CHAPTER 16

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REBORN FROM THE ASHES

"Louis," The weakened voice called out in desperation once more for what Gabrielle was sure was the tenth time that day.

"He's coming, Jeanne. He's been told that your condition is growing worse and that these could be . . . your final hours. If I know him, he's heading here just as fast as his carriage can take him. He'll be here soon. Don't worry," Gabrielle said in a voice that was just barely under control.

It was taking every bit of willpower at her disposal not to break down because it was completely tearing her apart to see this woman who she had basically helped to raise from infancy now rapidly dying right in front of her. She couldn't allow herself the luxury of breaking down though. She had to remain strong not just for Reinette's sake but also for Josette's. If the doctors were right, then she would be all alone again soon, and she would need someone to be there for her.

She had already sworn to herself that she would serve Reinette's daughter just as faithfully as she had her and would even be her guardian if she had to be. She had a feeling however that Reinette already had another plan for Josette's future in mind, and that was why she wanted Louis to come there with such urgency before it was too late for her to tell him.

She was soon proven to be right as after another hour had passed and Louis had still not arrived, Reinette finally said, "Gabrielle, if I don't make it to see Louis arrive, there's something that I need you to tell him in my place. It's very important that he knows that this is my final wish."

"Don't talk like that. You don't know that the doctors are right. You might survive for days or even weeks more," Gabrielle said in an encouraging tone.

Reinette suddenly had a violent coughing fit at that moment and her mouth immediately filled with blood which she vigorously spat out into a bowl next to her. Then she looked Gabrielle straight in the eye with such a look of absolute certainty that it instantly made the older woman involuntarily shudder in response.

Oh, I know that they're right, Gabrielle. I only have three hours left now," Reinette said in a solemn voice.

"Clara was right. You do know when and how you'll die," Gabrielle said in a heartbroken voice.

"Yes, I know to the exact minute," Reinette admitted as she gave her old friend a sympathetic look.

"How . . . How could you even begin to cope with such a burden? Knowing that your hours were limited so," Gabrielle asked in disbelief.

"I made every moment count just as I'm doing now. Gabrielle, I want you to tell Louis that with the apparent loss of Clara that Josette is to now be given to my friend, Sally Sparrow, so that she can raise her as her own. She will be made her official, legal guardian and given all rights that such a position entails. I also wish my entire fortune to be given to Josette with the stipulation that Sally will be in control of it until Josette turns eighteen. You must tell him that. He may fight me on this since he doesn't know Sally so I wanted him to see the determination in my eyes as I told him in person. If I can't, however, then you must express it to him yourself. Promise me that you'll do this," Reinette pleaded.

"Of course I will, Jeanne. You know I will. Why Sally though? I would have gladly taken her myself," Gabrelle asked curiously.

Reinette smiled as she said, "Yes, I know you would and I love you for that more than I can ever express. Sally however is probably the only person who could properly protect her and keep her safe from possible . . . future retaliation against Josette from certain enemies that I've made in my life once I'm gone."

"Retaliation? Do you mean that you think that some of your monsters may attack Miss Josette after you're gone?" Gabrielle asked in surprise.

"No, not them, Gabrielle, but a set of far different monsters might try it that are far closer to home than anyone would ever believe. I have no doubt that they still bear me a grudge for my role in the loss of Romana's ship from their collection, and one of them in particular would wish to harm me in any way that they could because of that," Reinette warned.

"You mean Monsieur Nemo and The Order of the Sun Queen, don't you?" Gabrielle said with a frown.

"Yes, be on the lookout for them to try any and everything in my absence including striking at Josette. Watch out for her, Gabrielle. Protect her as best as you can," Reinette said in a voice that was now starting to crack with emotion as she fought for control of herself.

It was the first sign that Gabrielle had seen of the inner turmoil that she knew had to be raging in Reinette's heart at that moment. It showed her just how truly strong that her dear old friend really was that she could keep such raging inner torment at bay for so long without even showing a flicker of emotion until now.

"I will, Jeanne. I'll treat her as my own just as I always have you. No one will so much as lay a finger on that child. I swear it," Gabrielle said in a resolute voice.

Reinette smiled at her with pure, undiluted love in her eyes as she said, "If you love her as much as you have me, then I'll know that she couldn't possibly have a better mother. Between you and Sally, perhaps she'll hardly even notice my absence."

"That's not true. You know it's not! Why would you even say such a thing?" Josette said in a horrified voice as she suddenly entered the room.

Reinette immediately raised a shaking hand to her daughter's face and lovingly stroked it as she said, "Wishful thinking I suppose. I just don't want you to be in pain or to waste time missing me. I want you to live and be happy. Can you do that for me?"

Josette's eyes filled with tears as she said in a voice filled with nothing but pain, "I don't know. I just don't know that I can do this a second time."

"You must. I need you to, sweetheart. Please!" Reinette said in a voice filled with emotion as she started violently coughing once more and quickly turned her head away from Josette so that she couldn't see what came up her throat.

She didn't want her to remember her that way. Not like that.

"Josette, maybe you should leave her alone. She's not really able to talk right now. She needs her strength," Sally said in a gentle voice as she entered the room.

"No, it's alright. I don't have much longer and this is exactly how I wanted to spend what little time I do have," Reinette reassured her.

"It's true what you told the Doctor before, isn't it? You really did know about this all along," Josette said in a voice filled with sorrow.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. I just . . . I just wish that Clara could have been here. I would have liked to see her one final time to say . . . to say . . ." Reinette said as she struggled not to break down and only partially succeeded as her voice cracked and her throat involuntarily closed up which caused her to have to instantly stop talking.

It seemed that the Baroness wasn't likely to appear any time soon for her to say anything to her however and perhaps would never appear in human form anywhere ever again period. She had recently been turned into the sixth and final segment of the Key to Time by the Half-Face Man* just before the Doctor had finally succeeded in destroying him and defeating his clockwork army for good. Unfortunately in the process of that victory, Clara's only sure way of returning to her normal form, the Guardians' tracer, was completely destroyed; and the Key itself refused to work for some mysterious reason so they couldn't use its power to help her either. Now the Doctor was off to see an old friend of his named Madame Chat in the hopes that she could find a way to free Clara since apparently she was connected to the Guardians in some way.

Reinette had hoped that Madame Chat would work quickly and return Clara to her soon, but now she knew with absolute certainty that she would not. She would now die never knowing if her dear friend was alright or not and the thought of that along with the near certainty that Josette would soon be in danger from Nemo was slowly eating away at her in her final moments.

If only she had more time. If only the Doctor was right and she could indeed survive this somehow and become Romana. If only.

And yet she saw no signs of Romana's TARDIS, K-9, or her fob watch appearing to help her in her final hours. If it were going to happen, then it had best happen quickly.

She still hadn't given up hope yet at some last minute rescue occurring in some way, but she had to admit that it was looking more and more unlikely to happen with each passing strike of the clock.

And then Louis was suddenly there and giving her a tender kiss with a worried look on his face. She could already tell that he was going to take her death just as hard as she would have his if the situation had been reversed. She could only hope that he someday found someone else who would take her place and do their best to take care of him just as she had.

She knew that they would never be capable of loving him as much as she had though.

She immediately told Louis of her plans while she still had the energy to do so and to his credit Louis didn't even fight her. He just nodded and reassured her that it would be the first thing that he did . . . after she was gone.

She knew then that he had no intentions of leaving her side until then and judging by the Doctor's memories he wouldn't leave it even afterwards. He had been there when the coach had come to take what was left of her away after all.

That thought and the certain knowledge that Josette would at least have someone there to take care of her finally eased all of her other worries, and she began to drift off into a peaceful sleep while Louis held her hand. It was one that she never woke up from again.

Three hours later just as she had said would happen Reinette Poisson was officially declared dead, and the heartbreaking news began to immediately spread like wildfire throughout the entire countryside. Most of the people who heard it even some of her staunchest enemies openly wept in response, and the general populace of France was filled with an immeasurable almost unsurmountable sense of tragic loss. She had died so young after all and had so very much still left to do. It was the average, downtrodden poor in the country who missed her most however because she had been their greatest ally in an increasingly cold and uncaring French monarchy.

The road to revolution had already begun. That is another story however.

As for this one, it's far from being over though despite how it might seem because just as Reinette had predicted not all of her enemies were saddened by her death. One in fact was overjoyed by it and saw it as an enormous opportunity. Monsieur Nemo was already planning to regain the high standing in the eyes of The Order that he had lost when Romana's ship had been taken from them by getting it back into their hands once again.

By any means necessary.

That was why he was there in disguise when the coach pulled away from Versailles carrying Reinette's body. When he saw Josette, Sally, and Gabrielle get into a second coach that was just about to follow the first one, he immediately rushed inside before anyone could stop him. The driver, who had no idea that his newest arrival wasn't supposed to be there, then immediately started to leave even as Nemo suddenly drew two guns on the coach's shocked passengers.

Nemo smiled wickedly as he focused all of his attention on Josette and said, "First, let me say that I'm sorry for your loss, child."

"Somehow I truly doubt that was what you went to all of the trouble to break into our carriage about, Monsieur," Gabrielle said defiantly as she quickly got in-between Josette and Nemo.

"No, but propriety bide me to say it anyway despite how I truly felt about her. I'll agree that her loss is truly the last thing in my mind at the moment however. No, I came here looking for the ship that was stolen from me and I will find it. I know that one of you must know where it is and I suggest that you lead me to it as soon as possible if you don't want this child to join her dear mother in the afterlife," Nemo said in a cold, uncaring voice.

"Then you came here for nothing because we don't have the ship. Its original owner claimed it soon afterwards and took it away," Sally said truthfully even as she began to form a plan in her mind to stop this madman before Josette could be hurt any more than she already had been today.

Nemo suddenly flew into a massive rage at her words as he said, "Don't lie to me! That box had been in our hands for decades and we never saw any sign of anyone coming to get it even once in all of that time. Do you truly expect me to believe that they suddenly appeared at just the right moment? What kind of a fool do you think I am?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Sally said with a smirk.

"Miss Sally, be careful," Gabrielle said in a concerned voice.

"Yes, I'd listen to her if I was you or what's coming up soon may just turn out to be a multiple funeral ceremony before this day is done. One of you will tell me where the ship is now or I will kill the child. Believe me when I say that I'll do so without hesitation if only to gain my final revenge against her mother who I can now sadly no longer kill myself," Nemo threatened in a voice filled with raw, seething hatred.

"What kind of a monster are you that would do such a thing especially on this day of all days?" Gabrielle said in a disgusted voice.

"A man who was once one of the most powerful in all of France thanks to my ties with The Order and who is now in absolute and complete disgrace in their eyes thanks to Reinette Poisson who brazenly did the impossible and broke into our headquarters when no one else ever had to take what was rightfully ours. That happened on my watch and now I have to bear the consequences for it. I have lost everything thanks to her but I know that I can regain it once more if I can only retrieve what was taken. And for that, to regain my lost honor, I will truly do whatever it takes. There are no lengths that I won't go to in order to accomplish that goal. Believe me," Nemo said in a callous tone.

"Yes, I believe you. So I can see that you really haven't left me with any other choice. I'm truly sorry for this," Sally said with saddened eyes.

"What are you babbling about? You act as if you are the one with the advantage here when I am the one who is currently pointing the deadly weapons at you, Mademoiselle, if you hadn't noticed," Nemo said with a triumphant smile.

Suddenly a blast of energy came from somewhere inside of one of Sally's sleeves, and Nemo screamed in agony for a brief moment before he suddenly turned into a pile of dust at the women's feet. His guns immediately clattered to the floor of the carriage to lie among his remains and were now all that was left of him.

"You weren't the only one with a weapon you see," Sally said in a voice filled with regret.

She truly was completely human now in all of the ways that mattered it seemed.

"What? What did - ? You're one of Jeanne's monsters!" Gabrielle said as she stared at Sally in stunned disbelief.

"I was. Once. I'll never be one again though. Not after today," Sally said in a sickened voice as she quickly replaced the Rutan blaster back in its hidden holster strapped to her upper arm.

She had started carrying it with her when Reinette told her that Josette might be in danger. She had truly hoped that she would never have to use it however.

That hope like many others had been completely dashed for her today though.

"You can't . . . You can't possibly be left in charge of Josette. You're one of them!" Gabrielle protested.

"Gabrielle, it's alright. Yes, she's from another world but she's a good person. She doesn't want to hurt anyone," Josette immediately protested.

That was when Gabrielle pointed at the pair of ashes on the floor and Josette instantly added, "Unless she has to of course. Can't you see that she didn't have any other choice? He was going to kill us because we would have never been able to give him that ship. Aunt Sally didn't want to do it though. I can tell. Look in her eyes, Gabrielle. You'll see that I'm right."

Gabrielle did so and could see overwhelming pain there. She could tell that Sally, whoever or whatever she really was, truly was extremely upset at what she had just done and already regretted it.

"I believe you. I'm still not sure about this though," Gabrielle said hesitantly.

"Trust me, Gabrielle. I don't want to do anything other than take care of Josette for as long as I live. I'm not here for any other reason but that. I've caused more than enough death and suffering in my time and I don't want any more of it. Right now all I want is to make sure that Josette never wants for anything for the rest of her life," Sally said in an earnest tone.

"I'm sorry, Sally, but you're never going to be able to do that because I'll always want her," Josette said in a completely devastated voice as she stared ahead at Reinette's carriage.

"I know," Sally said in a gentle tone as she wrapped her arms around Josette and hugged her tightly while she began to openly weep.

That was when Gabrielle was finally sure that Reinette had made the right decision about her even if she hadn't known her true identity at the time. She was determined now to protect both of them and swore to herself that she would never tell anyone Sally's true identity.

That was when they all suddenly heard a wheezing, groaning sound that instantly caused the horses to start whinnying in fear. Sally and Josette both began to smile at one another now and their hearts became filled with overwhelming joy because they recognized that sound.

She had finally come at last! Josette could only wonder what if anything even Romana could do for her mother at this point though. Why had she taken so long to arrive?

Romana's TARDIS now instantly landed right in front of Reinette's carriage and completely blocked it from passing. Before the carriage driver could even attempt to get out and try to move it, K-9 had already left the ship and was flying straight towards him.

"Activating stun beam, Mistress," K-9 said as he quickly cut down the drivers of both carriages before they could do anything.

As they instantly went to sleep, K-9 went into the back of the carriage and quickly placed Romana's fob watch in Reinette's now lifeless hand.

"All is as you requested, Mistress. The tenth incarnation of the Doctor Master is gone now after having taken Reinette's note with him and will not sense your presence when you return. Also the human has been thoroughly dealt with by the Rutan just as history says it happened. This point in Time is now safely fixed," K-9 said almost happily.

"Is this a friend of yours?" Gabrielle asked Sally in confusion.

"More a friend of Reinette's actually. Well, sort of anyway," Sally said as she and the others left their carriage to see what happened next.

She really hoped that Romana could still pull this off and that too much time hadn't passed for even Time Lord technology to be able to save Reinette. From what the Rutans knew of it, even it had its limits after all.

The fob watch now instantly opened and a swirl of golden energy began to pour forth from it and completely cover Reinette's body. For a brief moment, Reinette glowed like the sun and the others had to turn away from her in order to keep from being blinded.

And then the glow swiftly faded and to Josette's growing horror her mother still lay there unmoving and completely devoid of life just as she had been before.

"Mistress?" K-9 asked in a questioning tone now when there was still no sign of movement a minute later.

"K-9, what's wrong?" Josette said in a voice that was now rapidly filling with dread.

"I am . . . uncertain. Mistress Romana's voice is no longer in communication with me, and I detect no life signs in Reinette's body. Also the watch no longer seems to show any traces of Time Lord life energy," K-9 said in a confused voice.

"She . . . She tried to bring her back by merging with her again and failed . . . didn't she? Now they're both dead," Josette said in a voice filled with despair.

"That is . . . uncertain at the moment," K-9 said in a hesitant tone.

Josette's face contorted in angry as she said in a voice filled with overwhelming pain and anger, "Don't lie to me, you stupid machine! Tell me the truth! She's dead, isn't she? She's dead!"

"Josette, don't! It's not his fault. He tried his best," Sally said as she tried to restrain the child from kicking K-9 in the side.

"He didn't try hard enough. He waited too late and now she's gone!" Josette screamed in defiance as she tried her best to get away from Sally.

"Negative. I did exactly what the Mistress told me to do. I waited until the threat of her watch winding up in the hands of the human named Nemo once again was gone and then I returned," K-9 said defensively.

"Why didn't you take care of him yourself? Why?" Josette asked in despair.

"The Mistress said that it had to be Sally who did it. She said that it was a crucial moment in her life. This is the moment when any chance that she might go back to her old life is gone forever after she experiences true sorrow at the killing of another for the first time," K-9 explained.

Josette couldn't help but smile a bit at that as she said, "Isn't that just like Mother to sacrifice herself that way to make sure that Sally would be happy? She always thought of everyone but herself. Just once I wish she could have been a little more selfish though."

"So do I. I'm definitely not worth it," Sally said in a saddened voice.

"Oh, I don't know. A friend of mine once taught me that everyone's important," A familiar voice said from inside of the carriage.

"Mother?" Josette asked in a hopeful voice as she quickly ran inside as fast as her legs could take her.

The woman who was now both Reinette and Romana smiled at her and lightly tousled her hair as she said in a voice filled with love, "Always. I'll always be your mother no matter who I am."

Then she hugged her tightly as Josette began to cry with joy.

"I – I don't understand one thing that just happened. Why aren't you dead or even sick anymore? Not that I'm not grateful for that of course," Gabrielle asked in absolute bewilderment.

"Time Ladies aren't affected by tuberculosis and certainly aren't killed by it. As soon as I regained my natural body, the disease was immediately burnt out of my system. As for being dead, I wasn't. Well, not completely anyway. I still had just enough life left in my body for my watch to save it. It took a while for me to fully heal from the immense damage that the tuberculosis had already done to me though. I basically had to put myself in a quick healing coma so that I could regain enough strength to move again. I'm still weak as a kitten but I thought if I didn't come out of it now that you might think that I was actually dead since I don't give off any life signs in one of my comas," Reinette/Romana explained with a relieved smile as she continued to hold onto her daughter tightly.

"I'm so glad that you have your usual sense of timing, Mother. I was so afraid that you really were lost and I'd never get to eat your fish again," Josette said with her eyes filled with happy tears.

"You actually want to eat my fish? Now I know you missed me," Reinette joked as she kissed Josette's forehead.

"Yes, I even missed your stupid fish. I missed everything about you the instant I lost you. Everything," Josette said in a voice filled with overwhelming joy.

In that moment, Reinette had decided to stick with the identity of Jeanne Poisson (although she would still have to whip together a quick android duplicate of herself based on Movellan technology to be buried in her place so no one would be suspicious) even though that life was now officially over with . . . at least she would for now anyway. For one thing, it would make things far less complicated between her and Josette, and for another she needed Reinette's reputation and influence if she were to successfully carry out what she had planned next.

France in this time period still had need of someone to protect it from the many otherworldly threats still to come after all, and she had already thought of a way to do that far more efficiently than she ever had with Louis' armies. She already had an entire secret army with immeasurable resources both human and alien at their command just waiting for someone to fill the gap that Nemo's death had now left in its power structure after all.

And who better to lead it than Reinette Poisson herself?

*See Clara Who Chapter 39 for the full story.

Next: Reinette's life in France is far from over with even though she's officially dead as she now goes underground and attempts to take over The Order of the Sun Queen in order to continue to protect her adopted home in secret. Will she be able to succeed though or will she find out that The Order is much harder to control than she thinks? It sounds like she needs some help. Maybe an old friend of hers can give her a helping hand . . . or slap.