Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who that goes to the BBC
As Merry continued to flail, she cried as she was pulled closer and closer towards the pyramid as she tried to escape.
Back in the marketplace, the Doctor arrived at Door'een's stall and barked at her before she barked and growled at him in response before he patted himself down with both of his hands before he walked back towards Rose, Sydney and Clara.
"I need something precious," the Doctor told them.
"Well, you and Rose must have something," Clara stated, "All the places you've both seen with Sydney."
"This," the Doctor told her as he pulled his sonic screwdriver out from his jacket's inside pocket with his right hand, "I don't want to give it away. It comes in handy."
"I also don't want to give mine away," Rose added before she pulled the Cronos Crystal back out from her jacket's inside pocket with her right hand, "And this crystal… it's not just an artefact. It's a memory, a piece of my past. It's all I have left to remember my Mum by. I can't just give it away. It's too precious to me."
"You're both a thousand years old and that's it?" Clara asked them, "Your spanner and crystal?"
"Screwdriver," the Doctor corrected her.
"Actually, we're both 1,270 years old, not exactly a thousand," Rose clarified, gently with a small smile on her face, "And it's not just about the age, Clara. It's about the memories, the experiences, the lives we've lived. Our screwdrivers and my crystal that was given to me by my mother when I was seven… they're not just objects. They're symbols of our journeys, our struggles, our victories. They're more precious to us than you might realise."
"Mum's right, Clara," Sydney said, agreeing with his mother, his voice being soft yet firm, "Even though I never got the chance to meet my grandmother, I've heard stories about her all my life. I know how much she meant to Mum. That crystal… it's more than just a keepsake. It's a link to our past, a reminder of where we come from. It's priceless to us."
Clara then looked down at her right hand and nervously touched a ring over her right hand's middle finger with her left hand's fingers.
"It was my Mum's," Clara told the three Gallifreyans as she looked at them.
The Doctor, Rose and Sydney didn't say anything, knowing it was her decision. Clara then took off the ring and handed it to Dor'een, who sensed the importance of the ring and accepted it as payment for the moped and gestured to it with her left hand as she stepped backwards a bit. The Doctor then kissed his right hand and tapped Clara on the head with his right hand and went over to the moped with Rose and Sydney following him.
Merry continued to be pulled towards the temple as the Doctor rode the moped with Rose sitting on the seat behind him, while Sydney and Clara sat on sidecars that were attached to the moped as he piloted it towards Merry before Clara reached her left hand out towards Merry as they got closer and closer towards her.
"Merry!" Clara called out to her as their hands came close to touching and grazed before Merry was suddenly pulled downwards and into the temple with a scream.
The moped then approached the temple rather quickly at a high speed.
"Brakes! Brakes!" Clara ordered the Doctor.
"Like she said, put the moped's brakes on, love!" Rose said, agreeing with the nanny.
"Dad, Mum and Clara are right!" Sydney stated, agreeing with them, "We need to slow down now!"
The four of them screamed as they came to a stop as Rose's arms gripped around the Doctor's neck, while Sydney and Clara gripped the Time Lord's legs as Rose, Sydney and Clara all had their eyes closed.
"Okay, time to let go," the Doctor ordered them.
"I can't," Clara told him as Rose and Sydney let go of him.
"Clara, you have to," the Doctor urged the nanny.
"Why?" Clara asked him.
"Because it really hurts," the Doctor answered.
"Sorry," Clara apologised as she let go of his left leg before the Time Lord got off the moped with Rose and Sydney doing the same
Rose then pulled out her sonic screwdriver from her jacket's inside pocket with her right hand and extended it as she went over to the door and used her screwdriver on it before she checked it's readings.
"Well, isn't this a puzzle," Rose muttered to herself, her eyes looking at the readings on her sonic screwdriver, "It's a frequency modulated acoustic lock. The key changes faster than a blink of an eye, millions upon millions of times a second. Quite the security, wouldn't you say?"
"Can either of you open it?" Clara asked both older Gallifreyans as Rose closed her sonic screwdriver and placed it back inside her jacket's inside pocket.
"Technically, no," the Doctor answered, "In reality, also no." He then looked at Rose, "But we've faced tougher challenges before, haven't we, Rose? What do you say, love? Shall I give it a go, or would you like to take the lead this time?"
"Let's have you take the lead, like always, Doctor," Rose answered with a smile on her face.
"All right, let's give it a stab," the Doctor said as he made a run for the door, causing Clara to squeal as she, Rose and Sydney covered their eyes, only for the Doctor to get a sore shoulder for his troubles before he pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his jacket's inside pocket with his right hand before he activated and used it on the door.
"Don't wake from slumber, Old god, never wake from slumber," the priest sang to himself as Merry sat up on the floor before she looked over her left shoulder at him.
Back outside the temple, the Doctor pounded on the door with both of his fists.
"How can they just stand there and watch?" Clara asked the three Gallifreyans with confusion in her voice.
"It's complicated, Clara," Rose stated, "It's kind of like how human religions are at times."
"Rose is right," the Doctor said, agreeing with his wife, "Because this is sacred ground."
"Mum and Dad are right, Clara," Sydney muttered, agreeing with his parents, "It's a matter of faith and tradition for them, just like certain practices in human religions might seem strange to outsiders. We may not fully understand it, but we respect it."
"But she's a child," Clara protested as he used his sonic screwdriver on the door again.
"Yeah, and he's a god," the Doctor stated as he backed away from the door towards Rose, Sydney and Clara, "Well, he is to them, anyway."
"Do not wake from slumber Old god. Do not wake from slumber," the priest continued to sing as Merry walked forward cautiously to look at the mummy on the throne, "Rest your weary, holy head and cast our lives asunder. Do not wake from slumber."
"I don't know what to do next," Merry said as she looked at the priest before she looked at the mummy again, "What happens?" The mummy's eyes then suddenly glowed red, causing Merry to scream.
Back outside the temple's door, Clara, Rose, Sydney and the Doctor rushed towards the door as the Doctor reactivated his screwdriver and used it on the door again.
"Merry!" Clara called out to the little girl as she placed her hands on the door, "Merry, hold on! We'll be there soon! Doctor?"
"Yeah, have you got it, Doctor?" Rose asked him, agreeing with Clara.
"Like they said, have you, Dad?" Sydney said, agreeing with them.
"Yes. Yes, yes, yes," the Doctor muttered as he continued to use his screwdriver on the door before he flicked it open as he stepped away from it, "Oh, Hello."
"Hello what?" Clara, Rose and Sydney asked him at the same time.
"Sonic locked on to the acoustic tumblers," the Doctor answered as he closed his screwdriver back up with his left hand.
"Meaning?" Clara asked him.
"Meaning, I get to do this," the Doctor explained as he aimed and used his sonic screwdriver at the base of the door as it slowly began to rise up.
Inside the temple, Merry turned around towards the door as it began to slide open and saw the Doctor standing underneath, keeping it open with his screwdriver as Rose and Sydney stood next to him on both sides.
"Ah! Hello there, I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said, introducing himself to Merry before he looked at his wife and son, "This is Rose and Sydney. And you've met Clara. She was supposed to be having a nice day out." He then turned his screwdriver off, "Still, it's early yet." The door then started to close before he reactivated and used his screwdriver on it again, "Are you coming, then? Did I mention that the door is immensely heavy?"
"Leave!" Merry ordered them, "You'll wake him."
"Really quite extraordinarily heavy," the Doctor added before the door slid down quite a bit, causing him to be forced onto his left knee as he grunted and continued to use his screwdriver on the door, "Clara, Rose, Sydney!"
"Uh-huh," Clara replied as she scooted past the Doctor into the temple with Rose and Sydney following her as they made their way by the singing priest towards Merry as he continued to sing.
"Merry, we need to leave," Clara told the little girl.
"No! Go away!" Merry protested.
"Not without you," Clara told her.
"You said I wouldn't get it wrong and then I got it wrong," Merry reminded the nanny, "And now this has happened. Look what's happened!"
"You didn't get it wrong," Clara assured her.
"Clara's right," Rose said, agreeing with the nanny, "Whatever has transpired, you didn't get it wrong. Nor is this your fault."
"My Mum's right," Sydney stated, agreeing with Rose as the Doctor groaned under the strain of keeping the door open, "You didn't know this would happen. Meaning this isn't your fault."
"How do you three know?" Merry asked them, "You don't know anything! You have to go. Go now or he'll eat us all."
"Well, he's ugly. But, you know, to be honest…" Clara began to say as she stepped on the dais and looked at the mummy before turning back towards Merry, "I don't think he looks big enough."
"Not our meat, our souls," Merry explained before Clara extended her left hand out towards Merry, only for the little girl to put her hands onto her head and released a telekinetic force, pinning Clara to the case as she lowered her arms, "He doesn't want either of you, he wants me. If you don't leave, he'll eat you all up too."
"Yes. And you don't want that, do you?" The Doctor asked her, "You want us to walk out of this really quite astonishingly heavy door and never come back."
"Yes," Merry answered.
"I see. Right. Clara, Rose and Sydney are right," the Doctor told her, "Absolutely never going to happen." He then began vocalising, "Oooh-ooh-ooh." The Doctor then turned his sonic screwdriver off as it rolled on the floor into the temple before he reached back to grab his screwdriver where it fell on the floor with his right hand before the door finished closing back shut as he stood back up.
"Did you just lock us in?" Clara asked the Time Lord with disbelief in her voice.
"Yep," the Doctor answered as he placed his screwdriver back inside his jacket's inside pocket.
"With the soul-eating monster?" Clara added.
"Yep," the Doctor answered as he straightened his bow tie with both of his hands.
"And is there actually a way to get out?" Clara asked him.
"What?" The Doctor countered as he walked forward, "Before it eats our souls?"
"Ideally, yeah," Clara answered.
"Possibly. Probably," the Doctor answered before he looked at the priest, "There usually seems to be."
"Welcome to our world, Clara," Rose told the nanny as she gave her a wry smile and her voice being filled with a mix of amusement and resignation, "Getting locked in with soul-eating monsters and finding improbable ways out… it happens all the time."
"And from the stories told to me by Mum and Dad as a Time Tot, she's absolutely right, Clara," Sydney added, agreeing with his mother.
"Doctor, Rose, why is he still singing?" Clara asked both older Gallifreyans as she looked at the priest.
"...God, rest your weary, holy head…" the priest continued to sing.
"He's trying to sing the Old God back to sleep, but that's not going to happen," the Doctor answered as he kneeled in front of the priest, "He's waking up, mate. He coming, ready or not. You want to run."
"You heard him," Rose said, agreeing with her husband as she approached the priest and kneeled before him as well, "There's nothing you can do. Singing to the Old God to put him back to sleep ain't working this time. You really want to run. And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Me and my husband, we'll figure this out and stop him."
"...holy head and…" the priest finished singing before he breathed heavily.
"That's it, then?" The Doctor asked him, "Song's over?"
"The song is over," the priest answered before he stood back up and lowered his hood with both of his hands, "My name is Chorister Rezh Baphix, and the Long Song ended with me." He then pushed up his left sleeve with his right hand to reveal a bracelet before he pressed a button on it with his right hand's index finger, causing him to dissipate into the air.
"That's it, then, song's over," the Doctor muttered as he turned around as he pulled his sonic screwdriver back out with his right hand before flicked it open as he activated and used it on the mummy, causing it to roar and lean forward on the throne, "Ha-ha!" He then rushed up towards the cage and pressed against the glass, "Look at that."
"You've woken him!" Merry yelled from the middle of the room.
"Trust me, Merry," Rose told her as she shook her head with a wry smile on her face, "He does stuff like this all the time, often without thinking of the consequences."
The Mummy was now up from his throne and pounding against the glass with both of his hands behind Clara, who still couldn't move.
"He's awake?" Clara said with surprise in her voice, "What's he doing?"
"Oh, you know, having a nice stretch," the Doctor answered, "No, we didn't wake him." He then pointed at Merry with his right hand's index finger, "And you didn't wake him, either. He's waking because it's his time to wake and feed. On you, apparently, on your stories."
"She didn't say stories, she said souls" Clara told him.
"Actually, Clara, in a way, stories and souls can be seen as the same thing," Rose explained.
"Mum's right," Sydney added, agreeing with his mother, "Our stories are the essence of our souls."
"They're right," the Doctor said, agreeing with them, "And the soul's made of stories, not atoms. Everything that ever happened to us, people we love, people we lost, people we found again against all the odds. He threatens to wake, they offer him a pure soul. The soul of the Queen of Years."
As the Doctor, Rose and Sydney spoke, the mummy pressed his face up to the glass by the three Gallifreyans, raging against his imprisonment and his inability to reach them.
"Stop it," Clara ordered the Time Lord, softly, "You're scaring her."
"Good," the Doctor replied, "She should be scared, she's sacrificing herself, she should know what that means." He then walked over to Merry, "Do you know what it means, Merry?"
"A god chose me," Merry answered.
"It's not a god," the Doctor corrected her, "It'll feed on your soul, but that doesn't make it a god." He then pointed at the mummy with his left hand's index finger, "It is a vampire and you don't need to give yourself to it. Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story?" He then leaned over her, "One you might not have heard? All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago, in the heart of a faraway star that exploded and died." He then knelt before her, "That explosion scattered those elements across the desolations of deep space. After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets. And on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart," He then stood back up, "forming shoes and ships and sealing-wax and cabbages and kings." He then stood behind her and put his hands over her shoulders, "Until eventually, they came together to make you. You're unique in the universe. There is only one Merry Gejelh. And there will never be another." He then walked forward with Merry, "Getting rid of that existence isn't a sacrifice. It is a waste."
"So, if I don't, then everyone else…" Merry began to say.
"Will be fine," the Doctor finished for her.
As Merry looked over at the mummy as the creature pounds on the glass with both of its hands.
"How?" Merry asked the Time Lord.
"There's always a way," the Doctor answered.
"You promise?" Merry asked him.
"Cross my hearts," the Doctor assured her as he moved his hands over his chest and his hearts.
The Doctor then held his left hand out for Merry before she took it with her right hand and gripped it tight as Rose and Sydney approached them. Merry then turned around and faced Clar, releasing the field holding her in place. The mummy slammed the glass behind the nanny again, causing it to crack.
"Having a nice stretch?!" Clara asked the mummy as she hurried down towards the three Gallifreyans and Merry before the three of them headed for the door but stopped when they sensed a change in the air as the ground began to shake, "Something's coming. What's coming?"
"The Vigil," Merry answered in a scared tone.
"And what's the Vigil?" The Doctor asked her.
"Yes, what is the Vigil?" Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"We'd like to know as well," Sydney stated, agreeing with his parents.
"If the Queen of Years is unwilling to be feasted upon…" Merry began to say.
"Yes?" The Doctor asked her.
"It's their job to feed her to Grandfather," Merry answered.
Suddenly the same creatures that searched for Merry earlier in the warehouse appeared in front of the dais as the Doctor and Rose took their screwdrivers back out from their jackets' inside pockets with their right hands.
"I'm sorry," Merry apologised to the Vigil as they began to advance on them, "I'm sorry!"
"Don't you dare," Clara ordered the Vigil.
"Indeed," Sydney said, agreeing with the nanny, "Don't either of you lay a finger on her."
"Yep. Stay back! I'm armed!" The Doctor told the Vigil, "With a screwdriver."
"As am I," Rose stated, agreeing with her husband as they aimed their screwdrivers at the Vigil.
One of the Vigil suddenly bellowed and the force of it knocked their screwdrivers from the Doctor and Rose's hands and over to the floor by the wall. It then bellowed again, causing the Doctor and Rose to be flipped over in the air, landing on their backs and next to each other. A second one sent Clara and Sydney back against the wall. Merry tried to hide as the Vigil continued to advance towards her before the mummy roared from his prison. Merry was then brought forward by the Vigil. Clara and the three Gallifreyans slowly came to. Terrified, Merry walked up the steps to stand in front of the cage.
"Clara, my sonic," the Doctor whispered to the nanny.
"And Sid, grab my sonic as well," Rose ordered her son.
Clara and Sydney both scrambled over to their screwdrivers before they found them as they picked them up and tossed them to the Doctor and Rose.
"Should you do it or should I?" The Doctor asked Rose as they exchanged a glance.
"Let me do it this time," Rose answered before she turned around and aimed and activated her screwdriver at the Vigil as the Doctor placed his screwdriver back inside his jacket's inside pocket.
The Vigil turned around and held up their hands to create a force field. While they were blocking the energy from her sonic screwdriver, Merry ran over to Clara. The Time Lady advanced on the Vigil as she groaned.
"You know all the stories," Clara told Merry, "You must know if there's another way out."
"Yeah, is there another way out, Merry?" Sydney asked her.
"There's the tale," Merry answered after stuttering for a second, "A secret song, 'The Thief of the Temple and the Nimmer's Door.'"
"And the secret songs open the secret door?" Clara asked her, "How does it go? Can you sing it?"
"Ah-ah-ah-ah-aah-ah-ah," Merry sang as she began vocalising, causing a side door to slide open before Rose forced the Vigil to take a few steps back with her screwdriver as she flicked it open.
"Go!" Rose ordered them before the Doctor, Sydney, Clara and Merry to run for the open door before she pushed the Vigil back further before she made her way closer to the door.
The Doctor, Sydney, Clara and Merry soon hurried outside of the temple to the moped as both Gallifreyans and Clara heard the mummy roar and ran back to the door to look inside.
Back inside the temple, the field created by Rose's screwdriver dissipated as Rose deactivated her sonic screwdriver.
"Rose!" Clara and the Doctor and Sydney called out to the Time Lady.
"Mum!" Sydney said, calling out to his mother as well before they rushed back over to Merry as Rose joined them outside the temple with her screwdriver back inside her jacket's inside pocket.
Back inside the temple, the mummy roared again as the Vigil walked towards the door.
"Where are you?" The Vigil asked in a breathy tone, "Where are you?"
Outside the temple, the Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver back out from his jacket's inside pocket and activated it as he used it on the door as the Vigil approached the door and held their hands up towards the door.
Inside the temple, the mummy roared and slammed his fists against the glass again, breaking it before he roared in exaltation before he was bathed in light.
Suddenly a beam of light was shot from the top of the pyramid to the system's sun as if the mummy's spirit was transported into the sun.
"Where are you?" The Vigil continued to ask as they lowered their arms, "Where are you?"
Clara had her arms around Merry as the Doctor continued to use her screwdriver on the Vigil when they suddenly disappeared, causing him and Rose to widen their eyes in shock.
Back inside the temple, the mummy's body was slumped on the throne.
"Where did they go?" Clara asked them as she looked over where the Vigil once stood as Rose closed her screwdriver and placed it back inside her jacket's inside pocket.
"Grandfather's awake," the Doctor answered, "They're of no function any more."
"Indeed," Rose said, agreeing with her husband, "And it's something we didn't expect to happen."
"Well, you both could sound happier about it," Clara told them.
Suddenly they heard a distant explosion occur nearby.
"Actually, I think we may have made a tactical boo-boo," the Doctor stated as he walked towards her, "More of a semantics mix-up, really."
"Yeah, it seems that we have, Dad," Sydney said, agreeing with his father.
"Yeah, we've definitely made a tactical boo-boo, Doctor," Rose muttered, agreeing with them.
"What boo-boo?" Clara asked them.
"I thought the Old God was Grandfather but he wasn't, it was just the Grandfather's alarm clock," the Doctor explained.
"Sorry, a bit lost," Clara admitted with confusion in her voice, "Who's the Old God? Is there an Old God?"
"Unfortunately, yes," the Doctor answered.
"Yes, Clara. The Old God is essentially a parasitic sun," Rose added, agreeing with her husband, "It feeds off the stories, the souls, of others. That's why it's also known as 'the Soul Eater.'"
"And from the stories you two've told me, you've encountered a similar entity before in the Torajii System," Sydney reminded them, "It was an adventure you both had with an old companion of yours, Martha Jones."
They then looked up at the sun in the sky as it burned brighter as it began swelling up and almost expanding as if it was becoming a red giant.
"Oh, my stars," Clara muttered as she looked up at the sun, "What do we do?"
"Against that? I don't know," the Doctor answered, "Do you know? I don't know. Any ideas?"
"But you three promised," Merry reminded them, "You promised."
"We did. We… We did promise," the Doctor said, agreeing with her before he began pacing around the area.
"He'll eat us all. He'll spread across the system, consuming the Seven Worlds," Merry stated, "And when there's no more to eat, he'll embark on a new odyssey among the stars."
The gases on the sun whirl and burn, seeming to expand further as it continued to take on the appearance of a red giant.
"I say leg it," Clara told them.
"Leg it where, exactly?" The Doctor asked her.
"Indeed, where should we leg it to?" Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"Don't know," Clara answered, "Lake District?"
"Oh, the Lake District's lovely," the Doctor told her "Let's definitely go there. We can eat scones. They do great scones in 1927."
"Indeed they do," Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"Sounds like a plan," Sydney told his parents, grinning at the idea, "I've heard great things about scones in the Lake District in 1927. And right now, a scone sounds much better than facing a parasitic sun."
"You're going to fight it, aren't you, Doctor?" Clara asked him as they looked up at the sun with Rose and Sydney doing the same.
"Regrettably, yes," the Doctor answered, "I think I may be about to do that."
"And you always have to do that from time to time, Doctor," Rose stated.
"It's really big," Clara admitted.
"I've seen bigger," the Doctor told her.
"As have I," Rose said, agreeing with him.
"But this is the first time I've seen anything the size of a star," Sydney stated, "It looks similar to a red giant."
"Really?" Clara said with surprise as she looked at both Time Lords.
"Are you joking?" The Doctor asked her, "It's massive!"
"I'm staying with you," Clara told him.
"No, you're not," the Doctor stated.
"Yes, I am," Clara told him, "I can assist."
"No, you can't," the Doctor argued.
"Indeed, you can't," Rose said, agreeing with him, "There are some things we can't help him with. This is one of them."
"They're right, you can't help him, Clara," Sydney muttered, agreeing with his parents, "There are certain battles that only Dad can fight. This is one of them."
"What about that stuff you said?" Clara asked them, "We don't walk away."
"No. We don't walk away," the Doctor said, agreeing with her as he walked back towards the nanny, "But when we're holding on to something precious, we run. We run and run as fast as we can and we don't stop running until we're out from under the shadow. Now, off you pop." He then looked at Rose, "Love, take the moped, Sydney, Clara, you're going with her." He then straightened his bow tie, "I'll walk."
"All right, love, you better be safe out there," Rose replied as she gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"I will, Rose," the Doctor assured her as he headed for the door and entered the temple and looked across towards the sun, which now appeared to have what looked like a face before he spoke to himself, "Any ideas? No, didn't think so. Righty-ho, then."
Back at the amphitheatre, Rose landed the moped and hopped off with Sydney doing the same before Clara helped Merry off from its left sidecar as she hopped off from its right sidecar. Clara held Merry's right hand with her left hand as they, along with Rose and Sydney, looked towards the temple and the sun. Everyone in the amphitheatre knows there was something momentous happening.
"Lordy," the Doctor whispered to himself from inside the temple as he looked at the parasitic sun.
"Isn't he frightened?" Merry asked Clara, Rose and Sydney from the amphitheatre.
"I think he is," Clara answered, "I think he's very frightened."
"Yes, Merry," Rose confirmed, her voice soft,, "The Doctor often hides it well, but he does get frightened. Especially when the stakes are this high."
"My Dad's brave but bravery doesn't mean you're not scared," Sydney added, agreeing with his mother, "It means you do what needs to be done, even when you are scared."
"I want to help," Merry told them.
"So do I," Clara said, agreeing with her.
"We all do," Rose added, her voice filled with determination, "We all want to help."
"That's why we're here, Merry," Sydney stated, agreeing with them, "We're all in this together."
Merry then stepped back onto the pedestal before she looked back at Clara and both Gallifreyans before facing the temple.
"Rest now," Merry said as she began to sing the Long Song, "My warrior."
Back at the temple, the Doctor scratched the top of his head with his right hand before he lowered his right arm and smiled when he heard the singing from the amphitheatre.
"Okay, then," the Doctor muttered to himself, "That's what I'll do. I'll tell you a story."
"Oh, oh-oh, oh-oh Oh-oh, oh-oh…" Merry went on singing from the amphitheatre, "Way-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay Wake up."
"Wake up," the Crowd said as they all joined in singing the Long Song with Merry, causing Clara and both Gallifreyans to look at the crowd around them as they smiled.
"And let the cloak of life cling to your bones," Merry went on singing as Clara, Rose and Sydney turned back around to look at the temple.
"Can you hear them?" The Doctor asked Akhaten as he pointed towards Tiaanamat and the amphitheatre on the asteroid with both of his hands before he lowered his arms, "All these people who've lived in terror of you and your judgement, all these people whose ancestors devoted themselves, Sacrificed themselves to you. Can you hear them singing?"
"Way-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay Wake up…" Merry continued to sing from the amphitheatre.
"Oh, you like to think you're a god. But you're not a god. You're just a parasite, eat now with jealousy and envy and longing for the lives of others. You feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow, So... So…come on, then. Take mine. Take my memories. But I hope you've got a big appetite. Because I've…" Akhaten suddenly shot out tendrils of light at the Doctor as it began sucking away his life and memories, causing the Time Lord to grunt, "...lived…a long life and I've seen a few things."
"Wake up," Merry continued to sing from the amphitheatre, "And let the cloak of life cling to your bones."
"I walked away from the Last Great Time war. I marked the passing of the Time Lords till I reunited with my wife, who was chameleon-arched as a human by the name of 'Rose Tyler' and reopened her fob watch and began sharing my burden as the Last Time Lords with me," the Doctor told Akhaten, "I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time, no space. Just me and my wife! I've walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a madman. I've watched universes freeze and creations burn. I've seen things you wouldn't believe! Me and my wife have both lost things you'll never understand! And me and her know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze!" He then repositioned his bow tie before he spread arms out, "So, come on then! Take it! Take it all, baby! Have it! You have it all!"
The sun then grew darker, causing the Doctor to hang his head.
"Wake up Wake u-u-u-up," Merry finished singing from the amphitheatre and smiled to herself.
Everyone looked towards the sky and watched, waiting. Suddenly there was a large explosion and the sun expanded, growing brighter as if it was becoming a red giant even more than before. Clara and Rose both thought of the Doctor, there, alone.
Clara's mind then drifted back to when she was a kid after her mother found her when she was lost at Blackpool beach. The Time Lady on the other hand, also drifted back to when she was seven on Gallifrey when her mother gave her the Chronos Crystal before she went to the Untempered Schism and Time Lord Academy when she was eight. Both women then drifted back to when the Doctor told Clara that they never walk away from danger.
"Sydney, stay where you are," Rose ordered her son with her voice being firm yet filled with concern, "Me and Clara need to do something."
"I will, Mum," Sydney assured her mother before Rose and Clara rushed away.
Back at the temple, the Doctor groaned as he fell to his knees.
Clara raced the moped back to the temple from Tiaanamat with Rose sitting on the moped's seat behind her.
As Clara landed the moped at the temple, she and Rose both hopped off the vehicle and ran into the temple with the nanny carrying her book. The Doctor then looked up at them. Taking courage from him, Clara hugged the book and faced Akhaten with Rose doing the same.
"Still hungry?" Clara asked Akhaten as she opened the book with her left hand, "Well, I brought something for you. This." She then grabbed and held the leaf in the palm of her right hand, "The most important leaf in human history. The most important leaf in human history. It's full of stories. Full of history. And full of a future that never got lived. Days that should have been that never were, passed on to me."
Clara's mind then drifted back to the time when she visited her mother's grave as a teenager. This time, she looked in the corner of her eye and saw the Doctor, Rose and Sydney walk away from the tree they were observing her from.
"This leaf isn't just the past. It's a whole future that never happened," Clara went on as Akhaten sent tendrils to the leaf and began absorbing it, "There are billions and millions of unlived days for every day we live, an infinity. All the days that never came." The Doctor then stood back up, "And these are all my mum's."
As Clara finished speaking, Rose reached into her jacket's inside pocket and pulled out the Chronos Crystal with her right hand. The crystal glowed softly in her hand, its light reflecting in her eyes.
"If the leaf isn't enough, I have this," Rose said, her voice steady as she showed Akhaten the artefact in her hand, "The Chronos Crystal. It's the most important artefact ever discovered in Time Lord history. It was gifted to me by my mother, Persephone. In my eyes, she was the greatest archeologist that the Time Lord race has ever produced."
"Well, come on, then. Eat up," the Doctor urged Akhaten, only for it to narrow its 'eyes,' "Are you full? I expect so. Because there's quite a difference, isn't there, between what was and what should have been? There's an awful lot of one, but there's an infinity of the other." The leaf then vanished almost as if it was never there, "And infinity's too much. Even for your appetite."
Clara, Rose and the Doctor looked at each other as Rose placed the Chronos Crystal back inside her jacket's inside pocket as the sun imploded, leaving them in darkness.
"Guess, I never had to offer my crystal to the Old God after all," Rose muttered to herself, causing the Doctor and Clara to giggle.
A while later, the TARDIS materialised in the front driveway of the Maitlands' house with the Doctor and Rose at the console, operating the controls and Sydney watching them.
"Home again, home again, jiggity-jig!" The Doctor said as he and Rose continued to operate the controls with him pulling a lever forward as Clara headed for the door.
"It looks different," Clara stated as she opened the door and looked at the house.
"Nope. Same house, Same city, same planet." the Doctor corrected her as she closed the door before he looked at the scanner, "Ha-hey! Same day, actually, huh? Ooh, not bad." He then swung a pretend golf club as Clara took a few steps back inside, "Hole in one!"
"And not twelve months late, either!" Rose chuckled to herself, "Much better than when you landed twelve months late rather than twelve hours when we reunited, love."
"You're never gonna let that go, are you, Rose?" The Doctor asked her with disbelief in his voice.
"Never!" Rose answered, causing Sydney to giggle.
"You three were there," Clara told them as the Doctor pushed the scanner aside with his left hand, "At Mum's grave, you three were watching." All three Gallifreyans then turned around towards her, "What were you three doing there?"
"I don't know," the Doctor answered, "We were just making sure."
"Of what?" Clara asked them.
"It's kind of hard to explain, Clara," Rose answered.
"Mum's right, it is kind of hard to explain in 21st century human terms," Sydney said, agreeing with his mother.
"Let's just say that you remind us of someone," the Doctor explained as he walked up to Clara.
"Who?" Clara asked him.
"Someone who died," the Doctor added.
"Well, whoever she was, I'm not her, Okay?" Clara told the three Gallifreyans, "If you three want me to travel with you, that's fine. But as me. Not a bargain-basement stand-in for someone else. I'm not going to compete with a ghost."
"Clara, that's not what we were doing," Rose assured the nanny as she stepped forward with her expression softening, "We don't want you to be anyone but yourself. You're not a stand-in for anyone, and you're certainly not competing with a ghost. We value you for who you are, not who you remind us of."
"Mum's right, Clara," Sydney said, agreeing with his mother as he also stepped forward, "We want you on board the TARDIS for you, not because you remind us of someone else."
"No," the Doctor muttered, agreeing with his wife and son as he shook his head before he reached into his pocket with his right hand and pulled out her ring, "They wanted you to have it."
"Who did?" Clara asked him.
"Everyone," the Doctor answered, "All the people you saved." Clara then took the ring and kissed it and slipped it back onto her left hand's middle finger, "You. No one else aside from Rose. Clara." Clara then smiled before she opened the door with her right hand and stepped outside with the Doctor watching from the doorway before he closed the door with his left hand.
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