CHAPTER 9
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WHO WILL CONTROL THE LAND OF FICTION?
"Don't worry, Shadow. I'll free you as soon as I find out one thing. It's something that I never knew before, and I would very much like to know the answer to that question now. Who was the person who was running the Land of Fiction before Discord put you here?" the Doctor asked.
"What does that matter, Doctor? Whoever they were they're obviously not here now," Clara said.
"They're not? I'm not so sure about that. Tell me who it was, Shadow," the Doctor said.
"I think that you already know, Time Lord. You just don't want to admit it," the Shadow said with a sinister smile on his face.
"What is he talking about, Doctor?" Cydonia asked.
"We were so busy with other things before that I never even thought to wonder who was running this place back when Lily was trapped here. I really should have found out though. I could have freed them myself and avoided this whole mess. Yes, I do know who it was, Shadow, and I'm never going to let them be trapped here again," the Doctor said.
"Who was it?" Clara asked with insatiable curiosity.
"I'm not going to say, Clara. The person who was hooked up to the machine back then is going to remain blissfully ignorant of it if I have anything to say about it," the Doctor said.
"You mean they don't remember? How?" Clara asked.
"Discord. She must have wiped their minds completely of all traces of this place in an attempt to hide what she had done here. She didn't want me or anyone else to know that the Shadow was here. I'm sure that she had a hand in the Great Intelligence's plan to trap us here. She seems to be behind everything else these days," the Doctor said.
"How did they get here in the first place though? Was that Discord too?" Cydonia asked.
The Doctor smiled as he realized just how similar Cydonia still was to Clara despite however many regenerations that she had gone through in the past. They both had that same insatiable sense of curiosity and a knack of asking just the right questions.
"No, that wasn't Discord. This person was trying to find me and was retracing their steps on the journeys that they had gone through with me in the past in order to do so. They made the mistake of coming here to the Land of Fiction though maybe not completely remembering just how dangerous that this place was and wound up trapped here," the Doctor said hoping that he hadn't said too much already.
Zoe gasped from where the Nazgul still held her and said, "I remember now. It's all starting to come back. Right after I was brought back to the Wheel by the Time Lords I started to remember traveling with you again, and I set out to find you, Doctor. I hacked into every government database that I could find and searched every source of information that I knew of, but there was nothing on you anywhere. It was just like someone wiped you from them in some kind of cover-up. Then maybe because I was bringing too much attention to myself I was finally contacted by someone called Penny Harkness. She told me that I should just stop trying to find you for my own good. She actually seemed worried that I would get into trouble if I did. I know now that I should have listened to her but I didn't. I didn't give up. I just kept pushing forward in my quest to reunite with you, and I found a way to break into UNIT's Black Archive without having my memory erased. I finally found all kinds of information about you there including some about me which surprised me. I also found a Vortex Manipulator. It was still working amazingly enough, and I quickly mastered how to use it. It took me a full day to figure out the right code to get it working again, but after that I started going everywhere that I remembered us both going to together trying to find you again, Doctor. Unfortunately I came here to the Land of Fiction too, and you were right, Doctor. I didn't remember enough about this place to know not to come here thanks to the Time Lords messing around with my head. I wound up getting trapped here when the person who was the controller of this place before me captured me, switched places with me, and ran off. Then Discord came and put me back on the Wheel again with my memories wiped of my attempts to find you. You know I used to pride myself on having a perfect memory but since the Time Lords first messed around with it, I just keep finding myself with more and more holes in it."
"I'm so sorry, Zoe," the Doctor said.
"It wasn't your fault, Doctor. It was mine. I should have listened to Penny and went back home. I just wanted to find you again so badly. I didn't want to go back to just being trapped on the Wheel again all of the time after having traveled through all of time and space with you and Jamie," Zoe said.
"Enough talk. One of you, I don't care who, is going to take my place here right now or I'll decide who's doing it myself and kill the rest of you," the Shadow threatened.
"It's got to be me, Doctor. You don't need me. You've already got Cydonia and Oswin. Shadow, I . . ." Clara said before immediately passing out as the Doctor knocked her out instantly by putting his finger on her head.
"I didn't want her anyway, Doctor. I want you," the Shadow said.
"I'm flattered, Shadow, but I'm happily married," the Doctor joked.
"Enough of this! Decide . . . now! If you don't, I'll kill the Scottish boy first," the Shadow said.
Victoria, who had been silent up until now, suddenly spoke for the first time as she said, "No, you won't."
She held out her hand towards the Shadow and said, "You're not hurting anyone especially not him."
Victoria began to glow with power, and the Shadow started to scream in agony. The Nazgul surrounding him instantly dropped Jamie, Zoe, and Polly and started towards Victoria with their swords drawn in order to protect him. They never even got close to her though. She disintegrated them with a single gesture, and then the Shadow started to scream more and more.
"Victoria, what are you doing?" the Doctor said in a worried voice.
"She's saving the day apparently," Cydonia said.
"Yes, but for who? Is she trying to help us or the Great Intelligence?" the Doctor asked.
"Right now I am the Great Intelligence or what's left of him in this dimension anyway. You see I finally know what happened to me now. I received most of his powers when he tried and failed to transfer himself into my body, and the rest of him was lost somewhere. I don't know where and I don't care as long as he doesn't bother me. All that matters to me is that that officially makes me the new Great Intelligence now that he's gone. I really hate that name though. It's a little too stuffy for me. Victoria's good enough I think. Don't you?" Victoria said as she finally spoke to him with a warm smile on her face.
"You're okay then?" the Doctor asked.
"I'm fine. You worry too much," Victoria said.
"If you're fine, then why are you torturing the Shadow? That's not your nature to be excessively cruel," the Doctor pointed out.
"I'm not torturing him. I'm trying to make him the permanent controller for this place, but he's fighting me with all of his power," Victoria said.
"Victoria, stop. I'm not so sure it's such a great idea to leave the Shadow in charge of this place. He's too dangerous to be allowed to keep control over a place like this," the Doctor said.
"You're not suggesting that one of us stays here to take his place, are you?" Victoria asked confused.
"No, I have a better idea for who should take his place or I guess I should say what. He seems much more like a who than a what to me though," the Doctor said with a mischievous grin on his face.
"That look on your face always means that you're up to something, Doctor. I can't wait to see what you've come up with. Or maybe I can," Polly said cringing.
"Aye, that look usually means trouble from my experience," Jamie said.
"Now, Jamie, you mustn't judge. It could be that the Doctor has a very intelligent and well thought out solution to the problem this time that will save us all a lot of heartache and needless worry," Zoe said.
"Thank you, Zoe," the Doctor said.
"Do you really believe that?" Victoria asked Zoe skeptically.
"Nope. That look always means trouble," Zoe said with an evil grin.
"Oi! I'll have you know that I just thought up an amazingly clever plan. It's a work of genius if I do say so myself," the Doctor said pouting.
"Too bad Rose isn't here. She loves that look," Cydonia said.
"The pouty look?" Polly asked knowingly.
"Yeah, that's the one. She just adores it. I don't know why. I find it kind of annoying myself. Then again I've seen it for about a thousand years or so off and on so I may just have grown tired of it after seeing once too often," Cydonia said giggling.
"It happens every time that any of them get together. They automatically start making fun of me. Why? I don't understand it. The only thing that I can think of is that they're all just jealous of how cool that I am," the Doctor muttered to himself.
"What do you want me to do with him, Doctor?" Victoria asked as she realized that he would probably just ramble on out of control for who knew how long if she didn't bring him back to the task at hand.
"Can you keep him under control until I get back from the TARDIS? There's something in there that I have to get," the Doctor asked.
"Oh, so you trust me now?" Victoria asked with amusement.
"I always trusted you, Victoria. It's the Intelligence that I was worried about," the Doctor said.
"He's gone and he's not coming back. Now, as for your question, yes, I can keep him under control. Oh, and you don't need to go that far to get to the TARDIS," Victoria said.
"What?" the Doctor asked.
The TARDIS suddenly appeared in front of him, and he looked back at Victoria with a smirk as he said, "Well, now you're just showing off."
"Who cares? At least we don't have to walk all the way back to the TARDIS through all of that craziness outside. I'm very thankful for that," Jamie said.
"Where's the fun in that though?" the Doctor said pouting again.
"If he keeps pouting like that, I'm going to slap him. I should slap him anyway for knocking me out. Now I have an aching headache. Thanks a lot, Doctor!" Clara said as she gave him an annoyed glare as she woke up.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't let anything happen to you though. Who would call me Chin Boy or make fun of my amazing dress sense?" the Doctor asked.
Clara's face softened towards him then and she said, "Yeah, that's true. Someone has to be around to set you straight. All you have to do to win Rose over is to kiss her. That won't work on me though."
"Ew! Don't even put that image in my head. It would be like kissing my sister. I mean the thought of kissing you just makes me sick to my stomach. It's disgusting!" the Doctor said with a frown.
"Thanks so much," Clara said becoming angry.
"I didn't mean it like that. You're very pretty, Clara. I just don't feel that way about you," the Doctor said.
"That's better, Chin Boy. That's kept me from slapping you until your face goes numb for today at least. I don't know about tomorrow yet. I haven't decided," Clara said grinning.
"You still have a winning way with people especially girls, Doctor," Cydonia said laughing.
The Doctor opened his mouth to say something back to her as he looked at her in annoyance, and then he just closed it and went back into the TARDIS without saying anything. Cydonia grinned and shook her head.
"What's wrong with him? He's usually never at a loss for words," Polly asked.
"He knows better than to say anything back to me. I'll brain blast him into next Tuesday," Cydonia said with a wicked smile.
"I could have used you a long time ago. You could keep him from rambling on endlessly all of the time," Polly said.
"Do you think that you could stay with us and help me to keep him in his place?" Clara asked hopefully.
"I don't know. I really think I should stay with Rose. I'll be less likely to commit homicide there than I would if I stay around Theta for too long. Besides I think that one Clara is enough for this ship. There's only one of us available per Time Lord you know," Cydonia said grinning.
"I just wanted to get to know you better now that I have you here live and in person instead of stuck hundreds of years in the past," Clara admitted.
"I promise we'll get to see each other again. Don't worry. I just want to stay with Rose for now. She's helping me with my problems. The War really damaged me," Cydonia admitted.
"I understand. The Doctor's helping me with all of the nightmares that I still have since Trenzalore. I kid him a lot but I really love him deep down," Clara said.
"Ha! I knew it! I knew you loved me!" the Doctor said pointing at Clara as he came out of the TARDIS with a large box in his arms.
"Shut up!" Clara said turning red with embarrassment as she stuck her tongue out at him.
The Doctor stuck his tongue out back at her as he passed her by and then sat the box down in front of him. Clara quickly walked over to him and asked, "What have you got? Is that the 'what' that you were talking about earlier?"
"That's right. I wasn't sure if I still had this or not but luckily I do. This'll be perfect. The old boy needs to see the light of day again anyway instead of being trapped in that box for another couple of hundred years. Come on out, boy," the Doctor said as he opened the box up.
As soon as he did so, a newer, more updated version of K-9 came rolling out of it and said, "Ready for instructions, Master."
"What is that?" Clara asked in an incredulous voice.
"That's K-9. He's my best friend. Aren't you, boy?" the Doctor asked as he patted the robot dog's head.
"Affirmative, Master," K-9 said.
"I thought I was your best friend," Clara said sounding slightly jealous.
"What? I can't have more than one? You're both my best friends," the Doctor said.
"Great. Now I'm competing with a tin dog," Clara muttered under her breath.
"Affirmative," K-9 said in a slightly wicked voice.
"There's no competition going on at all here, Clara. I'm not taking K-9 with us. I'm leaving him here so that no one has to get left behind. He'll be the new controller for the Land of Fiction. This place will be run off of the huge library of books from all times and places that I just downloaded into his brain. He can now stay here for the rest of eternity keeping everything going, and that way no one will ever have to be trapped here again," the Doctor said with a huge smile on his face.
"You think you're so clever, don't you?" Clara said.
"Well, I don't want to brag," the Doctor said smugly.
"He'll do it anyway though," Polly said giggling.
"Doctor, can you please just bring the metal dog over here? I'm starting to get worn out battling the Shadow. He just keeps trying to escape," Victoria said.
"Yes, of course. I'll be right over. Come on, K-9," the Doctor said.
"Master," K-9 said as he rolled over to where the Shadow was struggling with Victoria.
"Now, Victoria," the Doctor said.
Victoria's face scrunched up as she struggled to keep the Shadow from instantly teleporting away after she yanked the cable connecting him to the Master Brain that controlled the Land of Fiction out of his head, and the entire dimension started to fade away around them. The Doctor then quickly hooked K-9 up to the machine and stabilized everything before it completely disappeared and took them with it.
"Did it! Who da man?! Oh, right. I said I'd never say that again, didn't I?" the Doctor said.
"You just get weirder and weirder every day, Chin Boy," Clara said shaking her head at him with a small smile on her face.
"What about Mr. Sunshine over here? I think Victoria's about to pass out at any second trying to keep him in check," Polly said with concern.
"Yes, she may have the power of the Great Intelligence, but she's still only human. She can only do so much with it. That's why I called a friend of mine while I was in the TARDIS. She should be here at any minute," the Doctor said.
"Wait a minute. Do you mean that the phone still worked? You could have called for help all of this time instead of putting us through all of this?" Clara asked.
"No, of course not. Don't you think that I would have tried that first? I couldn't get the phone to work either after the TARDIS was damaged. The Intelligence made sure that we were completely cut off here. I only just now fixed it back. I still don't have the TARDIS fixed though," the Doctor said.
"That's okay. I can fix that," Eris said as she suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
She snapped her fingers, and the TARDIS was suddenly as good as new again. Then she noticed that Oswin's unconscious body was still being carried around by Cydonia and touched her forehead instantly waking her up.
"Piece of cake," Eris said with a pleased look on her face.
"You know she's pretty cool. Maybe I should be her companion," Clara said.
"Well, I suppose it is a little impressive if you like that kind of showy display of power. Some of us try to be a little more subtle about things," the Doctor said as he became extremely jealous.
"You, subtle? Since when?" Polly teased him.
"Since never," Clara said.
"Aye, subtlety and the Doctor have never been a match," Jamie agreed.
"Oh, leave him alone. He can't help it if he likes to show off. It's just how he is. It's one of the things that we love about him," Zoe said.
"That's true. Don't worry, Doctor. I'm not going anywhere," Clara said as she embraced the Doctor.
As the Doctor smiled from ear to ear, Eris laughed at him. She was glad to see him so happy. Once she would have wished him nothing but sorrow for rejecting her, but now she had finally gotten past that and wanted only the best for him.
"Come on, Shadow. You're going with me. Don't worry. I'll keep him under control, Doctor. He has to do what I tell him to because I'm the Black Guardian now," Eris said.
"Wait. I thought that you said that you didn't want him going with her after he threatened to corrupt her," Clara said.
"Let him try. I'm not so easy to corrupt these days. I have my daughter back now to keep me on the straight and narrow," Eris said confidently.
"No offense, Eris, but I'd feel much better if I had someone with you to make sure of that. Someone who I've just seen can keep him in check when she has to. Maybe you could help her too. She's just gotten some powers that she doesn't completely understand yet, and you've been trained in controlling great power. It seems like a win-win situation to me. If Victoria agrees to it that is," the Doctor said as he looked at Victoria.
"I . . . don't know," Victoria said as she looked at Eris uncertainly.
"You don't have to go, Victoria. You're welcome to stay with me if you want. It's just that I can't help you if your powers go out of control. I don't know anything about that kind of thing and Eris does. You can trust her, Victoria. She's a good friend of mine, and I know that she'll watch out for you," the Doctor said.
Eris smiled at him as she said, "Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate that especially after everything that's happened between us over the centuries. I promise that I'll watch out for her if she decides to go. I'll make sure that nothing happens to her."
"Where would we be going?" Victoria asked.
"Oh, anywhere and everywhere. I'm a Guardian of Time so I work with the other Guardians to help prevent major disasters all of the time plus I help out in other dimensions too and keep them from falling apart. It'll never be boring I promise," Eris said.
"I guess I'll go then. I want to keep an eye on him anyway. I don't trust him," Victoria said as she looked at the Shadow.
"Good because I don't trust him either," Eris said.
"I have no choice but to do your will, Guardian," the Shadow said.
"Why don't I believe him?" Clara asked.
"Because you're clever, Clara Oswald. Almost as clever as I am," the Doctor said.
"What do you mean almost?" Clara said as she punched him playfully in the arm.
"You're smarter than me, okay? No one is as clever as you," the Doctor said as he rubbed his arm.
"Except for Rose, right?" Clara asked smiling.
"Yes, of course," the Doctor said.
"I just had to add that to keep you covered with her just in case she's listening because she just might be. You never know. Don't worry. I'm watching out for you, Doctor," Clara said.
"Someone has to," Eris said under her breath.
"Oi! You too?" the Doctor said with a groan.
Eris just laughed as she said to Victoria, "I guess we should go. I promise it'll be alright, Victoria. I think we'll learn to like each other. Go ahead and say goodbye."
As Victoria turned to do so, Jamie said to Eris, "Wait. I'd like to go with her if I could."
"So would I if Jamie's going. I've kind of grown used to having him around," Zoe said.
Eris and the Doctor traded glances for a moment as she silently asked him how he felt about this and he nodded. She smiled at him. He had anticipated this happening already apparently.
Then again he knew them so well, and she didn't know them at all. Not yet anyway.
"The more the merrier," Eris said happily.
Victoria was greatly relieved that she didn't have to say goodbye to Jamie because she knew that the two of them were rapidly developing a real relationship with one another that she really wanted to see continue to grow, and Zoe was relieved that no one had any objections to her tagging along. She had feelings for Jamie too that she would never admit to him because she knew that he didn't think of her that way. She knew that he only had eyes for Victoria so she was content just to be by his side as his friend. At least that way she would never be alone again like she had felt for so much of her life.
"Don't worry, Doctor. I'll bring them by from time to time to let them visit with you. This isn't goodbye. Not really," Eris said.
Then they all vanished in the blink of an eye. The Doctor tried not to tear up but found that he couldn't control himself. He missed all three of them already.
"I'm sorry. I'm sure that they'll be alright though. I guess I'm about to make you feel even worse because I'm leaving too. I'm sure that Rose is already missing me. Goodbye, everyone. I'm glad that you're doing okay now, Sis. Can you give me a ride back?" Cydonia asked Oswin.
"Yeah, sure. Goodbye, Sis, Doctor. Sorry I was unconscious for so long. The Intelligence hit me the hardest because I was the biggest threat to him, and that's why no one could wake me up I think," Oswin said.
"That's okay, Ozzie. Goodbye, Claras," the Doctor said.
"Goodbye, Doctor," Cydonia and Oswin said in unison and surprised themselves.
They both laughed as they vanished. The Doctor sniffed a little as he now found himself alone with Clara and Polly. In just a few minutes, he had gone from a TARDIS full of companions to just two.
He walked up to both of them and hugged them tightly as he wrapped an arm around each of them without speaking. Both of them smiled as he led them back into the TARDIS and dematerialized it.
"I'm glad that you didn't go too, Polly. I was kind of afraid that you would because you were always so fond of Jamie," the Doctor said.
"No, I'd be a fifth wheel there I think. I'll just stay here and annoy you if you don't mind. Besides, I don't really know Eris that well. I'd prefer to stay with you especially now that my grandchildren are in the future. I know I'll see them again someday, but I'm sure it won't be for a long time. Right now, it seems like an eternity," Polly said sadly.
"Don't worry, Polly. I know that they're alright, and it won't be that long before you're with them again. Trust me when I say that the time will fly by faster than you think," the Doctor said.
"I'll probably be closer to the age that I was when they were first born by that time," Polly mused.
"Not really," the Doctor said.
"What do you mean?" Polly asked surprised.
"I thought you knew. Your granddaughter from the future just didn't make you young again for a little while, Polly. She made you young forever. You're immortal now," the Doctor said.
Polly looked stunned and had to sit down in the Captain's Chair immediately. Clara glared at him as the Doctor said, "What?"
"Are you going to be okay?" Clara asked her with concern.
"Yeah, I think so or at least I will be. It isn't every day that you find out that you're going to live forever though," Polly said with a troubled look on her face.
"Don't worry about it, Polly. I'm sure it won't be so bad as long as you have good friends around. Just keep traveling with me, and I'll help you keep your mind off of it by taking you somewhere cool and exciting. So where to next?" the Doctor asked happily.
"Come on, Polly. I'm sure when you're running for your life from some deadly new menace out to destroy the universe that you'll feel better right away," Clara said smiling at her.
"That's the spirit," the Doctor said.
"Well I guess we could go to . . ." Polly started to say before she was interrupted by the TARDIS phone ringing.
The Doctor talked for a minute and then hung up and said, "That was Martha. It seems that she needs me to come see her as soon as possible. She's in some kind of trouble or other that sounds like it might involve an old enemy that we once faced together. It sounds like something cool. At least it does as long as I don't end up having to be flash frozen again anyway."
"Let's go then," Polly said looking forward to it.
"That's right. Take us to it, Chinny," Clara said.
"Chinny? I was just getting used to Chin Boy. Whatever. Let's go then. Allo- No, wait. That's Sandshoes. Geronimo! There. That's more like it," the Doctor said as he headed off yet again into the unknown.
Next: A whole new story arc begins as Martha Jones guest stars, and she and the Doctor face off against a bizarre situation that seems to involve an old enemy of theirs. Does the phrase 'Burn with me.' ring any bells?
