Author's Note: Okay, I'm still stuck in my Imposter Syndrome stage, and I thought this chapter was the cringiest thing ever, and I'm also late starting NaNoWriMo (without the official website), so I decided to save time and embarrassment by not beta reading this one last time. I'm so sorry if it really is cringe or there are major mistakes.

Emerald Green

Chapter Thirty-Five

Flickering Light

Two weeks of calmer adventures later, Molly swung the TARDIS door open, and scrambled inside. The Doctor was right behind her, and slammed the door shut before passing her on the way to the controls.

"Do you think they'll see us disappearing?"

"Maybe," the Doctor said, flipping switches at what must have been record speeds. Or third place, at least. "But they'll probably agree not to talk about it, in case people call them crazy. That's usually what happens."

Trying to catch her breath, Molly joined him at the controls, and grabbed the edge as they took off. "I can't believe we got away with it."

"We? You're the one that did it!"

"You suggested it!"

"I was joking! Anyone should have known that!"

"Well, you should have made it clearer!" Molly breathed a sigh of relief as the TARDIS settled. "You sounded serious to me."

"Oh, do I ever sound serious?"

"On special occasions." Molly dropped her pumps on the floor, including the broken heel. "Where is it?"

The Doctor reached into his pocket, and Molly again felt it was odd to be reminded that they were also bigger on the inside as he produced a small, glass statue. "We really shouldn't have done that."

"Whitney Houston has more than she probably knows what to do with," countered Molly. "And an award makes an excellent souvenir."

"What if she misses it?"

"It was stuffed in the back of a closet in a dusty room, in a shoe box. I don't think she even remembers she has it. Besides, it's not a major award or anything. We were only chased because we went into her closet."

"What were you doing in her closet?"

Molly pointed down at her heels. "Looking for superglue. One of my foster moms used to keep her glue and tape and safety-pins in an old shoebox."

The Doctor began up the stairs, towards the bookshelves. "You know, I never thought of you as a thief."

"Then the show missed a lot," she said. "I once stole a tent from Walmart for a homeless woman."

The Doctor set the award on a shelf, then turned back. "Oh. Yes. I remember that episode," he said, headed back down. "It didn't show how you managed it."

Molly decided to keep that secret to herself. "It was a great party," she said instead.

"It was nice that Drew Barrymore recognized me," said the Doctor. "And she hasn't had a problem with the psychic mites since the last time I saw her. They seem to get everywhere."

"And Beyoncé said I was pretty," said Molly. "I never need a compliment from anyone ever again."

"So no more compliments?"

Molly pouted. "I said 'need', not 'want'."

She saw the Doctor smile as he leaned against the console. "What was it you showed to her while I was talking to Cameron Diaz?"

She reached into her pocket and produced her Tamagotchi. "She liked my Tamagotchi, too. They're pretty popular then, I think."

"Is yours still alive?"

"Yeah. I actually take care of mine."

The Doctor seemed to consider rolling his eyes, and instead gestured to her. "So! Where to next?"

Molly thought about it a moment as she slipped the Tamagotchi back into her pocket. She'd usually made the Doctor choose, since she was unfamiliar with the universe, but crashing a celebrity party had been her idea. Maybe she could come up with another. "Hold on," she said, holding a finger up to indicate she needed a moment. She thought through every Doctor Who episode she could, trying to find something she wanted to see, but nothing was coming to her. What was another alternative?

Then, she smiled and pointed at him. "Put her on random."

He grinned. "Random it is! Within safety parameters, of course." He zipped around the console, and she watched as he slipped switches and turned cranks and all the things he did on the show. She'd seen it dozens of times now, but still now and then it struck her that she was really, truly in the Doctor Who universe, and it was incredible to see the things she'd watched on screen happen in real life.

It didn't take long before they landed, but Molly insisted on taking a moment to run to her room and throw on some boots. She figured the LBD would work for anywhere they happened to be, so long as they didn't need to mountain climb or something.

She got back to the control room. "Alright, ready?"

"Always," said the Doctor with a smile. Together they went to the door, swung them open, and stepped out.

"Oh." The Doctor sounded disappointed, and made a face. "I've been here already."

The Doctor turned back towards the TARDIS, but Molly grabbed his arm. "I haven't," she said. She looked around at the planet, that seemed reddish and dusty, like a desert. "Where are we?"

"Ahkatan."

Ahkatan. One of her favorite episodes of the entire series had taken place there, and she found herself smiling and jumping on the balls of her feet. "I saw it in an episode I love. Can we stay? Please?"

The Doctor watched her bouncing up and down for a moment, and then patted her head. "Yes, alright. We can have a look around. It'll be another market, though," he warned her.

"That's okay, I just want to look around some. Besides, the TARDIS always takes you where you need to go. Maybe there's something going on here."

"Again?" the Doctor frowned, and glanced around, as though some problem was just going to appear in front of him. Of course, nothing materialized. But he looked back at Molly. "You do have a point."

It took fifteen minutes of walking before Molly saw the market in the distance. It looked like all the other markets they'd been to, but this time it was a little bit familiar to her. They walked around for a few minutes, when a voice cried out, "Doctor!"

Molly turned to see a tall woman in red, maybe a little younger than she was, long blonde hair blowing back from her face as she ran through the crowd towards them.

The Doctor turned around, too. "Merry?" He said, confused, and then again, delightedly this time, "Merry!"

"Doctor!" Merry Gejelh exclaimed again as she reached them. "How did you know?"

"How did I know what?" the Doctor asked with a smile.

Merry looked confused for a moment. "Aren't you here for the ceremony?"

"Ceremony?" Now the Doctor looked a little concerned. "What ceremony? It's not – it's not back, is it?"

"No, no!" Merry laughed. "My wedding ceremony! When I saw you I thought you must've come back for it. Strange timing, otherwise."

"Oh, of course, right!" the Doctor said, as though he were just remembering and not surprised. "The wedding ceremony. Your wedding ceremony. That's what we're here for, alright. Came straight here for it."

"Is Clara with you?" Merry asked, peeking around the Doctor.

"No, ah – no. Not this time." The Doctor gestured to Molly, who waved. "I've brought my friend Molly, though. Plus one alright?"

"Of course," Merry said warmly. She turned to Molly with a smile. "The more the merrier."

"Ha!" the Doctor explained, pointing to Merry. "Merrier. Merry getting married. This is excellent. Who's the lucky chap?"

"Luka," Merry said, turning to lead them through the market. "He's a little younger than I am. He was supposed to be a chorister, before – well." She turned towards the Doctor. "How have you been, Doctor? I imagine you've had all sorts of adventures since I was you last, when I was a little girl."

"Oh, adventures of all sorts, definitely," he replied enthusiastically. "I'll have to find a moment to tell you about them. I'm sure you're very busy today."

"Please do," said Merry. She paused a moment at a stall, and exchanged something small and golden for a vase. "I'm just finishing up some last-minute shopping. I'll show you where the ceremony will be."

They followed Merry to a clearing outside the market, surrounded on three sides by a cliff face, that had colors fading together in hues of orange, red, yellow, and purple, like a sunset. An archway of flowers was set up at the end of an aisle, with stone benches on either side, so Molly assumed it would be pretty similar to most wedding ceremonies – not that she'd been to one.

To the right a bit were a few large tents, and people milling about. "We're having a little party after," Merry explained. "There are some games, some artists, some tents with psychics and crafters, lots of food. I hope you'll stay."

"Of course we will," said the Doctor brightly. "We'll just head over there now and have a look around."

"Ceremony should start in about twenty minutes," said Merry. "I just need to hand a few things to the priest and get dressed. I'm so glad you came!"

"Me, too!" exclaimed the Doctor, as though it had been intentional.

Merry left to prepare for the wedding, and Molly and the Doctor turned to head for the collection of tents. There were a few on the left, a few on the right, and few in the back, all of various sizes and different jewel-toned colors. In the middle were tables made of numerous different types and colors of wood, with differed styles of chairs around them, and jewel-toned tablecloths covering them. Rather than flowers as centerpieces, Merry and Lukas were using what seemed to be random objects under glass, like Molly had seen at the lab. Given the value placed on sentimental items here, she assumed they were things that were important to the bride and groom.

Outside the tents were a variety of tables, too, but these seemed to have etches, or multiple layers, or different colors, and most were covered with some kind of small statues, or gold and silver pieces, or what seemed to be just rocks picked up from the ground. Different games, Molly thought, and when she spotted a chess board that seemed to be confirmed. People were playing games here and there, and Molly wondered if the Doctor could explain how the games were played.

But the Doctor made a sound of excitement, and grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the chess board. "Oh, no," she said. "I'm not playing chess with you."

"Why not?" There was a note of pout in his voice.

"You'll demolish me in like, three moves. Even if I was great at chess. And I'm terrible."

"But you're so good at looking ahead multiple steps. You can't be that bad."

"In life-or-death situations, not chess."

The Doctor moved around her and pulled out a seat. "Show me how bad you are, then."

She groaned, but took the seat anyway. "Fine. I'll let you humiliate me so you can play some chess. But then you need to find someone better. Or if we can find checkers, let's do that. I'll destroy you at checkers."

"I'll take that challenge," said the Doctor as he took the seat across from her. "White or black?"

"If I go first, maybe I'll get to make four whole moves instead of three."

He spun the board around so the white pieces face her, and she debated a moment before moving one the center pawns.

"Ah, considering the King's Gambit, eh?" He reached forward and moving his own pawn.

She looked at him, attempting to find a way to make her expression as dry as her voice. "You can call any move I make whatever you want, I'm not going to know the difference." She reached forward and moved another of her pawns at random. Planning wouldn't do her any good, anyway. "And there were a few episodes that showed you playing chess, so I'm aware how good you are and that I'm supposed to be impressed. I will instead choose to be annoyed."

"Boring," the Doctor complained, moving another piece. "It really showed me playing chess?"

"Twice I know of," Molly said, considering the board. She was pretty sure she could already see where she'd made a mistake – other than the mistake to sit down in the first place. "Once was that Live Chess match where losing gets you electrocuted. The other was Nightmare in Silver – the Cyberplanner."

"Oh, that was fun," the Doctor said. Then he arranged his face in a frown. "Very bad, obviously. Cybermen returning. People dying. Planet exploding. I didn't get to play against Porridge."

"You find the weirdest things fun," she said, finally choosing to move a knight.

"Like you don't," the Doctor replied, as he moved a Knight. "Your program showed plenty of you smiling while running for your life."

She thought about it. "Okay, true," she said. She stared at the board and wished she could take back every move she'd made so far. "And, you know. New experiences are fun, even if they're not exactly safe."

"That's not a usual sentiment."

"Should be," she said, finally choosing to move a Bishop. "So, how many times have you been to Ahkatan so far?"

"Let's see…" he said as he folded his hands together and considered the board. "I came here on my own the first time. And then with my granddaughter once. And then with Clara. And now you. So…four times, now."

"The show didn't mention the first time."

The Doctor made his move, and Molly could already see a checkmate coming. She would fight to the end, though. Maybe. "Sometimes I liked to check out places before taking my granddaughter, to make sure I knew exactly where we'd be. She had a habit of complaining if I got us lost or stranded. Which happened…a lot, actually."

"I'm curious about something…and tell me to mind my business if it's crossing a line," she said, and finally chose to move her Bishop again. Once she let go, she knew she'd lost the piece. "Did Susan know? Your name, I mean."

The Doctor looked at her with an expression of pure astonishment. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, seeming uncertain exactly what to say first. "You know my granddaughter's name?"

Molly immediately regretted asking, and pressed her lips together a moment before nodding. "Yeah. She was in the very first episode. When the show started out, it was meant to be more focused on her."

The Doctor stared another moment, and then moved his Knight to take her Bishop, barely even glancing at the board. "Do you know anyone else's names, in my family?"

She shook her head. "No. No mention of anyone else's names. Barely any mention of anyone else in your family at all, if I remember right. But I didn't have much access to the early seasons." There had been a fan theory that one of the punished Time Lords in The End of Time had been his mother, but she decided not the mention it. "I just ask, because a lot of fans on the forums theorized who knew each Time Lord's name. I'm not asking your name," she clarified quickly. "Or even for you to tell me anything personal. Or…" And she realized yet another gaffe: Susan was dead. If not of old age, then in the Time War. She never should have mentioned her.

As she moved another piece, she quickly said, "Actually, better question." And she hoped as she talked her mind would come up with a better question. Or any other question at all. "Where's your favorite place you've been?" Not her best, but it'd do.

"Earth," the Doctor replied, and Molly cursed herself. That should have been obvious. "You don't have to change the subject. It's alright." He leaned back in his chair as he looked at the board. "No, Susan didn't know my name. Names are usually reserved for spouses, sometimes children. Obviously, your parents know. And usually, that's it." He reached forward to move his queen out. "If you're here long enough, you'll probably read about it in the Complete History of Gallifrey."

If you're here long enough. She hated being reminded that she really was going to have to leave, someday. "Looking forward to it," she said. She'd made it a little over halfway through the first tome, and admittedly, had barely been able to keep awake for a lot of it. "Also, I think you're cheating."

"How could I be cheating?" he objected.

Molly sighed, and looked at the board another moment. She moved one of her pieces, then his, hers, his, hers, then his again, trapping her King. "Checkmate," she said, against herself. "You could have won two moves ago. You've been letting it go on because you don't want the game to end yet."

He grinned over at her. "I told you. You're better than you think."

"Nah. I can see someone else's strategy, usually a move too late. I can't come up with my own."

"I'm sure you could. Want me to teach you?"

"No way. We had a deal," she said, then looked around at the collection of games. "Now, where's checkers?"

He won the first game, to her great shame. But she soundly won the next two, and barely had time to brag before the bell rang for the ceremony. It really was similar, though the bride and groom cut a lock of each other's hair and spread it to the wind, and there were more formal-sounding oaths, and a hymn sung. Rather than a bouquet, the bride and groom threw the vase Merry had bought into the crowd, and Molly just had time to duck before someone behind her caught it. The Doctor explained it was supposed to bring luck for a happy home.

The reception had much less formality. Every table held a different kind of food, and rather than people gathering plates and sitting at a specific table, people flitted from table to table, sitting and eating what they wanted and talking with who was there, before moving on to another. Molly had eaten at the party she and the Doctor had just left, but still sampled some things so she wouldn't seem rude. The blue fruit Clara had rejected in the Rings of Ahkatan turned out to be worthy of rejection, somehow sour and bitter and cloyingly sweet. The Doctor seemed to enjoy it.

When they weren't eating, people wandered around, playing games or going into the tents to look at what crafts were being taught or sold. Molly peeked into a tent to see an older woman showing a crowd of children how to weave strips of brightly colored silk. When she turned to see if the Doctor knew what they were making, he was no longer beside her.

"Oh, come on," she muttered, scanning the crowd. She couldn't see him, even when she turned to look at the chess board.

Molly began moving through the crowd, trying to spot a flash of emerald green, but anytime she saw any shade of green at all, it wasn't him. She started trying to discreetly peek into the tents, hoping no one would ask her to stop and look at or buy anything. Thankfully, most ignored her.

One didn't. "Wait," the woman said, her voice low and measured, with a sort of rough quality that reminded her of Stevie Nicks. "Come in."

Molly glanced around the tent, with scarlet walls and various golden things hanging from hooks – coins and statues and some sort of symbol she didn't recognize. The woman sat on the floor, covered in crimson rugs and red and gold cushions, behind a low circular black table. A red veil covered most of her black hair, but her face was visible, with similar ridges on it as Merry had, but also with something that sparkled gold underneath her dark eyes, like a gem. The tent smelled of something akin to sandalwood, and Molly realized exactly what craft was in this tent when she finally noticed that the table had a thick deck of cards, a bag with little wood circles with something etched into them spilling out, and a crystal ball, with a large, dark mirror behind her.

"Sorry," Molly said quickly. "I'm just looking for my friend."

"Let the Doctor find you," said the woman, as she gestured to the empty space at the table across from her. "Sit. I'll tell you what the universe has to say to you."

Molly hesitated. "I didn't say his name."

The woman smiled serenely. "No. You did not."

Molly looked outside the tent, trying desperately to spot the Doctor one more time, but again having no luck. She turned back to the woman. Though she'd never really believed in psychics, she'd have fun going to them now and then. There was a holistic fair she'd dragged Isla to a couple times, where people read Tarot cards, or runes, or spoke to spirits. Psychics, mediums, witches, healers. She'd liked it.

This, she wasn't so sure she liked. Either she was a mind reader, or a genuine psychic. Well, she knew that in this universe psychic abilities were real, but there was a difference between someone genuinely looking into her past or future, or just reading the thoughts in her mind.

And did she really want someone looking into her past? Did she really want to know her future?

But if this woman claimed to know what the universe had to say to her, how could she say no? Of course, she was interested in knowing just for the sake of knowing, but also…hadn't the universe sent her here in the first place? Maybe this woman could tell her why.

Molly took a breath, and stepped inside the tent. As she took a seat at the table, she reached into her pocket, and took out the Tamagotchi. She held it out to the woman. "It's all I have on me," she said. She hoped it was enough payment. She wasn't overly attached to it, but it was one of the few physical souvenirs she had of her time with the Doctor.

The woman took it with a smile, and set it somewhere beside her. "I am the Oracle Pythia of Ahkatan. I hear the voice of the universe, and communicate with it using various means. The universe asks that I use the crystal to receive the message meant for you." The woman – Pythia – took the crystal ball in her hands, the multiple rings on her fingers making a satisfying clinking sound against the clear surface. She shifted it on its black stand to sit in front of her. "This method takes some patience. Give me a moment, Molly Phoenix."

"Quinn," she corrected automatically, though her heart pounded in her throat at the thought of this stranger knowing her original last name. "Not Phoenix. Please."

The woman nodded in acknowledgement, then turned her eyes on the crystal ball. Her gaze was deep, as though she was looking down into an ocean, rather than at a crystal in front of her. Molly looked into it, too, though she assumed she wouldn't see anything. Her breath caught in her chest when she realized that, actually, she could see something. It looked as though it contained shifting, fluffy clouds, all lined in hues of gold and pink and orange. And yet, surrounding them, she could see what seemed to be a hundred stars, with more and more beginning to shine and spin around the clouds. It was faint, not obvious, but it was there.

Molly wanted to say something, but she wanted answers more than she wanted to ask about the images. So, for once in her life, she waited quietly, folding her hands in her lap as she waited. She looked from the crystal ball to the woman, and was startled to see that the image was reflected in the dark of her eyes. Again, she had to fight to remain still and quiet.

At last, the Oracle said, "Though you have always been surrounded by people, you have spent more of your life alone than with others." Well, it was definitely true so far. "Always in a crowd, always seeking to be the focus of everyone's attention, but never gaining any true connection with anyone, any tie to any person or any place. Until recently." Pythia looked up at her for a moment. "But maybe not quite so recent as you think."

Molly frowned. "What do you mean?" She searched her memory, but despite her few attempts at relationships that failed, and near-friendships that fizzled out, being with the Doctor was the only time she could think of that she didn't feel alone.

"Your connection to another came recently. Others' connection to you came long before now."

Molly tried to think of an answer to that riddle. "Oh. The show." It felt strange, to be talking so openly about it. "My life was a TV show in this universe. People felt connected to me as a fictional character, while I was in my own universe."

Pythia gave an odd smile, and Molly couldn't decide if it was in agreement or disagreement. "You watched his life. He watched yours. Others saw both."

"A universe where both our shows exist?" It seemed reasonable, though she hadn't ever thought about the possibility before.

"It started just before another wedding reception." Pythia looked closer at the crystal. "Now, when you are alone, you are not. They reach for you."

And now she was completely lost. "I don't understand." Why couldn't the universe ever speak clearly?

"The universe required their help." Pythia looked up at her, and the stars moving in her eyes paused for a moment. "The universe is infinitely powerful, of course. But it is not sentient in a way we can understand, it cannot direct that power. It needed multiple sources to direct its power to send you here, where you needed to be. Where those other sources wanted you to be."

Molly sat, turning those words over in her head as she looked from Pythia to the crystal and back again. "Could you ask the universe to speak to me like I'm an idiot? Really…spell things out. I'm lost."

Pythia shook her head. "The universe does not use words. It sends the message in feelings and impressions, and I speak it with the only words I can find. It's not the words that are fragmented, it's the message."

"There's no 'Messages from the Universe for Dummies'?" Molly paused, and decided that might've been insulting. "Sorry. Go ahead. I'll figure it out." Or she wouldn't.

Pythia nodded, and looked back into the crystal ball, and the stars in her eyes began to spin again. "Some you met before they knew you. Others knew of you before they met you. They all met you on the street, but you didn't meet them. They ran with you through the crowd, but they were not beside you. They were in the room with you when you were attacked, but you didn't see them. They were your connection here. They thought about it, waited for it, knew it would happen. Then, what they wanted for you, happened to you. Their thoughts and your wish and yet others' wish combined, connecting you to this universe, connecting you to the Doctor, and still you are connected to them by a band of elastic."

"What?" She couldn't help it. What did this mean? "Who is with me? Who is connected to me?" Alarm bells were ringing in her head as loudly as standing beside a plane taking off, the cold pinpricks were on the back of her neck. That vague feeling of being watched everyone had sometimes seized her heart.

This was a lot creepier than she'd thought it would be. And all she'd wanted to know was why she was here.

"They. That's all the universe will tell me."

"They who?" Molly tried to ignore the panic while she put pieces together in her mind. People had been watching her, she knew, on the show, and that was weird enough. But this seemed like something else. If they were still connected to her, it couldn't be from her show. But how else - ?

The Adventures of Molly Quinn, the Doctor, and the TARDIS. They'd joked about it so long ago. That somewhere, they might have a TV show about them. "So…there's another show, about the Doctor and I, right now?"

Pythia shook her head. "Not images on a screen, but visions in a mind, and words on a page."

"…a book?" What a weird book. "But…you said they knew I'd come here, that they wanted me to come here, it was because of them. How could a 'them' in another universe change my life here?" But, of course, it had already happened. It had happened before. The Star Echo lab changed things in different universes just by visiting them. She knew it had to be some outer force that had brought her here. But how had viewers – or readers – or whatever else 'they' were - affected her from a distance?

Pythia leaned in closer to the crystal ball, the point of her nose almost touching it. But Molly could see the image of the clouds and stars fading. "All that we see or seem…" Pythia blinked, and the clouds and starts were gone from the crystal ball, and her eyes. "That's all the universe has to say to you."

"What? No! No way!" Molly leaned in close to try to get a look at the universe within the crystal ball, though she knew it was useless. "It can't leave me hanging like that!"

"The universe communicates what it wishes, and nothing more." Pythia picked something up beside her and offered it to Molly. The Tamagotchi. "Take this back. The message was urgent."

"What was urgent about that?" Molly muttered bitterly, but took the Tamagotchi back with a smile. Still, she felt goosebumps form on her skin. Were there people watching her now, through the pages of a book? How was she going to go on with her life, knowing someone might be reading her every action, every thought? It made her feel sick.

So, probably the best thing to do would be to ignore it.

"You believe you did not receive the answers you sought," said Pythia. "But you did. You may understand, someday. Or perhaps you will not."

"Molly!" The Doctor's voice came from behind her as he walked into the tent. "I've been looking for you."

She turned to the Doctor with an irritated glare. "What's rule number one?"

"…the Doctor lies?"

"Don't. Wander. Off. And what did you do?"

The Doctor seemed insulted. "That applies to you lot, not me! I can wander off, I wander off all the time!"

"But when you wander off, it's essentially the same as me wandering off."

"No, it's not!"

"Same result. I'm still standing there with no idea where you are or how to find you."

"I…" His voice trailed off as he looked around the tent, then at Pythia. "Oh! An oracle. Lovely. Did you get a message, Molly?"

Molly thought about what she'd heard. "It's complicated. I'll tell you later." Maybe the Doctor would be able to make sense of it.

"You."

Molly and the Doctor turned to Pythia, her voice lower pitched than it had been before, her eyes wide and wild. Molly saw the clouds and stars in her eyes, but they were spinning so quickly they blurred together.

"…me?" the Doctor asked as Molly stood. Something in the air felt electric, like just before a static spark, and she felt like she might need to run.

Pythia's deep stare was directed only at the Doctor. "The universe has a message for you, too."

"And…how can I be of assistance to, uh…the universe?"

The lights – which Molly now realized she wasn't certain where the source of them were – began to flicker. "There is another of you in this universe."

"Yeah, there's a lot of me in the universe," said the Doctor, but he sounded uncertain. "I'm everywhere."

"Not of your individuality. Of your species, Time Lord. Of your planet, Gallifrey."

The lights stopped flickering, and the electric energy turned cold. Molly looked from Pythia to the Doctor, the shock on his face. The confusion. And so slight she almost couldn't see it: the hope.

"No. There's not. It's just me. The Valeyard is just another copy of me."

"There is another, one true-born."

"There's really not," the Doctor insisted. His voice was as serious as it had been when he'd been trying to talk Eleven into letting her go. "They're all gone. Unless…"

"Unless?" Molly prompted, though her voice was so small she wasn't sure he could hear it over the truth hanging over them.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but his focus remained on Pythia. "The Master? Is the Master alive, somehow? Is he out there?" Though he knew how dangerous the Master could be, Molly caught a note of excitement in his voice.

"They do not proclaim themselves to be the master of any," Pythia said. "They are a survivor, having lived on the outskirts of a great war."

Molly watched as the Doctor's eyes darted back and forth, just above Pythia's head, as though he were reading from a list. "I don't…" Molly realized he was reviewing the names of every Time Lord or Time Lady he'd known, trying to think of anyone who might have survived the Time War, and wouldn't have been lured into House's trap. He finally looked back at Pythia. His gaze was a few degrees colder than it had been. "It's impossible. There are no more Time Lords. I trapped the few that were left in another universe, in a painting."

Molly looked from the Doctor to Pythia, and felt her stomach squirm, though she didn't know why yet. Pythia's gaze never moved from the Doctor, but Molly had the feeling she wasn't really seeing him. "There is another."

"Who?!" the Doctor shouted, making Molly jump. He charged forward a couple of steps. "If there's another, then tell me who. Who is it?"

Molly felt tempted to pray to the universe that this wasn't offering him false hope, but it seemed they were somehow speaking to the universe itself. "Their face and name are obscured in dark and light."

"Doctor," Molly said in alarm, grabbing his arm. Her eyes were locked on the dark mirror behind Pythia.

The lights had stopped flickering. But they were still flickering in the mirror.

The Doctor took another step forward and looked into the mirror, his face reflecting darkly back at them. But there was nothing in it but their reflections, and the flickering light.

The Doctor turned back to Pythia. "What does it mean?"

"They have been reaching out for you. You will meet them where no light can escape."

"What does that mean?"

"For in this sleep of death…" But when Pythia blinked, the stars and clouds were gone again, and the light in the mirror held still. "That's all the universe has to say to you, for now."

"No," the Doctor objected, stepping around to crouch down in front of Pythia. "No. You can't just say that there's another Time Lord out there, and then not tell me anything!"

"I'm sorry," said Pythia. "I only know what the universe wants me to say. That's all. I know no more than you do."

Molly took a step forward. "There must be something. Anything. A glimpse of a face, or maybe the room they'll meet in." She paused. "Please. You don't know how important this is to him."

Pythia sighed, and then turned towards the dark mirror. She looked into it for a long moment, and then another, and then another, then she turned back with another sigh. "I'm sorry. I am. There's nothing more for me to see. All I can give you is...well. The impression I was given by the universe, about this person you're looking for. It was all light and dark and black and grey. I don't know if it involved this person's name, or where they are, or where you'll meet them. But I do know they have been reaching for you." She indicated upwards, towards the golden statues. "The lights flickering. That was them. They felt me reaching for them, and they reached back. The flickering lights have been following you for some time, Doctor."

Molly turned to the Doctor. "Do you know of any Time Lord that could just…mess with the lights?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. But they must have more psychic ability than I do, to do something like this." He stood. "Is that everything you can tell me?"

"It is," said Pythia. She indicated to the door. "I would wish you luck, but the universe has plans for both of you. You will have all your answers when you need them."

She knew a dismissal when she heard one. "Thanks," she breathed, and left the tent. She heard the Doctor hesitate another moment, before thanking Pythia and following her.

It was strange, stepping out of that tent and back into a party, where people were laughing and talking and playing music and games. It was all just basic life out here, and in there had been…something else entirely.

She turned to the Doctor. "Do you want to go?"

"Yeah," he said. "You?"

"Definitely."

They turned and began walking away from the party. Molly decided not to say anything, partially so the Doctor could have a moment with his thoughts and with this new, incredible information, and partially because she needed some time with her own.

Someone, somewhere, was watching her. Maybe a lot of someone's. Maybe had been for a while. And she was here because they wanted her to be. And here, now, in this universe, there was another Time Lord out there. Not the Valeyard, not the Master, but a Time Lord that had been reaching for the Doctor across space and time. Thinking about it, she remembered the flickering lights, and finding them odd. Amy's lighted mirror in Asylum of the Daleks. Lampposts in a Town Called Mercy. The Power of Three, The Angels Take Manhattan, the Snowmen, the Bells of Saint John. The light being replaced in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, the TARDIS light replacement in the mini-sode about the Ponds. They were all related to the plot somehow, but it seemed odd they were in every episode, and nothing came of it.

"What did she say to you?" the Doctor asked suddenly, as they were making their way through the market that was quickly emptying.

"Oh boy," she replied, sighed, and then explained it all to him, as exactly as she could remember. By the time she was finished, they were at the TARDIS.

The Doctor stopped in front of the doors, and turned to face her. "So you were sent by that wish you made to the universe. And someone else's wish, too."

"Multiple 'someone's', apparently." She tilted her head a little. "Was that one of your theories?"

"There's not enough information to say whether it was or not," he said. "We still don't know who, or why, or even how, really. But it is good to know that this was a deliberate decision on the universe's part."

"…is it good?"

"Well," the Doctor said, reaching into his pocket and taking out the TARDIS key. "It's better than not knowing anything at all."

"I don't know about that," she muttered, folding her arms as she felt the chill down her spine again. "Remember, she also said that, whoever sent me here, they're still watching. Or reading. Both, maybe."

The Doctor frowned. "Yes. That…I don't like so much. Though I assumed it was a possibility, remember."

"Still creepy."

"It is that," the Doctor agreed. He turned to put the key in the TARDIS.

"Wait," she said, grabbing his arm. "You know what we forgot to do?"

"No, I've forgotten."

"We didn't say goodbye to Merry."

"Oh. Well, that's fine. I don't really-"

Molly grabbed his hand, and took the key out of it. "Not anymore, space boy. We've matured. We say goodbye to our friends now." She originally intended the 'we' to be condescending, but she remembered Isla and knew it applied to her, too. "Let's go."

The Doctor sighed heavily, but turned to follow Molly back to the reception.

Molly glanced back at the TARDIS as they walked away. She really did take you where you needed to be.

Author's Note: It was supposed to be a quick the Neverending Story reference, and it just spun way out of control.