CHAPTER 60

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!

THE MYSTERY OF KALLISTA GOLD

The gargoyles began to attack Rose first, and she could feel them already draining the Vortex energy away from her even as she tried to use it to fight back against them. Somehow the gargoyles were draining her without even touching her, and she knew that at the rate that they were taking it away from her that she would be absolutely powerless within minutes.

Within half an hour they would drain enough to kill her since she needed a constant supply of it to live.

If they were doing this to her, she could only wonder what they would do to Dorothy, Donna, Emmy, Calliope, or even Ileana (who also depended on the Vortex to survive) if they got close enough to them since they seemed to be draining not only her Vortex energy but also her supply of Artron energy as well. It seemed that these beings also ate Time Lords in addition to Angels.

For the first time, Rose realized just how much danger that they were in now and exactly why that Time Lord parents used to warn their children about the gargoyles. They were extremely deadly to anyone with any connection to time whatsoever.

That was why she was completely shocked when all of them suddenly left her and went straight towards Kallista. Why would they attack someone who as far as she could tell was completely human and had no trace of temporal energy in her whatsoever?

"Leave me alone!" Kallista screamed in fear as the gargoyles circled her warily.

Donna noticed immediately that they were hesitant to get too close to her and kept a respectful distance away from her at all times. It was almost as if . . .

"They're afraid of you, Gold Girl! They seem to be as scared of you as you are of them," Donna called out to Kallista.

"I really doubt that," Kallista said in a shaky voice.

Suddenly one of the gargoyles said, "She has no idea who she really is or she would have already reduced us to ashes by now. We have a chance now to kill a being who will give us all an inexhaustible supply of energy. We'll never need to feed on wandering Angels ever again. She is the one that we came here for despite her innocent appearance so go ahead, my people. Feed!"

"No!" Kallista screamed as the gargoyles grabbed her and started to carry her away with them up into the sky.

That was when the gargoyles who were holding Kallista were disintegrated by several blasts of pure plasma shot from Tori's hands. Kallista immediately fell to the ground safe and sound, and Michelle quickly pulled her to safety and out of the gargoyles' reach while the other Wolves began to attack them in order to keep them away from her.

While the Wolves fought with the gargoyles as they tried their best to stay as far away from them as possible so as not to be drained by them, Kallista stood over to the side in shock. She couldn't believe what was happening to her, and she definitely couldn't believe what the gargoyle had just said about her.

"What was he talking about? That thing was talking about me like I wasn't even human. I am human though. I'm just an ordinary girl. There's nothing special about me. Nothing whatsoever. I'm human!" Kallista said in a terrified voice.

"Of course you're human. Those things just made a mistake that's all. Just calm down and relax," Joan said in a soothing voice as she and John stood next to her.

She knew that there was a high danger of Kallista going into a fugue state or worse if she didn't calm down now because she had just suffered a severe psychological trauma not once but twice in a short amount of time. She kept talking to her in a soothing voice as she tried to reassure her that everything was fine even as a massive battle went on all around them.

John looked at Joan with a huge smile on his face as she disregarded her own personal safety in order to try to help Kallista. She never ceased to surprise him and always in a good way every time.

"What?" Joan asked as she caught him looking at her.

"You really are amazing. That's what. I am so not worthy of you, but I'm so glad that you'll have me," John said.

Joan blushed and was filled with love for him in that moment as she said, "I love you, John."

John smiled as he said, "I love you too."

He felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders as he was finally able to say those words to her. This was the first time saying it for both of them.

This beautiful moment was quickly ruined however as the Venus de Milo suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind them and knocked them both unconscious at once by smashing their heads together with her newly regenerated arms. Even being this close to Kallista had given her enough power to regrow them before she even touched her. Then before Kallista could turn to look at her she knocked her unconscious as well.

The Angel stood in triumph as she realized that no one was watching her now. The others were too busy fighting with each other to even notice her there. She could now drain Kallista's power for herself and become all-powerful. In fact, she could become the most powerful Weeping Angel ever and use that power on the gargoyles that had hounded her for so long to finally wipe them all out once and for all.

As she started to do so however, Kallista's eyes suddenly snapped back open and she waved a glowing hand at the Angel. The Angel screamed in agony as she was immediately petrified and became a real statue through and through. Then she was teleported away back to her regular spot in the Louvre where she would now harm no one.

Kallista then passed out once more and collapsed to the ground next to Joan and John.

A woman watched all of this from nearby with a huge smile on her face as she said in tears, "I finally found you! You really are alive! You're alive!"

She decided to wait until the current crisis was over with before revealing herself to Kallista however. The Bad Wolves didn't need to know who she really was. She knew that the less people that knew of Kallista's true identity the better.

It would just be their little secret.

The Bad Wolves had seen none of this because at that moment they were still busy fighting for their lives against the huge army of gargoyles all around them. Neither side had gained the upper hand at the moment, and it seemed as if this fight could eventually go on forever if someone didn't put a stop to it right now.

Calliope resolved to herself that she was going to be the one to do exactly that before either Emmy or Lilith were hurt. She smiled to herself as she suddenly came up with a plan.

She immediately raced back to Donna's TARDIS where she startled Amanda who was standing in the Console Room watching the battle play out before her on the monitor. Her hearts went out to her when she could see the worried look on the little girl's face.

She smiled at Amanda reassuringly as she said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I bet you hate just sitting here not getting to do anything to help, don't you?"

Amanda nodded as she admitted, "I worry about my mum all the time. I know she's a vampire and can take care of herself, but I just can't help it."

"Wouldn't you like just this once to be the one making sure that she's safe?" Calliope asked.

"Of course. Why? Do you have a plan?" Amanda asked as her face lit up with hope.

"Do I have a plan?! There's one thing that you're going to have to find out about me right now, Amanda. I always have a plan. Come on. Let's carry this one out together," Calliope said as she led Amanda over to the console.

Amanda smiled at her as she began to explain the plan to her. Calliope was going to fit right in around here. She was just as crazy as the rest of her Wolves.

As the fight continued, Donna's TARDIS suddenly dematerialized. Katherine immediately noticed this as she looked at Donna questioningly.

"What's going on?" Katherine asked even as she hit one of the gargoyles so hard that it instantly crumbled into dust.

"I don't know, Mama Vamp. I had nothing to do with that. Do you think that Mandy figured out how to fly the TARDIS all by herself?" Donna asked in confusion as she used her Vortex Laptop to scatter a gargoyle to pieces across several dimensions.

"She's extremely smart but I highly doubt that. Do you think that one of the gargoyles got in the TARDIS?" Katherine asked worried as she used one gargoyle as a club against another one and smashed them both to pieces.

"No, I doubt that, Mama Vamp. Nothing can get in the TARDIS unless they have a key. Well, almost nothing," Donna said as she used her Laptop to shatter another gargoyle to pieces with a sonic wave.

"That's very reassuring," Katherine said as she continued to smash one gargoyle after another into dust with her bare hands.

That was when Emmy said, "Don't worry. It was my mum. I saw her getting into the TARDIS."

Donna looked at her blankly as she said, "Calliope is flying my TARDIS? What part of that is not supposed to make us worried?"

"Oi! That's my Mum!" Emmy protested.

"I love her to death, Emmy, but she can't drive a TARDIS. She's even worse than the Doctor and that's saying something," Donna said.

"Have a little faith, Donna. Calliope hasn't crashed a TARDIS in at least a couple of weeks now," Rose said with a grin.

"I'm warning you right now, Flower Girl, if she crashes my TARDIS I'm expecting another one," Donna said.

Suddenly Donna's TARDIS materialized out of nowhere in the middle of the sky and came flying right at the gargoyles at incredible speed. It took out a whole row of them before it finally stopped by smashing hard into the side of a nearby building.

"I knew it!" Donna protested.

Suddenly Calliope exited the TARDIS as fast as she could and immediately raced over to Rose as she started to tell her something with an excited look on her face as she waved her hands around wildly. As the two Time Ladies talked, Amanda waved at Katherine from the TARDIS.

Katherine found herself letting out a breath that she really hadn't realized that she had even been holding since she didn't breathe. Then she ran to her daughter and hugged her tightly as she began to explain what was going on to her.

"We went to this place called The Library and looked up the gargoyles there. It took us a while of searching, but I finally found their weakness in some book written by someone called Sekhmet that dates back to the Old Days on Gallifrey. Calliope get really angry when I showed her who wrote it for some reason, but we were both glad that it told us that this person Sekhmet ran across the gargoyles in some huge war that she was in and used the time winds from the Vortex to destroy them. They have a huge weakness to them," Amanda said with a huge smile on her face.

"Amanda, I think we'd better go in the TARDIS. Rose looks like she's really about to lower the boom on our gargoyle friends," Katherine said.

"How can you tell? Oh! Yeah, she's definitely up to something alright," Amanda said as she saw the huge smile on Rose's face.

As Katherine and Amanda sought refuge in the TARDIS, Donna saw that same smile on Rose's face and laughed as she said, "Here comes trouble. Heads up, girls, we're about to see Captain Tyler's Flower Power in action."

The Bad Wolves quickly ran to safety as Rose did something that she had never done before and opened up a hole to the Vortex that unleashed the time winds from inside of it. The Time Winds were so powerful that they threatened to go out of control as Rose unleashed them on the gargoyles.

The gargoyles screeched in agony as they were torn to pieces by the time winds. Within minutes every last gargoyle was completely turned to dust and then even that was scattered across time and space as it was swallowed up by the Vortex.

"Way to go, Captain!" Donna said with joy.

Then she noticed that Rose looked terrified as Rose said, "I can't control it!"

The time winds continued to move forward and started to rip the entire area apart as the Wolves had to scatter in all directions to keep from being hit by them. Rose now began to panic in a way that she hadn't in a long time as she felt this entire situation slipping completely out of her control.

"Let me help, Mum," Dorothy said as she started to slowly give her power to Rose.

Rose was surprised by this at first and was concerned that she might pass out from having Dorothy's power added to her own just like she had before when she had used it to defeat the renegade Dalek Time Lords that she and the younger Dorothy had come across together not too long ago.* Then she smiled as she realized that Dorothy was giving it to her slowly enough for her to handle it without it overwhelming her. This Dorothy had apparently gotten used to using her power this way.

With Dorothy's power added to her own, Rose was now able to easily rein in the time winds and close off the hole to the Vortex before they could do massive damage to everything around them. Rose smiled in triumph even as she shook in fear over what had just happened.

"I take it that was your first time doing that, huh?" Dorothy asked her.

"What was your first clue, Boom Girl?" Donna asked sarcastically.

Now that the gargoyles had been completely defeated at last, the Wolves finally noticed for the first time that Kallista, Joan, and John were all lying unconscious nearby. Calliope raced to check on both John and Joan in a near panic but then immediately sighed as she saw that both of them were fine.

As she moved to check on Kallista she realized with joy that she had been just as worried about Joan as she had been about John. She already considered Joan a part of her family and with any luck she soon would be.

These thoughts were soon interrupted though as she checked Kallista's pulse. She gasped as she felt two heartbeats! Then she was confused as she felt just one heartbeat again.

"What is it?" Michelle asked as Calliope motioned for her to join her.

"I don't know. I thought I heard two heartbeats for a second there and now I don't. You can detect illusions, right? Emmy told me that you were beginning to be able to do that. Do you think you could see if Kallista is hiding her true self with a perception filter or something?" Calliope asked.

Michelle reached out with her power and tried to detect if something was wrong about Kallista or not when suddenly she and Calliope both froze in place. They stood there unmoving for several moments until Ileana noticed this and called out to them.

"Michelle, Calliope, what's wrong? Are you two okay?" Ileana asked as she gently shook the two of them.

Both of them finally started moving again and looked at her with blank looks on their faces as Michelle said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You were both stuck in place like someone turned you off or something. What's going on?" Ileana asked with worry.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We weren't doing anything," Calliope said confused.

"I know. That's what I'm talking about," Ileana said.

They both continued to look at her blankly so she quickly changed the subject as she asked, "So is Kallista okay? What happened to those three anyway?"

Michelle started to act normally now as she said, "They must have been attacked by the gargoyles. Yes, they're all fine. Calliope checked them all herself."

Calliope nodded as she said, "Yeah, they're all just fine."

Then she had a worried look on her face for a moment as Ileana asked, "What is it?"

"I don't know. I just feel like I forgot something. I don't remember what though," Calliope said.

"I'll tell you what you forgot, Gran. The brakes! Look what you did to my TARDIS!" Donna shouted as she inspected the outside of her TARDIS with a furious expression on her face.

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Donna. It'll be fine. I know how to reconfigure the old girl in such a way where she'll fix that all by herself. Let me show you," Calliope said with a smile on her face.

"You know if my Granddad didn't love you so much . . ." Donna started to say in an annoyed voice.

"Oh, get off of it. You love me too, Donna. Hopefully just as much as I love you," Calliope said.

Donna's fake anger immediately went away as she said, "Of course I do."

Calliope smiled with joy to hear that as she took Donna into her TARDIS while she said, "You'll see, Donna. I'll have it all fixed in no time."

Emmy smiled and shook her head as she said, "Mum's driving. It just gets worse every year. I don't know who's worse: her, Eurydice, or Theta."

Rose laughed as she said, "You weren't there for the Doctor's driving test. All fifty or so of them. There were so many retakes even I lost track of them all. It's definitely the Doctor hands down."

Kallista woke up to the enormous laughter from everyone that followed as she said, "Is it over? Am I safe now?"

"Yes, the gargoyles are all dead now. They'll never bother you again," Rose reassured her.

Kallista smiled with joy as she said, "I'm so glad. Thank you, all of you! I owe you all so much! They were trying to kill me for some reason. If it hadn't been for all of you they would have."

"Don't mention it. We're always glad to help someone in need. So are you going to be alright now?" Rose asked.

"Yes, I think so. Could I call on you again if I ever need any help though?" Kallista asked.

"Sure, that'll be fine. You could even call if you just need a mate to talk to about whatever happens to be bothering you," Rose offered.

"Thanks. I really appreciate that. I guess I'll go now. I've still got a vacation to finish up after all. Tell Donna I said thanks and that I hope her ship's okay. Goodbye," Kallista said with renewed energy in her step as she seemed to walk away without a care in the world now.

Rose smiled until Kallista's back was turned and then her face became one of concern. She was going to keep an eye on Kallista for a while because she had noticed that Michelle and Calliope were acting oddly after being around her herself. She also couldn't help but wonder how Kallista had escaped being killed by the gargoyles if they attacked her since they seemed to be so determined to go after her before. Why that was though was a question that she still didn't have an answer to.

There were too many questions about Kallista Gold that she still didn't have the answers to, but she would eventually. She was going to make it her business to know if Kallista really was as nice as she seemed to be or a danger to the people that she cared about.

That reminded her about someone else who could possibly be a danger as she decided to take this opportunity to go see Alex about his recent behavior towards Dorothy. She immediately teleported away after telling the others a cover story about having to talk to the Doctor about something. She definitely didn't want Dorothy finding out about this and becoming angry at her for interfering.

After Rose left, the Bad Wolves plus the now awake Joan and John entered Donna's TARDIS to find her in a much better mood. They immediately saw why as they walked into a conversation between her and Martha over the monitor.

Martha was holding a newborn baby girl in her arms as she beamed away with joy. Mickey was with her, and he couldn't stop staring at his daughter with pride.

"Hello, Rose. This is your Aunt Donna," Donna said in baby talk.

"That's her name, huh? I wonder where you got it from. I just don't know. I suspect your temporary replacement might have had a hand in its being picked in some way or another, but I'm not quite sure," Ileana said sarcastically with a small smile.

"You might say that, Lana. I'll give you three guesses who her godmother is," Martha said laughing.

"I'm calling dibs right now. The next child is mine, Martha. I'm going to be the godmother. You don't have to call them Donna or Donald though. Unless you want to of course," Donna said with a smile.

"You've got it, Donna," Martha said with a chuckle.

"So when are you coming back? I love having Rose with us, but I have to admit that things just aren't right unless you're the one calling the shots," Donna said suddenly becoming serious.

"It won't be too much longer, Donna. I promise. I can't wait to get back to you and the others. I've been missing all of you. At least I know you can all survive without me anyway. I wasn't quite sure about that," Martha said trying not to laugh.

Donna pretended to be angry as she said, "Oi! I'll have you know I've been taking care of things just fine. We've even got new members."

"We had a few leave though," Ileana chimed in.

"Shut up, Lana. They'll be back sooner or later. They all said so," Donna insisted as she tried to cover up the guilty look that threatened to come over her face.

"I believe you, Donna. It's okay. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I always knew that we wouldn't keep everyone with us forever. Don't worry about it," Martha reassured her.

John suddenly spoke up as he said, "Everyone, I have something to say. It's appropriate that Martha and Michelle are both here to see this because I've finally come to a major decision."

John then got down on one knee and pulled out a large ring as he asked, "Joan Redfern, will you marry me?"

Joan smiled from ear to ear as she said, "Yes, of course I will! I've been waiting on you to ask me that for a long time now. A very long time."

"Yes. A hundred years I suspect," John said as his smile now matched Joan's.

"Give or take some time travel here and there," Joan joked.

Then the two of them kissed passionately while everyone else cheered. Michelle felt so much joy in that moment at her part in all of this. Then she thought of her own life. Perhaps Ileana had been right earlier.

Maybe it was time that she finally moved on and allowed herself to be happy at last. Surely she deserved that now, right?

She pulled out her cell phone and called her boyfriend, Mark. She was going to set up a date for them in which she was going to ask Mark some serious questions. She just hoped that both of them would like the answers that they came up with together.

Meanwhile as Kallista returned back to her hotel room she found an unexpected visitor waiting for her there. It was a young woman who looked just a little bit younger than she was.

Kallista looked at her in alarm as she said, "Who are you and how did you get in here?"

"Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you. In fact, I've actually helped you by making sure that the Bad Wolves didn't discover who you really are by wiping their minds of the double heartbeat that they almost stumbled upon. Your powers were slipping for a minute there while you were unconscious, and you would have revealed your true self to them if I hadn't been there," The woman said.

"What are you talking about? Who are you?" Kallista demanded in tears.

"Don't get upset. I promise I'm only here to help. I'm April. Well, my name is actually Andromeda, but in this universe I call myself April because there's already an Andromeda here already. Everyone's a lot less confused that way," April said.

"Well, I'm certainly not. I'm still just as confused as ever. Why are you here and what do you want with me?" Kallista asked.

April took a deep breath as she said, "You're not going to believe me."

"After today I'll believe anything. Tell me what's going on," Kallista said.

"Your name is not Kallista Gold. You and I are both from a previous universe, and your actual name is Eris. In this universe however since there already is an Eris here, you call yourself Discord instead. I'm here because you're my mother, and I want to help you regain your memory which you apparently lost after you came back from the dead as this Kallista person. I still don't know what that's all about, and I really don't care. I've missed you so much, and I'm so glad that I finally found you at last!" April said as she suddenly hugged Kallista tightly.

Kallista looked at her in shock as she wasn't sure what to think. It seemed as if April's joy was genuine, and she seemed to actually believe what she was saying. It was all so ridiculous though. There was no way that April could be her daughter. She looked more like her younger sister instead.

Why was everyone insisting that she was someone else today? First the gargoyles and now this strange girl were both claiming that she wasn't who she thought she was. What was going on here?

She started to push April off of her and tell her to get out but found that she couldn't. For some reason she couldn't find it in her to upset her when she was so happy.

"I love you, Mum. I'm so glad that I finally found you," April said as she continued to hug her.

"I'm sorry but I'm not your mum," Kallista said in a gentle voice so as not to hurt her any more than she had to.

April was undeterred by this however as she said, "Of course you are. You've just forgotten. You'll remember soon enough though. I'll help you. Then we'll be together forever. You'll see."

Kallista continued to let April hug her even though she didn't exactly know why. She just didn't want to hurt the girl even though she knew that she would have to sooner or later. She wasn't this Discord person that she thought that she was after all. She was Kallista Gold.

Wasn't she?

Meanwhile Rose paid an unscheduled visit to Alex and Dorothy's house in Perivale as she appeared just outside the front door in a burst of golden energy. Alex Wilkes or more accurately Fenric in Alex's body saw her from the window with a growl of anger on his lips.

He had only just now gotten back inside of Alex's body after several unsuccessful attempts to because of what the Doctor's companion Clara Oswald had done to him in his latest battle with the interfering Time Lord.** She had somehow temporarily kept him from being able to possess anyone but thankfully it had finally wore off.

He was still too weak from so many attempts to take back Alex's body in addition to Clara's attack to face off against Rose at her full strength however. If she discovered who he really was, he was in a lot of trouble.

For the first time in a long time, Fenric had no idea what to do. After Rose suddenly let herself in the house without warning though, he quickly found that he had no choice. There was suddenly nowhere left to run.

"Alex, we have to talk," Rose said as she confronted him.

As Fenric found himself face to face with Rose, he knew that this was it. He was going to have to hope that he was able to fool her into thinking that he actually was Alex or he was going to have the fight of his life on his hands.

*See It's Better With Two Chapter 36.

**See The Adventures of Rose Tyler, Time Lady Chapter 102 if you're curious.

Next: Fenric and Rose have a long talk about Dorothy while the Elder God sweats bullets as he worries if Rose will discover who he really is or not. Will she have her suspicions about him confirmed or dismissed by what he says? Meanwhile Kallista calls the Bad Wolves yet again as she tries to get to the bottom of what's going on with April. Will April be able to keep her from giving her secret away this time? That's always supposing that Kallista really is Discord of course. Also Michelle will have a long, serious discussion about the future with Mark. Will Michelle like what she hears? Oh, and as if that isn't enough Lauren drops by and has a little talk with her future parents about Kallista. What will she have to say about why she gave her Donna's number?