CHAPTER 30

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THE THREE CLARAS PART 2

This chapter is set just before the current storyline in The Adventures of Rose Tyler involving May.

Oswin, Clara, and May all materialized in a deserted alley at night and looked about them in wonder. It looked like they were back in the Victorian Era from the looks of it.

Clara and Oswin looked at each other in surprise, and they could both tell that the other was wondering the same thing. Was this the same time and place that the other Clara, the one who was both a barmaid and a governess, had come from?

That question was soon answered as a young girl came running toward Clara shouting, "Clara!"

"Do you know her?" May asked Clara.

"Well, yes and no," Clara said as the girl came crashing into Clara hugging her tightly.

"She certainly seems to know you," May said with a giggle.

"Clara, how are you alive? Never mind. I don't care. I'm so glad that you are," the girl said as she began to cry with joy.

"Francesca, I'm not who you think I am. I mean I am Clara Oswald, but I'm not the Clara that you knew," Clara said.

Francesca Latimer looked at Clara in complete confusion as she said, "Yes, you are. I know you are. You have to be. You're just like her. Why did you pretend to be dead? Was it because you didn't want to be with us anymore?"

"Your Clara wasn't pretending. She actually did die, Frannie. She lives on through me though. She was a part of me so that's how I know that she didn't want to leave you, sweetie. She loved you very much," Clara said.

"I don't understand," Francesca said with a pain-filled expression on her face.

"Frannie, where did you run off to? Frannie?" Digby Latimer, Francesca's brother, said as he came running into the alley.

He saw Francesca with Clara and stood there in shock. He couldn't believe his eyes and thought for sure that he must be seeing things.

"Clara?" Digby said in a low voice.

"Wonderful," Clara said to herself.

Then both Latimer children noticed that Clara wasn't alone for the first time as they saw Oswin and May standing a few feet behind her. Francesca looked at Oswin in shock as she realized that she and Clara looked exactly alike. Now she was really confused not to mention extremely upset. She began to shake all over as she wondered if she were losing her mind or not.

"It's okay, sweetie. It's okay. You're not crazy. It's alright," Clara said in a gentle voice as she embraced Francesca and lightly rubbed the top of her head in an attempt to calm her down.

"Is this some kind of cruel trick?" Digby said in an angry voice.

"If it is a trick, it's being played on us not you," Oswin said as she silently cursed Ishtar for sending them here of all places.

"Why do you two look exactly like Clara, and why is she only half dressed with her hair uncombed?" Digby asked.

"Blasted Ishtar! I told her to give me time to get dressed," May complained.

"Cool it, will you? You not being dressed is the least of our problems," Oswin said as she gestured at May and her eyes and hands glowed for a moment.

Everyone gasped in shock as May was suddenly dressed up just like Clara with her hair fully combed out and fixed to be exactly identical to Clara's hairstyle. May looked at Oswin in shock even as Oswin looked down at her hands in amazement.

"Did I just do that?" Oswin asked with her mouth hanging open.

"The question is how did you do that?" Clara asked.

"I don't know. I just had a passing thought that I wished that May could get dressed up so that she'd stop complaining and then she was. Okay, I'm officially freaking out," Oswin said in a shaky voice.

"It's okay, Oswin. Calm down. It must be one of your new Guardian powers in action," May said.

"I think so yeah. It's just so freaky though. My slightest wish becomes reality, and I didn't even realize that I was doing it. What if I accidentally hurt someone because I become angry with them for a second?" Oswin asked in terror.

"You won't. I know you won't. You're too nice to do anything like that even subconsciously," May said as she tried to reassure her.

"Is this what Rose feels like?" Oswin wondered to herself.

"Did that really just happen?" Francesca asked in shock.

"Yes, it did. It shocked me too, Frannie. I have to admit that I didn't see that one coming any more than you did," Clara said.

"Who are you people? What are you up to?" Digby asked suspiciously as he started to pull his sister away from Clara.

"No, let go!" Francesca protested.

"Don't you get it? She's not really Clara, Frannie. She's trying to trick you for some reason. Come on. Let's get out of here," Digby said as he tried to get Francesca to leave with him.

"What are you two doing out this late at night by yourselves for anyway?" Oswin asked.

Clara's eyes widened, and she almost slapped her forehead as she realized that she hadn't even thought to ask this question herself. She must be slipping in her nanny skills. Then again she had been plucked down here with no clue where she was and was then immediately faced with two children who knew her from another life but who were for all intents and purposes complete strangers to her so maybe she could be forgiven for being a little out of it for a while.

Well, um, that's a good question, isn't it?" Digby asked defensively.

"Yes, it is. What are you doing out by yourselves? If you hadn't come across us, then you might have gotten killed or worse," Clara said with a reproachful but also worried tone in her voice.

The two children looked at each other and then Francesca said, "Our father got sick and passed away not too long ago. We've been staying with relatives, but they're not the nicest of people. We ran away."

"How long have you been by yourselves like this?" Oswin asked with concern in her voice.

"A few days," Francesca said.

"How could you do this? Have you even had anything to eat lately?" Clara asked as she immediately went into full nanny mode.

"Not for a while, no," Digby admitted.

"Maybe that's why Ishtar brought us here. Maybe we were supposed to rescue the kids," Oswin suggested.

"It took three of us to do that?" May asked in an unconvinced voice.

"Yeah, I have to admit that doesn't make a lot of sense. What else could it be though? The kids showed up as soon as we did," Oswin said.

"Maybe the kids are in danger from something or someone. Maybe that's it," May wondered.

"Well there was that strange girl that's been following us around. She seemed nice though. She even offered to buy us something to eat, but Digby was too proud to take her help," Francesca said.

"She's been following you?" May asked in concern.

"Yes, for the last few days. Everywhere we go, there she is. It's like she's been watching us. I've been a little uneasy about her to be honest. She might be trying to murder us in our sleep or something," Digby said.

"Or maybe she's trying to help you. What does she look like?" Oswin asked.

"She looks very strange. She wears a black jacket covered in all kinds of strange looking badges, and she says odd things like 'brill' and 'wicked' all of the time. I have to admit that I don't understand what she's saying half of the time,' Francesca said.

"She's weird is what she is. She's always talking about blowing things up all of the time," Digby said.

"Ace!" the three Claras said to each other with a huge grin on their faces.

"Do you know her?" Francesca asked in surprise.

"Yes, she's a friend of ours. What she's doing here though I have no idea," Oswin said.

"Well, why don't you ask her then?" Ace said as she walked into the alley with a big smile.

"Did Ishtar send you here too?" Oswin asked.

"No, I came on my own because I was worried about you three," Ace said.

"Are you sure that you weren't just using this as an excuse to get away from Rose because she's mad at you?" Oswin asked with a grin.

Ace grinned but said nothing which the three Claras immediately took as a yes. Then they were all shocked to see Janine come running up to Ace.

"Janine, what are you doing here?" Oswin asked in a furious voice as she looked at Ace with a glare on her face.

"She came by accident, Oswin, I promise. I didn't mean to bring her along. I started to leave to go after you three after I felt you all leave at the same time because I wondered what was up. Just as I left, the Munchkin here just grabbed ahold of me and went along for the ride. Right after that, I ran into these two and knew that they needed someone to watch over them so I've been following them ever since," Ace said.

"You've had Janine with you for days and never brought her back? Peri's going to kill you; and if she doesn't, I will!" Oswin asked as she became even angrier than she had been before.

"Oswin, wait! It hasn't been days. Dorothy's been jumping us through time. She keeps taking us to different points in those two kids' lives for some reason. She won't tell me why though," Janine said in a slightly peeved voice.

"Sorry, Munchkin, I didn't mean to go all Professor on you and be dark and mysterious. I know how much I hate it when he does that to me. I just felt like that I should keep an eye on those two for some reason. I don't know why myself," Ace said.

"Well if Ace was already here, then why did we need to come for?" May wondered.

May was grabbed from behind and held up in the air dangling from one incredibly strong hand as the Black Guardian said, "It was probably old Ari's idea of a joke. I mean really! Did she actually think that the three of you could defeat me?"

"Let her down, scumbag!" Ace said.

The Black Guardian chucked as she said, "So many Claras! I can hardly keep up. Let's do a roll call here, shall we? We have the shattered Time Lady Clara who was so broken by the Time War that she ran and hid on Earth as a pathetic human, we have the current Clara who can do nothing but stand in the shadow of her original self and do a pretty poor job of it at that, and then we have the original Clara who doesn't even have an identity of her own anymore and has become a jack of all trades as far as who she is goes. So who are we pretending to be today, Oswin? Are you the companion who never was? Are you the Doctor's wannabe companion from the future who nearly got turned into his enemy instead? Are you the Empress of the Daleks? Or are you the inept and very ineffectual Guardian in training today? Come on, Ossie! Pick a personality and stick with it already! You're pathetic! All of you are!"

"Let her go!" Oswin shouted.

"Okay. I don't really want her anyway. I just wanted to pay her back for her interference in one of my plans a while back. This is for helping to undo Eris' perfect life a while back, Cydonia!" the Black Guardian said as she threw May into Clara and knocked them both down in one move.

The Black Guardian then teleported directly behind Digby Latimer and grabbed him by the shoulders as she said, "This is who I really wanted. Can you guess why?"

Oswin stared at her in confusion for a moment until something that the Doctor once told her about clicked into place in her mind as she said, "Oh, no! Latimer! Your last name is Latimer!"

"What about it?" Francesca asked in a panic as she looked at Oswin with sheer terror on her face for her brother.

"Tell her, Oswin. Let's invite everyone to share in the fun together," the Black Guardian said as her grip on Digby's shoulders tightened causing him to cry out in fear and pain.

"He's the father of Timothy Latimer, isn't he?" Oswin guessed.

"Got it in one try! You're getting better at this wannabe companion gig, aren't you? Maybe you should stick with that," the Black Guardian taunted her.

"Timothy Latimer? Who's that?" May asked as she got off of Clara and stood up.

Clara immediately stood up by herself in shock as she said, "He's the boy who protected the Doctor's fob watch and kept it from getting into the hands of the Family of Blood back in 1913. Digby is his dad?"

"Oh, yes. He won't be though if I kill him, will he? Then there will be no Tim there to protect the Doctor's precious watch. It will fall into the hands of the Family of Blood, and then the Doctor will die while they become immortal. Talk about chaos!" the Black Guardian said with undisguised glee in her voice.

"Let him go right now!" Ace shouted.

"Oh, shut up!" the Black Guardian said as she gestured at Ace and telekinetically threw her into a wall.

As Ace fell to the ground and didn't get back up, Oswin's eyes glowed with power; and a golden burst of energy shot out of her hands directly into the Black Guardian's body. The Black Guardian groaned out loud in pain but yet laughed at the same time.

"That's very good for a beginner. It's not quite good enough though. It's nowhere near powerful enough to stop me from breaking this boy's neck!" the Black Guardian said as she started to apply extreme pressure to the young boy's head.

Clara shouted at May, "Open your fob watch now!"

May did so without hesitation; and as soon as it started to glow with energy, Clara ordered, "Cydonia, take her down with a mind blast!"

The combined psychic power of thousands of Claras was amplified through the mind of Cydonia that was contained inside of the watch and came pouring into the Black Guardian's brain even as Oswin started to attack her with her gauntlets instead of with her untrustworthy new powers. At the same time, Clara ran to Digby and jerked him out of the Black Guardian's grasp as she pulled him to safety.

Clara took Digby, Francesca, and Janine with her a couple of feet away to a safe distance from the fight even as Janine protested.

"Let me go! I want to see if Dorothy's okay," Janine said in an upset voice.

"She's fine. Ace is tough. I mean if she can handle Fenric and the Cybermen then one little Guardian certainly isn't going to be much of a challenge," Clara said as she tried to calm Janine down.

Francesca looked at Clara with a smile as she said, "It is you. I know it is now. I was feeling absolutely terrified, and now I feel safe. Only the real Clara could make me that calm in a time like this."

The Black Guardian screamed in agony but still refused to give up as she started to blast Oswin and May with dark blasts of energy from her hands. May fell to the ground unconscious from the blast, and her watch closed cutting her off from her other self.

Oswin's force field protected her from the blast for now, but she could tell from the strain on it that it wouldn't for much longer. It was already beginning to overheat.

"Hey, BG! You seem to be full of stress. You'd better let it all out or you might just explode!" Ace suddenly said from behind her.

The Black Guardian exploded into a million pieces as Ace grinned in triumph. She loved ending the day with a good bang!

Her smile was quickly wiped from her face though as the Black Guardian reformed her body behind her and grabbed her by the throat. She picked her up and started to throw her across the alley again when Oswin suddenly started glowing with golden energy once more.

The Black Guardian screamed and quickly dropped Ace to the ground as her life force started being completely drained by the new Gold Guardian's power. Oswin smiled as the Black Guardian suddenly fell to the ground on her knees and could barely stay upright.

"No," the Black Guardian said in a weak voice.

"I'd say that I'm doing pretty good for a 'Guardian in training', wouldn't you?" Oswin said.

The Valeyard then suddenly appeared out of nowhere wearing a Vortex Manipulator and grabbed the Black Guardian's hand. The two of them then quickly vanished as the Valeyard took the Black Guardian away to safety.

"It's over," Oswin said in relief.

"How did you do that?" Clara asked in surprise.

"I don't know. I just did. It seems to come to me when I need it the most," Oswin said in a slightly scared voice.

"If you ever need anyone to talk to about it, I'm here," Clara offered.

"That goes for me too," May said as she slowly got up in a weakened state.

Clara went to help her up as Oswin said, "Thanks."

"What happens to us now? I don't want to go back to where I was. Those people didn't want us there. I'd rather be somewhere else," Digby protested.

Oswin thought about it and said, "Clara, don't you think that Madame Vastra could help? She might know someone nice who would want two children to love."

"I'm sure that she could arrange something. Let's go see her," Clara said.

It turned out that Vastra was able to arrange for someone to adopt the Latimer children after all. They were a wealthy landowner and his wife who seemed to take to the two of them right away.

When Clara felt as if the children were happy and would be well taken care of, she quickly left without saying good bye. Oswin almost smiled. Clara was becoming more and more like the Doctor every day.

"Why didn't you say anything to them?" Oswin said even though she knew the answer before she even asked the question.

"It would hurt too much. I already had to leave them once," Clara admitted.

Oswin smiled as she saw a fast-moving blur suddenly come running up to Clara and hug her. Francesca held Clara in a tight embrace for a few moments without speaking and then she finally said, "Please come back and visit sometime."

Clara looked at Oswin who nodded and then she said, "I will. I'll see you around, Frannie."

"I'll see you later, Miss Montague," Francesca said as she kissed Clara's cheek and then quickly left without looking back.

"Miss Montague?" Ace asked with a grin.

"It's a long story. I was a governess once. Well, one of me was a governess once anyway," Clara said.

"Huh?" Janine said.

"You'll learn to just smile and nod sometimes when the Doctor's friends talk, Munchkin. It's better that way," Ace said with a chuckle.

"Oh, great! I'm just like him now, aren't I?" Clara asked with a sigh.

"No, of course not! Not yet anyway. Although I am looking for you to start wearing a bow tie any day now though," Oswin joked.

"Can we go home now? My head's been killing me ever since Cydonia did whatever it was that you told her to do," May said to Clara.

"I have to admit that I'd really love to go back myself. I never did get to finish that soufflé," Clara said.

"Let's all go then. Should I do it or do you want the honors, Ace?" Oswin asked with a grin.

"Why don't you do it and get some more of that training that the BG seems to think that you need?" Ace said with a giggle.

"Okay. Fine by me," Oswin said as she started to glow with energy and snapped her fingers.

As all of them started to fade away and return to the present, Clara said, "Show off!"

Next: Oswin's new powers start to display themselves more and more as she has to protect the children at the time travelers' school from an insidious new threat that seeks to claim one of them for its own. Also John Harkness returns because he hasn't quite given up on Oswin just yet. Will she show any interest in him at all?