Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint each took a deep breath as they awoke, finding themselves sitting around a hexagon shaped table, with four other open seats.
The walls of the room moved hazily, like a lava lamp.
"Oh, I like the new desktop." Jenny smiled.
"I was getting a little bored of the Taj Mahal." Vastra commented, looking at the table as a tray of tea appear and she reached to pour a cup, "The tea should be superb. It's drawn from one of my favourite memories." A soft thud sounded besides her, but she didn't look up from pouring the tea as Strax appeared next to her, "Strax, good of you to join us."
"It had better be important." Strax huffed, "I was in the middle of destroying some very pleasant primitives."
"I apologise for the interruption, but there is urgent news concerning the Doctor."
Strax eyed the empty seats, "Who else is coming?"
"The women." Vastra replied, as Clara Oswald dropped into her seat. "So glad you could make it." She smiled.
"Where am I?" Clara frowned, looking around, absently taking the tea Vastra offered her.
She had received a letter, told to open it when alone, and gone to her room to read it, seeing it was from Vastra, the woman giving her a candle with some sort of soporific, which she had not lit because she did not want to be drugged! But reading further on, she realised the woman had drugged the paper as well and now here she was...wherever she was.
"Exactly where you were, but sleeping." Jenny told her.
"Time travel has always been possible in dreams." Vastra added, "We are awaiting only two more participants."
"Oh, no." Strax grimaced, realising who one of the women might be, "Not the one with the gigantic head."
"It's hair, Strax." Jenny corrected with an eye roll.
"Hair." He repeated with distaste.
There was a puff of smoke and River Song arrived in the seat next to Clara dressed in a loose cream coloured dress, reminiscent of CALs world in the Library, "Madame Vastra." She greeted the Silurian.
"Professor." She returned, "Help yourself to some tea."
"Why, thank you." She smiled, reaching for the tea cup and lifted it to her lips, only for it to become a flute of champagne.
"How did you do that?" Jenny breathed.
"Disgracefully." River smirked.
"You think you're so impressive." Another voice spoke.
Clara blinked as a young blonde girl appearing in the last seat between Jenny and the woman with the curly hair. She looked quite young, early 20s in human years, a similar age to Theas current appearance, with her blonde hair in a high ponytail, wearing black pants with a forest green long sleeve shirt with missing patches over her shoulders and black combat boots.
"Thea loves it." River smirked.
"Ah." Vastra cut in, seeing Clara staring at the two latest people to arrive, "Perhaps you haven't met. This is the Doctor's companion. That is, his current travelling assistant..."
"Assistant?" Clara frowned.
"Have you gone a darker green?" Strax cut in, eying Vastra suspicious.
"Clara Oswald." The blonde girl smiled across at her, "Thea has talked a lot about you."
"You know Thea." Clara eyed her. Well, of course she probably did. Everyone here knew her and the Doctor, that was likely why they were all here, wasn't it?
"Professor River Song." River introduced, "Thea might have mentioned me?"
"Oh, you're River Song." Clara exclaimed. She had heard the name before, a few times actually. Tended to get a different reaction each time River was mentioned, especially by Thea. Sometimes the girl got very excited mentioning the name, other times she seemed sad, and occasionally she just seemed very irritated. The Doctor just seemed used to her different reactions to the name. She had gathered that Thea and River were close. Never really questioning it as the name was only mentioned in passing, barely long enough for her to get any information about the person. She'd assumed River was more of a friend to Thea than the Doctor. "Professor Song? Sorry, it's just I never realised you were a woman." She shook her head, wincing at how those words came out.
The other girl burst out laughing at that, "sounds like you assumed Thea was straight." She leaned over to take her own tea cup, "I'm Jenny. Or Jen, so you don't get confused with this one." She nodded to Jenny sitting besides her. "Don't worry, I'm not as annoying as my sister."
"Sister?" Clara blinked.
She knew the Doctor had adopted Thea. Was Jen someone else the Doctor had adopted or did he actually have another daughter? Or was she from Sarah Jane's side of the family. All these questions and she knew it was unlikely she'd get answers.
"You are just as annoying." River rolled her eyes, nudging Jens side.
"But not more than." She nudged her back.
"Perhaps we should get down to the business at hand." Vastra interrupted, knowing that Jen was right, she wasn't as annoying as Thea could be, but she was just as bad as the Doctor some days.
"Of course, Vastra." Jen turned her attention to her, "something serious is going on I assume."
Vastra never contacted her, might occasionally pass on some information, as she did for them, for Vastra to call them all here, it was pretty serious.
Vastra nodded, waving her hand, bring up a holographic projection of a man in jail, "Clarence DeMarco. Murderer, under sentence of death. He offered us this in exchange for his life."
She waved her hand again, the image changing to show what looked like a map of stars and line and circles.
"Are those space time coordinates?" Jen frowned.
She vaguely recognised them. She knew as a Time Lord things about space and time came a lot more natural to her than they did the Silurian, but she wasn't a full Time Lord. While River was human plus, she was more the opposite, a Time Lord minus sort of thing. While River had the biology of a human with Time Lord abilities to regenerate, her biology with more like a Time Lord, minus the regenerations, though she did heal remarkably quickly, and it took a lot to actually harm her.
"How'd a human murderer give you those?" She shook her head.
"This, Mr DeMarco claims, is the location of the Doctor's greatest secret."
"Which is?" Clara asked.
"We don't know." Jenny stated, "It's a secret."
"The Doctor does not discuss his secrets with anyone, my dear."
"Except Thea." Jen reminded her.
It was their thing, neither of them kept secrets from each other, a way of trust and honestly, to prove they did love each other. Didn't stop them from lying to each other though.
Jenny flinched, feeling as though something touched her cheek.
"If you're still entertaining the idea that you are an exception to this rule, ask yourself one question. What is his name? What is Theas, real name?"
"I don't think it's that big of a secret." Jen rolled her eyes, "I mean, I know it, River knows it. I'm pretty sure Luke figured it out. Pretty sure Thea told him hers. Her name is so long and ridiculous." She laughed. "No wonder she got a new family when they named her that."
"What?" Clara turned to River; more caught of that she knew their names. She could understand Jen and Thea knowing it as family, could even let Luke knowing it slide. That boy really was a genius. It wouldn't surprise her if Thea told him her real name. "You know his name? He told you?"
"And Theas as well," River nodded, smiling.
She would know Jens too if the girl even had a Gallifreyan name. It was the laws of Gallifrey, no off worlder was allowed to know a Time Lords name. It was why the children spent 400 years in the Academy, that should be plenty of time to come up with a name you wanted to be called for the rest of your life's...unless you were Thea and just went by a nickname of your real name.
Which was perfectly legal on Gallifrey, others did it as well, it sounded quite common to shorten you're name if it was long and call yourself that instead.
"They told you?"
"We're practically family." River shrugged.
"You are?" Clara eyed her.
"River has enough Time Lord DNA to be allowed to know it." Jen offered. She didn't quite fully understand Gallifreyan traditions, but she knew better than to go announcing their names around the universe.
"They still never contacted you?" Vastra frowned at River, "not even Thea?"
"He doesn't like endings." River sighed, "and I think Thea is still mad I didn't want to marry her."
The girl would one day understand why she couldnt do it.
"What?" Clara startled, nearly choking on her tea at that.
Was that why they saw River as family? Was Thea in a relationship with the woman? Did it end badly and that was why she had different reactions every time she was brought up?
"So, what else did this DeMarco tell you?" River asked Vastra, getting back to the topic on hand, "He didn't just buy his life with some coordinates. How did he prove their value?"
"One word, only." Vastra replied.
"Which was?" Jen leaned closer, gesturing her on.
People said her family were dramatic, but Vastra herself certainly had a flare for it.
"A word I've heard in connection with the Doctor before. Trenzalore."
"How exactly did he describe what he was giving you?" River stiffened, recognising the word.
"What's Trenzalore?" Jen looked as confused as Clara.
Instead of answering, Vastra waved her hand once more. The hologram projecting Demarcos face, his voice ringing out; "the Doctor has a secret, you know. He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered."
"You misunderstood." River breathed.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry." Jenny gasped, "I just realised I forgot to lock the doors."
"What is it, Jenny?" Jen asked, she had learnt from her sister to not ignore something just because something else is important.
"It doesn't matter, Jenny." Vastra, however, waved her off, staring at River, "What misunderstanding? Tell me."
"No, ma'am, please." Jenny pleaded, "I should've locked up before we went into the trance."
"Jenny, it doesn't matter!"
"Someone's broken in. Someone's with us. I can hear them."
"Jenny, are you all right?" Jen eyed her.
"Sorry, ma'am. So sorry. So sorry. So sorry. I think I've been murdered..." A tear fell from her eyes as she started to fade away.
"Oh, my stars..."
"Jenny!" Vastra cried
"What's happened to her?" Clara gasped.
"Jenny, can you hear me?" River called.
"Speak to us, boy!" Strax ordered.
"Jenny!" Vastra reached for her, but her hand went straight through.
"You're under attack!" Jen jumped to her feet, realising that.
"You must wake up now." River agreed, "Just wake up. Do it!" She ran over as slapped Vastra awake.
"You too, soldier." Jen threw River's champagne over him, waking him up.
Figures tall and pale in suits and top hats, skin stretched over their eyes so it didn't appear they had any. Their mouth stretched open revealing their sharp teeth.
Jen let out a breath, wishing she had her blaster despite knowing it wouldn't work in a dream. She recognised the beings.
The Whispermen, a boogeyman man told to the young Gallifreyans. Thea had mentioned them. Apparently, her father used to tell her those stories to keep her in bed and out of the way during his late night work meetings.
"Tell the Doctor." They hissed, "Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor."
"Tell him what?" Clara demanded, sounding far braver than she felt, but then again, Jen had instantly moved into protective mode, standing before her. Exactly like Thea. She could see the family resemblance.
Demarcos face disappeared, the face of Dr Simeon replacing it, "His friends and child are lost for ever more, unless he goes to Trenzalore."
"No!" River shouted, "You can't say that. He can't go there. You know he can't. The Doctor can never go to Trenzalore."
"Sorry, Clara," Jen glanced back at her, "you need to wake up!" And jabbed her on the shoulder as she disappeared.
"Jen," River grabbed her by the shoulders, "Run, as far as you can. Don't let them get you, if they do the Doctor will go to Trenzalore to get you. Thea can only keep him back so much. Just run! You're good at that!"
And with that, she slapped Jenny round the face.
~*~
Thea shot up in bed with a start, rubbing her cheek as it felt as though she had been slapped.
She fell back against her pillow, staring at the ceiling.
Well, that was new.
Stars, please let that be far in the future.
She had the horrible feeling that it wasn't.
~.~
Thea rested her head against the Doctors shoulder as they sat on the sofa in the Maitland house. They'd come round to pick up Clara for the next adventure, only to find the woman asleep in her room on the floor. Mr Maitland had needed to go next door and so the Doctor volunteered to watch Angie and Artie as Thea went up to check on Clara. The bad feeling wasn't to ensure it wasn't another Base station incident.
It was much worse.
Clara had been in Vastras dream call.
She'd woken up, finding the Doctor downstairs, blindfolded in the middle of a game of Blinds Man Bluff the kids had used to trick him to going to the cinema.
"So, who was she?" Clara called from the kitchen as she made tea for them all, "the lady with the funny name and the space hair?"
"An old...friend." Thea offered.
"What, like an ex?"
"Can someone be an ex if you never officially dated?"
"But you and her...you flirted and nearly married?" She shook her head.
Thea gave a sad smile, "River Song doesn't do weddings."
"River asked Vastra for the exact words." The Doctor cut in, "What were they?"
Clara opened her mouth to repeat the words when Thea beat her to it, "The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discov..." She trailed off, seeing the Doctor sitting there, near tears.
"Sorry." The Doctor covered his face with his hands, knowing Clara could see the tears in his eyes, "And it was Trenzalore? Definitely Trenzalore?"
"Yeah."
The Doctor stood up and hastily ran from the room without another word.
"Thea!" Clara called as the girl moved to follow and she knew the pair would need a moment alone but she had also left out one important bit of information from the dreamscape, "Jen was there."
She nodded, closing her eyes. "I know." She murmured, "So was I." And hurried out after the Doctor, leaving Clara confused, very sure the girl hadn't actually be there with them.
~.~
"Dad..." Thea murmured, heading down to the under console where the Doctor sat, "dad... they took Jenny." A lump caught in her throat, "they took Jen, we have too...I can't..." She shook her head.
She couldnt even bring herself to say it. But the Whispermen knew, Dr Simeon, or the Great Intelligence, whoever was the reason behind sending them to Trenzalore and kidnapping the others, they knew she would be the voice of reason.
They took Jen to ensure she would get the Doctor down to the planet.
And it was working.
She couldnt do it, she had longed for a sibling all her lives and now she had one. She couldn't loose her sister.
"Maybe you should stay." She suggested, "I can go. I'll take Clara, she'll be my companion for the day." She tried to lighten the mood.
"Are you trying to steal my companions, kiddo?" The Doctor joked weakly.
"Just for the day." She tried to smile, but couldn't quite manage it.
How could she, her family was in danger!
She's go to the extremes for the ones she loved.
Oh, everyone said she'd regenerate protecting them and they had been correct. She wasn't going to let a silly old Cyberplanner harm her Sky.
"You can't go there alone." The Doctor murmured, shaking his head.
"You can't go at all."
"I cant leave them. All they'd done to help me, I have to help them. I cannot loose her again..."
Thea inhaled deeply, knowing his decision had already been made. He was going to Trenzalore. Even if they didn't have Vastra, Strax and Jenny, all they needed was Jen and he wouldn't leave her there. How could they? She was family, family looked after each other. Family always came to help. No matter what.
Laws of time be damned when it came to family.
"Everything good?" Clara asked softly as she stood at the top of the stairs. She didn't want to intrude, but also wanted to know what was happening.
"Let's show them this family isn't to be messed with." Thea smirked.
The Doctor nodded, "Trenzalore." He sighed, "I've heard the name, of course. Dorium mentioned it. A few others. Always suspected what it was, never wanted to find out myself."
"River knew." Thea murmured, "River always knew."
"That she did," the Doctor agreed, "Right, come here. Give me your hand." He took Claras hand, leading her to the console, "Now, the coordinates you saw will still be in your memory. I'm linking you into the TARDIS telepathic circuit. Won't hurt a bit."
"Liar." Thea called.
"What?" Clara looked at her for that when the Doctor jabbed a wire into the palm of her hand as she hissed in pain. "Ok, what is Trenzalore? Is that your big secret?"
"No." The Doctor sighed.
"Okay, what then?"
"When you are a time traveller, there is one place you must never go. One place in all of space and time you must never, ever find yourself."
"Where?"
"You didn't listen, did you?" Thea shook her head, "'The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered'", she recited, "He wasn't talking about the secret."
"No, no, no, that's not what's been found." The Doctor remarked, "He was talking about my grave. Trenzalore is where I'm buried."
"How can you have a grave?" Clara frowned.
"Everyone does." Thea blinked.
"Somewhere out there in the future, waiting for us." The Doctor muttered. "The trouble with time travel, you can actually end up visiting."
"But you're not going to." Clara argued, "You just said it's the one place you must never go."
"They have Jen." The Doctor breathed, "I thought I lost her once, I wont...I cant..." He shook his head, his words catching in his throat.
He had thought he had lost her once, but by pure luck she had survived. He couldnt do it again, the first time was bad enough. He had lost too much to loose her again.
He didn't think he could cope loose another child.
"She's family." Thea stated as though that was enough for Clara to understand why they had to go. "And Vastra, Strax and Jenny have been their for us. We cant abandon them. They didn't abandon you." She looked at the Doctor for her last words.
"Never questioned me, never judged me, they were just kind." The Doctor murmured, "I owe them. I have a duty." He glanced at the girls, "No point in telling either of you this is too dangerous."
"None at all." They both said.
"You and me against the universe." Thea determined.
"How can we save them?" Clara added.
"Apparently, by breaking into my own tomb." The Doctor said.
The Doctor pulled down a lever, sending the TARDIS into flight as Thea jumped in to try and help as Clara fell back away from the centre console.
"What's that?" Clara shouted, stumbling back to the console to hold on as the TARDIS jolted.
"She's just figured out where we're going." Thea called, "She's against it."
"I'm about to cross my own timeline in the biggest way possible." The Doctor added, "The TARDIS doesn't like it. She's fighting it. Hang on! Hang on!"
"Positions!" Thea shouted, ducking under the console, ready for when it went really bad. Clara quickly hurried to the side console, ducking her head down, using one arm on the railing to steady herself for the incoming explosion.
Sparks flew from the console as the TARDIS resisted, a small explosions sending the Time Lords flying back as the room went dark.
"Now what?" Clara looked around the dark room.
"She doesn't want to land." The Doctor sighed, "She's shut down."
"So we're not there?"
"We're close." Thea remarked, moving to the doors and looking down at the planet below.
The Doctor followed after her, peering down over her shoulder, "Okay, so that's where I end up."
Clara joined them at the doors, seeing them staring down at a grey planet, covered in ash, fire and smoke with red cracks scattered across the surface.
"Always thought maybe I'd retire." The Doctor murmured, "Take up watercolours or bee-keeping, or something."
"Thought I'd have dumped you in a home." Thea tried to lighten the mood, "only visit you once a month only for you to tell me the same old stories for 1000th time."
"So, how do we get down there?" Clara asked, "Jump?"
"Close." Thea nodded, "I suggest falling instead."
The Doctor shut the doors and turned back to the console, "She's turned off practically everything, except the anti-gravs. Guess what I'm turning off..."
He didn't give them a chance to answer as he held the sonic up, turning off the anti-gravs as Thea dove to the floor, sending Clara down with her. As the TARDIS herself fell to the planet below.
"Ow!" Thea groaned as the TARDIS came to a crash landing on the planet, thankfully none of them having broken bones giving the lack of warning to prepare the free fall through the atmosphere.
"I second that." Clara muttered.
"I think you're in serious trouble now, dad." Thea remarked, hearing the low angry hums from the console.
He winced, "best get out, quickly." He hurried to the doors, holding them open as Thea helped Clara to her feet, hurrying to the doors.
And stepping out into an old graveyard, lightning flashing in the dark sky as thunder rumbled.
The Doctor looked back, seeing a panel of glass of the door had cracked from the landing.
"You okay?" Clara asked him, "You're visiting your own grave. Anyone would be scared."
"It's more than that," the Doctor breathed, "I'm a time traveller. I've probably time-travelled more than anyone else."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning my grave is potentially the most dangerous place in the universe."
"So we get in, find the guys and get out fast." Thea reasoned, taking the Doctors hand and headed off. "Maybe kick some arse while we're here."
"Because you can reach higher than the knees now?" Clara joked.
It had certainly been weird seeing her regeneration. One minute she was talking to a small girl with curly hair and now she was taller, but really despite the different appearance it was the same on Thea.
After they'd dropped her and the kids home shed had a cup of tea and spent the week trying to get her head around it. Luckily they had left her Sarah Jane's number, talking to someone who had seen it before helped a lot.
She was fine now, a bit freaked out a first, but she knew that was still Thea.
"You really want to talk about my height?" Thea crossed her arms.
"Wasn't expecting so many graves." Clara murmured as they walked.
"It's a battlefield graveyard." The Doctor explained, "My final battle."
"Why are some of them bigger?"
"They're soldiers. The bigger the gravestone, the higher the rank."
"So, your grave would be the biggest..." Thea breathed, coming to a stop, staring up at something.
A ginormous TARDIS loomed over them.
"It's a hell of a monument." Clara blinked.
"No, that's the actual TARDIS. When a TARDIS is dying, sometimes the dimension dams start breaking down. They used to call it a size leak. All the bigger on the inside starts leaking to the outside. It grows."
"When we say that's the TARDIS, we don't mean it looks like the TARDIS, we mean it actually is the TARDIS." The Doctor elaborated, "My TARDIS from the future. What else would they bury me in?"
Thea stared at the TARDIS a moment longer before turning to follow after the Doctor as he walked off she didn't want to speak aloud where her grave was. Because for the TARDIS to be here and dying meant that she either hadn't been there or left him to die alone.
Neither of them seemed right to her.
She wouldn't leave him to die alone in a battle.
So, did she also have a grave here?
Clara made to follow when a voice called out, "Clara." She turned to see River Song standing there, "Don't speak, don't say my name. They can't see or hear me. Only you can."
"Clara?" Thea looked back seeing the woman hadn't followed.
"We're mentally linked." River explained, "It's the conference call. I kept the line open."
"Clara, we don't have time to stop and chat." She stepped to the woman's side and stopped, "River?"
River stared, her eyes widening as Thea looked right at her, believing she was seeing her...but the girl stepped past her and knelt on the ground before a grave with her name on it.
"That can't be right." Clara shook her head as the Doctor joined them.
"No, it can't." She agreed quietly, her fingers tracing the encryption.
"She's not dead."
Thea sighed, "she is. She's been dead for a very long time." She closed her eyes a moment, "before I even knew her."
"Yeah, probably should have mentioned that." River called, "Never the right time."
"But I met her." Clara shook her head.
"Yeah, time travel is possible in dreams...and death. I don't understand how her grave is here." Thea frowned, "River didn't die here. If anything, that should be my grave!"
They spun around, finding themselves surrounded by men without eyes and sharp teeth.
"The Whispermen!" Thea breathed, clinging to the Doctors arm at the sight as he whipped out the sonic, but it was useless against them.
"This man must fall as all men must." They hissed, "The fate of all is always dust."
"If it isn't my gravestone, then what is it?" River asked Clara.
"What do you think that gravestone really is?" Clara asked Thea, wanting to distract the girl and not the Doctor seeing him trying to keep the Whispermen back, and well, the girl actually looked scared for the first time she'd seen her. If she spoke Rivers words to her it might distract her enough, or at least she'd be more likely to listen.
"The gravestone?" She frowned.
"Maybe it's a false grave." River suggested.
"Maybe it's a false grave." Clara repeated.
"What are you...?" She shook her head, "you think it could be a secret entrance to the tomb?"
"Yes!" River shouted.
"Could be." Clara reasoned.
"Well, it'd make more sense than River having a grave here than myself." She turned, snatching the sonic from the Doctors hands and pointing it at the grave and a hole opened below them, sending them crashing into the tunnels beneath.
The Whispermen looked down at them, "The man who lies will lie no more when this man lies at Trenzalore."
Thea twisted onto her back, staring up at the beings that used to give her nightmares and flicked the sonic once more, closing the opening, preventing the Whispermen following them down...and leaving them in darkness.
She couldnt win, today, could she?
She gasped, feeling someone grab her hand. The Doctor taking the sonic from her, flicking it on and using it as a light.
"It's alright," He assured her, "they're gone."
"For now." She murmured as he helped her to her feet.
She turned to help Clara up as the Doctor found a torch, igniting it and handing the sonic back to Thea as a bit of extra protection.
The sonic wasn't a weapon and wouldn't do much against the Whispermen. But he knew as much as she pretended, they did scare her, and it was entirely possible someone or something had taken the legend and brought it to life just to keep her out the way.
The sonic would at least keep her feeling a bit better. As good as he felt right now.
"Come on." The Doctor murmured, taking her hand and heading off down the tunnels using the torch to light the way.
"Where are we?" Clara wondered, running a hand over a root in the wall as they walked.
"Catacombs." They replied.
"I hate catacombs. So how come I met River Song if she's...gone?"
"Oh well," the Doctor shrugged, "you know how it is when you lose someone close to you. I sort of made a back-up."
"I died saving him." River explained behind Clara, "In return, he saved me to a database in the biggest library in the universe. Left me like a book on a shelf. Didn't even say goodbye. He doesn't like endings."
Clara was suddenly yanked back by Thea with a shout of; "run!" A moment later a Whisperman stepped through Rivers image.
"Come on!" The Doctor called, as the Whispermen followed after them, "Run, run!"
~.~
Dr Simeon, or at least the body of the man, stood outside the doors to the Doctors tomb, facing Vastra, Strax, the recently revived Jenny and Jen.
"It was a minor skirmish, by the Doctor's blood-soaked standards. Not exactly the Time War, but enough to finish him." He smirked, "In the end, it was too much for the old man."
"Blood-soaked?" Jenny shook her head.
"The Doctor has been many things, but never blood-soaked." Vastra glared.
Dt Simeon turned to her, "Tell that to the leader of the Sycorax, or Solomon the trader, or the Cybermen, or the Daleks. The Doctor lives his life in darker hues, day upon day, and he will have other names before the end. The Storm, the Beast, the Valeyard."
"Even if any of this were true, which I take the liberty of doubting, how did you come by this information?"
"I am information."
"You were a mind without a body last time we met." Jenny remarked.
"And you were supposed to stay that way." Jen glared.
"Alas, I did." Simeon reached for his face, tearing it off to reveal an empty shell...which collapsed to the ground, leaving a pile of clothes.
A Whisperman stepped forwards and its face morphed into that of Dr Simeons.
"As you can see." He smirked.
~.~
"Come on!" Thea pulled Clara along, the Doctor right behind them, running into the base of the TARDIS, quickly slamming the doors behind him just as the Whispermen reached them.
"This way." Thea turned and started ascending the stairs besides the TARDIS walls.
"Bit of a climb." The Doctor commented. "I think I remember the way." They head up a few more flights when the Doctor looked back, seeing Clara stumbling to the side, "Clara? Clara." He ran back to her side, "Hey, it's okay. You're fine. The dimensioning forces this deep in the TARDIS, they can make you a bit giddy."
Clara nodded, "I know, I know." She blinked, "How do I know? How do I know that?"
"Clara, it's okay. You're fine."
"Have we, have we done this before?" She winced, holding her head, recalling vague memories of running through a damaged TARDIS, mot that she could remember that happening, "We have. We have done this before. Climbing through a wrecked TARDIS. You said things, things I'm not supposed to remember."
"We can't do this now." The Doctor shook his head, "The TARDIS is a ruin. The telepathic circuits are awakening memories you shouldn't even have."
"Clara," Thea reached out for her as she looked down, mumbling about the Dalek asylum, "Clara," and Victorian London, "Clara!"
Clara turned to them, tears in her eyes, "What do you mean, you keep meeting me? You said I died. How could I die?"
"That is not a conversation you should even remember." The Doctor told her.
"What do you mean I died?"
Thea swallowed, looking past her, hearing Whispers reaching up to them, "they're catching up. We have to go."
The Doctor took Claras hand this time, knowing Thea would keep up, "run!" He shouted, seeing the Whispermen advancing again, "Run!"
"The girl who died he tried to save." The Whispermen hissed, "She'll die again inside his grave."
~.~
Dr Simeon stood with his back to the group, staring at the doors to the tomb, "The doors require a key. The key is a word. And the word is the Doctor's."
"Here I am," the Doctor called, stepping up, "late to my own funeral."
"Dad!" Jen gasped in relief.
"Jen." Thea ran to her side, "you're alright."
"Keeping it in the family you know," she shrugged, "the king and queen of alright. What about you?" She asked as Thea hugged her.
"We're fine." She nodded.
"Nice face."
"Oh, you like it?" Thea smiled.
"I'd like it even more if you told me about it." Jen huffed.
That was so typical of them. For her to be left uniformed of either of them regenerating and having to find out in the middle of danger when they didn't really have time to talk about it.
"Sorry," she winced, glancing over to Jenny the human, "are you alright?"
"Yes, ma'am." Jenny nodded.
"Jen," The Doctor smiled at her. Ever so thankful she was alright and didn't look to be hurt in any kind of way. Hopefully they had just been brought here to lure him to his tomb and weren't going to be hurt.
"Only you could be late to your own funeral, dad." Jen rolled her eyes at him.
"Open the door, Doctor," Dr Simeon glared at him, "Speak, and open your tomb."
"No." The Doctor refused.
"Because you know what's in there?"
"I will not open those doors."
"The key is a word lost to time. A secret hidden in the deepest shadow and known to you and your family." He eyed Thea and Jen, not seeing River besides them, "The answer to a question."
"I will not open my tomb." The Doctor stated.
"Doctor, what is your name?" Still the Doctor refused so Simeon reached out and grabbed the Doctor by the cheeks, squeezing them but he still remained silent. He stepped back, turning to the Whispermen, knowing exactly what would get the Doctor to talk, "The Doctor's children. Stop their hearts." Thea stood before Jen as the Whispermen advanced.
"Back off!" She warned, grabbing a stick from the ground and waving it around threateningly.
Simeon smirked seeing Vastra, Strax and Jenny step up to defend the girls from his creatures, "and anyone who gets in their way."
"Stay back!" Jen warned Clara, pushing her further behind them all knowing that girl was the most vulnerable. She had no training for self defence at least the others knew how to fight and were willingly trying to defend them.
"Madam, boys, combat formation." Strax commanded, "They are unarmed."
"So are we." Jenny countered.
"Do not divulge our military secrets."
"Stop this!" The Doctor cried, "Leave them alone!"
"Your name, Doctor," Simeon glared, "Answer me."
"Don't do it." Thea gasped, even as Simeon grabbed her, reaching his hand inside her chest and grabbing her left heart.
"Thea!" Jen shouted.
Strax grabbed the stick as Thea dropped it, slicing through a Whisperman, "Do you want me to do that again?" He grinned...only for the hole to close up again.
"Doctor who?" Simeon smirked, squeezing his hand around Theas heart as she gasped.
"Don't. Answer." She grit out.
"Ah!" Jen cried out as a Whisperman grabbed her right heart.
"Please, stop it." The Doctor begged.
Simeon reached in Theas chest with his other hand, squeezing her right heart as she fell to her knees, "doctor who?"
"Unhand me, sir!" Strax cried as he too, was heart-grabbed.
"Leave him alone!" The Doctor shouted as his family was attacked, "Let him be."
"Don't worry, sir. I think I've got him rattled."
"Doctor!" Clara gasped, backing away as a Whisperman reached out for her own heart, "Doctor!"
"Doctor who?" Simeon narrowed his eyes.
"Dad, don't!" Thea warned.
"Please!" The Doctor cried...
...and the doors opened.
Simeon released his hold on Thea as she scrambled away from him. The Whispermen releasing their hold on the others now that the doors were open.
"The TARDIS can still hear me." River remarked, moving to kneel besides Thea, "Lucky thing, since your old man is being so useless."
"Why did you open the door, sir?" Strax grunted, "I had them on the run."
"Thea...Jen..." The Doctor ran to embrace them tightly, not wanting to let go again. That had been far too close to losing them again. He didn't even care how the tomb doors opened, not if it meant his girls were safe. "They won't ever hurt you again. I swear."
"I totally get why you're scared of them." Jen murmured to Thea, rubbing her heart to try and ease the pain that was (thankfully) slowly fading.
"I'm not scared!" Thea huffed.
"Of course you're not." River shook her head, looking at her fondly, "but you are so stubborn and for some reason I love that about you."
"Then why so red in the face?" Jen countered, seeing Theas face reddening.
"Because unlike you, he got both my hearts." She sneered, turning to the man who had hurt her hearts, "You, are not surviving today." She threatened the man.
The Doctor turned and glared at the man who dared to harm his family, "Now then, Dr Simeon, or Mr G Intelligence, whatever I call you, do you know what's in there?"
"For me, peace at last." Simeon smirked, "for you and your family, pain everlasting. Won't you invite us in?"
He stepped aside as the Doctor glared at him, stepping past and opening the doors, leading them all inside, him first, Jen and Thea following before Simeon and the others followed.
They stepped inside the console room, but far different that the room they were all used too. It was old, partially destroyed with vines and other flora growing.
They headed up the stairs to the main console room, hearing the cloister bells ringing, where the time rotor had been replaced with a shining white light, tendrils of energy twisting around it.
Thea swallowed down a lump in her throat. For the TARDIS to still be here, in Trenzalore, dying with the Doctor. Then what happened to her? The TARDIS was programed, if anything happened to her pilot to find the next in command. Which was her, so what happened to her? Did she die her too?
If she did, where was her grave?
"What's that?" Clara breathed, staring at the light.
"What were you expecting, a body?" The Doctor scoffed, "Bodies are boring. I've had loads of them. Nah, that's not what my tomb is for."
"But what is the light?" Vastra inquired.
"It's beautiful." Jenny smiled.
"Should I destroy it?" Strax demanded.
"Shut up, Strax." Thea and Jen huffed at him.
"Doctor, explain." Clara shook her head, "What is that?"
"The tracks of my tears." The Doctor murmured.
"Less poetry, Doctor." Simeon sneered, "just tell them."
"It's a time tunnel." Thea told them.
"Time travel is damage." The Doctor tried to explain, "It's like a tear in the fabric of reality. That is the scar tissue of my journey through the universe. My path through time and space from Gallifrey to Trenzalore." He pulled out the sonic, flicking it on the light as echoes of his previous regenerations whispering things they'd spoken at one time or another, "My own personal time tunnel. All the days..." he swallowed hard, starting to stagger, "Even the ones that I, er, even the ones that I haven't lived yet."
"Dad!" Thea groaned as she instantly moved to his side as he collapsed to the ground, taking her with him.
"Dad!" Jen cried, worried as she ran to his side, with Clara.
"What's wrong?" Clara asked.
"Paradoxes." Thea answered, "its is own timestream, he shouldn't be here. The paradoxes..."
"How bad?" Jen asked quietly.
She didn't know quite as much about Paradoxes as they did. They didn't affect her as much as they would a full Time Lord, but she did get that uncomfortable feeling when one happened.
"Very."
"No." The Doctor moaned, seeing Simeon moving to the tunnel, taking his chance while everyone focused on him on the floor, "What are you doing? Somebody stop him!"
Jen jumped to her feet, but the Whispermen stepped before her, stopping her from reaching the man.
"The Doctor's life is an open wound." Simeon stated, "And an open wound can be entered."
"It would destroy you." Thea glared.
"Not at all." Simeon turned to them, "It will kill me. It will destroy him." He tilted his head at her, "and you two. I can rewrite his every living moment. I can turn every one of his victories into defeats. Poison every friendship. Deliver pain to his every breath."
"It will burn you up. Once you go through, you can't come back. You will be scattered along his timeline like confetti."
"It matters not. He thwarted me at every turn. Now, you will give me peace as I take revenge on every second of his life." He smirked, "goodbye, Doctor. Goodbye daughters."
"What?" Jen shook her head.
How could going back into the Doctors timeline affect either of them.
"You can't!" Thea cried, staring in horror as Simeon stepped back into the light, the Whispermen disappearing.
The Doctors back arched as he shouted out in pain, his eyes tightly shut as he struggled to breath, the pain too much to even catch a breath.
"What's wrong with him?" Clara gasped, "What's happening?"
"He's being rewritten..." Thea breathed, "Jen, I..." her words caught as she turned to her sister, but the girl was already gone. Never having existed.
"Where's she gone?" Clara looked around.
"Simeon is attacking his entire timeline." Vastra gasped, "He's dying all at once." She pulled out her scanner, to try and track the changes being made, "The Dalek Asylum... Androzani..."
"What did you say?" Clara shook her head, "Did you say the Dalek Asylum?"
"Now he's dying in London, with us."
"It is done." Simeons voice echoed.
Thea looked back over to the timestream, seeing it was now burning red from Simeons changes. She swallowed hard, clinging to the Doctor as he writhed in pain.
She wasn't sure if Simeon was aware she wasn't actually his daughter. Affecting the Doctors timestream would do her no harm except change her past so she never met him.
"Oh, dear Goddess." Vastra breathed as realisation dawned on her.
"What's wrong?" Jenny looked at her.
"A universe without the Doctor. There will be consequences. Jenny, Strax, with me." She turned, the three of them hurrying out the room.
"The Dalek Asylum," Clara murmured, "You said it was me that saved you. How? Victorian London. How...how could I have been in Victorian London?"
"I don't know..." Thea whispered.
Right now, she didn't care. Her dad's entire life was being rewritten. Simeon had already killed her sister off. His life was burning up, his past being rewritten to die every time he succeeded.
"No. Please, stop." The Doctor begged, though he wasn't speaking to them, but to Simeon in his timestream, "My life, my whole life is burning."
Clara glanced back at the time tunnel, "I have to go in there, don't I?"
"Please...please, no..."
"Because I've already done it." She turned back to Thea, "its was a paradox from the very beginning. You've already seen me do it. I'm the Impossible Girl, and this is why."
"Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't." A voice spoke and she looked up to see River standing at the side of the room.
"If I step in there, what happens?"
"Don't..." Thea let out a breath, feeling her past changing.
She never met the Doctor, none of this ever happened.
So many years gone in an instant.
"The time winds will tear you into a million pieces." River told Clara, "A million versions of you, living and dying all over time and space, like echoes."
"But the echoes could save the Doctor, right?"
"But they won't be you. The real you will die. They'll just be copies."
"But they'll be real enough to save him." She glanced over to the Doctor as he let out another cry in pain, "it's like my mum said. The soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe. It's the only way to save him, isn't it?"
"The stars are going out." Vastra ran back into the room, alone, "And Jenny and Strax are dead. There must be something we can do." She gasped, her eyes widening as she caught sight of Thea the girl on her knees, head down, grimacing in pain as her past changed.
"Stop her...please..." Thea breathed. "River..."
River looked over sharply as Thea called out her name. She made her way to the girls side. Oh, she knew the girl couldn't see her. She was only calling out her name in worry that her own existence would be erased. But that didn't matter, she was already dead. You couldn't harm what was already gone.
"Well, how about that?" Clara slowly rose, "I'm soufflé girl after all."
"Don't..." Thea panted.
"If this works, get out of here as fast as you can. And spare me a thought now and then."
"Clara..."
Clara smiled down at her, "you didn't see this coming?" She teased, inching towards the tunnel, "In fact, you know what?" She turned back to them, "Run. Run, you clever boy, and remember me."
She gave a small smile before jumping into the timestream...
...and the light turned back to white.
~.~
Vastra blinked as the light faded to see herself standing in the middle of the room, Jenny and Strax besides her, restored, as the Doctor sat on the floor where he had been writhing in pain, but now he was fully recovered, the timeline restored as he tightly hugged Jen and Thea.
"It was an unprovoked and violent attack, but that's no excuse..." Strax was saying.
"We're all restored." Vastra cut him off, "That's all that matters now."
"We are not all restored." The Doctor shook his head.
"We have to get Clara back." Thea agreed.
"We can't leave her like that." Jen added.
"You can't go in there," River argued, "It's your own time stream, for God's sake!"
"Can we go in?" Jen wondered, "I mean, its you're timestream, you can't go because that'll cause a really big paradox, wouldn't it? But if we went..." She gestured between her and Thea, leaving her words hanging for them to volunteer.
"I'll go." Thea nodded, "it'll be less of a paradox if I go."
"Get her back, but not like this!" River huffed.
"Is she still alive?" Vastra questioned, "It killed Dr Simeon."
"Clara's got one advantage over the Great Intelligence." The Doctor began.
"Which is?"
"Me."
"Doctor, please listen to me. At least hear me. Please, Thea."
"I mean, you could go in." Thea looked at the Doctor, "as long as you could get out again, the paradox would resolve."
"How would I get out again?" He frowned, his eyes widening as he removed his bowtie, wrapping one end around his wrist and giving the other end to Jen to hold on to pull both him and Clara back out. "Now, if I don't come back..."
"Is that a possibility?" Jens eyes widened.
"No, no, it'll be fine."
"Doctor you can't!" River shouted, but he had already turned, jumping into his timestream with a cry of, "Geronimo!"
"Don't think he was listening to you." Thea muttered.
"What?" Jen looked quizzically at her. Was she getting confused either a future conversation or was she officially loosing her mind?
Rivers eyes widened, "you can hear me?"
"And see you." Thea nodded.
"See who?" Jen shook her head.
"How?" River breathed, "I'm not really here."
"Guess I'm just that clingy." She smiled at her, "you are always here to me, River. And I always listen, and I can always see you." She pointed back at Jen, "not a word or I'll tell him about you secret boyfriend."
Jen slapped her lips shut.
"If you could hear me, why didn't you speak to me?" River asked quietly.
"Because I thought it would hurt." Thea sighed.
"I believe I could have coped."
"Hurt me." She corrected, "I never gave you a goodbye, did I? And you deserve that. Goodbye River Song."
"I'll have to take it." River mock-sighed, "a kiss wouldn't go a miss. Shame your hearts are for someone else."
"What do you mean by that?" She frowned.
"Spoilers." River smirked... before fading away.
~.~
Clara fell to the ground, mist and fog surrounding her as she looked around, seemingly in the graveyard on Trenzalore. "Doctor?" Hearing a thud, "Doctor! Please, please, I don't know where I am."
"Clara." The Doctor called down to her, "You can hear me. I know you can."
"I can't see you." She looked up, trying to spot him.
"I'm everywhere. You're inside my time stream. Everything around you is me."
Clara gasped as the 1st Doctor walked past.
"I can see you." Clara breathed, seeing his previous bodies walked by. "All your different faces, they're here."
"Those are my ghosts. My past. Every good day, every bad day."
Clara was knocked to the ground as it shook, lightning flashing in the distance, "What's wrong? What's happening?"
"I'm inside my own time stream." The Doctor told her, "It's collapsing in on itself."
"Well, get out then."
"Not until I've got you."
"I don't even know who I am." She started to tear up.
"You're my Impossible Girl." He told her softly, "I'm sending you something. Not from my past, from yours. Look up. Look."
Clara looked up, to see a leaf floating down to her, the leaf that she'd used to save Akhatten.
"This is you, Clara. Everything you were or will be. Take it." She grabbed it, "You blew into the world on this leaf. Hold tight. It will take you home. Clara!"
Clara turned, hearing his voice far closer than before seeing him standing behind him, half hidden by the mist.
"Clara!" He urged her over, "Come on. Come on, to me, now. You can do it. I know you can."
"How?" She whispered.
"Because it's impossible." The Doctor smiled at her, "And you're my Impossible Girl. How many times have you saved me, Clara? Just this once, just for the hell of it, let me save you. You have to trust me, Clara. I'm real. Just one more step."
Clara stumbled forwards, falling into the Doctors open arms as he held her close, "Clara, my Clara." He kissed the top of her head...only to stiffen at the figure standing behind them. An older man, in worn out clothes.
"Who's that?" Clara frowned.
"Never mind. Let's go back."
"But who is he?"
"He's me." The Doctor stated, "There's only me here, that's the point. Now let's get back."
"But I never saw that one. I saw all of you. 11 faces, all of them you." She looked at him, "You're the 11th Doctor."
"I said he was me. I never said he was the Doctor."
"I don't understand."
"Look, my name, my real name, that is not the point. The name I chose is the Doctor. The name you choose, it's like, it's like a promise you make. He's the one who broke the promise." Clara collapsed in his arms, "Clara? Clara? Clara!" He picked her up, ready to carry her out, "He is my secret."
"What I did, I did without choice." The man spoke, his voice deep and tired.
"I know." The Doctor swallowed.
"In the name of peace and sanity."
"But not in the name of the Doctor." He turned and walked off with Clara in his arms.
The other man turned to watch them go, looking old and tired, with a small beard.
~.~
"She's going to be alright, isn't she?" Jen asked, looking at the Doctor as they gathered in the med bay back on the TARDIS.
They quickly pulled him and Clara out of his timestream, the woman unconscious in his arms as they hurried back to the TARDIS. He'd come straight to the med bay to ensure Clara would survive while she had helped Thea drop Vastra, Jenny and Strax back in Victorian London before coming to ensure the woman was going to be alright.
Of course she was worried, she saw most of the Doctor's companions as family, some of them closer than others, like the Ponds, she saw Amy and Rory pretty much as another set of parents. Sarah Jane was like a mother, the same as how Thea saw her. She had run into Jack Harkness, apparently Martha Jones she'd met on Messaline had mentioned her to him so thankfully he hadn't tried to flirt with her or say hello because that would have been really weird and gross. The man was like a weird but fun uncle to her.
"She'll be impossible." Thea murmured, staring down at Clara and taking her hand, hoping that her feeling was right for once.
The Doctor looked over from the scan, seeing that Clara would be fine, she had no lasting affects from being split apart in his timestream. She was just exhausted. He looked over at Thea, she had been silent the whole time since leaving Trenzalore.
"Are you okay?" He asked her.
She nodded, "tired. You?"
"Exhausted."
"Oh, glad im not the only one!" Jen exclaimed, "can I stay the night?""Oh, you can stay as long as you want." The Doctor told her, wrapping an arm around them both, "come on. Let Clara rest."