Arthur is used to landing in unexpected places. In rivers, in cars, in empty houses, in junkyards, in mining facilities under the sea, in a Titanic-like spaceship, even in a mysterious pyramid at the end of time (thanks, Mama).
But landing in a coach where a couple in fancy dress might be getting into one of the 'landing spots that get Arthur into trouble'. It also didn't help the situation that there's a thief blatantly pointing a gun in the direction Arthur was sitting.
"Who the devil are you?" the thief demanded, gripping a sack of money.
"H-H-He just appeared out of nowhere!" A woman in front of him yelled.
"I-I-I-I'm just an explorer," he replied quickly. Oh man. He didn't like this at all. AT ALL. Sure, he had to deal with worse enemies than this. But he didn't generally like to deal with humans. They tend to be…aggressive. "I don't mean to interrupt…whatever this is—"
Then, from another side of the coach, the Doctor suddenly enters and passes through the coach without minding his business. "Oh, don't mind me, don't mind me. I'm only going to be a minute. Don't worry. Oh, very warm."
"Doctor?" Arthur frowns, but also sad to see him have his sight back, considering the last adventure...
"What are you doing?" the thief asked.
"Oh, just ignore me and Sunny, we're just passing through, like fish in the night," the Doctor remarked as he opened the door, giving Arthur a chance to move out of the couch and stand beside him, looking very careful at what might happen.
"This is a robbery!"
"It's not fish in the night, it's something else."
"This is my robbery."
"You mean, ships in the night?" Arthur corrected him.
The Doctor nods. "Something like that."
"Step aside or I shall blow both of your brains out," the thief warned.
"Sorry, were you talking to us there? Try again. I promise I'll listen this time."
"You two have interrupted my robbery, sirs, and you two will step away, if you wish to take another breath."
"You're going to get us all killed, if you don't shut your mouth," the coachman added.
"Sorry. Sorry, I really was planning to listen that time but, basically, I didn't."
"DAD!" Arthur grumbled. Him and his mouth sometimes…!
His device keeps making a big noise and the Doctor follows the gizmo signal, which leads him to the luggage chest at the back of the coach. "Yes! Got you!" he chuckled. "Oh, hang on. If I didn't know better, I'd say this was a robbery."
"You just realised it now?!"
"You make it a big problem."
"You forget what humans can do when they lost their patience."
"I just need one tiny little thing from out of this box, Sunny. That's all."
"This is my robbery!" the thief reminded them with an angry tone.
"Well, can't we share it? Isn't that what robbery's all about?"
Arthur let out an exasperated sigh. "You need to check a dictionary," he commented, not even remotely concerned that the coach went away.
The thief glares at them. "You bungled my heist."
"No, you bungled mine, Zorro!" the Doctor retorted.
"Whey-faced fool!"
"Yeah, well, why don't you show your face? At least we show our faces. What's wrong with yours?"
"Nothing, Doctor," the thief replied with a girl's voice, removing the hat, handkerchief, and mask to reveal a young woman with brunette hair. She looks to be 16-17 years old. Arthur never saw this girl before.
But clearly his father did, as he whispers. "You."
"Yes, it is me. What took you so long, old man?"
"Old man?"
"You kinda look old," Arthur shrugs. "At least, for human standards." He briefly glances at the girl. "You know my father?"
"Of course, you don't forget the man who saved your life. And I presume you are his son?"
"Arthur Jonas. Nice voice disguise, by the way."
"The Knightmare has a reputation to maintain," she responded with her deep man's voice.
"Practise?"
"Pretty much."
"Last time I saw you, you were founding a leper colony," the Doctor pointed out. "I was so proud of you."
She turns at him, frowns. "Proud of me? You weren't even there."
"Yes, I was. You didn't see me, but I saw you."
"And you just left me there?"
"Well, you seemed fine."
"In a leper colony? No matter. You're here now. We should celebrate."
"Oh, no, this isn't a visit, I've got a job to do. I'm here looking for an alien object which has no business being here on Earth in 1651. It was just…it just so happened, you know, that my tracking device, it led me to the carriage that you were…you know, robbing. There wasn't…I didn't…I didn't even know Sunny would be there. It was a—"
"You mean, you haven't come for me?" She interrupted.
"No. It was just a coincidence."
A church clock chimes in the distance. Arthur looks around, worried that people will notice them. But so far, it seems they're safe.
"Oh, Ashildr, I'm sorry," the Doctor apologised.
Ashildr looks at him with confusion. "Who's Ashildr?"
"You are. That's your name. Ashildr, daughter of Einarr. Chuckles. I used to call him Chuckles. Do you remember?"
"Yes. I think I remember the village."
"You loved that village."
"If you say so."
"Anyone in that village would have died for you."
"Well, they're all dead now, and here I am. So, I guess it all worked out," she concluded.
"Ashildr—"
"That's not my name. I don't even remember that name."
"Then, what do you call yourself?" Arthur asked gently. To be honest Arthur wasn't sure if he had the right to interfere in a matter he wasn't involved in. Okay, maybe the business with Missy/Master wasn't something he needed to deal with either, but his father and daughter were involved, so whether he wanted to or not, Arthur had to intervene.
But given that this girl, Ashildr, had a history with the Doctor that he didn't know about... Arthur had a dilemma whether to help her or not.
"Me."
"Yes, you. There's nobody else here," the Doctor frowns.
"No. I call myself Me. All the other names I chose died with whoever knew me. Me is who I am now. No one's mother, daughter, wife. My own companion. Singular. Unattached. Alone."
"That sounds lonely."
Me looked at Arthur blankly. "Anyway, I should get started. Jump on, I'll give you two a ride. You can help me."
"Packing?" The brunette man guessed as she went back to her horse.
"Are you secretly an esper?"
"You can say that."
Me nods to herself. "Come on," she gestures to them to follow her.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"It's a big place for someone who lives on their own," the Doctor commented on a big country house he saw.
"I have a servant. And all manner of visitors drop in," Me remarked.
Arthur glances at the bushes, something imminent danger coming from there.
"Come on," she called Arthur, nudging at the side door. Arthur briefly looks at the bushes once again before finally deciding to come inside, where they go along a corridor to where the main staircase comes down. "Your device, what is it?"
"My curioscanner?" the Doctor alluded as Me opens up a treasure box. "Oh, it, er, it sort of scans for…it scans for curios. I've just realising how it got its name. It's been tracking exoplanetary energy for the last couple of weeks. I've been following it across the galaxy."
"And do you know what you're looking for?"
'I've got a pretty good idea, yes. Why?"
"I wasn't just robbing Lucie Fanshawe for her loot," Me added as she put her money on the box. "She's bragged about having the rarest gem in the land, an ancient amulet from foreign parts. Could it be we are looking for the same prize?"
"I assume it's not for money," Arthur stated, looking at the many gems and golds inside her box that allows her to be rich for several decades.
"For the adventure, Mr. Jonas. Isn't that what life's all about?"
As he and the Doctor followed Me into a large library, Arthur thought about what Me had just said. He used to think so too. That his life was filled with adventure...before he realised that his life was much more than that.
Me light up some candles and a big fire in the fireplace inside the library. Arthur gasps in a hush tone when he sees many volume books in the bookshelves. "Whoa."
"I've had 800 years of adventure, enough to fill a library if you write it down."
"800 years?" He repeated, whistle. "900 years living, and I only got a diary."
The Doctor picks up a crown from a table. "A medieval queen? How exciting."
"You'd think. It was paperwork and backgammon mainly, as I recall. Ended up faking my own death. Did a bunk before the evisceration," Me recounted as she showed them a longbow. "Now this was much more my thing. The Battle of Agincourt. My first stint as a man. No one will ever know that a mere woman helped end the Hundred Years' War."
"You're immortal, but that doesn't mean you can't get hurt," Arthur warned as the Doctor playing the bowstring.
Me simply shrugs as she continues. "10.000 hours is all it takes to master any skill. Over a 100.000 hours and you're the best there's ever been. I don't need to be indestructible, I'm superb. You two should have seen me. I could shoot 6 arrows a minute. I got so close to the enemy, I penetrated armour." She looks at Arthur. "What about you?"
"I learnt a lot of survival skills in Trenzalore. Basic stuff. Hunting, camping, fighting, running, packing, acting."
"Your acting was really good earlier."
"I don't need any comments from you, thank you very much."
"And I guess your ability to see the future also falls under 'survival skills'?"
"I've had it since I was a kid, but yes, for the past 900 years, I've mastered it so that it doesn't make my head hurt and allows me to see the past and present as well." He frowns at her. "How many people have you killed?"
"You'll have to check my diaries," Me replied as she picked up a roll of paper.
"You can't remember?" The Doctor asked.
"For what it's worth, I've saved many lives too. I cured an entire village of scarlet fever once, almost got drowned as a witch for my troubles. Fortunately, I'm really good at holding my breath. Ungrateful peasants."
"The Black Death, 1348." The Doctor picks up the beaked leather hood of a 17th century plague doctor while Arthur takes one of her books from the bookshelf. "I meant to warn you."
"I got sick, but I got better."
"Of course, your immune system is learning too. There's another bout coming. And a big fire that tears through London."
Me grins after she sits down with the Doctor. "Excellent. Maybe I start it."
"No, that was the Terileptils. Surgeon, scientist, inventor, composer, it's a fantastic CV."
"You should try my journals. I read them myself now and then. Drink pomace wine, have a little me time."
"You don't seem the nostalgic type," the Doctor notices as Arthur reads the entry.
"It's not nostalgia, it's curiosity. I can't remember most of it. That's the trouble with an infinite life and a normal sized memory."
"It can't have been easy, outliving the people you love."
"According to my journals, hell."
The doctor was hurt by Me's remark. His eyes glanced briefly at his son who was reading Me's diary with a gloomy face. His son had lived for 900 years and he had been kidnapped, tortured, put in danger, and watched many people die while in Trenzalore. And the worst part of it all? Arthur will face his biggest test yet when he confronts his past selves, Nine and Ten, who extremely hated him. "Sorry."
"You'll have to remind me, what's sorrow like? It all just runs out, Doctor, Arthur. I'm just what's left. In fact, I've done all I can here. I look up to the sky and wonder what it's like out there."
"Me—" Arthur said but she interjected quickly as the Doctor stood up, which she followed.
"Please, take me with you. All these people here, they're like smoke, they blow away in a moment. You don't know what it's like."
"I do know what it's like. Sunny knows as well."
"Then, however you fly, whatever ship you sail in, take me with you."
The Doctor frowns, looking at her. "How'd you know I had a ship?"
Arthur raises his eyebrow at his father. He didn't tell her about the Tardis?
"Because I'm incredibly clever. It doesn't matter. Take me with you," Me pleaded.
"We'll talk about it."
Her expression grew harder. "This thing you're looking for…I'll help you find it. It'll be quicker."
"I don't need your help."
"Yes, you do. You don't need a psychic to do it. I know where Lucie Fanshawe lives, and I'm an excellent house-breaker. We'll leave in an hour."
Right as she leaves, the Doctor selects a book from the shelves and starts reading. "Today is the day I should have died. Instead, I was re-born, by my hero, a man called The Doctor. My love is dying. It broke my heart when the questions started and I knew I had to leave him. I returned to find an old man who smiles and thinks I am a dream. I am flesh and blood, my love, but all you see is a ghost."
"Tears," Arthur remarked after he took a glance at the book the Doctor's holding. His eyes were glistening with water as he read the entry of the book he had. The more he speaks, the more sorrow he becomes. "The Plague. Mass graves. Sightless children. Clutching toys as they sleep, never to wake up. My children. My screams. I could not save you, little ones. Such pain. And yet, still, still I am not brave enough to die, to let go of this wretched life. I will endure, but no more babies. I cannot, will not, suffer such heartbreak again. From now on, it's me against the world." He quickly shut the book down as tears finally came down from his brown eyes. "Dad…What have you done?" he lamented.
The Doctor can't answer that dreadful question, only look at his son's expression with a deep sense of guilt.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
They both enter the dining room, where Me is putting down her lantern. "I read your journals. Why are there pages missing?" The Doctor inquired.
"When things get really bad, I tear the memories out," she replied.
"That's not how you should cope," Arthur suggested lightly, trying not to get emotional again while she pokes a fire burning in a grate, thinking of Delaney and thousands of people in Trenzalore who had died to protect the town. As painful as these memories were, Arthur was relieved that for 900 years, he had a pleasant experience behind the horrors of the relentless invasion of Trenzalore for hundreds of years.
"I've left you alone too long," the Doctor realised. "I had no idea how much you'd suffered. But I remember the person you used to be. She's still in there. I can help you find her."
"Spare me your pity, I'm fine," she denoted.
"I think this is just another mask that you wear to protect you from the pain."
"I think the alternative frightens you, that this is who I've become and this is what your son might become as well."
"This is no way to live your life, desensitised to the world," the Doctor asserted, giving her a warning tone to not bring Arthur in their affair.
"So you intend to fix me? Make me feel again, then run away? I don't need your help, Doctor, you need mine. Just this once, you can't run off like you usually do."
"You know my father very well," Arthur alluded.
"It's true though, isn't it? Your father is the man who runs away."
"Who told you that?"
"Maybe I just worked it out," she implored and put her pistols into her belt. "Come on."
They go out by the small door again, and both father and son stop, briefly hearing the faint growling before they decide to follow Me.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Housebreaks can be tricky," Me noted as they approach the rear of the property, already wearing her Knightmare outfit.
"Not for me. Sonic technology. It should be able to deactivate any alarms," the Doctor assured.
"Dad, we're not in the 21st century," Arthur reminded him.
Me holds up a wanted flyer for The Knightmare. "The most wanted in the land."
"Really? Showing off?"
"Now seems like a very good time to me." She slides the paper under the door and uses a wire to push the key out of the lock and onto it, so she can slide the paper back outside and unlock the door with it. Then she holds out two domino masks to the Doctor and Arthur. "You'll need a mask, sidekicks. Watch and learn."
"Brought my own, thanks," the Doctor mentioned as he put on the sonic sunglasses while Arthur gladly took one for himself—considering that his backpack is still stuck in the Tardis from the future—before they enter the house that's pure pitch black.
"'Tis black as night. I have a tinderbox somewhere," Me recalled before the Doctor sonics a candle into lighting. "Show off. Know where you're going, do you?" She takes the candle from him.
"The servant's stairs," Arthur muttered, realising where they are now.
"Follow me."
"Why are you still alone?" The Doctor asked. "What happened to the second immortality charge I gave you?"
She quickly shushes him, seems reluctant before showing both of them a small chip hidden inside her jacket. "No one's good enough."
Arthur clenches his fists. "You need—"
"Hush!" Me said, gesturing to him and the Doctor to stop after noticing a light at the top of the stair, indicating someone nearby.
After it disappears, the Doctor speaks. "Humans need shared experiences."
"I'm regretting sharing this one."
"You need someone to accompany you!" Arthur hissed as they heard a servant come out of a room along the corridor and say goodnight to someone before walking away without seeing them.
"I'll wager there's a dressing room. Come on!" She gestures, opens a door further on and goes inside, which makes both father and son almost walk into the open door. As they enter, they find Me already opening a large cabinet containing lots of inlaid drawers and compartments. The Doctor quietly sets his curioscanner going, which fails as Arthur notices it.
"Dad! Don't turn it on!" Arthur complained as a vision showed him.
"But—"
"I know where the jewel is."
Me raises her eyebrow, curious. "Go on."
Arthur scans the entire dressing room, trying to pinpoint the box that contains the jewel from his vision. His brown eyes finally notices a compartment that's containing a box he's looking for. Quietly, he opens the compartment and opens the box, witnessing a large glowing purple gem in a diamond and pearl encrusted setting.
"The Eyes of Hades," the Doctor mused.
"You really can see the future," Me complimented as she took it and put it inside her jacket. "Let's go."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
On their way back through the house, a door opens. They run hurriedly across an open area, towards the top of the main stairs before entering another room to hide. Unfortunately, they discover that a man is also in there, snoring on a couch.
"Let's just go round and see if we can't get out the back," the Doctor proposed.
"Okay," Me and Arthur agreed, taking a step that causes a floorboard creaking and the man opens his eyes. Crap.
"Lucie?" Mr. Fanshawe called.
"Duck!" Arthur hissed and they all did that, adding crawling with their own hands and knees as Fanshawe rose and picked up a candle, calling his wife twice before finally leaving the room.
Ashildr, Arthur, and the Doctor slowly stand up. And, as if today isn't lucky enough, Arthur accidentally knocks a fire iron onto the floor with a clatter.
"There is an intruder on the premises! Bring me my blunderbuss!" Mr. Fanshawe yelled.
"I'm guessing blunderness is a bad thing," Arthur remarked, having minor knowledge regarding the names of guns.
"Pretty much," Me nodded and readied her pistol.
The brunette boy quickly grabbed her wrist. "Stop it!"
"It's kill or be killed."
"And killing people is the best?"
"We should hide," the Doctor suggests, pointing at a chimney nearby. Arthur climbs first, then the Doctor, then Me climbs. Me had climbed several metres away before Famshawe entered the room.
"Your feet, you oaf," Me huffed at the Doctor before they all started climbing again. "Oh, also, I said you'd be a liability, Jonas. Just let me shoot them and be done with it!"
"Just because I was in a war for 600 years, I don't always appreciate being a murderer," Arthur insisted.
"Your own father didn't think so."
"What do you know about me and Sunny, huh?" The Doctor hissed, getting pissed by her words the more she talks. "If you ask me, you're the liability. I never have this trouble with Clara. Even Claudia knows the time and place to do it!"
"Oh, is she still with your granddaughter?" Me theorised.
"You remember them?" Arthur asked, guessing that Clara and Claudia must be accompanied by the Doctor in Me's old village.
"Of course. I take particular note of anyone's weaknesses."
"They're not weaknesses!"
Me rolls her eyes. Such an emotional man. He really is his son. "So what's wrong with them, then?"
"There's nothing wrong with any of them."
"Why haven't you made her and your granddaughter immortal, Doctor?"
"Are you crazy?! No!" Arthur hissed, glaring down at Ashildr. Delaney may have lived hundreds of years thanks to the Source's energy, which made her live longer in Trenzalore. But Arthur never wanted to grant anyone immortality, not even Clara or Claudia.
"They'll die on you, you know. They'll blow away like smoke."
"I know. I experienced it."
"Both of you. Save your breath," the Doctor warned, not liking where this conversation goes.
"How old are you, Doctor?" Me inquired. Arthur had mentioned him living for 900 years, a century older than her. But she didn't know how old his father was now.
"Older than you."
"And how many have you lost? How many Claras?"
"Me? Dad?" Arthur interjected their conversation with an unappreciative expression. "Shut the hell up."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
They eventually got out safely and spent some time walking to Me's house as a bit of daylight started to appear.
"Robbery, burglary, that's capital," the Doctor commented as they passed a gibbet. "Meat and drink to the hangman, Ashildr."
"I'm not Ashildr. I'm Me. And I fear no hangman in Christendom," Me answered.
"Stand aside," Arthur suddenly noted a second before a man jumped down from a tree to stand in front of them.
"Ah ha!" The man proclaimed.
"Sam Swift the Quick. I wouldn't be so bold if I were you," Me warned, using her Knightmare's voice. "Don't you know who I am?"
"The Knightmare, which is why I'm not alone."
Arthur rubs his nose as more people join them. He's tired and he needs time to sleep after the rush he had in Chasm Forge. "Pish off," he muttered.
"'Tis hardly a fair fight," Me pointed out.
"And it was fair when you stole my patch?" Sam retorted.
"Is that a fake nose, Sam? They should call you Sam Sniffed."
"What's wrong with it? It's perfectly normal, innit?"
"For an anteater maybe."
"Ooo! Well, never knew you were so puny, Knightmare. Or should I say, Slightmare."
He and his men laugh, causing the Doctor to get annoyed. "No, not the puns. Line in the sand. No puns."
"It's what's in my brain that counts, Bingo Boy," Me taunted.
"Well, no brain outwits a bullet, Dandyprat," Sam remarked and drew his pistol.
Arthur groans again. Twice now he had to deal with a gun. He swore, if he had to see another gun around him…! "Pish off, dimwit," he fumed.
"Lay down your arms, hand over the loot, or I'll shoot."
Me sighs. "We better had. He'll probably aim to miss and hit one of us."
"We could give you cash instead," the Doctor proposed.
Sam glances at the Doctor and Arthur. "Who's this, your sidekicks? You've got your dad and brother as a sidekick?"
"I'm not his dad, I'm the Doctor. And Sunny isn't his brother!"
"Is that the best name you could come up with?"
"Better than Sam Swift the Quick," Arthur quipped. "I could name you Sam Swift the Quack, you berk."
"You what?"
His confusion quickly turns into surprise as Me quickly takes his gun into her own hand.
"I rest my case. No one outwits the Knightmare," the Doctor stated.
Sam tries to take his pistol back. But Arthur quickly pushes him away. That action alone causes Sam's men to put their guns to the Doctor's head.
"Oh, pish off!" Arthur cursed.
"If you value the life of your sidekick, back off! Put the weapon down!" Sam warns as he gets his gun by taking it by force from Me, then stands and points his weapon at the Doctor. "Who's slow now, Doctor?"
Me kicks his feet out from under him and gets the gun back, while Arthur pins him down so he won't move, glares at them to remove the Doctor away.
"Good question," the Doctor mused as Sam's men backed away from the Doctor.
"Please, Knightmare, I don't want to die. Let's have honour amongst us," Sam pleaded.
Me glances at Arthur. "What do you say, brother dear? I should kill him? He'll be dead in a minute. What difference does it make?"
"You better not," Arthur disagreed. "Because I'll stop you." Me keep looking at him with an unperturbed face. Arthur briefly looks at Sam and warns him with a single word. "Run."
Sam gets up, grabs his hat and runs away with the other two. Me quickly looks at her own gun as the Doctor talks to her. "I know their lives are short, I understand, but those lives do matter."
"Shut up. You're not my dad," Me snarled.
"He's not," Arthur agreed. "But believe me, Me. A person's life is important, regardless of their age. You see them as a nuisance. I see them as something I was never born with."
Before his father or Me could reply, Arthur had already left, too tired to take care of the two of them.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Once they arrived at Me's house, Arthur walked straight into Me's library. He intended to rest his body for a while, but without realising it, Arthur fell asleep on the chair.
He was only awakened from his sleep by the noisy voices outside the library.
The brunette man quickly rubbed his eyes and headed out of the door…when it jammed.
A humanoid lion put a key into the library's door and locked it.
"I'm looking for a horse to get me out of town," Me revealed. "You said no. And knowing your son…he'll also say no."
A humanoid lion speaks to the Doctor. "A death is required. It is only way the amulet works."
"You made me immortal," Me remarked as she glaring at the Doctor, who's sitting on a chair with his hands tied up.
"I saved your life," he argued. "I didn't know that your heart would rust because I kept it beating. I didn't think your conscience would need renewing, that the well of human kindness would run dry. I just wanted to save a terrified young woman's life."
"You didn't save my life, Doctor. You trapped me inside it."
"Damn it, Me!" he grumbled, trying to find a way out of this place.
"Sam Swift will hang in Tyburn at noon," a pikeman informed Me in the dining room.
"In half an hour?" She looks over her shoulder at the Doctor leaning out of the closet. "A guilty man destined to die? No harm in that. I have not seen the Knightmare. But this is his sidekick, the Doctor. He was robbing me. I only just managed to overpower him. I also managed to lock another sidekick of his in the library."
Arthur ran to the second floor of the library, where there was one window that lit up the room. Maybe he could use a chair to break the window and jump out. But that was quite risky. Arthur might have a stronger immune system than humans, but he could get hurt.
As quickly as possible, Arthur ran downstairs, where he took one of the chairs near the fireplace. In the distance, Arthur heard the library door being forcefully opened by a pikeman. Crap. The brunette man ignored the pikeman's cries for surrender and instead took a chair to the second floor in the library. As the pikeman ran after him, Arthur quickly ran to the second floor.
Once he was only a few metres away from the window, he threw the chair at the window, causing it to shatter everywhere, and giving him a chance to escape.
He managed to land on both feet, although he felt a sudden pressure on his calf and had cuts on both elbows. But that was not the case. The problem he needed to solve was saving Sam Swift, who was about to die by hanging. But given that his father is still inside...
"Go," the Doctor insisted, using their Time Lord's telepathic ability to communicate. "Get to Sam Swift!"
He looked ahead with a slightly irritated expression. Now he had to run. Well, beggars can't choose, as the old saying said. Hopefully he would still have enough energy left to reach his destination safely.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Stretch his neck!" someone yelled as Arthur finally arrived in Tyburn 15 minutes later, where crowds were gathering to see the execution of Sam Swift.
Sam looks at a woman nearby. "Mary? Meg? Help me out here, miss."
"That's Mrs. Baxter to you!" she corrected.
"That's a funny name for a fella!"
The crowd, and Mrs Baxter, laugh at the not-funny joke. But maybe he can use tit to stall for some time while making a plan. "Tell more jokes, Swift!" he shouted.
The crowd agree while murmuring. Sam quickly notices him and decides to do what he is asking for. "I've got plenty more, sir. Jokes, that is, as well as women."
"Hang him now!" a deep voice from his vision urged.
"Tell more jokes first!" Arthur retorted back as he's approaching Sam after realising Me is heading to Sam as well.
Sam takes another drink. "Aye. For while you laugh, I live. It was raining on the way over here. But the hangman says to me, it's all right for you. I've got to walk back through this." He sees both Me and Arthur give coins to the Hangman. "What are you paying for, milord and my beauty?"
"To make it quick. A fitting end for you, Sam Swift," Me replied.
"And to make sure things aren't going as bad," Arthur added cryptically. He can't do rash actions. Me is a very famous person around, and since Sam Swift is a notorious man, saving him might be considered an act of treason, which will get him hanged as well. That's the last thing he needs. Killed by stupidity, as this version of the Doctor loves to say.
"Why would you, dear peasant, want to keep an eye at me?" Sam dared him.
Arthur glances at the crowd, then at Me, who all look at him with anticipation. "Because I want to know what kind of man you are," he responded honestly.
"And what do you see in Sam Swift the Quick?"
Before Arthur can speak, the deep voice yells, "Time to hang."
"Hang him! Hang him!" the crowd repeated.
"All right, all right," Sam said. "As God is my Highwayman. He steals the most precious gift of all. Life. Magical, filled with adventures. And at least I can say I lived mine to the full."
"I love you, Sam Swift," a woman cheered.
Arthur then notices his father looking at the posters, which show the bounty of him and Sam Swift. Before he can speak again, Sam already says, "Is that the Doctor?"
"Mr. Swift—" Arthur called, but he continues anyway.
"Doctor, doctor! I'm a robber."
"Have you taken anything for it?" the Doctor asked, causing the crowd to laugh as the Doctor made his way to the scaffold.
"Er, Doctor, doctor," Sam called.
"Quick man, I'm running out of patients!" the Doctor stated.
"Have you ever seen such a sidekick so old?"
"I'm no one's sidekick."
"Here we go again," Arthur muttered.
"He's so old, he farts dust!" Sam joked.
"And his nose," the Doctor continued, "is so big that—"
"They'll have to widen the noose!"
"Or, or bury him in a pyramid."
"You know what they say, big nose."
The crowd gives an "ooo" reaction, looking at the Doctor. He simply replied with, "Big handkerchief!" Which makes the crowd laugh again as the Hangman manhandles Sam back to the noose.
"Wait, wait a minute!" Arthur insisted as the Doctor threw his psychic paper at him. "Don't leave him hanging. I have a pardon here for Sam Swift from Cromwell himself."
The Hangman takes the paper. "Sam Swift is pardoned!"
Sam falls to his knees, relief beyond anything he imagines. The crowd groaned, not happy at all as the Hangman gave the paper back to Arthur.
"We didn't come all this way not to see someone hang. What about the Doctor?" Mrs. Baxter proposed.
"You guys are crazy," Arthur blurted, which made anyone gasp, including the hangman himself. "What?"
"You just say the curse word," Sam answered.
"Oh. Crap."
"Hang them both!" Baxter yelled as the crowd chanted for the execution of both Time Lords.
Me quickly shushed them all, making all the people stop talking. "You want to see someone die? How's this?" she proposed, holding up the Eye of Hades.
"No! Ashildr, no! No!" The Doctor yelled as Arthur quickly grabbed her wrist to stop her from doing it, but it's useless as she managed to put the jewel at Sam's chest, causing the man to gasp in pain, sending a purple ray into the sky and opening a portal.
"What have you done?!" Arthur shouted.
"Open my new life," Me remarked
Then, the humanoid lion breathes fire at the crowd, causing them to back off.
"A lion man!" Baxter yelled, then pointed back at the rift. "Look!"
"Oh no," Arthur murmured as he saw a visible planet beyond the rift.
Me looks at both father and son. "Goodbye, Doctor, Jonas."
"You are going nowhere," the humanoid lion declared.
"Doors work both ways. They let people out and they let the enemy in," the Doctor informed before many objects are visible around the planet.
Me frowns. "What's that? What's happening? What are those things?"
"Spaceships," Arthur realised.
"They will be," the Doctor warned. "They're coming through the rift, actualising in this plane of reality."
"You said you were the last of the Leonians. We were meant to escape!" Me pointed out.
"You shall," the alien glares at her. "In death."
The crowd screams as fireballs come flying through and explode on the ground. The humanoid lion attacks the crowd, who scream and scatter in absolute fear. Militiamen fire their pistols at him.
"No! Doctor, what have I done? What have I done to these people?" She yelled as she spotted Arthur trying to stop her former partner from killing someone. "Stop this! He's innocent!"
"Sunny!" the Doctor screamed.
"Stop it!" Arthur yelled, pushing the lion away as he's ready in position to attack. "He doesn't care about me. Just close the rift!"
"But I do," Me insisted and her eyes widened. "Oh, God, I do. I actually do. I…I care."
'It's awful, isn't it?" the Doctor asked back, sounds genuine. "It's infuriating. You think you don't care, then you fall off the wagon."
"Never mind about me. What are we going to do about them? We have to help them. They need you. They need us."
"Dad! Me!" Arthur called after he managed to dodge the lion's attack at his face. "Sam Swift…he's the conduit. We need to reverse his death!"
"You cannot reverse death," the lion hissed.
"Oh, yes, we can," Me disagreed, gripping the Mire chip she had.
"Run!" the Doctor suggested as he and Me run to the scaffold, while Arthur distracts the big cat from chasing them. Me quickly puts the chip onto Sam's forehead and it is absorbed into him.
"No, my lady. They will destroy me for this!" the lion pleaded.
"Oh, they won't destroy you," Arthur announced fiercely as his eyes glowing in gold. "I'll ensure it."
He grabs the lion's head and in mere seconds, he changes the lion into a stone, forever cursing him in eternity. He gasps and falls onto his knees, tired at the energy he had poured into this creature. He may have done that trick as many times as he could during his stay in Trenzalore, but his body was still overwhelmed.
But he didn't mind that as the rift closed. The crowd comes out of hiding and dusts themselves down with Sam gasping in shock.
"I'm alive. I'm alive!" He cried and laughed, while the crowd cheered. The amulet stuck to his chest no longer shines.
Both the Doctor and Me stared at the action Arthur was performing on the lion. Both glanced at each other, amazement and horror mixed in their eyes.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Last thing I remember is you turning up, Doctor. Good thing too. Between you, the kid, and me, I was running out of material," Sam revealed at the pub.
"We know," Arthur assured him.
"Gave a whole new meaning to dying on stage," the Doctor added.
"Gallows humour can be tricky, but at least there's never a second house. We've nearly finished these. I'll get some more in," Sam suggested before walks away from the table, letting the three of them talk.
"Is he immortal now?" Me asked.
Arthur looks down at his drink. "Do you want him to be?"
"I don't think I want anyone to be."
"Well, probably not. Probably the power would have been drained by the whole opening and reversing the portal thingy. There'll be enough power to bring him back, but not enough power to keep him here, probably," the Doctor theorised.
Me glances at Arthur as he drinks it. "Did he just make all of that up?"
"Who knows?" he replied.
She smirks, looking at the Doctor. "You're still not going to take me with you…are you?"
"People like us, we go on too long," the Doctor elaborated after a moment of quiet. "We forget what matters. The last thing we need is each other. We need the mayflies. See, the mayflies, they know more than we do. They know how beautiful and precious life is because it's fleeting. Look how Sam Swift made every last moment count, right to the gallows. Look how glad he is to be alive. I looked into your eyes and I saw my worst fears. Weariness. Emptiness."
"That's why you can't travel with me. Our perspectives are too vast. Too far away."
"You're not the first, you know. I did travel with another immortals once. Captain Jack Harkness and Dame Delaney Redwood."
"Who?" she asked. Those names confuses her, but the woman's surname, Redwood…Me can make an educated guess who she is.
"My wife," Arthur confirmed with a sad smile. "As for Jack Harkness…even I had no clue."
"He'll get round to you two eventually," the Doctor asserted. "Who told you about me and Sunny? The man who comes for the battle and runs away from the fallout, who hated his own son in the past?"
"Take your pick."
"Missy?" Arthur guessed.
She nods quietly, glancing at the Doctor. "She mentioned that you saved me because of guilt."
The doctor sighed softly. Of course Missy would say that to Ashildr/Me. She wouldn't be content to tell everyone how bad the Doctor's relationship with Arthur was before he found out he was his son. That he lived with a guilt that would never go away. Seeing how Einarr cried when his daughter died…only brought back the worst of losing his precious child. "You're an extraordinary woman, Ashildr. But I think I'm going to have to keep an eye on you."
"I don't think you need to," Arthur added.
"Someone has to look out for the people you abandon. Who better than me?" Me shrugs. "I'll be the patron saint of the Doctor's leftovers. While you're busy protecting this world, I'll get busy protecting it from you."
"So are we enemies now?"
"Of course not. Enemies are never a problem. It's your friends you have to watch out for. And, my friend, I'll be watching out for you and your family."
Me enters the street. Her hair is up in large curls 1940s style, and escorted by two police officers, looking at the Doctor. "Of course he does, now that you've told him."
Inside an old building, where everything in their surroundings is just crumbling, Me is sitting on one of two tall leather armchairs, while in front of her, Arthur—black haired and grey eyes—sat on another leather armchair as they played chess.
"I'll be looking forward to it," Arthur responded after a while.