The Doctor had explained what the creature Danni had seen was. The Mire were, apparently, quite infamous warriors across the galaxy. They were practical and got what they wanted before leaving. Which was what Danni had tried to get them to do. She'd tried so hard to get them to just leave. They'd gotten what they wanted so what was the point in staying? They may have been bloodthirsty, but even they had been smart enough to know when a battle wasn't worth fighting.
Of course, she hadn't banked on Ashildr deciding that just leaving wasn't good enough. And she hadn't banked on the Mire agreeing with her. She had been so close to getting them to leave.
The Doctor had moved them into one of the sheds so that they could explain the situation. He'd kept close by her side, watching her, making sure she didn't leave his sight again. It wasn't something she was planning on doing. She didn't want to return to the ship. Or, in fact, go into the shed. She wanted to go home.
"They're coming tomorrow," she explained to the small gathered group. It was probably all that was left of the village. "Ten of them. They'll kill you all without much thought."
Einarr, Ashildr's father, looked to his daughter. "Ashildr, is this true?"
The girl nodded. "It's my fault," she replied solemnly.
"Not every misfortune that befalls this village is down to you," the man told her, exasperated, as if she always said this. He walked over to her, sitting down and wrapping an arm around her before he looked up at the Doctor. "She thinks she brings us bad luck."
"This is her fault, though," Danni replied firmly. Her arms were crossed across her chest as she leant against the pillar nearest the exit. "She's the one who declared war on them."
The Doctor looked at her. "Danielle," he whispered in warning. She looked up at him, her frustration on her face.
"What?" she retorted. "She challenged them to war even though she'd seen their warriors ground up into dust. I'm sorry if you believe differently, but that is not good luck. They are going to die tomorrow."
A large man, with a beard and ridiculously deep voice, stood up, pointing towards the sky. "She's right. We are about to be attacked by…"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes," the Doctor repeated, cutting him off. "With a whole day to spare!" He turned away from Danni, who had just rolled her eyes. Her coldness towards the situation was definitely a defence mechanism, he'd lived long enough to spot one a mile away. But her willingness to just accept their fate was a bit strange. It was something he usually did, not her.
"So leave!" he continued. "Hop it, take off! Into the woods, split up, hide. Hang about there for a week, come back home, make puddings and babies. That's basically what you do, isn't it?"
Einarr stood back up again "We cannot leave this village," he said lowly.
"Yes, you can," the Doctor corrected. It was their only choice at this point. "Just pick a direction. Fly like a bird, run like a nose. That's probably a Viking saying, I haven't checked that."
"No. We will fight!" the large deep-voiced man cried. The crowd cheered their agreement.
"Really?" Danni said incredulously. "Because all of your warriors, your fighters, the people who might have stood a bloody chance have been turned into juice! They left you behind because you're weak. Do you really think you actually stand a chance?!"
Einarr has walked into the corner, coming back with an animal skin full of weapons. He chucked them to the floor where they clattered together. "We are Vikings!" he cried at the top of his voice. The crowd around him cheered again, getting to their feet, ready to join the glorious battle that had been presented to them.
The Doctor suddenly understood why Danni was so angry. It wasn't the fact that a young girl had declared war - a young girl who was in shock and heavily grieving – it was the fact that she knew that they'd all be determined to actually go through with it. He was looking at a room full of dead people.
He turned to Danni, who looked one step away from just walking out. He was tempted to follow, but there was a reason she hadn't already left even though she was trying to show everyone that's what she wanted to do. There was a reason that he hadn't left either. Neither of them wanted to village to die. They wanted to save them.
"Okay," he turned back to the villagers, "tell me this. How many people here have actually held a sword in battle? By a show of hands?" He watched as they all suddenly lost their enthusiasm, sitting down, all quiet and chastised. The Doctor and Danni both raised their hands. "The Mire are coming," he picked up a sword, "for each and every one of you." He pointed the sword at a few of the Viking villagers before chucking it to the ground again. "So what you going to do? Raise crops at them?"
The large man stood up. "If necessary!"
His friend leant around him. "I think he was being sarcastic," he said, causing the Doctor to turn on the spot. It really was too frustrating. Why were humans so intent on getting themselves killed?
"We're not cowards," Einarr declared. "We do not run. A death in battle is a death with honour."
As the crowd cheered on what appeared to be their new leader, a baby started to cry. It caught not only his attention but the attention of everyone in the room. He watched Danni tense. She'd never been able to stand a child crying. Neither had he.
"Do babies die with honour?" he asked them. He turned, placing a hand on the pillar Danni leant against, closing his eyes to listen to the baby. "I am afraid, Mother. Hold me, Mother. I am afraid," he translated. The room looked confused. It took a moment for Danni to understand why.
"Oh," she started. "He speaks Baby." A lot of them just seemed to accept this, and no one dared to speak up and interrupt him.
"Turn your face towards me, Mother, for you're…" He opened his eyes, letting out a little breathless chuckle. The mind of a child was so pure. "For you're beautiful," he continued. "And I will sing for you. I am afraid, but I will sing."
Danni's temper flared up and she stepped forward, glaring at each and every one of the Vikings. "Babies do not die with honour," she snarled at them all. "Children only cry when they're scared, they do not fight. They do not know how. You are damning your children to a pointless, cruel and painful death. Your stupidity is sickening. Enjoy your 'honour'."
She turned and walked to the door. Ashildr jumped up, running after her. "Stay," she begged. "You could help I know you could."
Danni turned to look at her. She could see the fear in the girl's eyes. None of this was just. It was all pointless. "I tried to help," she explained. "We've both tried. It's your choice whether to take it and you won't. There's nothing else we can do."
The Doctor was quick to follow her out. "Danielle…" he started and she paused in the middle of the village green, turning to face him.
"We can't help them," she pointed out. "They don't want our help. We should just get back to the TARDIS."
He also fell to a stop. "Is that what you really want?" he asked.
"Of course not," she replied. "I don't want anyone to die. I've never wanted anyone to die." She straightened slightly, seeing the way his eyes darted away from her. "You think I do!" she accused. "You think I want this!"
"No I don't," he replied but she didn't seem to believe him. He took a step closer and she took a step back, hurt. He hated that. He took another step forward, smiling kindly to try and show how sincere he was being. "I don't, Danni. I'd never think that."
She pressed her lips together for a moment. Maybe she'd just imagined the judgement in his eyes. She'd been expecting it for so long that, now he knew even a little bit of what she'd done it was all she could see.
"What could we even do?" she asked in reply. "You know what people like the Mire are like. Harriette Jones blew up the Sycorax and you said the same thing then; it opens the universe up to everyone out there. If it's not the Mire, it's someone else."
"Until everyone dies," he finished. He placed his hands in his pocket. "Ripples into tidal waves."
"Our whole lives are tidal waves," Danni replied with a little smile. She always smiled when she thought on their life together. "We've not exactly been quiet, have we? I can't keep watching people die, Theta."
He felt exactly the same. The people inside were not just waiting to die, they were running towards their demise. He didn't want to stick around and witness these humans die. They'd both struggled through it on Trenzalore when people, whether through old age or through fighting, would die with war around them. He didn't want to do it again.
The baby started crying again and both of them looked away, unable to comprehend how terrified the baby was. Danni looked up as the Doctor paced back and forward, torn between what he wanted to do and what was most practical.
"Is she still scared?" she asked him
He nodded. "Babies sense danger. They have to." He shifted slightly, almost ashamed at what he was hearing.
She took a step closer. "Share it with me," she said softly. "Don't hold it in on your own."
"Mother, I hear thunder. Mother, I hear shouting. You are my world, but I hear other worlds now," he said in a rush, as if he didn't want to hear the baby's words at all. "Beyond the…" he paused for a moment, "unfolding of your smile, is there other kindness? I'm afraid. Will they be kind? The sky is crying now. Fire in the water." His brows furrowed. "Fire in the water?"
He closed his eyes, the words wounding him more than he was probably willing to admit. The baby stopped crying as Danni watched him change him mind from reluctantly leaving to reluctantly staying.
She sighed in resignation. He always tried to fight being nice. He always failed. "Fine."
He opened his eyes, looking bewildered. "What is?"
"Staying. We'll stay," she conceded. "We're already more of a storm than a tidal wave. What's one village?" She leant up to kiss his cheek but he turned his head, catching her lips in a chaste kiss. She smiled against his lips.
"How did you…"
"Because there's something me and crying children have in common," she replied. "We know you'll never walk away when they're crying." She started walking away, heading towards the boathouse.
"Where are you going?" he called after her.
"For a walk," she replied. "It'll give you a chance to come up with a plan instead of just saying you have one!"
She could tell that the baby's words had caught her husband's attention, but that he couldn't work out why. She had an idea, though. There was only a couple of places in a Viking Village where water would be kept.
She smiled to herself, opening the door and seeing the barrels full of eels. She walked over to sit next to one, watching them swim in the barrels. Fire in the water. What a clever child.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor didn't have a plan. The village would never will again the Mire and they weren't going to leave to save themselves. Without his sonic glasses, or the TARDIS, he really didn't have much to offer in terms of help. All he had was the ability to at least train them up so they didn't feel useless as they battled to their 'honourable' deaths.
Danni watched from the side lines as he lined them up, gave them all ridiculous nicknames, and did his best to show them how to use wooden swords. He had tried with metal ones to begin with but… well, there was a reason that none of the people left behind were warriors. Not everyone was built to face battle, after all.
Her gun sat in her jacket pocket, pressed against her side, always reminding her that she was armed. She could defend herself. The problem was, though, that she'd never have stuck around this long when she was running. She wouldn't have needed to use the gun against the Mire because she never would have faced them one-to-one. As it was, she could have probably gotten a few shots in, but definitely not enough to save herself or anyone else.
Ashildr sat next to her to watch the training. She was too young to join in, even though she was the one who had declared the war in the first place. Even Danni agreed with that.
"Swords against those creatures. That won't work, will it?"
She was looking up at Danni like she held all the answers. Danni looked back to her husband, who looked ready to walk away from them all. "No, they won't," she said bluntly. "He never claimed that they would, though. He just doesn't know what to do yet."
"What if he doesn't know what to do in time?" Ashildr asked.
Danni watched her husband show a couple of basic stances with the swords. He was making it up as he went along.
"If anyone can think of the plan right now, it's the Doctor," she explained. "If he can't they you never had any hope to begin with. If he does, you'll never stop telling stories about him."
"What about you?" Ashildr asked curiously. "He followed you out. You said you were a match for them."
"I was talking big to try and get them to leave," Danni explained. "I might think of something, though. The closer to crisis, the better thinkers we both are. We just need time."
~0~0~0~
The clouds were red with the setting sun. Thunder rang through the air and the Doctor looked up at the sky with a thoughtful frown. Inside the Vikings were having a lively feast to celebrate the upcoming battle. They really thought that they had a chance. Or, at the very least, believed they did.
Danni came outside to find her husband. She'd given him enough time to his thoughts, now he needed someone to talk at. She sat down next to him and looked up at the sky.
"That's pretty convenient thunder," she commented after they sat in silence for a while.
"That's not thunder," he explained. "It's the weapon forges of the Mire. They're making sure we hear them."
She looked up at the sky as well. "Of course," she drawled. She placed her hands behind her, leaning backwards on the bench. "Given up yet?"
He sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes. "Heidi faints at the mention of blood, not just the sight any more. He's actually upgraded his phobia. Chuckles - he questions every single order you give him, which is going to be a little bit difficult, a little bit tricky, in the heat of battle."
Danni nodded along, having been there when the village had almost been burnt to the ground because of a head injury. It had been a trying couple of hours and had not raised either of their confidences that the village stood a chance against the Mire.
"Honestly, if it was up to me, we'd turn and walk away right now," she admitted bluntly. "I don't want any of them to die. I want to help if I can. My instinct is to turn and walk away." She looked up at him. "What's your instinct telling you?" she asked. "Because I know that turning them all into fighters isn't in your instincts. You never were like that."
"Maybe I've always been like that," he replied. She wrinkled her nose.
"Really?" she asked. "You're going to pull that card? Because I have a multitude of stories that can tell you otherwise." He looked away from her so she sighed heavily. "Alright. Davros on the Crucible. You thought everyone was a warrior, but they weren't fighting, they were giving chances. Remember that?"
"That's just one…"
"And don't even get me started on Amy and Rory. You were devastated at the thought that they'd turned military in that weird-arse time merge universe after River refused to kill you."
"Alright, alright…"
"And you spent quite a lot of time on Trenzalore convincing those who wanted to help fight to stay behind and use their skills instead. You had me working as a teacher's assistant. I could have easily joined you."
He turned in his chair. "Now that's not fair," he protested. "I told you to take the teacher's position when it became available. You're the one who didn't want that responsibility."
She smiled, happy to get a reaction from him that wasn't just despair. "My point is that you've never been one to just let everyone fight it out. It's not your instinct. What is your instinct telling you?"
He turned his attention back to the sky. "I don't know," he admitted lowly. It was true. He didn't want to train them for battle, but what choice did he have? He couldn't just walk away and he couldn't offer any more assistance.
The door opened behind them and Ashildr stepped out, obviously heading home for the evening. Danni was rather relieved to see this. The sounds of the Vikings inside suggested they were just going to get a lot rowdier as the night went on.
"Sorry," the girl said, head bowed slightly as she headed on.
"That's alright, sweetie," Danni offered. The girl looked slightly surprised at the kind greeting.
"Night," the Doctor offered. Ashildr looked back over her shoulder at him as she headed home. Both of them still seemed drawn to each other.
"She's a good kid, really," Danni said. "I was a bit mean to her."
"You were just frustrated that you couldn't stop the war," the Doctor dismissed. They fell back into silence as they watched Ashildr disappear into her home.
"They'll die fighting with honour," the Doctor offered as a reason to continue the training right up until the battle. "To a Viking, that's all the difference in the world."
Danni nodded. Honour did seem to be a big thing to the Vikings. "I don't want an honourable death," she declared, much to his surprise. "I want a good death. An honourable death implies it could be prevented. If I die, I want it to be a last resort."
She leant on his arm and he shifted so he could hold her closer. "I don't want you to die at all," he told her.
"Yeah, well, why don't we both survive and save this village while we're at it?" she offered as a compromise. "You're giving them what they want but not what they actually need. Maybe you should focus on that instead."
"You sound like the TARDIS," he grumbled. She giggled.
"Well, she's normally right. Maybe you should listen," she countered. Up in the sky the clouds continued to swirl around. "The stars won't be out tonight. That's a shame."
"It is," he agreed. "What if I don't come up with a plan, my Pet?"
She smiled at him. "You will," she replied. "You are, you've just not heard the right words yet to trigger that brain of yours."
"You don't seem to be jumping to help. You're infinitely smarter than I am," he pointed out.
"I am," she agreed cheekily. "It's not my style to show you up. I want our marriage to last, after all." He just raised an eyebrow and she looked back at him innocently. "Worked out what 'Fire in the Water' meant?"
He was surprised, just for a moment, that she knew that the baby's words were floating around his head. Then, he realised, it wasn't much of a surprise at all. "Probably just a story that she was being told to calm her down."
Danni nodded slowly in agreement, although she knew that he didn't believe that at all. She'd give him a little longer to work it out. She stood up, placing a kiss on his hair like he would do to her. And, like she would do, he leant into the small show of affection.
"I'm going for another walk," she told him. "Let you clear your head."
"So much faith, my Pet," he said.
"Very well deserved, sweetie."
~0~0~0~
"So, we meet again, Fake Odin. Valhalla burns around you, your army is destroyed and now it is time for you to die!"
Ashildr, Viking Warrior, brought her stave down onto Fake Odin. He cried with the effort of stopping her heavy blows, but she fought his off with ease. He may have killed her people, her friends and family, but he was a fool to think that he stood a chance against the village. Metal clanged against metal as she brought him down to his knees.
Or, she would have, had he not have been a wooden model of the real Odin and her stave be nothing more than a wooden stick. In her mind, though, she was winning the battle and the war.
She started, though, when someone cleared their throat. She turned, eyes wide and incredibly embarrassed to see the Doctor stood behind her.
"How long have you been there?" she asked quietly. The Doctor didn't seem to mind, instead rushing over to the wooden model.
"What's that? Is that a puppet? Oh, I love puppets!" He examined it closely, taking in all of the little details that the girl had put on the puppet. She'd obviously done this before.
"I make puppets sometimes, when I'm…"
"Frightened?" the Doctor finished. She nodded.
"When the raiding parties go out, I make up stories about their battles," she explained to him.
"Because if you make up the right story, then you think it will keep them safe and they'll all come home. That's okay. You're not the first person to ever have done that," he promised her. He'd done it himself. It had come in handy when he'd first been looking for Danielle, to save her from Missy's clutches. He couldn't think of the horror she was going through so he thought of better things for her to experience.
"Why are you here?" Ashildr asked him, because she'd come home for some alone time, not to be watched.
Why was he there? Because Danielle was right. He needed a better plan for the village because fighting was only going to make them all dead. He just wasn't sure what that was yet. He'd felt drawn to Ashildr when he'd first seen her. It was a meeting that he felt he'd already had. His working theory was that she was the key to his idea, he just wasn't sure how yet. "I'm looking for something I'm missing," he replied. "What do you think our chances are tomorrow?"
She looked down, taken out of her glee at defeating Fake Odin and into reality again. "We will be cut down like corn. By this time tomorrow, every single one of us will be dead."
He shrugged. What else was there to say but that?
"Yeah." He sat down, picking up a book from the table and flicked through it. The pictures were very nice, but he was sure he'd read the story before. "You could go," he commented, hoping she would take the suggestion. Perhaps he could just save someone, even if he failed to save everyone else.
"There's nowhere for me except here. This is my place. The sky, the hills, the sea, the people. Is there nowhere like that for you?"
"Oh, we like a nice view as much as anyone, me and my Danni-Girl," he replied, putting the book down.
"But?"
"Well, she doesn't like to stay still," he explained before smiling. "And I can't wait for the next one."
The look in her eye made him feel incredibly defensive. People always looked down on their lack of a fixed home, but he never saw it as anything but a blessing. He'd love to have Gallifrey back, as glorious as it had once been, but their life was definitely nothing one to be pitied. And yet, there it was.
"I pity you," she told him. He stood up.
"I will mourn for you," he said before shooting her a pointed look. "I know which I'd prefer."
He needed to find Danielle. He had hoped that Ashildr could have sparked something inside of him, but evidently not. He was at his best when he was musing out loud to his wife so maybe that was the best he went back to what he knew. If he was going to live up to her faith then he really needed to get onto to.
As he walked towards the door, Ashildr stepped forward. "You think they're all idiots, don't you?"
"What, you mean the rest of the universe? Basically, yes, I do," he agreed.
"But they're kind and brave, and strong, and I love them."
"Good. Good. But that won't save you," the Doctor replied firmly.
"I've always been different. All my life I've known that. The girls all thought I was a boy. The boys all said I was just a girl. My head is always full of stories." He smiled kindly. Maybe she wasn't going to say something to trigger an idea, maybe he just thought he knew her because she sounded like he had felt as a child. His head always in the stars, away from where he was 'supposed' to be. "I know I'm strange. Everyone knows I'm strange. But here I'm loved. You tell me to run to save my life. I tell you that leaving this place would be death itself."
She looked terrified, but completely at peace with what she was saying. This was her home, and this was her family. He really had to admire that.
Einarr entered, pulling her daughter into a hug, sharing a bonding moment as they both faced their impending deaths. The Doctor felt like he was intruding and suddenly realised why people looked away when he kissed his wife. He wasn't fond of the 'third wheel' feeling.
He frowned at the sound of the baby, who was still crying, trying to get her message of fear across. "Is that baby getting closer?" He looked out of the door into the village and saw Lofty, one of his less adapt charges, walking across the dark green holding a baby. "Why has Lofty stolen a baby?" he asked, suddenly rather panicked. None of the people he had tried to train should have been trusted with a baby.
"That's his child," Ashildr replied, much to his surprise.
"Oh," he said. "Where's he taking her?"
"The boathouse. He takes her to the boathouse when she won't settle. She likes the fish," the girl explained.
That hit him like lightning. Something about this information stoked the fire in him that had been smouldering, waiting for a plan. "Why would she…" His eyes widened. That was it. That was what the baby had been trying to tell them. "Fire in the water!" he cried, turning and running out. "Danni!" he cried. "Danni, that's it! That's what I've been missing! Danni!"
He rushed through the open door of the boathouse, startling Lofty as he went to the first large barrel. Exactly what he'd expected. Fire in the water.
"Lofty!" he greeted happily. "I had no idea that was your baby. Hello, baby, I had no idea this was your junior parent…" He turned to rush over and saw Danni stood with the tall man, looking at him with a smirk on her face.
"Finally got it?" she asked him as he shook his head in disbelief.
"What are you…" he started.
"Fire in the water?" she reminded. "Doesn't make any sense at all, does it? Fire is bright and warm. Fire can't burn in water. So it must have been the light." She looked into the barrel she was stood next to. "If I was the offspring of a civilisation that hadn't heard of electricity, I would think this was fire too."
"How long have you known?" he asked her.
"Since you translated it," she replied. He shook his head again, still not quite computing how she had come to the realisation before he had.
"I thought you weren't showing me up?" he challenged. She placed a hand on her hip, looking a little offended.
"You came here all on your own, didn't you?" she countered. "I wanted to give you a little longer before I told you the answer. You'll never learn if I do."
He couldn't do much else that laugh. He pulled her close, wrapping her up in his arms and pressing his forehead against hers. He still had to dip his head down quite low, but he didn't care. "You're infuriatingly amazing," he told her bluntly. She nodded against him.
"I am," she agreed. "How's that hope doing now, Spaceman?"
He grinned widely. "Better than ever!"
~0~0~0~
It had taken emptying all of his pockets – even the inside pocket which he reserved only for things of extra importance like his jelly babies – before he'd found everything he needed. He'd even raided Danni's not-so-big pockets for a couple of rolls of wire and a small torch that she hadn't even realised was in there. Apparently she'd picked it up when she had been building a set of shelves. She had said the torch was going to help her line up where the shelves were going to be mounted. He hadn't questioned her logic, even if it made no sense to him.
This had to be why he had recognised Ashildr. Not because he hadn't met her yet but was going to, but because she was paramount in his plan to save them all. It had taken them all night, and him explaining the plan multiple to Heidi and Lofty, but everything was set up for when the Mire arrived. And, what was the best way to mark their arrival?
A party!
He even managed to get Danni dancing. Although she would only dance with him. He didn't mind, though, he only wanted to dance with her. They were in the middle of a rather cheerful number when the doors to the barn opened and the Mire stepped in, all of his warriors flanking him.
Danni had been surprised to find out that they weren't, in fact, robots but just more Mire in ridiculous armour. The helmets, according to the Doctor, were going to come in very handy. She was hoping that she could take one home with her when they were done so she could poke at the technology inside.
The Doctor came to a stop just in front of Fake Odin, acting like he'd only just spotted the warrior and hadn't been waiting for him to turn up at all. "Hey, hello, hi! I'm the Doctor. It's lovely to meet you face to er convincing hologram. You could always go 'buzz' and get rid of it," he waved his hands in front of his own face to illustrate removing the hologram but quickly changed his mind. "No? No, on second thoughts, don't. That, that, that suits you." He motioned to Danni. "You've met the wife already. She's been talking about seeing you again all night."
Danni shot him a lazy salute but Fake Odin looked around, baffled and annoyed at the scene. "It is time to fight," he declared.
"You see, the thing is… nah," Danni replied. "Fighting's no fun at all, really."
"So, we thought we'd just have a party!" the Doctor finished. The village cheered and continued to dance and play games.
"Let me put it another way," Fake Odin said. "You fight or you die."
"We're unarmed. There isn't a single weapon in this room. Which I'm sure your systems are telling you." The Doctor watched as Fake Odin looked around, scanning everyone, including his wife who had already shown him a weapon. He'd convinced her to stash her gun outside for the sake of the plan. She was already becoming a little bit less reliant on it, though. "You wouldn't open fire on unarmed civilians, would you?"
Fake Odin leant in a little closer. "It wouldn't be the first time," he snarled. This was the cue for everything to start. The Mire weren't just going to turn and walk away. They'd been given one chance and, as a lot of universe didn't do, they didn't take it.
Lofty threw one of the rings of wire the Doctor had created at one of the Mire warriors. It fell to the floor with a clang but the Mire looked up to find another one dangling from the ceiling. It reached up to investigate, which was the cue for the Doctor to tell Chuckles to play his part.
Electricity from the eels shot down the wire, electrocuting four of the Mire warriors. The villagers ran and the Doctor and Danni took shelter behind an overturned table. He looked at his wife and found her grinning.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he accused playfully.
"I love watching you work," she countered. "Especially when fighting off the bad guys."
He couldn't contain his own wolfish grin as he called for Chuckles to set off the next batch of eels. These were directly connected to the anvils attached to the ceiling, turning them into a large magnet. The Mire's weapons and helmets shot up, revealing the rather scary-looking aliens underneath.
"Chuckles, off!" the Doctor cried. Einarr unplugged the wire connected to the anvils and everything dropped to the ground. The Doctor quickly dove for one of the helmets, pulling at the wires inside whilst Danni grabbed one of the guns that had dropped to the ground. She quickly aimed it at the Mire, standing in front of her husband so he could work.
"Stay right where you are," she warned. Fake Odin wasn't too happy that his soldiers were being out manoeuvred, so he sent the remaining fully-armoured creatures out after the villagers. They would be safe, though, because all they had to do was run.
The Doctor, Danni and the rest, though, weren't as safe. Danni glanced over her shoulder at her husband, who was quickly hacking his way through the helmet. "Are you going for the neuron synth…"
"Yes, yes, that's exactly what I'm doing," he interrupted. "This isn't my first helmet hacking, you know?"
Danni turned back to look at the Mire. "I was just saying…" she murmured.
"I know, and you're very clever. I've just got to…" The helmet powered back up and he stood up, dragging it over to Ashildr, who was sat in a chair.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"I'm scared," she admitted.
"Of course you are," Danni replied, keeping the two covered. "You'd be stupid not to be. But you're not stupid, and you can do this."
The Doctor nodded his agreement. He picked up the helmet. "Show them a story they'll never forget," he instructed gleefully before putting it on her.
What proceeded was a good, five minutes of hilarity. Ashildr's monstrosity of a wooden dragon was pushed into the room and she fed a story through to Fake Odin's eyepatch. What most people would have laughed at, he cowered away from like it was a giant beast ready to devour him. A tough warrior race terrified of a wooden model.
Of course, along with the torch, Danni had found a small camera in her pocket. So, of course, they'd recorded the entire event for the whole universe to see. And so, with the threat of his reputation being ruined, the Doctor sent him away with a quick buzz of Fake Odin's transporter necklace.
The village cheered, and both Danni and the Doctor felt so incredibly relieved. Danni couldn't believe that they'd pulled it off, but finally she felt like they'd done someone to help the village. And, once again, her faith in humanity had been restored for just a little while.
The Doctor looked over at his wife, who was smiling slightly as she talked to some of the villagers, mainly Heidi and Chuckles, and felt proud that this had gone well for her. Seeing her pull away, be cold and distant, didn't sit well. Regeneration could change people but there were limits, there were core parts of people that never changed. Danni's previous regeneration hadn't drifted too far from her original body and he knew that she hadn't drifted too far away from it now, either.
Now she was talking to people she would have dismissed. She was finding how she was going to make amends in her own life. He'd helped. He'd always help.
Danni turned from the happy folk and looked back at the young girl who saved them all. She hadn't really been fair in her treatment of Ashildr, but once again she'd been proven wrong. It was these situations she really didn't mind being shown that.
She frowned. She had been sat up straight, now she was slumped over. As everyone celebrated she made her way over to her. "Ashildr?" she said, crouching down next to her. She placed a hand on hers. She didn't even flinch. "Ashildr?"
Einarr heard her calling his daughter's name and rushed over. "Ashildr?" he tried. "Ashildr!"
Danni shot up off the ground. "Get it off her," she commanded. "Get it off her now." She helped Einarr pull it off, the pair dropping it as she fell off the chair. Einarr caught her, cradling her close. Danni checked for the feeling of her breathing, then moved to her neck to check her pulse.
Nothing. There was nothing. Danni looked up at the Doctor, who looked absolutely devastated. "She's dead," she stated lowly. Einarr was crying, hugging Ashildr as he did. The villagers were horrified and the Doctor couldn't look at his wife or anyone else anymore.
"I'm sorry," he breathed. "I'm really, terribly sorry."
And he turned and ran out, his hearts breaking for the poor girl who had just wanted to live out her life at home but had died because of him.
~0~0~0~
Thank you all for being so patient with me. I know my updates are a bit erratic as of late. Your lovely words do help, so thank you.
Don't forget Danni's Fifth Anniversary is coming up. Details about it are on my Tumblr page but you don't have to have Tumblr to participate, it's .com.
Until next time.