CHAPTER ELEVEN
NATURE OF THE BEAST
The TARDIS was silent as a mouse. Nothing moved or flickered. Clara gripped the nearby rail and held back her tears. She'd been in a situation like this before – nine years ago on the day her mother passed away.
The Doctor remained transfixed in space, watching where River had once stood. His hand was still hanging mid-air, reaching into the emptiness before him. Clara sniffed her nose and wiped the water from her eyes. Compose yourself, she thought, stay focused and don't cry.
Clara took a few steps to the centre console and glanced up at the computer monitor. It was then that she felt her stomach coil. Through the computer monitor, Clara watched an army of Judoon battling hundreds of Librarians outside the TARDIS. By the looks of the background, they were back in the Atrium of Song Tower. "DOCTOR!" roared the voice of the Shadow Architect outside, "Face me and admit to the crimes you have committed! Face me or face oblivion!"
Clara gulped. It was time to face her fear. The fear she ran away from all those years – this time, thought, it was on behalf of a friend. Clara took a deep breath and turned to the Doctor. He had lowered his arm now but was still staring into space. Clara stood in front of him and took his hand. "I know what's going through your head," she whispered, feeling his hand grip hers, "you feel like everything around you is moving in fast motion. You're caught in a second of time and you don't know how to get out."
The Doctor's bottom lip quivered as he bit it hard while his eyes filled with tears. He gave a small nod. Clara reached into the Doctor's jacket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Sometimes you can't save the day, Doctor," Clara smiled as she touched his face, "my grandma told me it's how we grow as people. Losing someone is like learning a lesson that can't be taught. It's something you need to experience to understand. I experienced it and I understand it. Now, well, now I need to face it."
Clara smiled and walked up the steps to the front doors of the TARDIS.
"DOCTOR!" bellowed the Shadow Architect outside, "FACE ME!"
"Clara …" the Doctor whispered.
"River and I bought them here, Doctor," beamed Clara, "this time it's not your job to stop it. Because they don't want me – they want you."
Clara felt a surge of adrenalin run through her body. Rage and fury filled her every thought, "Time to fix the mistake we made." Clara placed her hands on the police box doors and pulled them forward.
The sounds of the battle outside filled her ears. There were bangs and groans as the Judoon and Librarians fought each other viciously. Clara took another deep breath and stepped out of the TARDIS. The Shadow Architect's voice boomed around the Atrium, "THE DOCTOR WILL FACE ME."
"Perhaps I didn't formally introduce myself," Clara called across the lobby, "my name is Clara Oswald –"
Clara suddenly flung the Doctor's sonic out in front of her and pointed it down the centre of the room. As she pressed the button, she'd hoped River hadn't had changed the settings earlier. Within seconds, a huge blast of air swept across the wooden room, blasting both Judoon and Librarians off their feet. They landed a few metres away from where they had once stood and remained motionless on the ground.
"– Pleasure to meet your acquaintance."
In a wisp of grey-black smoke, the Shadow Architect appeared at the opposite end of the lobby, accompanied by three Judoon who hadn't been in the room beforehand. "Clara Oswald, as Chief Officer of the Shadow Proclamation, I place you under arrest for treason, affiliating with a known criminal and assaulting Judoon forces. Failure to cooperate –"
"Are you done?" snapped Clara, tilting her head sarcastically.
"Clara Oswald, do you know who you are talking to?" retorted the Shadow Architect.
"Yes, I do know. But I believe that a greater threat may be of your concern."
"The Doctor ismy concern. Step aside, Miss Oswald. You cannot defend him," snarled the pale-skinned woman, walking graciously across the lobby floor towards her. "Don't you understand what is going on?" Clara shouted, watching the Architect step closer toward her. She was a mere two metres away from her. "Oh, Clara," she whispered coldly, "I know exactly what's going on. You're the diversion, aren't you?"
"What?" Clara scoffed, smirking with amusement.
"Why else would the Doctor travel with a companion? You are simply a means to an end, which has finally come about," the Architect hissed, stepping into Clara's personal space. She raised her hand and gripped one side of Clara's face with her thumb and the other with her four other fingers, squeezing tightly to the point of pain, "You are nothing, Clara. You've been used from the very beginning. He's lied countless of times and never apologised or asked for forgiveness." The Architect let go of Clara's face and pushed her aside and she stepped towards the TARDIS.
Clara turned around, fury and adrenalin kicking in, "Have you ever lost someone?" The Architect laughed, "Lost someone? Are you under the impression I have the ability to feel, Clara?"
"Can you?"
There was a brief silence and the Architect turned around. Her face had turned much paler, however her eyes were as empty as a starless night. "Feelings make you weak, Clara. They feed off your thoughts and decisions and use up energy that can be used for a greater purpose –"
"Like being a judge, juror and executioner?"
"This is law, Miss Oswald," sneered the Architect.
"Answer the question."
"Watch your tone."
"Watch your back."
There was a deep silence. "Are you threatening me, young lady?" laughed the Architect tactlessly.
"I am only asking for an answer. Have you ever lost someone?"
The Architect's eye twitched slightly, "Yes."
"How did it feel?"
"I don't feel, Miss Oswald."
"Everyone feels, ma'am; whether it's for the good or for the bad," replied Clara, "it's the nature of the beast. Tell me, what was so bad that you decided to cut yourself off from feeling?"
The Architect bit her lip as she squinted towards Clara, "You have no idea." Clara glared back into the cold, dead eyes of the pale-skinned woman, "Try me. I lost my mother at sixteen. I felt every possible emotion after a loss like that."
"What is the point you are trying to make?" whispered the Architect, her voice small and broken. "The Doctor has just lost someone," responded Clara, "someone who he'll never forget. If you have lost something like that, I hope you can understand what he's going through."
"Does not excuse the crimes he has committed!" cried the Architect, her confidence restoring, "Judoon! Arrest this woman!"
"Don't you understand what has just happened?" Clara roared as the two of the Judoon took hold of Clara's arms.
"Oh, believe me, I've heard quite enough from you."
"The Doctor couldn't stop it from happening and by arresting him, he'll never be able to save them!"
"Judoon, halt!" the Architect raised her hand and looked from the TARDIS to Clara, "what couldn't he stop?"
"The reason he arrived here – the reason why I asked you to help but you refused to listen!" Clara cried, the Judoon still holding her tightly, "the Nightmare Child is here in the Library and is building an army."
"I've already captured the Child, Clara. He is currently in the deadlocked cell aboard the Judoon Ship and is in no way a threat," snapped the Architect.
"You have to listen to me! If the Nightmare Child is back, where do you think he came from?!"
There was silence as the Architect watched Clara attentively.
"Look back at your records. Where was the Nightmare Child last seen?"
The Architect stepped back slightly, "But … but he can't have. It is Time-Locked!" Clara nodded, "But the Doctor saved Gallifrey and locked it away in a pocket universe. What if someone used him as a catapult? Ripping a hole in the fabric of reality and breaking back into the universe, creating a passage between two worlds?"
"What are you trying to say, Clara?" the Architect whispered, her voice unsure of what was going on.
"They're back, ma'am. They're bleeding through the Cracks In Time in the future that are still closing –"
The Architect shook her head, "No, the Doctor caused the Cracks in Time, Miss Oswald. That is the crime he has committed - the Destruction of the Universe. He blew up his TARDIS –"
"Why on Earth would he blow up his own way of travel – his home, to be honest? No, you've got your facts wrong. We've all had our facts wrong from the very beginning," Clara said, shoving the Judoon off her arms, "this is a much bigger plan has been in the works for a very long time and we had no idea about it. So much that it began right under our noses and we just watched it all happen and blamed on the only person who could have possibly had the resources to do it."
"He's been framed," whispered the Architect softly after a long silence, "the Doctor's been framed."
"He's the hook, line and sinker. He's been the distraction while the real masterminds executed their return. The Doctor may have rebooted the universe and sealed the crack but the Time Lord's are coming back, ma'am. I have only three words for you."
"And what would those be?"
"Watch your back."
The Architect smirked and looked at the Judoon, "Return to the ship. Unseal the planet and take the Nightmare Child into custody. Maximise the holding cell – we don't need another Time War beginning. Though I'm afraid if the Daleks find out about this, all hell will break loose."
"Nature of the beast," smiled Clara.
"Tell the Doctor he is cleared of all charges. However, one foot out of line, and he will have to face me in person," the Architect warned ominously. "I'll pass it on," Clara replied, stepping to the police box doors.
The Architect walked graciously back across the Atrium, ordering Judoons to capture the Librarians still unconscious on the ground. She disappeared in a wisp of smoke as Clara turned to open the TARDIS doors. She stepped inside and found the Doctor leaning up against the centre console, facing her. She smiled and tossed him his sonic screwdriver.
"Thank you," he whispered with a kind of gratitude Clara had never received from him. As she stepped inside, the blue doors closed behind her.