CHAPTER 75

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SEKHMET REBORN

Luckily for me and my search for Freya, Rose received a call on her phone not long after I had lost her. Rose wasn't going to pick it up at first considering everything that had just happened, but something told her to answer it when she saw who it was.

"Clara, please tell me that one of your other selves just saw a little girl that seemed to appear out of nowhere," Rose said as soon as she answered.

I could hear Clara pause for a moment before answering as she said, "You're good. I was just going to call to tell you that Oswin wants you to be one of her bridesmaids at the wedding. How did you know that Nina told me about that anyway? Are you spying on my echoes now with your cosmic powers, Bad Wolf Girl?"

"No, I was just hoping that my mum would get a lucky break for once, and I'm so glad that she did. So which echo is it and where and when is she?" Rose asked.

Clara told her that a girl that looked just like Freya had been found by her Victorian governess echo, Nina Montague, and had been taken to Madame Vastra's house. My eyes widened in surprise at this development, and I silently thanked the universe as I began to race for my TARDIS.

All of us packed ourselves into my TARDIS, and we were on our way to pick up Freya as soon as possible. On the way there, Rose made yet another phone call to the one person who might still be able to help Freya. They immediately promised to join us as soon as they could.

I just had to hope that the universe would come through for me one more time, and they could help her even without the War Lord's assistance.

I landed the TARDIS inside of Madame Vastra's house moments later only to find that the whole place had been torn apart. It looked like a small war had taken place there, and I had to fight a sudden feeling of blind panic that threatened to come over me as I immediately realized what must have happened.

"Freya!" I screamed as I climbed over piles of rubble searching through the house for her.

I heard a door open somewhere in the distance and turned to see Nina standing there holding a terrified Freya's hand as she said with a smile, "Don't worry. She's okay. I am too by the way. I guess you're not too concerned with me though are you?"

"Freya," I said in a relieved voice as I yanked her out of Nina's grasp and held her to me in a tight embrace.

"Is your name Sekhmet?" Freya asked in a confused voice.

"You've forgotten me already, haven't you?" I said in a sad voice.

"I've forgotten everything. I still remember you though somehow. You're Sekhmet, right? Do you know who I am? I can't remember," Freya said as she looked so very lost.

"You're my sister, Freya. Everything's going to be alright now. I'm going to take you home with me. Don't worry about anything anymore," I said as I tried to comfort her.

"What about that woman? She wants to kill me," Freya asked.

I looked at Nina questioningly who said, "I think it was the War Lord based on what Clara's told me about her. She tore this whole place apart looking for Freya. Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax are off fighting somewhere with her right now. You need to take Freya out of here quickly before she comes back."

"I will as soon as I can. I have to fix her first though or I'll just wind up losing her again," I said without bothering to explain what I meant by that to Nina who just looked at me blankly.

She shrugged her shoulders and quickly let it go as I said apologetically, "I'm sorry. I don't have time to explain it all just now."

"It's okay. Clara will tell me everything later. She always does," Nina said with a warm smile.

"Can you please tell me how I got here and why that woman was after me? I really can't remember anything," Freya asked.

"I will later, sweetie. There's something else that's more important that we have to do first though," I said as I kept waiting impatiently for my mystery guest to arrive.

She was certainly taking her time getting there.

"She's already forgotten everything. How did it happen so quickly?" I asked Rose helplessly.

"What Belle did to her must be accelerating. If we can't fix her soon, she'll lose all of her memories forever," Rose warned.

"Then it's a good thing that I'm here, isn't it?" Jenny, the one that was my granddaughter that is, said as she suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Finally! What held you up?" I asked Jenny in a worried voice.

"I did," the War Lord said as she came bursting back into the house still fighting with the Paternoster Gang.

"I, uh, kind of ran into her before I did you," Jenny admitted.

"You will fall to the might of Sontar, boy! Sontar-ha!" Strax shouted as he fired his gun at the War Lord's head several times but her force field easily absorbed or deflected each shot.

"This really does take the cake. First it was people calling me by the wrong name, and now it's the wrong gender. I am not a boy! I am Jenny and I am a girl, you nearsighted parasite!" the War Lord screamed as she grabbed Strax up by the throat and then tossed him across the room like a rag doll.

"It doesn't matter to me who you are. All that matters to me is that you broke into my home and threatened the people that I care about. I'm not about to allow you to get away with that. I think I may just have to see how a Time Lord tastes before the day is over with," Vastra said in a voice filled with anger.

I could see exactly why she was so angry as I saw her Jenny limping and realized that she had an injured leg. She had been badly wounded in battle with the War Lord already apparently.

"I'm afraid that I'm not on the menu, dear," the War Lord said as she gestured toward Vastra and Jenny and telekinetically flung them across the room.

Then the War Lord turned to see Freya cowering in terror behind me as she said, "It's not too late, Grandmother. I can still fix her if you'll agree to serve me."

"Or I can fix her for free," Jenny said with her tongue between her teeth in a smile that looked remarkably like Rose's.

Rose even smiled like that as Arkytior. I never knew where she got it from, but I always loved it. Apparently she passed it on down to her daughter as well.

"You?! Don't make me laugh. You can't do anything. It took me months to master how to make someone become unstuck in time. You're not going to be able to undo that in thirty seconds even if you are me," the War Lord said with a smug look on her face.

"You're fighting one thing, Belle. I'm the original so that means that I think like you too. I've been practicing the same thing only in reverse. I was trying to master how to unstick someone that had become lost in time in case the Weeping Angels ever tried to pull that trick on me again like they did before where they jumped me through time and space against my will. That is where you got the idea from, right?" Jenny asked knowingly.

Belle became enraged as she said, "You can't know how to fix her. You can't! I'm the original not you. You can't be as good as I am. You can't!"

"Do me a favor, Belle. Shut up! Jenny, fix her now while I keep her distracted!" I shouted as I began to attack the War Lord with blasts of regenerative energy from my hands.

"No!" the War Lord shouted as I continued to drive her back and away from Freya who immediately ran to Nina in fear.

"Freya, go with Jenny and let her help you," I called out behind me.

"It's okay, Freya. I'm here to fix you so that you'll remember who you are again. I won't hurt you. I promise," Jenny said in a gentle voice as she walked up to my frightened sister and placed her hands on her head.

I could see Jenny beginning to glow with golden energy now and her hair flowed behind her as the full power of her birthright came flooding into her and then into Freya. Freya began to scream even as Jenny said in a soothing voice, "I'm sorry. I know it hurts but it's only for a little bit. It's going to be okay. I promise."

The War Lord continued to fight with me as I began to shudder inside at hearing Freya scream. I glared at her as I said, "If she can't save my sister . . ."

"I can save her if you'll only let me, and I will if you agree to go with me. Why won't you come? We could conquer the universe together side by side. Wouldn't that be wonderful, Grandmother? Don't you understand? I'm just following in your footsteps. You overthrew a tyrannical government so that the Time Lords could be free. I'm doing that on a much larger scale throughout the universe. I'll overthrow every government everywhere and make sure that everyone is happy at last. Mine will be a benevolent rule despite what you've been told about me," the War Lord said in a pleading voice as I continued to force her back further and further away from Freya and Jenny.

"You'll say anything to distract me so that you can get past me and get to her won't you?" I said unmoved by her words.

"I just want one of you to understand. I'm still the same person that you knew before. I just have a different outlook on life now. That's all. I'm not evil. I'm not," the War Lord said as she sounded as if she were trying to convince herself of that more than me.

"No, you're not evil. You're mad. I know that you're not fully responsible for what you're doing, but that doesn't mean that I'll let you get away with it. It has to end, Belle. It has to end right here and now," I said as I began to pour a massive amount of regenerative energy into her body when I suddenly grabbed both of her hands at once.

"No! What are you doing? Please, stop!" the War Lord screamed in pain as I poured more and more energy into her body by the moment.

"Is that what my sister said when you were hurting her?" I asked in anger.

"I'm sorry," the War Lord said in a voice filled with pain and regret.

I'm not too proud of what I did, but I was furious at her for what she had done. I wanted her to feel the pain and fear that my sister had felt even as I tried my best to keep her occupied until Jenny had a chance to fix Freya back to normal again.

I know that doesn't excuse it though. Now I look back on that with guilt because I know that she truly wasn't responsible for what she did. No more than I am when I become Sekhmet.

"I'm going to force you to regenerate, and this time I'm going to pick out your next incarnation for you and that includes completely restructuring your mind so that you're sane again. I've had enough of this, Belle!" I said in a furious voice.

"No, how dare you try to change me! You can't just change who I am without my permission!" the War Lord shouted in outrage.

"Consider this my version of a spanking, Belle, and it's definitely going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me," I said in a cold voice.

Did I mention that I was still angry about what she had done to Freya?

Just before she started to change though, she decided to pull a dirty trick on me and head bumped me. When she did so instead of transferring her thoughts or memories to me though she transferred a massive dose of Vortex energy straight into my brain instead!

Now I was the one screaming in agony as the War Lord refused to move her forehead away from mine. She grinned at me as she said, "Maybe I should remake you into my image instead, Grandmother. I think I'll restructure your brain and set the inner madwoman inside of you free. Can Sekhmet come out and play? I've just been dying to meet her."

"Mum!" Rose shouted in fear as she raced to help me.

"Leave her alone!" Jack said as he reached me first and finally pulled the two of us apart.

"Jack, no!" Rose warned as he pulled me away from the War Lord.

It was already too late though. He received both a lethal dose of regenerative and Vortex energy all at once and immediately died. I wasn't feeling so good either as I immediately hit the floor and struggled to stay conscious.

"Mum, are you okay? Mum?" Allison said as she rushed to my side despite how dangerously close that put her to the War Lord.

"Mum, talk to us," Aishwana said in a frightened voice.

I couldn't speak though. My mind was completely overwhelmed, and I could barely even think much less do anything else. All I could do was listen helplessly as the War Lord started tearing through everyone in her path to try to reach Jenny and Freya.

"She's breathing but just barely. If she dies, I'll personally hunt you down and make you pay," Aishwana threatened the War Lord.

The War Lord laughed at her as Rose and the others now stood between her and Jenny while Jenny was still trying to stabilize Freya's body. They had to buy her more time, and they were still willing to fight the War Lord head-on in order to do so even after seeing what she had done to me.

It just shows you how brave that my family and friends really are or how crazy. One or the other.

Rose stood against the War Lord first as she said, "Belle, it doesn't have to be like this. Please just surrender to me and let me help you."

The War Lord though was in no mood for talk anymore. She reached into Rose's body and tweaked with her connection to the Vortex so that more power than Rose was comfortable with suddenly started flowing into her body at once overwhelming her.

As Rose's eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out from the sudden shock the War Lord said, "There's a new trick that I bet your Jenny never thought of, Mother. Tell me who's the real one now, huh?"

After Rose fell, Ivy and Violet both started to attack the War Lord at once. Ivy attacked her with multiple attacks hitting various vital areas in her body at once from her head to her knees while Violet unleashed her own regenerative energy against her at the same time. The War Lord began to weaken more and more by the moment with each new assault, but she wasn't about to give up for a moment. She exploded outward with a massive burst of energy all at once that completely knocked both Ivy and Violet out cold at once.

Nina, who was now a Dalek puppet, had a Dalek gun stick pop out of her hand and began firing on the War Lord next, but Belle easily swatted her aside with a single backhand to the head that sent her flying into the wall. Nina now quickly joined Ivy and Violet in dreamland.

Vastra and her Jenny began to attack the now weakened War Lord in unison and held her in place for the others to attack her even as she struggled in vain to break free from them. Unfortunately for Belle, some of her attackers were more violent than others as Strax shot her with his gun several times, and Robin shot her in both hearts at once with two of his special Vortex shielded arrows before a newly conscious Rose could stop him. Luckily for the War Lord, one of the arrows just missed her second heart so she wasn't instantly killed. She was still badly wounded and only working on one good heart though which was not good for a Time Lord in the slightest.

The War Lord shuddered and collapsed to her knees as Rose shouted, "She's still my daughter no matter what she's done!"

"She's too dangerous, Rose. She almost killed you, and she may have just killed your mother," Robin said as he looked at her sternly.

"She's not in her right mind," Rose said in an upset voice as the War Lord now fell face first onto the floor.

Rose went to check her to see if she was alright only to be the first to fall as the War Lord unleashed a massive delta wave from the delta wave generator that she had concealed under her armor. Everyone's brains started to melt from this assault as the War Lord screamed, "If I can't have Sekhmet on my side, then no one will!"

As everyone else except for the War Lord whose armor protected her clutched their heads in agony, I lay just out of range of the delta wave where I hovered in a nearly comatose state between waking and sleeping and could just barely register what was going on. I knew that I had to get up and do something, but I couldn't even move much less do something to fight back against the delta wave's effects.

"Sekhmet, get up!" A familiar voice suddenly commanded me.

I turned my eyes to see my mother standing there watching me with a worried expression on her face.

"M-m-mum?" I said in a slurred voice.

"Sekh, now! Do something before they all die!" My mother commanded.

"Is . . . this . . . real?" I asked as I struggled to speak.

"Does it matter? What is real is that our family is in danger. They're all dying. You're the only one who can save them now. Only you. You must stop Belle and save Freya from a horrible fate. She doesn't deserve that, Sekh. Your sister's suffered enough. You've suffered enough," Mother said as she walked closer to me.

"I . . . miss . . . you," I said in tears.

"I miss you too. I hate not being able to talk to you or let you know that I'm here. I am you know. I've watched over you the entire time through everything. I watched you get married. It's about time. It only took you a billion years. I bet that was the longest that any mother ever had to wait," Mother said with a grin.

"I heard you laugh," I said as my speech improved.

"Yes, you did. I've been trying to talk to you all of your life, but you never heard me. Now though somehow I've started being able to finally get through to you at last. Maybe it's because you're happier these days. The happier you've gotten the more that I can get through for some reason. I don't know for sure how it works. All I do know is that you need to get up and do something now before it's too late. They're only moments from dying, Sekh. Please!" Mother pleaded.

"I can't move," I said helplessly.

"Yes, you can! Release the nearly mindless part of you that you still call Sekhmet. Sekhmet will be less affected by the delta wave. Do it now while you still can," Mother pleaded.

I started to release Sekhmet and set her loose as Mother said, "I love you, Sekh. Always remember that. Take care of Freya for me. She's going to need you so much in the days to come. Tell her that I love her too."

"I will," I said just before my own persona faded away, and the Destroyer was released from inside of me at last.

I was up on my feet again in moments and rushed at the War Lord as Sekhmet fully took over at last. Sekhmet rushed towards the War Lord and completely surprised her before she even realized that she was there.

"That's not possible!" the War Lord screamed in absolute shock as Sekhmet quickly found and crushed her delta wave generator.

The others all crumpled to the floor now stunned and unable to move for the moment as Sekhmet continued to fight with the War Lord. Sekhmet effortlessly knocked the War Lord across what was left of Vastra's ruined home with a single punch.

The War Lord quickly picked herself up and faced Sekhmet with eyes filled with equal parts fear and admiration as she said, "If I could have you on my side, I'd be invincible. As it is though, I don't think that I'll risk it because as much as I hate to admit it I feel like I'm about to keel over at any minute now. I'll see you later, Grandmother. Hopefully when you're much more sane."

The War Lord calling me insane. That was rich. Pot kettle black.

The War Lord quickly teleported to safety as Sekhmet now turned to see Freya walking up first out of all of the others. Freya noticed right away that something was wrong about me, and she started to back away from Sekhmet in fear.

"Please don't hurt me," Freya said in an absolutely terrified voice.

That was when I finally resumed control and said, "I'd never hurt you, Freya. I love you."

Freya smiled as she said, "Sekh, you're back. You looked all funny there for a minute like you had gone psycho or something."

"Yeah, something like that," I said grinning.

I embraced her and held her tightly as I said, "Are you okay? Did Jenny get enough time to finish fixing you? You obviously remember me. Do you remember everything else?"

"I think so. I think that I'm okay now. I seem to remember everything. I know who I am and I remember everyone that you introduced me to. I also remember just how far away from my own time that I am," Freya said in a sad voice.

"It's okay, Frey. I'll take care of you now. It's going to be alright," I promised her in a soft voice.

"That's funny. I used to be the one who looked out for you, and now you're the one looking out for me. There's a twist. The whole world's gone crazy," Freya said.

"I know. I know it's a lot to deal with but I'm here. I'll help you through it," I said.

Freya nodded and smiled at me for a moment. Then she began to tear up and I knew that it was only just now hitting her exactly how much that everything had changed and exactly just how much that she had lost.

"I miss Mum, Dad, and Frey, Sekh. I miss them so much," Freya said in a mournful voice.

"So do I. I have for such a long, long time. I've missed you too, and I am so, so glad to have somehow gotten one of you back," I said in an emotion filled voice.

Freya's tearful expression temporarily turned into a smile as she said, "I'm glad you did too even if it is in such a really weird way. I'm going to be more like your child than your big sister now it seems like."

"I don't care. As long as I get you back, I don't care about anything. I'm used to have lot of kids around anyway. All of my crew are just a bunch of big kids at heart anyway. I think that you're really going to enjoy being around all of them. You'll especially enjoy me. I'm the biggest kid of all," I said laughing.

"Yeah, I got that idea from watching you in action," Freya said.

"Oh, shut up," I said as I kissed her forehead.

"You shut up," Freya said as she held onto me tightly.

"You first," I shot back.

"No, you first," Freya said grinning.

Suddenly both of us stopped and looked at each other in surprise for a moment. I could tell that Freya had heard it too. I started to ask her about it to make sure, but I was interrupted before I could.

"Hey, are you two alright, Lil?" Jack asked as he came over to rub the top of Freya's head.

"We're fine. What about you, Jack? You really took a major hit there. I wasn't sure even you were going to come back from that one," I said.

"Oh, I've been through a lot worse believe me. So you're okay, Freya?" Jack asked.

Freya blushed as she said with a stutter, "Uh, y-yeah. I'm fine. Thanks."

"Good," Jack said as he smiled at her.

I saw Freya melt as Jack walked away to check on the others and I laughed as I said, "He's a little old for you. Okay, he's a lot older. He may be almost as old as I am by now. Who knows?"

"I don't care," Freya said as she looked at him with a glassy look in her eyes.

"Someone's got a crush," I said in a singsong voice with an evil grin.

"Shut up!" Freya said as her face turned bright red.

We both looked at each other in shock as we heard it again. Again we were interrupted before we could talk about it.

"You know it's really frightening just how easy it is for you to slip back into your childhood again," Allison said as she hugged me with a look of relief on her face.

She was soon joined by Rose, Aishwana, Ron, and Isabella. They all took turns giving me a hug and talked to me to make sure that I was doing okay. Robin stood there smiling and let the kids all have their turn first before he tried to talk to me.

Then he swept me up into his arms and gave me a passionate kiss before he said with a sad voice, "I'm sorry, my lady. I failed you yet again. I tried but I couldn't stop her."

"I didn't want you to kill her, Robin. I never wanted that," I said as I tried to keep a disapproving tone out of my voice.

"I know and that's how I failed you. I deliberately missed her second heart because I knew that you would never forgive me if I killed her. I could have stopped her right then and there, but I couldn't do that to you," Robin admitted.

"You didn't fail, Robin. Not in the slightest," I said as I kissed him.

Then I laughed as I said, "Are you sure that you missed on purpose or are you just making that up to cover up for your mistake?"

Robin scoffed as he said, "Do you doubt my word, my lady? I would never lie about such a thing."

"Of course not, Robbie Old Boy. Of course not," I said laughing at him as I kissed him again.

"Hi, you're Allison right?" Freya asked Allison.

"Yeah, that's me. I'm also named after you. I prefer Allison though," Allison said.

"You too? I thought that I was the only one. I hate the name Freya," Freya said laughing.

"I know! It's just awful right?" Allison said already starting to bond with her aunt.

"Yes, it is. I've had to live that name down my whole life. I really wish that I could be called something else too. Sekh won't ever let me be though I'm sure. She just loves it for some reason. You're lucky that you have another name. I like the name Allison. That's so much better," Freya said.

"Thanks. Maybe I could talk Mum into letting you be called something else. I'll try to anyway. She's pretty stubborn though. It took me forever to get her to quit calling me Freya," Allison admitted.

"That sounds like Sekh alright. She's obstinate and bull headed sometimes. What is it with you and the name Freya anyway? Why do you like it so much?" Freya asked me.

"What's wrong with it? I like it," I said honestly.

"If you like it so much, then why don't you use it then? You're not using your real name anymore anyway are you, Lily?" Freya asked as she said my name in a mocking voice.

"Lily is a good name. That's who I am now. Sekhmet is dead," I said without thinking.

Freya began to look very upset as I quickly said, "That's just a figure of speech of course. It's just that I thought that I had left that part of my life behind me forever, and I was ready to let it go. I never realized that it wasn't quite ready to let me go yet. I'm still the same person that you knew, Freya. I promise."

Freya smiled and nodded as she said, "You've been in a lot of pain and you wanted to let it go. I understand. I understand because I'm in that same kind of pain right now. Does it ever get any better?"

"Yes, eventually. It never goes away completely though. At least you have something that I never had until now. You've got someone else from the old days to talk to about it. I lost everyone, Freya. I was alone for so long," I said.

She immediately hugged me as she said, "Not anymore. I'm here now and you have this wonderful family too. I'm not going anywhere, and I don't think that they are either."

We held each silently for a moment as I watched Rose fixing Vastra's house back to normal for her and then healing her Jenny with a wave of her hand. I would have to explain a lot to Freya about this brave new world that she had found herself in sometime soon. I just hoped that she could absorb it all without her head exploding.

"Do you think that they'll love me like you do?" Freya asked suddenly.

"Yes, I do. I know they will," I said.

"Do you think that Mum is angry with me?" Freya asked.

I looked at her in surprise as I asked, "Why on Earth would you ask that?"

"Earth? What is Earth? I just think that she'd be mad because I ran instead of trying to save her. I should have saved her. It's my fault. I should have stayed and fought."

"No, you shouldn't have. There was nothing that you could have done, Freya. Absolutely nothing. You would have just been killed too," I reassured her.

I realized suddenly that the same thing applied to me too. A great weight suddenly lifted off of my shoulders that I hadn't even known was there.

"So you don't think that she'd be mad?" Freya asked.

"No. I know she's not. She loves you," I said without hesitation.

"You sound so sure about that. How do you know?" Freya asked surprised.

"I just do. Freya, did you hear . . ." I started to ask.

"The sound of laughter? Yeah, I did. Twice," Freya admitted.

I smiled as I said, "Do you know who that was?"

Freya looked at me in hopeful anticipation as she asked, "Mum?"

"That's right. That was Mum and that's how I know that she isn't angry at you," I said.

"Did you see her too?" Freya suddenly asked.

I looked at her in complete shock as I said, "Yes, I did while I was unconscious. When did you see her?"

"When I was lying there too exhausted to move after I ran. She came to me and told me to keep fighting and that I was going to be with you soon. I thought that I was just hallucinating, but now I'm not so sure. So you think it was real?" Freya asked.

"I know it was, sweetie. I know it was," I said as I held her tightly.

We both heard that same laughter again. It seems that I wasn't the only one who was happy.

Next: Lily is the happiest that she's ever been so I just have to pull the rug out from under her, right? Right! From out of the past, the most evil Time Lord of all time returns to wreak havoc across the universe. It's the return of Lily's greatest enemy as he draws up plans to take back Gallifrey before anyone even knows that he's back, and she will soon find herself caught up in his evil games right along with everyone else as a whole new storyline begins in the next chapter.