CHAPTER 9

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GOING HOME

"Hello? Anyone home?" Amy asked as she stood at the entrance to the abandoned house where the Musketeers had finally trapped the Rutan that had tried to destroy the Earth.

"Fine. Don't answer then," Amy said to herself in an annoyed voice as she started inside.

"Queen Amelia, are you certain about this? I'm really not comfortable with letting you go in there alone," Jacques said with a worried expression.

"Why? Is it because I'm a woman? I've come up against things that would break even the most hardened of your Musketeers and defeated things out of your worst nightmares so don't even think about starting any of that macho garbage with me," Amy protested.

Jacques shook his head as he said, "Many of the Musketeers might share those sentiments, but I assure you that I am not one of them. Working with the Marquise has long since shattered all of my notions about what a woman can and cannot do. If anything she seems to be more capable than any man that I know, and I've learned never to underestimate her. I think that most of the Musketeers who follow her would feel the exact same way."

"Then why can't I just go in there alone? I really think that one person alone will have a much better chance of saving that kid than if I go charging in there with a small army and freak the Rutan out. She's liable to do something stupid out of fear that way," Amy said.

Jacques frowned as he said, "The language of your country is most unusual, your highness."

"What's wrong with the way that I talk?" Amy said as she gave him an angry stare.

"Nothing. Nothing at all, your majesty. I meant no offense. It's just that I have trouble understanding you at times," Jacques said as he visibly backed from her.

"I noticed that the Baroness talks like me too, which I bet comes from being around the other Clara way too much, and none of you seem to have any problems understanding her," Amy said.

"Actually we do at times. We're just too afraid to say it," Jacques admitted.

Amy smiled as she said, "Yeah, Shorty packs a mean punch doesn't she? Or did you mean because she's a noble? I'm thinking that it's a bit of both. Am I right?"

Jacques wisely said nothing which caused Amy to laugh as she said, "Thought so. I'm going in now. If I need you, I'll call out for you. Otherwise stay outside. Got it?"

Jacques reluctantly nodded as he said, "I still don't like the idea of sending anyone, man or woman, in there alone against that creature."

"I'll be fine. I've fought Rutans before. They're probably one of the least dangerous of the things that I've come up against. They're basically just jellyfish with delusions of grandeur who like to fight a bunch of walking potatoes. They're both ridiculous looking if you ask me," Amy said reassuringly.

"If you say so, your majesty," Jacques said as he and the other Musketeers moved back in order to let Amy inside the house.

Amy grinned in response as she immediately proceeded on ahead into the house alone. She then followed Reinette's sonic pen straight upstairs to a locked door.

She could immediately unlock the door with the pen (or at least she was fairly certain that she could anyway because it was different in some ways from the sonic screwdriver) and barge inside, but she knew that probably wasn't the wisest move in this situation. The Rutan would just wind up immediately electrocuting her as soon as she stepped inside, and that would be all she wrote.

She definitely wasn't a big fan of that idea so she decided to try talking her way inside instead.

"Hello? Are you there, Rutan Lady? What do I call you anyway? Madame de Sparrow? Or do you have a real name that I can actually pronounce?" Amy asked through the door.

After a long pause, the Rutan finally said, "I call myself Sally now and that's all that I'll say on the matter. I don't care to share my real name with mindless primitives who aren't fit to even be in my presence much less to know something as sacred as my true name."

"Sally, huh? So Sally de Sparrow? Or maybe you could just shorten it to Sally Sparrow instead. Yeah, I like that. It's much easier to remember. How do you feel about that name, Sally?" Amy asked.

"What is it that you want, human? Did you just come here to annoy me with your endless babbling or did you actually have a reason for being here?" Sally asked through the door in an irritated tone.

"Well, someone certainly woke up on the wrong side of the ocean this morning didn't they? And people say that I have an attitude problem. I came here to ask you to let Josette go before both of you get hurt. If you do, I guarantee that the Musketeers won't try to stop you from leaving. In fact, I'll order them to let you go. Reinette left me in charge of this little group so I can do that. So what do you say? Just let her go and everything will be just fine," Amy said in what she hoped was a convincing voice.

There was no response from the other side.

Amy sighed. She just wasn't very good at talking people into things nicely. She was good at threatening them into doing them of course but that definitely wouldn't work in this situation.

"Look, I'm trying to save both of your lives. Work with me here. I don't want to see the girl killed by a bunch of trigger happy Musketeers when they come in here to get you, and I know that you don't want to die that way either so why can't you just let Josette go? What is the problem, Sally?" Amy asked in a voice filled with growing impatience.

"The problem is a simple one. I don't trust you, human. Not you or any of your kind," Sally's voice finally said from the other side.

"You know it's really getting annoying talking to you through a block of wood like this. At least open the door and let me see inside. I promise I'm not armed if that's what you're worried about. I want to see if Josette's alright anyway. Come on. Open up," Amy said as she began to become more convinced by the moment that she was completely wasting her time.

The door suddenly opened now and Amy saw to her surprise that Sally's appearance had completely changed from the last time that she had seen her. She was now an extremely young blonde in her early 20s. Her face had a look of innocence to it that could have easily fooled someone who didn't know better into thinking that she was just an ordinary girl instead of a deadly alien. In fact, she almost looked like she could be Josette's sister instead of her kidnapper Amy idly thought.

She could see Josette lying on a bed in the back of the room with an anxious look on her face. She was obviously extremely worried and upset but otherwise seemed unharmed by the whole experience. When she recognized Amy however, her face instantly lit up with joy.

"You're alive! Then that must mean that Jeanne and Clara are alive too," Josette said.

"Yeah, we're fine. That stupid Monk was lying about that. He was just trying to get rid of Sally here because she could expose him for what he was," Amy said.

"You were telling the truth then. Everything that you said to Captain LeFevre was true," Josette said to Sally in a surprised voice.

"Yes, for all the good that it did me. I tried to help your King although admittedly it was to save myself, and I was repaid for it by being attacked and chased across the countryside. Don't they understand? I don't care about bothering them or their petty little world anymore. I don't want to be here. I just want to go home," Sally said in anger.

Then she became upset as she said again in a quieter voice, "I just want to go home."

Amy couldn't help but sympathize with her. She felt exactly the same way.

"Believe me. I know the feeling. You did just try to blow the whole planet up though. Can you really blame them for being just a tad bit suspicious?" Amy said.

Sally smiled and shrugged as she said, "Perhaps I did bring about this whole situation myself by my actions. I never expected to actually survive long enough to face any consequences for them however."

"Yeah, it was pretty obvious that you didn't plan ahead. You wouldn't have kidnapped Josette and made things even worse otherwise," Amy said.

"She was following me. She could have told them exactly where I was if I hadn't captured her," Sally said defensively.

"They found you anyway though so that didn't exactly work out too well for you did it?" Amy said with a smirk.

"That's why this time I did come up with a plan. Thanks to you and the extremely helpful information that you gave me about yourself I decided to capture the enemy leader: you. Now I'll simply kill you and take your place as I pretend to bring Josette back to the Musketeers after defeating the evil Rutan. No one will ever know that I'm not the real you until after I've escaped," Sally said with a sinister grin as her hands began to glow with electricity.

"Wonderful. Maybe I'm the one who should have had a plan," Amy said with a frown.

"I'm afraid that it's too late for that now. Far too late," Sally said as she moved closer to Amy.

Amy began to smile now as she said, "Wait a minute. I did have a plan actually."

"What?" Sally said in surprise as Amy held up Reinette's pen.

"Josette, cover your ears," Amy said just before she used the sonic pen to release a massive sonic wave that made Sally immediately start screaming in agony.

Things didn't quite work out as Amy planned however as instead of falling to the floor unconscious as she had hoped Sally started to thrash out in pain and began firing electrical bursts all over the room. Both Amy and Josette were now forced to duck and dodge several deadly electrical attacks in rapid succession as the Rutan began going completely wild in a desperate attempt to defend herself.

Amy was really starting to regret not listening to Jacques by this point. She could only hope that her mistake wouldn't soon prove to be a fatal one.

"Captain, are we almost there yet? These horses must be the slowest in all of France. You'd better believe that I'll tell the King about this gross incompetence on your part as soon as we return. You'll be lucky if you're not completely thrown out of the Musketeers by the time that I'm finished," Reinette said in a voice dripping with contempt.

Clara looked at her in shock and so did LeFevre. Reinette had never spoken to him (or anyone else as far as he knew) that way before. She had always treated everyone even the lowest peasant with absolute respect and dignity.

"Jeanne," Clara said in a chastising tone.

Reinette immediately looked at LeFevre with regret as she said, "I apologize, Captain. I never should have spoken to you that way. I would never do such a thing of course. I have nothing but the utmost respect for you. I hope that you realize that."

LeFevre nodded and instantly looked relieved as he said, "I do, Marquise. I know that you were just acting that way out of worry and concern for the child. It's no secret that you're extremely close to her."

"I'm far more than close to her. I love her, Captain. She's just like . . . I can't lose her, Captain. Not like I lost . . ." Reinette said before she stopped speaking because her throat was closing up from the extreme emotions welling up inside of her.

"She's going to be alright, Jeanne. Amy will protect her. I know she will," Clara said as she put her arms around her.

"I can't lose another child. I can't," Reinette said in tears as she began to openly sob now.

Captain LeFevre now broke protocol and placed a comforting hand on Reinette's shoulder which caused her to look at him in gratitude. In that moment, they weren't a Marquise and her loyal servant. LeFevre was just a man trying to comfort a dear friend who had once suffered a devastating loss from which she had never fully recovered.

LeFevre remembered what had happened all too well unfortunately. Reinette had once had a young daughter who had been the center of her entire world. She had loved her dearly and had constantly spoiled her. Even the king had adored her and treated her just like his own.

Then a few years before the incident with the clockwork men, Reinette's daughter suddenly contracted a terrible illness. The king had sent all of his best physicians to help the little girl, but none of them had done any good in the end.

Reinette's daughter was only nine years old when she died.

LeFevre had always suspected that Reinette thought of Josette as another daughter due to her being just like her beloved Fanfan in terms of personality and general appearance. Now he had just had that confirmed.

"She won't die, Jeanne. I promise you that. We will save her," LeFevre said.

Reinette smiled at him as she said, "Thank you, Jules, both for the sentiment and for calling me by my first name. I have always thought of you as my friend and I hope that I am yours."

"Of course you are. Both you and Clara are," LeFevre said as he smiled at them both warmly.

"I feel the exact same way about you. I'm glad that you're using my first name now too. You don't always have to call us by our titles, Jules, at least not in private anyway. I think that we're well past that stage in our relationship, don't you?" Clara said with a grin.

"Of course, Baroness," LeFevre said with a small smile.

"Fine. Be that way then," Clara said teasing him.

Reinette knew exactly what they were doing by this horseplay of theirs of course. They were trying to take her mind off of Josette and Fanfan. They hadn't entirely succeeded but they had at least made her feel a little bit better about things for the moment anyway.

That was when they finally reached their destination at last, and Reinette immediately raced towards the abandoned building. She arrived just in time to hear several screams and explosions coming from inside.

"What is happening?" Reinette asked Jacques in alarm.

After he quickly told her about Amy's plan, Reinette sighed and said, "You were right not to want her to go in there alone. I only hope that she and Josette won't have to wind up paying for her mistake."

Amy was hoping that as well as she continued to dodge wave after wave of the Rutan's attacks. Even after Amy had stopped using the sonic pen, Sally had continued to attack her with reckless abandon anyway. It seemed as if the Rutan had finally snapped completely under the pressure of being constantly hunted down and had simply lost all semblance of self-control.

Then the moment Amy had long been afraid of all along finally happened at last as one of Sally's attacks struck Josette right in the chest. Josette instantly fell to the ground and lay there without moving.

"No!" Amy screamed with guilt as she finally had enough of this at last and stopped trying to run from the Rutan's attacks.

She no longer cared if she was hit anymore now as she finally stood her ground and started to use the sonic pen to bombard Sally with sonic waves at its maximum setting. The Rutan now screamed as she never had before and began losing her control over her form as she switched back and forth from human to Rutan over and over again. The sonic waves were completely disrupting her mind just as Amy had hoped that they would.

She had hesitated to use the sonic pen at its full strength before for fear of getting Josette killed, but now she was no longer holding back anymore. The Rutan had now found that out in spades as she collapsed to the floor in agony and quickly became unconscious. She had finally switched to her Rutan form just before she hit the ground and lay there completely helpless now.

"You'd better hope that girl's okay or I'll squash you like a bug," Amy said to the unconscious Rutan in anger as she went to check on Josette.

She wasn't sure whether she really meant that or not. Part of her was afraid to find out.

That was when Reinette, Clara, and the Musketeers finally burst into the house. As soon as Reinette entered the room, her heart almost stopped as she saw Amy leaning over the unmoving Josette.

"Amy, is she . . . ?" Reinette said in a terrified voice.

Amy smiled and said, "No, she's still alive. I think she's going to be okay. I hope. You'll need to have someone look at her though. She took a nasty hit from one of that Rutan's electrical bolts."

Reinette began to smile in relief and immediately pulled Amy into a tight embrace as she said, "Thank you. Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I'm the one who almost got her killed because my plan didn't work as well as I hoped that it would. I hope she's alright," Amy said with a worried expression.

Reinette was now thankful that she retained some of the Doctor's medical knowledge that he had once gained at the University of Edinburgh as she quickly checked Josette over. She smiled with relief as she finished.

"She's going to be alright. She hasn't had any lasting damage as far as I can tell. She'll need plenty of rest to recover though of course. Captain, take her to my private quarters until you can find her a permanent room at the palace," Reinette said.

LeFevre smiled as he said, "You're finally adopting her then, Marquise?"

"Yes, and I don't care what protests the King makes because of her social status. I don't care about any of that. I just care about her. I'm only sorry that I didn't do it sooner," Reinette said as she began to lightly stroke Josette's hair.

Amy smiled as she said, "I'm glad that she's going to be okay then. I'm also glad that I finally captured that Rutan."

"You did? Where is she, Red?" Clara asked in confusion.

"What are you talking about? She's right . . ." Amy said before she groaned in anger as she realized that the Rutan was no longer lying where she had fallen.

"She escaped again I see," Clara said with a frown.

"I don't care about that right now. I'll find her later. All that I care about is that everyone else is safe especially Josette," Reinette said gratefully.

Suddenly Amy's eyes widened as she said, "Oh, no. Rory. I completely forgot about the crack while I was trying to save Josette. Do you think that it's too late?"

"Let's hope not. I'm sure that it's somewhere at Versailles. I'll have the entire palace searched as soon as we get back," Reinette reassured her.

"Please don't be gone," Amy said to herself in a pleading tone.

They all rushed back to Versailles as quickly as they could, and after many minutes of searching one of the Musketeers finally called out that he had just found an unusual crack on one of the palace walls. Amy smiled and was certain that was it as she instantly ran in the direction of the man's voice.

She began to become filled with terror though as she could see as soon as she arrived that the crack was already fading. It continuously faded in and out of existence over and over again while she looked at it.

"It won't stay in place for longer than two seconds at a time. Will it even work at all now?" Amy couldn't help but wonder.

"Hurry up and see. Maybe you still have time," Clara urged her.

Amy nodded and said, "Well, good bye then. I know that I've only known you a short time, but I already love you, Jeanne. I even love you, Short Stuff."

"Amazingly enough I love you too," Clara said with a warm smile.

"We both do. Good luck, Amelia. I hope that it all works out for you," Reinette said.

"Thanks, Jeanne. Here. You'll need this more than I will I think," Amy said as she tossed the sonic pen back to Reinette.

Then she rushed towards the rapidly fading crack at full speed as she said, "This is really going to hurt if this doesn't work."

Luckily for her it did as she disappeared as soon as she made contact with it. A moment later the crack itself finally faded away as well and this time it didn't come back.

"Do you think that she made it?" Clara asked.

"I hope so. I'd like to think that after all of that that it all finally worked out for her somehow," Reinette said with a positive attitude.

In Manhattan in 1938, Amy suddenly found herself running right into a very surprised looking Rory. They both fell to the ground in a heap as Amy began to laugh with joy.

"Amy, what . . . ?" Rory asked.

"No questions. Just shut up and let me kiss your stupid face," Amy said as she gave Rory a long passionate kiss.

Needless to say Rory's mind immediately emptied of all questions from that point forward.

Back in the 18th century meanwhile, the palace of Versailles suddenly received an unexpected visitor as a young woman slowly walked inside on shaky legs. As soon as she reached the guards at the entrance, she collapsed right in front of them.

"Are you alright?" One of the guards asked as he helped her to her feet.

"No, I'm not. I – I've been hurt," The woman said.

"How? What happened?" The guard asked.

"I don't remember. I just remember being in a great deal of pain and then collapsing. Then I woke up and I couldn't remember where I was or what happened to me," The woman said in a weak voice.

"What is your name? Do you remember that?" Another guard asked.

The woman hesitated before finally saying, "I – I think that it's Sally. Sally Sparrow. Please help me."

Then she finally passed out right in front of them.

"Find the Marquise right away. I think that we've just found another victim of one of her monsters," The captain of the guard ordered as two of the guards picked the unconscious Sally up and began to carry her inside.

Next: What's going on here? Is this a trick by Sally the Rutan or has she really lost her memory? What will happen to her when Josette wakes up since she knows exactly what her current form looks like? Oh, and in case any of you are wondering if Sally the Rutan and the Sally Sparrow of Blink have any sort of connection, all will be revealed in the next chapter. Plus Reinette officially adopts Josette even as she runs across the remnants of a secret society from France's past who warn her about a new terrifying menace to the world that is still to come.