CHAPTER 74

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THE TRUTH ABOUT FREYA

"There is one way to be sure of who Freya really is," Violet said.

"I looked at her in disbelief as I said, "No! Not the mind probe! I'm not doing that to her. She's just a little girl. She's also our sister. How could you do that to her?"

"I don't know if she is our sister or not, and I need to know that for sure before I can trust her. You know that we have so many enemies that would just love to trick us by using our innermost desires against us, Lily. We'll use the probe on its lowest setting. It'll take longer that way, but it won't hurt her," Violet said.

"No," I said firmly.

Freya looked between me and Violet in confusion now as she said in a calmer and more collected voice than she had been using before, "She's you. Is this some of your old time experiments in action, Sekh?"

"No, she's my clone. She calls herself Violet so people don't get confused. Not that they would. I'm much better looking," I joked.

Freya laughed and I could feel her relax. She was being to feel safe with me, and I was so glad for that. I never wanted to see that look of terror from before on her face again.

"Mum, we need to know who she is and how she got here. I know you don't want to hurt her, but the mind probe is the only way that we can know for sure," Allison said.

"I don't want to hurt a child any more than you do especially not after everything that I've done but Violet's right. If it's a low setting, she won't feel a thing," Jack said.

"I'm not doing it. Besides that, there's another way," I said as I touched the amulet with a howling wolf's head around my neck that Rose had given to me years ago.

The amulet had once granted me a single wish since it contained a small part of her power. Nowadays it still worked as a way to bring her to me when I thought of her while I was holding it.

"That's even better. Rosie can definitely find out what's gone on here much quicker than any old mind probe," Jack said.

Rose instantly appeared a minute later after I concentrated on an image of her in my mind as she said, "What is it, Mum? You look worried."

"It turns out that she might have a right to be worried, Rosie," Jack said as he greeted her by hugging her tightly.

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Rose said as she returned his hug with confusion.

"I remember you. I saw you before at the house with Sekh," Freya said as she looked at Rose in surprise.

Rose immediately did a double take after she instantly recognized Freya even as she said, "Is she really . . .?"

"That's what I called you here for. I need you to find that out," I said.

"What are you going to do to me?" Freya asked in alarm as Rose stepped closer to her.

"It's okay, Freya. She won't hurt you. She's just going to read your timeline and find out what happened to you. I would never do anything to harm you. You have to believe that," I said in a gentle voice as I held her hand.

"Rosie's the sweetest person in the universe. You don't have to worry about her," Jack said as he added his support to mine.

"O - Okay," Freya said in a nervous voice.

Rose began to glow with the power of the Vortex, and Freya began to back away from her in fear as I said, "She'd never hurt you. Don't worry. She's my daughter, Freya. You can trust her."

Rose smiled at Freya as she said, "Jack's right. I'm the sweet one of Mum's daughters. I'd never hurt a fly."

"Right. Tell that to the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Black Guardian . . ." Allison said grinning.

"Zip it, you," Rose said to her quickly interrupting her as she laughed at her.

Freya laughed too despite her nervousness as the obvious love between the two sisters made her feel more relaxed. Rose now gently touched her shoulder even as she started to read her past in order to reassure her.

Rose studied her intensely, and I could see by the changing reactions on her face that she was actually seeing all of Freya's life from the beginning and experiencing it right along with her. Freya began to become more and more afraid the longer that the glowing Rose stood in front of her, and I gently squeezed her hand as I tried to reassure her.

"No one's going to hurt you. You're completely safe with us, Aunt Freya," Rose said.

Allison and Aishwana immediately looked at her in shock as Aishwana said, "So she really is Freya? Are you sure?"

"Yes, this is our Aunt Freya. I'm definitely sure about that. She's not a clone or an alien. She's the original," Rose said.

"How? How did she get here?" Violet asked as I held Freya's hand tighter while I smiled at her.

I knew it all along of course. Somehow I just knew.

"I guess you were more perceptive than the rest of us after all, Lil," Jack said as he saw the look on my face.

"I'm seeing exactly what happened to her right now actually. It's been blocked from Freya's mind, and now I'm unblocking it so that she remembers it now too," Rose said.

Rose stopped glowing as Freya gasped with all of the new memories rushing into her mind at once. She looked at all of us with fear in her eyes as she finally started to remember what had happened to her at last.

She looked up at me in complete surprise as she said, "You were right. I was kidnapped. I remember now. I fell after I ran so hard that my legs gave out, and then I was found by these people in strange outfits. They carried me away with them, and I was too weak to fight them because I was too tired from running for so long. They took me to another planet, and I was left alone in an empty room with this weird woman wearing armor. She just kept staring at me and never blinked. She acted like she was crazy, and I was terrified of her. She started telling me that I was going to be the key to getting you to join her army, and I told her that I'd never help her to hurt you no matter what she did to me. She laughed at me and said that she wasn't giving me a choice. Then she put her hand on my head and started to hurt me. I felt so much pain all throughout my body that I was afraid that she was killing me! It felt just like I was dying."

Freya began to cry as she stopped speaking. I held her as she started to shake with emotion as she relived that moment all over again.

"Was it . . .?" I started to ask Rose as I immediately realized just who that it had sounded like from her description of them.

"Yes, it was the War Lord. It was Belle," Rose said as she looked away from me with sadness.

"Who was she? Why did she do that to me?" Freya asked.

"She's . . . It's complicated. She's one of my daughters who lost her mind. Her name is Belle. You'll have to forgive her. She doesn't know what she's doing," Rose said in a sad voice.

"Yes, she did. She was killing me," Freya said in a terrified voice.

"I'm sorry," Rose said.

"Can you finish your story, Freya? What happened next? Take your time. You don't have to speak right away," I told her.

"No, it's okay. I need to tell you this," Freya said.

She took a deep breath and then she started to finish her story as she said, "She finally stopped hurting me, and I fell to the ground in pain. I couldn't even move for a while as I asked her why she did that to me. She told me that she had just changed something in my body, but she wouldn't tell me what it was. I asked her if I was going to die, and she just laughed at me and said that I would wish that I had soon."

My eyes went wide as I began to go through all of the possibilities of what the War Lord might have done to her. I was already about to lose my mind (what was left of it) just wondering what had happened to her. Nothing seemed to be wrong with her that I could see at first glance. She seemed to be alright except for being upset and afraid.

Freya continued to speak even as I worried about her as she said, "Then she did the strangest thing. She suddenly apologized to me and told me that she was sorry. One minute I lay there wondering exactly what on Gallifrey was wrong with her, and then the next thing that I knew I was coming out of that rift and had no idea what had just happened to me. Going through the rift must have made me lose my memory somehow."

"Your memories weren't completely gone though. You were sending them to me. You must have been subconsciously reaching out to me for help telepathically even before you sent that broadcast and sent your memories to me that way at night in my dreams. That explains all of my nightmares and why I kept feeling that I needed to help you. It was you calling out to me," I said with a sudden burst of realization.

"Yes, and it certainly took you long enough to find her, didn't it? If she hadn't sent you that broadcast from Torchwood, you might have found her too late. You've wasted an entire week now which is bad for you but good for me. She only has a day left before you lose her forever now which makes my job even easier because it puts even more pressure on you to do what I want," the War Lord said as she suddenly appeared nearby and made Freya hide in terror behind me.

"What did you do to her?" I asked in a furious voice as I started to power up my regenerative energy and became ready for anything that she might throw at me.

"Mother already knows. Don't you, Mother?" the War Lord asked with an evil grin.

"Her body's been slowly changing all of this time. She's becoming unstuck in time. Soon she'll start randomly traveling from universe to universe out of control, and she'll never be able to stop. She'll be lost in time and space forever appearing in different times and places with no rhyme or reason. That's why she went through the rift because the process was already starting as soon as Belle was done with her. It's also why she lost her memory. Every time she jumps to another universe she'll lose her memory more and more every time until one day she'll have lost her memory completely. She'll eventually wind up lost in-between dimensions and with no idea of who she is for the rest of her lives. I can't believe that you'd do that to her, Belle!" Rose said in a shocked voice.

"I won't even bother to correct you anymore, Mother. You're obviously calling me that name instead of Jenny because you're disappointed in me. You have yet to see the truth that I've become so much better now than I was before. What I've done to Freya is just an example of that. Could even you have done something like this? Of course not. I've been studying how to make someone become slowly unstuck in time for a long while now, and I've finally perfected it. I and only I know how I did it, and that means that only I can fix it. It's still not too late. I can fix Freya and make her whole once more. If I don't do it soon though, the effect will become permanent. Then even I won't be able to undo it. It's your choice, Grandmother. You can save your sister if you'll just join me," the War Lord said.

"Is that what you want? You want me to lead your armies to war against the rest of the universe?" I asked in a disgusted voice.

"Yes, of course. You're the greatest warrior of all time. If I had you leading my armies, no one would be able to stop me. Then I could finally launch my war to take all of time and space. If you join me, we'll rule everything together side by side. If you don't, then your sister will be lost forever. It's up to you. You have less than a day to make up your mind," the War Lord said as she started to leave.

"Wait," I said as I grabbed her arm.

She looked at me with an evil smile as she said, "Giving up already? I thought that you'd at least agonize over it for a couple of hours before you finally gave into me."

"Rose, is she right? Do you really not know how to save Freya?" I asked Rose.

"No, Mum. I don't. I may be able to figure it out before it's too late though," Rose said.

"I doubt it," the War Lord said with a smirk.

"Then she's the only one who can save my sister now," I said in a sad voice.

"Sekh, no! I don't want you to do what she wants!" Freya said as she tried to put up a brave face.

"Lil, you're not seriously thinking of doing that are you?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"Mum, you can't!" Allison shouted.

"I won't let you!" Aishwana said.

"Neither will I. You will return the little girl to normal now or you'll die!" Robin said as he pointed an arrow straight at the War Lord's head.

The War Lord laughed as she said, "You're threatening me with an arrow?! Really?!"

"It's not an ordinary arrow. It's designed with Vortex shielding so that you can't use your powers on it. Oh, and it's also tipped with poison from the Judas tree. That means you won't be able to regenerate. I've had this arrow waiting for you for a long time now," Robin said in a cold voice.

"Robin, put that bow down! She's still my granddaughter," I said in disbelief.

"No, she's a clone of your granddaughter, and she's lost her mind. I won't let her destroy your life too by dragging you down along with her," Robin said without taking his eyes off of the War Lord.

"You'd better hope that you don't miss," the War Lord said as she locked eyes with Robin.

"Sekh, I don't want any of this. I don't want anyone to die over me, and I don't want your life to be ruined by this. I don't belong in this world anyway. It's already changed too much. You've already lived this long thinking that I was dead so it's best for everyone if I just stay dead," Freya said.

"Freya, don't even think about it!" I shouted as she suddenly broke away from me.

She began running for the rift as fast as she could as the War Lord shouted, "No! I almost had her!"

"Not if I can help it!" Freya shouted without stopping.

Before any of us could stop her, Freya jumped into the rift and instantly disappeared. I screamed in rage and immediately unleashed a massive wave of regenerative energy at the War Lord which forced her to her knees in agony as it took her completely by surprise.

"You made me lose my sister! I could have had her back, but she's gone again thanks to you! I've had enough of you! You're never going to hurt anyone ever again!" I screamed as I continued to attack her.

"Mum, no! We have to try to help her," Rose said.

I'm ashamed to say that I no longer cared about helping her at this point. I had truly lost it because a part of my past had just come back to me only to be violently ripped away from me yet again. Saying that my hearts had been completely ripped apart by losing Freya again was an understatement of monumental proportions.

The War Lord was now lying on the floor on her hands and knees as she said, "I won't give you the satisfaction of finishing me off. I also won't forget this either. The next time we meet I'll make you pay for this."

Then she activated what Rose would later tell me was a teleportation device in her gauntlet and immediately disappeared. Now with no one there to direct my rage against I immediately broke down and started crying out of control.

Robin held me as I continued to cry without being able to stop as all of the old wounds on my hearts that I thought had healed long ago instantly became ripped open once again. Even then, I began to wonder if the pain would ever stop. It had taken me several millennia to get over losing my family the last time after all. I wondered if I would ever be able to get over losing my sister a second time.

Worst of all, would I even want to try?

"Don't worry, Mum. I'll find her no matter how long it takes," Rose said knowing full well that she probably wouldn't find her in time to fix her before it was too late.

Unknown to me at that time, Freya had already reappeared in another time and place. She stumbled around in a daze having already forgotten everything about seeing me again as she said, "What am I doing here? How did I get here? I . . . I don't even remember who I am. Someone please help me. I don't even remember my name."

Thankfully she was immediately found by a kind soul who just happened to have been passing by at that moment as she said, "It's okay, honey. Just come with me and I'll give you a place to stay for the night until we can figure out who you are, okay?"

Freya looked at her uncertainly as she said, "Who are you?"

The young woman smiled at her warmly as she said, "I'm Nina. Nina Montague. It's okay. I'll take you someplace safe until you can remember who you are. Okay?"

"Okay," Freya said as she decided to trust her because she seemed very familiar to her for some reason even though she didn't know why.

Miss Montague then swiftly led her to what she knew would be a safe place. She was going to take her to Madame Vastra's house.

Next: Can any of you guess who Nina Montague really is? I'm sure many of you already know, but for those of you who haven't I'll let you know next time. Will Lily find Freya in time before she becomes unstuck in time forever, and even if she does will she be able to help her without the War Lord's help? We'll find out next time in the 75th chapter of this story when special guest stars the Paternoster Gang, Rose, and Jack Harkness will join our usual crew along with a special guest star who will do their best to help Lily find and save her sister before it's too late. Will they succeed?