CHAPTER 15

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THE SHADOW OF THE MASTER

As Lucy's TARDIS rapidly approached Gallifrey, Clara had gone completely silent and retreated into herself. That was never a good sign in Lucy's experience, and it made her even more worried about her than she already was.

"What is it?" Osgood asked with concern as she realized that Lucy was watching Clara with an extremely anxious look.

"It's nothing or probably nothing anyway. Don't worry about it," Lucy said with a reassuring smile.

"You know for once I actually miss the Rani because at least she was always honest with me. She always told me straight out what she was going to do even if I didn't always like hearing it sometimes. Lucy, what's wrong?" Osgood said in a persistent voice.

"Maybe I'm just seeing things that aren't there. I just didn't want to worry you unnecessarily," Lucy said with an air of uncertainty.

"Lucy," Osgood said in a tone that suggested that she was beyond frustrated now.

Romana actually laughed as she said, "You really have changed now. You never had any trouble whatsoever telling people what was on your mind before. That was the part of the reason why you were exiled from what I read about you."

"Yeah, tell the Lord President he's a doddering incompetent old fool with delusions of grandeur once and they never let you forget it," Lucy said with a brief smile.

"Well, there was also that whole incident with his cat too. I'm sure that didn't help any either," Romana pointed out.

"That was a complete accident. Can I help it if one of my test mice escaped its cage?" Lucy protested with a warm smile.

"Don't tell me. The mouse got out and the President's cat chased it and caused a panic all throughout the Capitol, right?" Osgood asked with a chuckle.

Lucy smiled at her evilly now as she said, "More like the other way around. You see I was trying to unlock the mice's full genetic potential. This particular mouse was easily three times the size of his cat and its razor sharp teeth and voracious appetite made it quite capable of tearing it to bits in a matter of seconds if it had actually caught up to it. It also made a good go at eating the President too as I remember while he tried to rescue the cat from it."

Osgood shook her head at her as she said with a smirk, "No wonder they threw you out. What were you thinking? I mean why would you create giant killer mice? Who does that?"

Lucy shrugged as she said with a sheepish grin, "I just wanted to see if I could."

As Osgood rolled her eyes at her and looked at her as if she were completely mad, Lucy quickly said, "Yes, I know it's more than a bit creepy. At least I realize that now anyway. I'm not like that anymore. I promise."

"For future reference, I definitely like nice, sweet Lucy a lot better than the Rani. So keep that in mind if you ever start getting an urge to do any of your experiments anymore especially if they involve humans," Osgood teased her.

"No more questionable experiments. Cross my hearts," Lucy said with a chuckle.

Then Osgood suddenly turned serious as she said, "So now that I've actually gotten you talking to me again, tell me why you're so worried about Clara."

As Lucy stared at her in surprise, Romana laughed and said, "She's very good isn't she?"

"Especially when helped," Lucy said as she glared at Romana.

Romana smiled as she said "Yes, well, I do what I can. Besides, I didn't want to be the one to have to tell her what it is you're so worried about. I can already tell that she's extremely close to Koschei even just from knowing her this long."

"So you're thinking the same thing as I am then?" Lucy said in a now extremely worried voice.

"Definitely. I can only hope that we're both wrong. She tends to lose perspective whenever it comes to the Doctor after all, and you know how she gets when she loses control of herself. The Daleks and the Valeyard might be the least of our worries if that happens," Romana said in an anxious tone.

Osgood now looked upset as she said, "Oh, please don't tell me that you're talking about Clara becoming the Master again. Why? It doesn't make sense. We're already in enough trouble as it is so why would she possibly do that?"

"She might unleash her darker impulses if she's convinced that it's the only way to save the Doctor. The Master always had a devious mind especially when it concerned coming up with a way out of death. There was no one else better in the universe at saving themselves from what seemed like certain destruction," Lucy said with a fond smile.

"Why, thank you, Science Girl," Clara said as she suddenly came up behind Lucy and made her almost jump out of her skin in surprise.

"Clara? Are you okay?" Lucy asked with undisguised concern as she quickly searched Clara's face for signs of what was going on in her brain at the moment.

"She'd better be okay because there is no way that I'd ever allow her to go back to who she was before. No way," Osgood said in a threatening tone.

To both Osgood and Lucy's relief, Clara gave her a sweet smile and hugged her as she said, "Is that what you lot are so worked up about over here? You think I'm turning on you? No! I'm fine. I was just trying to come up with a way to save Grimmy and ourselves while getting rid of the fake Gallifrey at the same time. Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"Well, you did and I'm going to tell you right now that you'd better not even think about it, alright? Just . . . don't," Lucy said in an emotional voice as she wrapped her arms around Clara and pulled her close to her.

"I won't. I . . . I admit that I was tempted because I don't want him to die. I guess you could sense that, huh?" Clara said in a voice filled with shame.

"Yes, I could. Like I said, don't even think about it," Lucy said as she moved her face closer to Clara's.

"Believe me, Lucy. I have a very good reason not to now," Clara said in a soft voice.

Then she finally took a deep breath and did something that she had wanted to from the moment that she had first been reunited with her again. She began to kiss her.

At first it was almost timid and more a kiss between friends than anything truly romantic and then Clara steeled her courage and quickly deepened it into something more. It instantly became more and more passionate in intensity as Clara put every bit of her feelings for her into it even while she desperately hoped that she wasn't making a huge mistake.

To Clara's immense relief, Lucy eagerly returned her kiss and Clara had to fight back tears at the very real fear that Lucy would reject her. She wouldn't have been able to blame her if she had but she was still completely overjoyed that she was truly willing to give her a second chance once more.

Osgood immediately began to smile once more. It seemed as if all was well with the universe now.

"It's about time," Osgood whispered to Romana who nodded.

"Yes, it only took them centuries. Even the Doctor's not that slow," Romana said with a mischievous grin.

"Really? This is the Doctor after all," Osgood asked in disbelief.

"Alright, he possibly is that slow but I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. We are friends after all," Romana said with a chuckle.

"So that settles that then. Clara's still okay. She's not going to backslide after all," Osgood said with a hopeful smile.

Romana's expression suddenly became quite stern now as she said, "We're all going to have to watch her closely and make certain of that especially you. She seems to be heavily influenced by both you and Ushas . . . obviously in very different ways of course."

Osgood grimaced now as she said, "Definitely different. I love Clara but not like that. She's my best friend."

Romana gave her a warm smile once more as she said, "The Master having a human as a best friend. I never thought I'd see that day."

"She's not the Master anymore. She's Clara Oswald and that's who she's always going to be from now on," Osgood said in a firm voice as she stared Romana down with a defiant look in her eyes.

"Yes, of course. Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just hard for me to think of her as anything else," Romana said as she immediately put her hands up in surrender.

"Hey, it's okay, Inhaler Girl. She's on our side, remember? You'll have to forgive Ozzy, Fred. She's my staunchest defender. And you thought I was scary. You haven't seen anything if you get her properly angry. I find that it's best just to stay on her good side, yeah?" Clara joked as she gave Osgood a tight hug in appreciation for her words.

"You're okay, aren't you?" Osgood whispered to her.

"I'm fine. You should save your worry for the Doctor, alright?" Clara reassured her as she kissed her cheek.

Osgood looked Clara deeply in the eyes for a moment and then nodded. She then laid her head on Clara's shoulder and continued to hold onto her tightly. Clara could tell that she was still very worried about her and so were Lucy and Romana. It was written all over their faces. That was when she gave them both a look filled with meaning that told them that she wasn't going back to who she was anymore no matter what happened.

She would never break Osgood's heart like that.

"She really does care for her doesn't she?" Romana whispered to Lucy.

"She's the one who finally convinced her that she didn't have to be the Master anymore. Clara loves her with all of her hearts," Lucy whispered back.

"Good. Very good," Romana said as she watched Clara softly stroke Osgood's hair in a reassuring manner.

Suddenly Lucy had a bad feeling suddenly develop deep down in her gut and she didn't know why. She quickly decided to ignore it though because she could see on Clara's face that she really did mean what she said. There was no way that Clara was ever going to turn into the Master again at this point. She was sure of it.

That was when all of her worries instantly began to shift to far more practical ones as her TARDIS suddenly materialized right in the middle of the fake Capitol. Luckily she left the brakes off so it had done so silently. The TARDIS was currently invisible so that it couldn't be seen, but she had no doubt that it wouldn't soon be spotted by either Dalek or Time Lord technology in no time despite that. She knew that they only had a few minutes at the most before the entire planet was alerted to their presence.

So they had to make wise use of them.

Lucy was already more than ready to do exactly that as she pulled a DNA scanner out of her pocket and began doing a quick search of the immediate area on it. She quickly smiled in triumph as the Doctor's particular set of DNA appeared on its screen in a matter of seconds.

"According to this, the Doctor's only about a fifteen minute walk away from here. Maybe if we're lucky we could be in and out with him before they even know that we're here," Lucy said with a hopeful smile.

The other women all looked at her in varying stages of disbelief now as Clara said, "Please don't tell me that you really believe that."

Lucy smiled and said, "What? I can't believe in lost causes?"

"The Rani never used to. She only believed in science and logic," Clara pointed out.

"I'm not the Rani anymore. I'll believe in whatever I want now," Lucy said without hesitation.

"Sounds good to me especially now," Clara said happily as she gave her a tender kiss.

"This is not a lost cause, Clara. We can do this. I know we can especially with that plan of yours," Lucy said as she looked at her with eyes filled with faith and love.

Clara looked at her in surprise now as she said, "How did you know that I already had a plan?"

"I know you better than anyone. That's how. You're just like the Doctor. You always have a plan ready and a back-up plan set in place just in case that one doesn't work out. You probably have a back-up for the back-up plan too. I certainly wouldn't doubt it," Lucy said with a smirk.

"That's where you're wrong, Science Girl. I don't have a back-up for the back-up. Not this time anyway," Clara quipped with a loving smile.

"You must seriously be slipping then," Lucy joked back.

"Just look at them. They're so sweet with one another aren't they? They really are perfect together," Osgood confided to Romana as she watched them banter with one another.

"Yes, I've always thought so," Romana said with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Alright, girls, it's time to head out now while we still have the advantage of surprise. Luckily I've already hacked into the Capitol's security systems and switched them off so that should give us a few more minutes before we're discovered. Since Lucy was good enough to find the Doctor's exact location for us I was also able to unlock his cell just now too. All we have to do is get by any Daleks or Time Lords who might be in-between there and here. Easier said than done though I know, but you've got to keep a positive attitude, right?" Clara said in a chipper tone.

"You are definitely not the Master I used to know," Romana said in amazement.

"Yes, I keep telling you that. Pay attention," Osgood berated her.

"Now that the cell's open maybe the Doctor will already be walking in our direction, and we can shave some time off that way," Lucy in a hopeful voice.

Clara just stared at her as she said, "Please. It's Theta, Lucy. Do you actually think that he'll notice that his cell door is open in time to do us any good?"

"No," Lucy and Clara both said together at once while shaking their heads vigorously.

Then they both burst out laughing together.

"We're never going to free the Doctor at this rate with you two constantly flirting with one another. You're like two lovesick teenagers," Romana said with a sigh.

"Like I said, sweet," Osgood said merrily.

"Yes, that's certainly one way of putting it alright," Romana said with a smirk.

"She's right, Luce. We're wasting time here. Let's go before it's too late," Clara said as she began to look at her watch nervously.

Then she handed identical watches to the other three women and said, "Oh, and you might want to try these out. Invisibility watches. I've rigged them up to even make us invisible to both Time Lord and Dalek sensors. Well, in theory anyway."

"That sounded so good until you said that last part," Osgood said with a frown.

"She's right to be wary of making a claim like that, Osgood. The Valeyard is from the Doctor's future. Who knows what technology that she's been exposed to that the rest of us have never even heard of at this point in time?" Romana said with an earnest expression.

"She? The Valeyard's a woman now?" Clara asked in surprise.

"Yes, Missy told me that before she died. Apparently she finally found a new set of regenerations or something. What about it?" Romana said in confusion.

"Nothing. It's just that you said the Valeyard was a he earlier," Clara said while studying her intently.

"Did I? It must have been force of habit," Romana said in a nonchalant manner.

"Is that really important right now? She's still just as dangerous no matter what gender she is, right?" Osgood asked.

"Yeah, of course she is. Everybody turn on your watches and let's go," Clara said in a nervous voice.

"What is it, Clara?" Lucy asked as she noticed the sudden change in her behavior.

"Nothing. I'm just worried about the Doctor," Clara said dismissively.

Then the four of them finally left the TARDIS at last while turning on their invisibility watches. They walked down the Capitol's corridors slowly and silently for the first few minutes and somehow didn't encounter a single living soul either Time Lord or Dalek. Instead of making them feel better however, this only added to the growing sense of unease in both Clara and Lucy's hearts at that moment however.

It's too easy. Lucy said to Clara telepathically.

I know. Be prepared for anything. Danger could come from any direction now. Clara warned.

Lucy looked at Clara questioningly and then followed the direction of her eyes. Her own eyes widened in shock and fear now as she finally realized what Clara was trying to tell her at last.

Wonderful. I really hope you're wrong for once, Clara. Lucy replied with a mental sigh.

Believe me. So do I. Things are already going to be bad enough as it is. Clara answered with a shiver.

A few more minutes later with still no Daleks or Time Lords anywhere in sight the four women finally made their way to the Doctor's cell at last. All the while Clara just kept waiting for the hammer to drop and that feeling only intensified as she opened the door to the Doctor's cell.

And just like she predicted he was still sitting there.

"Still can't figure out when your door is open or not, Stick Man? You'd think after all of this time that you might actually start learning something. I guess it really is true what they say about old Doctors and new tricks, isn't it?" Clara teased him with a relieved smile.

"Are you comparing me to a dog, Clara?" The Doctor said with a deep frown.

"You said it not me, Old Man," Clara said with joy as she rushed forward to hug him tightly.

"And I actually did know that it was unlocked this time for your information. I could hear the lock click as it opened. I just thought that it might not be such a good idea to walk blindly outside right into an ambush," The Doctor said with a wary look on his face.

"Yeah, I guess you had no way of knowing that it was Clara who had freed you I suppose," Osgood said.

The Doctor gave her a pointed look now as he said, "Actually, I was almost certain of it. That wasn't the ambush I was referring to though."

He was looking straight at Romana now, and that was when Clara knew for sure. The Doctor traveled with her for years after all. If anyone would know, he would.

What do you mean?" Osgood asked in a surprised voice.

"I believe the Doctor's already figured me out, dear. That shouldn't be too surprising though. He always did have a talent for seeing through my many disguises," Romana said with a wicked smile.

Even as Osgood gave her a questioning look, Romana suddenly grabbed both of her arms and pulled them behind her back at once painfully. She then held them there with one hand while holding a staser on Osgood with the other one.

"What? W – What's going on?" Osgood said in a terrified voice as she began to struggle to breathe.

"She needs her inhaler," Clara said with concern as she saw Osgood's face turning red.

"Tough. We all need something, don't we, Clara? That doesn't mean that we always get it though do we? I needed you to be something other than a spineless human lover for instance so I guess we're both disappointed aren't we?" Romana said in a voice filled with venom.

"Just don't hurt her. We can talk about this," Clara said in an anxious tone.

"I don't want to talk. I can already see that the time for that is long over now. I was sent by the Valeyard to kill you, Clara. Only I couldn't do that to you for obvious reasons. Not unless I truly felt that there was no other way. Unfortunately for you though, I now realize that there isn't one," Romana said with a sinister smirk.

"Don't do this. Please!" Clara pleaded.

"W – Who?" Osgood managed to somehow say despite gasping for breath at that moment.

A horrible, cruel laugh began to come from Romana now as she said to Clara, "Why do you like her so much? She's horribly dim isn't she? I really think that I'll be doing you a favor in a minute. You see, poppet, I'm not Romana. I never was. I just used her identity in order to draw you all into a false sense of security. You've already seen the real me long ago even if none of you realized that at the time."

'Romana' suddenly faded away now and Missy stood in her place with a wicked smile on her face as she said, "The truth was right in front of you the entire time but you were all too taken in by my clever little story of being Romana to see it. At least you were until I slipped up anyway, Clara. You've known since my little gender gaffe. Right?"

"Yes, I have and that's where you made your biggest mistake. You really should have tried to kill me right then and there. It's much too late now though, Mirror Me," Clara said with a half-smile that showed that she wasn't quite as confident as she was trying to appear.

Missy laughed now as she said, "Why? Is it because you switched off my staser with your laser screwdriver just as soon as you figured out who I must be? As if I didn't realize that! You knew that I'd know too. That's why you're looking so worried because I've had plenty of time to think of another way to kill your friend by now. You're not fooling anyone, sister, so you can stop with the fake bravado."

"You're forgetting something, aren't you? That also means that I've had time to come up with a plan to stop anything that you've come up with too," Clara said without once breaking eye contact with her doppleganger.

Missy smiled as she said, "I know. Exciting, isn't it? I wonder who will outsmart who first, eh? Care to find out?"

"Don't do this. I know there's still good in you. I believe in you even if you can't believe in yourself right now. Please. Just think about this," Clara said with a crack in her voice.

Missy actually seemed to be thinking it over for a brief heart stopping moment and then Clara's hearts sank as she smiled at her mischievously and said, "Thought about it. I really didn't like the idea much though I'm afraid. So I'll just go with my original one instead."

"Clara," Osgood said in an emotional voice as she looked at her with pleading eyes.

Clara somehow instinctively knew that she wasn't pleading for her to save her though. She was pleading with her not to let what was coming change her. It was a promise that she wasn't sure that she could keep however.

Then Clara's hearts were both instantly shattered as Osgood suddenly screamed in soul numbing agony while she rapidly began shrinking down to the size of a doll right in front of Clara's horrified eyes! That was when Missy finally revealed that she had been holding a Tissue Compression Eliminator in the hand that had been holding Osgood's arms behind her back.

"No! No!" Clara screamed in a furious voice while a torrent of tears flooded down her face as she watched what was left of Osgood collapse to the floor in an unmoving heap.

"Now I'm glad that she came along instead of staying behind like I originally wanted. I thought she might end up getting in the way somehow like humans tend to do, but she ended up being unbelievably useful after all. I wanted you to watch this before you died, Clara. I needed you to see exactly what turning good has gotten you. Maybe if you had been more like me you might have seen this coming in time to save her, but then again if you had been more like me you would have just killed her yourself a long time ago. Now it's your turn and then I'm going to kill your new girlfriend and the Doctor," Missy said as she quickly pointed her TCE at Clara and the others.

Then she turned the shimmer back on and this time she became Clara instead of Romana as she said in Clara's voice, "That's when I'll quietly slip into your place as Clara Oswald. The same Clara who thanks to the much too trusting Kate Stewart now has access to the Black Archive where all kinds of secret and deadly alien weapons are kept. I'm sure I'll find something there to help me get rid of both the Valeyard and the Daleks at the same time and leave me as the one and only Master of Time and Space. So you see? It wasn't all for nothing after all was it? You just helped me out a lot, Clara. Thank you so very much!"

"No!" Clara screamed in a voice filled with absolute hatred as she pressed a button on her watch.

"Clara, don't!" The Doctor shouted as he realized what was coming and exactly how it would affect her.

"Clara!" Lucy pleaded.

It was already far too late however.

Now it was Missy's turn to suddenly cry out in pain as the invisibility watch she was wearing suddenly exploded and she began to immediately start burning alive. She now looked at Clara with a completely astonished expression while she began to laugh.

"I told you that I had a plan ready. I suddenly overloaded your watch's battery by sending it every bit of energy from my own watch's battery in one massive burst. All of that energy had to go somewhere didn't it? I wasn't going to do that to you but you left me with no other choice did you? You should have let her live, Missy! You should have let her live!" Clara screamed.

"Well, well! I guess you still had it in you after all, didn't you? Good for you, Clara. Good for you," Missy said while actually laughing despite the intense pain that she was now currently in at that moment.

Then her eyes rolled up in her head and she fell over to the floor dead.

"Oh . . . God!" Clara said in a sickened voice as she began sobbing violently.

"Clara, you had no other choice. She was going to kill us all. This doesn't make you the Master again, Clara. It doesn't," Lucy said as she held Clara to her closely while she continued to cry without being able to stop.

"Clara, don't . . . don't let this change you. Please. Osgood would never want that," The Doctor said as he struggled to put his feelings into words.

"So she's not as pure and innocent as you thought is she? The girl was always her Achilles' Heel it seems. It really makes you wonder if she's willing to commit murder in order to avenge her, what she's willing to do next, doesn't it?" The Valeyard said as she suddenly appeared at the entrance to the cell with an entire army of Daleks behind her.

That was when the image of the charred corpse of Missy suddenly faded and an unconscious but otherwise unharmed Missy took its place. Clara now looked up from Lucy's shoulder with a triumphant smile on her face as the Valeyard looked at her in confusion.

Lucy however quickly exchanged a relieved smile with the Doctor. She was still Clara.

"She's not dead. I used my laser screwdriver to hack into her shimmer and convince her that it had exploded and set her on fire. She was so traumatized by the whole thing she actually convinced herself that it had really happened and passed out from the 'pain.' It served its purpose though, Doctor Lite, in bringing you here to gloat when you thought that I had just been broken. I knew that you wouldn't be able to resist doing that. So do you really want to know what I'm going to do next? Let me show you my back-up plan," Clara said in a cold voice.

Suddenly all of the lights in the entire area went out at once, and several Daleks began screaming in unison in the very next moment.

"UNDER ATTACK! UNDER ATTACK!" Several Dalek voices called out.

"What have you done?! Answer me! What have you done?" The Valeyard called out to Clara in the darkness.

"Two words, Scrapyard. Vashta Narada. Add in a controlled EMP burst that knocks out all of the power in the immediate area and that spells double trouble doesn't it? Who turned out the lights? I believe I just did," Clara said just before Lucy's TARDIS started to materialize around them.

Even as it did so, Clara gently and almost reverently picked up what was left of Osgood's now shrunken body and put it in her jacket pocket. She had instantly remembered the exact location where she had fallen so that she could even find her in the dark because she was determined that she would get a proper burial just as soon as she returned to Earth once more.

"Fire in the direction of her voice!" The Valeyard screamed in frustration as she heard more and more Daleks dying by the moment.

"CANNOT FIRE. GUN IMPAIRED. GUN IMPAIRED," The Daleks said in confusion.

"Did I mention the EMP was rigged to affect them too? See you around, Doctor Lite. Real soon," Clara threatened just before the TARDIS completely surrounded her and the others.

Lucy then quickly ran to the console and dematerialized before the Valeyard could find some other way to attack them.

"Well, my plan worked didn't it, Old Man? I got you out of there didn't I? Got Osgood killed too just like I always do to everyone. Mission accomplished," Clara said in a devastated voice as she fell down in the Captain's Chair with her head in her hands.

"Clara," The Doctor said as he desperately tried to think of the right words to say but came up empty.

"Don't. I already know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me that it isn't my fault and that there was nothing that I could do. Then you're going to tell me that you're proud of me for not killing Missy. Then you'll probably ask where the Vashta Narada came from. Lucy can answer that one actually. I'm – I'm just too tired to answer questions right now," Clara said in a defeated voice.

"The Vashta Narada were my own mutated version that I cooked up in my Rani days. They were designed to eat through even a Dalek's casing. I still had some of them onboard. It's been so long since I had used them that even I had completely forgotten about them. I'm not sure how Clara knew about them since I had never told her. She must have found out where they were from the TARDIS' computer and released them into the area as soon as we landed. They're designed to immediately go on a feeding frenzy as soon as the lights go out," Lucy explained.

"Somehow I doubt that they'll be enough to deal with the Daleks, the cloned Time Lords, and the Valeyard though. We'll have to go back and finish the job somehow," The Doctor said.

"And that's where you come in, Doctor. The three of us working together should be able to come up with a halfway decent plan between us. I wouldn't rely too heavily on any of my ideas though since they tend to end up backfiring on the people that I love. Better come up with a good plan of your own instead if you want to survive the next trip," Clara said in a dull, lifeless voice.

"Clara, it wasn't your fault," Lucy said in a gentle voice as she softly stroked her cheek.

"Yes, it was. I should have set that shimmer off sooner. I thought if I did though that I might end up accidentally frightening Osgood to death. Ironic, isn't it? If I had, Osgood would still be alive. She'd also still be alive if I had just killed Missy in the first place instead of trying to be merciful. Where did that get me, eh? Osgood's dead because of it. That's what," Clara said in a flat, emotionless tone.

"You can't mean that," Lucy said in a worried voice.

"Don't worry. I won't become the Master but . . . I think after this that I'm going to retire," Clara said sadly.

"What?" The Doctor said in disbelief.

"I'm going to help you stop the Valeyard and the Daleks and then . . . I'm going back to Earth. From now on, I'm just going to be Clara Oswald full-time. No more traveling in time and space anymore. That's all over with now. All I ever do no matter how hard I try to prevent it is to get people killed, Doctor. No more. It ends here," Clara said in a voice filled with sudden resolve.

"Clara, you can't let it end this way. Not this way," The Doctor said in a hurt voice.

"Don't even think about talking me out of it, Old Man. As soon as the Valeyard goes down, then my space traveling days are finished along with her. From now on, I'm just going to be plain, ordinary Clara. That way I can't ever hurt anyone ever again," Clara said in voice filled with pain.

The Doctor and Lucy now looked at each other in despair as they both wordlessly wondered what if anything that they could say to get her to change her mind. Neither of them was really sure that anything could. It seemed that with Osgood had died Clara's one last chance at true happiness.

And it didn't seem as if it was ever going to come back again.

Next: It's the final battle with the Valeyard, Missy, and the Daleks. Will our three Time Lords be enough to defeat them all and put a stop to their plan for good? Even if they do is this the end of Clara's life with the Doctor? What will Osgood's legacy and lasting impact on Clara Oswald ultimately end up being?