-REMEMBER ME-
CHAPTER TWENTY
Old Enemies
BOOM!
It rang thoughout the city as the ground shivered. The soldiers turned to each other in fear, barely having enough time to raise their weapons.
BOOM!
It reverberated again. The ground beneath their feet began to shake.
"What was that?!" people began yelling. Ripples of panic began working their way through the crowd.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Several people screamed.
A hole had ripped open in the middle of the square in front of the ancient temple. As the ground crumbled beneath their feet, people screamed as they fell, crying for their loved ones and their god, the Doctor, to save them. Soldiers and rebels rushed to the scene, trying to rescue as many people as possible and get everyone out of the way. And then it came again, louder this time, more terrifying, with the greatest rumble yet and several people were knocked off their feet.
BOOM!
"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" came the call from underneath the ground.
At once, like a swarm of bees, they came, rising from the hole in the ground, firing lasers and screaming. Every rebel with a weapon fired at them, a mixture of bows and guns and lasers. Nothing even left a scratch. They were helpless and defenseless. When people began to realize this, they ran, as the ground beneath their feet crumbled to create more holes, which more Daleks rose from; killing everyone and everything in sight. Not even the children were spared.
As the battle raged outside the crumbling pyramid, a lone hero ran through the halls, Running, telling everyone to run, even though he knew it was hopeless. The Doctor, though, had only one thing on his mind-to get to Clara, whatever it took. He would not lose her. He could not, would not. Daleks came on him like a swarm.
"EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR!"
The Doctor swerved around a corner, trying to remember the way they took to get here. He had to find a place he recognized. Why did the Daleks always have to show up, kill everything and everyone? And he had been so close to answers…
He ran, ran, ran...the thing he knew how to do best. He ran and ran and ran, until he could run no more...until the sounds of the battle outside had dampened, and everything became still, and nothing but distant rumbling, and the sounds of dripping water could be heard.
He was in what looked like a cave. He had to be deep underground...he had ran down so many stairs and sloped corridors… he no longer knew where he was.
Clara, he thought desperately.
Even his thoughts seemed loud in this desolate place. He looked around for any sort of clue as to what this place was. There were stalactites and stalagmites growing from the floors and ceilings, but upon further inspection he realized this was no natural cave. The walls, ceilings, and floors were smooth and flat, as if chiseled. Vines creeped up in a way that flowed with the stacked stones, and here and there he saw lights that glowed with a calm, but slightly eerie, urge.
The Doctor searched his pockets for the sonic screwdriver, and his hand clasped around it. Clara must have put it back when she hugged him, knowing he would need it. His hearts softened for her-and tinged with worry. Was she okay? Had the Daleks gotten her too? Was she even still alive?
She had to be-the Doctor refused to accept the alternative, and he scanned the room; pushing his thoughts and worries to the back of his mind. The whirring of his sonic was unnaturally loud in this muffled quiet place.
As he had suspected, the cave/room was made of the same strange material as the halls and pyramids above, glowing with energy. There was more, but his sonic could not quite make out what it was. He stepped further into the room, walking deeper and deeper until he could no longer make out the archway he had stepped through behind him.
The muffled rumbling grew quieter until he could no longer hear it. He realized there was a very slight slope to the floor, taking him even deeper below the surface. Soon, all he could hear was the whirring of the sonic and his footsteps. He did not think of turning back, only of finding the source of the strange readings coming from the sonic.
Soon, it began to pulse, whir...whir whoop-whoop. Whir... whoop-whoop, whoop ….whoop…. whoop...Whir...whoop-whoop, whoop…. whoop …. whoop... Continually, evenly, echoey, faint at first, but growing louder. It sounded familiar, like he'd heard it before...like he was going to hear it...like he'd been hearing it all his life. But what was it? Why did it sound so familiar?
He continued walking, slowly this time, twisting the sonic, holding it up to his ear….there was something he was missing….but what? The pulsing grew higher-pitched as he twisted the screwdriver around. Whir...whoop-whoop...whoop...whoop….
Something glowed...faintly...in the corner...of his eye….
A question burned in his mind, intrusive, external. It was muffled and unclear. It bared on his mind like a great weight, until his head ached and he covered his ears. It was so loud… but yet still he could not make out what it said...he dropped to his knees, his head hurt so badly…
And then it came through, clear as a bell. Terrifying in it's simplicity and weight and meaning…
"Doctor...Who?"
Then he saw what was in the corner of his eye.
It was a crack in the wall.
Clara ran. Ran as fast as her legs would carry her.
The Daleks...the Daleks here...how… why…?
She had to find the Doctor. She had to find him, now.
She could hear it, it rang across the city, as loud as the Daleks...the cloister bell. Something was wrong, very, very wrong….
If only she could find the Doctor.
She saw the great pyramid in the distance where Jexlan and his party had taken them, and she headed for it, legs aching and pounding. She realized it had been a very long time since she'd slept, and suddenly she felt very, very tired, longing for the soft, cool bed she knew the Doctor had made for her in the TARDIS...would she ever get the chance to sleep in it?
She dodged an explosion from her left side, screaming and covering her face.
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
They were everywhere, they would not let her rest. She ran erratically and as fast as she could to dodge their deadly lasers. Closer, closer...the pyramid was getting closer…
When suddenly, a giant laser beam, bigger and more deadly than the rest, came out of the sky and hit the pyramid square on the tip. Clara came to a sudden halt as she watched in horror, as the pyramid crumpled in on itself, falling, falling...surely killing whoever was inside. She dropped to her knees, tears springing to her eyes.
"Doctor…" she whispered, knowing he had been in there. "Doctor...no…"
She felt her eyes stinging and her vision cloud. A short, small sob escaped her throat and she crumpled just like the pyramid.
"Doctor...no…"
There was no way he could have survived. Would he of even had time to regenerate?
The beams and blasts from the Dalek's lasers firing around her no longer mattered to Clara, as she stood on her knees and cried in silent shock. Then, there it was, in front of her, the blurry shape of a Dalek she could barely see through her soaked lashes.
"EXTERMINATE!" it shouted. It was the only clear word she could hear. She raised her arms, welcoming and open, like the statue of the Doctor in the Hall...she was ready.
"NOOOOOO!" came a scream. She watched it happen, as if in slow motion, Gurkhan, the man set to marry Oswin, who had been so upset about her death, jumped in front of the beam.
She saw his skeleton, and her mouth fell open in shock. This was not supposed to happen.
Clara, enraged that he had stolen her death, angry that one more had to die for her, and the Doctor...the Doctor hurt most of all...it was the Daleks...it was always, always the Daleks. She picked up Gurkhan's gun, one of the more advanced ones she'd seen, and shot the Dalek, and kept shooting, and kept shooting.
She heard it screaming and still she didn't stop. She didn't stop until it exploded in a fiery blast. But the screaming continued until she realized it was her own. She abruptly stopped and fell to her knees again, sobbing.
"Clar...a…" she heard a faint whisper behind her. She turned.
The blast had not killed Gurkhan immediately. Trenzalorians were made of sterner stuff than she'd realized. He was a smoking ruin, but he clung to life, reaching out for her. He had moments, only.
She crawled towards him, held him in her arms and looked upon his burnt face.
"Clar...a…" He whispered again, he looked more content than before, but still in pain. He raised a finger to her cheek. "You look so like her...she always knew...you would come…"
"Who?" she whispered hoarsely through her tears.
He smiled.
"Clara...Oswin…" he cupped her cheek. "Oswald…"
His eyes fluttered shut, and he expelled his last breath.
"What?" she whispered to the corpse. "Why did you call me that?"
"Because he knew you were me," said a voice behind her.
Clara whipped around, facing a woman in a long dark cloak with a hood; who was both there and...not there.
"Who… who are you?" said Clara.
"I'm not really here," she said, not answering the question. "I exist only in your mind. You have seen me before and will again. You must save the Doctor."
"Who are you?!" Clara demanded, trying to peer at the woman's face, which was concealed by her hood.
"You will know," she said. "You must save the Doctor."
She was beginning to fade…
"Wait! No! Come back! Is the Doctor alive?!"
"Save the Doctor...save the Doctor…"
"Wait! Who are you?!"
But it was too late...she was gone.
Run, you clever boy, and remember me.
A/N: Hello again! Bet you'd thought you'd seen the last of me, huh? Nope! I've been meaning to get back into writing this story for the past three years, but my life has been absolutely insane and I haven't had the energy, time, or inspiration to continue. I have bought a house, got a job, a steady relationship...I pay taxes now...I'm an adult! (ish). But, it always bothered me that I left you guys hanging and left this story unfinished, as it was my favorite to write and I had so many ideas for it. So I'll keep writing...and hopefully I didn't entirely lose my readership….I'll also try and bring the story back to Canon, as A LOT has happened in the show and I always like to keep it as close to canon as possible and find the wriggle room for creativity. You might have also noticed that I switched POV's, I've been wanting to do that since the beginning and it moved past the first chapter. Since it's been so long since I've updated, I thought, eh, f*ck it, so here we are. Third person limited instead of first person and the you/I format. Might have things make more sense too.
I'm babbling. I'll stop.
See ya later!
~grednforgesgirl