Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who that goes to the BBC
The Doctor led the way with his sonic screwdriver down a green-lit corridor. Rose, Clara and Sydney walked closely behind him, followed by Gregor and Tricky. Two shadows passed the corridor in front of them with growls.
"Ssh!" Clara urged everyone, "Something's in here."
"Those... things, they've followed us," Tricky realised.
"Doctor, Rose, what are they?" Clara asked both older Gallifreyans as she looked at them, "What aren't you both telling me?"
"Trust me. Some things you don't want to know," the Doctor answered.
"Yeah, and believe me, some things are better left unsaid," Rose added, her voice serious and firm, "Knowing too much can be more dangerous than you think."
"It's more terrifying than you could imagine, Clara," Sydney stated with a serious look on his face before two of the creatures passed behind them with one of them having their right hand fused to their hip as they growled.
"They're on the move again," Gregor reported to them as he stepped forward.
"Run!" The Doctor ordered them before he reactivated his screwdriver as they began running away and down the corridor again, "Move! Move!"
Soon Clara ran down one of the TARDIS' corridors before she stopped when she realised that she had lost the others as she heard a faint growling sound.
"Doctor? Rose?" Clara called out to both older Gallifreyans before she retraced her steps, "Sydney?" She then sighed to herself, "Again!"
Clara then continued on before she stopped at an intersection. She spun around, unable to decide which way to go. She then looked down at her burnt hand and saw that the letters seemed to be a little clearer than before. She looked up and saw herself striding down the corridor in front of her.
"I know what I said, I was the one who said it," Clara heard herself say.
"You said it was looking at you funny," she heard the Doctor's voice say.
"The TARDIS isn't just a machine, Clara," the nanny heard Rose say, "She's a living being. She thinks, and she cares for us in her own way. Trust me, I've seen her do things no ordinary machine could ever do."
"Mum's right, Clara," she heard Sydney say, "The TARDIS is special. She's saved us more time than I can count."
Clara then turned around to go the other way before she looked up and saw herself standing there with her arms crossed.
"Now, you're creeping me out," Clara's past self said as she could only stare at her before she saw her stance change to when she gripped one of the side console's of the TARDIS' console room, "Please tell me there's a button one of you can press to fix this?"
Clara then backed away and headed down another corridor before she gasped when she saw the Doctor and Rose standing there as he his hands over his hips, while Rose had her hands behind her back.
"Oh, thank God," Clara muttered to herself, "Doctor, Rose, what's going on? Where's Sydney?" She then waved her right hand when he didn't acknowledge her, "Say something."
"Clara, stop!" The Doctor ordered her as he, Rose and Sydney walked up behind her as he held his right hand out towards her, "Don't touch them."
"Yeah, Clara, stay away from them," Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"Please, Clara, it's dangerous," Sydney added, agreeing with his parents.
"There's a rupture in time somewhere onboard the ship," the Doctor explained, "A small tear in the fabric of the continuum. It must have happened when the TARDIS was pulled in by the salvage vessel." He then took her right hand with his left and pulled her along as they along with Rose and Sydney ran down the opposite end of the corridor, "The TARDIS is leaking."
"Leaking what?" Clara asked them.
"The past. You and us," the Doctor answered, "Everything we've done, everything we've said. Recent history. It's not real, it's a memory."
"He's right, Clara," Rose said, agreeing with him, "It's like the TARDIS is playing back recent events, echoes of our past actions. They're not real, just shadows of what's already happened."
"And it's like walking through a ghost story," Sydney added, looking around uneasily, "The past bleeding into the present."
They soon turned a corner and stopped when they saw one of the creatures in front of them with the one with its hand fused to its hip behind it.
"What about these?" Clara whispered to them.
"If you give us the option, I'd say these ones are real," the Doctor answered in a whisper-sounding tone.
"Definitely real," Rose whispered, agreeing with the Doctor.
"Yeah, these are the real deal," Sydney added in a whisper-sounding tone, agreeing with them.
Both creatures then growled at them with the one that had both of its hands free extended them towards the four of them, while the other one only extended its free hand towards them. The Doctor then pushed Clara behind them as they ran away from the creatures. Both creatures then began to chase the four time travellers with the one that had its hand fused to its hip moving eerily similar to how Sydney moves.
"They're right onto us," the Doctor stated as they ran through another corridor.
"And there's no doubt about it, that's a he and a she," Rose added.
"He and a she?" Clara repeated as she suddenly stopped.
"We have no time to explain," Sydney told her.
"And don't ask us anymore," the Doctor urged her
The Time Lord then yanked her by her right hand with his own right hand, causing her to gasp as he pulled her into a small niche to the side with Rose and Sydney following them into the small niche. They pressed themselves against the wall behind a girder as the two creatures paused. On the opposite side, the past versions of the Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara walked down the corridor.
"Doctor, you're like one of those guys who can't go out with a girl unless his mother approves," they heard Clara's past self tell the Doctor.
"Well, Clara, if you knew the TARDIS like we do, you'd understand," they heard Rose's past self say to Clara's past self, "She's more than just a ship, she's family. And trust me, having her approval is a good thing. You never know what kind of adventures might change you."
"Rose is right about that and it's also important to us that you get along…" they heard the Doctor's past self say to Clara's past self, "We could leave you alone together."
"Yeah, Clara, think of it as bonding time with the TARDIS," they heard Sydney chuckle.
The creatures followed the past selves of the four time travellers. The Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara all stepped out from their hiding place. There was a groaning sound as all three Gallifreyans looked up at the ceiling.
"What's that noise?" Clara asked them.
"We're right under the primary fuel cells," the Doctor answered.
"So? So? So what?" Clara asked them.
"So, in normal circumstances, it's not a problem," Rose explained, "But given the current state of the TARDIS, it could be very dangerous."
"And, well, the fuel's spilled out," the Doctor added, "So the rods will be exposed. It means they'll cool…"
"And start to warp," Clara realised.
"And start to warp," the Doctor repeated, "Maybe even…"
"No, don't say it," Clara pleaded with him as he grunted, "Doctor, don't you dare say it."
"Yeah, Dad, please don't say it," Sydney said, agreeing with Clara, "For her sake."
"Maybe even break apart," the Doctor whispered to himself when a large rod suddenly shot down at an angle directly in front of them, causing the four of them to back away as Clara gasped.
"Run?" Clara asked them.
"I'm liking how you're thinking," the Doctor admitted.
"Definitely run," Rose said, agreeing with the nanny.
"Yeah, we should definitely run," Sydney said, agreeing with them.
With that said, they turned around and ran back down the corridor behind them, ducking and dodging rods with grunts as they shot out through the walls before one of the rods suddenly shot through the wall in front of them, causing the four time travellers to stop.
In one of the TARDIS' other corridors, Tricky screamed in pain as he had been impaled through his left shoulder by one of the rods as Gregor held both ends of the rod and was trying to pull it free from him.
"Cut it off," Tricky ordered him, "Just cut my arm off."
"No!" Gregor refused.
"It's the quickest way to release me," Tricky assured him, "No fear. No hate. No pain." Gregor then removed his hands from the rod and took his laser-saw out and held it towards one end of the rod, "I can get a new one. Disposable parts. Just do it. It won't hurt me."
"Tricky, you don't understand," Gregor told him.
"I'm an android!" Tricky reminded him, "Cut me!"
"You made it through," Clara said as she, the Doctor, Rose and Sydney found them as they ran towards them from the corridor next to them as they ducked under the rods around them.
"Blimey, that looks painful," Sydney muttered, wincing at the sight of the rod impaled in Tricky's shoulder.
"What's the matter with you?" Tricky asked Gregor as Gregor put the laser-saw away and placed his hands back on the rod as he tried to remove it from Tricky's shoulder again, "Why won't you cut me?"
The Doctor then tried to help Gregor on removing the rod from Tricky's shoulder as he placed his hands on the part of the rod that was closer to Tricky as Tricky groaned, while Gregor grunted as he and the Doctor struggled to remove it from Tricky's shoulder.
"Tell him," the Doctor urged Gregor as he looked at him and let go of the rod.
"Gregor, he deserves to know the truth," Rose said, agreeing with her husband as she looked at him as well.
"Tell me what?" Tricky asked both Gallifreyans.
"You can't, can you? You're a coward," the Doctor realised as he continued to look at Gregor, "You won't save him, but you're scared to tell him why."
"Because you're afraid of facing the truth yourself," Rose added, "You owe it to him and yourself to be honest."
"What're they going on about?" Tricky asked Gregor.
"Robots don't need blast suits, they don't need respirators, they don't get frightened of monsters in the dark," the Doctor explained.
"Exactly," Rose said, agreeing with him, "Robots don't need blast suits or oxygen. They don't get frightened. But you do, Tricky. That makes you special."
"What're they talking about?" Tricky asked Gregor.
Rose then pulled her sonic screwdriver out from her trouser's pocket with her right. She shook it open as she activated it and shone it in Tricky's eyes. The Time Lady then removed it from his eyes and looked at her screwdriver's readings.
"You may have two bionic eyes and a synthetic voice box," Rose said softly as she put her left hand over Tricky's uninjured shoulder, "But underneath, you're human. Flesh and blood, Tricky. That's the truth."
"We've suspected it since we saw you needed a blast suit and a respirator," the Doctor added, "You're not just parts, you're human."
As both Gallifreyans finished speaking, Tricky just stared at Gregor with a hurt and lost expression on his face.
"It was a joke," Gregor explained.
"Wha...?" Tricky began to ask.
"It was just a stupid joke," Gregor explained, "We did it to relieve the boredom."
"Well, it was very funny," the Doctor remarked sarcastically, "They lied to you. Changed your identity just to provide some in-flight entertainment."
"That's not a funny joke," Rose stated, her voice steady and filled with righteous anger, "It's cruel and inhumane. No one deserves to be treated like that."
"I'm sorry," Gregor apologised to Tricky, "You're human, Tricky."
"Cut the metal," the Doctor ordered Gregor, "Cut the metal!" He then clapped his hands, "Go!"
With that said, Gregor picked up his laser-saw and activated it as he moved it towards the rod and began using it to cut the rod.
"Where are we?" Gregor asked the Doctor as the Time Lord led them down a hall with Tricky staggering along at the back with his left arm now being bandaged.
"Power source," the Doctor answered as he looked through the round window of a door in front of them, "Right! You lot, wait here. I'll check it's safe. We can only survive for a minute or two in there."
"Um, what happens if we stay longer?" Clara asked him as she tapped on his right arm with her left hand, causing him to turn towards her.
"Our cells will liquefy and our skin will start to burn," the Doctor answered.
"And we'll become…" Rose began to add with a hint of seriousness in her voice before she spoke to herself, "...them."
"Yeah, and we'll turn into… something that shouldn't exist," Sydney said, agreeing with his mother as he looked at them, "It's unimaginable."
"I always feel so good after we've spoken," Clara remarked sarcastically.
"Marvellous!" The Doctor replied, "The three of you will need to keep this door shut."
"That will not be a problem," Clara assured him as he opened the door.
"She's right, we'll handle it," Rose said, agreeing with her.
"Yeah, we'll make sure it remains secure, Dad," Sydney added, agreeing with them as the door closed behind the Doctor.
As the Doctor entered the TARDIS' power room, he looked around and took a few breaths as he got his bearings in the heat-filled room.
Back in the corridor, Clara, Rose and Sydney were leaning against the wall by the door. Gregor was diagonally across the corridor from them, while Tricky was leaning against the wall and little ways down from the three time travellers. Gregor held his scanner up and moved it away from Sydney and began scanning Clara with it.
"Lancashire," Gregor's scanner reported, "Sass."
"Intelligent sensor," Gregor explained.
"Ever pointed that thing at yourself, Gregor?" Tricky asked Gregor with anger in his voice as Gregor put his scanner away, "What would it see?" Gregor then began to walk away from him, "What sort of person does this to another human? Made them believe they're made of metal." He then walked towards Gregor and grabbed him by the arm and turned him around towards him, "Who am I?"
Gregor then ripped the patch off his left sleeve with his right hand and handed it to Tricky with his right hand, who took it from him with his own right hand and looked at it as he walked over to the end of the corridor.
Back in the TARDIS' power room, the Doctor had his screwdriver back out and in his right hand as he ran across the catwalk to the door at the far end of it as he used his screwdriver. The door on the other side unlocked as the Time Lord reached it before he put his screwdriver back in his trouser's pockets as he tugged on the door's handle with his hands a few times with his voice straining a bit before it finally opened. He then walked through the door and looked up.
"My mouthy little kid brother," Gregor answered as Tricky was still looking at the patch that he handed him.
"What?" Tricky said with shock in his voice as he turned around towards him, "why don't I remember?"
"It was a salvage accident," Gregor explained, "Big explosion. You lost your sight, voice and your memory."
"And you... you thought of a way you could have some fun with me?" Tricky said with disbelief in his voice before he walked closer towards him, "I just wanted a brother beside me."
"You were always the smart one, Tricky," Gregor stated, "He wanted you to take over. He made you captain."
"He?" Tricky repeated with confusion in his voice.
"Dad," Gregor answered.
"I don't…" Tricky began to say before he stuttered, "I don't remember him."
Back in the TARDIS' power room, the Doctor slammed the door back shut and ran back across the catwalk.
"You did this to me just to be captain of a heap of junk!" Tricky said angrily with disbelief in his voice before he charged towards his brother, only for the Doctor to arrive in time to push them apart.
"Stop!" Clara ordered Tricky.
"Tricky, stop!" Rose said, agreeing with the nanny.
"Like they said, calm down," Sydney added, agreeing with them.
"Tricky!" The Doctor called out to Tricky before he looked at him, "Listen to me, ask yourself why he couldn't cut you up. He has just one tiny scrap of decency left in him and you just helped him find that, Okay?" He then looked at Gregor, "Now, you! Don't ever forget this."
"Okay, move, move, move!" The Doctor ordered everyone as he held the door to the TARDIS' power room open for them.
"Doctor? Rose? Sydney?" Clara muttered as she and the others stopped and looked up.
"We haven't been in this room since we were 1,000," Rose stated, her voice tinged with nostalgia, "In my last incarnation and during our farewell tour."
"The Eye of Harmony," the Doctor explained as he moved along the rail with Rose behind him as they saw what resembled a star above them and near the catwalk, "Exploding star in the act of becoming a black hole. Time Lord engineering. You rip the star from its orbit, suspend it in a permanent state of decay."
"All thanks to Omega, one of the founding fathers of Time Lord society," Rose added with a touch of enthusiasm in her voice, "His genius in stellar manipulation made this possible. It's brilliant, really."
"This way," the Doctor ordered everyone as he motioned then towards the door on the other end of the room with his right arm, "Quickly."
Rose, Sydney, Tricky and Gregor then followed the Doctor as Gregor helped his brother across. Clara continued to stare at the Eye of Harmony a little longer than the others as they reached the other end of the room. The Doctor opened the far door with his right hand and saw that one of the creatures was there waiting for them as it growled at them. The Doctor then closed it back shut with Gregor helping him close it. They then ran back to the other side as Gregor opened the door and two more of the creatures were there as they also roared at them. He then slammed the door back shut as the Doctor, Rose and Sydney reached the door.
"There's no way out," Gregor reported to them, "We're trapped."
"The three of you are going to tell me now!" Clara ordered the three Gallifreyans as they began running towards the other door before she grabbed the Doctor's right arm with her right hand, causing the three of them to stop and turn around towards her, "If we're going to die here, tell me what they are!"
"We can't," the Doctor argued.
"He's right, Clara," Rose stated firmly as she stood beside the Doctor.
"And it's too dangerous for you to know," Sydney added.
"Tell me!" Clara ordered them, "What's the use of secrets now?"
"Secrets protect us," the Doctor explained as he gripped her head with both of his hands, "Secrets make us safe."
"They're meant to shield us from things we're not ready to handle," Rose stated, agreeing with him.
"And it's for everyone's protection, Clara," Sydney added, "Trust us."
"We're not safe!" Clara stated as she pushed the Doctor's hands away from her face with her own hands.
On the other side of the room, Gregor held his scanner in his left hand as he used it on one of the creatures as it pounded on the door with both of its fists.
"Sensor detects animal DNA," Gregor's scanner reported, "Human core element. Calculating data. Calculating data."
"No, no," the Doctor ordered Gregor as he, Rose and Sydney ran over towards him, "Turn it off!"
"He's right, Gregor!' Rose exclaimed, "Turn it off now!"
"Do it quickly!" Sydney added, agreeing with his parents.
"Lancashire. Sass," Gregor's scanner reported as the three Gallifreyans reached Gregor as they looked at the scanner and the creature on the other side of the door, "Identifiable substance. Clara."
The Doctor, Rose and Sydney all turned around slowly to look at Clara as Gregor and Tricky headed back over towards the other door.
"That's me," Clara realised as she took a few steps towards the three Gallifreyans.
"I'm so sorry," the Doctor apologised to her.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Rose said, agreeing with her husband with genuine regret in her voice.
"I'm also sorry, Clara," Sydney added, his voice sincere.
"It's me," Clara said as she looked at the creature that was her, "I burn in here."
"It's not just you, Clara," Rose explained softly, "It's all of us. When we burn in here, we become creatures that the Time Lords called Time Zombies. Believe me, it's something out of a nightmare."
"It's something that shouldn't be possible," Sydney added with disbelief in his voice, "But with the TARDIS going haywire and the room becoming unstable, it's making the impossible possible."
"And it isn't just the past leaking out through the time rift. It's the future," the Doctor added before he held her face towards his with his right hand as he placed it behind her back, "Listen, we brought you here to keep you safe. But it happened again. You died again."
"What do you mean again?" Clara asked them.
The Doctor ran his right hand over his face and hair, while Sydney placed his right hand over his hip as Rose sighed to herself. The Doctor and Rose then turned around and saw that one of the Time Zombies had its right hand fused to its face, while Sydney saw that the Time Zombie behind Clara's Time Zombie counterpart also had its right hand over its hip. The Doctor took his hand from his face as Sydney removed his right hand from his hip as they stared at the two Time Zombies with Rose staring at the one behind the one with their hand fused to their face as they realised that they were them. Tricky and Gregoor both stood side-by-side at the door as they saw that one of the Time Zombies was made of two joined together at the side and realised that Time Zombie was them.
"Hang on!" The Doctor muttered to himself, "As long as we interrupt the timeline, this can't happen." He then ran towards the other door and pushed the brothers apart and pulled them towards the centre of the catwalk with both of his hands, "Don't touch each other, otherwise the future will reassert itself!"
Suddenly, the Time Zombies pushed through the door as the Doctor's Time Zombie counterpart grabbed Gregor's pack with his right hand.
"Gregor!" The Doctor called out to Gregor as he helped Tricky across, "Gregor! Let go of the circuit!"
"Just let it go!" Tricky pleaded with his brother.
"Gregor!" The Doctor yelled at Gregor, "Gregor!"
Gregor then slipped out of the pack and backed away towards the others. Tricky then took a swing at the Doctor's Time Zombie with his right hand, causing it to fall over the rail before Rose's Time Zombie approached him and went to attack him, only for him to punch her in the face with his left hand, causing her to fall over the rail as well. The six of them rushed towards the door and pulled away when the Time Zombie that was Gregor and Tricky appeared at the door. They then ran towards the other and the Time Zombie that was Clara punched her right hand through the window. They all then grouped in the middle of the catwalk.
"Okay. Er... er…" the Doctor muttered to himself as he, Rose and Sydney turned around and saw that the Time Zombies that were Clara and Sydney had entered the room.
The Time Zombie that was Gregor and Tricky suddenly entered the room before Tricky went at their Time Zombie counterpart with a crowbar as he grabbed it from his pack with his right hand. When it was down low, he kicked it off the rail with his right leg. It fell and Tricky nearly fell off himself and held onto the rail's ledge as he began gasping as he looked down at the Eye of Harmony below him.
"Tricky!" Gregor yelled as he went to help his brother.
"No!" Tricky muttered to himself.
"Don't touch him," the Doctor ordered them as he, Rose, Sydney and Clara ran towards the door behind them and looked back at them, "Or time will reassert itself."
"He's right!" Rose said, agreeing with her husband, "If you do, you'll fuse together and become the Time Zombie that we just got rid of! You know, really not a good look."
"Yeah, and we'll be in worse trouble," Sydney added.
But before Gregor could listen to the three Gallifreyans' warning, he helped Tricky back onto the catwalk. They then began to scream in pain as their cells liquified and began fusing together into one being and after a few seconds, they transformed into their Time Zombie counterpart. They roared with the Gregor half of the Time Zombie extending his right hand towards the four time travellers as they began to chase after them before they ran out the other door and closed it behind them before the Doctor pulled his screwdriver back out and sonicked the door's lock on the door as the Time Zombie that was Gregor and Tricky began banging on the door from the other side.
"The engine room," the Doctor muttered, "The heart of the TARDIS."
"Come on!" Rose urged Sydney and Clara, "Follow us, quickly!"
As the Time Lady finished speaking, the Doctor grabbed her right hand with his left hand, while Sydney took Clara's right hand with his own left hand as both older Gallifreyans led them through another door.
As they ran through the door, they found themselves in what appeared to be outside and nearly fell off a cliff ledge.
"Oh!" Clara screamed before she regained her balance, "We're outside."
"No, we're still in the TARDIS," the Doctor corrected her.
"Yeah, he's right. The physical centre of the TARDIS often looked like we're standing outside," Rose said, agreeing with him, "It's a bit of Time Lord trickery, giving us a sense of open space even within the ship's core."
"And considering the TARDIS is in chaos right now, it's probably why it's looking more disorienting than usual," Sydney added.
"There's no way across," Clara told them.
"No. Okay, you're right," the Doctor muttered to himself.
"Yeah, it seems there's no clear path," Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"So what do we do?" Clara asked them, "Time for a plan. Do either of you have a plan?"
"Well, no!" The Doctor answered as he held his right hand's index finger up, "No plan. Sorry."
"I don't have one either," Rose said, agreeing with him.
"Nor me," Sydney added.
"If neither of you have a plan, we're dead," Clara told them.
"Yes, we are," the Doctor confirmed, "So just tell us."
"Yeah, please tell us, Clara," Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"Indeed, we just need to know," Sydney stated, agreeing with his parents.
"Tell you three what?" Clara asked them with confusion in her voice.
"Well, there's no point now," the Doctor told her, "We're about to die, so just tell us who you are."
"He's right, Clara," Rose said, agreeing with him, "We need to know."
"Yeah, who are you, really?" Sydney added, agreeing with him.
"You three know who I am," Clara told them.
"No, we don't!" The Doctor argued, "We look at you every single day and we don't understand a thing about you. Why do me and Rose keep running into you, while Sydney has only run into you twice?"
"He's right," Rose said, agreeing with him as she ran her fingers through her hair in frustration, "It's like you're a puzzle we can't solve."
"Yeah," Sydney added, agreeing with his parents as the Doctor headed for the door, "We need to know the truth."
"You three invited me," Clara reminded them, "You three said…"
"Before that," the Doctor explained as he walked back over towards them, "Me and Rose met you in the Dalek Asylum. There was a girl in a shipwreck and she died saving our lives. And she was you."
"Her name was Oswin Oswald," Rose added, "She shared the same surname as you and she had your exact voice. She was trapped, and we later discovered she had been converted into a Dalek. It was you, Clara."
"She really wasn't," Clara told them.
"Seventy years later after Sydney was born in Victorian London, there was a governess who was a barmaid," the Doctor stated, "And the three of us fought the Great Intelligence together. She died, and it was our fault. And she was you."
"She called herself Clara Oswin Oswald," Rose added, "And as he was saying, her death helped us stop the Great Intelligence. We also had help from some friends of ours who live in Victorian London."
"And she was also a nanny to two children, just like you," Sydney added, "Her sacrifice saved us, the children and everyone on Earth. And now here you are again, the same person. How is that possible?"
"You three are scaring me," Clara told them.
"What are you, eh?" The Doctor asked her, "A trick, a trap?"
"He's right, what are you exactly?" Rose said, agreeing with him.
"Yeah, we need to know," Sydney added, agreeing with them.
"I don't know what you three are talking about!" Clara told them as she backed away from them and almost fell off the ledge, causing the four of them to gasp before the Doctor gripped her in a huge hug as she gripped him back.
"You really don't, do you?" The Doctor asked Clara as he ended the hug.
"He's right, you really have no idea," Rose realised, agreeing with him.
"Yeah, you genuinely don't know," Sydney added, agreeing with his parents.
"I think I'm more scared of the three of you right now than anything else on that TARDIS," Clara told them.
"You're just Clara," the Doctor realised with a smile on his face, "Aren't you?"
"Yeah, you are," Rose added, agreeing with him as she smiled at her.
"You definitely are just Clara," Sydney said, agreeing with his parents with a smile on his face.
The Doctor laughed as he touched Clara's face with both of his hands and pinched her cheeks. He then took her in another hug. Rose and Sydney then exchanged a quick glance before they joined in their hug.
"Okay!" Clara muttered as she hugged him back, "I don't know what the hell this is about but the hug is really nice."
"Yeah, it is," Rose assured her softly.
"It definitely is, Clara," Sydney added as he squeezed them both.
"We're not going to die here," the Doctor realised as he suddenly ended the group hug, "This isn't real." He then grabbed a rock from the ground with his right hand and threw it over the edge, "It's a snarl."
"Of course!" Rose muttered to herself as she widened her eyes and understood what he was getting at, "Why didn't we realise that sooner?"
"What?" Clara asked him.
"What does a wounded animal do?" The Doctor explained, "It tries to scare everyone away. We're close to the engine. The TARDIS is snarling at us, trying to frighten us off. We need to jump."
"Yeah, the TARDIS is trying to protect itself," Rose added, agreeing with him, "Like it or not, the only way to fix this is to jump."
"You're both insane," Clara told them.
"Mum, Dad, that does sound crazy," Sydney said, agreeing with the nanny.
"We'll cross a portal to the engine," the Doctor explained before he clapped his hands as the four of them backed up to the door.
"How can you be so sure?" Clara asked him.
"Yeah, how can you, Dad?" Sydney said, agreeing with her.
"Well, I can't!" The Doctor answered.
"And neither can I," Rose said, agreeing with him.
"Okay, well, that's water-tight," Clara told them.
"Yeah, that's reassuring," Sydney remarked sarcastically, agreeing with her.
"Hey, now, I've piloted this ship for over 900 years," the Doctor assured them as he wagged his right hand's index finger at them.
"And I've piloted this ship for nearly as long as well," Rose added, agreeing with him.
"Trust us this one time, please," the Doctor pleaded with them before Clara arched an eyebrow at him, while Sydney just smiled at his father, "Okay. Okay. As well as all the other times." Clara then sighed, "Ready?" She then smiled back at him, "Geronimo."
"Well, in that case, allons-y!" Rose replied with a grin.
With that said, the three of them ran and leaped off the cliff with screams, only to land in a white room. Suspended throughout the room were pieces of machinery.
"The heart of the TARDIS," the Doctor realised as the four of them walked through the room, "The engine… it's already exploded. It must have been the collision with the salvage ship."
"Sure I've been here once or twice since we reunited and opened my fob watch all those centuries ago," Rose muttered to herself as she looked around, "But it's never looked this bad. Makes me think we need a new decorator."
"We're not dead," Clara stated.
"Why wouldn't we be dead, Clara?" Sydney retorted, "Mum and Dad were right, it was just a portal to the engine room."
"She wrapped her hands around the force," the Doctor explained, "Froze it."
"And it's something the TARDIS has always done for us," Rose added, "Whenever something bad happens, she would sacrifice herself for either of us."
"So... so it's safe?" Clara asked them.
"Temporary fix," the Doctor answered, "Eventually, this whole place will erupt. There's no way we can save her now. She's just always been there for me, taken care of me."
"And since we reunited, she's always been there for me too," Rose added, her voice filled with nostalgia, "Even before I opened my fob watch, she was looking out for my chameleon-arched self. After a certain event with the time vortex, she never stopped protecting me."
"Indeed, and now it's our turn and neither of us know what to do," the Doctor added before he began stuttering, "It... it just…" Clara then came up to him and took his left hand in her right hand before he felt the burns from her hand and looked at her palm, "Oh, Clara. Oh!" He then looked at her hand with Rose and Sydney doing the same as they saw that the burns had finished appearing on her hand with the letters now spelling out 'Big Friendly Button,' "Not to say this in the wrong way, but you are beautiful."
"That's just what we need," Rose stated with a smile on her face.
"So, that's what the burns on your hand were forming all along," Sydney realised as he widened his eyes in shock.
"Beautiful, fragile human skin," the Doctor went on as he cupped her left cheek with his right hand before he kissed her right hand's palm, "Like parchment. Thank you." He then took his sonic screwdriver back out with his right hand, "Now, the rift in time while the memories is leaking out." He then began toying with his screwdriver, "I need to find the moment we crashed. I need to find…" He then shook his screwdriver open as he found it as they heard rock music playing as he activated his screwdriver, "Music."
The Doctor then took Rose's right hand with his left hand, while Sydney took Clara's left hand as they followed them and ran from the room.
The Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara soon entered the console room with the Doctor using his screwdriver to guide them. He spotted a crack in the wall under the console. It resembled the ones that were following him and Rose all those centuries ago in her previous incarnation when they began travelling with Amy and Rory.
"The time rift," the Doctor announced as he and Rose walked over to it, "Recent past, possible future."
"And hopefully with that time rift, we'll be able to stop all of this from ever happening," Rose added.
"Yeah, Mum, hopefully with that, we'll be able to stop all that's happened from ever happening," Sydney said, agreeing with his mother.
"What are you going to do, Doctor?" Clara asked the Time Lord as he had the remote for the magno-grab in his left hand and used his screwdriver to write on it.
"Rewrite today, I hope," the Doctor answered, "I've thrown this through the rift before. I need to make sure this time. Going to take it in there myself. There might be a certain amount of yelling."
"And the last few times we've gotten to this point, we've tried and failed," Rose added, "But maybe this time, we can finally get it right."
"Yeah, Mum, maybe this time will be different," Sydney said, agreeing with her.
"It's gonna hurt?" Clara asked him.
"Things that end your life often do that," the Doctor confirmed before he headed for the time rift.
"Wait!" Clara called out to him, causing him to stop and turn towards her as Rose and Sydney turned towards her as well, "All those things the three of you said. How we've met before. How I died."
"Clara, don't worry," the Doctor assured her as he walked back over to her, "You'll forget. Time mends as it can mend anything."
"And we'll remember," Rose added softly, "Remember, Gallifreyans are time-sensitive. We won't forget what we've experienced with you. The Doctor's right, you won't remember any of this."
"I wish it were different," Sydney said quietly, looking at Clara with a mix of regret and something unspoken, "But to make things right, you have to forget the recent events we've been through."
"I don't want to forget, not all of it," Clara told them, "The library. I saw it. Doctor, Rose, you both were mentioned in a book."
"I'm mentioned in a lot of books," the Doctor stated as he pulled back a little.
"I am too," Rose added with a small smile on her face as the Doctor began to walk back towards the time rift, "But not nearly as much as he is."
"You call yourself Doctor and Rose," Clara said as he pointed at her with his right hand's index finger, "Why do you do both that? The two of you have names. I've seen them. In one corner of that tiny…"
"Clara, please don't say our real names," Clara interjected gently, "It's tradition for only the parents and spouses of Time Lords and Ladies to know our true names."
"And if I rewrite today, you won't remember," the Doctor added as he hurried back over to her, "You won't go looking for our names."
"We'll still have secrets?" Clara asked them.
"Yes, Clara," Rose confirmed softly, "We'll still have our secrets."
"It's the way things have to be," Sydney stated, agreeing with his mother.
"And it's better that way," the Doctor added as he patted her left cheek with his right hand.
The Doctor then psyched himself up before he approached the time rift as he grunted and exhaled before he stepped into the rift. He screamed in agony with Rose, Sydney and Clara looking at him with pain on their faces. After a few seconds of him screaming in pain, the Doctor disappeared from their view as he entered the rift.
Earlier in the TARDIS' console room, sparks flew as the ship lurched, throwing the Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara backwards. The DOCTOR makes his way back to the console.
"Magnetic overbuild!" The past Doctor said as he and the past Rose made their way back towards the console, "We're flying right into it! Clara, stay by us!"
"And Sydney, you stay with us as well!" The past Rose added as they reached the console and began operating the TARDIS' controls.
"Please tell me there's a button one of you can press to fix this," past Clara pleaded with both older Gallifreyans as she gripped one of the side consoles.
"Oh, yes, big friendly button," the past Doctor answered sarcastically.
"You're lying," past Clara realised.
"Of course he is, Clara," past Rose confirmed.
"In situations like this, lying is often better than telling the truth," past Sydney added with a wry smile.
"To stop me freaking out?" Past Clara asked them.
"Is it working?" The past Doctor inquired as his voice strained.
"Not so much," past Clara answered.
Suddenly, the future Doctor appeared from the other side of the time rift as he still had the remote from the magna-grab in his right hand as he looked at his past self, who had been knocked against the rail.
"Doctor, Doctor, I'm from your future," the future Doctor called out to his past self as he looked at him, "We haven't got long. There's a reset dial!"
The future Doctor then grunted as he dissipated into thin air, causing the device to fall from his hand and rolled across the floor towards Clara before she picked it up with her right hand and burnt her hand like she did previously.
"Clara, no!" The Doctor called out to her as he looked at her before the device burnt her hand like she did with it previously, causing her to let go of the device, "No!" He then dove in to catch it before he stood back up and looked at the device and laughed as he read it, "Big friendly button."
"What is it, love?" Rose asked her husband as she approached him.
"Yeah, what did you find, Dad?" Sydney said, agreeing with his mother.
"It's a device from my future self to reset things," the Doctor explained, "Trust me, it'll stop all this chaos." He then laughed to himself and pressed the device's button with his right hand.
At the living quarters of the Van Baalen Brothers' ship, the TARDIS suddenly disappeared from the computer screen.
"I don't get it," Tricky said with confusion in his voice as he walked with Gregor, "It was on screen, then it was gone."
"Hey, robot, go get me some food, I'm starving," Bram ordered Tricky.
"Oi, leave him alone," Gregor told him.
"What's the matter with you?" Bram asked him with confusion in his voice.
"Maybe I've just got a little tiny scrap of decency," Gregor answered.
Bram then scoffed and walked away from them. Gregor then clapped Tricky on his left shoulder with his right hand and walked away from him. Tricky then smiled to himself as he looked at the photo from before but it was no longer ripped and now included Tricky with his, Gregor and Bram's father.
A few hours later, the TARDIS spun through space as the Doctor was polishing the console's centre column with Rose as Clara entered the room and approached them with Sydney as she had changed her clothes and showered and leaned against the console next to them.
"I feel exhausted," Clara told them, "I feel…"
"We've had two days crammed into the space of one," the Doctor told her.
"Yeah, it sure feels like that," Rose said, agreeing with him.
"It definitely feels like that," Sydney added, agreeing with them.
"Why would you three say that?" Clara asked them as the Doctor walked around the console.
"I don't know. We say stuff," the Doctor explained as he worked the TARDIS' controls with his right hand, "Ignore us." He then paused as Clara began to walk down the steps behind them, "Do you feel safe?"
"Yeah, do you?" Rose asked Clara, agreeing with him as she looked at her with the corner of her eye.
"Of course," Clara answered as she stopped walking just as she reached the steps and looked at them.
"Give me a number out of ten," the Doctor urged her as he spun around to face her, "Ten being whoo-hoo, one being aarrrggh!"
"You're being weird," Clara told him.
"Isn't he always weird, Clara?" Rose asked her with a knowing smile on her face.
"Yeah, Dad really has always been weird," Sydney said, agreeing with his mother as he grinned at her.
"I know," Clara told them, "He's just being more weird than usual."
"Oi!" The Doctor retorted, feigning offence with a playful grin on his face, "Weird is a good thing, you know."
"We didn't mean it," Rose assured him as she smiled at him, "We were just teasing you."
"I know you were, love," the Doctor replied with a warm smile before he leaned in and gave Rose a brief kiss before he turned back towards Clara, "Clara, I need to know if you feel safe. I need to know. You're not afraid."
"Of?" Clara asked him.
"The future," the Doctor answered, "Running away with a space family in a box. Anything could happen to you."
"That's what I'm counting on," Clara told them, "Push the button."
"She's braver than she knows," Rose muttered to herself as Clara walked down the stairs.
"Even with that, Clara can't yet know about the adventure we had with her from the other timeline that's been rewritten," Sydney added.
"Agreed," the Doctor said, agreeing with them as he smiled and tossed the cloth onto the console with a hook shot as he approached the section of the console where the dematerialisation lever was and pulled it down with his right hand.
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