Epilogue
21st Century
Planet Earth
England
London
Wandsworth
April pulls open the Tardis doors and looks out at the cul-de-sac around her. It is lunchtime on a weekday. The children are out playing in the sunshine on the grass area while their mothers congregate on the pavement, chatting along with one another. The wind is light and breezy, not strong like it was in Wales. It is a perfectly normal day.
As April looks around her surroundings and she finds it somewhat strange to know that she has been travelling back and forth through time and running for her life away from monsters, saving other people's lives while everyone else in her home city is leading a perfectly normal life and yet they are unaware of the real dangers that are out there in the universe.
"We should be back to the day the I pulled you back in time," The Doctor says as he steps out of the Tardis to stand beside April. "Roughly two hours after."
April nods as she runs her tongue along her teeth. She knows that Bruce will still be at work so she has enough time to safely walk into the house, grab her things and leave the cul-de-sac forever.
She starts walking away and then turns back to the Doctor to tell him that she won't be longer than five minutes and that he shouldn't worry about her. The Doctor nods and encourages her to go on as she turns away. She walks across the road, ignoring the mothers who turn to look at the strange girl living with Bruce who spends all day, every day in the house. As she walks, she glances at the dustbin that she was pulled through, but then fear rises up inside her and she stops dead in her tracks. The memory of falling back in time that very morning comes back to her. She remembers dropping her bag on the ground as she fell.
To her horror, the bag isn't there.
Has someone taken it to look after? But she knows that from the stares from the mothers that they wouldn't have done so. The only other answer, from which she dreads to think about, is that Bruce might have come home from work early.
Not wanting to worry the Doctor, for she has stopped walking, April takes an uneven breath in before walking up to her house.
It is quiet. It is eerily quiet yet the silence feels so familiar to April after all those days of sitting inside the house on her own in fear. The sounds of Bruce's past shouts start ringing in her ears as she reaches the front door. But the first thing April notices when she reaches for the door handle is that there is something not quite right.
Before meeting the Doctor, April could always tell when something bad was going to happen, however since her travels in the Tardis, this sense has somewhat increased and the sense she feels now seems very alien. She can easily tell when something is alien or not part of her world. And that is how she feels when she reaches the front door: some sort of alien presence.
She pushes open the door, allowing it to creak loudly like it usually does. There is no sound inside and a cool breeze blows softly.
"Bruce," April calls. "Are you in?" Her voice is strong and confident but on the inside she feels vomit rising up in her stomach.
When there is the no reply, April closes the door – but not tightly – and runs up the stairs and into her bedroom in a hurry. Her bedroom door is shut, just as it was when she left. Yet she finds her rucksack sitting on her bed. April opens it and rummages through, only to find that nothing has been taken, nothing has been put inside and nothing has been touched. In fact, it is just clear that Bruce has picked up her bag and put it back into her room without further ado.
From the silence in the house, she knows that Bruce is still at work but she doesn't want to hope on it too much as the niggling feeling in her chest tells her that there is something in her house. Something that possibly shouldn't be there.
It isn't until she zips up her rucksack that she hears something close behind her that wasn't there a moment ago. It is the sound of a rasping breath, uneven and almost disjointed.
April's heart leaps into her throat as she recognises the rough breathing as Bruce's but a lot more robotically. Pulling herself together, she turns around, wanting to face Bruce for the last time. Only she isn't met by Bruce. She is met by a tall figure of about six foot wearing a blue and white fencing suit and a blue wired fencing helmet.
April swallows as she composes herself. "What are you?" She asks in a low voice, knowing full well that despite the human figure body, it is not a human under the fencing suit.
"I am what you have seen for five years." It replies with a raspy breath almost incoherent.
April watches it for a moment, taking in what it said. This one sentence makes April realise what this creature is and what it is doing. She narrows her eyes as she examines the alien further. It all suddenly makes sense to her when she see a flash of something in the air near its helmet. It almost looks like a small tadpole floating, just like the one she thought she saw over Bruce's shoulder before.
"What happened to Bruce?" April tightens her grip on the end of her bed.
"Died along with your parents."
April stares at the figure in front of her, taking in its presence. Then it suddenly hits her why the presence of this creature feels so familiar to April. "You killed Bruce, didn't you?"
The creature clicks its tongue. "Oh you are clever, aren't you?"
"You killed Bruce and pretended to be him. For five years. It wasn't the real Bruce Fey I knew as a child who attacked me every day. It's not Bruce Fey I should fear, it's you!" April takes a step away from the creature as she shouts. "Why did you kill him?"
"The same reason as why your family are dead."
"And how did they die?"
The creature lets out an almighty roar of laughter which sends shivers down April's spine. Her knees tremble with fear and she glances out her bedroom window, wondering how she is to get away from the creature.
"April Hollerford," The creature chants as it takes a step closer to her. "The naïve yet smart young girl who has the ability to change her own fate. And how the universe wishes to see her fall."
"Including you," April hisses. "Then why haven't you killed me?" Another realisation quickly comes to April as soon as she asks the question. It's almost as if she is answering everything for herself. She shifts on the spot as she looks through the wired helmet, wondering what the creature looks like underneath. "You took over Bruce's image in order to kill me and the only way you could, would be to attack me till my strength weakened," She narrows her eyes. "But why am I not dead?"
"There is a force around you," The creature replies. "Something has been getting in the way."
"Doctor," April mutters under her breath. "The Doctor kept me alive because of my father's promise. My father's love was too powerful, more powerful than you."
The Doctor's name is registered in the creatures mind.
"Then the Doctor must be destroyed!" The creature roars.
Then everything happens quickly as the creature lets out another ear piercing roar and leaps forward to attack April. However as it does so, April sweeps her thick copy of Bryan Cox's Wonders of the Universe off the nearest desk and hits the creature round its head with all her might. The force of the blow both shocks April and the creature. The creature falls to its knees, dizzy, and April drops the book onto the carpet, scared at herself for hitting the creature like she did. But before the creature can compose itself again, she swings her rucksack onto her back and runs out of her bedroom and down the stairs, only to run smack into Rose, letting out a yelp of fright.
"The Doctor knew something was wrong!" Rose says but April pushes her backwards.
"Get out of the house now!" April snaps, pushing Rose back out the door. Rose lets out a gasp as she sees the creature standing on the landing, looking down at them.
"What is that?" Rose asks.
"The creature that killed Bruce."
It lets out another mighty roar, as it runs down the stairs, knocking over the paintings on the wall. However there is a loud bang and the creature suddenly vanishes, only leaving a trail of blue smoke in the air. The familiar sound of the sonic screwdriver calms Rose to know that the Doctor is there.
The blue smoke clumps together and flies through the air and into a jar in Terry's hand, like water being sucked down a plug hole. Terry slams the lid down on the jar and the Doctor secures it with the sonic screwdriver.
"April Hollerford, I don't think I've ever met someone who attracts nearly as many aliens as I do," The Doctor says as he bends down to peer at the smoke in the jar. "That should keep it safe for a while."
"Keep it safe?" April hisses. "You are many things Doctor, but for someone to keep the creature that wanted to kill me for five years safe is something new."
"We're keeping it safe for the time being," The Doctor replies, looking down at her. "Only until we get to the black hole in the galaxy Andrymia where it will be destroyed. You will no longer have that fear of knowing that someone is going to beat you, April. It's all over now, I promise."
"What was that?" Rose asks, peering at the jar.
"A shape shifter." Terry replies.
There is a tense moment between the Doctor, Rose and Terry as they all exchange knowing glances.
April lets out a shaky sigh, almost as if weight has been taken off her shoulders but she is unsure. She still doesn't feel secure, no matter what the Doctor tells her.
"Are you okay?" He asks, concern rising in his voice.
"No," April splutters. "I'm not!" She starts to pace up and down with her hand on her forehead, trying to get her words out but it all comes out in a jumble. "How do you expect me to feel? I mean I've finally come to the realisation as to why Bruce attacked me. And it wasn't even Bruce. He was killed at the same time as my parents and even that creature mocked me for not knowing my own parents death," The Doctor opens his mouth to speak but April quickly shushes him, wanting to finish what she is saying. "And now you magically turn this creature into dust so you can happily throw it out into a black hole into some other galaxy. You dragged me back in time through a dustbin, pretending that you hadn't spent a long time looking for me – and the reason to that is still unclear apart from the fact that you promised to look out for me." April folds her arms tightly.
"Have you finished?" The Doctor looks somewhat amused as he glances at Rose's not-so-impressed facial expression.
"Yeah," April breathes, nodding but then changes her mind. "Oh but then," She continues quickly just as the Doctor stifles a laugh. "The Slitheen go on about coming back and you know why because you have read this prophecy of mine. I've been called the Ice Girl by Aiden and the Slitheen because apparently that is what I am known of. I mean come on, Doctor! Why don't you tell me anything? Because I certainly feel like there is a lot more to my life and my family which I should know about but I don't!"
"Well maybe right now isn't the correct time to settle everything." Rose chips in.
"So when will be the right time? Doctor?" But the Doctor doesn't reply to April. April sighs. "I'm not okay with everything that's happening and now I feel as if I must be in your will to save all of your lives seeing as you're the ones who saved me from that creature."
"Perhaps you shouldn't take everything into your will, April. Nothing is down to you to save us. We can save each other." The Doctor says.
"I'm saving your life as much as you're saving mine."
The Doctor nods. "It's a shape shifter by the way. This creature. It can take on any form it wants."
April looks utterly perplexed. Her scowl harsh and her eyes wide. She looks almost to the brink of a breakdown.
"Are you okay?" The Doctor asks warily.
"What do you fucking think, Doctor?" April snaps before pulling her hair back with her hands.
"You don't have to stay with us. Do you want to stay here?"
"Where else am I to go?" April asks, her voice breaking. "You guys are all I've got right now. I can't stay here any longer. Besides you've got the Cytracik to find and destroy. I want to help at least if my parents couldn't. It'll be one less thing for you."
"Come to Andrymia with us. At least see off the end of your trauma."
April rubs her eyes.
"Do you know why I taught you how to fly the Tardis?" The Doctor asks after a while.
April sighs heavily again. "Go on then."
"Because you're the only one I know who can do it. The Tardis has some relationship with everyone that walks into that console room. But is has this strange affection for you that I haven't seen it give anyone else other than me. It lets you fly it when I'm not. Nothing has ever done that. And when I'm dead and gone, someone can keep the Tardis going."
"Don't talk like that."
"It's the truth."
"I want to go." April says in a small voice.
It is getting close to evening and the Doctor, Rose, Terry and April finally leave the house and walk across the cul-de-sac, not once turning back. The wind blows harshly and all the children who were out playing before are taken back into their warm homes. The Doctor swings his arms over Terry's and Rose's shoulders as they walk towards the Tardis.
"So, Wales 1984 is now safe and the village lived on, and still does. They are up on the map and are no longer a secret cult. The Cytracik means nothing to them anymore. You know, we could go to visit Aiden at this day and age to see how he is and how he's getting along with the pub and the Christians. I hear they have a street party every year on the anniversary of when the Slitheen left the village."
"I'm sure they're a very happy village now, Doctor." Rose says smiling as she takes the Doctor's hand.
"Where to now then?" The Doctor turns to April. "Pick a star, April – any star and I'll take you there."
END OF BOOK ONE
Will be continued in book two: Nasty Surprises
