A/N: "Courage is knowing what not to fear." – Plato

Part 7 of 10 of the episode "Living Nightmare."

WARNING: mentions of gore and blood.

Chapter 30: Courage is Knowing What Not to Fear

I wake up seconds—or minutes, or hours, or god knows how long—later, feeling like my body has been run over by an eighteen-wheeler. My vision is hazy, but I can barely make out the familiar white hospital room, as well as another reptilian-eyed alien; or perhaps it could be the same alien as last time, when I saw the world through Jenny's eyes. I briefly wonder if I am, indeed, back in Jenny's mind again, but this doesn't feel like someone else's mind. I am, in fact, in my own body, which means that what I am seeing is real.

The lizard-eyed alien, who is still wearing his surgical mask, hovers over me with a devious look in his eyes. He leans closer to me, and I want to speak, move, attack—something—but I feel absolutely nothing in my limbs, like he's knocked me up with some kind of anesthesia.

"We have been fooled," he growls at me. "You are not the Doctor."

I am unable to speak words out loud, so I say in my head, Of course not, dumbass. I'm his daughter. Clearly you didn't pay enough attention, seeing as you obviously caught the wrong Time Lord.

"Scans show you share the Doctor's DNA," the alien continues, "but it is not a precise match. Scans show small traces of human DNA in you, but the source of the human DNA is unknown."

I frown. 'Unknown?' I obviously got my human DNA from my mother! Who else?

Then again, my mother's DNA actually came from the Time Vortex, aside from her human parents, so I would understand the confusion.

"There have been whispers across all of Time and Space that spoke of a child 'hybrid' born of both human and Time Lord descent," the alien says, "and scans show that you are that child, proving the whispers to be true. We wondered when we would ever make your acquaintance, Nova."

Honestly, I'm surprised they know who I am, considering I've never been outside Earth until our previous adventure. My reputation must precede me, though how, I have no idea, and I'm not sure I want to know.

The pleasure is all yours, I growl back at him. What makes them think that I would ever want to be acquainted with genocidal monsters such as these guys? They destroyed their own planet just to scare their own people! How sick is that?!

"Your father was a fool to trust you to that Homo-Reptilian imbecile," the alien sneers at me, "and now that you are here, we believe you will be quite useful to us. Now that you are within our grasp, he will have no choice but to come to us and claim you back." He then smirks down at me; at least, I can imagine him doing that under his mask. "Better yet, we will come to him, and you will help us locate him."

I am able to gather enough strength in my mouth-muscles to snap through the oxygen mask over my face, "I'll…never…help…you."

The alien chuckles. "Oh, but you will. With your own fear."

"I'll…fight…it," I snap back, and at this point I lose the strength to say anything else.

The alien shakes his head, continuing to snigger, "No… You will become it." He then adjusts the machine next to me, which pumps more sedative into my system and makes me sleepier. "You belong to us now. Nothing is stronger than fear, and nothing will stop us." Those are the last words I hear before I pass out…

…Before waking up again, this time in a different place entirely, and, strangely enough, in an entirely different body. I briefly wonder if I've regenerated again, but this doesn't feel like that type of body-change. I glance around and notice that I am in a large tunnel with running water that looks and smells awful—a sewer of sorts—and everything seems to take on a red tinge.

I walk on all fours to the edge of the water, and once I see my reflection— the smooshed face of a mutt with glowing eyes like hot coals and a thirst for blood—I immediately pull back in fear at the hideous sight.

This can't be real; I scream at myself.

But it is. I look down at my hands—or rather, large furry paws with long nails, and my fear is confirmed. I've turned into one of those things! Those cannibalistic 'mutt' things from that dead planet; the thing that ravaged that multi-eyed Vokanari member until there was nothing left.

I feel my hearts—heart, as I only have one now—go into overdrive in that moment, and then there is a sudden pain in my head, and a task is given:

Sniff out the Doctor.

No, I think to myself, shaking my head, not just that. I have to warn him. Warn him that the 'Shadow Demons,' or whatever they're called, are coming for him, and they're using me to do it.

I don't seem to be able to control my—this—body, as I somehow manage to get a scent…

The scent of another Time Lord—Dad.

I can only watch as my body moves involuntarily toward what I assume to be the exit of the sewer, all the while following the scent to Dad's location: Number 13, Paternoster Row. No doubt the lizard-eyed aliens are following me, but losing them, or directing them away from the house, is, regrettably, fruitless.

Somehow, even in the dark (I must've been in that cursed 'hospital' for hours; literally all day), I manage to find my way back to the house; however, I can't seem to enter the house, as the front door is locked. I circle the house, trying to find another way in, to warn everyone of the danger that isn't too far away.

I am able to break through the window of one of the upstairs bedrooms, which happens to be the room I was assigned to on our first night here. Once I'm in, I break down the bedroom door and step onto the landing in the main hall.

Of course, Madame Vastra, Strax, and Dad had heard the crash upstairs from me, and they rush out of the living room downstairs and gasp once they set eyes on me.

I immediately begin telling them everything. "Dad! Thank god I found you guys! The reptilian-eyed freaks—they captured me!" However, my words don't sound like normal words. Instead, all anyone hears is hungry growling.

"Dear Goddess!" Vastra cries at the sight of me, clearly neither understanding nor recognizing me (of course not, because this isn't my actual body!). "What is that?"

"A Paroobian Mutt, by the looks of it," Dad frowns. "Deadly creatures. Strange…Paroobian Mutts are only native to Contraxia, which was a planet located in the Paroobian Spiral Galaxy, twelve-trillion-trillion light-years away. What's it doing on Earth?"

"Guys!" I try to speak again, but, again, it only sounds like growls. "I'm not a mutt; I mean, this isn't my real body! It's me, Nova! Please, hear me out! The lizard-eyed people, they're—"

"Never mind where it's from!" Vastra shakes her head. "What's it doing in my house? How did it find us?"

"Please, listen to me!" I beg. "You're not safe here! You have to ru—"

"I don't know," Dad says, "but I didn't bring it here. I'm certain of that." He then pauses in realization, and I can sense his thoughts, and a wave of hope floods through me. "Unless…"

'Unless this isn't an actual Paroobian Mutt. In which case, this is, in fact, someone's fear come to life—particularly Nova's since she is the only one to have seen these creatures recently.'

Yes, Dad! That's exactly right!

He then steps forward toward me, cocking his head to the side. 'Nova?' he asks me telepathically.

'Dad!' I cry in a relieved tone. 'It's me! I'm your daughter! I'm Nova! Please, you must see me!'

Vastra, however, doesn't seem convinced. She pulls Dad back, saying in a warning tone, "Doctor, you mustn't get too close. As you said, it is deadly."

"Allow me to destroy this vermin for the glory of Sontar!" Strax says, suddenly stepping forward and raising his gun, pointing it at me. "Sontar-Ha!"

"Strax, no!" Dad shouts, but it's too late. Strax fires his gun at me, and a bright energy beam hits me in the shoulder, putting a hole in it. I howl in pain but manage to stay on my feet. In a sudden fit of anger, I swipe at the Sontaran, knocking the gun out of his hands.

"Strax, you imbecile!" Vastra shrieks as she and Dad pull him away from me. "You'll only anger it further!"

"Madam, it attacked me!" the Sontaran protests. "I must destroy it before it attacks again! I will not accept defeat today!"

"Strax, shut up!" Dad snaps at him. "It's not an 'it!' it's Nova!"

'Yes!' I breathe a sigh of relief. 'It's me!'

"Yes, Nova, I know it's you," he says, smiling grimly at me. "I'm sorry. I am so sorry this happened to you."

Vastra stares back-and-forth between Dad and I, completely stunned. "This creature is Nova? Explain yourself, Doctor!"

I speak up telepathically. 'There's no time! Dad, listen! The 'Shadow' guys—they captured me! They're holding me at their hospital-base, and they're using my fear to find you! They're on their way here now! You guys need to run; get away from here! Please!'

"You led them here?" Dad asks with a frown, like he can't believe I've betrayed him; like I'd betrayed everyone.

'I had no choice!' I protest. 'They're controlling my body somehow; at least, they were! I have control now, but only partially! They're close by; I can smell them! They're outside the house now! Please, you have to run!' At this point, we all begin hearing banging outside the house from the other side of the main door.

"Nova! Listen to me!" Dad says in a pointed tone, forcing me to focus on him. "You're going to be alright! I'm going to find you! Wherever you are, I will find you!" He says those words like he doesn't care what would happen, not even if the lizard-eyed aliens capture him for his fear. From the sound of his words, he'd be willing to sacrifice everything—himself, his own fear, even all of Space-Time—just to get me back.

But I can't let him do that. Not by a longshot! 'No! You can't let them take you! I won't let them take you! You have to run! Please!'

The door is suddenly blown open in a massive cloud of smoke and wood shavings, and the lizard-eyed aliens storm into the house with guns and immediately begin shooting at us. Vastra and Strax attempt to fight back, but they are not fast enough as they are both shot in the chest and collapse to the floor.

"Vastra!" Dad cries for his beloved friends. "Strax!"

I won't let them do the same to Dad. I position myself between him and the aliens, blocking them from getting anywhere near him. If they want to touch him, they will have to do it over my dead body—my real one!

"Doctor!" one of the aliens growls, raising his gun toward us—rather, at Dad.

'Dad! RUN!' I scream as I go to attack the aliens, attempting to swipe them with my claws.

"You have outlived your usefulness!" the alien that acknowledged Dad says as it raises its gun and shoots me square in the chest, and my vision immediately goes dark.

I immediately wake up back in the hospital, with the same alien as before hovering over me, this time holding a syringe filled with a yellow liquid, and the sense of danger immediately floods through me.

"Sweet dreams, Time Lady," the alien sniggers as he prepares to stick me with the needle.

However, my instincts kick in. In the span of a single second, I blast the alien in the chest with my regeneration energy, the force making him lose his grip on the syringe, dropping it to the floor. I immediately pull the oxygen mask off my face, as well as several IVs all at once, and pin the alien to the floor, sitting on his hips. He attempts to grab the syringe with the eerie liquid, but I grab it before he does, and without thinking twice, I jab the needle straight into his neck, pushing on the trigger and forcing the liquid into his body.

Not long after, the most horrifying thing happens. The alien's body begins convulsing uncontrollably, but that's not the most horrifying part. As he's convulsing, his skin begins shriveling up like a raisin, like all the fluid in his body is drying out. I immediately jump up from his hips when I see green/yellow blood seeping out from under him, as well as through his mask, pooling around him and simmering through his skin. I fight myself not to vomit as he continues mummifying until he stops moving altogether, and he is nothing but bones and blood.

"Oh my god!" I scream as I back away in shock.

Thank god my instincts kicked in, otherwise that could've been me!

That's the second time, on just this trip alone, that someone has come extremely close to outright killing me! Whatever the hell that stuff was, I seriously doubt that Regeneration would've saved me, considering what it had done to this guy. This must be a normal thing for Dad, as, from my personal experience, at least one of us had gotten killed, or close to being killed, on both trips. I'm honestly not sure how much more of this I can handle.

Once I've gotten over the shock, I rise from the floor and look around the room. To my left, I see at least six other 'hospital patients' lying on other gurneys and attached to other machines and monitors, the screens showing their vitals as well as personal fears. The people vary in age from teens to seventy-year-olds. I don't recognize any of the faces to be Jenny, but I believe she must be somewhere else in the clinic. I just have to find her. As much as I want to help these other people, Jenny is my number-one priority.

At the far end of the room, I spot a shelf with various pieces of clothing—presumably owned by the 'patients'—including my own; or rather, the dress I borrowed from Jenny's wardrobe. Figuring that I don't have time to change into the dress, I grab my Chuck Taylors and slip them on my feet, keeping my hospital gown on. Needless to say, I'm extremely disgusted that I was undressed against my consent again; not to mention that I was undressed by lizard-eyed perverts from another world. I even find a large bowl filled with valuables belonging to the patients as well, including, luckily enough, my sonic screwdriver (I had purposefully left my phone and Gallifreyan locket at Vastra's for fear of losing them to the sickos).

"Good thing my sonic is still here," I think aloud as I take it from the bowl. "I'm surprised they haven't stolen it for themselves; probably shouldn't jinx it, though." Perhaps they thought it was a lucky pen or something, and not some futuristic tool that does whatever you 'point and think' it to do.

Gripping my sonic tightly in hand, I peek through the door and into the hallway and, surprisingly, see no one patrolling; however, I do notice that the hallway looks exactly like a typical spaceship out of a Star Trek episode; in fact, the hallways liken to the corridors of the Starship Enterprise.

I see another door next to the one I'd just left, and when I peek inside, as the door is left slightly ajar, I see more 'patients,' and one of them immediately catches my eye. The monitor above a brunette woman closest to the door shows a familiar lizard-woman and Sontaran (Vastra and Strax respectively) lying motionless on the floor, and a pair of hands are hovering above their bodies in a seeming attempt to wake them. This realization automatically brings me to the conclusion that this woman must be Jenny—the woman I came here to rescue.

I prepare to enter the room when I suddenly see another lizard-eyed doctor come into view behind the door and approach Jenny's side, and I feel both hearts immediately drop in terror once I see the syringe filled with the familiar yellow liquid—the deadly poison that was very nearly used on me just seconds ago next door. I immediately come up with a clever distraction to get the sicko away from Jenny and prevent him from doing the same to her.

"Knock-knock!" I call to him as I proceed to literally knock on the door. I slip behind the door as the alien turns and approaches with a confused frown, still holding the syringe. Once he opens the door, I say with a smile, "Hi, I'm here for my 11:30 appointment!" before punching the guy hard in the jaw, knocking him unconscious. "Asshole," I growl as I enter the room, shaking off the soreness in my hand. No freaking way was I going to let him attempt to kill Jenny almost exactly like how his bastard of a buddy almost killed me next door. I'd kill him first before he'd even attempt to go after Jenny, or anybody else.

In fact, I am very much tempted to do just that, anyway. The moment he hit the floor, the syringe clattered noisily to the floor next to him, but its contents, luckily, didn't spill. Snatching up the syringe, I greatly consider using it on the sick son of a bitch, but a sudden thought makes me pause. In reality, I personally have no reason to kill him, even though he'd gone after Jenny instead; but he and his buddy must've been given orders to kill us, since they no longer need us as bait now that they know (because of me) where Dad is. Jenny and I have, indeed, outlived our usefulness, since we were used specifically to find Dad, and now that they know where he is…

No. I mustn't think about that. Enough wasting time. I need to focus.

Luckily, there are no other aliens around. I immediately run up to Jenny's body, her body looking gaunt from severe malnutrition. I watch her monitor for a few seconds, feeling sad that she can't do anything for her friends, especially since they haven't been able to physically see her for days, as she's just an astral projection. This must be her greatest fear, I realize—to not be able to be seen by her loved ones, no matter how much she tries to get them to.

God, every single one of those days must have been awful. I can't imagine…

After a few more seconds of watching the monitor, I notice that Dad is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps Dad was able to escape, despite the need to stick around to help his friends.

Perhaps he's on his way here to save me, like he promised.

Either way, we can't stay here. I have to get Jenny out of here before any other aliens come back. Even if they do come back, at least now I have something I can use against them.

"I'm so sorry, Jenny," I say, looking down at her, "I'll have you free soon." I go to the machine and adjust it to turn off the setting that controls sedation, and I watch as Jenny slowly wakes up. "Jenny?" I whisper to her gently. "Jenny Flint? Are you alright?"

"Nova?" she whispers, frowning at me with uncertainty, like she's not entirely sure I'm actually here.

I smile and nod. "Yeah, that's me. Dad sent me—I mean, the Doctor; he's my dad. He sent me to rescue you. Well, he didn't exactly send me. I sorta sent myself. I got captured in his place, which wasn't exactly his plan; it was actually mine, but not really."

Ugh, shut up, Nova! There's no time for your rambling!

"It's complicated," I shrug as I step aside to give Jenny more room to sit up.

"Where is he?" she asks worriedly as she swings her bare legs over the side of the gurney. "Where's the Doctor?"

"I don't know," I say as I begin detaching her IVs. "Last I saw him, he was at Vastra's house, but—"

"But they were attacked," she finishes. "Yes, I know. I saw those men with the reptilian eyes break into the house. They shot everyone, including the Doctor. They took him away."

These words send a shudder down my spine, confirming my fears. Dad didn't escape. He was captured, just like me and everyone else here.

And it's all my fault. Again!

"They must be taking him here…" I growl, fighting myself not to let out my anger, "wherever 'here' is. We need to be ready for them when they come back with him. We have to stop them, plus get everybody else out. We can't leave these people, certainly not Dad." I then ask, turning to Jenny, "Can you stand? We need to wake as many people as we can and get them out of here." I figure I can at least save a few people, if not all of them.

"I can stand," she says as she struggles to her feet, "but we shouldn't stay here. We need to go back to Madame Vastra's and make sure they're okay. We can come back for everyone else when we have higher numbers. We can't stop these men with just the two of us."

As much as I want to save these people, Jenny is right. Who knows how many lizard-eyed freaks are in control of this ship, and taking them all down with just the two of us seems like a longshot. "You're right," I sigh. "We need to regroup and come up with a proper plan, and fast." I then ask hesitantly, "Uh…I don't suppose you know the way out, do you?"

Jenny frowns as if trying to remember. "I might. I vaguely remember wandering around this ship while in my transparent form. Somewhere on this ship, there is a portal that leads right into the sewers under the city."

"Good!" I praise her. "We'll find that and get the hell out of here before those freaks come back."

Glancing over at the far end of the room, I see another shelf with the patients' clothes, and I ask Jenny where hers are, and to at least put her shoes on so it's easier to get around without being barefoot. Luckily she didn't have any valuables on her.

"Come on," I say after I help her get her shoes on, "let's go."

Once we get out into the hallway, Jenny pauses, remembering where the exit is. She points to the left side, saying, "The way out is this way." We begin walking hastily in that direction, hoping we don't run into any lizard-eyed demons along the way.

"How big is this ship?" I ask curiously after a minute of walking.

"Not very," Jenny shrugs. "It's about the same size as Westminster Abbey."

"Oh, yeah, that's not very big at all," I say, shaking my head, remembering walking through the church with Hazel when we visited. "I expected this ship to be bigger; much bigger, though obviously not as big as the TAR—"

"Hush!" Jenny abruptly cries, immediately stopping. "Someone's coming! Quick, in here!" She then grabs my hand and pulls me inside a nearby room and shuts the door. We remain quiet as we hear multiple heavy footsteps entering the corridor from the direction of the supposed exit.

As the footsteps get closer, I get a familiar sense. A sense that another Time Lord is close by.

Dad.

I don't say anything as we see at least three white-coated aliens pass by, appearing to carry something in their arms. I squint through the crack in the door and see the aliens are carrying a body dressed in familiar purple clothing, but I can't tell who it is from this angle; perhaps another poor soul they've snatched from the streets. At the same time as the group passes us, the sense of Dad's presence heightens.

The moment the group passes us completely, we peek out into the hall to see them carrying the body to the far end of the corridor, and I get a full glimpse of the body's slack face, and I feel both hearts drop in terror again.

"Dad…"

"Okay, the way's clear," Jenny whispers from behind me. "Now's our chance. Nova?"

"That's Dad," I say in shock as I watch the lizard-eyed sickos carry him around the corner and out of sight. "They have Dad." I prepare to go after them, but Jenny stops me by pulling my arm.

"I'm sorry, Nova," she says, shaking her head. "We can't do anything for him now. The exit is just around the corner. We must go. Come on!" She pulls me along as we run through a hazy-looking hole in the wall and into the sewers. "Come on! I know the way back from here!"

"Me too," I nod. "This is where I woke up as that…thing." It sends chills down my spine, just thinking about it. Regardless, I look over the edge of the water, and I'm relieved to see my own face looking back at me.

"This way!" Jenny starts walking when she suddenly pauses and sways slightly on her feet.

"Whoa!" I exclaim as I step forward to steady her. "Slow down, Jenny. You're still weak."

"I'm alright," she assures me, but I know she's lying. In fact, this brings me back in time to when Dad said the exact same thing when he was coughing up large amounts of blood from the result of a punctured heart.

"Here, let me help you," I say as I swing her arm over my shoulders as a way to keep her standing, much like I helped Dad on our previous adventure. "It's okay," I say as we begin walking again, "I get it. You haven't been on your feet in over a week."

"I'm…so…hungry…" she says in a weak voice, and her body weight seems to feel heavier as she gradually loses strength, but I'm determined to get us out of here, back to her friends.

"I know," I nod sadly. "We'll get some food in you once we get back to the house."

As if right on cue, a loud warning bell rings out through the tunnels from the ship we'd just left, giving me the impression that the aliens have discovered our daring escape; either that, or one of the other aliens has discovered the body—rather, what is left of the body—of his comrade in the room where they kept me. "That's our cue to vamoose," I say as I grip Jenny's wrist tightly, keeping her steady against me. "Come on." She gives me a sideways glance of uncertainty, and I assure her, saying, "Don't worry. We can make it. Trust me."

We manage to make it back to the house in half an hour, though the place appears to be trashed, especially from the outside, the front door having been blasted completely off its hinges, and debris strewn all over the main foyer.

"We made it!" I sigh in relief. "I told you we'd make it!" Jenny smiles back.

"Jenny!" an anxious-looking Vastra emerges from the house, rushing to us, followed closely by a defeated Strax. "You're alive!" she says happily as she embraces her friend and wife tightly.

"Thanks to Nova," Jenny smiles, facing me. "She saved me."

Vastra pulls away, holding Jenny by her shoulders, sighing contently. "I'm glad you two are alright." She then turns to me, looking around with a frown, "Where is your father? When Strax and I came to, he was absent."

"They took him," I sigh regretfully. "We saw them bring him in while we were escaping. We would've stopped them, but between the two of us we were outnumbered. We figured we'd come back here and regroup with you guys."

Vastra nods understandingly. "Yes, that was a much wiser decision. Thank you for bringing Jenny home, my dear. Your father would be very proud." I smile back at her with a light nod.

"And I am proud to see you boys have survived a glorious battle!" Strax speaks up. "Though I am ashamed to know that I was not notified that you had gone to battle without me! I am also ashamed to know that you two have decided to retreat before the battle was officially over! You should be ashamed of yourselves!" He then turns to me with a smile, which makes me uncomfortable. "Although, I will make you an exception. You fought valiantly in your beast form; though I daresay I do not appreciate the fact that you defeated me in battle."

I frown, feeling awkward. "Uh…sorry. I wasn't exactly in control of my 'beast form,' but…thanks, I guess." I then shake my head. "Anyway, that's not important. What's important is that we need to come up with a plan to get back to that ship and stop the sickos before they hurt Dad." The last time I left his side, that got him killed, and I'm not about to let that happen again.

"Yes," Vastra nods in agreement. "We need to strategize our next move before the unthinkable happens."

In that moment, as if right on cue, a ginormous explosion erupts from somewhere down the street, and a mushroom-cloud rises in the sky over the buildings. A sky that has strangely turned from dark blue to a bright orange/red in the blink of an eye, with large circular shapes descending from the thick clouds. Several beams of light shoot down from the bizarre saucers, and millions of small objects descend from the saucers, shooting down on the city as well, screaming one word:

Exterminate.

"What's happened to the sky?" I ask as I watch the smaller objects glide through the air, shooting everything in their line of sight. "And what are those flying drones?" They're not planes, nor are they birds. There's only one other explanation: they are beings from another world, and we are witnessing another alien invasion. Though, I get the disturbing feeling like this is more than just an invasion.

Much more.

"Those are not drones, Nova," Vastra says in a distressed tone. "They are Daleks. It is just what I feared. It is happening again."

"What is?" I ask, puzzled.

I turn to her, and I see her face pale; rather, her face has lightened to a brighter shade of green.

"The War. The Last Great Time War."

A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!