Hi guys! So far, the plan to have a chapter out per month is going pretty well. At my current rate, I should be able to post as least one chapter a month even when the fall semester starts up again!

Anat and Monia escorted the three of them back to the manhole cover that the Doctor and Marion had climbed out of. At least, Marion was pretty sure that it was the manhole cover they had climbed out of. Things were a bit fuzzy. She crouched down and started to pull it out of the way. Monia gave the Doctor one of the black box time machines.

"Now, you are sure you know how to use it?" She overheard Anat talk to the Doctor.

"It seems simple enough," she heard the Doctor reply, "Bit too simple for my liking."

"Right," Monia nodded, "We'll give you covering fire, just in case."

"Good!" the Doctor replied.

"Good luck!" Marion called.

Marion loosely grabbed ahold of the ladder and dropped. Her ankles stung at the landing and she looked pointedly upward as the stinging faded. The Doctor came down next, followed by Jo.

"Marion, do you remember which way you and the Doctor went?"

Marion thought for a moment and then shook her head. "I was pretty out of it. Doctor?"

"This way."

"We've got to keep moving."

Marion felt dizzy again. She grabbed ahold of the Doctor and Jo's hand. She could hear more than their three sets of footsteps and within moments, they were surrounded on all sides by the Orgons. From the shadows, out stepped the Controller.

His expression was difficult to read.

"So it has ended as I said it would," he sighed. "Did I not tell you it was madness to fight the Daleks?"

"Is it madness to want to see a world free from their rule?"

The Controller shook his head. "It can't be done."

"Oh yes, it can. And I can do it. Are you going to stop me?"

The Controller sighed. He looked left, then right, then left again. And then towards one of the guards. In an instant, Marion's vision settled.

"Go." He ordered sharply. "I will deal with these criminals myself," when they didn't move, he repeated himself. "I said go!"

The guards looked at each other for a moment, and then slowly shambled away.

"If only I could be sure." the Controller said wistfully.

"You spoke of the war, of its years of suffering and starvation. Well, I can prevent all that from happening, you know."

"You saved my life," remarked the Controller. "You could have let them kill me. Go, quickly."

"Thank you. Jo, Marion, come here and stand by me."

The Doctor pressed a button on the side of the box and in a moment, Marion was back in the spray paint rollercoaster.

"Marion?" Asked Four's voice "Are you alright?"

Marion wasn't aware that her not being alright was on the table. She felt great. Better than great in fact! Why, she hadn't felt this good since.

Ah.

"I'll be fiiiiiine," Marion replied. She was still with Three. She coughed. And this time, she didn't stop the orange mist from floating out of her throat. The sooner it was gone the sooner she would feel better. Not that she felt great, she felt fine, but she was pretty sure that the way she was feeling right then wasn't good. For some reason.

"Marion?"

Marion tugged the Doctor forward. She blindly reached out for Jo's hand as well, people shifted weirdly when she looked at them. Not like concrete, concrete remained concrete. Marion appreciated that about it.

"Concrete should be appreciated more," Marion remarked. They wouldn't get it, but she felt like it was good for them to know.

The moment they were out, they ran into a soldier, but that was fine since the soldier was Benton! At least she thought that he was Benton.

Marion let more orange mist smoke out of her mouth.

The man looked at them and brought a walkie-talkie to his mouth and pressed a button on the side.

"This is Sergeant Benton calling UNIT HQ. Look, we've found them. Would you get a jeep over here pronto. This way, you three.."

So it was Benton. She thought that his hair was longer. She thought that his hair was shorter. Marion looked at the dirt instead.

The jeep that Benton called arrived in moments and practically skidded to a stop.

As far as soldiers she had met today, Marion liked Benton. That was a nice thing. People liked to know that they were liked by others She should say it out loud. He hadn't tried to kill the Doctor or Jo ONCE today. That put her pretty high up there as far as soldiers go. Maybe she should say that out loud.

She did.

Benton looked bemused,

"Ah, so that's what that's like."

Marion paused moments before getting into the back seat of the truck. She blinked. "Oh?" Did he mean compliments? Surely he got compliments before. He was probably talking about something else.

Soldiers. Benton was a soldier. They were standing by the tunnel. Soldiers. Tunnels.

Soldiers in the tunnels.

SOLDIERS IN THE TUNNELS.

Marion opened the door again and shouted out.

"STAY AWAY FROM THE TUNNELS."

Marion's voice carried through the moor. She saw a man who was about to walk inside to investigate, stop in his tracks, and back away, the grass twisting and changing under his feet.

"Oh. And get bigger guns. Cannons, if you can manage it!" Marion nodded to herself and then shut the door again.

Warm smoke tickled her throat. She hacked and coughed loudly.

"Doctor is Marion alright," Jo asked, getting into the passenger seat.

"Jo-Jo. I'm FINE." Something warm tickled the back of her throat. Marion pursed her lips and watched as the orange smoke floated upward and away.

"Marion? What's that? What's happened?" asked Jo as the Doctor got into the driver's seat and took off. Was driving that fast safe? Marion wasn't sure. She didn't think so. Driving that erratically couldn't be safe. But then again the Doctor was good at driving in unsafe conditions. That's how they were able to drive Honey. Although, part of it was that Honey loved them very much and gently ignored them when they did stupid things like try to drive into a supernova.

Jo had asked her if she was okay. She felt okay.

"I-" A great hacking cough erupted from Marion's throat. The hard kind, that made you feel like by the time you were done your mouth would be full of blood.

"DOCTOR-" Jo shouted frantically.

Marion leaned towards the window and opened her mouth to the fresh air. Marion lightly pounded at her chest as the last of it slowly floated out. Gradually, her vision went clear and when she looked back at the Doctor, he just looked like Three.

"Was that the last of it?" he sounded like Three too.

"I think so," Marion replied. "Certain forms of time travel don't agree with me. I'm fine now."

"Just in time." the Doctor remarked.

The jeep slid to a halt in front of the office. Before it had gone to a complete stop, Marion and Jo had opened the door and were already running to the entrance. The Doctor was close behind the two of them.

Marion quickly tore out ahead of Jo.

"BRIGADIER!" Marion shouted. "BRIGADIER!"

"Marion? Where the devil have you been? You haven't answered your phone!"

The Brigadier was standing next to Styles and had turned away from the man to give her full attention.

Marion slid to a stop, nearly tripping over herself.

"Phone's on silent. Everyone needs to get out of the house. Now!"

"What's the girl talking about?" Styles asked the Brigadier.

"Do as she says!" insisted Jo, "Look, there isn't much time!"

"Look," the Doctor added, "try and use your intelligence, man, even if you are a politician."

"Seriously. You all need to leave."

"Brigadier," Styles said threateningly, "if you can't get this lunatic out of my way"

"I know it all sounds incredible, sir, but these two usually know what they're talking about."

"Arranging this conference was an almost impossible task. It is no exaggeration to say that the peace of the world depends on its success. I will not jeopardise that success now!"

Marion felt her eye twitch "Hey Styles. Do you think that an explosive in the cellar of the house where all of the world's delegates are would 'jeopardize that success'?"

At the silence that followed Marion kept talking. "Because I think that it would. But who knows."

"Marion, is there an explosive in the cellar?"

"Brigadier, get this man and all the delegates out of this area immediately. Use force if you have to! Jo, you stay here. Marion, with me."

The Doctor and Marion raced to the wine cellar and found it empty.

"Marion-"

"Uhhhhh-" Marion snapped her finger trying to think. "There's another cellar. A coal cellar." Marion backed away from the door and slid back into the hallway. "Where's your coal cellar?"

"Why do you-"

"Coal Cellar." Marion said, sharply, "Where Is."

"It's in the back kitchen. It's never used now."

Marion let out a bitter laugh.

The Doctor and Marion were going to rush, and then Marion heard the soft crackle of radio noise from the walkie-talkie.

She couldn't make out the words but she could make out the Brigadier's response. "'Do your best to hold them, Benton. If you can't, fall back slowly. I'll reinforce you as soon as I can.'"

The Brigadier turned to look at them. "Some kind of attacking force is coming out of the tunnel. Those ape things and something else. Some kind of robots…"

"Daleks," whispered Jo. "Daleks and Ogrons!"

"They want to blow up the house so that they can-" Marion shook her head. "Tell them-"

The Brigadier pushed the walkie-talkie into her hand. Marion pressed the button on the side. It buzzed.

"This is Marion Henson to Sergeant Benton can you hear me?"

"Yes Marion, I hear you!"

"Do NOT get shot by the robot things."

"I had figured that-"

"No you-" Marion didn't know how to begin to verbalize how incredibly painful getting shot by a Dalek was, so she stopped and moved onto something more important "And your guns aren't going to be able to do much to them, the robots I mean. Aiming for the eye stalks might work, but if you can get ahold of some kind of cannon, or some kind of heavier artillery, you should do that."

"Yes, I think you said that. Would motar's be enough?"

Marion thought for a moment.

"Yes."

She handed the walkie-talkie back to the Brigadier.

"How does she…"

"Styles, no time. Doctor, we need to get to that cellar and everyone else, get out! C'mon!"

Marion quickly raced out of the room with the Doctor at her heels. She took the steps two at a time, only nearly avoiding tripping.

Shura was standing in the cellar looking over a pile of explosives, at their approach, he was on his feet with his gun aimed at them.

"Shura!"

"Get out of here unless you want to die too." the man said sharply, "I must kill Styles to prevent the war."

"You want to stop the guy from blowing up his house with all the delegates inside by blowing up his house with all the delegates inside?" Marion said incredulously.

Marion's vision was swimmy once more. She wondered if dramamine worked for supernaturally induced vertigo.

"Shura, listen to me," the Doctor said sharply, "Styles and all the delegates are already leaving this house. You detonate that bomb and you'll be sacrificing yourself for nothing."

Styles didn't seem to hear them. His eyes looked glazed over and it seemed like he could only barely focus on them.

Marion heard more footsteps rushing behind them and Marion turned her head to see Jo Grant slightly out of breath.

Marion had hoped that her telling UNIT to stick solely to heavy artillery and to stay away from the tunnels would mean that the Daleks and the Orgons wouldn't make it that far out of the tunnel.

"Marion! The Daleks, they're coming into the house,"

Her expression fell. Silly Marion. Having hope.

"Daleks?" Whatever was putting Shura in a daze, the word "Daleks" could push its way through. "You're lying!"

"No, she's not. They've come back to make sure that their version of history isn't changed." the Doctor turned to look at Jo, "Is everybody out of the house?"

"Everyone but us "

"Get out of here. Let them come in! Leave them to me!"

"No, no! You must come with us!" Jo insisted.

"You don't understand! That's Dalekanium. It's the only thing that's effective against the Daleks,"

"Couldn't we set a time fuse?"

"This stuff's too unstable. There just isn't time. This is something that I must do myself. Now get out!"

Marion held out a hand. "Hand it to me. I can-"

Shura pressed his finger down on the plunger.

"Sorry." He didn't sound apologetic. "It's a deadman's switch. The moment I let go of the lever, the bomb'll go off. Now. Once again. Go."

The Doctor's hand gripped the back of Marion's shirt and lightly pulled her back.

Marion looked at Shura for a moment and then she, the Doctor, and Jo ran up and out of the cellar.

The moment they were out of the stairwell, Marion kept a grip on the Doctor's hand and Jo's hands. Not strong enough that she was worried about bruising them (she hoped). But the problem was that she was getting dizzier and the longer they were in the building the dizzier she got and the closer they got to the door, the louder the sound of gunfire and explosions. Each loud noise made her flinch.

Honestly, it was a wonder that she hadn't thrown up.

The three of them ran outside and all but crashed into the Brigadier.

Being outside of the building that was about to explode had replaced nausea with just a general sense of anxiety.

"Br-"

"Tell your men to fall back," the Doctor said, "Let the Daleks into the house."

"Doctor, are you sure that-"

"Brigadier!" Marion said clearly. "Do it, and then get everyone else far, far, away!"

"Alright." the Brigadier spoke into the radio receiver. " Brigadier to all units. Let them pass! I say again, let them pass! Re-group on the main road. Out!"

The delegates had already long since evacuated, and the rest of them just got as far from the manor as they could and over a hillside.

They could see four Daleks moving slowly through the entrance one after another. And then there was an explosion.

And then for a minute or so there was nothing. And then it got weirdly quiet and still and then there was a flash of light and a devastating BOOM. Marion could still hear it over her hands pressed tightly against her ears and her ears rung painfully. When she looked back up and the smoke cleared, all that was left of the house was rubble. She couldn't even see the remains of a Dalek casing.

"What happened?" asked Styles, staring blankly at what had moments ago been his house. The house that he had been inside a few minutes ago. The house that he had been hosting delegates from all around the world inside.

"Your conference has been saved, Sir Reginald," the Doctor said. "Now it's up to you and your friends to make sure it's a success. You still have a choice." It wasn't much of an explanation, but it was the sort of non-explanation that basically said "You really don't need to know the details, and I'm not going to provide them"

"Don't worry," Styles said seriously, "We all know what will happen if we fail."

"So do we," remarked the Doctor, "We've seen it happen, haven't we, Jo?"

"It's quite simple, Jo. Somehow the Daleks managed to pervert the course of history so they could conquer the Earth. The guerillas tried to change things back, but because they were a part of history, their intervention just repeated the pattern. We were able to intervene and put history back on its proper tracks,"

The conference had been moved to a guest house on the grounds. It was a huge estate, so it made sense that there had to be more than one house on it. Marion wasn't sure if the delegates had been fully informed of the situation or if someone had told them that there had been a gas leak or something.

Benton had been put in charge of sorting all of that stuff out. The Brigadier was taking Marion, the Doctor, and Jo back to the lab. The Doctor had pretty much demanded that the Brigadier take him back so that he could continue trying to override the blockage the Time Lords had put on his TARDIS after they…

Anyway, Jo was still trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. Fair enough.

"No, that part I understand fine, but-"

The double doors to the lab opened. The Doctor was under a console, Jo Grant holding her hands and looking at the console in confusion, and Marion herself looking at a clipboard with visible discomfort.

Was she technically the Associate right now? That definitely was her past self. Only from a day ago, but still.

"Yes of course," said the Associate's Doctor, "I remember now. Look, don't worry, my dear. I know you're alarmed but you needn't be."

"Yes, well I think that should do it," said the past Doctor. He glanced to the side and saw that Marion had looked up from the clipboard and started pointing towards them and then he turned to look at himself.

"Oh, no. What are you doing here?" He called out to himself."

"Well, I'm not here. Don't worry. Well, that is, in a sense, I am here, but you are not there," said the older Doctor scratching the side of his head, "Yes, well, it's a bit difficult to explain really."

"This won't do at all. We can't have two of us running about!"

"Yes, well don't worry. It will all sort itself-"

And then there was a flash of bright light and the three figures inside the lab disappeared. As soon as they did, the Doctor walked inside and tossed his coat over the side of a chair, and moved back to the console.

"Wait a minute," said Jo, "that all happened before. Only they were us and we were them."

"And now we're we," Marion remarked. "Time tends to sort itself out. Except when it's funnier for it not to."

The Brigadier shakily met them at the doorway.

"I think I've been having hallucinations. For one ghastly moment, I thought I saw two of you."

"Nothing for you to worry about, old chap," said the Doctor soothingly.

"Not yet anyway.!" Marion remarked.

The Brigadier stared at Marion in that sort of funny and exasperated way she was becoming familiar with and also found kind of funny. "Ah well," he said, "Now then, what did I come in for…" the man trailed off.

"The conference?"

"Oh yes, good news from the Conference. Seeing that explosion seems to have done 'em all good. According to old Styles, they're all cooperating beautifully."

"Oh, that's good."

"I'm glad to hear it!"

The Doctor ducked under the TARDIS console and started to mess with wires.

"Marion," asked Jo.

"That future we saw—with the Daleks ruling the Earth,.. is it going to happen or isn't it?"

"Temporally speaking," Marion said, replied, "every possible future is happening everywhen, everywhere, all of the time. They also haven't happened yet, but have already happened."

"Marion, what kind of answer is that?" asked the Brigadier.

"It's a good answer!" the Doctor protested. "First it is—and then it isn't. There are all kinds of futures you know."

"But if you're asking if you personally have to worry about that specific scenario occurring with most of the population getting wiped out and Daleks emerging from the ashes to plunge the world into an authoritarian hellscape like the one you saw? No. I mean, if I were you, I'd make sure you're nowhere near London during the winter holidays after like, 2005-ish, but that's not JUST because of Daleks."

"But surely those Dalek things were all destroyed?" said the Brigadier.

Marion let out a small laugh.

"That was a mere handful…" the Doctor replied, "the Daleks exist in many places and many times. I thought I'd destroyed them once before, but I was wrong."

"Daleks aren't something you can just destroy completely, unfortunately. You stamp a bunch of them out, they come back, you stomp those out...genocidal cockroaches. The lot of them."

The Doctor stared off into space for a moment, before shaking his head.

"I've just got to get the TARDIS working again, Jo," he said. "I've got a feeling I'm going to need it. And I'm not going to wait for the Time Lords to decide to lift the lock."

"That's great Doctor!" Marion replied.

She couldn't imagine anything about her presence that could somehow make the Doctor figure out how to fix what the Time Lords had done. But she at the same point wasn't going to tell the Doctor "It's not going to work, don't bother."

The Doctor needed some sort of project to work towards, Marion reasoned.

"I'm going to go back to the TARDIS and change. Maybe take a shower or-"

Or not.

Marion felt something grasping around her waist in a way that was almost like a hug, just with the distant lack of anything physical.

"Oh dear-"

And then whatever was holding onto her tightened its grip and yanked her backwards and over its head. And right before her head might've hit the ground, and probably gotten her skull smashed like an egg she was gone.

Marion opened her eyes and for a moment, she could see some kind of light. And then, she was falling again. She slammed into something, it was cold and wet. Really, wet. Really, really, really wet. Marion on reflex inhaled and got a big gulp of slightly chemically tasting water.

'That bitch dunked me!'

Luckily, the pool wasn't that deep, and after a little bit of flailing, Marion managed to get her feet on the floor with a sharp hacking cough.

She was soaked. Her hair, her shoes, her SOCKS. It was utterly miserable. She coughed and sputtered and slid her hair away from her face so that she could see. She blinked away the last bit of water to see something grey and boxy and a tall figure approaching her.

"What is it K-, Marion?" the Fourth Doctor looked down at her seemingly amused, and reached out a hand to pull her out. "You're dressed oddly for a swim, aren't you?"

Marion took the hand and allowed herself to be put on the edge of the pool.

"Thank yo-" Marion sneezed.

"Gesundheit!"

Marion tried to wipe at her face with her very wet shirt sleeves and paused. The sleeve was too wet to be much of use. She groaned. The Doctor pressed a handkerchief into her hand.

Marion thanked him and rubbed at her face getting most of the water away so it no longer covered her eyes.

"I need to take a shower." Marion groaned.

"Oh, why?" asked the Doctor, mirth leaking into his tone. "Seems like you've just taken a bath."

"Oh wow, you're so funny."

"I am aren't I," the Doctor pretended that he couldn't hear the sarcasm in her voice. "Now what happened here? Did you lose your balance and fall into the pool?"

"Negative Master." Marion jumped. That would explain what the grey and boxy thing she had caught a glimpse of was. K9. He was bigger than Marion had expected him to be. Marion didn't know how she'd not noticed it before. She supposed she would just blame the fact that she'd had a long day. "A strong energy reading was detected just over the pool. Moments later, Marion appeared above the pool and fell in. That was when I alerted you."

Marion saw a chance. "I don't suppose you know the source of the energy K9"

"Insufficient data."

"Of course!" Marion sighed. "Thanks." She turned away from K9 and looked back to the Doctor. "Doc, you wouldn't know how to get to my room from here, would you?"

The Doctor pointed to the exit to the library, just past some shelves. "When I came in here, I passed your door just around the corner. I'm sure it's still there."

"Oh thank you!" Marion said standing up, "You're an absolute gem!"

There was a towel on the foot of her bed.

"Thanks!" Marion said aloud.

Whatever material her shirt and pants were made out of were thick enough that they weren't sticking to her, but that didn't change how clammy and uncomfortable they felt. She peeled her clothing off and dried herself off with the tower the best that she could, and then wrapped it around herself. The door that had opened into the hallway clicked open and into a bathroom instead.

"Thanks!" Marion repeated.

Marion took off the tower and looked at herself in the mirror.

In the middle of her sternum, was a bright burst of discolored skin with smaller pin-pricks surrounding it and extending out like a star cluster and Marion considered how if her skin had been darker, it would've looked just like the night sky.

She twisted around to look at her back. A matching star cluster was there too, partially interrupted by a harsh line Marion figured came from being stabbed.

Marion got into the shower and washed her hair.

She hoped that washing her hair every other day the way she was having to do wouldn't dry it out. Hopefully, the shampoo the TARDIS was leaving her would make it okay. Marion washed the rest of herself off and stepped out of the shower. She towel-dried her hair and combed it until it was a nice round shape and then used makeup to cover up the marks on her neck.

She wouldn't have bothered, except the hand marks could be a bit distracting. The good (?) news was that the other death marks seemed to be doing something to cover it up. The knock on the side of her neck from the Robot had obscured a bit of the thumb and the soldiers' swords had blended some of the fingers together in a way that made it not completely obvious that they were fingers at first.

A few more mortal wounds and maybe they wouldn't be visible at all.

Marion was self-aware enough to know that that wasn't a healthy way of thinking and she should maybe stop staring in the mirror.

She walked back into her room and reached into one of her drawers, finding the first thing that she saw in there, a dark purple romper. It felt light and loose, she could move in it easily, and it had fairly deep pockets.

All ideal things in an article of clothing.

A pair of dark purple slip-ons that gave her an extra inch and a half of height went with them. Marion reached for her messenger bag. Just as her fingers touched it, she paused, remembering that she had been holding it when she fell into the pool, and then pausing again when she realized that the place where she'd set it down on the bed wasn't damp. She reached for it again. It was dry.

"Huh."

Well, she wasn't going to complain about that. A quick feel around showed that everything inside was dry too.

The M drawer had already been opened as if the Associate had been taken before she could fully close it. Inside it was a plastic package of surgical masks and a white box with a green crescent moon.

It took Marion a moment to realize what she was looking at, then she remembered New New York. The green moon was a universal symbol of medicine. This was a first aid kit. Marion stared at it with concern.

On one hand, a first aid kit! Marion wasn't exactly TRAINED in first aid, but like, she knew how to do some things. And surely whatever was in that box would come with some kind of instruction.

On the other hand, why did the Associate give her a first-aid kit? That seemed like a red flag. Especially considering how big the kit was.

She honestly wasn't sure she could fit it in her- oh. Nope. Nevermind. Into her bag it went.

Marion tried to look inside of her bag to try to see how everything landed together, and she got a slight headache for her troubles.

Never mind then, she would simply depend on the tried and true method of feeling around for the things that she needed and hoping that she didn't accidentally get herself stabbed by the spear point she had in there somewhere.

Speaking of feeling around for things.

Marion reached into the bag and took out another one of those food bars.

Marion hoped that consuming these bars as much as she did didn't cause long-term consequences. They were so- well they tasted fine, and she could eat them quick, and they made her not hungry. So they were awfully convenient, and it would suck if it turned out that they were sinister in some way.

Anyway, it was too late now.

Marion absentmindedly reached up to her armband and lightly tapped a button on the side of it. There she'd eaten.

She hadn't slept, but she didn't feel tired.

This was either good, she had gained back more energy than she thought or very bad, she was running on fumes, and was moments from passing out.

Her lack of a headache and the fact that her hands didn't weren't shaking suggested the former rather than the latter.

Marion…hadn't thought to ask the Doctor who he was traveling with. He had K9, so it could be Leela, either of the Romanas, or Adric.

Marion wandered out of her room and wandered towards where the TARDIS was leaving her. She was pretty sure that it was taking her to the console room and she became even more sure of that when she heard voices.

She heard a female voice talking first.

"Is she back yet?"

Romana? It had to be Romana. But her voice was weirdly lilting. Her voice was lilting. The cadence sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why. And she couldn't figure out why it was worrying her either. But it was worrying her very much.

"She landed in the pool and said she needed to get a shower." the Doctor responded back in the same lilting tone.

Hearing the Doctor speak that way sounded even more familiar, and then suddenly it hit. It was the same lilting way that Four had spoken to her after he'd freshly regenerated.

"Is she older or young-"

And if Romana and the Doctor were talking that way.

Marion stopped her leisurely walk and ran the rest of the way into the room. She looked frantically between the two of them. Unsure what she was looking for, but hopeful that she would know it when she saw it.

"What happened?" Marion said quickly. "Doctor, why didn't you say anything?"

Marion got a close look at Romana. She was a strawberry blonde a few inches taller than she was. Which meant that she probably wasn't about to die because she was Romana II. Maybe she just died?

But then again, she was dressed in a grey dress with red linings. It was a rather pretty dress. (Romana II was a rather pretty person just in general) but that wasn't the point. The point was that Romana I had been wearing a white dress when she'd changed. And then Romana II had worn an outfit that looked just like Four's but in brighter colors. And Romana II was wearing neither of those.

And despite this, both the Doctor and Romana were talking just like how the Doctor had before he had died and then after he had regenerated. Maybe it was something new maybe it had-

"What's wrong? What happened." Marion's head quickly turned from Romana to the Doctor. "Why didn't you mention anything!" Then Marion's eyes widened as she realized something. "Wait did it happen while I was changing? Is that why you didn't say anything? Because it hadn't happened yet?" Marion looked around the TARDIS console, trying to find, maybe a part of the Key to Time or the randomizer, or just something that could tell her what was going on, what she had missed, what had changed.

"Marion?" the Doctor's voice was still doing what it was doing. But now it sounded concerned. Marion looked away from the console and over to him. He put his hands on her shoulders.

"Marion, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Marion asked. She couldn't believe that the Doctor would need to ask her that. "What's wrong?"

"K9!" Marion said in a way she didn't think sounded frantic. "Did something happen recently to either the Doctor or Romana? Were they hurt? Was there some burst of energy? Did someone trip?"

"Negative"

"K9 there has to be something!"

"Master," K9 said, "I recommend that you encourage Marion to calm down. Their heart rate has started to steadily increase!"

"I'm fine!" Marion insisted. "They're the ones who aren't fine."

"Marion," asked Romana. "Why are you so certain something is wrong?"

Maybe Romana and the Doctor just couldn't notice it?

"Just before the Doctor regenerated into his current face and for a little bit after, his voice had a sing-song lilt to it. The same lilt two you have right now. The closer he was to- the more he was lilting."

Saying that the way that she did seemed to cause some sort of recognition to spark in the Doctor's eyes.

"Ah," he said. "I see." the Doctor said "Is my voice still doing that?"

Marion listened. "No."

"How about now?"

"Yes. What was it?"

"Romana and I were speaking High Gallifreyan. It sounds like lilting English to you."

Marion stared at the Doctor blankly. "I didn't think that the TARDIS translated that."

"Oh it doesn't," replied Romana.

And Marion was so glad that time worked the way that it did because if having a small freakout over something like this had been Romana's true first impression of her she'd have to explode. She had the entire search for the Key of Time and possibly longer to convince Romana I that she wasn't this erratic and panicky and then she could just hope that the impression carried over.

"But your voice was still doing the thing just now and I could understand you just fine."

"Marion," the Doctor replied. Now that Marion had calmed down, the concern had mostly left his expression and he appeared mildly amused. "If you could hear yourself, you'd think that you also sound like your voice was also 'doing the thing'."

"What do you mean?"

"You're speaking High Gallifreyan."

"What?"

"You are speaking High Gallifreyan."

"I am? How?"

"How indeed," remarked Romana. There was something in her tone that Marion couldn't place. There wasn't a lilt though.

"Doctor?" Marion.

He had looked away from Marion and at something on the TARDIS. A mauve light was blinking on the console steadily. He flipped a switch without looking up at her. "The Associate said-" Romana quickly flipped the switch the Doctor had flipped back and flipped one adjacent to it. The Doctor stopped talking for a moment before staring at Romana, and then the console and then seemingly realizing what he had done.

"Thank you, Romana. Now, as I was saying, the Associate said you've got something in your head that translates takes in whatever language you're hearing as an input, and spits out that language as an output. You respond to what you're spoken to in."

"Why?"

"The Associate said that you have your own version of a translation circuit in your head."

"Of course," Romana continued, "It's more than possible that she didn't know either and was just making a guess and claiming that guess was in fact, the truth."

"I- yeah. Yeah, that sounds like something I would do."

It sounded worse when she said it though. Marion looked over at the blinking light on the console and found in it a sense of relief. Something to change the subject from her little freakout. "

"So-" she started. "Blinking mauve light. The universal sign for danger? You're locking onto a distress signal. Suppose that means that you've turned off the randomizer then."

"Indeed," the Doctor replied. He twisted another switch. This time, Romana seemed to be alright with him pressing that switch, and she simply tapped a nearby button. A light humming under her fingertips led Marion to a series of levers and she carefully flipped them one by one. What Marion had first thought was some kind of exhaust pipe turned out to be a speaker grill, and Marion could clearly hear a man's voice through it.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is cruise liner Empress reporting the collision. Space collision on approach to Azure."

From the other side of the TARDIS, the Doctor continued to press buttons and switches and then finally, he grabbed hold of one of the only two Parts of the TARDIS that Marion knew for sure what they did. He flipped the lever and the TARDIS started to take off right to the source of the signal.

Next Chapter: Feeling So Normal

Marion: I'd say I'm coping with recent events well.

Also Marion: Nearly has a panic attack because the Doctor and Romana's voices don't sound quite right.

Just a thought. Imagine if you went back in time to prevent the events that destroyed your world. Imagine if a person TOLD you that you had the wrong person, and you didn't listen. Imagine if you realized that not only was that person right, not only did you not have the right person, but the "right" person was you. You were the one who pulled the trigger that ended the world. And imagine if that person who told you repeatedly that you had the wrong person, and who if perhaps, you had listened to from the start, you could've prevented the horrific world you grew up in from existing had offered to "fix" everything for you.

Marion could've triggered the bomb for Shura. And maybe if he had been in a clearer state of mind, he would've let her. But he wasn't, and he didn't.