#httyd!au

Basil avoided going out for the better part of the next week, staying in the house and refusing to even leave his bedroom. Clara promised to not tell why he was sequestering himself for the time being, though she took a chance and had Bill be the one to bring her father his meals while he was doing his best impression of an ill hermit. The young woman would take a tray up, knock on the door, then leave—it would be cleared when she went to check an hour later, and then the cycle would start over again.

Bill, however—as her stepmother correctly guessed—was not the sort of person who was liable to keep going without question for long, and on the fifth day of her father moping, she brought the tray directly into the bedroom.

“Feeling better?” she asked. She saw that he was hiding under the blanket, avoiding her. “You can’t be that sick, are you? Should we go fetch one of the physicians in the Great Hall?”

“Go away,” he grumbled.

“Well, you don’t sound sick,” she replied. She put down the tray and tugged the blanket from her father’s upper half, causing him to curl up at the chill in the air. “You don’t look sick either.”

“Leave me alone, young lady,” he ordered. Ha—fat chance.

“Clara!” Bill shouted over her shoulder. “Can you tell me what’s wrong with Dad?”

“Uilleam, don’t you dare!” Basil threatened. He stumbled out of bed, falling on the floor and crashing into the wall as he got up again, reaching for his daughter with hands that grasped in not quite the right spots to get a good hold. “Don’t you dare tell anyone!”

“Tell anyone what…?” She looked Basil in the eyes and saw that he gaze was—although forwards—was not entirely meeting with hers. “Are… are you blind again…?”

“He is,” Clara responded. She stepped into the room, having just come from putting Aodh down for a nap, and frowned. “Basil, you really just need to give it up.”

“I can’t let people know that my vision’s gone again,” he said. “How quick do you think they will brand me a liar?”

“Despite the fact that the number one rule that ‘the Doctor lies’ is only partly sarcastic… not as quickly as you’d think,” Clara replied. She looked at her stepdaughter and the expression of confusion on her face. “Yes…?”

“What do you mean it’s gone?” Bill asked, scrunching her nose. “He just fixed it.” She waited until her father was sitting back down on his bed before putting the tray in his lap, guiding his hands from his sides to the meal before him. “It went back to normal after healing the dragons, so what’s healed is healed, right…?”

“Whatever it was that made it click back into place must have gone away with sleep after he had last healed a dragon,” Clara mused. “I'm sure it’s like taking a nap to get rid of a headache, except we didn’t want to get rid of this.”

“Do you think that it could still come back again?”

“Who knows?” Basil admitted. He sipped at his drink and frowned sadly. “It could have only happened that once because it was something I was originally born with, or maybe it wasn’t even supposed to happen at all.”

“You got it back, for just a little bit, and that’s what counts,” Bill said. She pulled her father close and gave him a hug, which he awkwardly leaned into. “We’re here, Dad, and I’m just glad for that. Now stop pretending you’re helpless and practice doing things again before we let you out into the rest of Berk. Those kids at the school are bound to be trip-hazards.”

“Yeah…” he reluctantly agreed. He reached up and held his daughter’s face, leaving a kiss on her forehead. There was a million things he’d rather do instead of practicing daily tasks without his sight again, but now… well… he had no choice.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

After a long afternoon of practicing, as well as heading to dinner in the Great Hall, Basil remained despondent. While Aodh seemed to take the news in the nonchalant stride typical of small children, the rest of Berk seemed curious and it irritated him. Their questions, though concerned and inquisitive and genuine, grated on him enough to the point he left immediately after dinner, with Clara walking alongside him as he tried to count his steps back again, making it with only one turn-around. He tried to retreat to the bedroom alone once in the house, though his wife had nothing of it, using the short window of privacy they had to remind him that he was no different to her.

Eventually, Bill came home with Aodh and it was time for the family to all ready for bed. Clara acted as though nothing was amiss—as it had not been even long before the trip to Bill’s former den that upended everything—and they went about their routine as normal. She read aloud to her son as her stepdaughter volunteered herself to put together evening tea and her husband shuffled about in an effort to find errant toys to pick up. Insisting that it was the perfect family evening, Clara made it clear that there was nothing that was going to change her mind in that regard.

Eventually, the tea was had and the story was finished, which meant bedtime for everyone that night. Bill helped Clara wrangle a particularly defiant Aodh, while Basil sourly retreated to his room. He undressed and laid there—room already dark—and waited silently. It felt like hours, days, months, and years before Clara padded into their bedroom and joined him under the blankets, cuddling into his side supportively.

“Good night,” she murmured.

“Night.”

More time passed; he laid there, eyes open despite knowing the night hid most of the details of his bedroom and the world to those with sight. Lifting his right arm, he splayed his palm towards the ceiling, as though he was looking at the back of his hand.

‘There has to be something,’ he thought. ‘I wonder how many dragons have to be sick for it to be permanent… how many times do I have to heal others to be able to heal myself…’ He felt Clara shift next to him and she held his torso as she slept, clinging to him for once instead of the other way around. ‘Will all our children be grown when I can finally see them without a dragon suffering first? How long will I have with them after that…?’

Basil allowed his mind to wander, remembering clearly Clara’s face, Aodh’s face, Bill’s face… gods, Bill was a haunting reminder of her mother—though with some added height from him, thank goodness—and he wanted to see the child he genuinely missed out on raising. He didn’t want her to be alone for as long as he could help it, and if he could see…

…that was it!

Was it an extreme long-shot? Of course it was. Then again, he was used to low odds, wasn’t he? The odds of him surviving his sister attempting to kill him twice had been low. Surviving on his own, with only Idris for company? Lower. Hitting a skua that brought him to his second chance? His eldest child living and surviving and finding him again after so long…? It had been a very, very, very small chance, and yet he was on the winning sides of all those odds. That is what he was though, wasn’t he? A wild, lone dragon, plan and simple. He would have to wait to put his plan into action, though if he recalled correctly, it wouldn’t be a long wait.

The only thing he did know, however, was that this was something he had to do alone. There was no way that Clara could come along, despite the fact she was going to insist the moment he told her of the plan. He had to be discreet about it… had to make sure that there was no way for her to possibly follow… though he was still going to figure out who to take along that would sufficiently ground her in Berk. There was Danny, as much as he disliked relying on him to help him look for things normally, and running off with his young son in-tow would be more like asking her to find him than anything…

...that only left one other person he could possibly trust with such a thing, and what right did he have to ask such a thing of her? Dare he bring back his daughter to the place that ruined their lives, that broke their family apart, that caused them to believe one another dead for well over a decade? Would the  intense risks involved to her be worth the reward, or would their mending relationship have a whole new wound open and risk it bleeding out?

He had no choice, Basil decided.

All he could really do was hope that she would forgive him.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

A few nights later, after much debating with himself and cautiously prepping while his wife and daughter were teaching at school, Basil decided that he was going to put his plan into action. In the middle of the night, he gently slipped out of Clara’s grasp once he heard and felt her fall asleep. It was simple work to find his clothes, pull them on, and carry his boots under his arm so that he made minimal noise as he counted the steps he took down the corridor. Softly entering his daughter’s room, he found Bill in her bed and gently shook her shoulder, waking her up.

“Wha…?!”

“Hush; come with me,” he whispered. He knew the look on her face, even if he couldn’t see it, and walked out, trusting that she would follow. As he went out the room and down the stairs, he could hear her footfalls close behind—perfect.

“It’s the middle of the night,” Bill yawned. “What are you waking me up for?”

“We need to go,” he said. Basil went to where he had hid his knapsack and began to gather up remaining supplies from where they normally sat.

“I just got here,” she replied, insulted. “I can’t leave after I just got here… after I just found you again…”

“We’re going together. Idris, come here.” He snapped his fingers and the dragon in the corner woke up, completely alert.

“This… this isn’t like you,” she said. “We have a whole family again… why are we going?”

“You’ll find out; now come on, I need you and Pilot,” he said. “We have to move quickly.”

“Why? What’s going on?” She watched him stuff some things in his bag and fumble around for others. “Dad… what’s going on…? Answer me.”

“I told you: we need to move.”

“Are you and Clara… fighting…?”

“No, it’s just…” He paused when she placed her hand on his, stopping him momentarily. Exhaling heavily, he closed his eyes as he attempted to keep his composure. “I need you to listen to me. We have to go before it’s too late.”

“…and leave Clara? Aodh? Idris? Berk?”

“We’re taking Idris, and we’re coming back.”

“Should I write a note or…?”

“No need—we should be back soon.”

“I’m still writing a note; what the hell is it that we’re rushing off to do in the middle of the night?”

Basil stopped and considered that. How much of his plan should he divulge? He calculated the risks and nodded slightly.

“Then tell her I know how to get my sight back now,” he said. “We might not be back for a bit, but she shouldn't worry.”

“Dad, where are we going?”

He did not answer.

“Dad!” she snapped, trying not to shout. She grabbed his upper arm, stopping him from moving away. “Where are we going?! Tell me!”

“Back,” he replied simply.

“…back where…?”

“Gallifrey,” he said, “the long way around.” Bill let go of his arm and he heard her take a step back.

“You can’t be serious.”

“I most certainly am,” he replied. He imagined the expression on her face, horrified and disgusted as her mother’s would have been, and it made his heart sink. “As much as I enjoy the thought of the place, it’s the only way.”

“After all that happened there…?”

“Yes.”

Bill exhaled heavily, the tone being the one that she had whenever she’d known he or Mels had been right. “I’ll meet you by the cliff at the edge of the wood.”

“Knew you’d see it my way.” He grinned, despite the fact he knew she was doing nothing of the sort.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re insane,” she mentioned. “Now go before I change my mind.”

Basil finished putting Idris’s saddle on her and secured the packs to it before letting her outside. He climbed onto the saddle and secured himself into the tack before snapping the reins. The dragon grumbled before spreading her wings and taking off, climbing high into the air before gliding down to the agreed-upon meetup spot. They waited patiently, with Bill and Pilot landing next to them about ten minutes later.

“Ready…?” she asked. “I don’t even know how you plan on getting there.”

“Your old dad still has a few tricks,” he chuckled. He exhaled heavily and cleared his mind, feeling power begin to flow from his fingertips. Dragging his pointer finger over the back of Idris’s head, he drew a circular glyph, knowing that it was the same soft, glowing gold from when he healed the dragons from Bill’s den, though with none of the healing factor from before.

“What are you…?!”

“Bringing her back to her hatching grounds; now fly, Idris! To the beginning!”

The dragon roared and took off, leaving Bill and Pilot to hurriedly catch up.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The sun was warm as Clara felt it shine down upon her face in the early morning glow. She opened her eyes and found that at some point earlier, Basil had left and Aodh crawled into the space left behind. Ruffling the boy’s hair to wake him, she watched as he sleepily opened his eyes and stared at her.

“Hey, did you see Dad?” she asked.

“No… and Bill’s gone too,” Aodh murmured. He scooted closer to his mother and cuddled against her for warmth. “Did they go flying without me?”

“I think they’re allowed a morning fly by themselves,” Clara chuckled. “You know they have a lot to catch up on. They didn’t see each other for a long time.”

“Oh…” the boy nodded. He paused, groggily calculating his next move. “I’m hungry.”

“Then let’s get dressed and head on down to the Great Hall—I’m sure we’ll meet Dad and Bill there,” she replied. Aodh squeaked and rolled off the bed before shuffling out of the room and down towards the nursery, leaving Clara to dress by herself. Once out of her nightdress and into day clothes, she found her son flopped unceremoniously atop his blankets, which made her scrunch her nose and try wrangling him in an effort to get the child to eat breakfast in time for them to head over to the school. She was so concentrated on getting him to move that she almost did not see the piece of paper on the sitting room table before they left.

It was a note.

“Oh, hold on, let me see what Bill has to say,” Clara said, halting the morning proceedings. Aodh climbed up into a chair and curled up with a cushion and a hatchling that had gotten in overnight, cuddling with the warm dragon while his mother read the paper. The handwriting was shaky and unpracticed, but what time had her stepdaughter been able to afford towards her penmanship?

‘Clara,

‘Dad and I are taking Idris and Pilot on a long trip. I don’t know when we’ll be back. I don’t want to go and leave you, but Dad is giving me no choice. He wants to fix his eyes so he can see you and to do that he thinks we need to go back to Gallifrey.’

Her heart skipped a beat as she read the note. Gallifrey. Basil and Bill’s ancestral home. The place where Velda went mad and tried to kill her entire family. They were going there…?

‘I will try to get him to turn back,’ the letter continued. ‘Please don’t try to follow us. Even the best navigators can get lost trying to find this place. Tell Aodh we’re looking for a special dragon egg, so he can ride a dragon like Idris and Pilot one day. I think the excitement over possibly getting his own dragon will keep any tougher questions from needing to be answered. In fact, you can tell that to anyone who asks, if you want.

‘It’s too soon to lose my dad again. I will bring him home. You can count on that.

‘Bill’

It was all Clara could do to sit down on a chair instead of sinking directly down to the floor. She dropped the note as she did, her mind too occupied to be concerned with holding onto a piece of paper.

Gallifrey.

They had left for Gallifrey.

“Mum? What’s wrong?” Clara snapped back to see that Aodh was now standing next to her, the dragon hatchling sitting atop his head as he stared up at her. “You look scared.”

“Of course I do,” she smiled gently. “Dad and Bill have left to go find dragon eggs without telling me first. I wanted to go along to help Dad, but now he’s taken off without me.”

“Oh! Egg hunting! What kind of eggs?!” The boy’s eyes inflated as he bought the lie; the Number One Rule was that the Doctor lies, and he had yet to learn it.

“They want to see if they can find you a dragon like Idris and Pilot,” she said, scooping her son up and carrying him towards the door. She put him down once they got outside and pointed towards the horizon. “Now they’re somewhere out there, and I wouldn’t even begin to know where to look.”

“I guess that means we’re stuck here,” Aodh nodded. He then looked up at his mother with a toothy grin. “Should we tell Uncle Danny? He gets worried about Dad sometimes.”