"Okay, to stall her, you'll want to twist that knob there- Good God, no, not that one! Blimey, Lucy, you'll kill us. Yes, that one then. And then bang that panel there three times with a hammer whilst pushing that button and holding down."
"Do I really have to bang this with a hammer?"
"No, really I just wanted to see if you'd do it, and you did! So, that gave me a laugh."
"Stupid git." Lucy muttered under her breath. Still, she couldn't begrudge him a thing. He was helping her fly the T.A.R.D.I.S. and taking her to the Medusa Cascade. He had forgotten, or delayed, she didn't know which, taking her here and they'd ended up at the Battle of Gettysburg. Lucy was still somewhat reeling from that. She'd been so distraught over Elijah Bruin's death that she hadn't seen the People of Fal falling from the sky. The Doctor had suspected that maybe they'd underestimated the meaning of that particular war.
"Doctor, you've been talking about the Medusa Cascade for ages, but we always manage to not go there, save this time. Why is that?"
The Doctor frowned and a very pained look crossed his face. "Lucy, this is the closest I've been to where Gallifrey used to be in a long, long while. Gallifrey was just beyond here and it…well, it hurts. I can remember them all, Lucy, my family, my friends. And now I'm the only one. Did I ever tell you about the Master?"
Lucy shook her head, not wanting to say a single word, not wanting to disturb his resolve to actually open up to her.
"The Master was a Time Lord, like me, and a while ago, he came back. The Face of Bo, I told you about him, he told me that I wasn't alone. He meant the Master, and the Master was bad news. He turned the T.A.R.D.I.S. into a Paradox Machine and sent these beings, which were really humans, back in time to kill all the humans and take over. Well, then his wife killed him and I cremated him. So I'm all alone. Again. And this is so close to home."
Lucy couldn't even nod. She just stared at him. He'd lost so much. What right had she to complain about her past, when his was so much bloodier, so much darker? But he looked up at her and smiled and she knew that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.
"So, here we are then." He said, looking out the tiny window. He pushed a few more buttons as Lucy had stepped away from the controls and the doors opened. He'd done this trick before, but it never ceased to amaze her. She could look out at space, at nothing, at everything, and not be consumed. She'd watched the Northern Lights this way, had watched two galaxies colliding. And they were nothing compared to this. She was surrounded by mist and dust and stars and light. A thousand colours she didn't have names for danced round her. She could almost taste the dust outside. And once again, it was like nothing she'd ever known. Lucy took a deep breath and sat down at the edge of the ship. This was spectacular. She couldn't imagine a better view than this. There simply could be nothing greater.
She felt the Doctor standing by her, his shin against her back, leaning so that he wasn't too close to her. Lucy felt a shiver up her spine and tried to convince herself that he couldn't feel it too. He'd done this for her. He'd taken her back; to the closest to home he'd been in a long time and showed her this.
The Doctor felt his hearts beating out of sync. The left one was beating slower because he was so close to where home had been. He was trying so hard not to let it all in, not to let memories come flooding back. Fat chance of that. The right one was beating unusually fast; Lucy was so close to him. The tiny girl's head did not even come up to his mid thigh when she was sitting and he standing. She had been appreciatively quiet when he was talking about Gallifrey. And now she was awed by the sight that had first captured his interest in the universe. Then out of nowhere, a soft plink came from Lucy's pocket.
"What was that?"
"Oh, that's my mobile. It's Juliet, something must be wrong." And in one swift, graceful movement, Lucy was standing and checkingher phone.
"She just says we have to come home now, as soon as possible. Doctor, thank you for this but-"
"Not another word, it's nothing. If Juliet says she needs you, she needs you. We're on our way!" He waltzed off to the controls and Lucy knew they'd be there faster if she didn't help.
Half a minute later, Lucy was tearing out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and onto Carnaby Street, London. She wrenched the door open, knowing Juliet would leave it unlocked. "Jules, what's-"
"Lucy, come on, we've got to go!"
"Go where? Jules, what's wrong, you never said!"
"It's the singers, Lucy, they've all gone, haywire, I don't know!"
Juliet was already dragging them back out of the flat, tearing back onto the street and heading north. She was holding Lucy by the wrist and when Lucy stopped walking; Juliet staggered and knew that Lucy was forcing her to explain herself before they went any further.
"Alright, so the whole week leading up to Easter, happy Eater by the way, the cathedral has had these singers, these robotic singers. And they've been singing songs, you know the drill, but…but they've changed. Every now and then, they say odd things, and, just now, earlier this morning, they killed the bishop!"
"Hang on, Jules. What have you been going to church for?"
"I'm playing organ for them, just for a while. And anyway, that's not the point. A man's died, Lucy!" Lucy knew better than to argue with her twin by now and so the twins and the Doctor headed off to Saint Luke's Cathedral.
When they got there, a few police cars were hanging about, and some distraught nuns. Lucy and Juliet had enough residual awareness to cross themselves as they entered, but the Doctor would put on no pretenses.
The church was deathly silent and Lucy felt a chill go up her spine. She had never been one for religion. But this was just…oppressive, this silence. A gaggle of people were surrounding what Lucy took to be the possessed robotic singers. There were five of them, three male and two female. They all had angelic faces with serene expressions. Their hands were folded as if in prayer, their eyes closed in solemnity, heads tilted down slightly. They seemed all to be made of plastic, even the robes they wore. Halos stuck to their heads via two golden prongs and the halos themselves were catching the light from the stained-glass windows.
"I've seen this lot before, or at least versions of them." The Doctor said, perplexed. Lucy and Juliet threw him imploring looks, hoping he could solve this without too much fuss. They had reached the back of the small crowd by now and were listening to their conversation.
"One of these, I think the bloke in the middle just took his halo off and killed the bishop! In the middle of mass, no less. And the organist, she just ran off down the street, well, they were nearest her, weren't they?"
"Who could do such a thing?"
"Well what do you mean, Sister Mary Catherine, they're not real!"
"But someone must have done this. Someone had to have programmed them this way!"
"Well, we'll get it sorted out. Say, you lot! What you doing over there, no hanging about!"
The Doctor then stepped forward. "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I believe I can help."
"And who might you be?" The speaker was a stout short man, all ruddy in the face. He looked like he might be permanently agitated and Lucy would have found him comical in other circumstances.
"Well, I'm the Doctor. And these robots, these singers have been programmed by aliens-"
"What blasphemy is this?" squawked Sister Mary Catherine.
"Oh don't give me that, I'm here to help, and if you want it, you'll have to listen. Now, the singers are of alien make. They're just like those robot Father Christmases that were here. The only thing you can do with these blokes is kill them. Smash them dead. So, let's get to work."
As he was speaking, one of the female angels raised her head. Her eyes opened and she focused on Sister Mary Catherine. She didn't say a word, just raised her formally folded hands to her halo and lifted it. She grasped it like a Frisbee and as she let it go, the Doctor shouted, "Get back!" But Sister Mary Catherine was too slow and the halo lodged in her head, knocking her to the ground, quite dead. The surly man yelled and cursed and they all started running toward the back of the cathedral, towards the pulpit. Lucy and Juliet reached it first and both seized candles sticks. They threw the candles out and brandished the long cast-iron prods like swords. The Doctor was standing between them, sonic screwdriver at the ready. The surly man was hiding behind them, utterly useless and the rest of the straggling passerby had bolted out.
"Listen to me! I'm the Doctor and I'm ordering you to stop. On behalf of the Shadow Proclamation…no, the, the order of Max Capricorn, no you're not affiliated with him, are you? Just, just stop! System Override, one!"
The angels ignored him, ever silent and pressed on, all having drawn their halos. As they threw them, Lucy and Juliet batted them away. The angles reached out their hands and made as if to strangle the group. Lucy was the first to strike, brining the candlestick down hard of the foremost angel's would-be skull. It staggered, and then came back toward her. Lucy turned the candlestick, pointy end facing out and stabbed the robot in the eye. It crumpled and looking over, Lucy saw that Juliet had done the same thing to her angel.
The other three seemed to have gotten wise and were backing away, retrieving their halos. Two men and one woman were left. But the Doctor was cooking something up, Lucy could tell.
"Come on, I've used this trick before, and it's bound to work again. Well, it has to, because I have no other ideas. Juliet, do us a favour and go play the organ loud as you can."
"What?"
"Jules, just trust him, if he says it'll work, it'll work." Juliet threw Lucy a doubtful look but headed off for the organ. She set the knobs where they needed to go and played. The first thing that came to mind was Mozart's 25th. The Doctor aimed the sonic screwdriver at the base of the organ and the sound amplified by ten. He then pointed it at the handy speakers which crackled with electricity, like they would burst. The noise was deafening and Lucy and the ruddy-faced man were crumpling to the ground, clutching their ears. This was not unlike the time they'd been beset by banshees and the Doctor had amplified the sound of their own screaming to kill them. Lucy knew he must have been referring to a separate incident, however, because he didn't look pointedly at her when he said it. It was agonizing to think all this, with the pain in her head. She couldn't imagine how Juliet felt right there at the source of the noise.
At long last, the remaining angels shook like they were seizing and fell to the floor, once more eyes closed and perfectly benign looking. Juliet stopped playing immediately and her last few notes cut off sharply, making the ensuing silence heavy, loaded. Lucy breathed shakily out and helped up the ruddy-faced man. He tottered off without even saying thank you and blundered down the aisles to the world outside. Juliet got up tenderly from the bench, like she was sore and made her way, ever so gingerly toward them. The Doctor looked at her and said,
"Well done, Juliet, I've never heard a better version of Mozart's 25th!" Juliet gave him a long and sober look and then said in a voice dripping with acid,
"I. Hate. You."
Lucy bit her lip, suppressing the urge to laugh and gave her twin a fierce hug. Juliet had a strange look in her eye and was somewhat stiff. She barely hugged Lucy back. Lucy knew there was something wrong, and it had to do with the Doctor. Juliet even went so far as to look darkly at him as he started walking out the door.
"Juliet, what's the matter? I know this isn't just because he damaged your hearing, something's really up." Juliet's dark look came back to her sister and Lucy almost caught her breath. Was she in for a fight?
"Lucy, I know you've said you trust him, but you shouldn't. You're only going to end up hurt. I was looking up Torchwood, cause I remember you mentioning it and I got in contact with a woman called Martha Jones. Yes, I know who she is, and I know you know. Anyway, she had good things to say about him, but I could tell he left scars. No, let me finish, Lucy, I need to say this. Martha's right. The Doctor is like fire and you're about to get burned. But it's worse than that, he ruins people's lives! You get a couple months of bliss and then he takes it all away. He says he really cares about you but-"
"Don't!" Lucy interjected. "Don't you even say it, because you don't know him like I do, you haven't seen what I've seen! Juliet, I'm going to tell you the things I've done, because you need to know. The very first time I met him, he incapacitated my boss. Then we went to China and watched people get slaughtered. Then we liberated a sanctuary base in the wake of a dying sun. New Year's Eve, we sent an alien packing 'cause she was trying to kill all the humans. I've gone to the future and almost been killed several times by varying degrees of horrible people and aliens. My own runway show was sabotaged by aliens. I was imprisoned in my own head by my own dreams. I helped stop a war that had been going on for centuries and I witnessed one that happened over a century ago. And I found a canister of something called Life Matter and it told me I was going to cease to be the person I knew myself as. I don't know if that's already happened, but-"
"Oh, sure it has. Because I sure don't know you now, Lucy. You're this woman, my twin, but you're not even real. You're like him. And I get left behind. How can you talk about all those things and not just cry?"
"But Juliet, don't you see? All those things are worth it because I have him to share them with. He's so alone and he's done more for everyone than they'll ever know. And I get to be a part of that. You could be too, he's already offered."
"Don't think for a second I'd travel with you. I don't know what the Life rubbish is, but it's right. You're not Lucy Blake anymore."
"Don't say that, Jules, of course I'm me. I've changed a lot, but it's mostly for the good. Maybe I'm a bit harder, a bit more jaded, but, but there's also so much hope when you travel with him. You step out of reality and time and you can just exist. It's brilliant. It's the most wonderful thing in the entire universe. It's the happiest moment of your life and the saddest all rolled into one. I used to think like you do, that he'd just leave me, that I wasn't important. And the thing is, even if I'm not, I don't care. Because I don't want to be with anyone else, ever. I love him, Juliet. And I'll love him till the day I die."
Juliet fixed her jaw and Lucy saw what she thought she herself used to look like. Juliet's eyes were so much younger. Her jaw was normally not as firmly set. Her smile was easier, more genuine. They didn't even stand the same anymore. Would anyone walking by at this moment know they were identical twins? Related yes, the resemblance was uncanny, but not twins, not sisters. Lucy felt her heart break for Juliet. What had she done to her? She had, in a way, left her behind. For all her insistence, Juliet had really wanted to stay home and have Lucy with her. There was to be no Doctor in the equation.
A tear spilled down Lucy's face, and then another, and then another. What kind of person was she? Had Juliet said the Doctor was like fire? Then Lucy was too or maybe like ice, so cold. What person would do this to her own flesh and blood? It didn't take long for her to answer that question, not with the things her own father had done. So was she any better than him? Of course, but by how much?
"Lucy, I…I understand how you feel. About the Doctor and about traveling and everything. But, we're the ones who have to move on, like you exist but only sometimes. I have to pretend like everything's okay while I'm worried sick every second because I don't know where you are, or what you're facing. Because I know what life with the Doctor is like, I've traveled with you enough to get the gist."
"Oh, Juliet! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything I've done. I've been a complete git, Jules! I'm so sorry!" Lucy was still crying, had never stopped and Juliet stepped forward to embrace her once more.
"Truce, eh?" Juliet said into Lucy's shoulder. Lucy nodded, her hand on the back of her sister's head.
"Yeah. Sounds good to me."
"Just remember to keep me posted."
"You'll know everything from now on."
"I love you, twin."
"I love you like hell." They walked hand in hand out of the cathedral and back to their flat. It didn't feel like Lucy's flat anymore. The only place that felt like home was the T.A.R.D.I.S. The sisters said goodbye and wiped each other's tears, laughing at themselves. The Doctor was standing in the open doorway, and as Lucy approached him, he cocked his head and said,
"And what was all that, then?"
"That was…..that was. Anyway, everything's cleared up and we're good to go."
"Is Juliet all right?" He looked concerned, not only for Lucy, but for Juliet just as much. Lucy walked over to him, hugged him, which caught him off guard, and said,
"Yes, she's fine. We're all fine." Lucy let go, but the Doctor still held on to the small of her back, lacing his own fingers. Lucy put her hands on his shoulders and looked at him quizzically.
The Doctor thought he would never fully understand Lucy Blake and her twin. But perhaps that was what he loved about her. He let go of her with one hand, aiming the sonic screwdriver at a slot on the control panel. The CD slid into place and the singer's warbling voice undulated into the room. He began to sway and Lucy laughed once, softly and to herself. They didn't talk, just danced. Lucy's head was resting against his chest and his hearts beat slower and faster again. He closed his eyes, felt the words on his lips. I love you. But he couldn't say it. Wouldn't. Never mind everything else, what if she didn't love him back? So for now, he would be silent, and they would dance.
