CHAPTER 6
I do not own Doctor Who, Big Finish, or Game of Thrones and I am making no profit off of this.
THE MOST SHOCKING SECRET OF ALL?
As soon as Clara Prime's TARDIS landed on the planet Chaos, it was immediately greeted by a massive shockwave that instantly knocked everyone in the Console Room off of their feet. The entire ship started to shake so violently that Clara feared that it might actually fall apart all around them at any moment.
"Jenna, are you okay?" Clara asked with concern as she noticed that her friend was gritting her teeth together with pain from where she lay helplessly on the floor.
"Me? Oh, I'm just fine. Well . . . other than the fact that I currently feel like I'm on the losing end of a fight with a jackhammer of course," Jenna said with a forced smile.
Clara knew better however. She could tell from a lifetime of experience at reading that particular face's expressions that Jenna was completely terrified but trying very hard not to show it.
"Don't worry. Everything's going to be okay," Clara said in a comforting voice as her stomach began to twist into knots out of an overwhelming sense of guilt.
If anything happened to Jenna because she had brought her here . . .
Clara squeezed her eyes together in concentration, and her hands glowed with power as she gestured towards Jenna. A moment later she smiled in satisfaction as her friend swiftly started to rise above the floor.
As Clara began to levitate alongside her, she said in a smug voice, "Congratulate me, Actor Girl. Looks like I just learned a new trick. I've never levitated anyone but myself before. See? I told you everything would be fine."
"Never doubted it for an instant," Jenna said with a chuckle as the fear seemed to rapidly drain from her eyes.
"Jenna, I . . . I'm sorry. I never should have brought you here," Clara said in a serious voice.
Jenna smiled at her reassuringly as she said, "Hey, I knew the risks better than anyone, alright? I never walked into this blind so you have nothing to blame yourself for at all. Don't worry so much about me. I'm fine."
"Unfortunately we're very far from being fine right now. If we can't get the TARDIS out of here soon, whatever is going on outside will completely tear it apart. It won't be too long after that before we join it. Well, the rest of you will anyway. I doubt it'll be a picnic for me either though even if I can't die," Clara Prime said with a shudder.
"It's lucky for you that you have me around then isn't it?" Ashildr said in a determined voice.
"How in the . . . ?" Clara said in stunned disbelief as she looked in Ashildr's direction.
"Whoa," Jenna said in amazement.
Both of their jaws dropped in unison then as they saw Ashildr actually beginning to stand once more despite the fact that the massive earthquake outside was so powerful that it was currently causing the entire ship to rapidly come apart all around them. Then as if being able to stay on her own feet wasn't already impossible enough Ashildr actually started to rapidly sprint towards the console while expertly dodging falling pieces of the TARDIS' ceiling along the way.
"Okay, how did she just do that? I don't even see so much as a drop of sweat on her," Clara said in a shocked voice as she watched Ashildr finally reach the console and begin to rapidly dematerialize the TARDIS.
Clara Prime shrugged with an amused smile on her face as she said, "Yeah, nothing she does surprises me anymore really. Ashy's just full of little tricks like that."
"Learning to maintain a near perfect sense of balance is really not as hard a skill to learn as you might think. Well not if you have long enough to practice it that is. I suppose a great many things in my past helped me with it. I used to be a professional stuntwoman once in several movies and for several years I walked on the tightrope in a high wire act. At least I think I did anyway. Not to mention that I learned many secrets on how to maintain my balance in practically any situation from the Aikido masters of Venus, the Knights of Velyshaa, and the Faceless Men," Ashildr said proudly even as the TARDIS finally began to dematerialize at last.
"As in the Faceless Men from Game of Thrones? Really? Now you're just making stuff up," Clara said with a smirk.
"Says the woman who regularly travels through time and space in a blue box," Ashildr said with a secret smile.
"Is she saying that Game of Thrones is somehow real?" Jenna asked in confusion.
"Of course not. She's just winding us up, Actor Girl," Clara said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"Actually . . ." Clara Prime said with a knowing smile.
"No! Really?" Clara said in amazement.
"As stimulating as this conversation is, Claras, I'm afraid I'll have to cut it short. We're just about to land again. I'm setting us down right in the middle of the Grace's main citadel. If it's still in one piece that is. Be prepared for anything," Ashildr warned.
"Jenna, maybe you should stay in the TARDIS for this one," Clara said in an uncertain voice as the TARDIS began to rapidly materialize once more.
Jenna gave her an incredulous look as she said, "Do you really think that would be any safer after what just happened?"
"Yeah, you're probably right," Clara admitted with a frown.
"Stop worrying so much," Jenna said with a groan.
Then she smiled as the TARDIS finally landed at last and nothing happened.
"See? Whatever was going on has stopped. Maybe the Grace fixed it whatever it was," Jenna said in a hopeful voice.
"Actually I think she has a very good reason to be worried," A woman's voice suddenly said from behind them.
They both suddenly turned to see a strange dark haired woman standing there with a cruel smile on her face.
"So you're behind all of this," Ashildr said in a voice filled with venom.
"I really must applaud that little last minute rescue of yours, Lady Me. That even took me by surprise and that's not an easy thing to do. But then you're always been full of surprises haven't you?" The mystery woman said as she gave Ashildr a look filled with raw hatred.
"Okay, I get the sense that there's a bit of a history between you two then, yeah?" Clara joked nervously.
That was when their newest arrival turned to look at her with such a look of intense anger that Clara actually found herself unconsciously taking a step back from her withering gaze.
"Why am I not surprised to find you here? I should have known that you would come along to stop me sooner or later. You always do after all even if you don't always succeed," The woman said with an amused laugh as she stared right at Clara with accusing eyes.
"I'm sorry? Have we met before?" Clara said in confusion.
She couldn't help but notice that Clara Prime had just turned pale. She looked absolutely terrified of this woman whoever she was.
"Oh, many times, Clara Oswald. Many times. And let's not even count all of the times that you've saved your precious Champion from me. He should have always been my Champion though really not yours. After all I am the one who has always been his constant companion throughout all of his lives while you have mostly remained a fleeting shadow in them until recently," The woman said in a furious voice as all traces of her former smile rapidly left her face.
Clara looked more than a bit confused now as she said in a jovial tone, "Are you talking about the Doctor? I think you've got a few things wrong there. First of all he's hardly my Champion. I mean I am his boss. That's just a given. It's not like I give him assignments to do or anything though. He's really more of a weekly distraction or an ongoing hobby than an employee. Besides he's the one who should be paying me just for putting up with him."
The dark haired woman slowly moved closer to her now as she said in a threatening tone, "You always have the ready made quip on hand at all times to use against your enemies don't you, Sister? I've always hated that about you. At least Sarah Jane knows to show me some respect. Your constant need to laugh in my face at all times isn't endearing or brave in the slightest though. It's merely a sign of your own inherit stupidity instead."
Then she briefly turned to look at Clara Prime with a sinister grin as she said, "You found that lesson out the hard way when you faced the raven didn't you? Or how about when you lost your precious Mr. Pink at my hands? Not so cocky then were you?"
Clara Prime's face turned red and she clenched her fists in anger in response as she said in a cold voice, "Don't you dare mention his name to me."
"Oh, did I just hit a nerve?" Death said in a mocking tone.
"Just who are you supposed to be anyway and why are you calling me your sister? I mean can you cut the cryptic bit for a minute and just tell me what it is you want already?" Clara said in an annoyed voice.
"Clara, be careful. Don't let your guard down for a single instant," Clara Prime warned as the sinister woman moved ever closer to Clara.
"Who is she though? Can't someone just tell me what's going on here? Is she working with the Valeyard or something?" Clara asked in bewilderment.
The dark haired woman laughed as she said, "I've always walked by the Valeyard's side in one way or another since the day he was born, Sister. You might say I put the Theta in Theta Sigma."
"Listen, whoever you are. There's one thing that I know for sure and that's that I am not your sister!" Clara said in an angry voice as she finally lost her temper at last.
The woman shrugged as she said, "Not this version of you, no. You're still my true enemy in the end though. You always have been in one guise or another. It's always been you who ultimately keeps him out of my grasp. It's you who made him your champion when he should have been mine. What a glorious partnership we would have had together if not for you! He's already caused more than enough destruction just by trying to 'help' others. Just think of what he could do if he really put his mind to it. Don't get me wrong. The Valeyard is very good at what he does but he's incomplete and always will be. The original Doctor would be far superior and would have been much better suited to be seated at my right hand than the Master ever was. The Master is a mere amateur compared to the man who was willing to destroy his own people. And yet you kept him from becoming mine even then by talking him out of such a glorious act of destruction. Like I said, it's always been you."
Clara's eyes widened now as she said, "I think I know who you are now. Rose told me all about how she rescued the Master from having to serve you for the rest of his lives and removed your hold on him around the same time that she took the drums out of his head. You've also been threatening to kill Sarah Jane's fiance too recently. You've just been all kinds of busy lately, haven't you? I'm right aren't I? You're Death."
Death smiled and curtseyed to her sarcastically as she said, "Or you could call me Ariana Duquesne if you wish like Sarah Jane does because she refuses to acknowledge the truth about me. It's my current favorite pseudonym by the way. I tend to favor that name in my dealings with others because the name Death just tends to turn people off for some reason."
"Really? I can't imagine why," Jenna said with a nervous chuckle.
"It all makes sense now. Well . . . most of it does anyway," Clara said in a thoughtful voice as she immediately placed herself protectively in front of Jenna.
"I'm glad it does to someone. Now could you kindly explain it to me please?" Jenna asked impatiently.
"She's an Eternal who fancies herself to be the embodiment of Death so she's been talking metaphorically this whole time with all of that stuff about me keeping the Doctor from her. Despite what she says she's not really Death though so don't worry. She's just another cosmic nutter with delusions of grandeur instead. I mean she's plenty dangerous obviously but she's not the actual Grim Reaper or anything," Clara said in what she desperately hoped was a chipper voice even though she was feeling far from cheerful at that moment.
"Aren't the Eternals pretty much all powerful though and capable of completely altering reality on a whim? Does it really matter if she's not the actual Reaper or not when she can do things like that?" Jenna said with a frown.
"Finally someone who's properly impressed. It's about time. Usually I at least have someone faint at the mention of my name by now. I was beginning to think that I was losing my touch," Death said with a mad twinkle in her eyes.
"So I take it that you're here to keep us from rescuing the other Clara from the Valeyard, yeah?" Clara said as she quickly changed the subject.
Death smiled as she said, "I'm here to keep you from interfering in my plans period, dear. This time you will not stand in my way as so many versions of you have in the past. This reality will soon belong to me just as it always should have right from the start because I finally have a new champion at my side at last. One who not even you or your mother will be able to take away from me this time."
"Watch her. She's up to something, Ashy," Clara Prime said in an anxious voice.
Death laughed as she said, "Actually it was never me that you had to worry about. My appearance here was merely a distraction to keep you from realizing what the true danger facing you was until it was far too late to do anything about it."
That was when a suspicious Ashildr suddenly looked at the console and said in a panicked voice, "Clara, there's another massive shockwave that's about to hit this planet at any . . . !"
There wasn't even time to prepare themselves for what was to come before the entire TARDIS completely disintegrated around them in a single instant! Clara then saw to her horror that it wasn't just the TARDIS that had been torn apart. It was the entire planet itself.
The planet Chaos had been completely blown apart.
Now Clara and the others suddenly found themselves helplessly drifting in space amid its rubble as they looked around them in stunned disbelief.
Luckily Clara had instinctively covered the entire TARDIS crew (Death wasn't with them because she had done a convenient disappearing act) inside of a protective force field the moment that she had realized that something was wrong. She doubted that even she or Ashildr would have survived being suddenly exposed to the vacuum of space otherwise and she knew that Jenna wouldn't have.
That was when she noticed for the first time that Jenna wasn't there and her heart suddenly stopped.
"Jenna? Jenna!" Clara screamed in fear.
"Clara, she's gone," Clara Prime said in a somber voice.
"Where did she go? I don't see her anywhere. I don't . . . I can't find her. I don't sense her anywhere. This can't be happening. I - I was supposed to protect her. This is my fault. I shouldn't have listened to her. I should have just sent her home," Clara said in an emotional voice as she struggled to keep herself from falling apart.
"There was nothing that you could have done, Clara. It all happened much too quickly. This is a perfect example of the basic fragility of the mayflies' existence and it's just as well that you realized that right now. This is only the first of many such losses that you'll have to get used to eventually in the future I'm afraid," Ashildr said in a completely emotionless tone.
Clara immediately became filled with anger as she said, "I don't think so. I haven't even begun to give up on her just yet. I haven't given her permission to die so she's not going anywhere. End of story, Immortal Girl!"
"I remember when you used to be like that," Ashildr said to Clara Prime with a sigh.
"What do you mean used to be?" Clara Prime said with a brief smirk before giving Clara a sympathetic look.
Clara was so grateful that at least one of them understood what she was going through at that moment. She wasn't giving up no matter what Ashildr said. She would find Jenna somehow.
She had to.
Meanwhile at that very moment Jenna was worrying just as much about Clara as she was about her as she repeatedly called her name while drifting through what seemed to be an endless black void. Where was she and what had happened to the others?
For that matter, how was she even still alive?
Then she suddenly felt a presence all around her which caused her to call out in an uncertain voice, "Hello? Who's there?"
"Don't worry. You're perfectly safe here. I've merely borrowed you for a while so that we could talk," A familiar voice said even as it seemed to come from all around her at once.
"Clara? Is that you?" Jenna said in a hopeful tone.
"Yes and no. I guess that all depends upon your point of view doesn't it?" The voice suddenly said from behind her.
Jenna suddenly turned her head around to see a near perfect double of Clara hovering through the darkness behind her. She wasn't a complete doppleganger of Clara however because unlike Clara Prime or even herself she differed from Clara in one very noticeable and fairly obvious way.
Jenna instantly laughed as she said in an amused voice, "You're tall! I mean you must be at least six and a half feet. Maybe even seven. Well, someone's certainly overcompensating for something aren't they? You don't have to feel that bad about not rescuing me right away, Clara."
The woman before her smiled at her kindly as she said, "I'm afraid that I am not Clara Oswald, my friend, although I can easily see how I might be mistaken for her since we are so very similar in appearance. I've often wondered if I might be one of her many echoes somehow even though I'm far from human. In truth, I honestly don't know if I am or not. My sister certainly suspects that I am anyway and I have to admit that it would explain a great deal about me especially my sense of protectiveness towards the Doctor."
Jenna looked at her intently now as several things began to suddenly click into place for her at once.
"Let me guess. You're Death's sister aren't you? You're the one who she kept talking about when she said that you made the Doctor into your Champion instead of hers. I remember reading something about that somewhere when I researched the show. Some of the books based on it used to call the Doctor Time's Champion even though that was never mentioned in the show itself. Now I wish I had paid more attention to that because I really don't remember much about it," Jenna realized.
The strange woman who was and yet wasn't Clara nodded as she said, "Yes, I am the Eternal who was once known to the ancient Gallifreyans as Time. In the era before Rassilon moved Gallifrey solely towards the path of science and reason, they worshipped me and my twin sisters, who they called Pain and Death, as goddesses and thought of us as embodying certain abstract universal concepts. In truth we were never gods in any way, shape, or form and that notion always disturbed me greatly even though I tried to use my influence among them in a benevolent and positive manner. I helped them to grow and to advance ever further as a people towards what I knew was always going to be their eventual destiny to rule over all of time and space."
"I bet your sister was far from a positive influence on them though," Jenna noted.
Time nodded as she said, "Unfortunately that is true. If she had had her way, the Gallifreyans would have become her mindless thralls and entirely subjugated the universe to her will long ago instead of becoming the protectors of time and space that they later did. I helped ensure that that never happened however by always opposing her every time that she attempted to corrupt them."
"Everything Lady Grim said is finally starting to make sense," Jenna said with a thoughtful look.
Then she winced as she said, "Great. Now I'm even starting to talk like Clara with the cute little nicknames. I've really got to watch that. Talk about getting too wrapped up in a role. Then again most actors don't actually get to meet the characters that they play do they?"
Time smiled at her enigmatically as she said, "Perhaps you and Clara are linked in far more ways than even you realize."
Jenna looked at her quizzically as she said, "What do you mean by that? Are you trying to say that I'm another one of her echoes? Now that would certainly be ironic since I'm the one who wound up playing her in my universe, wouldn't it?"
Time shrugged as she said, "Perhaps or perhaps it is she that is an echo of you somehow. Maybe you were always destined to become Clara Oswald in every universe in one way or another. It could be that you're far more important than even you realize."
Jenna was beginning to become disturbed by this conversation now and desperately tried to change the subject as she said, "Is that why you brought me here? To tell me that? Or was there another reason?"
Time smiled at her warmly as she said, "I brought you here in part so that Clara wouldn't have to worry about protecting you during the confrontation that is still to come. She won't be able to afford to have anything distracting her when she stands against the Valeyard especially since what he's about to tell her will already be distracting enough as it is."
Jenna groaned as she said, "Do any of you cosmic types ever talk in a straightforward manner or is it always in riddles?"
Time actually laughed at that, it was a musical and strangely beautiful sound Jenna noted, as she said, "Yes, we do tend to get wrapped up in our own importance don't we? There are many things that we cannot outright say to you and your fellow Ephemerals however or we would risk potentially seriously damaging the Web of Time to which even we are intricately connected. Even we as powerful as we are have rules that we must follow. My sister however intends to completely throw that rulebook out along with the very shape and design of the Web itself if her ultimate plan succeeds. She wishes to completely rewrite all of existence to suit her whims instead. That and those of her allies."
"Allies? Now we're starting to get somewhere. So she's not just working with the Valeyard then? And who is this new champion that she was talking about that she replaced the Master with? This is just like trying to solve a mystery. You know I'm really starting to love this despite all of the danger," Jenna said in an excited voice.
"Always be mindful of the reckless behavior of the original Clara and remember what happened to her as a result of her actions. I cannot always be there to pluck you to safety at the first sign of danger," Time warned.
Jenna nodded as she said, "I understand. I'll try to rein in the enthusiasm a bit even if it is hard to do at times. I can really see why she loved this life so much though now that I'm actually living it myself."
Time gave her a look of approval as she said, "You will perhaps get far more excitement than you might have ever wished for soon. I didn't just separate you from Clara in order to keep her from being distracted after all. I had a specific purpose for you in mind. You will have a new part to play in a moment. The biggest one of your career in fact."
"What are you talking about? What part?" Jenna asked in confusion.
"You might say that it's one you've spent years preparing for. Good luck, Jenna. All of time and space will be counting on you to play this particular role to perfection," Time said as she started to vanish.
"What? What are you talking about? What's going on?" Jenna demanded.
Then suddenly she found herself sitting alone in the middle of a huge ornate bedroom that looked far too alien in nature to have been built by human beings. What she was already beginning to suspect in that moment was quickly confirmed as she glanced down at her clothing and realized that she was now wearing the exact same robes that she had seen Clara wearing as Lady President of Gallifrey!
"Why am I dressed like this? Lady Time, can you still hear me? What's going on? What do you want me to do?" Jenna asked out loud in a growing state of panic.
Relax. Time's voice instantly said in her mind in a soothing tone.
"That's easy for you to say. You're not the one suddenly being plucked down in the middle of a strange room wearing someone else's clothes are you? What am I doing here and what is this role that you want me to play? Say something!" Jenna demanded.
Suddenly the entire situation instantly became self explanatory as a Chancellery Guard came into the room and sighed in relief as he said, "There you are, Madam President. I thought for sure that the High Council would have my head for losing you. One of them claims that they couldn't find you earlier when they sent someone to remind you that you were to attend their next meeting today. You know some of the Council were actually threatening to call for a vote of no confidence in your leadership and attempt to replace you on the spot if I couldn't find you in the next few minutes. It's absolute nonsense of course and obviously a feeble attempt to depose you by those who never liked the idea of a human being appointed as President. I'm sure whoever they sent probably didn't look very hard for that very reason. Either that or it was just pure incompetence. It's typical of those lazy oafs to just look in one place for a few minutes and then start screaming."
Then the man winced as he seemed to remember who he was addressing and said, "I'm sorry, Ma'am. I meant no disrespect to the Council of course. I merely spoke out of turn. I think it's because you make one feel as if they're talking to a friend instead of a superior. I know that's not really an excuse though and I deeply apologize. I – I hope that my comments won't have to be passed along to anyone else."
So this was what she was supposed to do? Play Clara? That didn't sound so hard. She could do that with no problems whatsoever. In fact it was almost like second nature to her by now to take on Clara's persona. She'd done it for three years after all and she had even played Queen Victoria recently so playing Clara as Lady President shouldn't be a problem in the slightest.
She could do this.
Jenna smiled at the guard now as she instantly went into the role of Clara without a moment's hesitation and said, "Don't worry. They won't hear a thing about it from me. Mum's the word, yeah?"
As the guard began to smile in relief, she leaned forward and said in a conspiratorial manner, "Believe me. I agree with you about them one hundred percent. We'll just keep that between ourselves though, won't we?"
The guard actually laughed as he said, "Yes, Ma'am."
Then to Jenna's surprise he actually saluted her as he said, "Speaking off the record, Ma'am, I'd like to say that you're a definite improvement over all of the other Presidents that I've served under. Now I can see why the rest of the guards like you so much. I liked your sister President Jennifer too of course but you're just more . . . relatable to me somehow."
Jenna smiled and decided to play up Clara's massive ego as she said in a smug voice, "Thank you. I've always liked to think myself as being just an ordinary everyday girl who doesn't look down on others despite the fact that I'm a natural born leader who's absolutely brilliant."
The guard looked at her oddly as she laughed and said, "That was a joke. I do that sometimes especially when I'm just a bit nervous."
The guard nodded and looked more at ease now as he said, "Just relax, Madam President. I'm sure that this meeting will go absolutely fine. Would you like a minute to compose yourself first before I take you there?"
Jenna began to instantly start panicking once more now as she said, "You mean the meeting's happening right now?"
"In just a few minutes, yes. It should be nothing to be worried about from what I've heard of it though, Ma'am. It will be just as routine as all of your other meetings with the Council . . . and just as boring too I'm sure," The guard said with a reassuring smile.
Jenna fought hard to overcome a rising sense of anxiety now as she laughed and said, "Yeah, you're probably right. Could I just have a few minutes to myself before we go?"
The guard saluted her and said, "Of course, Ma'am. I'll be just outside if you need me."
"Thank you," Jenna said as he left the room.
As soon as he was gone, she immediately began to become filled with terror as she said to herself in a low voice, "Okay, so it turns out that I can't do this after all. I have absolutely no idea what a meeting of the High Council is like or what goes on there. They're going to know that I'm not Clara right away and then there's no telling what they'll do next. They might even accuse me of being a spy or something. Lady Time, where are you?"
This time Time did not answer her however and that was when she realized that she was truly alone.
What was she going to do?
Meanwhile back in the ruins of what used to be the planet Chaos, Clara was feeling a similar sense of despair at that moment as all of her attempts to find Jenna had been nothing but an absolute failure so far. She had drifted away from Clara Prime and Ashildr, but not so far that she couldn't still maintain a force field around them, and had been searching the floating rubble by herself for almost twenty minutes now. She still hadn't turned up a single clue as to what had happened to her friend in all of that time however.
She was beginning to fear that Ashildr was right after all and that made her wonder why the Doctor had ever decided to take along any traveling companions with him over the centuries much less so many of them.
How did he ever overcome this crippling sense of guilt whenever he lost one? For that matter why would he have ever wanted to risk going through something like this again by taking on another one?
She was beginning to develop an all new appreciation for the Old Man now that she would have much rather done without instead.
Suddenly without warning she found herself right in the middle of a darkened TARDIS Console Room that only had a faint light which it used to illuminate its interior. It was so dim that Clara could barely see anything around her and certainly not with any great detail. The entire room centered around a much larger than normal dark red console that had easily filled up most of it and was constantly moving up and down at a far more rapid rate than the Doctor's console usually did. She didn't have to hear the Valeyard speak in the very next moment to know that this was obviously his own TARDIS. The depressive atmosphere of this place fit him to a T.
"Don't worry, Clara. I'll relieve you of that sense of justifiable guilt soon enough now. Think of it as being my last present to you for old time's sake," The mocking voice of the Valeyard said behind her.
An enraged Clara quickly whirled around to see a glowing Valeyard standing there with a look of triumph on his face.
"You finally stole the other Clara's powers after all I see. So did you kill her too?" Clara said in a voice dripping with venom.
The Valeyard shook his head as he said in a sinister tone, "No, actually she's very much alive at the moment. Here. Let me show you."
He gestured to the rapidly moving console and as she looked closer at it Clara realized to her horror that her alternate universe counterpart, the former Psycho Clara, was now trapped inside of it!
"What did you do to her?" Clara asked in a sickened voice as she saw that the Psycho Clara's eyes were closed and she wasn't moving.
The Valeyard smiled and looked absolutely unconcerned in any way whatsoever as he said, "She's filled with so much power that I couldn't possibly absorb it all at once safely so I'm slowly draining it from her a little at a time along with her greatly lengthened lifespan. Until that process is finished, she's in absolutely no danger of dying at all I assure you. In fact she's performing a very useful purpose by powering my TARDIS with the rest of her energies. She's increased its efficiency a thousand fold at the very least if not more so."
"So you've made her into an oversized battery in other words. And for what? So that you can get your petty little revenge on the Grace by blowing up their planet with her stolen energy? Is that it? Whatever your reasons are, they definitely weren't worth losing Jenna over. I'm not about to let you get away with making her your victim in this little grudge match between you and the Grace," Clara said in a cold voice.
The Valeyard's face became deadly serious now as he said, "There is far more between us than a mere 'grudge match' as you so graciously put it, Clara. The Grace are not the benevolent protectors of the universe that they would have you believe that they are. They're far from it in fact."
Clara looked at him skeptically as she said, "Uh, huh. Right. Next you'll be telling me that you're actually the good guy in all of this and that you're really just trying to protect the rest of the universe from them. Is that it?"
The Valeyard smiled as he said, "You're actually not far from the truth. I may not be a 'good guy' as you put it but then neither are they. They've done things that would definitely make you think twice about exactly which side you should be on in our little 'grudge match' with one another I think."
"Somehow I highly doubt that. Nothing you could tell me about them even if it was true could ever be as bad as the things that you've done. She was my friend, Valeyard. I know you've completely forgotten what having a friend means but it still matters to me. I was supposed to protect her and I failed and it's all thanks to you!" Clara said in a voice that was rapidly becoming filled with anger.
"And what if I told you that she's not dead? Would that help calm you down long enough to hear me out?" The Valeyard said in an impatient voice.
"And why should I believe anything that you said? You seem to forget that I know you much too well, Brickyard. If you were Pinocchio, you'd have a nose long enough to circle the entire universe twenty times over," Clara said in a scornful tone.
"And you wouldn't?" The Valeyard said with a condescending grin.
"I'm nowhere near as bad as you are. Not even on my worst day," Clara said defensively.
"Ah, the lies that we tell ourselves just to get by. You even lie to yourself I see. Not that that really surprises me of course. This time I'm truly not lying however believe it or not, my dear. I saw her suddenly vanish just before she would have been consumed in the explosion of Chaos," The Valeyard said.
"What do you mean she vanished? Where did she go?" Clara demanded in an anxious voice.
"No doubt she was rescued by the Grace or one of their allies and is even now being used as a pawn to fulfill yet another hidden agenda of theirs that they just can't be bothered to tell the rest of us lesser beings about. Notice how they couldn't tell you themselves that she was still alive? Or even to contact you period for that matter? Do you really want to trust beings like that, Clara?" The Valeyard asked in what almost seemed to be a genuinely angry voice.
"I'd much rather trust them than you any day. How do I know that they're even still alive anyway? I haven't seen a trace of them anywhere either I noticed. For all I know you could have just killed all of them too in that explosion," Clara accused.
The Valeyard shook his head as he said in a voice filled with regret, "No, that attack was nowhere near powerful enough to kill even one of the Grace much less all of them. They all escaped in order to plague the universe another day unfortunately. Blowing up their home definitely got their attention though and more importantly it deprived them of the Chaos Pool. It was destroyed right along with Chaos itself."
"So? What good does that do you?" Clara asked curiously.
The Valeyard's malevolent smile slowly began to fill his entire face as he said, "The Chaos Pool was where the Grace created the Key to Time back at the very dawn of this universe. In order to create an object with that much power however they had to permanently link the Pool to their own life force. In other words, it became a part of them. It was such a vital, integral part in fact that without it they're no longer the beings that they used to be. So you see even though I didn't kill them by destroying the pool I've already won."
Clara mulled his words over in his mind as she said in a thoughtful tone, " 'They're no longer the beings that they used to be'."
Then her eyes widened as she said, "You mean they're dying don't you? Without the Pool, the Grace are actually dying."
The Valeyard's smile widened so much that Clara couldn't help but wonder why his entire head wasn't swallowed up by it as he said, "Exactly, my dear. The Grace now are just as mortal as any of those that they supposedly protect. They're even more so in fact because they only have a few months to live at the most now. The Pool was far too much a part of them you see? They had to link both it and the Key to themselves in order for it to work like it did. That was their fatal weakness. One that they hoped that no one would ever discover. Unfortunately for them, however, I did . . . with a little help from a trusted source."
"Let me guess. A little birdie named Death told you, right?" Clara said with a frown.
The Valeyard nodded as he said in a voice filled with pride, "I knew you'd put it all together before too long."
"Yeah, but I didn't do it fast enough unfortunately. Now I've not only lost Jenna but I've also basically just gotten the Grace killed by chin wagging away with Death until it was much too late to stop you. And to think I actually thought that I was cut out to be the Doctor once. I guess that settles that once and for all doesn't it?" Clara said in a despondent voice.
"No one's perfect. Even I've made my share of mistakes from time to time," The Valeyard said in what almost sounded like a sympathetic tone to Clara's surprise.
"Now I know you're up to something. You're being nice to me," Clara said suspiciously.
That was when she tried to establish mental contact with Clara Prime to ask her if she could see any signs that the Valeyard was up to something. Her anxiety level immediately shot up by several notches as she quickly realized that she could no longer sense her presence anywhere.
She instantly looked at the Valeyard accusingly then as she said, "What did you do with Zombie Me and Ashy?"
The Valeyard chuckled as he said, "You didn't even realize just how close that you had truly grown to Jenna until now did you? Believe me. Such things happen a lot quicker than you realize at times just as they did between the two of us once. The sudden shock of her loss has obviously left you far too distracted to function properly or you would have already noticed that your counterpart from the alternate reality had vanished long before now. You should be wary of letting your emotions control you so much in the future, my dear. It might just turn out to be the end of you one day soon enough now if you're not careful."
"You'd be so broken up over that too I'm sure. I'm not going to ask again. Where are they?" Clara demanded as she began to glow brighter and brighter with Vortex energy by the moment.
It was a not so subtle threat against the Valeyard that he couldn't possibly miss. That was why he quickly opened a hidden area of the Console Room to reveal Clara Prime and Ashildr being held in place and completely immobilized by a powerful force field. They were now both staring at Clara with eyes filled with an unspoken warning which just made the pressure she was feeling at that moment become even worse as she realized that she was now the only one left to stop whatever the Valeyard was up to now.
"As you can see, they're still very much alive. They'll continue to remain that way too as long as you stay out of my way. Just allow me to find and finally finish off the Grace once and for all, and I'll gladly release both them and the so called Psycho Clara to you unharmed," The Valeyard offered.
Clara suddenly realized then that he was still not powerful enough to fight her by himself just yet and was afraid of her (and rightfully so). That had to be it or he wouldn't currently be trying to make a bargain with her like he was.
No wonder he was being so nice to her.
She couldn't help but smile as that realization helped bolster her sagging confidence somewhat and made her realize that she still had a chance to win this after all. She could still stop the Valeyard, rescue Jenna wherever she was, and sit things right again somehow. She knew she could.
Maybe she could even find a way to save the Grace. She'd certainly seen the Doctor pull off even crazier last minute saves with far greater odds against him after all.
"Clara, wait! You'll be making a huge mistake if you stop me now. You have to listen to me," The Valeyard said in an anxious voice as he instantly realized what she was thinking just by reading the expression on her face.
"And why should I do that? Give me one good reason, Future Boy," Clara said as she began to rapidly advance towards him with a confident smile on her face while her hands crackled with energy.
The Valeyard hesitated for a moment as if he were actually afraid to speak and then he finally blurted out, "The Grace are responsible for Arkytior becoming Rose."
"What?" Clara said in a stunned voice as she suddenly stopped in her tracks and stared at him intensely.
The Valeyard nodded in affirmation as he said, "It's true. You'll remember I'm sure that the renegade Time Lords known as the Celestial Intervention Agency purposely sent Arkytior to Earth on a false diplomatic mission in order to draw her into a trap."
"And once she got to Earth, the so-called mission turned out to be a Dalek invasion instead and they shot her TARDIS down which caused her to regenerate and become Rose as a result.* Yeah, she told me all about that," Clara said impatiently as she wondered where he was going with this.
"And did Rose ever tell you how she had actually defeated the entire Dalek fleet all by herself and was just about to leave Earth with her TARDIS still intact just before she was suddenly hit by one last Dalek blast that brought her ship down? She had always thought that the Daleks had gotten off one last shot before they were destroyed," The Valeyard added.
"They got lucky unfortunately. It happens sometimes," Clara said still not understanding what he was talking about.
The Valeyard shook his head as he said, "No, it was far from luck, Clara. The Daleks weren't the ones who fired that last shot at Arkytior's TARDIS. She was attacked by the Grace."
"No, that can't be right," Clara said in disbelief.
The Valeyard nodded emphatically as he said, "It is though I'm afraid. The Grace wanted her to become Rose and to stop hiding in fear of her powers like she had been for so long. They knew that if she were to become human that she would finally be the person who she always would have been without the deep paranoia that her powers had instilled in her from a young age to hold her back any longer. They knew that a far more confident Rose would be much more willing to use her powers freely and they could then make her into the new White Guardian and use her to do all of their dirty work. They completely changed her entire life in a single moment for their own purposes."
Then what seemed to Clara to be an almost earnest anger filled the Valeyard's voice as he added, "They kept us apart for nine hundred years because of what they did, Clara. They took her away from me and caused me to be alone for far too long. They can't just be allowed to get away with something like that can they?"
Clara now just stood there before him frozen in indecision because she wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Could this actually be true? Had the Grace deliberately manipulated Rose's life for their own purposes?
Rose had always said to her that she never truly trusted them. Could it be that her instincts were right after all.
The Valeyard now seemed to be almost reaching out to her as he said in a pleading voice, "Clara, you must believe me. For once, I'm on the right side. Stay out of this and let me finish them. They're far too dangerous to be free. Let me stop them before they hurt someone else. Let me stop them before they ruin someone else's life."
Part of Clara wanted to believe him and another part was warning her that the Doctor had always been a master liar when he had needed to be. Who better to know how to manipulate her so completely and efficiently than her best friend after all?
A war raged unseen in her mind for a brief moment and then she finally made her decision at last as she said in a determined voice, "Even if it is true I won't just stand by and let you murder them. That's not what I'm about and it's not what the real Doctor's about either."
The Valeyard nodded as he said in a voice filled with regret, "Yes, I thought you might feel that way but I had to try."
"It's over, Valeyard. This ends now and then I'll go pay the Grace a visit myself later," Clara said.
The Valeyard shook his head as he said, "I don't think so. I've come much too far to stop now."
"You're going to have to kill me to stop me now," Clara promised.
"Or I could just leave you behind," The Valeyard said as he suddenly began to dematerialize his TARDIS with a remote control he had suddenly pulled from his pocket.
"No!" Clara shouted in frustration as she realized that the ship was rapidly leaving her behind and taking her friends along with it.
Once it was completely gone, she was left drifting alone in space and unable to even so much as find the Valeyard again thanks to her inexperience with her powers. Her heart finally began to fill with absolute despair at last in that moment. She had completely mucked this whole thing up in every way possible now.
She hated to admit it but she had to get help before it was too late to save anyone.
Then almost as if on cue she found herself plucked out of space and back in her living room back on Earth where she was face to face with a deeply concerned Mary.
"Clara? What's wrong?" Mary said as she realized immediately that Clara was extremely upset about something.
"Everything," Clara said in a voice filled with pain as she wrapped her arms around Mary and hugged her tightly.
"It's going to be alright, Clara. You'll work it all out somehow. You always do," Mary whispered to her in a reassuring voice as she softly rubbed soothing circles on the middle of her back
Mary was the only light left in a world that seemed far too dark to her at that moment.
Clara resolved right then and there that once all of this was over that she was going to tell her how she really felt about her. She owed her that much at least along with an explanation as to why they could never be anything more than friends.
If she knew Mary, she wouldn't let it go at that though, and part of her didn't want her to if she was being honest with herself. Despite what she thought was a very good reason for them not to be a couple, her heart didn't want to give up on them that easily.
Her heart wanted to believe that there was always hope somehow. What a strange thing to think especially after everything that had just happened wasn't it?
"Can you vague it up a little more for me, Clara? I'm with Mary on this one. I'd like to know what happened too if you don't mind," A familiar voice said from behind her that suddenly brought her out of her thoughts.
Clara suddenly pulled away from Mary as she turned to face the newcomer with a snarl of rage and shouted, "You've got a lot of explaining to do yourself!"
Neko, the newest and most inexperienced member of the Grace not to mention the Christina de Souza of a previous universe, held up her hands in surrender and said in a confused voice, "Clara, I'm not sure why you're so angry with me but I'm sure it's some kind of misunderstanding somehow. We need to talk about this whatever it is. You can start by telling me what happened to Chaos and the rest of the Grace. I just came back to find it completely blown apart and you floating there all alone. Tell me happened, Clara. Please."
Clara hesitated because it was obvious that Neko was completely in the dark.
"You weren't there when the Valeyard attacked?" Clara asked.
"Is that what happened? No, the Grace sent me away on some kind of wild goose chase. They said that I needed to help save this civilization called the Vong from having their planet destroyed in a supernova. I thought at the time that it wasn't their usual style since they don't usually interfere in the affairs of the universe themselves most of the time, but I didn't question it too much because they had never lied to me before. Until now that is."
"What do you mean by that?" Clara asked as she began to realize what must have happened.
"When I got to the so called planet of the Vong not only had the people there never even heard of the Vong but their sun was just fine. It showed no signs at all of even so much as starting to go supernova. They lied to me, Clara. I don't know why but they lied, and I'm supposed to be their new leader," Neko said in a hurt voice.
"They wanted to protect you," Clara realized.
"What?" Neko asked in a confused voice.
"They knew. Somehow they had to have known. They knew that the Valeyard was about to destroy the Chaos Pool and they sent you away to protect you," Clara said with a smile.
Neko shuddered as she said, "He . . . I can't believe it. They . . . They're all going to die now. How did he even know about that?"
"A little birdie told him. You said they are going to die? Not you though?" Clara asked.
"No, I wasn't a part of the Grace when they made the Pool. That was a long time ago. I'll be just fine. Completely alone and practically defenseless since I haven't finished fully learning how to use my powers just yet but otherwise fine. Yay, me," Neko said with a forlorn look on her face.
Despite how Neko felt at that moment Clara couldn't help but feel that the Grace had been a little vindicated in some ways. Yes, the Grace had lied to Neko but they had done so to save her life. They were afraid that their inexperienced leader would die if she stayed on Chaos during the Valeyard's attack.
Why hadn't they saved their own lives though? Nothing about that made any sense to her whatsoever.
She also still couldn't help but wonder if what the Valeyard had said about them had been true. It seemed less unlikely in the wake of the story of how they had saved Neko, but Clara couldn't ignore it entirely.
She had to know the truth and if it was true she would have to tell Rose. She would never be able to hide something like that from her even if it would wind up hurting her.
She had a right to know.
Somewhere in time and space the Valeyard felt a grim sense of satisfaction in that moment. Everything was going exactly as he had planned it. He was as sure of that as he was that Clara had just decided to find out the truth for herself and to tell Rose about it if it turned out to be right.
He knew her far too well to ever expect her to act otherwise after all.
"I have to admit that I was just as surprised as Clara by that last little revelation of yours. Is it really true? Did the Grace actually cause the creation of Rose Tyler? They've always found a way to keep their actions from being observed by even the most powerful of my kind in the past so I honestly don't know," Death said as she appeared next to him in the Console Room.
The Valeyard gave her a blank look that could have been the ultimate poker face in response as he said in an emotionless voice, "Does it really matter to you one way or the other?"
"I suppose not. As soon as what you just told her gets to Rose's ears, then the Grace will have just lost their greatest ally. That's all that really matters in the end anyway. That was an excellent example of the strategy of divide and conquer in action. See? You and I really are a perfect team aren't we?" Death said in a voice filled with praise.
The Valeyard only nodded and turned away from her without speaking another word.
*The whole story is in War of the Guardians Chapter 34 if you need your memory refreshed.
Next: It's up to Clara and Neko to save the rest of the Grace, not to mention Clara's friends, from the Valeyard before it's too late. Even if they do though, will the Valeyard's accusations against them be just as effective a form of revenge against them in the end as their deaths would have been? I guess it all kind of depends on whether its true or not doesn't it? Plus we'll find out exactly why Jenna has to pretend to be Clara and more importantly if she can actually pull it off or not. Oh, and Clara finally comes clean with Mary at last about her feelings. Is this the end of their relationship before it's even gotten started or just the beginning?