𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙊𝙛 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚 ✧ 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 Ⅲ [✓]

In The Forest Of The Night Pt. 5

Back In the forest, there are not many trees in the part everyone is walking in.

"Clara! Come back here! Come back!" the Doctor shouts.

"He's calling you."

"Yes. Let them call. This is more important" {Y/N} and the Doctor come running.

"Clara! Mister Pink! Maebh! All of you! Quick, quick! Come back. Come back. Come on" {Y/N} shouts, the children turn and run back to her and the Doctor.

"Maebh, quick. Good girl, good girl. Come on" the Doctor says. In the TARDIS, Danny, Clara and the kids are sitting on the steps to the gallery while the Doctor and {Y/N} give their lesson on the solar flare.

"It's there on the screen, look. Big solar flare headed this way. A thousand kilometres a second. Coronal mass ejection. Geomagnetic storm. It's huge. It's brewing up a solar wind big enough to blow this whole planet away" the Doctor says, everyone looks at him blankly "I assumed your teachers have mentioned this?"

"I thought it would spoil an otherwise enjoyable walk" Clara responds.

"Ok. Ok. Well, this is the bad news. The good news is, it's happened before. And you're still here. The Tunguska Blast, 1908. That should have blown the whole planet off its axis, but it didn't. It knocked a few trees over. Well, a few tens of thousands of trees over. Curù in Brazil. Same story. Earth should have been smashed, but it wasn't. What do these things have in common?" {Y/N} asks.

"They're really, really scaring us?" Ruby replies.

"Trees. Whenever there's a planet-threatening, extra-terrestrial impact, trees. Massive forest, filling the atmosphere with oxygen. Pumping it up like a massive, highly inflammable airbag, so that when trouble hits-" {Y/N} is cut off by Samson.

"Everyone dies."

"No. The impact burns off the excess oxygen. You have some fairly hectic weather for a few days and some fairly trippy looking sunsets, but apart from that, you will be all right. We were wrong. The trees are not your enemy. They're your shield. They've been saving you since forever. Protecting you from everything that space can throw at you."

"The wide ring. The red ring. In the museum, Ruby saw a cross-section of a tree. One of the rings was wider than the others, and red" Clara says.

"Atmospheric dust, captured by the trees. The fingerprint of an asteroid. Happy Red Ring Day" the Doctor says.

"I don't get it. If they're good, then why are we chopping them down?" Ruby asks.

"The Government are sending out defoliating teams. They're dropping chemicals on them right now" Danny says.

"What is it with you people? You hear voices, you want to shut them up. The trees come to save you, you want to chop them down" the Doctor says.

"Or you two think you need to save the world when it's already saving itself" Clara replies.

"We did admit that we were wrong. Excellent. Mobile networks are still operative. Right. We are going to call everyone on Earth and tell them to leave the trees alone" {Y/N} says.

"Can I, do it? I started it. I should finish it" Maebh says looking up at {Y/N} who nods.

"Ok. Ok. Class project. Save the Earth" {Y/N} says, so, the children sprawl on the floor by the console, making suggestions while Maebh writes her script.

"Ok. And I think that's it" the Doctor flicks a switch, and everyone's mobile phone rings inside the TARDIS and around the world.

"Essential services have been disrupted due to an unexpected forest. We'd like to reassure you that the situation will be rectified very soon. Please don't be scared. And please don't chop, spray or harm the trees. They're here to help. Be less scared. Be more trusting. Oh, and Annabel Arden, please come home" the Doctor ends the transmission.

"Ok, who would like to witness a once in a billion years solar event at close quarters?" the Doctor asks. Maebh looks at the scanner.

"Mum! There's my mum!" everyone goes outside leaving the Doctor and {Y/N} watching from the doorway of the TARDIS.

"I thought I'd lost you too," Maebh's mum says hugging her.

"Never. Not ever."

"So, trip to space, anyone?" Clara asks.

"I want my mum," Ruby says.

"I slightly want my mum, too" Samson adds.

"Tell them, Mister Pink, what an educational opportunity."

"You, you go. This. This is enough for me."

"What? Coronal ejections, geomagnetic storms. How often do you get a playlist like that?"

"I was a soldier. I put myself at risk. I didn't try too hard to survive, but somehow, here I am. And now I can see what I nearly lost. And it's enough. I don't want to see more things. I want to see the things in front of me more clearly. There are wonders here, Clara Oswald. Bradley saying please, that's a wonder. One person is more amazing, harder to understand, but more amazing than universes."

"Really? What person is that, then?" Danny and Clara kiss. The children cheer and applaud. {Y/N} smiles and leans her head on the Doctor's shoulder.

"I don't like it" the Doctor mutters.

"Oh, shut up" {Y/N} whispers, earning a laugh from the Doctor in response.

"I told you. I said so, didn't I?" Ruby says.

*Time skip*

"We could have a picnic," Clara says.

"You can't. You've got marking" Danny replies.

"Oh. Well, no, no, no. That was, er, from ages ago. You see, what happened was..."

"They always write the date neatly at the top of the page."

"Yeah, they do, don't they?"

"Last Friday. You were on the TARDIS last Friday. Today, you thought the world was going to end. You still didn't tell me the truth."

"I tried. They interrupted."

"I just want to know the truth. I don't care what it is. I just want to know it. Like Maebh said. Like the forest. Fear a little bit less, trust a bit more."

"Ok. Well..."

"No, not now. Go home and do your marking. Think about it, then tell me. I saved you from a tiger today. I deserve at least that."

"Yes, you did. And yes, you do."

*Time skip*

Clara, {Y/N} and the Doctor are looking out of the TARDIS doorway.

"I hope we're right. It would be slightly awkward if the world was destroyed at this point" the Doctor murmurs.

"What?" Clara asks just as the solar flare reaches Earth's atmosphere, igniting the surplus oxygen as it flows around.

"There goes the planet-sized airbag. That's the trees, harvesting the solar fire" {Y/N} says.

*Time skip*

The TARDIS is parked in the living room. As the Doctor, {Y/N} and Clara stand on the balcony watching as the forest disappears in a succession of golden sparkles, revealing the hidden buildings and roads.

"That is amazing. How will they explain this tomorrow?" Clara asks.

"You'll all forget it ever happened" the Doctor replies.

"We are not going to forget an overnight forest."

"You forgot the last time. You remembered the fear and you put it into fairy stories. It's a human superpower, forgetting" {Y/N} says.

"If you remembered how things felt, you'd have stopped having wars. And stopped having babies" the Doctor adds as the golden glow spreads over the planet and vanishes, leaving behind the familiar blue oceans and brown dry land.

---

~Bread 🍞