Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who that goes to the BBC
A long time ago on Gallifrey inside a workshop within the Citadel, two men were hunched over counters, working on different projects. Suddenly, an alarm went off, causing both men to look up.
"Something wrong?" One of the men asked as the other walked over to a monitor and pushed a visor that was over his face up.
"It's the repair shop," the other man answered as he saw a row of plain grey cylinders that were tall enough for a man to enter, "What kind of idiot would try and steal a faulty TARDIS?"
Inside the repair shop was an older man, who was none other than the First Doctor as he escorted a young girl, who was none other than his and Rose's granddaughter, Susan towards one of the cylinders.
"Doctor?" The First Doctor heard Clara's voice say as he approached the entrance of the TARDIS that Susan entered as he looked around nervously, "Doctor?"
"Yes, what is it?" The First Doctor asked her as he looked at Clara and saw that she was wearing a simple red outfit of a female Gallifreyan, "What do you want?"
"Sorry, but you're about to make a very big mistake," Clara told him.
In an unknown place, Clara opened her eyes with flames being reflected in them and her face contorted with pain as she was falling downwards surrounded by fire.
'I don't know where I am,' Clara thought to herself, 'It's like I'm breaking into a million pieces and there's only one thing I remember.'
'I have to save the Doctor and Rose,' Clara thought to herself as she suddenly found herself standing inside a futuristic hallway, wearing 70s styled clothes as the Sixth Doctor walked across a corridor behind her before she turned around, only to see that he was already gone, 'They always look different.'
"Doctor!" Clara called out to the Sixth Doctor as she ran to the other corridor to see the Fourth Doctor walking away down a corridor within the Citadel on Gallifrey when he was Lord President of the Time Lords and watched as he reached the end of the corridor before she went down another corridor and found herself in a museum's corridor on Earth and saw the Fourth Rose walking with Rory in 1996 when they were protecting Amy and the Pandorica, "Rose!"
'But I always know it's them,' Clara thought to herself as she watched as the Fourth Rose and Rory reached the end of the corridor.
As Clara continued to fall through the unknown place, her face continued to contort in excruciating pain.
Clara then found herself on the Ice world of Svartos, wearing 80s clothes, which included a black leather jacket as she ran down another corridor.
'Sometimes I think I'm everywhere at once,' Clara thought to herself as she ran over to a door and pressed herself against a window, 'Running every second, just to find them.'
She then looked through the door's window to see the Seventh Doctor hanging from a ledge by his umbrella.
"Doctor!" Clara called out to him as she pounded on the door with her right hand.
'Just to save him and Rose,' Clara thought to herself.
Clara then whirled around and found herself in a 70s countryside, wearing 70s clothes as she turned around as the Third Doctor, who was sitting inside Bessie and driving the car sped past her.
"Doctor!" Clara yelled out to him as she cupped her hands next to her mouth.
Clara, still in her 70s clothes, suddenly found herself on a California beach as the Eighth Doctor brushed past her. She turned around to look at him as the Second Doctor in his fur coat rushed by her from the other direction. She then ran after him.
Clara then found herself at the Royal Hope Hospital, wearing patient attire and stood in a corridor as the Tenth Doctor, wearing his blue suit and the Second Rose, wearing her leather jacket ran past her with the Time Lord carrying an unconscious Martha before she ran after them before she fell to the floor.
As she fell to the floor, Clara landed, wearing 80s clothes on a clear platform looking down on the Fifth Doctor as he floated in the Matrix when the renegade Time Lord, Omega tried to use the Doctor's biological data to return to N-space from his Anti-Matter universe prison.
"Doctor?" Clara muttered to herself as she stared at him.
'But they never hear me,' Clara thought to herself as she followed the Eleventh Doctor, Fifth Rose and Sydney as they wore their Victorian attire when they met her in London 1892.
"Oi!" Clara called out to the three Gallifreyans as she appeared behind them, causing the three of them to stop and turn around towards her.
'Almost never,' Clara thought to herself.
As Clara continued to fall through the unknown place again, her face continued to contort in extreme pain.
'I blew into this world on a leaf,' Clara thought to herself.
In the 1980s, Clara's father, Dave, walked along a sidewalk, looking around to get his bearings. A red coloured leaf suddenly blew loose from a tree and covered his face, causing him to stagger into the road in front of an oncoming car. He then pulled the leaf from his face with his right hand and turned around to see the car, causing him to freeze.
'I'm still blowing,' Clara thought to herself as her mother, Ellie, pulled her father out of the way of the car and back onto the sidewalk.
At Ellie's house at night, she and Dave kissed each other.
In a nursery, Dave sat on a chair, holding a baby Clara in his arms as she slept in his arms.
'I don't think I'll ever land,' Clara thought to herself.
'I'm Clara Oswald, I'm the impossible girl,' Clara thought to herself as she continued to fall down through the unknown place, her face still consorting with pain, 'I was born to save the Doctor and Rose.'
"Do you hear the Whisper Men?" A bald man with light skin and blue eyes said from within a prison cell in London, 1893 as he squatted on the floor and rocked slightly with his wrists being cuffed by long chains, "The Whisper Men are near." Two guards walked down the brick corridor carrying lamps as there was water dripping from the ceiling and walls, "If you hear the Whisper Men then turn away your ear. Do not hear the Whisper Men, whatever else you do. For once you've heard the Whisper Men, they'll stop and look at you." He then realised that a veiled figure was standing outside his cell at the bars and turned around towards them as he pointed at them with his right hand's index finger, "One word from you could save me from the rope."
"Then you may rely on my silence," he heard Vastra's voice say, revealing that the veiled figure was Vastra.
"I have information," the man told her, "Valuable information."
"Are you bargaining for your life?" Vastra asked him, "You have the blood of 14 women on your hands. There are no words you can speak that will save your neck."
"The Doctor and Rose," the man told her, causing Vastra to startle and walk closer to his cell's bars, "Oh, yes! I know all about them, your dangerous friends."
"How?" Vastra asked him with surprise in her voice.
"In the babble of the world, there are whispers, if you know how to listen," the man explained as he walked over to his cell's bars, "The Doctor and Rose have a secret, you know."
"They have many," Vastra told him.
"They have one they will both take to the grave," the man explained before he grabbed the bars of his cell and peered through them, "And it is discovered." He and Vastra then stared at each other for a few seconds, "Well…"
"We can't let that terrible man live," Jenny told Vastra as they stood in the foyer of the Silurian's home as she took Vastra's cane from her with her left hand.
"He lives till I understand what he told me," Vastra assured her as she pushed her veil back and removed it with her right hand, "We're going to need a conference call." She then handed Jenny her coat, "I'll send out the invitations, you fetch the candles."
"Yes, ma'am," Jenny replied before Vastra went to prepare the conference call as Jenny hung the coat in the hall before she paused and looked towards the window where a figure had appeared.
"Where's Strax got to?" Vastra asked her wife as she walked in front of her, blocking Jenny's view of the window.
"The usual," Jenny answered, "It's his weekend off."
"Oh, I wish he had never discovered that place," Vastra muttered to herself.
"Sontar-ha!" Strax chanted in a house in Glasgow, "Sontar-ha!" The Sontaran then tackled a large bald man with brown eyes and a light brown moustache before they both fell through a glass door behind them.
"Come here while I kill you, you filthy wee midden!" The man yelled with a Scottish accent as he and Strax both stood back up as he held a large hammer in his hands.
"Prepare to die in agony for the glory of the Sontaran empire!" Strax retorted as he held a shovel in his hands.
As they finished speaking, both the man and Strax roared in preparation for attack.
"Excuse me, Master Strax," they suddenly heard the voice of a young boy call out to the Sontaran before they both lowered their weapons and looked to see the boy standing behind them, holding a piece of paper in his hands.
"What is it, girl?" Strax asked him, "Can't you see I'm trying to crush the brains of this stinking primitive?" He then looked at the man, "Sorry about this."
"No problem," the man replied.
"It's a telegram, sir," the boy explained as he held the paper out towards the Sontaran, "Very urgent."
"Conference call," Strax muttered as he took the telegram from him and opened it as he read it before he handed it back to the boy before the boy left the room as Strax turned back around towards the man, "Sorry, Archie. I'm going to have to ask you to render me unconscious."
"Fine," Archie replied before he hefted his hammer with his left hand.
"Better use this," Strax urged him as he handed him the shovel before Archie dropped his hammer and took Strax's hammer from him with his left hand, "It might take a while."
With that said, Archie hit the Sontaran on the head with the shovel, knocking him out instantly.
Back in the parlour of Vastra's home, the Silurian sat at a multi-sided table as Jenny lit a candle positioned in the centre with a taper in her right hand as she sat next to her before she blew the taper out.
"Sleep well, my love," Vastra told Jenny as she placed her right hand over her wife's left hand.
"You too," Jenny replied with a smile on her face.
"The trap is set," a ghostly whispering voice said as Vastra and Jenny drifted off to sleep as a figure clad in black with a white face stood outside the room's window, "The Doctor and Rose's friends along with their son will travel where the Doctor and Rose ends."
As Vastra and Jenny entered a shared dream, the general setting of the dreamscape was the same as the parlour in Vastra's house, but things were a bit more out of focus. The walls had a moving pattern like a cross between a lava lamp and a kaleidoscope.
"Oh, I like the new desktop," Jenny told Vastra.
"Hmm, I was getting a little bored of the Taj Mahal," Vastra explained before a tea tray with a kettle and six teacups appeared on the table before she poured some from the kettle into one of the cups, "The tea should be superb, it's drawn from one of my favourite memories." They suddenly heard a loud thud as Strax entered the dream and sat next to Jenny as Vastra didn't look up from pouring the tea, "Strax! Good of you to join us."
"It better be important!" Strax told her, "I was in the middle of destroying some very pleasant primitives."
"I apologise for the interruption, but there is urgent news concerning the Doctor and Rose," Vastra explained.
"Who else is coming?" Strax asked her.
"The Time Agent and the women," Vastra answered.
In Cardiff, Wales, 2013, Jack was sitting inside his office of Torchwood Three, eyeing on paperwork on recent abnormal events and reports from UNIT. As he was reading the reports, the door to his office suddenly opened, causing him to look up from the reports and see Gwen standing in the doorway with an envelope addressed to him in her hands.
"Gwen, what's wrong?" Jack asked her with concern evident in his voice as he noticed the serious expression on her face.
"There's an envelope addressed to you," Gwen answered as she walked over to him and handed him the letter.
"Why didn't our new replacement for Ianto, Julian, bring it to me?" Jack asked her as he took the letter from her.
"Julian is out on a field assignment with our replacements for Owen and Tosh, Emma and Liam," Gwen explained.
"Thanks, Gwen," Jack muttered as he gave her a small smile, "I'll need some privacy while I read this."
"Of course, Jack," Gwen replied, "I'll be in my office if you need anything."
With that said, Gwen left Jack's office and closed the door behind her with her right hand. Jack then ripped open the envelope to him and pulled out a letter from inside it before he flipped it open. As he began to read the letter and as he finished reading it, he suddenly felt tired and fell unconscious.
In the kitchen of the Maitland's house, Clara opened a cabinet with her right hand and took out a bag of flour with her right hand. She then turned around to put it on a counter as she held a mixing bowl in her left hand. As Clara did that, Angie and Artie were both doing their homework at the table.
"Oh, no. You're going to try and make a soufflé again, aren't you?" Angie asked with with surprise in her voice.
"My mum's soufflé, yeah," Clara confirmed as she whisked the mixing bowl's batter with a mixing spoon, "Although this time, I will get it right. This time, I will be Soufflé girl."
"How can it be your mum's soufflé, if you're making it?" Artie asked her with confusion in his voice as he looked at her.
"Because, Artie, like my mum always said, 'The soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe,'" Clara explained as she put the mixing bowl on the counter and continued to use the mixing spoon in it.
"Was your mum deep on puddings?" Angie asked her.
"She was a great woman," Clara told them before she saw a letter addressed to her next to the mixing bowl and picked it up with her left hand, "What's this?"
"Oh, it arrived today," Angie answered, "It's for you."
Clara then turned the envelope over to see it was sealed with wax and beard a note reading 'Open When Alone' on the back.
"'My dearest Clara, the Doctor, Rose and Sydney entrusted me with your contact details in the event of an emergency, and I fear one has now arisen," Clara read the letter from her envelope silently after opening it as she walked around her room in the Maitlands' house, "'Assuming this letter will have reached you, as planned, on April 10th 2013, please find and light the enclosed candle."
Clara then did as the letter said and reached into the envelope and pulled out a small candle from it with her right hand.
"'It will release a soporific which will induce a trance state, enabling direct communication across the years,"' the nanny continued to read the letter and as she did that, Clara exclaimed in disgust as she dropped the candle and continued to walk across her room and began wiping her right waist with her right hand.
"However, as I realise you have no reason to trust this letter, I have taken the liberty of embedding the same soporific into the fabric of the paper you are now holding. Speak soon,'" Clara finished reading before she looked up and suddenly felt tired as she fell unconscious.
As she fell asleep, Clara appeared in the dream, sitting in one of the chairs as Jack appeared in the chair next to her.
"So glad you both could make it," Vastra greeted Clara and Jack as she passed Clara a cup of tea with her right hand before she did the same for Jack.
"I haven't seen the three of you since Demon's Run," Jack told the Paternoster Gang as he looked at them before he took a sip of his cup of tea.
"Where am I?" Clara asked Vastra as she took the cup of tea that Vastra had given her.
"Exactly where you were, but sleeping," Jenny answered.
"Time travel has always been possible in dreams," Vastra added before she looked between Clara and Jack as they looked at each other, "I surmise you two probably haven't met yet. Jack, this is-"
"There's no need for you to introduce her to me, Vastra," Jack interrupted the Silurian with a smile on his face, "I've met her before, actually."
"We have?" Clara asked him with surprise on her face, "I don't remember…"
"It's still in your future, Clara," Jack explained as his smile widened before he extended his right hand to her left hand, "Captain Jack Harkness, at your service."
"Nice to meet you, Captain Jack," Clara replied with a smile on her face as she shook his right hand with her left hand.
"Anyways, we are awaiting only one more participant," Vastra stated as she grabbed her cup of tea with both of her hands and took a sip of it.
"Oh, no," Strax muttered to himself with disgust in his voice, "Not the one with the gigantic head."
"It's hair, Strax," Jenny explained to him.
"Hair," Strax scoffed to himself.
"Watch what you say about my wife, Strax," Jack warned the Sontaran with offence in his voice.
"Apologies, Captain," Strax apologised, "I meant no disrespect."
"Just remember, she's important to me," Jack added.
Just as she finished speaking, River suddenly appeared in a chair next to Clara with a puff of smoke like a magician.
"Madame Vastra," River greeted Vastra as she looked at her.
"Professor," Vastra replied as she looked back at her.
"Hello, Sweetie," River greeted Jack as she looked at him.
"Hello, River," Jack replied warmly with a genuine smile spreading across his face, "Always a pleasure to see you."
"Anyways, help yourself to some tea, Professor," Vastra offered the archeologist.
"Why, thank you," River replied as a flute of champagne suddenly appeared in her right hand's index finger and thumb as she held it up.
"How did you do that?" Jenny asked her with surprise in her voice.
"Disgracefully," River answered before she took a sip of her champagne as she and Clara looked at each other.
"Ah, perhaps you two haven't met," Vastra surmised, "This is the Doctor and Rose's companion."
"Have you gone a darker green?" Strax asked Vastra.
"Clara Oswald," Vastra introduced the nanny to River.
"Professor River Song," the archeologist introduced herself to Clara, "The Doctor and Rose might have mentioned me."
"Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, of course they have," Clara muttered to herself, "Professor Song. Sorry, it's just I never realised you were a woman."
As Clara finished speaking, River's face changed barely imperceptibly. She was hurt and surprised that the Doctor and Rose hadn't mentioned her more than in passing.
"Well, neither did I," Strax added.
"River, they probably didn't mean to do that," Jack assured her as he saw the hurt on her face, "With their long lifespans as Time Lords, and not liking to say goodbyes or seeing their companions age, they probably thought it best to not mention you that much to her."
"I know, Jack," River replied with a soft smile forming on her lips, "It's just… sometimes it's hard."
"Perhaps we should get down to the business at hand," Vastra suggested.
"That might be good, dear, yes," Jenny said, agreeing with her wife.
With that said, Vastra touched the air above the centre of the table with her right hand, causing a projection of the man she had visited earlier in the prison to appear.
"Clarence DeMarco, murderer, under sentence of death," Vastra explained, "He offered us this, in exchange for his life."
Vastra then waved her right hand through the projection, causing it to change to a certain type of coordinates River, Jack and Clara had seen in their time with the Doctor and Rose.
"Space-time coordinates," River stated as she looked up at the coordinates.
"And in Gallifreyan origin no less," Jack added as he looked up at the coordinates as well.
A mysterious figure suddenly opened an exterior door into Vastra's house as the key was still in the lock.
"This, Mr. DeMarco claims, is the location of the Doctor and Rose's greatest secret," Vastra added within the dream.
"Which is?" Clara asked them.
"We don't know," Jenny answered, "It's a secret."
"The Doctor does not discuss his secrets with anyone, my dear and while Rose may share many of them, she doesn't discuss all of them to anyone but him," Vastra added, "If you're still entertaining the idea that you are an exception to this rule, ask yourself one question. What are their names?"
Inside the parlour of Vastra's house, there was ghostly whispering as a figure walked past an unconscious Jenny.
Back in the dream, Jenny put her right hand up to her right cheek with a puzzled expression on her face. She then turned her head as if expecting to see something.
"It's important to note that neither the Doctor nor Rose use their real names," Vastra stated, while their true names remain a mystery, the one Rose uses is of human origin, and she was born on Gallifrey. Which makes her name of 'Rose' similar to how the Doctor uses 'Doctor' as his name."
"Of course those aren't their real names," River stated, "In Time Lord society, those names are more like titles."
"And from what I've learned while travelling with them after Torchwood was destroyed during the incident with the 456, only the parents and spouses of a Gallifreyan are privy to their true names," Jack added.
"So the two of you are friends of theirs, then?" Clara asked them.
"Yes, we are," Jack confirmed, "We've shared many adventures and faced countless dangers together."
"And a little more than your usual friends, a long time ago," River added.
"They still never contacted you?" Vastra asked the archeologist with surprise in her voice.
"They don't like endings," River explained.
"It's true," Jack added, "With their long lifespans, they avoid getting too attached because they know they'll outlive most of their companions. It's their way of protecting themselves and those they care about."
Back in the parlour of Vastra's house, a figure bent over and whispered over to a sleeping Jenny.
"So what else did this DeMarco tell you?" River asked Vastra as Jenny shivered, "He didn't buy his life with some coordinates. How did he prove their value?"
"One word, only," Vastra answered.
"What word?" River asked her.
"One I've heard in connection with the Doctor and Rose before," Vastra answered, "Trenzalore."
"What did you just say?" Jack muttered with shock in his voice.
"How exactly did he describe what he was giving you?" River asked the Silurian.
With that said, Vastra rose her right hand again above the centre of the table as she used it to change the projection from the space-time coordinates back to DeMaraco's face.
"The Doctor and Rose have a secret, you know," the projection of DeMarco said as everyone watched the projection of him, "They both have one they will take to the grave. And it is discovered."
"You misunderstood," River realised.
"Ma'am, sorry, I just realised, I forgot to lock the door," Jenny apologised to her wife.
"It doesn't matter, Jenny," Vastra assured her before she looked at River, "What misunderstanding, tell me?"
"No, ma'am, please, I should have locked up before we went into the trance," Jenny told Vastra.
"Jenny, it doesn't matter," Vastra assured Jenny again as she turned towards her to look at her, who appeared to look scared.
"Someone's broken in," Jenny explained, "Someone's with us. I can hear them."
Back in the parlour of Vastra's house, a white face suddenly leaned in towards Jenny with its mouth opened wide, showing pointed teeth.
"Jenny, are you all right?" Vastra asked her wife with a worried expression on her face.
"Sorry, ma'am, so sorry," Jenny apologised to her in a scared tone before she began to cry, "So sorry, so sorry. I think I've been murdered." As she finished speaking, a tear suddenly fell from her right eye.
Back in the parlour of Vastra's house, Jenny laid on the floor on her back as three figures stood around her as they all whispered.
"Jenny?" Vastra called out to her wife as Jenny began to fade from the dream.
"What's happened to her?" Clara asked them.
"It can't be good," Jack answered as his expression darkened, "Something must be interfering with the dream or with Jenny herself."
"Jenny, can you hear me?" Vastra asked her wife.
"Speak to us, boy!" Strax ordered Jenny as he pounded his left fist on the table.
"Jenny!" Vastra called out to her wife before Jenny disappeared from the dream.
"You're under attack. You must wake up now," River explained before Vastra looked at her as the archeologist stood up, "Just wake up." She then slapped the Silurian on the left cheek with her right hand, "Do it!"
As Vastra woke up in the parlour of her home, she stood up and saw the creatures standing over Jenny.
"Who are you?" Vastra asked them, "What have you done to her?"
The creatures then turned towards Vastra and snarled, showing their sharp teeth.
"You too, Strax," River added as she grabbed her champagne from the table, "Wake up now!" She then threw the champagne at him.
As Strax woke up on the floor in the house in Glasgow, he sat up and saw the creatures surrounding him, but there were more of them than at Vastra's house as they all snarled.
"Sweetie, you have to wake up as well," River ordered her husband before she slapped Jack on his left cheek with her right hand.
As Jack woke back up in his office inside Torchwood three, he saw that nothing was wrong and rose his right arm and flipped open his vortex manipulator's cover and began to work on it.
"Gwen!" Jack called out to his second-in-command as he stood up from his chair, "I'm gonna be out for a while. The Doctor and Rose need me."
Jack continued to work on his vortex manipulator, adjusting its settings and preparing for his departure to the location of Clara's house that she told him the first time he met her.
"What's going on, Jack?" Gwen asked the ex-Time Agent with a concerned look on her face as she suddenly opened the door to his office with her right hand and entered the room, "Is everything all right?"
"It has something to do with the Doctor, Rose, Sydney, Clara and Trenzalore," Jack explained as he glanced up at her as his expression turned serious, "We're in for some trouble, Gwen."
"Who are Clara and Sydney?" Gwen asked him with confusion in her voice.
"Clara is one of the Doctor and Rose's companions, and Sydney is their son," Jack explained, "I met them during a… unique situation involving multiple versions of the Doctor and Rose. It was quite the adventure in Elizabethan England."
"I hope to hear about that story one day," Gwen stated as she smiled slightly, despite her concern.
"I'll tell you about it once I get back," Jack promised, "In the meantime, if Julian, Emma, or Liam return from their assignment before I do, let them know I had to help a couple of old friends of mine."
"I will, Jack," Gwen assured him, "And please be careful out there."
"Thanks, Gwen," Jack replied before he pressed his vortex manipulator's activation button as a flash of blue light enveloped him before he disappeared from his office.
"I hope he comes back safely like he always does," Gwen muttered to herself as she left Jack's office as she closed the door behind her with her right hand.
Back in the dream, the creatures, which were none other than the Whisper Men, suddenly invaded the dream and began to surround Clara and River as the nanny stood up.
"Tell the Doctor and Rose!" The Whisper Men chanted, "Tell the Doctor and Rose! Tell the Doctor and Rose!"
"Tell them what?" Clara asked them.
The projection over the table suddenly reformed to show the face of Dr. Simeon, the host of the Great Intelligence.
"Their friends aside from that former Time Agent are lost forevermore," the Great Intelligence stated, "Unless they go to Trenzalore."
"No, you can't say that," River told him, "They can't go there, you know they can't."
"Angie?" Clara suddenly heard the Doctor's voice say, "Artie?"
"The Doctor and Rose both can never go to Trenzalore," River added.
"Am I getting warm?" Clara heard the Doctor ask as she woke up on the floor of her room and reopened her eyes, "Angie?" She then sat up, "Artie? Am I getting warm?" She then placed her left hand over the side of her head as she looked through her room's doorway, "Am I getting warm?"
In the back corridor of the Maitlands' house, the Doctor stuck his right hand in front of him before he appeared from the other side of the wall frame to reveal that he was blindfolded with a teal, white and gold coloured blindfold over his eyes.
"Am I getting warm?" The Doctor called out to the Children again, "Look, I'm pretty sure you have to tell me if I'm getting warm. I'm-I'm-I'm pretty sure that's in the rules."
"This is getting ridiculous," Rose muttered to herself as she and Sydney appeared from behind the Doctor as they shook their heads.
"You're right, Mum," Sydney said, agreeing with his mother, "The kids only agreed for Dad to do this because he wouldn't let them go to the Cinema."
"Doctor?" Clara muttered as she came down the stairs and looked at him before she saw Rose and Sydney, "Rose? Sydney?"
"Ha! Clara," the Doctor greeted the nanny, "How are you? Don't worry. Everything is under control."
"What are you doing?" Clara asked him.
"Oh, um, Mr. Maitland went next door, so I said that me, Rose and Sydney would look after the kids," the Doctor answered, "They wanted to go to the cinema, but I said no. I said 'No, not until you wake up.' I was very firm."
"Then I suggested for them to watch cartoons while I help Sydney study," Rose added, "But they said they didn't want to watch cartoons and wanted to go to the cinema instead."
"Yeah, and they kept arguing about it, making it really tedious really fast," Sydney stated, "Causing it so that I couldn't study when I should."
"At which point, they suggested Blind Man's Bluff," Clara realised.
"Yes," the Doctor answered as he turned around, "Where are they?"
"Yeah, where in the name of Rassilon are they?" Rose said, agreeing with her husband as Clara stepped down the stairs and approached the Doctor.
"At the cinema," Clara answered as she untied and removed the blindfold from the Doctor's head.
"The little...Daleks!" The Doctor muttered to himself as he looked around the room before he, Rose and Sydney looked at Clara, "What's wrong?"
"Yeah, Clara, what's wrong?" Rose asked the nanny, agreeing with her husband.
"Exactly, is something the matter, Clara?" Sydney said, agreeing with his parents.
A loud knock at the front door suddenly echoed through the house, interrupting their conversation and drawing their attention.
"I'll answer the door," Rose told them as they began to head towards the parlour, "After that, Clara, you can tell us what's wrong."
As they entered the house's parlour, Rose approached the front door with the Doctor, Sydney and Clara following her before she placed her right hand over the door's knob and twisted it open. The door then swung open to reveal Jack standing there with a serious expression on his face.
"Jack!" Rose exclaimed as her eyes lit up with surprise and joy.
"Jack?" The Doctor muttered with surprise in his voice as his eyes widened in shock, "What are you doing here?"
"Me and Clara have got something important to share with you both," Jack answered as he nodded towards Clara inside the parlour, "Don't we, Clara?"
"Yeah, we do," Clara said, agreeing with him.
"Hey, Sydney," Jack greeted the young Gallifreyan boy as he suddenly saw him standing next to the nanny and waved at him with his right hand.
"Who are you?" Sydney asked the ex-Time Agent with a confused expression on his face, "And how do you know my name?"
"Yeah, how do you know him, Jack?" The Doctor said, agreeing with his son as he and Rose exchanged puzzled glances.
"Yes, Jack, how do you know Sydney?" Rose stated, agreeing with them.
"You met me in your future, but it was my past," Jack explained, "Time travel and all that."
"Wait a minute," the Doctor muttered as he and Rose suddenly realised what Jack and Clara had said not too long ago before he pointed at Clara in the parlour with his right hand's index finger before pointing at him with his left hand's index finger, "You said you and Clara have something to share with us and she agreed with you without asking who you are. How do you two know each other?"
"Indeed, how do you and Clara know each other?" Rose asked the ex-Time Agent, agreeing with her husband.
"That's part of the reason I came to see you," Jack answered, "Can I come in?"
A while later in the kitchen, Clara was pouring tea into cups at the kitchen table.
"So, who was she?" Clara asked both older Gallifreyans and Jack as she looked over at them and Sydney with all three Gallifreyans still being inside the parlour along with Jack as the Doctor and Rose sat on the sofa, looking straight ahead, "The lady with the funny name and the space hair."
"An old... friend of ours," the Doctor answered.
"Yes, an old friend," Rose said, agreeing with him.
"And as it happens, my wife," Jack added.
"What, like an ex?" Clara asked the ex-Time Agent.
"I wish it wasn't so, but yes, an ex," Jack confirmed with a sigh.
"I've heard so much about River from them," Sydney added as he nodded towards his parents, "The tales of her adventures with you both that you've told me when I was a child were amazing."
"So, who exactly are you, aside from what I already know about you?" Clara asked Jack as she looked at him curiously.
"I was once a Time Agent from the 51st century, but that's long in the past. These days, I work with Torchwood, an organisation that deals with extraterrestrial threats on Earth," Jack answered, "My history is… complicated, but I occasionally travel with the Doctor and Rose."
"So you're a time-travelling, alien-fighting, ex-Time Agent from the future?" Clara muttered as she raised an eyebrow, "That's… quite a résumé."
"Sounds like you've had quite the life," Sydney said with a grin as he looked at him, "Mum and Dad have told me about your adventures together. It's incredible to finally meet you in person."
"Anyways, River asked Vastra for the exact words," the Doctor recalled, "What were they?"
"'The Doctor and Rose have a secret they will take to the grave,'" Clara answered as she walked into the parlour with the tea, "'It is discovered.'" She then came to stand in front of the Doctor and Rose as she, Jack and Sydney all saw the sadness in their eyes and that they were on the verge of tears, "Doctor? Rose?"
"Mum?" Sydney said with a worried expression on his face, "Dad?"
"Doctor, Rose, is something wrong?" Jack asked both older Gallifreyans.
"Sorry," the Doctor apologised as his voice broke and placed his right hand slightly over his mouth a bit as he began crying, "And it was Trenzalore, it was definitely Trenzalore?"
"Yeah, was it Trenzalore?" Rose asked Clara and Jack as her voice broke and cried as well.
"Yeah," Clara answered.
"Clara's right, it was Trenzalore," Jack said, agreeing with the nanny.
"Oh, dear…" The Doctor sighed as he placed his right hand over his eyes before he removed it from his eyes, "Sorry."
"Like he said, we're sorry," Rose apologised as they sniffed their noses before they stood back up and left the house and closed the door behind them before Clara set the teacups down as she, Sydney and Jack hurried after them.
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose were sitting next to each other on the storage units underneath the console and had already regained their composure from their emotional outburst. Clara, Sydney and Jack slowly walked down the steps with the nanny having her arms crossed.
"Well?" Clara asked both older Gallifreyans.
"Mum, Dad, is there anything you need to explain to us?" Sydney inquired as he looked at his parents with a serious expression on his face.
"If there's anything you both want to discuss, feel free," Jack added, "We're here for you."
"Trenzalore…" The Doctor muttered to himself, "We've heard the name of course. Dorium mentioned it, a few others."
"And it was after we faked our deaths on Lake Silencio," Rose added, "Bit of a mess, that was, but we got through it."
"And we always suspected what it was," the Doctor stated as he and Rose stood back up before he pulled his sonic screwdriver out from his jacket's inside pocket with his right hand and used it on some of the overhead wiring above them, "Never wanted to find out ourselves." He then put his screwdriver away and back inside his jacket's inside pocket, "River would know though." He then pulled down a cable from the overhead wiring above them with his right hand, "River always knew."
"Yeah, River always knew about our future," Rose said, agreeing with her husband, "She always seemed one step ahead, didn't she?"
"Right, come here, Clara," the Doctor ordered the nanny before she lowered her arms and approached both older Gallifreyans, "Give me your hand." He then grabbed her right hand with his left hand, "Now, the coordinates you and Jack saw will still be in your memory. I'm linking you into the TARDIS telepathic circuit." He then placed the cable over the palm of her right hand, "Won't hurt a bit." He then jabbed the cable into her palm.
"Ow!" Clara yelled with pain in her voice.
"I lied," the Doctor told her as they heard the sound of a circuit beeping.
"Trust me, Clara, people often say it won't hurt to help you stay calm," Rose assured her, "Sometimes, knowing it might hurt makes it worse."
"Rose is right, Clara," Jack said, agreeing with the Time Lady, "It's a way to keep you from worrying too much beforehand."
"Yeah, it's a common thing," Sydney added, "Better to keep you calm."
"Yeah, I already know that," Clara retorted before she looked at both older Gallifreyans again, "Okay, what is Trenzalore? Is that your big secret?"
"Yeah, Mum and Dad, what exactly is Trenzalore?" Sydney asked his parents, agreeing with her, "I've never heard of it until today."
"No, it's not our big secret," the Doctor answered.
"He's right, Trenzalore is something else entirely," Rose stated, agreeing with her husband.
"Okay, what then?" Clara asked them.
"When you are a time traveller, there is one place you must never go," the Doctor explained, "One place in all of space and time you must never, ever find yourself."
"It's a rule that any time traveller, avoid such a place at all costs," Rose added, agreeing with him.
"Where?" Clara asked them, causing Jack and Sydney to exchange glances before they shook their heads in disbelief.
"You didn't listen, did you? You lot never do, that's the problem!" The Doctor said with disbelief in his voice as he pointed at her forehead with his right hand's index finger, "'The Doctor and Rose have a secret they will both take to the grave. It is discovered.'" He wasn't talking about our secret. No, no, no, that's not what's been found. He was talking about our...grave. Trenzalore is where we're buried."
"Yes, Trenzalore is where we're buried," Rose added, agreeing with him, "Hard to accept, but it's the truth."
"How can you both have a grave?" Clara asked both older Gallifreyans as she, Sydney and Jack followed them as they walked up the steps to the main floor of the console room.
"Because we all do. Somewhere out there in the future, waiting for us," the Doctor answered as he and Rose strode over to the console and flicked a few switches on it with their hands, "The trouble with time travel, you can actually end up visiting."
"Exactly. The trouble with time travel is you can end up visiting your own grave," Rose stated, agreeing with him, "It's a risk we take every time we step into the TARDIS."
"Yeah, it's a tough risk," Jack said, agreeing with both older Gallifreyans, "But it's part of the job, isn't it?"
"Absolutely. It's a rea;ity we have to face as time travellers," Sydney added, agreeing with them.
"But you both are not going to?" Clara asked both older Gallifreyans as she walked up to them, "You both just said it's the one place neither of you must never go."
"We have to save Vastra and Strax. Jenny too, if it's still possible," the Doctor explained, "They cared for us during the dark times when we were in our temporary retirement to raise Sydney. Never questioned us, never judged us. They were just... kind. We owe them. We have a duty."
"He's right. They were there for us when we needed them most," Rose said, agreeing with her husband, "We owe them our lives. It's our duty to save them."
"No point in telling either of you this is too dangerous," the Doctor surmised as he looked at Clara, Sydney and Jack.
"None at all," Clara answered with a smile on her face.
"We're in this together," Jack said, agreeing with her.
"Count me in too," Sydney added, agreeing with them, "We face it together."
"How can we save them?" Clara asked both Gallifreyans.
"Apparently... by breaking into our own tomb," the Doctor answered before he pulled down one of the TARDIS' levers.
This caused the five of them to grunt and slightly move away from the console as the TARDIS dematerialised from outside the Maitlands' house. The TARDIS then shuddered and jerked, throwing the five of them off-balance again.
"What's that?" Clara asked them as she gripped the console with both of her hands, while Sydney and Jack gripped the side consoles with both of their hands.
"Yeah, what's happening?" Sydney inquired, agreeing with the nanny.
"Like they said, what exactly is going on?" Jack said, agreeing with them, "It feels a bit like turbulence."
"She just figured out where we're going!" The Doctor explained as he and Rose grabbed onto two sides of the console and tried to keep control of the TARDIS, She's against it! We're about to cross our own timeline in the biggest way possible. The TARDIS doesn't like it."
"Listen to me, Old Girl. I know you don't like this, but we have to do it," Rose muttered, speaking to the TARDIS as she placed her right hand over the time rotor, "We need to save Vastra, Strax and Jenny. They were there for us when we needed them. Please, we need your help."
The TARDIS then began hurtling away from Earth as it began to head towards where Trenzalore is.
"She's fighting it!" The Doctor said as he and Rose fought the controls and pushed hard against them to move as Clara held tightly to the console, while Sydney and Jack held tightly to the side consoles, "Hang on! Hang on!"
"Everyone, hang on tight!" Rose ordered everyone, agreeing with her husband as they continued to fight the TARDIS to keep control over its controls.
Sparks flew from around the console as the TARDIS continued to resist the Doctor and Rose. Suddenly, there was a blast that caused them to grunt and hurtle them against the rails as the Doctor screamed. The five of them then looked up to find themselves in the dark with the only light coming from the sparks.
"Now what?" Clara asked them.
"She doesn't want to land," the Doctor explained as he and Rose stood back up as they approached the console, "She's shut down."
"Yeah, she's shut down completely," Rose said, agreeing with him, "We've crossed our own timeline in the biggest way possible, and the TARDIS doesn't like it. She knows it's dangerous."
"So, we're not there?" Clara asked them as she, Sydney and Jack approached them.
"Yeah, where are we then?" Sydney said, agreeing with her.
"We have to be somewhere near Trenzalore," Jack surmised.
"Jack's right we must be close," the Doctor said, agreeing with the ex-Time Agent as he smacked a lever on the console in frustration with his left hand before he went over to the main door with Rose and opened it with his left hand, "Okay, so that's where we end up."
Clara, Sydney and Jack then came over and looked down as well. Below them was a planet covered in ash, fire and smoke that was devastated by war.
"Always thought maybe we'd retire," the Doctor told them, "Take up watercolours, or bee-keeping, or something. Apparently not."
"I can't believe that's where we end up," Rose muttered to herself, "Our final destination is a war-torn planet."
"I've heard stories of Trenzalore when I was a kid on the Boeshane Peninsula," Jack told them, "They said it was a place of destruction and death."
"What did the stories say?" Sydney asked Jack as he looked at him with curiosity.
"Trenzalore was a battleground, a place where countless lives were lost. It was a world torn apart by war and conflict," Jack answered as he took a deep breath, "The stories were meant to be a warning, a lesson about the horrors of war and the consequences of actions that disrupt the fabric of time."
"Did the stories say anything about two travellers defending the planet?" Rose asked the ex-Time Agent as she looked at him.
"Yeah, Jack, was there any mention of two travellers?" The Doctor asked him with curiosity and concern in his voice, "It's important."
"Yes, there were mentions of two travellers defending Trenzalore," Jack confirmed, "But I didn't know they were you two until after I married River. She told me about it and mentioned that you would eventually end up here."
"Anyways, how do we get down there?" Clara asked both older Gallifreyans, "Jump?"
"Don't be silly. We fall," the Doctor answered before he closed the door with his left hand as they walked away from the door, "She's turned off practically everything except the anti-gravs." He then pulled his sonic screwdriver out from his jacket's inside pocket with his right hand again, "Guess what I'm turning off?"
The Doctor then activated his screwdriver as he used it on the console, causing Clara to shriek as the TARDIS plummeted down towards the planet below.
As the TARDIS continued to plummet down towards Trenzalore, it suddenly crash landed inside of a cemetery on the planet. The Doctor then opened the door with his left hand and looked up at one of the door's windows and saw that one of the panes of glasses were broken. He then pressed his left hand's index finger to the hole.
"Oops," the Doctor muttered to himself.
The Doctor looked around before stepping out of the TARDIS fully with Rose following him. The graveyard was packed tight with gravestones of various sizes and shapes. Above, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled as Clara, Sydney and Jack joined them.
"You both Okay?" Clara asked both older Gallifreyans, "Visiting your own grave, anyone would be scared."
"Yeah, Mum and Dad, doesn't it scare you?" Sydney inquired, agreeing with Clara.
"Clara's right. Visiting your own grave would shake anyone," Jack said, agreeing with them, "How're you two holding up?"
"It's more than that," the Doctor told them, "We're time travellers. We've probably time travelled more than anyone else."
"You're right, you've definitely time travelled more than I have," Rose said, agreeing with her husband, "But still, we're probably the two people who've time travelled more than anyone else."
"Meaning?" Clara asked them.
"Meaning…" The Doctor began to say as he stepped out of the TARDIS and looked back at them, "Our grave is potentially the most dangerous place in the universe." He then sighed to himself, "Shall we?"
"Yes, let's face it together," Rose answered as she stepped out of the TARDIS.
"We're with you both, all the way," Jack said, agreeing with them as he stepped out of the ship as well.
"Yeah, Mum and Dad, we're by your side," Sydney muttered as he followed them out of the TARDIS, "Let's do this together."
"Gravestones are a bit basic," Clara stated as she also followed them out of the TARDIS and closed the ship's door with her right hand before they walked past the graves.
"It's a battlefield graveyard," the Doctor explained, "Our final battle."
"It makes sense, considering all we've been through," Rose said, agreeing with him, "ANd all that will happen to us one day."
"Why are some of them bigger?" Clara asked them.
"They're soldiers," the Doctor explained, "The bigger the gravestone, the higher the rank."
"Throughout history, it's common for the grave markers of higher-ranked soldiers to be more prominent," Rose added, "They're often given larger and more elaborate gravestones as a sign of respect and recognition for their service and sacrifice."
"Think about the ancient civilisations," Sydney told her, "You'll find that they used grand tombs and elaborate grave markers for their leaders and warriors. It's a way of showing honour and remembrance."
"I've seen it firsthand in a few wars of the 20th century. I was stuck on Earth for a while since my vortex manipulator wasn't working after the Doctor left me on a space station 200,100 years after your time," Jack added, "The loss and respect is palpable when you see their grave markers. It's a reminder of their sacrifice."
"Wait, you were in the wars during the 20th century?" Clara said with shock on her face as she looked at him, "But you don't look old at all!"
"Well, I'm immortal, but I can die," Jack explained as he smiled slightly, "It's a bit different, I just can't stay dead for long. You could say it's a unique survival skill."
"That's… astonishing!" Clara said, her eyes wide with amazement.
"It's a long story, Clara," Jack chuckled, "We'll explain later."
They then looked ahead at something with awe and shock on their faces. The five of them looked at each other before they looked ahead again. They saw that mounted high on a hill was a giant TARDIS.
"It's a hell of a monument," Clara muttered to herself.
"It's the TARDIS," the Doctor muttered to himself.
"I can see that," Clara told them.
"No, Clara, it's not just any TARDIS," Rose stated, "It's ours."
"And when a TARDIS is dying, sometimes the dimension dams start breaking down. They used to call it a size leak. All the bigger-on-the-inside starts leaking to the outside. It grows," the Doctor explained, "When we say that's the TARDIS, we don't mean it looks like the TARDIS, we mean it actually is the TARDIS. Rose is right, that's our TARDIS from the future."
"It expanded because it's been dying for centuries," Rose added, "This giant TARDIS is a memorial to everything we've been through and everything we'll face."
"It's hard to believe that something so powerful and magnificent could be reduced to this," Sydney stated as he looked at the giant TARDIS thoughtfully, "We've seen it in its prime, and now we're seeing its end. It's a stark reminder of our journey and mortality."
"You're right, Sydney," Jack said, agreeing with the young Gallifreyan boy, "It's a sobering thought, but it also shows that even the mightiest can be brought low."
"Anyways, what else would they bury us in?" The Doctor asked Clara as he walked ahead of them.
"Exactly," Rose said, agreeing with her husband as she, Sydney and Jack followed him, "What else could be fitting for us?"
"Clara," the nanny suddenly heard River call her as she began to follow them before she stopped and turned around at the sound of her voice and saw the archeologist standing in front of her, "Don't speak, don't say my name. Neither of them can see or hear me, only you can."
"Well, come on then!" The Doctor called out to Clara.
"Yeah, Clara! We need you with us!" Rose said, agreeing with him.
"Don't keep us waiting," Sydney added with a small smile on his face.
"Like they said, come on, Clara!" Jack called out to the nanny, agreeing with them.
"We're mentally linked," River explained, "It's the conference call. I kept the line open."
"Who are you talking to?" The Doctor asked Clara as he, Rose, Sydney and Jack strode back over to her, "We need to get…" They then stopped and stared in front of them.
"Susan?" The Doctor and Rose muttered as the three of them walked over to a stone bearing the name 'Susan Foreman' as the Doctor ran his right hand's fingers along it.
"Why does Susan have a grave on Trenzalore of all places?" Sydney asked himself as he stared at the grave bearing his niece's name.
"Who's Susan?" Clara asked them with confusion in her voice.
"Our granddaughter," the Doctor answered, "But she shouldn't have one here. She either died during the Time War or is stuck in the 22nd Century."
"I agree," Rose said, agreeing with them, "If she did perish in the Time War, her grave shouldn't be here."
"Yeah, this doesn't add up," Jack stated, agreeing with them, "But at least it's not my dead wife."
"River's not dead," Clara told him.
"Oh, she's dead, I'm afraid," the Doctor corrected her, "She's been dead for a very long time."
"Yeah, should probably have mentioned that," River told Clara, "Never the right time."
"But I met her," Clara reminded them.
"Long story," the Doctor told her.
"It really is," Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"But Susan's grave can't be here," the Doctor added.
"Which means it has to be something else," Jack said with a hint of determination in his voice.
"Yeah, Jack's right," Sydney stated, agreeing with the ex-Time Agent, "There must be another explanation."
Clara, Rose, Sydney and Jack all suddenly heard hushed whispers and turned around.
"Doctor!" Rose, Clara, Sydney and Jack called out to the Time Lord.
The Doctor and Rose then hurried around in front of Clara and Sydney with Jack following them as the group of Whisper Men approached. Both older Gallifreyans reached into their jacket's inside pockets and pulled out their screwdrivers with their right hands and used them on them. As the Doctor and Rose used their screwdrivers on the Whisper Men, Jack grabbed his pistol from his holster before he aimed and fired it at them, only for it to do nothing to them.
"This man and woman must fall as all men and women must!" The Whisper Men chanted as a few of them pointed at the Doctor with their right arms, while the others pointed at Rose with their left arms as they continued to approach them, "The fate of all is always dust."
The Doctor and Rose then slapped their screwdrivers against their left hands as Jack placed his pistol back inside his holster before both Gallifreyans tried again. When it still didn't work again, they blew on their screwdrivers and tried a third time.
"If it's not Susan's gravestone, then what is it?" River asked them.
"What do you think the gravestone really is?" Clara asked the three Gallifreyans and Jack.
"The gravestone?" The four of them repeated as they looked at her.
"Maybe it's a false grave," River suggested.
"Maybe it's a false grave," Clara repeated.
"Yeah, maybe," the Doctor said, agreeing with Clara as he and Rose used their screwdrivers on the Whisper Men again.
"It's possible," Rose stated, agreeing with Clara.
"Yeah, it could be a false grave," Jack muttered, agreeing with them.
"Yes, that could be it," Sydney said, agreeing with them.
"Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb," River suggested.
"Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb!" Clara repeated.
"Yes, of course, makes sense," the Doctor said as he tapped his screwdriver to his forehead.
"Yeah, that's the most obvious reason," Rose stated, agreeing with them as she placed her screwdriver back inside her jacket's inside pocket.
"Yes, that definitely makes sense," Sydney muttered, agreeing with them.
"Absolutely, it could be a secret entrance," Jack said, agreeing with them as the Doctor used his screwdriver on the gravestone, "If she's actually dead, then I'd know that people would never have buried your dead granddaughter out here."
With that said, the ground suddenly slid open from underneath them, causing them to fall through the hole as they screamed.
"The man and woman who lies will lie no more," the Whisper Men chanted as they moved forward towards the hole, "When this man and woman lies at Trenzalore."
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