Greeting my lovelies!

Okay so I know this story has gotten really depressing lately, but I promise it won't stay that way forever! (my fingers are not crossed or anything! I swear) So thank you all so much for sticking with me through all the angst, I know i'm evil to put our characters through all this.

Anyway that was my public service announcement for the day ;)

People who review get cookies and hugs (and maybe a sneak peek into the future)

Enjoy :D

~The Door~

Time passes and Clara has no response for King Toby's offer. She still has no way out of Shades and back to her little village. Even if she did get home could she ever be happy with a life fixing computers now? No one would ever believe her story, they would think Clara lost her mind. How could she just go on pretending none of this happened?

Pretending he never happened.

She's been used, controlled, and violated in every possible way. She's made friends, discovered a new world, and fallen in love. And now Clara understands true heartbreak and the meaning of grief. Denying all of it would drive her mad, not that she doesn't think maybe she already is. Keeping her sanity seems too much to ask.

But can Clara stay here in the place where she was imprisoned, rapped, and forced to watch the love of her life die in her arms? Everything thing here reminds her of him and it's too much. And there's the other memories, the ones which make her violently ill when she sees Oswin's door.

No. I'm not fucking going there again. Clara shakes her head trying to force down that train of thought. She can't keep going over what happened. There's nothing she could have done. It isn't here her fault. Replaying Harold's fingers around her throat only served to upset her. And Lord knows she already has enough to do that with.

The clock on Rose's gray wood mantel strikes twelve, the tiny bell chime pulling her back to the present. Its cheerful tone is discordant with the mood of the room. Jack and Alonso are on the plush settee across from her, that's floral patterned fabric nearly disappears into the plant filled wall behind them. They came to visit Clara everyday in an attempt to cheer her up, which she greatly appreciates even if it doesn't work.

The room has lapsed into somber silence again. Clara feels guilty for causing it, then of course she feels guilty for feeling guilty for grieving. It's a never ending spiral that makes her head hurt.

"I brought you something." Alonso smiles hesitantly seeing her comeback to herself. He leans down to pull a small worn book from his bag. "It's a collection of fairytales."

Clara takes the book running her fingers over the faded cover almost reverently. And for the first time since the funeral she smiles. Fairytales, where everything ends with 'happily ever after' and true love always wins. It is the kind of ridiculous optimism John possessed. It's what he would tell her to believe in. A happy ending, no matter how dark things were or how impossible it seemed. That there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Thank you." She say, her voice watery. "For everything."

Wordlessly Rose pushes the white bone china platter of sandwiches towards her and finally Clara agrees to eat. However subtly, something has shifted.

That doesn't stop her from jumping nearly a foot in the air when Martha suddenly bursts into the room. Her dark cheeks are flushed and her eyes are fever bright. Clearly she ran all the way down to Rose's chambers by the way her breast is straining against the tight leather corset.

"She is not dead!" Martha gasps out urgently.

Jack and Alonso both leap to their feet in the presence of a lady which Martha completely disregards. Clara's never seen her this worked up before. Her heart constricts with fear. Dear god what's happened now? What else could possibly go wrong?

"Who is not?" Rose asks calmly. There is a flash of the Bad Wolf in her eyes.

Exasperation flits across Martha's features. "Oswin! Oswin is not dead!"

"How do you know?" Clara gasps, sitting up straighter. Her mind reels at the implications of what this could mean.

"Where is she?" Jack declares speaking at the same time.

"You found the book." Rose is quicker on the uptake than the rest of them.

Martha nods causing her jet earrings to swing wildly. "Clara was right, Lavender was keeping it on her the whole time. She used a reduction spell, but I found it after -" She freezes before for saying John's name. "I-I didn't want to say anything until I knew more, but I figured it out. I know what she did."

"What?" Clara hates the suspense and just because she has some kind of latent magical ability doesn't mean she understands any of this witchcraft stuff.

Martha swallows hard, turning paler. "She opened a Door." The capitol D is clear in her awed voice.

"That's impossible." Alonso murmurs faintly, sinking back onto the settee while his husband makes a noise of disbelief.

"How?" Rose breathes. "How did she do it?'

"Archaic magic. It must have taken years of preparation."

"Wait." Interrupts Clara. "What the hell is a Door?"

"It's a soft spot." Jack explains, his expression calculating. "I always thought they were a myth, it's a soft spot between worlds. According to legend there are places where the barriers between worlds are thin, places where a person could open a Door and step through. I mean, I had my suspicions when I first met you but I never thought this could be possible."

Clara's mind is trying to keep up with all this. "Wait, so that means Oswin is -?"

"In your world."

"Holy shit. But that still doesn't explain why I'm here!" She gets up and starts pacing in agitation.

"Yes it does. Lavender opened the portal for Oswin and you are Oswin."

"What? No I'm not."

Rose brushes aside her protests with a wave of a hand. "Martha and I have speculated on this for awhile now, and I would say this new confirms our theory. You are the Oswin of your world, just as she is the Clara of ours."

Clara stares at her. "You mean I'm her double. And-And in my world there are other versions of all of you too?"

Martha nods. "But considering the obvious differences between you and the Crown Princess, you are only the same biologically. You might have similar interests, similar tastes, and mannerisms, but life has made you different people."

She is silent for several minutes mulling this revelation over. "We have to get her back."

Points if you know what other fandom I'm referencing