CHAPTER 9

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A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE

As they loaded Clara's body into the Doctor's TARDIS, the Doctor and the Rani both refused to look at one another or even to speak. The tension in the room was so thick that Lucy and Osgood immediately exchanged a nervous glance at one another. They were both sure that the two Time Lords were going to go for one another's throats at any moment.

Courtney, who seemed to be completely oblivious to all of this, followed the Doctor into the ship as she said to him in an extremely upset voice, "She can't really be dead. She just can't. Not for good. You can do something to save her, right? Aliens have all kinds of ways to bring someone back to life don't they? You see it all the time in the movies and on television."

"She actually has been dead before. It's happened to her quite often in fact," The Doctor said in a completely detached voice as if he wasn't bothered by what had just happened in the slightest.

"What?" Courtney said in surprise.

The Doctor realized that she didn't know that Clara had been the Master despite what she had just witnessed since she had no idea who the Master even was. He almost felt sorry for her despite his usual lack of emotion for anyone in this incarnation since she really had no idea what she had just gotten herself involved in here.

She was yet another human put in harm's way because she had had the misfortune of crossing his path.

"Clara has died several times and returned to life. Surely if anyone can conquer death once more she can," The Doctor said as he and the Rani worked together to gently lay Clara's body in the Captain's Chair in the Console Room.

"So you do have a way to bring her back then?" Courtney said in a hopeful voice.

"It's more like she's brought herself back with one ingenious back-up plan after another. I'm certain knowing her as I do that she has something in place to save herself at this very moment," The Doctor said in a nonchalant voice as he shut the TARDIS' doors and started to dematerialize.

He had decided to take Courtney along with them until he had a proper chance to talk things over with her since she was far too upset to be left behind now. The others at the school would wonder what was going on and ask her questions if he did. That was the last thing that he needed since Courtney had heard and seen enough to quickly convince UNIT that Clara really had been the Master after all if she were questioned about it.

He wouldn't let anyone know her secret. Ever. Not even . . . Not even if she truly was gone forever.

He owed it to Clara to let the universe remember her as a good woman who was a hero and not as the Master.

"What if she doesn't have a plan though?" Courtney suddenly asked in a frightened tone breaking him out of his thoughts.

The Rani now turned to her and gave her an evil stare as she said, "Child, if you don't stop your incessant prattling and leave right now, I'm going to do something far worse to you than send you to the headmaster's office."

"Leave her alone," The Doctor said in a cold voice as he finally spoke to the Rani at last.

The Rani now turned her angry glare on him as she said, "Or you'll do what exactly? Don't think just because I'm in your TARDIS that you have the advantage, Doctor. I can quickly immobilize or even kill you in at least a half dozen different ways if I want. Fortunately for you, I have neither a reason nor a desire to do that. Let's just keep it that way shall we?"

That was when the Doctor suddenly erupted in anger as he shouted in a voice filled with cold fury, "Stop threatening everyone like you're some kind of comic book villain, Ushas! I'm not responsible for what happened and neither is that girl. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself. You did all of this. She was finally truly happy for the first time since she became a renegade, and you just couldn't leave her alone. Could you?"

The Rani now advanced on him with a murderous look in her eyes as she said, "Me? I'm to blame? You and your precious humans are the ones who are really to blame not me. You all convinced her that she was something that she wasn't. You confused her so much that you created a dangerous state of mental instability in her brain that ultimately winded up killing her. You did this, Doctor! You killed . . . !"

She was quickly interrupted before she could finish her tirade however when she was slapped in the face so hard that she instantly had the breath knocked out of her. It wasn't the Doctor who had slapped her however.

It was Lucy.

"You killed her! She was just fine until you came along and tried to tamper with her mind. You did this! You and only you! So you're going to fix her or I'll make sure that you join her! Do you hear me?!" Lucy screamed with such raw emotion that even the normally unflappable Doctor was taken aback by her.

She instantly began to calm down when she saw Courtney clinging to Osgood's arm in fear. She immediately put a comforting arm around the little girl and smiled at her reassuringly.

"I'm sorry. I'm not really like that. I don't usually threaten to kill people. I swear," Lucy said with a small smile.

"Yeah, she's usually extremely sweet," Osgood reassured Courtney.

"I think it's a marked improvement actually. You reminded me a lot of a friend of mine named Amelia just then," The Doctor said with a smirk.

"I can see what she saw in you now. You're not the timid, unassuming woman that you pretend to be are you? You have such incredible strength and power hidden inside of you," The Rani said as she slowly rubbed her now red and swollen face.

"If I do, it was because I had to become strong in order to survive the nightmare that I was put through," Lucy said in an emotionless voice.

"Yes, I can see why you would want to change her now. You didn't want to go through that much pain again at her hands," The Rani said.

Lucy started to become filled with anger once again now as she said, "Yes, I was afraid of that. I admit that but that wasn't the only reason. I wanted her to be happy and she was never happy back then. Not really. Finally though she was when she became Clara. She really and truly was because being Clara had helped her to finally overcome her past and let her move on from it. She had peace of mind, Rani, and that's what you tried to take away from her: a feeling of inner peace. That's what killed her. She didn't want to lose that. She fought to hold onto that so badly that she died for it."

The Rani immediately looked away from her with shame as she stood there with her head bowed down in silence for a moment. Lucy could tell that she had finally realized that what they had been telling her was true by the tortured look on her features. Despite what had happened and her role in it, she instantly felt sorry for her in that moment.

"I didn't want her to die. I truly didn't," The Rani finally said in a guilty voice.

Lucy nodded with a slight smile as she said, "I know you didn't. You loved her too."

"She has a much different definition of that word than you do, Lucy. Believe me," The Doctor said in a dismissive tone.

The Rani gave him an angry stare and was about to say something when Osgood, who had grown just as tired of the fighting as Courtney, said, "Aren't we going to work on a way to save her? I know her history and she had a million ways that she cheated death in the past. Wouldn't one of those work? How about the ring that saved her after . . . well, after she was shot?"

Lucy briefly smiled at her to reassure her that she wasn't touchy about her bringing up the time that she shot the Master as she said, "That required the Potion of Life from the Secret Book of Saxon and Harry's ring."

"We have those. UNIT recovered them after the fire was put out. They were both virtually indestructible it seems. I can easily get them for you if that's all that you need," Osgood said eagerly.

Lucy shook her head as she said, "You obviously didn't read the book. Harry's disciples all sacrificed their life forces in order to bring him back.

Osgood grimaced as she said, "Oh. No, I didn't know that. No one was allowed to read the book. Kate had a combination lock put on it as soon as we recovered it. She said that it contained secrets that no one was meant to know."

"Plus if you were to look for them you wouldn't find them there in UNIT HQ anyway so it would be a complete waste of time," The Doctor said with a small enigmatic smile.

"What do you mean?" Osgood asked in surprise.

"A friend of mine named Christina liberated them from your vault sometime after you recovered them and brought them to me. I actually have them on the TARDIS," The Doctor said.

Osgood looked at him in shock as she said, "You had someone break into UNIT?"

"I couldn't allow anyone, especially not the human race, to have access to Gallifreyan technology and knowledge. The temptation to use it even for the best of you would be too great," The Doctor said.

"I thought you trusted us," Osgood said in a hurt tone.

"I trust certain humans but all of you as a whole?" The Doctor said as he vigorously shook his head no.

Then he immediately added, "I may be an idiot, Osgood, but I'm not stupid."

"It's not like we did any better with it though," The Rani said sadly.

"No, not really," The Doctor said as a great weariness came over his face.

"Time Lords are hardly infallible, Doctor. I know that better than most," Lucy said.

"The point isn't who's infallible. No one is. The point is that I don't ever want another Time War started up again by anyone. Ever," The Doctor said with a haunted look on his face.

"No, the point is that none of you have a clue how to bring Clara back again. You lot can cause massive destruction all over the planet whenever you feel like it, but you can't use all of that technology to do something that really counts. I thought aliens were all supposed to be extremely intelligent, but you lot don't know anything. You're all useless. Completely and utterly useless," Courtney said in despair.

All of the adults in the room looked away from her not knowing what to say. All except for the Doctor that is who actually smiled at her for once.

"Usually you'd probably be right about that but not this time. No, this time I actually have a plan. One that I hope will still save the day yet. It's going to be tricky and a bit risky to the Web of Time but if it works out it could be the best way to save her," The Doctor said in a reassuring voice.

"Clara was right you know?" Lucy said with a warm smile.

"About what?" The Doctor asked in confusion.

"You do like that girl. You really are an old softy," Lucy said as she gave him a brief hug that made him bristle.

"Again with the hugging. What is it with you humans and the hugging?" The Doctor complained.

"Will you stop with your pointless and insipid complaining, Doctor? What is this plan of yours and does it have anything to do with where we're currently headed?" The Rani asked.

"Yes, it has everything to do with it, Ushas. I just hope that the access codes to the Source aren't different in the past. I need to do this quickly before I'm noticed by the Keeper," The Doctor said.

The Rani's eyes widened as she said, "The Keeper? Koschei told me once about how he stole the power of the Keeper of Traken in order to give himself enough energy to prolong the life of his final body after he ran out of regenerations during his original life cycle. He wound up having to steal a Trakenite body instead though thanks to your timely interference."

"Yes, and he also made sure to destroy the entire Traken Union later on. I can work my way around that though by going back to a few years before Teeth and Curls was there trying very hard not to trip over his scarf. If the access codes to the Source that powers the Keeper are still the same, then I can sit Clara on his throne and give her direct access to his power as I reroute it to her. It will only be for a moment because the Keeper will quickly take the power back once again when he realizes what's happening, but that should be just long enough to bring her back to life again," The Doctor said with a smug look.

Then his eyes looked worried as he said in a much lower voice, "I hope."

"Why do I feel significantly underwhelmed by that?" The Rani said with a frown.

The Doctor immediately gave her a dirty look but said nothing because the TARDIS was already materializing. He knew that he didn't have any time to waste arguing with her if he was going to pull this off in time.

"Help me with her," The Doctor asked the Rani in an urgent tone.

The two Time Lords quickly took Clara's body out of the TARDIS and sat her down on the throne of the Keeper of Traken as the Doctor anxiously watched the area for any signs of the Keeper or his guards arriving to stop them. Then he immediately used his sonic screwdriver to gain quick access to the Source's security systems by using the very same access codes that his fourth self had already learned when he came here years from now.

He smiled in triumph as he realized that the codes were still exactly the same. He then quickly used the sonic to start slowly rerouting the power of the Source to the Keeper's throne so that the Keeper wouldn't notice it until it was too late.

Before he could finish, however, several guards began to arrive and stormed into the room.

"You have to hold them back until I've finished here. I still need a few more minutes to do this in such a subtle way that the Keeper won't realize that the power's gone until it's too late to stop me," The Doctor said to the Rani.

"Don't worry about it. I can handle a few witless guards easily," The Rani said with a wicked smile.

"And no killing," The Doctor quickly added.

The Rani frowned at him as she said, "I thought you wanted to do this quickly."

The Doctor gave her an angry stare which caused her to sigh and say, "Fine. We'll just do this the hard way then. I suppose I should be grateful for the challenge so I can keep my mind properly stimulated. Now let's see. What can I use that won't involve killing them?"

"Would you kindly speed it up a bit? They've almost reached us," The Doctor said as he rolled his eyes at her obvious stalling tactic.

He knew that she could have already stopped them easily by now. She just wanted to make him sweat because he had dared to tell her what to do.

"Yes. That will do the job quite nicely. I'll use the mutated poison of the Sveng Plant from Ultra V. It sprays the entire area with it and completely anesthetizes the entire body of its victims so that they don't feel a thing before it quickly puts them to sleep. Then it eats them. I've always thought that it was a very humane way to die. I'll spare them that part though at your request of course."

"Thank you so much for that and for that ever so wonderful biology lesson that absolutely no one needed to hear," The Doctor said sarcastically.

Then the Rani immediately proceeded to blow a fine mist out of the bracelets around her wrists. As soon as the mist reached the guards, they immediately fell to the ground while gasping for breath.

Moments later, they were all passed out unconscious on the floor. The mist however continued to stay in the area as it slowly spread outwards and into the adjoining hallways.

"That should take care of any additional would be intruders long before they ever get here. They'll be out for at least an hour and then wake up with no side effects whatsoever. Well, no side effects except for a complete loss of an hour of their memory. They won't remember anything about us whatsoever," The Rani said with a smug self-satisfied grin.

The Doctor looked at her with newly found admiration now as he said, "I assume that's one way that you steal victims for your experiments without ever being discovered."

"Yes. It's most efficient. The mist dissipates in a matter of minutes, and there's no trace of it left anywhere," The Rani said.

"You always had the most brilliant mind even in the old days. If only you were on my side. You're almost as brilliant as me. I might actually come close to doubling my efficiency. Well, possibly so anyway," The Doctor said with a shrug.

"You always were the master of back-handed compliments," The Rani said with a snarl.

"I was actually being completely honest," The Doctor said with a confused look on his face.

Then he smiled as he said, "I've done it."

The Rani immediately held her breath as she anxiously awaited the results of the Doctor's act of sabotage. Would it bring Clara back or was it already too late now?

Moments later the Keeper's throne glowed with power, and Clara's body was enveloped in an aura of pure energy that was so bright that it briefly obscured it from sight. Then the glow quickly faded, and Clara's eyes instantly snapped open.

Both the Doctor and the Rani smiled in triumph as Clara immediately got to her feet while her body glowed with leftover energy. As she walked towards them, she gave them both a wicked smile that the Doctor wasn't quite sure how to interpret.

What was she up to?

"It's so nice to see you two working together for once, Old Man. I was sure that you'd be at each other's throats by now," Clara said as she continued to glow.

"What would ever make you say that?" The Doctor somehow said with a straight face.

"Yes, I can't imagine," The Rani said with a groan.

"Uh huh. I thought so. So how long did it take before you decided to stop screaming at each other and to come here instead I wonder? Five minutes? Ten? Thirty? My money's on thirty," Clara asked with a chuckle.

"Would you please get in the TARDIS before we're discovered," The Rani hissed.

Clara ignored her however and continued to smile as she said, "In case you're both wondering why I'm currently a walking light bulb, I'll give you a quick rundown. The Keeper took the power of the Source back quickly alright, but not before I was able to grab some of it. It's only a small portion, but it's enough to do something that I really think that you're going to approve of, Stick Man. At least I hope so anyway," Clara said with a hesitant smile.

"We'll do it in the TARDIS, Clara. I can already feel the Keeper approaching. He'll be teleporting in here at any moment to check on things," The Doctor warned.

"Fine. Let's go then before you have a complete hissy fit, Skinny," Clara said with a chuckle.

"I do not have hissy fits," The Doctor said indignantly.

"You could have fooled me," Clara said with a malicious grin.

"I see you still have your sparkling wit, dear," The Rani said with a sigh.

"Some things never change. Sometimes that's definitely not a good thing though," Clara said with a sad look on her face.

The Rani immediately winced. She could already tell that things were definitely never going to be the same between them.

She had really and truly lost her this time.

The three of them quickly got back to the TARDIS and the Doctor dematerialized seconds before the Keeper arrived. He studied the scene with absolute confusion because he could sense that the encryption around the security systems hadn't been broken into and that nothing had been hacked into whatsoever. There seemed to be no signs of sabotage here whatsoever.

It was almost as if someone had used the correct codes to get in but that couldn't be possible. Only he knew the codes.

So what had briefly stolen the power of the Source from him and disabled all of his guards?

It had to have been some kind of temporary malfunction in the equipment that accidentally released some of the energy and stunned the guards with it. That had to be it.

What else could it possibly be after all?

Back in the TARDIS, Clara was still smiling that same wicked grin from before as she said, "And now as promised, I'll use the small amount of power that I still have to do something that I really hope that you'll be thanking me for in a minute."

"What are you babbling about, Clara?" The Doctor said in an impatient voice that contained an almost undetectable undercurrent of worry that no one else but Clara would have possibly picked up on.

She could tell that he was worried that the power had gone to her head and that she was going to do something Masterly with it. That was hardly the case though. This was definitely something that the Master would never have done.

Clara now turned to the Rani who looked at her with undisguised worry and said, "It's okay. I forgive you, Ushas. I know that you actually thought that you were helping me even if you did wind up getting it all wrong. That's why I'm going to return the favor."

"What?" The Rani asked in a frightened voice as Clara moved towards her and started to touch her with a glowing hand.

"Clara, what are you doing?" The Doctor asked in alarm.

"It's going to be alright," Clara said in a gentle voice as she touched an anxious Rani's shoulder.

Then the Rani immediately vanished and the glow around Clara instantly faded away for good.

"Did you kill her? Please don't tell me that you killed her. I mean she was a major pain and I didn't like her, but I'd never want you to do that," Courtney said in a horrified voice.

Clara smiled and shook her head as she said, "Nope. She's fine. I, uh, I made her human and gave her a brand new identity with a whole new life. I hope that it'll be a happy one for her."

"What?" The Doctor asked in disbelief.

"Hey, it worked for me so I thought why not try it for her too?" Clara said with a shrug.

"So you just stuck her down somewhere and set her completely loose? How reckless can you be, Clara? What about her memories and her knowledge? Even if you somehow repressed those, what's to stop her from ever getting them back again? They would quickly burn out a human brain. Believe me. I know," The Doctor said in a worried voice as he briefly thought about Donna.

"Don't worry. I put them somewhere where she'll never have access to them. My ring," Clara said as she briefly pulled it out of one of her pockets and showed it to him.

"How did you get that? I had that hidden in one of my storage rooms," The Doctor protested.

"Yeah, and I love to snoop in places where I'm not supposed to be. Sound like somebody that you know, Skeleton Man?" Clara said as she winked at him.

"So the Rani is completely human now with no memory whatsoever of who she used to be? There's absolutely no way for her to ever become a Time Lord again?" Lucy asked as she drew closer to Clara.

"No, none whatsoever. I know it sounds cruel but I really think it was the only way that she was ever going to be happy. It was also the only way that I could be sure that she would stop coming after me," Clara said as she moved closer to Lucy now and met her in the middle.

Lucy began to smile as she said in a voice that shook with emotion, "I'm so glad that you're okay. I was . . . I was so worried that I had lost you for good for a while there."

"So was I. My back-up plan worked perfectly though just like I hoped that it would," Clara said as she put her arms around Lucy and hugged her tightly.

"What back-up plan? You had no plan. I was the one who saved you," The Doctor said in an irritated voice.

"Don't you get it, Old Man? You were my plan. I knew that I could count on you. You always come through for me in the end," Clara said with a warm smile.

The Doctor actually smiled back at her for a brief moment as he said, "Then we're even because you always come through for me too."

Clara then pulled away from Lucy and hugged the Doctor next. She didn't fail to notice that he hugged her just as tightly this time.

As Clara went to hug Osgood next, Osgood asked curiously, "What identity did you give the Rani? Where is she anyway? Do you even know?"

"Yes, I know. I know exactly where she is and who she is. I wanted to be able to keep tabs on her after all," Clara said with a mysterious smile.

"Keep tabs on her? So she's someone that you know then?" Lucy asked with concern.

"I can't say. Well, I can but I don't want to really. I want her to have a regular life without anyone bothering her," Clara said.

"You're not even going to tell me are you?" The Doctor asked with a scowl.

"No. I don't want you bothering her most of all. You'd never leave her alone if you knew," Clara said with a mischievous grin.

"How will I know if she's causing trouble or not then?" The Doctor said with a deep frown.

"I'll know. Trust me. I'm watching her, Doctor. I'm watching her very closely all the time now. As for causing trouble, she's no more of a disruption than usual. Some things never change after all," Clara said as her eyes briefly flickered to Courtney and back again before anyone noticed.

Next: Now that Clara no longer has to worry about the Rani, she'll have it completely easy from now on, right? Wrong. Yet another familiar face from Clara's past as the Master returns next chapter as the Doctor winds up reuniting with one of his old companions: Martha Jones. This is certainly going to be awkward, isn't it?