Outside, Temple, Night...

Lucas, Clara and Merry hurried outside to the mopeds.

Lucas then heard Akhaten roar, making him run back to the door to look inside.

Inside, Temple...

The field created by the Doctor and Lexi's sonics dissipated as they turned them off.

Outside, Temple...

"Glorious! Doctor!" Lucas shouted into the temple just before the Doctor and Lexi came and joined him, Clara and Merry outside

The Couple of Time quickly used their sonics on the door.

Suddenly, a beam of light shot out from the top of the pyramid to the sun.

"Where are you? Where are you?"

Clara put her arms about Merry protectively as the Doctor and Lexi used their sonics on the Vigil who were walking out of the temple. The three creatures soon disappeared.

"Where did they go?" Clara questioned.

"Grandfather seems to be awake now." The Doctor informed. "The Vigil are of no function anymore."

"Well, you could at least pretend to sound a bit more happy about it." Lucas told him as he crossed his arms, a slight frown on his face just before the sound of a distant explosion was heard.

"You see, the thing is... I think the Doctor and I may have made a bit of a tactical 'boo-boo'." Lexi said nervously, glancing around. "Well, it's more of a semantics mix-up, really."

Clara eyed her and the Doctor closely. "What do you mean 'boo-boo'?"

"We thought the Old God was Grandfather but he wasn't." The Doctor said quickly, glancing back at the Temple door before looking back at Clara, Lucas and Merry. "It may or may not have just been Grandfather's alarm clock."

"Sorry, I'm a bit lost." Lucas spoke up, holding a finger up. "Who is the Old God? And is there actually an Old God?"

"Unfortunately, uh, yeah." Lexi said quickly as they all looked up to the sun in the sky as it burned brighter, almost expanding.

"Oh, my stars." Clara breathed. "What the hell do we do now?"

"Against that?" The Doctor chuckled bitterly. "I don't know. Do you know? I don't know."

"So," Lexi clapped her hands together. "anyone got any ideas?"

"But you promised!" Merry exclaimed, looking up at Lexi. "You promised!"

"You did promise her, Lex." The Doctor whispered to her.

"I know I did, I was there." Lexi responded as she began to pace. "I did promise. Thanks for reminding me, dearie."

"He'll eat us all." Merry stated. "He'll spread across the system, consuming the Seven Worlds. And when there's no more to eat, he'll embark on a new odyssey among the stars."

The gases on the sun continued to whirl and burn, seeming to expand further.

"I say leg it." Lucas spoke up.

The Doctor quickly looked over at Lucas. "And where exactly would we go, Mr. Harper?"

"Don't know." He shrugged. "The Lake District is quite nice."

"Oh, the Lake District's lovely." Lexi chimed in, glancing over at him. "We should definitely go there." She then looked to the Doctor. "We can take them to eat scones. Remember they do great scones in 1927."

"I do agree." The Doctor said softly before looking back up at the sun.

Lexi looked at the expression on his face before just sighing and turning to look at the sun with him. "We're going to fight it, aren't we?"

"No, we're not." He told her. "I am."

"What?!" Lexi quickly glanced at him. "On your own? Are you insane?!"

"Do I even need to answer that?" The Doctor responded, glancing at her. "You know me. And you know what I'm capable of."

"Yeah, I do." She told him, crossing her arms with a slight scowl on her face. "But, you also know me and have seen what I am capable of. Let me help."

"Lex." The Doctor sighed, gesturing frustratedly at the giant sun. "This thing is massive! I want you to get everyone over to the amphitheater. At least that's somewhat a good distance away."

"I made a promise to Merry, and now you're wanting me to get away." Lexi stated, upset. "Well fine, then." She then turned away from him and began walking over to Lucas, Clara and Merry who all had been watching her argue slightly with the Doctor. "Come on, everyone. Looks like we're walking away. Just like the Doctor and I said we wouldn't. To the mopeds. Now."

Not having enough nerve to protest, Lucas, Clara and Merry all followed Lexi as the Doctor watched them go.

Inside, Temple...

The Doctor entered the temple and looked across to the sun that now appeared to have a face.

"Any ideas?" The Doctor asked himself. "No, didn't think so. Righty-ho, then."

Inside, Amphitheater...

Lexi and Clara landed the mopeds, Lucas unwrapping his arms from around Lexi and getting off the moped as Merry did the same with Clara.

The four of them all looked towards the temple and the sun as everyone in the amphitheater seemed to sense and know that there was something momentous happening.

Merry tugged on the sleeve of Lexi's emerald green coat, making her glance down at her. "Isn't the Doctor frightened?"

"He is, Merry." Lexi nodded in confirmation before looking back towards the sun. "He is very frightened."

"I want to help." She said.

"That makes two of us."

Merry bit her lip in thought before flashing back to what Lucas had told her earlier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK

Outside, Marketplace...

"But what do you do about that?" Merry asked as she, Lucas and Clara all sat back against the TARDIS. "How can you make yourself not be scared?"

"The thing is, you can't. Not really, anyway." Lucas shrugged, glancing over and down at her. "There are going to be times that you can't help but be scared. However, when those times come, all you have to do is focus."

"On what?" Merry shook her head, confused as to what Lucas was trying to tell her.

"That, my friend," Lucas gave her a kind smile. "is something that only you can answer for yourself. It's different for everyone."

END OF FLASHBACK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry opened her eyes, inhaling a deep breath.

"All you have to do is focus." She whispered to herself.

Merry then went and stepped onto the pedestal, glancing back at Lucas, Clara and Lexi before facing towards the temple again and beginning to sing.

"Rest now, my warrior..."

Inside, Temple...

The Doctor Couldn't help but smile when he heard the singing.

"Okay, then. That's what I'll do." He said to the sun. "I'll tell you a story."

Inside, Amphitheater...

"Oh, oh-oh, oh-oh Oh-oh, oh-oh... Way-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay Wake up..." Merry continued to sing as the crowd joined in.

"Wake up..."

"And let the cloak of life cling to your bones..." Merry sang, Clara and Lucas smiling at her as Lexi herself looked around and smiled slightly at everyone else.

Inside, Temple...

The Doctor pointed towards the other planet with the amphitheatre.

"Can you hear them?" He asked the sun. "All these people who've lived in terror of you and your judgment? All these people whose ancestors devoted themselves. Sacrificed themselves. To you... Can you hear them singing?"

Inside, Amphitheater...

"Way-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay Wake up..."

Inside, Temple...

You could hear Merry and the others singing as the Doctor continued to talk with the Old God.

"You like to think you're a god. But you're not a god." The Doctor told the sun. "You're just a parasite eaten out with jealousy and envy and longing for the lives of others. You feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow. So... come on, then. Take mine. Take my memories. But I hope you've got a big appetite. Because I've lived a long life and I've seen a few things." He said as the sun/Old God shot tendrils of light at him, sucking away his life and memories.

Inside, Amphitheater...

"Wake up And let the cloak of life cling to your bones..."

Inside, Temple...

"I walked away from the Last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords." The Doctor stated with passion. "I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time. No space. Just me. I've walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a madman. I've watched universes freeze and creations burn. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I've lost things you'll never understand. And I know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze." He spread his arms out. "So come on then! Take it! Take it all, baby! Have it! You have it all!"

The sun then grew darker, the Doctor hanging his head.

Inside, Amphitheater...

"Wake up Wake u-u-u-up." Merry finished singing and smiled as everyone looked towards the sky and watched, waiting.

Suddenly, there was a large explosion before the sun then expanded and grew brighter.

Biting her lip in thought, Lexi closed her eyes as she began to think of the Doctor over there, alone.

"We don't walk away." Her and the Doctor's voices rang through her mind.

Lexi's eyes snapped opened before she spun around and rushed for one of the mopeds

Lucas turned and watched as she went before calling out to her. "Where are you going?!"

"All of you, stay here." Is all Lexi replied with as she started up the moped she was now on.

Inside, Temple...

Not being able to stand steady anymore, Doctor fell to his knees.

Outside, Space...

Determined, Lexi raced the moped back to the temple.

Inside, Temple...

Hurrying, Lexi ran into the temple as she reached into one of the pockets of her coat, her hand coming into contact with her small black leather pocketbook she had been going through after she and the Doctor had picked up Clara and Lucas.

The Doctor looked up at her as she walked forward.

With all the courage she could muster, Lexi nervously opened her pocketbook, pulling out what looked to be a small piece of paper.

After putting the pocketbook back into her coat pocket, Lexi held the piece of paper close to her chest as she faced the sun/Old God.

"Still hungry?" Lexi questioned the Old God as she unfolded the piece of paper. "Well, I brought something for you. You see this?" She showed the Old God the piece of paper, the piece a paper turning out to be a small handwritten letter of sorts. "I keep this with me wherever I go. You know why? Because it reminds me to keep going even when I want to give up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK {The Pond Twins "P.S. (Epilogue)"}

Inside, Pond-Williams home, Lounge...

"You really do look like Mom." Anthony told Lexi, taking her hand in his as he sat down next to her on the sofa. "Not so much of a surprise, though. She always told me she was a twin. Never thought I'd actually get to meet you. But, Mom did say that if I ever saw you, to give you this."

Lexi looked down when she felt Anthony place something in her hand, seeing that it was a letter.

Lexi closed her eyes when she saw 'Lexi' scrawled across the envelope in Amy's familiar handwriting.

Lexi took a deep breath as she opened the letter with trembling hands.

END OF FLASHBACK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside, Temple...

"The last words I ever received from my sister." Lexi spoke as she held up Amy's last real and true farewell to her. "What's written in this letter holds the memories of the life she and her husband got to live. It holds the sadness of a family being torn away from each other. It holds the hopes my sister had for me, my husband and our children. This letter is full of the adventures we lived through together. It's full of the bond shared between two sisters. The love they had for each other. It tells the story of their life they lived where they became the women they were destined to be. However, this letter also tells another story. It tells the story of the life a family got to live. But not the life they should have. You see, Amy and Rory got to live out their lives together, but not in the way they originally should have. They were ripped away and put in a time that was not meant for them. But it was a time that needed them. The letter that I hold in my hands right now is something that is also full of the want for the un-lived days that were snatched away from them." Lexi took a deep breath and held the letter out in front of her. "So take it. Take their un-lived days. The un-lived days of Amy Pond and Rory Williams."

The Old God then sent tendrils to the letter and began absorbing it.

"Well, come on then. Eat up." The Doctor said as he stood up before walking to stand alongside Lexi. "Are you full? I expect so because there's quite a difference, isn't there? Between what was and what should have been. There's an awful lot of one, but there's an infinity of the other. And infinity's too much. Even for your appetite."

The letter then completely dissipated.

"Even though they're gone, they're still doing what they did best." Lexi stated before looking to the Doctor, finding that he was already gazing at her. "Helping us."

The Doctor smiled somewhat sadly at her, taking her hand in his and bringing it up to kiss her knuckles before the both of them then looked back to the sun and watched it implode, leaving them in darkness.

Inside, TARDIS...

The Doctor and Lexi stood at the console, both of them not saying anything as they worked the controls, landing the TARDIS in the Maitland's driveway.

"You both okay?" Lucas questioned the couple, eyeing them suspiciously as Clara headed for the door that lead to the outside.

"Of course we are." Lexi stated as she turned to look at him. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"It looks different." Clara spoke up as she opened the door and peered outside.

"Mm." Lucas hummed in response to Lexi before glancing at where Clara was by the door.

"Nope. Same house. Same city. Same planet." The Doctor told Clara. "Same day, actually. Not bad." He then pretended to swing a golf club. "Hole in one!"

"Can I ask you something, Glorious?" Lucas questioned as he took a few steps in Clara's direction as she closed the door and turned back to walk a few steps inside.

"Shoot." Lexi told him before pressing a couple of buttons on the console.

"What did you do?" He asked. "You know, to make the Old God stop?"

"Oh, you know..." She trailed off, not looking at him as fiddled with some controls. "Recalled an old memory of sorts."

"You know, there's still something that I don't understand." Clara chimed in as she walked up beside Lucas as the two of gazed at the Couple of Time as they messed with the controls on the console. "You both were there at the graves. Doctor, you were at my Mum's."

Lucas's eyes widened slightly in remembrance. "And Glorious, you were at my Dad's."

Clara crossed her arms. "That can't be a coincidence."

"You both were watching." Lucas reminded them, noticing how neither the Doctor or Lexi were making a move to look in his and Clara's direction. "Why were you two there?"

"I don't know." The Doctor shrugged, fidgeting with some controls. "We were just... making sure."

"Making sure of what?" Clara tilted her head slightly in confusion.

Lexi quickly turned in Clara and Lucas's direction. "You both remind us of people."

"Who?" Lucas asked her incredulously.

"People that died." The Doctor chimed in, finally turning away from the console to look at his and Lexi's companions.

Clara uncrossed her arms. "Well, whoever they were, we're not them. Okay?"

"You know, if you want us to travel with you, that's completely fine." Lucas told the couple as he took a single step towards them, making direct eye contact with them. "But WE want to travel with you as us. Not as anyone else. We're not going to compete with ghosts."

"Never." Lexi shook her head, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out Lucas's watch as the Doctor reached into his coat and pulled out Clara's ring. "They wanted you to have these."

The two friends looked down at their possessions that laid in the Doctor's and Lexi's hands.

"Who did?" Clara questioned as she and Lucas looked back up at them.

"Everyone." The Doctor replied. "When I spoke with Dor'een, she said that the magnitude of what Lex offered was more than enough a price for both mopeds."

"Thank you. So much." Lucas said as he and Clara both took hold of their respective possessions, Clara slipping her ring back onto her finger as Lucas put his watch back around his wrist. Lucas then looked back up, looking at the Doctor curiously. "Why do you call her Lex?"

"A story for a different day." Is all the Doctor replied with, smiling a bit as he grabbed Lexi's hand and intertwined their fingers.

Lexi couldn't help but let a small smile cross her features as she and the Doctor faced both their companions.

"It's you, Lucas, Clara." Lexi told the duo. "No one else."

The two friends just smiled at the couple before turning back around, Lucas holding the door open for Clara before then following her out himself as the Doctor and Lexi watched them from the doorway.

The Couple of Time shared a look before then just shutting the door and going and flying the TARDIS away.

--------------------------------

A/N: There ya go! :)

I really do hope you enjoyed this! It didn't turn out exactly how I thought it would, but I guess since I'm getting back into the swing of writing this story, that should be expected. 🙂

Anyway, on another note: I really liked Jodie Whittaker in the regeneration scene of this year's DW Christmas special! ❤️ I know she basically only spoke one word ("Brilliant."), but the way she acted in the scene was really good. I can't wait to see how she plays the Doctor. And I definitely can't wait to eventually write her and Lexi together! 😁

But, you know, we have 12 and Lexi 2.0's era to get through first. I can't wait for them! 💕 They are getting closer... 😏

Anyway, classes don't begin again for me until January 16th. So, I have plenty of spare time for the next three weeks! 🎉 Let's see how many episodes I can get through before then.

P.S. ~ I've added theme songs for Jupiter and Sky to this book's playlist chapter. Sky's theme is "Veni Vidi Vici" by Audiomachine. And Jupiter's theme is "Rise Above" by Two Steps From Hell.

So... I think that's all I've got left to say for right now. Now, I think I'll say goodbye until the next episode, which will be... "Cold War"!!! 🎉

Until then! 😁

💋 Love always,
~Maddy