Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 112 - Reflections and Realizations

"Not at night," Lyssa pointed out, though she couldn't deny that Martha's theory did make sense - John was far more overprotective than the Doctor, although she'd just chalked it up to her supposed recovery from a near-fatal illness and what she'd believed to be an assumed romantic love for her due to their feigned engagement.

Of course, recent events seemed to indicate otherwise, something she would probably need to talk with him about when all this was over.

Assuming they were all even still alive when all this was over, she mentally corrected herself gloomily.

"All the previous times they've tried anything have been during the day," River said thoughtfully. "And they don't seem to be happening one after the other. Perhaps they have a limited time frame of accessibility to our universe. Although we shouldn't make any assumptions. I think it might be for the best that you have someone with you at all times from now on, Lyssa. At least until the Doctor comes back."

"Which would probably be somewhere around tomorrow evening," Lyssa muttered, trying to recall the details before giving up and getting up to grab her journal from her dresser. She flipped through the pages until she reached the Family of Blood episodes, scanning the summary she'd written down.

She nodded when she spotted what she'd been looking for. "Yep. It starts during the dance tomorrow, and shortly after it is when it all ends." She read another one of her notes and bit her lip, wondering if that would still happen.

"Is that your journal?" River asked curiously, watching with interest as Lyssa tucked it back into her dresser, covering it with some loose clothes. "It looks so bare."

"Well, considering I'll probably be a lot older when you meet me for the first time, I imagine this seems brand new by comparison," Lyssa told her absently as she shut the drawer and returned to her spot on the bed. "Wait. Bare?" She wrinkled her brow, suddenly realizing the odd wording. "Not empty?"

River grimaced. "Oops. Let's not tell anyone about that, yeah? They all get ever so bothered about spoilers, and that's just no fun at all."

"Right," Lyssa said slowly. She shook her head. "Anyway, the watch went missing in the original version of events as well. There were no hunters, but there was a boy who found the watch and took it, named Timothy Latimer. He kept it safe and gave it back to John Smith when it was needed." She paused. "I think he's time sensitive as well."

"Latimer?" Martha echoed in surprise. She tilted her head to the side, then nodded thoughtfully. "You know, I can see it. There's always been a little something... different... about him. You think the watch is with him?" she asked hopefully.

Lyssa shrugged unhappily, biting her lip. "Hard to say. He does like to hang out in the library a lot, so he definitely could've been the one to find it, especially if he felt something tugging him there." She sighed. "But it went missing sometime this morning, and any number of people could've found it by now, assuming it's not just still sitting there somewhere."

"I'll go look for it," Martha volunteered. "My brain wipe, my responsibility, right?"

"Didn't we go over this the last time you got brainwashed?" Lyssa frowned at her, vaguely recalling Martha feeling similar after recovering from the attack at the mineral lakes of Cuhlhan. "It wasn't your fault, you had no control over what happened."

"Maybe not, but I can try to make up for it, yeah?" the other girl pointed out, clearly not convinced. "I mean, last time I didn't actually do anything - this time I could've just given the Doctor into the hands of the Family, assuming those hunters, whoever they are, haven't found it themselves."

"Believe it or not, Martha, I have been where you have, only much worse," River spoke up gently. "It's not your responsibility to make up for the actions of others, whether or not they used you unwillingly to do it, although sometimes there are others that try to make us believe that." She got up from her chair, tucking her blaster back into her hidden pocket. "Plus, it seems like they have a way to manipulate human memories using the watch, given that both John and Martha were influenced while Lyssa wasn't. I'm not fully human, so it might be a wiser idea for me to go. I'll be more likely to notice if they try anything." She sighed. "I've got a fair bit of experience with manipulated memories, after all."