A/N: Disclaimer: This chapter's plotline is from Doctor Who's comic stories. Most of the dialogue is directly written from the comic. The plot is NOT mine.

The Doctor had truly seen better days. In fact, any day would qualify as a better day in his opinion. He'd rather face the Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels...anything than to be where he was now. And it was all thanks to…

"You look ready to murder," Liv appeared beside the Doctor. The Doctor wouldn't even look at her, no. His eyes were trained on the notorious painter ogling his wife.

"Clara Oswald is going to pay for this," the Doctor muttered.

"What?" Liv laughed and looked ahead where Clara was in the middle of posing for a painting. She was in a beautiful, glimmering periwinkle gown with a silver crown over her head.

"We're almost done, Clara!" Minerva assured from behind the canvas.

Clara only barely shifted on her stool so as to not compromise her painting - because oh yes she would be taking this home! It wasn't every day she got to be painted by a Nix Terran painter. She still couldn't believe that Minerva had pulled this off! But then again, she shouldn't be that surprised since Nix Terra was the home to one of Minerva's closest royal friends. Princess Veren, now Queen of Nix Terra, had brought in her finest painter to help Minerva paint Clara in one day.

Minerva and the painter, Nian, worked fervently to get every last strand of Clara's hair in perfect colors. As much as the Doctor begged, and he really did beg, they had come by to the painter once again. The painter had made it very clear where he stood when it came to the Queen of the Monsoon, much to the Doctor's outrage. Minerva often laughed and tried reminding the Doctor that even if some painter did profess his love to her, it wouldn't matter. She thought she made her feelings for her husband very clear.

The Doctor only huffed the last time she told him this. That was twenty minutes ago. Twenty minutes had passed and the Doctor had lost count how many times Nian's hands seemed to find every excuse to touch Minerva.

"Daddy," Elias tugged on the Doctor's hand, making the Time Lord very briefly looked down, "Can I get a painting too? Me and Roger?"

"Sure El. Any other painter you want. Or maybe your mother could paint you, but not him."

A big frown spread across Elias' face. He held his teddy bear to his chest. "But why not? Cayah got one."

"Because I said no," the Doctor answered rather dismissively without even noticing.

'Please don't make our child cry because you've gone green-eyed monster,' came Minerva's cool warning. She glanced over her shoulder, making sure that the Doctor knew she was well aware of his burning stare.

'He can get any painter, Minerva, but as soon as Clara is finished we are gone.' The Doctor's warning, which truly was a dead warning, just made Minerva scoff. 'I cannot believe you made us come back when you fully know that this painter loves you. Literally.'

'I can't help if they fall in love with a Queen,' Minerva flashed him a smirk. Okay, so maybe she was enjoying this…

A bit.

Or a lot.

Maybe a lot.

The Doctor was close to growling from his spot.

"Woah," Liv blocked his view all of a sudden. "You really do look like you're ready to murder. What's the matter, Doctor? You've been like this since we got here."

"I don't like this place," the Time Lord muttered.

"Why not?"

"Because I just don't."

Liv made a face. She knew there was something he wasn't saying. "Well I like it. It's so nice that Minerva could get the painter for Clara."

"I'll say!" Clara exclaimed from her spot.

"Don't move!" hissed Nian. Clara immediately froze for fear that he might stop painting altogether. With a sigh, Nian continued to paint Clara's lips. "I would much rather paint you, my dear Minerva."

Minerva smiled politely. She was trying to get Clara's right side arm just right. "And I told you that while I am very honored, I would much rather paint than be painted. Kind of egotistical."

"From you? Never my dear!" Nian hand found her arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

The Doctor so loudly cleared his throat and earned himself a strange look from Nian and another look from Minerva, though the latter seemed more amused than anything else. "Almost done there?"

"Patience is virtue, Doctor," Nian said. "Didn't you know that?"

"Well, didn't you know that you could just-"

"Martiaaan," Minerva sing-sang while she tried painting Clara's left hand fingers. "Please say nice things or don't say anything at all."

"Oh," Liv snorted next to the Time Lord. "Then he'd never say anything at all."

"And your friends," Nia went on, his eyes flickering from Liv to Clara. "So...interesting. I have not met them before."

"But you like us, right?" Clara asked but quickly quieted down after getting another look from him. She might just ruin her painting after all.

"And the prince with wild red hair," Nian pointed at Elias with a light smile. The young boy just blinked in return.

With a smirk, the Doctor patted his son's head and said, "My son. Minerva's son. Our son." Minerva rolled her eyes where she stood. "Hear that? Ours."

"Wow, so subtle," Liv patted the Doctor's arm.

Suddenly, the TARDIS phone went off. Clara was about to move when she caught herself and forced herself to stay still. One more move and Nian might just throw the canvas to the side.

"Martian, why don't you go answer that?" Minerva suggested but the Doctor kept himself right where he was, arms folded and a glare following Nian's every movement.

"Why don't I just stay here?" he coolly suggested back.

Liv shook her head at the two of them. "Fine, whatever, I'll just get it." She walked into the TARDIS and went directly for the phone. A few moments, she poked her head into the workshop. "Doctor, it's for you."

"I'm not here," the Time Lord curtly said. His eyes were truly keen on following Nian's movements.

Liv deadpanned him. "Seriously, it's some guy saying he's Tiger Maratha or something."

There was a clear recognition that flashed across the Doctor's face, as well as curiosity, but he still wouldn't budge from his spot.

"Doctor?" Liv called again. "He really needs you."

"Pass on the message."

Minerva sighed and turned around to face her husband. "I don't know who that is but you better go take that phone call or I might just stay here for a full week."

"If I have to carry you over my shoulder then I will," the Doctor promptly warned with a sharp finger pointed a her. He then turned and headed for the TARDIS.

"Boy, he really does not like it here," Clara said quietly.

"Not so much the place as it is the person," Minerva so kindly removed one of Nian's hands that had found its place on her back. "Let's focus on the painting, alright?"

"We could take a break," Nian offered instead, that sly smile surely would be enough to get the Doctor riled up.

"I'm starting to see it," Liv said from her spot. She was making a face, indicating she was about to move over to the Doctor's side.

"We gotta go!" the Doctor reappeared a short minute later.

"What?" frowned Clara. "But my painting's not done yet!"

"Get it mailed! We gotta go!" the Doctor went straight for Elias, taking the four year old's hand and leading him back to the TARDIS.

"But what for?" Minerva made a face as well. She was so close to finishing the painting too.

"Death, destruction and timeless evil!" the Doctor once again came out of the TARDIS after leaving Elias inside.

"Not very appealing," Clara said from her stool.

"But urgent so let's go!" he snapped his fingers for her to get going. With a sigh, Clara got up, hitched the sides of her dress, and walked for the blue box.

"But we're so close to finishing," Minerva made a motion for Clara to come back but the brunette hadn't seen it.

"Sorry, gotta go!"

"I think not, Doctor," Nian positioned himself in front of Minerva, as if he had power to make them stay. "The Queen has stated she does not want to go."

"Well, thank you but I'm actually-" Minerva tried to cut in but the Doctor jumped in.

"I think I know what my wife wants!"

"Martian-"

"She clearly implied that she wants to finish the painting!"

The Doctor stared at the man for a full minute while he honestly worked to restrained himself not to punch the man on the spot, or at the very least displace him in time. "We gotta go! Goodbye!" he moved around the painter and went to Minerva.

"Martian, I think we're getting a little bit - AH!"

The Doctor had slung her over his shoulder, just like he promised. Liv laughed by the TARDIS as the Doctor walked in with Minerva in his arms. The Moontsay Queen was crying about how embarrassing he was and how rude it was not to let a painter finish their work.

"You'll live, darling," the Doctor said after putting her down.

"But you might not!" Minerva had a deep, deep, scowl on her face.

The Doctor, instead of paying attention to that, moved for the controls on the console. He took them off before Nian could lay a finger on their blue box. "I told you I didn't want to come here in the first place."

"And I told you it should not matter whether or not some person likes me!"

"I'm just...going to get changed…" Clara raised a finger, but she doubted either of them would hear her right now. She rolled her eyes and took off for the corridor.

"You are so ridiculously jealous, Doctor! It's not even funny anymore!"

"Oh, so my feelings were amusing to you?" the Doctor moved around the console and after Minerva. "That's always nice to hear!"

"C'mon El, let's see if the TARDIS wants to make that toy room appear for us in the meantime your parents figure this out," Liv shook her head.

Elias giggled. "Why are Mommy and Daddy mad? The paintings were fun!"

"Aha! See!?" Minerva pointed fervently at her son while Liv took him away.

"Oh, what does he know? He's four. He has no idea that man wanted shag his mother!"

"Doctor!"

"Tell me I'm wrong?" the Doctor came to stand in front of Minerva, keeping her trapped between the console and himself. "I dare you, Clever Girl." Minerva's eyes narrowed on him. It was incredibly hard not to shout again when she knew he was right. "If this was the other way around, you would have had my head already."

"Stop making sense," she muttered.

Now the Doctor smiled smugly. Minerva huffed and crossed her arms.

"You know I'm right," the Doctor went on. "What if it had been someone who wanted me all to themself? Bet you would have had a thing or two to say about it, right?"

"You win, fine," Minerva huffed again. "I just…" her lips started curling into a pout, much like one Elias would often do, "I wanted to paint with a grand painter...and when Clara asked...I thought it would be nice. I didn't mean to make you mad...or jealous…"

The Doctor watched her fingers play with the buttons of his jacket. "Really?" his doubtful tone made her smile just a bit.

"Okay, so maybe a bit...it is kind of fun," she admitted.

"Not from where I stand."

"Yeah, alright. Sorry," Minerva leaned forwards and pecked his lips. "Maybe we can collaborate with another painter, instead? Like my friend Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun?"

A scoff came out of the Doctor's mouth. "You mean the one who painted you in a seductive pose? Not to mention the lustful eyes?" He then suddenly tilted his head as he truly thought about the idea. "...maybe."

Minerva laughed. "My Martian! At least try to be subtle!"

"Never really been my thing," the Doctor shrugged then swooped down to kiss her. They had some time to kill before Clara came back anyways.

~ 0 ~

"Alright, so where are we?" Clara's question was left unanswered as soon as they stepped out of the TARDIS. They had come out into a normal-looking room where a man stood...or at least that's what it appeared to be.

"No…"the Doctor immediately knew there was something off. The man was standing completely still, motionless. He hurried to the man only to find his flesh turned purple and pruned.

"Clara…" Minerva gently pushed Elias towards the small brunette before going over to the man. "He's been...desiccated." She looked to the Doctor and saw a distinct form of horror on his face. "Who was he, Martian?"

"An old friend," he murmured.

"Clearly," went Liv from another part of the room. She had found a wall filled with different portraits, including one of the man with the Doctor in his 4th incarnation. "He was a really old friend."

Elias and Clara hurried to Liv's side and awed at the portrait.

"Daddy!" Elias pointed at the portrait happily. He'd seen so many pictures of what his Daddy use to look like before this and his previous incarnation. They all looked different but Elias knew there was something that connected all of them. No matter what his Daddy looked like, he would know that he was his Daddy.

"Who was he?" Minerva continued to ask. This was during the time where she could not leave the Monsoon due to her body needing constant cold, so she missed out on a large chunk of the Doctor's life outside of Gallifrey.

"Tiger Maratha," the Doctor finally answered, slightly breathless. He was still trying to get over the desiccated form of his friend. "He was a good friend. And now he's dead."

Minerva put a hand on his arm, gently squeezing it. "I'm sorry, Doctor. Best we can do now is figure who did this. Justice."

"But that's just it! There's no clues!" the Doctor gestured to the body. "There's no obvious sounds. It was like a vampiric attack but working on a molecular level!"

"Sounds like the Saturnytes if you ask me," Minerva muttered this time, of course she and the others flinched when someone screamed.

"Clara, would you mind?" the Doctor, annoyed, threw a look at the brunette who had been nothing but quiet.

"Wasn't me," she frowned then pointed a finger to the door where another woman had come in.

She was dark-skinned and had short dark hair and matching dark eyes...and she was screaming. Boy, did she scream. "DAD! What did you do to him!? What did you do to my father!?"

"We didn't do anything," the Doctor frowned at her. "We didn't even get a chance for a 'hello'!"

Minerva put an arm in front of him, making the motion it was time for him to stop talking. "What he means to say is that we just got here. Someone else killed him. I'm so sorry."

"That's not what I meant-" the Doctor began when Minerva once again cut in, louder on purpose.

"He was a friend of your father's, believe it or not," Minerva put on her best smile for the woman.

"How do I know you're not lying?" the woman's eyes flickered from one traveler to the other, though her eyes did seem to linger on Elias. No murderers would bring their child along, right?

Once Minerva saw where the woman's gaze had stopped, she jumped on the reason, "Because would murderers really bring along a kid? No!"

Elias had no idea what they were talking about but he was smiling widely since all the eyes were on him. He often hear from his parents, and everyone else, that he acted a lot like his Daddy sometimes.

"I don't know if this is true, but I still need to call the police," the woman turned to leave when the Doctor called out to her.

"Priyanka-" the woman, of course, stopped when he called her by her name because she had certainly not introduced herself, "-would you like a jelly baby?" the Doctor reached inside his coat's inside pocket to pull out a small box of colorful jellybeans.

"Since when do you carry those again?" Minerva threw him a look.

"I want one! I want one!" Elias started hollering as he ran towards his father.

"Since that happened," the Doctor said with a grin and nodded to Elias. Elias had been scouring the TARDIS kitchen for a snack and came across an old bag of jelly babies that of course the Doctor wouldn't let him have. Seeing his son so upset by the matter, he sought out to bring a new, fresh packet for Elias. Once he tasted them, he loved them! Now they often had them for snacks.

Meanwhile, Priyanka was staring at the Doctor with widened eyes. She was fitting his words with the memories she had from a long time ago. There was a recognition that flashed across her face. Only one man had offered her those curious treats, but he was, of course, different. "Doctor?" A big smile appeared out of the nowhere on her face.

"She's smiling like the Cheshire cat," noted Liv, but her remark went over Priyanka's head since the woman had ran up to the Doctor (much like Elias) and hugged him.

The Doctor's arm were awkwardly to his sides while the woman hugged him impossibly tight. "Minerva, help. She's...she's hugging me…"

Elias came to his aid, but all he did was swipe the box of jelly babies from his hand. "Thank you!" he then turned away with the intention of eating all the candy.

"I don't think so, young man," Minerva took away the box. Elias pouted but she did give him three jelly babies. "All that energy? I don't need two Doctors to look after."

The Doctor threw her a look. 'You're on a special one today, Minerva. First with Nian and now this?'

Minerva flashed him a smirk. 'What are you going to do about it?'

'I have a couple ideas…'

"Break it up!" ordered someone new. The group looked at the doorway to find two armed men in the room. "Resist and we won't hesitate to fire!"

"Fire and it'll be the last thing you do," Minerva said flatly. She wasn't in the mood for this game, to be honest. Her husband had found one of his friends dead and now they needed to focus on whoever was responsible.

"Ms. Maratha, please step away from them," the second man instructed but Priyanka shook her head at them.

"I didn't know you had precog police officers in Mumbai," the Doctor remarked.

"We're in Mumbai?" Clara blinked and shot a look at the open balcony. She could see the flickering lights with some more familiar structured buildings.

"Pick your moments, Clara," Liv jabbed her on the elbow, totally ignoring Clara's small 'ow!' in the process.

"We don't have precog police officers," Priyanka suspiciously eyed the two men at the doorway.

"So...if you didn't call them...and we didn't call them…" the Doctor dreaded where this was going.

"Why are you here?" Minerva shot a look at the armed men.

"We're investigating a complaint from Scindia-Corp," one of the men answered and clicked his gun on the group. "Your father's prime suspect in a theft from them."

"What!?" Priyanka incredulously cried. "My father's been murdered and you're talking about the Scindia family!? He was no thief!"

"The more you co-operate, the sooner we can clear his name. We need access to his records and we need you to tell us where the artifact is."

"How about I just ice you all down and we can move on?" asked Minerva, but she didn't exactly wait for the answer. She extended her hands forwards and released a jet of blue ice that encased the two men where they stood.

"I love that you can do that," Clara said with a good smile on her face.

"Yay, Mommy!" Elias clapped his hands but dropped his last jelly baby on the floor. "No!" he went in chase of the jelly bean as it landed in a roll.

"We should go," the Doctor ushered the women towards the blue box in the corner of the room.

Priyanka gasped when she saw it. It'd been so many years since the last time she was inside. Now that she was...it was very different.

"I sneaked in here as a kid when no one was looking," she admitted sheepishly and glanced at the Doctor for his reaction. "Their own fault...they kept telling me not tog near it."

"Never listen to him," Liv jerked a thumb in the Doctor's direction, ignoring the man's deadpanning glare. "It seriously saves you an ear ache."

Priyanka wanted to chuckle but she didn't have the energy for that. Her eyes seemed to linger on the women and with good reason. She had no idea who they were. "Companions?" she made her guess based on what her father used to tell her. "Everything's just so different…"

"It's been centuries," the Doctor reminded. "But that's Clara and Liv," he pointed to the women respectively. "And that's my wife, Minerva, and our son Elias."

"Yeah, I know, hard to believe he can actually get married," Minerva laughed at Priyanka's comical reaction.

"I'm just going to put you all away in a room," the Doctor muttered under his breath when he went around the console to get them moving. "So, what exactly was Tiger's involvement with the Scindias? He usually kept better company, that I'm biased or anything."

"Which usually means you are," Clara tilted her head at him.

"He was doing some work for them," Priyanka answered, but she didn't look very certain of her words. It wasn't like she spent all her time with her father at work. "I don't know what exactly he was working on. We, um, haven't really spoken much lately. I'm at the Academy, training to be a pilot. Deep space exploration."

"That's nice," remarked Minerva and discreetly glanced at the Doctor. Wonder how she got that idea.

"Yeah, well, Dad didn't really approve of my choice of career," Priyanka sighed, bringing one hand to rub her other arm. "He buried himself in the relics of the past. I decided to look to the future."

"So if all this has to do with the Scindias - whatever that is," Clara folded her arms, "Why don't we just drop in on them. You know, give them the old scary eyebrows-" she pointed at the Doctor, "-and see what's going on?"

Minerva had to cover her snicker behind a hand, but Liv just laughed out loud. Even Elias giggled, which was what truly hurt the Doctor.

"El, you're supposed to be on my side!" he cried.

"Sorry, Daddy," Elias looked down, but there was still a grin on his face.

"Clara does raise a point, though," Minerva said once she could control her smiles from turning into more laughter. "Who are the Scindias'?" she looked between the Doctor and Priyanka for the answer.

"It's this famous, important family in Mumbai," Priyanka sighed. "They say their goal is to make humanity better. We have a problem with overpopulation and poverty, so they say…"

"That they want to help?"

Priyankna nodded.

"But you don't seem very convinced about their intentions," Liv remarked.

Priyanka sighed again and looked away in guilt. "They're just...too perfect. No one can be that perfect. I always got a bad vibe from them."

"Doctor, what about you?" Minerva turned to the man. "Did you ever get to meet them?"

"No," he shook his head. "But I'm with Priyanka. They're too perfect. Something has to be off."

"So how come you never did anything about it, then?" Clara made a face. The Doctor, not investigate something that seemed off? That had to be wrong.

"Because back then they weren't important in society!"

"And now they practically rule Mumbai," Priyanka sadly said.

"Well then, let's go see the Scindias!" Minerva clapped her hands together and turned for the console. She and the Doctor brought them to the Scindias' ancestral home which was more secluded from the city than anything.

The left the TARDIS in a corner of a secluded hallway then started their search in the dark corridors. The place was actually quite nice. The corridor was actually part of the courtyard and had dozens of statues lining one side of the wall.

"Stay close," the Doctor whispered. He led the group with the sonic in the air, its green light lit up. "I'm transmitting a disruption field that shields us from the security systems."

"You know, when you said 'drop in'..." Priyanka was biting her lower lip nervously.

Clara chuckled. "You didn't think we meant breaking an entering?" Priyanka shook her head. "The temptations of being able to go anywhere in time and space are something you can't really get over."

"Plus, it's just easier," Liv shrugged.

The Doctor brought them up to a set of double doors. He pushed them open and led them inside the place which turned out to be covered in statues.

"Creepy statues are never good," Minerva made a face at the things. Elias' hand was gripping hers, but he wouldn't say that he was scared.

The Doctor went up to the statue placed in the center of the room. Its head resembled something of a dragon and a lion with big ferocious eyes and pointy teeth. However, instead of legs it had two sets of arms and legs.

"We've entered a four dimensional space," the Doctor put away his sonic and let his hands hover in front of the statue. "The room's here but it's also somewhere else…"

"How can that be?" Clara inched closer to the Doctor, her head poking more to the side to see the statue better.

"Don't get so close," Minerva warned the two. Though admittedly, she would've gotten close too if it wasn't for Elias' fear.

"There has to be a shift button somewhere," the Doctor was deep in thought of the statue's control. "Who knows where the other space is...when it is."

"What about that-" Clara's pointed finger was closer than she had thought and so when she pressed it, she activated its power. A blue glow encapsulated her and the Doctor, transporting them into a blue area. "Uh oh!" she said with widened eyes.

The Doctor shook his head. It wasn't the plan but she did get the thing working. "Clara, what did we say about touching things?"

"Oh, don't give me that!" Clara shot him a look. "You do it all the time!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes and continued looking about. "This room and maybe the entire fortress exists four-dimensionally. It occupies the same physical location but it exist simultaneously in other time periods."

"And for those of us who don't speak geek?"

"It's a door into the past."

"Ah. Does that explain this guy?"

The Doctor whirled around to see what she was looking at and found a tall olive-skinned man in front of them.

"It's a door you'll wish you never opened," the man maliciously smiled their way. "I do so love it when our prey is considerate enough to look for us!" He then shifted into an alien creature that was tall and had a skeleton-looking body with an eggplant shaped head. It had a pointed nose along with matching pointy teeth and claws.

"Prey?" gulped Clara. "Can I open the door again?"

"Shame you're such a poor offering," the creature pointed one claw at the Doctor, "You're all skin and bone. Maybe we'll give the Goddess the young one. She's round and plump."

"Hey!" Clara got over her fear for a second to shout.

But before the creature could attack, flames were shot from behind. A woman had appeared with two separate guns and it looked like she knew exactly what to do because her flames had gone directly through the creature's abdomen and brought it down.

"Well, thank you for that," the Doctor gave a bob of his head but he didn't really look fazed by his near death encounter, something Clara shot him a look for. Instead, he raised his nose into the air and took a sniff. "Ignoring the distinctive whiff of alien gore I'm getting lotus flowers, Jasmine, ripe mangoes, flame of the forest trees, burning fires, a cornucopia of spices, a tinge of cow dung... I say this is India, 1839. Am I correct?" His grin was just completely out of place.

"Seriously?" Clara went but of course the Doctor would never notice.

"What's going on?" the woman who had saved them had lowered her weapons but hadn't put them away completely.

"The year, what year is it?" the Doctor pointed at her.

"...1825?"

His face dropped for a second. "Really? Are you sure?" the woman nodded her head, looking fairly certain. "I'm not usually wrong."

Clara raised an eyebrow. Where was Minerva when you needed her?

"Look at this nose," the Doctor tapped his nose, "It can sniff out a time period within six months of the actual date."

"Only a fool or a madman wouldn't know the year in which he is living."

"You've just met the madman," Clara sarcastically smiled.

"I'm accused of being both frequently," shrugged the Doctor. "By The way, are your bullets tipped with antimatter, packed with nano-explosives, or dipped in the Venom of a Mirax-six Viper skorpion?"

Clara almost felt sympathy for the woman's face as it had nearly dropped out of pure confusion.

"Why does nothing you say make sense!?"

"You and my wife would get alone finely," the Doctor said instead of giving a proper answer. "But if you're answer was a 'no' then we have a big problem because…"

The creature on the ground had began to growl as it came to. Of course, before it could really wake up, the woman pulled out a sword and stabbed it to death. For sure this time.

"When in doubt, decapitate," Clara said but she couldn't look at the creature in pieces now. She only heard the Doctor going 'oh no' in that manner that indicated he was irritated.

"Who are you?" the woman had brandished her sword against them. "Are you with the company? One of their agents?"

"The East India company?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Commercial arm of the British empire? An Empire that subjugated races all over the world, then ruthlessly exploited them and their countries' resources in the name of power and profit? No. I'm the Doctor. The exact opposite of all that."

The woman seemed weary of the man already. She lowered her sword with a sigh. "You are, without a doubt, the strangest physician I've ever met."

"Believe me, you have no idea," Clara chimed in with a scrunched face.

"How did you get in here?"

"Somebody touched something they shouldn't have," the Doctor gave a pointed look at Clara who just grinned much like Elias would when he was in trouble.

Oh c'mon, it's not like he wouldn't have done it eventually.

~ 0 ~

Fortress Scindia, 2314.

"Mommy, where did Daddy and Cayah go?" Elias kept looking around the room to see if they had teleported somewhere else in the room, but so far it seemed like it wasn't the case.

Minerva just stared at the spot where her husband and Clara had been moments ago. She was done being shocked by these moments, but it didn't make it easier to continue investigating. "I have no idea but that wouldn't be the first time."

"They just vanished!" Priyanka cried, obviously alarmed as she didn't know this was pretty much how things went with the travelers.

"Don't worry," Liv put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "They'll be back soon. In fact, imagine the most excruciating, embarrassing situation to the cotton and that's pretty much when he'll reappear again."

Minerva laughed. "That doesn't always happen!"

"Yes it does!"

"No!" Priyanka cried again and turned to the two women. "The Doctor's sonic thingie was all that was stopping us from being detected! So if he's gone then that means…"

"Crap," Minerva closed her eyes for a second. Their shield had just vanished.

"Mooommy…" Elias' voice turned shaky as he pointed up to the ceiling.

Minerva, Liv and Priyanka turned their attention to the ceiling where dozens of alien creatures - unknowingly the same creature Clara and the Doctor had encountered - were crawling down like spiders.

"The goddess shall drink deeply of your blood tonight," they hissed.

"Aaaand run!" Minerva hoisted her son up to her hips and made a dash for the doorway, prompting Liv and Priyanka to do the same.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor once again took the lead in the sneaking about and led Clara and their new friend, Rani Jhulka, down a dusty hallway. He was on the look out for any other creatures but his mind was occupied as he tried to get in contact with Minerva. Their telepathic connection had been disrupted with the huge time gap between them.

"So you used to be a guard for the royals here?" Clara was having her conversation with Rani whilst they followed the Doctor. "That's so cool. I'm a teacher," she shrugged. "But my job's kind of hard too...just, you know, without the swords."

The woman seemed to take a liking to Clara, judging by the smile on her face. "My job was not as difficult as you would think...not when the person I was meant to protect was...someone truly important."

Clara knew that tone all too well. Her eyes shifted to the Doctor and thought of the oh-so-many times he or Minerva stupidly talked about each other in that same tone. "Who was it?"

"Her name was Khair-Un-Nissa Kapoor, daughter of a wealthy spice merchant and bride-to-be of the Nizam of Hyderbad."

Clara blinked and made a face at the woman. "I have no idea what all that means. But I like her name."

Rani smiled. She probably agreed. "She was wonderful. We were hardly out of each other's company once I was assigned to guard her. She said I was the only one she could speak to because she felt trapped…" Her gaze seemed to lower the more she said, the more she re-lived it all. "We use to walk the palace gardens...we talked long into the nights, talked...touched…" She then shook herself out of her memories and seemed to cautiously look at Clara, even the Doctor after a moment.

Clara just questionably stared at the woman. Was there something on her face? Her hand might have gone up to one of her cheeks just to make sure.

"I've...I've never really spoken about any of these things before and yet both of you seem like…"

"We don't care?" the Doctor finished in his usual dismissive tone.

"Well, like it doesn't matter to you."

"Man loves woman, man loves man, woman loves woman...who cares?" the Doctor went on, making Clara roll her eyes. Did he know what this era was like for anyone who dared to do something different? "People hating each other - that's what bothers me. That's when the trouble starts."

"Perhaps I should've been stronger, pushed her away, but all my life I've felt different," Rani sighed.

"Whatever happened to Khair, I'm sure it couldn't have been your fault," Clara said. "She loved you too. Don't regret that. Ever." And for some reason, she herself thought back to Danny. As bitter and tragic as things ended, she wouldn't want to give the story back. It was her story.

"We decided to run away and build a new life together in a faraway land," Rani explained. "We would slip away from the palace separately and rendezvous at the Mallela Theertham Falls in Nallamala Forest." Rani then looked mortified as she remembered the cruel trick fate had in store for her. "But I never made it out of the barracks. Someone had found out."

Clara felt terrible for the woman. She didn't want to think of what happened to Khair, but of course she would soon find out…

"I keep thinking of her, alone in the woods, turning toward every sound in hope that it was me. Did she think my love was not strong enough That'd I'd lost my courage and abandoned her? Whatever she thought, I'll never know because I don't know what happened to her. They never found her body, just a thuggee garrotte, lying in the mud beside the lake."

"I'm so sorry," Clara blinked. She looked at the Doctor's back, hoping he would say something to Rani. What could anyone say to a tragic ending like that, though?

"They thought it was me who killed her and so I was sentenced to death...but I escaped."

"And let me guess," the Doctor finally stopped walking to turn around. "You've been on a long and bloody quest to destroy the Thuggee ever since?"

Rani knew when there was disapproval and right now it was pouring in front of her. "You don't approve of revenge, Doctor?"

"It won't bring her back, Rani. And in the end, it might cost you the very things she loved about you."

"But let me ask you this, Doctor," Rani stepped closer to him, looking him directly in the eyes, "You mentioned you have a wife and son...what would you do if someone murdered them? How far would you go to get them justice?"

Good question indeed.

The Doctor, however, did not answer. His jaw tightened and instead he turned away. Who would he be lying to if he said he would do nothing? If someone dared to lay a hand on Minerva or Elias, he'd release his entire wrath to make the culprit pay.

The rest of their walk was done in silence. They eventually came to the end of the hallway and into a large, room. The first thing they noticed were the floating heads resembling the skull like the one Tiger Maratha had been reduced to. But what drove things home was the incredibly gigantic statue placed at the center. It had the body of a human but had four arms held out, each hand holding a sword. There was a large belt of a cloth (least that's the way it looked like considering it was all made of rock) with one protruding skull head placed at the center. There was even a headgear on top of the head, indicating some royal status.

"Who's going to ask what is it?" whispered Clara.

~ 0 ~

Scindia Fortress 2199.

"We are the chosen of Kali! You are her prey!"

Minerva shook her head fervently to rid her ears of the incessant hissing of the creatures chasing them down. "Liv! Get to the TARDIS and start her up!"

Liv didn't have the necessity to run like the others, but it didn't mean she was comfortable leaving them behind. "But I wouldn't be able to move her if you guys are on the run!"

"Mommy, they're getting closer!" Elias whimpered and dug his face into the crook of Minerva's neck.

"Well, we gotta do something!" Minerva glanced at Priyanka running beside her. The latter was just as terrified as Elias.

"We can smell your fear!" taunted the creatures. "Hear the blood rushing through your veins!"

"Yeah? Can you feel this?" Minerva thrust a hand backwards and fired a stream of ice, freezing only two of the creatures.

But of course those that survived gained on them. One of them lowered its body from the ceiling and dangled a hand over Minerva's and essentially's Elias' head. The boy shrieked and made Minerva fall over her feet. She gripped her arms around her son's body as her own body fell into a roll on the ground.

"Minerva!" Liv cried and went to help, but instead Minerva pushed Elias as far up ahead as she could.

"Take him!" she practically commanded. "Priyanka! Take him!"

The woman quickly snagged Elias up from the floor and turned back to see Minerva getting back on her feet. "What are you-"

Minerva started shooting more ice up at the ceiling. "Just get into the TARDIS first!" she ordered again. "If they make it in there, we're goners!"

"Mommy!" Elias started fussing to get down but Liv popped beside Priyanka to stop him.

"Get him inside now!"

Priyanka swallowed hard but she did as told and continued her way to the TARDIS. The blue box was just a couple more feet away.

"Minerva, c'mon!" Liv called to the blonde.

Minerva ducked when one of the creatures tried getting her by the neck. She turned and continued to run, though she kept shooting behind her as much ice as she could. "AH!" One of the creatures had grasped her ankle and slammed her face-first to the floor.

"No!" Liv quickly whirled around. Priyanka did the same but she was at the TARDIS threshold, holding Elias tightly.

"My Mommy! My Mommy!" Elias started shrieking frantically as he watched more creatures curl their arms around Minerva's body despite Minerva kicking and swatting them away.

"Get away! Get the h-" Minerva's shouts were drowned out by the nasty claw-hand covering her mouth. Still, her muffles were heard.

"No! Minerva! Let her go!" Liv hurried back towards her sister but Minerva, seeing her, used her powers one more time to create an ice wall barring Liv from getting any closer...as well as keeping the creatures from getting to them. "Minerva! Don't!" Liv slammed a hand against the ice wall.

Minerva was then swept into the darkness, her muffled screaming eventually fading away.

Author's Note:

So after reading this comic story I felt like it would be so much fun to right! Especially since I'm not including the Sleep No More episode (I can't stand it, I'm not even sorry!), this will be the filler episode instead!

P. S: As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "noble-crescent" and the tag I created for any posts having to do with my work is # noblecrescentedit.