One Last Chance |6| The Ascension

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Dark Water

When McKenzie woke, it was to find herself alone. The room she was in was dark, almost pitch black, except for the swirls of red energy drifting lazily by. She grimaced, getting to her feet unsteadily, racking her brain. What had happened? How had she got here?

***

She'd looked round as the TARDIS door opened, Wanda striding in. "Oh, hey, Wands." Then she'd frowned, realising the Sokovian was alone. "Where's Clara?"

Wanda's eyes had met hers, and they were a deep, burning red. "She's dead."

***

McKenzie inhaled sharply, remembering it all. She could feel it now, Wanda's grief washing over her again and again and again. And the worst thing, the worst thing of all, was that it felt so familiar.

"Wanda," she managed, feeling it pressing down upon her chest, suffocating her, crawling up her throat. "Please... What are you doing?"

"What I have to." Wanda's voice echoed from all around, even as the woman herself walked into view. "I'm sorry. But it's the only way."

"Wanda, I—"

Wanda twisted her wrist sharply, viciously, and McKenzie cried out in pain as she was yanked off her feet, her eyes blazing red. "Do I have your attention?"

McKenzie slumped, letting Wanda's magic carry her as she panted. "Yes... yes."

"Good."

"No," McKenzie told her, shaking her head weakly. "Not good, Wanda."

"Clara Oswald is dead," Wanda declared, a tear slipping down her cheek.

"I know." McKenzie bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Wanda, but—"

"Fix it," Wanda ordered. "Change it. Save her. Bring her back."

"I can't."

"Time can be rewritten!"

"Not like that," McKenzie told her. "Do you honestly believe if it were possible, that I wouldn't have brought Will back? And Vision?"

"I don't care if you can't," Wanda snapped, tightening her bonds of crimson rage. "I know who can. And I know exactly how to make him."

McKenzie narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't dare lay a finger on him."

Wanda smiled bitterly. "I don't have to." She clawed her fingers, increasing the intensity of her magic, and McKenzie began to scream. "He'll do it all himself."

"Wanda, please," McKenzie wept, gasping for breath. "You don't want to do this! He won't help you if you do!"

"He will," Wanda assured her. "Everybody knows it. The Doctor will tear apart the universe to bring his beloved Angel back from the dead."

"But I'm not..." McKenzie stared, dread settling in the pit of her stomach. "... dead. You wouldn't..."

"Wouldn't I?" Wanda tilted her head dangerously.

And suddenly they were fighting, blasts of lethal white lasers clashing against Wanda's insidious crimson magic, both of them throwing more and more at each other, fighting desperately for their lives. The air sizzled with energy, the sounds of their heavy breaths and the blasts colliding until finally, finally, a body hit the ground.