"Okay; okay, we need to come up with a plan. We've got a sonic screwdriver, a wand, and no weapons. Do either of you have anything we can use?" I asked Aryn and Kaal. I was hoping for something—anything. Anything at this point would be useful. Their search turned up some strange candy in Aryn's pocket while Kaal came up with pocket lint. And that's when I realized we were in deep trouble. We had absolutely nothing except my sonic that would work against the Daleks. But perhaps—perhaps that would be enough. I retrieved my sonic from across the room, madly inspecting it. I couldn't be sure of all the settings, but there might be something I could do besides use it against the eyestalk. It didn't work against wood, but that didn't mean I couldn't trap them all in using the metal locks on the doors. I turned to Neville, the one who knew the castle the best.
"Where would be the best place to draw the Daleks to?"
Neville looked at me with incredulity. "I barely understand what's going on, much less why you would want to trap the things that are trying to kill us!" he voiced angrily. "You've gotten me into this mess, and I'm not sure that this is even real!"
"So you think it's the other world that's real? The one where my people are trying to destroy the Earth?"
"Why would your greatest enemy all of a sudden appear when there is no rational explanation for them to be here? Magic wouldn't draw beings like that to this school."
I paused. He did have a good point. But at the same time—why would I be in a position of choosing between Gallifrey and Earth? I'd already been in that position before. There was no way that it could be happening again, was it? Of course, messing with time travel could bring this situation up again. I had no idea. I'd never really been involved with any dangerous time moments before.
What else did I have at my disposal? When I heard them behind me, my heart leapt and I stuck my sonic out at them. "Don't come any closer," I warned the two Daleks that were in front of us.
"We offer you a truce; we give you the husband you lost, and you allow us to take over this planet." The Dalek's tinny voice echoed slightly off the stones. I swallowed hard.
"How would you be able to give me my husband back? He died on Gallifrey to protect me."
The Dalek allowed a transmission to come through his system. A voice rang out from the Dalek's speakers. "Hello? Where am I? Is anyone there?" His tone was wary, his voice not low, but not high either. I didn't recognize it.
"That's not him; you're tricking me," I said, my voice low and threatening to the Daleks. I brandished my sonic like a weapon, almost tempted to try and take over one so I could kill the other. Like I said, I did what I had to during the war, and it was my last desperate attempt to find some semblance of order.
"Who's that?" the voice from the transmission demanded.
"Who are you?" I lashed out. "What is your name?"
"Hazander, before I enrolled at the Academy."
"What academy?" There was a pause and then an accusatory huff.
"I'm not telling; why would you care to know?"
"I need to know who you are!" I snarled at the voice.
"Then why don't you tell me your name, woman? I can't just call you 'woman'!" he spat.
"That's unnecessary—"
"It's completely necessary. Tell me your name!" I wanted to go through that beam and strangle the man on the other end. I didn't know who he'd regenerated into, so he could be telling the truth. His name had been Hazander, but there were more than one of those who'd been accepted into the Academy. For all I know, they were using my fears and my mind against me. Wait, if they were doing that, this had to be the dream. It must be. No one knew my name. It would be exactly the reason they wanted me to unveil it.
"Kill me," I told the other Dalek. "Just get it over with." I spread my arms out, and looked to the ceiling, closing my eyes. At least I could try to fix the other situation. When no flash or beam hit me, I looked back. I saw that blasted woman again. My vehemence for her was growing, bit by bit. "What the hell is going on?! We know which one is the real one, and which one's the dream! Just let us go to the other," I said, stepping towards her threateningly. My scowl deepened, the woman standing there without a care and smiling devilishly.
"Are you so sure, Chancy?" she teased, trying to rile me up. Well, after everything that was happening, yeah, I was definitely getting riled up. I stepped to her and swung my fist at her face. She was so irritating! My hand hit nothing. Then I heard her behind me. The others were watching in shock. "Now, now, Chancy; that wasn't nice." I marched back over to her, my face darkening even more.
"I'm not intending to be 'nice'!" I growled, stopping in front of her. "We need to go to the reality, and save the other planet, and you're sure as hell not going to stop me."
"Oh, but I'm afraid I can." I gritted my teeth. I didn't want to, but I knew of a way to stop my hearts, effectively killing my body so I could go back to the reality. A small whisper almost convinced me that the other reality couldn't be trusted either. I shook my head slightly. No way. It had to be. I'd been there. I looked at the rest of the group. All they had done was stand there, unsure of whether they could enter the conversation or not.
"Well, what do you all think?" I asked, trying to calm myself down. It would be best to get their opinion anyways. Then we could all make an informed, fair decision. I'd been ready to leave them here with no way of getting out. They looked startled that I even acknowledged them. "What do you make me out to be? A cold-hearted Time Lady with no thought to anyone else?"
"Well—" Neville began.
"Shut it," I snapped. "Answer the question; which do you think is the reality, and which do you think is the dream?"
"Remember, if you die in the reality, you're really dead," the woman replied, looking each of them in the eyes. "So make sure you know which is which." All three of them swallowed hard, and looked at me. I arched my eyebrow and gave a slight nod. I knew this was wrong; it had to be. Like Neville said, there was no reason for the Daleks to be in Hogwarts, no reason for them to want magic users like himself. But Gallifrey—Earth—yeah, that was real. I knew that had happened. I'd been there, and if it hadn't been for my friend, I wouldn't have made it out alive. The woman had taken us back, and I had to fix it. Something was wrong there. I knew this wasn't right. It couldn't be.
Aryn replied first, her voice and posture confident. "This is the dream; the TARDIS is the reality." She caught my eye and smiled. She trusted me. I breathed a small sigh of relief.
Kaal looked at me and Aryn uncertainly. He was still trying to decide. Neville spoke up, catching us all off-guard. "This is the dream and the other is too. So where does that leave us?" he asked the woman, challenging her. But—could that really be possible?
The woman looked at him in an almost seductive fashion, smiling. "You are quite the brazen one, Magic Wielder. But I'm afraid that's not the question we're here to answer. Which is real?"
"Between the two, it's the other one. This world, those—creatures we encountered; they can't be real. They have no reason to be here and to use us."
"All right, your answer is noted. Kaal?" The man looked at her, confusion etched on his face.
"She has my thoughts, Kaal; she knew your name because of me," I explained.
"Right," he said, not convinced. He looked again at me, his hand resting where his blaster normally was. Son of a Dalek—that would have helped so much at this point! A noise started at the door, breaking my concentration on the woman. All of us got distracted. When I glanced back her way, she had left without a word and we were still here.
"When I get my hands on that woman—" I cursed. She'd left us here again! The others had started backing away, a Dalek advancing towards them. "Hey!" I yelled at the Dalek. "The Time Lady's this way, you sorry sack of a Dalek! You want a challenge? Come get me; they aren't worth your time." The Dalek's eyestalk sought me out, and changed direction. I motioned for them to hustle out of the room. I distracted it until they had left. A chase it was then.
I grinned like a mad Time lady, and sped out of the room, quickly catching up to them. "Neville, is there anything, any creature, possibly any spell, that may help us in slowing these things down?" I had dismissed his magic earlier; maybe I shouldn't have. It could be possible that it would save us. We took a staircase, the whole thing shifting and moving after we'd got on it. "What in all of Galli—?"
"The staircases move; it's part of the castle. Though, if you didn't know that, then why would they do it if this was the dream?" he asked, suddenly unsure of himself. This was not what I'd seen from this man so far. He was confident, courageous even at times. Not unsure. That made me a little hesitant. Maybe—maybe this was dream. But then how had we gotten so mixed up? Could I be wrong?
"Chancellor, we need to figure out a way to stop the Daleks. We don't know how many there are, or where they are," Kaal said, jarring me and Neville from our thoughts. He turned to Neville. "We need your knowledge to get through this." The Zabrak's emerald eyes bore into the man's. I could see Neville wracking his brain for some sort of solution. He was mumbling too. I could only make out certain words.
"—Body Bind? No … Carpe retractum? Don't want to pull the thing to me … creatures, creatures—I wonder…" He looked up and ran to the top of the stairs. It had thunked into place, leading into a hallway that Neville must have known. We scrambled after him, and I wondered what he was thinking of. "These Daleks—they have a fear, right?"
"Everybody has fears," I replied, my hearts thumping as the Nightmare Child came to mind. And the Could've Been King and—I shivered. Not now. Not right now. I focused on following Neville into a classroom, knowing that Kaal and Aryn were behind me. "Why? What are you trying to find?"
Neville flashed us a smile. My hearts skipped a beat. "A boggart."
"What's that?" Aryn asked, confused. We all were.
"A boggart takes on your worst fears; so if these Daleks have a fear, something or someone they fear above all else—"
"They'll conjure it if they're in the same room as the boggart," I finished, a bit of awe in my voice. "But where do you know that has one of these?"
Neville grinned. "I've gotten with the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and we've been working on cleaning the castle of all the unnecessary creatures. We've found numerous boggarts, and we haven't gotten rid of this one yet." He tapped the wardrobe we were standing in front of. It was a rather ingenious idea. I wondered if I could pull the Daleks into the classroom using my mind ability. It would be a stretch, but it could be possible.
"I might be able to get them here; I don't know how many Daleks there are, but maybe if one goes, the others will follow." Aryn and Kaal knew about my ability, but Neville gave me an odd look. "Is there a different place we can go to so we aren't trapped in here with them?"
"How are you going to draw them in if we aren't here to draw them in?" I grimaced.
"You'll see." I wasn't ready to give him any more details unless necessary. "We need to get somewhere else. I need to be somewhere they can't get to." Neville nodded thoughtfully, then led the way out of the classroom. He paced in front of a wall in one of the hallways, murmuring something to himself. I thought he was crazy until a door appeared in the wall. "What in Rassilon's name just happened?" I wondered aloud.
"The Room of Requirement; c'mon, best to get inside before any of those Daleks see us." He motioned us into the room, shutting the door behind us. I had found myself a place to lie down so I didn't have to worry about collapsing while doing my mind trick. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing; if it only required a quick mind take-over, I wouldn't have had to lie down. As it is, this was going to require a little bit of finesse, therefore more time and energy. I'd confused Daleks before in the Time War; it was one of my specialties. All it usually took was a quick thought and they'd turn on each other. This was going to be more secretive, a way of luring them into our trap. I felt my mind leave my body, touching Aryn, Kaal and Neville. Not who I wanted. I drifted further out, seeking out the Kaleds' life forces. Something faint and sinister caught my attention to the left. They hadn't been far behind us. I could sense one, two—four of them. Four Daleks? Yeah, something was definitely wrong. I had never seen this many Daleks needed against four people before. Of course, I might have something to do with that seeing as how I took out Daleks left and right in the War. The lead Dalek—I could feel him. I had to choose the right moment to invade his mind. As soon as he was distracted by his companions, I entered in. I shuddered at the lack of emotions. It felt so—empty. All I could sense was hate. Hate for everything. Hate for the humans, hate for me, hate for the situation. But I could also sense a small modicum of fear as well. When I tried to access it, I couldn't. The kaled's mind had shut me off from it. It was fighting me as I tried to control it, and I finally shoved the consciousness into the back of its mind. This one was much harder to take over than the sick Zabrak's. It was still fighting as I maneuvered the body and shell towards the classroom Neville had pointed out to me.
"We must exterminate the Time Lady and her companions; where are you leading us?" one of my—it's—people asked.
"I heard them in this hallway," I replied, the voice coming out making me wince inwardly. I did not want to do this again. The hate, vengeance, and the fight with the kaled were draining me quickly. This would take time to recover from when I was done. A noise emanated from the classroom Neville had showed us. "They are in there; coordinate!" I screeched, the sound grating my ears. Two of them flanked me while the other one was preparing to enter the room. With a quick move forward, the single Dalek entered the room, its voice powerful enough to scare the group into silence. When it looked around for the group and didn't find a single member, it called back to us.
"Room secured; no personnel found."
I entered, the machine whirring and settling into the room. "But I heard something."
"We should check the other rooms to be certain," the one on the left of me replied. Something rattled in the room, and we quickly found that it was the wardrobe Neville had pointed out to me earlier.
"Blast the door open; they're hiding!" I screamed. The one closest to it took the door off its hinges, and a man in a pin-striped blue suit with red hi-tops stepped out. I didn't recognize him at all. He grinned at the Daleks, who were all huddled with me now. I let the kaled reclaim what was his, and could feel his fear growing. Who was this that could inspire such fear in a Dalek of all things? "It's the Doctor!" it exclaimed, backing away from the man. I gasped. So that's what he looked like now? He looked so young…. I wondered which reincarnation he was on. His hair was somewhat spiked and messy, his brown eyes holding a cold gleam in them.
"Ah," he replied, walking towards the Daleks. "Well, what do we have here? Daleks, is it?" The Doctor stood there, studying these four creatures. "Yes, I remember you; stinking, filthy, worthless Daleks. I can see you remember me." There was that roguish smirk again. What was this boggart going to do? I knew I should really have gone back, but I was curious as to how much this boggart was capable of; I'd never asked Neville about it.
"The Time Lady; she invaded my mind to lead us here," the lead Dalek told the others. "She's the one who led us to the Doctor!"
"Exterminate! Exterminate!" the three Daleks yelled as they charged toward the man. He pulled out his sonic and shorted out the systems in the right one, took the sight from the middle one, and the left one managed to shoot off a few rounds with his gunstick before the Doctor could get to him. His appearance wavered, the shots having caught him in his midsection. I gasped. It flickered and the boggart staggered back into the wardrobe. My thoughts were numb. They were going to see that it had been an illusion. I needed to warn the others. I drifted back through the wall to my body, settling back into my skin. My eyes opened to Kaal pacing, Aryn sitting beside me, and Neville looking bored.
"Hello all," I croaked, my throat dry. That always happened with the strong ones. I swallowed, the moisture helping coat my throat. "Any water around here, by chance?" Neville had quickly produced a glassful which I gratefully took. "Thanks," I said, tipping the glass towards him. I gulped it down, then set it on the couch. "All right, well, the boggart managed to get two of them down, but there are two more still out and about. One of them shot the thing and it went back into the wardrobe."
"What did the boggart turn into that could kill those things?" Neville asked, a little stunned at what I had told them.
I paused. I knew who he was, but none of them knew. "It was the Doctor." All of them gave me looks of puzzlement. "I know him from my planet. He's a Time Lord like me." I glanced at the wall, the last two Daleks still on my mind. "There are two left; I still think the other one is the reality."
"But, Chancellor, if we die here and this is the reality, then we die for good." I looked at Aryn; she was young and scared, never having been in a situation quite like this one.
"It's a chance we have to take, I'm afraid." I looked at Neville, who looked concerned. His eyes held what looked like sorrow in them. "Neville, this isn't the first time you've had to make this choice, is it?" I asked softly.
His eyes met mine. "No," he said quietly, his wand in his hands. He studied it for a minute, his attention now occupied by his own thoughts.
"Well, I'm not sure I want to go out there and have them kill me just yet," Kaal answered, an edge to his voice. He'd been in something similar, and his fight instinct was starting to drive his emotions and adrenaline.
"Kaal, you don't have a blaster, and this isn't the real world!" I exclaimed. "I'm convinced that this is the dream and that we need to save the Earth from getting overtaken by my planet."
"Why that scenario?" Neville asked. "Why is your planet even here?" His eyes bore into mine, a cold fire starting in them. "Why are you here?"
I lost my words for a second; I had to look away as I spoke. "I'm here because of a friend."
"That's not much of an answer," he replied, standing up. "We're no closer to figuring this out than you are, and I'm bloody well not staying here like some coward; I'll fight until the last, if that's what it comes down to." The man certainly carried confidence in himself and his abilities. He looked at the others. "You lot ready?" he asked, gripping his wand tight. Something had made him this way. Something big. That wasn't my concern right now. Right now we needed to focus on getting out of this nightmare and to the other one. How that was going to happen was beyond me, but I had a feeling Neville Longbottom would play a role in this somehow.