CHAPTER 47
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As Lily started to leave the Matrix, she was grabbed from behind by Goth. The two of them then started to go back into Lily's mind together at the same time.
Lily wasn't entirely surprised by this though, and she was an old hand at keeping another psyche in her mind at bay. She did it twenty four hours a day every day of her life with Sekhmet the Destroyer after all. Compared to Sekhmet, keeping Goth in line was going to be child's play.
As Lily came back to her own body again, Goth was surprised to find himself shunted off to a side corner of her mind. To his regret, it was the same part of her mind already occupied by Sekhmet. He began to run from Sekhmet in terror as Lily laughed at him. He deserved that after all after thinking that he could trick her that way.
Then Lily quickly forgot about Goth as she saw Robin standing there. She stared at him in disbelief for a moment as he did to her. They were finally together again at last! It wasn't a different Lily this time. It was his Lily at last!
The two of them stared at each other for a while with no expression on either of their faces, but there was a firestorm of emotions going through their eyes. There was love, joy, happiness, hope, and devotion among a slew of others rolling through their hearts like a raging cyclone. Finally that pent-up dam of emotion burst, and it was set free in both of them at once as they ran toward each other and embraced each other at long last for the first time in so very long.
They just held other silently for several moments as they both began to silently weep with joy. Lily rested her head on Robin's shoulder as he softly ran his fingers through her hair. He couldn't believe that he was really here. He was still half afraid that he would disappear again at any moment.
Then things began to get passionate at last after they were both assured that they were real and going to stay that way. They began to kiss softly and slowly at first, and then things became very heated very quickly. They kissed deeply and passionately without ever stopping for air for several minutes, and it seemed like they weren't going to stop anytime soon.
Allison began to blush and felt like she was intruding. She decided to silently leave the room. Before she could get too far though, Lily called out to her.
"It's okay, Ally. I don't want you to go. Stay. I'm sorry if we embarrassed you," Lily said.
"After being separated from each other this long, I'd say that you deserved it, Mum. Oh, and thanks for calling me Ally again. I used to hate that name, but now I've grown fond of it. I certainly would prefer it any day over Freya," Allison said with a grimace.
"You were calling her Freya? How did you remember that name? I thought that you forgot it," Robin asked.
"I remember everything now, Robin. We were still linked even in the past, and I relived everything that happened back then through your eyes. You restored all of my memories back to me," Lily said happily.
"You mean you remember being Sekhmet now? You remember everything that we did together?" Robin asked.
"Yep, every bit of it! I don't know how you put up with me back then either. I wasn't half as cool then as I am now," Lily said with a mad grin on her face.
"I loved you then just as I love you now. Sekhmet, Persephone, and you are all the same wonderful person at the core. I love each and every version of you, and I always will no matter how many times you change your appearance. You'll always be my Lily from now on," Robin said.
"You've got that right, and you belong to me as well for all eternity, Mr. Wright. Care to make it official?" Lily asked with a wide grin all over her face.
"Mr. Wright? Why would I take your last name? You're supposed to take mine," Robin said with a smile.
"What last name? You don't really have one. Exactly what last name am I supposed to take? Mrs. Locksley? Mrs. Hood? Neither of them are really a last name you know. Maybe you should just take mine and make easier," Lily said.
"That's what Ishtar said," Robin remembered.
"What? Who was that?" Lily asked surprised.
"She was a woman who looked just like Rose and seemed to have similar powers as well. She told me that I should grow beyond the fictional character that I started out as, and that I should take your name since I had no real last name of my own. She knew that I was going to go see you as Persephone soon even before it happened. She's also the one who took Allison from me and took her to the orphanage," Robin explained.
"I wondered what happened to her and how she traveled to the future on Earth of all places. I'm not sure how I feel about this strange woman who looks like Rose being behind it though. I don't know whether to be glad about it that she didn't leave Ally stranded there without either of us or to punch her in the jaw," Lily said.
"Mum, she's a friend of Rose's from what I understand. It doesn't matter. I'm here, and I'm okay. I'm with both of you now so it worked out after all. I finally have two parents who love me. It's what I always dreamed about every day of my life, and it's finally come true. Right now, I don't feel any ill will towards anyone anymore," Allison said happily.
"I guess you're right. We'll just continue on into the future from this moment on and not dwell on the past anymore. There is something that I'll need to check on soon though. I just received a very important piece of information from an old acquaintance of mine named Goth who I discovered trapped in the Matrix. If what he's told me is true, then I have another child out there," Lily said.
Robin and Allison both looked at her in complete surprise.
"How? You told me that your only children were me, Rose, and Ron," Allison said.
"I thought that was true then, but I may have been wrong. Goth told me that an old genetic sample of mine was used to create a son that had been intended to be used as a weapon. I have to talk to this man who I believe has no idea who he may be to me first about it, and then we need to do a test to see if it is true or not," Lily said.
"Who is he? I want to know if I have a brother out there," Allison asked.
"I shouldn't say yet. Not until I've confirmed it or not. There's no need to get your hopes up especially if it's the man I was told it was. He may not be too happy about the whole thing. He and I never exactly got along," Lily said.
"You won't even tell me about it?" Robin asked.
"Not yet. I have to know for sure first before I start to open up this particular can of worms. It may very well change all of our lives forever if it's true. I have to be sure before I tell anyone else. I want to talk about it with him first as well. I owe that to him. I need you to understand that," Lily said.
"I do. I trust you to know what's best," Robin said and Allison nodded along with him.
"Thank you. Both of you," Lily said warmly.
"So this Goth is still trapped in the Matrix then?" Allison asked.
"No. He's in my brain now. He tried to take over my mind when I came back here only he got more than he bargained for. Now he's trapped in a distant corner of my brain with Sekhmet on the loose chasing after him," Lily said with a mischievous grin on her face.
"What? Are you sure that he won't take over sometime?" Robin asked in concern.
"Nope. He won't be able to even come close. I'm in full control. I'll try to get him out of my brain later. For now, his memories and knowledge of the past particularly where it concerns the Celestial Intervention Agency might come in handy," Lily said.
"Mum, there's something that you should know. I and everyone else kept it from you once you came back because you had just been through so much, but now that Dad's back I think that I should tell you," Allison said as her voice shook with nervous tension in it.
"What? What happened while I was gone?" Lily asked with fear in her voice.
"Rose was killed by the Black Guardian, but this Ishtar woman that Dad told you about brought her back to life. She was a little shook-up about it for a while, but she's okay now," Allison confessed.
"What?!" Lily asked as anger flashed through her eyes.
"She's fine now. I promise," Allison said in fear.
"You should have told me! She needed to talk to someone. It should have been me!" Lily shouted.
"Lily, stop it. Allison was just doing what she thought was best," Robin said in a soothing voice.
"I didn't want you to hear about it and go all catatonic again. I didn't want to lose you again," Allison said in a tearful voice.
Lily immediately put her arm around her and said, "It's alright. I'm sorry for getting so mad. It just shocked me to hear that, that's all. It's okay, Ally. We're good. Don't get upset."
Allison nodded, and Lily kissed her forehead to let her know that she wasn't angry at her.
Allison began to smile again. It felt so good to have a mum even when she was mad at you. There was nothing like it in the world. It certainly beat the alternative.
"I need to go talk to Rose later. Even if she is feeling okay now, I'd still like to go see her and talk to her about it. Just to let her know that I care and that I actually noticed that she died. Daughters tend to want their mothers to pay attention to things like that," Lily said.
"She knows that you were in a bad state, Mum. She was here and visited for a while when your mind were trapped in the past. She understands. Stop getting so worked up about it," Allison said.
"She died, and I wasn't there. Don't you understand? I wasn't there!" Lily said as she suddenly started to fall apart.
"That's why I didn't want to tell her," Allison said to Robin. He nodded at her in understanding.
"You shouldn't have told her now either, but it's so lucky for me that you did," Lily said in a different sounding voice as she suddenly looked at them with an evil smile on her face.
"What?" Allison asked.
"Lily, what's wrong with you?" Robin asked her in concern.
"Nothing's wrong from where I'm sitting. From where you're sitting at though, everything is because your precious girl isn't here right now! Lily's gone out to lunch right now. If you'd like to leave a message, I'll be sure to pass it along though," 'Lily' said with an evil laugh.
Before either of them could react, Goth in Lily's body fired a massive burst of regenerative energy at both of them that sent them both flying across the room.
"I think I'm going to like this. Who knew you were hiding so many secrets, Persephone? This power that you have is simply amazing. I feel like a god!" Goth said as he continued to fire bursts of energy in Robin and Allison's direction.
"I shouldn't have told her about Rose. It distracted her so much it allowed Goth to take over," Allison said.
"That's right. She's the one stuck in that horrible corner of her mind with Sekhmet now. She can have her. That is not a good place to be trust me," Goth said with an ever widening grin on his face.
Robin unconsciously placed himself between Goth and Allison as he said, "Let her go. If you want a body, take mine."
"I would gladly take you up on that except that this body is the one with the power in it. I think I'll stay right here and declare myself the new ruler of Gallifrey. No one will be able to stop me!" Goth said with joy.
That was when he received a huge slap across the face that was so hard it sent his head spinning! While Goth was so distracted, Allison placed her hands on each side of her mother's head and entered into her mind. This was her first time trying this so she hoped that she didn't get lost inside there.
She found herself in a dark desolate landscape that looked like the middle of a war. There were bodies strewn all around, and everything around them had been destroyed and lay across the landscape in pieces. She began to shiver, and fear filled her. She wondered if she had gotten lost in some terrible memory of her mother's never to return.
"Who are you?" a voice said from far ahead of her. She couldn't tell who it was because they were covered in mist.
A woman then appeared out of the mist and began to run towards her with violence in her eyes. Allison began to scream in terror just as the woman was about to reach her. The woman stopped short, and then stood there stiff and at attention with what almost looked like regret in her eyes.
"Not an enemy. You are an innocent. Combat mode off," the woman said.
"Oh, very good. Even in your almost machinelike state, you recognized her, didn't you? You know I'm actually proud of you for once," Lily said from inside of the mist.
"Mum!" Allison cried out in a scared voice.
Lily emerged from the mist and said, "It's okay, Ally. She won't hurt you. That's Sekhmet. She's me."
"That's Sekhmet?" Allison said as she looked at the other woman with a mixture of horror and curiosity.
"Question: Is she our daughter?" Sekhmet asked.
"Yes, of course she is. You can see that, can't you? She has his eyes and our mouth," Lily said.
Sekhmet looked at Allison with sorrow-filled eyes then as she said, "I'm sorry, Freya."
"It's okay," Allison said still a little frightened of her.
"You shouldn't have come in here. Goth could be killing you right now while you're in here," Lily said in worry.
"Don't worry, Mum. He's being handled by an expert," Allison said with a smile.
"Who? Robin's not trying to fight him by himself, is he? He'll be massacred!" Lily said.
"No. Not just Dad. It's kind of a family reunion. I came in here to bring you back out while Goth's distracted. What's keeping you in here anyway?" Allison asked.
"Guilt," Lily said.
Lily took Allison inside of the mist while Sekhmet followed behind them looking from left to right and then back again as if guarding them from an enemy that only she could see. They came to a huge wall that seemed to go on for miles around them in all directions.
Allison put her hand up to touch it and to her surprise it went right through it! She walked right through the wall as if it wasn't even there.
"It's not real. Come on, Mum," Allison said as she tried to drag Lily along with her.
Lily began to scream though and had to stop. Allison looked at her with uncomprehending eyes. What was going on here?
"I can't go through it, Ally. Goth used some kind of mind trick on me. He must have learned it from his days with the CIA. That wall is made up out of all of the guilt that I feel for all the mistakes that I've ever made in my life. All of that guilt has been formed into a concentrated wall of self-loathing that's keeping me trapped here," Lily said.
"Are you sure that it's not just guilt for one thing in particular?" Robin asked as he suddenly appeared next to them.
Sekhmet looked at Robin warily for a moment as if judging whether he was a threat or not and then went back to scanning the perimeter around them with her eyes. Robin looked at her sadly as he remembered the girl that she had been once long ago. At least she was mostly returned now in his Lily.
"How did you get in here; and if you're here, what's happened to Goth? Don't tell me that you just left yourselves at his mercy back in the real world?" Lily asked with a groan.
"Goth is being taken care of, Lily. Believe me. We need to concentrate on getting you out of here right now. That barrier is there because you felt guilty about not being there when Rose died, isn't it? You can't let him use that against you, especially now,' Robin said.
Suddenly it dawned on Lily just what was going on outside her mind, and she knew that she had to come back as quickly as possible. She steeled herself and then ran right into the wall. She was trapped inside of it now from the enormous weight of everything she had ever felt bad about in her life weighing down on her. Not being there for Rose lately was just the latest in a long, long list of regrets that she had in her life. She tried to forgive herself for them and to overcome them, but that was easier said than done. She began to slowly walk forward even through the pain that she felt.
Eventually she would make her way to freedom Robin knew, but it might not be fast enough. He signaled Allison, and the two of them grabbed each of Lily's hands and pulled her on through the rest of the wall with a mighty tug of their arms. Lily screamed as she felt an immense pain burning through her mind for a moment that made her feel like she was about to pass out as they all went through the wall together, and then she was free at last.
They saw Goth standing there distracted and not even noticing them. Lily knew that he must be too busy fighting out in the physical world to even notice that they had escaped from his trap. She felt it only fair to let him that she was here. He was being very rude in not acknowledging her existence after all!
Lily and Robin looked at each other in wordless communication that had been established on dozens of battlefields during the First Great Time War from so long ago. Then they smiled as they both knew what they had to do. Allison walked forward and tapped Goth on the shoulder; and as he turned around, he received a massive punch to the jaw by the combined fists of Lily and Robin!
Everyone woke up in their physical bodies then, and Allison and Robin could see that Lily was getting slapped silly by one fighting mad Rose Tyler. Rose had come there after being called by a worried Allison after Lily had been inside of the Matrix for too long.
"Get out of my mum right now, do you hear me? I've had enough of people like you playing around with all of our lives!" Rose was screaming as she kept slapping Lily with one hand while she held her Vortex Screwdriver with the other one ready to use it when she had to.
Before Rose could slap her again, Lily caught her hand with the lightning speed of reflexes honed on a thousand battlefields over innumerable lives. Lily smiled at her as she said, "He's trapped in there with Sekhmet again. I'll make sure and get him out soon so we don't have a repeat performance of this ever again."
"How do I know it's really you?" Rose asked suspiciously.
Lily then looked at her with all of the pain and anguish that she felt for not being there for her during her recent troubles, and Rose knew that it was her.
"You had to go and tell her, didn't you? Nice going, Ally," Rose said angrily.
"I thought that she deserved to know. I hate keeping things from her," Allison said.
"So do I," Rose whispered to herself about her own secret.
"It's okay, Ally. Don't worry about it," Rose said with a warm smile back at her sister.
It felt odd for her to think of her as that now, but yet it also felt right at the same time. She had always been close to Allison for some reason since the day that she had first met her, and now she finally knew why.
"I'm so sorry, Arkytior. I should have been there. You died again, and I wasn't there! I'm never there! I'm a terrible mother!" Lily said in tears once more.
Rose knew that this meant that she was very upset for her to use her old name like that. She always called her Rose now because she knew that was how Rose thought of herself.
"That's not true. The Monk had really done a number on you by sending Robin away after you had just so recently linked with him. It wasn't your fault, and neither was the first time I died. I want you to stop beating yourself up over everything that happened in the past. It's over with now, and I'm okay. I love you, Mum. You're the greatest mother I could ever ask for," Rose said with emotion filling her voice.
"That's right, Mum. Everything that she just said is true," Allison agreed.
Lily then hugged both of her girls to her as Robin watched on with a smile. It seemed that everything was back to what passed for normal in their lives at last. He was already thinking about what Lily had asked him earlier. He did want to marry her, and he would soon.
Once Lily found out for sure whether she had another son or not, he was going to pop the question. He wasn't about to let any more time pass without letting her know just how much she mattered to him.
I already know that already. Just hurry up and propose to me already, why don't you? I've already waited a billion years! I swear you're even worse than the Doctor! Lily said in his mind through their link as she looked at him with a huge smile on her face.
Yes, boss. Robin replied back as he was reminded yet again why she was the only woman that he had ever loved or ever would love. There was quite frankly no one else like her in this universe or any other. She was just incredible.
Don't you ever forget it either! So what kind of ring did you have in mind? Lily asked with a mischievous grin on her face.
Robin just sighed and shook his head. Maybe he was Mr. Wright. She was already calling the shots already, and they weren't even married yet. Then again, he didn't think that there was any person alive who had ever been able to tell Lily what to do.
She was a force of nature, and she was all his. It felt wonderful to be here with her again, and he was so glad to be back. He was never going to leave her side again no matter what the universe threw their way!
Next: Lily finds out the truth about the man who Goth called her son. What she learns will change not only her life but the life of Rose Tyler as well forever!