A/N: Welcome back to a brand-new chapter! This one is another emotional rollercoaster, so be prepared to be at the edge of your seat. For this particular chapter, I took some inspiration from my "fear is a path to the dark side" chapter from Part 1. I hope you enjoy it :)

WARNING: major character death(s).

Chapter 8: Whatever the Cost

After a several-minute-long strategy session, the Doctor uses his psychic link with his criminally insane daughter to find her location in Space-Time using the TARDIS's telepathic circuits. At the same time, I prepare a big speech in my head (a similar one as the one I gave to my 'fear' self in Victorian London) that I hope would—properly this time—change her ways. It's frightening that I have to face her again, but what makes the situation more frightening is the fact that this time I'm not dealing with another 'fear' projection; this time she's the real deal, which makes her a gazillion times more deadly. That being said, I'm not sure whether or not I will survive this time. The only reason why I survived last time in Victorian London was because that version of me that I fought was much weaker than the version I'm dealing with here, which was incredibly lucky then. The fact that this version of me is much stronger than the former one I fought means that it will be an even bigger challenge to defeat her. Plus, she has an army to back her up this time around, while the Doctor and I only have each other, so the odds of us surviving this battle are slim to none.

What would happen if I do die in this world? Would that legitimately be the end for me, not just as 'Sydney Marie Elise' but also as 'Nova Susan Song'; in other words, if I die in this world, would I die in my world as well? Or will I simply wake up back in my world, back into the life that is rightfully mine, and I get to walk away alive and unscathed (physically at least)? Once I go back to my world, and depending on what happens when we get to wherever and whenever we're going, what will happen to Nova in this world? Once we finally get through to her—if we finally get through to her—would she finally accept the Doctor's apology and see him as her true father again? Will they learn to trust each other again and begin traveling together, like she was always destined to do once I'm gone?

Or will she remain a psychopath and an enemy to her family for the rest of her days? How much stronger will she get, the longer she remains loyal to the Silence? How much farther will she be willing to go before anyone can stop her? What if she can't be stopped? What if she'll never be stopped?

All of these questions whiz through my head, one after the other, as I stare nervously at my mother's gun lying on the chair as if taunting me to use it again. I originally volunteered to do most of the shooting while the Doctor did most of the talking, but now I am having second thoughts after thinking nonstop since the 'abandoned factory' incident when I involuntarily used the gun on my mother and killed her in the process, and I'm afraid that I'll end up doing the exact same thing to the Doctor if I wielded it again.

I am also surprised that the Doctor chose to keep her gun even after her death, despite being against any kind of weaponry. Perhaps he'd chosen to keep it around because he imagined his wife to still be around in spirit as long as he kept her gun nearby; in other words, whenever he held the gun or simply stood close to it, he would imagine physically standing close to River, and he refused to let it go, which would result in letting her go as well. Of course, now, River's gun is the only thing the Doctor has left of her, so it makes perfect sense that he would insist on keeping her gun around.

Then again, maybe the Doctor plans to use River's gun to get back at the Silence for using her own gun on her in the same way; in which case, I don't know what to feel about it. Sure, I want to see the Silence pay for everything they've done as much as he does, but I just can't imagine seeing the Doctor—my father—physically do it. Sure, he slaughtered billions to end the Time War, and thankfully I wasn't there to see it happen; but this time I will be there by his side, and I don't know how I'm going to feel once I see him slaughter the entire Silence organization, including Nova, in the exact same way he destroyed Gallifrey—that is, if this is what he's truly planning. Would he really be willing to wipe out the entire organization, including his own daughter?

"We've arrived," the Doctor says, interrupting me from my thoughts, after the TARDIS seems to fall silent. He then turns to me and asks with a serious expression, "Are you sure you still want to do this, Sydney? It isn't too late to change your mind." He says this seemingly after having read my thoughts (again).

Also, I can't help but notice that he seemed to have asked that question like he's having second thoughts himself, which is completely understandable. What we're about to do is incredibly risky, and I remember him specifically saying that he 'didn't want to be the one to shoot first,' should worse come to worse, and I get the disturbing feeling like this may end up happening anyway, specifically with Nova as the primary target, and I'm pretty sure the Doctor won't be at all prepared for that.

Even though I'm planning to get the Doctor and Nova to make peace with each other in order to get home back to my universe, I'm scared to find out what would happen if I failed. If the only way for me to go home is to bring the Doctor and Nova back together and I fail, would I be stuck here? Or is there another way for me to get home? What if it doesn't matter whether I succeed or fail; I'll be sent back home anyway? Either way, unlike the Doctor, I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to get home, even if it means I have to rid the universe of the Silence, including my evil twin, to do so. Of course, I'm going to go down the peaceful route, but if it comes down to it, I won't hesitate to go down the more antagonistic route instead.

"Yes it is," I declare with as much confidence as I could muster. "I made my decision long before we left the house. There's no way I'm changing my mind. Not now that we're here…wherever 'here' is." I will find a way home back to my true family in one way or another.

"Alright then," the Doctor says in a somewhat doubtful tone with a shrug. "I do hope you know what you're doing."

"Not really," I admit with a regretful sigh. The Doctor frowns at me in response, and I shrug back, "But sometimes the only thing you can do is improvise." I figure that if Nova accepting my speech doesn't work, then I will just improvise from there and hope that nothing too bad happens.

"You know that doesn't always work."

I frown back at him incredulously. "It always works for you. Rather, it did work for you…once upon a time. Until…" I pause, thinking of the Ponds, River, the Doctor, and me, and how happy we all were together in my other life. "You can be like that again, you know," I add in a hopeful tone.

The Doctor sighs again. "Sydney, as I said, I don't think a simple improv will work in this scenario. She's a lot more dangerous now than you realize."

I shake my head before explaining. "I don't mean about the 'improv' thing. I mean about you being back with your family. I mean about you being 'The Doctor' again. If we turn back now, you might never get that chance again. You may not have ever paid attention to this, but your friends and family are what make you who you are. Amy, Rory, River, even your past companions—they are who make you 'The Doctor.' Even if we have to do a little improv to get Nova to see you for who you truly are, then so be it; believe it or not, that was something you were really good at once upon a time, way before all of this. Once Nova sees who 'The Doctor' really is, she'll have no choice but to come running back to you. Trust me."

The Doctor pauses for a minute before smiling. "I do trust you, Sydney Marie Elise."

However, I get the feeling that he's lying. "You and I both know that's a lie. 'Rule One: The Doctor lies.'" I may no longer be telepathically linked to him, but I can tell that the Doctor doesn't have near as much confidence as me, and both of our levels are extremely low. Plus, he still sees me as a stranger, despite having heard my entire life story.

However, he seems to believe otherwise. "I'm not lying," he says, shaking his head. "I really mean it."

"Prove it," I say, still feeling skeptical.

"Alright," he shrugs before he goes over to the chair, picks up River's gun, and holds it up for me to see. "I'm taking this, and I'm keeping it," he says as he slips it into his coat pocket. "You won't be using it. I will."

He really did hear my thoughts earlier. Of course he did. When doesn't he?

"I thought we agreed that I was going to take it so you don't have to," I frown at him. "You said you didn't want to be the one to shoot first." In what way does him taking River's gun prove that he trusts me?

He shrugs again before admitting, "Yeah, well I lied about that, didn't I?"

So he is planning a revenge trip. Why else would he be taking River's gun so willingly?

If this is true, that leaves a very important question: if he plans to take revenge on everyone, does that include his own daughter? If it really came down to it, would he actually shoot his own daughter? Would he even be able to live with it?

"I'm not proud of myself for agreeing to this," he sighs as he walks back over to me and takes my hands in his own, "but I do trust that this is the best way to accomplish this, and I trust that you will turn my daughter back around, and you will do it successfully. But you can't do this with the Silence creeping up on us; that'll be my job. I'll protect you to make sure the Silence don't get to you while you're talking. I'll be close by, but it's best that she doesn't see me at all…at least until she's actually back on our side."

"And what if I fail?" I can't help but ask anyway. "Would you actually be willing to do it?"

I seriously doubt that the Doctor would be willing to murder his own daughter for the good of the universe, just like he destroyed Gallifrey to end the Time War. He doesn't seem to realize that by taking River's gun, he's basically signing Nova's death certificate; not only that, but he is also signing on to be her executioner. I'm pretty sure that once he finds this out, he would refuse to do it immediately, but at the same time, admittedly, I can't tell if he was truly lying about not wanting to shoot first, or if he took the gun because he's realized that there is, in fact, no choice. Deep down, he knows that if worse comes to worse, one of us will have to pull the trigger, and he seems determined to take the burden of it off of my shoulders and claim it for himself. Again. So like him, I sigh to myself; though at the same time I still doubt he actually would. I don't think River would approve of any of this either if she was here.

However, he seems highly confident in his decision, because he says as he closes his eyes in regret, "If it comes down to it… If it means the universe will be safe… Then yes. I would. Nothing is more important than doing what's needed to keep the universe safe, no matter the cost." He pauses for a few seconds before quoting, "'Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame. Whatever the cost.' It's something I have to remind myself from time to time."

In other words, he is willing to do whatever it takes for the good of the universe, even if it means sacrificing his own daughter to do so.

However, I can't help but admit, shaking my head, "That burden shouldn't be only on your shoulders."

He sighs before admitting himself, "No, but it's what I choose. No one should ever have to suffer for my mistakes…certainly not Nova. Too many people have suffered because of me. No more. Nova's suffering ends today. We will end it together. I want to end this for both of us, not just for River and Amy and Rory but for you as well. I am going to bring you home."

His last statement makes me realize that he means 'home' as in to help me get back to my other life, and I can't help but smile appreciatively at him. "That's 'The Doctor' I know." I then wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly. "I've missed you so much," I whisper in his ear. "I know I've said that already, but I just felt the need to remind you of that again."

"I know," he whispers back, leaning his head on top of mine, "and I greatly appreciate it."

His words make me feel like he has missed his daughter just as much as I've missed him, but at the same time I still can't help but be afraid of failing to save her and bring them back together. Of course, I don't like the idea of killing 'myself' again, but I remind myself that I have a responsibility to do what's needed for the universe (which is also something that the Doctor taught me in my other life), and if killing Nova is what is needed to be done, then so be it. Of course, I am hoping to avoid this, despite everything.

"We'll be alright," the Doctor smiles at me as he pulls away, apparently sensing my nervousness. "Everything is going to be fine. I promise."

This is, of course, a lie, but at the same time I feel obligated to agree as, in my mother's words, 'it's now or never.' "Let's go," I say with a nod before heading toward the TARDIS's exit doors, and the Doctor follows closely behind.

Thankfully we aren't greeted with murderous guards but rather large crates filled with various forms of weaponry. Upon seeing this, we search around to make sure there aren't any soldiers hiding behind them, and once we're satisfied that we're safe and alone (at least for the moment), the Doctor uses his TARDIS key to make the blue box invisible so nobody spots it when and if they enter this area. Then he uses his sonic screwdriver to unlock the storage room door, and we advance into the bowels of the Silence base, which is apparently different from the one where we rescued my guardians and Hazel in my other life; thankfully this one isn't nearly as widespread as the other one, so we don't have to walk as much.

The base also appears to be, surprisingly, deserted for some odd reason. I point this out, saying, "It's a lot quieter than I expected." I thought for sure that it would be a challenge to get around the base without being killed, with so many Silence members guarding the place, but strangely there seems to be little to no guards at all. This makes me wonder what happened to everyone. I immediately get the disturbing feeling that my evil twin was responsible for everyone's mysterious disappearance; she may have slaughtered several members when she took Madame Kovarian's place as their new leader, and most of the members disagreed with the way that she was running the place, and she either executed them as punishment or they simply fled. Either way, this shows how powerful my alternate self has become since joining these sickos, which disturbs me more, as I'm ninety-nine percent sure that this was what I would've become had my Doctor failed to save me in my other life.

"Yes, it is abnormally silent," he nods in agreement, "if you'll pardon the pun. Makes you wonder what happened here, eh?"

"What do you think happened here?" I ask, wondering if he has similar thoughts as me.

He shrugs. "I don't know, but I highly doubt it was anything good."

I scoff at this statement. "With these creeps, that's usually the ca—"

"NOVA, LOOK OUT!" the Doctor exclaims out of the blue as he automatically wraps one arm around me and pulls me behind him, and uses his other hand to take out River's gun from his coat pocket and shoot across the hallway at something in the darkness that I can't see. He shoots at least five times until he eventually stops shooting and just stares at the gun as if wondering why he opened fire in the first place.

"What was that?" I demand as I squint through the darkness toward where he was aiming, but I don't see anything as it's too dark without my Time Lord night-vision.

"I…don't know," he frowns, puzzled, as he stares at River's smoking gun. "I…must've seen something. I…don't remember what I saw." He keeps the gun trained toward the area as he says this, but his hand trembles slightly.

Deep down, I know exactly what he saw. I'm pretty sure he saw those creepy Silence creatures that are known to delete themselves from most memory, and there may have been a small group of them hiding nearby, and he was able to catch them before they had a chance to stop us. I squint in the darkness again, this time toward the floor, and see a person's pinstriped leg sticking out from behind some crates. Feeling greatly disturbed, I say as I gently tug on my father's arm, "Come on. Let's keep moving. This place is giving me the creeps." I look up at him and see his hand that still grips River's gun shaking, like he can't believe what he'd done. "Dad?" I say, tapping on his shoulder this time to get his attention.

"Right. Yes," he says, shaking his head as if waking himself up from a trance. "You're right. Let's go."

He lowers the gun to his side and begins walking, but he continues to grip me around my waist against him tightly, like the danger is still present. I point this out, saying in an awkward tone, "And you can let me go now."

"Sorry," he says as he quickly unravels his arm from me and pulls away, feeling as equally awkward.

"It's okay," I assure him, knowing that this is a typical instinctive response from him. I then pause, suddenly remembering a specific detail from earlier. "Also…I couldn't help but notice that you called me 'Nova' before." Was that said on instinct as well? Or did he mean to actually call me that?

"Did I?" he frowns. "When?"

"When you pulled me away before you shot at…whatever you were shooting at over there," I reply.

"Oh…" he deepens his frown, feeling embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I meant to call you 'Sydney,' since that's obviously your name."

A small part of me wants to correct him and say that 'Nova' is my true name, but I decide to refrain from saying that. Instead, I say with a shrug, "It's fine. I'm pretty sure I called you 'Dad' again accidentally, so we're even." When I say this, I catch a brief glimpse of a subtle smile appear on the Doctor's face, like he no longer seems to mind that I call him 'Dad' now, which admittedly still makes me slightly uncomfortable for obvious reasons. To avoid any more awkwardness, we both continue walking through the dark corridors in silence (pun not intended).

Several minutes later, we stop outside another dark room. "She's in there," the Doctor nods toward the ominous opening in the wall directly across from where we pause in our tracks. He then asks, glancing down to me, "Are you sure you want to do this alone? I know I said I didn't want her to see me, but I highly insist on going in with you anyway. As I said, she's a lot more powerful than you think."

"And she's a lot more dangerous than you think," I reply. "She forced me to kill River without me even knowing I was doing it. I'm not about to let her force me to kill you as well. I have to do this alone." I then say as I hold my hand out to him, "Give me the gun."

"Sydney—" he shakes his head in an attempt to protest, but I interrupt him.

"If I am to do this alone—especially if it's for the good of the universe—I need to be prepared for anything, even the worst-case scenario, no matter the cost. You taught me that."

"No, Sydney," the Doctor shakes his head again as he holds the side of his coat that holds River's gun away from me. "I can't let you do that."

"Like it or not, one of us is going to have to pull the trigger if worse comes to worse," I argue. "I'd rather it be me than you. You've had to deal with more than enough burdens on your shoulders in the last seven-hundred years. Let me take this one from you."

"Sydney, please, don't do this. Let me do this. This is no job for a child."

I'm not a child, I think about saying but don't. Instead, I shake my head, holding my hand out further, this time in a forceful manner, "This is the last time I'm going to ask nicely. Give me the gun." If I had to fight him for the gun, then I would.

He pauses for a minute before he groans and reluctantly hands over his lover's gun. "Please don't do anything stupid in there," he begs me.

"Only if you don't do anything stupid in return," I reply before I turn to head inside the room, only to be stopped half a second later.

"Wait!" the Doctor says, abruptly grabbing my arm and pulling me back around to face him.

I expect him to say something, but instead he does something unexpected. He pulls me toward him and kisses me on my forehead before he wraps his arms around me in a tight hug, even burying his face in my shoulder. "What was that for?" I frown at him once he pulls away half a minute later.

He pauses for a second before he says with a shrug, "Uh…for luck."

"Okay…" I frown in response, highly doubting that his hug and kiss was just for luck. "Thanks."

"Be careful," he tells me, his old eyes filled with worry.

"You too," I nod back. I love you; I want to say but don't for the same obvious reasons as when I felt uncomfortable for him to be completely okay with me calling him 'Dad.' Putting all uncomfortableness aside, I take a deep breath as I enter the room.

Surprisingly, I find her standing at the far side of the room, facing the entryway as if waiting for me. I pause mid-stride in shock upon seeing her standing there like this.

Fudgeknuckle. Did I just blindly walk into a trap?

"Come to kill me, have you?" she automatically says in a knowing tone the instant I enter the room. That's it. No 'hello, how was your journey?' Then again, I didn't really expect her to care that much anyway.

I can't help but sputter in response, "W-W-What? No. I… I'm not—"

"Don't lie to me," she rolls her eyes. "You wouldn't have come in here with a gun if you weren't. Her gun, no less." She says the word 'her'—referring to River—in disgust, like she can't believe that I would try to use the same gun on her like she made me use it on River at the factory. Girl, you have no idea how much I want to use this thing on you, I think back in my head, desperately wanting to make her pay for making me kill our—my—mother.

However, I have to force myself to remain calm, knowing that I have a more important mission, that being to make peace with her, even despite all of the dark deeds she has done. "No, I don't want to kill you," I say, shaking my head and making it sound like I am telling the truth, even though a large part of me wants to disagree.

"Then why did you bring a gun?"

"I came here expecting a fight," I say honestly, "even looking for one at one point, but I don't want to fight you. I came here to talk." Again, I make it sound like the truth, even though deep down it is far from it, and she knows it.

She sighs in response. "If you came here to try to talk me into changing my ways, you're wasting your breath—again. As I've told you time and time again, nothing and no one can change me. Not even Regeneration, and certainly not the Doctor." Again, she says his title in disgust. "I know he's here with you. No doubt he sent you in here to 'talk' to me." She says the word 'talk' like she truly knows that I'm here for something much more cataclysmic.

However, I decide to throw her off a little bit. "Actually, I sent myself in here to talk to you. I just used him as my Uber driver to get me here."

"You and I both know that's a lie," she snorts. "You and I both know he's here for something far greater than as your simple taxi service."

"Of course," I say. "He's here to make things right with you. Apologize for what he let happen to you."

"Exactly!" she snaps back. "He intentionally let it happen! Because of him, I became this!"

"No!" I shake my head. "It wasn't intentional. He didn't mean for this to happen."

"Really?" she says, raising her voice so the Doctor can hear her from the hallway. "Then why doesn't he prove it? Why doesn't he come out and face me himself, rather than send you in here to talk to me for him?"

"Because you wouldn't listen to him until you listened to me first," I say honestly. "He doesn't know you as well as I do…at least until I told him my entire life story. Our story."

She scoffs at this. "'Our story?' You honestly believe that we're the same person? You honestly believe that I would live such a primitive life?"

"I don't have to believe it," I admit. "I've already lived it, as you; rather, you as me. Please, believe me when I say that your life was never meant to be like this, whatever 'this' is." I gesture around the Silence base, around this 'world.' "You were meant to live a much better life than this. A safer life. The Doctor had meant for you to have that life; River too. They never meant for you to have this life. This was never supposed to happen. Please, let me help you. Let me fix this. We can fix it together. The Doctor can help you as well if you just let him. That's all he's ever wanted to do for you. To help you."

"No!" she snaps again. "I don't want his help! In fact, I don't want anything from him besides his death! His death is the only thing that matters! Kovarian had meant for me to see it through! I promised her!"

"Yeah, well obviously you broke that promise because she's not here!" I point out. "You killed her!"

"I had to! Wanna know why? Because she could never be proud for anything I do! No matter what I did for her, it was never enough! And every time I would fail her, she would punish me! She would beat me, or order someone else to beat me for her. It's not difficult to guess who was responsible for that."

I shake my head in utter disbelief. "No, it wasn't the Doctor's fault. He would never have allowed that to happen to you or to anyone."

"No, no, no, you don't understand," Nova shakes her head, this time with a smirk. "I don't blame him for what's happened to me… I am thanking him."

"What?" I frown, now legitimately confused.

"You see," she explains as she begins walking back-and-forth, "every time Kovarian would beat me, she would make me stronger. Of course, I had a little help from my Regeneration Energy as well; another little something I inherited from my old man. Kovarian would beat me almost to the point of death, then I would use my Regeneration Energy to heal myself; and every time I would use my Energy on myself, it would make me physically stronger and more powerful. From these episodes, it made me realize how truly powerful my Energy was; how powerful it made me. With this energy, I was basically a God. I am a God."

I shrug. "And so, what, you proved your 'godliness' by killing Kovarian as well as the majority of her followers?"

"Exactly! But I wanted to be something more than what Kovarian was turning me into. She wanted to turn me into a weapon, but I wanted to be something more than just a weapon. I wanted people to fear me for my powers. I wanted them to see how powerful I truly was and kneel down at my feet. Kovarian refused to kneel, and so I killed her, and I don't regret it one bit. How is that for pride since no one else was going to be proud of me?"

"Only a monster would be proud of the things you've done!" the Doctor snaps as he comes stomping into the room in full 'Oncoming Storm' mode.

"Dad!" I gasp, startled at his sudden presence. "What're you doing?" So much for that promise to not do anything stupid.

"Ah, so now you finally decide to come out and face me, huh?" his deranged daughter smirks at him. "It's about time, old man."

"That's why Kovarian was never truly proud of you!" he continues in anger like she hadn't said anything at all. "You've turned into an even bigger monster than she ever was! She made an even bigger monster out of you, and that was her biggest mistake!"

"Not as big of a mistake as it was for you to abandon me with her!" she snaps back at him. "If you and River hadn't abandoned me, I wouldn't have become this!"

"I'm sorry!" he protests. "I didn't mean to, but I didn't have a choice! After they took you away, I couldn't come after you! I tried; really, I did! But there was nothing I could do to save you!"

Nova shrugs at this. "It hardly matters now. I hated you both for a long time, but later I realized something extraordinary, and I began to think differently. You left me to suffer at Kovarian's hands for my whole life; as I was saying to your new friend here, Kovarian beat me almost to the point of death. But when my Regeneration Energy kicked in, I realized that you'd given me an extraordinary gift—one that would make me more powerful than anyone in existence. Kovarian wanted to make me into a weapon, but I realized that I was already a weapon; I was born as a weapon. My Regeneration Energy was the weapon, which I inherited from you. Kovarian didn't make me this way. You did."

"No!" the Doctor shakes his head. "I never meant for you to become this! This was not how your powers were meant to be used; they were meant to be used for the better. For good! Please, Nova, let me help you to be the good person you were meant to be."

"This isn't you, Nova!" I say, automatically quoting myself from my other life. "You're so much better than this! Please, wake up from this delusion and come back to the Light! There is good in you, I know it!"

"Let us help you to be good again!" the Doctor adds. "Let us help you to find yourself again!" His statement makes me think of the same words that River said to him just before she died.

"It's too late for that," Nova shakes her head, truly meaning what she's saying. "You can't help me now. No one can help me now. The only way you can help me is by joining River in death! Once you both are dead, only then would I be truly happy, and so will the rest of the universe!"

I sigh, realizing that this is getting pointless. It seems like no matter what we say, no matter how hard we try to change her mind, she refuses to change, and honestly I don't think she will ever be the person we want her to be. She's too far over the side of the Dark that there's no chance that she will ever see the Light. Not anymore.

The Doctor must see it too, because he gives a deep sigh and closes his eyes in seeming defeat, and when he opens them again, there is a darkness in them that was never there before, which frightens me to my core.

"Fine!" he growls under his breath before he automatically snatches River's gun out of my hand and aims it at his daughter's chest.

"Hey!" I gasp in absolute shock, backing up against a desk in horror. "Dad! What the hell?!"

"We both agreed that you always have to do what's best for the universe, no matter the cost," he says to me while refusing to turn his eyes away from his corrupted daughter. "You said yourself that I was the one who taught you that, did you not?"

I shake my head in utter disbelief. "Yeah, but… No! This isn't—" I pause mid-sentence when I see my evil twin sniggering loudly. I frown at her in response.

"Wow!" she continues chuckling, like this is all a joke to her. "This is spectacular! The man who calls himself a pacifist is pointing a gun at me! You and 'Mummy' were always full of surprises."

"We've been around…" the Doctor replies, raising an eyebrow, "much longer than most people, even you."

"Obviously," she snorts at his redundant statement. She then steps forward until River's gun is pressed right between her hearts, glaring spitefully at her father as if daring him. "Which bears the question… Do you really have the balls to shoot me? Me—your only daughter?"

"If that's what it takes to keep the universe safe, then yes," he replies, and he seems to truly mean it. "And no, you're not my daughter. Not anymore. My daughter is gone. I see that now." After he admits this last bit, I catch a glint of a tear in his eye and a slight whimper to his voice, clearly angered to have lost his only daughter to such a callous group of people. In all honesty, I can't help but feel the same way. I never thought I would become somebody like this, but I guess it was always destined to happen in one universe or another. I'm just thankful it didn't happen in my own.

"And what if you're wrong?" she snorts again. "About that, at least. Coz technically, we share the same blood, which biologically makes me your daughter; nothing can change that. But do you know the one thing you are wrong about? Deep down, you don't have the balls to shoot me. In fact, you don't have the capability to sacrifice those you love, even for the good of the universe."

As they continue talking to each other, I secretly take the small pistol that I saw lying innocently on the desk; Nova must've planned to use it before we came in here but then (luckily for me) forgot about it. Thankfully they don't notice as I check to make sure it's already loaded before I arm it behind my back, ready to use at a moment's notice.

The Doctor shakes his head, still focusing on his psychopath of a daughter. "You're wrong. I've done worse things than you can imagine. I've wiped out whole worlds to save others. During the Time War, I had no other choice."

"But here, you do have a choice," she points out before glancing at me and saying, "Sydney knows it; I can see it in her eyes." She then glances back at the Doctor (thankfully she's not on to me about my secret plan) and continues, "You can walk away from this. All of this." She pauses for a second as if reading his thoughts. "But if you do, it will mean losing me forever. If you walk away now, you will have failed me, you will have failed your best friends… But most of all, you will have failed your lover. River… She asked you to save me with her dying breath, but you just admitted to me that you failed to save me yourself, and you meant it. You promised her that you would save me, even back when I was just born, and you broke that promise—twice. And she's not the first person you've broken a promise to either; you've broken several people's promises, and most, if not all of them, have died because of it. Because of you. You are a disgrace to your family, to me, to the rest of the universe, and even to yourself." She stops talking to allow her words to sink into the Doctor's brain.

Once the words fully sink into his brain, he sighs in defeat and admits with a heavy sigh and heavy hearts while also lowering River's gun to his side once more, "You're right. I am a disgrace to everyone, especially to myself. A man like that should not deserve to live."

I catch a subtle smile appear on Nova's face, like she had been waiting for her father to admit those words for a very long time. Like she had been waiting for him to accept defeat for the first time in his twelve centuries long life. Like she had been waiting for him to accept the fact that she had finally won over him. "In that case," she shrugs, her smirk widening as she inserts her hand into her right pocket, "allow me to put things right." She then takes out a knife with lightning-speed and lunges at her father with it, aiming for his chest.

"NO!" I scream on instinct as I aim my gun at my alternate evil self and shoot her in the chest. I watch as she screams in pain and stumbles back and doubles over while wrapping her arms around her bloody front. I stare in shock as, a few seconds later, that golden glow I know all too well appears from her hands.

"Oh, sister…" she chuckles at me as the Regeneration Energy intensifies. "You've just made the biggest mistake of your life. Didn't you pay attention? Every time anyone 'kills' me, I grow more powerful; Kovarian made sure I would with her experiments. Don't you remember what I said before? She made me into a weapon. She planned for this very moment! By 'killing' me, you just killed yourself as well!"

"No!" I snap back as I aim at her chest again, prepared to take that second and final shot that would kill a Time Lord outright. "I'll stop you!"

"Too late!" she shakes her head. "I am unstoppable now! I am inevitable!"

In that moment, she swings her head back and her arms out as she releases a powerful burst of Regeneration Energy that seems to hold the same amount of power as a nuclear blast. The force knocks me back into the desk, making me drop the gun. As I attempt to pick it back up, another gunshot is heard from the opposite side of the room, and the Regeneration seems to abruptly end, followed by my evil twin's body falling to the floor in a heap.

Once everything settles and my vision clears, I glance toward the Doctor to see him having also been blasted back several feet across the floor from his daughter's destructive Regeneration. I see him with his arm lifted, holding his wife's smoking gun up, showing that he was the one who took that final shot at his daughter, before involuntarily dropping it by his side and lying back out of weakness.

"Dad!" I scream as I automatically run to him. I drop to his side and gasp once more the instant I see Nova's knife sticking out of one side of his chest, right through one of his hearts, and staining his entire front, including his coat, with bright orange/red blood.

A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!

I'm sure most of you saw that cliffhanger coming after you read the earlier one with River. Yes, I had this planned from the start. I basically killed everyone (not including Sydney of course) at this point. I have no regrets, lol.

But don't worry; things will legitimately get better from here on out, I promise. Spoilers, of course :)

As always, friendly reminder that kudos, comments, and favs are appreciated and will keep me motivated to post more often. I see that many of you are reading my works but not subscribing, favoriting, or commenting on them. I always encourage feedback from my readers and enjoy reading about my readers' favorite moments. I'm sure everyone has at least one favorite moment. Please, please, please share them! I would love to talk about them.

Also, friendly reminder that I tend to have a major habit of rewriting things, so be sure to check back every once in a while (maybe even reread the previous chapter or chapters) to keep up to date on any changes I may make or add.