As he walked through the home of Angie and Artie Maitland, the Doctor asked, "Angie? Artie? Am I getting warm? Angie? Artie? Am I getting warm? Am I getting warm?" After thrusting forward an arm with a cloth tied around his face, he asked, "Am I getting warm? Look, I'm pretty sure you have to tell me if I'm getting warm. I'm-I'm-I'm-I'm pretty sure that's in the rules."
Then– after a single set of footsteps was heard going down a set of stairs– he heard Clara say, "Doctor?"
In turn, the Doctor said, "Ha! Clara. How are you? Don't worry, everything is under control."
Then Clara asked him, "What are you doing?"
As he turned to face the sound of where Clara's voice was coming from, he told her, "Oh, um, Mr. Maitland went next door so, uh, I said I'd look after the kids with the help of Annabelle, Kai, Dorothy and Joseph. They wanted to go to the cinema, but I said no. I said, 'No, not until you wake up'. I was very firm."
In turn, Clara said to him, "At which point, they suggested blind man's buff."
The Doctor said to her, "Yes. Where are they?"
As she went to take the cloth off of his face, Clara told him, "At the cinema."
Then the Doctor said, "The little Daleks! Why didn't Annabelle or her friends tell me that they left?" Then he turned to Clara and asked her, "What's wrong?"
* * *
After pouring some tea into a cup, Clara asked, "So, who was she? Lady with the funny name and the space hair."
While Annabelle only frowned to herself as she ignored the small argument that Kai and Joseph were currently having with one another and Dorothy's attempts to end the argument, the Doctor said, "An old friend of mine and Annabelle's."
Then Clara asked him, "What, like an ex?"
The Doctor replied, "Yes, an ex. Well, for me, anyway. She was strictly a friend of Annabelle's. Granted, Annabelle didn't consider her a friend the first time that they met, but they were still friends, nonetheless. That's a different story, though. What matters is this. River asked Vastra for the exact words. What were they?"
As she walked into the same room that the Doctor was sitting inside of with Annabelle and was carrying two separate cups in her hands, Clara said, "'The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered'." When the Doctor had only lowered his head in response to her words, she said, "Doctor?"
With a mere wave of his hand, the Doctor said to her in a whisper, "Sorry." Then– as he let out a sob– he asked her, "And it was Trenzalore, it was definitely Trenzalore?"
In turn, Clara said to him, "Yeah."
Then the Doctor said with a sigh, "Oh, damn. Sorry."
Then he quickly stood up from his chair and practically ran out of the house– leaving Clara to simply stand in place for a moment, while Annabelle had simply run after him.
And while Joseph, Kai and Dorothy had turned their attention onto Annabelle, who was running after the Doctor, before each of them had sped after her, Clara only stared after the five of them.
Then– after putting down the cups of tea in her hands– Clara quickly ran after the five of them.
* * *
Five years ago
After waking up to find himself bound to a chair, Lucien looked over at Annabelle, who was silently eyeing her eldest sibling, before he looked over at Freya and asked her, "Did you have to tie me up?"
After raising her head, Freya simply stared ahead of herself as she said to him, "This will hurt." Then she turned around to look at Lucien before she told him, "I need you not to move."
While Freya started to make her way over towards him, he replied, "You're a dark one, Freya Mikaelson." While Freya had knelt down in front of him, he said to her, "Vervain rope, penetrating spells. Throw in a Pinot and a cheap motel and you've got the beginnings of a romance."
In turn, Annabelle sighed to herself and muttered under her breath, "Oh, bloody hell."
While Lucien only chuckled to himself in response to Annabelle's words, Freya told him, "Oh, you'd have to survive this, first." After tugging onto the rope some more, she said to him, "You see, there's an anchor locking my brothers inside, something representational. That's why they can't get out. But I'm going to bust into this little mental prison and shatter it from the inside. And it's going to take most of my power and, probably, all of yours."
With his eyebrows raised, Lucien said to her, "Oh, love, my stamina's never been an issue." While Annabelle had only scrunched her nose in response to his words and Freya had only tilted her head, Lucien said to Freya, "Go on. Have at it. I'll be bound to the edge of my seat until your return."
It wasn't long after he'd said those words that Freya quickly made her way over towards the table full of candles before she raised her hands high above them and let out a sigh.
It wasn't long after she'd let out a sigh that Freya started to chant, which got Lucien to start to groan from where he was sitting and Annabelle's eyebrows to raise as she looked between the two of them with her head tilted to the side.
And while Freya continued to chant and Lucien continued to groan, Annabelle quickly looked away from the two of them and over towards the sound of approaching footsteps.
As soon as she saw a leg step out from behind a wall, Annabelle quickly sped towards the intruder and pinned them to the wall.
Just as she was about to shove her hand into the intruder's chest, she suddenly stopped when the man yelled, "Wait, wait! Annabelle, just wait!"
As she tilted her head some more, Annabelle slowly looked up at the man that she had pinned against the wall to see that it was none other than William's friend– Joseph Valentine.
With a smirk on her face, she said to him, "Well, well, well. If it isn't Joseph Valentine– the very man that William had turned into a vampire." When Joseph only gulped in response to her words, she asked him, "What are you doing here? Did William ask for you to come and keep an eye on me for him?"
Joseph replied, "He doesn't even know that I'm here. As far as he's concerned, I'm still doing the task he assigned to me."
Annabelle asked him, "And what sort of task would that be?"
Joseph told her, "That doesn't matter. What does matter is that your friend Kai is in trouble."
With her eyes now narrowed, Annabelle asked him, "What sort of trouble?"
Joseph said to her, "The kind of trouble that could get him killed, if he lets himself get found by William."
With a shake of her head, Annabelle asked him, "What are you talking about? William knows how much Kai means to me. Why would he want to kill Kai?"
Joseph replied, "Because William wants you all to himself. He was the one behind Dorothy's death, the disappearance of that coven of witches, and now he's going after Kai. He won't rest until Kai is dead. And once Kai's dead, he could finally have you all to himself." When she didn't respond to his words, he told her, "For the past two-hundred and sixty years, he's done nothing but say how much he needs to isolate you from your family and make sure that the only one you can rely on is himself. He told me himself that if Kol was brought back to life that he would see to it that Kol would die all over again– just so that you could only rely on him. He doesn't want you relying on anyone else but him, and he wouldn't care how much it would hurt you, if it meant that you were with him again."
With her free hand clenched into a fist, Annabelle asked him, "Where is William now?"
With a shake of his head, Joseph said to her, "I don't know. All I know is what he told me this morning. He's been searching for Kai ever since he got his neck snapped by him. He's not going to stop until he rips Kai's head off of the rest of his body and then leaves his headless body lying around for you to find. And based on his findings, he believes Kai's on his way back to you to warn you of William's intentions."
After a couple seconds of silence, Annabelle asked him, "Why are you telling me this?"
Joseph told her, "Because during the two-hundred and eighty-five years I've spent alive, I've been told many stories about you, Annabelle Mikaelson. And from what I've seen during the time I'd spent watching you and taking all those pictures of you for the past four years, you're not the same person I was told about. You've grown to become a much better person than you were all those years ago when William knew you. You're better, and I would hate to see you revert to the person you were over three-hundred years ago."
After sighing to herself, she slowly started to back away from him as she said to him, "Thank you for telling me this, Joseph. I swear that I won't forget this act of kindness from you." When he didn't move to leave, she asked him, "Why aren't you headed back to find Kai?"
Joseph replied, "Because he told me that he would always find a way to know if I ever double-crossed him and if I did, then he would make me regret it. But what he doesn't know is that I already regret ever working for him." After sighing to himself, he told her, "After all, he was the one who murdered my best friend and an innocent infant that was a descendant of my best friend when he felt as if I was turning my back on him. I figured that if I turn my back on him now, then what else do I have to lose?"
The most that Annabelle did in response to his words was start to heavily shake from where she stood with her veins on display and her hands tightly clenched into fists at the mere thought of the extent that her former lover was willing to take just to make her isolated from those that she cared about more than anything.
* * *
After making her way down the stairs and seeing the Doctor sit on a part of the TARDIS with Annabelle standing beside him and simply holding onto one of his hands, Clara said to the Doctor, "Well?"
After turning his attention over towards Clara, the Doctor said, "Trenzalore... I've heard the name of course. Dorium mentioned it, a few others." After standing up and pointing his sonic screwdriver above himself, he said, "More suspected what it was. Never wanted to find out myself. River would know though. River always knew."
After pulling a bit of wiring down and carefully letting go of Annabelle's hand that was holding onto his own, he said to Clara, "Right, come here. Give me your hand." After Clara had done just that, he told her, "Now, the coordinates you saw will still be in your memory. I'm linking you into the TARDIS telepathic circuit. Won't hurt a bit."
With slightly widened eyes, Clara said, "Ow!"
While the sound of the circuit's beeping could be heard, the Doctor said to her, "I lied."
While Annabelle only raised her eyebrows with a sigh in response to the Doctor's words at the mere reminder that his words had just given her, Clara asked him, "Okay, what is Trenzalore? Is that your big secret?"
The Doctor replied, "No."
Then Clara asked him, "Okay, what then?"
After only shaking his head to himself, the Doctor told her, "When you are a time traveler, there is one place you must never go. One place in all of space and time you must never ever find yourself."
Then Clara asked him, "Where?"
In turn, the Doctor asked her, "You didn't listen, did you? You lot never do, that's the problem. 'The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered'. He wasn't talking about my secret. No, no, no, that's not what's been found. He was talking about my... grave. Trenzalore... is where I'm buried."
After the Doctor had started to quickly walk back up the stairs and left Annabelle to stand on her own with a frown on her face and her eyes solely focused on the floor that she was standing on, Clara started to walk after the Doctor as she asked him, "How can you have a grave?"
The Doctor replied, "Because we all do. Somewhere out there in the future waiting for us. The trouble with time travel, you can actually end up visiting."
Then Clara asked him, "But you're not going to? You just said it's one place you must never go."
While Dorothy seemingly appeared out of nowhere and only grabbed Annabelle's hand, Annabelle and her three friends heard the Doctor say, "I have to save Vastra and Strax. Jenny too, if it's still possible. They-They-They-They cared for me during the dark times. Never questioned me, never judged me. They were just... kind. I owe them. I have a duty. No point in telling you this is too dangerous."
In turn, Clara said to him, "None at all. How can we save them?"
The Doctor said to her, "Apparently... By breaking into my own tomb."
Then– after the sound of the TARDIS's whirring could be heard as they made their departure from the outside of the home that Artie and Angie were living in with their father– a thud was heard, which got Clara to ask the Doctor, "What's that?"
The Doctor told her, "She's just figured out where we're going! She's against it! I'm about to cross my own timeline in the biggest way possible. The TARDIS doesn't like it. God, is she fighting it! Hang on! Hang on!"
It wasn't long after both Joseph and Dorothy had flinched upon seeing sparks come out from the spot in the TARDIS that the four of them were standing the closest to that the sound of the Doctor's screaming could be heard, shortly before Clara asked him, "Now what?"
The Doctor said to her, "She doesn't want to land. She's shut down."
Then Clara asked him, "So, we're not there?"
After letting out a sigh, the Doctor said, "We must be close." Then– after making his way over towards the door to the TARDIS– he said, "Okay, so that's where I end up."
After Clara and the four supernatural beings had each made their way over towards the door that the Doctor was standing in front of, the Doctor said, "Always thought, maybe I'd retire. Take up watercolors or bee keeping or something." Then– after looking between Clara, Annabelle, Kai, Dorothy and Joseph– he said, "Apparently not."
It was then that Clara asked him, "So, how do we get down there? Jump?"
The Doctor replied, "Don't be silly. We fall."
Then he closed the door to the TARDIS and started to walk away from it.
As he started to come to a halt only a mere couple of feet away from where the five of them were standing, he said, "She's turned off practically everything except the anti-gravs. Guess what I'm turning off."
Then– after the Doctor had pointed his sonic screwdriver at the controls– Clara, Joseph and Dorothy were quick to let out yells as the TARDIS proceeded to fall down towards the planet.
* * *
After the TARDIS had landed onto the planet, the Doctor opened the door and looked at a crack on one of the windows that stood outside of it before he said, "Oh!" After poking at the crack with one of his fingers, he said, "Oops."
It wasn't long after the six of them had each stared out into the planet that the TARDIS had just landed on that Clara asked him, "You okay? Visiting your own grave. Anyone would be scared."
Then Annabelle said to Clara, "I wouldn't be scared. I believe that I'd be more curious about how I died than anything else, really."
While Dorothy and Joseph had only glanced over at Annabelle, the Doctor said to Clara, "It's more than that. I'm a time traveler. I've probably time traveled more than anyone else."
Clara replied, "Meaning?"
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Meaning..." After taking an actual step out of the TARDIS, he said, "My grave is potentially the most dangerous place in the universe."
Then– after letting out a sigh– he said, "Shall we?"
After Clara and the four supernatural beings had stepped out of the TARDIS before Joseph had taken it upon himself to close the door behind himself, Clara said, "Gravestones are a bit basic."
The Doctor told her, "It's a battlefield graveyard. My final battle."
While the six of them walked through the planet, Clara asked him, "Why are some of them bigger?"
The Doctor replied, "They're soldiers. Bigger the gravestone, higher the rank."
Then– after the six of them had come across in front of a tall and ruined TARDIS– Clara said, "It's a hell of a monument."
The Doctor told her, "It's the TARDIS."
With a nod of her head, Clara said to him, "I can see that."
Then the Doctor said to her, "No. When a TARDIS is dying, sometimes the dimension dams start breaking down. They used to call it a size leak. All the bigger-on-the-inside starts leaking to the outside. It-It-It grows. When I say that's the TARDIS, I don't mean it looks like the TARDIS, I mean it actually is the TARDIS. My TARDIS from the future." After letting out a sigh and starting to walk towards the future version of his TARDIS, he asked, "What else would they bury me in?"
After Annabelle and her three supernatural friends had started to walk after him, Clara went to walk after the five of them, only to stop when she heard a voice say to her, "Clara." After Clara had turned to face Professor River Song, River said to her, "Don't speak, don't say my name. They can't see or hear me, only you can."
It was then that the Doctor yelled to Clara, "Well, come on then!"
After Clara had turned her head to see that Annabelle, Kai, Joseph, Dorothy and the Doctor were all staring at her, River told her, "We're mentally linked. It's the conference call. I kept the line open."
As he quickly walked back over towards Clara with the four supernatural beings close behind him, the Doctor asked her, "Who are you talking to? We need to get..." Then– after both he and Annabelle had come to an abrupt halt– he said, "River."
And while the Doctor had walked over towards River's headstone, the most that Annabelle did was frown to herself with a sigh, shortly before Clara said, "That can't be right."
While Joseph and Dorothy had only looked over at Annabelle with furrowed eyebrows, the Doctor said to Clara, "No, it can't."
Then Clara said to him, "She's not dead."
The Doctor replied, "Oh, she's dead, I'm afraid. She's been dead for a very long time."
Then River said to Clara, "Yeah, probably should have mentioned that. Never the right time."
Then Clara said to the Doctor, "But I met her."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Long story. But her grave can't be here." Then he glanced over at Annabelle as he said, "Annabelle?"
After taking a couple of steps towards River's apparent headstone, Annabelle said, "This doesn't make any sense, Doctor. I mean, the last time that I checked, River Song didn't die here. She died in a library. We both saw her die prior to this current regeneration of yours. So, why would her gravestone even be here?"
The Doctor replied, "No idea."
After Annabelle had only let out a sigh in response to his words, Clara quickly turned her head and said, "Doctor!"
Then the Doctor and the four supernatural beings had all turned their heads to see four faceless beings that had sharp teeth start to walk over towards them as they said in a whisper, "This man must fall as all men must! The fate of all is always dust."
After the Doctor had failed to use his sonic screwdriver on the figures that wore hats on the top of their heads, River asked Clara, "If it isn't my gravestone, then, what is it?"
Then Clara asked the Doctor, "What do you think that gravestone really is?"
The Doctor turned his head to look over at Clara as he said, "The gravestone?"
Then River said to Clara, "Maybe, it's a false grave."
Then Clara said to the Doctor, "Maybe, it's a false grave."
The Doctor replied, "Yeah, maybe."
Then River said to Clara, "Maybe, it's a secret entrance to the tomb."
Then Clara yelled, "Maybe, it's a secret entrance to the tomb!"
As he fully turned to face Clara, the Doctor said to her, "Yes, of course, makes sense. They'd never bury my wife out here."
In turn, Clara said to him, "Your what?"
Then– only moments after Clara had asked him that question– the six of them had found themselves falling into the ground with only four of them letting out screams as a result of them falling.
* * *
Five years ago
The second that Annabelle had arrived at the hideout that she had told Kai about over several different occasions for the past several months that he'd spent being by her side, she found herself face-to-face with William Kelly, who had a grin on his face when he saw that Annabelle was standing in front of him.
With a sigh, William said to her, "I take it that I'm not the only one to have scouts keeping an eye on things for me when I'm far too busy with my own things."
As she narrowed her eyes at him, Annabelle replied, "I suppose that you could say that."
William told her, "Well, then it's a damn shame that I found the scout that told you about coming to meet me here, then."
Then William pulled his hand out from behind his back to reveal that Kai's head was lying in the palm of his hand.
With her hands tightly clenched into fists once more, Annabelle started to heavily shake from where she stood as the mere thoughts of what she could do to him at that very moment started to rapidly pass through her mind.
With his head tilted to the side, William asked her, "Oh, what's wrong, love? Are you really that upset with me because I had killed both of your friends?" When Annabelle didn't verbally respond to his words and her shaking had only worsened, William sighed to himself before he said to her, "Well, it's only a matter of time before the same is done to Kol. After all, he is the only thing in your life that truly makes you happy and I can't have that."
With her veins now on display, Annabelle told him, "I swear, if you so much as harm a single hair on my brother's head, I will make you wish that the torment that your parents had put you through was nothing more than a mere fairy tale compared to the hell that I will be putting you through."
After scoffing to himself, William asked her, "Do you really expect me to believe that you'll be willing to do that, even after everything that you told me that your parents had put you through?"
With a nod of her head, Annabelle's shaking had started to slowly lessen as she said to him, "Yes. I'll admit that my parents had done many bad things to me during the eight years that they'd spent torturing me. But do you know the two things that make us really different? Hmm?" When he didn't respond to her words, she told him, "The first being that you were alone, while I had Kol to rely on during the years of hell that I had in my human life."
William asked her, "And what would be the second thing, then?"
With a grin on her face, Annabelle told him, "That's easy. I actually learned from their techniques and used some of their techniques on the many that I had tortured for several centuries now. You never did. You used what they did as a way to make others feel bad for you, while I didn't. I gave in to my demons and let them make me into a far better version of myself. And after a thousand years since I was turned into a vampire, I was finally made into a better version of myself. And do you know what the best part is, William?" When he didn't respond to her words, she said to him, "Everything that I had learned from them was something that I had kept to myself. I had never told you anything about the tactics and techniques that they'd used on me. So, now that we are finally alone, I think it is time that I make you pay for what you've done to me."
In response to her words, William only tilted his head as he eyed his sire.
Before either of them had a chance to make a move, William was suddenly forced to fall onto his knees, which resulted in him grabbing onto both sides of his head and letting out a scream.
Instead of looking around herself, Annabelle simply kept her eyes on William and silently watched as his screaming had grown louder and louder with each passing second.
Just as he went to fall face-first onto the ground, he suddenly stopped when he was grabbed from behind.
It was then that Annabelle had looked past William and saw just who was holding him and couldn't help but allow her eyebrows to furrow.
After taking a step forward, she said, "I thought that you were dead."
In turn, Dorothy said to her, "For the time being, I was. But what this dumbass didn't know was that ever since the chaos that happened at my aunt's wedding a year ago was that every night, both me and my coven would be drinking a bit of your blood in everything we had."
Annabelle said to her, "But I thought that your coven was gone. William said—"
Then Annabelle heard a sigh behind her before she heard another voice say to her, "And here I thought that you would've learned not to listen to that sorry piece of crap, Annie."
With his jaw clenched, William said, "You were dead. I made certain that you all died."
As Kai started to make his way past Annabelle and over towards William, he replied, "Clearly not, dumbass." Then he chuckled to himself before he asked William, "Has anyone ever told you just how much you suck at killing witches?"
It wasn't long after Kai had asked him that question that blood started to leak out of William's eyes, nose and his ears, which got William to let out a groan, while the coven of witches had suddenly appeared and were seen practically surrounding William.
With her eyebrows furrowed, Annabelle asked Kai, "How are you alive? He was holding onto your head. I don't—"
Kai replied, "Relax, Annie. I just did a little switcheroo. You know, grabbed some sorry piece of crap and made him look like me, just like what I did when I was holding Elena hostage last year. You know, before Damon tried to kill me and then ended up throwing a piece of wood into his girlfriend's chest. But, hey, semantics. It's whatever." With a sigh, he asked, "Anyways, would you like the honors, dearest Annie? Hmm?"
With her veins on display, Annabelle said, "With pleasure. But first..." Then she looked over her shoulder and asked, "How would you like to make him pay for what he did to you?"
It wasn't long after she'd asked that question that Joseph sped over towards William and repeatedly stabbed him in the chest with a metal pipe, which resulted in William letting out several groans, while Annabelle simply smirked to herself with her arms crossed over her chest.
It wasn't until Joseph had stepped aside that Annabelle had slowly started to make her way over towards William, who was staring up at Annabelle with wide eyes from where he was forced to kneel on the ground and watched as the woman that had turned him into a vampire five-hundred and twenty-two years ago had walked towards him with a murderous look on her face.
As soon as she had stopped in front of him, she knelt down in front of him and harshly grabbed the front of his face, which got him to start to say to her, "Annabelle—"
With her eyes narrowed, Annabelle said to him, "Don't bloody Annabelle me. Because of you, I had believed that I had lost two of my friends and I had learned that you had intended to murder my brother after he was brought back to life by Davina Claire. I want to hear nothing more from you." When William had opened his mouth to respond to her words, she quickly covered his mouth with one of her hands as she said to him, "No talking for you, William Kelly. I want to hear nothing more from you. Do you hear me?"
When he simply nodded his head in response to her words, she told him, "Over five-hundred years ago, I found you as a young man in his mid-twenties that was still living with his parents and was being relentlessly tortured by not only his parents but also everyone else in his hometown in England. And while two of my brothers were distracted by Katerina Petrova, I was taken aback by what I had learned about you. I pitied you and wanted you to make those that hurt you to pay with their lives. And how do you thank me for my kindness? Over two-hundred years later, you make me believe that you were murdered by my father. And then sixteen years after I was nearly killed by Mikael and was nearly daggered by Klaus with the help of Elijah, you turned all of my witch allies against me. And the only reason that you gave me was because of your belief that they would have learned about my deception when they weren't even the slightest bit suspicious of me until you had revealed to them just what I did."
While William slowly shook his head in response to her words, she said to him, "And now here we are– two-hundred and ninety-six years after your choice of turning those witches against me– and you intend to keep me to yourself by murdering Kai Parker, Dorothy Sullivan, Dorothy's coven and my own brother, Kol Mikaelson. I can only imagine just what you would have done to the Doctor or any of his companions that I'd traveled with in the past, if you had ever gotten your hands on them. And then Joseph tells me that you had murdered an innocent infant that had yet to do anything wrong in their life. And for that, you will pay with your own life. Do you have any last words for me, William?"
After Annabelle had removed her hand from his mouth, William opened his mouth to say something to her, only to stop and to try and break free from the pressure of the magic that was being used on him when Annabelle had shoved her hand into his mouth and quickly ripped his tongue out of his head before she shoved his tongue down his throat, which resulted in him starting to choke in it.
With a plastered grin on her face, Annabelle shoved her hand into his chest and said to him, "Goodbye, my former love."
Then– without so much as saying another word to him– she quickly ripped his heart out of his chest and silently watched him, while veins started to cover every single inch of his body.
And in turn, the rest of the witches and Joseph silently stared down at the now dead five-hundred and forty-seven-year-old vampire, who had been plotting their demise for months now.
* * *
As she made her way over towards where the Doctor and the four supernatural beings were standing, Clara asked, "Where are we?"
As he started to walk ahead of himself with a torch in hand, the Doctor said, "Catacombs."
In turn, Clara said to him, "I hate catacombs." After Kai had snorted to himself in response to her words and Dorothy had taken it upon herself to slap the back of Kai's head, Clara asked the Doctor, "So, how come I met your dead wife and another one of Annabelle's friends?"
After sharing a look with Annabelle, the Doctor replied, "Oh, well... You know how it is when you lose someone close to you. I sort of made a backup."
It was then that River told Clara, "I died saving him. In return, he saved me to a database in the biggest library in the universe. Left me like a book on a shelf. Didn't even say goodbye. He doesn't like endings. And it might not seem like it, but Annabelle doesn't seem to really like endings, either. Well, the bad ones, anyway. Bad endings are never a good thing for someone like Annabelle Mikaelson."
After a snarling sound was heard, the four supernatural beings and the Doctor had turned around to face Clara, just before the Doctor yelled, "Clara, come on, run! Run!"
* * *
While the six of them had run into another section of the catacombs, the Doctor said, "Okay, come on, quickly."
Then Clara had let out a scream, which got Annabelle and the Doctor to both turn their heads and see that the same creatures from before had grabbed onto Clara.
And this was shortly before Clara yelled, "Doctor!"
In turn, the Doctor yelled, "Clara!"
Then the Doctor quickly pulled Clara out of the hold of the creatures and then proceeded to slam the door shut in their faces, but not before managing to close it on the arm of one of the creatures.
It wasn't until the creature had pulled its arm back and the door could actually close that the Doctor said, "Yowzah."
With a sigh, Annabelle asked him, "Must you always insist on saying 'yowzah' every single time that something like that happens?"
The only response that Annabelle had received from him was a mere grimace before he dropped the torch and then proceeded to lead the five of them even further into the catacombs.
* * *
Eight days ago
While watching Kai try to do everything that he could to make the feeling of boredom go away, despite the looks of the compound at this point in time, Annabelle glanced over at Dorothy, who was trying to keep a close eye on her father to ensure that Kai didn't do anything stupid that would get him killed in the process– such as him pissing off the wrong person.
After chuckling to herself, Annabelle went to take a sip out of the glass that she was holding, only to stop when she heard a voice say from behind her, "Annabelle, I've been looking for you everywhere."
After sighing to herself, Annabelle found herself face-to-face with Joseph Valentine, who looked more than glad to see that the unstable Original wasn't the least bit injured after she was woken up by Freya days ago.
After plastering a smile on her face, she asked him, "Was there something that you needed, Joseph?"
With a shake of his head, Joseph said to her, "I– Um, no. Nothing. I was just really glad to hear that you got woken up by Freya and needed to see it for myself. I was—" After chuckling to himself, he told her, "Truth be told, I was really worried about you and thought you would have at least been dead when no one heard from you and your siblings in five years. Granted, if you died, I wouldn't be here right now, since you turned William, who had also turned me into a vampire, but still. Here you are– five years later– and you're awake and okay and, you know, not dead. Everything's great."
It was then that a voice could be heard saying from the inside of her head, "Don't listen to him."
With furrowed eyebrows, Annabelle glanced over at Kai, who was gesturing towards Joseph with a grin on his face, which got Annabelle to roll her eyes to herself before she asked, "Is that all, Joseph?"
With his eyes wide as ever, he replied, "W-Well, I just thought I'd tell you that if you ever needed anything, I would do it without question. After all, you're the one that made it so William died five years ago. I am eternally in your debt, Annabelle Mikaelson."
Then she heard the same voice from before say to her, "He's lying. He wants something from you, Annabelle. You know this."
Then– after blankly staring at Joseph– she told him, "I don't need you to be in my debt. I need you to quit hounding me and acting as if I'm your eternal savior, since it was me and my friends that had made certain that William was caught to begin with. I am the same person that I have been for over a thousand years. I am the very same psychopathic, selfish and murderous vampire that I have been for over nine-hundred years. I don't need you constantly tripping over your words because you're either infatuated with me or you're simply nervous to be in my presence or whatever other nonsense that is going on inside of your head. What I need is for you to piss off and leave me alone."
After sighing to himself, Joseph said to her, "Look, I get that you're very paranoid and after everything that happened with Lucien, you really don't have a reason to trust anyone outside of your family, but you can trust me, Annabelle. I have no reason to hurt you, or your family, nor do I even have the means to do it. After all, why would I? I know that your family means a lot to you, especially after the five years where you were asleep, so I have no reason to want to hurt any of them. And even though you might think otherwise, there's a part of you that actually cares about Freya. If you didn't, you wouldn't have gone with Finn and Elijah to retrieve her from Mystic Falls before Finn died." After seeing the look that she was currently giving him, he sighed to himself before he said to her, "Look, just keep in mind what I'm saying and remember that you're not alone. There are more people than the ones in your family that actually care about you, Annabelle."
Then she heard the very same voice say, "He's trying to get you to let your guard down. That's why he's saying these things. He wants you to let your guard down before he makes his attack."
After scoffing to herself, she said to Joseph, "Outside of my family, I have plenty of people that care for me. And the only people that do are Kai, Dorothy and Dorothy's entire coven. That's it. I don't need you or your sorry attempt at making up for what your sire had done to me before I had killed him, or for what a man I had once considered a friend had done while holding me hostage in that damn cage inside of his bloody penthouse. The only thing that I need is to be around my friends, drink as much as I want and take my mind off of not only the hell of spending five bloody years trapped inside of a house, but also what a man I had thought I had loved and one I had considered to be a friend had done to me and attempted to do to my family. So how about you do me a favor and piss off before I do to you what I should have done to William and separate your head from the rest of your body."
After nodding to himself, Joseph quickly walked away from Annabelle, while Kai raised his eyebrows to himself and muttered under his breath, "Well, that went as well as I expected it to."
It was then that Annabelle had quickly turned her head and gave Kai a pointed look as she said to him, "I heard that."
The most that Kai did in response to her words was raise his eyebrows before he went back to downing the alcohol that was sloshing around the inside of his glass, while Dorothy shook her head at her father's inability to know how to act at a proper party– like the one that the Mikaelsons were currently attempting to throw.
* * *
While the six of them had walked up a set of stairs, the Doctor said, "Still a bit of a climb. I think I remember the way." Then– after the six of them had entered another room and Clara had stumbled over towards one of the walls– the Doctor said, "Clara? Clara!"
After the Doctor had quickly run over towards Clara, he said to her, "Hey! It's okay. You're fine." After wrapping an arm around Clara and holding her close to himself as he walked back over towards where the four supernatural beings were standing, he said to her, "The dimensioning forces this deep in the TARDIS... they can make you a bit giddy."
In turn, Clara said to him, "I know, I know." Then she quickly pulled herself out of his grasp and asked him, "How do I know? How do I know that?"
In a whisper, the Doctor said to her, "Clara, it's okay. You're fine."
Then Clara asked him, "Have we... have we done this before? We have. We have done this before, climbing through a wrecked TARDIS. You said things. Things I'm not supposed to remember."
The Doctor said to her, "You can't do this now. The TARDIS is a ruin. The telepathic circuits are awakening memories you shouldn't even have." When Clara had only stared at him, he said to her, "Clara! Clara? Clara!"
When Clara only moved away from him and towards a grated wall, he asked her, "Clara, what's wrong?"
It was then that Clara asked him, "What do you mean, you keep meeting me? You said I died. How could I die?"
As he quickly made his way over towards Clara, the Doctor replied, "That is not a conversation you should even remember."
Then Clara asked him, "What do you mean I died?"
It was then a voice could be heard whispering, "The girl who died he tried to save. She'll die again inside his grave."
Then the Doctor said to Clara, "Run. Run."
* * *
With the four supernatural beings and Clara close behind him, the Doctor said to a man wearing a hat, "Here I am. Late to my own funeral. Glad you could make it." While Annabelle had only glanced back at Commander Strax, Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint, the Doctor turned to Jenny and said to her, "Jenny."
Then the man wearing the hat said, "Open the door, Doctor. Speak. Open your tomb."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "No."
Then the man said to him, "Because you know what's in there."
The Doctor told him, "I will not open those doors."
The man said to him, "The key is a word lost to time. A secret hidden in the deepest shadow and known to you alone." While the Doctor had quickly walked over towards him, the man said, "The answer to a question."
As he came to a halt in front of the man, the Doctor said to him, "I will not open my tomb."
Then the man asked him, "Doctor... What is your name?"
When the Doctor had only stared at him, the man grabbed onto his face and simply stared at him before his own hand was grabbed at by the Doctor.
After the man's hand was shoved away from the Doctor's face by the Doctor himself, the man started to walk past him as he said, "The Doctor's friends!" At the same time that Kai started to talk about how he wasn't friends with the Doctor, the man turned his back on the eight of them and raised one of his hands before he said, "Stop their hearts!"
It was then that the same creatures as before had started to let out a snarling noise, which got the eight of them to quickly turn around and face the snarling creatures.
Then Commander Strax said to them, "Madame, boys, combat formation. They are unarmed."
In turn, Jenny said to Commander Strax, "So are we."
Commander Strax replied, "Do not divulge our military secrets."
While Annabelle and Kai had simply pushed Dorothy behind themselves and Dorothy had simply grabbed onto one of Joseph's arms, the Doctor said to the man wearing the hat, "Stop this. Leave them alone."
In turn, the man said to him, "Your name, Doctor. Answer me."
Then Clara said, "Doctor."
After Commander Strax had picked up a piece of wood and swung it into the creature that stood in front of him, he asked the creature, "Do you want me to do that again?"
After the slash in the creature had healed itself, the man asked, "Doctor Who?"
After the creature had pushed its hand into Commander Strax's chest and Commander Strax had only let out a groan, the Doctor said to the man, "Please. Stop it."
Once more, the man asked him, "Doctor Who?"
Then Commander Strax said to the creature, "Unhand me, sir."
Then the Doctor said to the man, "Leave him alone. Let him be."
Then Commander Strax said to the Doctor, "Don't worry, sir. I think I've got him rattled."
Then Clara yelled, "Doctor!" After the creature that had her cornered had let out a snarl, she yelled, "Doctor!"
Then the man wearing the hat asked for a third time, "Doctor Who?"
Then the Doctor yelled, "Please!"
It was then that the door that stood behind the Doctor had started to open, which got the Doctor to slowly turn around and face the opening door.
Just after Commander Strax had fallen onto the ground and Kai had attempted to send one of the creatures flying away from him and his three fellow supernatural beings, River said, "The TARDIS can still hear me. Lucky thing. Since him indoors is being so useless."
As he pushed himself off of the floor, Commander Strax asked the Doctor, "Why did you open the door, sir? I had them on the run."
While Dorothy slowly looked over at Annabelle, who had only insisted that she just ignore everything that Commander Strax had just said, the Doctor said, "I didn't do it. I didn't say my name."
With a slight shake of her head, River said, "No. But I did."
Then the Doctor had quickly made his way over towards the eight of them as he asked, "Is everyone alright? Is everyone okay?" While Kai only stared at the faceless creatures with his eyes narrowed and his head tilted to the side, the Doctor made his way over towards Clara as he said, "Clara! Clara!"
As he brought Clara back onto her feet, the Doctor asked her, "Clara, you okay?"
With a shake of her head, Clara said, "Now, that was not nice."
As he pulled Clara into a hug, the Doctor said to her, "No, no. I know. I'm sorry." Then– after pulling himself away from Clara– he said to the man wearing the hat, "Now, then, Dr. Simeon or Mr. G. Intelligence, whatever I call you! Do you know what's in there?"
In turn, Dr. Simeon said to him, "For me, peace at last. For you, pain everlasting. Why don't you invite us in?"
After looking back at a few of those that stood behind him, the Doctor let out a sigh before he started to walk towards the open door to his tomb and then proceeded to eventually open the doors some more with a groan.
* * *
Two days ago
With a sigh, Joseph Valentine started to run his fingers through Annabelle's hair as he stared down at the unconscious Original vampire.
As far as he was concerned, Annabelle Mikaelson was no longer the unstable Original.
Instead, she was the Original vampire that was broken beyond repair and was clearly desperate to be happy for once in her life.
But after the betrayals of Lucien Castle and William– the blue-eyed and hazel-eyed men that were the remaining parts of her prophecy– just five years ago, she only became more paranoid and relied on Kol, Kai and Dorothy.
What was going on with her own family wasn't her biggest priority anymore.
The only thing that she cared about was the fact that she was happy with those that she loved, and the fact that she just wanted to be truly happy without the fear of being betrayed by those that she trusted.
It was this reason alone that Joseph had convinced Kai and Dorothy to let him past the boundary spell that they had put up, which allowed him to brush some of Annabelle's hair aside before he pressed his hand against the side of her head and told her, "Now, I know that others might have said that you should wake up for the sake of your family and how they need you to wake up and go back to normal, but I also know that isn't possible. Despite the fact that you've been alive for over a thousand years, you've been betrayed over and over by not only your family, but also those you had loved and trusted more than anything."
With a sigh, he whispered to her, "Now, I know you're scared about what will happen the moment you open your eyes, but you don't need to worry, Annabelle. You have friends, you have Kol, and you have me to look after you. None of us will allow you to be hurt ever again."
After letting out yet another sigh, he said to her, "Now I know what you're thinking. You hardly know me, and I hardly know you, but that doesn't matter. From the moment I agreed to be your date to that ball nine years ago, I felt as if I knew you a lot longer than that. It felt as if we knew each other our whole lives. You were happy to be awake and by Kol's side, and you didn't have to worry about your mother's attempt to kill all of you. At least not yet, anyway. And after that time we had at the ball, I kept a close eye on you on William's orders and saw you grow into the person you are now. You are no longer selfish and only care about yourself, that Doctor that you would tell Kol about and your family. You opened yourself to care about Kai Parker and Dorothy Sullivan, too. Maybe one day you'll open yourself to care about me, too."
With a sigh, he said to her, "And you know what, Annabelle? You don't need to wake up for me, for Kol, or any of those heretic friends of yours. You need to wake up for yourself. And you know why? It's because you've been strong for over a thousand years. For a thousand years, despite all the hardship you had and every single bad thing that was thrown into your face, you remained strong and didn't let anything break you."
In a whisper, he told her, "You are– without a doubt– the strongest person I have ever met. You faced betrayal– again and again– near death and the attacks of those that meant to kill you and your family, and you never shied away from any of it. You stood tall, strong and proud and didn't let anything knock you down for long. You always got back up, and you fought like hell, even if it meant you could get killed in the process. And I admire that about you. You're willing to risk your own life, if it means that the ones you love are safe, but you shouldn't have to do that anymore. Although the rest of your family hardly even shows that they care about you in whatever way they can, you are surrounded by those that love you and would not want to see you die as a result of your desire to see those that you love to live to see another day. And this alone is why I need you to wake up and realize that, yeah, Lucien betrayed you and put this spell on you to make you go freaking crazy, but that isn't all the world has to offer. The world can also offer you love, happiness, peace and much, much more, if you would just open yourself up to the possibilities. And even though we don't even know each other that well, I want you to know that I will not leave your side until you wake up and are able to move past the hell that Lucien had put into your head, okay?"
When Annabelle didn't move to wake up, Joseph let out a sigh and started to look away from her, only to stop when he saw that one of her fingers had started to twitch.
He quickly looked back at her to see that she was slowly starting to wake up, but there was something that was keeping her from doing just that.
And as much as he would have liked to know what it was, he had no freaking clue as to what the hell was keeping Annabelle from waking up.
* * *
After they had each walked up the stairs to the TARDIS and saw a white light of– what seemed like– energy at another point inside of the TARDIS, Clara asked, "What's that?"
In turn, the Doctor asked her, "What were you expecting? A body? Bodies are boring. I've had loads of them." While Annabelle only eyed the energy-looking light that stood in the room with her eyebrows furrowed, the Doctor said, "That's not what my tomb is for."
Then Madame Vastra asked the Doctor, "But what is the light?"
Then Jenny said, "It's beautiful."
As he turned to look over at Madame Vastra and Jenny, Commander Strax asked, "Should I destroy it?"
With a mere turn of her head, Madame Vastra said in a whisper, "Shut up, Strax."
While Kai only snorted to himself in response to their words, Clara said with a turn of her own head, "Doctor, explain. What is that?"
With a sigh, the Doctor told her, "The tracks of my tears."
Then Dr. Simeon said, "Less poetry, Doctor. Just tell them."
With furrowed eyebrows, the Doctor said, "Time travel is damage. It's like a tear in the fabric of reality. That is the scar tissue of my journey through the universe. My path through time and space. From Gallifrey to Trenzalore."
After pointing his sonic screwdriver at the apparent tear with a sigh, just before a voice could be heard asking, "Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the Fourth Dimension?"
Then another voice could be heard asking, "Do I have the right?"
Then a third voice could be heard saying, "There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things."
Then a fourth voice could be heard saying, "Absolutely fantastic."
Then a fifth voice– one that had Annabelle's eyes start to water after not hearing it in ten years– said, "I'm from planet Gallifrey in the Constellation of Kasterborous."
While Annabelle continued to listen to the voices that she had mostly heard before during the five-hundred and forty-five years in which she'd known the Doctor, the Doctor said, "My own personal time tunnel. All the days, even the ones that... I, uh... Even the ones that I haven't lived yet."
It wasn't long after he'd said those words that the Doctor had fallen onto the floor with a groan, which got Annabelle to quickly run over towards him at the same time that Clara said, "Doctor." Then– as she had also run over towards the Doctor– Clara yelled, "Doctor! Doctor."
In turn, the Doctor yelled, "No!" After Clara had said his name once more, he said, "No. Which is why... I shouldn't be here. The paradox is... It's very bad."
After Dr. Simeon had started to walk towards the tear, the Doctor said, "Uh, no. No, what are you doing? Somebody stop him."
Dr. Simeon told them, "The Doctor's life is an open wound. And an open wound can be entered."
Once more, the Doctor said, "No. It will destroy you."
Dr. Simeon replied, "Not at all. It will kill me. It will destroy you. I can re-write your every living moment. I can turn every one of your victories into defeats. Poison every friendship. Deliver pain to your every breath."
While Annabelle had quickly glanced over at Kai and Dorothy, the Doctor said to Dr. Simeon, "It will burn you up. What you go through, you can't come back. You will be scattered along my timeline like confetti."
In turn, Dr. Simeon said to him, "It matters not, Doctor. You thwarted me at every turn. Now, you will give me peace as I take my revenge on every second of your life. Goodbye." When the Doctor had only shaken his head at him, Dr. Simeon said to him, "Goodbye, Doctor."
It was then that– after Dr. Simeon had disappeared into the tear– each of the faceless creatures had disappeared alongside him.
It wasn't long afterwards that the Doctor let out a yell, which got Clara to look over at Madame Vastra and ask her, "What's wrong with him? What's happening?"
Madame Vastra told her, "He's being re-written. Simeon is attacking his entire timeline. He's dying all at once. The Dalek asylum. The moment in which he'd met Annabelle Mikaelson and made her hate him for over five-hundred years of her life. Androzani."
While Annabelle had only let out a sigh in response to Madame Vastra's words, Clara looked up at Madame Vastra and asked her, "What did you say? Did you say the Dalek asylum?"
With a device in hand, Madame Vastra said, "Now he's dying in London with us."
After squeezing her eyes shut, Annabelle said, "I don't understand. I can see images inside of my head of the Doctor dying at my hand as a result of my first encounter with him in the year 1474. But he never did. He never died. If he'd died, I wouldn't have seen him again inside of London over five-hundred years after I'd first met him. If he died then, I wouldn't have started traveling with him, nor would I have met Martha Jones, Captain Jack Harkness or even the Master for that matter. I wouldn't have been tortured by the Master– twice– if I'd killed the Doctor at that point in time."
After Clara had only glanced over at Annabelle with furrowed eyebrows, Dr. Simeon could be heard saying, "It is done."
After the white tear had turned into a red color, Madame Vastra said, "Oh, dear Goddess!"
With a turn of her head, Jenny asked her, "What's wrong?"
Madame Vastra said to her, "A universe without the Doctor. There will be consequences." Then– after starting to walk past Jenny– she said, "Jenny, with me."
While Annabelle simply let out a groan as new images continued to pour inside of her head– images that hadn't even happened prior to what Dr. Simeon had done to the Doctor's timeline– Clara said to the Doctor, "The Dalek asylum. You said it was me that saved you. How? Victorian London? How? How could I have been in Victorian London?"
After letting out a groan and a cough, the Doctor said, "No. Please. Stop. My life... My whole life is burning."
* * *
As she ignored the sound of Annabelle's continuous groaning and the mere sight of Annabelle holding onto both sides of her own head, Clara said, "I have to go in there."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Please. Please. No."
Clara replied, "But this is what I've already done. You've already seen me do it. I'm the impossible girl. And this is why..."
It was then that River said to Clara, "Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't."
Clara asked River, "If I step in there, what happens?"
River told her, "The time winds will tear you into a million pieces. A million versions of you living and dying all over time and space. Like echoes."
Then Clara asked her, "But the echoes could save the Doctor, right?"
River replied, "But they won't be you. The real 'you' will die. They'll just be copies."
In turn, Clara said to her, "But I'll be real enough to save him. It's like my mum said, 'The souffle isn't the souffle. The souffle is the recipe'." While Dorothy had quickly sped over towards Annabelle and– with the help of Joseph– pulled Annabelle away from Clara, Clara looked back down at the Doctor and asked River, "It's the only way to save him, isn't it?"
After River had only nodded her head, Madame Vastra quickly walked back into the room and said, "The stars are going out. And Jenny and Strax are dead. There must be something we can do."
Then Dorothy asked Madame Vastra and asked her, "You've met Annabelle before, right?" When Madame Vastra had only nodded her head, Dorothy said to her, "Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but if she knew you and the Doctor wasn't dying, Annabelle wouldn't be looking at you like you're some stranger, right?"
When Madame Vastra had nodded her head once more, Dorothy asked her, "Then why am I still friends with Annabelle and she's acting like she doesn't even know you?"
With furrowed eyebrows, Joseph repeatedly looked between Annabelle, the Doctor, Madame Vastra and Dorothy before he said, "I think I've got it. I mean, Annabelle had to have met her through the Doctor, right?" After Madame Vastra had only nodded her head in response to his words, Joseph said, "Then that's why she doesn't know the, uh, lizard lady."
Then he looked over at Madame Vastra and said to her, "Sorry about calling you a lizard lady. I don't really know what exactly I'm supposed to call you, so, sorry about that." Then he looked back at Dorothy and told her, "Annabelle wasn't even traveling with the Doctor when she befriended you and Kai. That's got to be why she's still friends with you and knows who you, me and Kai even are. I mean, she met you and me ten years after the two years that she was traveling with the Doctor and she met Kai three years after she met us. So, it's got to be why she knows who we are, but not her."
Then he turned to Madame Vastra and asked her, "Right? That's why she knows the three of us, but not you?" After seeing the way that both Kai and Dorothy were looking at him, he asked them, "What? So, just because I've been alive for over two-hundred years and only met the Doctor after he picked us up from that airport, I can't understand anything about this?"
Then Dorothy asked him, "How do you even understand any of this?"
In turn, Joseph asked her, "How do you think that I understand any of this? Whenever I didn't have to be stuck listening to William and Lucien talking to me about their sick obsessions with Annabelle for over two-hundred years of my life, I would sometimes go out of my way to discover new things that I wouldn't have had the chance to even learn about, if it wasn't for the fact that William made me a vampire. And believe it or not, but, uh, science kind of interested me– kind of like the random appearances of alien sightings over the past two-hundred years have also interested me."
Shortly after Kai and Dorothy had looked away from Joseph and simply stared at each other with their eyebrows furrowed, Clara had stood back up and stared at the tear in the room before she said, "Well, how about that? I'm souffle girl after all!"
Then the Doctor said, "No. Please."
As she moved closer to the tear in the room, Clara said, "If this works, get out of here as fast as you can. And... spare me a thought now and then."
With a turn of his head, the Doctor yelled, "No! Clara!"
After taking a couple of steps closer to the tear, Clara said, "In fact, you know what?" Then she quickly turned to the Doctor and said to him, "Run. Run, you clever boy. And remember me."
Just as Clara had started to run towards the tear, the Doctor yelled, "No! Clara!"
* * *
One day ago
While watching Dorothy and Joseph quietly talking to Annabelle, Kai picked up Annabelle's ringing phone and accepted the incoming call before he said into it, "Kai Parker speaking. Annabelle isn't available to talk right now. How can I help you?"
It wasn't long after he'd said those words that he heard a voice on the other end of the line ask him, "Kai? Where the hell is Annabelle?"
With furrowed eyebrows, Kai asked, "Ramona, what part of 'Annabelle isn't available to talk right now' are you just not understanding in that puny, little vampire brain of yours?"
After letting out a sigh, Rebekah replied, "You do realize that I could easily kill you for talking to me that way, right?"
Kai retorted, "And you do realize that I don't care, right?" When Rebekah didn't respond to his words, he told her, "Besides, if you did, you'd be dealing with some people that would be really upset with you, if you actually did kill me."
After letting out yet another sigh, Rebekah asked him, "Where is Annabelle, Kai? I won't ask you again."
With a raise of his eyebrows, Kai said to her, "She's busy, so whatever sort of drama or hellish fight you're all in right now is gonna have to wait, because she can't exactly be bothered to help you right now."
With a scoff, Rebekah asked him, "And why the hell not?"
With a scoff of his own, Kol replied, "Oh, man, I don't know. Maybe it's because Logan had Ivan put some spell on her five years ago, which had a bit of Logan put into her head and she had to deal with seeing an illusion of Logan for a week and having to deal with that almost made her go much crazier than she normally is. Plus, there's also the fact that it's only now that she's free from being tormented by that freaking piece of crap and has a calm and peaceful mind for once in her life."
After a couple seconds of silence, Rebekah asked him, "What the hell are you talking about? Who the hell is Logan and Ivan?"
With a sigh, Kai said, "And I rest my case." When Rebekah didn't respond to his words, he said to her, "Like usual, no one in that family of yours– except for Kol– actually seems to notice when something's wrong or off with Annabelle."
Rebekah replied, "What? No, that isn't true. We would have noticed something, if—"
With an eyebrow raised, Kai asked her, "Would you really have noticed something, or would you have just assumed the worst and daggered her– just like you and Elias and Nikolai have done to her over a dozen times over the years?" Just as Rebekah was about to respond to his words, he told her, "I feel like Annabelle's been traumatized enough by your family, so whatever hellish drama you're dealing with is something you're going to have to deal with yourselves, because I am not dragging her into whatever sort of mess you're all dealing with."
With a sigh, Rebekah started to say to him, "Kai—"
As he pulled the phone away from his ear, he said to her, "Goodbye, Ramona."
Just as Rebekah was about to respond to his words, Kai had hung up on her and looked up from the phone to see that Annabelle, Dorothy and Joseph were all staring over at him with furrowed eyebrows.
With his own eyebrows furrowed, Kai said, "What?"
Annabelle, Dorothy and Joseph shared a look with each other before they slowly looked away from Kai, who was still confused as to why they were even looking at him like that.
* * *
Long after Annabelle had lowered her hands from both sides of her head and started to look around herself as she tried to process the fact that her timeline with the Doctor had already put itself back into its proper place, Commander Strax said, "It was an unprovoked and violent attack. But that's no excuse."
In turn, Madame Vastra said to him, "We're all restored. That's all that matters now."
As he turned to face Madame Vastra, the Doctor told her, "We are not all restored."
River said to the Doctor, "You can't go in there. It's your own time stream for God's sake!"
Then the Doctor said, "I have to get her back."
River replied, "Of course. But not like this."
Then Jenny asked the Doctor, "But how?"
As she took a step forward, Madame Vastra asked, "Is she still alive? It killed Dr. Simeon."
The Doctor told them, "Clara's got one advantage over The Great Intelligence."
Madame Vastra asked him, "Which is?"
The Doctor said to her, "Me."
Then River said to the Doctor, "Doctor, please listen to me. At least hear me."
As he slightly lowered his head, the Doctor said, "Now, if I don't come back, and I might not. Go to the TARDIS and take Annabelle and her friends with you." While Annabelle had quickly turned her to look over at the Doctor with furrowed eyebrows and had simply said his name, the Doctor said, "The fast return protocol should be on. She'll take all of you home, then shut herself down."
Annabelle said to him, "I won't leave you behind. Not like this. After everything that you've done for me and for others, you can't honestly expect for me to leave you like this and let you sacrifice yourself by entering your own timeline."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Yes, you will. Now, Kai may not like me, but even he knows better than to think that you should be allowed to remain here after everything is all said and done. He knows that I'm right about this, Annabelle." Then– after letting out a sigh– he said, "And because of the possibility that I won't come back from this, I do hope that you realize just how much I've appreciated the friendship that we've had for the past twelve years of your personal timeline, Annabelle Mikaelson– just like I appreciate just how much you've changed and the person that you are now, compared to how you were when you first started traveling with me after your first encounter with the Judoon."
While Annabelle only shook her head in response to his words, River started to walk over towards the Doctor as she said to him, "There has to be another way. Use the TARDIS, use something. Save her, yes. But for God's sake, be sensible." After raising her hand to– more than likely– slap him once more, only for her hand to be caught by him, River asked him, "How are you even doing that? I'm not really here."
The Doctor replied, "You were always here to me. And I always listen. And I can always see you."
With a shake of her head, River asked him, "Then why didn't you speak to me?"
After a couple seconds of silence, the Doctor told her, "Because I thought it would hurt too much."
With a slight shake of her head, River said to him, "I believe I could have coped."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "No. I thought it would hurt me. And I was right."
After watching the Doctor grab onto– what looked like– nothing, Dorothy asked, "What's the Doctor doing?"
Kai said to her, "Looks to me like he's kissing somebody."
Dorothy replied, "Yeah, I can see that. But who's he kissing?"
After letting out a sigh, Annabelle said, "If I had to make a guess on the matter, I would have to assume that it's River Song that he's kissing right now."
Then Dorothy said to her, "I thought you said that she died in a library."
Annabelle said to her, "She did. Whilst I was traveling with another Doctor– one who wore a different face than this one– and an old companion of his that he'd later taken the memory of us away from her, Professor River Song had sacrificed herself so that the Doctor might live after an encounter that we had with the Vashta Nerada. This was over seven months after the Master was killed on the Valiant. I didn't even care about her then. I was only learning to feel things again after another friend of mine had unintentionally made me feel rather annoyed because of her refusal in the idea of vampires actually being real. I didn't even start to actually care about her until sometime after the universe had been restarted by the Doctor when he was locked inside of the Pandorica."
After letting out a sigh, she said, "And now– all of these years later– I actually regret how I'd treated her inside of that library. I didn't even know her at the time, but she knew me. She told that old companion of the Doctor's about how the version of me that she knew wasn't so angry and bloodthirsty like I was inside of that library– nor was I so annoyed with the Doctor like I was then. I remember threatening her after she grabbed me. I was still quite a bit sensitive to being grabbed by others at that time. And now, the last thing that she would remember about me is just how harsh I was to her inside of that bloody library."
Shortly after Dorothy had only frowned to herself in response to Annabelle's words, the Doctor said to River, "Since nobody else in this room can see you, God knows how that looked!"
Then he looked over at the seven of them– all of whom wore different looks on their faces in response to seeing what he'd just done.
Except for Annabelle, who was still feeling just a bit guilty about just how harshly she'd treated and talked to River inside of the library that she had died inside of.
Then– after looking back at River– he said to her, "There is a time to live and a time to sleep. You are an echo, River. Like Clara, like all of this. In the end, my fault, I know. But you should have faded by now."
In turn, River said to him, "It's hard to leave when you haven't said 'goodbye'."
The Doctor replied, "Then tell me because I don't know... How do I say it?"
With a shake of her head, River told him, "There's only one way I'd accept. If you ever loved me, say it like you're going to come back."
After several seconds of silence, the Doctor said to her, "Well then..." After taking a couple of steps away from her, he said, "See you around, Professor River Song."
With yet another shake of her head and a mere raise of her eyebrows, River said to him, "Till the next time, Doctor."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Don't wait up."
With a raise of her head, River said to him, "Oh, there's one more thing."
With a chuckle, the Doctor replied, "Isn't there always?"
River told him, "I was mentally linked with Clara. If she's really dead then... How can I still be here?"
With a slight nod of his head, the Doctor said to her, "Okay. How?"
With a slight shake of her head, River said to him, "Spoilers." When he only stared at her, she said to him, "Goodbye... Sweetie."
Then– after River had finally disappeared in front of him– the Doctor turned around to face the seven of them and looked between each of them before he looked at the tear that stood in the center of the room.
It wouldn't be until he'd stepped into the tear that the light coming from the tear had spread out and hit the entirety of the room that the seven of them were standing inside of.