The Spires of Jacarthia (Chapter 9)

Chapter 9 (The Hardest Part)

Lilly stood beside Holly on the balcony overlooking the moat and square outside the castle. The Master had hired some outside construction crew to come into Jacarthia and slowly the buildings were being rebuilt. It would be some time before life returned to the town, and it still wasn’t considered to be under the rule of the High Council anymore, but he would make something work. The Master was already revelling in being a king in his own little kingdom.

It had been a few hours since Lilly had told of her intentions to stay and Holly was still feeling shell-shocked. For the first time in ever she had met someone who she had felt connected with. Yes, she had had friends like Roxanne and Simon, but Lilly was different. She thought she had seen a future with her.

Lilly turned to Holly and looked at her until Holly realised and looked back at her. “I am sorry, you know, Dangerfield?”

“I know,” said Holly, sniffing back the tears again.

“I’m not staying because I don’t want to be with you. You don’t think that, do you?”

Holly turned her body to face her. “No, I don’t think that. It’s just…” She shook her head and looked away.

“Tell me,” said Lilly, taking her hand.

“I left my family for you. I left them because I wanted us to be together, no matter what life that was.”

“Then stay here with me.”

“I can’t,” said Holly. Every fibre of her being ached to say those words, but she just couldn’t stay here and spend her life looking over her shoulder to check that the Master wasn’t walking with a knife behind her. “I know I left my family, but I want to see them again one day. If I stay here I worry I’ll never see the Doctor again. Never see the TARDIS again and never get home.”

“I wouldn’t let that happen,” said Lilly.

“But you don’t know,” said Holly. “You may end up staying here forever.”

Lilly looked away. There was no promising she would leave this place. She was on her true home world now. She could do anything she wanted. She could even become a Time Lady. She even felt like one now, stood in her red and gold dress.

“I’ll make you a promise then,” said Lilly.

“Don’t,” said Holly, shaking her head.

“No, Dangerfield, I will make you a promise,” said Lilly, taking her hands again and moving in closer. “This isn’t goodbye.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s just me and you having to work away from home.” Lilly managed a half-smile.

Holly laughed through the tears. “Working away from home?”

“Yeah,” said Lilly, laughing. “Without the commutes.”

“Then if it’s not goodbye that means we’ll see each other again.”

Lilly smiled and nodded. “I promise you that, Dangerfield. When I’ve settled myself down, cleared my head, worked out who I am…then I will be with you again.”

“Why would you make a promise like that?” said Holly.

“Because I truly mean it. One day, Holly Dangerfield, you and I will be together forever and we will be happy and never have to be scared again. And I mean that, because I love you, Holly.”

Holly stopped crying for a moment and just looked at Lilly. That strange, Scottish, blonde-haired, grumpy girl she had met in the cemetery that day. The same girl who couldn’t have been more annoyed with her had she purposely started an argument with her.

Lilly smiled at her and nodded. She meant it. She truly meant it.

Holly smiled. “I love you too, Lilly.”

And then the two embraced, and for a moment- just a fleeting, magical, marvellous moment - Holly forgot about everything else in the universe of space and time.




The TARDIS was now standing in the hall. The Doctor, Holly, Richard and Reikon were stood outside the doors in a line.

A few steps away the Master, Lilly, Celestia and Craig stood.

The Master extended his hand towards the Doctor. “I promise you I’ll take good care of her.”

The Doctor stepped forward, grabbed the Masters arm and pulled him in closer so his mouth was centimetres from his ear. “I swear to you that if you harm one hair on her head you will never regenerate ever again.”

“Understood,” said the Master, allowing the Doctor to move back.

“Reikon…” said Celestia.

“Don’t worry, my love,” he said. “We will see each other again.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice barely audible.

“You have to do what’s best for you and Lilly. If that means me leaving…well, that’s the way it has to be.”

The Doctor turned to Richard and Reikon and then nodded towards the Master, Celestia and Craig. “Could you leave us alone now?”

They didn’t need to be told twice as the two groups dispersed into either the TARDIS or out of the hall.

The Doctor stood there beside Holly looking straight at Lilly.

“So, this is goodbye,” she said.

“Not goodbye, remember?” said Holly, smiling sadly.

Lilly smiled at her. “Not goodbye.”

“If you ever need me, ever, you contact me and I will come straight down here, no matter what alien world I have to leave.”

“Yes, sir,” said Lilly.

“We haven’t finished what we started Lilly. Not by a long shot. The three of us will be together again, I can count on that.” He was struggling to hide his emotions.

“That we will,” said Lilly.

There was another long silence.

And then the Doctor threw his arms around Lilly, holding her tightly. Lilly could barely breathe in his embrace. And then the Doctor motioned for Holly to come forward and the three friends embraced each other for a long, long time.

Soon, after they had said their final farewells, the Doctor took Holly’s hand and guided her into the TARDIS. She took one last look at the girl she had fallen in love with and then closed the door.

Lilly watched with tears in her eyes as the blue box - her home for a long time - slowly faded from view, a gentle wind whipping through her blonde hair.

“Goodbye, Dangerfield,” she said as silence returned to the castle of Jacarthia.

Celestia walked up behind her and put her arm around her. “Come on, sweetheart, it’s time we got to know each other a little better.”

Lilly smiled as she let her new-found mother guide her away. But she couldn’t get Holly’s face out of her head. This wasn’t over just yet.




The Doctor had disappeared into the depths of the TARDIS and left Richard and Holly with Reikon, who was tending to his cuts and bruises.

“You seem okay,” said Richard.

“I’m not really,” said Reikon, “but I know this isn’t the end. I’ll be back with Celestia once this madness has ended, but I also know how independent she is. She survived a long, long time without me. We’ll be together again.”

“But Caleb-” said Holly.

Reikon held up his hand. “It’s gone.”

“So what will you do now?” asked Richard, sitting down and stretching out on the sofa.

“The Doctor is taking me to Earth. I used to work in the TARDIS construction fields in Zeeka City back on Gallifrey. He says he’s got a TARDIS stuck in siege mode and believes myself and his friends at UNIT:X may be able to crack it open.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Richard.

“I could do with a nice warm bed at the moment,” said Reikon.

“Holly,” said Richard, leaning forward, “is he going to be okay?”

Holly looked towards the TARDIS’s interior door. “I don’t know.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah,” lied Holly. “But only when I get back to Lilly again.”




A few corridors away the Doctor was sat on Lilly’s bed. He was holding one of her tops, his fists balled up. Not only had the Master capitalised on his failure in Jacarthia, he had now taken away someone very precious to him. How much more could he lose to that place? Atom, Louisa, both dead, and now Lilly standing between two worlds.

“You’ll get her back, uncle,” came Caleb’s voice from somewhere in the ether.

“I know I will, Caleb,” he said, his lips pursed tightly together. “I know I will.”




The End