clara nodded again, letting go of her hand to kiss her cheek before moving away and towards Peter. "Peter?" He called, but the man didn't answer. "Peter Street?"

"He's the same as he was." William inputted as the Doctor squatted in front of the hunched man. "You'll get nothing out of hi-"

"Hush." Clara interrupted, and William kept his mouth shut.

"Peter." The Doctor said as he placed his hand on Peter's shoulder. The man's head shot up and his wide, wild eyes stared back at the Doctor, his hair, his clothes and even his teeth were an utter mess.

"Peter." A voice of a man sounded in Lilith's head, and she blinked, touching her head as she felt a strange presence beginning to cloud her away from Peter Street.

"What is this?" She hissed, earning her Mothers attention. "I must see." She grabbed a small handful of dirt and whispered, "Bethlehem" then upon she chucked the dust into the cauldron. The image in its liquid showed Peter staring with wide eyes at a man, who was squatting before him. "That stranger." Lilith muttered with a frown. "He was at the inn with Shakespeare. I thought then he smelt of something new."

"And now he visits the madhouse, for the architect!" Mother Bloodtide pointed out with a hiss.

The Doctor gently reached forward and placed his hands upon Peter's temples. "Peter, I'm the Doctor."

Peter tried to shake his hands away, but then the witches saw a small hand upon his shoulder, and a woman then appeared beside the Doctor with a gentle look. "It's okay. It's all right."

Her own presence seemed to calm him, while Lilith looked once again with a frown. "That woman. She was with this Doctor too." She muttered.

"Go into the past." The Doctor implored in a hushed voice. "Let your mind go back. Back to when everything was fine and shining. Everything that happened in this year since happened to somebody else. It was just a story, a winter's tale. Let go." His words, the witches found to their growing dismay, were working marvellously, for Peter began to relax, the mad glint in his eyes dimmed just enough and the Doctor guided him back onto the bed. "That's it. That's it. Just let go." Then, once Peter was lying flat on his back, he looked up at the couple with wide eyes of fear and wonder, while the Doctor whispered to Clara, "All yours."

"Tell us the story, Peter." Clara said, her looking beginning to turn grave. "Tell us about the witches."

"Who are these two?" Lilith asked to herself. "Why do they come now at our time of glory?" She gave a sigh, and ordered without turning her head, "Mother Doomfinger, transport yourself." When she heard Mother Doomfinger beginning to purr at her order, she turned to her with a smile. "Doom the Doctor and Clara. Doom their very hides."

"Hide." Mother Doomfinger whispered, her eyes twinkling and glittering, before she turned and walked swiftly from the room.

"Always one for a dramatic entrance, we are." Lilith quipped to Mother Bloodtide, before they turned their attention back onto the cauldron's view.

"Witches…spoke to Peter." Peter said to the couple, Martha and especially William looking positively confounded at his clear speech, even if the pattern of it was still stained with madness. "In the night, they whispered. They whispered." He said, wriggling his fingers by his ears with almost insect like noises with his chattering teeth. "Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. THEIR design." He emphasized with a small cackle. "The 14 walls. Always 14." He said in a distant voice for a small moment. "When the work was done…" He trailed off with a mad cackle, which slowly but surely turned into a confused frown, the only clear and pure expression he had given so far, "they…they snapped poor Peter's wits. Why would they snap poor Peter's wits?" He asked the couple. "He had done everything they said."

"It's called covering your own tracks." Clara said with a low growl. "One would call it smart, another cowardice." Then, she knelt in front of Peter to get in close. "Where did Peter see the witches, where in the city?" Peter shook his head and was about to protest, but Clara snapped her fingers right in front of his eyes. "Peter…" She snarled, "you have got to tell us. And I will not ask it again." She warned.

Peter, after a moment of tense silence, took a gulping breath before he stared up at Clara and said clearly, ""All Hallows Street"."

"Too many words." Mother Doomfinger hissed suddenly from beside them, causing Clara to slowly stand up as the Doctor tugged her away, while Martha and William looked at her in frightful astonishment.

"What the hell?!" Martha exclaimed.

"Just one touch of the heart." She twitched her right forefinger at them before pressing it down upon Peter's chest.

"No!" The couple yelled in unison, but it was too late. For a small second, the man gave an agonizing wail before the life and madness in his eyes quickly paled and faded away, and Mother Doomfinger gave a wailing moan as she stood back up straight again.

"Witch!" William muttered in fearful shock. "I'm seeing a witch!"

"Now, who would be next, hmm?" Mother Doomfinger asked, twitching her finger again. "Just one touch." She said, her smile growing brighter and more sinister by the second. "Oh, I'll stop your frantic hearts!" She cackled. "Poor fragile mortals!"

"Let us out!" Martha exclaimed, suddenly pounding on the bars of the cell door. "Let us out!"

Clara snorted, a sound that made Martha stop and turn to stare at her with a frown, which William echoed. "That's not going to work. Everyone in this place is shouting that."

"Who would die first?" Mother Doomfinger asked.

Clara's eyebrows raised in challenge. "If you're looking for a volunteer…"

"Don't, Clara!" Martha exclaimed but the Doctor held up his hand.

"Wait a moment." He mouthed to her, and William saw it.

"Can you two stop her?" William asked, and Mother Doomfinger hissed.

"No mortal has power over me."

"No, but there's a power in words." Clara retorted sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

"All we have to do is just know you." The Doctor said with squinting eyes at the witch. "Just find the right words."

"None on-"

"Earth has power over us." Clara quickly interrupted, finishing her sentence. "God, can you please just shut up?" She snarled, and Mother Doomfinger was taken aback.

"Thank you." The Doctor said to Clara with a smile. "Now, think, think, think, Humanoid female, using shapes and words to channel, and has a fetish for 14-ah! 14!" He suddenly exclaimed, and Mother Doomfinger recoiled slightly. "That's it, 14! The 14 stars of the Rexel Planetary Configuration!" The witch began to shake in a sudden terror, and the Doctor proclaimed with a wild look, "Creature, I name you: Carrionite!" Mother Doomfinger gave a bone chilling shriek as she glowed with a bright light, and suddenly vanished from the room. A small moment of silence fell, filled only by the Doctor giving a small breath to calm himself again.

"What did you do?" Martha asked in almost a whisper.

"I named her." The Doctor said simply. "The power of a name. That's old magic." He said, cocking his eyebrows at a smirking Clara.

"But there's no such thing as magic." Martha protested.

"I never thought I'd have to spoil a comic book movie." Clara spoke mentally to the Doctor. "You call what a Carrionite does "Magic", but at home you call it "Science". In reality, Martha, they are just one in the same thing. Humans, we use mathematics. Use the right string of numbers, or the right equation," She clapped her hands together for effect, "thine atom becomes split. As the Carrionite just proved, they use words instead, for words always have their own power."

"But what will they use them for?" William asked after Clara finished.

"The end of the world." The Doctor said in a grim tone, and they remained in silence after this, even as they left.

Back now in William's room in the Elephant, this time his own bedroom, William used a bowl of water to wash his hands and his own face before he gave a small sigh with his head in his water clad hands. Martha was sitting at a table while Clara leaned against the wall, and the Doctor just paced back and forth within the room. ""Carrionites"?" William asked after he took his hands away, turning to face them as he used a towel to dry his hands.

"Yes." The Doctor responded. "The Carrionites disappeared, way back at the dawn of the universe. Nobody was sure if they were real or legend."

"I'm going for real." William said dryly as he put the towel down.

"What do they want?" Martha asked.

"A world of bones and blood and witchcraft." Clara said with a dramatic flair, which made the Doctor smirk. "It's really just another way of saying good old global domination." She reiterated with a shrug.

"But how?" Martha asked. Clara and the Doctor just looked over at Shakespeare, who gave them an incredulous frown.

"Me? But I've done nothing." He defended.

"Hold on." Martha interrupted. "What were you doing last night when that Carrionite was in the room?"

"Finishing the play." He said obviously.

Their eyes went wide. "What happens on the last page?" The Doctor asked.

He shrugged. "The boys get the girls; they have a bit of a dance. It's all as funny and thought provoking as usual…" He trailed off, his expression steadily getting more confused and uncertain.

"William?" Clara asked, and the sound of his name brought him back.

"Except for those last few lines." He finally said. "Funny thing is, I don't actually remember writing them."

"That's it." The Doctor said slowly as he took his hands out of his pockets and walked to William. "They used you. They gave you the final words, like a spell, like a code. "Love's Labour's Won", it's a weapon!" He proclaimed. "The right combination of words, spoken at the right place, with the shape of the Globe as an energy converter! The play's the thing!" He went to leave, but stopped only a few steps away from William, and he turned back. "And yes, you can have that." He turned around, already picturing clearly the bright smug smile on William's face. "Map, map, map, map." He muttered, quickly searching around William's study, going at a rapid pace through books and scrolls until he figuratively tore out a piece of paper and he laid it upon the table. "Okay, All Hallows Street. Where are you?" He asked, Martha looking at the map from the side and Clara looked at it beside his right shoulder.

"Bloody hell, it's like an engineer's map." Clara muttered, for she could only see a mass blur of lines and writing. "How are you supposed to tell-"

"Right there." The Doctor said, pointing to a point on the map.

"What?"

"There."

"Where?"

"There!"

"Where?!" Clara repeated, and the Doctor groaned, taking her hand.

"Clara is a slow poke." He quipped, clicking his tongue on the "K" in "Poke" as he placed her finger directly at All Hallows Street.

Clara blinked, then shook her head. "Nope. Still don't get it."

The Doctor groaned again. "I'll just have to show you the way, then." He quipped. "Will, we'll track them down." He said to Will. "You get to the Globe. Whatever happens, you must stop that play."

"I'll do it." William said confidently, shaking the Doctor's hand. "All these years, I've been the cleverest man around. Next to you two, I know nothing."

"Well, don't complain." Martha said with a chuckle.

"I'm not." William said with a shake of his head. "It's marvellous. Good luck, Doctor, Clara."

"Good luck, Shakespeare." They said in unison before they bounded to the door. "Once more unto the breach!"

"I like that!" William proclaimed proudly before- "Wait." He muttered with a blink. "That's one of mine!"

"Oh, just get a shift on!" Clara ordered from the door as the trio disappeared around the corner.

"All Hallows Street." The Doctor said as they arrived in the appropriate place. "But which house?" He muttered.

"I must not be getting something here." Martha muttered as she looked up at the quickly darkening sky, and she felt herself shiver from the chilly night air.

"Sorry?" The couple asked in unison.

"Well…" She started with some uncertainty, "the world didn't end in 1599. It just didn't. Look at me, I'm living proof. Even Clara is." She pointed out.

"Ah, I might end up surviving that considering my…condition." She put simply.

The Doctor nodded. "How to explain the mechanics of the infinite temporal flux? No, I know!" He said with a grin as he pointed to Martha. "Back to the Future. It's like Back to the Future."

"The film?" Martha asked, and they gave her a dull look.

"No, the novelization." He retorted sarcastically. "Yes, the film." He said with a small groan. "Marty McFly goes back and changes history."

"And he starts fading away." Martha added, and her eyes quickly widened at her own words. "Oh my god, am I going to fade?"

"You and the entire future of the Human race." The Doctor said, now in a grim tone. "It ends right now in 1599 if we don't stop it."

"But," Clara started in an input, "which house?" The answer came from the house in front of them, where its front door creaked slowly open until it slammed against its own walls. "Oh."

"Make that "Witch" house." The Doctor quipped lightly to Clara, who just snorted for a moment before they walked inside. They moved through a large black curtain that hang behind the front door, entering into the disgusting mess of a hotel, where they found standing near the back, with the window closed above her, was Lilith, who gazed at them with an almost seductive gleam in her eyes. "I take it we're expected."

"Oh, I think death has been waiting for you a very long time." Lilith returned, right as she started to eye at Clara. "And you're the one that unnerved Mother Doomfinger. I can see why now. It's the fierceness in her eyes. Rather…large eyes." She said with a small blink.

"Right, then." Martha spoke up as she patted the Doctor's arm. "It's my turn. I know how to do this." She stepped forward and pointed at Lilith, who quickly bore a terrified expression on her face. "I name thee…Carrionite!" Lilith's terrified face went rather dull, and she just darted her eyes back and forth before unconsciously letting out a snicker. "What did I do wrong?" Martha asked, looking back at the couple. "Was it the finger?"

"The power of a name works only once." Lilith interrupted, re-earning Martha's attention. "Observe." Lilith, now with a fierce flame in her eyes, pointed her finger straight at Martha. "I gaze upon this bag of bones and now I name thee Martha Jones!"

Martha gave a quick inhaling sigh, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell straight back into the catching arms of the Doctor and Clara. "What have you done?!" Clara demanded as they carefully let Martha drop back onto the floor.

Lilith quickly gave Martha's unconscious form a slightly puzzled look. "Only sleeping, alas. It's curious." She muttered. "Name has less impact. She's somehow out of her time." She gave the couple, who were now staring at her with daggers, an inquisitive yet accusing look. "As for you, Sir Doctor-" And she stopped, for the Doctor was just glaring at her, and the mention of his name had no impact on him. "Fascinating." She muttered again, tilting her head to the side inquisitively. "There is no name. Why would a man hide his title in such despair?"

"Leave him alone." Clara growled, earning Lilith's attention.

"Clara Oswald." Lilith purred, and she found that Clara's name had no impact on her either. "A living contradiction." She muttered curiously. "For some reason you shouldn't even be alive and yet…you are."

Clara just stood up with a snarl. "Oh, I'm sure I'm a fascinating specimen indeed." She said sarcastically, the Doctor standing up to join her. "The Carrionites vanished. Where did you go?"

Lilith stood up with a clenched jaw. "The Eternals found the right words to banish us into deep darkness."

"And how did you escape?" The Doctor asked.

"New words. New and glittering, from a mind like no other."

"Shakespeare." They said in unison.

Lilith nodded. "His son perished. The grief of a genius. Grief without measure. Madness enough to allow us entrance."

"How many of you?"

"Just the three." Lilith shrugged. "Myself, Lilith, Mother Bloodtide and Mother Doomfinger. But the play tonight shall restore the rest. Then, the Human race will be purged, as pestilence. And from this world, we will lead the universe back into the old ways of blood and magic."

"Busy schedule." The Doctor remarked. "But first, you've got to get past us."

Lilith gave them a very seductive smile, but she stepped forward first to Clara. "Oh, that should be a pleasure, considering my enemies are…so very beautiful to look upon." She purred, stroking Clara's hair suddenly with both hands, but Clara's eyes just glared fires at her.

"That won't work on me." Clara retorted as Lilith took her hands away from Clara's hair and put them on the Doctor's.

"Or me." The Doctor added.

"We'll see." Lilith whispered before she used her scissors and stole a single piece of the Doctor's hair before dashing away to the window, using her other hand to discreetly pocket away a small wooden stake.

"Lilith." Clara growled, and Lilith cocked her eyebrows.

"Oh, you are a sharp lady." Lilith purred as they started forward.

"Give that back now!" The Doctor snarled, but Lilith flung her hands out, swinging the window open, and she flew out of it to hover away from their reach. "That's just cheating." He remarked dryly.

"Behold, my dears, men and women to Carrionites are nothing but puppets." Lilith said, taking out a bare doll and wrapped the Doctor's hair around the head.

"You might call that magic; I'd call that a DNA replication module." The Doctor said as Lilith finished tying the hair.

"What use is your science now?" Lilith retorted before she used her scissors to pierce the doll's chest, and the Doctor gave an agonizing scream, falling straight away from Clara.

"Lilith!" Clara snarled, just as the witch took out her stake and tossed it at Clara, piercing the woman in her own chest, and she too gave a shriek of pain, falling down beside the unmoving Doctor. Lilith just cackled and laughed, before she quickly vanished into the night sky. Right at that moment, Martha stirred back up from her sleep, seeing the unmoving body of the Doctor and the surprisingly not bleeding body of Clara beside him.

"Oh my god, Doctor, Clara!" She exclaimed, rushing over to the two of them. "Don't worry, I've got you."

"Thanks for that." They muttered in unison, and it made Martha blink in shock before she grinned.

"Hold on a minute. You've got no heart," She said, patting Clara's shoulder, "and you've got two." She said, patting the Doctor's shoulder.

"Yep. No heart means no pumped blood or some such shit." Clara groaned, Martha placing her arms around Clara's shoulders to help her up. "I'm like Davy Jones, a heartless wretch." She and Martha helped the Doctor up onto his knees, before he and Martha helped remove the stake from Clara's chest, and she gave another cry of pain. "Still hurts like fucking hell!" She cursed, Martha quickly rushing over to rip at the curtain, and she bundled it up to put pressure on Clara's chest. "I liked this sweater." She growled. "Now I'll have to get a new one. Maybe it'll be blue instead of grey."

The Doctor gave a sudden cry, Clara quickly moving to catch him as Martha went around to his other side. "I've only got one heart working." He choked out. "How do you people cope?" He asked.

"Watch it." Clara warned. "Think how I feel."

"I've got to get the other one started. Hit me. Hit me on the chest." He said as he groaned and winced.

"Martha." Clara ordered, and Martha readily agreed, considering she was a doctor in training. She curled up a fist and hit his right side, causing him to cry in pain again.

"Other side!" He protested. Martha hit him on the left, and he gave out almost a blend of a groan and a moan. "Ooh. Ow. On the back. On the back." Martha curled up both her fists together and hit his back on the left. "Ugh. Left a bit." Martha hit him again, and he gave one final cry before he shot up and clicked his neck with a massive grin on his face, almost like nothing happened to him at all. "Lovely! There we go! Bada boom-agh!" He proclaimed, before hoisting his arms around Clara and helping her up onto her feet. "You all right?" He asked.

"Yeah." Clara said with a shrug, before she blinked. "Somehow."

"Then what are we standing here for?" He retorted, grabbing her arm and rushing out of the house with Martha in tow. "Come on! The Globe!" Clara rushed off ahead of them, and they had to run to catch up. "Clara!"

"What?!"

"You're going the wrong way!" Martha called.

"No, I'm not!"

"Clara!" The Doctor called, and Clara immediately did a 180 upon crossing the entrance to a dead-end alley, and she ran right past them.

"We're going the wrong way!" Clara yelled, the three of them racing back up the alleyways until they got out into the open and they saw the Globe in view, yet it had a rushing wind coming out from its open roof, and it was lit with a pale crimson light. It was all steadily building into a mass of grey clouds, lit by the same crimson light, yet it was quickly turning into arcs of lightning, and the people around them witnessing this event began to scream and panic, running away in every direction.

"I told thee so!" The preacher called to them over the noise. "I told thee!"

"Bugger off!" The couple snarled in unison, and the preacher ran off in the other direction.

"Stage door!" The Doctor ordered, and they raced through the terrified Londoners, entering into the back door of the Globe and through the backstage, where they found William stirring groggily in his sleep in a chair. ""Stop the play"." He quipped sarcastically. "I think that was it. Yeah, I said "Stop the play"!"

"I hit my head." William defended.

"No, THEY hit your head." Clara retorted. "And don't rub it." She said, snatching William's hand away from his head. "You'll go bald." She paused for a brief moment, shooting the Doctor a smirk. "Not that I'm against that." She flirted.

The thunder that was sounding above the building began to intensify, and the couple sighed. "That's our cue." The Doctor quipped, and they raced through the doors and onto the stage. They saw the audience trapped in their seats as they looked at the growing cloud above them in horror. Then the trio and William saw the three Carrionites in the middle of the audience. The middle one, Lilith, was holding a purple crystal ball in one hand. The Mothers were cackling their heads off, but Lilith was looking straight at the trio with a malicious, if ever so slightly surprised smile.

"Watch this world become a blasted heath!" Lilith called tauntingly, and the ball glowed with the same pale crimson light, before it started to send a mass of clouds, lightning and small black shapes straight upwards in a mocking tornado. Lilith then quickly joined back in with her Mothers in cackling laughter, and the couple just stared at her with enraged eyes, before they tore them away and grabbed William by his arms.

"Come on, Will! History needs you!" The Doctor said.

"But what can I do?!" He asked.

"Reverse it!" They said in unison.

"But how do I do that?!"

"The shape of the Globe gives words power, but you're the wordsmith!" The Doctor said. "The one true genius, the only man clever enough to do it!"

"But what words?! I have none ready!"

"You're William Shakespeare!" He said obviously.

"But these Carrionite phrases, they need such precision!"

"Then trust yourself!" Clara inputted. "When you're locked away in your room, words just come, don't they, like magic! Words of the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm! Words that last forever! That's what you do, Will, you choose perfect words! All you need to do is improvise!" The couple then quickly stepped back, and William, after a small moment where he didn't speak, had his expression quickly turn from self-disbelief into confidence.

"Close up this din of hateful, dire decay, decomposition of your witches' plot!" William called above the raging noise. "You thieve my brains, consider me your toy, but my doting couple tells me I am not!" The trio watched with growing smiles as, while they couldn't hear the witches anymore, their expressions quickly went from self-satisfied cackling to pure utter terror, almost blending in with the same expressions borne by the rest of the audience. "Foul Carrionite spectres, cease your show between the points…" He quickly looked back at the couple for a reminder.

"761390!" They shouted in unison.

"761390!" William repeated. "Vanish like a tinker's cuss, I say to thee…" He trailed off again, looking at them for a small bit of help, yet this time, it came from Martha.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Expelliarmus!" William shouted to finish his monologue, and it worked, for the witches began to scream and screech as the lightning in the cloud vanished away and the black spectres in the storm had vanished with it too.

"Good old J.K!" The couple yelled in unison, just as the stage door was suddenly flung open, and a huge mass of papers flew out and were sent flying up into the raging storm. Then the storm began to pulse with the pale crimson light, convulsing in on itself before it swiftly vanished, leaving not a trace behind. Once it did, the audience's fear and terror began to die down along with the noise.

"And that was the answer." The Doctor thought mentally to Clara as he took her hand.

"Huh?"

"Those papers were "Love's Labour's Won", and now it's all gone." To the trio and William's surprise, the audience actually began to clap and cheer, causing the actors present along with William to bow in appreciation. "Come on, up to the witches seat." The couple then raced off the stage, leaving Martha to wave, kiss and bow with William.

"They think it was all special effects?" She asked him.

"Your effect is special indeed." He flirted, and Martha cringed a bit.

"That's not your best line." She quipped, and William chuckled. The two of them could see just from the top of their vision, the TARDIS couple, who were kneeling within the place where the witches had been and were looking at the glowing crystal orb in their hands before they shared a hearty laugh.

Dawn

"And I say, "A heart for a hart and a dear for a deer"." William said with a chuckle, sitting alone with Martha in the empty Theatre.

"I don't get it." Martha said bluntly.

"Then give me a joke from Freedonia."

"Okay." Martha said with a nod. "Shakespeare walks into a pub, and the landlord says, "Oi mate, your bard"."

William couldn't resist the urge to chuckle, even as Martha gave him a rather puzzled look. "Oh, that's brilliant. Doesn't make sense, mind you, but never mind that. Come here." He said, wrapping an arm around Martha's waist, and while she wasn't blushing, she did look a little nervous. Then, as William started to lean in, Martha placed her finger on his lips to stop him as she leaned back.

"I don't know how to tell you this, oh great genius, but your breath doesn't half stink."

"What a way to suck the joy out of everything." William muttered as she withdrew his arm away, just as the Doctor and Clara came out from behind the stagehand in hand, the Doctor's other hand holding a large skull of some kind while Clara had a frill neck brace on.

"Good props store back there." Clara commented.

"Not sure about this, though." The Doctor muttered, staring at the skull. "Reminds me of a Sycorax."

"Syca-what?" Clara blinked.

"Sycorax."

"Syca-what?"

"Syco-oh, never mind." The Doctor muttered, even as Clara giggled beside him.

"Sycorax"? Nice word." William commented. "I'll have that off you, as well."

"We should be on 10%." Clara quipped to the Doctor. "How's your head?" She asked.

"Still aching." William groaned.

Clara gave him a glare. "I took a stake to the heart. You'll be fine." She retorted.

"How are you not bleeding out? Or anything?" Martha asked.

"Martha, I don't know, and I never will know, because I'm weird." Clara growled lightly, and Martha just nodded silently.

"But it still hurts." William whined lightly.

"Jesus." Clara rolled her eyes, before she let go of the Doctor's hand and removed the frill from around her neck. "Here, wear this neck brace for a few days." She said as she placed it around William's neck, said man twitching with it here and there to make himself comfortable with it.

"Although," The Doctor started with a look, "you might want to keep it. It suits you."

"What about the play?" Martha asked.

"Gone." They said in unison.

"We looked all over. Every single copy of "Love's Labour's Won" went up in the sky." The Doctor added.

"My lost masterpiece." William said with a hint of mournfulness.

"You could write it up again." Martha suggested before she shook her head. "You know what? Don't do that. That might be bad."

William nodded at that in agreement, missing the impressed looks the Doctor and Clara gave Martha. "Perhaps it's time I wrote about fathers and sons, in memory of my boy, my precious Hamnet."

""Hamnet"?" Martha quoted, and William nodded.

"That's him."

""Hamnet"?" Martha repeated, now with a clear touch of confusion.

"What's wrong with that?" William asked her.

"Anyway, time we were off." Clara interrupted. "We've got a nice attic in the TARDIS where this lot can scream for all eternity." She said, pulling the crystal orb out from the Doctor's pocket, which bore the moving images of the three Carrionites, who were seething, growling and screeching at them, making Clara flick the glass in a mocking gesture. "Shut it." She said, pocking the ball back inside the Doctor's pocket again.

"How…" Martha trailed off as the ball disappeared in his coat.

"Long story short, bigger on the inside." The Doctor explained simply.

"We've also got to take Martha back to Freedonia." Clara said.

"You mean travel on through time and space?" William retorted.

The couple blinked in shock at him. "You what?" They asked.

"You're from another world," He nodded to the Doctor, "you're a strange Human thing thing," he quipped to Clara, "and Martha's from the future. It's not hard to work out."

"Mine is." Clara retorted in a quip.

"Still, that…is incredible." The Doctor commented with a growing grin. "You are incredible."

William sent them a smile in return. "We're alike in many ways, Doctor. I sense your loss, your grief, your madness. But we both go on living, go on talking, go on hoping, we must. What else are we fit for? And if you don't, how will dear Clara here stay with you?" They rolled their eyes at him with a smile. "But I don't need to travel. This is where I belong." He said, motioning to the Theatre. "This is the whole Earth, the Globe. Give me a pen and ink, give me my mind's eye and I can go wherever I want." He said proudly before he turned to Martha. "Martha, let me say goodbye to you with a new verse, a sonnet for my dark lady."

"Bloody hell." The couple muttered in a giggle to each other as William took Martha's hand, said woman barely able to restrain her own chuckles.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely, more temperate-"

"Will!"

"Will!" Came the sudden voices of Richard and Will Kemp, who came rushing into the Theatre from the main doors.

"Will, you'll never believe it!" Will said with a sudden ecstatic joy that made them blink a bit. "She's here! She's turned up!"

"We're the talk of the town." Richard said proudly. "She heard about last night. She wants us to perform it again."

"Who?" They all asked in unison, which briefly made the pair blink in shock before they caught themselves.

"Her majesty. She's here." And upon cue, a sudden fanfare was sounded outside, before a red headed woman in a regal dress came into the Theatre, accompanied by two armed soldiers.

"Queen Elizabeth the first!" The couple exclaimed gleefully.

Queen Elizabeth gave a sudden gasp of shock as she stared at them. "Doctor! Clara!"

"What?" They muttered in unison.

"My sworn enemies." She snarled.

"What?"

"Off with their heads!" She ordered.

"What?!"

"Well, never mind "What"!" Martha retorted, jumping up and grabbing their arms. "Just run!"

"Stop them!" Queen Elizabeth called, and the two soldiers began to run as the trio sprinted off through the backstage and out into the streets in the direction of the TARDIS.

"Stop! In the name of the Queen!" One of the soldiers called as they sprinted up to the doors of the TARDIS, the Doctor reaching into his pocket to unlock the door.

"What have you two done to upset her?!" Martha demanded.

"How should we know?!" The Doctor retorted. "We haven't even met her yet!"

"That's time travel for you." Clara added as the Doctor wrenched open the door. "Still, that's something to look forward to." She said, just as the Doctor entered, and he wrapped his arms around Clara's waist, hauling her inside and she squeaked at his sudden action.

"Close the door!" The Doctor ordered, and Martha slammed the door shut behind her just as one of the soldiers sent an arrow flying, but it didn't get through the doors, and they raced around the console to send themselves spiralling off into the Vortex.

AN: Well, that was fun. Especially writing the Carrionites. They were so nice for me to do…and that's all I've got to say really. Thank you so much for reading and please leave a review if you wish. :)