CHAPTER 50
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Hello everyone! Since this is such a special event in this title's history, I thought that I would excuse myself as the narrator for most of this story and allow someone else to do the honors. Welcome back, Lily!
It's good to be back, Time Lord Prime, especially for this story. I really wouldn't have wanted this particular episode in my life to be told by anyone else to be honest. It's very personal to me. So where to begin? I suppose I'll start with the preparations for the wedding.
Before I do though, did any of you notice how over in Rose's title that Jack and Penny just happen to be getting ready to get married at around the same time? Talk about stealing someone's thunder! I beat them though. I'm going to get to tell my wedding story first. So there! Sorry but that just rubbed me the wrong way. You do not schedule your wedding at the same time as someone else's. It just isn't done.
I'm sure that it was just a coincidence. Those things do happen in the real world, you know? Not everything and everybody's lives revolve around you!
Hey! Who invited you here? This is my story not yours, Elizabeth. Go narrate your own story. Oh, wait! You don't have one, do you?
Ha ha! At least I don't have an ego the size of Skaro and the disposition of an inhabitant of that world to match.
I'd rather act like a Dalek than look like one. I think that you're way overdue for a regeneration, dear. You look a little tired around the eyes if you know what I mean.
You're calling me old?! You?! That's just so rich.
I'm young in spirit, Liz. You've always been old inside and out ever since I met you.
You know I love your daughter like she was my own; but if she were suddenly to have another mother, I certainly wouldn't complain. I think I'll start considering Jackie as her real mother. She's much better to get along with.
I like Jackie. She's sweet and humble like me.
No comment.
Finally! I've gotten you down to just two words. Now if I could get you down to zero, I could finally get my birthday wish at last. I've been wishing for that particular event to happen for a long time now. Of course if I had to pick a wish that I'd rather have come true, then I would much rather just get to my wedding story sometime this millennium. You know, I used to feel like I had been preparing for that particular day to happen since the day I was born.
Was that before or after the beginning of the universe?
Will you two just stop? This is supposed to be about your wedding, Lily. It has nothing to do with the blood feud between you and Liz.
You're right, Prime. Lizzie was distracting me from the real meaning of this occasion. No doubt it stems from Miss I Got Married Off Panel's jealousy at having no story of her own to tell. I'll get back to my much more interesting wedding story now.
I'll have you know that I fought a horde of Sontarans at my wedding. Just because I didn't want to publicize my wedding story for the whole world to see like I was the host of the latest reality TV show doesn't mean that nothing happened. Some people have a little thing that I like to call modesty.
When you find one of them, then maybe you can learn some from them.
Ahem! Do I have to take over as narrator? I will if this keeps up. The story's not being told, and we've already gotten pretty far into this chapter. The readers aren't going to like this.
I would love to tell my story if certain people would stop talking!
Fine! I know when I'm not wanted. I'll go to Jack's wedding instead. It's going to be much better than this one anyway. It's where all of the really important people will be coming.
Sayonara! Arrivederci! Adios! Buh bye! Where's a pail of water when you need one?
Okay, now that the Wicked Witch of Gallifrey's gone, we can get down to the main event. It's what you've all been waiting for.
Way to be humble, Lil.
To start the preparations, I had picked out a specially designed dress created by one of the finest designers from the planet Barcelona; and I was taken by complete surprise when they didn't charge me anything for it. Apparently Rose had spent so many credits there that they felt like that they owed her one. Not to mention that she saved the planet about fifty billion times.
As if the fantastic dress and Robin's humongous ring (take that, Liz!) wasn't enough to make it the greatest wedding ever, I also managed to book the entire planet Hoi Polloi for the ceremony. It must have been my enormous clout and phenomenal reputation that pulled it off.
Actually, it was Rose. She pointed out how she saved them from the Cybermen that one time.
Are you telling the story or am I? Now where was I? Oh, yes. I had booked Hoi Polloi for that entire day. I then sent out the invitations throughout time and space to everyone and anyone that would possibly have any interest in appearing there.
Rose handled everything else including the ceremony itself and all of the planning involved in it. She and I both agreed to skip any kind of Bachelorette Party. I certainly had no need for one of those. I mean I got all of that kind of thing out of my system a long, long time ago.
That's for sure!
I thought you were leaving.
I am. I just had to add in that one last zinger.
Ahem! So anyway both weddings were planned for. Rose had gone ahead and helped Ron and Isabella to plan their wedding as well since they were going to be married right alongside me and Robin in a double ceremony. Rose showed how sweet she is by managing to help Isabella pick out a beautiful dress and ring as well and getting them for her for free as well. She had apparently pulled a lot of strings to pull this ceremony off without a hitch.
That fact only made me even angrier about what happened later.
When the big day came, Robin still hadn't told me who his Best Man was. He thought that he was being clever by trying to keep it a secret I suppose. I thought at the time that it was pretty obvious that it was the Doctor though. He was certainly very much in demand at weddings lately since Jack had made him the Best Man for his upcoming wedding as well. What he and Robin were both thinking when they did that though I had no idea about whatsoever. I think that both of their brains must have gone on vacation at once.
Now I'll fast forward to the important part. It was the big moment at last, and I was standing there alongside Robin all spruced up and looking like a goddess if I do say so myself. The music, a love song from Rose's favorite singer, was playing in the background as we both waited for Isabella and Ron to show up and then after them the person who would be marrying us.
I still no idea who would be performing the ceremony at that point. Rose was keeping it a big secret from all of us even me which made me very uneasy. I don't like secrets especially not on my wedding day.
Then I caught a glimpse just for a second of who it must be as they hurried back stage to talk to Rose. It was Ivy!
I had completely forgotten that Cleo, being a former pharaoh, had the right to marry whomever she liked back in the old days since it was her kingdom after all. Pharoahs used to officiate at religious ceremonies after all so she certainly had plenty of experience with performing marriages. I didn't think that her authority was respected now though or considered legal at all.
Besides that, I didn't want her to get herself killed for me. After all of the trouble that she and I had both gone through to fake her own death, I wasn't about to have her blow all of that on performing my wedding. As great as it would be for my best friend to marry us, I wouldn't take a chance of ruining her life by possibly exposing her true identity that way. What was she thinking? It seemed that everyone was off their rockers lately.
I started to head backstage to try and talk Ivy out of this crazy plan when I heard screams coming from outside. I had a sudden sense of dread shoot through me. I could feel it in my bones that someone was coming to ruin the wedding.
It just wouldn't be me if something weird like this didn't happen. I can never have a normal anything. I usually love that kind of thing but sometimes I wish that I could just be plain old ordinary Lily Wright.
Lily Wright was just an ordinary girl that I pretended to be for many years back on Pete's World. Nothing strange or odd ever happened to her. She just had an ordinary life with her best friend, Rose Tyler. I actually grew to love a normal domestic life. I know. It surprised me too.
I enjoyed being Lily so much that I decided to keep that name even after I no longer needed it. That and it showed how I had changed in my outlook toward life. I was more Lily at that point than Persephone anyway.
I sometimes wonder what name if any is really mine. I think Lily is probably the closest to being my real name if there is such a term that can be used to adequately describe me. I call myself Lily in my mind after all.
I love being a Time Lady don't get me wrong, but sometimes I just want things to go off without a hitch. I just want something to be normal every once in a while. Is that too much to ask?
I received a very definite answer to that question in the form of a giant fist crashing through the ceiling of the large auditorium where my wedding was about to be held. I knew then just who it was. I should have known that he would pay a call on me sooner or later when Rose and Donna told me that he was back. It was the King of the Great Vampires!
As he poked his head through the opening that he had just made in the ceiling, I screamed at him, "I don't see you in a billion years, and you pick today to get reacquainted with me? You show up now on my wedding day?! Do you have a lousy sense of timing or what?"
"Sekhmet!" the King shouted as he said my first name as if it were a curse. Maybe it was. I had nothing but pain when I bore that name after all.
"Sekhmet is dead. She died a long time ago. My name is Lily," I said in a tough sounding voice as I called up some of the regenerative energy that was always present in my body to defend myself with.
My body began to glow with the power as I unleashed it. I projected the power of an entire regeneration through my hands and straight into the King's face. He screamed in pain as he backed away and withdrew his head from the hole up above me.
I then raced outside still in my wedding dress as I prepared to do battle with him. I needed to draw him away from everyone else because I didn't want him to hurt anyone attending the wedding. The King was my responsibility, and I was going to handle him by myself.
"Why did you come here? Why now? Out of all of the times that you could have picked to come after me, why did you choose here on this day?" I shouted up to him as he stared at me in a hate-filled stare.
"You almost killed me when I knew you before, and you ruined my plans while you stole the future of my race. We could have ruled this pathetic universe. In those days there was no force sufficient enough to have stopped us. Everyone everywhere would have called me Master," the King said.
"Haven't you heard? That name's already taken. My son is the Master not you. I have to say that it suits him a lot better than it does you," I joked as I blasted him in the face again with two regenerations' worth of energy this time.
Yes, I know that Koschei doesn't want to call himself that anymore because of the horrible associations that everyone has with that name, but I never could resist a good pun. I'm really a ham at heart. Don't tell anyone though. I have to keep up this sophisticated witty image that I've created for myself.
The King's massive fist came crashing down almost right on top of me, and I narrowly avoided being flattened by it. I've never died that way before, and I don't plan on finding out how painful it would be to regenerate from it either. No thanks.
I briefly pondered what I wanted to look like if I did have to regenerate this time. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it out of this one in one piece after all. The King was one of the worst opponents that I had ever faced after all. He almost killed me the last time that I met him. Of course that had been a very long time ago, and I was far stronger now than I was then.
I thought to myself that I would make myself a red head this time if it happened here today. I also considered maybe making myself a little older this time too. No one seemed to take me seriously as someone in their twenties. I decided to be a thirty-five year old this time around if worse came to worse. I also considered giving myself a French accent this time. I liked speaking in French.
Yes, I know. I'm very weird to be thinking about things like this with giant fists pounding the ground all around me while I fight for my life. It's just that I have to plan these things out ahead of time. You usually don't have much time to think whenever a regeneration comes upon you. You just have to picture something in your mind and go with it. Otherwise, you're stuck with whatever you get. That can be very bad sometimes too. Just look at the Doctor's chin for proof of that.
I decided to do something that I had never tried before as I used my regenerative energy to create a ball of energy that I held in my hands. I threw the ball of energy at the King, and then it exploded as soon as it reached him. The King was thrown backwards onto his back from the force of the explosion, and I used that opportunity to jump on top of his chest. I then raced up his prostrate body as I tried to reach his head before he could get back up off of the ground.
"I got that idea from Ace. She once asked me if I could do that. I guess I can," I said as I smiled evilly.
I summoned up a Vorpal blade that I had taken from the Land of Fiction from the pocket dimension that I usually kept it in. As soon as I made it to the King's neck, I used the blade to cut off his head as quickly as I could.
Even as his body stopped twitching, I knew that I had to hurry before his head reattached itself to his body. He was very powerful, and he would heal himself soon.
I ran to a nearby building and increased my strength with my regenerative energy so that I could rip a piece of steel from the side of it. I then quickly fashioned this into a bolt that I could use to kill the King with while he lie there helpless.
"Just add this to my tab," I said out loud to no one in particular as I raced back to destroy the King.
I always ad-libbed little comments like this to bolster my spirits. Even after fighting as long and as much as I have, I still get nervous when it comes to fighting something as powerful as the King of the Great Vampires.
Just before I could reach the King with my new bolt though, he suddenly came back to life and grabbed me in his huge hand. He began to crush the life out of me, and I struggled to free myself before I passed out from lack of breath.
That was when the sky suddenly became full of arrows, and they all landed in a constant barrage in the King's body. As each landed, they exploded. One arrow after another exploded as they continued to land in each and every part of the King's body. He was now distracted due to being wracked in constant pain.
He was too distracted to be able to focus properly on me now. As his grip on me weakened, I managed to free myself. I instantly leapt to my feet and ran toward his chest with the steel bolt still in my hands.
He was in such pain from Robin's constant attacks that he totally ignored me as I ran towards him. As anyone who's ever fought me before could tell you though, ignoring me in a fight is always a fatal mistake.
Robin's attacks ceased as soon as I got into range because he knew that if he continued that he might hit me by accident. That's Mr. Wright for you. He's always a gentleman.
The King recovered his wits just in time to see me smile at him as I plunged the bolt into his heart. He screamed in agony and began to disintegrate even as I stood on top of him. To hasten his death, I cut his head off yet again with my Vorpal blade. This finally finished him as his body and head disintegrated into dust right underneath me while he shouted my name in fury.
"Curse you, Sekhmet," was the last thing that he said to me.
"Sekhmet was cursed, but that's over with now. Now she finally gets to live," I said as I saw Robin walking toward me with concern on his face.
"Are you okay, Lily?" Robin asked as he examined my body for injuries.
"I'm fine. No giant vampires are going to get the better of me. You'll just use any old excuse to check me out, won't you? I mean I know I'm hot, but cool your jets and wait until the honeymoon, lover boy," I joked as I tried to cover up the inner turmoil inside of me.
Robin wasn't buying it. He knew me so well by now that he knew when I was really happy and when I was just pretending to be. He wrapped his arms around me, and I let go of my tough act and began to shake with anger.
"It's not ruined. Let's just go back in there and get married, Mrs. Locksley. If we don't, then he'll win," Robin said.
I smiled as I looked up at him and said, "What name do you want me to take? Honestly."
"It doesn't matter. Like you said, I don't have a real last name. Mr. Wright doesn't sound so bad really. I mean I am pretty amazing. Maybe I am Mr. Wright," Robin said with a big grin.
"You're so modest too," I said to him as I began to feel better. He always did that for me somehow.
The two of us started to walk back into the building only to have Isabella, Ron, and Ivy come outside to join us instead. Apparently the building was no longer safe to stay inside. It had been decided by everyone in my absence to hold the weddings outside now.
It was a beautiful sky outside so it didn't really matter to me. I felt a cool breeze blowing through me that helped to calm me. For a moment, I imagined that I was back home on a spring day as the wind blew through red grass while a small girl named Sekhmet ran and played on her family's land. I could hear my mother's voice calling me inside, and I smiled to myself. I wished to myself that my family could have been here to see this. I didn't know if I believed in ghosts or not, but in a way I believed that they were here.
Sometimes when I regenerate and I'm technically dead, I think that I can see them just for a second watching me out of the corner of my eye. It could be because I'm trapped between life and death for a while, or maybe it's because in the past I've always wanted to join them so badly. Always before when I would regenerate they would look so sad when I saw them. The last time though my mother actually looked full of hope. I was surprised and shocked by this but then thought no more of it as I passed it off to wishful thinking.
Just now though when I was close to passing out while trapped in the King's hand, I swore that I saw her again. This time she was smiling. Whether it was really her or not, I chose to believe just this once that it was real. If anybody was going to fight her way back from the afterlife after all, it would be her on this occasion. She always had wanted to see me get married after all.
Where do you think that I got the whole matchmaking thing from? It runs in the family.
I walked up to Ivy and said, "You don't need to be here marrying us out in public like this. You're going to blow your cover."
"It's not me. What made you think it was me?" Ivy asked.
"Who else could it be? There's no one else that I know of here who can marry people," I asked her.
"That's where you're wrong," Ivy said with a grin.
"Who is it then?" I responded in confusion.
"Who do you know who's the son of a ruler and able to hand out official looking documents?" Ivy said with a wicked grin.
"You don't mean?" I asked in excitement.
Skaren and Holly suddenly appeared via transmit from a Zygon ship, and I ran to embrace both of them. I had wondered where they were since they had never appeared in the audience. I had to admit that I was a little hurt that they didn't show. Now I knew why. It was a surprise.
"Surprise, Mum. Skaren's legally able to marry you under Zygon law. His authority is also recognized throughout the universe," Rose said happily.
"What about Earth?" I said.
"Okay not on Earth, but the Brigadier can arrange to have you be married there too. UNIT accepts Zygon marriage certificates after all, or at least they do now. I pulled some strings," Rose said.
"How do so many people owe you so many favors?" I asked her in surprise.
"I save the universe a lot. It happens," Rose said as if it was nothing.
There was a long and beautiful ceremony that followed, but the only part that really mattered to me was the following.
"I'm going to marry Lily and Robin first. I come here today to join this man and this woman in matrimony by the authority granted to me by the Zygon Empire. Lily Wright aka Persephone of the House of Lupinesglen aka Sekhmet of the ancient Gallifreyan House of Ravenscliff, do you take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?" Skaren asked.
"You bet I do," I said enthusiastically and made everyone laugh.
"Just 'I do' is all I need," Skaren said with a laugh.
"Where's the fun in doing that though?" I said smiling.
"Robin of Locksley, do you take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife?" Skaren asked.
"I do with all of my heart," Robin said looking deeply into my eyes.
"Then by the power invested in me by my dad, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride," Skaren said to Robin.
I, of course, being the stickler for tradition that I am grabbed Robin and kissed him first. He looked surprised at first and then just smiled. I think that he's come to expect anything from me. He should. I don't want to ever become known as being predictable after all.
"I now give you Mr. and Mrs. Wright," Skaren said proudly.
I looked at Robin in surprise and said, "Are you sure? I would gladly call myself Mrs. Locksley. It doesn't matter to me."
"I'm sure. I think I like the name Mr. Wright. I'll use it when I have to have a last name. Otherwise, I'll just call myself Robin of Locksley if it's all the same to you," Robin said.
"That's fine by me. I'm just going to call you Robin anyhow. Although I may call your Mr. Wright from time to time for my own amusement," I said with a mischievous grin.
"Now, Ron and Isabella, it's your turn. Do you, Isabella de Leon, take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?" Skaren asked.
"I do. I've dreamt of this since the day that I first met him," Isabella said.
"Do you, Ronald Hardy, take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife?" Skaren asked.
"I do. You're not the only one who felt that way. I've loved you since the second I laid eyes on you," Ron said to Isabella.
"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride," Skaren said happily.
Ron and Isabella kissed, and I was so happy for both of them. Isabella was already a part of my family almost from the start. This had just cemented it.
There was a ceremony afterwards where the Doctor stood up and gave a really long and rambling speech that I actually fell asleep during so I couldn't tell you a word that he said. I was told that it was very flattering of Robin though.
Once everything was over with, I took Ron and Isabella to Paris in the late 20th century for their honeymoon while Robin and I went to Ancient Rome for ours. Ivy got Julius Caesar to give us the VIP suite.
As for what happened after that, well I'll have to leave that up to your imagination. As unorthodox as I am, I'm still a lady after all. I'll just say that he certainly lived up to his new last name and leave it at that. River Song isn't the only one who can do the double entendres.
The next day as I woke up and watched Robin sleeping, I began to smile without being able to stop. I could finally say for the first time in a billion years that I was truly happy. I had finally regained the missing piece of my soul that I had lost so very long ago.
Then I heard something that made me wonder whether I was still dreaming or not. It was a sound that I hadn't heard in over a billion years. You're probably not going to believe me, but I'll tell you anyway.
I swear to you that I heard my mother laughing.
Next: Allison has some questions about Lily's past and where she came from, and now it's finally time for Lily to answer them. The hidden past of Sekhmet will be revealed next time.