TIME AND RELATIVE DINING IN SPACE: THE CONTINUING STORY OF THE IMPOSSIBLE GIRL

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

CHAPTER 1

AN IMPOSSIBLE WAITRESS

Somewhere in the middle of the English countryside, 1989

"Hello? Excuse me? Is anyone here?" The strange little man with the question mark sweater asked as he entered what seemed to be a completely deserted diner.

When no one appeared to answer him even after several attempts to gain their attention, he immediately began to look around him with undisguised concern.

"Hmm. Yes, this is strange. Very strange indeed and more than a bit disturbing. Perhaps there actually is something to that story about the strange disappearances in this area after all," The Doctor said to himself in a low voice.

"What is, Professor? The fact that whoever's working here seems to have taken an exceptionally long coffee break? I wouldn't call it strange. I'd call it being a no good layabout. It's definitely disturbing though. We've been standing here for almost five minutes, and I'm still just as hungry as I was when I first walked in," Ace, a young girl wearing a leather jacket covered with a multitude of badges of all shapes and sizes, said in an annoyed voice.

The Doctor frowned as he said, "Lack of food is having its usual effect on you I see. You're so consumed with hunger that you've failed to notice that something is very off about this place. This diner doesn't seem to have a single piece of stray food lying about anywhere or so much as a single speck of dirt for that matter anywhere in sight. It's practically sterile in fact. I also don't smell any traces of food being cooked anywhere nearby. It's almost as if this place hasn't had a single customer today and yet it's the middle of the afternoon."

"Well, if whoever's in charge here is spending all day sleeping in the back then there's your great mystery solved, Professor. Not everything has to do with aliens you know? Okay, that's it! I'm going to try this one more time and then I'm definitely going to break out the Nitro-9. Let's see them sleep through that," Ace said in a furious voice.

Then she promptly proceeded to scream out at the top of her lungs, "Oi! We'd like some service out here if it's not too much to ask!"

"Thank you, Ace. I'm sure if there actually are any aliens here, that you've just alerted every single one of them to our presence by now," The Doctor said with a look that was somewhere between being annoyed and amused.

"I'm telling you. It's not aliens, Professor," Ace protested.

"No, it's just a missing in action waitress I'm afraid. I like the alien bit though. Maybe I could blame not being here on being abducted, eh? No, no one would ever believe that I'm sure. Sorry about that. I was in the back trying to deal with a particularly stubborn soufflé that just refused to come out of the oven right. It's a shame really. A freshly baked chocolate soufflé is usually our house special but not right now unfortunately. Both of you would have absolutely loved it I bet. Everyone always raves about it," A beautiful brunette with large brown eyes in a blue waitress' uniform said with an apologetic look as she quickly emerged from a backroom.

It took every bit of Clara Oswald's self-control not to run to him and hug him tightly right on the spot. He wasn't her Doctor and yet he was undeniably the same man in so many ways right down to the Scottish accent even if it did sound different from the brogue of her favorite daft old man.

"Right now I'd just love to have anything after waiting for so long. I'd like to have some fish and chips the most though if you think you're actually up to it. You'd better have them back here a whole lot sooner than five minutes too or I'll make a falling soufflé the least of your worries," Ace threatened.

An amused if slightly scared Clara immediately held up her hands in surrender as she said, "Whoa there, Leather Girl! There's no need to get violent. Luckily for you it just so happens that I already have some freshly made fish and chips waiting for you in the kitchen."

Then she quickly added to herself, "Luckily for me too."

True to her word Clara immediately returned a moment later with some freshly made fish and chips and gave them to an obviously starving Ace who eagerly began to devour them whole.

Clara instantly gave the Doctor a warm smile and laughed as she said, "Good thing I moved quickly or I might have lost a finger. I assume you're going to be paying for that then."

The Doctor nodded as he pulled out a small bag full of money and said, "Yes, of course."

He quickly rummaged through the vast collection of coins and various other odd looking items that Clara assumed must be some kind of money somewhere and then finally said more to himself than to her, "I'm not quite sure if I have the proper coinage or not. I think I spent my last coins from this time period back in 1963 actually."

Ace immediately swallowed down her last gulp of food and quickly said, "That didn't quite come out right. What the Professor actually means is . . ."

"Let me guess. You're both travelers, right? You constantly go to many different places too apparently judging from that really weird coin collection that you've got there. That's why you don't have any money for this country, correct? That's alright. Don't worry about it. If you don't have it, you don't have it. It's on the house," Clara said as she quickly gave the Doctor a way out.

"What?" Ace said in a surprised voice.

"That's really not necessary. Some of these coins are made out of pure gold and are quite old. I'm sure you'll have no problem getting your money's worth out of them," The Doctor insisted as he gave her a small fortune in what looked to her to be freshly minted Ancient Roman coins.

"Do you have any idea how much these are probably worth . . . especially in this condition? No, I'm afraid that I just can't take this, Question Mark Man. Like I said, it's on the house to make it up to you for taking so long to come out here earlier. You don't tell my boss about that and I'll give you free food. Sound good?" Clara asked with a grin.

"It definitely sounds good to me. This tastes so good that I could forgive you for almost anything right now. I haven't had a good meal in . . . I'm not sure when actually," Ace admitted as she immediately became much nicer towards her.

"You have plenty of meals. The TA . . . My ship has a fully functioning kitchen onboard," The Doctor protested.

Nice save there, Old Man. Clara thought to herself.

"Yeah, but neither one of us can boil water much less cook and don't even get me started on that naff food dispenser of yours. It can't come up with anything even remotely as good as this. It all tastes like cardboard. Actually I'm sure cardboard probably tastes much better to be honest," Ace said with a deep frown.

Clara now looked at her with eyes filled with joy as she said, "You've just made my day, Badge Girl. Not everyone is as complimentary of my cooking skills as you are believe it or not. Now I wish I did have one of those soufflés ready for you. I'd love to see what you think about them."

"Anyone who thinks you can't cook must be absolutely mad," Ace said as she gave her a pleased smile.

"Or perhaps they're simply much more used to having a freshly made meal," The Doctor said in an undeniably guilty tone.

"It's a duty of care isn't it?" Clara asked with a sympathetic smile.

"I'm sorry?" The Doctor asked with a surprised expression.

It was almost as if the waitress somehow knew exactly what he was thinking. He had just thought of how he wasn't taking as good a care of Ace as he probably should.

How could she possibly know that though? She seemed completely human and yet something about her eyes seemed so . . . impossibly ancient especially for someone who looked so young. Who was this woman?

"Taking care of the people who travel with you I mean. I'm sure it must feel like a duty of care to you to make sure that they're safe and happy," Clara said as those impossibly old eyes of her seemed to bore right into the Doctor's very soul.

It was almost as if she could see right to the very core of him.

If it wasn't for what he could instinctively tell was a genuinely warm smile, the Doctor would have been almost convinced that he had just found the source of the strange disturbances in this area at that moment. The waitress didn't seem to be giving off a malevolent vibe in the slightest however. In fact, he actually found himself trusting her completely which was something that usually only happened with his closest friends.

And yet this woman was almost like one of those friends somehow oddly enough. She seemed almost familiar to him as if he had seen her somewhere before. He couldn't quite place her face however.

"I'm sorry. Did I get a bit too personal there? It's all none of my business of course so just pay no mind to me," Clara said with an apologetic look.

"No, it's quite alright. You were only saying out loud what I was already thinking," The Doctor said as he quickly gave her a reassuring smile.

Clara evidently took that as a sign to continue her friendly interrogation of him because she immediately said, "So what's with the question mark motif anyway? You've got them all over your sweater and on the handle of your umbrella. Are you trying to create a sense of mystery or something? Don't tell me. You're some kind of weird magic act, right? You're the magician and she's your assistant, yeah?"

"Yes, something like that," The Doctor said with an amused look on his face.

"Well, that explains the traveling bit then. So what name do you go by? I heard her call you Professor earlier. Is that your stage name then? Professor Who?" Clara asked with a chuckle.

The Doctor gave her a mysterious smile as he said, "It's Doctor actually."

"Doctor Who?" Clara asked as her own smile began to fill her entire face now.

It felt so good to tease him like this again even if he didn't know why she was doing it.

"Just The Doctor," The Doctor said with a small laugh.

Clara smirked as she said, "That's not a name. That's a profession. You really should consider adding something to that. Maybe you could call yourself Doctor Funkenstein or something. Yeah, that's it. Doctor Basil Funkenstein. It makes you sound all rock and roll like."

She knew she was taking a bit of a risk of altering the future by saying that name in front of him, but at that moment she was having far too much fun to care. Besides who was to say that he didn't hear it first from her anyway and still remembered it all of those centuries later when he called himself that as a joke?

Ace began to laugh now as she said, "It makes him sound completely out of touch to me like he's still trying to be cool way past his prime but doesn't quite know how to anymore. You know maybe you're right. Come to think of it that does kind of sound perfectly accurate doesn't it?"

"It does," Clara agreed with a chuckle.

It felt so wonderful to laugh with her whole heart once more. She hadn't done that in so very long now. Not since her heart stopped beating in fact and that was in more ways than one the day that she was forced to tell the Doctor good bye.

The Doctor sighed while he quickly changed the subject as he said, "I never got your name by the way."

Clara actually winked at him as she said, "Nice way of changing the topic there. Alright. I can take a hint. I didn't mean anything by it anyway. I was just teasing you. Anyway it's only fair that I tell you my name since you've told me yours. It's Elizabeth. Elizabeth Bennet."

"Really? Like the character in Pride and Prejudice?" Ace asked.

"Yeah, exactly. My mother loved that book and used to always read it to me growing up. So you like Jane Austen too, eh? I love her myself. In fact, I'm sure if I ever met her in person I'd probably end up proposing to her, and then she'd politely turn me down because of my lifestyle. I'm a bit of a traveler myself you see. I never settle down in one place for too long. That's all hypothetically speaking of course since obviously that's never going to actually happen," Clara said with a mischievous smile.

"No, of course not," Ace said as she gave the waitress a look that the Doctor knew meant that she thought that she was completely mental.

Was she though? Or was there a bit of mystery to her as well?

The Doctor found himself wondering yet again who she was as he stared deeply into her eyes searching for an answer. Ace meanwhile was staring at him with her mouth hanging open in stunned surprise.

Not once in all of the time that she had known him had the Doctor ever showed any kind of romantic interest in anyone and yet there it was just as plain as day written all over his face. He seemed to actually fancy their waitress of all people. It was love at first sight she supposed.

Good for you, Professor. Ace thought to herself with approval since she found that she quite liked the waitress despite her madness, and she was definitely a huge fan of the effect that she seemed to have on the otherwise unflappable seemingly untouchable Time Lord. It showed that he wasn't quite as invincible as he had always seemed to be after all.

"Is there something that you wanted to ask me, Mr. Question Mark? Trying to gather up the courage to ask me out on a date maybe?" Clara asked with a chuckle.

She was so enjoying putting him on the spot like this. It was just like old times once more.

The Doctor immediately looked embarrassed as he said, "I'm so sorry. It was never my intention to stare at you. It's just that . . . Have we met somewhere before?"

"If that was a pick up line, it's a terrible one, Professor," Ace said as she rolled her eyes at him.

And yet to the Doctor's surprise, it seemed to have an instant if unexpected effect on the mysterious waitress as he suddenly saw a combination of unbridled joy, immense sadness, and unimaginable sorrow being reflected all at once in her eyes. Somehow that dazzling smile she wore had never once left her face the entire time however.

"Are you alright?" The Doctor asked with concern.

"I'm fine. Your friend's right though. That's not much of a pick up line. I'm afraid you're going to have to do a lot better than that," Clara said as she struggled to maintain her happy façade.

Suddenly this whole situation wasn't quite so amusing anymore. It was only in that moment that she fully realized just how very much that she had really missed him for all of these long, long years without him. So very much.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry if I've offended or upset you in some way. That was never my intention," The Doctor said in an earnest tone.

Clara instantly shook her head as she said, "No, it was nothing that you did. Don't worry about it, okay? So I remind you of someone that you knew then? Who was she?"

The Doctor had a faraway look in his eyes as he said, "I'm not certain. It's just that you seem so familiar to me somehow even though I'd swear that I've never seen you before. It was almost as if . . . I saw you in a dream once."

"Oh, that's really bad, Professor. You can definitely do better than that," Ace said with a giggle.

"It's not a pick up line, Ace," The Doctor protested as his face turned completely red with embarrassment now.

"Oh, I really love seeing the high and mighty Cosmic Chess Master suddenly reduced to a regular bloke once he gets around a pretty girl. This is priceless," Ace whispered to him with a huge smile.

"It's not like that," The Doctor protested.

"Not like what, Magic Man?" Clara couldn't resist asking as she pretended to act as if she had no idea what the two of them had just been talking about.

The Doctor somehow retained his composure and changed the subject once more as a sudden serious look came over his face and he said, "Nothing. My friend and I have been hearing a lot of whispered conversations about a number of mysterious disappearances that have been happening in this area lately ever since we came here. Would you happen to know anything more about them?"

"We're just curious. We'd like to know if this is a safe area to perform a show in or should we just move on to someplace a little less risky?" Ace quickly added.

"Nope, I don't know a thing about them I'm afraid. I only just moved here and this is my first day on the job. I guess that should tell you a little more about why I took so long to come out earlier, huh? Still got the first day jitters I'm afraid. Sorry," Clara said as she deflected the question.

The Doctor didn't quite seem to believe her judging from the look in his eyes but he nodded and smiled politely at her anyway as he said, "That's quite alright, Elizabeth. I suppose we'll leave in a moment then as soon as my young friend here has successfully finished wolfing down the last of her food."

"Oi! I'm not wolfing it down," Ace protested as she gave him a dirty look.

"I've seen rabid Thraskins eating much more slowly," The Doctor said with a brief grin.

"You know it's probably a good thing for you that I don't know what a Thraskin is or I might just forget that we're friends, Professor," Ace threatened him with a slight smile.

Clara had to struggle not to laugh out loud at that. She knew exactly what a Thraskin was after all. She had met several of them once on a trip to Venus and knew exactly how hungry that they could be when they rapidly devoured an entire bowl full of fruit almost as soon as they saw it. She still remembered being half afraid that one of them would start trying to eat her next until the Doctor assured her that they were completely harmless herbivores.

Good times. She thought to herself with a wistful smile.

"Do you have to go so soon? It's not like we have any other customers in here at the moment. In fact, to be honest you're the first people that I've seen all day. It's almost as if no one else can see this place or something. Just stay a little bit longer, okay? You don't want me to get bored do you?" Clara found herself saying to her own surprise.

"No. I'm afraid that we can't stay for much longer. We have a show in just a few hours that we need to prepare for and very little time in which to do it in. Perhaps we can come by tomorrow and pay you another visit however. Will you be working on the same schedule?" The Doctor asked in an almost hopeful tone as Ace gave him a clear signal behind Clara's back to get her phone number that he readily ignored.

"I might be. I'm not sure yet. Why don't you just pop on by tomorrow and we'll both find out together?" Clara asked with a smile that was both sad and happy at the same time.

"I may just do that. Are you ready to go, Ace?" The Doctor asked.

"If you are I suppose. If you're not though, then I can always order another plate of fish and chips," Ace suggested with a knowing smile.

"No, I really think that we should be going. Good bye, Elizabeth," The Doctor said as he took Ace by the hand and quickly led her out the diner's front door.

"Good bye, you daft old man . . . and good luck with whatever you find there," Clara said in a sad voice after he left as her eyes threatened to fill with tears.

"What do you think you're doing? Do you realize just how dangerous that that was? You could have just altered your own timestream by pulling a stunt like that with a past version of the Doctor," Ashildr said in a furious voice as she suddenly emerged from the TARDIS' Console Room.

"Well, I'm still here so obviously I didn't, Ashy," Clara said in a cheerful voice as she refused to turn and look at her because she didn't want her to see the fresh tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.

"And . . . Elizabeth Bennet? Really? What would your beloved Jane Austen think?" Ashildr asked with a smile that Clara could clearly hear in her voice even if she couldn't see it on her face at that moment.

"Oh, she doesn't mind. She told me so herself once," Clara said dismissively.

Ashildr suddenly turned completely serious as she said, "Clara, I thought that you had moved on and stopped missing him by now. I mean you haven't traveled with him for centuries. I'm surprised that you can still remember him at all to be honest. I had already forgotten most of my early life by this point in my own life."

"Why shouldn't I remember him? You still did," Clara shot back as she willed herself not to cry and continued to fail miserably as the tears silently ran down her face unseen by Ashildr at that moment.

"Well, it's kind of hard to forget the man who changed your life forever isn't it?" Ashildr responded.

"Exactly. Besides unlike you I still remember everything as if it were yesterday. I'm not sure how that works for me and not for you but I got my wish somehow. I kept my memories no matter what and they're all still there no matter how much time passes. Sometimes I wish I hadn't though when . . ." Clara said before she had to stop as her voice started to crack.

"Oh, Clara, I . . . I'm sorry. I've almost forgotten how much it hurts to lose someone. Maybe I just wanted to forget," Ashildr said as her formerly hard voice suddenly turned soft and she put a comforting arm around her.

"I just wanted to see him again one more time even if he isn't one of the ones that I spent any quality time around. They're all the same man, Ashy, so it really doesn't matter which one it is does it? I didn't fully understand that once but now I do. They're all my Doctor," Clara said in a faraway voice.

Ashildr now finally saw her tears for the first time and started to quietly wipe them away from her face as she said in a sympathetic voice, "What brought this on all of a sudden? You haven't even so much as talked about him in the longest time, and now suddenly I find him right here at our very doorstep. You had this all planned out too so it wasn't just a chance meeting. That freshly made plate of fish and chips told me that. You've been watching over him and that girl haven't you? How long has this been going on?"

"I've been following them for a couple of weeks now. I took the TARDIS out to find him whenever you were asleep so that you wouldn't question me about it. That's how I knew what Ace liked to eat. I made sure that they never saw me though. I just . . . I just wanted to see some version of him again. Then that led to actually wanting to speak to him. I know that I shouldn't have but I just miss him, Ashy. I miss him so much. I can fool myself into thinking that I don't for a little while but I could never do it forever," Clara admitted in an emotional voice.

"I really am sorry. If I could change all of that for you and let you travel with him again you know that I would. You already know just how badly that would turn out though. He truly was willing to do anything for you and that wasn't good for either of you. That's how much he loved you though. Now that I've come to know you, I can see exactly why he felt that way," Ashildr said with a soft smile.

"Don't tell me that you're going to threaten to destroy the universe over me too now are you?" Clara said as she tried to make a joke.

Ashildr immediately shook her head and said with a completely serious look, "I said that I liked you not that I was completely mad."

"You always know just what to say to cheer me up, Ashy. You couldn't have threatened to destroy the entire space-time continuum over me at least once? Would that really have been too much to ask?" Clara said with a half-hearted smile that instantly broke Ashildr's heart.

"Well, since it's you I suppose I might go temporarily insane at least once in order to save you. Possibly," Ashildr said with a wicked smile as she hugged her tightly.

"There. Now that's more like it, Viking Girl," Clara said as she eagerly returned her hug.

"To be honest, I really can't imagine my life without you now. You . . . You've brought out a humanity in me that I didn't even know was there anymore. I've actually found myself truly caring about life again for the first time in billions of years. What I'd like to know is how you do it. How have you held onto who you for so long without changing in some way? You're still exactly the same person that you were when I first met you. At least I think you are anyway. It's so hard to remember," Ashildr admitted.

"I must have made quite an impression on you then," Clara said as she genuinely laughed.

"You did actually. Let's just say that the Doctor isn't the only one that I could still remember after hundreds of years," Ashildr admitted.

Clara smiled at her and kissed her cheek as she said, "You must like me just a little bit then I guess."

"Just a bit," Ashildr said with a soft smile.

Then she turned serious once again as she said, "Clara, you know you can't ever see him again. I'm sorry but that's how it has to be. You're lucky that you haven't seriously tampered with your own past after what you did here today. I really wouldn't push it if I were you."

"Yeah, you're right. I know that. That's it for me anyway, Ashy. It just hurts too much to see him . . . especially when he doesn't know me. That's what hurts the most I think," Clara admitted.

"That's funny because it seemed like he did remember something to me, and this one hadn't even officially met you yet. I'm sure some small part of him remembers each and every time one of your echoes saved him plus that time that you visited him as a child. He remembers, Clara. Some part of him always will. No one could ever forget you completely. Trust me on that," Ashildr reassured her.

"I'd like to think so," Clara said with a brief smile.

"I know so," Ashildr said in a soothing voice.

Clara immediately started to put on her best chipper attitude then as she said, "So where to next, Ashy? Should we travel to the future, the past, or go visit that Pete's World that I've heard so much about from Jack Harkness. I'd really like to see if this Rose Tyler lives up to all of the hype or not."

"Checking out the competition are you?" Ashildr asked with a chuckle.

"Something like that. Besides it might be nice to see a version of old Sand Shoes once again," Clara said as she started towards the Console Room.

"Clara," Ashildr said in a disapproving tone.

"What? It's not like visiting the Metacrisis is going to alter my timestream is it? That version of the Doctor has nothing whatsoever to do with me. I can't exactly quit cold turkey can I?" Clara said with a casual shrug of her shoulders.

Ashildr shook her head as she followed her into the Console Room while she said, "Somehow I get the feeling that this is going to be a lifelong addiction. I get the feeling that I'm still going to be trying to keep you from seeing him a billion years from now. I'll probably still be failing just as miserably at it too."

"You could be right, Ashy. You never can tell. Still want to travel with me?" Clara asked with a wicked smile.

"I wouldn't miss a single moment of it," Ashildr said with an eager smile as she rushed towards the console and anxiously waited for Clara to join her there.

"So I guess you really do like me, huh?" Clara said with a snicker as she quickly joined her and began to enter coordinates into the console.

The diner was then gone just as quickly and silently as it had arrived. Clara was right after all it seemed. She never did get a visit from another customer that day.

It seemed as if that was finally the end of that entire episode as far as Ashildr could tell. She really should have known better though.

Suddenly the TARDIS landed right in the middle of what looked like an enormous underground cavern judging from what the monitor was showing them. It seemed to go on for miles and miles without ending and could easily have been filled by several more diners the same size as their own.

"Clara, why would you land us in a place like this?" Ashildr asked in confusion.

Then she suddenly got her answer as Ace's voice screamed from somewhere just out of their view, "Professor!"

"Ace, get out of here while you still can!" The Doctor shouted in what sounded like the voice of a man who knew that he was shortly about to die soon.

"No way! Do you hear me? There's no way that that's ever going to happen!" Ace screamed defiantly.

Neither Clara nor Ashildr could see what was going on, but whatever it was definitely didn't sound good.

"You just couldn't stay away could you? I actually believed you were over him," Ashildr said in a disappointed voice.

"I had to make sure that it all turned out okay. They were here to investigate several strange disappearances throughout a wide area. That didn't exactly inspire me with confidence that they might survive it without help especially when I did my research and discovered that most of the disappearances centered around an old abandoned cave. It didn't take a genius to figure out that was most likely where the Old Man was going. It was less than a mile from where I parked the diner.

"You planned this too," Ashildr said with a sigh.

"I had to make sure that he'd be alright. Besides how do I know I wasn't supposed to save him this time too? I'm sorry, Ashy, but it's just too deeply ingrained in me. I always have to save the Doctor no matter what the cost," Clara said in a determined voice as she started to move towards the diner's front door.

"Then it looks like it's up to me to make sure that the cost isn't too high this time. I had to stand by and watch you die once, Clara. I won't ever do that again," Ashildr said in a stubborn tone as she followed her.

"I'm immortal now, remember? My death is a fixed point and can't be changed," Clara reassured her.

"Even a fixed point can be changed by a being with enough power, Clara. That's exactly what I'm worried about in fact. Can't you feel it? There's incredible power here. Clara, I really think . . ." Ashildr warned.

Clara completely ignored her however as she rushed outside the TARDIS without a single moment of hesitation.

"Why do I even bother? She wouldn't care even if she did think she was going to die as long as there was the slightest chance of saving him one last time," Ashildr said to herself with a frown as she immediately followed her outside.

What the two women found there was like a scene out of one of Clara's darkest nightmares.

She saw the Doctor on his knees inside of an enormous glowing cloud of energy that seemed to be draining the very life out of him. Meanwhile Ace was rushing straight towards the vampiric cloud with an aerosol can that was filled with her homemade explosive, Nitro-9.

"Ace, no!" The Doctor shouted in a steadily weakening voice.

The girl completely ignored him however and continued to rush at the cloud with no concern whatsoever. She too instantly hit her knees and began to cry out in agony as soon as she entered it however.

"No, let her go! Let her go and take me instead!" The Doctor shouted in a hoarse voice.

"I will drain everyone on this world sooner or later, Time Lord, once my life force strengthens enough to allow me to leave this area without fear of being killed by the humans' weapons. Therefore it will make no difference if she dies now or later along with the rest of her kind. She's just as dead either way. You should be honored. The incredible energy of your regenerative cycle should be exactly what I need to finally allow me to roam free and without fear upon the surface of this world at last instead of having to steal people away in the middle of the night. Soon thanks to you, Doctor, I will finally be free at last!" An eerie voice said in a booming voice that echoed throughout the vast chamber.

"Don't bet on it, Energy Boy. You'll have to go through me first and believe me. That's never going to happen," Clara said in a loud voice in order to gain the strange being's attention.

"Elizabeth, run!" The Doctor shouted in a voice that sounded like it had nearly been completely drained of life now.

In the blink of an eye, Clara suddenly found herself inside of the deadly being as it rushed forward and expanded to cover her. Clara instantly braced herself for the same incredible pain that the Doctor and Ace were currently experiencing to start shooting through her own body.

It never came however.

She immediately smiled as soon as she understood why as she said, "You can't take my life force away can you?"

Clara was already dead except for that one last moment in her life so there was nothing left to drain. Luckily that so confused the vampiric being that it completely focused all of its attention on her and ignored Ashildr for the time being. That was a good thing because draining her of her energy would have been more than enough to set it free.

Clara could only hope that she could continue to keep it so distracted and that Ashy would have the good sense to get as far away from it as possible in the meantime. She could handle this herself after all especially now that she had the thing so off kilter.

"This is impossible. I've never come across anyone that I haven't been able to drain before. Who are you?" The sinister being demanded in a furious voice.

Clara smiled from ear to ear as she said, "Funny you should ask that, Glow Boy. I see you were completely taken in by my double over there. That's exactly why I sent him in here for though so that I could take you by surprise after fooling you into thinking that he was me."

The Doctor now looked at her with just as much confusion as the creature itself obviously felt at that moment as it said, "What?"

"Don't you get it by now? I suppose I have to spell it all out for you then, don't I? Fine. I'll do that if it'll finally let you know exactly how much trouble that you're really in. That man over there is an imposter who's working for me. He was never the one that you had to worry about though. That was always me," Clara said with a smirk.

"Who are you?" The vampiric being demanded once more in what was now an undeniably worried tone that would have made Clara's heart instantly soar if it was still functioning.

"I'm the Doctor," Clara said proudly as she stood against him with a defiant pose

"Here we go," Ashildr said with a deep sigh while the Doctor watched Clara in stunned disbelief.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Ace said with a groan.

Next: Clara and Ashildr now stand alone against the threat of the deadly energy cloud for the fate of the world while the Doctor and Ace's lives hang in the balance. Can they possibly find a way to beat the strange creature before it discovers the near limitless power that it can gain by draining the immortal Ashildr of her life force? What is this evil entity's story anyway and how did it get on Earth? Will this be the day that Clara's luck finally runs out at last or will it turn out to be her brightest hour?