Smoke hung so thick in the library’s rafters that she could read words in it.
It was a thought she wouldn’t have humoured a mere few months ago. The Queen of Virtudom should never be so fanciful, and certainly not entertain thoughts of sorcery. But then, much had changed in those few months, and Sabran supposed that this heretical fancy of hers reflected her new position as a non-believer. A non-believer of the religion her own distant grandsire had founded upon untruths.
But she could read words in it.
The thick smoke curled and flashed with shocks of orange flame, roiling against the charred rafters which bore the library’s roof. A skeleton layered with flaking flesh trembling in its efforts to protect the life blood of its books.
Roslain would not condone these maudlin thoughts. Those sure signs of grievoushead which so afflicted her Queen never escaped her sharp eye. Perhaps it was this affliction which rooted her deep in the rug underfoot. A crack sounded above her head, but she could not see the break beyond the unforgiving smoke.
But she could read words in it.
‘I find myself in want of your counsel…’ licked the polished bookcase by the door.
‘It is my hope that this letter reaches you before the worst of the Inyscan winter…’ splintered an arched brace jutting from the wall.
‘Often, when a Western wind blows through the forests, the scent of roses settles heavily in my throat…” tore through the heavy curtains in a rage.
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EXT. NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW YORK
THIRTEEN, RYAN, YAZ, and GRAHAM are halfway up a vibrant green hill.
THIRTEEN
We’re in New New York. Why are we in New New York. Why’s the TARDIS brought us to New New York?
GRAHAM
S’there an echo out ‘ere?
THIRTEEN kneels down, eats a piece of grass.
YAZ
Doctor…
THIRTEEN
Five billion and twenty three.
YAZ
What?
THIRTEEN
Why has she brought us here? To this year?
THIRTEEN licks her finger and holds it out presumably to test the wind.
RYAN
You’ve been here before?
THIRTEEN
Yeah. Ages ago. Never thought I’d be back here again.
THIRTEEN turns back, runs down the hill to the TARDIS. YAZ, RYAN and GRAHAM share a look, and YAZ runs after her.
THIRTEEN and YAZ are out of earshot of the others.
YAZ
Doctor, what’s going on?
THIRTEEN
We shouldn’t be here, Yaz. There’s another version of me already here. Up that hill.
YAZ
Is it the same one we met before? On the Inprocerus ship?
THIRTEEN
Yeah. Same one. No Martha though, too early for her.
THIRTEEN sonics the TARDIS, frustrated. She tries the door but it doesn’t open.
THIRTEEN
She’s locked me out. She never locks me out.
YAZ
(thinking hard)
Maybe we’re here for a reason. There must be something we have to do.
THIRTEEN
Maybe. She’s not gonna let us in any time soon. We’d better look around.
THIRTEEN starts to walk in a different direction.
YAZ
Doctor. Wait. If we’re here at the same time as a past version of you then that’s where we should start.
THIRTEEN stills. A pause. She turns around, but won’t meet YAZ’s eyes.
THIRTEEN
Yeah. You’re right. C’mon.
THIRTEEN strides up the hill at a fast pace, walking past RYAN and GRAHAM without a word. YAZ rushes to follow her, and she exchanges a glance with RYAN and GRAHAM. She shakes her head.
RYAN
(to GRAHAM)
Watch out.
GRAHAM
(to RYAN)
We can’t just have one relaxing trip, eh?
THIRTEEN is crouched at the top of the hill behind some bushes. In the distance, beyond a river, is the futuristic metropolis of New New York. YAZ, RYAN, and GRAHAM crouch beside her.
A TARDIS materialises in front of them.
GRAHAM
Guess that’s you then Doc?
THIRTEEN
Yeah.
YAZ
Who’s that coming out of the TARDIS?
ROSE emerges, closely followed by TEN.
THIRTEEN, YAZ, RYAN, and GRAHAM are too far away to hear more than snatches of the conversation.
THIRTEEN
A friend.
GRAHAM
She travel with you, Doc?
THIRTEEN
Yeah. For a bit.
RYAN
Clothes are a bit old-school.
THIRTEEN
She was from 2005. Same age as you two, actually. London.
YAZ
Are you alright?
THIRTEEN
Yeah. I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?
YAZ
(she hesitates)
No reason.
In the background, TEN reaches down to pluck some grass.
ROSE
(distantly)
Apple grass…
YAZ plucks a piece of grass and sniffs it.
THIRTEEN
Don’t eat it. Tastes rubbish.
RYAN
What are we sitting around for? Let’s go introduce ourselves.
THIRTEEN grabs his arm a bit roughly to stop him from rising.
THIRTEEN
No.
YAZ
We’ll have to eventually.
THIRTEEN
No. Not today. Not this day. There must be something else we’re here for.
GRAHAM
Doc. I think Yaz is right.
THIRTEEN
(losing her temper)
I said no! I’m not erasing their memories of this day. And she can’t see me. Not today. Not ever.
YAZ and RYAN exchange a glance. They know they’ve touched a nerve.
THIRTEEN
It would be too cruel… Or maybe it’s cruel not to. I’m not sure anymore. We’ll go inside the TARDIS once they leave.
The three of them watch as ROSE grabs TEN’s elbow, leans in to speak to him.
YAZ
Can you do that? Just go inside the TARDIS when it’s his?
THIRTEEN
You know time doesn’t work like that, Yaz. Especially not in the TARDIS. She’s timeless.
YAZ
And it won’t set off some kind of intruder alarm or something? Surely it can’t be as simple as just walking in without him – you – knowing?
THIRTEEN
(under her breath)
You should meet my wife.
YAZ
What?
GRAHAM
This could take ages, Doc.
The four of them watch as TEN grabs ROSE’s hand and they run, stumbling, across the grass. They stop in the distance on the next hill over, far enough not to be heard but close enough to be in view of the TARDIS. TEN lays his coat down on the grass, and they both tumble onto it, lying side by side. THIRTEEN is staring at the grass by her feet.
YAZ
(softly, in an undertone)
Doctor. She’s not just a friend.
THIRTEEN
No, Yaz. She’s not. Wasn’t.
YAZ
Is she your…your wife?
THIRTEEN
(startled, huffs a laugh)
No.
GRAHAM
(thinking about Grace)
What’s her name, Doc?
THIRTEEN
Her name was Rose. It’s silly. I’ve lived such a long time and I still can’t bear to look at her.
RYAN
You’re not facing this alone, Doctor.
THIRTEEN
(smiling sadly)
Thanks, Ryan. Thanks, fam.
They are interrupted by a scuttling sound to their left. THIRTEEN shuffles towards it in a crouch, and spots one of the metal spiders. GRAHAM follows her.
THIRTEEN
(quietly)
Ah, I should have known! Cassandra knew we were coming. She was watching us all along.
GRAHAM
What is that?
THIRTEEN
They’re surveillance devices which serve a particular master. They congregate in large groups and work to sabotage things together. Simple to deprogram individually.
GRAHAM
If they like to congregate then there’ll be others around, yeah?
THIRTEEN
Good point. They must be watching me and Rose.
GRAHAM
Can’t you stop it? With the sonic?
THIRTEEN
Don’t want to interfere with established events. This isn’t what we’re here for.
RYAN
Uh, Doctor…
THIRTEEN
Although, perhaps we’re meant to prevent a congregation of them from forming and wiping us out before we can get to the hospital. What’s the collective noun for metal spider servants anyway? A gaggle? A web?
GRAHAM
A murder?
THIRTEEN
That’s crows, Graham.
RYAN
Doctor!
THIRTEEN
Was is it Ryan?
RYAN
You need to see this.
THIRTEEN and GRAHAM return to the bushes, where they see a dozen or more spiders edging through the grass towards the TARDIS.
RYAN
You know, I’m so done with spiders. Never wanna see a spider again.
GRAHAM
Hear hear.
YAZ
They can’t get inside the TARDIS can they?
THIRTEEN
Nah, no way. They’d never get through her defences. Not intelligent enough for that.
GRAHAM
Thought you said they sabotage in large numbers?
THIRTEEN
Not the TARDIS though.
Just as she says this, the spiders start to heft the TARDIS up from the ground, struggling.
YAZ
They’re moving the TARDIS, Doctor.
THIRTEEN
I can see that, Yaz.
RYAN
We’ve got to stop them, otherwise you and Rose won’t be able to get home.
THIRTEEN
Working on it, Ryan.
GRAHAM
Doc, we can’t go out there or you, he, you’ll see us!
THIRTEEN
Yes, I know that, Graham, thank you!
TEN and ROSE stand up. TEN pulls his coat on. They set off towards the hospital.
THIRTEEN
Right. They’ll be out of sight in a min.
YAZ
The spiders are gonna have the TARDIS by then.
THIRTEEN
Yeah. Alright.
THIRTEEN rummages through her pockets. She pulls out two custard creams, a large cog, a toothpick, a pair of broken sunglasses, a banana, a copy of Murder on the Orient Express, and finally, with a flourish, the sonic screwdriver. RYAN puts on the sunglasses. GRAHAM takes a bit out of the banana.
YAZ
What are you gonna do?
THIRTEEN
The spiders all stream live footage to the same source in that hospital which is also where they’re being controlled from. If I can hack into the shared network, I should be able to neutralise the spiders with orders to confiscate the TARDIS. But we have to be careful we’re not seen.
THIRTEEN turns to face the companions with a serious expression.
THIRTEEN
In a disused ward in that hospital there’s a piece of skin with a brain who has a slave-clone who is controlling these metal spiders to track me and Rose, all because her previous attempt to kill Rose at the end of the world by trapping her in a room exposed to the expanding sun failed. Meanwhile, a giant face who is actually Captain Jack sent me a message through psychic paper to impart some wisdom that will change the course of my life, even though it was only really scratching the surface. Meanwhile, the cat nuns are infecting cloned people with every disease known to human and alien kind by the year five billion and twenty three in that hospital which is breaking at least five hundred and ninety two separate ethical laws enforced in this galaxy, and that’s just off the top of my head. Me and Rose are going to cure and liberate those people and redeem-slash-defeat Cassandra while also accidentally setting into motion a series of events that turn New New York into a dystopia of drug-addicted slums and mutated viruses, with most people living in a never-ending motorway their entire lives with the threat of being violently killed by giant crabs, which is a problem solved by me, Martha Jones, and The Face of Boe thirty years from now. Our job is to deactivate these spiders so they can’t steal my TARDIS and jeopardise the entire series of events and the course of future history.
Questions?
RYAN
Loads.
GRAHAM
So many.
YAZ
Captain Jack’s a giant face?
THIRTEEN
Good. Let’s get a shift on.
CUT TO:
[MONTAGE:
…Yaz throwing a handful of rocks at the TARDIS, to draw the spiders’ attention
…the Doctor sneaking up on a spider from behind, jumping on it and covering the eye.
…Ryan and Yaz working in tandem to throw a picnic blanket over two spiders.
…Graham eating the banana. He sees a spider. Panics. Smushes the banana on its head to blind it.
…the Doctor running up the hill from her own TARDIS, pockets bulging with tools.
MONTAGE ENDS.]
CUT TO:
EXT. NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW YORK: SAME DAY
THIRTEEN sits in the middle of a picnic blanket, fiddling with the innards of a spider. GRAHAM stands with his hands in his pockets. RYAN and YAZ sit opposite THIRTEEN. Next to them is a rolled-up blanket filled with wriggling, disoriented spiders.
THIRTEEN
Aha! Got it!
THIRTEEN sonics inside the spider, causing it to twitch as if in death throes, and then settle. The blanket stops wriggling.
GRAHAM
That was a bit too real for my liking.
YAZ
You’ve deactivated the network then?
THIRTEEN
Yeah. Every spider ordered to take the TARDIS is out of action for good.
RYAN
Won’t they wonder why they haven’t done their job?
THIRTEEN
(brightly)
Nah. They’re too busy trying to kill me right now!
THIRTEEN stands up, rolls the spider parts inside the picnic blanket, and hefts the other bulging blanket over her shoulder. She sets off down the hill.
THIRTEEN
(fading out)
I’m thinking we get rid of this lot by throwing them into the volcanic rivers of the Seventh Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascade…
With one last look back at the TARDIS, GRAHAM, RYAN, and YAZ follow THIRTEEN home.
CUT TO:
EXT. NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW YORK: SAME DAY
THIRTEEN is walking towards TEN’s TARDIS on the hill. She pauses a few feet away from the door. She steps forward and traces the white sign on the door, and then briefly grips the handle before pressing her hand flat against the wood. She rests her forehead against the door.
THIRTEEN, RYAN, and YAZ are in the room. THIRTEEN is kneeling, manually rewiring the ship’s door locks. RYAN and YAZ are searching for floor plans of the spaceship.
THIRTEEN
Swear this ship seems familiar.
RYAN
Well figure it out soon ‘cause we need to get out of here.
THIRTEEN
Feel like I’ve been here before. Long time ago.
YAZ
We’re in the future right? Why’s there no computer or something we can search.
THIRTEEN
Inprocerus are a very suspicious race. Don’t trust computers, and with good reason. Their planet was invaded by the Cybermen a long time ago.
RYAN
But they’ve got a spaceship.
THIRTEEN
Hard to be anti-technology in the thirty-first century.
The door slams open and TEN runs into the room.
THIRTEEN
Hi there- Oh no.
YAZ
What?
THIRTEEN
I know why I recognise this ship.
TEN
I need you lot out. Now!
THIRTEEN
Wow. Was a bit rude, wasn’t I?
TEN
This’ll all get a lot ruder when the Sontarans storm this side of the ship.
THIRTEEN
I know, that’s why we’re securing the door locks, see!
TEN
What’s your name?
THIRTEEN
Mister-uh-Miss Smith. Smythe! Jones!
YAZ and RYAN look at each other in confusion.
TEN
(Stares at her with a Just-Roll-With-It expression)
Right! Right okay, Mister-Miss-Smith-Smythe-Jones, I’m the Doctor and I’m going to need you and your friend to clear out so I can finish securing the doors.
THIRTEEN
(to YAZ and RYAN)
Typical man isn’t it, wanting to jump in and take the credit? I’m embarrassed.
GRAHAM walks around the corner, holding the sonic screwdriver.
GRAHAM
Uh, Doc, what setting do I need for-
GRAHAM sees TEN. He stops.
Ah. Right. Hello!
TEN
I thought you said you were Miss?
TEN clocks the sonic screwdriver.
THIRTEEN
Ah. Yeah, well…
TEN
You’re not?
TEN and THIRTEEN stare at each other.
THIRTEEN
Sorry.
TEN
No.
THIRTEEN.
Yes.
TEN crosses the distance between them and puts his hand over THIRTEEN’s heart. She flinches, but allows the touch. TEN moves his hand to the left, feels her other heart. He recoils and backs away to the far side of the room.
TEN
You’re-
THIRTEEN
Yes.
TEN
Right.
RYAN
(to YAZ)
What’s going on?
YAZ
(to RYAN)
I think that’s the Doctor. When she was a man.
THIRTEEN
You’ve got questions.
TEN
Yeah.
THIRTEEN
Go on.
TEN glances at GRAHAM.
TEN
You let them use your sonic?
THIRTEEN
Ah. Sometimes. Gives them something to do.
GRAHAM
Oi!
TEN
Right.
GRAHAM
So you’re saying my work back there was all for nothin’?
THIRTEEN
Sorry Graham.
GRAHAM
Great. Thanks. Nice to be needed.
TEN
So how long…?
THIRTEEN
A long time.
TEN
Right. Okay.
THIRTEEN
Donna was right. I was skinny. Nothing of me.
TEN
Donna? Not wedding Donna. Racnoss Donna!?
THIRTEEN
Oh, forget that.
TEN
You remember her?
THIRTEEN
Uh.
TEN
Well I guess she was pretty memorable. Probably a good thing she turned me down. Imagine.
THIRTEEN
Imagine.
RYAN
Uh. Just to get this clear. You’re both the Doctor?
THIRTEEN
Right, sorry. Yeah. Fam, this is me. Previous me. Earlier me. When I was much younger. Me, this is the fam. Graham, Ryan, and Yaz.
TEN
You don’t remember this.
THIRTEEN
No. Sorry.
TEN
Not much point with introductions.
GRAHAM
Not to interrupt or anything but shouldn’t we be worrying about the Sontarans coming to zap us?
THIRTEEN
Good point! Right, Doctor, you- actually, wait, where’s Martha?
TEN
She’s on navigations.
THIRTEEN
Of course! No autopilot in Inprocerus ships!
TEN
She won’t be long.
RYAN
What does that mean? We’re gonna crash?
TEN flips his sonic in the air and catches it.
THIRTEEN
No-
TEN
-not if we stabilise-
THIRTEEN
-the engines and-
TEN
-the trajectory of the ship-
THIRTEEN
-and hope nothing gets in our way.
TEN and THIRTEEN
(together)
Brilliant.
RYAN
Okay. That’s spooky.
MARTHA enters the room.
MARTHA
Doctor, I’ve stabilised the engines. We need to get back to the TARDIS now!
YAZ
I’ve found the floor plans!
MARTHA
Who are they? I thought you said there were no more people on board.
TEN
Ah. Martha…this is Yaz, Ryan, Graham, and…the Doctor.
MARTHA
The Doctor. Another Doctor. We’re overrun with doctors.
THIRTEEN
He means The Doctor.
MARTHA
…what?
THIRTEEN
Oh, Martha Jones.
MARTHA
He’s…you. And, you’re him?
THIRTEEN
Yeah.
MARTHA
And you’re a woman?
YAZ
That’s the exact same face she had when we told her.
MARTHA
Oh my god.
MARTHA walks forward, slowly, and then hugs THIRTEEN. It’s reciprocated enthusiastically. MARTHA pulls away abruptly.
MARTHA
But if you’re him, then that means he…?
THIRTEEN
Yeah.
TEN is silent in the background. He sniffs. Kicks his shoes. Walks to the panel and begins rewiring in silence.
MARTHA
And I’m not with you anymore.
THIRTEEN
All good things come to an end. And Martha, you were the best thing.
MARTHA
We’re not going to remember meeting you, are we? I mean, if we get out of here alive.
TEN
She’ll wipe our memories before she leaves.
GRAHAM
What? Why?
THIRTEEN
You’re not meant to cross your own timeline. It’s too dangerous for me to know. I’m sorry.
YAZ
You said you remember being on this ship though.
THIRTEEN
I do. But I don’t remember meeting me. Us.
MARTHA
(nodding)
Alright. Let’s get out of here.
YAZ spreads a map on the floor between them all.
YAZ
Right. This is where we are, and this is where the TARDIS is.
GRAHAM
That’s the other side of the ship.
THIRTEEN
We’ll die before we get there.
RYAN
What about vent systems?
THIRTEEN shakes her head.
THIRTEEN
Too small. Inprocerus and Sontarans are both adapted to this ship; it’s made to their size. We’re too bulky.
MARTHA
Wait. The corridor on Level 3. That’s where we left the TARDIS. Our TARDIS.
TEN puts on his glasses and looks at the floor plans.
GRAHAM
(to YAZ)
He wears glasses…
TEN
Yes. Yes! We might be able to get there. We’ll need a distraction.
THIRTEEN
Brilliant.
TEN
Martha, you’re brilliant!
MARTHA
I do my best.
TEN
If we could just – yes! Okay we’ll need two people over here for a distraction, and me and The Doctor’ll deadlock the doors along this route. That should draw the Sontarans away from the TARDIS.
GRAHAM
I’m up for causing a distraction.
YAZ
Me too.
RYAN
What about the ship?
THIRTEEN
Lost cause.
MARTHA
We’ve already evacuated the Inprocerus.
THIRTEEN
Alright, gang. Yaz, Graham, you take the weapons we got from the store cupboard and create an explosion here. Then come back along this route to the TARDIS. We’ll secure this route.
Characters: Estina Melaugo, Laya Yidagé, Niclays Roos, Minor Original Characters
Summary: In Kawontay, members of the Fleet of the Tiger Eye would be received into taverns with fear, resentment, or volatility. Laya had become accustomed to sudden hatred thick like sea fret upon her entrance, or occasionally projectiles and insults from their more foolish rivals. Here though, in Perunta, far from the pirate port of Kawontay and the Golden Empress’s territory, Laya was unrecognised and unaccosted on her route to the bar.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Um so some of you may remember the ineffable husbands fic i wrote last year where aziraphale and crowley are on a train and aziraphale says some...decidedly nsfw things and they also quote shakespeare and emily dickinson to each other?? yeah??
well you might also remember that i said i wouldn’t write a sequel...
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Characters: Aziraphale, Crowley, Anathema Device, Madame Tracy, Adam Young, Pepper, Brian, Wensleydale, The Them, Dog, Pollution, Letitia Ormerod, Beryl Ormerod, Mr Scroggie, Fireman, Julia Petley, War, Famine, Mary Hodges | Sister Mary Loquacious, R. P. Tyler, Jaime Hernez, Mr Pickersgill, Lisa Morrow, Original Non-binary Characters
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Plot, POV Multiple, Sussex, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Fantasy, Books, Aziraphale’s Bookshop, Sea Monsters, Pride, Gay Pride, Beaches, Cornwall, Environmentalism, Slow Burn, Romance, Folklore, Celtic Mythology & Folklore, Mythology , Ineffable Husbands, Chubby Aziraphale, Merpeople, the merman au that no one asked for, Childhood Friends, Friendship, Summer, Questioning Pepper, Lesbian Anathema Device, Footnotes, bullet pointed in the text to avoid scrolling, set in 2017, mixing up mythology because artistic license thats why, Selkies, Light Angst, Banter, Food Porn, Hedonist Aziraphale, mild internalised homophobia, Politics, Minor Original Character(s), Found Family
Kissing Aziraphale was like nurturing a plant to full bloom. It was like lying on a hot beach, drowsy in the sun, with a cool breeze playing over his skin. It was like sinking into his bed after a long week and letting everything float away. Aziraphale would probably say it was like a favourite book coming to a deeply satisfying ending that made you wish the story continued, but gave you closure all the same. The thing was, Crowley wasn’t overcome by a sudden, irresistible wave of lust, or brought to tears, or any other overly sentimental display that he’d feared over the past six thousand years. It just felt right. Aziraphale’s lips against his own. Their noses nudging against each other, pressed against cheek and jaw. The whisper of Aziraphale’s breath against his neck, against his chin, and the brush of his tongue in his mouth. Aziraphale’s arms slid up and over Crowley’s chest, coming to rest over his shoulders and in his hair, and that was good too. Crowley felt something deep in his chest lock into place and he settled in the warm enclosure of Aziraphale’s body. He relaxed for the first time in what felt like eons. He had no regrets that it had taken them so long, he was just glad they were finally here.
