Notes: One more little story arc done! I hope you liked it. I'll be rewriting a good portion of the series, but I will skip a bit. Some because it doesn't fit with the different relationships, some because there isn't much to change. I've already got almost half of the fiftieth anniversary episode stuff done, so I'm really aiming for that... though I have a few ideas for things after that, we'll see.
Rose sat in the Doctor's lap as they waited for Simeon to arrive at the Institute. It was a rather scandalous arrangement for the times, but considering the man was trying to kill everyone, they didn't particularly care if they offended him at all.
"You promised us something. Have you brought it?" Simeon questioned abruptly upon entering the study.
"Big fella here's been very quiet while you've been out. Which is only to be expected, considering who he really is. Do you know what this is, big fella?" the Doctor asked, holding up the metal box. It happened to be decorated with images of the London Underground, but it was merely a coincidence.
"I do not understand these markings," the Intelligence replied.
"A map of the London Underground, 1967. Key strategic weakness in metropolitan living, if you ask me, but then I have never liked a tunnel," the Doctor explained.
"Enough of this. We are powerful, but on this planet we are limited. We need to learn to take human form," the Intelligence argued. The Doctor used his sonic to take the voice filter off of the thing and the pitch changed. "The Governess is our most perfect replication of humanity."
"What's happening to its voice?" Rose asked.
"Just stripping away the disguise," he told her.
"No, stop! Stop that. Cease, I command you," it shouted angrily, finally settling into the tambour of a young boy.
"It sounds like a child. Simeon as a child?" Rose guessed.
"Right you are," he beamed, tapping her on the nose playfully. "The snow has no voice without him."
"Don't listen to him, he's ruining everything," the Intelligence protested.
"How long has the Intelligence been talking to you?" the Doctor asked Simeon, who was looking confusedly at the globe filled with swirling snow.
"I was a little boy. He was my snowman. He spoke to me," Doctor Simeon answered hesitantly.
"But the snow doesn't talk, does it? It's just a mirror," the Doctor insisted. "It just reflects back everything we think and feel and fear. You poured your darkest dreams into a snowman and look, look what it became."
"Can you stop it, Simeon?" Rose asked, hoping he could break the connection himself, but the man just stared absently at the globe.
"It's a parasite feeding on the loneliness of a child and the sickness of an old man. Carnivorous snow meets Victorian values and something terrible is born," the Doctor continued.
"We can go on and do everything we planned," the Intelligence argued.
"Oh yes, and what a plan. A world full of living ice people. Oh dear me, how very Victorian of you," the Doctor replied.
"What's wrong with Victorian values?" Simeon growled. Having decided to continue with his plan, he grabbed hold of the box in the Doctor's hand.
"Ah, ah, ah. Are you sure?" the Doctor asked him.
"I have always been sure," he snarled and stuck his hand inside the box.
They could see the moment that the memory worm bit him as he flinched in pain and froze tensely in place.
"Good. I'm glad you think so, since your entire adult life is about to be erased. No parasite without a host. Without you, it will have no voice. Without the governess, it will have no form," the Doctor explained.
Doctor Simeon's eyes went glassy as his mind was slowly erased of years of hatred.
"What, what, what's happening? What's happening? What did you do?" the Intelligence questioned from the globe.
"You've got nothing left to mirror any more. Goodbye," the Doctor announced, clearly believing that it was over.
"What did you, did you," the voice stuttered, but suddenly deepened as the snow swirled even stronger than before. "Did you really think it would be so easy?"
"Hope you've got a plan B, Doctor," Rose commented.
"That's not possible. How is that possible?" the Doctor denied. "But you were just Doctor Simeon. You're not real. He dreamed you. How can you still exist?"
"Now the dream outlives the dreamer and can never die. Once I was the puppet," the Intelligence told him and took over the now icy body of Simeon. "Now I pull the strings! I tried so long to take on human form. By erasing Simeon, you made space for me. I fill him now."
Rose backed away, looking around the room for something to use as a weapon against it. She gasped as it grabbed hold of the Doctor. She knew she had to do something, but she didn't want to risk hurting either of them when it was only the Intelligence that needed stopping. She saw the fire poker nearby and grabbed it.
"More than snow, more than Simeon. Even this old body is strong in my control," he gloated, wrestling with the Doctor to try and touch his face, it seemed as though Simeon could now freeze others with his touch. "Do you feel it? Winter is coming!"
Rose pounded on the sides of the giant glass sphere, desperately hoping that if she could destroy it, it might break the connection between the consciousness and the body of Doctor Simeon. Whatever it was made of, however, was not easily broken.
The Doctor and Simeon continued to fight for control until suddenly, the snow in the globe turned to water and splashed to the bottom. The Intelligence inhabiting Simeon lurched back as if in pain.
"What's happening?" it demanded.
"Doctor! The snow is all turning to water. Even outside, it's raining now. What could cause that?" Rose asked as she pulled her husband into her arms. He had a patch of skin on his face that appeared a bit frost bitten, but his superior biology would take care of it quickly.
"The snow mirrors, that's all it does. It's mirroring something else now. Something so strong, it's drowning everything else," he answered.
"Look, he's dead," Rose told the Doctor when she saw Simeon's body lying on the floor.
"It formed a connection with that little girl, the one who was dreaming about the ice woman. If something happened there," he postulated.
Rose immediately used her mobile to call Vastra back at the house. "Vastra! What's happening over there?"
"I think it would be best if the two of you came back," she replied.
#########################
"I'm sorry. There was nothing to be done. She has moments only," Strax told them as the pair exited the TARDIS.
"We saved the world, Aria, and you helped. You really, really did," the Doctor told her sadly as he took the girl's hand in his own.
Rose ran to her other side and took her other hand. The children and their father were crying in the corner of the room.
"Oh, Aria. I am so, so sorry," Rose cried.
"Are you going back to your cloud?" Aria questioned.
"I… I can't," Rose stuttered, clenching her eyes shut against the tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I forgive you. You know, someone once told me, when you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future," Aria told her, though it was becoming more difficult to talk. The drug she had been given was starting to push her into unconsciousness so that her regeneration wouldn't start yet.
"I'd rather change the past," Rose told her.
"Sometimes, forgiving is even better," Aria sighed and closed her eyes.
The Doctor pulled his wife into his arms as she cried. "I think we should go," he told Vastra.
"We will take care of everything," she replied and watched as they left in their TARDIS. She wasted no time in calling Clara's parents, "It's time, they've gone."
A moment later, an ornate display cabinet appeared in the corner of the room, a frantic James and River running out of the seemingly tiny door. James picked up his daughter immediately and carried her back inside.
"Did we make it in time?" River asked worriedly.
"Of course, she'll be fine. I just wish that she hadn't used up one of her regenerations before I did. I'd prefer not to outlive my children," he answered.
James placed her on the bed in his infirmary, taking careful readings of her while he prepared the medicine that his father had given him to counteract the other drug. Once administered, she would awaken and begin her regeneration.
Vastra, Jenny, and Strax followed them into the room and watched as Clara's parents took care of their little girl. They had all known these events were unavoidable, the time loop having been established when Clara was just a little girl, but it didn't make the change any easier to accept.
"Here we go," James told them, injecting the solution into her arm. Almost instantly, a golden glow shimmered over her skin, prompting everyone to back away.
The energy burst was very brief, but once they could all see clearly again, their blonde haired, blue eyed daughter had been replaced with a petite brunette. She sat up abruptly and looked around the room, confusion evident on her face.
"Your attire, sir, is quite inappropriate," Clara told Strax, striding past him and down the hallway. They all followed her, not sure where she was going.
She turned into the galley and started making tea, which James decided was probably a good idea. His mother had told him that tea had helped immensely during his father's regeneration from his ninth to tenth self.
"Madam, why in the world are you wearing trousers? Such indecency will not be tolerated!" Clara shouted when she noticed River's clothing.
Clara's parents looked at each other worriedly for a moment. "She seems to be having some memory troubles," James realized.
"Clara, sweetie, do you know where you are? Do you know who we are?" River asked her, carefully approaching her confused daughter.
"I am in a kitchen. Clearly, I need to make a soufflé!" she announced and began pulling ingredients from the various cupboards, ignoring all attempts to stop her.
#########################
The Doctor and Rose sat together in the console room. She had stopped crying, but was staring despondently at the glowing time rotor as he stroked her hair.
"Is that Intelligence thing gone, then?" she questioned.
"No, I shouldn't think so. It learned to survive beyond physical form," he told her.
"Should we be worried then? That you've told it the London Underground is a key strategic weakness?" she teased.
He pulled out Simeon's business card from his pocket and studied it. "The Great Intelligence. Rings a bell. The Great Intelligence."
"Someone you've met before?" she wondered.
"Maybe," he considered.
"What about Aria? I thought she was the one we met on the Dalek Asylum planet?" Rose asked, worried that they might have messed up the timelines with her not surviving.
"Perhaps it really was just a coincidence," he answered.
"Coincidences are one of the only nearly impossible things in our lives, but maybe. I need some cheering up, love. Let's go visit with Jamie, River, and Clara," Rose told him.
"Your wish is my command," he replied and began setting the coordinates.
########################
They met up with the other TARDIS at one of Clara's favourite playgrounds. It was close to her great grandparents' house, as well as their extended family at Torchwood. The only place that she liked almost as much was visiting with her Uncle Anthony, Gran Amy, and Grandpa Rory.
The Doctor stayed with Jamie and River to chat while Rose took little Clara to play on the swings, her curly, blonde pony tails bouncing as she ran.
"Come on, Gran! Come swing with me!" she shouted behind her.
"Are you sure that I'm not too old for swings?" Rose questioned as she sat on the swing next to the little girl that had stolen her heart.
"Nope. Daddy says that we're all going to live for a really, really long time and we'll never stop running and swinging and having adventures forever!" Clara told her as she pumped her legs to swing higher and higher.
"Your daddy is absolutely right," she agreed, swinging fairly high herself.
"Why do you seem sad, Gran?" Clara wondered.
"Oh, your Granddad and I just had an adventure that didn't end so well. And it was my fault, so I feel bad about it," she answered.
"Did you say you were sorry? Did the people forgive you?" the little girl asked curiously.
"Yes, but I still feel bad for not helping her more. Someone was hurt very badly and I should have been able to stop it," Rose explained.
"Mommy says that saying you're sorry and being forgiven is really important, but I'm trying to figure out why if you still feel bad after? Since we can travel in time, wouldn't it be better to go back and undo what you did?" Clara suggested.
"Well, there are lots of reasons why we can't do that. Reasons involving the stability of the timelines and established events and stuff. But I guess the most important thing is what we learn from the events. Making mistakes helps us to become better people in the future," Rose told her.
"Is that what he meant, then? We met this man once, he was from the radio or something and he told me, when you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future," Clara said, considering the advice that she had been pondering for some time. "I didn't really understand what he meant. I told him that I'd rather change the past."
"Sometimes, forgiving is even better," Rose replied automatically, then gasped. That was what Aria had said to her right before she died!
"Gran? Is something wrong?" Clara questioned when Rose had stopped swinging next to her.
"Oh my god," Rose whispered, staring into her granddaughter's eyes and finally realizing why Aria had seemed so familiar to her. "Doctor!"
