Omg it's been 49 days I'm so sorry! School has been hell so I haven't had time to write. Anyway this chapter is a little lame but the next one is going to be pretty fun I think! Clara's doubts and Ash's worries like always, stealing, and Ashildr learning pop culture from Clara. Enjoy.

Chapter 16 - Guardless Castle:

Ashildr swung her legs hanging below her absently while they watched as the sky grew darker.

"I hope this works." She said with a sigh, clearly not referring to the seven of spades she placed down on the third pile in the middle. Clara scowled at the move, and took her time to place when Ash discarded a card, ending her turn.

"Me too." Clara checked the twenty-four hour digital watch she had put on for just this occasion. "It's 20:43. The eclipse is scheduled for 21:04." Ash had one just like it on her own wrist.

The two immortals were sitting on the branch of a huge tree in the outskirts of a forest, playing what Clara called 'spite and malice.' In front of them stretched a great plain that kissed the horizon. The flat landscape stood flawless, only impaired by the great stone fortress that sat between them and the sunset.

"Can we go over it again?" She asked hopefully, fully expecting the exasperated expression she earned from Clara.

"The lifeform scanner said there is no one even there! What kind of fortress made to protect something valuable doesn't have guards? When the security is down we can waltz right in and snatch up our prize. It'll be fine." She played a card from her dwindling stack, one from her discard pile, and then two more consecutively from her stack, leaving one left.

"You don't know that." Ashildr deadpanned. "We've been over it three times." Clara's expression agreed with her tone that she was really bored of being drilled by Ashildr with their plan.

"I know, I know, it's just… last time we got separated on an adventure I nearly got us burned alive." Ashildr avoided her gaze by focusing on placing down a few cards, finishing a pile.

"That was different, we know what's going on now, we have a plan." 'And if anything goes wrong, we can still reach each other.' Clara said, and as always, her voice in her head soothed Ash's worries.

"And besides," continued Clara with a matter-of-fact flip of her hair, "I couldn't have been burned alive. I can't be burned, and I'm not alive." Ash gave her a look. "You don't know that. We still don't know the limits of your immortality."

"Yeah, it's strange it hasn't really come up yet. I was okay when Bram knocked me out, so don't you think that means I function like normal?" Ashildr didn't like being reminded of that very much. She paused before replying. "I don't know, and I don't think we should make any assumptions. And still be careful. More careful- really careful. We don't know if you would heal if you were injured."

Without Ash even realizing it had been her last, Clara played the final card from her stack, and promptly fist-pumped the air.

"I win!"

Ashildr could be very competitive at times, especially with Clara, but this card game she'd been dragged into was far below their upcoming task on her priority list.

"When the the eighth moon fully covers the first sun, and the seventh covers the second sun, the whole planet's systems will go down." Clara was right, they had gone over the plan three times, but Ashildr said it out loud again to make sure neither of them forgot any detail as she shuffled the two decks back together.

Every detail was important because they had limited time to get in to the fortress, find and get the dictionary, and get out. The lunar eclipse would cut power to the whole place because the tiny planet they were on ran completely on solar electricity, and the base would be vulnerable. The eclipse only lasted for thirty-two minutes, though.

Ash put the cards in her leather jacket pocket. It was in fact the same jacket she'd had since Clara and The Doctor had picked her up at the end of the universe, but after spending a night on a hanger in the TARDIS closet, it had gained a significant amount of pocket room that could only be accredited to TimeLord technology.

"Then, we can walk right in and-"

"I thought you were an excellent robber? It'll be fine." Clara sounded impatient. She hopped down off the tree branch onto the roof of the invisible TARDIS that was only half a meter below their dangling feet. Muttering to herself about how just because she was in fact the best thief in the universe didn't mean they shouldn't prepare properly, Ashildr followed Clara down the latter on the side of the diner to stand on the rocky ground of the planet.

They left the TARDIS protected by it's invisibility sitting next to the tree on the plains of the small planet. The castle before them reminded Ashildr of something out of the medieval age on earth, with its cobblestone walls and regal towers jutting up into the sunset sky. Of course, it only looked like that on the outside. Inside, Ash knew from her extensive research that went into planning the heist, was nothing below the most modern TimeLord architecture and technology.

Clara didn't say anything as they walked, she clearly was un-bothered by Ash's audibly agitated silence. When the two were about thirty feet away from the fortress, they stopped, glanced at one another, and nodded in unison.

"20:57." Clara reported, glancing at her wrist. "See you in half an hour." She briefly put a hand behind Ashildr's neck, leaned in, and pecked her cheek before turning and slinking away to the left of the castle.

Ash sighed, watched her go for a moment, and then turned away, making a big circle around the fortress that would bring her to the East facing side. She wondered if this planet used the 'North, East, South West,' system made up by humans as she glanced to the moons which were almost entirely covering their respective suns. The whole planet was developed for one reason, and one reason only; to protect the book that Clara and Ashildr were after on this very day.

Everything was almost dark now, and some lights which were previously visible from inside the castle were starting to flicker out from lack of power. This planet was so small that it ran entirely on solar power. However, unlike earth solar electricity, this place didn't store energy in batteries. This worked because there were solar panels on opposite sides of the planet which meant that electricity was always available, even when night consumed one or the other side.

The only time that the castle lost power was when this very eclipse happened, every three hundred years or so. The brief loss of power made the otherwise almost indestructible defences on the castle inactive for a few golden minutes.

Ash reached the side of the castle she was to enter through. The two immortals were coming in on different sides to work together from a distance in order to secure the document. Clara would have to deal with the moat that surrounded her side of the fortress, but luckily for her, all that Ashildr had to do was make it up the wall and onto a balcony ten meters above her head. No big deal.

The Viking moved along the wall for a few moments, feeling the surface with her hands until she found… yes! Perfect. A loose stone.

She hadleft the sonic sunglasses with Clara, but as long as she had a few out of place stones on the wall, she wouldn't need them. Ash pulled the wiggly one out, throwing it to the side. The small hole in the wall it left didn't go all the way through, there was actual strong metal under the surface decor, but it was enough of a foothold all the same.

With a little jump, a carefully placed foot, and expert balance, Ash was able to stand on one foot, pressed against the wall about two meters off the ground. Then on to a large one jutting from the surface a little, and one more above that, and she was high enough to put her hands on the edge of the ledge and scramble up it.

When she stood on the balcony, brushing dust off of her black jeans, the final lights which had stayed on dutifully through the dwindling supply of solar electricity gave out, and finally the whole fortress was dark. Ash then silently opened the glass door that was normally locked electrically, and crept inside with ease.

Crossing the moat had been easier than anticipated. No crocodiles, no singing siren mermaids waiting to lure passers by into the water, in fact, no one there but her. All Clara had to do was to place a light enough log which she'd found outside the castle over the narrowest part of the water and tip-toe her way over. Clara liked calling the building before her a castle, even though it had no royals and many more LED lighting fixtures rather than chandeliers.

Those LED lights had just all went out when she made it in through a window that's latch wasn't activated. Clara wore the sonics to see in the dark, a recurring theme with the sunglasses she was learning. Ashildr had been right, the inside was much more high-tech than the exterior, with grey-tinted glass walls and detailed archways.

After glancing around briefly, Clara set off to find her destination. She opened doors and peered around corners until she found a staircase leading down below the castle.

It had taken several days to gather the information they'd needed in order to plan the entire robbery down to the second. The level of knowledge she had of this place seemed to her like overkill, based on how once she and The Doctor had broken into The Bank of Karabraxos with zero recollection of agreeing to do so.

Clara and Ashildr splitting up however, was not overkill. Before embarking on this adventure they'd done all the intel recon they could with books, Ash's journals, and even a conversation with one very strange peddler. All that had told them just enough to figure out the best way of getting in: the eclipse.

However, where in the building the dictionary was kept was a mystery. Based on Ashildr's almost creepy knowledge of how super-lairs are laid out, she knew that blueprints of the place would be around somewhere in the basement, which was exactly where Clara was headed. When she found what she was looking for, she'd be able to tell Ashildr exactly where in the main part of the building (where the immortal would already be,) she would find the book. This carefully thought out strategy was necessary because of the time crunch.

It was very quiet in the basement. Well, it was quiet everywhere in the castle, but down in the maze of hallways she'd found herself in, the quiet was almost scary. As Clara quickly searched for some room where she might find what she was after, the silence started to bother her more and more. She decided to see how Ash was doing. 'Ashildr? I'm in the basement looking around for a map. Are you inside?' Her watch read 21:08.

'Now who's worried? Yeah, yeah, I'm here. It's just as fancy inside as I thought it would be, seriously.' Even though they'd only been apart for a few minutes, knowing that the plan was going well for Ashildr too and hearing her voice was comforting to Clara. 'As soon as I find something I'll let you know.' She concluded, peering into another door to find nothing but a few chairs and a card table.

'Awaiting your instructions then.' After that last message, Clara could almost feel Ash tune out of their conversation. She told herself that that was good, that they should both be focusing on their tasks.

A guilt that always weighed heavily on her mind was how careless she was with her relationship with Ashildr. Clara didn't like to think about it too much, because frankly, it was so complicated and confusing that it made her head hurt. Of course she was the one who made it the most confusing, not Ashildr. Clara would brush her off and act extremely unpredictably one minute, and then shower her with affection the next.

The problem was that Clara wouldn't think about it. She'd just act and not worry about how she was treating the other immortal. They shouldn't even really be as intimate as they are, she knew in the back of her mind. Clara would be gone soon and getting too involved as she was more and more every day would just make it harder to face the raven. She cared about Ash, of course she did. It just wasn't practical of her to be doing what they were doing. Ash understood that too, it was obvious to both of them. Maybe they should talk about it. Maybe once they get the book and are out safely.

Her guilt wasn't rational, she had nothing to be guilty about. It wasn't like it was anything serious, and both of them knew that. Besides, Clara loved Danny.

She found what she was looking for in what appeared to be a boiler room. 21:12. Blueprints and notes about the fortress lay in a disorganized mess on a desk in the corner. Pictures of it's construction and writings in Gallifreyan were what took up most of the space, but there was also a big map of the place. It took a moment for Clara to tell what was what on the map, like which floor was which and where they'd agreed Ashildr would be.

The spot that Ash was after however was as clear as day to locate. The lines on the graph paper were different than all the others, thicker, and there were clear barricades inside the walls. It was in the center of the castle just as Ash said it would be.

Clara couldn't read the words written, that was their entire problem. She could however look at all the pictures, and from what she saw this castle really had been built entirely to protect the one book. It seemed strange, because of just how huge the fortress was. No guards, either. In everything Ash has read they're had been to mention of anyone guarding the place. Clara thought that was weird for how big it was and how paranoid the time lords were to leave the castle completely unattended.

At least she'd found the map quickly. 'Ok, I've got the blueprints. Can you describe where you are so I can figure out your whereabouts on the map?' Clara lay the large blue paper over everything else on the desk and leaned into her palms on top of it.

'I'm in a hallway. There's a window to my left, a turn that I just took behind me, and three doors in a row up ahead on my right. Does that help?' Ash told her briskly, clearly awaiting direction.

'Yes. Perfect. It's just up ahead. Then two lefts and it's the door that's way more scary than all the others.' Class traced the path that Ash would have to take with her finger. It would probably take her about three minutes, then she could get out just before the power went back on.

'Ok, gotcha. I'll grab the dictionary and see you at the TARDIS.' Clara got the impression that their conversation was done and they needn't say more. Now that her job was done she could go. She stuffed the map in her pocket just in case either of them got turned around on the way out.

Just when she was about to leave, a photo caught her eye. It was of the front of the base when it was all lit up with its usual lights. It looked like the base had just been built. The year said 6789, which if she was remembering correctly, was about eighty years ago from when she was now. The base had defended the dictionary all that time, and now Ashildr and Clara were going to take it like candy from a baby. Perhaps the time lords should have posted actual guards after all.

She smiled at the picture, looking over it one last time. The fortress looked so different when it was new with lights, but still there was no one in the photo to pose with the newly built castle. No guards, nothing but stone walls and statues. ...Statues.

Clara squinted at the picture. They were small, but she could just make out what looked like two gargoyles sitting on the top of each of the great towers on the corners of the building. There were more pictures from the same year, a few from different angles. She studied them as well, they all had the statues.

Those definitely hadn't been on the castle when Clara had seen it from the outside just minutes ago. She pressed the side of the sonic sunglasses to enhance the image, and when she saw what it was her eyes widened. The statues were not gargoyles at all. They were angels. Weeping angels. Two very real, very scary, angels standing on the castle she was now standing in. Angels that hadn't been at their posts when she was outside the castle. That was definitely not good.

Just like Clara had said, the book was behind a great big steal door. It sat on a pedestal in the center of a small room that had little else in it. It almost looked lonely sitting like that.

It's room looked surprisingly unlike the rest of the fortress's interior in that it actually looked like a scene from a castle. The walls appeared to be the same cobble stone as the exterior walls of the fortress, and there were torches on the them that burned despite the fact that there was clearly no one around who could have lit them.

Beside the torches were beautiful tapestries made with purples and reds that showed images of Gallifrey in all its glory. There was even a suit of armour that stood proudly with a sword in hand next to statues of heroes and timelords in their silly hats.

The dictionary didn't look altogether very different from Ashildr's life journals, she supposed. It must also be bigger on the inside, being TimeLord and all. The distinction was that it was bound with a beautiful gold buckle engraved with a symbol in Gallifreyan and the words 'book of translation' written in Latin below it.

Ash walked up and lifted it gently, still wary that some security would detect it's absence just like in India Jones, a movie Clara had just made her watch with her in the TARDIS theatre.

Nothing did happen when she held it in her arms, though. No walls began to close in, no snakes fell from the sky or were let out of a secret hiding place, and no giant ball of stone was released to roll down a track and squish her. Rather disappointing, really.

Tucking the book under her arm, Ash took one last look at the regal room and then turned on her heel to go. Her watch read 21:19. The eclipse would be over soon and then it was just a matter of minutes before the power came back on. Ashildr left the room, passing a statue of a woman with wings holding her hands up to her face to cover her sobbing expression.