"Keep running. This clearing, through here." The Doctor says to her companions, Kathy, Willa, Becka and King James plus his guards as they run through the forest.
"I don't think they're following." Yaz calls to them, causing everyone to stop.
"If they're not following, what are they doing?" The Doctor questions.
"They know we'll come back." Kathy says.
"Want us to go and look?" Ryan suggests.
"We escape from Satan, and you wish to go directly back into battle?" King James cries in disbelief.
"We need to know what they're up to. Make sure no one else is in danger." Ryan explains.
"I'll go too. Keep an eye on my... underlings." Graham adds.
"Very well."
"Me and Kathy will stay with Willa. Be careful!" The Doctor says. Ryan, Yaz and Graham run off. Hopefully, Kathy can stop the Doctor from being arrested for being a witch in the meantime though she's not sure how.
"What were those aberrations?" King James asks.
"It is the work of Satan." Becka replies.
"It wasn't Satan or witches or Willa's granny." The Doctor corrects. "Those creatures were being controlled by something in the mud, something not of this earth. Something beyond your understanding."
"Something from hell." King James concludes.
"More like from the heavens." Kathy retorts.
"It chose to kill Alfonso when he was a threat, but in other circumstances it fills the bodies and uses them as vessels. I don't know why. To lure us you say Kathy? Maybe only when they're dead." The Doctor rambles as she tries to think.
"No, it attacked me too." Willa pipes up.
"And why today? Cos this is my problem. I can buy that this is the biggest ever witch hunt in England, or I can buy it's an alien mud invasion. But both on the same day? Kathy, you said they're linked." The Doctor continues. Kathy winces. Maybe the Doctor is rambling too much.
"Why does the lassie speak of commerce?" King James wonders.
"I don't know." Becka whispers.
"Oh, wait. Unless they're connected." The Doctor turns on Becka. "Your witch hunts been going on a while now, so there's no way that mud has just rocked up today."
"Um, Doctor, maybe you shouldn't—" Kathy tries to stop her but she continues on with her accusations.
"What do you know, Becka? What's going on here in Bilehurst Cragg? A woman who keeps an axe by her bed. What have you seen?"
Becka goes in to attack. "I have seen you and Katherine with your wands, raising your kin from the dead."
"Yes." King James murmurs.
"What?!" Kathy exclaims. "No! Hold on—"
"You, Doctor, are no witchfinder's assistant and she's no underling." Becka continues. "You are Satan's acolytes."
"We are not." The Doctor argues.
"That's why it is happening today, because you are here, as you say, to take over this village. Katherine Davis has simply been here to prepare for your arrival."
"You know that's not what I meant." The Doctor says accusingly. Kathy knows Becka is only doing this as she's afraid they have worked out her secret. "We do not have time for this."
"Mistress Savage is correct. It is your fault that Alfonso is dead." King James accuses, pointing at Kathy with a small pointy pin.
"I tried to save him." Kathy argues.
"You saved them from being shot." He persists. "You said this evil fell from the heavens. Oh yes, it fell, like your lord, Lucifer!"
"Honestly, if I was still a bloke, I could get on with the job and not have to waste time defending myself." The Doctor complains to Kathy.
"Again. This how I feel." Kathy retorts.
"Oh, you bewitch us with your alluring form and your incessant jabber, but I knew you were unnatural from the very start. And now I see you for what you really are." King James declares.
"They were trying to save us, sire." Willa pipes up fearfully. While Kathy appreciates the effort, she knows Becka and the King will make her back down by twisting it.
"Thank you, Willa." The Doctor says enthusiastically.
"Are you sure you're not mistaken, Willa? Or are you in league with the witches as I first suspected?" Becka accuses.
"They said they wanted to help me."
"Who do you trust to save you? Your King? Your family?" Becka says pleadingly. "Whatever I have done, I did to save all of our souls." It's the softest Kathy has seen her.
The Doctor opens her mouth to speak but Kathy quickly interrupts. "Don't Doctor. You'll make it worse."
"Well? Tell the truth, lassie." King James orders the shaking Willa.
She looks between the two groups in front of her. "I-I did think it was strange when they said her name was the Doctor and how Katherine defends her." Willa admits. Kathy feels annoyed with herself, she should've remembered that! She could have avoided this if she had made sure no one called the Time Lady Doctor.
"Like Doctor Dee. A necromancer. That seals it." King James declares. "Arrest the witch!" Guards grab the Doctor. "Arrest her too. I have seen how these two lassies whisper to one another." More guards grab Kathy.
"Now hold on!" Kathy cries indignantly. Great, not only has the Doctor been arrested, but she has as well.
"I... I am not a witch!" The Doctor splutters.
—
The Doctor and Kathy have been tied to a birch tree in the village with their hands above their heads. They are on either side so they can't see each other.
"You know I came into this world while you were still the current Doctor in mine." Kathy recalls.
Kathy hears what sounds like the Doctor trying to move as if trying to see her. "And?" The Doctor eventually asks after huffing to herself.
"Well, one day I won't know what's going on or who you are maybe. What use will I be to you then? What use am I now? I couldn't stop us from getting arrested." Kathy rambles exasperatedly.
"Oh, Katherine Davis," the Doctor murmurs, "you, as you always have, will be a massive help and I don't need to see into the future to know that."
Kathy smiles at that. She keeps on wondering what use she is when she can't change things but perhaps she'll be alright considering this is an older Doctor.
They are interrupted when King James stalks over. "Comfortable, witches? I do hope not."
"Come for a visit?" The Doctor remarks irritably.
"I shall take my opportunity to converse with an agent of Satan." King James declares.
"If we were Satan's agents, do you seriously think rope would stop us?" Kathy retorts.
"It's just a bit of rope! I say a bit, quite a lot. Tightly bound. It's pretty painful. They know how to tie a knot in this part of the world." The Doctor rambles.
"Not helping." Kathy admonishes.
"I am an expert on witchcraft, Doctor, Katherine, but I wish to learn more." King James declares, ignoring the rambling. "Before you die, I want answers. Your wands. How do they work?" He has the sonics in his hands.
"Why do you want to know?" The Doctor asks instead.
"I wish to know all the secrets of existence." King James answers.
"Don't we all? But true knowledge has to be earned. Tell you what. I'll trade you my wand for answers to as many questions as you want to ask." The Doctor offers.
"I'm not a fool, Doctor. I am King James, Satan's greatest foe." King James persists. Kathy rolls her eyes, annoyed.
The Doctor is also annoyed as she says, "Yeah, yeah, I know. It must be comforting playing that role, hiding behind a title."
"Just as you hide behind Doctor, perhaps. And Katherine hides behind her name." King James counters. Kathy winces, feeling uncomfortable with his words.
"Who are you, really, behind the mask, the drama? What does it say on your garter?" The Doctor questions him.
"Honi soit qui mal y pense."
"Evil be to him that evil thinks." Kathy translates. She's quite proud of how her language skills have developed with the advantage of more time and more roaming about.
"You wear it like a hero, even though you're killing and scapegoating and stirring up hate." The Doctor accuses. "And you wonder why the darkness comes back at you."
"There is no darkness in me." King James defends. "I quest for goodness and knowledge, beauty and art, all of God's virtues."
"Your own mother was scapegoated." Kathy interrupts causing him to turn to her.
"So, how do you square that with your witch hunts?" The Doctor adds.
"What do you know of my mother?" King James asks threateningly. He leans close to Kathy's face.
"We know a lot." Kathy replies strongly, trying not to look uncomfortable with the close proximity. "For example, you had the chance to see her before she died, but you didn't want to. Why?"
"She left me when I was not even one year old." King James answers, his voice cracking slightly with emotion. "What kind of mother does that? Why would I wish to see her?"
"Nobody will ever know why she left you, James." The Doctor says sympathetically. "But you can't go hurting people just because you're scared to face up to the darkness inside you." King James turns away from them and sits further away as if to hide his emotions. "You have to be better than that."
"Who are you both? How do you know these things?"
"We know because we're all the same." The Doctor replies. "We want certainty, security, to believe that people are evil or heroic. But that's not how people are. You want to know the secrets of existence? Start with the mysteries of the heart. I can show you everything if you stop being afraid of what you don't understand. If you trust us. We are not witches. But if you want to defeat evil, you have to let us go. Now. Please, sire."
For a moment Kathy wonders if they have gotten through to him until he strides toward them. "I do not know what you two are. And there is only one way to be certain. Guards! Summon the villagers."
Kathy slumps in defeat.
—
The Doctor and Kathy are brought to the river by guards along with Becka, towards the stool. King James and Willa watch on from the other side with the villagers that have gathered. Kathy remembers how Ashildr and her had recently been drowned for being witches after saving a village. Now Kathy risks the same fate again.
"See you brought a gathering. Thanks very much." The Doctor remarks casually. "Mind if I take off my coat? Lots in my pockets, might stop me floating. Course, as a woman, you don't get to have pockets for a while yet." Becka doesn't look impressed.
"Debatable sometimes." Kathy adds, trying to be light hearted like the Doctor.
"Ah yes, true." The Doctor agrees before turning back to Becka. "A girl called Izzy Flint bullied my friend Yaz, so no one would pick on Izzy." She dumps her coat on the ground. "That's what you're doing. Pointing the finger at other people, so no one points it at you. But what I don't know is, why? What are you hiding, Becka?"
"Sit down. Or would you prefer a hanging?" Becka growls. They chain up the Doctor. Kathy held to the side. "Do you know why the ducking stool was invented, Doctor? To silence foolish women who talked too much."
"Do you know why they invented the guillotine? To lob aristocrats' heads off more efficiently." Kathy retorts pettily. No, it doesn't really make sense for the situation but it's literally the first thing that came to mind. Why does humanity have to come up with so many different ways to harm each other simply because they disagree?
"Good point Kathy! This stool is daft, cos talking's brilliant. Like, if you talk to me now, I can help. You've ducked thirty six people already, and whatever it is has only got worse, hasn't it?" Becka touches the wood and sparks fly. Kathy smirks while Becka looks fearful and the Doctor is shocked. "What was that? It reacted to your touch. Why?"
"I warned you to keep quiet." Becka snaps but Kathy can tell she's breaking.
"Rather we asked Willa?" Kathy retorts.
Becka's head snaps towards her. "Silence! Or I shall duck her too." She cries.
"Last request. I definitely get a last request. Lend us your hanky." The Doctor says casually.
Becka steps back looking alarmed and confused. "I don't have one."
"There's loads in your room. And an empty medicine bottle. What were you taking the medicine for, Becka?" The Doctor questions.
"Know this, Doctor. Once I have dealt with you, I shall go after all of your friends." Becka threatens.
—
The Doctor on the ducking stool now sits above the river.
Becka speaks to the crowd, "Satan has made our crops fail, bewitched our animals, and brought the sickness. His agent sits before you, the most evil witch in Christendom, and she would call herself the Doctor." The villagers jeer. "We bring her and her accolade to justice, in front of our great Majesty, King James. Give the word, sire, and we shall duck the witch and save our souls from Satan, once and for all."
King James looks uncertain as his eyes meet the Doctor's before eventually saying, "Duck the witch."
"Duck her!" The villagers cry.
Mud tears dribble from Becka's eye. She wipes it away but Kathy and the Doctor have already noticed.
"Doctor! Kathy!" Kathy hears Graham yell and turns to see the said man, Yaz and Ryan running up on the other side of the river.
"Guys, you need to get her up!" She yells to the companions. While the Doctor, and Kathy, can hold their breath for longer due to their respiratory bypass system, which Kathy had learnt she had inherited, she doesn't want to risk it too much.
"Guards! Duck her now!" Becka cries. There is a splash and the Doctor is under.
"Bring her back up now!" Graham yells.
"What've you done?" Ryan demands from King James.
"We will see the result." King James shakily replies.
"I'm the Witchfinder General! I'm giving you an order!" Graham shouts to Becka.
"I obey only my King!" Becka declares. Kathy notices the mud is smudging around her eye.
"Sire, please order her to be raised." Ryan pleads.
"She and Kathy are not witches. They're your only hope of getting out of here alive," Yaz adds. Kathy twists in the guards' grip anxiously.
"They're witches, sire, all of them. It's Satan testing us!" Becka announces.
"Get her out of there."
"It has been long enough." King James declares.
"No, it hasn't! We must be certain!" Becka insists. Honestly, Becka should be glad Kathy is tied up as it means Kathy isn't over there right now, throttling her.
"Bring her up now. Now!" Graham orders but King James hesitates.
"Please, Your Majesty." Ryan pleads.
King James listens and gives out his order, "Raise the stool. The trial is over." The dead tree is raised and the chains are empty. Kathy slumps against her guards in relief. The Doctor got out just as Kathy knew she would.
"Where's she gone? What's happened to her?" Ryan asks.
"No. No!" Becka cries.
"But where is she?" Yaz questions.
"Looking for me?" They all turn to see the Doctor squelching out of the river further down.
"Doctor!" Yaz cries in relief. The other companions sigh in relief.
"She truly is a powerful witch." King James gasps.
"No, sire. I am no witch and neither is Kathy. I'm just good at holding my breath, and getting out of chains, thanks to a very wet weekend with Houdini." The Doctor gasps out before turning to the three companions. "Hi, team! Gang! Fam?" She gets a few shaking heads. "No."
"Needs work." Kathy remarks with a beaming smile.
"I'm so sorry, Doctor, Kathy. I was scared." Willa calls over.
"See? That's all it takes, Becka. Start there. Tell me the truth." The Doctor orders. Becka seems to be covering her mouth as if she's going to be sick.
"She survived. She is a witch." Becka declares.
"No, we're not." Kathy counters. The guards don't protest as she pulls away from them. "And despite all appearances..."
"Doctor! Kathy!" Yaz yells.
"Neither are they." The mud women are behind Becka, slowly approaching. The one looking like Old Mother Twiston carries the axe from under Becka's bed.
"You might want to come and stand with me, Becka, cos they look like they've come for you." The Doctor warns the woman. People are running and screaming.
"I will be with you. In the water, in the fire, in the air." Old Mother Twiston gurgles.
"Stop. Just stop." Becka orders and the mud women do just that.
"They're obeying you." The Doctor murmurs. "Why are they obeying you? What happened, Becka? I thought they'd come to kill you. Which is a fair assumption given they're carrying an axe. But they haven't, have they? Of course. They've come to join you. Kathy said you're going on this crusade and why you killed your grandmother is because you have a secret. Something alien."
Becka is coughing and choking into the handkerchief she said she didn't have.
"It's in you, just as it's in them. And none of you can hide it anymore." The Doctor concludes.
"In the earth..."
"Tell them what happened Becka." Kathy tells her.
"I cut down her favourite tree." Becka replies.
The Doctor frowns. "What? I don't understand."
"It was spoiling my view of the hill. But something lay beneath it. I awoke Hell. Satan himself attacked me, poisoned me." Becka explains. "That night I felt it growing inside me. The mark of Satan. I fought it. I took medicine, I prayed, but it grew. I did God's work in the hope that He would save me."
"You killed people to try and save yourself." The Doctor accuses.
"All these witches! All this evil!"
"You knew they weren't witches!" The Doctor argues. "The only thing you feared was yourself. Did your granny know what you needed the medicine for?"
"Not to start with, but then I had to tell her. I needed her help, I begged for it, for her to lance this evil out of me. But she was too weak." Becka admits.
"So, you killed her by ducking?"
"I had to. She knew. I can't fight it any more, Doctor." Becka defends. She gasps and bends over in pain. The three companions, King James and Willa join them.
"You cannot fight it, because you are the witch." King James declares.
"I have let Satan in. I have failed you, sire. Yes, I am the witch!"
"Everyone, behind us. It's Becka they want." Kathy tells them, pushing them all behind her and the Doctor.
"But why?" Ryan asks.
"What's happening to her?" Yaz asks as Becka collapses to the floor.
"I tried to hold Satan back. I'm so scared. Please forgive me." Becka sobs. She screams and turns into a mud woman.
"What is happening?" King James wonders. "She is possessed by Satan."
"Not by Satan." The Doctor replies.
"Then by what?"
"Something not of this earth." Kathy answers. Becka has been transformed. Her skin has become hard mud.
"Morax." Says the Morax Queen in a deep gravelling voice. The mud women gather around it.
"Who are you?" The Doctor asks.
"Hand me your King." The Morax Queen orders instead.
"What?!" King James exclaims.
"What about your own King?" Kathy asks pointedly.
"He waits. We have all waited for too long, trapped in the hill." The Morax Queen declares.
"Pendle Hill." The Doctor realises.
"Our prison. The mighty Morax army, captured and imprisoned on this pitiful planet, for war crimes." The Morax Queen spits.
"Pendle Hill is a prison for an alien army." The Doctor realises.
"Ah well, it's obvious when you put it like that." Graham remarks.
"Imprisoned no more. The lock was broken." The Morax Queen continues.
"What lock? How was it broken?" The Doctor questions.
The Morax Queen ignores her. "Now the Morax army shall rise again and take form. Your King shall be filled with our King, and we shall be free, to fill all of you. To fill this whole planet with rage and force and hate and Morax!" It sends an energy blast at the group, knocking them out before Kathy can even say a word of warning.
—
They wake up to find the Morax Queen, the mud women and King James are gone.
"Zapped by Becka Savage, Queen of the Morax. She's taken the King, knocked the rest of us out." Yaz is explaining to a dazed Graham as she helps him up.
"Okay."
"Quite a blast, that." The Doctor says as she and Kathy push the ducking stool back onto shore. Kathy had told her that they need this to help stop the Morax. "Haven't had a hangover like this since the Milk Wars of Keston Five. Kathy, you have a lot to look forward to."
"Great," Kathy mutters. Her head is going to burst with all these future hints.
"What are you doing with this thing?" Ryan asks.
They load the dead tree ducking stool onto a hand cart.
"Tell them what Bilehurst means." Kathy says to Willa.
"Sacred tree on a hill." Willa explains.
"The tree Becka chopped down because it was obscuring her view. The tree this ducking stool is made from. A tree that isn't a tree." The Doctor's sonic scan lights up the wood as green.
"It's ancient alien technology, beautiful and broken." Kathy continues. "A very old, very advanced bio-mech security system that locked away the Morax Army. Becka's touch made it react because of the Morax infection inside her." She enjoys it when she and the Doctor are able to bounce off one another.
"So, Pendle Hill's a prison?" Ryan concludes.
"From what Becka said, I'm guessing the Morax are royals with soldiers." The Doctor adds. "Pretty brutal ones at that. Presumably exiled for war crimes, scrambled down into their primal form."
"And they stay imprisoned until Becka Savage goes at that tree." Yaz realises.
"It can't be much of a lock if she can break it." Graham points out.
"Locks can erode even if it takes billions of years." Kathy argues.
"She must've broken it enough for part of the queen's form to escape and infect her. According to my calculations, this ancient alien wood is like Semtex to Morax. That's why it made such a good lock." The Doctor explains. "Right. Help me break it up."
"Break it up? Why? What for?" Yaz questions.
"We're going to stop them." Kathy declares.
—
They cut up the wood into torches and Graham, Yaz, Ryan and Kathy light them in a brazier, which makes them burn green.
"Anti-Morax weapons. The smoke is toxic to Morax. Should be enough to fend them off so you can rescue King James and I can get to the tree." The Doctor tells them. She sonics a small piece of the wood.
"Then what?" Ryan asks.
"She fixes the lock putting all the Morax energy back in the joint." Kathy informs him.
"One more thing, Doc." Graham puts the hat on her head. "Morax-finder General, back in command."
"It's a very flat team structure. Ready for battle?" The Doctor asks.
"Yes, we are." Willa says as she nervously approaches them.
"You don't have to, Willa." Yaz reassures her.
"It's time to stop being scared." Willa counters.
"Little bit of scared isn't a bad thing cuz your cousin ain't much compared to the Morax." Kathy warns her.
"Only I know the path up the hill, so you need me to lead the way." Willa argues.
"She's right." Graham agrees.
"There are more powerful people here than kings and queens. There's us, together." Willa deck. She lights her own torch.
"Lead on, Willa Twiston. Onwards to save the King." The Doctor replies. They March off after Willa.
—
They reach the top of Pendle Hill to see King James on the floor cowering in fear while surrounded by the mud women and the Morax Queen looming over him. A tendril is sprouting from the hollow of the tree stump.
"May the Lord save me!" King James cries as a face appears on the end of the tendril and hisses at him.
"Or alternatively... Witchfinders United, at your service." The Doctor announces their presence.
"Yeah, mate, you better back off." Yaz warns.
"Let him go, Morax." Kathy orders. "You can't have King James or this planet."
"Get away from the King!" Ryan thrusts his torch at the tendril, which recoils.
"The torches are working. They won't come near the flames." The Doctor observes.
"I've got you, sire." Ryan pulls him from the tendril and to his side.
"My protector!" King James cries as he cowers by Ryan.
"Willa, watch out for your granny!" The Doctor cries as the mud women roar ferociously at them.
"You're not my granny. Let her rest." Willa declares, waving her torch.
"And you, Morax, back into your cell. Now, please." The Doctor orders.
"Those flames don't scare me, Doctor. Nothing scares me now." The Morax Queen retorts.
"I know you're in there, Becka. I know you're scared." Willa tries to get through.
"Nothing of that pathetic woman remains. No fear, only power. We will fill your King and kill you all." The Morax Queen declares. Meanwhile, Kathy slips behind them to get to the prison.
"Afraid not, Morax. I'm here." Kathy calls drawing the Morax's attention. She throws her piece of wood down into the stump.
"Everybody back! Kathy has reactivated the prison." The Doctor cries. "Back you go, King of the Morax." The thrashing tendril is pulled back into the stump. The face on the end looks a bit startled. Green lines illuminate the hill. "Jail reenergised."
"No! My King! What have you done?" The Morax Queen cries mournfully.
"Feel that security system kicking back in, sucking every Morax cell back. Back down into Pendle Hill. Back out of the bodies they hijacked." The Doctor continues. The corpses of the women fall to the ground.
"Have peace." Willa murmurs.
"No! I will not go!" The Morax Queen cries.
"Yes, you will. Burn the witch!" King James declares, taking Ryan's torch and marching over.
"No, sire, stay away!" The Doctor tries but King James thrusts his burning brand into the Morax Queen, and it screams as it turns into a green flame and goes boom, knocking them back. There's a peal of thunder right on cue, and down comes the rain.
"What, woman?" King James asks when seeing the Doctor's face. "She was a witch. She confessed."
"So, you got what you came for." Kathy retorts with a frown.
"I have vanquished Satan." King James declares joyfully.
The Doctor returns his Witchfinder hat to James. "No more witch hunts."
—
They go where the TARDIS sits. Kathy happily strokes her as King James pleads with Ryan to get the Doctor to talk to him but Ryan tells him no. She smiles when she hears the TARDIS making noises, almost purring.
"What apparition is this?" King James murmurs when his eyes land on the TARDIS.
"Just another inexplicable wonder of existence you're not going to be able to tell anyone about." The Doctor replies sharply.
"Doctor, I understand you are displeased with me." King James says. "And I owe my life to you. Not one word of any of this shall ever be spoken. And even the name Bilehurst shall be erased from all records."
"As long as all the villagers make it out alive." Graham argues.
"What will you do, Willa?" Yaz asks.
"Find a new home. Take Granny's potions and be a healer. Be a doctor." Willa declares.
"I'll help," Kathy adds, "but I'll have to leave one day so you have to promise to write to me." Willa smiles and nods.
"I reckon you'll be good at that." Yaz says.
"One final command as your King." King James turns to Ryan and pleads, "Come back to London with me, Ryan. Be my protector."
"I mean, it's a kind offer, sire, but, er, you know... I've got stuff to do." Ryan pins the brooch on the King's jacket. "But I'll keep my eye on you. So, you... behave yourself."
"Or else, we will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger." Graham quotes.
"Ezekiel." King James says.
"Tarantino." Graham corrects. He enters the TARDIS behind Ryan and Yaz.
"What are you all doing?" King James questions.
"A brilliant man once said, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. We're just about to prove him right." The Doctor says. "Bye Kathy." Kathy gives her a nod and the Doctor goes into the TARDIS and it dematerialises.
"Where did they go?" King James asks while Willa huffs a laugh.
"Off and beyond." Kathy says.
—
After the adventure, Kathy travels to Paris and lives there for the 1620s and 30s. Carlyle joins her in the second decade as he and Ashildr have a falling out.
There is more to Willa Twiston's life than what Kathy had seen on the show. In 1634, Carlyle suggests to his mother, as they read a letter Willa has sent them (Kathy had suggested to her that she should keep writing and alert her to anything she can help with) that perhaps she should look at her scan of Willa once again. Kathy looks over her sonic screwdriver's readings of Willa, which reveals the girl's blood to be slightly abnormal from her years of having recipes made from the Hill's trees.
Kathy declares that she and Carlyle should go and tell Willa of this. They hurry to Willa's location to find that Willa has been accused of being a witch in the new trials. She is rescued at the hands of Kathy and Carlyle.
But that was not to be the end of Willa's adventures. Willa is moving through the woods, collecting materials when she hears whirring sounds. The sound she had last heard more than 20 years earlier. She turns excitedly, expecting the blue box but instead appears a building she does not recognise or understand. If she had knowledge of the future, she would have recognised it as a diner.
A mysterious figure steps out, it is a young woman in her late 20s, small in height and with a bob of brown hair. The woman smiles at her despite the frown she receives from Willa and cries cheerfully, "You must be Willa!" She then turns to look through the door she had stepped out of. "The coast is clear! You can come out!"
Then people Willa knows very well emerge except for one, a woman with long brown hair. "Katherine, Carlyle!" She gasps. "But you were…"
Katherine chuckles. "Oh, it's been a while for us Willa. A very long time though longer for Carlyle here."
Willa steps closer and takes in the three people's appearances. Her eyes widen when she takes note of the fact that their eyes are so much older than they were when she last saw them and the woman with long brown hair and eyes is ancient. This is funny because they, along with the mysterious woman with them, all look physically younger. Instead of panicking, Willa smiles and gives each of them a hug as she's pleased to see them despite it.
Carlyle laughs. "Let me introduce these two." He gestures toward the mysterious woman. "This is Clara. She's from the early 21st century. She used to travel with the Doctor. And this is Ashildr, my wife."
While Willa knows there's something more to what they are saying, she brushes it aside as it is none of her business.
Clara offers her hand for a shake. "Hiya!"
Willa smiles gently at the bubbly woman and shakes her hand. "Hello." She also shakes Ashildr's hand. "Why are you all here? Am I in danger again?"
"Oh no, no." Katherine says, waving her hand dismissively. "We thought we'd ask you to come with us."
"With you?"
"Yes, we think you deserve it." Ashildr explains.
Willa doesn't quite understand. "Go where?"
"Anywhere in time and space. That's what a TARDIS is for." Clara explains.
"Anywhere?" Willa asks in disbelief.
"Anywhere."
There is only one answer for Willa.
"Yes."
—
A/N: Don't know if anyone can guess where in her timeline Clara is 😉. I am happy to have her back even though it is brief.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I was looking forward to writing this Doctor and can't believe it'll be the end of her run soon though I'm looking forward to what is next.
It's hinted in this chapter but because Kathy travelled to this world while the Thirteenth Doctor's run was still going so won't know anything after season 12 so she'll meet Dan and have no idea who he is, which will be scary for her.