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"Aww, look, it's like a fairytale!" Yasmin laughed, delighted by such a quiet and adorable landscape that surrounded them. It looked absolutely blessed, without a single horrifying monster in sight.
"Look Jane! It's a Blue Box!"
Turning around, Yasmin spotted two tiny children standing down at the bottom of the hill, looking in awe at The Doctor's TARDIS.
"Oh! Children!" Suddenly, The Doctor appeared next to Yasmin, grinning. "Hello little ones! I am The Doctor" She said enthusiastically. "This is Yaz!" She pointed an eager finger at Yasmin.
"It's The Doctor! Jake, The Doctor is real!" The little girl screamed when she heard The Doctor, shaking the little boy beside her fervently.
Yasmin watched the exchange in surprise. "Wait a minute, you know The Doctor?"
"Good job Jane! Don't you remember the witch told us not to tell strangers about the great wizard?" The boy scoffed, pushing his sister hard and almost making the girl fall down the hill.
"But she's one of the great wizard's fairies!" The little girl cried, pouting in dismay as he again hit her.
The Doctor watched the exchange with much interest and confusion, listening to their words and trying to make sense of them. To the best of her knowledge, she could not remember knowing a witch who called the man she used to be 'The Great wizard'. She was about to ask the children about it, but was interrupted as Ryan came stumbling out of the TARDIS.
"Hey Doctor!" Ryan exclaimed, stumbling his way towards them, but stopped when he spotted the children. "Who are they? What's happening?" He asked, running faster as he reached Yasmin and The Doctor.
"Look, that one is a boy! Fairies aren't boys!" The tiny boy exclaimed, pointing his finger at Ryan.
Ryan frowned, glancing worriedly over at The Doctor. Something wasn't right, but he didn't know what was happening.
"He's an Elf!" The girl protested, suddenly sprinting the rest of the way up the hill to the trio. "Wizard, do you take elves and fairies in your magic box? The kind witch in the village says you have boy elves and girl fairies, but mostly fairies, in your magic box!" The little girl explained.
"The kind witch says you are magic! She's magic too!" The boy commented, he too suddenly sprinting up the hill.
The Doctor grinned, going down on her knees to get on the same level as the children, her confused companions standing behind her and watching. " I am very magical" With a swooshing sound, she pulled out her sonic screwdriver, lighting it up. "Now can you tell me more about this witch? What is her name?"
"Arkytior!" The girl exclaimed. "She has a stick like you, and she used it to chase away all the monsters!"
"Jane! We're not allowed to tell the witch's name to strangers!" The boy said angrily.
"But it's The wizard!" The girl protested right back. "You just don't want to recognize it, because the wizard has a girl disguise now and that mean girls are awesome!" Suddenly, the girl shoved the boy hard, and he fell over.
"Hey, hey! Stop it." Seeing the risk that someone would get hurt, Yasmin quickly intervened, separating the boy and the girl.
"Yeah, why don't you just show us the way to the village, so we can meet the witch? She can judge what we are" Ryan suggested, glancing nervously at The Doctor, who nodded.
"Yeah, that sounds great! Let's go, everyone!" The Doctor announced, banging a hand against the TARDIS as she passed it. "Graham, come out! We're leaving!"
As Graham stumbled out of the blue box, the children began to guide them towards the village. At the very front, right at the children's heels, walked The Doctor.
Arkityor
That's what she had heard the children call the witch. And The Doctor only knew one person with that specific name, a single person in the whole Universe, and
who The Doctor wanted desperately to be waiting for her in the village.
"Doctor, what's wrong?"
"What?" Suddenly brought out of her thoughts, The Doctor looked up to see Graham look at her in worry. She sigh. "It's nothing."
"Oh come on Doc, I can see something is bothering you" Graham frowned, putting a hand on The Doctor's shoulder to comfort her. "Tell me? Please?" He tries to make his cutest face, but knows he's not very endearing.
"Well, alright..." The Doctor gave in, deciding that she would share what she thought was about to happen with Graham. He, if anyone, might understand. "What if I told you I'm a grandmother, and that I think the witch in the village is my granddaughter?”
Graham paused. It was a very, very questionable statement all together, but The Doctor seemed serious. "Was this when you were a guy or last time we were in Sheffield?" He asked finally.
The Doctor laughed. She laughs loud and smiles like a fool, because it is such a fantastically innocent question. Oh, if only he knew the truth. "When I was a bloke. Long ago when I was a bloke." The Doctor answered, waving a hand at Yaz and Ryan, who had apparently been alerted by her laughter. "Had a lot of kids, once, and they had a few kids in turn...Susan was the little baby, apple of my eye"
"Susan" Graham said, trying to take in what The Doctor told him. "That the witch in the village? Ryan said they talked about us seeing a witch that lives in their village."
The Doctor nodded. "Yes. The...the children called her Arkytior. It's a Gallifreyan name. Her Gallifreyan name." The Doctor sighed, looking down at her feet sadly. "Graham, I'm not sure this is a good idea"
Graham frowned. Now, he was starting to understand why The Doctor approached him. "Doctor, what happened? Did you have a fight?" He asks and he knows very well that considering The Doctor's character it was probably more than that.
"You could say that" The Doctor nodded, biting her lip. "Has Ryan ever dated someone you really didn't like?"
"Well yeah. But it's not any of my business. Grace's, at most." Graham nodded, thinking he was starting to understand. "In the end they do as they wish. All you can do is to try to understand and show that you love them , now matter what they do and with who" He reaches out, giving The Doctor a side-ways embrace. "I'm sure you did your best"
The Doctor smiled weakly. "Thanks. Could've used some of that advice back then." She chuckled, but it was without any humour.
She let go of a little girl, all those thousands of years ago, and now she was about to face...what?
What was left of Susan now?
An old woman is down on her knees in the mud, planting plants on the other side of a deep green row of thick bushes. As they approach she looks up, grey curls bouncing as she lifts her head and observes them, big brown eyes inspecting the newcomers.
"Mala! Heon...who is this?" She addresses the children, gathering them into a hug as the come to her. "Did you find some off-planet visitors?"
The children nodd, suddenly shy. "It's the great wizard." The girl whispered quietly, smiling. "He's a girl now!"
The effect of the words is immediate, the change in her expression even more so. Susan let the children go, standing up with some difficulty. "Go home to your mothers." She orders, motioning for the to go. "Now!"
"Susan!" As the children run, The Doctor steps forward, the sonic screwdriver tightly held in her hand. " Arkytior !"
The Witch of the village blink, swiping sudden tears from her eyes. "Doctor. The Doctor. Grandfather ." She rambles, unable to stop until she comes upon the title, the name that she will always have in her eyes.
The Doctor nodded, and suddenly they are embracing, Susan clinging to her grandmother.
"You came back. You really came back."
The Doctor holds her tight, and doesn't mention that she didn't mean to. "I have missed you." She says instead, much more diplomatic as she rocks them both "I thought you died."
"In the time war?" Susan cut right to it, not bothering to be careful. It was not as though they didn't both know what she meant.
The Doctor smells her hair, and nods slowly. "I thought I destroyed you."
"You never could" Susan replied just as easily. "And I would've done the same. It had to happen." She sighs, still not letting go.
The companions stand and watch, not knowing what to say. The conversation The Doctor and the witch are having is intensely private and they hardly want to watch, much less listen in, but there is little else to do. The witch's cottage is right at the edge of the village, coming before anything and anyone else, and the TARDIS is a good hour's walk back through the unfamiliar landscape.
All they can do is watch and wait.
"Eat up." Susan said softly, putting food on the table. "It's not much but it's good." She promised, looking over the few dishes and tea which she had gotten together for her grandfather.
The Doctor smiled, filling her plate. "Thank you. And thank you for finding a local guide for the gang. They will have so much fun!" She grinned. "Or maybe they won't, and they'll come back to complain." She laughed at that one.
Susan smiled patiently, more like a grandmother with her grandchild than the other way around. "I don't think they will. It's beautiful here. And besides...I wanted us to have some time for ourselves. They can ask their questions later."
"And my questions?" The Doctor picks up her cup of tea, and looks at the woman that was his granddaughter with a starre that show the curiosity living inside her.
Susan freezes, the look intense. "It depends on what question." She decides. "You won't answer just any question either. It's only fair that I get to be selective."
The Doctor nods. She hates to have to give in, but for Susan she did it happily. "Alright. Why do you have this whole Witch of the village act? And why am I a Wizard?"
"It's a good way of explaining how I eradicated the cybermen from here." Susan shrugs. "As for you...the little children love stories. But their parents know who The Doctor is. It's a solution."
The Doctor blinks. "I've been here?" She ask.
Susan doesn't answer immediately. She bustles about, collecting cups and hot water for more tea, digging for some dessert in the cupboard. Then, when she's finally ready to serve it up, she turns back and speaks.
"This world was a victim of the time lords. They don't know the details...but they know the start and finish." She explains quietly. "The army that came and the time war that decimated it."
The Doctor nodded. It sends a familiar pang of guilt and pain. "I guess you can't outrun everything." She sighed, trying not to be sad. "But I tried! I had a great time!" She perks up, forcing a smile.
Susan laughs. She knows it's not completely honest but chooses to follow her example."I'm glad you didn't outrun me. I missed you."
The doctor doesn't miss how choked she sounds, despite her attempt to be light and happy, and is desperate to ease the mood further as she pour sugar into her tea. "I promised you. I said I would come back and I did."
Susan nods, taking a little sugar is left and putting it in her own cup. "Cream?" She asks, adding some to her own cup as well.
The Doctor shakes her head, sipping the sickeningly sweet drink. Some things never seemed to change, and her fondness for sugar was one, her disdain for cream the same.
"So, will you come with us?"
Susan looks confused, then, even though the doctor thinks she must've expected it. Surely she couldn't think the doctor would leave her again? On a strange planet she might never come back to.
"You know I can't leave you, or I may never see you again." The Doctor clarified. "I can't let you Susan. It's been too close too many times…"
"Like the time war?" Susan asked. "That's what you mean? Or the Cybermen? Or Blorgons?" She continued. "Take your pick Doctor. You sent them all after me. And now you want to tell me it's safe to travel with you again!" Suddenly, she is enraged, blowing off the handle most uncharacteristically. Something snaps and she can't stop until its all out.
The Doctor was surprised, confused at the change of tone. "I thought you were glad I didn't outrun you!" She exclaimed, moving back from the table.
Susan sighed, getting up and starting to pace the floors. "I don't know what I think grandfather!" She said desperately, trying to tame her temperament. "You've caused so much trouble for me...but I love you...you are my grandfather!"
The Doctor got up from the table too, hurrying to her. "I sorry...I...I never meant to hurt you Susan!" It makes her heart ache, to think she did this to her own granddaughter. She racked her brain and couldn't find a solution, instead she just pulls her close and hug her tightly.
"Grandfather…" Susan responds to the hug. She seems to want to say more, but there is no time to answer as Yaz, Graham and Ryan return. Their return proves to be a good distraction, as Ryan is now completely green from top to toe.
The sight of her now green companion makes The Doctor laugh so hard she starts to cry, the others soon joining in. "You're green! Mint green! What did you do?! This is brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"
Ryan huff, slightly frustrated at the fun the others were having at his expense. "I ate some berries I shouldn't have. They said it wasn't dangerous, so I went ahead, and then they made me green!"
Susan giggled quietly as well. “Never trust the people around here! They like joking!” She grinned. “Either way, you don’t need to worry, we can leave here soon. I just need to pack my things and then it's onto the TARDIS."
"You're coming with us?" Graham asked, Yaz and Ryan's confused faces reflecting the same sentiment.
Susan nodded, keeping up her sunny smile. "Of course. Gradmother invited me...you don't mind, do you?" She asked looking a little concerned.
"Of course not! We'd love to have you. Besides, that's what being a fam means. We're a family." Yaz said quickly, not wanting any of the boys to put their foot in their mouth and scare off Susan.
"Literally, in your case." Ryan pointed out. “You’re The Doctor’s family and that makes you our family.” He pointed out.
The Doctor came up behind them then, pulling them all into a tight group hug. She held it for several seconds, not wanting to let a single one of them go. Finally, she did give up and let the others go, but still kept holding on tight to Susan. Gently, she bent down and kissed her head softly.
"I love you, Susan."