I'm so glad you guys enjoyed that little twist I had last chapter with the multiple voices. :) Let's see what happens here! Joan still doesn't believe the stories, not only four, but five people help Kylie to change, and Latimer is no longer scared of her!

Enjoy "The Family of Blood!"

***

"Make your decision, Mrs. Smith," Jenny ordered.

"Perhaps if that human heart breaks, the Time Lady will emerge," Baines smirked.

Latimer looked at Kylie, who looked on the edge of a panic attack, before he flipped open the fob watch. Gold light streamed out, and a woman's voice, American, not the Apocalypse but Peri Brown, hissed, "Time Lady!"

Baines spun, eyes wide. "It's her!"

Latimer quickly closed the watch, and Martha spun in Jenny's arms. She took her gun away and held her at gunpoint, Baines turning to aim at her. "All right, one move, and I shoot!"

"Oh, the maid is full of fire," Baines grinned.

"And you can shut up!" Martha shouted, firing up at the ceiling.

Mr. Clark narrowed his eyes. "Careful, Son of Mine," he advised. "This is all for you so that you can live forever."

"Shoot you down," Baines threatened.

"Try it," Martha countered. "We'll die together."

"Would you really pull the trigger? Looks too scared."

"Scared and holding a gun's a good combination," Martha retorted. "Do you want to risk it?" Baines hesitated, before he finally lowered his gun. Mr. Clark let James go, who hurried over and pulled Kylie into his arms. "Apocalypse, get everyone out," Martha ordered. "There's a door at the side, it's over there. Go on." No one moved. "Do it, Mrs. Smith!" Martha barked, making the woman jump in surprise. "I mean you!"

"Do what she said," James took control and called. "Everybody out, now! Don't argue, Mr. Jackson. They're mad, that's all we need to know. Susan, Miss Cooper, outside, all of you."

"And you," Martha told Kylie. "Go on. Just shift."

"What about you?" Kylie asked worriedly.

Martha just smiled sadly. "I think you should tell everyone what's going on."

***

Latimer ran away as fast as he could, trying to get away from the mess the Apocalypse always caused. "Pain," Rose Tyler's voice whispered, sounding heartbroken. "So alone."

"Left as the last, the last of that amazing race," Captain Jack Harkness's voice said.

"Left to fight her battles alone," the Doctor's voice added.

"Protect her, Latimer," the Master ordered.

"Keep her safe!" Peri called.

***

Jenny pulled away from Martha and rejoined the Family. "Don't try anything," Martha warned, pointing the gun at Baines. "I'm warning you, or Sonny boy gets it!"

"She's almost brave, this one," Baines observed.

"I should have taken her form," Jenny nodded. "Much more fun. So much spirit."

"What happened to Jenny?" Martha asked as she was backed up. "Is she gone?"

"She is consumed. Her body is mine."

"You mean she's dead."

"Yes. And she went with precious little dignity. All that screaming."

Martha screamed when a scarecrow grabbed her from behind. "Get the gun!" Baines ordered.

Martha ran out of the hall, leaving the gun behind as she scampered out, and nearly ran into Kylie. "Don't just stand there! Move!" she shouted, and James grabbed her hand and they ran. "God, you're rubbish as a human! Come on!"

***

Inside the school, James immediately ran for the bell to ring. "What are you doing?" Martha gaped at him.

"You've seen what they can do," James shook his head. "One man can't fight them, but this school teaches us to stand together. Take arms!" he shouted as the boys roused. "Take arms!"

"James, please," Kylie begged. "Not the boys."

"We have to fight," James shook his head. "Take arms! Take arms!"

"I say, sir," Hutchinson shook his head as he came down the stairs. "What's the matter?"

"Enemy at the door, Hutchinson," James answered. "Enemy at the door. Take arms!"

"James?" Joan asked as she came up, Hutchinson helping the boys pass out guns. "What's going on?"

"You can't do this, Dr. Redfern!" Martha protested.

"Joan, maintain position over the stable yard," James told his cousin, who nodded and headed off, trusting her cousin. "Faster, now! That's it!"

"James, they're just boys!" Kylie shook her head desperately. "They don't stand a chance against them!"

"They're cadets, Kylie," James shook his head. "They are trained to defend the King and all his citizens and properties."

"What in thunder's name is this?" Headmaster Rocastle's voice shouted as he entered, the boys all snapping to attention. "Before I devise an excellent and endless series of punishments for each and every one of you, guaranteed to make our lady librarian want to leave, could someone explain very simply and immediately exactly what is going on?"

"Headmaster, I have to report the school is under attack," James answered, his arm around Kylie.

"Really?" Rocastle raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Perhaps you and I should have a word in private - "

"I promise you, sir, I was in the village with the librarian," James assured him. "It's Baines, sir. Jeremy Baines and Mr. Clark from Oakham Farm. They've gone mad, sir. They've got guns. They've already murdered people in the village. I saw it happen."

Rocastle paused and looked over at the wide-eyed blonde woman. "Mrs. Smith?" he asked. "Is that so?"

She swallowed. "Yes, it's true, sir."

"Murder on our own soil?"

"I saw it. Yes."

Rocastle nodded and turned to James. "Perhaps you did well, then, Dr. Redfern. What makes you think the danger's coming here?"

"Baines threatened Mrs. Smith, sir," James answered, making the boys all turn to look at her, their eyes wide. "Said he'd follow her. We don't know why."

The boys suddenly looked ready to get out there. Rocastle narrowed his eyes and nodded. Any threat against a woman, especially one close to the school, would be fought back against. "Very well," he nodded, pointing to a few of the boys. "You boys, remain on guard. Mr. Snell, telephone for the police. Mr. Phillips, with me. We shall investigate."

"No!" Martha shook her head desperately. "But it's not safe out there!"

Rocastle sighed. "Mrs. Smith, it seems your favorite servant is giving me advice. You will control her, ma'am."

"Not when she's trying to help," Kylie muttered under her breath as the two men left.

"I've got to find that watch," Martha shook her head, running off as Kylie left to find a safer place . . . and James and Joan followed Martha.

Timothy looked over from where he'd been hiding as the trio passed, then turned his attention back to the watch. "Hold me," the Apocalypse whispered.

"Keep her safe," the Master ordered.

"Keep me dark. Keep me closed."

"The time is not right," Rose said.

"Not yet," the Doctor put in. "Not while the Family is abroad."

"Danger!" Jack warned.

***

Kylie swallowed, watching as Mr. Phillips was disintegrated by Baines, then she ran down the steps after checking in with Mr. Snell. Rocastle walked up to her with a fallen look on his face. "Mr. Phillips has been murdered, Mrs. Smith," he told her. "Can you tell me why?"

"Honestly, sir, I have no idea," Kylie shook her head miserably. "And the telephone line's been disconnected. We are on our own."

"if we have to make a fight of it, then make a fight we shall," Rocastle nodded, turning to the boys. "Hutchinson, we'll build a barricade within the courtyards. Fortify the entrances, build our defenses. Gentlemen, in the name of the King, we shall stand against them!"

***

"I know it sounds mad, but when the Apocalypse became human, she took the alien part of herself and she stored it inside the watch," Martha tried to explain to the Redferns as she searched. "It's not really a watch. It just looks like a watch."

"And alien means not from abroad, I take it," Joan guessed.

"The woman you call Kylie Smith, she was born on another world."

"A different species."

"Yeah."

"Then tell me," Joan tilted her head. "In this fairytale, who are you?"

"Just a friend," Martha shrugged. "I'm just her friend."

"And human, I hope?" James asked.

"Human," Martha laughed. "Don't worry. And more than that. I just don't follow her around. I'm training to be a doctor, a proper doctor. A doctor of medicine."

James tilted his head, thinking that out of everything he'd seen so far, such a statement didn't seem so impossible. Joan, on the other hand, snorted. "Well, that certainly is nonsense! Women might train to be doctors, but hardly a skivvy, and hardly one of your color!"

Martha narrowed her eyes. "Oh, do you think? Boines of the hand." She held her hand up and started rattling them off. "Carpal bones. Proximal row: scaphoid, lunate, triquetal, pisiform. Distal row: trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate. Then the metacarpal bones extending in three distinct phalanges: proximal, middle, distal."

James whistled, impressed. "Incredible."

"You read that in a book," Joan frowned, not ready to believe it.

"Yes, to pass my exams!" Martha rolled her eyes. "Can't you see this is true?"

"I've got to go help with the defenses," James said, heading out.

"And I must go," Joan nodded, going as well.

"If we find that watch, then we can stop them!" Martha called.

"Those boys are going to fight," Joan told her. "I might not be a doctor, but I'm still their nurse. They need me."

***

"You're with Armitage and Thwaites," James was saying to a few boys when he saw Kylie approach. "They know the drill." He frowned, looking at Kylie. "Kylie, it's not safe."

"I'm not abandoning them tonight," Kylie shook her head before huffing. "Fine evening we've had together."

"Not quite as planned," James admitted before looking at Joan, who was approaching, before asking, "Tell me about Nottingham."

She blinked. "Sorry?"

"That's where you were brought up. Tell me about it."

Kylie thought for a bit. "Well, it lies on the River Leen, its southern boundary following the course of the River Trent, which flows from Stoke to the Humber - "

"That sounds like an encyclopedia," James told her, shaking his head, seeing Joan pause and pay attention more. "Where did you live?"

"Broadmoor Street, adjacent to Hotley Terrace in the district of Radford Parade."

"But more than facts," Joan said, looking a bit heartbroken. "When you were a child, where did you play? All those secret little places, the dens and hideaways that only a child knows? Tell us, Kylie. Please, tell us."

Kylie swallowed. "Do you think I'm not real?" she demanded. "Every single moment I've spent with you, do you think it a lie?"

"No!" James blurted, shaking his head hard. "No, it wasn't!"

"This Apocalypse sounds like some helpless romantic princess," Kylie shook her head. "I am not her!"

***

Latimer curled up into a corner in the hallway, the watch in his hands. "What do I do?" he whispered. "What do I do? What do I do?"

"Beware," all six answered.

"Beware of what?"

"Her."

Latimer looked up to see Lucy Cartwright standing there, sniffing deeply. "Keep away," he warned.

"Who are you?" Lucy asked.

"I saw you at the dance. You were with that Family. You're one of them!"

"What are you hiding?"

Latimer tried to discreetly hide the watch. "Nothing."

"What have you got there?"

"Nothing."

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "Show me, little boy!"

"I reckon whatever you are, you're still in the shape of a girl," Latimer smirked. "How strong is she, do you think? Does she really want to see this?"

He aimed the watch at her, and as well as seeing an explosion, he saw the Apocalypse standing in the middle of it all, her eyes glowing gold, her face void of any expression save fury and wrath. Lucy's eyes widened, and she ran off quickly. Latimer was quick to snap the watch closed, but Rose whispered, "Do not fear her."

"Why?" Latimer asked, his voice breaking. "She's terrible!"

"She is alone," the Doctor said.

"A broken woman, who has lost it all," the Master said.

"Listen to us," Peri pleaded.

"Listen to what we have to say," Jack added.

Latimer gasped softly when a new flood of images filled his mind . . .

***

"Cease fire!" Rocastle's voice called, Kylie hiding behind the door with Joan, their ears plugged against the gunfire. "They're straw," Rocastle frowned as they came out. "Like he said, straw."

"Then no one's dead, sir?" Hutchinson asked hopefully. "We killed no one?"

Rocastle straightened when footsteps on gravel sounded. "Stand to!" The boys got ready, but little Lucy Cartwright walked up. Rocastle relaxed and stepped forward. "You, child, come out of the way," he ordered. "Come into the school. You don't know who's out there." He looked over his shoulder at James, who was lowering his own gun. "It's the Cartwright girl, isn't it?" James frowned, but nodded. "Come here," Rocastle urged Lucy. "Come to me."

"Mr. Rocastle!" Martha shouted, running out of the school. "Please, don't go near her!"

"You were told to be quiet!"

"I think you should stay back, Headmaster," Kylie interrupted, eyeing the girl. "She was . . . she was with . . . with Baines in the village."

Rocastle sighed. "Mrs. Smith, I've seen many strange sights this night, but there is no cause on God's Earth that would allow me to see this child in the field of battle, ma'am." He held out a hand to Lucy. "Come with me."

Lucy tilted her head. "You're funny."

"That's right. Now, take my hand - "

"So funny," she remarked, pulling out a ray gun and disintegrating him. The boys all gasped, and Lucy smirked. "Now, who's going to shoot me?" she challenged. "Any of you, really?"

"Put down your guns," James ordered.

"But, sir, the Headmaster!" Hutchinson protested.

"I'll not see this happen, not anymore," James shook his head. "You will retreat in an orderly fashion back through the school. Hutchinson, lead the way."

"But sir - !"

"I said lead the way!"

"Well, go on, then!" Baines shouted as he appeared, firing int the air. "Run!"

"Come on!" Martha called to Kylie.

"Reanimate!" Baines ordered, the scarecrows straightening to attention.

"Let's go," Kylie told the boys, gesturing them out. "Quick as you can!"

"Don't go to the village," Martha added, helping lead them off. "It's not safe."

"And you, ladies," James began.

"Don't try," Kylie snapped.

"Not till we've got the boys out," Joan agreed.

***

Latimer stood on top of the desk in his dormitory and clicked open the Apocalypse's watch, raising it up, strengthened this time by the multitude of images the Time Lady's family had shown him. "Lady of Time!" the five called out.

Hastily, Latimer closed the watch and hurried out before the Family could find him.

***

"I insist, the three of you, just go," James ordered. "If there are any more boys inside, I'll find them - "

He opened the stable door, and Kylie quickly shut it, seeing the scarecrows outside. "I think retreat," she said.

***

Latimer ran through the woods, keeping the Apocalypse's watch safe in his pocket. Now, he just had to find the librarian.

***

"Apocalypse!" Mr. Clark's voice shouted as the quartet made it into the bushes. "Apocalypse!" They poked their head over the tops of the bushes to see Mr. Clark standing with the TARDIS, smirking widely. "Come back, Apocalypse! Come home! Come and claim your prize!"

"Out you come, Apocalypse," Baines sneered, he and Jenny joining him. "There's a good girl. Come to the Family!"

"Time to end it now!" Jenny sang.

Martha turned to Kylie to see her staring at the TARDIS in a mixture of awe and horror. "You recognize it, don't you?"

"Come out, Apocalypse!" Jenny shouted. "Come to us!"

"I've never seen it in my life," Kylie sputtered.

"Do you remember its name?"

"I'm sorry, Kylie, but you wrote about it," James told her. "The blue box. You dreamt of a blue box."

"I'm not . . . " Kylie sputtered, shaking her head violently, backing away. "I'm Kylie Smith! That's all I want to be! Kylie Smith, with her life, and her job. Why can't I be Kylie Smith? Isn't she a good woman?"

"Yes," Joan answered immediately. "Yes, she is."

"Why can't I stay?!"

"But we need the Apocalypse," Martha began.

"What am I, then? Nothing?" Kylie taunted. "I'm just a story!"

She ran off, forcing the others to follow. "This way," Joan told them, stopping along a path. "I think I know somewhere we can hide."

"We've got to keep going," Kylie shook her head.

Joan sighed. "Kylie, listen to me like the other times, please. Now, follow me."

James took off after his cousin without hesitation, and with a sigh, Kylie followed, Martha right behind her. Joan led them to a small cottage in the country. "Oh, here we are," she said. "It should be empty." She leaned against the fence, wincing. "Oh, it's a long time since I've run that far."

"But who lives here?" Martha asked.

"If I'm right, no one," Joan answered, opening the door and looking around inside the dark cottage. "Hello?" she called. No reply. "No one home," she said, stepping inside. "We should be safe here."

"Whose house is it, though?" Martha asked.

"Er, the Cartwrights," Joan winced. "That little girl at the school, she's Lucy Cartwright . . . or she's taken Lucy Cartwright's form. If she came home this afternoon and if the parents tried to stop their little girl, then they were vanished."

"Stone cold," James nodded, touching the teapot.

Joan sighed. "How easily I accept these ideas."

Kylie shook her head. "I must go to them before anyone else dies."

"You can't!" James shook his head desperately, turning to Martha. "Martha, there must be something we can do!"

"Not without the watch," she said bitterly.

"You're this Apocalypse's companion," Kylie huffed. "Can't you help? What exactly do you do for her? Why does she need you?"

"Because she's lonely," Martha answered truthfully. And she really was. No one deserved to be alone, especially such a woman like her.

"And that's what you want me to become?" Kylie accused.

Martha, hurt, was about to counter when they heard a knock at the door. "What if it's them?" Joan asked worriedly.

"I'm not an expert, but I don't think scarecrows knock," Martha shook her head, going to answer the door.

Timothy Latimer stood there, a sheepish look on his face. "I brought you this," he said, holding up a rose gold fob watch.

***

"Hold it," Martha held the watch out to Kylie.

She shook her head. "I won't."

"Please, just hold it!"

"It told me to find you," Latimer told her. "It wants to be held."

"You've had this watch, all this time?" Joan frowned, that wasn't like Latimer. "Why didn't you return it?"

"Because it was waiting," Latimer bit his lip. "And because I was so scared of the Apocalypse."

"Why?" James blinked. That wasn't how he would describe such an incredible woman.

Latimer turned to Kylie. "Because I've seen her. She's like fire and ice and rage. She's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun."

"Stop it," Kylie said weakly, shaking her head.

"She's ancient and forever. She burns at the center of time, and she can see the turn of the universe."

"Stop it!" Kylie shouted, shaking her head furiously. "I said stop it!"

"And it took five people to show me she's wonderful," Latimer finished.

Martha blinked, turning to him. "Five people?"

Latimer took the watch and held it up. "Listen," he said.

Martha strained her ears, and faintly, she could hear voices. "BJ," a harsh man's voice said.

"Lypse," a Northern accent said.

"Lypsie," an American woman said, not the Apocalypse, but someone else.

"Caly," a woman with Kylie's accent now whispered.

"Calypsie," an American man said.

Kylie swallowed hard. "I can hear them," she said nervously.

Something went off with a bang, and Martha turned to the window. "What the hell?!"

"They're destroying the village!" Joan gasped in horror.

Kylie, however, was still staring at the watch. "The watch," she whispered.

"Kylie, don't," James warned, but Kylie stepped forward, as if drawn to it.

"Closer," the women begged.

"Can you hear it?" Latimer asked.

"Closer," came the men.

"I think she's asleep," Kylie blinked, taking the watch. "Waiting to awaken . . . "

"Why did they speak to me?" Latimer wondered.

And abruptly, Kylie's accent was gone. "Oh, low telepathic field," the Apocalypse answered, making the Redferns' eyes widen, making Martha gasp. "You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing - " She gasped loudly, pitching the watch onto the table like it was a hot potato, her eyes wide in horror. "Is that how she talks?" she demanded.

"That's her," Martha nodded. "All you have to do is open it, and she's back."

"You knew this all along, and yet you watched?" Kylie demanded.

"I didn't know what to do!" Martha protested. "She gave me a list of things to watch out for, but some of it wasn't included!"

James silently pulled out Kylie's journal and flipped through it in the moonlight, Joan walking over to read over his shoulder.

"The possibility of falling in love?" Kylie asked, shaking her head. "That didn't even occur to her?"

"No," Martha answered firmly.

"Then what sort of woman is that?!"

"A woman who loved her husband with all of her heart," Martha answered carefully. She'd never known much about the Doctor, but she'd seen Kylie turn down man after man, including James. "She never once looked at another. And she never would. It would only ever be the Doctor for her."

Kylie swallowed. "And now you expect me to die?" she whimpered.

"It was always going to end, though," Martha told her. "The Apocalypse said the Family's got a limited lifespan, and that's why they need to consume a Time Lord. Otherwise, three months, and they die. Like mayflies, she said."

"So your job was to execute me?"

"People are dying out there!" Martha shouted, fed up. "They need her, and I need her, because you've got no idea of what she's like! I've only just met her, it wasn't even that long ago. But she is everything! She's just everything to me, and she doesn't even look at me, but I don't care, because she's my best friend in the universe." She groaned. "And I hope to God she won't remember me saying this."

"It's getting closer," Latimer observed.

Kylie eyed the watch before taking it and holding it up. "Why didn't I think of it before?" She held it up. "I can give them this. Just the watch. Then they can leave, and I can stay as I am."

"You can't do that!" Martha protested.

"If they want the Apocalypse, they can have her!"

"She'll never let you do it!"

"If they get what they want, then - "

"Then it all ends in destruction," James interrupted from where he was reading, Joan looking horrified at the page they were on. "We just read to the end, but those creatures would live forever to breed and conquer for war across the stars for every child."

Kylie swallowed, when she heard a voice from inside the watch. "Listen," Rose begged. "Listen to us!"

"For once in your life, listen," Jack ordered.

Kylie looked down at the watch. "Leave me alone?" she requested softly.

The humans looked at each other before Latimer, the only other one who could hear the watch, nodded, and the four headed out.

Kylie sank into a seat, listening to the voices inside the watch. "If we could do this instead of you, we would," the Doctor told her.

"I can't leave this life behind," she shook her head.

"Kylie Smith isn't you," Peri said.

"Kylie Smith is the Apocalypse," Jack told her.

"Time Lords have adventures," the Master added. "But my sister can never have a life like this."

"But I could!"

"Then what are you going to do?" Rose challenged.

Kylie swallowed, looking out at the explosions, then made her decision.

***

Martha jumped when the door of the cottage opened, and Kylie walked out, except she was walking much more differently. "I want my cowboy boots back," she said in an American accent. "And please tell me I do not taste pears."

Martha cheered happily, running up and hugging the Apocalypse. "You're back, you're back, you're back!" she laughed.

"I'm back!" the Apocalypse laughed, hugging her around the waist. "But, seriously, Martha, why do I taste pears?"

"Kylie Smith liked them."

"Of course she did," the Apocalypse huffed, rolling her eyes, taking a look at her hair. "And she liked having her hair down, too. Please tell me you have a hairband."

"Gotcha," Martha grinned, digging through her apron.

The Apocalypse smiled at Latimer and crouched down so she was at eye level. "Thank you," she told him sincerely. "Someone so young, but someone who thinks twice his age. That's a brilliant human right there."

Latimer smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Smith."

"Nah," she smirked. "It's the Apocalypse." She stood, taking the hairband from Martha, thoroughly trying not to look at the Redferns, both of who were staring at her in a mixture of shock and horror. "And now . . . " She tied her hair back in a makeshift ponytail, her blue eyes darkening as she took the fob watch from a pocket in her dress. "I think I have a Family to deal with."

"Good luck," Martha told her.

"Oh, trust me," the Apocalypse shook her head, storming off. "It's them who need the good luck."

***

"We'll blast them into dust, then fuse the dust into glass, then shatter them all over again," Baines smirked, standing at the controls of the fireballs. He moved to activate them again -

Switches started flipping on their own account, and Jenny hissed and snatched her arm back when one heated under her hand. "What the - ?"

A control flipped, and the bombardment stopped. "I believe you were looking for me?" the Apocalypse asked, stepping inside, flipping her fob watch over and over in her hand.

"Apocalypse," Baines sneered. "At last."

"You helped me do what I wanted to do, after Canary Wharf," the Apocalypse told them, walking forward, a few more switches flipping as her eyes glowed gold. "I wanted to hide. I wanted to hide away from this life and never return to it. And it almost worked. Almost." She held up her fob watch. "But while I am the last Time Lady . . . I am never alone. I have my United, my brothers, and my sisters, always there for me still. No more hiding, and no more running. Well, except maybe once." She pointed. "Because I don't like the looks of that hydroconometer. It seems to me that it's indicating you've got energy feedback all the way through the retrostabilizers feeding back into the primary heat converters. So, just this once, I will give you one word of advice." Her eyes flared gold. "Run."

She ran out quickly, stopping at the edge of the field. The Family ran out a few seconds later, before the spaceship exploded, and they were thrown to the ground. The Apocalypse walked over softly, glaring at them. "Here comes the Apocalypse," she told them with a sneer.

Baines gulped.

***

"She never raised her voice. That was the worst thing. The fury of the Time Lady. And then we discovered why. Why this Apocalypse, the last of the Experiments, who had fought with gods and demons, why she'd run away from us and hidden. Her family had changed her, Time Lords and humans alike. She was being kind."

***

The Apocalypse watched with a dark look in her eyes as Mr. Clark screamed as he fell into a deep pit with heavy chains.

***

"She wrapped my father in unbreakable chains, forged in the heart of a dwarf star."

***

With a telekinetic push, the Apocalypse sent Jenny into deep space, the TARDIS humming angrily at the threat that had been placed on her Pilot.

***

"She tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there forever."

***

The Apocalypse was finishing her fishtail braids, her hair still blonde, no longer brunette, when she saw Lucy peek around the edge of the mirror she was looking in. She just gave an evil smile and a small wave.

***

"She still visits my little sister once a year, every year. I wonder if one day, she might forgive her, but there she is. Can you see? She trapped her inside a mirror, every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you, just for a second, that's her. That's always her."

***

The Apocalypse dropped a straw hat on top of Baines, now a scarecrow, nodding in satisfaction before bushing her hands off.

***

"As for me, I was suspended in time. And the Apocalypse put me to work, standing over the fields of England, as their protector."

***

The Apocalypse took one last look over at Baines before curling her lips in a sneer, her eyes flaring gold before she headed off to talk to two more people.

***

"With the loss of family came grave consequences. We wanted to live forever, so the Apocalypse made sure that we did."

***

James heard footsteps in the cottage, and he paused from where he was flipping through the pages of Kylie Smith's journal. "Is it done?" he asked.

"It's done," the Apocalypse answered, no emotion at all in her voice.

James turned and looked the woman up and down, her blonde hair in fishtail braids, wearing her typical dark pink rose-colored turtleneck, black skinny jeans, grey cowboy boots, a black waterfall cardigan, a black sparkling scarf, and her silver Gallifreyan wristwatch. His gaze switched to her black wedding ring with ten dark pink zircons, and he took a deep breath. "The police and the army are at the school. The parents have come to take the boys home. We should go. They'll have so many questions, and we're not sure what to say . . . "

"Oh, you look the same," Joan took a shaky breath, even as the Apocalypse leaned in the doorway, her hands in her pockets. "Goodness, you must forgive my rudeness. I find it difficult to look at you. Apocalypse. I must call you Apocalypse. Where is she? Kylie Smith?"

"She's in here somewhere," the Apocalypse shrugged. "But I was never meant to be Kylie. It should have been Caly."

"That girl from the watch," James recognized. "She had the same accent as you. She called you Caly."

"Rose Tyler," the Apocalypse nodded curtly.

"Could you change back?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Will you?" Joan asked, a bit of hope in her voice.

The Apocalypse shook her head. "No."

"I see," she frowned. "Well, then, she was braver than you, in the end, that ordinary woman. You chose to change. She chose to die."

"I've been running my entire life," the Apocalypse told her with a scowl. "James has practically read my whole life in that journal. From the age of eight, I was tortured, put through programs that I shouldn't have survived. I've lived over nine hundred years, and I've been through so much. People change just because they want to forget. People want to die because they don't want to carry on. And you have no idea how hard it's been losing my husband, my true brother, and my human siblings time after time. No more hiding, no more running, and no more changing. In the end, I guess we're all cowards."

"Well said," James had to admire her reasoning.

The Apocalypse smiled. "That's why I wanted to ask . . . come with me."

Joan blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"Travel with me."

"As what?" James asked.

"My companions."

"That's not fair," Joan shook her head. "What must we look like to you, Apocalypse? We must seem so very small."

"I thought that once, in the beginning," the Apocalypse shrugged. "And then my granddaughter led two humans through the doors of the TARDIS. Never looked at humans the same ever since."

"Answer me this," James told her. "Just one question. That's all. If the Apocalypse had never visited us, if he'd never chosen this place on a whim, would anybody here have died?"

"I think you know that answer," the Apocalypse told him softly.

Joan closed her eyes, turning her back. "You can go."

The Apocalypse looked ready to say something before she nodded. She walked over to James and held out her hand, and James handed her the journal. But the Apocalypse just walked over to Joan and handed it to her. "I'm sorry," she apologized before heading back to James. She paused before kissing his cheek and heading out.

James swallowed, then walked over to Joan and gave her a hug as the other woman cried at the loss of one of her best friends.

***

Martha leaned against the TARDIS in the pouring rain, watching the Apocalypse walk up. "Right, then," the Apocalypse nodded. "Molto bene."

"How were they?" Martha asked sympathetically.

"Time we moved on," she shrugged.

Martha bit her lip. "If you want, I could go and - "

"Time we moved on," the Apocalypse gave her a look.

Martha gave a smile. "Er, I meant to say . . . back there, last night. I would have said anything to get you to change."

"Martha," the Apocalypse gave her a look again. "It's been a long time since I've had a friend like you."

Martha smiled. "Really?"

"Oh, come here," she huffed, giving her a hug, making Martha laugh. "And thank you so much for looking after me."

"You're welcome," Martha grinned.

"Apocalypse!" Latimer's voice called, and they turned in surprise as the boy made his way up to them. "Martha!"

"Tim Timothy Timber!" the Apocalypse grinned at him.

"I just wanted to say goodbye," he told them. "And thank you. Because I've seen the future, and I now know what must be done. It's coming, isn't it? The biggest war ever."

"You don't have to fight," Martha frowned at him even as the Apocalypse nodded.

"I think we do."

"But you could get hurt!"

"Well, so could you, traveling around with her, but it's not going to stop you."

Martha nodded, conceding the point. "Tim, I'd be honored if you'd take this," the Apocalypse told him, pulling out her fob watch and handing it over.

Latimer took it with a small frown. "I can't hear anything."

"No, it's just a watch now," the Apocalypse nodded. "But keep it with you, for good luck."

"Look after yourself," Martha told him, giving him a hug and kissing his cheek, before she headed inside out of the rain.

"You'll like this bit," the Apocalypse added with a grin, heading inside next to send the TARDIS off.

***

"INCOMING!"

"In June 1914, an Archduke of Austria was shot by a Serbian, and this then led, through nations having treaties with nations, like a line of dominoes falling, to some boys from England walking together in France on a terrible day."

Latimer opened the fob watch and checked the time. "One minute past the hour," he read, turning to a wounded Hutchinson. "It's now. Hutchinson, this is the time. It's now." He looked up when a bombshell flew towards them. "To the right!" he shouted. "To the right!"

They dove into a ditch nearby, the bomb exploding nearby. "We made it!" Latimer cheered. "Thank you, Apocalypse!" He turned to Hutchinson. "Come along, chap."

"Leave me," Hutchinson wheezed, shaking his head. "I'm not going to make it."

"Oh, yes, you are," Latimer nodded, wrapping his arm around his friend. "Didn't I promise you, all those years ago? Now, come on, and that's an order!"

***

"They have no lot in our labor of the day time. They sleep beyond England's foam," a female vicar was reading as a much older Timothy Latimer sat in his wheelchair, his thumb rubbing a rose gold fob watch, medals on his chest. "They went with songs to the battle. They were young, straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted."

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see the Apocalypse looking no different, save for the crown of poppies she had on her head. He felt a hand on his other shoulder and turned to see Martha there as well, smiling down at him with tears in her eyes, a poppy on her jacket. "Thank you," he whispered to them.

"You are not alone, Timothy," the Apocalypse squeezed his shoulder, the two women staying with him as the vicar finished.

"They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them."

Yet the Apocalypse's smile fell as she recalled the words of the Face of Boe.

"You are not alone."

***

Ohhhh, I'm scared of her. :) Let me tell you, I cannot wait for the Eleventh Apocalypse now! :D

Like the little twist about the Master, the Doctor, Peri, Rose, and Jack being inside the watch, too? I thought that her memories of them would be so strong, they would be able to come through. And the Apocalypse . . . is blonde again!!!! :D How about that?

Next up is "Blink" . . . and then we round it out with what I'm sure everyone has been waiting for, "Utopia"/"The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords!" :D

Who's excited? ;) Comment away!