"So, where are we going next?" Rose asked excitedly. The Doctor went around the TARDIS' control panels, hitting buttons and pulling levers.
"Well, I was thinking maybe we could go to the near future again," the Doctor admitted as he went to a screen and typed in some things. "What do you think? Does 2018 sound near enough? Far enough?"
Rose let out a laugh and grinned. The Doctor smiled back at her. "That sounds great," she replied.
"Where do you want to go in the Year 2018?" The Doctor asked in a fancy voice.
Rose thought for a while before shrugging. "I don't know. How about America?"
The Doctor gave a look of regret. "Are you sure about that?"
"What? Is something wrong with America at that time?" Rose asked.
"Yes and no. Depends who you ask in America during those times. Let's just say it's very politically unstable. Other than that, it is a perfectly good year," the Doctor reasoned, as if he were trying to convince himself more than Rose. "Allonsy! The United States 2018!"
The TARDIS was off. It swayed from side to side. The two time-travelers smiled from the ecstasy of it all. How could they not? It was like a continuous vacation with no limit on how many excursions there were. Though there was danger, at the end of the day, their inevitable victory brought more joy than the threat of death.
Their joy was short-lived this time, however, as the TARDIS suddenly jolted, tossing both of them off balance. It was like a force had taken the police box. Rose was thrown to the floor. Quickly, she tried to get back up to her feet.
"What was that?" She asked anxiously.
The Doctor pulled the screen towards him, reading the data coming in. "There's a signal. Something has latched onto us and is pulling us somewhere."
The control panels started sparking from the exertion. The Doctor let out a angered groan as he went over and hit a couple of panels with a hammer. However, that didn't fix the problem. The sound of a whirlwind began to overwhelm all other sounds. However, as the wind grew louder, a whispery chant began to grow.
"Chaos! Chaos! True and neo-chaos! I can do anything! Uee hee hee!"
Then, with a thud, the TARDIS landed. The Doctor stood listening for a while before going over to Rose. He kneeled down and offered a hand to help her off the ground. Once she stood, he went over to the monitor. Rose panted as she tried to process what had just happened.
"What... was that?!" She finally asked.
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted with a frown.
"Where are we?" She continued to ask.
"The United States. 2016," he replied as he thought quietly. "Well, no use waiting out here! Let's go outside and see what's outside."
He ran out of the TARDIS with Rose following closely behind. Upon exiting, they found they were in a dark street. Empty, at that. It seemed to be a small town. The only lights came from the houses. In the distance seemed to be a carnival, as evidenced by a ferris wheel.
"Seems like a ghost town," Rose admitted as she spun around slowly to scan the town.
"That signal was inhuman," the Doctor mused to himself as he stroked the TARDIS a bit. "There are aliens in London because of the population of humans that can be affected. There was that giant devilish creature and that was in an unusual place because that was its prison."
"But why here?" he asked as he looked around the small American town. "Why this small town?" Rose looked around the empty streets. It was unsettling. The entire town seemed to be dark and windy. No one was about, making the town seem abandoned. Overshadowing the entire town was what seemed to be a type of carnival. The ferris wheel's creaking could be heard throughout the town and a looming sense of dread hung over the town as well as dark clouds.
A sudden gust of wind blew leaves toward Rose. However, it seemed to carry a faint voice. A young girl's whisper.
"Chaos! Chaos! Catch me if you can!"
The Doctor turned away from the TARDIS, listening to the wind. "Did you hear that?" Rose said, listening carefully to try and determine the source of the voice.
"Yes. Yes I did," the Doctor responded quietly as he turned away from the TARDIS and stood next to Rose. They both listened carefully when the breeze changed directions so that it blew at their backs.
"Uee hee hee! Over here, boisengirls!" They both turned around, only to find no one in the streets. "Play with me, time-travelers."
"What are we playing?" The Doctor asked the voice, interested in the voice's answer.
"Shall we play the ring around? Ring around the Rose~" The voice replied in a singsong voice. Then, the breeze stopped. In this unease, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it in all positions. Rose scanned the street around her, uncertain of what would happen.
"Come and play with me, Rosie," the voice suddenly echoed around Rose, as if whoever was saying it was circling around Rose.
"Do you hear it?" She murmured uneasily.
"Hear what?" The Doctor asked, looking at Rose with concern.
"Hearts! Diamonds! I CAN DO ANYTHING!"
"There! Did you hear it?" Rose replied as the voice ceased.
"What did you hear?" He said, looking directly into her eyes.
Suddenly, a different voice spoke. "I wouldn't be out here if I were you."
They turned around to see someone in the doorway of a house. Light fell upon the street in front of them, scaring away the terrors of the darkness. The person in the doorway looked neither like a girl or a boy and any features that could have identified them as either were minimized enough to confuse the whole matter. They had brown hair that was ear-length and brown eyes. They wore a loose fitting red shirt with black pants that looked like leggings. On their right wrist was a silver and green bracelet.
They looked at the Doctor and Rose in curiosity. "Nothing good ever comes from being outside at night, especially now," they reasoned, before motioning towards their door. "Please come inside. It's freezing out here."
"Thank you," the Doctor responded, before he entered into the stranger's house. Rose followed shortly behind and entered as well. The figure smiled, before looking back outside with a concerned look. The breeze seemed to return, but before it could hit them, they closed the door.
The house was a rather small two-story house. The front door immediately led to the living room with a small flat screen television, a large couch against the right wall, and a recliner facing the television directly. To the left of the house was the kitchen and the stairs were against the far wall in front of the door.
The stranger shivered from the breeze as they entered in themselves. "Fall... I love to hate it," they said before motioning for their two guests to sit in the living room. "Go ahead and take a seat."
The Doctor nodded as they both sat on the couch. The young adult flopped into their chair in a weird position. They sat to the side with their legs dangling from the side of one of the arms of the chair. They played with their bracelet before looking up at their guests.
"I guess a round of introductions are in order," the stranger suggested. "My name is Kris Dreemurr. My pronouns are 'they, them', though that is subject to change. I'm genderfluid."
"I'm Smith. John Smith," the Doctor said.
"My name's Rose Tyler," she greeted with a smile.
"Nice to meet you two," they said as they shook hands with their two guests. "Sorry to invite you here so suddenly. I'm never going to hear the end of it from my mom, but there's something wrong here."
"What's wrong?" Rose asked.
"Kris?! Who are you talking to?" A woman's voice came from up the stairs. Kris gave a frustrated look before turning to them.
"That would be my mom," they whispered to their guests before turning towards the stairs. "Uhhh... They're visitors, Mom. They were out in the freezing cold and I thought that since no one would greet them, they could stay here."
A woman came down the stairs slowly, looking at Kris, Rose, and the Doctor. She looked to be a middle-aged human. She had silvery white hair and spring green eyes. She wore a purple dress with a white symbol on the front. The symbol was a circle with wings over three triangles. On the bridge of her nose were glasses with a purple frame. She eyed the strangers in curiosity before coming to be right beside her child.
Kris cleared her throat as their mother gave them a look that told them they had to explain quickly. "Mom, these are the visitors, Rose Tyler and John Smith. Rose, John, this is my mother, Toriel."
"Hello!" The Doctor greeted cheerfully.
Toriel smiled kindly at them. "Well, this is certainly a surprise! I am always willing to welcome visitors," she said before turning towards Kris and giving them a stern scowl. "Though, it would've been nice to have someone tell me before suddenly bringing strangers into our house."
Kris turned towards Toriel and gave an equally stern scowl. The Doctor looked back and forth between mother and child during the silent argument. Then, all at once, they gave up. Toriel sighed when she relented, while Kris merely rolled their eyes and looked down at the floor in defiance. Then, Toriel took a deep breath before turning back to her guests.
"Well, you two can make yourselves at home in Asriel's room," she continued. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you two doing in our town, and where are you from?"
"Oh, well, we're just tourists from London," the Doctor explained with cheerful smile. "We wanted to visit your carnival over there." He pointed through the window at the shadow of the ferris wheel.
Rose nodded in agreement. "It was the main tourist attraction we wanted to see."
Toriel stared at them strangely, before shaking her head. "I would wonder why tourists from London would even want to visit our town for a carnival, if it weren't for the fact that a certain child of mine wanted to go across the entire country just to visit Idaho," she replied, looking directly at Kris.
"In my defense, I love potatoes," they countered, still looking at the floor ahead of them. "And I still want to go."
"However, I hate to tell you that the carnival has been closed for weeks. The cold and all," Toriel said with a frown. However, the Doctor and Rose noticed that Kris was mouthing words to them with a somber expression. "It's not the weather,' they seemed to mouth, before acting like nothing happened when Toriel looked at them.
"Oh, I don't know. There are plenty of other sights to see," the Doctor replied.
Toriel merely smiled. "If you say so, Mr. Smith. Anyways, I should let you two get settled. Kris, can you lead them to Asriel's room?" She asked Kris kindly.
"Yeah," Kris answered, getting out of their recliner and starting towards the stairs. The Doctor and Rose were quick to follow them up the stairs to the second floor. The second floor seemed to be composed of a long hallway, with three doors to the left of them.
"The first door on our left is my room. The second one, however, is where you guys will stay, if you choose to," Kris said as they pointed to the second door. They then opened the door to reveal a white room with only a twin bed to the left side and a sofa to the right. Kris quickly went to the sofa and pulled it to become a second bed.
"It's kind of small, but this used to be Asriel's room," they explained as they turned to look at their guests in the middle of the room.
"Who's Asriel?" Rose asked as she sat on the sofa bed.
"He's my older brother. He left for college years ago and now has a life away from our small town. After this year, I'll finally be able to see him again."
"Kris, you said there was something wrong," the Doctor interrupted with a serious tone of voice. "What is it?"
Kris frowned. "Nobody likes to talk about it, but I'm honest enough to admit that this town needs help. I don't know what you guys are doing here, but I find it unlikely you guys came from London just to see our town. I mean, I have a valid reason for visiting Idaho, but our carnival is really nothing special."
"However, I don't care. I don't care if you guys are FBI agents, Men in Black agents, scientists, time-travelers, or aliens. I just want to know if you two can help us," they said with a serious look.
"You believe in those things?" Rose asked out of curiosity.
"I could believe in anything. I believed in the monsters under my bed. They became my friends. Now, can you help or not?"
"Yes," the Doctor replied, readjusting his glasses. "Yes we can."
Kris was silent for a while, before nodding. "Okay," they responded with an expressionless face.
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Sierra slowly went down the stairs and into the darkness of the basement below her house. Her footsteps echoed like the chamber of a great prison. Of course, this was way worse. Her heart pounded and her breathing wavered with each step. There was a girl's creepy humming. The tune itself was cheerful, but it was slow and methodical, making the dissonant melody more noticeable than usual.
In Sierra's hands was a plate of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. When she reached the basement landing, she turned to the right, where she went down a long hallway that ended with a door. The bottom of the door was cut so that a slit was big enough for food to get in. She knew the door was locked. The key was lost. Sierra's parents hid it once the event happened.
Anxiety struck her as she realized she had to knock. She took in a deep breath before closing her eyes. Then, she prepared to knock.
"Uee hee hee!" The laugh caused Sierra to jump back. "Seam! You've come back!"
"Jess? It's me, Sierra. I've got your food here," she responded, bending down and sliding the food through the slit in the door.
"Seam, you don't have to lock me and the whole world out. Why don't you come out and play?! The girl replied from within. Whenever she said "Seam", two voices seemed to speak at once. One said it like "Seam", while the other said it like "Shawm".
"I can't. You know what you did at the carnival," Sierra replied, a new resolve taking over her. "I can't let you do that again!"
"A chaos-chaos! Excitement makes the world chaos! Chaos makes the world exciting!" the voice answered. "You can't just lock the whole world out! Come out of your little cell and make this game end! Come play with me instead!"
Sierra backed away slowly, almost on the edge of breaking down. "I can't."
"Seam! Don't leave me alone!"
"I'm sorry. I'm not Seam," she continued as started heading up the stairs backwards.
"Seam! Come back! I can do anything! Play with me!"
Sierra couldn't take it anymore. She ran up the stairs, tears falling down her eyes. The girl's voice called out to her as she ran. "Seam! Get the key! The world revolving round and round on the fairgrounds!"
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They walked to the bed and bent down. Then, they looked underneath. Kris pulled out a small box that fit in the palm of their hand and sat on the sofa bed. The Doctor and Rose sat beside them, looking at their hands as they revealed a box with a deck of cards inside.
"This is where it started," Kris explained, before pulling out the cards from within the box. The top of the cards showed an average design. However, when they flipped over the top card, there was something off. It was a joker card. It seemed to originally have a jester on a red ball juggling the four suits. On top of the original design were crayon additions. For one, the jester now had long red hair, blue eyes, and wore a purple skirt, instead of pants. Around it, in capital letters, was written one word repeatedly. "CHAOS!"
Rose's eyes widened at the strange sight. The Doctor adjusted his glasses as he stared at it. Sensing his intrigue, Kris handed the card to him. "Who drew this?" The Doctor asked.
"Her name was Jessica. She's the sister of Sierra. Sierra and I have known each other a long time. She gave me this to hide before her parents found out," Kris replied. "Five weeks ago, Jess met a strange man. She said that they chatted for a while, although she never said what they chatted about. From then on, strange things happened. She started... saying things and drew on this deck of cards."
"What things did she say?" Rose said, looking to Kris.
"It's hard to explain. She started to say things that didn't completely make sense but also didn't not completely make sense. Said the whole world's a show and we're all just characters. Stuff like that," Kris continued. "She drew images I never would've thought she would've known."
Before anyone could respond, they flipped over the next card, which caused Rose to let in a tiny gasp. It was a king of hearts, but on top of the original design was a crude image of a blue police call box with a man who looked remarkably like the Doctor. They flipped the next one to reveal a queen of hearts with a drawing of a woman that looked like Rose over top of the original design.
"That's how I knew something was up with you two. It isn't common to see a drawing of a man and a woman with a police call box, only to find those very same people on your street."
"What happened to her?" The Doctor asked.
Kris was about to speak when their eyes locked onto something through the window. They frowned as they went to the window. "There's someone out there. That's not normal."
Rose walked over while the Doctor continued to analyze the cards. Indeed, there was a figure going down the dark street. They were in a dark coat and they seemed to run as if they needed to go someplace fast. "Where are they going?" Rose asked.
"To the carnival or out of town" Kris responded. "Either answer is something I would do, so that's classified as suspicious."
"You would run out of town?" Rose said in an unbelieving tone of voice. Kris turned around as they approached the doorway of Asriel's room.
"Correction: I've tried to. Twice, when Asriel left. I forgot to mention I'm the weird kid in this town," they replied as they went into the hallway. "I'm going out to investigate. If my mom asks where I am, I'm going to Sierra's."
Rose watched as Kris left the room. Then, she turned to the Doctor. He was still examining each card. All of them had strange drawings. Chief among them was the fact that the jacks had drawings of strange characters. One was a blue and white character with a face shadowed by a spade. Another was a purple character in a black leather jacket, holding an axe. The third was a black, furry creature with a green cloak, hat, and pink scarf. The last jack was a human with blue skin, wearing metal armor and a pink cape. What was strange was the human looked like Kris.
"Are you coming?" She asked, causing the Doctor to look up.
"Uh, no. You go ahead," he responded, taking off his glasses to look up at his companion. "These cards seem to be the key to something, and I want to find out what the lock is."
"Alright. Don't have too much fun without me." Rose quickly ran after Kris. She didn't have to go far, because Kris was standing next to the front door in their jacket, grinning like an idiot. In their hand was a green jacket with a yellow stripe which they held out for Rose.
"I knew one of you two would come. I would be curious as hell too," Kris reasoned as Rose put on the jacket. "Sorry if it's not your size. That was Asriel's old jacket. I thought it was close enough."
"Thanks," Rose replied with a smile before the two of them went through the front door and into the dark streets. They walked slowly as they followed the stranger.
"So, you said you were genderfluid. What does that-"
"I was wondering when someone would ask. I would be surprised if both of you knew," they interrupted with an understanding look. "It just means my gender changes every so often. Some days, I feel like a girl. Other times, I feel like a guy, and then there are the days, like today, where I feel nonbinary."
"So, you're changing all the time."
Kris shrugged. "Not all the time, but sometimes. It was hard for this town to accept me for a while," they replied before motioning to a bracelet on their wrist. "I wear different colored bracelets to show what pronouns I'm accepting. The only thing I hate is the gender dysphoria that comes from each gender change."
"Enough about me though. What is up with you two? Who are you guys?" Kris asked.
"You wouldn't believe me," she said with a grin.
"I told you I used to, not only believe there were monsters under my bed, but also befriended them, right? Try me."
Rose was silent for a bit. "We're time travelers."
"From the future?"
"Actually, I'm from the past. John Smith is actually an alien."
Kris smiled. "Well, welcome to your future!"
"Y'know, it doesn't seem very different from my time period," Rose said with a laugh.
"Oh, there's some differences. I will admit, 2016 isn't really treating me well, even before this whole... thing."
"It can't be all bad if people are like you," she reasoned.
Kris blushed as they giggled. "Thank you, but unfortunately, I'm one of the weirdos in this town. Exhibit A: The whole monster story."
Rose laughed. "Now I need to hear that story."
"Well, it's rather simple. I was always scared of monsters under my bed, until my mom told me monsters were just misunderstood, and they just liked to live there. I used my imagination to do the rest. I was only friends with my brother, so I came up with characters who were monsters."
"The thing I learned that day was that what seems weird or odd in one perspective could be normal in another. That's why I'm so weird. I just have a different perspective."
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The Doctor had spread out the cards on the ground, rearranging them in order to make sense of the scribbles and drawings. He analyzed each card carefully, adjusting his glasses. It seemed that each drawing was connected to one another, forming a big picture. He was, quite literally, trying to see the big picture.
He placed the final card and stood up to full height and looked down. It was an odd drawing when it was put together. The left side was a light blue with the Doctor and Rose facing away from the scene to the right of them. The jacks were placed on the right, surrounded by a navy blue and dark purple background. The human was above the purple creature and the black fluffy boy. They looked to the right, where the Joker was placed. Then, written underneath these scenes were words that read, "THE MONSTERS".
"Monsters," he muttered, wondering the significance of the word. "But what do monsters have to do with-?"
Suddenly, it clicked. He turned his head towards the guest bed. It now made sense. He bent down beside it and put his arm underneath, searching for something. Then, he hit a box. Upon pulling it out, it was a shoebox. Across it, in Sharpie, was written, "My Friends".
It was just as he had suspected. Kris made friends with the monsters under their bed. It made poetic sense for their friends' final resting place to be the place Kris first found them. The Doctor opened the box carefully. Within it were drawings, ranging from kindergarten doodles to pre-teen portraits. However, all of them were consistent. They were of three people.
The first was of the purple creature on the cards, but with better details. It was clear that the creature was a girl with long dark purple hair blocking her eyes. She wore a leather jacket, purple shorts, and leather armbands. She held an axe in her hands, and yet she smiled kindly up at him. Underneath was written her name in cursive. "Susie - My First Friend".
The second was a strange creature, seemingly inspired by an ace of spades. His face was even made out of a spade and his clothing was a mix of blues, whites, and black spades. His blue tongue was sticking out of his mouth as he rode a bike that was on fire. In block letters, it read, "Lancer - The Best King".
The last creature was the one with black fur. He was very fluffy and wore green glasses. He wore a green cloak with a black heart on the front. Around his neck was a pink scarf and on his head was a green witch's hat with horns. He smiled. In another picture, his hat was off, revealing white fur. However, his face was out of sight. From what he saw, he could conclude two things: the creature's name was Ralsei, and he was considered a lonely prince, since he had no subjects.
It was a match. Three of the four figures in the panorama made of cards were Kris' imaginary friends. The question was what was their significance? Of course, there was also the question of what was happening. He knew neither, but he knew where he could get that information. Taking off his glasses and looking out the window, he knew where to go.
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Sierra entered the carnival easily. No one was there anyways, so there was no way to reinforce the unspoken rules. Besides, many left so suddenly that there was nothing stopping her. When she reached the carnival, it seemed like she entered a whole different world. Sure, the town she lived in looked abandoned, but this was no just abandoned. The carnival almost seemed post-apocalyptic. Tents were ripped. Stuffed animals that acted as prizes were scattered about, some ripped and dirty. The ferris wheel creaked in the wind and every attraction seemed to follow suit.
The creepiest thing was the fact that faint pipe organ music was playing, along with faint laughter. She walked through the dusty, dark carnival until she saw the tent. It was the tent that contained the carousel. Surprisingly, the tent was the only one intact, which only made it more suspicious and creepy. Upon finding what she was looking for, she dashed and went underneath the fabric.
Even the carousel looked different. The horses all seemed to rear up in defiance, rather than run. What was new was that there were ducks interspersed between the horses. It was impossible for such a change to occur, since it had only been horses before, but Sierra thought a lot of things were impossible up until a few weeks ago. She put her hand on the saddle of a horse while she scanned the entire attraction.
"I would come back for the carousel too," a voice said, causing Sierra to smirk. She didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. "I always loved riding on the back of the horses with people I was close with. We made promises while we were here. Want to hear them?"
"I already know them," Sierra responded, before turning around. "Don't forget. I'm with you in the dark."
There they were. Kris stood there with a smile, and yet surprise seemed to be in her eyes. Behind them was a young woman with blond hair and brown eyes. She wore a green and yellow striped jacket and jeans. Sierra didn't notice, though, as Kris ran towards her. When Kris got close, Sierra scooped them up in a hug as they both laughed.
"What are you doing here?" Sierra asked as she released Kris from her hug.
"I was just going to ask you the same thing!" Kris replied with a grin.
"Well, you first!"
"I saw you going through the street. I should've known it was you, but I didn't know if there were any other people in this world with gray jackets," Kris answered.
"Kris, there are always going to be people with gray jackets," she responded with a teasing smile.
Kris' eyes gleamed as they spoke. "That doesn't mean they can pull it off like you can."
Sierra's smile became an embarrassed, yet happy expression as she blushed. She pushed her short, red hair out of her face as her blue eyes stared into Kris'. In the meantime, Rose observed the interaction with a knowing smile. However, she soon found that someone else came with them.
"How's a going?" The Doctor asked, before noticing Kris and their friend, talking excitedly. Feeling a tiny bit awkward (though he wouldn't admit it), he simply stayed quiet as they spoke. Finally, the two teens finished and hugged.
Suddenly, Sierra saw the two newcomers and frowned. She broke away from the hug quickly, as if she were suddenly disgusted by the hug. Somehow, her expression seemed to convey that she recognized them. "Who are those two?"
Kris tried to hide their hurt expression as they looked at the Doctor and Rose. "Oh! Sierra, I'd like to introduce you to two of my friends! I just met them a half an hour ago! This is Rose Tyler and J-"
"Actually, my name's not John Smith. I'm the Doctor," the Doctor corrected, trying to hide the fact he had lied. Kris didn't seem to mind however, as they smiled kindly.
Sierra went forward and shook both of their hands. "It's nice to meet you two."
"Is something wrong?" Rose asked when Sierra shook her hand.
"What? N-nothing's wrong!" Sierra protested, though she was clearly flustered. "I'm just... surprised, is all."
Kris was quick to pull her aside. They held her hands so that they were looking right at each other. "Sierra, listen to me. You don't have to lie anymore," they said in a solemn tone of voice.
"I'm not lying," she protested, though it was half-heartedly.
"Look. These two are here to help. They're the answer, and you and I both know it," Kris explained with a reassuring smile. Then, they muttered in a calm tone. "Besides, he's the Doctor."
"Yep! That's me," the Doctor interjected as he approached the two teens. "Now, what is the problem?"
Sierra looked to Kris for a while. Her friend nodded their head and urged her to tell him. Finally, she sighed. "It's my sister, Doctor. Something's wrong with her up here," she said, pointing to her head.
"Two weeks ago, Kris, my sister, and I came here to have fun before winter came. I... lost track of Jess for one moment and suddenly, everything went wrong. It was chaos, Doctor, chaos!" Sierra exclaimed in frustration. "People were screaming and running everywhere. The rides came to a stop. It was frightening. You wouldn't believe me if I told you what happened."
"Try me," the Doctor replied in a serious tone.
"There were hearts going everywhere! Hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades, just like on a deck of cards! Then, there was also scythes, horses, and ducks! They hit buildings, tents, and rides. We're lucky they didn't hit anybody."
"And in the middle of it, laughing and jumping around, back and forth like it's all just a game, was Jess. She had a crazed look in her eyes, and when she saw me, she called me 'Seam'. You can still hear her voice on the wind, always saying, 'chaos'."
"Where is she now?" The Doctor asked, intrigued by the chaotic story that seemed to be a work of fiction, if he hadn't seen the damage caused by it.
"We found a way to stop her. A few brave people chased her until she was so tired, she couldn't run anymore," Sierra said, her voice full of regret. "Now, she's locked in a room in our basement. My parents don't know what to do with her. They just locked her up and lost the key somehow. She keeps on saying we locked ourselves up, and she is the only free one. I don't know what's stopping her from escaping, to be honest, if she could summon the suits of cards at will."
"Why did you come here, Sierra?" Rose asked empathetically.
"Jess... or, the thing that used to be Jess, told me that the key to her room was hidden around here. She said, 'The world revolving round and round on the fairgrounds,'. I wanted to find the key, just in case someone like you two came around. I thought the carousel was a good bet, but just look. It isn't here."
This immediately peaked the Doctor's interests. Soon, he was walking around the carousel, standing up straight and looking up, before squatting to look down on the ground. There were footprints on the ground, all around the ride. Though some were made by them, the Doctor soon realized there was a pair of footprints that seemed to be recent compared to the others. Following them, he found it led one of the ducks on the ride.
"What's he doing?" Sierra asked, confused.
"Your sister said 'the world revolving'. What do you think that means?" The Doctor pondered as he looked at the duck on the carousel.
"Well, in a carnival, it might mean riding a carousel," Rose replied. Suddenly, Kris raised their head as if there were some sort of revelation. With a neutral expression, they went past the Doctor, stepped up on the platform, and mounted the duck. The Doctor looked up in disbelief.
"Onward, duck! Lead me to the key," Kris said in absolute seriousness. Sierra smirked and giggled quietly to herself. Rose smiled before looking back at the Doctor. Kris looked down disappointedly. "I wish it worked. It would've been cooler if it had."
"Doctor," Rose called out. This time, a revelation came to her. "'The world revolving'! The world is only revolving when you ride the carousel!"
"Of course," the Doctor mused. "Well, why don't we have some fun? Allons-y!" He then sat on one of the horses. Rose grinned as she quickly took a seat on a different horse on the carousel.
"Come on, Sierra," Kris urged with a smile. "Ride beside me on Duck numero dos!"
Sierra blushed as she quickly took a seat beside them. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the control panel on the ride. Immediately, organ music began to play, drowning out the other ominous organ music with cheerful music. The horses were the first to move up. They seemed to be prancing, while the ducks seemed to swim, never going higher or lower than the horses did. The horses went so high that almost anyone on them could touch the ceiling.
"Everyone, look out for the key," the Doctor ordered.
"That means you, Kris," Sierra called out playfully. "Don't get distracted."
"I can't help it," Kris replied. "It's your fault. I can't stop staring."
"You can manage," she responded with a wink.
"Don't you think it's odd the horses go higher than the ducks?" Rose commented.
"This entire carousel was changed by my sister," Sierra said, quite sadly. "The horses didn't used to go that high and there weren't even ducks!"
Suddenly, it clicked. The Doctor looked up at the top of the carousel. "Everybody, look up!"
They all followed his instructions. "Doctor!" Rose shouted above the music before pointing up. "There!"
Indeed, the key was on a hook at the very top of the ceiling. The Doctor acted quickly. Grabbing hold of the pole that held the horse in place, he stood up on the back of his horse. There, he reached up for the key and grabbed it off of the hook. Kris let out a shout of joy and pumped their fist into the air. With his other hand, the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to stop the carousel.
Rose got off of the horse and ran up to the Doctor. "Bravo!" She cheered, causing the Doctor to grin as he held up the key.
"At least I know what this key unlocks!"
Kris was about to get off their duck with Sierra came over and offered up her hand. They smiled as they took her hand and allowed her to escort them out of the carousel. However, once they were out, Kris frowned and pulled their hand out of Sierra's.
Sierra gave a hurt look, but she found herself face-to-face with Kris' own hurt look. "Sorry," Kris said. "I forgot that we agreed. I can't trust myself around you." They walked a little ways away from Sierra, as if they were trying to stay a safe distance.
"Kris, wait!" Sierra shouted back.
"I'm going home," they responded, dejectedly. Then, they turned to Rose and the Doctor. "Our door's always open. It's almost never locked, so you two can literally barge right in."
Before another word could be said, Kris was walking away. Of course, Sierra could've run after them, but what was the point? She couldn't change anything. There was no way it could work, so the only thing she could say was "Sorry."
"What's wrong with them?" Rose asked. When Sierra didn't respond, she turned towards her and she rephrased the question. "What did you two agree on?"
Sierra didn't respond. However, the Doctor was the one to piece it together. With a somber tone, he approached the 18-year-old girl. "They agreed to keep quiet," the Doctor concluded, causing Sierra to look up and nod subtly.
"Keep quiet about what?" Rose responded in curiosity.
"You said you lost track of your sister at the carnival. Did she run off, or did you leave her?" He asked the tearful girl.
"Don't make it sound like that, Doctor," Sierra replied, defiantly. "I asked Jess to come on the ferris wheel with us. She said, 'Go for it, Sierra. Be with them,' and with a wink, she left us alone. There's not a day that goes by where I don't regret being with her."
"So, you and Kris are more than friends," Rose interjected.
Sierra gave a pained look. "I wish we could. I wish we could be more than friends. Kris keeps on flirting with me. It's just their nature. Unfortunately, my parents wouldn't support it, and I can't focus on a relationship right now, with Jess being in her condition."
"But what hurts me more is that Kris took it so hard, even if they don't show it or admit it. They came up with the idea, but they didn't know how much it would hurt. At least I knew how much it would hurt at the time."
"I'm sorry, Sierra," Rose replied.
"Well, that's why I need you two. I need help to cure my sister. If Jess comes back, at least a piece of my life will be not quite so broken," Sierra answered, wiping the tears away before putting on a neutral facade. "I can take you to her. To Jess. She should be as... cheerful as ever..."
Suddenly, on the breeze, a bout of laughter was heard throughout the carnival.
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"Now, my parents are fast asleep, or at least, they should be," Sierra explained as the trio approached her front door. "Still, I believe I should keep a watch of some kind. Besides, I can't stand hearing her-"
She cut herself off before she continued her thought. She took in a deep breath before straightening her posture and faking a smile. "I hope you can help her. I haven't seen her since. If you can, though, until she is cured, do you mind keeping her in her room? She could hurt someone if she escaped."
"We understand," Rose replied with a reassuring smile. "I'm sure we can figure out how to help your sister."
"Well, no use waiting out here! Allons-y!" The Doctor responded. Quickly, Sierra opened the door to her house. To the left was a staircase leading downstairs, with the right leading to the rest of the house. Sierra motioned towards the stairs, wordlessly. The Doctor nodded and went down into the basement, Rose following behind with a confident smile.
"This place is spooky," Rose commented as they finally reached the basement landing, which lead directly into a hallway. "I don't know if it's because of Jessica or if it's always this way."
"There's definitely something off," the Doctor concluded. "A powerful aura, so to speak."
"Let me guess. It's some kind of alien possession," she guessed, teasingly.
"Wouldn't surprise me," the Doctor replied, turning back to Rose. "The question is, what is it and where did it come from?"
They turned back to the hallway. They crept through the quiet, dark corridor until they reached the locked door at the end. The Doctor paused for a bit. There was something about the aura that made him realize that his sonic screwdriver wouldn't have worked. Maybe this creature was cursed to always be locked away. However, he was about to discover the truth. He took out the key from his pocket.
"Uee hee hee!" A girl's voice laughed, causing the Doctor to look up and for Rose's smile to disappear. "Such chaos! Such fun! The Doctor and Rose have returned yet again! Come to see me for the last time, or the first!"
"Now I know what they meant by saying things that didn't make sense but didn't completely not make sense," Rose commented, causing the Doctor to nod.
The Doctor had his sonic screwdriver at the ready in one hand and the key in the other as he unlocked the door. Turning the knob, he and Rose quickly entered the room before closing the door behind them. The room was dark and a mess. It seemed as though the room had started as an office. However, the file cabinet was toppled over, leaving papers and files scattered across the floor. The desk was clean, but the books and computer were on the ground, as if thrown there. There was no sign of the girl initially, but within 30 seconds of entering, she made her presence known.
The crouched form of Jessica was on top of a toppled chair, camouflaging with the desk. When her eyes opened, though, she became visible. Her eyes glowed a bright yellow, and her pupils in each eye were different shapes, that changed whenever she blinked. At one point, one eye had a diamond pupil while the other had a club pupil, like the suit on a playing card. After a blink, it had changed to a spade pupil and a heart pupil. Then, a heart pupil and diamond pupil, and so on. Her crazed grin was visible by the glow of her eyes.
"Uee hee hee! Welcome outside! Freedom! Chaos! Freedom-chaos! Chaos-freedom! And you two haven't changed a bit!" Jessica exclaimed, giggling.
"I wish to address the thing inside," the Doctor said, confident and serious.
The girl laughed. "And I thought you came to play! I am here, Doctor! I am the same as you left me."
"What are you?"
"Hearts! Diamonds! I can do anything, Doctor! I can be anything! I can form the Devilsknife. Want to see?"
"No. I just want to know who you are, thank you," the Doctor replied, somewhat annoyed and losing his patience.
"Uee hee hee! You know what I am, Doctor! You just don't believe me! But you will! You will once we play!" The thing answered, cocking its head slightly.
"I don't believe it. You exist, but you can't possibly be what you claim you are," the Doctor denied.
"What does she claim to be?" Rose asked, completely lost in the ambiguity.
"There was a legend about a great balance of light and dark throughout the universe," the Doctor explained, not taking an eye off of the creature. "It was said that all species, all aliens, were a part of the light, and that their dreams formed a species of dark. But it's just a story."
"But when has a story remained a story, Time Lord?!" The girl shouted gleefully. "A story-story! A timey-wimey! Chaos chaos! We may not be made of dreams, Lightner, but I can do anything!"
"So, you're a Darkner from legends," the Doctor concluded, though he didn't truly believe it. There was no balance that needed to be kept. That was just a story. "Where is the rest of your species?"
"Lightners and Darkners alike called me the Devil. They tried to lock me away, but they locked themselves away from the real world! Now, I'm free to go where I please! A jester! A devil! I am Jevil! Darkners disappeared like shadows at noon. Still around, but very few! Uee hee hee!"
"Who's left of your kind?" Rose asked.
"I drew them on the cards! They're lost! Lost!" Jevil responded cheerfully. "In this show, they are lost!"
"Then who helped you possess this body?" Rose said, before justifying her question. "Sierra said Jessica talked to a stranger. Who was he?"
"Seam! Is Seam upstairs? Seam is such a good friend! Jolly friend!" Jevil babbled on. "You should know the stranger! He visits me again right now!"
Rose was understandably shocked as she looked at the Doctor. He seemed to get the hint too. However, he didn't show his surprise. Instead, he stared at Jevil as she got off of her chair and twirled around. This action made the girl more visible than just her eyes and grin. The girl had red hair and wore a purplish blue dress. Over the dress was a type of cape in the same color, with yellow and lime green triangle pieces of cloth around her collar.
"Time revolving round and round me!" Jevil said, continuing to twirl. "Will it stop? Nobody knows! Since you have come outside, will you play with me?! Then, I can play with everyone! A bundle of chaos, chaos!"
"I'm afraid we can't play now. We're a bit too busy," the Doctor replied as he took Rose by the hand and backed away slowly towards the door. He opened the door, keeping his eyes on the girl. However, Jevil merely laughed as they went into the hallway.
"But how can you refuse to play the game when you're already playing?"
Quickly, the Doctor closed the door and locked it. As he stopped outside the door, he listened to the laughter.
"Well, that was different," Rose finally remarked, somewhat unsettled.
"Yes, but I have some thinking to do," he said as he went past Rose and went up the stairs.
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"So, it's said that there's a great balance of light and dark, correct?" Rose asked. She sat on a wooden kitchen chair, staring at the Doctor, who paced around the kitchen. Sierra sat next to her, listening to every word that was said between the two, only rarely interjecting her own questions.
"Yeah," the Doctor affirmed contemplatively. "It was said that if that balance were to fall out of whack, the entire universe would be in danger."
"And Darkners are the species that represent the darkness, made out of our dreams, right?"
"Yeah," the Doctor once again agreed. "Made from the dreams of Lightners, it was said. Of course, this was just a legend, told alongside the usual fairytales."
"But, the thing possessing my sister is possessed by one of these 'Darkners'. Am I understanding that correctly?" Sierra interjected, causing the Doctor to nod. She got out of her chair. "Ugh. This is making my head spin. I'm making some tea. Do you two want some?"
"I'll have a cup please," Rose replied. Sierra turned to the Doctor, who simply nodded. Then, she went into the kitchen and started making the tea. Rose turned back to the Doctor. "This thing, 'Jevil', said they named other Darkners on the cards. Do you know what they mean?"
He thought for awhile, before looking up as a possible answer seemed to come to mind. Then, he turned to Rose. "You remember what Kris said about the monsters?"
"Of course. They said they befriended the monsters under their bed," she replied, a little confused.
"Oh, you mean they told you about those three," Sierra responded as she got out three cups.
"Yes. On those deck of cards, there were three creatures. I found drawings Kris drew of their monsters. They were the exact same," the Doctor explained. Sierra brought over the cups of tea and placed them in front of each of them before sitting down.
"You mean Jess knew about Susie, Ralsei, and Lancer? Kris only told me about those three and their names and appearance," Sierra replied.
"Not Jessica. The thing inside, 'Jevil', knows those three," the Doctor corrected. "Kris dreamed they had monster friends."
"And with those dreams, they could've created Darkners that are exactly like the friends they made up!" Rose concluded triumphantly. "Jevil said Kris' friends were lost. Maybe they're still around."
"Maybe, but we still have to deal with the thing inside Jessica," the Doctor said, focusing on the real matter at hand. "Now, what do we know? What has this 'Jevil' told us?"
"Jevil claims that they can do anything. They always say they want to play. They say things that don't make sense but don't completely not make sense," Rose listed, before pausing. She hesitated to say the last thing, but the Doctor urged her to go on. "They claim that you helped him possess Jessica."
"What?" Sierra said, panicked suddenly.
"Time travel's a tricky thing," the Doctor replied, trying to calm down his companion and the teenage girl. "If it was me, I must've had a reason. Maybe I knew I could get rid of it again."
"So what? You think that justifies allowing this Jevil to possess my sister?" Sierra responded, rather defiantly.
"Sierra, listen to me," Rose said, holding onto Sierra's shoulder as she spoke. "It doesn't matter what the Doctor did in the past... or in the future, but anyways. What matters is that we're trying to help."
Sierra looked down into her tea, trying to process this information. However, this didn't stop the Doctor from thinking out loud.
"But the question is, what could get this supposed Darkner out?" The Doctor pondered as he continued to walk around the kitchen. Then, he seemed to be curious about one thing. Looking up at the ceiling, he murmured the words under his breath. "Chaos, chaos."
"Chaos chaos!" A voice echoed back. It was in a childish tone of voice, with both a masculine voice and teenage girl voice combining together to for, the voice of the creature. The Doctor gave an intrigued look. This time, Rose decided to say something.
"Shall we play the ring around?" She started, mimicking the same tone of voice as the one that the voice had said back in the streets. In response, there was a bout of jovial laughter, rather than a repeat of the same phrase.
The Doctor's eyes widened as a new revelation entered his brain. "That's it!"
"What is it?" Rose asked, somewhat excited by the Doctor's sudden enthusiasm.
"Darkners are made of dreams, or supposedly they are, but that doesn't matter. Now Rose, who is most likely to say "Shall we play the ring around" and beg people to play with them?"
It barely took Rose a second. "Children. Children say those things."
"Exactly!" The Doctor confirmed. "Jevil is based off of the dreams of children! Kids always want to play. They come up with games, like card games and the ring around. Then, there's the imagination aspect of a child. Imagination can make children do anything, if they set their mind to it."
"And it must be feeding off of Jessica's imagination," Sierra said, finally speaking up. "Jessica was always imaginative. I bet Jevil would've chosen Kris, if it weren't for the fact that they aren't very creative anymore. And the end product of all these dreams. All this imagination..."
There was silence around the kitchen. Then, the Doctor took off his glasses and folded them up. "Chaos, chaos. They can do anything..."
Sierra sighed. "Well, maybe we should sleep on it. It's late, and there's nothing more you two can do today. Why don't you guys head back to Kris' and we'll regroup in the morning?"
Rose nodded in agreement. "We'll figure out something by morning, right, Doctor?"
"Right," the Doctor replied contemplatively before becoming more energetic. "I have some thinking to do."
With that, the two time travelers left Sierra's home. Jevil's laughter haunted every step they took.
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Jevil sat on the ground, burning, bursting with freedom. With chaos. But they weren't happy. Freedom meant nothing if they couldn't share it with somebody. Chaos meant nothing without someone to witness spades and clubs come to life. Doing anything meant nothing if they had no one to play with.
Well, sometimes satisfaction required sacrifice. Instead of playing with no one and being free, they could break into their little cell and play with everyone. They could liberate them. They already knew the outcome. Entering their little cell would result in a continuation of the same thing. Time revolving around them. However, it didn't matter as long as they got to play.
"Uee hee hee!" They laughed as power collected around their hands. Their eyes glowed with renewed chaos. Then, it spoke a single word. "Metamorphosis!"
With a single twirl, Jevil and the girl he possessed transformed into a purplish-blue and yellow scythe. With a single swipe of the devilsknife, the door was flung off its hinges. When the glow around the scythe ceased and Jevil changed back, their form couldn't be seen. Only their laughter could be heard. Ah, the places they would go together.
To the fairgrounds, where the world is always revolving.
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Usually, the morning would begin at 9 in the morning for Kris. Unfortunately, today, it began at 5 am after a long night. A panicked phone call from Sierra and the rest of her family woke them up, saying that Jessica had broken out of the basement over night. Within minutes, everybody except for their mother was up and in the living room. Rose and the Doctor sat on the sofa as Kris sat on the recliner.
Today, they looked quite different in a way. Everything that even suggested that they were feminine seemed to be erased completely and even their posture seemed to suggest that they felt more masculine today. They wore black pants and a green and yellow striped sweater. On their wrist was a blue and silver bracelet. The Doctor and Rose had already filled them in on the situation and they merely spent time trying to figure out where Jessica/Jevil was.
They yawned. "My pronouns are he, him, they, them today and I can already sense today is going to be a long day."
"Where would Jevil have gone?" Rose asked with a frown. "It's not like this town is big."
"I still can't believe the friends I imagined when I was little could actually be real," Kris replied. "I mean, Susie was my first friend. I made her up so that I could have a friend without Asriel. The funniest part was that she used to bully me before she became my friend. And now... I want to see her."
"We don't need to know exactly. We have the best map in town," the Doctor said cryptically before turning to Kris. "You know your friends pretty well, right?"
"I sure hope I do," he responded.
"Where do you think you can figure out another Darkner's location?"
"I don't know," was all Kris replied.
"What if a Darkner was a joker? A jester. Something along those lines."
Kris thought for a while. "A jester wants to entertain," he finally said. "The streets would be a good bet, but a jester would want people to be there. With Jevil saying things like 'I can do anything', I think they might know what to do. They want someone to play with them. Someone to entertain them. Therefore, they need to go to a place that is blatantly obvious so that they can catch people like flies to honey."
"The carnival," Rose concluded, before putting her hand to her forehead. "Of course it is the carnival. Why didn't I see that coming?"
"I thought it might be, but I wanted to talk to the expert about Darkners first," the Doctor replied, pointing at Kris. "We need to form a plan of attack."
"We need to pacify them somehow without hurting Jessica's body," Rose continued.
"Jevil is a ball of energy. I don't know what powers they will have, but if it is said he feeds off of her imagination, then Jessica and Jevil combined is a bad combination, especially when they are both well rested," Kris observed.
"Tire them out. Tire the body, tire the entity inside. Then, we might be able to find a way to get them separated," the Doctor concluded with a smile. "Allons-y! To the carnival."
"I'm right behind you," Rose replied as she followed the Doctor towards the door.
"I'm coming too," Kris said as he followed after them a little ways. The Doctor turned around, his expression changing to one of concern.
"You could die," he responded.
"So could you," Kris answered. "You said it yourself, Doctor. I know the Darkners, even if I don't exactly know it consciously. I know these things instinctually. I might be able to help. Besides, if I can help Sierra in anyway, it will be a win for the two of us."
"Well then, let's get to the carnival," the Doctor replied.
"Where Jevil is," Rose added.
Kris spoke as well. "And the world is always revolving."
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They could hear Jevil before they saw them. There was tons of laughter. Giggling from the creature that took over Jessica's body. It didn't take long before they found out their location. The laughing wasn't the only giveaway, for a single tent was not only full of laughter, but it was also full of light and color.
"You were right about being them being obvious. Clearly, they weren't trying to hide," Rose concluded.
"They're waiting for players. Why would they hide if Jevil wants to play?" The Doctor explained as the approached the closed flap to the tent.
"Well, let's play," Kris said before he dashed under the flap inside.
"After you," the Doctor offered, giving Rose a small smile. Rose rolled her eyes teasingly before going into the tent. Soon after, the Doctor followed.
When Rose and the Doctor entered, they first noticed that Kris had stopped in his tracks, his mouth open in amazement. Rose was about to ask what was up before noticing what was in front of her. The tent was bigger on the inside than on the outside, which wasn't anything new for Rose. What was new was the fact that the ground and ceiling seemed to actually be revolving around a pole that connected them together. Everything, other than the tent itself, was covered with purplish blue and yellow stripes. Even more surprising was the fact that despite the fact the floor was moving, no one had to move to stay in one spot.
"What the hell?!" Kris shouted once he finally processed what was going on.
"To be honest, I expected a lot worse," the Doctor replied honestly.
"I have a feeling it will get a lot worse," Rose responded, as a figure bounced back and forth around the rotating room until it saw the three people in its world.
Indeed, it was Jessica, but they looked quite a bit different. They had purplish-blue top with a purple skirt. On top of Jessica's red hair was a jester's hat. Behind them was a tail in the shape of J. Just like the Joker card she drew weeks before. They smiled crazily at the newcomers.
"Uee hee hee! You three have broken free from your little cages and found my little bubble of freedom!" Jevil said. "Now we can play! And then, I will play with everyone else!"
"What are we playing, Jevil?" The Doctor asked in a demanding tone of voice.
"The game is quite simple! It is a simple roleplay!" they replied with a snicker. "A simple numbers game! But first, you must look the part!"
The Darkner snapped their fingers. A flash of bright light blinded the scene as Jevil said, "I CAN DO ANYTHING!" When the light retreated, the trio found themselves in quite different clothing.
Kris' skin suddenly seemed to look blue in the dim light. On his body was a suit of armor, with his sweater tied around his neck and draped on his right shoulder. Kris looked over himself before giving a stoic thumbs-up. Clearly, this costume was fine.
Rose's skin had a slightly reddish tint now. However, only her face and some of her hands were seen, as she now wore a strange black cloak. Around her neck was a pink scarf. She seemed in shock for a bit. Then, she eyed Jevil suspiciously.
The Doctor's new outfit that was chosen by Jevil wasn't exactly his style, which is why he groaned frustratedly when he saw his outfit. It was somewhat like a fancy suit that was a light blue in color. It had shoulder pads and a belt around the waist. The bottom of the suit was asymmetrical, with one side longer than the others. This made it seem almost like a partial scarf. Though the Doctor didn't hide his disdain towards the outfit, he was quick to focus.
"The rules are simple!" The Darkner stated as they closed their eyes and shrugged.
"Look out!" Rose shouted. As they stepped back quickly, a giant scythe that was purplish-blue and yellow in color swung towards where they had previously been standing. Jevil giggled happily as the scythe disappeared. Then, they seemed nonchalant about their attempted murder.
"Your HP goes to 0, you lose!" They laughed happily.
Kris suddenly took a step forward in front of the time travelers. The Doctor certainly didn't stop him, since he was an expert on how to do this. However, it plain on Kris' face that they were more than just upset. They were furious. It wasn't just a raging anger either. It was a cold rage. Despite his stoic expression he put on, Kris was far from emotionless in this situation.
"So that's how you want to play it, huh?" He asked, confidently. "Well, I've gotta warn you..."
Suddenly, in a swift motion, he swung his hand down. As he did, red energy seemed to surround his hand until it formed a physical thing to grab on to. When the swing finally hit the ground, a sword the size of Kris was in Kris' hands. The rage finally shown through as he pulled his spectral sword out of the ground and gritted his teeth angrily.
"We're a couple of sharks!"
After this line, Rose looked to the Doctor. He nodded in response as the two of them moved simultaneously. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at Jevil. Rose was partially amazed to realize that in trying to summon a weapon, she found that her scarf was partially sentient. The scarf struck the air harder than anyone thought a scarf could.
Jevil chuckled hysterically at this show of strength. Once the laughter died, they smiled knowing. "Shark-to-shark! I wouldn't have it any other way!" They replied. "Let the games begin!"
Jevil merely stood before them. They were floating off the ground with a crazed smile. They seemed to enjoy the tension. However, Rose despised it.
"What're you waiting for?" She asked the Darkner.
The Doctor was the one that spoke. "They're waiting for our turn."
"What do you mean?" Rose replied, somewhat unsettled.
"Rose, this is a game," he explained further. "In an RPG, the players take turns and choose what to do. It's our turn."
"The whole world is a game, Doctor!" Jevil exclaimed suddenly. "You can't refuse when you're already playing!"
"Kris, what should we do?" The Doctor asked.
Kris thought for a while before responding. "Do anything. Defend. Act. Go with your gut. Just don't attack." With that, Kris put her arm in front of her, changing her sword into a shield of the same color.
"Well, how can I defend myself with this?" Rose complained. She looked down at the pink scarf, slightly panicked.
"Use your imagination," the Doctor replied. "This thing runs on imagination. They would be a poor sport not to share it with us. We can fight fire with fire!"
"Shark to shark!" Jevil added loudly.
"Like so!" Promptly, the Doctor put up his sonic screwdriver straight into the air. When he activated it, something else happened. Green energy seemed to surround him like a forcefield. Immediately, he was full of himself. "Oh yes! I could get used to this!"
Rose looked down nervously at her scarf before closing her eyes. Suddenly, the scarf wrapped around her entire body except her face. She opened her eyes and blinked in disbelief. "Well, I guess that works."
"Get ready everyone!" Kris shouted. "It's their turn."
"Uee hee hee! Chaos, CHAOS!" Jevil yelled out, as if casting a spell. In fact, it probably was, since purple energy surrounded their hands. Then, it spread across their entire body. "Catch me if you can!"
Suddenly, Jevil disappeared in a flash of purple. Then, just as suddenly as they disappeared, they reappeared to the left of Kris. In a purely childish girl voice, they let out a squeal and jumped, arms and legs extended. As they did, spades flew right towards the trio. Kris fell to the ground to avoid them, rolling over and putting his shield above him. The Doctor merely aimed his sonic screwdriver forcefield, forcing the spade to bounce off. Rose twirled out of the way.
However, it wasn't over. Jevil kept on disappearing and reappearing, aiming spades at the group. The Doctor and Rose dodged the spades together, blocking each other from attacks that would've hit the other. Meanwhile, Kris seemed to be just fine on his own. By the end of it, a spade nearly hit him, ripping his under armor padding. Upon checking it, a spade came close to his face. Blood gushed from a small cut on his right cheek. Once Jevil was done, the trio went back into their initial formation.
"Kris, are you okay?" Rose asked, upon noticing the cut.
He wiped his finger across the cut in order to remove some of the blood. However, this didn't deter his gaze. In fact, it seemed to intensify his serious expression. "I'm fine."
Kris continued to stare strangely at the Darkner. He continued to stare and stare. As the Doctor looked between Kris' eyes and Jevil, he realized the intention of his gaze. Jevil seemed to lose some of their energy for a split second. He was trying to hypnotize Jevil. That was a clever idea. Trick Jessica and the thing inside to sleep. It seemed to work for a second. Then, like a little kid that refused to admit they were tired, Jevil began to bounce from side to side.
*Kris gazed strangely! JEVIL got more Tired
"Shall we play the ring around?!" Jevil asked.
Spades appeared around them in a ring around them. The trio eyed them all suspiciously before one came in. Then, one of the spades next to that went in, causing them to go in a circle to avoid them. Luckily this time, the attack was quick and no one was hurt... at least, this time.
Rose immediately allowed her scarf to wrap around her, defending herself from harm. Now, Kris and the Doctor had to choose what they were going to do. Kris was quick to figure out something. He took a step back, before moving her leg forward. This gave her the momentum he needed to spin in a pirouette. He put his hand above his head.
*Kris spun around! JEVIL got slightly more tired and...
In a fluid motion, Kris stopped his pirouette and promptly pointed at Jevil. Suddenly, out of nowhere, everyone felt a feeling of calm come over them. It certainly wasn't because of the circumstances, but it did come from something. It made them more aware. More likely to avoid attacks.
*Tranquil! The dance defended the party!
The Doctor was the last one to act, and with this new feeling of calm, an idea came into his head. It was a brilliant idea. Fight fire with fire. If this was a place of chaos, why couldn't he have any fun with it? Besides, Kris was certainly embracing the chaos of this place. This chaotic energy was everywhere in this tent. He smiled before speaking.
"Chaos! Chaos! Catch me if you can, Jevil!" He shouted, tauntingly.
*The Doctor chanted something! JEVIL's defense dropped and...
*Magic! Nothing can catch him now!
JEVIL's voice changed to a touching voice, one only heard when one accepts a trophy. In fact, they rubbed one of their eyes and put their hands over their heart. "My hearts go out to all you sinners!" Suddenly, from behind, boxes with hearts on them went towards the Doctor and Kris, specifically singling them out. When the boxes were close to those two, they opened up, throwing hearts at them in square formations.
"You'll have to catch me first!" The Doctor replied confidently. He quickly walked around and in between the heart groupings. That is, until one heart grouping almost got him. However, before it hit him, he suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind the hearts. Upon realizing what happened, he laughed hysterically. Chaos truly was on his side this time.
It also turned out that the chanting worked on Kris too, for as soon as he was surrounded, he charged headlong into them. "YEEET!" He yelled, before disappearing and reappearing on the other side of the projectiles.
After tons of teleportation for fun, the attack ended, and it was their turn yet again.
"Why didn't they attack me?" Rose asked, a little more than confused.
"It's a way of evening out the playing field. It makes it more fair for the player that isn't even included in the dodging," Kris explained.
"What should I do?" She said, freaked a bit by her lack of options or maybe the lack of control.
"Rose, this is a place where your imagination can go wild and chaos can go free," the Doctor explained. "If we're so desperate to stop it, why don't we try living a little and take advantage of this opportunity?"
Rose nodded, before looking directly at Jevil. "Let's try hypnotizing it all at once!"
"That's the spirit!" The Doctor replied, before starting the countdown. "3... 2... 1... Go!"
Kris pointed at a Jevil again, but this time, he gazed strangely at a Jevil yet again. The Doctor threw his sonic screwdriver in the air where it spun until it landed in his hands. Rose, however, chanted nonsensical words. Any words she thought if, she put it together.
*Rose chanted something! JEVIL got more tired!
Jevil giggled their insane laugh incomprehensibly. "Ha ha! Let's make the Devilsknife!" Then, putting out their hand, they shouted one word. "METAMORPHOSIS!"
Suddenly, with a pirouette, Jevil and Jessica's body was now a wicked looking scythe, made of purple and yellow stripes and a jester's hat on top. Then, the scythe was gone. There was a brief moment of peace, but it didn't last long. Four Devilsknves suddenly came at them, oscillating towards the center and rotating.
"MOVE!" The Doctor shouted. The trio moved in between the blades as best they could. Rose, however, got slashed by one of the knives. It was a smallish gash on her leg, but it hurt her a lot when she walked. The Doctor was quick to hold her up and help her limp along. Soon, the knives went back outside the circle. Then, they would come back, and so forth. Rose had to keep moving, despite how painful it was. At one point, the Doctor let out a breath in pain as the Devilsknife just slashed him a bit on his back. Kris didn't fair well either, as he tried to dodge the knives. More scratches appeared on his body, and even more bruises appeared from dropping to the ground hard.
When the attack ended and a single Devilsknife turned back into Jevil, the trio was exhausted and wounded. "Our... turn," Kris said through each pant.
"I'm alright," Rose lied, when suddenly, without her even commanding it to, her scarf wrapped around her. She mumbled something through the scarf's fabric, but it couldn't be heard.
Following suit, the Doctor decided to defend using his sonic screwdriver. However, Kris was the next one to act. As before, he spun around in a circle. This time, the energy of the pirouette felt different.
*Kris spun around! JEVIL got slightly more tired and...
Once the dance was finished, Kris stopped to catch his breath. However, something felt different about them. For Kris, there was a sudden feeling of gender dysphoria. Now, rather than feeling like a "he", they felt like a "she". Of course, there was something else that they couldn't pinpoint. After looking around, she noticed that all of them seemed to feel weird. The Doctor was the first to put his hand up to his chest. Then, he groaned.
"What's wrong?" Kris asked with a frown.
"I only have one heart!" The Doctor complained.
That's when Kris realized what the other feeling could be. If the Doctor was an alien and he just complained about only having one heart... She put her hand over her heart. "Great! So now, not only is there gender dysphoria, but there's alien dysphoria? Race dysphoria? I sure hope this isn't permanent!"
"What are you talking about?" The Doctor asked, looking to Kris.
"Like you don't know! Guess what happened and the first two don't count!"
The Doctor's eyes got wider as he realized what she was implying. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!"
Kris shrugged. "Chaos chaos."
*Everyone's stats got jumbled up!
"Piip piip! Let's ride the carousel game!" Jevil exclaimed, seemingly unaware of the new chaos that had unfolded.
Suddenly, the old carousel appeared with the ducks and horses. However, it went around so that it was going away from Jevil. To make it harder, the horses and ducks were going up and down. If one were to stop paying attention, the horses might hit them. The ducks also went up at different intervals from the horses. In other words, in order to keep up with Jevil, they had to go over or under the horses and ducks.
This time, it seemed only Rose was affected by the attack. Surprisingly, despite the scarf that covered her body, she was perfectly able to move without any restrictions. Her hurt leg gave her some trouble, however, as a horse hit her once again. However, she then jumped on top of the horse and jumped from duck to horse. By the end of it, she wasn't too bad off.
Rose looked at the Doctor and Kris. "So, now you're human and Kris is a timelord?" She asked, somewhat confused.
"I'm never pirouetting again!" Kris groaned, unhappy at her sudden change of gender and race.
"Yeah. You better not," the Doctor agreed, just as aggravated.
"Here. Let me try something." Suddenly, Rose started chanting.
*Rose chanted something. Everything went back to normal!
It was instantaneous. Kris sighed in relief as his gender and race went back to the way it was before. "Thanks Rose," he said.
Then, Kris and the Doctor put up their defenses. Jevil laughed happily. "I've never had so much fun! Even Devilsknife is smiling! Metamorphosis!"
Once again, Jevil changed into a scythe. The same thing happened the last time they transformed. This time, however, Kris was the only one avoiding the knives and occasionally, a red knife would try and throw him off. He seemed to be good at dodging, though, and despite its difficulty, they managed to survive it perfectly fine.
"Enough! You kids tired me out," Jevil said after this attack. They did seem to look tired as the yellowish glow in their eyes dimmed.
Rose stared at the Darkner suspiciously. The Doctor seemed to read her mind. "I don't think that's true..."
"Shields up!" Kris ordered. They all nodded and did exactly that.
Suddenly, the Darkner perked up, seemingly more energized than before. "Just kidding! Here's my final chaos! Bye bye!"
Jevil changed into a scythe yet again. However, this time, the knives came from above and tried to attack everybody. Once the knife was within a certain range, a column of light would hurt the people in the area. The Doctor protected Rose by blocking some of the beams with his sonic screwdriver. Then, in a lull, Jevil appeared above them, laughing.
"My true and neo-chaos!" They exclaimed, before a wave of scythes went passed them. Kris got injured by one of them when suddenly, a giant Devilsknife came within range of the trio. There was no way to avoid it.
"What will we do?!" Rose exclaimed helplessly.
"Come here," the Doctor said as he wrapped his arm around her and watched the giant Devilsknife descend. The light was blinding. It was over. It was within inches of them and then...
They survived. When they opened their eyes, everything was fine. Well, until they saw Jevil. Jevil was bouncing around and going crazy. They moved so fast, it almost seemed like multiple Jevils were bouncing in and out of existence.
"Will it ever end?!" Rose said unhappily.
"This is it," the Doctor replied.
She gave him a look of disbelief. "What do you mean, 'this is it'?"
"He's right," Kris agreed, looking at the time travelers. "Jevil is clearly tired."
Rose let out a laugh. "You're calling that tired?"
"We need to find a way to get Jevil to go to sleep, but how?" The Doctor mused. The trio looked amongst each other, realizing that this might be it. This was it. If they couldn't put Jevil to sleep, there was no way this could end. They were as good as dead.
Then, the flap of the tent opened. The trio turned and to everyone's surprise, it was Sierra. She was dressed in a coat. She had a serious expression on her face. She didn't seem to notice the trio. Rather, she glared at Jevil. The Darkner looked back in amusement as Sierra walked in front of the Doctor, Rose, and Kris. Then, before anyone could ask, she sang.
"Darling, oh won't you please calm your heart.
Just close your eyes...and hear your heartache wisp away...
Let sleep embrace you, don't be afraid of the dark.
Please, allow me to pacify your mind.
Just rest, oh rest...and feel your pain be blown away...
And no harm done, oh no pain shall come...for now place your worries aside."
By the time the song ended, Jevil's eyes had dimmed so that it was nearly Jessica's real eye color. Despite this, Jevil laughed.
"What fun! What fun! Now, I shall sleep until awakened by the man without a family. However, you shall not have such fun. Bad wolf will end when enemies come back from the grave. Lightners, can you stop it? Can you stop fate, or is it inevitable? Will the world keep revolving? Will the Doctor keep running? Will Rosie stay by his side? Will Kris ever be with Sierra? Or will chaos chaos reign?"
Jevil was silent for a bit as everyone pondered, silently, their cryptic messages. Then, they laughed. "Well, a chaos-chaos! A mischief-mischief! Take my card and do with me as you will!"
Then, with those parting words, they said, "Metamorphosis!" Above Jessica's head, a playing card flew out and landed before the Doctor's feet. He picked it up and just as he suspected, it was a Joker card, with Jevil on it. He also noticed that the costumes and armor had disappeared, as if they were never there. However, there was little time to think about it, as Jessica collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.
Sierra was the first to come by her side, along with Kris. Jessica still looked like Jevil. She seemed to stir, as if coming out of a trance. She took breath after heavy breath. "Chaos chaos everywhere and not a drop to drink," Jessica murmured, before looking up at her sister. "Water. I need water."
"I'll go get it," Kris offered, before running out into the carnival to find a fountain. The Doctor approached the panting girl and ran his sonic screwdriver over her, checking her vitals. As he was doing so, Kris returned with the water.
"Looks like you're good," he replied, happy to finally get rid of the entity inside.
Jessica finally got a good look at the Doctor. Her face went white for a quick moment, before she managed to speak in a hushed manner. "Thank you. For everything," Jessica said. The Doctor knew why. According to Jevil, he was the one who did this to her. However, that was in the future. He didn't know why he would do that, but he must've had a good reason.
Sierra looked up at him with thankful eyes. "Thank you so much. I can't thank you enough for helping me and believe me when others didn't."
"I agree. Thank you so much for helping this town. In fact, I think we should tell everyone," Kris said before looking to Sierra. Then, in the heat of the moment, he took Sierra's face in his hands and kissed her on the lips quickly. Before Sierra could react, Kris quickly ran out of tent. "Meet you in town! Thanks again!"
Sierra sat there, processing what happened. She smiled with blush covering her cheeks. "He's cute," she admitted. When Jessica heard this, she gave her best teasing smile she could do after what happened and pushed Sierra a little. The siblings laughed.
The Doctor was happy to see a good ending. It made his day easier. Of course, he would've liked to stay, but then something happened. Rose received a text on her phone. Opening it, she read it. Then, she turned to the Doctor. "It's my mum. We need to go back to our time."
"I wish you two could stay longer, but I guess... Time travel, y'know? Come back soon, y'hear!" Sierra urged with a grin.
"We promise," Rose said with a smile.
The Doctor smiled too before leaving. "We promise."
Then, they left for the TARDIS.