"This is the direct opposite of what we need right now!" Clara yelled. "Not only do we have guests but we just finished running for our lives from a hundred Zygons and even more car bombs. I'd like to speak to my daughter."
August shrugged Alessia's shoulders nonchalantly. "Listen, Clara. I don't know why I do what I do. I just do it."
The Doctor came past Clara with his screwdriver and scanned Alessia from head to toe, before squinting at it. "Two hearts," he murmured. "Everything's normal."
"Well, obviously, everything's not." August rolled Alessia's eyes and sighed. "Look, you think I want to be a short little schoolgirl right now? I jumped into that Zygon to beat the crap out of the rest of them-- you're welcome, by the way-- and then when I tried to come back I just... jumped into Alessia."
"Have you ever done it before?" Asked the Doctor. He picked up Alessia's left hand, still limp, and let it fall against her side. "How did you know how to do it?"
August shrugged. "I did it with the teddy bear that one time, and the rhino guy so that I could get Oliver back. But not other than that. It just sort of... happened, I guess. I don't know. You're asking too much of me."
There was a pounding in Alessia's head, and August brought a hand up to her temple. August? Came Alessia's voice from the armchair. How are you in my head, August?
She was yelling at the top of her lungs, but he was the only one who could hear her. In response, he tapped on her forehead and smiled. "Don't worry, Doc. I just heard her. She's okay."
"SHE IS TRAPPED!" Clara went to jump at August, but the Doctor held her back, taking her by the shoulders and kissing her on the head.
"Clara," he said patiently, "that's still our little girl's body. Don't hurt her. I'm going to get her out, you know that. Do you trust me?"
Clara blinked absently and took a shuddering breath. "I..." she stammered, before falling forward into the Doctor's chest. "What's going on?"
"Possession," said August flatly. He sat down on the steps and sighed. "That's the word for it, right? In all the movies and stuff, that's what happens."
The Doctor sighed. "That's not... no. That's not it. It's more of an energy transfer, I think. The energy of you is housing itself inside of Alessia."
"Yeah." August turned to him with raised eyebrows. "That's what I just said, only in a less nerdy way."
"Did you say possession?"
Attention turned itself, for the first time in awhile, back to Lionel and Beatrice. Lionel was sitting wide-eyed on the floor, and Beatrice was halfway through crossing herself with a shaky hand. "Oh, dear Lord."
She took a breath and fainted; the Doctor ran forward to ease her down to the ground. "Okay. Step one, we take them home. Step two, we get you out. Step three, I go and renounce my fatherhood for letting my daughter get possessed by a Roman Emperor."
"She's an Emperor?" Asked Lionel, pushing himself into the conversation. "How can Alessia be a Roman Emperor? Caesar's my favorite. Are you Caesar?"
August narrowed Alessia's eyes and snorted like an angry bull. "All Caesar knows how to do is be a priss and get stabbed. I... well, I don't know quite what I did, but I know for sure it was impressive."
"You're an Emperor just as much as I'm the Queen of England," Clara grumbled.
"I am too an Emperor! The old man on the fancy moon told me!"
"Oh, and who was he, Michelangelo?"
"Alessia's real dad, actually. He was much better than you two."
YOU ARE READING
The Defender of Time
Fanfiction**Rewrite being posted on AO3... @farawaymoons** Book One Of The Alessia Oswald Series To be completely honest, Alessia Oswald has no idea who she is; although she doesn't mind. After her mother's sudden death and the borderline kidnapping by the st...
