CHAPTER 29

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THE THREE CLARAS PART 1

As Oswin and Rose went inside to talk alone, Janine came running up to Ace as she asked, "So what did Rose want with Oswin? I'm dying to know. Hey, what happened to Alex?"

"He had an accident," Ace said as if it was no big deal.

Janine shook her head as she said, "Why don't you just admit that you like that boy and get it over with?"

"Do you want me to show you what happened to Alex?" Ace threatened.

"You never would, and we both know it. You like me too much," Janine said with a confident grin on her face.

Ace smiled at her as she said, "Yeah, you're right, Munchkin. I don't blow up people I like. See? That proves I don't like Alex in any way, shape, or form."

"Unless you're blowing him up because you're in denial about how much you like him," Janine teased her.

"Don't press your luck, Munchkin," Ace said with a dark look on her face that quickly turned into a smile.

She tried to act tough around Janine, but she just couldn't. She liked the kid too much to ever really threaten her. She was starting to think of her as her kid sister, and she knew that Janine felt the same way about her. She almost made having to go to school again tolerable. Her and getting to blow up that annoying brat, Alex. That was always fun!

She looked back at where her mother and Oswin were about to talk to one another, and she couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. She was tempted to use her powers to spy on them, but she was sure that her Mum would kill her for it if she caught her.

Still it wouldn't hurt if she just listened to them a little bit, right? Janine had asked her about it after all.

"Rose, what's happening to me? Am I a Guardian or not? I need to know," Oswin said as she cut to the chase immediately once she and Rose were alone together.

Rose gave her a reassuring smile to start with so that she could let her see that she had nothing to worry about as she said, "Yes, Oswin. You are a Guardian. You're been slowly developing your powers a little bit at a time. The Scythe of Anubis taking you over is what triggered them to finally start coming out. Your power is the same is its power was actually. You have complete control over life and death."

"Why is this happening to me though? I don't understand. I thought that you made sure that the universe didn't need the Guardians anymore by rewriting it to take them out of it. Which Guardian am I anyway?" Oswin said as she suddenly started assaulting Rose with questions.

"Whoa! Slow down!" Rose said with a huge grin on her face.

"Sorry. I'm kind of upset about this. I don't really want to be a Guardian. I'm just getting used to being the Empress of the Daleks. That's going to take up enough of my time I think without a bunch of new responsibilities that I never even asked for being added on. Can't you undo this?" Oswin asked.

"No, I can't. I wish I could. I did take the old Guardians out of the natural order of the universe forever, and I thought that was the end of it. It seems like the universe had other plans though. It seems to still need someone to fill their spot in the food chain. Apparently, it's picked you. It's probably because you're an anomaly. You're not a part of this universe so you could already do things that were impossible for anyone else to do. You've always been the Impossible Girl, Clara, and now you're about to start living up to that name more than ever before. I have a sort of connection to the universe that's hard to explain because of what I am, and I've been getting the feeling more and more lately that the universe always wanted you to be someone special from the day that you were born. It gave one of the greatest powers that it had to you because it knew that it could trust you with it. You are the Gold Guardian, Oswin. You're the Guardian of Life. Why do you think that you've always been so close to children? Children are the symbol of life, and you've always guarded over and protected them. It's just part of who you are," Rose said.

"Does that mean that there is a Guardian of Death then? Like there's a Black Guardian for the White Guardian?" Oswin asked.

"That's a good question. I wish I knew the answer to it. I certainly hope not. I don't even want to think about how powerful they would be or what they would do," Rose said with a shudder.

"What exactly does the Guardian of Life do? Are other Guardians going to start popping up now?" Oswin asked.

Rose grinned as she said, "I might be the Bad Wolf, but I don't know everything, Oswin. I can't answer either of those questions. I guess you should just keep doing what you're been doing. If you're supposed to do anything else, maybe you'll be given some kind of hint about it somehow. Sorry that I'm not more help."

"It's okay, Rose. I understand. You're just as much in the dark as I am more or less," Oswin said.

"Yeah, I am. I just get little visions of the future sometimes or certain feelings about things, but I'm not a god. I really wish that I could tell you more, Oswin. I get the feeling that whatever you're supposed to be doing in the future though it's something good," Rose said.

"I just wish it wasn't me that had to do it. I don't want any of this. I just want to be Clara. Now someone else is Clara. Not just her but May too. Why are there three of me running around? What's so special about me that the universe needs so many of me?" Oswin asked.

"I honestly don't know. I saved you from being erased from time when I changed the timeline because of what you did to help the Doctor. I didn't want you to be destroyed because you were willing to give up so much for him. My thinking was that the universe always needed more good people like you in it. Now I'm starting to wonder if I was only able to do that because the universe already had plans for you that I had no idea about. Maybe it does for May and Clara too. You know the three of you should really meet each other and see what happens. Maybe it might answer some questions for you," Rose suggested.

"Either that or we'll get on each other's nerves and kill each other! That would be one way of solving the problem of too many Claras, wouldn't it?" Oswin said with a grin.

"Stop that, Oswin! I'm sure the three of you will get along just fine," Rose said.

"Oh, yeah? Like the Doctor gets along just fine with his other selves you mean?" Oswin asked.

"That's different though. The Doctor's always been an oversized child, and you haven't," Rose said with a giggle.

"I like the other Clara so that shouldn't be a problem. It's May that I'm worried about. She doesn't seem to like me at all," Oswin admitted.

"It's just because seeing you reminds her that she's not who she always thought that she was. That makes her upset because she doesn't want to open her fob watch and become Cydonia again. She wants to stay human. I don't think that she has anything against you personally," Rose said.

At least she's become her own person more or less. I can see why she doesn't want to give that up. I feel like a copy of Clara sometimes even though I'm the original. Ever since I found out about her, I've felt like I was just some inferior version of her that got replaced by a much better model. Until today that is. Now I don't know what to think," Oswin admitted with a sad look on her face.

Rose immediately hugged her as she said, "There's nothing inferior about you, Oswin. Nothing at all whatsoever!"

"Thanks. I guess I just want to know what's going on. What's my purpose? It's part of the reason that I became the Empress. I wanted my existence to mean something, Rose," Oswin said.

"It does, Oswin. I know it does. We just don't know exactly what yet. I don't really believe in fate or destiny though so maybe your life is just whatever you want to make of it," Rose said.

"You've always spat in the face of destiny, haven't you?" Oswin asked.

"Yep, at every chance I get," Rose said.

"Maybe I should be the same way. I was recently told that I was just like you after all," Oswin said.

"The Black Guardian?" Rose asked.

"Yes, how did you know?" Oswin asked.

"It sounds like her," Rose said.

"Do you finally know who she is now?" Oswin asked in surprise.

"I have a suspicion. I just hope I'm wrong about it," Rose said.

"She's that bad, huh?" Oswin asked.

"She could be if she's who I think she is, yeah," Rose admitted.

Suddenly Rose looked out beyond the room as if she could sense something that Oswin couldn't. She became very angry as she shouted, "Dorothy!"

Ace quickly stopped spying on them as she said, "Munchkin, will you stay with me as long as you can?"

"Yeah, sure. Why?" Janine asked.

"Mum will be less likely to kill me if you're around," Ace said with a shiver.

"What have you done now?" Janine asked with a grin.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. You tell her that too if she asks," Ace said.

"You're such a bad influence on me! I can't help but love you to pieces though anyway," Janine said with a chuckle.

"Same here, Munchkin," Ace said as she smiled at her.

"Poor old Ace! She's always getting into trouble. She's really a good kid though at heart," Oswin said to Rose.

"I know. That's why I always try to be as lenient as I can with her. I don't want to let her walk all over me either though. She might become just like me at that age," Rose said.

"Worse things could happen. She could become like the Doctor," Oswin joked.

"That's true," Rose said as she laughed.

"Do you think that you could bring Clara and May here? I think that I should see them just like you said," Oswin said.

"You've got it," Rose said with a mischievous grin as her eyes glowed with golden energy for a moment.

Moments later, Clara Oswald and May Rutledge suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Clara still had an apron on and had a pan with a soufflé in it in her hand. She immediately looked at Rose with an angry expression on her face. May meanwhile was still wearing her pajamas, and her hair hadn't even been combed yet. She had obviously still been in bed when Rose brought her.

"I was trying to make a soufflé, Rose! I think that I actually had it right this time. Can't you at least ask me before you do something like that?" Clara said with a groan.

"I was asleep! Do you have any idea what it's like to be having a peaceful dream about being on the beach and then to suddenly be here wherever here is? You're lucky that you didn't give me a heart attack!

"I'm so sorry. Oswin wanted to see both of you, and I just brought you both here without thinking about it. I won't ever do that again I promise," Rose said as she tried to keep from laughing.

"Yeah, I bet! You think it's funny, don't you? Admit it!" Clara said.

"A little bit, yeah," Rose said as she continued to do her best not to laugh.

"I had nothing to do with what she did. I just told her to bring you here. I never meant like this," Oswin apologized.

"I know it's not you. It's her. She has such a silly sense of humor," Clara said.

"Yeah, she does. She used to love playing jokes on us back on . . . ," May said with a smile on her face before suddenly stopping in mid-sentence.

"Gallifrey?" Clara finished for her.

"Yeah," May said in a sad voice.

"Hi, I'm Clara. We've met before, but you probably won't remember. Rose told me who you used to be," Clara said as she held out her hand to her.

"I do remember bits and pieces about you actually. We used to talk together a lot I remember. I remember one time in particular. It was something about the Doctor trying to fix a house that was in really, really bad shape. I don't remember what happened though," May said as she shook Clara's hand.

"I'll tell you about it sometime. You'll love it," Clara said with a chuckle.

"I'd like to hear that too later, but for now I just thought that I'd get to know both of you better and maybe let you get to know me," Oswin said.

"I'll just go ahead and leave so you three can have some privacy. I have a daughter to punish anyway. See you later, Claras," Rose said with a grin as she disappeared in a burst of golden energy.

"Wait a minute! How am I supposed to get back? I don't even know where I am!" May protested.

"Don't worry about it, May. I'll take you back if I have to or I'll get my friend Marissa to do it. The same goes for you, Clara. I just wanted to talk to you two because something really big happened to me lately. I'm not quite sure how to handle it or what it means for me or us," Oswin said.

"What do you mean?" Clara asked.

Oswin explained what had just happened to her during her fight with Kali, and how she was now supposed to be the Guardian of Life. Both of her other selves looked at her in shock and said nothing.

"It makes me wonder if maybe I'm a Guardian too," Clara said without thinking.

"I hope not. I'm terrified of this whole thing. I wouldn't want to wish that on you or May. I just brought you here to have someone to talk to about this whole thing. Someone who could understand what I'm feeling right now," Oswin said.

"You said that you felt like a copy of me. I feel like a copy of you. I feel like just some last minute replacement that the universe came up with because Rose changed the timeline and took you out of it. I also feel like I'm really inadequate compared to you. I mean you're like the Queen of the bloody Daleks! Now you're like some kind of god or something too on top of that. What have I done to compare to that? Talk about an inferiority complex," Clara complained.

"You saved the Doctor. That's nothing to sneeze at," Oswin said.

"Yeah but I just did the same thing that you did originally. It's like I'm a copy just going through the motions. I feel like I'm not my own person at all but just a third rate version of you," Clara said.

"You feel third rate? What about me? I used to think that I was unique and special. Now I find out I'm a copy of someone else, and I've never been anything but that. Now that person says that she feels like a copy? That makes me feel even worse. I feel like I'm worse than nothing," May said in an upset voice.

Oswin immediately saw why she had been so angry with her, and she went to embrace her immediately. She tried to comfort her as she said, "No, you're not. You're just feeling the same kind of feelings that both of us have been having. It does make you feel like less of a person to have two other versions of yourself running around out there. It's not true about any of us, but it does make you feel that way whether it makes sense or not. I didn't know that the two of you felt that way too. I see why Rose told me to do this now, and I'm glad that she did. We did need to talk about this."

"So this was Rose's idea, huh?" Clara asked with an angry look.

"Yeah, she suggested it," Oswin admitted.

"I thought so. I'll get her back for this when she least expects it. Maybe I'll put a little something extra on her chips when she isn't looking some time," Clara said with an evil grin on her face.

"Maybe you could cook her an extra special soufflé later on," May suggested.

"That should make her regret what she's done for sure," Oswin said with a giggle.

All three of them laughed because they all knew how bad they were at making soufflés. Not that it had ever stopped them from trying before.

Suddenly Ishtar appeared before all three of them and said, "I have a mission that I need your help on."

"Me?" Oswin asked.

"No. All three of you. I think this one is going to need all of you to pull it off. Come on," Ishtar said.

"Wait a minute! Can't I at least get dressed and comb my hair first?" May complained.

"You'll be fine. Amy's first trip in the TARDIS was in her nightie, and she survived," Ishtar said as she snapped her fingers.

The three of them immediately disappeared, and Ishtar grinned to herself. She had a feeling that she had an extra special soufflé waiting for her in her future too.

Next: The adventure continues as the three different versions of Clara must work together to save the universe. They may just discover what makes them all special along the way as well.