Arcadia's Family (Book THREE)

The Allure of the Dark

She was still laughing, getting to her feet. "Did you really think that Rassilon would kill me? He put me on trial, yes, for you and your husband. For betraying him, for sending them all back into hell. I was forced to regenerate, because of you, but I don't care. Sera, I don't care, and I forgive you for that."

No, no. They wouldn't do that. "No. Kaylee, Koschei, just no..." I backed away, trying to get to the door. SJ, Arcadia, they'd think I was dead, the Doctor would think I was dead. But I stopped, hearing her pulling me back with that little bit on manipulation in the back of my head. "Let me go, sister. Please. I have 4 children, 3 still alive, and I have a granddaughter. You might not care, but I do."

"You think I don't care? I saved Sarah Jane. I wasn't sure if you or your dippy husband would get to the TARDIS in time, so I made sure that your daughter would survive. When I teleported them out your TARDIS, I sent hyper bunny, the blonde one, to Clara, and I'm the reason she even met Sherlock." OK, why did Sherlock sound so derpy then, like Moriarty saying it? "The fact that I killed him was irrelevant, because they wouldn't know each other without me anyway."

Oh, my God. She really believed this. "Oh my God. You also sent my son and granddaughter out down a river! There was a waterfall at the end!"

"Do you think that little of me? When have I ever killed my own? They're my family, Sera." She snapped, and her eyes darkened. "That boat, if they'd had stayed in it, would have lead them to a transporter. Anti grav, you moron, one of my favourites."

"how can I even believe you?! Why did you even teleport them, Missy? Huh? Because Sarah Jane would have met Sherlock eventually, and what if your anti gravs had failed, killing my son and Suzy? They're your family too and you even put them at risk."

My twin folded her arms, looking like she was just made of sass. "Seraphina dear, please stop shouting. This is a hotel, and there are people in the other rooms. We're trying to remain hidden, because there is likely to be people looking."

People looking? Why would there be people looking? "Missy, why would there be people looking for you?"

"Have you met me?" Good point. "I'm good at upsetting people, including you. Not my intention by the way, sexy Sera."

Stop... Just stop calling me that. "Phi, Missy. My name is Phina. Sera died on the beach after losing her baby and husband. I came back as someone different."

She just shrugged, throwing me a dress from a nearby chair. "Get dressed or we'll miss lunch. This is on me by the way, don't say I never do anything for you."

With that, my twin sister left the room, leaving me to look at the white sundress I was now holding, and it wasn't until now that I realised how grotty I must have been, the tears down my face, the fact I fell down from the plane, and also how I had been unconscious in the bed for two days. So I was gross. I went into the bathroom, shedding my old jeans and black shirt before stripping completely and getting into the shower.

Missy... Why did she save me, other than me being her sister. And my kids, she wasn't letting me leave, more than not wanting me to be with someone bar her, just like before. I needed to find out what was going on, because this was horrific, being away from them, having them think I'm dead. The Doctor lost me once, he wasn't likely to survive losing me this time.

Once I'd washed away the dirt and sweat, I got out, drying my hair and sitting down at the dressing table, seeing all of my make up, the right brands, and shades, and colours. "Missy... What are you up to, how long have you been planning this?" I muttered, starting to do my make up, covering over blemishes and marks, rimming my eyes in blue before pulling the white dress over my head. I didn't have any other shoes, so I had to put them back into the heels, but they were tall and black, meaning I was at least her height. "Well, let's go see my sister being a Victorian Tourist." 

"buon pomeriggio , signora , tua sorella vi aspetta sulla terrazza . Vorresti qualcosa da bere?" A waiter asked me as I came down the stairs, which made me realise my husband was off world, because it wasn't automatically translating. No matter, I spoke every language without the TARDIS. "Good afternoon, madam, your sister is waiting for you on the terrace. Would you like anything to drink?"

OK, OK, Italian, speak back... "Disaronno e cola , per favore. posso chiedere , quanto tempo è stata mia sorella stare qui ?" Disaronno and coke. And I needed to know how long Missy had been here.

"Your sister has been here many months, Mrs Dark." Another waiter told me, this one speaking remarkable English. "She bought the hotel, runs it very well. I will get your drink, please, join your sister."

Right... This wasn't going well. I sat at the table with her, and she looked over the top of her news paper as I sat down, putting on my glasses to be able to read the menu. "I like them, make you look older."

"I am old, Missy." I sighed, rubbing my eyes under them. "Older than you, now I'd bet. How old are you, anyway?"

Her lips pursed a little. "Nope. Rude to ask, little sister. But I'm even older than your husband, I'm 2792. And you?"

Oh God... "2000 exactly. But I didn't have to be resurrected to reach this age."

"Sticks and stones, Sera." Missy smiled brightly as my drink was brought out, the ice in there floating, the glass sweating as a bead of condensation trickled down the side. "Thank you, Mario."

"Is his name actually Mario or are you being annoying, Missy?" I asked softly. "You always loved Nintendo, what was your daughters name again? Zelda?"

"Bring Zelda into this and I won't hesitate to kill little Suzy." She snapped quickly, and I forgot how she died. Initiation killed her, burning out her brain. "Now, drink up, we have a lot to discuss. I want to do a little, reminiscing."

OK... That sounded strange. But I sipped the cool liquid, loving the silky smooth taste of the marzipan and sugars. There was nothing better than this stuff. "What do you want to reminisce about? How many times that you tried to kill my husband, or the amount of times you manipulated and controlled me?"

Her face didn't lose it's grin. "Or how you and I raised the Rassilon Archive when we were 16."

No, no, no. "Hey, that was your idea, I had to compel the guard when he found you! You were this greasy sort of outcast who had been caught in the girls dorms one too many time to come and visit me, and you were on your last warning."

"Exactly! So when you made him completely open to suggestion, what did I do next?" Damn, wow. Long time ago, millenia. "Your Doctor, called Theta Sigma still at this point, came down and encouraged me to make him carry our spoils back to our room, where we spent the night reading about our own future adventures by accident. Not that we knew that then."

Wait, wait, hang on! "No, because he then whenever he saw any of us, started doing exactly what we said! He was like our own private slave!"

"Yes!" Missy was laughing as I drank more of my drink. "You got him to do my work!"

"Yeah, and remember when you got annoyed over how sexist the Gallifreyan History teacher was, when I started my period. You put the hallucinogenic in his supper, and he dreamt that he had a uterus and started bleeding like mad." Oh, now that was a good time.

Missy was actually crying with laughter now, and I drank some more drink, the heat getting to me now, even in just a thin summer dress. "Oh, or when you sped time up around yourself when we were doing PE, and it looked like you teleported! Even the Doctor looked so confused, bless him!"

We spent the day doing that. Drinking, laughing, telling stories from when we were growing up. It wasn't until I started falling asleep back upstairs after consuming more alcohol than I'd care to admit. Maybe, just maybe, Missy wanted me here because she was lonely. But either way, her dark was drawing me in. The Dark Twins. Were we really so different?