Hello everyone! Sorry for the slow update - I've had a lot on my plate lately, so it was quite hard trying to juggle everything!
By the way, I am currently looking for an editor! As you can see, I'm horrible at expressing myself/ correcting my grammatical and spelling errors. I would be so grateful if someone checked over my story before I actually post on AO3 and on Fanfiction. If you want to be an editor, please leave your email address (either through reviews or through PM), and I'll contact you through mine :3
I hope you enjoy this chapter!
"Right. So… Where are we going?" Clara said, casually flipping a small switch on the console.
The Doctor frowned and flipped the switch back to its original position. "Somewhere fun. I've always meant to take you there. It's like Earth…"
Clara groaned. "Doctor! You always take me to Earth-like planets!"
"…It's like Earth but cleaner. Come on, you'll like it. Ah, speaking of liking…" He took out a small translucent stone from his pockets. "For you m'lady." He momentarily thought about how he never got to give this to Clara last time in the universe that could have been.
The small stone was chained through a golden chain to wear like a necklace. Clara gasped at the beauty.
"That's so sweet. Thank you, Doctor!" She kissed lightly on his cheek.
The Doctor smiled seeing her twinkling eyes. The Doctor helped her wear it and opened the TARDIS doors. The golden sunlight shone into the TARDIS.
"You first." He gestured Clara to check out the new planet. As Clara walked into the light, her eyes inflated. He loved this face, she was so beautiful when she was in awe.
The blue, clear river flowed lazily between the two apple green, grassy meadows and the fluffy Polovils excitedly played amongst them. The air was so crisp and fresh. Clara, with her jaws wide open ran down to the stream and touched the water.
The Doctor slowly walked out of the TARDIS and looked at Clara's happiness.
"Doctor! This is AWESOME!" She yelled from far away, excitedly waving.
"Anything for you, Clara, my impossible girl." He whispered as he waved back.
The Doctor sighed and sat down on the bench. It was only downhill from here. He had no idea how much of the poison the life support could withhold.
Suddenly, he was interrupted when a little girl, about seven years old, sat next to him. It was the little girl. Tia.
"You look sad." She said, scanning his face. She traced his eyes and saw Clara dipping her feet in the river. "How long does she have?" She asked, empathising with the Doctor.
The Doctor jolted. SHE WAS JUST SEVEN! How was she figuring all this out?
"She has six days. How did you know? You have great observational skills." He said.
"You're watching her like how my mum watched grandpa in the hospital. He died soon after." She shrugged.
"I'm very sorry to hear that." He replied distantly.
"That's okay, I didn't know him anyway." She dismissed it. "Chocolate? It boosts your serotonin levels in your brain. Try it." Her brilliant teal eyes stared into the Doctor's sad, old, blue eyes. He smiled. He remembered this from the Doctor's past.
"Thanks." He said as he took a piece. He took out a little magnifier. He turned his back towards her, etched something on the magnifier and handed it to little Tia.
"This used to be my friend's. But I want you to have it. I think you'll become a great scientist in the future." He showed her the little etches he made. "And just remember, come visit me in that date with your family. I would love to say hi to your parents sometime and congratulate them for having such a smart girl."
"Look, my parents are down in the streams catching Polovils, why don't you say hi to them now?"
The Doctor firmly shook his head. "No, this date. Remember this date, you have to come here with your parents. Okay?"
Tia slowly nodded. "Okay. See you then." She paused. "By the way, what do I call you, Mister?"
"My name is the Doctor." He gave her a smile.
She gave an innocent smile. "Okay Doctor. See you then! Thank you for the magnifying glass!" Tia ran down to join their parents.
Clara skipped uphill. "And who was she?" Clara watched the little girl running downhill towards the river.
He smiled. "Come on. Back to the TARDIS. We have an appointment with the three doctors."
Clara raised her eyebrows, but followed him back to the TARDIS.
Halfway through the steps to the console room, she tumbled. The Doctor quickly caught her.
"Clara, are you okay?" He seemed too worried in Clara's eyes for a clumsy stumble.
"I didn't see the step. Oops." She chuckled. The Doctor gave her an empty smile.
"Next time use your eyes. It's no use if you don't use that inflatable eyes of yours." He teased. But Clara felt that the face beneath the mask was something completely different… almost like… panic? Guilt? Sadness?
"Sorry. I'll be more careful the next time."
The TARDIS shook and landed for the second time.
"Where are we now?" Clara looked at the Doctor in curiosity.
"Go out and check it out. I'm just going to fix… my navigator. I'll be there shortly."
Clara nodded and left the TARDIS.
As soon as the door closed, he took out his life support receptor.
"Please, not so soon. You can't do this to me." He murmured to himself as he read the scan results.
Clara Oswald
Life expectancy: 5 days, 23 hours, 52 minutes, 47 seconds.
Current injuries: kidney failure, liver failure, deterioration of the nervous system.
Polovox poison is currently affecting 48% of the body.
The poison was spreading. He looked at the results in horror. He heard her scream outside.
"Clara!" He sprinted out to find her on the ground.
"Doctor! These… furry creatures sure love to lick people!" She giggled.
The Doctor let out a relieved sigh. "They are called Polovils. They are harmless, just like the domestic cats of Earth."
"They are sooo cute!" She scratched one on the head. She gasped. "Can we keep one in the TARDIS? I've always wanted to have a cat!" The Doctor's eyes widened and shook his head.
"I can't… deal with furry stuff. What if their fur gets in the TARDIS? She will be huffy about it."
"Pleeeaaaassee?" She begged.
"I'll think about it." He replied. Then, he froze. He approached a little note on the bench.
"Doctor – the building across the river. Level 5. Come visit. I have a surprise for you! -Tia" The note said.
"What's that?" Clara peeked through. The Doctor quickly hid it.
"Nothing. Stay here, I need to… do something." He ran to the building.
"Doctor…?!" Clara followed. There was no way he was going to abandon her in a foreign planet, alone.
He arrived at the building that had exploded in the alternate universe. However, this time, there were no traces of bombs. He madly ran around the building waving around his sonic screwdriver, when he ran into Tia.
"Doctor!" A joyful smile spread across her face.
The Doctor flinched as she hugged him. "I told you to meet me by the park?! Why did you stay?!" He said, panting. "We have to get your parents out now!"
"Whoa, mad man, stop. Breathe." Tia said, looking at him with her clear, teal eyes. "Sorry, I really wanted to show you something. I did leave you a message though." She shrugged.
He hurried her. "Your parents. Get them out of the building. NOW." He demanded. Clara joined him.
"Why are you here? I thought I…" The Doctor said. Clara gave him the 'look' and he immediately ceased talking.
"Come up and see what I've been working on." She placed a vortex manipulator on his wrist and before he could protest, they appeared inside the building.
"Doctor, welcome to the Scientists' Guild." Tia introduced him.
Both Clara and the Doctor's eyes widened. There were all sorts of advanced technology in the room.
"I knew you'd like it. I invented everything in here. This is a force field watch, once you wear it, you can survive the harshest explosions and shockwaves." She showed him a silver band. "This is an air converter, which draws water from thin air… virtual immunity system, where it protects you from any diseases for a whole year." She explained.
"And you have something else in development, don't you?" He cut her off. Clara looked at him, startled at the aggressiveness in his voice.
"Yes." She said, almost shamefully as she showed him the green crystal. Tia intently looked at his face, as if she was trying to read him. Clara looked at her in curiosity.
"These are dangerous. I think it would be the best for you guys to leave it alone. Stop developing it." He said as he shattered it on the ground and ground it with his foot. Clara looked at him shocked.
"Doctor, what the hell are you doing?" Clara angrily whispered to the Doctor.
"It's okay, Clara." She said closing her eyes.
The Doctor continued.
"Okay, I'm sorry for doing this, Tia, but this crystal has a potential to kill everyone. I'm a time traveller, and I saw the world burn because of this. I'm sorry, but what you've created will do more harm than good. This, will destroy your parents and destroy your entire race." He said in a dark, serious tone.
There was silence. Tia was tearing up. The Doctor finally realised how harsh his voice was.
"We'll have a talk once we're in the TARDIS." Clara was bright red with anger.
"…Look… I'm sorry." His voice died down. He looked away in shame. He shouldn't have acted up.
"So, you know about the crystal. Good. Don't worry Doctor, I know too. I had to be careful, foreknowledge is dangerous." Tia said, quietly.
The Doctor looked up in confusion.
Tia unbuckled the Vortex manipulator. "Where do you think I got this from?"
He gasped. Doctor idiot. That was him. In the alternate universe, Tia had only acquired her vortex manipulator after she had become an adult. The Tia he was seeing now was only in her teens.
"My parents died the day I met you. Two Navdroids appeared out of nowhere and killed them. They were trying to kill me, but my parents sacrificed themselves to protect me." She said, emptily. "Later that day, my future-self found me and gave me this. She told me about the Polovox virus that was going to wipe everyone off this planet and many others outside of my world. She showed me the life I will be leading after my wrong destroys the world." She whispered so that Clara couldn't hear. "And I know and you know that I kill your Clara… and you too in the end because of this." Her voice was so broken. Was the future her so desperate to destroy her soul from her childhood?
Tia showed the Doctor the crystal. "I am forced to create the poison no matter what happens in my life. I've been to all of the futures, I've apparently tried everything I could and created hundreds of different alternate timelines." She gestured at her inventions. "I've been developing these inventions to outweigh the wrong I am going to create. I'm doing my best, but you can't change a fixed point in time. I'll create the poison no matter what else happens in my life."
The Doctor looked intensely into her teal eyes. "But you know what else?" He gave a kind, wise smile.
"What?" She looked up, surprised at his smile.
"You develop the cure in the end. You win." He leaned closer to her. "You save Clara. In fact, I've been to the future where you fix the world. Like a true Doctor."
Tia's eyes started twinkling. "Really?"
"Doctor Gatford, it's time you started your quest. The quest to save the world. Never, ever lose hope. You will succeed. I know you can."
The conversation was interrupted when he heard a clang on the polished floor. Before he could react, the room was filled with sleeping gas. His eyes automatically started closing.
"Doctor!"
In the last moments he was awake, he saw soldiers trying to take Tia away. Tia momentarily broke free of the soldiers' grasp and struggled towards the Doctor and Clara. She placed the vortex manipulator on his hands and he was back on the grassy plain in front of the TARDIS.