And here is the final chapter, but not the end of the story...;)

Chapter Nine

"Careful!" the Doctor yelped as Frost put a little too much pressure on his arm.

"Fractured, not broken," she said and reached for a roll of cloth bandages.

"Doesn't matter! It still hurts!" he furrowed his brows as she laid the cloth aside for the moment.

"What are you allegoric to?" she asked, slipping her hand into the leather bag strapped around her left leg.

"Why?" he asked. At her look, he said, "Aspirin. That is the most deadly thing to Time Lords."

"Acetylsalicylic acid," Frost mumbled absently. "Are you allegoric to methyl salicylate?"

"Nah, it's only when acetylsalicylic acid is combined with the other ingredients in aspirin," he replied. "Why? What are you planning on doing?"

She pulled a small bottle from her pouch and unscrewed the lid. The smell of cloves hit the Doctor's sensitive nose instantly, and now he realized why she was asking what he was allegoric to. To his knowledge, the essential oil extracted from cloves was used as a disinfectant as well as to treat fever and muscle pain. He used something from a clove base as a painkiller as well since aspirin was completely out of the question.

"This should keep any nasty infections out of these wounds," Frost mumbled as she gently rubbed the clear oil across the teeth marks on his chest. "I don't want to be the one draining puss from an infection later."

"Ah, lovely picture," the Doctor grimaced.

"I wouldn't put it past you at the moment to let yourself go," she whispered and carefully wound the cloth around his chest. "You're a bit of a death-seeker."

"Seems like you know more about me than I do you," the Doctor said. He analyzed what she had called him for a few moments before saying, "And you're much better?"

"I may go into fights without too much forethought, but if I live afterwards I try to keep myself alive," Frost flicked one of her ears. She looked at him slyly. "And I'm very old."

"I doubt you've got too much on me," the Doctor smirked slightly.

"Nine hundred and five years of running around in the universe and you still think you're old," she snorted in amusement at the thought.

"How'd you….?"

"I'm very old and very watchful," she said as she took his arm in her grasp and massaged the oil into the cuts.

"But how?" he questioned. "There's no way, unless…."

"A long time ago, when the universe and time were neither friend nor foe," Frost hummed gently, closing her eyes as the old legend came back to her. "Everything sits and flows in the glass, everyone just watches time pass. Its tumultuous storms and ebbing power does entice, but just watch its frosted glass and tears of ice. Ever fixed and ever flowing, none may control it but just watch time keep going. None may touch, none may cause time to pass, none but…"

"…the Keeper of the Hourglass," he finished, his features pulling taut. "But…you're not…it's just a legend…."

"Show the legend no dishonor, for in dire need the Hourglass shall be its forerunner," she continued softly. "Watch for the signs because long before the hour of need it shall appear, to this legend be wise and do not just hear. For the Keeper comes after the warning, not yet known is whether it'll leave those full of joy or mourning."

"You…" the Doctor rummaged around in his beehive of thoughts for the proper word of what to call her. "You're a liar." She only gave him a roll of the eyes and a shake of her head, much like a parent would do after giving up trying to prove something to a child. "There's only one thing that'll convince me that you're the Keeper."

"Hmm?"

"What's my real name?" he asked darkly.

"Why would you expect me to know that?" Frost sighed. "The rest of the legend says that the Keepers are bound to secrecy. Too many secrets, too many dark lies and bloody battles that could damage the fabric of time. I don't know everything, nor would I tell you. I'm not the Bad Wolf."

The Doctor inhaled sharply, and then wished he hadn't as a burst of pain flared up from his cracked ribs. He glared up at her and said, "How do you know about the Bad Wolf?"

"You want to know why I know that and not your name?" Frost rubbed her eyes briefly. "Rose caused a huge flux in time with that little incident. Not that it was bad or anything, but that golden flare that came off the Hourglass from that sudden event could've made any Keeper sick for a few days."

"What do you mean, 'made any Keeper sick'?" the Doctor asked.

"If you were a Keeper, then you'd understand," she said simply. She cast her eyes outwards into the sun that was starting to barely die in the evening. Even in the winter months, the shimmering sun only crept along the horizon and set every once in a while. The trees were silhouetted beautifully, as was the tiny glow of a caribou carrying a few lanterns on its antlers, leaving a feeling of dread in its bounding wake. She sighed and looked down at him, saying, "You're a bit of a trouble magnet, aren't you?"

Thrown off by the sudden change in topic, the Doctor replied, "Oi! I'm not that bad."

"I s'pose that I should be grateful that you are," Frost leaned back and let her thoughts start to wonder once again. "I might've gone blind years ago back in Egypt if you hadn't been there."

"Hold on a tick," he sat up on his left elbow a bit quicker than he would've liked, but followed through anyways. He stared at the scare on her face. It was deep, but not horribly ugly and definitely not normally healed. A more purplish color tinted it rather than a skin tone that most humans would have acquired, and then he realized that humans didn't have the kind of technology yet to heal cuts like that. That had never even crossed his mind. "Who are you?"

"Frost," she shrugged and turned her head away from him.

"If you're the Keeper, and I'm still not completely sure that you are, let alone that the Hourglass is anything more than a legend, then how come you decided to change time like you did all of the sudden?" the Doctor asked offhandedly.

"I was a bit blind to the future," she answered as she returned his wide eyed gaze with her dark one. The shadowy look she gave him was intensified by the bruise that was blooming a dark shade of purple across her jaw and cheek bone. "I've been blind before, and it scares me."

"And so you thought that by preventing me from regenerating that would help you to see again?" he inquired, putting his tongue to the roof of his mouth.

"The best way to observe time is not through the Hourglass," she whispered and smirked. "The best way is to travel it."

"What're you suggesting?" the Doctor's eyes narrowed before they went wide again with realization.

"You're stuck with me."

Frost isn't Mary Sue, is she? I've really tried hard not to make her that way. Thanks for reading and reviewing! And keep an eye out for the next story in the series, "Deadly Lullaby".