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Clara felt that something was off today.
After receiving Rigsy's call for help, she and the Doctor tried to figure out how to remove the countdown on the back of his neck. Now, they were investigating possible locations of Trap Street separately.
It wasn't that the countdown itself was particularly strange—Clara had seen far more bizarre things. It was just that ever since she stepped out of the Tardis, Clara felt like someone had been watching her.
Whether she was researching in the British Library or counting steps on the street, she always felt a gaze clinging to her back. Yet whenever she turned around, there was nothing unusual. The gaze wasn't unpleasant or invasive, but the constant feeling of being watched made Clara slightly uncomfortable.
Clara observed the Doctor's reaction. He didn’t seem to notice anything unusual or suspect they were being followed.
Maybe it's just an illusion, Clara thought. Could it be some lingering aftereffect from all the recent tension?
"One, two, three..." Clara's mind suddenly went blank. She stepped back and started counting again, "One, two, three..."
"Got you." Clara confirmed the location of Trap Street and immediately returned to the rendezvous point to meet the Doctor.
"It's on this street, I'm sure of it." Clara stood at the corner and reported her findings to the Doctor and Rigsy.
After speaking, she looked at the Doctor, waiting for his next instructions.
She waited for a while, but the Doctor simply stared at her without saying a word.
"Doctor?" Clara tilted her head in confusion and lightly patted the Doctor's chest, trying to snap him out of it.
The Doctor recoiled slightly as if her touch had burned him, but his gaze followed Clara's hand.
"OK… You are being weird." Then, Clara reminded him in her usual bright tone, "Doctor, focus!"
Only then did the Doctor avert his eyes from Clara's hand, though he continued staring at her face. He said, "We're going back to the Tardis now. The data on the phone should have been restored. As for you," he turned to Rigsy, "go wait for us where Clara mentioned."
Everyone quickly sprang into action. Clara and the Doctor walked side by side back toward the Tardis.
"Hold my hand," the Doctor suddenly said, opening the palm of the hand nearest to Clara, waiting for hers to fit into it. "Please."
"Are you scared?" Clara teased, naturally taking his hand, but was startled by the heat and the tight grip.
"I'm trying to ensure your safety. And..."
"And what?"
"Nothing."
"Is Trap Street that dangerous?" Clara felt the Doctor's slightly trembling hand and suddenly realized that the sense of being watched had vanished at some point. "Your hand is shaking."
"In a way, yes." The Doctor seemed to be hiding something and suddenly let go of her hand. "Don't try to transfer the tattoo from Rigsy. It's more complicated than you think."
"Why would I do that?" Clara asked in confusion. She already had enough puzzles today. "That mark can even be transferred?"
"Who knows?" The Doctor suddenly strode forward, evading Clara's question.
By the time they retrieved the phone, Rigsy had been waiting on the street for a while.
Rigsy dropped again the phone, which allowed them to discover Trap Street. However, Rigsy's face caused a stir among the street's residents, who quickly summoned their mayor.
"Ashildr!" Clara was surprised to find that the so-called mayor was actually someone they knew.
But Ashildr seemed unfamiliar with that name.
"You must be Clara." Ashildr stepped forward to hold Clara's hand.
Clara felt awkward about this bizarre situation of meeting an old friend as if for the first time. She turned to the Doctor for an explanation, only to find him staring at Ashildr, his eyes filled with anger.
"You've been hiding in Trap Street all along. No wonder the Doctor couldn't find you," Clara tried to explain the source of the Doctor's anger. "He has an entire room in the Tardis dedicated to records about you."
"That was your precaution, wasn’t it?" Ashildr raised her eyebrows at the Doctor.
"Considering what you've done, perhaps the precautions were not nearly enough." The Doctor gave a crooked smile that was laced with sarcasm.
Alright, that unexplainable anger clearly wasn’t just about this, Clara thought helplessly.
"What I did? Protected refugees of various species?" Ashildr was baffled by the Doctor's accusation. "I..."
"Oh, come on. You know exactly what you did." The Doctor interrupted her. "Don’t pretend you're innocent."
"Doctor!" Clara tugged the Doctor's coat, "Be kind!"
The Doctor immediately pulled back from the verge of lashing out and returned to the main issue of the day: "The quantum shade, you can remove it."
"He committed murder, and I sentenced him. It's fair." Ashildr showed the black tattoo-like mark on her neck and said, "I even gave him a chance to say goodbye to his family."
"I didn’t even know I needed to say goodbye!" Rigsy, who had remained silent until now, couldn’t hold back any longer.
"Shut up." The Doctor snapped at Rigsy before turning back to Ashildr, "Ashildr, at least let us know what happened."
Ashildr waved to her guards to free their feet from the ground and led the group into the alley, adding, "Call me Me."
They stood in front of a green cell, discussing the victim's injuries, but were interrupted by the sudden entrance of a guard.
"Mayor Me, another person who is not a refugee has entered the area," the man reported, panting.
Me responded impatiently, "Erase his memory and throw him out."
But the guard stammered, "He said his name is the Doctor, and..." he looked at the Doctor, "he looks exactly like this man."
What?
Everyone stopped thinking about the murder case and focused on this suddenly appearing "Doctor."
"Bring him in."
A Zygon? Clara's first reaction was that a Zygon was acting up again. But the real Doctor was right here beside her. They shouldn't be able to copy the Doctor so directly.
Clara instinctively looked at the Doctor but saw no confusion on his face.
"Clara!" The other Doctor started complaining the moment he entered, "Someone attacked me and knocked me out. Ha, but he did not expect my two hearts would help me regain consciousness quickly. Why did you all enter a potentially dangerous place without waiting for me? Ashildr! So you've been hiding here all along."
Only after this outburst did he notice he wasn't the only Doctor in the room.
"You." This Doctor quickly scanned the one beside Clara up and down with the sonic screwdriver. "What are you?"
"Definitely not a Zygon. Teselecta? No, not a robot." The Doctor checked the sonic screwdriver's analysis. "Identical DNA structure and presence... You are me?"
Clara was surprised by this conclusion. She walked between the two Doctors and examined them closely.
The Doctor who had been with her since the street corner seemed to be holding much more of something... Clara didn’t know what it was.
"Your eyes," Clara leaned closer, "they are very old, full of anger, exhaustion and sadness."
This Doctor showed a mocking smile. He stopped pretending, stared at Clara, took two steps back, and sat on the sofa behind him. "I can never fool you."
"You are my future?" the standing Doctor asked. Clara didn’t know where to stand. The standing one was clearly the Doctor she knew, but the sitting one’s gaze made her heart ache. She couldn’t bring herself to move toward the standing Doctor, as if it would hurt the sitting one more.
"Perhaps." The sitting Doctor finally looked away from Clara and turned toward Me. "This is what you created."
Me was frightened by the hatred in the Doctor's eyes. She wanted to explain, but no words came out.
"Doctor?" Clara carefully approached the sofa and sat beside the Doctor.
"Don’t call me that. I stopped being the Doctor long ago." Feeling Clara near, the Doctor on the sofa subdued some of his overwhelming presence.
Clara looked to the standing Doctor for an explanation, but he remained silent, staring at the floor with furrowed brows.
The room fell silent. No one dared to move. Only the Doctor on the sofa took Clara's hands, reverently placing them to his lips and closing his eyes.
"You killed someone." The standing Doctor finally broke the silence and questioned with certainty.
"Why not?" The sitting Doctor stopped brushing Clara’s fingers with his lips. "They owed me."
"I'm truly sorry." Me suddenly regained her voice.
"See? so you do know what you're doing." The Doctor still held Clara's hand. She could feel him trying not to squeeze too tightly, lest he hurt her. "You used Rigsy as bait to lure me in, then worked with the Time Lords to trap me in the Confession Dial."
Me frowned. She didn’t know about the broader plans of the Time Lords.
"In the process, I lost Clara."
Hearing of her own death, Clara didn’t know how to react. She couldn’t imagine dying in a dark alley, the victim of a meaningless conspiracy.
Noise erupted outside. The quantum shade from Me transformed into a wisp of smoke and flew out the window. The sound of the raven grew louder, then everything fell silent again.
Clara could feel the Doctor beside her growing tense, his body breaking into a cold sweat.
Thinking of what the Doctor had said on the way back to the Tardis, Clara suddenly understood how she died.
At least it was to save someone. Clara felt a small sense of comfort.
The standing Doctor also figured it out. He met Clara's gaze.
"Four and a half billion years trapped in the Confession Dial, and death that lasted three days each time—I experienced it countless times." The Doctor composed himself and looked at his other self. "You know what Time Lord death feels like."
"But it didn’t matter," the Doctor once again pressed Clara's still-held hand to his forehead, "because I still had hope. As long as I persisted, I could save you."
"What happened afterward?"
"The Time Lords and I broke down in negotiations." The Doctor looked reluctant to recall it. "I couldn’t save you. I had to face endless days without you."
"You killed them?" the standing Doctor asked angrily, still unable to believe it.
"And Rigsy and Me, everyone involved."
"You broke every rule you made!"
"I don’t care! I stopped being the Doctor long ago!" The Doctor on the sofa suddenly roared, letting go of Clara’s hand and stepping toward his other self. "You haven’t experienced loss. You have no right to judge me."
Meanwhile, Me quietly unlocked Rigsy’s quantum lock. She set aside her deal with the Time Lords and now only wanted to survive the wrath of one Doctor and the possible wrath of another.
"What’s your plan? Ei?" Clara didn’t want the argument to escalate into more bloodshed, so she quickly changed the subject.
"I can use a Dream Patch to weave you a reality, then watch Rigsy die, kill Me, use the Time Lords’ transport device to return to Gallifrey, and make them stay out of my way." The Doctor smiled at Clara hopefully.
"And if they refuse?"
"Then I’ll just do it all again."
"That’s not you." Clara finally felt afraid. It was the first time she heard a plan like this from the Doctor. His plans always gave hope before, but this one brimmed with destruction.
"I’ve walked this path for a long time. I even destroyed a galaxy to cross into this parallel world. There’s no turning back."
"Then why didn’t you kill the Doctor here?" Clara didn’t believe the Doctor had completely lost himself. She tried to find a breakthrough. "He’d surely disrupt your plan once he wakes up."
"I..."
"You subconsciously want to be saved. You want someone to stop you, right?" Clara pressed the point.
"Do I?" the Doctor murmured. "Do I?"
"You always gave others a second chance," Clara touched the Doctor's face, "do me a favor, give yourself a second chance."
"Your universe needs you."
"They should have learned to solve things on their own long ago. Why always rely on me!"
"Your universe’s Clara wouldn’t want to see you like this. Trust me. I know."
"..."
"This universe has many empty galaxies you can burn through," the standing Doctor finally spoke. He knew only Clara could calm his other self. If he had spoken earlier, it would have only made things worse.
"Please, just... touch me one last time." The Doctor said to Clara in an almost pleading tone.
Clara stepped forward and hugged the Doctor, whispering in his ear, "Run, you clever boy, and be a Doctor."
Clara let go of the Doctor.
"At least this time, you saved me." Clara resumed her light tone.
"You are lucky." The departing Doctor said fiercely to the Doctor from this universe.
When they returned to the Tardis after settling everything, only Clara and the Doctor were left again.
Silence spread between them.
"What about the Time Lords?" Clara couldn’t stand the atmosphere and took the initiative to speak. "They'll find another way to track you down."
"Then I’ll fight back," the Doctor suddenly sensed his tone was veering off and quickly corrected himself, "of course, using the Doctor’s way. I still keep this debt on their account."
The Doctor pulled the lever, and the Tardis’ hum echoed loudly in the renewed silence.
"I’ve always been afraid I’d become like that, Clara," the Doctor looked down at the console, "and I really did become like that."
"No, Doctor." Clara shook her head, then said seriously, word by word, "I will stop you. The me in your heart will stop you. The heart in you that still belongs to the Doctor will stop you. Just like the Doctor from that universe."
"Remember, never be cruel and never be cowardly."