Chapter IV

I met the Doctor by midnight like we'd planned. A million thoughts raced through my mind as I thought about Xerxes and how he could possibly be my great great grandfather. I'd been raised my whole life to be an assassin, by my own family too. In fact our family specialized in murdering targets. Many generations had been raised the same way I was, and we all knew why. It was recorded into our brains before we ever began training. Xerxes Pharamond, a very wealthy arms dealer for victorian England was caught up in a massacre with his whole family. No one knows why the massacre began in the first place, there were theories of course but none of them made sense in my opinion. Apparently when Xerxes heard of the riot in the streets he gathered his wife, brother and three children and tried to make an escape. But they were stopped by a man who called himself a Doctor. Xerxes quickly explained that he wanted to get his family to safety, but, according to the journals he kept, the man was secretive and looked grimm. The Doctor lead them down a place he claimed was safe but when they became surrounded by armed guards The Doctor seemed to disappear along with a very distinct and very odd sound. The guards shot at his family, Xerxes tried to protect them but he was taken down with a bullet to the right shoulder and left knee. Out of all his family members Xerxes was the only one to survive.

Xerxes wrote in his journal that he researched everything he could about this 'Doctor', he'd called up lore specialists and anyone who claimed to know this man even if they were perceived as crazy by everyone else. He talked with them about what The Doctor looked like and how he came to meet them all, each person had a different experience and different description of him but one thing remained solid, the sound which told of his coming. Xerxes swore that if he heard that sound again he'd recognize it instantly. Xerxes had poured his life into finding the Doctor, but the day came when he realized he wouldn't be able to find him, and he had to pass on his life's work to someone else. Xerxes married again and using the wealth he made from his previous business as an arms dealer he supported them, but raised them to be assassins, with one goal...Kill The Doctor.

That's what Xerxes wrote in his journals, every member of my quite large family knew the story of how we became assassin's, it became, essentially, the family business. I never cared much for what some washed up old legend thought or died for, I only killed because it's what I knew best. When I met the Doctor I told myself the stories weren't true. I had a hard enough time believing that the Doctor was a time traveller who was over a thousand years old and had seen a millions worlds die a hundred times over without the added possibility that he;s the reason I had such a terrible childhood.

But I couldn't pretend anymore, the journals we were forced to study till our eyes bled were all coming true. Xerxes was real and he had a real family with a real successful business. Which meant that the horror Diggory's wife predicted would come to pass. If that was so, Xerxes would lose his family and set the path for generations of his descendants to become assassin's.

I have to stop it… I knew it then, the tragedy of my almost non-existent childhood would never exist if I prevented Xerxes's family from being killed. I have to prevent the massacre...I have to change history.

The Doctor arrived at the meeting point not long after me, he strolled in deep in thought but when he saw me he perked up and grabbed my shoulders. The Doctor went off on a tangent, talking about how wonderful the city was and this person and that person.

"DOCTOR!" I had to butt in to get his attention, he stopped his insanely fast talking of nonsense and looked at me. "I have something very important to tell you."

I filled him in on my family history, of what he didn't already know anyway. I told him who I thought- no, who I knew Xerxes was. The Doctor scowled and looked at me with serious eyes.

"Eva, are you sure you know who this man is?"

"Yes, Doctor! I know he is my ancestor which is why I have to stop his family from being killed!"

The Doctor turned in circles as he talked. "You're talking about changing history! If Xerxes never became a killer then you would never be born and never have spent time with me."

"Exactly my point, Doctor!" I shouted, getting infuriated now. Time was running out, I had to make him understand why I needed to do this. "Think back on everything that happened because of me! I have killed countless people for money, ruined their family member's lives in the process and what's even worse is I got one of your companions killed!"

"Clara's death is not your fault, I've told you that!" He pointed a stern finger at me but I ignored it.

"Don't lie, Doctor! If we had never met the tragedy of halloween night would never have happened!"

The Doctor stopped, we had never mentioned the reason I was left in the ages of the witch trials, the subject was too painful. But it was true, if I had never met the Doctor he would never have brought us to that time per my request. What we did that Halloween night was unthinkable, it was a tragedy and it was my fault.

The Doctor bowed his head. I could almost hear him thinking but he didn't say anything, the silence was killing me. "I can't let you save them." He said softly, almost inaudible.

"What?!" I demanded an answer but he could barely met my eye. "Why? I thought that's what we do! I thought we saved people. Doctor you have to let me save my family! If Xerxes never lost his then I would never have to endure pain such as I have so far."

"Because you won't exist!" He shouted. "It's a paradox, Eva! What happened that halloween night is a fixed point in time, you are a fixed point in time! If you save your family you will change history so that you would never have been born. And you know how the T.A.R.D.I.S. hates paradoxes." He warned.

"I don't care! I don't care that I will never have been born, I don't care that I'm a fixed point in time! I can change the pain of my past and that's the only thing I care about!"

"And what of your life!" He grabbed my shoulders forcefully, yelling, trying to get his point across. "What of your life as my companion? Has none of that mattered!? You are my friend Eva! What do you think it would do to me if you died?"

I pulled away, what I said next was cruelly cold, even given the situation and something that I would regret ever since the words left my mouth. "You'll move on...You always do, right?" The Doctor was speechless, I couldn't talk anymore without risking tears. I turned away from him, heading back up the path to Xerxes Pharamond's house. I will save you, Xerxes Pharamond, with my last breath I will stop the tragedy I created with my very existence...

I finally reach the door to Xerxes's house. It had gotten cold, so cold my fingers seemed frozen to the bone. I surveyed the night, everything was quiet. But not a good quiet that told of peace, the quiet that told of oncoming war. The calm before a storm. I impatiently knocked on Xerxes's front door. I had to warn him quickly. Before the massacre took place, I would remove his family to a safe place and stop the tragic events that would lead to my birth.

I knocked louder and with more conviction. Finally the door was opened forcefully by one of his maids in slippers, a robe and harboring a very annoyed expression. "Ma'am do you know what time it is? What is your purpose here?" She demanded none too pleasantly.

"I'm sorry I had to wake you all up but I need to speak with Xerxes, quickly please!"

The maid looked extremely flustered, she drew a deep breath indignantly then said; "I don't know your reason for coming here so late but the Master is sleeping," I tried to open my mouth but the maid kept talking with more force, "-AS IS his family! Now I would appreciate it if you left. Good night." She tried to close the door but I jammed my foot in it before it closed.

My palm found the wooden door and pushed it open despite attempts from the maid to close it. "Like I said, sorry I had to do this, but this cannot wait." I stared her in the eye trying to intimidate her. It must have worked as I forced my way in and demanded to see Xerxes.

She barely said a word except, "P-please leave. The Master is not seeing anyone at this time." She was like a broken record, repeating the same nonsense. I rolled my eyes and began to search the mansion for Xerxes myself. His house was bigger than I thought, there were so many rooms that could be his. However something told me I was going the right way when I passed the living room we sat in earlier talking about Diggory. Up the stairs and in a set of lavishly decorated ornate doors Xerxes slept with his wife, comfy under the covers. I lit every candle I could find and shook Xerxes awake. He looked up at me confused, then angry and scared. His wife almost screamed as he called me a burglar.

Just then the maid came in repeating herself again. I ignored the maid and focused on Xerxes.

"Mr. Pharamond!" I called loudly, making the words echo and forcing silence to fall on everyone in the room. "We don't have much time but the city is going to turn into a battlefield You have to get your family to safety before the riots reach your house!" I spoke urgently trying to convey as much as possible as concisely as possible.

Xerxes and his wife just blinked at me from under the covers. Then after a long while he spoke. "I remember you. You asked me about Diggory earlier today...And now you've forced your way into my home!" Xerxes's anger grew, he stood up, grabbed a rifle from beside the bed, most likely made by his company, and demanded to know what I was doing here.

"I've already told you,...sir." I added trying to be polite but I doubt that had any effect now, "Your family is in danger. Listen, everything Diggory said about riots in the street and people dying is true. And your family will be killed too if you don't get out of here, NOW!"

"What!? That's what this is about. Some mad ramblings from a crazy man? Honestly you must be out of your mind! There are no riots in the streets!"

I grinded my teeth, he was being impossible, although that was probably because I'd forced my way into his home and indirectly threatened his and his family's lives. Before I could insist on his evacuation another servant came in. This one was panting and covered in dirt. He blonde hair was tussled as if he'd gotten into a fight with a grizzly and lost.

"Finnigan? What are you doing here?" Xerxes immediately addressed his servant. "I sent you home for the day."

Then Finnigan replied. "Yes, sir you did- but outside. The military…" Finnigan could barely speak and tried to catch his breath but the message must have been urgent as he forced words out. "There are riots...in the street sir. People are scared and the military is armed. You have to leave sir, they are going to storm every house and if they find one trace of suspicious activity they've been ordered to kill on sight!" Finnigan finally took a breath and looked at the rifle Xerxes had in his hand. If the military was looking for suspicious activity they would certainly consider an arms dealer, legal or not, to be suspicious.

"What how do you know this!"

"Because it's happening all over town sir!" The words barely left the servants mouth as a faint gunshot sounded like cracking lightning from outside. A woman screamed and outside the streets erupted in gunshots and screams of pain, of loss, of confusion, of terror.

No...It's happening! I was painfully aware of how little time I had to save Xerxes left. I grabbed Xerxes shoulders, forcing eye contact. "Grab your family and get them out of here now!" I shouted at him, this time he seemed to agree and slightly nodded before running out his bedroom door to wake up the rest of the house.

When everyone was gathered, a few maids and servant, including Finnigan, Xerxes's brother, children and wife, I told them the safest way to go would be through any back exit they had.

"I had the contractors build a garden, we can use the back door and get out through there." Xerxes's wife informed me and I let her lead the way.

So far so good as the Pharamond family left the garden right as the front door of their house was kicked in. But I couldn't just lead them through the wilderness around town, they had to find a secluded road to follow as far away from this town as possible. I relayed to them a plan I had just made up then.

"Your best chance to get away is to find a minor secluded road and take it all the way to the next town."

"Oh my." The mother held a jeweled hand over her heart and the other around her son. "The next town is ten miles from here. I don't think the children can make a journey like that."

"They'll have to." Xerxes replied giving a torch to his eldest son, who looked to be twelve. Xerxes conversed with his brother for a second, they both looked extremely similar, they shared everything that made them brothers, black hair, handsome facial features even the way they talked with their hands told of the years they'd spent together. They seemed to come to some sort of conclusion and Xerxes spoke, his voice soft and steady, all the better to keep his children calm. "This is what we'll do. The streets are too dangerous to go near so we'll need to make our way undetected past the alleyways in the back of the marketplace."

"But those alleys are dangerous!" Xerxes's wife protested.

Xerxes turned to her with a grim expression. "Everywhere is dangerous in the moment."

The Pharamond family and I managed to make our way past downtown, we were almost out of the alleys when one of Xerxes's daughters fell and alerted the attention of a few military men. Xerxes quickly pulled his daughter to his side, it was too late the guards were armed and heading towards our direction. I put a finger to my lips, an indication for everyone to be quiet, then I slipped out of the alley coming out just before the military men entered. They noticed me at once, turned and aimed their guns at me.

"HALT!" They yelled along with, "BY THE ORDER OF THE KING, WE MUST DETAIN YOU!"

I forced a smile, the two military men shared confused looks. "You'll have to catch me first." And with that I took off, I didn't need to turn my head to know the military men were chasing after me. Their footsteps were enough evidence of that.

Unfortunately the military men soon got tired of chasing me and let their bullets fly. One after the other, they took turns reloading while the other one shot at me. I just barely ducked behind a building in time. The bullets stopped and heavy footsteps clanged on the cobblestone. I had little time but years of being an assassin rendered me able to climb the most flat surfaces. I grabbed hold of the nearest window and kicked off the ground. Within a matter of seconds I was on top of the building looking down on the two confused military men.

They were wasting time by standing around looking for me, so I made use of their stupidity. Before they made a move I swooped down from above, grabbed both rifle barrels before they could fire and yanked them from their hands. Now with two guns in hand I dropped one and used the sword edge to run down the first soldier. The second wasn't far behind as he tried to escape but I was too fast for him.

With both soldier dead I suspected I should return to the Pharamond family. I exited the safety of behind the building and ran along the bloody streets tills I came back to where I left Xerxes and his family. Diggory's wife was right, there were gunshots, then screaming, mass confusion, chaos and dead bodies line the streets now. The cobblestone was dyed red with blood. I tried not to think about if Xerxes had been killed or not. He isn't dead...Because I'm going to save him. I told myself as I almost ran past the hiding spot I'd left them in.

Before I entered the alleyway though The Doctor blocked my path. He put his hands on my shoulders and stopped me in my tracks. "EVA!" He loudly exclaimed. "Where've you been?" He didn't give me a chance to answer as he continued. "Nevermind we need to leave." He tried to pull me away but I resisted.

"Wait, where's Xerxes?" The Doctor faltered and didn't reply. "Doctor! Where is he?" I shuddered at the expression on his face, The Doctor held a face so guilty it screamed Benedict Arnold. "No...You didn't…" I asked for clarification that the Doctor could really do something so horrifyingly against his nature. The clarification I got was the scream of Xerxes Pharamond's wife and children and the sound of gunshot ripping into the air.

She ran...she ran into the firing of bullets. My attempts to save a tortured soul were for naught. I did the only thing a Timelord could do when it comes to the laws of time. Because not even the Timelords can bend time and space to suit them. As I watched Evangeline Claire run away into the bullets I tried to stop her. She pushed me to the ground, tears in her eyes.

All I heard where her screams, everything else was drowned out, it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the way I'd tried to prevent her inevitable death and broken her heart in the process. Whether or not Eva could have lived with herself, or with me for that matter, after I brought her ancestors to their deaths I would never have known as the bullets pierced her chest, her arms and legs, her head...Eva tried with all her might to erase her terrible past and the painful memories she shared with me, I guess in the end she did manage to stop them if nothing else.