Chapter Eleven:

The Broken Seal

Suddenly, she found herself in another place. It was a single room, set ablaze by fire. Smoke filled the room as it stung her eyes. She coughed violently on the smoke. “Mummy!” she called. She sounded so much younger. She couldn’t control what she was saying as she kept screaming. “Mummy! Mummy, where are you!?” She felt her chest tighten and she began to sob uncontrollably, fear striking her. “MUMMY!” she cried again. Suddenly, the door that was previously blocked with rubble implode. Piper ducked as the rubble hit the wall. Then, as the dust cleared, she saw the Doctor! “—– Doctor!” she exclaimed. “Oh, sweet Piper!” he exclaimed. He ran to her and embraced her for a moment. Then, he grabbed her hand and cried, “Run! This way!” They ran out of the building as it crashed to the ground. The planet was on fire. Civilians were running all over the place, panicked. Mothers ran and covered their children with blankets and their bodies. There faces were stained with dirt and blood. “—– Doctor, where’s mummy!?” she cried. “I’m sorry, Piper, I’m so sorry. She’s not coming with us” the Doctor replied. “What do you mean, ‘not coming with us’!?” The Doctor didn’t answer. They continued to run down the street until they stumbled across the Tardis. “That’s…! That’s the Tardis from the museum!” she exclaimed. “Yes, I know! Get in!” He opened the Tardis door and pushed Piper in. As the Doctor shut the door behind him, he ran to the control panel and got it to run. “We can’t leave! We need to get Mummy!” Piper persisted. The Doctor stopped in his tracks as the Tardis took off. His face went pale and his lip stuck out ever so slightly as his eyes drooped. Slowly, he walked over to her, and bent down slightly to be at eye-level with her.

“Piper, listen to me, this is very important” he said, slowly and quietly, “Remember that a Tardis has a built-in Chameleon Arch system inside?”

“Yeah?”

His words pained him terribly as he spoke. “I need you to use it.”

“What!? Why!?”

“It’s not safe on Gallifrey anymore. I know how to stop the Daleks, but you can’t be on the planet when I do it.”

“WHY!?”

“I wish I could explain everything to you, sweet girl, but I can’t. Now listen, I’m going to take you to another planet. I know a very special person who’s going to take care of you there. When the war is over, I’m going to come and get you. The Tardis is mine now, and we can travel the universe together. You and me, time and space.”

“Promise me you’ll come back? Swear to me on your two hearts you won’t forget!?”

The Doctor smiled sadly. He stroked Piper’s hair tenderly, pulling it behind her ear. “I promise. Can you trust me?”

Piper sniffed and nodded. Then, the Doctor wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly, before everything went black.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“PIPER!”

Piper suddenly felt a whopping pain hit her shoulder. It felt as though a needle had gone right through her arm, and out the other side! She hissed through her teeth as she looked over and saw that she had been shot with one of the rifles the Argonigoes were using. When she fully realized what had happened, she tumbled back in shock. One of them picked up the fob watch that was lying on the ground. He cackled, and his comrades soon chimed in. “NO! STOP!” The Doctor cried, almost desperately. Piper looked behind her to see him. His face had went pale. He breathed rapidly, his eyes shot with panic as he hissed through his teeth. Piper looked on her other side. Raiden had been knocked over. His knee had been scrapped, leaving a gaping hole in his jeans. Blood and dirt was stained all on his hands and face. About three feet in front of him, was a pistol, that was steaming slightly with smoke. Something snapped inside her. She wasn’t entirely sure how or why. All that she could remember, was that that fob watch was hers! Piper crawled over to the pistol and picked it up. “Piper, don’t!” The Doctor ordered. Piper ignored him. She stood up, at first a little shaky, then picking up her balance. She pointed the pistol at the Argonigo who had the watch. “THAT IS MINE YOU BLOODY TOSSER!” She exclaimed. Without any hesitation, she fired. The hunters were shocked. Piper shot the Argonigo holding the fob watch, dead. With her sloppy aim, and wounded arm, she fired and kept missing. But that didn’t matter. She continued to flick the hammer back and fired again, and again, and again, in blinding rage. Raiden scrambled to his feet. He cried at her to stop, but her ears were deaf to them. However, regardless of the risks, the Doctor ran to her. He grabbed her arm, desperate to get the gun away from her. But she fought back aggressively. Another of the Argonigoes was struck dead, leaving only the leader. Raiden used the distraction to grab the fob watch before the leader reclaimed it. “Piper! You need to stop! This isn’t going to accomplish anything!” The Doctor shouted. “Stop! Let me go!” Piper screamed. Finally, after two minutes straight of struggling, the Doctor was able to kick the gun away. He forced her around and into his arms. “Stop it! Stop. Stop. You don’t need to do this” he repeated, trying to speak calmly, and soothingly. Raiden watched them for a moment before walking towards the Argonigo leader. The leader was about to fire at Raiden, but he stopped when Raiden pointed the x-ray laser at him. “If you still wanna live, I suggest you keep still!” Raiden said sternly.

Once Piper got a look at his soft, brown eyes, and realizing what she had done, she began to cry. She rested her head on the Doctor’s chest as she then started sobbing. “It’s okay. It’s alright. I’m here” he cooed, gently shushing her. Piper poured her heart out as she cried. “All these dreams. The screams of agony, the city burning! You! You and your blue box! I want to know! I want to know who I really am! I want to know who you are! The burst of joy I feel around you, the comfort of you near me. I want to know what that means! How much you mean to me!” she exclaimed. “It’s alright, Piper. It’s alright” The Doctor comforted, “You’ve waited too long. Much too long. I’m not going to leave you. Never again.” Gently, he kissed her on the top of her head as she slowly started to calm down. Piper sniffed as she wiped her tears away, slowly breaking away from the Doctor grasp. She took a deep breath, and sighed. She looked at the Doctor, and smiled. He smiled back. After kicking the Argonigoes weapon away, Raiden walked up to them. He was tremendously relieved when he saw Piper had calm down. For the first time, he had finally started to see the Piper he met all those years ago. He handed the fob watch back to Piper. It was a bit scuffed, but the seal hadn’t been broken. Piper was glad to have it back. Piper slowly embraced Raiden. He was surprised to get that reaction, but at the same time, his heart almost soared. Once he saw that Piper was safe and secure with Raiden, the Doctor approached the Argonigo, who had just barely managed to get back on his feet. The Doctor’s face darkened. His eyes turned cold and his eyebrows furrowing. He spoke sternly, and baritone:

“Leave this planet. Don’t ever come back. You cross Piper again, or Raiden, or even planet Earth, I’ll be the one coming after you, not your employer.”

The Argonigo nodded in understanding. Once he regained his balance, he began to limp away.

The Doctor turned back to the two teenagers. Raiden was speaking quietly to Piper. Piper nodded in response. Her eyelids were heavy, with exhaustion, but also relief. The Doctor smiled a tilted smile. His mind began to fill up with many ideas. He had begun to think about all the places in time and space he was going to take her. Finally, after too many years, he could finally, fully reunited with his only living family. The places Piper was going to go, the magnificent things she was going to see…

Then that moment ended.

They were no longer paying attention to the Argonigo. He had been watching them, fuming with anger, deeply humiliated, defeated, and worst of all, he was enraged that they had killed his comrades. Then, he smirked. He remembered that he had a second gun. He reached into his pocket, and pulled it out. It was much smaller, but still just as deadly. With a slightly shaky hand, he pointed it at the Doctor. Piper was the first one to notice. “DOCTOR!” she shouted. The Doctor whirled around as the gun fired. Time stood still. Piper felt no hesitation in her heart for what she was about to do. She knew the Doctor couldn’t get out of the way in time, and she refused to let the Doctor die. So, she jumped in the way, and was struck, square in the chest. As she fell to the ground, her fingers pressed hard on the fob watch. The seal was broken, just as it clinked onto the ground.