CHAPTER 21
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Oswin knocked on Molly's door and waited for her to say that she could come in. Molly never said a word though, and Oswin began to get worried. She hoped that she hadn't done anything drastic.
Oswin knew that she probably shouldn't do what she was about to do, but she had to be sure that Molly was alright. She used her temporal shift to appear inside of Molly's room to see that Molly was lying on her bed looking at her in shock and anger.
"So, I have no privacy now, is that it?" Molly asked in anger.
"No, of course not. I was just worried that maybe you had . . . ," Oswin said, and then she trailed off because she didn't want to talk about the fact that Molly was suicidal.
"Killed myself?" Molly asked.
"Yes," Oswin said.
Molly looked at her in anger for a moment, and then her expression softened as she could see the worry and concern for her on Oswin's face. She knew that Oswin cared a great deal about her, and that she wasn't just saying that. How else could she overcome the incredible power of the Scythe of Anubus otherwise?
"I'm alright. I won't hurt myself, okay? I promise. I don't want to die anymore. I think that maybe I have a new reason to go on now. I have a new big sister to take care of me whether I want her to or not," Molly said with a warm smile.
"I've just grown used to having you around. You wouldn't want me to have to go to all of the trouble of finding a new sidekick, would you? I mean the interview procession alone would be murder," Oswin said grinning.
"Knowing you it just might be. What's this about a sidekick though? I'm more than just your sidekick," Molly said.
"Yes, you are," Oswin said.
Oswin then surprised Molly by hugging her tightly. She held her in the hug for several minutes until she finally let her go.
"Don't ever, ever do anything like you did before when I was possessed by the Scythe again. Promise me that," Oswin said sternly.
"I won't, Oswin. I won't," Molly said as she looked her straight in the eye.
"I want you to keep to that promise, okay? I love you, Molly, and I don't want anything to happen to you. You're just like the little sister that I never had," Oswin said.
"I love you too, Sis, or maybe I should say Mom. You act more like I'm a little kid sometimes," Molly joked.
"Stop acting like one then if you don't want to be treated like one, and don't call me Mom. I'm much too young and cute to be your Mom. I'm your slightly older sister at the most," Oswin joked.
"Modesty isn't one of your virtues is it, Sis?" Molly said.
"No. I'm afraid not. Are you going to keep calling me Sis?" Oswin asked.
"Yep. Got a problem with that?" Molly challenged.
"No. I kind of like it actually," Oswin said as she kissed her on the forehead.
"I was thinking, Sis, that I would like to be a teacher at this new school that your friend, Rose, is setting up. I know that Janine will vouch for me if they need a character reference. Do you think that you could talk to her about it?" Molly asked.
"Yeah, of course. I bet that I can convince Rose to give you a shot at it. I have a lot of pull with her," Oswin said as she winked at her.
"Thank you, Oswin. I appreciate that. Maybe if I do that, I'll start feeling like I have a purpose in life again," Molly said.
"I think that she'll let you do it, Molly. Don't worry about it. I'll let you know for sure as soon as I can. Are you going to be alright?" Oswin asked.
"Yeah. I'm going to be fine. Don't worry about me, Sis," Molly said.
"Are you going to answer me when I knock from now on then instead of worrying me?" Oswin asked.
"Yeah. I'm sorry for not answering before. I just wasn't ready to face you yet after what happened. I was embarrassed by it," Molly admitted.
"I just wanted to know if you were alright. I'll never barge in on you like that again I promise," Oswin said.
"Good. I might actually want some privacy sometimes after all," Molly said.
"You'll get it, Mol," Oswin reassured her.
"Don't call me that," Molly said as she pretended to be angry.
"Okay, Mol. I'll see you later," Oswin said as she left her room.
Molly continued to smile even after she left. She was so happy that she finally had a family and someone to talk to again.
Marissa was waiting on Oswin when she left the room, and she asked, "Is she alright?"
"Yeah, she's going to be fine. She even keeps calling me Sis," Oswin said happily.
"I'm sure you love that," Marissa chuckled.
"I do actually. It's nice to have another sister," Oswin said as she looked pointedly at Marissa.
Marissa smiled at her. The two of them were sisters in every way now, and they both knew it even if they rarely spoke of it out loud.
"I just hope that she doesn't start calling me Mum. I have enough problems with daughters lately as it is. I wouldn't mind being Big Sis though," Marissa said.
"You're a little old to be Big Sis. You should be Auntie Mari instead or maybe Gran," Oswin said giggling.
"Don't start with the old jokes! I think that I still look pretty good for my age," Marissa said proudly.
"'Pretty good'?! Ha! I say that you're the most beautiful woman in the universe, but I might be a bit biased considering that I'm madly in love with you and all of that," Koschei said as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere walking toward them with a mad grin on his face.
Marissa's face lit up with a huge smile as she met him in the middle of the hallway and kissed him. Oswin smiled as she watched them. She was so happy for her.
Now if only she could find someone. Lately though she was a little too busy plotting a Dalek revolution to look for a boyfriend. For her to meet anyone at the moment, they would have to drop out of thin air and right into her lap. It was too bad that life didn't work out that way she thought to herself wistfully. Wish for a boyfriend and poof! There they are. Wouldn't that be convenient?
"I used the key to your TARDIS that you gave me in case of emergencies. I hope that you don't mind," Koschei said as he held his extra key up for her to see.
"No. You're always welcome here. Why are you here though?" Marissa asked.
"Does there have to be a reason? Can't I just come over to visit?" Koschei asked with an innocent expression on his face.
"Based on past experience, I'd have to say no. You always come to see me for a reason," Marissa said bluntly.
"You know me so well," Koschei said as he smiled at her.
"Yes, I do, and I know when something's bothering you. So what is it?" Marissa said as she got straight to the point.
Oswin loved that about her. She was not one to tiptoe around a problem or try to avoid it. She would immediately take charge of a situation and confront it directly.
"I found out from the Doctor about this so-called daughter of yours, Shehzadi. Why is it that I've never heard of her before now, and what is she doing here unsupervised on your ship if she's as dangerous as the Doctor claims?" Koschei asked.
"The Doctor needs to keep his mouth shut. Maybe I'll have to pay him a visit sometime to remind him about that," Marissa said as her usual kind expression darkened for a moment in an unusual display of raw, unbridled anger.
Oswin shivered as she saw this. That was not the woman that she knew. She was sure that she was getting a glimpse of what was left of the Rani in that moment, and she didn't like it. The woman that she knew was far too kind and gentle to have such darkness in her. Surely all of that was gone now, wasn't it?
Marissa put her hand on Oswin's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. She had let her old self show for just a moment and had upset Oswin. She hadn't meant to do that, and she was deeply sorry about it.
She usually kept her darker nature under better control than that, but the Doctor and Koschei both had a way of bringing the worst out of her without even half trying. They both would drive her crazy if she let them.
Oswin felt a little better as the Mari that she knew smiled back at her. She hoped that she never saw that other side of her again. If that was even a small glimpse of what the Rani had been like, then she must have been truly disturbing to have been around in person. She was going to make sure that Mari never became that horrible person ever again if it was the last thing that she did.
"Look, I don't want to make you angry. I just want you to answer my questions. I'm worried about you being alone with that woman here if even half of what the Doctor told me about her is true," Koschei said.
"'That woman' is my daughter," Marissa said indignantly.
"Why is it that I've never heard of her then? I've known you since we were children, and you've never mentioned her once," Koschei said.
"It's because I didn't know how you'd react. I didn't want to hurt you," Marissa admitted.
Oswin could tell that this was becoming very personal so she started to slowly and silently leave the area. She didn't feel comfortable being here for this even though she was dying to learn more about Shehzadi personally.
"Oswin, you don't need to do that. I don't have any secrets from you," Marissa said as she noticed her trying to leave.
"I agree. You're like a part of the family, Oswin," Koschei said warmly.
"Thank you," Oswin said appreciatively to both of them.
Marissa smiled to herself as she realized that Koschei didn't realize the irony in what he had just said. He used to hate humans for a passion, and now he was thinking of one of them as family and even being nice to her. Oh, how far he'd come!
"Sometime in my fourth incarnation, I once made myself human in order to escape from a little bit of trouble that I had with the Sontarans. It seems that they declared war on me because I once snuck onto their breeding planet and experimented on one of their clone embryos and made it female just to see if I could. The female Sontaran tried to make herself Queen and staged a coup. She caused them a lot of trouble from what I hear. Apparently, the Sontarans didn't take too kindly to that. I hid from them for a few years on Earth sometime in the early 1800s in England as a rich heiress under the name of Miranda Blake," Marissa said.
"Miranda? Marissa? What's with all of the M names? Were you thinking of me when you did that, Ushas?" Koschei joked.
"No, not in the slightest," Marissa said with a serious look on her face.
"You have a way of wounding a man that cuts right to the bone, Ushas," Koschei said with a frown.
Marissa took pity on him and gave him a quick kiss that made his face immediately lighten up considerably. Oswin now wanted a boyfriend more than ever. She didn't have anyone to taunt that way.
Marissa continued her story as she said, "I spent a few years alone as Miranda until I came across a man who I fell in love with named William Lytton. We became very serious about each other."
"How serious?" Koschei asked in a tone of pure jealousy.
"I married him," Marissa admitted.
Koschei's face turned bright red in anger, and Oswin looked at her in shock. She'd never heard this story before.
"My memory had been wiped. I didn't even remember who I was. I certainly couldn't remember you," Marissa protested.
"What time and place was this that you were in exactly?" Koschei asked in anger.
"Why? What does that matter now?" Marissa asked.
"I plan on going back there and killing him before he met you," Koschei said in a completely serious voice.
"No, you're not," Marissa said defiantly.
Koschei looked at her in shock as he said, "You still love him even now."
"Yes. It's not like you never fell in love with a human. Does the name Lucy Saxon ring a bell?" Marissa said.
Koschei said nothing. A look of regret and sorrow quickly came over his face though, and Marissa wondered if he actually had cared about Lucy in his own warped way.
"I'm sorry. I know that was a low blow," Marissa said.
"Just continue with the story. What happened to this man?" Koschei said in a distracted voice.
"We were together for a few years, and then he died in the Napoleonic Wars. Just before he left though, I became pregnant with Shehzadi. It was right after I learned that he died that I remembered who I really was, and I opened my fob watch. The shock of his death caused me to reject my human life so completely that the Rani reemerged almost instantly," Marissa explained.
"Wait a minute. Do you mean that you were still pregnant when you changed back?" Oswin asked.
"Yes," Marissa admitted with a shamed look on her face.
"Wouldn't that do something to the baby?" Oswin asked.
"Yes, it would. Such a sudden change in species like that could affect a still unborn child in many negative ways. There could be birth defects, loss of limbs, brain damage, or even insanity. No wonder Shehzadi turned out to be like she is," Koschei said.
"I didn't realize what I was doing! I would never willingly endanger her!" Marissa shouted as Koschei's words struck a nerve.
He immediately put his arms around her and said softly, "I know you wouldn't. I never meant to say that. It wasn't your fault."
"Shehzadi seems okay to me," Oswin said in an optimistic tone.
"What if he's right though? What if her callous disregard for life is my fault? What if I did that to her when she would have been normal if not for me?" Marissa said sadly.
"You didn't do anything to me, Mum. I'm fine," Shehzadi said from behind them all.
"How do I know that? I still wonder about that even now," Marissa said in a guilty voice.
Shehzadi came up to her and embraced her as she said, "I'm fine. I know that the things that I did upset you, but I had to do them. If I hadn't, then the Thorn would have found me and killed me."
"You didn't have to kill, Shehzadi," Marissa said sternly.
"Maybe I was wrong. If I had it to do all over again, I'd probably do it differently now," Shehzadi said.
"Probably? That really reassures me. How do I know that you won't attack your mother or her friends, and then say the same thing later on about them," Koschei said coldly to her.
"I'd never hurt her! Never!" Shehzadi shouted in an emotional voice.
"How do I know that?" Koschei asked.
"Leave her alone," Marissa said firmly.
"You know you're the last one who should be questioning me. You've done a lot of terrible things, Mr. Saxon. Things that are a lot worse than anything that I've done," Shehzadi said.
Koschei was silent as he knew that what she said was the truth. He realized that he was being a hypocrite, but he was very worried about Marissa being alone with her.
"You have no right to say anything to him. At least he changed and is trying to be better. You can't even admit that you did anything wrong," a voice said out of nowhere.
"Oh, great! That's just what we needed. World War III," Oswin sighed as she saw who had just spoken.
Lissa had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was staring at Shehzadi like she wanted to rip her apart while Shehzadi looked at her as if she would gladly do the same. Oswin knew that this could get ugly very quickly because there was definitely no love lost between these two sisters at all.
"Who are you?" Koschei asked as he stared at her intently.
He could feel some kind of connection to her instantly. It was as if he knew her somehow, even though he knew that he had never seen her before now.
"Uh, I'm no one. You never saw me. Forget that I was ever here," Lissa said as she realized that she had made a mistake in revealing herself to him.
As she reached for her Vortex Manipulator to leave, Marissa stopped her by putting her hand over it. The two of them then exchanged a silent wordless glance that made Lissa stop in her tracks. She suddenly stood still as she waited to see what her mother would say next.
"Is this another daughter that you've had with yet another one of your long lost loves that I've never heard of?" Koschei asked bitterly.
"No," Marissa said.
"Who is she then?" Koschei asked.
"She is my daughter, Koschei, but not the daughter of another man. She's yours from the future," Marissa said.
"Mum!" Lissa said in a worried voice.
"I think it'll be okay. I don't see how this could hurt anything," Marissa said.
"Okay but if I suddenly start disappearing out of existence it's all going to be your fault," Lissa said.
"You watch too many movies," Marissa said as she shook her head at her.
"Maybe Rose can save you if that does happen. It worked for me," Oswin said with a grin.
Koschei just kept staring at her. He knew that it was true. She was his. He instantly felt a wave of emotion come over him as he raced to her to hug her.
"I'm so happy to meet you. You're as beautiful as your mother," Koschei said with joy.
"I'm beautiful on the inside too. I'm the good daughter," Lissa said proudly.
"Shut up," Shehzadi said in a low voice.
Marissa whispered something to her in an attempt to calm her down as she tried to defuse her growing anger toward Koschei and Lissa. Whatever she had said to her seemed to work in calming her down as Shehzadi quickly became quiet.
Oswin was wisely staying out of this whole mess. Shehzadi didn't seem to have anything against her, and she wanted to keep it that way. She was afraid that she did have to side with Koschei on this one though. She didn't trust Shehzadi one bit and was worried to have the others around such a volatile person as her.
"She's staying, Koschei. I want to help her to realize just how wrong that she was to do what she did. I have to give her a chance to change just like the chance that you and I had. She won't hurt anyone else I assure you of that," Marissa said firmly.
"I just don't want you to regret this. I worry about you," Koschei said.
"You worry too much. Have faith in me a little more, and stop treating me like a porcelain doll. Besides, I have the Empress of the Daleks here to help me. No one's going to mess with her," Marissa said with a grin.
Koschei started to laugh as Lissa looked confused. She didn't think that anyone would be calling Oswin that just yet. It was too early for it.
Oswin rolled her eyes at Marissa. She wished that she would stop making jokes about that. She wasn't the Empress of anything nor did she want to be.
"I know that I'm certainly terrified of her," Shehzadi said with what looked like a near smile on her face.
"See? Oswin scares everybody. She's mad, bad, and dangerous to know," Marissa said laughing.
"Now she's starting to sound like me," Koschei said with a wicked grin.
"Please tell me that's not how the future will see me," Oswin said to Lissa. She wasn't really expecting an answer of course.
"I'd say quite the opposite of that really," Lissa said, surprising Oswin.
She could tell her no more than that. The Empress of the Daleks would be revered throughout the universe as the bringer of a new age of peace and prosperity. Everyone everywhere would know her story, and she would become a hero to many.
Lissa wanted to tell her that and much more, but she couldn't. Just like she couldn't warn her or her mother about what was just around the corner for both of them. Lissa knew that it was about to happen soon now.
Silence was about to fall.
Next: Part 2 of my big Silence storyline, Silence falls over the Earth, happens here next time as the Silence carry out their final plan to destroy the Doctor and prevent him from going to Trenzalore. What part will Oswin play in all of this, and what shocking secret does she discover about herself during it? I'll give you a hint. It has to do with the Scythe of Anubus. Come on, you didn't really think that I would let that go so easily, did you?