CHAPTER 61

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THE HAUNTED TARDIS

I was having a happy dream about the past where I was still with my long dead daughter, Aishwana, and we were talking with one another about something that I can now no longer remember. It's funny how a dream can be so vivid while you're having it that you swear that you'll never forget it, and then when you wake up it quickly fades away as if it never was.

Dreams seem to be almost like life sometimes. It seems like life is just as fleeting as a dream. Nothing stays the same. It's always changing, and it's gone before you know it. Everything but me. Aren't I lucky?

I was woken up out of this pleasant dream about the past by screams coming from the direction of Allison's room. I quickly ran to Allison's room and knocked on her door in concern.

I became even more concerned when Allison answered the door with a look of horror on her face. She looked pale and was shaking in fear. I've seen Allison face off against all kinds of horrible creatures beyond imagining without even flinching so to see her like this completely shocked me and instantly filled me full of concern for her.

"What is it, baby? What's happened?" I asked her.

"I'm sorry, Mum. I didn't mean to bother you. I must have been seeing things, but it just seemed so real. I saw a woman in my mirror. She was standing behind my reflection staring at me. When I turned around though, I saw no one behind me. I quickly turned back to see that the woman was still there only now she was crying and had a pleading expression on her face. It was like she wanted me to help her. She looked so scared. I tried closing my eyes to see if she would go away, and she wouldn't. She just kept standing there in the mirror pleading for me to do something, but I couldn't understand what she was saying. I was afraid that I was losing my mind. I became so upset that I screamed, and then when I screamed she disappeared," Allison said.

I quickly ran to the mirror and checked it, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary about it. As I checked it over, Isabella came into the room and said, "I saw the same thing."

"What?" Allison asked in surprise.

"When was this?" I asked Isabella.

"It was just a few hours ago. I saw the exact same thing as Allison. I didn't say anything to Ron though. I thought maybe I was just dreaming. I have many strange and terrible dreams so it didn't seem so out of the ordinary to me," Isabella said.

"You're never told me that. I can certainly believe it though after hearing the sad story of your life. Isabella, if something's bothering you, I want you to always feel free to come and talk to me about it. You're a part of my family now, Isabella, and I don't ever want you to have to suffer in silence, okay?" I said.

"I didn't want to bother you. It wouldn't feel right to me. You always have so many other problems to deal with. You don't need mine too," Isabella said.

I quickly embraced her as I said, "You not sharing something like that with me does bother me because I care about you, Isabella. I want you to talk to me about whatever's bothering you in the future, okay? You're a part of my family, and family takes care of one another."

Isabella smiled at me and nodded without saying anything further. I turned to see Allison smiling at me too. I could tell that she approved of what I had just said. She and Isabella had become very close, and yet she never told her anything private like that either. She had often talked to me about how she liked Isabella and felt as close as a sister to her, and yet she felt that there were parts of her that she would never get to know about.

"Isabella and I seeing the same thing can't be a coincidence," Allison said.

"I saw her too just now. She seemed to be desperately trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what. It did kind of look like she was mouthing the word regeneration though. I have no idea why though or what that meant," Ivy said as she suddenly appeared behind us.

"Now I know something's wrong. What are the odds of three of you seeing the same thing like that? Did any of you recognize her?" I asked.

All three of them shook their heads as Violet, my clone, came running up to me and said, "I take it that all of you have just seen a woman in their mirrors?"

"I haven't but they have. Did you recognize her?" I asked.

"Yes, I did. I know exactly who she is," Violet said as she looked at me with haunted eyes.

I could tell right away that there was something that she was keeping from me. It was obviously something horrible from the look on her face.

"Who is she?" I demanded when Violet wouldn't say anything more.

"Before I tell you this, I just want to say that I don't know what this means. It could just be a trick or an illusion of some kind. Maybe I was just seeing her because of what happened recently, and she was on my mind. Don't get upset about what I'm about to say, alright?" Violet said.

I was already getting extremely upset though because I now realized who she must be talking about. I wasn't sure that I wanted to hear what she had to say next, but I knew that I had to know.

"Tell me," I insisted in a voice filled with emotion.

"It was Aishwana," Violet said.

I must have had an awful look on my face because Allison instantly said, "Are you alright, Mum?"

"No. I'm not," I said in a weak voice as everything started to go black all around me.

"Somebody catch her!" I could hear Robin shout behind me just before I passed out.

I came to on my own bed with Allison and Isabella standing over me watching me with concern on their faces.

"Mum?" Allison asked.

"I think that I'm alright now. It was just the shock of hearing that everyone seems to be seeing Aishwana. I don't understand it. Could it really be her? If it is, what does she want?" I asked.

"It must just be because we were all thinking about her recently. It has to be. I don't believe in ghosts," Allison said.

"I don't either, Ally, but maybe she is still around somehow in some shape or form. Maybe part of her survived what happened to her and it went back with us when we visited there recently," I said.

"It could be some kind of alien, couldn't it? Something that's preying off of our emotions about her," Isabella suggested.

"That would explain why it would affect me and Violet but not you two and Ivy. None of you knew her," I said.

"I was upset to hear about her though. I mean even if I never knew her she was my sister," Allison said.

"I was upset too. Allison and I talked about it afterwards. I felt so bad for you. I of all people know what it's like to lose loved ones, Lily," Isabella said.

I was glad that Isabella was already being more open with me as I said, "Maybe you're right, and it is something preying on our emotions about her. I have to be sure though. If there's even a chance that something of her survived, I have to help her all that I can."

"How would we even be able to find her? We don't know anything about ghost hunting," Allison asked.

"No, but I do know about energy and how to detect it. Whatever this apparition is, it has to be made out of some kind of energy. I'm going to find out more about it," I said as I quickly ran to the Console Room.

"Lily, you've only just woken up. Stop running!" Isabella said in concern.

"Don't worry about me. I'm a tough old gal. If I can survive Rassilon, I can certainly survive a simple little fainting spell," I called out to her.

As I reached the Console Room, Ron looked at me in concern as he said, "Should you be running around like this after passing out for twelve hours?"

"Twelve hours? Really?" I said as I ran around the console and quickly started scanning the entire TARDIS for extra life signs and/or any sort of strange energy signatures.

"Yes. Really! You're going to make yourself sick if you don't calm down and relax, Mum," Ron said in concern.

"You and Isabella really are two of a kind, you know? She just got finished giving me that same lecture a minute ago. Don't worry about me, Ron. I'm fine," I said as I tried to reassure him.

"Mum, I hate to say it, but he's right. You need to lie down and rest a while," Allison said.

"Nonsense, I'm fine. I just needed a little rest that's all. I mean I've had just one shock after another lately, and it was bound to catch up to me sooner or later. That's all that was. Now that I've had a little rest and a chance to recover from all of that, I'm perfectly fine again," I said.

"Lily, you need to go rest some more. You may be a Time Lord, but you're not indestructible," Robin said.

"Actually, I am. I just keep going on and on long after everyone else around me is just a fading memory. If someone who I lost could have survived though, that would be wonderful. That would just be . . . Please, let me have this one. Please!" I begged.

"Lily, you need to calm down," Robin said.

"I have to help her. I have to. I can't fail her this time. Not this time. I won't!" I said in an extremely upset voice as I began to increase my attempts at finding any trace that I could of something strange onboard.

Suddenly the TARDIS' sensors picked up a strange energy signature in the kitchen. I knew that it had to be her. I raced to the kitchen as fast as my legs could carry me despite the concerns and protests of everyone around me. I had to save her. I couldn't fail this time.

As soon as I made it to the kitchen, I saw her face in the reflection of a mirror near the refrigerator. I paused in shock as I finally knew for certain that it was her. The question was how. Actually that really wasn't a concern to me at all. At that moment, I really didn't care about how. The real question was what could I do to help her?

"Is it her?" Allison asked as she stared at the image alongside me.

"Yes," I said as I stood there trying to think what to do next.

Then what Ivy had said earlier came rushing back to me in that moment. What if my regenerative energy could help her somehow? It was a wild idea that would surely never work, but I had to try.

"Stand back, everyone. I'm going to try something to save her. I just hope that it works," I said.

Everyone backed out of the kitchen as I summoned up my regenerative energy and began to glow with power. I could see that the image of Aishwana could see my energy as she began smiling and nodding her head at me as if urging me on. It seemed as if I was on the right track.

Aishwana gestured at me to come forward which I did. I moved right up to the mirror until I threatened to melt it with the closeness of my energy. Then I followed a sudden instinct that I had and touched the mirror.

I felt an energy suddenly entering my body from the mirror itself and flowing into me. I knew in an instant that somehow it was Aishwana. It was what was left of her seeking me out for help.

I could actually feel Aishwana's presence in my mind even though I couldn't communicate with her. I needed to give her a new body to inhabit somehow in some way.

"Lily?" Robin asked after seeing the energy entering me.

"It's her. She's inside of me right now. I have to put her in something and save her now before it's too late," I explained as I ran to find the mini Matrix that I had recently used to capture the consciousness of Goth.

As soon as I got to it and touched it, I could feel Aishwana's mind flowing into the mini Matrix and out of me. Evidently, she didn't want to stay in my body any longer then she had to.

"She's safe," I said with a satisfied smile on my face as I saw that the mini Matrix was functioning normally and that it now contained Aishwana's consciousness inside of it.

"How did her mind survive?" Allison asked in amazement.

"I don't know. I also don't know how she became trapped inside of the mirrors in my TARDIS. Although it sounds a lot like what Michelle can do," I said in curiosity.

"You mean Sister of Mine and her Mirror Verse?" Allison asked.

"Yes, it seems a lot like that. She can enter and exit the universe inside of all mirrors that she calls the Mirror Verse at will and send people and objects there as well. What if Aishwana somehow did something like that? I have to go inside of the Matrix and see if I can talk to her. I need to find out if she's alright or not and what exactly happened to her," I said.

"Wait a minute! Are you sure that it's really her? Even if it is, what if she's dangerous now? She had apparently been trapped alone somewhere for a long, long time. That's enough to drive anyone mad," Robin said in concern.

"It is her. I know it is. As for her being dangerous, that's complete nonsense! If she was going to do something to me, she would have already done it when she was inside of my body just now. She left me willingly so that shows that she's still the same old Aishwana that I remember. She was always very kind and thought of everyone else before herself. She was a lot like Allison and Rose actually. I have no idea where they all got that from," I said.

"I do," Robin said with a smile.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Sir. I'm still going inside there. It's just my baby in there. She would never hurt me," I said firmly.

Ron stopped me just before I hooked myself up to the mini Matrix as he said, "Mum, wait! I just found a message on the console from Jenny Flint. She must have left it while you were unconscious and we were all busy watching you. I have no idea how she got ahold of a way to communicate with us in the nineteenth century, but apparently she did."

"She's probably doing some time traveling again. She does that from time to time with Madame Vastra. Well, what did she say?" I said.

"She said that she's taking your job. Vastra seemed to think that working with you would be a real learning experience for her. She told her that if she could survive you, she could survive anything," Ron said with a chuckle.

"Very funny! That Jenny's got a real sarcastic wit about her sometimes despite her usual sweet and pleasant personality. She sounds like my kind of Teaching Assistant, alright. We should work well together. Your little plan won't work, you know," I said to Ron.

"What plan?" Ron asked innocently.

"You thought that if you mentioned Jenny's message that I would get so caught up in thinking about that that I would completely forget about going into the Matrix to talk to Aishwana. It's not going to work. You must think that I have the attention span of a gnat or something," I said with a grin.

"I had to try. I really don't want you to go in there, Mum. At least let one of us travel in there along with you," Ron suggested.

"I'm not opposed to that. Any volunteers?" I asked.

"I'm going," Allison said without hesitation.

"So am I," Holly said as she suddenly entered the room.

"Where have you been all of this time?" I asked her.

As if I didn't know.

Holly looked at me with a combination of both guilt and embarrassment on her face as she said, "I was talking with Skaren, and I completely lost track of the world outside. I'm so sorry. I didn't know that anything was wrong. No one told me. Someone should have told me that you were unconscious for twelve hours. I deserved to know that."

"I didn't want to disturb whatever it was that you were doing," Allison said in an uncomfortable voice.

"I wasn't doing anything. I was just talking. I can talk to Skaren for hours and just lose track of everything including the time. Someone should have told me. She's like a second mum to me, and I would have wanted to be there for her," Holly said in anger.

"I'm fine now, Holly. Don't worry about it," I said dismissing Holly's concerns even while Allison gave her an apologetic look that seemed to satisfy her judging by the small smile that she gave her.

"You're going to stay that way too. I'm going inside with you," Holly insisted.

"Fine. The more the merrier. I'm sure after all of this time alone, Aishwana is going to love the company. Let's go then, both of you," I said happily.

The three of us then hooked ourselves into the mini Matrix, and we journeyed inside of it to find out the real truth about what had happened to my daughter at last.

Next: The untold story of Aishwana. How did her mind survive all of this time, and how on Earth (or Gallifrey) did she get inside of the mirrors in Lily's TARDIS and back out of them again?