Chapter 2
The Doctor still couldn't believe his luck this evening. Right now, Ashildr was guiding him through the narrow streets of a sleepy town to a place when he will be finally able to see Clara. A labyrinth of colourful houses led them to a woods by the seaside.
The forest looked stunning this time of year. Tremendous trees were bathing in the moonlight. The only noise in the infinite silence was the sound of their own footsteps as they walked along a marvellous carpet made of lilies of the valley and violets.
And then he noticed it.
The Diner glowing in the darkness.
Since the neural block has also stolen his memories about the look of this particular TARDIS, he was more than glad to be able to see it once again. The interior was surprisingly minimalistic, taking into the account that it belonged to humans. He had visited many households belonging to that race, and modesty was never quite the right word to describe any of them. Hence the white, almost hospital-like design was suspicious at the least, particularly since two females lived there. After a moment of recce, he focused on the woman in front of him and the other one he yet had to convince about the rightness of his presence.
"We have a problem. You are willing to help us, and we'll likely accept your offer. But that's it. After the job is done, you'll disappear."
"Like fog on a mirror." He answered Ashildr with a smirk on his face.
"So how do you want to break it up to her?" she asked him, visibly nervous "She's going to be furious. I didn't even have a chance to prepare her for such possibility."
"She'll be fine. There are more important things to worry about than her mood swings." He gave her a dusty answer.
"What can be more important than her?"
"At the moment, many things."
"You can't play a saviour in front of her anymore, so why would you even care?" she told him coldly.
"And what was that supposed to mean?"
"You erased every single memory of her and left her behind."
"I had no other way. Besides, wasn't that what you wanted? You called us the Hybrid, remember?"
"I wanted you to take her back where she belonged," she hissed. "You sentenced that poor thing to eternal life. Stole her away from family and friends. And then you eloped like you always do."
"It wasn't me who eloped. That dematerialisation when we first met was really low, even for you."
"Why is it so important, Doctor? Why do you want to meet her so badly?" she asked him, but he didn't answer. Instead, he approached the console unit and started to play with the controls.
"I just need to talk to her. Ask her some questions," he finally said.
"You weren't there when we came to her flat to retrieve her things. You weren't the one who listened to her crying when she realised that she's dead to the world. How egoistic one must be to demand anything from her after that, especially if he knows what will happen next?"
"And what will happen?"
"Same as always. You'll tame her, and then you'll leave her again."
"I'm not planning to stay long enough to tame anybody."
Then he noticed a tiny posture standing in the doorway, utterly petrified by what she just saw. She was staring at them with her lips parted and eyes wide open.
He greeted her shyly with a genuine smile; she didn't respond to his silent kindness and continued to gawk at him without even the faintest hit of politeness.
She didn't resemble the girl he met in the Diner at all. Her posture seemed to be smaller and thinner. Once shiny eyes were now red from frequent crying.
After a moment of staring at each other in mute suspicion, she finally spoke.
"What's going on? And what is he doing here?"
"Clara, I'm sorry – but I had no other way," The young Viking told her. "I checked the scans. They're on Earth already."
Clara slowly sat in the chair by the console unit and buried her face in her hands. After a moment, she cleared her throat and raised her head. "They were on Hadrian and Wetania as well. What difference does it make?"
"The difference is it doesn't have to end like that." The Doctor came closer to her and kneeled next to her seat.
"It won't." She told him firmly. "I have two options left. Stay forever in these walls where they can't sense me, or come back where I'm supposed to be. I decided to postpone the Trap Street for travelling, but since the party's over, I'm going back to Gallifrey tonight. If that's what they want, they'll get it."
"No offence, but that's the stupidest idea ever. Your survivor's guilt won't help any of these people," the Doctor shot back.
Clara opened the TARDIS database and started to read aloud.
"The ancient ghosts of Lua. That's how they call themselves. Lovely name for something so repulsive. The ancient ghosts of Lua are spiritual creatures able to periodically dwell in living or decaying organisms – usually to gather energy needed for long-distance travels. Their ability to renew themselves via energy transfer ensured their position in military and communication for millennia. Nevertheless, the reports of accidents involving the race, mostly severe exhaustion of ecosystems, eventually resulted in the classification of these organisms as "dangerous". Every individual identified should be immediately reported and sealed within Bodreutrium containing boxes by qualified personnel. Attempts of damage to the spirits are not recommended. Decrease in energetic state triggers absorption of available energy from life forms in the environment, which can have potentially fatal for the attacker."
"I appreciate every day I'm given. But why should my life be more important than the lives of others?" Clara asked the Doctor, newfound tears glistening in her eyes. "Has she told you what they did to Excalibur? Entire space base slaughtered. Just because I happened to be there few days earlier."
"Then you can add Earth to the list. Did you hear what she just told you?" He continued, "Right now, they are somewhere on Earth, slowly sucking the life from everything that comes their way."
"Yes, they are, but they'll fly away. They won't find anything interesting, and they will leave it alone."
"They are space vampires. They don't think. The problem is that sometimes they simply block and stay much longer in one place than they should. And they get hungry."
"But they won't track down anything. Not this time. I haven't left the TARDIS even for a second."
"Yes, you didn't. But they still arrived. See, there is a sea of brains like yours on this planet that attracts them and will likely make them stay and hunt here."
"They will leave."
"Oh, I bet they will. Eventually. When every tree, human, and even the tiniest of birds on this planet won't have any energy they can possibly suck off. If you want to give up fine, but first think about every life you're going to take down with you. Luas won't disappear when you're gone. Gallifrey doesn't have any plan how to capture them. They're going to stay here, maybe even forever. Just imagine what can happen one day when they'll get exhausted. How long will it take till they'll break the promise they made and blast first planet that comes their way?"
"Then what should we do? They won't go away. You just keep repeating that, but what to do?"
"For now, just pull yourself together. Your guilt over what happened won't help anybody." He told her and approached the exit.
"Where are you going?"
"It's almost three am. A bit too late for get-togethers. I'll get in touch with you in the morning. Try not to burn this place to embers till then. I quite like this planet."
The Doctor was very calm and patient this evening – the truth, however, was totally different. His feelings for Clara might have changed, but seeing her so hopeless and vulnerable made his heart break into pieces. They were the one who took her away from him in the first place. Sometimes, she haunted him in his dreams, standing on the Trap Street waiting for the Raven to attack. Even the neural block wasn't able to take away the pain this view caused it seemed. Whatever she, or rather, he did later was ungraceful, and he hasn't denied it even for a moment – but the punishment Time Lords sent on her just to force her to come back was, without a shadow of doubt, incommensurable. Her only fault in it all was that it took her a while to notice what was happening. Of course Clara could surrender just as Time Lords wanted, but it wouldn't do any good, except for making her conscience clear. The real crime in his eyes was what his people did, and they did it on purpose. Since Gallifrey was willing to keep its status quo, they wouldn't even try to seal Luas after their mission is done. Instead the creatures would wander pointlessly in space getting hungrier and hungrier. They seemed to stick to their quest so far, but no one could predict what would happen after Clara's trace was lost. Would they starve or start to attack innocent planets in an ungraceful lust for blood? The huge risk of collateral damage however seemed to be meaningless for Time Lords. The only merit that had any value for them was if Clara's back.
He wanted to explain to her and make her understand that it was never her fault, but he knew that she would never believe him. Her susceptibilities and care for others would never allow her to.
The only thing he could do was to make sure that the vicious crime will end and he decided to start it tonight.
First of all, he needed to call UNIT.
