Written in the Stars - update
• Previous Chapters • Sequel to Falling in Temptation • Avalon’s Masterlist
• 11th doctor x ofc
Taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @gloryekaterina @lenonizi @foxesandmagic @castielscaplan
If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!
A/N: Disclaimer: This is a plot from one of Doctor Who's many comic book stories. Most of the dialogue is directly from the comic!
The Doctor had noticed very early on that Avalon was too nose-deep in her journal for it to be normal. Yes, she was always writing in that thing but not with such a serious face. And for a while, it had been upside down too. She would never say it out loud, not in his dreams, but the fact that she had almost just regenerated a few hours ago had gotten to her.
He made his way around the console to where she was sitting and gently tapped her on the head. With her voluminous hair, it took several taps for her to feel his touch.
“Sorry, did we find her?” she blinked and closed her journal immediately.
“Still running but we got Chiyoko,” the Doctor said off-handedly. “But before we start our tremendous journey, do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk?” Her brows furrowed. “About what?”
The Doctor's expression became flat as he stared at Avalon waiting for her to own up to it. But this was Avalon Reynolds they were talking about. She'd rather take a bite out of her own journal before admitting anything deep. He could easily regenerate himself — if he still had one left — and she still wouldn’t say a word.
“Just a few hours ago you were about to regenerate — you were going to die and become a new person. You don't have anything to say about that?”
Avalon opened and closed her mouth several times before a simple ‘umm’ escaped. When she realized she had nothing she was willing to say, she reached for her journal again and re-opened it. She had no pen though, which made it harder to avoid the Doctor’s burning eyes on her.
“It’s not a big deal,” she huffed, snapping her journal shut again. “We’ve had questions about it that nobody could answer for us, not even you or River. Guess we found that out today. I can regenerate…” As soon as the words left her mouth, she gulped hard.
So maybe she’d been avoiding the thoughts about it. What was she supposed to do? The idea of letting herself go was too complex and tricky to think about. Whenever she thought about regeneration, she was always thinking about the Doctor, who had a hell of a better grasp of it and had done it one too many times. She never thought about actually doing it herself.
But right now the Doctor was staring at her waiting for something to happen. Maybe for her to break down or have some deep thoughts about it, but the truth is that she didn’t have any. She just didn’t want it. Suddenly her jokes about regenerating became grave and serious because it almost did happen.
“It’s…not a big deal,” she said unconvincingly, “We-we talked about the process. You talked about it with me, and explained it a long time ago. I knew exactly what would've happened.”
“A textbook explanation is nowhere near the same as living through it,” the Doctor pointed out. He stroked the side of her face, forcing her to finally look at him. “Dying is not something to brush off. Tell me about it. I've done it 12 times. Kind of a big deal.”
“Fine, you want to talk about it? Let's talk about regeneration then.” Avalon took the challenge and was ready to slam him. “Let’s talk about how even in the face of permanent death, you would rather die than to let me heal you. Let’s talk about that!”
This is blowing up in your face spectacularly. In retrospect, the Doctor knew he should have seen it coming. Turning the tables on him was Avalon’s favorite pastimes.
“You would rather that I be alone than to let me share my lives with you so that we could be together!” Avalon’s lips had stretched into a wide, sour smile. “What do you say to that, hmm?”
The Doctor sighed. He really should have seen this coming. “I would say that we were discussing the fact that you almost died and that it could be something traumatic. That's what I was talking about."
“Do I look traumatized to you?”
“No, you look like someone hellbent on deflecting. That’s the Pond gene, you know.”
Avalon’s face fell at his accusation. “Then I married the perfect match because deflecting is what you do all the time too! It’s what everyone in this damn family does! You didn't let me heal you, Amy didn't let me heal her. The only normal one is Rory! The fact remains that all of you preferred to leave me alone.”
“Of course that's not what we meant—”
“But that's what would've happened! Because you would've died, then Amy, and then Rory! What was I meant to do in the middle of the space station about to blow up? Did anyone ever consider that?” Tears stung Avalon’s eyes at the thought of that horrendous situation.
The Doctor winced knowing that no he had not considered that. He had the big picture, just not the logistics. “Well, I imagine it would've been you getting the hell out of there before it blew up…”
“Do you hear yourself!?” Avalon said incredulously. “Leave you behind? Leave my family behind? It's like you don't know who I am!”
“Oh, I know exactly who you are, my love. You're Avalon Reynolds, a blooming writer with an even brighter future ahead of her.” The Doctor grabbed her hands despite her scoffing in his face. “I've told you this a hundred times. I have lived countless lives, done everything unimaginable. I want you to do the same! I want you to live countless lives, see all the beauty of the universe, and be happy!”
“And tell me” — Avalon yanked her hands out of his — “were you happy during the years that you were alone?”
“Ava—”
“Were you seeing the beauty of the world when there was no one by your side? When you had no one to share it with?”
They had a long stare-off between them, filled with heavy awkwardness. Avalon knew her words were slightly hurtful but she was determined to get her point across. She needed the Doctor to understand what she had felt in those moments.
“That’s not fair,” the Doctor said quietly, “I have lived for a very long time. I am more than happy, more than willing, to trade my remaining years for you to live your lives.”
“When I was younger, I barely had any friends. Do you remember that version of me? The basket case you met in Leadworth? I don’t want to go back to that. I don’t want to feel alone, to be alone. I love you,” Avalon whispered, “but I need you to understand that without you, without my family, I wouldn't be able to survive. I am not made to be on my own. More than that, I don't want to be alone.”
“And I wouldn't want to leave you alone,” the Doctor reassured her, “But I also can't just deny the future. I am out of lives, Avalon, and I don't want to steal any of yours. I've had my time. It's your turn now.”
Avalon adamantly refused such an idea. “So what happens if and when I regenerate and you’re not there? Because the thought terrifies me. What if I die and you’re not there to help me with the next life? Don’t you see, Doctor, that I need you. I need you here with me and if you expect me to be honest about my feelings with this regeneration stuff then the least you can do is attempt to stay with me for when those hardships inevitably come my way.”
The conversation had gotten away from them, so maybe the scanner blaring at them with a new alert on Chiyoko’s whereabouts was a blessing in disguise. Avalon jumped out of her chair and hurried to see what the TARDIS had found. The Doctor was a little slower and perhaps still eyed Avalon intensely, but the urgency of finding Chiyoko eventually won.
“The TARDIS found Chiyoko,” Avalon said, “Guess using my DNA did speed it up. Also confirms that she does in fact have a strand of my DNA. Disturbing, to say the least. What is she doing?” She read through the different places the TARDIS was picking Chiyoko up at. “Planet Grakktar…the retirement home…? New York…? I don’t get it, how is the TARDIS picking her up in all these places at the same time?”
“Because she was at every point,” the Doctor said grimly. “Look, she’s the one who freed Axos from the time loop I put him in. That’s how they invaded New York. All to make sure that her creation happened.”
“We have to catch her,” Avalon said determinedly. “People died just so that she could be born? She killed those people so she could be born. I’m getting Amy and Rory. We gotta go!” She took off into the hallway to retrieve her grandparents while the Doctor followed the last location Chiyoko was spotted in.
~ 0 ~
The TARDIS landed on a planet that seemed quite desolate and in a hectic state of ruins. It looked like the middle of a warzone paired with an eerie silence. Like they were just waiting for something to strike.
“The atmosphere is just about breathable. Ish…” the Doctor said as he stepped out of the TARDIS, “High levels of radiation…”
“Radiation?” Rory’s head snapped in his direction, eyes wide in alarm. “We should get back inside the TARDIS!”
“We’ll be fine, Rory,” the Doctor said with a grin, “So long as we’re only here for a couple hours. Here.” He shoved a few vials into Avalon’s, Rory’s and Amy’s hands. “Take one of these pills whenever the container goes ping.”
“And what exactly are these?” Amy eyed the vial distastefully.
“Trackers,” Avalon replied, taking the lead in the search. She started walking the desolate street with the vial high above her head.
“Okay, where are we?” Rory asked, deciding to go right behind her.
“Not sure,” the Doctor replied, “Following Chiyoko’s time trail made the TARDIS navigation systems go all wobbly. It looks like some remote, dead world by the look of it…”
Avalon came to a slow stop when a familiar building caught her eye. It was the White House — or rather what remained of the White House — up ahead of them. “Safe to say I think we’re on Earth…”
“Thousands of years into the future,” the Doctor quickly said, making the trio of Ponds look back at him with the same distraught look in their eyes.
Avalon thought it was the world’s funny way of taunting her about the future since she was so upset about the current plans the Doctor had.
Suddenly, beams of rays shot down from above. A spaceship was zooming by above them, forcing them to take cover. With all the loud explosions, the group couldn’t see what happened until it all stopped and they could come out of hiding.
“Oh you have got to be kidding me…” Avalon said disdainfully as she gazed at the spot the TARDIS had been just a moment ago. The blue box was now completely under chunks of the land, completely inaccessible for the moment. “I bet you anything that was Chiyoko’s doing.”
“Er, no, I think that was them…” Rory’s voice shook with fear as he pointed ahead of them. Everyone followed his gaze to see Galateans running towards them with guns in their hands. “Are we going to run now?”
“Yup, definitely going to run now…!” the Doctor said, backtracking and reaching for Avalon’s arm. “Now!”
They all burst into a run from the Galateans. Their firing was incessant and very narrow on their aim. If it wasn’t for a group of human(oid) soldiers showing up and firing back, they wouldn’t have made it.
“So, where'd you two come from?” One of the soldiers, Captain Kaido, inquired as they hurried to their next safety point near a crypt.
“Ah, Nelson's tomb!” The Doctor exclaimed excitedly, completely ignoring the soldier's question in the process. “Have I ever told you the eye-patch story?”
Avalon jammed her elbow on his side, hissing ‘focus!’ under her breath. There was nothing exciting about being inside the crypt. It was all cracked and broken inside, along with much of the technology around them.
“My name's Avalon,” she introduced herself then proceeded to name the rest of her family. “We dropped, uh, from—”
“One of the orbital stations!” The Doctor finished for her.
“Yup!”
Kaido still wasn't very impressed with them. “I didn't think there were any of those left but it doesn't really matter considering you're all organic. Best to stay with us.”
“I'm Sergeant Sokkuri,” a dark haired woman introduced herself. “ My ship was shot down by the Galateans. If Kaido hadn't rescued me when she did…”
“Uuh, guys…” They heard Rory’s shaky voice from a distance.
Amy quickly rushed towards the sound of her husband's voice and with her went Avalon and the Doctor. They came into the next room and immediately saw what Rory was glued to.
“Oh dear Lord…” Avalon said grimly. “Someone's very full of herself.”
A great big stone statue of Chiyoko stood before them with her arms held out on either side of her. It was all very god-like.
“Chiyoko,” Sokkuri breathed out in relief, much like her expression when she laid eyes on the statue.
“What — she's your God?” Amy scowled.
“Doctor, how did this happen?” Rory whisper-hissed to the Time Lord.
“She must have gotten here way before us…by like seven hundred years…” the Doctor said, glaring at the statue.
“What, so you don't worship Chiyoko?” Kaido's voice was close to a near sneer.
“Of course we do,” Avalon crossed her arms, smiling tightly. “We adore Chiyoko…so, so much…”
Her answer, while short, seemed to satisfy the soldiers. They brought the group to another room, this one much more advanced with technology and filled with more soldiers. As they were walking in, the large screen on the wall across from them started blinking to life.
“Galateans prelature contacting earth…” They heard over the coms.
“This is commander Hachiman,” an older man responded in the room, “What is your latest blasphemy?”
“In the name of Chiyoko, we offer you mercy—”
“You dare to utter Chiyoko’s name in vain?” Hachiman snarled.
“You are the last remaining survivors of the human race. We offer you the earth — as a reservation!”
“What? These people are all that's left!?” Amy said frantically. Earth was diminished to this one room?
“I imagine the war hasn't been going too well since we dropped in on the action,” the Doctor remarked sourly.
“We do not negotiate with abominations!” raged Hachiman at the screen. “We would rather die than surrender!”
“So be it, you'll have your wish,” the Galatean declared and turned the comms off.
“That went well,” Avalon nodded to herself. “What happens now?”
Hachiman called upon Kaido and another man in the room. While the Travelers weren't part of the conversation, they heard two very keywords that piqued their interest. Ultimate weapon.
When Kaido left the room, so did the rest of the group.
“What do you think they meant about the ultimate weapon?” Rory whispered as they crept down the hallway.
“No good, that's for sure,” muttered Avalon. She saw Kaido entering a door down the hallway. “But let's confirm before we completely spiral.”
They went up to the door and the Doctor sonicked the lock to go inside. The door slid open and when they went in, Kaido was across them working on an old computer.
When she realized they were inside, Kaido spun around angrily. “What are you doing here? This is a restricted area!”
“We just wanted to see where you were up to…” Avalon smiled as they marched up to Kaido.
“And prevented of course,” the Doctor added.
“You're too late,” Kaido said, “ The computer only responds to my brain patterns and I have already started the countdown!” Behind her, the computer screen was flashing with a countdown — it was at 126.
The Doctor walked up to the computer and took a look, ignoring the death glare on Kaido's face. “ Oh of course,” he mused, “typical humans, a network of fusion bombs positioned under the earth's crust. You rigged the entire planet to explode!”
“You're going to blow yourselves up?” Avalon made a face. “Who does that help!? Not you, that's for sure!”
“Chiyoko teaches us there's no greater honor than to die in her name!” Kiado said and proceeded to take aim at them with a gun.
“Then you die!” Avalon snapped. “But don't take the rest of us with you!”
“Ava!” Rory reprimanded her for the harsh words.
“What!?”
Kaido was about to take the distraction as her opportunity to fire when someone else did and shot her from the back.
“Out of the way!” yelled Sokkuri as she ran towards them. “I have to absorb Kaido's brain patterns before she dies. It's the only way to halt the countdown!” She dropped to her knees beside Kaido's body and pressed her fingers to the woman's temples.
“I will defeat you in death!” Kaido grunted and shoved away for a moment. She slapped a hand over the keyboard behind her. “For Chiyoko!”
“No!” Sokkuri cried. Before she moved an inch, something from her suit emitted a powerful burst.
“What the hell!?” Rory rushed to Sokkuri as the woman collapsed on the ground. He checked for her vitals and came to the conclusion that she was dead…like Kaido.
“It was an electromagnetic pulse,” the Doctor explained darkly. Somewhere in the room, there were cameras watching them. “Strong enough to knock out her systems.”
“But not enough to deactivate the computer!” Amy pointed at the running counter on the screen. “Is there something we can do?”
A bright light blinded the group then. A figure started to appear in the middle of the room taking the form of a familiar girl. Everyone recognized her instantly.
“No, there isn't anything you can do,” Chiyoko smiled eerily. “It has been fun…playing a game of galactic war. Taking turns between the two sides just to see who would win.”
“You are a psychopath,” Avalon declared, horrified by the girl who just kept on smiling.
“Says the daughter of one.”
Avalon didn't think twice and made to lunge at the girl. The Doctor held her back with a hand on her arm. “Say something else about her, I dare you!” she said lividly.
Chiyoko let out a girlish chuckle. “The Galateans have proven themselves to be the superior life form, so they can continue. But ask for the human race, well, it's very sad, but they have to go away now. Like you. Goodbye, Avalon. Goodbye Doctor. Bye, bye Ponds.” The same bright light took over her body and in a second, she was gone.
“Okay, she's really starting to get on my nerves too,” Amy said with her lips pressed into a thin line. “Please tell me we can stop the countdown and her.”
The Doctor let go of Avalon’s arm and turned to the computer. “I'm going to do my last but this is very tricky…” He murmured and worked as fast as he could, “Although, there's a remote possibility…”
He never finished his words as a hard explosion started from behind. Everything turned orange and rang in their ears. The next thing they knew, they were on mushy green grass under a bright blue sky.
“Uuh, okay…” Rory rubbed his eyes and still squinted them under the sunny sky. “What just happened?”
Next to him, Amy sat upright and looked around. She touched the grass with her palms. “Feels real…”
Avalon sat upright and glanced at the Doctor beside her suspiciously. “Did you make us explode and send us all to heaven or did you do something smart and not have time to tell us about it?” But to her surprise, even the Doctor seemed to be in a similar state of confusion. If he had done something smart, he would be cocky about it.
The Doctor patted his face and scanned the immediate area. It seemed like a neighborhood of some sort. “Well, if I did, I think it's the sort of thing I would remember.”
They got up and started walking around a bit trying to figure out where they were. They didn't see any soldiers, much less Galateans, which for the time being was a good sign. It just got very confusing when they bumped into none other than Alan Turing, the famous mathematician. Even as Alan brought them to his house, the group didn't quite believe where they were…which was Winslow 1954. Avalon decided to take matters into her own hands and started scanning every part of the man's house. If they were in a simulation, maybe she would find something off, like a glitch.
The Doctor decided to sit down for some tea with the man instead. He seemed to be taking everything in a stride, having conversations about math of all things. Avalon wanted to smack him for being so casual when things were so very far from it.
“What are you doing?” She finally got a chance to ask when he sent Alan for some of his work. “Having tea and talking about math? You have never been so unattractive to me.”
“We're gonna circle back to that because ouch,” he shot her a faux hard look, “There's something wrong here.”
“I'll say,” Amy muttered from her spot on the couch. “How did we end up in Winslow of all places?”
The Doctor got up from his spot and wandered over to a calendar resting against the wall. “There's something wrong,” he insisted. “ It's mid july. But Alan Turing killed himself in June by eating an apple laced with cyanide. It was a terrible, pointless waste of a life of a hero of the second world war; a computing genius.”
“So Ava is right and this could be a simulation,” said Rory, glancing at his granddaughter.
“I don't know what's going on but something is definitely up,” the Doctor said. “Ava, why don’t you and Amy go outside and just take a quick look?”
“Seriously?” Avalon raised a brow at him.
“What, you want to keep looking, don't you?”
“You know what? Fine. Whatever gets the boat moving.” Avalon grabbed Amy’s arm and dragged her out of the house.
“I am so confused,” Amy said with a long sigh. “And tired. I am so tired.”
“Me too,” Avalon muttered. They walked the sidewalk together, both searching for anything out of the norm. “But we need to find Chiyoko and stop her.”
“How do we do that when she can literally pop in and out of anywhere?”
“Yeah, don't remind me about that…” Avalon came to a slow stop at the sight of a bright white goose across from them. “Is that goose holding a piece of parchment?”
Amy followed her granddaughter's gaze to the goose and tilted her head. “Uh, yeah, it is.”
They both exchanged looks with each other then dashed towards the goose. The goose squawked as the girls rushed up to it. It fluttered its feathers and dropped the parchment in its mouth then turned to waddle away from them.
Avalon swiped the parchment off the ground, shuddering as it was still wet on the edges. “What the hell is this?” She couldn't understand what was written on the parchment. It was a foreign alien language. “Hey!” she beamed. “An alien language means this can't be earth!”
“Uuh, Avalon…” Amy’s voice had shaken up, prompting Avalon to look up and see a portal opening up across from them. The goose waddled right into it, but the portal never closed.
“Interesting…” Avalon mused and tossed the parchment over her shoulder.
“Okay, we should definitely get the Doctor not — Avalon!” Amy yelled as her granddaughter dashed past her and jumped through the portal. “Oh, for God's sake!” Amy groaned and went after Avalon.
The portal led her into a dark room covered with papers on the ground.
“Avalon?” Amy called. She was slowly and cautiously down the eerie hallway. “Avalon, where are you?”
“Right here!” she heard some distance ahead.
Amy rushed to catch up and thankfully saw Avalon up ahead. She stood with her arms crossed and was staring at a trio of people Amy noticed lounging about on sofa chairs.
“Uuh, what the hell is going on?” Amy whispered to Avalon.
“Apparently, this is the library of Alexandria and, uh, here we have Buddy Holly, John Keats and Jayne…” Avalon explained slowly, still wrapping her head around things as well. “Oh, and they're writing a musical together. It's not going great.”
“I'm sorry…what?” Amy felt her exhaustion grow about twice as heavier.
“Yeah,” Avalon dropped her arms on her sides. “Any other time I'd think this is hilarious but it's just another puzzle piece.”
Amy could well agree on that. “What are we gonna do now? How do we—”
A bright green ray of energy struck through the room and zapped Jayne. She screamed while her body was electrified, although it allowed Avalon and Amy to see clear circuitry under her flesh.
“All Atavisms must be destroyed!” rang a familiar robotic voice in the distance.
“What the hell are those!?” Amy shrieked at the sight of the culprits.
They were silver but spider-looking with 8 sets of long legs with sharp ends. Avalon recognized the black swirl on their foreheads from the Galateans they saw communicating with Hachiman back at the base.
“I think they're other forms of Galateans…” Avalon finally voiced her thoughts, “Like…worse ones…”
The new form of Galateans continued firing at them, zapping Buddy Holly next. Avalon grabbed Amy’s arm and pulled her into a fast run away from the room.
“This is definitely not Winslow!” Amy came to the horrid conclusions as the explosions behind them rocked their feet. “You wouldn't happen to remember where the portal was, would you?”
But Avalon had come to a skidded stop at the sight of three guns taking aim on them. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” she groaned. “No more puzzle pieces!”
Even Amy was getting weary of the situation. “What the hell is going on?”
It made absolutely no sense to run into three women who gave a vivid resemblance to the Pride and Prejudice movies, complete with the white dresses too. Still, they seemed to be on their side as they fired back at the Galateans behind them. Together, they continued running down the dark corridor. And to their luck, for the first time in what felt like ages, they crashed right into the Doctor, Rory and, surprisingly, Alan Turing.
“Oh, thank God!” Avalon threw her arms around her husband. “Why did it take you so long!?”
“Well, hello to you too, Ava!” the Doctor replied in a cheery voice. “Did you make friends?”
Avalon smacked his shoulder. “Not funny! How'd you get in here!? Where even is here!?”
“We saw Galateans!” Amy exclaimed, hugging Rory. “They're all spider-looking now! But still very evil!”
“And we met other people but they're all robots too!” Avalon said, glancing back at the three women who'd rescued them. “Hold on…” She eyed them suspiciously, “Are you guys robots?”
“Indeed we are,” answered a brunette in the trio. “Relics of the dead, more like it. My name is Emily and these are my sisters, Charlotte and Annie.”
“We are the Brontes,” said Annie.
“Lovely to meet you,” the Doctor smiled at them. “Thank you for helping our wives.”
“Doctor, where the hell are we?” Avalon insisted on an answer. “Because this is definitely not Winslow and I doubt it's 1954 too!”
“Bit complicated,” the Doctor tilted his head. “Alan here was living in a dimensional projection of Winslow but this place…” His eyes scoured over the darkened room, “This is a museum, an abandoned museum.”
“Abandoned museum of what?”
“This building was founded as a memorial to the human race, to those whose lives were senselessly cut short,” explained Emily. “We call it the museum of the lost opportunities.”
“And you just have random Galateans here?” Avalon asked. “Because they are Galateans, right? They have the same black swirl on their foreheads.”
Emily confirmed her suspicions. “They are the result of ten million years of robot evolution.”
“Ten million years?” gawked Rory with wide eyes. “We're ten million years into the future?”
“Honestly, at this point, finding out that everyone around us are robots…” the Doctor's eyes wandered over Alan and the sisters, “It's really not that bad finding out you're that far in the future.”
“C'mon, we must keep moving,” Emily said, taking the lead down the corridor.
“So this place…it's a museum…with living robots of dead people,” Avalon said, “Who the hell thinks of something like this?”
Emily brought them to a room bathed in gold thanks to a large glass stained window. Said window also had a very familiar looking face staring down at them.
Avalon stopped abruptly, her face falling flat at the sight of Chiyoko's big face staring at them. “Oh, you have gotta be kidding me — again!”
“Chiokyo created this museum in the middle of an asteroid belt? Around a dying sun?” the Doctor said, less than impressed himself.
“It is no ordinary asteroid belt, doctor,” Emily said. “It's all that remains of the earth.”
Amy's head snapped in the woman's direction. “What?”
Rory moved over to the large window and gazed out. Space was still beautiful but for some reason the flickering lights of the nearby stars had a grim touch to them. “This is all that's left?” he said quietly.
“Each of those stars has now been colonized by the Galateans,” said Charlotte, “All other races and civilizations have been destroyed.”
“This isn't just any ordinary ten million years into the future, this is a future where the Galateans won the war,” said Avalon morbidly. “And Chiyoko did this. For fun.” They had to stop the girl at all costs.
One of the spider Galateans burst in behind them and began firing, striking Emily square in the chest.
“No!” Charlotte exclaimed and fired back immediately, with her sister Annie's help. Between them, they managed to fry the Galatean but it was too late for Emily.
“The old Galateans have lived for so long…their accumulated memories have driven them insane and determined to wipe out all other life forms,” said Annie after watching the Galatean burn to a crisp on the ground.
“So living for a very, very long time is also not good,” Avalon swallowed hard, then proceeded to whack the Doctor's arm. “And you wanted me to live on my own after your death. See?”
The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Last time I checked, you weren't an evil robot.”
“We should keep moving,” said Charlotte, prompting the others to follow her and Annie.
“Now where do you fit into all of this?” Amy eyed the sisters curiously. “You guys are robots too but you're against the Galateans…like Alan?”
“As our circuitry decayed, we managed to break our programming and discover our true nature,” explained Annie.
“You realized you weren't real?” Alan said, dumbfounded by their ever so-calm demeanor. It took him a moment when the Doctor broke the news to him.
“Quite so,” nodded Annie. “ But though I am an Automoton, I have as much soul as you and full as much heart.”
“How did you bring us here?” the Doctor blurted his question. He'd been observing everything since they began their walk. There were a couple things that didn't make sense in the absence of certain technology.
Luckily, his answers were soon clear when the sisters brought them into another room, this one filled with just the technology needed to pull it off.
“A time scoop!” the Doctor beamed. “You've got your own primitive time scoop!” He rushed forwards, entering the time scoop that was just a raised platform with an octagon wall around it.
“Built by those who created this place to gather the exhibits such as ourselves,” Charlotte said.
“It's another time machine?” Rory blinked. “Brilliant! Can we use it to fix all this?”
“Please,” said Amy beside him.
“We will use it to avert the creation of the Galatean race,” declared Charlotte.
The Doctor paused and looked back at the woman. “Well, now, that's a very thorough way of committing suicide. Unfortunately, it won't work. You try to undo your own past, it'll just create lots of nasty paradoxes. Take it from someone who knows.”
“And he really knows,” Avalon emphasized.
“That's why we need your assistance, Doctor,” Charlotte smiled. “We have watched your progress in your TARDIS machine. You exist outside of time and space. You alone can change history.”
“He does that all the time — you can totally do it!” Rory exclaimed. The Doctor deadpanned him for a moment. “What? You have.”
“It's just…not very easy,” the Doctor sighed.
“You're welcome to refuse but in doing so, you will condemn yourself, us and your friends to a timely death,” Annie said.
Because the Galatean spiders were still on their way to them. They were busting through the door; it was only a matter of time until they got through. The Doctor set to work as fast as he could, ignoring the mounting pressure to get it done and most of all to get it right. The Galateans finally broke through and with the force, everyone was thrown to the side. Charlotte and Annie made themselves front and center to start firing.
“Doctor, can't we just use a timescope to get back to the TARDIS!?” Amy shrieked in the midst of the chaos. “Or bring it here!?”
“We could, except there's a small problem that we can't reach the controls without getting shot first!” the Doctor flapped an arm at the time scoop that was just too far from them.
“Then it is time for us to bid goodbye!” Charlotte yelled. With hers and Annie's cover, the Travelers and Alan were able to reach the time scoop. Charlotte initiated the controls and in a beam of light, they were gone.
They were suddenly under a dark night instead.
“Where are we now?” Rory began to look around frantically. He expected a Galatean to jump out of nowhere.
“A period I've never wanted to visit,” the Doctor said distastefully, “A very, very bad time.”
Amy let out a small snort. “What? You not want to visit somewhere? Why?”
Avalon started sniffing the air around them. “Does anyone else smell something burning?”
The Doctor crossed her and led the group to a small hill. When they caught up, they saw a town below in flames. The ground itself was overturned like a war had just happened.
“This is when the Galateans were first created?” Alan said, not inclined to disbelief the statement. It seemed just like the perfect conditions for them.
“According to the history books, yes,” the Doctor nodded.
“Which must be rewritten,” said Alan. “We've seen the future and the end of humanity.”
“Yeah, and if Chiyoko’s changed the future, shouldn't we just change it back?” Amy concluded.
“Not quite as simple as that, I'm afraid,” the Doctor shook his head. “This is before her interference, so whatever happens here has to happen so that stuff that has already happened can happen.”
“Wow, there's a good puzzle for you,” Avalon remarked, rubbing the side of her head.
“Tell me about it.”
Avalon inched closer to him and rubbed his arm comfortingly. “Hey,” she lowered her head to catch the Doctor’s eye, “you know that whatever we do, it's not on us. It's on her. Chiyoko did all this.”
“She was created from the TARDIS, Ava. Like River. If I had caught it in time — again — things could have been very different. But just like with River, and you, I didn't see a damn thing!”
“You may be all knowing and all this other stuff, but you still can't see everything, Doctor It's impossible. The best we can do is just try to fix things as much as we can. And if that means putting Chiyoko down, so be it. I'll do it.”
The Doctor reached for her hand, squeezing it tightly. “That's not on you, love. It's my responsibility.”
“We're married, so it's half of your responsibility,” smirked Avalon. He couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes and giving her a little smile.
“Do not move!” rang a voice above them. Everyone froze as a creature resembling a plague doctor in a bright orange mask roared above them. “You have entered a quarantine zone. All contaminated life forms will be sterilized.”
“Contaminated?” frowned the Doctor, indignant of the accusation. “Who are you calling contaminated?”
“That's where your concern is!? Really!?” Amy shot him a look just as the robot scanned them.
“You are not contaminated,” it reported.
“Thank you!” the Doctor flapped his arms over his head.
Two more robots appeared behind the first and began to offer the group hazmat suits.
“So this place is filled with a plague, then…?” Rory could see it was not that far of a stretch. The entire grounds were in ruin and there didn’t seem to be a soul in sight.
The plague doctor robots were leading them towards a base where humans were residing at the moment.
“And so I guess this is why we never visit…” Avalon nodded to herself, “Yeah, okay.”
They soon arrived at the facility and met two of the humans — scientists — who immediately interrogated on who they were, why they were out in the open, and most importantly how they had not been contaminated by now.
Keltor Jacobs, one of the scientists who was slightly older, led them into the facility once they were on better terms.
“Sorry, what do you mean you’re the earth’s ‘lost hope’?” Amy said, barely holding back a pretentious accusation.
“The doomsday plague has all but wiped out the human empire,” Keltor explained. “We’re still no closer to a cure and one by one our research stations have gone dark. The lights are going out, all across the galaxy.”
“Lights are going out…?” The Doctor vividly remembered the last time someone told him that line. “What exactly are you planning on doing?” He was much more urgent about it now.
Minerva, Keltor’s companion, answered him calmly. “Five years ago, we came up with a more drastic solution.”
“Not making me feel any better there, Minerva,” the Doctor mumbled and frantically motioned them to get on with it.
“If we can’t survive in our present form, then we must engineer a new one, impervious to all disease. Currently lying dormantly on the dark side of the moon awaiting the moment of activation are our new bodies.” Minerva led them to the computers so that she could show them exactly what they meant.
As soon as the screen, the travelers understood. There were Galateans lying dormantly in individual pods. This is where the Galateans were originally created, and why.
“A back up!” the Doctor made a face. “You’re backing up the entire human race — or what’s left of it, anyways.”
“This whole time, the Galateans were created as a way to survive?” Avalon snorted loudly. “Oh my God, you’re going to be kicking yourselves in the next 5 minutes after we tell you a little something.”
“What?” Minerva said, exchanging glances with Keltor, both confused.
“We’re here to warn you that by creating the Galateans, you’ll bring about the extinction of all human life,” spat Alan.
“What?” Keltor scowled at the man.
“He’s telling you the truth,” said Amy firmly. “Take it from one human being to the other. The Galateans will bring death and destruction to all other life forms.”
“We…we don’t have any choice,” Keltor stammered, flushed on the face, “Don’t you get it? We’re dying! All of us — we’re dying here! We don’t have very long left!”
“It’s very different for you, isn’t it?” Minerva sneered at Alan. “You’re just a robot. We’re going to die here.”
“I’ve been programmed to think I’m alive,” Alan said, raising his palms in front of him. “How is that different from being alive? Just like all those duplicates you’ve created. They’re going to believe they’re the originals and you’re the imposters.”
“He’s absolutely right,” Avalon nodded. “And then where will you be? You’ll still be dead but worse because in your place there’ll be murderous robots.” She turned away from them and walked back to the Doctor and her grandparents. “We need to stop them asap. I’m prepared to punch all of them in the face if I need to.”
The Doctor cracked a smile at her; he needed her kind of humor in these dark moments.
“Uuh…Doctor…?” Rory’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts and made him realize that something was happening to them.
Their bodies were glowing white and then suddenly they became like holograms. Minerva, and Keltor all seemed to miss that as they kept going back and forth.
“What the hell’s going on now!?” Amy looked down at herself, confused.
“Too late!” sing-sang Chiyoko as she appeared in the middle of them. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re not here anymore! Never were! We’re like phantoms! Invisible spirits drifting forward through time!”
“I swear to God, I will hit you!” Avalon curled her hand into a tight fist.
“Chiyoko, listen to me!” the Doctor tried, but Chiyoko refused.
“No Doctor, it’s time for you to listen. Listen and watch.”
“Oh no, Doctor!” Alan pointed at Minerva and Keltor who were about to activate the Galateans.
“Crap! Now what!?” Avalon couldn’t even pick up a damn pencil anymore, let alone shove Minerva away from the computers.
“Galateans…awake!” Keltor laughed excitedly.
Chiyoko let out a giggle as the whole computers whirred. “They thought they had no choice, They thought they were going to die. They are silly. They only had to wait three more hours before a cure was developed.” And to prove her point, Chiyoko fast-forwarded them to the moment Keltor and Minerva were contacted from another space station, announcing the new cure.
“But the Galateans — they’ve already been activated!” Minerva cried.
Chiyoko giggled at their despair.
Keltor reached out to the moonbase to halt the activation, but he was met with his Galatean copy.
“No Keltor, humanity is weak. Vulnerable. We are all you are, all you ever were, all you ever will be…and more! It’s our time now.”
As Keltor and Minerva went to shut down the entire project, Chiyoko blasted them into flames, and she enjoyed it.
“She’s sick,” Avalon spat as they watched her kill everyone else in the facility.
“She’s changing history!” Amy exclaimed.
“Yes, the whole course of the future divested for her own creation,” the Doctor said solemnly. “No human-Galatean war, no Chiyoko. She’s generated an ontological paradox, pulling herself up by her own bootstraps.”
“And it’s all child’s play to her,” Avalon whispered, truly horrified. “She’s just playing games. When I was 7, I played with my dolls…not species!”
Chiyoko turned to them, becoming once again a hologram like them. “I can twist and turn time itself, let it unravel or tie it up in knots! You’re right, Doctor, is is fun! Let me show you the planet Kelper IV: a thousand years later!”
Time sped up around them until they stood in the middle of a desert plain. In the distance they could hear the ongoing screams and blasts of weapons.
“See, Doctor? The glory of war!” Chiyoko presented them with the battlefield below them. Spaceships were firing at each other and below were buildings either half destroyed or completely up in flames.
In another moment, Chiyoko was at the center of a room where thousands of soldiers were bowing down to her revereing her as their God.Time warped again and they were on a snowy battlefield, soldiers by the hundreds firing at each other and falling to their deaths.
“This is your idea of fun?” snarled the Doctor at the girl. “Setting races against each other like they’re toy soldiers? Millions of lives lost! A hundred thousand years of death and destruction? And all just so that you can come into being?”
Chiyoko’s face darkened as she glared at him. “You created me, Doctor. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. You made it happen!”
“Wrong!” Avalon stepped in angrily. “You were an accident! But trust me, you’re one accident we will rectify!”
“I am no more of an accident than your entire bloodline,” said Chiyoko sternly. “You and your mother, by all logic, shouldn't exist either. But do not fear. Since we are of the same DNA, I am more than happy to give you some insight on your future — while you still have one.”
“I wouldn't believe a word out of your mouth!”
A brief smile marked Chiyoko's face. “Even if I can tell you how your story ends? How desperate and lonely you will be when it's all done? When everything you know finally comes to an end?”
Avalon fell silent for a moment. She's lying. She's trying to change the game. She shook her head and along with it any other doubt she had.
“Chiyoko, you must stop all of this,” the Doctor stepped in, being subtle about blocking Avalon from Chiyoko. “You know how this ends! The Galateans wipe out every other species in the galaxy, then turn on themselves until nothing is left!”
“But if I do that, I will never have existed. Is that what you want? Are you asking me to give up my life?”
“I'm sorry. But there's no other way,” the Doctor said lamentably. It was one of those situations with impossible choices. Unfortunately, this only angered Chiyoko even more.
“‘No other way'?” she said incredulously, her voice low. “Don't I have the same right to exist as everyone else?”
“Not at the expense of everyone else, no,” the Doctor said sternly. “Don't you have any pity for the people you destroyed?”
“No, should I?”
Avalon and her grandparents stared with identical shocked faces at Chiyoko.
The Doctor's own face darkened at the little girl. “Then I'm afraid I won't be able to show you any pity either,” he warned. “I gave you a chance, Chiyoko. Remember that.”
Chiyoko laughed childishly at the threat. “You are funny, Doctor. But now it's time for you to go away along with everyone else, including the sad metal man, like you were supposed to.” She disappeared from sight in mere seconds, as did they, and when they re-appeared they did so back on Earth.
Rory saw the same ruined building as before and realized exactly when they were. The ruined White House was once again before them. “We're back the day it was blown up!”
‘Yes, I'm getting deja vu,” said the Doctor grimly, “Feels all tingly.”
“Really? Cause I just feel angry,” Avalon remarked irritably.
Alan was terrified of their predicament and made it known. Very soon, Amy spotted an incoming ship firing down. It led them to finding their past versions being shot at.
“You've been here before?” Alan said, confused.
“Yeah,” shrugged Amy, “but that doesn't help us now. We can hardly escape the same way twice.”
“Never say never, Pond,” the Doctor grinned as he found a weapon on the ground. “Listen, it's vitally important that our past selves not catch sight of us or bad things will happen. And yes— ” he looked at Avalon who was about to interject, “—more bad things can happen. Paradox-y things.”
Avalon promptly closed her mouth.
They followed their former selves into the building as they had been brought the first time. While they did, the Doctor changed the settings of the weapon he found so that it would only put people to sleep. Once they followed the soldiers into the crypt, they were promptly put to a quick sleep. They went on down the dark hallway towards the time facts machine that had gotten them out the first time.
“So what exactly are we supposed to do?” Avalon said, making a face as she voiced what she thought was a dumb idea. “Take our past selves’ place in the time scoop?”
“Exactly that, Ava!” the Doctor said cheerfully.
“Huh?” Avalon blinked at him like he'd gone crazy.
Behind her, Amy and Rory were sharing the same confusion.
“Isn't that breaking a law of time or something?” Avalon said.
“Only if it goes wrong — so long as the chain of cause and effect is unbroken, we should be okay.”
“Noticing the use of the word ‘should’ there…” Rory said nervously. Things never went well for them when that word was used.
“What about me?” Alan cut in. “How will I get out of here?”
“Ah, I've thought of that,” the Doctor said, “It's complicated. You'll just have to trust me.”
They ended up near the bomb control, which just amped up the nerves in the group. They took refuge inside it, trusting the Doctor and his mad plan. Their past selves were soon in the room using the computer…and we're met with the sleep gun.
“You knocked us out!” Amy exclaimed as they came out of hiding to join the Doctor.
“It's so weird…” Avalon said as she neared her past self. “Is that what I look from this angle?”
“Ava!” Rory yanked her away and towards the time scoop.
“The time scoop should be locking onto us any second now,” the Doctor warned, getting them all into place.
Sure enough, their bodies began to glow and soon they were gone again. Three familiar women in white dresses were waiting for them on the other side.
“Ah, the Bronté sisters!” the Doctor said excitedly. “I knew I could rely on you!”
They landed pretty unceremoniously on the ground, but the Doctor was quick to scramble up and head to the controls.
“You were expecting us to bring you here?” said one of the sisters, confused.
“I know you want me to help you and I will, I promise, but first you left behind a friend of mine! So if you don't mind…” the Doctor worked his magic on the controls and a few seconds later, the silhouette of Alan started appearing. “And now all I have to do is time facts our past selves into the ‘Wilmslow’ enclosure bubble so they can wake up and meet Turing!”
“Hm, that was clever,” Avalon said, and the sound of her being impressed made the Doctor do a double take at her.
“I'm sorry — you expected me not to be clever?" He was absolutely offended by her.
Avalon rolled her eyes at him. “Not the time.”
He shook his head and returned to the moment. “Now Brontés,” he glanced at the sisters, “you're probably expecting some kind of explanation, but first I have a very important question to ask you…which one of you wrote Wuthering Heights?”
Avalon was no longer impressed by her husband's antics. “Are you kidding me right now!?”
“What? It's been bugging me all these years! And what exactly is a ‘Wiley’ moor?”
“Doctor, I believe you may be confusing my novel with the song by Kats Bush,” Emily said flatly.
“Now if you would care to explain yourself…” said Charlotte.
“Ah, I will,” the Doctor promised once again, “but I think Avalon’s and Amy’s earlier selves might need some rescuing. You'll find them in the Library of Alexandria—”
But the words died on his lips as the three sisters were suddenly destroyed by a familiar blue form of energy.
“Enough!” Chiyoko came into view right behind the sisters.
“Chiyoko! I was wondering when you'd turn up!” the Doctor said unfazed. “You do realize that by interrupting like this, you've broken the chain of cause and effect? And after I'd been so careful to make it all fit! If I were you, I'd be more than frightened. I'd be terrified. Your whole existence is like a castle built on sand!’
“And what are you going to do about it?” Chiyoko scowled. “I could wipe you out of history in an instant. All of you.” She made a purposeful move of her hand towards Avalon.
“But you said so yourself earlier that Avalon is part of you as well,” the Doctor said nonchalantly, “You won't hurt her because doing so would further fragment your own existence.”
“That would've been nice information to know before,” Avalon murmured behind him.
“And besides, Chiyoko, I actually have some friends of mind I'd like you to meet!” the Doctor reached back to the controls and activated the time scoop again.
In two seconds he had made Margaret from the nursing home and Novice Konami the space nun appeared before them, two people Chiyoko had absorbed to come alive. They were very, very confused with their surroundings.
“I've time scooped them from their own timelines from a point before they were absorbed into the TARDIS-absorby-monster-thing. You killed any of them, you so much harm any of them, you'd endanger your own existence.”
Chiyoko grew furious as she stared at the Doctor. “I can still kill you and return them to the past!”
“You actually can't,” the Doctor was happy to report, “Because I've wiped the coordinates only I know exactly when and where I time scooped them from. And I think you'll find, as your timeline is now hanging in the balance, your powers will be rather limited…”
“Okay, now I'm really impressed,” Avalon decided to interject in the conversation with a wide smirk.
Chiyoko's eyes flickered from one person to the next as more of them began appearing from the time scoop. Having the people that were fused to create her brought about a funny feeling from her.
Smallness. She started to feel very, very small in the face of death.
“It's not fair…” she said quietly, her volume still audible enough for the others to hear the tremor in her voice. “I was once human. I saw through their eyes — I saw through her eyes,” she pointed at Avalon who, in response, blinked in surprise. “The galaxies. The emotions and the curiosity…”
“And you still could, Chiyoko,” the Doctor said seriously. “Remember all those emotions. What it felt like to love, feel and care.”
“I am alive!”
“No, you're not,” Avalon said dismissively. “All you've done so far is kill for your existence to remain. Diabolical planning after diabolical planning. That's not life. Sure as hell not what you saw through my eyes! Or theirs!” she gestured to Chiyoko’s victims.
“No, I…I saw…I saw a lot of things…” Chiyoko said, her eyes watering, “I wanted those things. Everyone had something…someone…I was alone from the start. I had to plan my existence because nobody else would have.”
“Nobody knew you were alive in the first place,” Avalon argued.
“Well I was and nobody helped! I didn’t exactly ask to be made of people, did I? Out of your TARDIS, Doctor?” Chiyoko’s question was hard to answer, leaving a terse air in the room. “It’s not fair — I don’t want to die! But I—” Her water-well eyes flickered around the group again.
“Chiyoko, I believe you’re starting to feel real emotions now,” the Doctor said grimly. “Something that up until now was just a concept and memory for you…”
Chiyoko shook her head fiercely, wanting to push it all away to feel nothing again. The Doctor noticed from the corner of his eye that Avalon was stepping towards Chiyoko. His first instinct was to stop her, but to his surprise she insisted.
“I have an idea,” Avalon shared quietly. “You said she was a part of me too, right?” He reluctantly nodded at her. “Then in theory, I could show her a real life with real emotions…”
The Doctor was even more reluctant then, but before he even voiced a word of that, Avalon was walking up to Chiyoko.
“What is she doing!?” Rory was quick to react and try to bring her back.
“It’s okay, Rory,” Avalon assured him confidently. “Chiyoko?”
The little girl rubbed her eyes and looked up at Avalon. She was pointing at Chiyoko and it took the girl a moment to understand. Slowly, Chiyoko raised her own finger and touched tips with Avalon. Immediately, a gold energy emerged from Avalon’s side and it wrapped it around Chiyoko. Her eyes flashed the same bright gold until her vision of the room was completely gone.
“Wh-what am I seeing!?” she shrieked in alarm.
“It’s alright,” the Doctor stepped in before Chiyoko reacted badly, “Ava’s showing you what you said you’d seen before, only this time you’ll get to experience it too. Not just see it in the backseat. Focus, Chiyoko, please. Focus and feel it.”
Chiyoko found herself living the moment that Avalon had first seen the TARDIS in the street of her home.
Avalon bit her lower lip as an even wider smile took over her face. Her hand reached out again and this time she actually touched the box. She gasped. It's like wood. "It's actually the TARDIS," she whispered to herself, her joy doubling within the next second. She finally pulled the doors open and poked her head inside.
It was even better inside.
Her eyes might have actually twinkled. Yeah, they did. "Oh my stars..." she gasped at the bright orange interior. Was it glowing or was that just her? She never imagined what actually laid inside the blue box - the stories were always different.
Then Chiyoko saw the curiosities and adrenaline of many trips that Avalon had taken in her past. Sneaking in and trespassing seemed to be her favorite.
Hm," Avalon smirked and hopped off the gate, landing on the other side of the doors. She curled her hands around the gate's bars and grinned. "Come along!"
The Doctor pouted at her words. "Those are my words! I say that!"
Avalon smirked again. She pressed her face against the bars. "You gonna stay there or what, Fairy Tale Man?"
"You watch me," he whipped out his sonic and let it tap Avalon's nose between the gates.
Chiyoko saw more fascinating trips — Avalon’s top favorites. She saw Avalon and Zelda Fitzgerald sharing their written works together, Avalon giving the author-to-be hope for her future.
Avalon sighed and turned on the bench to face Zelda. "Look, I know you have never said this to anyone but I know that you want to write. I know that because...because it's the same thing with me. Actually, the Doctor is the only one who knows and...to my surprise, he actually supports me in that. And I just...I just want you to know that whenever you decide to write, even if it's years from now, and you think no one believes in you, remember me and remember that I support you. I believe that your work is good and you better believe that I'd read it." These were the words that she always dreamt of telling Zelda after learning about the author. She always thought about the terrible moments that Zelda lived through and how she must have felt when her work wasn't appreciated. It angered Avalon then, knowing that in her time everybody admired Zelda but the author herself would never know about it.
Then she saw an interesting creature that looked like a little white tree.
"He, yes, I'm a 'he'," the Sapling said after a moment. "And you…" he pointed one finger to the Doctor and moved it between him and Avalon, "...you are my progenitors."
"Excuse me?" Avalon raised an eyebrow.
"Means we're...well...we created him," the Doctor said slowly, not really wanting to look at her right now. His face felt a bit warm.
As soon as Avalon got it, she felt her face warm up too.
"Oh! I get it!" Lena exclaimed happily. "You guys had like a cosmic plant baby!"
"Lena!" went both Avalon and the Doctor in unison.
Chiyoko saw the heists Avalon pulled with her family, the nonstop laughing as she ran with Amy and River Song down a hallway, claiming they had won the heist. She saw prison breaks with River, endless wedding vow renewals, picnics in ethereal gardens, dinosaurs on a spaceship.
Chiyoko saw all the wonderful places through Avalon’s mind, felt the love Avalon had for each spot and moment she shared with her family. She saw the late night talks with Lena and the movie marathons with Amy and Rory. She saw pirate ships…a festival…dancing…all in the meanwhile of being surrounded by friends and family. She felt the love Avalon had in her heart and shared with those closest to her.
Avalon hummed while she thought about such an outrageous place that even the Doctor couldn't do. "I got it. Can you take me to, I don't know, Neverland?" That had to be impossible for him to reach.
"I'd make it so," the Doctor gently tugged Avalon to him, smiling at her soft laughter. "I would!"
"It's from a movie, Doctor!"
"Doesn't mean I can't find a piece of it somewhere up there," he tilted her chin up to the sky. "Cos that's the best thing about traveling in the TARDIS, Ava. Somewhere in the galaxies, in one small corner, there might be two little stars and we'd only have to go to the second star on the right.”
“It's like a fairytale…” Chiyoko pulled her finger away from Avalon’s. Her life from the moment that it began was nothing but hardship after hardship. She made her life happen because nobody else would. Avalon’s whole life was spent waiting for something good to happen and it did. And she lived so happily. She had everything she wanted. And she would always have people who were willing to give her everything she wanted because they loved her that much.
Chiyoko was alone. She'd been alone ever since she existed.
Avalon stared at the little girl cautiously. Chiyoko had yet to say something else.
“How come you get to live the life you always wanted and I have to die?” Chiyoko’s voice shook.
Avalon’s expression softened because this time, Chiyoko spoke not with jealousy or ire. It was that of a frightened child simply wanting to know why. Why was her life the way it was?
Tears streamed down Chiyoko’s cheeks and she raised her hand up to Avalon. “I’m scared.”
Something churned in Avalon’s stomach. So irate she had been just minutes before and now all she wanted to do was to hug this child. She looked back at the Doctor helplessly, hoping that he, with all his intelligence, might have one last trick up his sleeve to save Chiyoko.
“She needs to let go of the others,” he said sternly, not moving an inch. It startled Avalon, but at the same time she understood. It's what she wanted as well.
Avalon faced Chiyoko again, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders. “Please let them go,” she said one more time.
With tears in her eyes, Chiyoko listened at last. She closed her eyes and focused for a moment.
The silence was deafening in the room. Nobody knew what would happen next. Would Chiyoko trick them one more time? Or would she actually follow through? They got the answer when Chiyoko's victims began to fade away from their spots.
Amy noticed their surroundings were also changing. The window, for starters, was pitch black. “Doctor, the stars outside…they're going out!”
“This whole version of history is ceasing to exist,” the Doctor explained.
Chiyoko stumbled then, and Avalon caught her. “This feels strange…” Chiyoko leaned on Avalon’s body, “How can I die if I was never born?”
“Wait,” Rory paused, his eyes flickering over to the Doctor, “this whole universe is fading away? And it's taking us with it!?”
“Yeah, that part you failed to mention,” Avalon muttered to her husband. She kept Chiyoko on her feet and nervously looked around. The darkness was unsettling as it crept over them.
“Well…there might be another way…”
Avalon met the Doctor's gaze just as they heard the familiar wheezing of the TARDIS. The big blue box was materializing right in front of them.
“There you are, old girl!” the Doctor grinned. “Sorry about dragging you here in such an undignified way! Still beats being buried under a load of rubble!”
“Uh, is it my eyes or is it growing dark out here?” Alan said.
“Yeah, definitely not you, Alan! Let's go!” Avalon frantically urged their group to get moving. The Doctor came to help her move Chiyoko inside the TARDIS.
“Hey!” Alan was the last person inside the TARDIS and, of course, stuck just by the door. “This isn't a police box!” he gawked.
Amy snickered. “Wow, nothing gets past you, does it? We can see why they picked you for Bletchley park!”
“Doctor, where are we going?” Rory said as he watched the Time Lord go around the console.
“Back to the point where it all began!”
Earth.
The Doctor brought them back to the plague, as morbid as it sounded. There they warned the scientists that they would have a cure in 3 hours tops. All they had to do was wait.
It also helped that they carried a Galatean of the future with them to share his memories of the war with the scientists and prove that what they said was indeed true. While the artificial intelligences — Galateans — were already created, it didn't mean that they couldn't work together to become a wholesome race together.
All that was left now…was Chiyoko.
~0~
The little dark-haired girl woke with a startle, and some mighty bewilderment. She raised her hands in front of her, flexing them slowly until she could confirm that she was indeed real.
“It’s about time,” she flinched at the sound of Avalon’s voice.
Looking over, Chiyoko saw Avalon sitting on a comfy sofa chair writing in a silver journal.
“You certainly sleep more than I do,” Avalon continued speaking nonchalantly and without looking up from her journal. “Guess you’re not my daughter. Good. I do not need another ‘mystical space child’ situation. The Doctor says we're more like…distant cousins, in a way. I'm okay with that. By the way, the Sapling wants to know if you want to get tea sometime next week. He’s super excited to meet you.”
Chiyoko rubbed her eyes and let her hands drop to her lap. In doing so, she realized she was wearing different clothes.
“I picked those out for you,” Avalon said, finally looking up from her journal with a warm smile. “I figured you should be dressing as a child…because that’s what you are.”
“I don’t…” Chiyoko swung her legs to the side of her bed and moved to stand up. “How am I alive?”
“Because my husband is very, very smart.” Avalon closed her journal up and set it behind her on the sofa chair. “And I am very willing to follow his ridiculousness 24/7.”
Chiyoko continued staring at Avalon questioningly. Her eyes scoured the room she was in, finding it warm and cozy but otherwise plain and simple. “Where am I?”
“Inside the TARDIS. She’s forgiven you for your nasty trick. That’s what happens when you’re sort of related to her. I speak from experience, as you know."
Chiyoko finally stood up from the bed, still patting herself down like she was waiting for a foul trick on her. “How am I alive?” she insisted on a proper answer.
“You’ve come back as half Galatean, Chiyoko. No more super powers for you, young lady. Turns out, you and I were related enough to use my DNA to help restore your body. Congratulations, you’re kind of the only other creature that's remotely close to what I am in this universe. It's kind of nice; I was getting lonely.”
Chiyoko tilted her head at the woman, finding just about everything she was saying odd. “You’re strange,” she declared. “I tried killing you and your whole family…and you helped me?”
Avalon shrugged casually. “I may have wanted to hurt you too, but you were more human than devil. You saw things through my eyes so I thought maybe you should get to see things from your eyes from now on. No more backseat for you. Time you make your own memories."
There was a light knock on the door, followed by the Doctor poking his head into the room. “How are we doing?”
“Just explaining things, it’s kind of boring,” Avalon crossed her arms. “No wonder you get so irritated when you have to do it.”
The Doctor playfully rolled his eyes at her. He closed the door behind him and joined the two girls. “How are you feeling, Chiyoko?”
“Okay…I guess?” Chiyoko scratched her cheek. “I still don’t quite understand why you would save me. I hurt a lot of people…”
“Because everyone deserves a second chance,” the Doctor said matter-of-factly. “And given who you share DNA with…” He nudged his wife beside him, “I have no doubt that you will be someone extraordinary in the world.”
The first genuine smile spread across Chiyoko’s face. “Yeah?”
“Oh yeah,” the Doctor nodded at her, “So what do you think? Shall we go back to Galatea? Or, I heard the Sapling is wanting to meet you. He’s got a bit of experience coming into existence under phenomenal circumstances. But watch him, he’s a mischievous one!”
“Yeah, wonder where he got that from?” Avalon muttered under her breath and promptly received a pinch on her side.
The Doctor then acted like she was glaring daggers at him. “Well, it’s your choice, Chiyoko! What do you want to do next?”
A/N:
I actually loved being able to add a few memories of Ava's past trips because in a way, it's like saying goodbye to this era because the next chapter is finally the damn angels in Manhattan...
