Authors notes: *Warning* This chapter does deal with a bit of a darker subject than usual, so I've upped the story rating to T instead of K+ to be safe. The subject starts at the first page break you come to in the chapter and ends with the next page break. I would just cut it out, but part of me feels it'd be a disservice to Ravens character development if I left it out. If anyone does find it distressing then please feel free to skip to the next page break in the knowledge that everything turned out okay for them, okay?

For those who do read it, let me know if you think it's still too strong. I really don't want to give this story an M-rating just for this.

Chapter 27

The peace of Death.

"Stoker no!" The Doctor called, and without turning Raven blasted Stoker across the room and into a wall. His gun clattered to the floor and went off with a bang wasting the shot.

Raven raised her arms and tried to encase the Doctor in dark energy with the intent on crushing him. But the Doctor rolled out of the way just before the dark energy trapped him.

"Raven, Raven!" The Doctor said grabbing her attention, "Your father, Trigon is coming!"

"'YOU' ARE MY FATHER!" Raven snarled and she lifted a loose boulder up with her powers and threw it at him. He had to dive out of the way of it as it crashed into the wall.

"Raven, Zagreus sits inside your head..." but the Doctor was picked up and thrown across the hall before he could complete more of that irritating rhyme. James stood in front of the Doctor now between her and him, and James looked like he was about to pounce. But Raven grabbed him by his collar with her hand and forcibly threw him out of the way, still advancing on the Doctor.

"Raven, Rae-Rae, listen. I'm not your father." The Doctor pleaded. "I'm just the Doctor, remember? I'm the Doctor!" But Raven wasn't listening.

Barry and James were now going after Stoker, but he had pulled out his silver blade and was waving it around trying to ward off his attackers.

The Doctor got up as brick work exploded around him.

"Fathers are kind, fathers are caring, fathers aren't nasty!" Raven said throwing energy blast, after energy blast at him, each one he dived out of the way of.

"What have I ever been to you? What has this face..." the Doctor circled his own features with his hand "...ever been to you?"

"Scary, secretive, arrogant, a threat." Raven spat.

"Have I ever been nasty?" the Doctor asked, "Has this face ever been nasty to you? Think!"

Raven reached out and grabbed the Doctors body with her power and lifted him up and threw him into the wall. Raven pounced, her fingers like claws trying to dig into the Doctors face. But the Doctor held up his hands and caught Raven's arms before they could get at him.

"Die, die, die!" She screamed, "I hate you! I hate you!" she hissed and her teeth became sharp.

Suddenly the Doctor lifted up her right arm, let go of her left and dived underneath her right arm while still keeping hold of her right wrist. He stepped around her back and he pushed her arm around the back of her, and rested his free hand on her left shoulder, holding her in a lock.

"Please calm down." the Doctor pleaded, but Raven blasted him off her and sent him back down to the ground.

"You'll take everything from me!" Raven hissed, "It's because of you why everyone hates me, why everyone fears me, why I am evil!"

"Raven, you're not evil! Marya is controlling your mind. She's twisted and manipulated you. I'm not your enemy, I am your guardian, I am your friend. Raven, I am not Trigon, I am the Doctor, I am not your father!"

Something snapped in Raven, the Doctor saying that was just making her more angry. She slammed her fist into the wall, her powers providing extra speed and power, it shattered the rock as she screamed. "I want a father! I want a 'real' father!"

She called the Doctor to her and he shot forwards, his throat landed in her long fingers as she began to close them over his throat. She was going to crush his neck and end him.

The Doctors eyes looked into Ravens, they looked sad. Why did her fathers eyes look sad? They never looked sad.

"I'm sorry." He said through his crushing throat and she decided to give this monster some last words to say. "If I was your father, I'd be so proud of you." and the Doctor lost consciousness.

Proud? Trigon wasn't proud. Trigon was never proud, he was a selfish demon. Why didn't this gel in her mind?

"STOP!" screamed a voice. It was Marya, she had worked out the Doctors little trick and was now framed in the TARDIS doorway. Raven didn't release her grip. "I said stop! Drop him!" and Raven reluctantly let the Doctor go and he fell to the floor.

Marya walked up, grabbed the Doctors unconscious body and effortlessly picked him up and dragged him back, Raven followed. She had questions, but not the capacity to ask them.

Marya laid the Doctor out on a stone slab and lifted his head up so she had a good view of his neck.

Stoker was held in Barry's grasp, the sword discarded across the floor.

"Don't damage him." Marya shouted at Barry, "It's too soon and he is still important. I understand what he is destined to do from reading our friends mind. There is no point in opening a gateway to my home dimension if the fabric of time falls apart before then."

Marya turned back to the Doctor. "Now, my Time Lord friend. You're going to reveal all your secrets and knowledge." She opened her mouth, it was full of sharp teeth. "By drinking all of your blood."

James came and stood beside Raven, he laughed gleefully. "Was it fun playing with your 'toy' at last?"

My... toy? Toy? The Doctor was... The Doctor was... The Doctor was not Trigon. The Doctor was... The Doctor is... my toy. My toy. MY TOY!

"The Doctor, is my toy!" Raven said, "My toy, I want my toy!" She said longingly.

Marya paused. "You can have him once he's nothing more than a ragged-dolled-corpse." she spat and moved to bite into the Doctors neck.

But he's my toy, my toy! Mine, mine, MINE! Something snapped in Raven's head. She reached out and called the Doctors body to her and she held him tightly against her. She knelt down like she was protecting him. "MINE!" she announced, holding him like he was some sort of comforting possession to her. "My toy, I have my toy..."

"LET GO OF HIM!" Marya screamed at her, "The Time Lord must die!"

"Get your own!" Raven spat back.

"What's wrong with her?" James asked, looking at Marya for guidance.

"'Toy' might have been the wrong word for her to associate with the Doctor." Marya said.

Yes, it was true. Raven didn't have many toys, so those few she was gifted with she often cherished and took care of. Not used nor abused like Marya had expected. A toy was certainly the wrong thing to make her call the Doctor, especially if she took care of her toys.

"Listen to me and believe..." Marya said trying to burrow into her mind again. "The Doctor is your father, the Doctor is Trigon, he must be destroyed!"

"LIES!" Raven spat, "He is my toy. I 'need' my toy. I won't let you take my toy away from me!"

"You can have the 'toy' so long as I can have its blood!" Marya said advancing towards them.

"LEAVE MY TOY ALONE!" and she cast a barrier at Marya and she was flung back into the wall.

"You vicious, pathetic little creature!" Marya said as she got back up. "You will pay for that!"

Something was bubbling up in Raven. The thing she had been trying to suppress. Not herself. But something else. Something bigger, deeper and darker within her. Her eyes turned scarlet, her teeth became pointy.

Raven threw herself to her feet, the fog in her head clearing as something erupted out from her core. Her cloaked body elongated along with her cloak and she stood tall, like a telephone pole. From the hem of her cloak black tentacles sprouted out from underneath.

"Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the dead," she said, her voice having an unearthly echo to it. "Zagreus sees you in your bed, and eats you all!"

Black tentacles snaked for James and wrapped themselves around him. He screamed as he was pulled off his feet and was being dragged under the cloak with the darkness.

"Raven, listen to me and believe!" Marya said.

"LIAR!" Raven shouted.

"What are you doing? You can't do this!" Marya said, taking a step back.

"Really? 'Why have the power if you don't use it?' I think you said." Raven laughed "Well, I am using it."

Screaming, James was dragged under her cloak, into the sea of wriggling tentacles and his shouts stopped.

"Such a bitter individual," Raven commented, "So consumed by his own anger, and delusions."

"The Doctor must die!" Marya said. "Remember what I told you about the Time Lords? They murdered the Yssgaroth!"

"Don't take me for a fool!" Raven said, seizing Marya by her throat with a tentacle, "All that happened long before he was born. He's no more responsible for all the dead than you are your fathers." She held Marya close to her own face. "But do you know what the difference is between you and him?" Ravens eyes burnt red with fury. "He learns. You carried on, because you thought you were owed something. You carried on, knowing it was bad!" and swinging Marya she slammed her into the floor, up into the ceiling forgetting this ruin didn't have a ceiling, then across into the walls, back to the other wall and then back down into the floor, and she just kept bashing this creature into the floor again and again and again like a club. Marya was a vampire, she'd survive this, but Raven was going to make sure it hurt.

"STOP!" said a small voice, and Ravens head slowly turned to look at the new voice. Barry had Stoker in a hold and held the sword to his neck. "Release Marya and James, or this bloke is dead." Stoker was clearly shocked by what he saw from Raven that he didn't notice he was in danger.

Ravens form snaked down to him, and the sword exploded into atoms at Ravens powers. Before he could get his bearings a black tentacle seized Barry's leg and dragged him towards her cloak.

"What's wrong? You guys wanted to play. So lets play!" She taunted. Barry grabbed onto a loose stone but the tentacle heaved him off, "Come, I want to invite you to join the party!" and Barry disappeared under the flowing robe. He tried to haul himself back out again, fear and desperation clear on his face, but more tentacles came out from the cloak, and they pushed and pulled him back under.

Suddenly arms clamped around Raven, just under her shoulders as Marya leapt onto her back and was clearly trying to bite her neck. Raven tried to shake her off, but her arms were so tight around her.

"Take them off, or I'll break them off!" and when Marya refused, Raven did just that.

Marya fell to the floor screaming as her arms dropped to the floor, severed at her shoulders.

"Well, look at that. You're 'armless!" and a black tentacle grabbed her, and Ravens cloak opened up to accept one more person into the darkness. "'You' are my 'new toy', come to me toy, I want to play."

Marya screamed loud for the first time in utter terror as she was pulled into the darkness and the cloak closed over her. Her screams stopped.

They struggled, they all struggled. But this is what they deserved for disturbing her peace and ordered mind. They toyed with her mind, now she toyed with theirs. They were like clay in her hands, she could do whatever she liked to them now. They were hers, they belonged to her, life, body and whatever remained of their souls.

There was a loud clang that drew her attention from the souls within her. Stoker was slowly backing away, brandishing the Doctors dropped silver dagger. As if that would be any threat to her.

"Ah, Stoker." Raven said, swiping the sword from his hand as easily as she would a fly. Her form snaked down so her head was up against his. "You still need inspiration to write Dracula? Allow me to give you some ideas!"

An arc of angular, dark energy snaked from under her cloak, it formed into a long, slender claw, and she clamped it down around Stokers head. Raven grinned and giggled with relish as she showed him some of the most horrific things she could think of. His body went rigid his eyes stared vacantly, and he screamed in despair.

"NO!" The Doctor screamed, he was back on his feet and he pushed himself in front of her and Stoker, and stared into her eyes.

"Ah, my toy." Raven said smiling, the black claw now creepily caressing the Doctors face, "my favourite toy!" But as the Doctors eyes stared into her own she found her rage faltering. His eyes looked disapproving. Why? What was happening?

She suddenly gasped as if she'd been held under water. Her eyes returned to their normal purple and her form contracted back down to her usual height. As her mind cleared she was aware of three bodies under her cloak. Her cloak parted and three white haired people fell out, still alive. They were shivering and just had a look of utter horror on their faces. They weren't going anywhere, their minds had been destroyed.

What had just happened? Everything came flooding back into her mind and her brain processed all of it. She stumbled over to the wall and held her head, trying to compartmentalise whatever darkness had just crawled out of it back into a box.

"Stoker? Stoker, are you alright?" The Doctor called, he was standing over a body. Stokers body. Stoker was looking out of blank eyes in utter terror and horror. "Raven, what have you done?" The Doctor cried. He turned towards her. She was shaking.

The look on Stokers face was terrible to see. What had she done? She looked at the three, the Children of the Night, who despite being young looked aged and old. The ones who had manipulated her. They stared up at her, utter terror in their eyes. Those accusing eyes. The eyes who knew what she was. Knew what creature she was, knew her dark side.

Still shaking Raven clamped her hands over her mouth and stared back at the Doctor. "I'm sorry..." she said, her eyes welling up, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" But the Doctor just stared at her as if she was evil.

She stumbled as she moved backwards at the Doctors gaze, pushing herself along the wall. The Doctor looked at her accusingly. What have I done? What have I done?! She'd enjoyed it...

Raven broke off from the wall and ran for the TARDIS, but the door was locked. She wanted to get away. "Let me in!" she screamed and hammered on the door, a boulder on the floor exploded as power escaped her. She put her shoulder to the door. She screamed "Let me in, let me in, please!" The door practically burst open for her. She stumbled as she ran through the console room, to the door at the back and disappeared back to her room.

What have I done? What have I become?! The answer came. You became your father.

"NO!" She screamed into the TARDIS corridors.

What have I done?! Raven thought as she sat on the floor, crossed legged in her room, hands on her head. Visions of what was yet to pass flooded into her mind again. The dead, the devastation, the utter ruin. She'd relished what she had done, twisted and warped people purely for her own amusement, then she'd terrorised an innocent man just because it was fun.

I'm not evil! I'm not evil! I'm not evil! She chanted in her head. But for a brief moment what she had wanted to do just felt so... right. This wasn't like the Shaydes, they were destructive. Stoker had been an innocent person and she had crushed his mind.

Tears welled in her eyes, but like always she refused to release them.

Her mind went back to the future she'd create. Was it inevitable? Can't she stop it?

Sutekh the destroyer. The Doctor had described him. A being who had or could've destroyed the future, like she would, so it was possible she could too. Leave nothing but dust and decay. Would she even care by that point, or would she be numb to it?

You didn't kill young Corentin. Said a voice in her head.

I couldn't look into his eyes and do it. Raven corrected, wondering if she could do it if she did it by magic, from a distance.

She felt like she had disappointed herself, her mother, and Azar.

What about the Doctor? A voice asked. WHAT ABOUT HIM?! She fired back.

Raven had decided, she couldn't end a great evil herself, kill a child who'd become evil. That was too difficult for her. But maybe she could save the universe, literally save it, if she destroyed herself.

She stood up and from her robes her hands snaked out and arranged themselves into the correct positions. The TARDIS was in motion again, she could feel it. She'd hoped the Doctor had set everything right, fixed the damage she'd caused. She was going to open a portal to the Time Vortex and step out into it. The Time Winds would age her to death in seconds. Trigon would never have his portal long enough to pass through it.

She waved her hands and cast her spell, and a dark portal opened up. She could hear the whistles and weeps of the Time Vortex as the TARDIS sailed through it.

Touch two wires together, pinch her fingers together, this time it'd take but two steps and she'd save the universe, and her own suffering would end.

Her brooding was interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

"Rae-Rae," the Doctor called, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, go away!" Raven tried to shout levelly but emotion cracked at the edges of her voice.

"Raven, we need to talk." He said. "Please."

"Go away!" She said more firmly.

"Rae-Rae." he said.

"JUST PISS OFF!" Raven fumed. The Doctor waited before speaking.

"I'll be in the kitchens." He said. Like she cared.

Raven looked at the portal again, she was trembling. She didn't want the Doctor to know what she was about to do. He'd only try to stop her, and she didn't want anyone to stop her. She was a burden on whoever took her in. Her mother, the monks of Azarath, Azar himself, the Doctor, anyone who took her in didn't know what they were in for, her power, her rage, her evil. Two steps and she'd free them of that responsibility. It was the kindest thing to do for both all of them and for the universe, and it'd be the biggest middle finger to her father.

She took one step forwards and could feel a breeze from the portal. She closed her eyes. All she had to do was push forwards just once more. She raised her foot, took a deep breath and began to lean forward, preparing herself to feel oblivion.

Suddenly she was yanked away by her right arm as it was held in a vice like grip by the Doctor. How did he get in here? He was in her room. She wanted him to get out, but more so she wanted him to release her.

She reached up to his arm and tried to force him to let go of her, but his grip was too tight. His eyes were both penetrating and sad as he held onto her. In anger she slapped him across the face, but that didn't faze him. Instead she punched him in the stomach and tried whacking her free fist on him. But he just stood and took all the blows, even though they clearly hurt. She just had to force him to let go long enough for her to dive into the portal. Couldn't he see this is what she wanted? This wasn't any cry for attention, this was real, she wanted it to end so badly.

Now the Doctor had somehow grabbed her other wrist. In her anger and frustration her power wouldn't focus, instead it just caused things around her to explode.

"Let go of me!" she cried, "Get off me! The universe would be better, it'll be safer if I'm dead!" she shrieked and tried to yank herself away from him. "I'm a monster, I'm evil. I deserve to die, I want to die! I WANT TO DIE!"

"And I believe, that you believe that." The Doctor said sadly.

"LET GO! LET-ME-GO!" She tried to drag herself towards the portal, but the Doctor stood firm. He even took a step back, dragging her with him for good measure. "I don't want to live anymore. Let me die, I want to die!"

She wasn't going to win and the more she struggled the more her frustration seemed to bleed away. Her concentration faltered causing the portal to lose structure and it collapsed, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't force it to reopen, not in her current emotional state. Finally, she just gave up on her struggle. Her head lowered and her arms went limp as she relaxed, defeated.

"Please..." she said to him, eyes closed, her voice trembling "Please, I just want to die..." her voice cracked, "I can't take this struggle any more, I want to die... please... I can't live with myself." No tears, but she still began sobbing, "Turn me over to the Time Lords, I don't care any more if they want to kill me. I just want the peace of death."

She could sense the Doctor was unsure how to proceed. He was an alien after all, he didn't understand human emotions any more than she did.

He let go of her wrists and her arms just fell limply to her sides. She just stood there, head angled down, her hands by her sides, eyes still closed. She felt so hollow.

The Doctor suddenly stepped forward and embraced her. Pressing her head to his chest, and she could hear his twin hearts beating.

He's hugging me, get him off me! Her mind shrieked like a cat introduced to water. But she felt too emotionally drained to play the tough girl.

"Please, I just want the pain to end, forever." She said. Her eyes were wet but again, no tears.

"I know you do." The Doctor said. That wasn't a response she'd expected to hear. She expected denial, she expected him to talk her up. Try to convince her that its better to just go on living.

Raven noticed her powers were on the loose and the pair were surrounded by a storm of swirling blackness. Everything in this depressing room lifted up off the floor and began orbiting her, including her bed and cabinets.

Gently, the Doctor rested a hand on her head and rocked her from side to side, and his gentle voice began to hum a slow tune, and hummed in a way Raven just found so soothing to her mind.

"The things I'm going to cause. The people I'm going to hurt, I can't take it any more. Please... kill me..." Why was she doing this? Why was she pouring her heart out. Stop it! You're embarrassing yourself.

Leave me alone...

She sniffed through her nose as she listened to the Doctors two hearts beating as one. She could sense his aura, and he was struggling with something. Something deep and dark within himself.

"I'm going to become evil some day." The Doctor suddenly said.

"Huh?" He's patronising you again. She told herself. He's the least evil person you know.

"Two regeneration's back, I was put on trial by the Time Lords. They'd claimed I had meddled in the universe and caused untold damage to the Web of Time." The Doctor said. "It was a farce trial. But my accuser, the man who wanted me dead so much. He was such a slimy, twisted, wicked, and evil creature under his mask. He called himself the Valeyard."

The Valeyard, that name again.

"Valeyard. Someone who holds high qualifications in the field of law. Someone who has a doctorate in it."

Ravens eyes opened as she connected the dots.

"He was me, or some part of me. Something that'll be expressed between my twelfth and final incarnations."

"Are you just making it up?" Raven accused, her voice weak.

"I only wish I was." He said, his voice level and steady but haunted. "I wish it was just a bad dream. Just a badly cooked gumblejack before bedtime. I've done battle with him many times throughout my sixth incarnation, and a couple of times in my seventh."

Raven was silent as she listened, she sniffed again, her eyes felt a little drier.

"Did you ever consider..." Raven began to ask, but the Doctor cut her off.

"Yes. Yes I did." He said. "I thought if I could purge this evil from the universe then my remaining lives will gladly be given in return. I've nearly traded them in for far fewer steaks after all."

"Why didn't you?" she asked as her bed and book shelf gently passed her view, orbiting her.

"Because I had already defeated the Valeyard on several occasions. He is my responsibility after all, being me. So I charged myself with being the balance to him. Whenever I stumbled upon one of his schemes, whether it be an attempt to conquer, interfere, extend his own life or steal mine. I'd defeat him, and beat him back."

"But if he's you, couldn't he use that knowledge against you?" Raven questioned.

"Time's in flux, as is the mind." He explained, then he laughed. "Actually I don't know why. I don't know why he wants to steal my life force. Surely that in itself is a paradox, but he seems able to do it. I don't know truly what he is, but he's a spectre that has been following me around these past few centuries. I just hope that when it happens..." the Doctor had not used 'if' he had used 'when' "...there will be someone equally heroic to defeat him, to defeat me." Sadness radiated from him.

What are you doing? She asked herself as her hands began to move, snaking around his back. What are you doing?! It asked again. Stop it. Don't show weakness to him. You'll hate yourself in the morning.

WILL-YOU-SHUT-UP! She shouted into her mind as she embraced the Doctor in a... she refused to use the word 'hug'. It sounded mushy. She embraced him, just that. This wise man, a fractured man, a man who stared his destiny in the face, laughed at it, fought it, and even mocked it. He was a solid pillar that can be so harsh and weathered underneath, but at the same time on the surface was so soft and gentle.

Slowly the maelstrom that her powers stirred up faded and everything came to a stop. It was all back in its place, but the place would still need a good tidy.

Raven admitted to herself that she would've been proud to call the Doctor her uncle. No, not just her uncle. She actually wished he was her real father.

She sniffed again.

"If you mention this to anyone..." Raven said, her voice now calmer. "and I mean anyone. I swear, I will kill you."

"I know." He laughed and just held her tighter.

Raven let a few small and low giggles escape her too, too small for the Doctor to notice.

They were back in the console room again, the TARDIS was in flight. Raven stared at the time rotor again as it moved. She didn't know where the Doctor was taking her, but she guessed she was about to be punished for what she did.

Whatever it was, she'd accept it. She deserved it.

"Stoker is fine." The Doctor said. "While you were in your room I went into his mind myself and cut and pasted a lot of the stuff you left in there back out." The Doctor stopped fiddling with the controls and looked at her. "You have a rather nasty imagination, Rae-Rae."

Raven didn't say anything, she looked away. She recalled all she had done. The way she'd helped Marya feast. The way she'd treated the Doctor like a puppet. She was even embarrassed that she'd called the Doctor her 'toy'.

"I left Stoker in his bed back in the guesthouse. Hopefully he'll chalk it up to some bad cheese the night before and time won't be damaged too much." The Doctor moved to a control. "Looking at the time curve indicator, nothing much changed. Though at a glance through the novel, I'm sure he didn't mention Dracula riding moon beams. Though that might be more my fault since he watched the TARDIS materialise within the light of a full moon."

The Doctor was trying to lighten the mood and make her happy, it wasn't working.

"Marya and her two vampires I've left in the hands of the Time Lords. They can deal with them. It's practically their own mess anyway." The Doctor said waving his hand dismissively. "They'll probably imprison them in Sh... Sha...Shad..." the Doctor seemed to be searching for a word, "Somewhere or other."

"Why didn't you kill them? Weren't they your enemies?" Raven asked.

"I bound them in silver, and it'll take a while for Marya to grow her arms back." The Doctor said realising he shouldn't have mentioned about Marya's arms. "I had steel daggers with me in case I had no choice. But see it like this, they're alive. There's enough killing in the universe."

"But what kind of life have I left them in?" They were bad, sure. But Raven knew too well what she'd done to them. It might have been kinder to let them die. "Doctor, is it true the Vampires were once peaceful farmers?"

The Doctor sighed deeply. "I don't know. The records don't go that far back, so its certainly possible." He looked on sadly as he adjusted controls on the console. "There are plenty of skeletons in my peoples closets so it's possible. Some say it was the Eternal War, a war that was so long and so bloody, that made Gallifrey swear off war altogether." He put his hands in his pockets. "Though that could be because there were no other civilisations in the universe who could rival them."

Ka-Chud!

The TARDIS had landed and the Doctor operated the door control. Looking down on the ground Raven walked slowly towards the black void and the open doors, ready for her punishment.

She pulled open the doors and stepped outside. Into the sunshine. The air was pleasant, the grass beneath her feet was green. There were horses and karts dotted around the place and she was standing in the middle of a street of an old-fashioned looking town.

"Clontarf, North side of Dublin. 1854." The Doctor announced.

"Why have you brought me here?" Raven asked, she stood out here but she didn't bother putting on a cloak of perception, instead she just kept her hood up and her cloak draped over her body.

"This way." The Doctor said walking away and Raven followed him. Down a few streets which had plenty of terrace like buildings. They went to a specific door. "Here we are, 15 Marino Crescent."

"What are we doing here?" Raven asked.

"It's 1854, Bram Stoker would be about seven." the Doctor announced. Raven put two and two together.

"This is his home?" Raven asked, "Why bring me here?!" Her eyes were wide and questioning.

"Because Bram Stoker had an illness as a child, one which went away mysteriously and without reason." He said, "You should remember it, he mentioned it at tea."

"I might have had other things on my mind." Raven admitted feeling a little ashamed.

"Well." The Doctor said and looked at her.

"You think 'I' cured him?" She questioned.

"It is rather convenient that I happen to be carting around a healer with me." The Doctor said, smiling. "And it would make up for what you will do to him. See it like this, you're about to give a young boy a new lease of life by doing this."

The Doctor knocked on the door.

"Put a delay on the effects though. Stoker's illness was supposed to vanish mysteriously. Not because of a mysteriously pale girl with magical hands." The Doctor stood up straight, but then added. "Oh and make sure it starts fading gradually and then quickly vanishes entirely. That's what the history book says. Don't worry, I'll keep you right."

Was this another English-ism she wasn't aware of. "You'll keep me... 'right'?" Raven questioned.

"If you promise to be a good girl, from now on." The Doctor smiled and Raven's eyes grew wide at the misunderstanding.

"That's not what I..." but the door was pulled open and a woman looked at the pair of them.

"Hello, I'm a doctor. I'm here to see about Master Abraham Stoker."

Raven felt better for helping the small boy. She hadn't recognised him without his beard, and his bedroom was full of books. Oh so many books.

Raven didn't like kids, but she had to admit she liked that one. He was so quiet and respectful, calling her Miss Raven as she worked her magic on him. It kind of broke her heart to pretend she couldn't do anything for him, he'd looked so hopeful and they'd crushed it.

"Give it a few weeks." The Doctor said, "He'll be well enough to walk. Then in a few years he'll be top of his class in fitness. Making up for lost time."

"Thank you." Raven had said meekly without looking at the Doctor.

"Oh, by the way." The Doctor went into his pocket. "I believe this is yours." And he handed Raven back her broach, the one she'd lost, the one she'd thought she'd left on the ground in Whitby Abbey 1890. She took it, thankful, it even had the TARDIS key replaced inside it. She fastened it back onto her cloak. Now she felt complete.

Suddenly the Doctor had decided they should go further into Dublin and explore. Raven had no arguments as long as they didn't get into any more trouble.

Children played in the street as the sun bared down on them while they were in an open park area, and suddenly the Doctor pointed.

"Look, the Muffin Man." There was a wooden cart, on wheels and a man appeared to be selling muffins. "Come on, I'll buy you a Muffin." and they joined the line to get one.

Raven looked around. No one knew who she was and everyone seemed to be respectful. No one looked upon her in suspicion or fear, though some gazed at her funny attire. But she didn't care.

The Doctor bought a pair of muffins and they moved aside to let a woman with a baby stroller in to get her helping.

Raven bit into the muffin. She'd never had one before, her face rose. She liked it.

Behind them the baby in the carriage had just woken up and began crying.

"Oh, hush little Oscar, we'll be back at home soon." Said the woman in a thick Irish accent.

"Here you go, Miss Wilde." The Muffin Man said in another thick accent as he handed her the muffins.

Wait a minute, Raven thought. Wilde? Oscar? As in Oscar Wilde? The famous poet Stoker had mentioned? Oh no...

Raven looked at the Doctor, he'd put two and two together too, and he got that look on his face that told him he was about to go all fan-boy again. The Doctor moved off to get a closer look.

Raven clamped her hand into the collar of his coat and she dragged him forcibly back in the opposite direction.

"Raven?!"

"NO, NO, NO!" She repeated slowly and firmly.

"But it's 'thee' Oscar Wilde." the Doctor said, "Baby Oscar Wilde!"

"I SAID NO!"

Now back in the TARDIS, all was well again. The machine wheezed and groaned as it moved off to its next destination, the Doctor gently hummed to himself while he operated the controls, and Raven was sitting in the Doctors reading chair reading Dracula, first edition. It was fun to find where Stoker had taken inspiration from their little adventure.

Dracula pretending to have bought a property in London, the Doctor bluffing that he wanted to buy a place in Whitby.

Jonathan Harker being hypnotised and becoming a servant of Dracula.

There were even parts that the Doctor had said were similar to when he fought the King Vampire in E-Space, that he unashamedly said he implanted himself when he fixed Stokers mind.

There were other things Raven definitely knew she put in there, but didn't want to think about herself.

She finished and closed the book. The Doctor, what a hypocrite. This book was practically a mixture of what she suspected were bits of the Doctors adventures. But the Doctor could be forgiven, it seems their adventure was part of the natural flow of time.

Raven picked up another book. A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, and she opened it, wondering if any part of it was influenced by the Doctor too, somehow. She guessed it probably was.

There was a loud bleeping coming from the console. Ravens eyes just rolled to look at the console as the Doctor moved to inspect the bleeping.

"We have a call for help. From the telepathic circuits." The Doctor announced. Raven couldn't sense anything, but she guessed the TARDIS had a much more sophisticated telepathic system than her own.

The Doctor motioned to the console. "Shall we?"

Raven looked at him over the pages of her book. She just shrugged, that's all he was getting out of her. But from behind her book she was hiding a smile.

The Doctor began operating controls and set the TARDIS to the next destination.

BANG! Sparks erupted from the console and it felt like the interior had rolled onto its side.

Everything slid to one side of the room. The Doctor held onto the console for dear life and Raven managed to float off the chair and into the air before the complete works of Shakespeare fell on top of her. Followed by that big filing cabinet at the back.

Raven floated up towards the Doctor as he hung from the console. The Time Rotor had also stopped.

"I think we've landed." She said drily.

"Yes, well spotted." The Doctor coughed. "I'm not sure what happened." He said as he climbed onto the steel girder that surrounded the console. "What do the readouts say?"

Raven floated to the opposite side of the console to look at the readouts.

"Midnight." She said.

"Okay, but where and what date?" the Doctor asked. "The Atmosphere, temperature, radiation meter?"

"Umm... It's the 7th Day of something. But..." she decided to read out exactly what those rollers and dials in the console said. "What does it mean when the controls all say, 'Death!,' 'The End?,' 'Help me', 'please', 'I'm scared!'?"

From deep within the TARDIS that big, dull bell was sounding.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: Blimey that's a long one! Yep, I already have another adventure planned. So stay tuned ;)

Again, thanks everyone who are reading this story, leaving the lovely comments. You guys are fantastic. ;)

I was just going to end the chapter with Raven dragging the Doctor away from Baby Oscar Wilde, but I wanted something to whet peoples appetites for the next mini-story. ;)

I was unsure about the inclusion of Ravens attempt to destroy herself. But after reading it back I thought it just necessary to include it, so I decided to leave it in and make it a little more 'family friendly' from the original. If anyone thinks its too strong for even a T-rated story, let me know via PM and I'll adjust it.

Okay, technically Bram Stoker would've started school around September 1854, Oscar Wilde was born October 1854, and Bram Stoker would have to make a full recovery around that time because it said he'd recovered around the time he started school. But I so wanted that scene at the end so lets have some artistic licence going in here and say the illness began clearing up around October time. Okay? ;)

I'm not sure if a Muffin-Man was a real thing or not. I know the 4th Doctor mentions it at the end of the Talons of Weng-Chiang, but all my research tells me it's just a nursery rhyme. So I don't know. But it just adds to the atmosphere and the period so I'm leaving it in.

Now if you'll excuse me, I suddenly feel like a muffin. :P

Cheers

-TimeLordParadox