CHAPTER 18
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This story takes place after The Further Adventures of River Song Chapter 7 and Lily and Robin Chapter 49.
The Doctor had agreed to meet up with Marissa to deliver Oswin to her at the UNIT HQ parking lot just like all of the Time Lords had started doing ever since Rose had struck up an agreement with them to let them do so. Oswin could have gone back to Marissa on her own using her Temporal Shift device, but the Doctor had offered to give her a lift because he wanted to talk to Marissa.
Marissa was standing outside of her TARDIS waiting as the Doctor's TARDIS materialized nearby. The doors to the TARDIS opened, and Clara stepped out to have a quick look around. She had forgotten about how she was basically Oswin's twin. She wouldn't be making that mistake again.
"Oswin, why are you dressed like that for? Are you trying to fit in with today's fashions? That doesn't seem like you," Marissa asked as she hugged Clara.
Clara was taken totally by surprise and started to tell her that she wasn't Oswin when she was interrupted by the arrival of more of Oswin's friends. Molly and Janine came running up to her excited, and the two of them started talking before Clara could say a word.
"I'm going to get to go to school. Normally I'd hate that, but this is going to be a special school on Gallifrey. That's so cool! I get to go to school on another planet! How cool is that?" Janine said excited.
"It is pretty cool I have to admit. My news is even better though. Dalek Epsilon's just called and left a message for you. I don't know what it is since I didn't know how to play it back, but maybe it's a lead to a cure for Mari's immortality. I certainly hope so," Molly said with a hopeful look on her face.
"That's great, Molly. I hope that it turns out to be what we've been looking for," Oswin said from the doorway of the TARDIS.
Marissa, Molly, and Janine all blinked as they looked from Clara to Oswin and back again. They were all stunned by what they were seeing. Clara could be Oswin's exact duplicate. They looked exactly the same in every way.
"Clara?" Marissa guessed.
"Hi, sorry for the confusion," Clara said with a grin.
"It's amazing! The two of you could be twins!" Molly said as she looked Clara up and down and made her uncomfortable.
"Stop that, Mol! Can't you see the look on Clara's face?" Oswin admonished her.
"I'm sorry, Clara. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just so weird is all," Molly apologized.
"That's okay," Clara said with a warm smile.
"Did you hear my news too?" Janine asked Oswin.
"Yes, I did. It was Rose's idea actually. She wanted to create a school for the kids of time travelers to go to so that they don't miss out on their education. She even asked me if I wanted to teach some of the classes. I might consider it," Oswin said.
"You could be my teacher? Oh, cool! I wouldn't have to worry so much if you were my teacher," Janine said.
"Why would you be worried?" Oswin asked.
"Well, the teacher might not like me or something, and then they'd have it in for me the rest of the year. It used to happen back on my home planet sometimes, and it was never pleasant," Janine said.
"Who wouldn't like you?" Oswin asked with a smile.
"I know. I'm so lovable! It happens though," Janine said with a mischievous grin.
Clara smiled at the two of them and realized just how much like her Oswin really was. Oswin seemed to love being around children too just like she did. Speaking of which, that talk of a school for the children of time travelers had given her an idea.
"Could anyone apply to teach at this school? What qualifications do you have to have?" Clara asked curiously.
Oswin looked at her in surprise for a moment, and then she smiled and nodded her head as she said, "I'm sorry, Clara. I should have known if I was thinking about it that you would be too.
I'll tell you all about it before you leave. I think you'd have a good chance of getting a job there. Rose is the one doing the hiring after all," Oswin said to her with a wink.
"Sounds good to me," Clara said with a chuckle. This should be an easy job to get if Rose was doing the hiring.
"Aren't you going to be busy enough already with Angie, Artie, and me," the Doctor said as he finally emerged from the TARDIS.
"I could do a class or two every now and then. I'd love the experience. Besides, I can take care of more than three kids at once. I've done it before," Clara said grinning evilly.
"Oi! Despite what Rose might say about me, I am not a child!" the Doctor protested.
"To be fair, he was like that even when he was a child," Marissa said laughing.
"Oi! No fair telling stories about me from the Academy. I wasn't as cool then as I am now," the Doctor protested.
"What did you want to see me about, Doctor? I know that you didn't come here just to talk about the new school," Marissa said as she decided to get to the point. The two of them went off by themselves inside of the Doctor's TARDIS to talk.
"It's about Shehzadi," the Doctor said as he closed the TARDIS doors.
"I should go, Doctor," Marissa said as her face became contorted with anger.
"I just want you to make sure of what you're doing. I know that she's your daughter and you love her, but are you sure that it's safe to keep her on your TARDIS especially with a child around? Many of my friends are traveling with you now too, and I don't want anything to happen to them either," the Doctor said with a worried tone.
"I know what I'm doing, Doctor," Marissa said in a gentler but still firm tone.
"I'm not trying to get you to put her on Shada. I just want you to watch her, and don't let her do anything that you might regret later on," the Doctor said.
"I will. Don't worry. I can keep her under control. I won't let her do anything to anyone anymore. They're all my friends now too, Doctor. Believe me when I say I won't let anything happen to any of them," Marissa said.
The Doctor nodded without saying anything further, but Marissa could still see worry and fear in his eyes. She knew that he wasn't just worried about his past companions. He was also worried about her and Oswin. It was quite a switch from before the Time War when she was always trying to kill him and had in fact killed one of his incarnations once by accident.
"It's alright. I forgave you for that a long time ago," the Doctor said as he guessed what Marissa was thinking about.
"Thank you, but I still haven't forgiven myself yet. I have changed though, and she can too. I can help her to change. It's my fault that she is the way that she is after all. I taught her to be this way. I provided a bad example to her growing up, and now I'm going to provide a good one," Marissa said.
"I hope you're right," the Doctor said.
Then he surprised Marissa by giving her a tight hug. She hugged him back and thought back to her old self with a smile. The Rani would have never thought such a day would have been possible. If she were here right now, she'd be screaming in horror. She was so glad that she was no longer her anymore.
"Be careful, Ushas. I don't want anything to happen to any of you. You've become a good friend to me since you changed, and I don't want to lose you," the Doctor said.
"I'm sorry that we were never that close before, Doctor. That was my loss," Marissa said.
"No, we weren't, but you helped Rose once when she really needed it. I've never forgotten that. That was an act of pure kindness that showed me that you could become the person that you are today," the Doctor said.
"Stop worrying, Doctor. Shehzadi won't hurt anyone else I promise you that," Marissa said firmly.
"I guess I'll just have to take your word for it. I'll just take Clara and go now," the Doctor said.
"Is she like Oswin in personality as well as appearance?" Marissa asked him curiously.
"In some ways, but she seems to be somewhat different too. I guess it shows how your environment really does change you and helps to make you who you are," the Doctor said.
"Nature vs. Nurture. Yes, I understand. I thought that might be the case," Marissa said.
"How's Koschei doing by the way? Has he ever accepted being Lily's son and Rose's half-brother yet?" the Doctor asked.
"It's hit him pretty hard, but I think that he'll be okay. He actually likes the idea of being Rose's brother. He's already planning on giving you trouble over that since he's now your brother-in-law," Marissa said with a grin.
"Oh, no! I was hoping that would never occur to him. Now he's going to be driving me nuts about treating her better, isn't he? Even though we all know who's really in charge in our relationship," the Doctor said with a sigh.
"Don't worry about. He's found something good out of this whole situation already. That's a start towards him accepting it, isn't it?" Marissa said.
"Something good?! Picking on me is something good?" the Doctor protested.
"It is to him," Marissa pointed out with a giggle.
"I'd definitely better leave now before he shows up then," the Doctor said as he looked around him nervously as if he expected Koschei to show up at any moment.
"Good bye, Doctor," Marissa said as she left his TARDIS.
Marissa came out to find Clara talking to the others with much greater ease and comfort now. That made sense since she was so much like Oswin. She was sure that Clara could easily become friends with all of Oswin's friends as well thanks to that fact with little or no difficulty.
"The Doctor's leaving now, Clara," Marissa said.
"Oh, well I guess I have to leave then. Maybe I can see all of you later, especially if I get to teach at this new school," Clara said as she started for the TARDIS.
"I hope that you do get to teach there. That way I know I'll have at least two teachers who won't hate me," Janine said.
Clara laughed at that, and then waved good bye at everyone before getting into the TARDIS. The TARDIS dematerialized, and Oswin decided to see just what Dalek Epsilon had said.
The four of them entered Marissa's TARDIS to find a blinking light on the console showing that there was a message for Oswin stored there. Oswin walked up to the console and pushed a few buttons. Moments later, a life-sized hologram of Dalek Epsilon started to play in front of all of them.
"HELLO, EM – I MEAN OSWIN. I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT WE HAVE FOUND A POSSIBLE CURE FOR THE REGENERATIVE ELEMENT'S IMMORTALITY EFFECTS. WE HAVE HEARD OF LEGENDS OF THE SCYTHE OF ANUBIS, AN ANCIENT OSIRIAN WEAPON THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO KILL ANY BEING, EVEN AN IMMORTAL ONE, BY DRAINING IT OF ITS LIFE FORCE. I KNOW THAT YOU DON'T WISH TO KILL YOUR FRIEND, BUT I MENTION IT TO YOU BECAUSE THE LEGENDS OF IT SAY THAT A SKILLED USER OF IT MAY BE ABLE TO MERELY REMOVE THE IMMORTALITY FROM A PERSON AND NOT THEIR LIFE. IT MAY BE FOUND ACCORDING TO LEGEND ON THE RUINS OF THE HOME PLANET OF THE OSIRIANS, PHAESTER OSIRIS. IT IS ACCORDING TO THESE LEGENDS BURIED IN THE TOMB OF ANUBIS, WHO WAS KILLED BY SUTEKH BEFORE HE STARTED THE RAMPAGE THAT TURNED HIS HOMEWORLD INTO A LIFELESS CINDER CIRCLING A DEAD STAR. I AM INCLUDING THE COORDINATES FOR THE TOMB NOW," Epsilon said in the message.
A series of coordinates followed which Oswin quickly entered into her portable datapad, which she always carried on her person to store all of her useful information in including the knowledge of the Dalek net that she had stolen. Oswin was beginning to wonder why if everyone knew the location of this tomb that the scythe had never been found before when Epsilon's message continued.
"I MUST WARN YOU, OSWIN, THAT THE SCYTHE IS TO BE FOUND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TOMB, AND TO GET TO IT YOU MUST GO THROUGH SEVERAL DEATH TRAPS PLACED THERE TO GUARD IT. THE LEGENDS SAY THAT THE TRAPS ARE SO HORRIBLE THAT NO ONE HAS EVER FOUND THEIR WAY THROUGH THEM. IF YOU STILL WISH TO FIND THE SCYTHE, PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION. GOOD LUCK, EM - OSWIN," Epsilon said before finally breaking off his message.
"I think that he actually cares about you," Molly said surprised.
"Of course he does. He's my friend," Oswin admitted.
"This sounds incredibly dangerous, Oswin. You don't need to go through this. I'm okay with being immortal. I'm coming to terms with it," Marissa said.
"I have to try to find this Scythe in order to make you normal again, Mari. I won't be able to rest until I've fixed what I did to you," Oswin said with guilt in her voice.
"Don't do this, Oswin. I have a bad feeling about it," Marissa warned her.
"I have to, Mari. Are you coming with me?" Oswin asked.
"Yes, but I won't force anyone else to. I'm leaving everyone else on Earth," Marissa said firmly. She really didn't want to go through with this, but she would in order to keep Oswin from getting herself killed while trying to help her.
"I'm going," Molly said stubbornly.
"No, you're not," Oswin said.
"Yes, I am. I'm going to help you, Oswin. Mari's my friend too," Molly said with determination.
Oswin sighed as she gave up and said, "Okay, then it's the three of us then because Janine is definitely not going. Peri would have my head."
"You don't have to worry about me, Oswin. The whole thing's got me shivering already just hearing about it. Sorry for not being braver!" Janine said.
"It's okay. You would have to be insane if it didn't scare you, sweetie," Oswin said as she smiled at the little girl.
Having made their minds up, the three women left Janine with her mother and their other friends, who were staying at UNIT HQ for now, without telling them where they were going. Marissa also left Shehzadi there, but she had to do a lot of work talking her into it because she was very reluctant to go. She knew that her mother was keeping something about their destination from her.
Oswin didn't want the others to endanger themselves either. It was bad enough that Molly was coming. She knew that the girl seemed to have a serious death wish for some reason, but this was ridiculous.
After Oswin tried unsuccessfully to talk Molly out of coming one last time, the three of them set off for what was left of the home world of the Osirians. Oswin would soon be in for one of the most harrowing experiences of her life as she would suffer through incredible torment and pain in order to help Marissa. Even if she had known what awaited her though, she would have still done the same thing anyway. That was what friends did for one another.
Next: Oswin, Marissa, and Molly go through the death traps of the Tomb of Anubis in order to find the Scythe. What horrible dangers will they discover along the way?