The Doctor and Thea stood a short, respectable distance away, behind a teenage Clara Oswald, in a cemetery, the young woman and her father visiting her mother's grave.
They'd been tracking Clara throughout her life, trying to see if there was any hint or something that might lead them to figure out how they had seen two different versions of her already.
They'd seen her parents meet and fell in love, one windy day, a leaf blew off a tree and into Mr Oswalds face, making him stumble into the road of an oncoming car only for Claras mother to quickly pull him out of the way.
They'd seen the pair falling in love, with Mr Oswald declaring that leaf brought him to his wife where they eventually married and had a baby.
They'd seen a very young Clara in park where she had accidently kicked a ball on the Doctors head.
They'd seen Clara grow up, from passing her driving test, to moving out, graduating university and now standing as they visited her mother's grave as the two Oswalds mourned the loss of their wife and mother.
The Doctor nudged Thea, getting her to head back to the TARDIS, seeing that there was nothing unusual about Clara or her family. She was perfectly ordinary.
But of course, the Doctor couldn't believe that as he moved to the monitor to see all the information they'd gathered on the three different Clara.
"She's just a girl." He mumbled, looking at the information of the Victorian governess, "How can she be?"
"I've no idea." Thea sighed, seeing the information change to Oswin from the Alaska ship.
"She can't be." He sighed as the information showed just Clara, recently graduated.
"But she is."
"She can't be." He pushed the monitor away, "She's not possible!"
"She's not possible." Thea repeated, mocking him, "and yet, there she is, an impossible girl. A mystery to be solved."
"You've not got any feelings have you?" The Doctor asked her, because even the slightly feeling of her reassuring that Clara Oswald was not a dangerous trap they were about to let on board was better than nothing.
"I think..." She began slowly, "she's saved you before and perhaps she'll do it again."
The Doctor sighed, moving around the console to land them outside the Maitland house to pick Clara up, "that wasn't helpful."
She pursed her lips, rolling her eyes, "I'm aware! I'm doing my best here, it's not like I've been trained on how to understand these feeling or how to force vision out."
"And that it why you are the best Visionary." He countered, poking her nose as he came around to her side of the console, pulling down a lever, pouting as she pulled it back up, "they had centuries of training, you just go with the flow."
She moved to sit on the steps to allow him to pilot, "a book would have been nice."
"Well, if I had known I would have broken into the Great Library and stolen it for you."
"And the Council would have found you and questioned you."
"But I wouldn't have gotten caught." He countered.
"You think the Council you have let that go?" She raised her eyebrows.
With how rare Visionaries were on the planet she couldn't see the Council not keeping a book on that knowledge out where anyone could find it. They would have searched high and low to find it and whoever wanted it and why, wanting to know who was helping the secret Visionary.
It was why she had never told anyone on Gallifrey, well, she had told one person, but she knew they wouldn't have told a soul about her.
It not like the Doctor even knew her back then to even think about breaking into the Great Library, but still, it was comforting to know he would have if he had known her.
The Doctor landed them with a soft thump before moving to sit beside her, seeing her getting upset, not that she had any reason to get upset, besides she didn't have a book to help understand her feelings and visions, "Now unless I'm mistaken you are, Thea," he poked her, "are much better learning practically than reading some dumb book, eh?" He nudged her, seeing a smile appearing on her face.
He grinned, he loved it when he did that, when they just sat down and talked because something was bothering her and in just a few quite words he was about to comfort her and reassure her and got her smiling again. Just like a father should be able to do.
~.~
The Time Lords were standing by the console having just sent them into the vortex as Clara stood before them.
"So, we're moving through actual time?" Clara asked, as she moved around the room staring in awe as she took it in, "so what's it made of, time? I mean, if you can just rotor through it, it's got to be made of stuff, like jam's made of strawberries. So what's it made of?"
"Well, not strawberries." The Doctor laughed, "No. No, no, no. That would be unacceptable."
"And we can go anywhere?" She spun to him.
"Within reason."
"You say reason." Thea snorted.
There was certainly some places the TARDIS couldn't land, but then again, they had also somehow managed to find a bubble planet outside the universe.
"So, we could go backwards in time?" Clara wondered.
"And space, yes." The Doctor nodded.
"And forwards in time."
"And space. Totally. So, where do you want to go, eh? What do you want to see?"
Claras face lit up, opening her mouth to say the first thing that came into her head, only to come up blank, "I don't know." She pouted, "You know when someone asks you what's your favourite book and straight away you forget every single book that you've ever read?"
"No." The Doctor answered, "totally not."
"Matilda!" Thea cheered.
"What?" Clara laughed.
"It's my favourite book. I could never forget it."
It was also her favourite movie and musical, every year on the day the claimed her birthday (the day she met Sarah Jane) she and Sarah Jane always went to see the show in the city, just the two of them. Even with her not being at home she always went home to see it with her mum.
"Well, that's a thing that happens."
"And?" The Doctor shook his head, "Back to the question?"
"Okay." Clara started to pace, turning to the doors, "So. So. So. So I'd like to see. I would like to see. What I would like to see is," she grinned and spud around, "something awesome."
Thea gasped, "I know a really awesome place!" She ran to the Doctors side, whispering in his ear as he grinned in agreement.
The two Time Lords getting to work around the console.
~.~
Clara stepped out of the TARDIS, her eyes closed as the Doctor guided her out, his hands over her eyes to prevent her from peeking. Thea shut the door as she followed behind them, grinning widely.
"Can you feel the light on your eyelids?" The Doctor asked her. Clara nodded, "That is the light of an alien sun."
"A couple more steps," Thea helped guide her forwards, "perfect!"
"Are you ready?" The Doctor asked.
"Yes." Clara answered, "No. Yes?"
The Doctor laughed, pulling his hands away as Clara opened her eyes, staring in awe at the giant alien sun before them, rocks drifting past around them, with one larger rock having some sort of city on top. "Welcome to the Rings of Akhaten." The Doctor introduced.
"It's..." Clara stared, lost for words.
"Isn't it?" Thea agreed, seeming to know what she wanted to say, "and there's more."
"More what?" Clara shook her head, unable to look away.
"Wait, wait, wait." The Doctor checked his watch only for Thea to cut him off.
"Five, four, three, two..." She counted down as the Doctor beamed at her, "one..."
They watched as an asteroid passed, revealing a large pyramid glistening under the sun.
"What is it?"
"The Pyramid of the Rings of Akhaten." The Doctor explained, "It's a holy site for the Sun Singers of Akhat."
"The who of what?"
"Seven worlds orbiting the same star. All of them sharing a belief that life in the universe originated here, on that planet."
"All life?"
"In the universe."
"Did it?"
"It's what they believe." Thea said softly, resting her head on the Doctors arm as he put his arms around them both.
"Can we see it?" Clara looked at them, "Up close?"
"Oh, please," Thea agreed, swinging the Doctors arm in hers, "please, please, please! I always wanted to come here!"
"Alright, alright!" He chuckled at her excitement, "but you'll have to let go of my arm before it falls off."
~.~
The trio stepped out of the TARDIS, parked just off to the side in the busy market. Claras eyes widening as she saw just how many different alien species were around.
"Don't worry," Thea linked her arm through Claras, "I won't let go so you don't get lost."
Clara squeezed her arm in thanks, "Where are they from?"
"Oh, you know," the Doctor shrugged, "the local system, mostly."
"What do I call them?"
"Well, let's see. Ah!" He pointed at a few, "There go some Panbabylonians. A Lugal-Irra-Kush. Some Lucanians. A Hooloovoo. Ah! Qom VoTivig." He did a odd handshake, bumping his stomach with an alien, "That chap's a Terraberserker of the Kodion Belt. You don't see many of them around anymore. Oh! That's an Ultramancer. Do you know, I forget how much I like it here. We should come here more often."
"I've been trying to get you to bring me for 200 years." Thea huffed.
"You've been here before?" Clara eyed the Doctor, trying to at least remember one of the alien names he had mentioned. What was that last one...Ultradancer or something?
"Yes, yes, yes." The Doctor nodded, "came here a long time ago with my granddaughter."
Clara stopped, turning to Thea eyes wide as the Doctor disappeared through the crowd.
Thea laughed at her expression seeing where her mind had gone, "adopted." She reminded her.
"Doesn't mean you can't have your own kid."
"True." She could agree, "But Susan travelled with the Doctor before we'd met."
"So, the Doctors been a parent before?" Clara frowned.
Theas smile turned tight, "don't try to ask, you won't get an answer."
Even she had spent weeks, close to months to get him to talk about his life back on Gallifrey. She knew he had a granddaughter called Susan, who left Gallifrey with him, but that was it. No idea what her true name was, or which of his other children had raised her. And yet, that was more than most people got from him.
"Come on, there's so much to see!" Thea gushed, pulling Clara through the crowds and back to the Doctors side as he paid for a bowl of blue slush of some sort.
The Doctor offered it to them, "Exotic fruit of some description." He quickly scanned it with the sonic, ensuring it would be safe for Clara to eat, "Right. Non-toxic, non-hallucinogenic. High in free radicals and low in other stuff, I shouldn't wonder."
"Yum." Thea moaned in delight, happily finishing her bowl, while Clara grimaced, shaking her head, "if you don't want it." She finished off Claras bowl.
Clara shook her head, "so, why is everyone here?"
"For the Festival of Offerings." The Doctor told her, "Takes place every thousand years or so."
"1,027, to be precise." Thea cut in.
"When the rings align. It's quite a big thing, locally, like Pancake Tuesday."
Clara nodded, turning to look around, when she nearly ran into a dog-like alien, "woah!" She gasped as the alien barked and snarled at her.
Thea easily barked back at the alien.
"What's happening?" Clara stepped closer to her, "Why is it angry?"
"She's not," Thea corrected, "this is Dor'een. Dor'een meet Clara. Clara meet Dor'een."
"Dor'een?"
"Closest translate." She rubbed behind Dor'eens ears, "I'm Thea. She just wanted to know if you wanted to rent a moped."
Dor'een stepped aside, nodding to the space like bike besides her.
"So, how much does it cost?" Clara eyed the bike.
"Not money." The Doctor said, coming up behind them having heard barking and seen neither girl behind him, "Something valuable. Sentimental value. A photograph, love letter, something like that. That's what's used for currency here. Psychometry. Objects psychically imprinted with their history. The more treasured they are, the more value they hold."
"That's horrible." Clara frowned.
"Better than using bits of paper."
"Then you pay."
"With what?"
"You're a thousand years old. You must have something you care about."
"Do we even need a moped yet?" Thea wondered.
"Yet?" Clara blinked.
She shrugged; honestly surprised Clara picked up on that last word until she had repeated it, she hadn't even known she had said it. Which was really annoying. She thought she would be better at that this time round.
"Get used to that." She led them off towards some other stalls, not bothering to find the Doctor knowing he wandered off towards some other stalls. They both knew the way back to the TARDIS if they urgently needed to meet up and they could easily sense each other to find them if the Doctor got worried and she was pretty certain the Doctor snuck a tracker on her.
"Sometimes I say things, and no one realises what I've said."
"Until it comes true?" She tried to follow.
"Not necessary comes true, more...it happens."
"So, we might need to rent a moped later?"
"I don't know, I think a ride around the asteroids sounds quite romantic."
"Don't think the Doctor would be too happy to hear is little girl flirting with someone." Clara joked.
"I flirt with everyone, don't think you're special." She gave her a sideways glance, "I'm not the one who called the TARDIS a snog box."
"Good point," Clara laughed her agreement, "so, how old are you exactly?" The Doctor had said he was 1000 years old, but he hadn't mentioned her age.
"I have no idea." She admitted, "somewhere around 600 years. Whoa!" She stopped dead as a young girl in a red robe came running around a corner, bumping into them.
The girl stared at them, eyes wide, before rushing off again, around a corner moments before two men in similar red robes approached them, "have you seen her?"
"Who?" Clara frowned.
"The Queen of Years."
"She went that way." Thea pointed in the opposite direction the girl had gone and the two men nodded in thanks, rushing off, "come on." She pulled Clara off in the direction the girl had gone.
~.~
"Are you sure she came this way?" Clara asked as she followed Thea into an old storage area, filled with boxes and other odds and ends.
"Stop making me doubt myself." Thea huffed, "She's here."
Clara shrugged at that, "Hello?" As stepping further into the room when Thea stopped her, a finger to her lips...a moment later a box fell over as the girl tried to run past them, "Hey." Clara called softly, "Are you okay? Are you lost?"
The girl backed away, scared, and ran off again. They followed her behind more boxes, where the girl ran into some furniture, screaming in fright at the noise.
"It's alright," Thea called softly to the girl, "we're here to help. I'm Thea."
"And I'm Clara." Clara added.
"...Merry." The girl whispered.
"Nice to meet you, Merry." Thea smiled.
"Are you all right, Merry?" Clara asked her, "What are you doing?"
"Hiding." She murmured.
"Oh. Why?"
"You don't know me?" The girl eyed them.
"I'm really good at guessing." Thea offered with a secretive smile.
"I haven't got a clue." Clara added.
Merry frowned at them, "So why did you follow me?"
"To help. You looked lost."
"I don't believe you."
"I've got no idea who you might be. I've never been here before. I've never been anywhere like here before. I just saw a little girl who looked like she needed help."
"Really?"
"Really really."
"Cross our hearts." Thea did just that.
"Can you help me?" Merry asked, not perturbed by the girls move, a lot of two hearted species came to Ahkhaten, "Because I need to hide."
"I know the perfect box," Thea smiled, holding out her hand, letting Merry decide if she wanted to come.
Merry hesitated but took her hand and they ran off.
They snuck through the market, hiding now and then to avoid the Monks in red robes, looking for Merry, avoiding the crowds so other species wouldn't recognise her, before reaching the TARDIS.
"What's this?" Merry wondered.
"A space-shippy thing." Clara answered, "timey, spacey."
"Otherwise known as a TARDIS." Thea laughed.
"It's teeny." Merry frowned.
"Only on the outside."
Clara pulled on the door. but they wouldn't budge, "Oh, come on."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know." Clara stepped back, looking at Thea, "I don't think it likes me."
"Well, you are trying to force a lock door open." Thea smirked, crossing her arms.
"Oh, yeah," Clara seemed to realise that, "but you have a key?"
"No."
"Seriously?" She stared, "you don't have a key to your own ship."
"Never really needed it, mum loves me," she stepped up and pushed on the doors only to stumble back, blinking, as they didn't open for her, "oh, mum!" She moaned, "what's that for?" She rested a hand on the woodwork, "what is it about Clara you don't like?" She murmured, "is it because she called you a snogbox?"
Clara pouted that the box didn't like her only to see Merry move around the back of the box, "Hey, Merry," she squeezed her way around to settle besides Merry, "So, what's happening? Is someone trying to hurt you?"
"No. I'm just scared." She mumbled.
"Of what?"
"Getting it wrong."
"Ok," Clara shook her head, "can you pretend like I'm totally a space alien and explain?"
"I'm Merry Gejelh."
"Really not local. Sorry."
"She's the Queen of Years," Thea explained to Clara, "she was chosen as a baby, the day the last Queen of Years died."
"I'm the vessel of our history." Merry added, "I know every chronicle, every poem, every legend, every song."
"Every single one?" Clara gaped, "Blimey. I hated history."
"Oh, I love it!" Thea grinned, resting her shoulder against the corner of the TARDIS, "you just need the right teacher, or better yet...see history actually happening right in front of you!"
"And now I have to sing a song in front of everyone." Merry continued, "A special song. I have to sing it to a god. And I'm really scared."
"Everyone's scared when they're little." Clara murmured, "I used to be terrified of getting lost. Used to have nightmares about it. And then I got lost. Blackpool beach, Bank holiday Monday, about ten billion people. I was about six. My worst nightmare come true."
"What happened?"
"The world ended," Clara admitted, "My heart broke. And then my mum found me. We had fish and chips, and she drove me home and she tucked me up and she told me a story." She smiled, recalling the memory as her mother had told her that no matter where she was, she would always find her.
"And you were never scared again?"
"Oh, I was scared lots of times, but never of being lost. So, this special song. What are you scared of, exactly?"
"Getting it wrong." Merry whispered, "Making Grandfather angry."
"I don't think you'll get it wrong," Thea countered, leaning and lowering her voice, "you can trust me on that, I'm psychic."
Merry gave a small laugh at that, not believing her, but feeling a bit better now.
"I think you, Merry Gejelh, will get it very, very right." Clara remarked.
"I bet I know a song that you don't." Thea remarked, "When I'm down and feeling scared," she began to sing quietly, "I know I should take a chance. The world is sitting right here. In the palm of my hand..."
Merry blinked, "I don't know that song."
"You wouldn't." She smiled sadly, "it was created only for me."
Merry nodded, hugging the pair, before taking a breath and stepping out into the market where the two Monks looked over. She glanced back at the pair who nodded encouragingly as she moved over to the Monks. One put a flower ring over her neck as the other took her head and led her off.
The Doctor walked over, eating some more of the blue mush, "What have you been doing?"
"Wandering off." Thea shrugged, "same as you."
"I did not wander off!" He defended.
"So where are we going now?" Clara shook her head.
~.~
The trio quickly made their way into the Amphitheatre, not leading to a stage but to space, facing an asteroid with a Pyramid on top. The two robed Monks escorting Merry up to the platform.
"Shh," the Doctor hissed as they climbed up to the three remaining seats, "shh. Sorry. Sorry. Excuse me. Sorry. Excuse me." He plopped down, Thea taking the seat besides him.
"Sorry," Clara followed, "sorry." And sat down besides Thea, the girl in the middle. "Are we even supposed to be here?"
"Shh." Thea put a finger to her lips.
"But are we?"
"Shh!" The Doctor hissed this time, glancing around to the aliens huffing at them, "Sorry."
Merry looked back spotting them in the crowd as Clara smiled at her, Thea holding a thumbs up. Merry smiled back at them and turned back to face the pyramid, starting to sing.
"Akhaten..." She began the song, "O god of Akhaten..."
"What are they doing?" Clara whispered to them.
"They're singing to the Mummy in the Temple." The Doctor told her, holding a pamphlet he had picked up, "They call it the Old God. Sometimes Grandfather."
"O god of Akhaten..." Merry continued.
"What are they singing?"
"The Long Song. A lullaby without end to feed the Old God. Keep him asleep. It's been going for millions of years, chorister handing over to chorister, generation after generation after generation."
Clara looked around seeing the audience holding up small objects in their hands, food and such, "What are they doing?"
"Offerings." Thea whispered, "Gifts of value. Mementos to feed the Old God."
Clara smiled, seeing the Offerings turn to gold particles, drifting towards the pyramid.
"O god of," Merry continued as her voice grew stronger, "O god of..." the audience joined in, even the Doctor, though he winced as he came in too early, but that it seemed to put Merry off, "o, god of Akhaten..."
"No!" Thea jumped to her feet, hearing the Merry falter at the last note.
Merry turned as the audience stopped singing, her eyes wide as she hit the wrong note.
"Get away from the edge!" Thea cried, trying to make her way down through the crowd but was too late.
A beam of light shot out of the pyramid, striking Merry and lifting her up into the air, pulling her towards the pyramid.
"Ok, what's happening?" Clara gasped as she and the Doctor rushed down after Thea, "Is that supposed to happen?"
"Help!" Merry flailed.
"Is somebody going to do something? Excuse me, is somebody going to help her?" Clara turned to see the Doctor and Thea rushed off out of the theatre as Merry was pulled towards the pyramid, "Why are we walking away?" She ran after them through the market, "We can't just walk away. This is my fault! I talked her into doing this!"
"We talked her into doing this!" Thea corrected, stopping before Dor'eens stall, "and we're not running away."
The Doctor nodded, "There's one thing you need to know about travelling with us. Well, one thing apart from the blue box and the two hearts. We don't walk away." He spun, barking at Dor'een, before patting his pockets, "we need something precious."
"Well, you must have something." Clara shook her head at them, "All the places you've seen, there must be something."
"I don't have any pockets." Thea countered.
"I got this." The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, "And I don't want to give it away, because it comes in handy."
"You're a thousand years old and that's it?" Clara scoffed, "Your spanner?"
"Screwdriver."
"We're aliens." Thea reminded her, "we don't have sentimental things, most of them were lost," she shook her head, not wanting to get into that, "and we don't really have family heirlooms."
Clara looked down at that, at the ring on her finger. It wasn't quite a family heirloom, but it had been her mother's, "It's my mum's." She mumbled, thinking of the woman and how she would protect Merry. She took a breath and slipped it off her finger, handing it to Dor'een before she could change her mind.
They stood in silence, watching as Dor'een got a sense of the rings value before stepping aside, allowing them on the moped.
They scrambled onto the moped, the Doctor in front, with Clara behind him and Thea behind her.
Clara leaned forwards, "Merry!" She reached for the girl, but just as their hands touched...Merry was sucked into the pyramid, screaming all the way.
"Brakes!" Clara screamed as they reached the pyramid at speed, "Brakes!"
They screamed as they came to a stop, skidding across the small open area by the stone door.
"That was fun!" Thea jumped up.
The Doctor looked at her, "I worry about you sometimes." And tried to get up, but couldn't seeing as Clara was clinging to him, "Clara, you to let go."
"I can't." Clara shook her head.
"Clara, you have to."
"Why?"
"Because you're holding him tighter than a Victorian maid tightens a corset." Thea remarked, more than amused at the woman.
"Sorry." Clara gasped, letting go, not even needing to see Victorian London to know how tight the corsets were back then.
She had been in a school play once, playing Queen Victoria and they tried to make it as historically accurate as possible but of course they hadn't tightened the corsets as tight as they would have been. Safety reasons and all that, didn't need any students passing out because they couldn't breathe.
The Doctor jumped off the moped, pulling the sonic out to scan the door, "Oh, that's interesting." He checked the readings, "A frequency modulated acoustic lock. The key changes ten million zillion squillion times a second."
"Can you open it?" Clara asked.
"Technically, no. In reality, also no, but still..."
"We get in." Thea stated, as they turned to her, "not through running through stone though." She rolled her eyes seeing as she spoke the Doctor decided to ram his shoulder into the door, resulting in nothing but a sore arm.
"Ow." He rubbed his arm, pulling the sonic back out to try and get the door open.
"How can they just stand there and watch?" Clara breathed.
"Because this is sacred ground." Thea said simply, watching the Doctor working. She knew they'd get the door open eventually, she knew that they would save Merry, she just didn't know how yet, but with the sonic it should be able to crack the combination and get it open.
"And she's a child."
"And the Grandfather is a god to them. Not many people are willing to fight against a god..." She trailed off and a moment later they heard Merry scream from inside.
"Merry!" Clara banged on the door, trying to let the girl know that they were here to help her, "Merry, hold on! We'll be there soon. Doctor?"
"Have you got those acoustic tumblers yet?" Thea demanded.
"Not yet." He huffed, when the sonic beeped in his hand, "Oh, hello."
"Open it!"
"I am!" he quickly held up the sonic, the door slowly rising to revelation Merry on the other side inside a chamber, standing beside a priest of some sort in red robes, kneeling before a humanoid mummified figure sitting in a glass cage, singing to it.
"Hello there." The Doctor greeted, "I'm the Doctor, you've met my daughter, Thea and our friend Clara. She was supposed to be having a nice day out." He flicked the sonic off only for the Doctor to start shutting and he quickly flicked it back on, "still, it's early yet. Are you coming, then? Did I mention that the door is immensely heavy?"
"Leave." Merry begged, "You'll wake him."
"Really quite extraordinarily heavy." The Doctor strained.
Clara ducked under the doors, moving to Merrys side, "Merry, we need to leave."
"No. Go away."
"Not without you."
"You said I wouldn't get it wrong and then I got it wrong. And now this has happened. Look what happened!"
"You didn't get it wrong." Thea countered.
"How do you know?" Merry started to cry, "you don't know anything. You have to go! Go now, or he'll eat us all!"
"Well, he's ugly." Clara glanced at the mummy, trying to make light of the thing she was afraid off, "But you know, to be honest, I don't think he looks big enough."
"Not our meat," she spun around as Clara stepped off the dais to the cage, reaching for her again, "our souls."
Merry closed her hands and reached for her temples, focusing on her telekinesis powers, sending out a purple blast to keep Clara away from her only to open her eyes to see Thea was held in place against the glass, Clara having been pushed to the ground.
"He doesn't want you." Merry told them as Clara picked herself up and moved to try and unpin Thea who had once again, shoved her out the way. "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.
"Sorry, Merry," Thea laughed, "we do the protecting."
"Absolutely, kiddo." The Doctor agreed, "Absolutely never going to happen." He glanced at Thea who gave a curt nod and flicked the sonic off, stepping into the room as the door slammed shut behind him, momentarily shutting them in. But he knew Thea wouldn't let him do so if there wasn't another way out.
Clara paused in her struggles to free Thea, looking over at the Doctor, "Did you just lock us in with the soul eating monster?"
"Yep."
"And is there actually a way to get out?"
"What? Before it eats our souls?"
"Ideally, yes."
"Actually, yes." Thea called getting Clara to turn back to her, "we'll find it when he's gone." She jerked her head down to the priest as he still tried to sing the Old God to sleep.
Clara blinked, "you see that?"
"Something like that."
The Doctor moved before the priest, "you can't sing the old god back to sleep," he told him, "He's waking up, mate. He's coming, ready or not. You want to run." The man stopped, looking up at him, "That's it, then. Song's over."
"The song is over." The man swallowed, moving to stand, "My name is Chorister Rezh Baphix, and the Long Song ended with me." He pushed a button on his bracelet, teleporting out.
"That's it, then. Song's over." He waited only a moment before spinning around, pointing his sonic at the mummy at Thea winced as the deafening roar that went off behind her. Clara jumping back, startled as the Mummy pounded on its glass cage, moving to Merrys side as the girl cowered back from it, "Ah ha! Look at that."
"Good job I saw that coming." Thea remarked, "I always thought I'd go blind before deaf."
"Sorry, kiddo." The Doctor shot her a sheepish grin.
"You've woken him!" Merry cried.
"No, us." Thea shook her head, "or you or anyone else. It's his time to wake up."
"And feed." The Doctor agreed, "On you, apparently. On your stories."
"She didn't say stories." Clara shook her head, "She said souls."
"Same thing." He shrugged, "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."
"Stop it." Clara glared, clutching Merry, feeling the girl shake, "You're scaring her."
"Good. She should be scared. She's sacrificing herself. She should know what that means. Do you know what it means, Merry?"
"A god chose me." She breathed.
"This is not a god!" Thea countered, "gods can't be controlled by singing or stories, you could probably over feed it though."
The Doctor snapped his fingers at her, "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 leaned over and met her eyes, "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 far away star that exploded and died. 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, forming shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings. Until eventually, they came together to make you." he tapped her heart, "You are unique in the universe. There is only one Merry Gejelh. And there will never be another. Getting rid of that existence isn't a sacrifice. It is a waste."
"So, if I don't," Merry frowned, "then everyone else..."
"Will be fine." He smiled.
"How?"
"There's always a way."
"You promise?"
"Cross my hearts." He crossed them, "and if you wouldn't mind letting my daughter down."
Merry nodded, closing her eyes as releasing her hold on Thea, who quickly ran to his side as he gave her a quick glance over and small kiss on her forehead.
"Can we get out of here?" Thea asked, "because I got a bad feeling that something is coming..." As soon as she finished speaking the grounded starting to shake.
"What's coming?" Clara stiffened.
"The Vigil!" Merry gasped, terrified.
"And what's the Vigil?" The Doctor asked her.
"If the Queen of Years is unwilling to be feasted upon..." She trailed, eyes widening in fear.
"Yes?" He prompted.
"It's their job to feed her to Grandfather."
They looked over at a crackle of energy to see three figures in black appear before them. The Doctor whipped out his sonic moving to stand before the girls.
"Blimely they're almost as bad as Whispermen." Thea shivered, hating herself for bringing up those nightmare legends.
"I'm sorry." Merry cried, "I'm sorry!"
"Don't you dare." Clara threatened the figures, standing protectively before Merry.
"Yeah, stay back." the Doctor held his sonic up to them, "I'm armed. With a screwdriver!"
The creatures bellowed, sending the sonic flying out of the Doctor's hand, bellowing again and sending the three time travellers back, leaving Merry defenceless as the Vigil advanced on her.
Thea, who had landed closest to the sonic, reached out and grabbed it, holding it up to the Vigil, keeping them back as Clara ran back to Merrys side.
"You know all the stories." She remarked to the girl, "you must know if there's another way out."
"There's a tale." Merry offered, "A secret song. The Thief of the Temple and the Nimmer's Door."
"And the secret songs open the secret door?" She guessed, "How does it go? Can you sing it?"
Merry opened her mouth and sang a small tune, and a door on the side slid open.
"Go!" The Doctor urged as he grabbed Thea hand, all of them running to the door as Thea kept the sonics shield up against the Vigil before using it to shut the door again.
She rolled her eyes as the Doctor held his hand out for the sonic as a beam of light shot up from the top of the pyramid and struck the sun.
They ran around the side to the main entrance only to see the Vigil disappear.
"Where did they go?" Clara looked around.
"Grandfather's awake." The Doctor remarked, "They're of no function anymore."
"Well, you could sound happier about it." Clara muttered.
"He was never the problem," Thea murmured, looking up at the expanding sun, "dad?" she pointed.
The Doctor turned, wincing, "Actually, I think I may have made a bit of a tactical boo-boo. More of a semantics mix-up, really."
"What boo-boo?" Clara narrowed her eyes.
"I thought the Old God was Grandfather, but it wasn't. It was just Grandfather's alarm clock."
"Sorry, a bit lost. Who's the Old God? Is there an Old God?"
"Yeah, there." Thea pointed to the sun that was burning brightly, growing in size as a sinister face started to form.
"Oh, my stars." Clara breathed, staring at it as Thea looked at her for her words, "What do we do?"
"Against that?" the Doctor scoffed, "I don't know. Do you know? I don't know. Any ideas?"
"But you promised!" Merry cried, "you promised!"
"I did." The Doctor sighed, "I did promise."
"He'll eat us all. He'll spread across the system, consuming the Seven Worlds. And when there's no more to eat, he'll embark on a new odyssey among the stars."
"I say leg it." Clara suggested.
"Leg it where, exactly?" The Doctor shook his head.
"Don't know. Lake District?"
"Oh, the Lake District's lovely. Let's definitely go there. We can eat scones. They do great scones in 1927."
"I'm down to fight it." Thea commented. "I'll fight a God."
"You're thinking about fighting it, aren't you?" Clara looked at the Doctor.
"Regrettably, yes." The Doctor nodded, "I think I may be about to do that."
"It's really big."
"I've seen bigger."
"Really?"
"Are you joking? It's massive!"
"I'm staying with you." Clara determined.
"No, you're not." The Doctor argued.
"Yes, I am. I can assist."
"No, you can't."
"It's safer if you go back to the city." Thea told her.
"And you can take her." The Doctor turned to her.
"Oh, no," She moaned, "no, come on. Why do you get to be the one to fight a god."
"What about that stuff you said." Clara agreed with Thea, reluctance to leave him, "We don't walk away."
"No. We don't walk away." He agreed, "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 are out from under the shadow. Now, off you pop. Take the moped. I'll walk." He straightened his bowtie as Clara turned and left with Merry to the moped, seeing there was no point in arguing only to see Thea still standing there, "go!"
"No." she glared, "this isn't fair. I want to be able to do what you do. It's like you don't trust me."
"I do trust you. Which is why I'm trying you to get them safely back to the city and protect everyone there in case I..." he trailed off, wanting to say it aloud, if couldn't face off the Old God. He knew if that happened then at least Thea would get as many of the people of the Seven Worlds as far away as possible.
He shook his head, pleading with her, "please, I want you to be safe."
She set her jaw, not happy, but agreeing, "and when you fail, I'll take over and finish him off."
"Exactly." He laughed.
He really hoped that wasn't a feeling.
"Any ideas?" He asked himself, "No, didn't think so. Righty-ho then." He let out a breath, staring up at the Old God, "lordy."
~.~
Thea flew the moped back to the amphitheatre, Clara jumping off to help Merry down as Thea looked around, hoping for anything that could help, anything that might trigger a feeling.
But it was empty, only a few aliens remaining, still with their offerings in hand as they were still being taken when the song had ended.
That was it!
"Merry!" She spun to the girl, "you need to sing again."
"She what?" She shook her head.
"Anything! Something motivating, encouraging, a song full of hope and faith, so he knows he isn't alone!"
"I think I know one," the girl bit her lip, stepping up on the platform. Taking a breath as she began to sing, "rest now, my warrior. Rest now, hardship is over..."
~.~
"...live, wake up, wake up!"
The Doctor smiled as Merrys song reached him, "That's my girl..." He murmured, just knowing it had been her idea to get Merry to sing. "Ok, then," he turned to face the sun, "that's what I'll do. I'll tell you a story."
~.~
"Please, wake up." Merry continued, the crowd joining in, "And let the cloak of life cling to your bones."
~.~
The Doctor smirked, hearing the crowd joining in with the song, "can you hear them? 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?"
"Live...wake up..."
"Oh, you like to think you're a god. But you're not a god. You're just a parasite eaten out 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, come on, then. Take mine. Take my memories. But I hope you've got a big appetite," he warned, "because I have lived a long life and I have seen a few things." The Doctor flinched as a tendril reached out from the sun, striking him, touching his soul, "I walked away from the last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. 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. I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a mad man. I've watched universes freeze and creations burn. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I have lost things you will never understand." A tear fell from his eye as he remembered all of those he had once held dear to him and lost, "And I know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze. So come on, then. Take it!" He held his arms wide, "Take it all, baby! Have it! You have it all!"
The sun swirled around, growing darker as it pulled its tendril back and the Doctor panted, exhausted.
It wasn't enough.
~.~
"Wake up...wake up..." Merry finished.
"It's not enough." Thea breathed, seeing the sun darken for a moment before expanding even more and brighten again.
"Hey, wait!" Clara called as the girl ran back to the moped.
"I've got to help him."
"I know." Clara hoped on behind her, "I think I have something that might help."
Thea nodded, wasted no time asking what that was as she took off back towards the pyramid.
~.~
The pair jumped off the moped, finding the Doctor on his knees, a tear staining his cheek and he tried to gain back his strength. As soon as Thea was close enough, he pulled her into a tight hug.
"I'm alright." He whispered to her.
Clara smiled at them as she stepped forwards holding book 101 places to see, "Still hungry?" She asked the sun, opening the book, "Well, I brought something for you. This." She held up the leaf, "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. This leaf isn't just the past, it's a whole future that never happened. There are billions and millions of unlived days for every day we live. An infinity. All the days that never came. And these are all my mum's." Her voiced cracked slightly as tendrils of light reached out to absorb the leaf.
"Well come on," The Doctor grunted as he got to his feet, using Thea for support, "eat up. Are you full?"
"I'm not surprised." Thea spoke, "There's quite a difference between what was and what should have been. There's an awful lot of the past, but an infinite number of futures."
"And infinity's too much, even for your appetite."
They watched as the leaf disappeared, the sun tendrils recalling as a moment later it imploded, leaving them in darkness.
Thea moved to Claras side, seeing tears in her eyes at not only loosing that leaf but she had also given up her mother's ring. She now had nothing left, which didn't seem fair to her.
~.~
The TARDIS set down outside the Maitland home, Clara looking out the doors as the Time Lords stood by the console, "Home again, home again, jiggity jig!" The Doctor smiled.
"It looks different." Clara remarked.
"It's not." Thea assured her, "only an hour after we left." She leaned closer, whispering, "if I let him drive we'd probably end up in the middle of the Cold War."
"Oi!" The Doctor frowned, "I heard that!"
"You were there." Clara murmured, turning to look at them. All this talk about her mother, it reminded her of the time she had visited her grave and seen the pair standing there. "At mum's grave. You were watching. What were you doing there?"
"I don't know." The Doctor shrugged, "I was just making sure."
"Of what?"
"We look like someone," Thea offered, "someone we knew who...died."
"Well, whoever she was, I'm not her, ok?" She insisted, "If you want me to travel with you, that's fine. But as me. I'm not a bargain basement stand-in for someone else. I'm not going to compete with a ghost."
"Because you're just Clara." Thea grinned at her, "who deserves her mother's ring back." She placed the ring in Claras hand, curling her fingers around it.
"You got it back?" Clara breathed, stunned to see it again.
"I still have my mum." She shrugged, "its only fair that you got the one thing left of yours."
"What did you give away for it?"
"An old photo. But its ok," she squeezed her arm, "I've got plenty."
It was the photo they had taken at the skate park, of her, Luke, Clyde and Maria, the day before they had first met the Trickster. The timelines had been changed so she had never met Sarah Jane. That was when she realsied she did love Sarah Jane like a mother. She loved that photo so much, that Doreen saw the value in it, and she had plenty of other photos of her and her friends.
"Thank you," Clara whispered, hugging her tightly.
The Doctor smiled, wrapping an arm around Thea as Clara waved and headed out.