The trio teleported into a Console Room that had a childish familiarity about it, the lighting had a warm orangey-gold feeling to it. The Console was on a raised platform with glass flooring and it was a jumble of random things with the monitor hanging above it. Alexia looked around with wide fascinated eyes. They were actually in the Eleventh Doctor's Console Room and the Time Rotor was stationary, which meant they were here somewhere in time and space. When she looked over the rail to check the lower level she couldn't see anybody. Perhaps they were in the inner TARDIS somewhere.
"Is there anybody in?" Alexia wondered, looking over at Jaime while John fiddled with the Monitor.
Taking the hint, the Scots-girl stretched her Mind out throughout the TARDIS, but she couldn't feel anybody else. "Looks like everybody is out." Jaime said once she was back in the room.
"Okay, so where exactly are we?" Alexia questioned, looking over towards John who was still fiddling with the Monitor. "What planet or When is outside those doors?"
"Hold on!" J.D muttered before smacking the side of the Monitor.
The screen flickered into life and they could see that the Time-ship was parked in a large storage area.
The Half-Time Lord groaned. "Doesn't give much away, does it." He said.
"Och, maybe we should take a better look outside." Jaime said and walked off towards the door, hurrying down the steps.
Watching her as she reached the door and opened it, J.D decided to follow Jaime. But stopped when he noticed Alexia hadn't moved. "You coming?" He asked, looking back at her.
Alexia reluctantly nodded. "As long as it doesn't turn into another Bristol situation." She uttered and reluctantly walked past John towards the door.
John grimaced, realising no-one had asked how she was doing. After all, she had spent most of the afternoon running away from Two-Dimensional creatures. "Are you okay?" He asked, following the woman.
With her hand on the door, Alexia looked back at John. "I'm okay," she replied, yet she sounded annoyed. "All I did was run away from something that tried to kill me. You know, earlier Jaime asked me the same thing. I should've been asking her if she was okay. After all, she was the one that almost had all her energy stolen from her, but now she has so much of it she's on a high and causing static shocks!" She gave him a pointed look before exiting the TARDIS.
Sighing, John followed her out into the storage area and shut the door after him.
When Alexia looked around the area she thought it looked familiar. "Where are we?" She wondered thoughtfully.
"Never mind that, where's Jaime?" John asked when he couldn't see her anywhere, yet he could sense her. "Jaime?" He called out, only to be hushed by Alexia.
"What if we're on a hostile environment?" She reprimanded before her eyes widened in realisation. "What if they need rescuing?"
John furrowed his brow, slightly worried.
"Not tae worry!" Jaime said, appearing completely out of nowhere. "I know where we are. Come on, it's this way."
They followed Jaime out of the storage area into an alien market place. Alexia gasped in surprise. "I thought this place looked familiar. We're on Ahkaten!"
"Technically we're on the Asteroid market place Tiaanamat. It orbits the planet Ahkaten." John corrected. "The Doctor's been here before with Susan."
"Yes, we know. The Doctor randomly mentioned it to Clara." Alexia spoke up.
After puzzling over her words, John realised what she meant. "Oh, is this one of your episodes?" He asked.
"Yep!" Alexia uttered with a nod.
"I've been here before as well!" Jaime muttered thoughtfully, looking around the marketplace and remembering how angry she'd been.
"Really? When was that?" Alexia asked.
Jaime looked up at her mum and J.D, her pale face blushing. "When I was on my own," she answered. "I teleported into the TARDIS and exited out into this marketplace." Jaime could practically see the cogs working overtime in John's brain.
"I remember seeing scorch marks on the ground. Was that you?" He asked. Obviously she must have used a Fire Portal to exit the Asteroid.
"Aye," Jaime replied with a nod and then she blushed even more. "Do you remember anythin' else?" Jaime asked next. "Somethin' happenin' here in the market?"
The Half-Time Lord nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, Susan bought a diary…" And it was then he remembered the incident. "And a piece of fruit was thrown at his head!" He looked over at Jaime in realisation. "Tell me you didn't!" He asked out of surprise. Although he could see Jaime had a sheepish expression on her face, he could also sense a huge amount of guilt from her.
"Jaime! Why would you hit the Doctor with something?" Alexia reprimanded her daughter.
"I dinnae know why," Jaime defended herself. "I wasnae in my right Mind when I did it. I was eatin' one of those glowin' blue fruit things and I saw him talkin' tae Susan. I just felt so angry at the time…so I threw the fruit at him. I dinnae know why I did it, I just did. I'm sorry!"
Continuing to feel her guilt, J.D silently pulled her towards him and gathered her into a hug. He knew exactly who was to blame for her anger and it wasn't himself, his brother or Jaime.
A sigh came from Alexia as she looked around the marketplace. It was then she noticed something odd about the place. "Ey up, where is everybody?" She asked. "This market should be packed but there's nobody here."
Jaime pulled away from John's firm hug and looked at her mum. "Everyone's at the Ceremony…but I can feel that they're all confused and scared."
Alexia groaned. "Then it'll have started. We have to help The Doctor rescue Merry." The Scots-girl nodded in agreement.
"Now wait just a minute!" John spoke up. "What's going on? Who's Merry?" He asked.
"I'll explain on the way!" Jaime replied, grabbing John's hand. "C'mon."
The three of them ran off towards the Offerings Ceremony.
In order to get into the Offerings Ceremony, Jaime slammed hard into the guards and sent them flying. Once she was stood in the arena she could feel dozens of alien emotions and sense a handful of telepathic Minds. They were confused and more than a little frightened of the sentient planet that was Ahkaten.
"Oh, bugger. Are you okay?" Alexia was heard to ask the guards while John helped the stunned men back to their feet.
Stood close to the edge of the Asteroid were two very familiar looking people and one vaguely familiar looking girl. They had been looking over towards the distant temple waiting for The Doctor and Rose to return with Merry. But when they heard the commotion they had turned around.
"Jaq, Leo!" Jaime called and joined her siblings from the future, while looking over at the vaguely familiar young teen. She should have been able to read the girl's Mind, except she couldn't because her Mind was mentally protected by a shield. That really quite surprised her because it felt familiar.
"You know who I am!" The girl spoke up. "It's Sky. Sky Smith. You helped me to control my Electrokinesis."
Leo groaned. "Not yet she hasn't," he told Sky. "This is an earlier version of Jaime." Sky gasped, putting her hands over her mouth.
The Scots-girl grinned once she realised who the girl was, remembering her from the final series of 'The Sarah-Jane Adventures'. She'd only been a ten year old then. "That's Time Travel for you!" She said to Sky.
"You're Sarah-Jane's kid," Alexia spoke up once she joined them. "My goodness, look how you've grown!" She added, giving the teenager a once-over. Sky smiled at the compliment.
"I thought Sarah had Luke?" John asked, his brows furrowing in confusion.
"She does. But she also adopted Sky." Alexia told him. "She's a Fleshkind humanoid like Luke is a Bane."
John nodded his head, remembering that Sarah-Jane had own TV show back in Jaime and Alexia's old universe.
"Right!" Jaime moved towards the edge and stared at the temple in the distance. "Feels like trouble is brewin'." She looked back at Alexia. "Keep an eye on the kids," she told her mum, even though two if them were most likely older than her. "John, with me."
J.D obediently moved towards Jaime and she took a hold of his hand. They then teleported away and reappeared outside the temple. They could see that The Doctor and Rose were already inside the Chamber of the temple because the door was down, not to mention Jaime could feel various faint emotions from inside.
Taking out his Screwdriver, John scanned the heavy looking door and grimaced. "This door opens via Acoustic tumblers," he explained. "Might take awhile, unless you've got any ideas." He looked over at Jaime who was glaring at the door.
She had several variables in Mind she could try. Telekinesis was one, as well as Super-strength. But attempting to lift it would take time, and by the sounds of it they didn't have a whole lot of time. Then there was Cyberkinesis, but the tumblers were acoustic and not electronic. That left Verbal Mind Control and Sonic Scream. But she felt that opening the door that way would never work. It was song controlled and she didn't feel like singing. That just left Sonic and John wasn't the only one with a Sonic Screwdriver.
Jaime reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her own green and yellow Screwdriver before turning her attention to John. "Maybe the door will open a lot faster with two Screwdrivers." She stated, feeling waves of surprise washing off her bond-mate. He then grinned.
"Brilliant!" John uttered, knowing she had her reasons for not using her abilities on the door.
They pointed their Screwdrivers at the door and the instruments whirred loudly. It didn't take long for the tumblers to activate and the heavy door scraped open. They stepped under the doorway, continuing to use their Sonics on the door. They were just in time to see the Chorister teleport away and the Mummy in the glass case awoke with a roar.
Poor Merry screamed in fright. "You've woken him!" She cried out soon after. Apparently the young Queen had tried to Telekinetically hold Jenny and Rose against the glass case but their powers had been too strong for her to keep them there.
And because the Mummy in the case had everyone's attention they had yet to notice that Jaime and John had arrived. "You go in, I'll sort out the door." Jaime told the Half-Time Lord.
"You sure?" J.D asked and the look in her face told him she was. Before he scooted out from under the the door, the Scots-girl held her free hand up, keeping the door up via telekinesis.
Now that she had done that, John quickly joined his future family. "Need any help?" He asked, smirking when his brother jumped in surprise and turned to him.
"Oh, I wondered when you three would turn up!" The Doctor replied. "Just got a bit of a problem, that's all."
John raised an incredulous brow at his brother. "A bit?" He looked over at the Mummy in the glass case beating it's fists on the glass. "I really don't see how waking up an ancient god is only a 'bit of a problem'." He looked back at The Doctor. "It's more like ten thousand suitcases full of trouble!"
The Doctor sighed.
Meanwhile, Jaime continued to hold up the temple door with her Screwdriver and telekinesis. Now that there was only one Screwdriver holding up the door it was feeling rather heavy, and her arms were beginning to ache. She needed to put something in place to keep the door open. So she closed her eyes and concentrated until a tall and thick looking log appeared under the doorway next to her. Now Jaime was able to move out from under the door, and when she did, the door moved down until it was blocked by the log.
"Fan-dabby-dozy!" The Scots-girl uttered, placing her Screwdriver back in her pocket before joining everyone else.
Once he'd spoken to J.D, The Doctor turned his attention back to Merry and noticing Jaime stood next to Jenny. Alexia was probably still on Tiaanamat. "No, we didn't wake him up. And you didn't wake him, either," he told Merry, his voice raised because of the mummy-god roaring and banging it's fists on the glass. "He's waking because it's his time to wake. And feed, on you apparently. On your stories."
"No, hold on!" Rose shook her head and moved close to Merry. "She didn't say stories, she said souls."
The Doctor shrugged. "Same thing," he replied. "The soul's made of stories, not atoms. Everything that ever happened to us. People we love, people we lost…" He looked over at Rose with a goofy-looking smile. "People we found again against all the odds." Rose grinned at his words while Jenny and Jaime felt and saw admiration from both Rose and The Doctor."He threatens to wake," the Time Lord continued. "They offer him a pure soul. The soul of the Queen of years."
Rose felt a bout of fear coming from Merry and she pulled the girl closer to her in a protective hug.
"Ease up, Spaceman, you're scaring the poor kid!" John admonished his brother.
The Doctor huffed at him. "Good! She should be scared. She's sacrificing herself. And I don't like people sacrificing themselves." He gave an obvious glare at Jaime and the Scots-girl blushed sheepishly. The Doctor looked back at Merry. "She should know what that means. Do you know what it means, Merry?" He asked the girl.
"A God chose me." Merry answered him.
The Doctor shook his head. "No, no, no. It's not a god. It'll feed on your soul but that doesn't make it a god. It's more like a vampire, and you don't need to give yourself to it."
He paced a bit before returning his attention to Merry.
"Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story," he asked the girl. "One you might not have heard. All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago. In the heart of a faraway star that exploded and died. That explosion scattered those elements across the desolations of deep space. After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets. And on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart, forming shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings. Until eventually, they came together to make you. You are unique in the universe. There is only one Merry Gejelh. And there will never be another. Getting rid of that existence isn't a sacrifice. It is a waste."
Everyone stared at The Doctor after his words of wisdom and it clearly had an affect on Merry, because Jaime, Jenny and Rose could feel her fears ease away.
"That was beautiful." John stated, a big smile on his face. The Doctor nodded faintly.
"So, if I don't, then everyone else…" Merry tried to say only for The Doctor to interrupt her. "Will be fine." He answered the young Queen.
"How?" Merry questioned, apparently not fully convinced.
"There's always a way." He told her.
"You promise?' She asked.
"Cross my hearts." The Doctor promised.
Merry seemed to breath a sigh of relief until she let out a squeak when there was the sound of cracking glass. The mummy had just about punched a hole in the glass case. It was at this point that both Jaime and Jenny started acting strangely. The Time Lady gasped, eyes widening as she adjusted her stance. While J.D sensed Jaime's terror as she crouched with her hands over her head.
"Jaime?" He queried, just as the asteroid they were stood on rumbled.
"What's that?" Rose asked as she was held by the Doctor after she nearly fell to the floor.
"I don't know," the Doctor answered her. "What about you two?" He asked Jaime and Jenny. "Just how life threatening does this get?"
"Very if we dinnae get this right!" Jaime answered her dad as John helped her up. Both she and Jenny knew they didn't have Clara's leaf to work with.
"And Merry is still in danger." Jenny added.
"What?" The Doctor and John blurted out at the same time.
Having been somewhat distracted by the rumbling, they had completely forgotten about Merry, and The Doctor spotted her backing away from them, her eyes wide. "Are you okay, Merry?" He asked the girl.
Merry shook her head and Jaime could feel renewed fear washing off her.
"Why? Do you know what's happening?" John asked.
This time Merry nodded and said; "It's The Vigil."
"What's The Vigil?" Rose asked the girl.
"If the Queen of Years is unwilling to be feasted upon…" Merry halted and gulped, knowing they would turn up soon.
"Yes…" The Doctor prompted.
"It's their job to feed her to grandfather." Merry finished.
Rose swore angrily in Gallifreyan as three members of The Vigil appeared from out of a puff of black smoke. She turned towards them and fell into an apprehensive fighting stance, an angry scowl on her face. "Doctor, we can't let them take her, she's just a kid." She said.
"I'm with you on that!" The Doctor replied, pulling out his Screwdriver. John nodded in agreement, his Screwdriver already held in his hand.
As for The Vigil, they were slowly approaching a crying Merry and whispering in a sinister way. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The young Queen cried out.
"Don't you dare!" A golden-eyed Rose shouted and managed to pull Merry safely behind her.
"Yeah, stay back. I'm armed. With a Screwdriver!" The Doctor warned as he pointed his Sonic at The Vigil, ignoring the snort of laughter from his brother.
In retaliation The Vigil began to use an Acoustic Blast to hit The Doctor, John and Rose. Except Jaime and Jenny quickly moved in front and was able to protect their family with Telekinetic Shielding. They were nearly blasted off their feet in the process. "Two can play at that game." Jaime snarled at the creatures stood before them. She and Jenny Telekinetically blasted The Vigil and they were sent flying backwards halfway across the chamber.
"She is protected," Jenny shouted to the creatures. "So you better stay away." Jaime grinned proudly at her sister.
Unfortunately The Vigil didn't take no for an answer. They teleported back to their feet and focused their attacks mainly on Jaime and Jenny. Both females fought back valiantly, protecting themselves and everyone else with telekinetic shield and Forcefield.
"Go! Take Merry tae safety." Jaime shouted back at Rose, the Doctor and John.
"Are you sure about that?" J.D worried.
"Just do it!" The Scots-girl shouted back at him and she felt them run out through the open door. As The Vigil continued to blast them, Jaime grunted as she was almost blown off her feet again. "We're gonna have tae find a way tae put 'em down permanently." She told Jenny.
The blonde Time Lady nodded. "As long as we do it BEFORE the so-called god breaks through the glass."
Feeling Jenny's nerves, Jaime peered over at the mummy to see that there were even more cracks in the glass. Flashes of danger told her it was about to escape. "Bloody hell!" She swore. "How 'bout Psionic Blast? That'll knock 'em out for awhile."
Jenny agreed with her sister, so she distracted them by Flash Stepping around The Vigil and hitting them with telekinetic blasts. Meanwhile, Jaime stretched her Mind out towards the three Vigil and mummy, searching their Minds. She could feel them which meant she could do this: She closed her eyes and mentally screamed at them. Jenny stopped what she was doing and watched as the three Vigil fell to their knees and covered their ears. She could sense what Jaime was doing and was thankful she always kept her mental shields up.
Finally the Vigil decided to scarper and disappeared in a puff of smoke. That just left much of the inundation on the mummy and that was on its knees screaming in pain, it's hands over its ears. It was well and truly subdued and when Jaime stopped what she was doing she saw that it was rocking back at forth. "That'll teach 'em." She uttered with a grin. Then she and Jenny made a quick exit out of the temple chamber.
While Jaime and Jenny were busy dealing with The Vigil, The Doctor was realising he had made a very big mistake. He was pacing, trying to explain to Rose and J.D that the grandfather mummy thing wasn't in fact the Old God. Something else was the actual Old God. It was the beam of light that had just shot out towards the sun-like planet that made him realise.
"Doctor, calm down," Rose spoke to her husband. "If grandfather isn't the Old God, then what is?" She asked.
The Doctor had Merry take them through to a side entrance to the back of the temple. Then he was able to point out what the actual Old God looked like.
The Half-Time Lord gawped open mouthed at the huge sun-like planet. "Well isn't that just Wizard!" He groaned out.
Even Rose was quite stunned. "Blimey! What are we going to do then?" She asked The Doctor.
It was J.D who answered her first. "It's a sentient sun," he told her. "We've come across sentient Suns before and they tend to get really snippy if they have their energy stolen from them."
The Doctor nodded in agreement, remembering what the Torajii sun did to its victims of the Pentallion. "This one's different though," he added. "And I don't know what to do with it."
Rose felt Merry's fear skyrocket. "But you promised," Merry cried. "You promised."
The Doctor looked at the young Queen with a sad expression on his face. "I did. I did promise." He said.
"He'll eat us all. He'll spread across the system, consuming the Seven Worlds. And when there's no more to eat, he'll embark on a new odyssey among the stars." Merry stated and her words stunned them. She had a point. If that sun didn't feed it would likely up sticks and leave, causing chaos. And they were all out of ideas.
Luckily they were joined by Jaime and Jenny who knew exactly what was going on. The Doctor noticed the look of determination on Jaime's face as she stared at the sun. "Do you two have any ideas?" He asked his two daughters.
"Aye," Jaime nodded. "We give it somethin' else tae feed." The look on her face said it all and he knew instantly, as well as J.D, that she was intending to sacrifice herself again.
"Oh no, don't you dare!" The Doctor demanded. "I'm not going to let you do it."
Now Rose was worried as well. "There must be some other way." She said.
Jaime shook her head. "There isnae. And anyway, I'm swimmin' with excess energy from those creatures…" She could tell that her dad, Jenny and Rose were confused. "…ill be okay." She told them.
"No!" John shook his head. "The last time you tried to sacrifice yourself you almost died." He put his hands on her shoulders. "I don't want you to do it again."
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Jaime looked up at John. "It's obvious I've got tae do this," she told him. "The Doctor we just came from actually hinted at it…" She ignored the annoyed groan from the current Doctor. "Did you not notice it?"
Extreme worry was washing off the Half-Time Lord. "No, because I was worried about you!" John told her.
Jaime sighed but smiled faintly at John caring deeply for her. She really adored him for it. "Well I did, and it's somethin' I've gotta do. It's a paradoxical Fixed Point." She could sense he was about to get really upset and she couldn't have that happening. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Look, I'd rather do this on my own," the Scots-girl uttered, stepping away from John's grip and turned her attention to The Doctor. "Get Merry off this rock and take her back tae Tiaanamat where she'll be safe."
Conflicted, the Time Lord nodded his head.
"No, I'm not leaving you on your own." J.D argued much to Jaime's annoyance. He sounded much like Rose did in 'Doomsday'.
"Ye'll gan willingly or I'll force ye tae gan!" She snapped and give him an angry glare as static electricity crackled throughout her body.
The Doctor agreed they would leave and despite John's continued insistence in wanting to stay and keeping Jaime safe, he dragged his brother with him to the front of the temple. Then he turned to Rose. "Take them to safety, I'll stay here and keep an eye on Jaime." He told her.
Though Rose thought he was up to something. "Doctor, don't you dare." She said.
The Doctor groaned. "Rose, darling, please just trust me!" He replied and the blonde sighed.
"Okay, I will." She said.
Smiling grimly, the Time Lord handed over a still protesting J.D over to Rose. She took a hold of his hand and then took a hold of Merry's hand. Jenny held Merry's free hand and when they were ready they teleported away in a flash of green and gold.
They reappeared back on Tiaanamat and an angry John pulled away from Rose. "What the bloody hell did you do that for? Take me back over there right now!" He demanded.
Unfortunately Rose refused and told him to calm down.
Meanwhile a confused Alexia watched on as they continued arguing. "What's going on?" She asked them. "Where's The Doctor and Jaime?" She received no reply.
"Isn't she frightened?" Alexia overheard Merry ask Jenny.
"She is, but she just wants to help," Jenny answered back. "That's the thing about my sister. She's made of tough stuff but she also cares."
"I want to help too." Merry said before stepping up into the pedestal and started singing. "Rest now, my warrior, rest now…"
As Merry continued singing and the arguing ended, a wide-eyed Alexia stared in utter disbelief and bewilderment at the giant sentient sun after what she'd just heard. Her daughter had just placed herself in the Doctor's shoes and decided to face off against Ahkaten. She didn't know whether to be angry or proud. But she did know one thing. It was bloody reckless.
Jaime watched them leave, feeling guilty over snapping at John, before finally returning her attention back to the sentient sun called Ahkaten. "Right, how we gonna do this then?" She mumbled. For a start she realised she felt very jumpy over what she needed to do and felt she had to calm down. Even Jaime thought it was ridiculously reckless she was doing this instead of The Doctor. So she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply until she felt calm. It was then she realised she wasn't alone. She sighed and opened her eyes. "I know you're still here, dad!" Jaime called out without turning around.
Having been found out, The Doctor stepped out from his hiding spot. "I was hardly going to leave my daughter alone with a greedy sentient planet like that was I!" He replied. "It's bad enough you're even contemplating doing this!"
Jaime looked back at the Doctor with a grim smile on her face and he could sense she really appreciated him being there. "You cannae stop me," she told him. "Even you know that would be a bad idea."
The Doctor let out a frustrated noise. "I didn't say I was. I just wanted to be here to help you."
They would have continued arguing if it hadn't been for the faint singing coming from Tiaanamat. It was Merry and Jaime knew she had to do it. Finding inspiration she hoped her words would be good as The Doctor's. Though she didn't think they would be as epic as his speech to Ahkaten. "Right, so…" With a nod the Scots-girl turned back to the ever hungry Ahkaten with a cold stare. "…if it's a story you want I'll give you one!" She spoke directly to Ahkaten, smiling as Merry continued to sing. A short chuckle escaped her mouth when more voices joined Merry. She could feel amazement washing off her dad and the rest of her family.
"Och, of course!" Jaime uttered. "Makes sense." She adjusted her stance and glared once again at the planet. "Ye hear tha'?" She questioned. "Can ye hear 'em singin'? They're daein' it 'cause they're scared if ye. Terrified even! Them and their ancestors all sacrificed themselves tae appease ye. Gan on, listen tae 'em!" The planet's surface seemed to shift and Jaime thought she felt curiosity coming from it. It was the oddest thing ever. "Ye might think yersel' as a god, but ye ain't one. No' by a long-shot! Ye're nowt but a lousy wee parasite intendin' tae scran off the weak and the helpless. Ye scran on their memories…so I have a proposal for ye. Take mine…" She spread her arms out. "But I hope ye're hungry 'cause I've got a shit-ton of 'em."
Energy tendrils from Ahkaten began to reach out towards her and when they touched her she let out an audible gasp and she just about stopped herself from screaming. One of the tendrils had wrapped around her upper left arm and the whole thing tingled painfully.
Sensing she was in serious pain, The Doctor attempted to approach his daughter in order to help her. Unfortunately he found his feet were stuck to the ground. Obviously she knew what he would do and saw fit to keep him in place by telekinesis. The Doctor groaned and shook his head.
As for Jaime, she took a few deep breaths and concentrated through the pain before continuing on while briefly wondering if The Doctor had felt this much pain when confronting Ahkaten in the episode. "I've traveled alone, far and wide, right across the Universe. I've even been tae the end of the universe and saw the horrors of survival. I've been tae universes tha' were ruled by complete bampots. I've seen a shit-ton of things ye wouldnae ever believe. I've lost family members but gained a bigger family. I know a shit-ton of things, of knowledge and secrets far beyond yer understandin'…"
She could feel it feeding on the extra energy she had absorbed. Energy that had come from creatures of a different universe. The wrong type of energy for this sun, which explained why she had felt so light headed.
"Ye dinnae know me, but I know you and I know how tae fight ye. So c'mon, take it, take it all ye wee bully, take the whole damn lot!" As the last of the extra energy was siphoned away, Jaime closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling the Psionic Explosion growing inside her. All she needed was a small one. Then she was able to push it forward with a scream and she exploded in a bright light, causing Ahkaten's tendrils to pull away. Finally Jaime fell back on her rear end with a grunt.
The Doctor, free of his telekinetic hold, rushed to her aid.
Watching in disbelief,amazement and fear, The Doctor had wanted to help Jaime as the tendrils of Ahkaten enveloped parts of her body, sensing her pain. But he'd been stopped by telekinesis keeping him glued to the ground. However he did listen to her addressing the sentient planet in a defiant tone. It did make him wonder if Jaime had a plan in Mind. When The Doctor saw a bright shimmer suddenly emit from Jaime he gasped, knowing fine well she was about to cause an explosion. He tried to retreat but remembered he was still stuck in place.
Luckily for him the explosion was only a small one and it set him free of the telekinetic hold. "Jaime!" He cried and rushed towards his daughter after she had tumbled to the ground. He noticed that the explosion had freed the energy tendrils off her. "Are you okay?" He asked, crouching by her and helping her to sit up. "That was extremely bloody reckless of you!" The Doctor then angrily admonished her. "You could have been seriously injured. It could have bloody killed you!"
John rushed by and crouched in front of Jaime, his brown eyes wide and filled with concern and fear. "What happened?" He asked. "I could sense you were in pain, then something just…exploded."
"What do you mean 'exploded'?" An equally extremely worried Alexia questioned as she crouched next to John and looked at her daughter. "How can she explode if she's still here?" The question sounded ridiculously stupid to her own ears.
The Half-Time Lord patiently explained to the woman about the Psionic Explosion ability, while The Doctor wondered how they had gotten here. So when he looked around he saw that he had been joined by the rest of his family and Sky Smith. Merry was still singing her heart out.
Meanwhile, a stunned Jaime couldn't reply to their questions just yet. Exploding Psionically always left her feeling discombobulated and she'd only done it to shake off Ahkaten's tendrils that were penetrating her. And she really wanted to warn them about the sentient planet, luckily somebody else noticed and spoke for her.
"Never mind Jaime, what's wrong with that sun?" Sky asked and everyone looked at what she was staring at. They saw that Ahkaten was doing some very weird stuff. In fact it didn't look happy at all.
"What's wrong with it?" Leo asked.
Jenny stared at it, a feeling of danger coming to her. "It's not supposed to react that way." She exclaimed. "Originally it was still hungry and it was stopped when it ate a leaf…" The Doctor nodded as if he understood. "…but this. It's just a swirling mass." She looked at her sister still sitting on the ground. "What did you do to it?" She asked.
"The wrong kind of energy." Jaime was finally able to utter out.
The Doctor was puzzled. "The wrong kind of energy? Are you serious?" He sounded bemused.
"How'd you end up with that type of energy?" Rose questioned.
John stood up straight, waves of realisation washing off him. "Oh, of course!" He exclaimed, eyes wide and a big grin on his face. "The extra energy you absorbed from those creatures was poisonous for the planet. Ohh, that's really good thinking!"
"Oh, you think?" The Doctor replied. "Now that it's been poisoned the planet is dying and it's not gonna to go quietly."
A groan came from Rose. "I thought you might say something like that." She said.
Sky was confused. "Why? What's it going to do?" She asked.
"It's most likely going to explode." The Doctor answered her question, causing Sky to let out a shocked gasp.
"Oh my god!" She exclaimed.
Meanwhile Alexia pulled her daughter to her feet. "Did you know this was going to happen?" She asked.
Jaime grimaced when she could feel hundreds of emotions coming from worried aliens. "Aye, but it's not explodin', it's more like implodin'." She croaked out.
The Doctor groaned. "That's even worse!" He uttered.
"It needed tae be stopped," Jaime argued. "It still does!" Then she turned towards Ahkaten in an attempt to finish the job…until J.D stopped her by gently grabbing her arm.
"Don't you think you've done enough?" He asked, a seriously worried expression on his face. It made her feel guilty but she couldn't not do anything to stop an imploding sentient planet.
Seeing her sister look so conflicted as well as various colours surrounding her, Jenny decided to help out. "I think I understand what you want to do," she spoke to Jaime. "Don't worry, I'll sort it out." She turned her attention to Ahkaten and took a couple of steps towards it.
"Be careful, Jenny." The Doctor warned her.
Jenny nodded her head and stared at the swirling mass that was sentient. It was surrounded by a very dark red colour and she could tell it was angry. Especially after it was cut off too early while it fed. She needed to figure out what to do before the inevitable happened. After all, she was The Infinite and she was good at what she did. Holding her hands out towards Ahkaten, Jenny concentrated greatly as a solid forcefield formed around the whole planet.
And with good timing too, because three minutes and one second later the planet seemed to implode inwards and died. Seconds later Jenny heard Jaime let out a scream of pain and grimaced as she continued to hold the forcefield up. Of course, Jaime was feeling a whole planet die and she really wanted to help her sister but she was in the middle of saving everyone else. However, she could hear various family members coming to her aid.
Still screaming, Jaime lay curled up on the ground with her eyes closed and ignoring all attempts to help her. Crouched beside her was a wincing John, feeling Jaime's pain through their TARDIS-like connection.
"What's happening?" A confused, worried and wide-eyed Alexia asked as she ran her hand through Jaime's dark hair in a bid to comfort her.
"It's the planet," J.D ground out. "She's feeling it die."
"What? But how?" Alexia asked. She was aware of how most of her daughter's abilities worked, especially the ability to feel a death. But this was a planet.
"It's sentient, that's why she can feel it's death," The Doctor explained. "And she's got her shields lowered." Which she would have done so in order to let Ahkaten anywhere near her.
"So it wouldn't have been as painful if she had them raised?" Alexia questioned.
"Yes, but she must not of had the chance to raise them again." Came the answer from The Doctor.
"Let me help!" Rose uttered, falling to her knees and putting her fingers on Jaime's temple.
Immediately, the Scots-girl felt the difference. Instead of the inscrutiating acid melting feeling of a large planet dying, she now felt that pain melting away to something more manageable. And she stopped screaming when she heard Rose's voice in her Mind, soothing her, telling her to raise her shields. So Jaime did just that and the pain disappeared. Then after taking in a deep breath she opened her eyes and looked around, sensing everyone's worry.
"You okay now?" Rose asked, taking her fingers off Jaime.
The Scots-girl nodded her head. "Aye!" She croaked and slowly sat up with the help of her mum and John.
"Are you sure?" The Doctor questioned her.
"I jus' said so didnae I?" Jaime snapped, ignoring the admonishment from her mum while she peered over at Ahkaten with a frown. She wasn't exactly sure how imploded planets were supposed to look like, but this one was still going, though it didn't look as lively as it previously had. It certainly felt like it as well as she couldn't feel any sentience from it. Her first thought was that it had internally exploded, her second thought was maybe Jenny was holding it together. Well that was until her sister put her hands down and the Forcefield fell away.
"I thought it was supposed to implode.?" Sky asked about the planet while Jenny went to her sister to check on her. "It doesn't look any different."
But Rose disagreed. "No, there's something different about it," she spoke up. "I can't feel anything from it anymore."
"So it's dead?" Alexia questioned as she stared at it. She was in two Minds about this since it had originally gorged itself on Clara's leaf and that had put a stop to it. But this was permanent.
"Yes, very much so." The Doctor told her.
John glanced quickly at Jaime when he and Jenny helped her back to her feet. He could sense she was beginning to feel guilty for her actions. And apparently so could Jenny.
"You did what you thought was right," Jenny said to Jaime. "And that meant stopping a sentient planet from eating anymore young Queens or forcing people to part with a beloved heirloom."
Nodding her head, the Scots-girl realised Jenny had a point, turned to her sister and hugged her.
After a short while, The Doctor said they should get going, so Jenny opened a Portal and the whole family walked into it where it opened up in Tiaanamat in the Offerings Arena. They were surprised when they were given a standing ovation from the aliens that had been sat in the arena. Even Merry was happy and hugged The Doctor, thankful for his and his family's help.
"Alls well that ends well, eh!" The Doctor uttered later as they walked through the market place in order to get back to the TARDIS.
"I suppose you could say so!" Rose replied to him, holding his hand as she walked with him and Sky. Jaq, Leo, Jenny, Jaime, John and Alexia were all a little way ahead of them either being raucous or chatting quietly. "It very nearly ended differently though."
"Huh?" The Doctor frowned and looked at his bond-mate. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"I saw a different Timeline where it was you that confronted Ahkaten instead, while Jaime finished the job."
"Really?" The Time Lord stopped and turned to Rose. "How did that go then?"
Noticing the body language from the blonde, Sky decided to quickly join the others in order to give the couple some space.
"You let it take your memories," Rose told him with a scowl. "But it did look like you were giving it a defiant looking speech towards it." The Doctor grinned at this. "Defiant, I like the sound of that." He said, only to notice the look of annoyance from Rose. "Okay, I take it you don't approve?"
Rose sighed. "Of course I don't. They're your memories and you shouldn't give them away in some silly self sacrifice." She felt a bout of guilt from The Doctor.
"But I didn't!" He replied.
"You very nearly did though!" Rose argued back. "There must have been some other way to stop it."
"Not according to some TV show!" Came the Doctor's snarky answer and even though Rose glared at him she realised he had a point. "See." The Time Lord uttered when he sensed what she was thinking. "Anyway, what did Jaime do? The same thing she did earlier?"
The blonde shook her head. "No, it looked like she had expelled all the wrong energy from herself and used it as a Psionic explosion by throwing it at the planet."
The Doctor made a thoughtful noise. "Using energy from a different dimension to create a Psionic Explosion? Do you think that would have actually worked?" He asked Rose. "We've only ever seen her use Psionic Explosion within her body and that isn't particularly pleasant."
Rose shrugged. "It was in a Timeline so she must be able to do it."
The Doctor smirked when he realised Rose wasn't giving anything away. Their private chat together was interrupted by a series of ferocious sounding barks followed by a series of less vicious barking.
"What the hell?" Rose exclaimed.
"Sounds like Dor'een has met her match!" The Doctor replied. "Come on."
They rushed over to Dor'een's pitch to find her in conversation with Jaime and Alexia. Rose thought it sounded rather aggressive and thought they were arguing, yet The Doctor was chuckling away as he stood watching them.
"Doctor? What's going on?" Rose asked.
"It's okay, nothing to worry about," he replied as they joined the others. "It seems Dor'een is thanking her."
As the group of Time Travellers watched on, Jaime was gathered into a hug by the dog-like alien. Rose felt a bout of trepidation from Jaime when this happened. Then Dor'een pulled back and continued barking at Jaime and Alexia. To which they replied in the same way.
"What is she saying now?" Sky enquired from beside J.D.
"Dor'een says she's surprised that two humans can accurately speak her language without making mistakes. Jaime's telling her she and Alexia have the ability to speak to animals, hence being able to understand Dor'een's language. Dor'een says they have a special gift and that they should always treasure it." The Doctor translated.
"They're not the only ones!" John spoke up, looking at his brother. "It seems this you can understand animals too." The Doctor just shrugged in reply, apparently not too bothered.
The conversation with Dor'een ended and on the way to the TARDIS, J.D quietly asked Jaime to find a TARDIS connection back to their proper Timeline. Jaime nodded silently and began a search of the next nearest TARDIS from their Timeline. The Time Travellers entered the storage area and The Doctor rushed over to the TARDIS.
"Here we are, home sweet home." He uttered and used his key to open the door.
Everyone apart from John, Jaime and Alexia entered the TARDIS. When he noticed this, The Doctor asked what they were waiting for.
"We thought it was time we went back home, back to our current Timeline." John answered his brother.
"Aye, home…" Jaime muttered, sounding very distracted as she took a hold of John and Alexia's hands.
"Oh, right. Well it's about time…" The Doctor said and would have said more to them but they teleported away. "See you back in the past them!" He muttered to thin air, walked into the TARDIS and shut the door.