CHAPTER 96

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!

PROPHECY OF EVIL

Not long after I left Rose and the Doctor behind at the House of Lungbarrow, I picked Robin and Allison up and immediately left Gallifrey behind as quickly as possible. Thanks to Rose's startling revelation about my so-called sterility, I now had a burning question in my mind that I had to know the answer to no matter what.

If I was still capable of having children, then why hadn't I had a child with Robin yet?

"It certainly wasn't for a lack of trying, that's for sure," I said to myself with a brief grin as I pondered that question in my mind while I journeyed through the Vortex to my next destination.

"What wasn't? What are you talking about, Mum?" Allison asked in confusion.

"I believe she's wondering why she hasn't gotten pregnant since she had Rose. She's been obsessing over that for the last hour or so," Robin explained.

"Why? I thought she already knew the answer to that a long time ago. She's sterile. It's as simple as that. Why start thinking about that again now? Unless . . ." Allison mused.

Then her jaw dropped and she gave me a questioning look that I immediately replied to with a smile as I said, "Yes, that's right. I'm not sterile. I haven't been since before I had Rose. I just found that out, Ally, and that's why I'm going to Karn."

"Karn? What does Karn and that weird Sisterhood have to do with anything?" Allison asked curiously.

"I have to admit that I've been wondering the exact same thing, my lady. What help could the Sisterhood possibly be able to give you in this area? They seem to know little if anything about having children or at least I've never seen any there on any of our previous visits," Robin queried.

"True. They've used the Elixir of Life to keep themselves alive for millennia so there's really no need for them to have any. I'm not going there to ask them for tips on parenting though, Robbie. I'm going there to see my doctor," I said in a nonchalant voice.

"Your what?" Allison said in surprise.

"Why would you even need a doctor? You haven't been sick since I've known you. In fact, you once told me that thanks to your unique condition that you couldn't get sick," Robin said while he looked just as surprised as Allison if not more so.

"That's right but I still have problems with regenerations from time to time. Any Time Lord does. Sometimes those problems can be extremely serious especially when a regeneration goes wrong, and I've had plenty of experience in that area in my life. Sometimes not even a Zero Room can help when things go too wrong. With as many regenerations as I've had, there would have to be at least a few that could potentially fail and leave me near death. That's why whenever that happens I go to the only doctor on Karn, Marlena. She's probably the universe's leading specialist on regeneration related illnesses. I just hope that she knows a little something about reproduction problems too. Besides she knows all about me and my medical history since I've been going to her for a long, long time now so I can't think of anyone better to diagnose whatever's going on," I confided.

"Plus you don't trust any other doctor do you?" Allison realized.

"No. I really don't. Any other doctor might be more interested in trying to work out the secret of my immortality behind my back instead of helping me. I'm not about to let anyone get their hands on that knowledge. I've had way too many problems in the past over it as it is. At least I know that Marlena has no concern with that whatsoever since she's already immortal more or less," I explained.

Just as I said that, the TARDIS finally landed at last. As soon as it did, I eagerly ran through its front doors just as fast as I could. I was so filled with curiosity (not to mention undeniable worry and concern) over my condition at that moment that I simply didn't have time to wait.

I couldn't even spare a moment really. I had to know what was going on right then and there. No matter what the answer might potentially turn out to be.

As soon as I left the TARDIS, Ohila, the Sisterhood's leader who just happened to be standing nearby, let out a loud sigh and said, "And what annoying little troubles have you brought down upon our heads this time, Sekhmet?"

"Here's a newsflash for you, dear. This may be hard for you to believe, but I don't always bring trouble with me wherever I go. Who do you think I am? The Doctor? This is about a personal matter between me and Marlena and has nothing whatsoever to do with you. Buh bye now," I said in a curt voice as I quickly sped on by her without even slowing down.

That annoying little busybody always has to know everything.

"Right. No trouble. The last time she was here we ended up having deadly lightning storms breaking out all over the planet for weeks afterwards," Ohila muttered behind me.

"That wasn't my fault!" I called out behind me as I continued to run.

"Lightning storms? I must have missed that trip," Allison said with a smirk.

"I wish I had. That was a truly horrendous affair. The Cybermen harnessed the very weather of this world to use against the Sisterhood in order to obtain their Elixir so that they could keep it from the Time Lords and Lily came here to stop them. The entire time that we were here I was certain that at any moment that I would meet an unexpected and agonizing doom from somewhere up above," Robin said with a shiver.

"Oh, please. You know better than that. I would never have let that happen to you, Robbie. I had that entire situation completely under control the whole time. You're such a baby sometimes. So what if the lightning was so powerful that it could even rip through the TARDIS? It's not like I haven't faced far worse things in my time," I said with a groan as I continued to race around searching for Marlena.

Where was she? I couldn't find her anywhere.

"Yeah but Dad doesn't have unlimited regenerations to fall back on just in case like you do, Mum," Allison pointed out.

"And he doesn't need any either as long as I'm around. I'm just that good," I said with a brief smug smile that quickly turned back to worry once more.

Where had she gone?

"Marlena is away visiting a patient. I'm afraid that you'll just have to wait," Ohila finally said after I had gone by her for what must have been at least the tenth time looking for Marlena.

"And why couldn't you have mentioned this about five minutes ago when I first got here?" I asked in an annoyed voice.

"I would have but I was told that it had nothing whatsoever to do with me so I kept my mouth shut," Ohila said with an evil smile.

If I hadn't been in such a hurry at that moment, I might have been more than a bit tempted to see just how immortal that Ohila really was. As it was though, I simply had no time to waste on her. Instead I immediately rushed back to the TARDIS and dematerialized as soon as possible.

When one has a time machine, one never has to wait after all.

I quickly returned to Karn two hours after I left and eagerly stuck my head out of the TARDIS to ask, "So is she back yet?"

"Why? Are you going to go off and leave us standing here for another two hours if she isn't?" Allison said in an angry tone.

"Ally, I'm so sorry. I – I didn't even realize . . ." I said in a horrified voice.

"Yeah, I know. You've gotten yourself so worked up over this that you just left me and Dad here without a second thought. I didn't know if you were going to come back in a few hours or a few hundred years. Don't ever do that again," Allison said in a voice that let me know in no uncertain terms that she was beyond furious with me.

Robin however seemed to be completely unconcerned as he said in a calm voice, "I knew that she would return before long. Not even Time itself has ever kept us apart forever, and I don't expect that to change anytime in the future."

I briefly smiled as I said, "That's right. Sooner or later you always come back to me. It just sometimes takes a couple of centuries."

Then my smile faded as I gave Allison an apologetic look and said, "It'll never happen again. I promise. Besides I'd never leave you behind forever. Never. I lost you once and that's not happening again. Not on my watch. I'm sorry. I just . . . I just lost my head for a minute there."

I saw Allison's resolve to stay angry at me immediately melt away as she said, "It's alright. I understand. If I were you, I'd probably be going a little crazy too. I just . . . I didn't like that."

"I'm sorry," I said again as I hugged her.

"I know. Forget about it," She said as she eagerly returned my hug.

I wasn't going to forget about it though. I could tell that I had really frightened her, and I never wanted to be responsible for that happening ever again. I had to get control of myself or I'd wind up having a complete nervous breakdown.

So I took a calming breath or three and willed myself to start exercising a little patience for once as I cautiously asked Allison once more, "So is she here yet?"

Allison shook her head and laughed as she said, "She's supposed to return at any minute now. Think you can wait that long without having to jump in the TARDIS again?"

"I'll do my best," I said as I gave her a guilty look.

"Still as impatient as ever I see, Sekhmet. Is that what you built the TARDIS for? So that you could skip ahead in order to avoid waiting for things?" A familiar voice asked from behind me.

"No, that's just one of the many perks that come along with unlimited travel through time and space, Marlena. It didn't turn out quite so well this time though like it usually does," I said in a voice filled with regret as I turned to greet my old friend.

She looked exactly like she always did. At first glance, she could easily be mistaken for a woman barely out of her teens and even had an almost innocent air about her at times because of her soft voice and generally sweet nature. Her eyes completely gave her away though just as they did all immortals. They simply had far too much pain in them for anyone that had only lived around twenty years or so to have ever experienced.

"Yes, so I heard from Ohila. Allison apparently complained quite a bit while you were away and even threatened to punch Ohila's 'lights' out when she told her to calm down. Like mother, like daughter it seems," Marlena said in amusement as she finally greeted me at last with a small hug.

"Any other time I might actually be proud of that. You know that I never liked Ohila from the get go. She's far too condescending to the Doctor and is always putting him down all of the time by pointing out all of his many faults. That's just not right at all. Everybody knows that's my job," I said with a small smile.

"Alright, Sekhmet, what's bothering you? I know you didn't come here just to insult Ohila as much as you enjoy that," Marlena said as she quickly got straight to the point just as she always does.

I immediately explained the whole situation to her as I told her everything that I had just found out. As soon as I finished, I could instantly tell from the look on her face that something was wrong.

"What is it?" I asked eagerly even as I dreaded to hear the answer.

"Are you certain that Rose said that you were capable of having children?" Marlena asked with concern.

"Yes, she said that she saw no reason why I shouldn't. True, she's no doctor but she is the Bad Wolf so I think she'd know if anyone would," I said as my eyes silently pleaded with her to tell me the truth.

I could tell that she was holding something back.

Marlena took a deep breath as she said, "It's just that I always thought just as you do that you were basically sterile and that Rose's birth was a lucky fluke. All of my exams on you through the years since then have done nothing but confirm that."

"In what way?" I asked curiously.

Marlena couldn't even look at me as she said, "I've seen evidence of several failed attempts to have a child. You've had many miscarriages over the years that happened so quickly that you probably didn't even notice that you were pregnant. Until now, I didn't mention them because I didn't want to upset you. If Rose is right however, then something is terribly wrong. I'll have to do more advanced tests on you immediately in order to find out what."

I was completely stunned by this as I said in a shaky voice, "I – I can't believe it."

"Could some outside influence be doing this to Mum somehow? Maybe it could be something in her environment," Allison pointed out as she put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Whatever it is, we'll find the answer and then we'll take steps to correct it. You will have a child again one day. I know you will. As I said before, my love, nothing ever comes between us for long. Not even this," Robin said with a reassuring smile.

I immediately gave him a tender kiss in appreciation even as I said, "I wish I could be as certain of that as you are. I just can't understand what could possibly be happening."

"Don't worry. I'll soon find out. I'm going to test for everything that I possibly can. It may take a while though," Marlena warned.

"I'll wait," I said without hesitation this time.

Several very long hours later Marlena finally finished the last of a very exhausting batch of tests on me as she said in a sad voice, "That's exactly what I feared all along but I had to make sure. The High Council would have never believed me if I hadn't completely ruled out every other possible cause."

"What do you mean? What wouldn't they have believed? You're still holding something back from me, Marlena, and I demand to know what it is. I think after everything that you just put me through that I've more than earned an answer to that question," I said in an extremely upset voice.

Marlena looked more serious than I'd ever seen her in that moment as she said, "There's nothing physically wrong with you. Period. In fact according to my results, you should be able to have as many children as you like with no problems whatsoever. You could and should already be up to your ears in them if that's what you wanted."

"So why is that not happening?" I asked in a faraway voice.

"It's being caused by temporal manipulation of the highest order. Someone is deliberately causing the worst possible outcome for each and every one of your pregnancies to occur as soon as possible by subtly manipulating the timelines. There's virtually no chance of a miscarriage in your case because you're so healthy, but it is still there no matter how small. That one slim chance is all that whoever is doing this has to have in order to ensure that those children are never born," Marlena said in a voice that was filled with sorrow.

"Who? Who would do this and why? What kind of monster could do such a thing?!" I said in a voice filled with rage.

Allison looked at me with eyes filled with sympathy as she said, "Oh, Mum, I'm so sorry."

"Astalan. It has to be Cardinal Astalan. He's been after your family for a long time now in order to claim the presidency. He has to have something to do with this. That viper always seems to be at the very heart of everything that's wrong lately. I'll find out either one way or another, my lady. I'll rip the truth from his lying throat," Robin said in a voice just as angry as mine.

"That might be a bit hard since he's currently in Shada right now thanks to Jenny exposing his partnership with the Brethren. Even Maxil might notice you throttling one of his prisoners I think. He's not that oblivious," I said with a brief smile.

"It can't be the Cardinal. My exams showed this occurring to you long before he ever joined the High Council. Of course he could be going back in time to sabotage your pregnancies, but I don't see why he'd do such a thing," Marlena said.

"I don't see why he'd do it period. My future children couldn't possibly matter to him one way or the other. He's much more concerned with my current family than any future one that I might have. Still he does seem to have his fingers in all of the proverbial pies around here. If anyone would know what's really going on with me, I bet it would be him," I said in a thoughtful voice.

"So do I get a chance to 'talk' with him then?" Robin asked eagerly.

"Oh, yes. I'm afraid that you can't use violence though. That would just get you in trouble even if he does deserve every bit of it for how he's harassed us all lately," I told him in no uncertain terms.

As soon as his face began to fill with disappointment however, I quickly added with a brief smile, "That doesn't mean that you can't threaten a little bit of violence however."

Robin eagerly nodded his agreement to that sentiment as he said, "It will be far more than just a little."

"Works for me," I said with a half-hearted shrug as I struggled not to give into my anger once more.

Not even using humor could help me with that this time because this was far too monstrous to overcome so easily. I just couldn't see why anyone would do something like that to me. It made no sense whatsoever.

It soon would however after I went to Shada. I managed to sneak us into Astalan's cell invisibly without anyone knowing via the TARDIS because I knew that Maxil would have a major hissy fit if he saw me there again so soon after my last visit. Then before Astalan even knew what hit him Robin quickly dragged him inside of the TARDIS where he proceeded to have a little talk with him.

That wasn't just a fancy euphemism either. It truly was just talking even if it did take the form of some very nasty threats. Not a finger was raised against him. I hadn't slipped that far after all. Not yet.

I probably wouldn't be able to say the same thing about whoever was behind all of this however.

Despite several extremely convincing threats by Robin, Astalan was still just as defiant as ever though. It seemed as if nothing was going to make him tell us what if anything that he knew.

That was when he finally made a huge mistake.

"Do you really think that I'd ever do anything to help you or any member of your despicable family? None of you have any right to wield as much power as you do on Gallifrey. You're all unfit and impure in every possible way for higher office as far as I can see. Your family is far too tainted by the corruption of humanity to ever be true Gallifreyans not to mention that they're all potential time bombs thanks to their great power. You, however, are even worse than they are because you're the abomination that started the whole thing in the first place. You're no better than Rassilon as far as I can see with your unnatural lifespan. You have to be just as corrupt as he is after living for so long, and it's my duty to protect Gallifrey from you and your group of misfits. Only a true Time Lord should rule Gallifrey. It should be someone who's actually one of us and who's had a normal life just like the average Time Lord. Someone like me," Astalan said in a hate filled tirade.

Suddenly I grabbed him by the throat as I completely lost control and said in a voice filled with darkness, "So you are behind this! You practically just admitted it! Tell me why. You will tell me why before I . . ."

"Mum!" Allison suddenly shouted in a worried voice as she grabbed my arm and squeezed it.

Thanks to her I just managed to stop myself before I said anything else, but my rage had already accomplished its purpose by then. Astalan finally crumbled after taking a good long look into my eyes. He could see true anger there and he knew all too well what Sekhmet was capable of doing if I let her out.

I'd been so afraid that I had been just about to do exactly that for a moment there.

"It's – It's not me! I swear! I know who it is though. It's the Keepers of Infinity," Astalan said in a completely terrified voice.

"What?" I said in surprise.

"Aren't they the ones who planted the bomb that almost killed you before Rose was born?" Robin asked in shock.

"Yes. I thought that they were all wiped out or captured years ago though," I said in confusion while still holding onto Astalan tightly.

"Not all of them. I know of at least one who was never found. I don't know where he is or what his name is, but I met him once during one of my meetings with the Brethren. Apparently he was friends with their leader, Amaya. That's when I learned that he had a huge grudge against you. He considered you to be the greatest threat to Gallifrey that ever was or would be, and he thought it was his mission in life to stop you from destroying it. I completely agreed with him and I still do especially now," Astalan said in a nervous voice.

"Why? Why does he think my children are a threat though? Why bother them? Is it because he's as close minded and full of hate as you are?" I demanded.

"No, it's because he's convinced that one of your children will be the monster that prophecy says one day destroys Gallifrey especially since none of them are completely Gallifreyan. He says that there's an additional prophecy that backs up the first one and names you as the mother of the Hybrid. That's why his group tried to kill you all of those centuries ago. They wanted to prevent its birth," Astalan finally admitted.

"What?" I said in stunned disbelief.

"I never actually believed it myself but I can see just how easily it could be true. He's right to make sure that you don't have any more children. The ones that are already around are dangerous enough. Why let you create possible future horrors?" Astalan said in a voice filled with venom.

That was when I finally knocked him out cold with a single punch as I said, "You should have been more worried about me than my children, Cardinal, and so should this mystery man of yours when I find him. I will find him too. I promise you that."

Then I quietly and unceremoniously deposited the unconscious Cardinal back in his cell by pitching him outside of the TARDIS on his head. I quickly left seconds later without making a sound as I went on an instant search to find more clues as to the identity and location of this mysterious last member of the Keepers.

"We'll find him, Mum. Don't worry. We'll find him and then we'll make sure that he never bothers you again," Allison said in a soothing voice as she looked at me with concern.

"Don't you worry either, Ally. I – I'm alright now," I said in a reassuring tone.

Robin shook his head while he put his arms around me to comfort me as he said in a determined voice, "No, you aren't. Not yet but you soon will be, my love. You soon will be if I have anything to say about it."

I couldn't help but smile at that despite the pain in my hearts at that moment. That was because I knew that with the two of us both after him at that moment that whoever was behind all of this wouldn't even know what hit them.

Just like Astalan hadn't. I was told that for days after he was found by the guards that he still sat in his cell with a dazed expression in his eyes and only spoke a single word over and over again with a completely terrified expression on his face. Maxil couldn't prove it of course but he knew that I was behind it all somehow.

I can't say for sure why he thought that but maybe just maybe it was because Astalan just kept saying the name 'Sekhmet' over and over again.

Next: An enraged Lily and Robin go on the hunt for the sole surviving member of the Keepers of Infinity. Will they have any luck in finding him however? Even if they do, will they actually be able to stop him? I don't know about you but I certainly think they will. Astalan would agree with me too if he could still speak in complete sentences.

Of course the real question is could the Keepers actually have been right? Is Lily really the mother of the Hybrid? We might just find out a little more about the answer to that next time.