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Miss Crow’s Home For Peculiar Children

Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Summary:

I got carried away but here’s the final chapter!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“I don’t trust them” Vastra said. The children were all gathered in the largest bedroom, talking quietly. They were on edge, voices barely audible in the confused whispering. “Missy has never mentioned having brothers, and she lied about who she was meeting”
“Also they were wearing sunglasses” Rory added. “No one wears sunglasses at night”
Thete shrugged. “Maybe they were sonic sunglasses?”
The room went silent as everyone stared at him, confused.
Qui ran his hand through his hair, thinking. “The Roman is right. No one wears sunglasses at night”
“Wights do” River whispered. A cold dread filled the room, like shadows of the hollows tentacles creeping up on the peculiars. Yaz shuddered.
“Missy protects us from Wights. She has no reason at all to bring them here. She an ymbryne” Martha said, failing entirely to convince everyone.
“We stay alert” Thete whispered. The sound of K9’s barks reverberating through the house alerted them to Missy now heading upstairs to ensure everyone was in bed.

Yaz closed the bedroom door as quietly as she could and tiptoed to her bed, holding her breath to listen to the sound of Missy making her way up the stairs of the house. She pulled back the covers and led down, having to suppress a surprised yelp as she realised Jane was already there.
“Go back to your bed until after Missy checks on us”
Jane shook her head, snatching the covers away from Yaz and pulling them closer around her shoulders.
“C’mon Jane you’ll get in trouble”
“ ‘m comfy” Jane mumbled. “If you move me I’ll never be this comfy again”
Yaz sighed. “What if I carried you those four steps to your bed?”
Jane nodded and held out her arms, making it easier for Yaz to pick her up and move her in an awkward stumbling motion to her bed on the other side of the room.
“Stay” Jane mumbled. Her hand was curled around Yaz’s, clinging onto her. Yaz kissed the back of her hand, and then Jane’s forehead, before returning to her side of the room. She wondered if getting in trouble with Missy would have been worth it to stay right there, holding onto Jane. She wouldn’t mind getting told off, but she knew that Missy scared Jane, and she wouldn’t subject her to that.

A few minutes after Missy had gone to her own bed in the attic room, Jane was back by the side of Yaz’s bed, wrapped in blankets.
“You look like a burrito” she whispered. She felt a rush of panic at the sadness she now sensed coming from Jane. Had she offended her? Did they even have burritos in the 50s? Jane’s sniff brought her back to her senses. “I’m sorry. What’s wrong?”
“It feels like everything is changing. I don’t want everything to change”
Yaz moved closer to the wall to make space for Jane. It wasn’t long before they were in a comfortable pile of blankets, wrapped up in each others arms as Yaz drew shapes on Jane’s back.
“Things have been the same here for 63 years. Change is going to be scary”
“What if I’m not happy after things change? I like things the way they are. What if I don’t like what they turn into?”
“You’ll still have me though, yeah? Even if everything is completely different, you’ll still have me”
Jane looked up at her, eyes shining with tears and just a bit of hope.
“You promise?”
Yaz kissed her lightly, still exhilarated at the feeling.
“I promise”

“Guys get up you have got to get downstairs right now”
Yaz blinked, sitting up, confused, followed by Jane next to her. Clara was stood in the middle of the room, beaming excitedly.
“Whoa you two weren’t kidding about sharing a bed were you? This isn’t even the best part of the day, seriously get downstairs, whatever is about to happen, I can guarantee it makes our impending doom and the Masters probably being Wights worth it.”
With that she was gone, running around the other bedrooms to wake anyone else.

“Ok what was so amazing?” Thete grumbled. He was the last to join everyone downstairs, where they were all sitting at the breakfast table. All except Strax, who was standing next to his chair, which was currently occupied by Master Saxon.
“Enemy male has occupied my chair” Strax mumbled.
“Wait until I’m done then”, Saxon said, not looking up from a plate of bacon.
Strax stared hopefully up at Vastra, who gave him a curt nod. He grinned, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet.
“Prepare to be ejected from the chair”
Strax cracked his knuckles, and lifted Master Saxon over his head by the lapels of his jacket. He lowered him into the bacon, then carried him across the room and unceremoniously dumped him on the living room floor, where Master O was laughing hysterically.
“You’ve done well with these Missy” he said. “Really cultivated their powers”
He removed his sunglasses, revealing milky white eyes, which surprised no one whatsoever, since it was the middle of winter.
“They’ll make perfect Hollow food”
Everyone gasped. I’m not sure why. It’s not that surprising.
“We waited 78 years for this. Missy, freshly kicked out of the council of ymbrynes by Mayor Raven, discovered a baby and two toddlers. One toddler who could already run, and fast, one who switched language with every sentence and the baby, babbling away to the dogs that sniffed them out. And we had an idea. Mayor Raven would never find out, if we were careful. Missy would take in all the peculiars who came to her, looking after them, farming, until the hollows desperately needed peculiar blood to help them take human shape. There were a few times when we thought she wouldn’t, that she’d gone soft and gotten attached. But time has come children. Of course, hollows can’t enter loops, but outside the loop the whole of Sheffield is ready and waiting for the invisible murderer who took the life of that man and that poor girl. Surrender yourselves now, or we’ll set ourselves loose on the city. And just a bit of extra incentive, Clara, you’re dad is somewhere out there, Yaz, your whole family, wondering if you’ll ever come home, and instead being greeted by my monster. All of you. Of course the family most of you have left is old, they forgot you long ago, they may have not loved you or been loved by you, but you left them, and in doing so”
“We’ll come with you if you stop talking” Thete yelled. Once again, everyone glared at him, then at each other. Yaz’s thoughts were racing, jumping around in her head, like snow in a blizzard. Her family. She had left them, and now they were in danger.
“To protect my family” she mumbled. “My life for my family. I think that’s a fair trade”
Jane grabbed her hand, shaking her head slightly, eyes wide with fear. Yaz couldn’t meet her eyes, looking at the ground apologetically.
“Well me too then” Jane said.
Qui joined them. “My grandad died. I didn’t know anyone else. But Clara loves her dad, even these years later, the way she talks about him”
Clara was staring at him in surprise and confusion. “Qui, what are you doing?”
“I’ll go with you, for Clara’s dad, if that means she won’t have to”
Clara punched him lightly on the shoulder.
“You’re a noble idiot, they want all of us. Good romantic gesture though”.
Master Saxon groaned. “How touching. Could we hurry up with the confessions of love and sacrifices so we can get on with the plan”
“Don’t worry about it mate” Bill said, her arms crossed over her chest. “I think we’re all coming. Our lives to save a city, yeah?”
“Frankly I was going to run away. Wish I’d never met you guys. I was much better off as a coward” Jack said, smiling wistfully. “Maybe this is a good ending for us”

Once outside the sense of bravado dropped. The feeling of comradery turned into everyone wondering who’s dumb idea this was.
“There’s 17 of us” Vastra said, holding onto Jenny. “Maybe we can take down the hollow?”
“17 of us against a hollow?” Jenny muttered. “We don’t stand a chance”
Yaz stared at Missy, hoping desperately for something. Some sign that Missy was playing her brothers, that she was about to stab them in the back and tell everyone that she was sorry for scaring them but everything would be alright. Missy’s eyes met hers and for a brief second she thought she felt something. Sadness? Guilt? She wasn’t sure, it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, pushed away to return her to the cold, emotionless woman who had raised these children as her own just for the purposes of sacrificing them. Hiding somewhere, K9 whined.
“He can hear footsteps” Rose whispered.
“May I suggest a last minute review of tactics?” Strax asked. He didn’t sound nervous. For a little boy he sounded like he was a soldier. “Perhaps we could at least attempt to fight”
“Perhaps we could” Pluto mumbled. “Perhaps we could”
So as the footsteps approached, freezing just metres away, the air crackled with painful tension. The only sound was breathing, the hollow’s was the loudest, coming out in deep sighs and low growls. An eternity passed, almost frozen in time, the calm before the storm. That was when it leaped towards them, claws raking trees and marks where it slipped a little in the mud being the only indication of where it was. Then came the first handful of the muddy, silty clay from the bottom of the stream, hitting it in the chest. An angry hiss filled the air, followed by a whine of disappointment that it’s food was fighting back.
“Keep throwing the mud!” Someone yelled from the middle of the group. “We can see it!”
More mud was launched into the air, mostly missing, but a few landing on the target, until there was enough that they could tell where it was. It was their turn to charge, hitting it with everything they could. Thick, black blood began oozing from each wound as it screeched in frustration, stumbling backwards and lashing out at them with its claws. Most of its scratches made contact, but were rarely deep and in the adrenaline of the fight most went unnoticed. There was a loud splash as the hollow stumbled into the stream, the blood running into the water, turning it a murky grey. Strax ran over with the biggest grin any of them had seen on the boys face and he pinned it down with the heaviest rocks he could find. Eventually the creature stopped writhing, what was visible of the tentacles went still, and they breathed a sigh of relief, watching as Vastra plunged a broken glass bottle, the closest thing she could find to a knife, into it’s neck.

Yaz looked up for Jane, meeting her eyes with a bright smile and a sigh of relief. Jane’s face fell, instantly becoming a look of panic and fear. Yaz looked down, only just noticed the blood stain rapidly soaking through her clothes. The sight took a few seconds to process, first confusion, then worry, then pain. The worst pain Yaz had ever felt, tearing through her, consuming her. Her knees buckled, her head thudded against the damp ground. She cried out, and for a few seconds another hollow flickered into view. Of course. Another wave of pain washed over her and she cried out again. Every wight had a hollow, there were two masters, there had to be two hollows. Her vision swam and turned cloudy, Jane just visible, being held back from running straight to her, and straight to the hollow standing over her. She blinked back tears. She had promised Jane they would be alright. The hollows footsteps moved away, running towards the others just as Jane broke free of her friends grip, coming to sit at Yaz’s side, taking her hand. Everything went dark.

Jane stood up, her face a mask of fury.
“Distract it, confuse it, whatever you have to do, just don’t let it move from that spot” she hissed to the others. It wasn’t a difficult task, with everyone having spent over 6 decades learning to make the most annoying noises to annoy each other, at least until River threatened to remove their memories of the sound. Thete’s singing and Pluto’s yelling in every language, combined with Clara’s shadows, Qui’s jumping, John’s running and Bill’s teleporting was confusing enough without everyone else charging around. Jane took a deep breath, Yaz’s weak breathing next to her spurring her on as she felt around the dirt for any plant roots she could find.
“Come one plants, you’re supposed to be my friends” she whispered, her fingers closing around the root of a tree. “Grow for me. Yaz is hurt, I told you guys about Yaz right? She’s perfect, I think I love her, and that hollow hurt her. So please grow. Grow right where the hollow is. Trap it’s limbs with your branches, pull it apart if you have to, or suffocate it. Up to you. For me?”
She felt the warm buzzing under her fingertips before hearing the groaning and creaking of a rapidly growing tree, shrubs and branches wrapping tighter and tighter around the hollow. It screeched, so loud Jane could feel it in her bones and went still as the last plant covered it’s face, forming a tree, shaped almost perfectly like the hollow. Jane brushed the sweat from her brow, shaking from the exertion and turning to Yaz, who had now closed her eyes.
“I did it Yaz. I killed it. You’re gonna be okay”
No response. Jane brushed Yaz’s hair away from her face and kissed her forehead.
“Open your eyes, Yaz. Please, you promised,” tears were running down her face now, and she looked at the others, their horrified faces. “Martha heal her.”
Martha placed her hand on Jane’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry I don’t think I’m strong enough, I don’t know if I can”
Jane slapped Martha’s hand away, staring at her defiantly.
“Well try” she hissed.
Martha glared at her, then knelt by Yaz’s side, focussing on her work as Jane was pulled away by Clara and Qui to give her space.
“She’ll be okay. Martha’s better than the thinks she is”
“I suppose so”
“Well this has been very fun but we had better be going before you maniacs turn on me”
Missy stood up, brushing herself off. The Masters were already sprinting towards the tunnel into the loop. Roots sprang from the ground, trapping Master Saxon, who fell, sprawled on the ground. Master O carried on running, disappearing in the dark of the tunnel. Missy laughed nervously, transforming into a crow and spreading her wings, preparing to launch herself into the air. She crowed in surprise as Bill’s hands closed around her, and teleported her back to the group, where River was erasing Master Saxon’s memories.
They looked around, realising that with all the noise they’d been making they probably didn’t have long before someone appeared to ask them what was going on. Jane glanced over at Martha and Yaz. Martha shook her head.
“I healed the wound, there’s just a scar now, but she lost a lot of blood. She needs rest, we should go back to the house”

The first thing that hit them as they entered the loop was the overpowering smell of smoke, followed by the stinging in their eyes. They sat at the edge of the forest, watching mournfully as their beloved home was burning. Rory nearly exhausted himself trying to put it out, Amy protected herself with her own fire while she retrieved everything she could, books, clothes, blankets and any photo albums she could find. The fire had already burned the plants in the greenhouse to ash, and the glass was shattered by the heat, and Master O was nowhere to be seen.

By midnight the house was reduced to the charred shell of their home, and Yaz was finally waking up, her head in Jane’s lap.
“What did I miss?” She whispered, with a small laugh.
Jane looked down, smiling broadly.
“I love you. Never do that again”
“I’ll try not to”
Yaz sat up weakly, thankful that Jane was partially holding up. Jane pulled her closer, kissing her and tracing her fingers across the scar running across her abdomen.
Yaz pulled back, catching her breath.

Clara and Qui were in charge of watching Missy. They had tied her wings down so that she couldn’t turn back into a human.
“I don’t think she can reset the loop as a bird” Clara murmured. “Normally when the loop resets it starts snowing”
Qui shrugged. “So we grow up I guess”
Clara stretched up, kissing him. He stared at her in surprise, then kissed her back, unsure what to do with his hands.
“We grow up together”

Thete stood in front of the group. The sun was rising and for the first time in years it was the 16th of December.
“I don’t know where we go from here. But there could be more places like ours out there, traps for peculiars solely for feeding the hollows. We need to warn Mayor Raven, and soon. We can jump between loops to find her, if anyone wants to come”
Jane took Yaz’s hand, kissing the back of it.
“You coming?”
“Anywhere with you”

Notes:

I did it! I’m sorry it took a while to write this last chapter and it probably mostly consists of 3am ramblings but the point is that I managed to finish it. I have ideas for a sequel but I think I’m gonna focus on some other ideas before I come back to it. I do love this AU though