CHAPTER 50

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A PROMISE KEPT AFTER ALL

Oswin shuddered as she heard the screams of everyone on the TARDIS reaching her even in the Console Room. This just pressed home to her even more the urgency of her situation as she used the TARDIS' sensors to attempt to locate the psychic parasite that was driving the entire planet insane.

"Those rooms should be soundproof. The TARDIS wants me to hear this. It's just as worried about them as I am, and it's trying to get me to hurry up. Okay! I get the message," Oswin said in an upset and annoyed tone.

"I'm sorry. I wish I was more useful," Angela said with a sad face.

Oswin didn't really know the young woman that well yet, but she could already tell that she was worried and frightened. She acted a lot like a child despite her mature appearance, and Oswin wondered if this was why she had called her Angela. Maybe subconsciously she had reminded her of Angie Maitland.

Oswin smiled encouragingly at her as she said, "It's okay, Angel Girl, you've only been alive less than an hour. I'm not expecting much."

Then she paused and said, "I didn't mean that in a bad way."

Angela actually smiled for a moment as she said, "I wasn't offended, Empress."

"Well, at least you've got a sense of humor. That's certainly a good start. Don't you worry about anything, Angie. I'll take care of it," Oswin said as she tried to make her new friend feel better.

Angela nodded and began to look visibly relaxed by Oswin's display of confidence. Oswin only wished that she felt as confident as she sounded. She was sure that if Angela wasn't here that she'd probably already be falling apart right now.

She couldn't allow herself to do that though. Not with Angela and everyone else on Skaro needing her to remain strong.

That feeling of despair only became worse when the sensors finally told her where the parasite was. It was in the middle of the Dalek capitol. In fact it was in her throne room, the very place that she had once told the Daleks not to build for her. She sighed as soon as she realized it.

"Well, this is going to be fun. The whole place will be covered with fear crazed Daleks and probably Thals too. It's days like this that I wish I hadn't invaded Skaro, Angie. How would you like to be the new ruler of Skaro instead while I go back to Clara's home and crash?" Oswin joked.

Angela shook her head and laughed but said nothing.

"You're very shy aren't you, Angie? I'm going to have to try and work on that. I think what you need is to get to know more people and expand your social circle. So guess what we're going to do? That's right, Ange. We're going to get up close and personal with a whole horde of people who will be out to kill us. Doesn't that sound like fun? If that doesn't cure your shyness, then nothing will. Are you ready?" Oswin asked.

Angela grinned as she said, "You make it sound so appealing. How could I say no?"

"Well, well. You really do have a sense of humor. Let's do this then or as a dear friend of mine likes to say: Geronimo!" Oswin said as she dematerialized the TARDIS and set the coordinates for her throne room.

The TARDIS soon materialized in no time, and she was suddenly glad that she had spent all of that time learning how to use first the Doctor's TARDIS and then Marissa's. She wasn't exactly as good as Marissa yet, but she was sure that she was already way better than Chin Boy.

Not that that was much of an accomplishment.

"Just to give you an incentive to come back out alive, I'll make you a nice tasty soufflé to eat if we make it out of this in one piece," Oswin said just before she opened the TARDIS doors.

"That's supposed to make me want to survive?" Angela joked.

"Oi! You're just as bad as everyone else," Oswin said with a grin.

"Thank you. You actually made me feel like we might come out of this alive," Angela said as she became serious.

"That's my job, Ange. I learned it from the best. Are you ready?" Oswin asked.

"As I'll ever be," Angela said.

Oswin nodded as she flung open the doors and charged her gauntlets up ready for anything. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next though.

The throne room was filled with screaming Daleks and Thals who were attacking each other. Only this wasn't a regular attack in any way, shape, or form. Both sides were firing wildly in all directions and completely destroying not only their enemies but everything else around them as well. Oswin's force field automatically went up and Angela created one for herself as well as several powerful attacks almost hit them in the first five seconds since they had arrived there.

The whole place was being torn apart and Oswin knew that if this lasted much longer that the roof would collapse on all of them. She had to act quickly before it was too late to save anyone.

Then she saw her objective sitting on her throne itself of all places as if it were deliberately mocking her. The parasite looked almost insect-like with many large segmented legs, a chitinous exoskeleton covering most of its body, and a large head with giant eyes and sharp mandibles where its mouth should be. It almost looked as if it was smiling as it turned to look at Oswin as soon as she spotted it.

Hello, mighty Empress of the Daleks. Or maybe I should say the former Empress. No one can reach them now except for me. They're mine now and will remain so until their hearts finally give out. You're mine too whether you wish to admit it or not. I don't know how you're protecting yourself from me but it won't last. Sooner or later, you'll fall victim to your greatest fears too. Everyone always does. The parasite said telepathically.

Oswin smiled as she said, "No, not this time. This time I have a weapon that I bet no one ever used against you before. Angela, move closer to him."

As Angela slowly moved towards him through the fighting throngs of Daleks and Thals, the parasite began to howl in pain. The parasite could already feel itself weakening as Angela's pureness began blocking its access to the turmoil going on all around it.

"It won't work, Clara Oswald. Not if she can't reach me," The parasite said.

Suddenly the Daleks and the Thals alike started to turn towards Angela and look at her in fear. Clara realized what was about to happen next as she shouted a warning to Angela. Angela strengthened her force field to its maximum level just before everyone in the room except for Oswin opened fire on her at once.

Angela's face filled with fear as Daleks and Thals quickly surrounded her on all sides and blocked her from Oswin's sight as they beat on and shot her force field in an attempt to break through it. She began shouting for help immediately as she started to panic.

"Don't worry, Angie! Just keep walking. Keep moving forward no matter what," Oswin said.

Oswin could see her starting to do exactly that as the mass of Daleks and Thals gathered around her started slowly moving along with her bit by bit as she moved forward one inch at a time. Oswin tried to help her as much as she could by attacking the others bothering her with her gauntlets and picked them off one at a time.

After several minutes of this, she could just barely see a bit of Angela again through the lessening crowd of attackers around her. This encouraged her to keep attacking them even harder.

"Come on, Angel Girl. Keep going. You'll get that soufflé yet," Oswin said.

"I don't want a soufflé. I'm not even sure what one is," Angela said.

"It's probably just as well. No one seems to be able to eat one of mine anyway. Actually one of my Daleks did try to eat a whole one once just to be nice to me. He should be recovering any day now. So if you don't want a soufflé, what do you want?" Oswin asked as she picked off more and more attackers.

"I don't know. How about . . . a friend? I have Mother Marissa and Father Davros, but I don't really have a friend yet," Angela said as she slowly moved forward and made the parasite scream more and more just by her mere presence.

"Oh, I think I can guarantee you plenty of friends, Ange. I'm going to claim the honor of being your first one though if you'd like that," Oswin said.

"Yes. Yes, I would. Thank you, Oswin. Oh, sorry. I meant Empress," Angela said.

"No, you were right the first time, Ange. My close friends call me Clara though," Oswin said as she knocked more people away from Angela by the moment.

"Thank you, Clara," Angela said as she could feel herself moving faster now without so many crazied Daleks and Thals weighing her down.

The parasite began to panic now as it could already feel so weak that it was beginning to grow groggy. It knew that it would fall asleep if Angela drew any closer to it so now it pulled out one last trick in order to save itself.

The parasite got off of the throne and raced past Angela and her remaining attackers. It didn't stop until it finally reached Oswin. Then it leapt upon her and clamped its mandibles on the surprised Oswin's shoulder. It had completely taken her by surprise since she hadn't been watching it at all due to her determination to free Angela.

Oswin screamed in fear as the parasite's power now began to affect her once more through its bite. Even Angela couldn't protect her from its direct influence, and she was now subject to its full power all at once.

Oswin began to see more hallucations as all of her greatest fears began to be played out before her mind's eye. She saw her father rejecting her once again, John leaving her for someone else and breaking her heart, the Daleks all dying or even worse becoming filled with pure hatred once more, and then she saw the worst one of them all.

Her entire world completely vanished, and she saw nothing but darkness all around her. She now had no idea where she was, and she couldn't find her way out.

"Where am I? I don't know where I am. Please help me!" Oswin shouted in fear.

No matter how far she walked though she couldn't see anyone or anything that she recognized. She was hopelessly lost and there was no way to get back out again in sight.

"Someone help me. I don't know where I am, and I can't find my way home. Please help me," Oswin said in tears.

No one answered and no amount of walking provided her with a way out. Oswin finally collapsed in a pool of tears and became desperate as her mother's words to her when she was a little girl ran through her memory once more. Her mother had always promised her that if she ever became lost that she would come and find her no matter where she was.

"Mum? Are you there, Mum? Mum, please help me!" Oswin shouted as she began to completely panic now.

Back in the real world, Angela became furious at the tortured sobs coming from Oswin and began flinging her attackers off of her with a strength that she didn't even realize that she had as she desperately tried to make her way to her side. She was still much too far away to reach her though, and she began to worry that she would never reach her in time before her heart gave out. From the sounds of Oswin's screams, that wouldn't be much longer now.

You might as well give up now. Soon there will be no one on the planet left to fight for or haven't you noticed that your remaining opponents are fighting even harder. I'm going to kill them even quicker by giving them an extra special dose of fear, but it will be worth it when they completely rip you to shreds. Good bye, whoever you are. It was a valiant effort but ultimately doomed to fail. The parasite said telepathically as it laughed at her.

Angela began to be attacked more viciously than ever now and soon fell beneath a pile of her remaining attackers who had become completely mad with fear. She screamed as she could feel her force field weakening and began to actually feel their blows for the first time.

"Clara, help me!" Angela screamed but Oswin was already too far gone to hear her.

Soon now. My appetite will finally be satisfied once I've finished drinking in the fear of the entire populace of this world when they all die at once. It'll be enough to last me a lifetime. The parasite proclaimed in triumph.

"Clara!" Angela screamed in fear once more as her force field finally gave out and darkness started to overtake her.

Oswin continued to scream for her mother as she could feel her heart beating faster and faster by the moment. Part of her knew that it would soon burst, but there was nothing that she could do to stop it. She honestly didn't know how to win this time. It was finally over with at long last.

"Mum, please help me to go home. Please!" Clara pleaded anyway despite knowing that it was useless as she clung to her mother as a lifeline now that everything else had failed her.

"Clara, it's alright. I'm here," A familiar voice said from nearby.

Oswin turned to see her mother looking at her with a concerned look on her face. She gasped as she said, "Mum? How?"

"I always said that I would come whenever you needed me. Did I ever lie to you?" Ellie Oswald said with a smile.

"But you're . . ." Oswin started to say.

Ellie immediately cut her off as she said, "Dead? Yeah, that did make it a bit harder to come I have to admit but not impossible. Nothing's impossible, Clara. You should know that better than anyone. Come on, Clara. Quit standing there with your mouth hanging up and follow me out."

"You know the way out?" Oswin asked in a mixture of relief and surprise.

"Of course I do and you need to get back to the real world quickly because Angela and the others are all in danger now. You're the only one who can help them. Hurry, Clara!" Ellie said.

Oswin nodded and followed Ellie out of the darkness all around her towards a gleaming portal made of golden light. She somehow instinctively knew that going through it would lead her back, but she hesitated in front of it.

"What is it?" Ellie asked.

"I just wanted to say that I love you. I love you so much. I . . . Part of me doesn't want to go. I want to stay here with you," Oswin admitted in tears.

"Clara, you know you can't do that. You have to go save the others. It's what you do. You can't just give up now because you're a hero. I know because I know everything that you've done and how many people you've helped, and I'm proud of you for it. I'm so proud of you, Clara, and I love you too," Ellie said as she embraced her.

Oswin smiled as she said, "You're right, Mum. You always were. I'm going now. I just hope that I'll see you again sometime. Good bye."

"Good bye, Clara. Just remember that you'll see me again whenever you need me the most. I'll never be too far away from you," Ellie said as she finally let her go.

Oswin looked back at her one final time and then dashed through the portal. She woke up in the real world to find the parasite attached to her shoulder still trying to attack her even now.

She smiled as she knew that she had the element of surprise now, and she took full advantage of it. She ripped the parasite off of her and held it up by the neck as she smiled at it in triumph.

"Exterminate," Oswin said as she used her gauntlet at full power at point blank range on the creature's head.

The creature's head exploded into a million pieces, and its body soon followed it as Oswin completely disintegrated it. As soon as it died, all of the Daleks and Thals slumped to the ground instantly knocked out from the massive exertion that had just been placed on their systems. Angela now slowly got up and made her way to Oswin who suddenly didn't feel so good herself.

"Angie, can you hold down the fort a little while? I think I'm about to . . ." Oswin said before passing out in Angela's arms.

"Don't worry, Clara. I'll take care of everything," Angela said.

Her eyes glowed with power as she slowly teleported all of the unconscious Thals back to their ships in orbit. Then she quickly figured out how to use the Dalek technology in the rest of the Capitol to hack into the Thal ships' computers and reprogram them to go back where they came from.

Finally satisfied that Skaro was now safe, she silently stood watch over Oswin while she slept and smiled. She didn't exactly know what had just happened, but she was sure of one thing.

Oswin had just saved the lives of everyone on Skaro including hers. No wonder she was the Empress.

Hours later once everyone woke up and life started to get back to normal on Skaro, Oswin and John prepared to leave to go on their honeymoon at last. This time Oswin was sure that everything would be okay as the Thals had just had a major loss thanks to their own weapon and weren't likely to return anytime soon. Just in case, she had asked Marissa and Koschei to stay and help Epsilon and Angela protect the planet until she got back.

It was needless to say that Davros had just developed a huge amount of good will with Oswin for helping her, but she still wasn't quite sure that she trusted him just yet. He still had a long way to go before she would even think of letting him go. If she ever did that is.

Amazingly enough, the Daleks all took to Angela immediately and began to start treating her like one of their own. Actually they treated her better than one of their own and had started to fret over her almost as badly as they did Oswin. If Oswin didn't know better, she'd swear that the Daleks were treating Angela almost like she was . . . their little sister. Surely that wasn't it though of course.

As Oswin and John went off on their honeymoon, something was still bothering her though.

"What is it, Clara?" John asked noticing that she was troubled by something.

"I know that it's silly but I can't stop thinking about it, John. Do you think that I was just hallucinating seeing my mum again or was it . . . real?" Oswin asked.

John smiled and said, "If it were anyone else, I'd say no. With you though, I really wouldn't doubt it. With you, anything's possible."

Oswin smiled and gave him a tender kiss before the two of them used John's Vortex Manipulator to leave Skaro at last and start on a well-deserved honeymoon/vacation. Oswin's mind was finally at ease as she decided that maybe just maybe John was right.

Maybe somehow in some way her mother had managed to keep that promise to her after all.

Next: Oswin and John finally go on their honeymoon at last only to find out that it's not going to be quite as simple as they thought that it was going to be. It seems that Oswin and John managed to somehow pick the same place that their future daughter was going on her honeymoon with . . . a future Davros?! It couldn't be could it?! Well, it seems that he got over Jacqueline after all.