CHAPTER 39
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!
THE GIRL WHO TIME FORGOT
Oswin had a terrible sinking feeling in her heart that she couldn't shake as she continued to fight with the Dalek Prime. It was as if she had lost something. Something very important, but she couldn't remember what. She just knew that whatever or whoever it was had left a huge hole of sorrow and despair inside of her.
Often what has been lost can be recreated by the hole that it leaves behind. A voice said in her mind.
Oswin was almost distracted by this sudden intrusion in her mind. Where had that voice come from? Who was it that had spoken?
She had no answers.
Oswin and the Dalek Prime continued to tear apart the entire landscape around them as they traded one destructive blast after another. Somehow the Dalek Prime's casing was so powerful that it could resist her most powerful attack and his own attacks were strong enough to shake her to the core every time that they struck. Where on Earth had he gotten this kind of knowledge of her powers? Only a Guardian should have the ability to do something like that.
It seemed that she had plenty of questions that she didn't have the answers to these days.
The battle between the two of them was so intense that even Ace and Dalek Caan couldn't safely intervene without the fear of being torn apart by the destructive energies being unleashed. They stood nearby ready to help but otherwise doing nothing. Ace hadn't felt so useless since she got her Vortex powers, and it just made her beyond frustrated. She just wanted to blow something, anything, up just to relieve this feeling of uselessness.
"We have to do something to save Lissa quickly before we forget her too. I don't want to lose her," Ace said worried.
"IT SEEMS TO BE INEVITABLE. PERHAPS YOUR MOTHER COULD SAVE HER OR MAYBE TIME'S ANGEL. CAN YOU TRY TO CONTACT ONE OF THEM?" Caan suggested.
"I can do it myself. I don't need them. I'm not entirely useless you know," Ace said stubbornly.
"DO YOU KNOW HOW TO BECOME UNSTUCK IN TIME AND GO TO THE PLACES IN-BETWEEN WHERE EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN FORGOTTEN LIES?" Caan asked.
"No," Ace admitted with a frown.
"I THOUGHT NOT. ONLY THE BAD WOLF OR PERHAPS HER MOST POWERFUL CHILD COULD SAVE THE RENEGADE CHILD NOW. CONTACT THEM!" Caan demanded.
"What are you two going on about?" Oswin asked while she went flying by them after having been slammed in the chest by an enormous blast of power from the Dalek Prime.
She crashed into a huge building nearby and instantly reduced it to rubble from the impact of her body being flung into it. Oswin emerged from it completely unharmed though. All that this punishment was doing to her was to make her even more angry and frustrated than she had been before.
What was going on here? She had to find out? She didn't know for sure, but she suspected that the Dalek Prime had done something to make her feel so sad. She was going to do something about that now right now. She would find it what it was that she had lost.
"What have you done to me?! What did you take from me?!" Oswin screamed as she pummeled the Prime with one powerful blast of temporal energy after another.
Enough energy to erase an entire timeline hit the Dalek, but it had no effect on him whatsoever. He only laughed just as he had continued to do the entire time that he had been fighting her.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Oswin screamed in frustration.
"SO THIS IS THE MUCH HYPED EMPRESS OF THE DALEKS. I MUST SAY THAT I'M NOT IMPRESSED. NOT AT ALL," the Dalek Prime said still laughing.
Oswin decided to compose herself. Her emotions were getting the better of her, and the Prime was using this to his advantage. So far he had been playing her like a fiddle, and that was going to stop as of now. She wasn't going to let him manipulate her anymore.
Now it was time for her to start winning. She would reclaim whatever had been stolen from her, and then she would become whole once more.
"Not impressed, eh? Well, I'll just have to change all of that. You're not exactly seeing me at my best so far I agree. You're about to find out that I'm just full of surprises when I want to be," Oswin said sounding calmer now and more in control.
The transformation in her demeanor was almost instantaneous and threw the Prime for a loop. He was taken completely by surprise and realized that it was now a whole new ballgame.
Oswin closed her eyes in concentration and suddenly turned into four Oswins instead of just one. The four Oswins soon surrounded Dalek Prime, and all of them began attacking him at once.
"Tell me, Primey, I know that your shell was designed to protect you from my power, but was it designed to fight four of me at once?" the original Oswin said.
"HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?" Dalek Prime shouted in frustration.
"It's an old trick that the Big Bad Wolf taught me. Why? Do you like it?" the second Oswin teased him.
"Maybe he'd like to know more of our secrets. We could teach him how to make a really nice soufflé," the third Oswin said.
"Yeah, we could do that except that we don't really know how to do that ourselves yet," the fourth Oswin chuckled.
"Well, then we can teach him from our mistakes, can't we?" the original Oswin responded.
"It would be nice to have a soufflé making Dalek in my little group. I haven't been able to convince any of the others to join me. How about it, Primey? We could make soufflés together all day long and braid each other's hair. We'd have a good old time," the second Oswin said laughing.
"YOU'RE MAD. COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY INSANE," Dalek Prime said in bewilderment.
"That's just what sane people say to make the rest of us feel bad," the third Oswin said.
"Yeah, you're just being a huge jerk. It's not our fault that we're a little out there. We were splintered across time and space. That's what happened to us. What's your excuse for being such a giant . . ." the fourth Oswin said.
"Language!" the original Oswin chastised her temporal duplicate.
This entire time the Dalek Prime was just barely holding out against the four Oswins, and he could already see that his casing was starting to buckle under the pressure of four Guardians, not to mention the same Guardian, firing on it at once. He knew that it was only a matter of time before she destroyed him at this rate.
He would have to pull out a new trick of his own if he wanted to survive.
The Dalek Prime decided to attempt something that even for Dalek technology was a stretch. He decided to tap into a power source that he theoretically should be able to control, but he wasn't entirely sure if he would survive the attempt. It was risky but he had to try it. The entire future of the Daleks was at stake here today.
Dalek Prime began to glow with energy and started laughing as he felt an enormous near unlimited power source at his disposal now. He started rapidly firing at all four Oswins at once as he said, "NOW I WILL FIGHT YOU WITH THE POWER OF SKARO ITSELF. I HAVE NOW TAPPED INTO THE RAW POWER AT THE CORE OF THIS PLANET. IT'S VERY APPROPRIATE SOMEHOW THAT THE VERY ESSENCE OF SKARO WILL BE USED TO DESTROY YOU AND REPEL YOU FROM ITS SURFACE!"
"I have a feeling that someone doesn't like us very much," the second Oswin joked.
"Really? Whatever gave you that idea?" the original Oswin asked sarcastically.
"Oh, I don't know. The big loon trying to kill us by endangering the entire planet just to get at us maybe," the third Oswin said.
"That would be a big clue I should think," the fourth Oswin agreed.
"YOU ARE THE ONE WHO ENDANGERS THIS PLACE JUST BY BEING HERE. YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE, FALSE EMPRESS, AND I WILL NOW EXPEL YOU FROM SKARO FOREVER AND CLEANSE IT OF YOUR FOUL PRESENCE," the Dalek Prime said as he continued to fire on the four Oswins.
"I'm not sure but I think that we've just been insulted, girls," the original Oswin said.
"Considering the source of that insult is a huge moron though I think that we can take it with a huge grain of salt," the second Oswin said.
"Do you feel that rumbling, Prime? The planet is becoming more and more unstable the longer that you tap into its essence. If you don't stop right now, you'll wind up tearing this entire world apart," the third Oswin warned.
"As in ka-boom and that's all she wrote! Ace would probably love it, but no one else will," the fourth Oswin said.
"I WILL CLEANSE OUR WORLD OF YOU! NO MATTER WHAT THE COST!" the Dalek Prime shouted.
"Okay, he's gone bye bye," the original Oswin said.
"I'll give you a news flash, Ozzie. He's been bye bye from the minute he showed up here. Now it's time to take him down and then get what he stole from us back," the second Oswin said.
"Oh, I didn't know that. Here I was just twiddling my thumbs not realizing at all that that was the plan. What do you think that we've been trying to do? So far nothing's worked though. Do any of the rest of you have any ideas?" the third Oswin said as she rolled her eyes.
"I've got one," the fourth Oswin said.
She then proceeded to turn her hand intangible and attempt to reach inside of the Dalek Prime's shell while the other three Oswins continued to attack him. She smiled as she successfully reached inside of the shell and pulled the Prime out of its casing with an enormous tug.
"All of our attacks produced just enough instability in the casing that I was able to finally pull that off. Cool!" the fourth Oswin said as she held the Dalek Prime up in her hand.
The four Oswins now merged together back into one person once again, and Oswin held Prime firmly in her hands as she said, "Now, you're completely at my mercy. How does that feel? I can and will crush you into powder if I don't get the answers that I want. What did you do to me? What did you take away?"
"YOU WON'T KILL ME. YOU'RE THE GUARDIAN OF LIFE. YOU VALUE IT TOO MUCH TO TAKE IT AWAY SO LIGHTLY. IT'S AGAINST YOUR NATURE TO KILL UNLESS YOU FIND IT NECESSARY. DON'T TRY TO BLUFF ME, OSWIN OSWALD!" the Dalek Prime said smugly.
"I'm not bluffing. I'll turn you into a soufflé if you don't start talking soon. I want whoever you took from me back, and I want them back now. I also want to know how you remember them and I don't," Oswin demanded as she started to squeeze Prime harder and harder in her hands.
"I WAS SPECIALLY TREATED TO BE ABLE TO RESIST THE WEAPON'S EFFECTS. I WOULDN'T USE A WEAPON THAT WOULD ERASE ME TOO AFTER ALL. THAT'S JUST STUPID," Dalek Prime said.
"No, stupid is continuing to not help someone who literally holds your life in their hands," Oswin said as she squeezed him harder.
"YOU WON'T DO IT. YOU'RE TOO DECENT. YOU DON'T HAVE THE HEART," Prime said confidently.
"I WOULD. I CAN TURN YOU TO DUST WITH ONE WELL PLACED SHOT WITHOUT EVEN TOUCHING THE EMPRESS," Dalek Caan said as he came up to them with his gun stick trained on Prime.
Oswin smiled as she said, "You heard what he said. Talk."
"I ERASED YOUR FRIEND, LISSA, THE DAUGHTER OF MARISSA QUEEN AND KOSCHEI. SHE'S GONE NOW. SHE LOVED YOU LIKE A SECOND MOTHER AND YOU LOVED HER, AND NOW YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER HER. SHE SACRIFICIED HERSELF SAVING YOUR LIFE, AND NOW YOU'LL NEVER REMEMBER HER AGAIN. EVEN THOUGH I MAY DIE TODAY, I STILL WIN! I WIN!" the Dalek Prime said with hysterical laughter.
"I learned a long time ago that if something can be remembered that it can be brought back," a soft voice said behind Oswin.
She turned to see a woman approaching her. She couldn't see the woman's face though because her entire body was glowing like the sun. Every time she tried to see her face she was nearly blinded by the intensity of her power.
"Who are you?" Oswin asked suspiciously.
"I KNOW HER. SHE IS THE ONE KNOWN AS THE GREAT ONE. NO ONE KNOWS HER TRUE NAME OR ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT HER THOUGH. SHE IS REPUTED TO BE A GENTLE, KIND SOUL BY ALL ACCOUNTS AND HELPS ALL THOSE IN TROUBLE," Dalek Caan said.
"I try my best to," the Great One said.
"That was you. The voice in my head earlier," Oswin realized.
"Yes, it was. I came here to help you, Clara. I came to help restore what was lost," the Great One said.
"How do you know my real name?" Oswin asked disturbed.
"Don't worry, Clara. I'm a friend. I'm more than that actually. Much more," the Great One said.
"I don't care who you are. I just want this Lissa person back. I have a giant hole in my heart where she used to be. I don't remember her, but I know that she was important to me. Will you help me?" Oswin implored.
"Lissa was important to many of us not just you. Of course I'll help you. Take my hand and I will carry you into the spaces in-between," the Great One said.
Oswin took her hand and instantly felt as if she were in the presence of someone very familiar to her.
"Rose?" Oswin asked.
"No, but thank you for the compliment," the Great One said in an amused voice.
"You know Rose?" Oswin asked.
"Oh, yes. There's no one that I respect more. Well, almost no one," the Great One said.
"Why am I not surprised? Is there like a clubhouse where you glowing women hang out or something?" Oswin said trying to joke but not really having the heart for it right now.
"Let's go, Clara. Caan, you stay behind and tell Dorothy when she gets back that Oswin has the help that she needs," the Great One said.
Oswin left the Dalek Prime with Caan, and then the two of them vanished. Dalek Caan stood there in disbelief as Ace reappeared at that exact moment with a panicked look on her face.
"I can't find anyone. They're all off doing who knows what. What are we going to do?" Ace asked.
"THE EMPRESS ALREADY FOUND SOMEONE TO HELP HER. I HOPE," Caan said.
"Who? Who was it?" Ace asked.
"WHO WAS WHAT?" Caan asked suddenly confused. What had they just been talking about?
"I don't know. I don't remember what I was asking you about now. Where did Oswin go?" Ace asked.
"I . . . DON'T REMEMBER. SHE WAS VERY UPSET ABOUT SOMETHING EARLIER, BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS NOW. MAYBE THAT'S WHY SHE'S NOT HERE," Caan said.
"Well, you just have all the answers, don't you?" Ace said in irritation.
"I HAVE THE DALEK PRIME. DOES THAT HELP?" Caan said as he held Prime up in his suction cupped arm.
"Where did Oswin go, Prime? Spill it," Ace ordered.
"I'M NOT TELLING YOU ANYTHING. I HOPE THAT SHE NEVER COMES BACK FROM THERE THOUGH," the Dalek Prime said.
"Never comes back from where? Tell me what's going on, you little scumbag!" Ace demanded.
The Dalek Prime's only response was to laugh. His laughter quickly ended though when Ace's eyes glowed, and there was an extremely loud explosion.
It wasn't noticed by anyone else but the three of them though because there were already too many other explosions going on all around them from the siege of Skaro. This battle was far from over with.
Meanwhile in the space in-between worlds where all forgotten things go, Oswin and the Great One searched for Lissa. Oswin shivered as she realized that if it wasn't for Rose that she would have wound up being stuck here forever herself when her timeline was erased.
"She would never have let that happen to you," the Great One said as if being able to read her thoughts somehow.
"Now you're officially scaring me. Who are you and how do you know me so well?" Oswin asked.
"I can read body language pretty well sometimes, mi amiga," the Great One said.
"Oh, so you speak Spanish now, too?" Oswin said rolling her eyes.
"I speak many languages," the Great One said.
"I have a feeling if I looked up enigmatic in the dictionary I'd see a picture of you there," Oswin said.
The Great One laughed good naturedly but said nothing. Oswin smiled. She trusted her whoever she was. She could definitely say that for sure now even if she couldn't say why.
As Oswin walked around in the white void that made up this world, she passed by several people and things that she didn't recognize and some that looked vaguely familiar to her even though she couldn't quite place them. She even passed a few weeping angels who seemed to be non-threatening, but she keep her eyes on them until she was out of sight of them just to make sure.
Finally they came upon a girl who looked familiar to Oswin even though she didn't remember her. This had to be her.
"Give in to me, child. You know that you need me in order to leave here. Let me have your body and free me. Free me!" a voice said in Oswin's mind.
Oswin found that voice more than familiar. She had never heard it before outside of someone else's body, but she knew it for what it was instantly regardless.
"I won't let you use me. I'd rather stay here forever then do that. I won't you back out of here no matter what it costs me personally," Lissa said.
"You want to go home though, don't you? You want to be with your friends and family once again, don't you?" the Great Intelligence asked taunting her.
"More than anything but not at the cost of letting you back out again. I'll stay here forever if it keeps them safe from you," Lissa said.
"How noble! Defending people who don't even remember you now," the Intelligence said.
"Leave her alone," Oswin finally said revealing her presence now that she was sure that this was Lissa.
"Oswin!" Lissa said as her face lit up with joy and she ran to her friend.
"That's not possible. You shouldn't be able to remember her now," the disembodied voice of the Intelligence said in Oswin's mind.
"I don't but I do feel an enormous feeling of loss that I know comes from her. Luckily for me, I had a little help to guide me here," Oswin said as she looked at the Great One.
"You! So this is when . . ." Lissa started to say to the Great One.
"Shh! Spoilers!" the Great One said.
"Oh, yeah. She doesn't know yet," Lissa said.
"Doesn't know what? Are you River?" Oswin asked confused.
The Great One and Lissa both erupted into laughter at that as Lissa said, "Her?! She's the furthest person from River Song that I could imagine."
"You know her," Oswin realized.
"Yes. You don't remember me though, do you?" Lissa asked in a hurt tone.
"She's been very upset, Lissa. Her heart remembers you even if her mind doesn't," the Great One said.
"I'm sorry that I don't remember. I really am. Will that change when we go back?" Oswin asked.
"Yes, as soon as she returns with us, the timelines will be realigned, and she'll automatically be put back into her proper place in time and space once again. Everyone will remember her then including you," the Great One said.
"Good. Let's go then," Oswin said.
The Great One grabbed both Oswin's and Lissa's hands in hers and teleported away. The Great Intelligence screamed in agony as he saw that he had missed his chance and was now trapped her alone again for the rest of eternity.
Nearby though, someone else was about to get their own chance to leave this place. Someone who had been here far longer than the Great Intelligence had.
The War Lord, who led a group of time travelers who wanted to invade and conquer all of time and space, appeared in front of the small group of Weeping Angels who Oswin had seen earlier. They were all mostly dead now after having had nothing to eat for so long. One of the Angels was still alive though. Just barely.
"Would you like to be free?" the War Lord asked the Angel.
This Angel unlike others could actually speak and said, "Of course. I would do anything to gain my revenge on the man who put me here, the Doctor."
"Good. That's just what I wanted to hear. Join me then and you'll get that chance. Do you agree?" the War Lord asked.
"I do. I'll do whatever you ask as long as I get to destroy the Doctor in the end," the Angel said.
"Good, come with me then. What do you want me to call you by the way?" the War Lord asked.
"Bob will do just fine," the Angel said.
Back in the regular universe, Oswin remembered Lissa as soon as the three of them came back together. She grabbed Lissa and hugged her tightly as she started to cry with joy.
"I'm sorry that I forgot. I'm so sorry," Oswin said.
"It's okay. It wasn't your fault," Lissa said with a huge smile on her face. She was so glad to be back and even happier about being remembered.
"Don't you ever do something like that again! Not ever," Oswin said as she continued to hug her dear friend tightly.
"Believe me. After what I just experienced, I wasn't planning on it," Lissa said.
"I never knew just how much that you meant to me until you were gone. You're so special, Lissa. Don't you ever forget that," Oswin said.
Lissa smiled. This was why she had been able to survive her terrible teenage years. Oswin had constantly been telling her this, and she always had a way of making her believe it. Just like she was making her believe it now.
"You're not so bad yourself, Clara," Lissa said hugging her back.
"Lissa!" Ace said as she joined in the hug now.
Dalek Caan stood by himself off to the side but was happy for them nonetheless. The Great One came to stand by him and said, "I think that if you stay with them long enough you'll be joining in those group hugs very soon now. Well, at least you'll try to anyway. It's a little hard to get your arms around a Dalek."
"THANK YOU FOR HELPING HER, WHOEVER YOU ARE," Dalek Caan said.
"Don't mention it. I guess I'll be going now. This won't be the last that you see of me though I think. Why don't you stay here with Oswin and help her for a while?" the Great One asked.
"I WILL STAY TO HELP FIGHT OFF THE INVASION OF SKARO," Caan said.
"No, I mean that you should stay after that. She could use your help from time to time to fight off the renegades. You can warn her about their attacks even before they happen," the Great One said.
"I'M NOT SURE THAT'S WHAT THE WOLF WANTS," Caan said.
"Trust me, Caan, it is. I can say that with absolute surety," the Great One said in an amused voice.
"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW? YOU'RE NOT THE WOLF," Caan said.
"No, but I know her well enough to speak for her I think. Think about it anyway, Caan. See you later," the Great One said as she suddenly vanished.
"She's a weird one but I like her," Oswin said.
"You would. You always go for the goody goodys. Luckily for me, you go for us evil types too," Lissa said.
"You're not evil, Lissa. You've never been evil," Oswin assured her as she kissed her forehead.
"When you say it, I almost believe you," Lissa said smiling in contentment.
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING STANDING AROUND FOR? THE PLANET IS STILL UNDER ATTACK!" Dalek Epsilon said as he suddenly teleported next to them
"Well, I wanted to celebrate getting my friend back and beating the Dalek Prime. I think I deserve that. Show him Prime, Caan," Oswin said.
Dalek Caan showed Epsilon a smoking groaning Prime, and Oswin's eyes bugged out in surprise. What had happened to him? Then she saw the guilty look on Ace's face and instantly had her answer.
"HE GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT WITH ACE, AND SHE DIDN'T TAKE IT VERY WELL," Caan explained.
"IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT YOU HAVE THEIR LEADER. THEY'RE STILL COMING REGARDLESS OF THAT. YOU STILL NEED TO LEAD US TO VICTORY OR THEY'RE GOING TO OVERWHELM US. THEY HAVE COPIES OF YOUR FRIEND ANGIE'S MIND GUILDING THEM FROM THEIR DALEK NET. WE NEED ANOTHER HUMAN MIND TO HELP COUNTERACT THEM," Epsilon said.
"Well, why didn't you say so? Let's go, Eppy," Oswin said with a wicked grin.
"YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME YET, EMPRESS. YOU REALLY DO DRIVE ME UP THE WALL AS THE HUMANS SAY," Epsilon said with the Dalek equivalent of a sigh.
"I don't mean to. It just kind of happens. You know my dad used to say the same thing to me growing up," Oswin said mischievously.
"I NEVER THOUGHT THAT THE DAY WOULD COME," Epsilon said in surprise.
"What are you talking about? What day?" Oswin asked.
"THE DAY THAT I WOULD SYMPATHETIZE WITH AND HAVE PITY FOR A HUMAN. THAT POOR MAN," Epsilon said.
Oswin laughed at him and kissed the top of his casing. Then she prepared to do battle for the fate of her home. She wasn't about to let the renegades undo everything that she had done here. She was going to go out there and protect her children from them or die trying.
Next: Oswin leads her children (aw!) in the battle against the renegades even as she finds out that they've gotten a little help from a certain someone. The same someone who helped the Dalek Prime to become nearly immune to Oswin's powers in fact. It kind of makes you wonder how this person knows so much about Guardians, doesn't it?