Chapter Text
“How interesting…” Baines hummed, staring at Aria with those too wide eyes as if she were a meal he was planning to devour. “The last Time Lord has a child with some other species, keeping the Time Lords alive, even if he has to mate with such an inferior species.”
“Don’t speak of my mother that way,” Aria snapped, her grip tight on her gun. Dio squeezed her hand, grounding her in the moment.
“And look, she’s got a little human pet too,” Jenny giggled. Her gun was still pointed at Martha’s temple, ready to be fired at any moment. “How quaint…”
“But is she Time Lord enough for us?” the little girl asked, looking up at Clark.
“I’m at least half, that’s better than the rubbish John is,” Aria pointed out. And because she knew her father, she called over her shoulder, “John, if you say a word, please remember that three people have guns out right now.”
“Perhaps,” Clark mused, staring Aria down. “But a full blooded Time Lord is really much better than a mixed brat. And there’s no doubt the Doctor knows how to change back.”
“I-I just told you, I don’t know how!” John shouted. But the moment the words left his lips, Aria could feel the watch open and, for a single moment, she was as helpless as the aliens she was aiming her gun at.
Luckily, Martha wasn’t, and by the time the watch had closed only seconds later, Martha had escaped Jenny’s hold and stolen her gun, now holding her hostage instead.
“All right!” Martha shouted, drawing all eyes to her. “One more move and both of us shoot.”
“Oh, the maid is full of fire!” Baines spat, still creepy in all the wrong ways.
“And you can shut up!” Martha shouted, raising the gun and shooting at the ceiling before aiming at Baines once more.
“Careful, son of mine,” Clark warned as the humans screamed in fear. “She’s all for you so that you can live forever.”
“I wonder just how many of you are left,” Aria mused, glaring at the body stealing aliens with all the hatred she had in her. “Perhaps I should help Martha cut down your numbers right here. And just so you know, I’m a damn good shot.” To prove her point, she pulled the trigger. It missed Baines by just a hair, striking behind him. His eyes, if possible, widened further.
“Shoot you down,” Baines declared, pointing his own gun at Martha. “Unfortunately, we still need the halfling here, so only you will pay for your insolence.”
“Try it. We’ll die together,” Martha smiled. It was full of fear, but her arm was steady. “And just so you know? She missed on purpose just now. She’ll take the rest of your family down if you take me out.”
Baines glanced from Martha to Aria to John and back before slowly, so slowly, lowering his gun. Clark did the same and Nurse Redfern hurriedly returned to John’s side.
“Doctor, get everyone out. There’s a door at the side,” Martha instructed, her eyes never leaving the aliens. “It’s over there. Go on! Do it, Mr. Smith, I mean you!”
“Get out of here now before I make you regret ever becoming human,” Aria snapped. She didn’t dare think of the possible branches reaching out from this encounter, spanning throughout all of time and space. If she did, then the fact that her life now hung on a very thin line of causality would break her hearts entirely. But right now, getting everyone out was more important.
“Do what they said. Everybody out, now!” Nurse Redfern yelled. Soon, she and John were ushering everyone out while Martha and Aria held the aliens at gunpoint.
“Dio, you too,” Aria instructed, feeling her husband’s grip tighten for just a moment in shock. “Go on, now.”
“I’m not leaving you,” he argued. Baines let out a mocking ‘aww’, causing Aria to glare at him even more than before.
“You have to. Keep my father in line and alive, I’ll find you soon,” she insisted. As long as the aliens thought Dio was human, he was safe. Whatever it was about Time Lord physiology they wanted, she didn’t dare consider how a god would affect them.
For several moments, there was nothing but silence. But then, as Martha yelled at John to leave, Dio squeezed Aria’s hand and fled, pushing John and Nurse Redfern along with him from what Aria could hear.
As soon as the building was clear, Martha pushed Jenny back to the aliens while Aria remained perfectly trained on them, ready to shoot if any of them moved.
None of them did.
“Martha, go,” Aria ordered. Martha was silent for several moments, but when Aria glanced at her from the corner of her eye, she could see the realization forming in her eyes. Slowly, Martha backed away towards the door, only throwing the gun away once she was at it and running out.
“Are you going to play the sacrifice then, little halfling?” the little girl smirked, all too eager as she stared up at Aria.
“I think you’ll find I’m much more difficult to catch than you think,” Aria smirked. She pressed the toe of her heel into the floor and felt the thread she was so often associated with as it stretched under the aliens in a tangle only she could undo.
Before the aliens could say a word, Aria tapped the toe of her foot lightly and the thread sprang upwards, tangling around them and keeping them in place as she fled.
As soon as she was outside, she was relieved to find that only Dio had remained behind and as soon as she was within reach, he grasped her hand and began running alongside her.
“Where to?” Dio asked, soft as silk. Aria’s heart ached with the trust he showed her, even after all their years together, it still amazed her.
“The watch,” Aria answered, already reaching out her mind to find the watch’s energy. It had been so close when she’d been staring down the aliens, it simply had to be with someone close by. She could find it, she would. “Right now, whoever holds that watch is the closest we can get to my father.”
“And John Smith?” Dio whispered. Aria didn’t even blink at the name.
“For now, he’s useless to them. As long as that remains true, they won’t kill him,” she explained. All they had to do was make sure they all survived this.
Whatever came of her timeline and existence could wait until then.
In the end, Aria was both surprised and not to find the source of her father’s energy radiating from Tim Latimer.
“Hide!” Tim hissed as soon as he realized she and Dio saw him. Aria obeyed without thought, adding her perception filter as a precaution so she could meet Tim’s young yet old eyes.
“Hello,” she smiled as she crouched in front of him. Dio was at her back, keeping watch. “May I ask who I’m speaking to? Is it Tim…or perhaps, the Doctor?”
“Mrs. Nikos, I…” Tim trailed off, looking so, so scared. Aria reached out and squeezed his hand, hoping to provide some measure of comfort.
“Hey, Tim, look at me,” she called, soft as can be. “You know who I am, don’t you?” Hesitantly, Tim gave the slightest of nods. Aria smiled, “Tell me.”
“You’re my…no, his daughter,” Tim explained, the words a bit awkward in his mouth, but understandable. “Your name is Ariadne because you’re the source of the Greek myth. Your husband is Dionysus, but I…he didn’t know your last name. It’s Song?”
“Yes,” Aria confirmed, squeezing Tim’s hand gently. “Mum always liked to say our last name was a good omen. ‘When you need it most, there is a song’.”
“She told you that?” Tim questioned and Aria could practically see her father staring out of his eyes, cataloguing everything she said with both anticipation and fear.
“No.” She shook her head.
Tim’s grip loosened the slightest bit and he returned Aria’s hold, his fingers slotting nicely between hers.
“We can’t let the Family of Blood have it,” he whispered, his voice shaking only a little. “It’s not time to open it yet either.”
“Then we won’t let them have it,” Dio promised. His hand on Aria’s shoulder was a warm, reassuring weight. “Neither the watch nor Aria.”
That was, of course, the moment Hutchinson spotted Tim and roughly pulled him to his feet, declaring him a coward. All around them, the boys were preparing to fight against the aliens, the Family of Blood. Aria felt a bit sick to her stomach as she watched them all, knowing it was John who had sounded the alarm.
It almost felt like she was back at the end of the Earth, watching her father stand by and do nothing as a trampoline who declared herself a human broke before their eyes. He would hate himself if he fired a gun, even if it was to protect these students under his care.
But right now, she had no control over anything except herself, so all Aria did was squeeze Dio’s hand and nod, giving him all the permission he needed to slip out and join the boys, intent on protecting his students.
John’s mind was racing and he couldn’t even begin to untangle everything that he had been told in the last hour.
He was going to war. Martha and Baines thought he was some Doctor, some Time Lord. He was going to war. Arianna Nikos called herself Ariadne Song, claiming to be his daughter. He was going to war. Joan didn’t believe he was real.
He was going to war.
He couldn’t understand any of it because none of it made sense. Nothing, except for the continuous fact ringing within his mind that he and his boys, his students, were going to war.
John’s heart raced in his chest and he felt sick to his stomach, fighting to keep his hands steady.
There was no other option. He was not this Doctor, Arianna or Ariadne or whoever her name is was not his daughter, and he was real. Flesh and blood and human.
Nothing else mattered.
And for King and country, he would fight.
And yet, when the moment of truth came, when the strawmen were breaking down the door and marching into the school, he couldn’t pull the trigger.
As soon as she felt the watch again, Aria ran right to Tim’s side. The two of them ran throughout the school grounds, perfectly in step as they led the Family away. But Aria knew that with every step they ran, they were getting closer and closer to the confrontation she had been dreading the most.
But when Tim knocked on the door to the Cartwrights’ home, she knew her time to run was up.
Martha opened the door just the slightest bit.
“I brought you this,” Tim stated, holding the watch out. Martha’s eyes watched the two of them carefully, as if waiting for Aria to say something. But Aria’s lips were sewn shut, unable to say a word lest she breakdown within earshot of the man who wore her father’s current face but was not him.
A second later, Martha opened the door wider and Aria practically ran inside, throwing herself into Dio’s arms. He was exactly where she suspected he was and she let out a sobbing gasp as she clutched on to him.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you, Corona,” Dio whispered, the Greek familiar and soothing on his tongue. Aria buried her face in his neck, unwilling to meet John’s gaze for a moment.
“Hold it,” Martha instructed.
“I won’t,” John refused. His voice was shaking, filled with a fear that she couldn’t recall her father’s voice ever having with this face. Aria’s grip on Dio tightened further.
“Please, just hold it,” Martha begged.
“It told me to find you. It wants to be held,” Tim explained.
“You’ve had this watch all this time? Why didn’t you return it?” Nurse Redfern questioned.
“Because it was waiting,” Tim answered. “Then because I was so scared of the Doctor.”
“Why?” Nurse Redfern prodded.
“Because I’ve seen him,” Tim said. He spoke hesitantly, choosing his words very carefully. His voice, with its gentle tone, somehow made Aria feel brave enough to pull away from Dio’s neck and meet John’s eyes. His gaze flickered away from her as Tim continued to speak. “He’s like fire and ice and rage. He’s like the night and the storm and the heart of the sun.”
“Stop it,” John whispered.
“He’s ancient and forever,” Tim continued, ignoring the order. “He burns at the center of time, and he can see the turn of the universe.”
“Stop it! I said stop it,” John spat out, gritting his teeth as he glared at the boy.
“And he’s wonderful,” Tim stated. He was completely unintimidated and Aria felt a surge of warmth for this boy, who was so brave in the face of what the Doctor was and all that he would be.
“He’s kind,” Aria added, stepping forward slightly. Dio, of course, followed her. “A good man, one of the best I’ve ever met. And he loves, so deeply that I am still astounded even after all these years of how much he loves.”
“You only want him back because he’s your father,” John spat, glaring at her now. His hands were trembling, every line of him screaming of how afraid he was and Aria’s hearts ached.
“He’s not just my father,” she countered, soft in the face of his anger. “He’s Martha’s friend, he’s my mum’s husband, he’s a grandfather, he matters to so many people, not just to me. He’s the reason I exist, yes, but I am not the only one who matters, not by a long shot.”
Silence hung over the room, none of them having a word to say, until Nurse Redfern broke it.
“I’ve still got this, the journal,” she said, holding out a brown leather journal. Aria wanted to scream, but she resisted the urge. A bow tie, a tweed jacket and a journal full of memories. It was all becoming too much, but the face was all wrong.
“Those are just stories,” John protested.
“All stories have truth, they all come from somewhere,” Dio cut in. When John’s eyes darted his way, he shrugged. “Sorry, but I’d be a pretty crappy son-in-law if I stood on the sidelines. And stories are sorta under my purview.”
“What are you talking about?” John asked, looking completely lost.
“Dionysus, god of wine, madness and many other things,” Dio answered. He raised a hand and a spring of grapes appeared behind his ear as he leaned into Aria’s side. “I’m also the god of theater and I can confirm that every story in that journal is true.”
“Perhaps there’s something in here…” Nurse Redfern suggested when suddenly an explosion rang out.
“What the hell?” Martha asked as the ground shook. They all ran to the window and fell silent. Missiles were raining down on the village mercilessly, one after the other, like comets flying through the sky before they crashed into the ground.
“They’re destroying the village,” Nurse Redfern whispered, her voice pained.
“The watch,” John gasped, walking away.
“John, don’t,” Nurse Redfern protested as they all turned to watch what he would do.
But John wasn’t listening, instead staring intently down at the watch in his hand.
“Can you hear it?” Tim asked.
“Like he’s asleep,” John confirmed, “Waiting to waken.”
“Why did he speak to me?” Tim questioned, lost.
“Oh, low level telepathic field, you were born with it,” the Doctor and Aria answered in unison. As soon as she heard the Doctor’s voice, however, Aria cut herself off, staring at the man, at her father.
“Just an extra synaptic engram, causing…” The Doctor’s voice cut off and John’s tear filled eyes stared at them all. “Is that how he talks?”
“That’s him! All you have to do is open it, and he’s back,” Martha smiled, looking so relieved to hear the Doctor again. Another explosion rang out.
“You knew this all along and yet you watched while Miss. Redfern and I—” John said, his anger rising again as he glared at Martha, pain and grief and sadness mixing on his face.
“I didn’t know how to stop you,” Martha protested. “He gave me a list of things to watch out for, but that wasn’t included.”
“Falling in love? That didn’t even occur to him?” John gasped, unable to believe it.
“No,” Martha confirmed.
“Then what sort of man is that?” John demanded, “And now you expect me to die?”
“John,” Dio cut in, stepping between John and Martha. His gaze was serious in a way it typically wasn’t and Aria held her breath. She knew what he was going to say. “It isn’t just your life that is at risk of ending here. Look outside the window. They are bombing the village, killing who knows how many people who were never meant to die before this happened. They probably killed some of our students too, hunting for this watch because Aria is too much of a halfling for them to be satisfied with! But if you don’t change back, if you kill the Doctor here, then you’ll also be killing your daughter along with the entirety of time itself.”
“She is not my daughter!” John argued, glaring at Dio. “Dion, Dio, Dionysus, whoever the hell you are, you do not get to put the weight of her life on my shoulders. Not when I am staring down my own execution!”
“She has a name,” Dio snapped. “And she’s been crying over you far too often these days just for you to treat her like this!”
“Dio, that’s enough,” Aria cut in, pulling him back. She met John’s gaze head on, too tired to fight and yet terrified that this was the end. “We don’t know what will happen now, not even me. And John, I know how you feel, gods, do I know. Because just like you, I am staring death in the face at this very moment and for all my talk of time travel and fixed points and the delicacy of the timeline, you still have free will. You can still choose a different path. But that doesn’t mean the consequences won’t be just as horrible as the ones we know.”
John stared at her for several moments, his eyes teary and pained, but despite his clothes, his face and his voice, he was correct. He was not her father.
She took a deep breath and then spoke.
“My name is Ariadne Song and I exist because of many casual loops in the timeline. It’s a delicate balance, but I do my best to make sure each one remains intact. But now, I don’t have that option, because my fate and the village’s fate and even the whole of time and space’s fate rests in your hands. I’m the Doctor’s daughter. But you, John Smith, are not him.”
Another explosion rang out.
“It’s getting closer,” Tim warned.
“I should have thought of it before. I can give them this!” John exclaimed, holding the watch aloft. “Just the watch. Then they can leave and I can stay as I am.”
“You can’t do that!” Martha shouted.
“No!” Aria cried out.
“If they want the Doctor, they can have him,” John insisted.
“He’ll never let you do it,” Dio argued.
“And if they get what they want, then…then…” John stuttered in the face of the three time travelers’ anger.
“Then it all ends in destruction,” Nurse Redfern cut him off. Aria turned to her, finding her holding the journal. “I never read to the end. Those creatures will live forever, to breed and conquer. A war across the stars, for every child.” John’s face crumbled and Aria wanted to hug him tightly, but she couldn’t.
Because the answer he wanted and the one they needed were two very different things.
“Martha, Timothy, Ariadne, Dionysus, would you leave us alone, please?” Nurse Redfern requested. Tim and Martha slowly began to leave, but Aria found herself frozen, Dio at her side.
Perhaps she could still—
“Ariadne,” Nurse Redfern cut her thoughts off. “Please, don’t do anything rash. Stay with them.”
Aria found herself nodding, unable to say anything else. Dio grasped her hand tightly and gently led her out of the house.
Whatever happened now, it was up to John.
When everything was said and done, the Doctor didn’t see Aria to say goodbye. She left before he could and, well, he couldn’t blame her.
John Smith had been brutal to her, denying her even worse than the Doctor ever had and practically told her he’d rather she die so he could live. That wasn’t easy for anyone to come back from.
But Dio was there, leaning against the TARDIS with his arms crossed. Martha was probably still inside, giving them privacy.
“Hi,” the Doctor greeted. It was strange, talking to Dio after he had gotten so angry at John Smith. That wasn’t the Doctor, but the Doctor could remember it clearly and in his few encounters with Dio, he had never imagined the god could ever be so angry.
“I’m sorry for last night,” Dio apologized. He was no longer disguised as a teacher, his godliness easy to see at a glance. “I know it wasn’t you, but it’s difficult when it’s the same face and…it’s like he was saying Aria wasn’t worthy of being alive. I know that’s not what he meant, obviously, but still.”
“It’s all right,” the Doctor sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I can’t say I disagree with you, but…that’s what it means to be human, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Dio smiled, his gaze far away. “Humans can be kind just as much as they can be cruel, can love just as well as they can hate. But in the end, they’re braver than us all.”
“I quite agree with that,” the Doctor smiled. He shifted slightly, glancing over his shoulder. “Can you…apologize to Aria for me? I just…want her to know, I’d never consider writing her out of existence.”
“She knows that, but I’ll tell her,” Dio smiled slightly, reaching out to squeeze the Doctor’s arm lightly. “Take care of yourself and Martha, okay?”
“And where are you going next?” the Doctor asked.
“Oh, I’ve got a job still, don’t you know? Think I’ve got a year until Dion Nikos needs to vanish, lest they start figuring out I don’t age,” Dio grinned. The Doctor couldn’t help but return it, even as his hearts clenched in his chest. There was still one thing he had left to do and Dio must’ve seen it, as he slapped the Doctor’s shoulder lightly. “Good luck with Nurse Redfern.”
“Thank you,” the Doctor gulped. It was difficult to explain how he was feeling because while John Smith had loved Joan Redfern, the Doctor didn’t. He sometimes didn’t even think he was capable of love, not in the same way others were. But if John Smith could fall in love, then perhaps he could too.
But even as he went to meet Joan, the Doctor already knew what her answer would be.
And yet, Aria existed, amazing and beautiful and so much stronger than the Doctor could ever be.
That had to count for something.