CHAPTER 28
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CAN THE FUTURE SAVE THE PAST?
"No! No!" Clara screamed as she woke up covered in sweat from her latest in a series of increasingly worse nightmares.
Before she could even fully wake up, she instantly felt arms wrapped around her. She knew right away that it was Rose. Rose had been coming to comfort her every time that she had one of her nightmares, and she was so grateful for that because they were so horrifying that they were causing her to shake violently every time that she came out of one lately.
"It's okay, Clara. You're safe. There's nothing to worry about," Rose said in a gentle voice as she held her and gently stroked her hair to calm her down.
"That's a lie and you know it, Rose. I thought that you didn't do that sort of thing," Clara said in an extremely upset voice.
"I'm not lying, Clara. I will keep you safe no matter what. I promise you that," Rose said.
"You're not even sure that you're going to survive or not so how can you guarantee my safety? How can you guarantee anyone's?" Clara protested.
Rose looked at her with an intense expression on her face as she said, "You will survive, Clara. When you do, I want . . ."
Rose's voice broke up now as she struggled not to cry. Clara's anger immediately faded, and she was now the one to comfort Rose. She could see that Rose was trying very hard not to fall apart in front of her.
"It really is bad isn't it?" Clara said in a horrified voice.
Rose nodded unable to speak for a moment and then said in a stronger tone, "Clara, I'm going to ask something from you, and you can say no if you want, okay? I'll understand."
"Anything, Rose. I'll do anything to help you and the Doctor. You know that," Clara said without hesitation.
"Listen before you answer. This goes way beyond anything that either of us have ever asked from you before, and I know that it's far too much to ask even of one of my closest friends," Rose said.
"What is it? Just ask me, Rose," Clara said.
"Clara, I want to know if anything happens to me if you'll help the Doctor take care of my children for me until they're grown," Rose finally asked.
Clara looked at her in shock as Rose quickly said, "It's too much. I knew it. It's just that you're one of the few people who I completely trust to do something like that. I'll ask someone else, okay? Just don't even worry about it."
"You really don't think that you're coming back from this next fight do you? You really don't," Clara finally realized as she began to cry at the thought of losing her.
"I don't know, Clara. I honestly don't know," Rose said as the roles switched once again while she started to comfort Clara.
"I won't let you die. I won't," Clara said firmly through her tears.
"Like I said, don't even worry about it. Okay? I'll take care of it," Rose said.
"I'll do it," Clara said.
"What?" Rose asked.
"I'll take care of them for you . . . if that happens. It won't though. I won't let it," Clara said.
Rose smiled from ear to ear and hugged Clara tightly as she said, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! I need to know that they're going to be alright. I needed to be sure of that."
"You're not going to die, Rose. End of story," Clara said as she completely regained her emotional strength once more and looked at Rose with an expression that dared her to contradict her.
"Yes, ma'am!" Rose said as she saluted her with a grin.
"Don't get smart with me, Bad Wolf Girl. Still it's nice to know that at least one of my Time Lords acknowledges who's really running things around here," Clara said with a smile as she kissed Rose on the cheek.
"You know you're probably the only person I'd let get away with a comment like that, Clara," Rose said.
"That's because you know it's true," Clara said.
Rose shook her head as she said, "It's because you're my sister, Clara. At least you're the closest thing that I've ever had to one anyway, yeah? I feel closer to you than I ever have to anyone except my mothers and the Doctor. It's . . . well, it's almost like you're my twin sometimes if that makes sense. There was only one other person who I was almost that close to once and I failed her. I won't fail you though. You can count on that. I'll never let anything happened to you."
"Maybe I am your twin, Rose, because I was thinking the exact same thing about you. It . . . It's good to know that you feel that way about me. That's how I feel about you too," Clara said with a warm smile.
The two women embraced and seemed to draw strength from one another for a long moment. Then that moment was rudely interrupted by an extremely loud throat clearing.
"If you two are quite through with your little bonding moment, I have something that I came a long way to talk to you about, Rose," The Doctor said in an impatient voice.
Clara looked at him in confusion for a moment and then said, "He's not our Doctor is he? He's from the future."
Rose smiled and nodded in approval as she said, "You're getting better with your time sense now I see. Yeah, he's the Doctor from the grown-up Jackie's time. I'm sure I know why you're here, Doctor. Have there been any major changes to the future yet?"
"Not yet. That's only because the future version of you is doing her best to keep them at bay though. This whole era of history is in a complete state of flux now. Anything could happen at this point, Rose, and then everything that we both worked so hard to build together will be completely torn apart and wiped out of existence forever including our children. I'm not about to let that happen without a fight. That's why I've come back to this time to see if I can help prevent it," The future version of the Twelfth Doctor said.
"So do you actually have a plan or are you just going to stand around making pretty little speeches?" The present day version of the Doctor asked from behind his future self.
"Hey! Who said you could just come into my room without knocking first, Old Man?" Clara said to both Doctors.
"Rose does it all the time," Both Doctors said in unison.
"Rose is a girl though, Mr. Stick. What if I had been changing clothes or something?" Clara protested.
Both Doctors shrugged their shoulders as the present Doctor said in an uncaring voice, "It's not anything that I haven't seen before. I did see you naked once on Trenzalore, remember?"
"Yeah, but that was because my clothes were all burned off. That was different. It's not like I want to go around giving you a free show all the time, Doctor. Rose might not take too well to that sort of thing," Clara said with a mischievous smile.
"Clara, I definitely have no feelings like that for you in any way. In fact, when I did see you naked that one time it immediately repulsed me," The present Doctor said.
Clara automatically looked insulted as she said, "Well, thank you very much, Doctor. It's good to know that I'm so awful looking to you."
Before Rose could tell him to apologize as she usually would, the future Doctor immediately said, "What he means is that he like Rose thinks of you as a sister, Clara, and you definitely don't want to see your sister naked."
Clara began to smile as she said, "Thanks. Now that I can accept, Stick Man."
Rose looked at the future Doctor in surprise as she said, "So you've learned how to be a little better about expressing yourself I see. You're finally getting it at last, aren't you? I bet it took you long enough."
"It took you a long time to make me realize just how much I was insulting humans especially Clara without realizing it, yes," The future Doctor confirmed.
Rose smiled and kissed him as she said, "It's nice to know that I eventually get you to shape up, Mister."
Then she frowned as she reluctantly added, "For as long as your future lasts anyway."
"That's what I'm here to make sure of, Rose. In fact, I've been searching your time for a while now in secret in order to find a few things to help you with that," The future Doctor said as he began to produce several objects from his larger on the inside pockets.
Rose wasn't too surprised to see him hand her the Black Scrolls of Rassilon that he had taken from the Trickster or the powerful object called the Dodecahedron that he had taken from the Matriarch. She had already heard from Sarah Jane and Oswin that a future version of the Doctor had left with those two things.
What did surprise her however was that he also had several additional objects of great power that he was still producing from his pockets. He now began to hand some of them to the Doctor and some to Clara in addition to giving them to Rose.
"I see you've been very busy, Doctor. Take the scenic route through time and space did you?" Rose asked in amusement.
The future Doctor nodded as he said, "Yes, and you may be glad that I did especially after what Missy is planning on doing very soon now."
Rose became deadly serious now as she said, "You know what she's going to do next?"
"I know some of it. I've been going back and forth through several different possible timelines that could or could not be the new future, and I think that I've managed to piece a few parts of her plan together. That's one part that she still hasn't carried out yet, and that's what these objects are for. They're to give you a fighting chance against her when she does," The future Doctor said.
Rose now looked at the growing collection of objects and began to slowly recognize some of them from her adventures with the Doctor or others from his accounts of his past adventures. Clara for instance had been handed all of the transformed segments of the Key to Time and was looking at them with absolute fear and reluctance. Rose knew at a glance that Clara wanted nothing to do with them just from the expression on her face.
Rose herself has been given a huge crystal from Metebelis 3 that could be used to enhance psychic abilities, the crystal holding the Eternal named Wrack that the Doctor had obviously gotten from Marissa, the Resurrection Gauntlet and the Life Knife that she had heard about from Jack, the Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey which was a powerful book created by Rassilon that was impervious to damage among its many other abilities, and a shrunken version of the Moment that she really didn't want to be handling.
The present Doctor had been handed a De-Mat Gun, Rassilon's Gauntlet, a stellar manipulator from the Time War called the Tear of Isha which could collapse stars and black holes, the Isop-tope which had been used to defeat the Animus, a miniature version of the Dalek weapon called the Time Destructor, and a miniaturized version of a powerful box called the Relic which contained the remains of a deceased Doctor from another reality that could still utilize his remaining psychic energy to give its wielder great power.
These and many other powerful objects and weapons were swiftly distributed to the three of them or put on Clara's bed. Rose looked at this huge arsenal in disbelief when it was finally assembled and shook her head at the sight of all of this incredible destructive power.
"I'm surprised you didn't bring the Hand of Omega while you were at it. This is overkill, Doctor. I don't like using weapons. You know that. As for the Key, I'm not so sure it's such a great idea bringing that around Missy," Rose said.
"You don't understand. I took these things in order to keep them away from Missy, Rose. Believe me when I say that she's soon going to be powerful enough as it is without gaining any more power. Of course if you, Clara, or the other me decide to use any of them against her then they may give you an advantage against Missy at a crucial point in the upcoming battle. It's all up to you. I just brought them here. You can use them as you want. I'm pretty sure that the past me will want to at least leave the option open at any rate," The future Doctor said.
"I'll leave the option open, yes. I doubt that I want to make things worse by actually using them though. Many of these things would do more harm than good," The present Doctor said.
"The battle may get so bad that using them may be the only option, Doctor," The future Doctor warned.
"I won't let another Moment happen again. I can't," The present Doctor insisted.
"I know you don't want to but it or something like it may be all that keeps you alive soon," The future Doctor said.
"Okay, Old Man, what do you know? What is it that Missy's going to get her hands on that's so terrible, and why won't you tell us about it especially if you're so worried about your own future?" Clara asked in an irritated voice.
"I can't say anything specific about it or the circumstances that lead to her getting it, Clara. I may wind up doing more harm than good if I do. I just needed to warn you all as best as I could about it. She wants power of her own like Nightshade has, Rose, because she's tired of relying on her due to her unpredictable nature, and she may just get it if you're not extremely careful," The future Doctor warned.
Rose nodded as she said, "I'll keep an eye out, Doctor. So are you going to stay and help us then?"
The future Doctor shook his head and said, "No, my knowledge of the future might make things worse too whether I meant it to or not. The idea of gathering together as many allies as you can get from parallel universes is a very good one though. I'd bring in more than just alternate versions of people that you know though. There are others from other realities who owe you and our family a favor or two as well."
Rose smiled as she realized exactly what he was getting at. She was determined to contact them as soon as she could in that moment. After all, their universes would be in danger too.
"I suppose I'll be going now. Hopefully I can rely on you and Clara to keep past me from screwing things up too badly," The future Doctor said as he looked at the present Doctor with a look of scorn.
"I think I can manage. Thank you very much," The present Doctor said with absolute disdain for his future self.
"And I thought the hate between Granddad, Sand Shoes, and Chin Boy was bad. This is even worse than the tension between the Dandy and the Clown," Clara said as she watched the two Twelves glare at each other for a moment.
"You actually saw that?" Rose asked with a sense of envy.
"Yeah. Well, one of my echoes did anyway and I remember it. She was there at UNIT when Omega attacked Earth the first time," Clara said.
"I was I had been there. I bet it would have been fun to hear them biting each other's heads off," Rose said with a fond smile.
"Oh, it was. Believe me. I'll share my memories of it sometime," Clara offered.
"How about now?" Rose asked as a sudden idea hit her.
"What?" Clara asked in surprise.
The future Doctor smiled as he said, "A good idea especially if things go bad. I'll just leave now and let you all get to it then."
"Thank goodness for small mercies," The present Doctor said as he sarcastically waved good bye to his future self.
The future Doctor rolled his eyes at his younger self and then left just as quickly as he had come. Apparently he had been using a specially modified Vortex Manipulator in order to keep himself from being tracked Rose realized with her powers.
"What's this about sharing our memories now, Rose? We don't really have time to waste do we?" Clara asked.
Rose looked at the Doctor who nodded as she said, "We're going to share more than that with you, Clara. We both want to form a link with you."
"What? Why? I thought links were for marriage. I love you both but not like that," Clara said with dismay.
"Links can be done between family members too, Clara. A link between the three of us is going to come in very handy in many ways," Rose said.
"You mean it'll help us fight together better since we'll each know what the others are thinking," Clara said.
"Yes, that's one use for it," The Doctor said.
Clara had a feeling that neither he nor Rose were telling her the whole story. Why did they really want this link to occur? Clara decided not to worry about it though. She trusted both of them completely and therefore willingly agreed to go through with it based on that trust. She knew that they must have a good reason for it whatever it was.
"This won't take long, Clara. I don't have to worry about you going mad either like other humans would since you're already used to having other people in your head and have been trained by K'anpo already in how to block all of that out," The Doctor said as he put his hands on the sides of Clara's head.
"Well, I'm certainly glad that you've gotten that all thought out already, Skeleton Man," Clara said as all of his talk of her going mad made her nervous.
"It'll be fine, Clara," Rose assured her as she placed her hands just under the Doctor's on Clara's temples.
Then the three of them slowly began to link together as Clara was introduced to a whole new world. Rose only hoped that this would be enough to satisfy the High Council if a very probable worst case scenario occurred and her contingency plan for her family's well-being was put into effect.
Meanwhile while this was going on, Cassiopeia was wandering the TARDIS in an extremely worried state. She knew that her parents weren't telling her everything about what was going on or what they were up to regarding Missy and that was only making her worry even more. She wanted to help them and make sure that they would be safe. She couldn't do that if they shut her out though in some misguided attempt to protect her. It just frustrated her to no end.
She was once one of the most feared beings in the universe (not that she was proud of that), and now she was being treated like a child. It almost made her feel like Nightshade was right, and she really was nothing after all.
"You're not nothing, Cass," Shawn said as he suddenly came up behind her.
"How did you know that was what I was thinking?" Cassiopeia asked as she gave him a warm smile.
"I don't know. I just guessed it from the expression on your face. Plus you told me all about what happened when you came across Nightshade. That helped my psychic powers too," Shawn joked.
"I'm already telling you everything, aren't I?" Cassiopeia realized.
"Yeah, you are. Not that I mind. I like to hear you talk especially about your adventures," Shawn said.
"I like to tell you about them too. It's fun to see how you react to them. You're such a fanboy," Cassiopeia said with a chuckle as she put her arm around him affectionately.
Polly smiled as she watched them talk with one another. She had noticed that they were becoming closer and closer lately and that Cassiopeia was all but kissing him as she constantly wrapped her arms around him or leaned in so close to him that their noses practically touched.
If they weren't in love yet, they were definitely very close to it. Not that either one of them seemed to realize this of course. They still treated each other as friends despite the displays of affection that they put on around everyone.
"You mean they still haven't kissed yet?" Victoria whispered in amusement as she joined her.
"It'll be soon. I'm sure of it," Polly said wisely.
"You know they're even worse than you and Victoria were, Jamie," Zoe teased with a smile.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jamie said with an embarrassed look on his face.
"Sure you don't," Victoria said as she joined in on the teasing gaining her a smile from Zoe.
"I think they'll kiss sometime this week," Shareen said.
"I say it'll be longer than a week. I mean look at them. They blush every time they just look at one another too long," Victoria said.
"Want to place a friendly wager like say a five pound note?" Shareen asked.
"You're on," Victoria said happily.
"I want in on it too. I agree with Victoria by the way," Jamie said.
"What a surprise!" Zoe said with a giggle.
"What about you, Polly? What do you think?" Jamie asked.
Polly smiled as she said, "I think it will be very soon but I won't say any more than that. I'm definitely not betting on it either. I swear you lot are just as bad as Rose and the Doctor."
"Where do you think she picked it up from?" Shareen asked with a wicked grin.
Gwyneth watched all of this with a sense of melancholy. She knew exactly what awaited Cassiopeia in the future, and she knew that her first kiss with Shawn was going to be the least of her worries very soon now.
She was going to have so many burdens put on her shoulders. Even Gwyneth wasn't sure how the young Time Lady would handle it. She was determined to help her deal with it as best as she could though.
She owed Rose that much at least.
Meanwhile halfway across the universe where she still led the war against Missy's android armies, Mikaela watched over her friends using the technology of the Symmetry. She now knew the whole story of the prophecy and her role in it and that made her realize even more just how crucial a role that she would play in the battle that was to come. She was determined that she was going to use the full power of the Machine Alliance to keep both her friends and the universe safe.
In fact if what the Symmetry Leader and her agent on the Nethersphere were telling her was true then the entire might of her armada would be needed in order to keep all of reality itself safe from what Missy had planned next. She could only hope that it would be enough.
Sometime later, Rose smiled as the TARDIS landed at a hidden location that few people knew about where all realities crossed one another called the Spire. She had sent out a call to all of her friends in the other realities, and they were all on their way. It really did her heart good to know that she could count on them especially at a time like this.
"Hello, Rose Tyler," Castiel said as he, his wife Anna, and the Winchesters (Dean, Sam, Jo, Jessica, and Mary) all appeared to greet her.
"Hello, Cas! How's it going?" Rose asked with an affectionate hug that made Castiel blush and act nervous around her.
"It's . . . going well," Castiel said in an uncertain voice.
"Are you sure about that?" Rose teased him.
"He sounds about as bad as Merlin sometimes after I've just kissed him," Nimueh said with a grin as she, Merlin, and their best friend Sophia the Sidhe arrived next.
"It had better not be for the same reason," Anna said in a jealous tone.
"It isn't, Anna. I swear. I am only a huge fan of Rose's not in love with her," Castiel insisted.
"Sometimes it's hard to tell the way that you act so starstruck around her," Dean teased him.
"Oh, is this pick on Cas day? Can anyone join in?" Buffy Summers asked as she too arrived now.
"Ooh, sounds like fun," Paige Matthews agreed with a giggle as she arrived right after her.
"Thank you for coming. All of you," Rose said in a heartfelt voice.
Then suddenly a version of Reinette, Clara, and Amy that Rose knew were from Clara Idris' universe arrived out of nowhere. Rose smiled as she realized that a future version of Clara Idris had sent her some extra help even if the present version of her who was now with Rose's growing little group had no idea that they were there yet.
"Rose?" Reinette asked in surprise.
"Hello, Reinette. Before you ask what's going on it's a long story. I'll just explain what's happening when everyone else arrives, okay?" Rose said.
"Great. I'm never getting back to Rory," The Amy with this other Reinette said with a frown.
Suddenly yet another version of what looked like Clara arrived now in the TARDIS as Rose smiled. She knew who this was and she was really looking forward to the Doctor's reaction to her.
"Hello, Doctor," Rose said as this version of the Doctor who looked like Clara looked at her with a huge smile on her face while her companions Rusty the Dalek, Maisie, and Journey Blue looked on in absolute confusion.
"Well, it looks like everyone's finally here at last. Wait till you meet one other Clara lookalike who's joined us, Doctor. You're really going to love her," Rose said with a snicker.
Then Rose started to explain the stakes of what was going on to everyone there. She knew that the time was coming very close now with their arrival.
The time for the Reality War was now very close at hand . . . and so was the coming of The Storm.
Next: The Storm will finally strike in a special mini-series that will be coming soon in which Nightshade and Missy will have their final showdown with Rose and the Doctor and their allies. Next time in this story we'll explore the full consequences of the horrible outcome of that battle especially on a devastated Cassiopeia. Will she crack under the pressure or will her friends and someone else who is more than a friend help her through it all? What will be the future of the House of Lungbarrow for that matter? I hope the answer will surprise you.
