Chapter 3:

POV: Mara

Date: November 9, 2014

I followed Mum down the corridor to the console room, and my eyes widened at who I saw there. A grey head of curly, wispy hair spun around to flash me a smile I had thought I'd never see again. "Ah, good, you're up! Come help me with the defibrillator coils. Your mum was fiddling with them earlier and now the navigation is all wrong."

Mum rolled her eyes. "All I did was make it so the maps showed onscreen right side up."

"Like I said, it's all wrong."

I blinked sporadically as my brain tried to catch up with what my eyes were telling me. Somewhere behind me, I heard Jenny's footsteps as she entered the room. "Ah, Mara's up I see!" She bounded up next to me and handed me a small bowl full of…stew? "Here, Mum made a batch. Thought you might be hungry."

"Oi, get that away from my console, Jenny Lynn." Dad pointed directly at the soup bowl. "The last time you girls had that in here the spill made the desktop glitch so badly we had another episode of the round things."

I stared at the three of them for so long that Mum cocked her head at me. "Mara thinks something is wrong. Why don't you tell us what's happened, darlin'?"

I swallowed thickly and set my bowl of stew down on the console. "This—all of this—is what's wrong. You said it's November of 2014?"

Mum nodded. "That's right. November ninth."

More pieces of the puzzle began to click into place with the mention of that specific date. This was meant to be the day after our family was separated across dimensions once again. I bit my lip. If I didn't want to cause a massive, universe-eating paradox, I needed to be careful about what I said here. Of course, for all I knew, a paradox was already on the way. We were already supposed to be in the other universe, after all, and Mum shouldn't be standing here solidly in front of me. "Yesterday, did—did you...before you were corporeal did you see any visions?"

My parents exchanged a glance. "No…should I have?"

"What about Gallifrey?" I asked as I searched my memory for everything that was going on at this point in our lives. "Did you find it at the coordinates Missy gave us?"

I felt Dad's grief, and all three of us looked to him. "We went to the coordinates. It's not there—though that hardly changes anything. What was this about your mum having a vision?"

I shook my head. "None of this is right. You say our timelines are in sync, and my time senses tell me you're right, but that can't be true. I'm from your future—365 years in your future to be exact. I've lived this and what's happening now is wrong. None of us should be here right now."

"Where else would we be?" Jenny asked.

I shook my head. "I probably shouldn't say too much, but the woman who sent me back here, she was one of the Pythia. She must have done something."

"The Pythia?" Mum hissed, and then her eyes widened and she rushed forward to look me over. "She didn't hurt you, did she?"

I shook my head. "She just put this bracelet on me, and then I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in my bedroom here. But why would she send me back here? And how could she alter the timeline?"

Dad turned to the console. "We'll need to find her. If she had enough power to not only send you back here, but to also alter the timeline as you say, then there's no telling what else she has planned."

"What are you thinking?" Mum asked as she stepped up to his side to look at the computer screen.

"I'm thinking that those coordinates Missy gave us are worth another look," he answered, and started up the flight sequence.

"No!" I shouted. "We can't go to Gallifrey."

All three pairs of eyes snapped to my face as my sudden fear struck them through our bond. "Why not?" Jenny asked.

I struggled to find the right words that wouldn't reveal all that I knew about their own futures. "I—it's just…we can't go there. Trust me."

"If we want to find this woman then we'll have to," Mum said firmly, and I swear I saw a flash of gold in her eyes. "And I intend to find her."

I wanted to argue more, but I knew they were right. We needed to find the woman, and to do that we needed to go to Gallifrey. "Fine," I said. "But don't let Jenny or I out of your sight."

"Is that what this vision Mum was supposed to have had was about? Something happens to us?" Jenny asked.

"Something like that," I hedged. "Here, you won't find Gallifrey in its coordinates in 2014." I leaned around Dad to input the correct time coordinates.

His eyes widened. "Oh yes, of course, that makes sense." He pressed down the TARDIS' lever again, and the four of us hurried around the console to fly her as we hurtled toward our destination.

We landed with a thud that made my stomach drop. I felt both Mum and Dad send me waves of calm as Dad came around to squeeze my hand. "It's all going to be fine, Mara. Your mum and I won't let anything happen to you girls."

I gave him a weak smile and squeezed his hand back. "I know you wouldn't."

We all turned to the doors, then, and followed Dad until he stopped with his hand on the handle. He spun back around to level us all with a serious look. "Everyone be on alert. Stay close. Do as I say. Got that?" He pointed to Mum. "Yes, even you, Rose."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine."

I held my breath as we stepped out, then, onto a landscape of endless sand and a burnt orange sky. My breath caught in my throat and my hearts thudded in my chest as I looked toward the Citadel in the distance. Both Mum and Dad had told us stories of Gallifrey all my life, but I'd never thought I'd actually see it—not like this, anyway. The last time we'd been here, we'd only seen the inside of a barn. We'd had no time to take in anymore of the planet than that.

"Beautiful," Jenny breathed, and reached out for my hand. We shared a smile as our fingers laced together. She was feeling the same swirling emotions that I was.

"Come on, you three," Dad said as he turned away from the Citadel to a nearby barn. "They surely got the message I sent while we were in flight to bring your mystery woman. They know we're here. It's only a matter of time before they come looking and we need to be ready."

I blinked. "We're not going to the Citadel?"

"They'd just lock us all up or worse if we went there," Mum explained. "We need to be here, on land your dad knows, if we want to have any chance of getting what we're after."

We all followed him into the very barn from my memories. It looked as though someone had been here recently. The hay bales had been pulled off to the sides and left straw everywhere, and there was a long table with empty dishes. Off in the corner, I could see someone had written out some kind of calculations in chalk on the wall, though those markings looked older. I narrowed my eyes at them. The notes along the equations weren't written in Gallifreyan; they were in English. I knew perfectly well that the TARDIS didn't, and wouldn't need to, translate Gallifreyan for me. Who would write notes in English here?

We all turned at the sound of the door opening. A woman that I recognized from one of the refugee groups stood just inside and stared at Dad with a solemn expression. "They're nearly here," she said flatly.

Dad nodded. "We know."

"They'll kill you. You and your daughters." Her eyes slid to Mum. "And they'll take you."

"They can try," Mum said confidently as she curled her fingers around Dad's.

The woman snorted and turned to leave. "Whatever you came here for, I hope it's worth it."

Anxiety squeezed at my chest as she closed the door behind her. This was my worst fear come to life. Mum had known that, if we had allowed this timeline to continue after her vision, it would not only lead to mine and Jenny's deaths but to the end of everything. How the Pythia woman had prevented that vision from coming to her, I didn't know. I hated not knowing.

I pulled in a breath after I felt my respiratory bypass kick in. In the distance, there was the sound of gun ships approaching.

The four of us exchanged meaningful looks. "Plan?" Jenny asked.

Dad shrugged as he began to march toward the door. "Never."

I couldn't help but have my lips pulled up into a wry smile as we followed him back out into the sandy landscape. Mum walked beside him with her screwdriver at the ready and Jenny at her elbow. I took my place on Dad's other side as we stopped several feet away from where the Time Lords were touching down to the ground.

I could feel both Mum and Dad's tightly controlled anger as Rassilon came into view flanked by a high ranking general and several armed guards. The Pythia woman was absent, though that wasn't entirely surprising. I would have been shocked if they had honored Dad's request.

Rassilon stopped a distance away. "Doctor. Reunited with your suddenly corporeal wife, I see." He tipped his head to Mum, who bristled. "It is good to see you again, Rose. Or should I refer to you by your title? The Moment."

Mum's jaw clenched. "Rassilon."

Dad stepped forward, only to draw a line in the sand with his heel. He took a few steps back to rejoin the three of us. "If you know what's good for you, then you'll respect that line."

The Lord President merely raised an eyebrow. "Will I now? What will happen if I don't? You have nothing, Doctor. Nothing! Do you know what I have, out here in the Dry Lands, where there's nobody who matters?" He leaned in conspiratorially, and his eyes glinted in a way that made me shiver. "No witnesses."

"When have witnesses ever stopped you?" Mum spat. "I've witnessed more of your cruelty than anyone alive on this planet. Never have you ever had an ounce of shame if there was someone in the way of something you wanted."

Rassilon's face was stone as he waved a hand. "Take aim! Leave his wife alive but take aim at the Doctor and his children. Fire on my command."

The general beside him exchanged looks with several of the soldiers behind him. "Sir? He's a war hero. His whole family are considered the saviors of Gallifrey. Some of these men served with him, and all of them know the story of how the Bad Wolf woman saved the planet, and what was done to her by the Sisterhood."

"These men serve me!" Rassilon hissed, and turned toward the soldiers to glare at them. "All of you! On my command."

My hearts thudded frantically against my chest as the soldiers took aim at the four of us.

"Fire!"

I flinched as the soldiers let off a round of blaster fire and gasped as the bolts passed right by us to land on the barn. Jenny and I exchanged a look behind our parents. "They missed," she observed.

Rassilon's face contorted with rage as he turned to his guards. "You missed. All of you. Every single one of you! How is that possible? What is it? Is the firing squad afraid of an unarmed family?" He reached out and grabbed one of the soldiers by the back of the neck. "You! Explain this."

The soldier looked up at him defiantly. "There was a saying, sir, in the Time War. The first thing you notice about the Doctor of War is he's unarmed. For many, it's also the last." The young man threw down his weapon disdainfully and came to stand with us. He nodded to Dad. "I was at Skull Moon, sir." He nodded to Mum, then. "And I put in a formal protest against the Pythia when I heard what they'd done to you, Ma'am."

Mum smiled at him as around us several more of the soldiers began to make their way to our side. Rassilon let out a sound of frustration. "Not one more of you moves! That's an order!"

Jenny chuckled as the last of the soldiers made their way toward us. "What do you think, Mara? Was this the vision Mum was supposed to have seen? The sight of an old man frantically trying to cling to his glory days?"

My mouth was set in a grim line, and I couldn't tear my eyes away from Rassilon to answer her. He spun around to face us. "What was that about a vision?"

I glanced at Dad, who gave me a nod. I pulled in a breath and opened my mouth. "Your downfall, Rassilon. This is it. For everything you've done to my parents, for everything you've done to the Gallifreyan people and beyond, you deserve it."

His face twisted with anger as he reached down to grab one of the soldier's abandoned firearms. "Oh, do I? And who are you to make that call? Just a girl. A silly girl who has no idea the dangers that she and her family represents." He aimed his weapon at Mum. "Did she tell you about Kalaxia IV when she defied orders? About the destruction of Desert Moon when she got General Lito to back down from his assault against the Great Horde? Did she tell you about how many died that day because she felt her own morality trumped that of the living around her?" His mouth twisted down. "I doubt it."

"So, what is it you want now, then?" Mum asked. "To threaten my family until I allow myself to come back under your control? To take out whole worlds again just for defying your cruelty? Where is that boy, Rassilon, the one who used to sneak into my vault once the Pythia brought your family in to build the Citadel? The one who spoke of freedom and justice? Why did you allow him to be destroyed by your fear and your lust for power?"

Rassilon scoffed. "Do you see this, girl? See how she tries to twist what was." He took aim at me again. "Perhaps I should spare you the misery of seeing her destroyed." He cocked his weapon.

Dad shoved me behind him. "You'll have to get through me first."

"It was the Pythia who asked me to come, you know," Rassilon admitted, and his lips twisted up into a smile as behind him more ships began to approach. "There is much planned for you lot, and given your petulance, I'm inclined to let her have her fun. I'll have my own revenge soon enough." He glanced back as more soldiers arrived and jerked his head forward. "Arrest them. Anyone who is a known ally of the Doctor and the Moment is to be apprehended and punished."

I could not allow them to take us to the Pythia. I knew in my hearts that if that happened, then the vision that Mum had seen all those years ago would surely come to pass. So, in a desperate move, I scrambled forward for one of the weapons that the soldiers had discarded and swiveled it toward Rassilon. Without thinking, I sent off a series of shots. Around me, chaos erupted as sonic screwdrivers began screaming and other shots fired out. The soldiers who had taken our side rushed forward to retake their weapons and began to engage the reinforcements Rassilon had received in combat.

Rassilon finally fell as the last of his regeneration energy wisped away, and I lowered my weapon. My eyes were wide and my hearts were thudding against my chest. Blood rushed in my ears, making it difficult to hear anything. It wasn't that I hadn't experienced another living being's death before. I had just never been the one holding the gun.

"Back to the TARDIS!" My attention suddenly snapped back to the present as Dad shouted and grabbed me by the arm.

I allowed him to drag me back the way we'd landed until pain rippled across our bond. "Jenny!" I screamed and glanced back to see her wounded and captured by one of the soldiers. "Mum!" More pain ripped through me as Mum was knocked unconscious and dragged off toward one of the parked ships.

"No time!" Dad yanked my focus back to the TARDIS as he shoved me toward her.

"Dad, what are we going to do?" I sobbed as we entered the TARDIS.

"I—"

We both turned in horror at the sound of the doors opening. My eyes widened as Rassilon—with a more youthful face, though he was still in his ostentatious robes—entered, gasping for air, with his weapon in his hands. "Did your father never teach you, girl? Always check for a pulse when assassinating a Time Lord."

"No!" I shouted as Rassilon fired at Dad, who fell like a sack of potatoes to the floor. He went to shoot again, but I threw myself in his path as behind him I heard the TARDIS begin to groan. Somehow, Dad had managed to start up the flight sequence before being shot.

Pain burned through me as I doubled over, my hand against my abdomen as I stumbled and fell beside Dad. It was a piercing blow, and I knew it. I was going to bleed out. I'd experienced enough fatal wounds in the past to know one when I felt it.

My eyes blearily locked onto Rassilon, who let out a booming laugh above me. "Admit it, girl. You are powerless. Surrender now, and I will be certain that you and your family survive."

I gritted my teeth, forced myself to stand despite the pain, reared back and punched the man in the jaw with all the power I had left. "I am many things, Rassilon," I hissed as I twisted his weapon away from him and took aim. "But never powerless."

I shot, then, as his eyes widened. Those same eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he fell back against the floor of the TARDIS with a thud that echoed throughout the console room.

I dropped my weapon and panted for breath as I leaned down and checked his pulse. I looked up at the TARDIS rotor. "Is he really gone?"

She hummed an affirmative.

"Good," I said, and let out a hysterical laugh. "Fantastic." I winced as I looked down at the blood on my hands. I hated how they shook. "What do you think, old girl? Think I'll regenerate this time? Or is this it?"

A large hand took mine, and I looked up at Dad. "Mara," he whispered.

I hated the tears I saw in his eyes. "It's okay," I said in between pained gasps. "It's fine. I'll be back, you'll see."

He shook his head. "Mara, Mara, my Mara. There's nothing you can do. It's over. You're powerless to stop this."

My eyes narrowed at him. That wasn't something he would ever say. Pain made my vision swim, but I had enough strength to flinch away from him. The move pulled at my wound, and I hissed as my eyes shut against a fresh wave of pain. "How can you say that?"

"Because." My eyes shot open as his voice deepened and morphed into something horrifyingly familiar. Sharp, piercing blue eyes that belonged to someone I had prayed I would never meet again bored into mine as hands moved to capture my face. "You never do."