Alice and The Doctor By: rarmaster

the Doctor ends up in Hyrule, and meets a girl named Alice. and that's all I can give you with out giving anything exciting away. Doctor/OC pairing

Crossover - Doctor Who & Legend of Zelda - Rated: T - Romance/Adventure - Chapters: 51 - Words: 54,151 - Updated: Nov 5, 2015 - Published: May 2, 2010 - id: 5940860

2022 PRIMER: hi. God. i refused to port all of this to dreamwidth because i think that would like…. Not be good. So here’s. What i think. Is all of the fic. Did you know that this fic was stored in a single word document, about 60k words, and……. Not all of those 60k were even this fic? I also had a lot of other misc doctor who fic in there?????? So, if you don’t recognize some of the writing or it seems like the wrong fic or something. I’m so sorry. I’m. this was sorted so poorly and i have taken so much psychic damage from even skimming it the further we got in. “rar is this because you used a ton of your old OCs” YEAH THIS SI BECAUSE I USED A TON OF MY OLD OCS….. w/e i hope you enjoy them, or this, or whatever.

THE STUFF I SAID ON MY DREAMWIDTH POST ABOUT THIS

Hi, uh. This is the first fanfic I wrote and posted. I think? No okay. Second. Uh. Wait. third. god. okay so like a little fact about your local rar; I started writing a LoZ fanfic called the Master Sword Issue, and then went "heheh I've been really into doctor who lately and i never did say who link's dad was what if he was the doctor rofl XD" or whatever and so i wrote His Name is Link and then........ and then I wanted to write Link's mom and dad meeting and so. and so Alice and the Doctor.

This fic is 50k and it's just. My poor understanding of doctor who lore combined with an OC that barely looks like she's from hyrule with a dash of a ton of old OCs that i had created when i was like 10? 12? etc. before i started writing fanfic. and when i was convinced i'd actually become a best selling author with 50 books that would someday culminate in an epic book that crossed them all over and it was full of self inserts and not-technically self-inserts and DID YOU KNOW I GAVE ALICE AND THE DOCTOR ANOTHER KID? BUT I HAMMERED THE LORE SO HE WAS LEGALLY DISTINCT FROM A TIMELORD? anyway he doesn't show up in this.... that i know of. i know i started writing something with him but i’m 99% sure it wasn’t in what i copied into this doc

I don't wanna deal with posting 50k in a single dreamwidth post nor do i want to really truly re-expose all those OCs to the internet........ but i'm committed to creating this archive of stuff off FFN, Just In Case, so here's....an html page (you’re here you’re reading this) with teh entirety of the fic, otherwise. please spare me. and if you think "huh this is a weird plot thread" it's just me referencing my OCs it's literally just me referencing my OCs, every time it is me referencing my OCs

THE ACTUAL FIC

“Hey you!!” someone called.

“Who? Me?” the Doctor asked, turning around as a young woman ran up behind him.

“Yeah you!” she replied, stopping next to him “you’re not from around here are you?”

“No.” the Doctor said, continuing to walk through the streets of the little town he had landed in. It was some planet he hadn’t been to before, and felt as if it had been stuck in the Middle Ages for years. She followed. “How’d you notice?” the Doctor asked her.

“You stick out like a sore thumb in clothes like that” she replied “hasn’t been anyone around in at least a hundred years wearing something like that.”

“Oh.” the Doctor said “hang on, a hundred years? Then how would you know?”

“I’ve got access to the largest library around” she said, quite matter-of-factly.

“Really?”

“Uh-huh”

“What’s your name?” the Doctor asked, turning to her

“Alice” she said “and yours?”

“I’m the Doctor”

Alice laughed and nudged him. “No need to sticking to titles! I told you my real name; I think I deserve at least the same from you.”

                “No seriously, it’s just the Doctor.”

                “Really now?” Alice asked. The Doctor nodded.

                “So tell me Alice,” the Doctor said after a minute or two “how large is this library?”

                She only grinned and took the Doctor by the arm and dragged him off.

                “Are you sure about this?” The Doctor asked, peeking over the stone wall and looking at the Castle that they were about to sneak into.

                “Positive” Alice replied, grinning.

                “Yeah, but isn’t someone from the Royal Family or something going to notice us and have us thrown out or locked in the dungeons or something?”

                “No, it’s the guards you have to worry about, and their all lazy, easy to get past as long as you don’t run up to them. Besides, you’ve snuck into worse places haven’t you?”

                The Doctor looked at her, bewildered “How’d you know that?”

                Alice gave him an “are you kidding me?” look and said “it’s written all over your face. While you act like you are uneasy and unsure about the whole situation, you actually love the adventure of it all and are excited about the entire situation.” She smiled “I’m very good at reading people.”

                “Well you have me figured out then” the Doctor said “Come on!” and he was up and over the wall before Alice had even registered his response. She followed quickly.

                “Where’s this library then?” the Doctor asked her once they had reached a nice little quiet spot out of sight of the guards.

                “Well if you would let me lead…” Alice began, but he sent a stern glance at her and shut her up. “Left at the first turn, third door on the right” she muttered.

                The Doctor peeked around the corner, and as soon as he was clear of the guards he darted to the next safe spot.

                “So really Doctor,” Alice asked as soon as she had caught up to him “who are you?”

                “I thought I already told you” the Doctor said, darting round the corner and into another safe spot.

                “You told me your name, not who you are” Alice reminded him.

                “Like you’ve done any better” the Doctor replied “you said that we didn’t have to stick to titles, so then how important is yours if you didn’t want to tell it to me?” He started to dart to the next safe spot again but Alice caught him the collar of his shirt and pulled him back.

                “Guard!” she hissed just as a guard passed by

                “How’d you know he was coming?” the Doctor asked

                “You couldn’t hear him?” Alice asked, slightly shocked.

                “I was too busy talking to you” the Doctor responded before darting across the hall again.

                “Well aren’t we feisty” Alice muttered to herself before following. The Doctor was already opening the door when she came over. He opened it and stepped in.

                “Oh this is brilliant!” he said, striding to the center of the large circular room. Alice closed the door and watched him examine the library. He turned in circles upon circles taking the entire thing in.

                “How many books do you have in here?” the Doctor asked, not pausing from looking at every detail of the library. It went up several stories, each one just being a little more than a ledge and having more bookshelves lined against the wall. It also had large windows that let in the light. There were books shelves everywhere.

                “I don’t know. Though we do have every book in Hyrule in here” she replied.

                “Hyrule. Is that where we are?”

                “How do you not know where we are?” Alice asked

                “Traveler, just passing through” the Doctor replied, looking at Alice “Important thing is though, if this library has every book in Hyrule, then why did we have to sneak in? Or is all this knowledge only for the Royal family?”

                “Who said we had to sneak in?”

                “Then what did we sneak in for?”

                “Thought it would be more fun” Alice said, smiling “and if we didn’t we’d have to go ask someone and then we’d be escorted here by a guard, and it’s impossible to get a good conversation going when you have a guard following you around. Especially when you’re trying to find out who some mysterious man you just met is.” Her smile grew wider.

                “Got a good point there” the Doctor said “but I think there’s something else to this, isn’t there?” he started walking over to Alice “And you’re not telling me.”

                “Why should I?” Alice asked “like I said, you’re some mystery man who showed up here. Do you ever tell complete strangers who you are?”

                “No, that’s why I haven’t told you anything about myself”

                “And that’s exactly why I haven’t done the same.”

                The Doctor frowned at Alice, and she just smiled her cocky little grin back at him. After a few moments the Doctor burst out into a grin and ran up the nearest flight of stairs to a level of the library above them. “Books!” he yelled “gotta love them!!”

                Alice suddenly got a terrible feeling that she had just let loose some strange man who would start acting like a little boy in a weapons shop as soon as he found out how much knowledge this Library held. And was she ever right.

                “Doctor” Alice said sternly. They had been in the library for at least an hour now and trouble had finally hit.

                “Yeah?” he asked, not taking his nose out of the book he was reading.

                “I think there’s someone here” she said.

                “Am I going to get I trouble for being here?” the Doctor asked, looking up.

                “No, but I am” Alice said “well not for being here, but for being here with you. I just figured I’d let you know, because I’m going to go up a few levels and pretend like I don’t know who you are and why you’re here. So don’t go calling my name or anything.”

                “Why would you get in trouble for being with me?” the Doctor asked

                The door opened below. “I’ll tell you later after he leaves.” Alice said before running off.

                “Is that a promise or false hope!?” the Doctor called after her, but received no response.

                “Hey!!” a voice from down below called, and the Doctor looked over the edge of the level he was on down below at the young boy that had just walked in. “Who are you and what are you shouting about?”

                “I’d like to ask the same to you,” the Doctor said, coming down the stairs “we are in a library after all”

                “You don’t know who I am?” the boy asked “I research subjects for the Queen when she doesn’t have time to do so. Probably the most important person in the Castle… out of the servants at least.”

                “Of course!” The Doctor said “I’m just you know, reading.”

                “Really? I don’t remember anyone coming to ask permission to come to the Library. I would have known about it.”

                “I didn’t need to ask permission, I’ve got all the permission I need right here!” he pulled out his piece of psychic paper and showed it to the boy “I came to take a yearly inventory, Queen’s orders, likes to keep it secret.”

                “I highly doubt so” the boy said, scowling “because that piece of paper is blank”

                “Really?” The Doctor looked at the piece of paper “It doesn’t look blank to me.”

                “Guards!” the boy called and two guards appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the Doctor’s arms. He struggled for a moment and then realized it was pointless and stopped.

                “So you’re going to lock me in the dungeon for being in the Library?” the Doctor asked

“Yeah, pretty much” the boy replied

“Well that’s rubbish”

“Hang on!!” someone shouted from above. The Doctor recognized the voice as Alice’s and wondered what the heck she was doing. “Let him go, he’s innocent.” She said, coming up next to him.

“And how would you know that, princess?” the boy asked, looking at her. The Doctor’s jaw dropped and he turned to stare at her.

“Because, I brought him here to help me… find something.” Alice said “now let him go.”

“Why didn’t you ask me?” the boy asked, sounding slightly offended

“You’re my mom’s servant, not mine.” Alice replied “now let him go before I tell mother you’re harassing innocent people and annoying me. And who came up with that rule anyways? Arrest people just for being in the library, I’ll bet you made that up.”

The boy glared at her, but gave the guards the signal and they let the Doctor go. “Happy searching” he growled, before storming up the stairs.

Alice turned to the Doctor, who was still gaping like a fish at her. “Yes, I’m the princess, whoop-de-doo!!” she said, not at all happy.

“And you didn’t tell me?” The Doctor asked “because that’s pretty important.”

“Didn’t need to, didn’t want to.” Alice said “because as soon as someone finds out I’m royalty, they treat me like the princess and not like Alice. I like being Alice better.”

“I would have treated you like Alice” the Doctor said “because that’s who I met. I didn’t meet the princess, I met you.”

Alice smiled and tried not to blush. “Well now that you know who I am, I think I deserve the same from you.” She nudged the Doctor.

“Just a traveler” the Doctor said again. Alice crossed her arms and glared at him. “That’s all I am, all I need to be. Just a traveler, passing through.”

“Where from then? You certainly aren’t from Hyrule or any of the surrounding areas. Unless there’s somewhere really close by that I don’t know about.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you” the Doctor said.

“Try me” Alice replied

“I come from a different planet.”

“Guessed that already, what else?”

“I’m a time traveler.”

“I’d believe it”

“That’s it.” the Doctor said “nothing else about me. Though I do have to ask you something,” he showed her the psychic paper “does this look blank to you?”

She nodded.

“Really?” he pocketed it “what species are you then? No humans twice in a row would say this was blank.”

“Who says we’re human?”

“What are you then?”

“Hylian”

“And the difference between you and humans is…”

Alice rolled her eyes and pulled her hair back to reveal a pointed ear. “And what about you, Doctor? What species are you then? You speak of humans as if you aren’t one. Why is that?”

“Who said I’m human?”

“What are you then?”

“I’m a Time Lord” the Doctor said

“And that makes you different from humans how?”

“I’ve got two hearts”

“Really?” Alice didn’t believe it “where’s the proof?”

“Feel my pulse” the Doctor said. Alice took a step closer, hand out, she paused. “Go on, not like I care, happens all the time.” The Doctor told her. Alice just looked at him, and he looked right back. His eyes were screaming at her to just do it, daring her to do so. She placed her hand on his chest and felt his heartbeat. The heartbeat of a Time Lord.

“Whoa” she said, backing up and looking at him. He just grinned.

“Told you”

After a few moments of silence Alice asked: “Why does it happen all the time? Travel to places where no one knows about Time Lords a lot?”

“That’s impossible, well nearly impossible, well, more of plenty unlikely. Almost everyone knows who the Time Lords are.”

“So why don’t they believe you when you tell them you are one?” Alice asked this quietly, because she could see sadness creeping into his face.

“Because I’m the last” The Doctor whispered “everyone else died.”

“What happened?” Alice asked and then added quickly “if you don’t mind me asking of course.”

“There was a war. And we lost. Everyone lost. My planet, my home, it burned. And the Time Lords went with it.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked”

“No! No, it’s fine.” The Doctor said, a bit quickly “I’m fine.”

Meanwhile…

“Time Lord?” the servant whispered, almost in shock. He looked down below at Alice and the Doctor and scowled.

“So he is still alive. But why is he here…?”

“Now that is what I call fun!” the Doctor laughed as they ran away from the house.

“It isn’t every day that you get to play ding dong ditch” Alice replied, laughing “and then get caught and come up with some stupid reason why you’re there.”

“Never done it without psychic paper either” the Doctor said

“And the look on Fawn’s face when we told her that we were selling flowers!!” Alice said, cracking up with laughter. They stopped running and stood there, doubled over with laughter and trying to catch their breaths.

“Never using that excuse again!” the Doctor said, making a mental note not to.

“Got a good point there,” Alice told him, as they started walking again “should we try another house?”

“Well we can’t go back to that area of houses,” the Doctor said “and that’s the only section we haven’t done” he paused “anything else we can do?”

 “We could go to the hot springs” Alice suggested

“Why not?” the Doctor said, grinning

“Right then, this way” Alice led him down a path to the left. “Ever been to a hot springs before?” she asked after a moment

“’Course I have!!” the Doctor said, looking over his shoulder at something behind him quizzically “have you?” he asked

“Loads of times” Alice replied, glancing over her shoulder to see what the Doctor was looking at. He shook his head and turned around.

“Go there often?” the Doctor asked after a moment, glancing over his shoulder again.

“When I have time, yeah” Alice said.

They proceeded in silence for a bit with the Doctor throwing glances over his shoulder every now and then. “Hmm…” he muttered

“What is it?” Alice asked.

“Nothing!” he said quickly, turning around.

“Then why do you keep looking over your shoulder?” she asked

“It’s nothing!!”

“Not going to believe that, now tell me what’s wrong.”

“You ever get the feeling like you’re being followed?” the Doctor whispered “Like there’s something behind you, following you, but every time you turn around to see what’s there, there isn’t anything?”

                Alice nodded.

                “Because that’s the feeling I’m getting right now, like there’s something in the shadows, following us. But they just aren’t there.

                “But then I get to thinking, what if they aren’t in the shadows? But what if they are the shadows? Because nothing should be able to stay hidden that well, even if they are really good at it.” He turned on the spot and called to thin air “So where are you then? I know you’ve been listening!!” when he received no response he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the nearest shadow. He flicked it on and after it buzzing for a second the servant boy from the library popped out of the shadow, looking very annoyed.

                “Darwin!?” Alice asked, shocked “what are you doing here?”

                “I’d like to know the same” the servant boy, who was apparently called Darwin, said “and with him too. First in the library, and now on your way to the hot springs… If you aren’t careful, someone might think you two are up to something.” He grinned slyly.

                “Darwin!!” Alice said, sounding very annoyed “don’t even go there!! I’ve only known him for a day!”

                “Why were you following us?” the Doctor asked

                “You get to the point quick” the boy said “you young people are so simple minded”

                “Don’t even go there; I am much older than I look.”

                “Yeah, and I’m older than you by at least three hundred years”

“Really? What are you then? Obviously you aren’t a Hylian, or human, or anything else I might find in Hyrule.” The Doctor scowled at Darwin.

Darwin scowled back, but hissed something that Alice couldn’t understand. The Doctor obviously could though, because his eyes widened when he heard it. “What did he say?” Alice asked. The Doctor started to reply but Darwin got to it first.

“I the Knight of Darkness, third highest authority in the Council of Shadow from the Darkness of the Abyss. Or I was anyways. I was stripped of my powers and privileges, sent off to redeem myself by doing servant work.” He spat on the ground in disgust.

“So why are you here then?” the Doctor asked.

Darwin, or whatever he was, laughed “I’ve been here for over a hundred years, came here a while back”

“Yeah, I get that, but why here, here? Like right here, right now, following us. And in the form of a servant boy no less, how did you manage that?”

The Knight sighed “even the lowest of the low can manage something as easy as that. Becoming a shadow is a piece of cake. I could hide in his shadow, or I could become his shadow, or I could become him. First two are easier though, third one requires more from the person than from me, but this boy had all that I needed: a darker side in his heart.”

“Okay fine” the Doctor said “but why Hyrule? Not in the first place, but why Hyrule now? What are you planning?”

The Knight rolled his eyes “nothing really, just waiting for a good opportunity to come along, and if one didn’t show up soon I’m in perfect position to send Hyrule into the Dark ages.” He grinned.

“Why haven’t you done it then?” Alice asked, and at the same time the Doctor asked “what sort of opportunity?”

The Knight looked at Alice, dismissed her and turned to the Doctor. “You showing up is good enough for me. Actually, it’s great. Think how much havoc I could cause if I were you. Enough to get back, that’s for certain.”

“But that wouldn’t work, because you would just be a shadow of me. And you can’t do much as a shadow, can you?“

“Doctor, Doctor, Doctor” the Knight tsked at him “you think you’re so good. But face it, you’ve got a darker heart, excuse me, hearts, than any other person in Hyrule right now.” He turned to Alice “and you think he’s so nice don’t you? But there is so much he hasn’t told you. So much about him that you wouldn’t dare believe, because you wouldn’t want to.”

“I’d run to him quicker than I would to you” Alice replied

“Fine, I get it all” the Doctor said, very annoyed “but one more question: why haven’t you done anything? Or does everyone just love telling me their plans before they go on with them, because it just makes it easier for me to stop you.”

“I am doing something, right now” the Knight said “haven’t you noticed it’s darker than usual?”

The Doctor looked around, and noticed that it was indeed darker than it should be. And creatures were crawling out of the darkness, ready to attack.

“That’s what I love about Hyrule” the Knight laughed “so many dark creatures.”

“Doctor, what do we do?” Alice asked “we can’t fight them.”

The Doctor looked at her “run!” he said, taking her hand. And they took off running.

“Right, we should be safe here” Alice said, closing the door behind them

“And where is here exactly?” the Doctor asked her

“No clue” she replied. He smiled slightly.

They were in a room full of crates and pots and other random storage.

“So what is the Council of Shadow then,” Alice asked

“Old rivals of the Time Lords,” the Doctor replied “they like to think that the universe would be better if it was sent into eternal darkness.”

“And what he said about you...?” Alice turned to look at him. He was turned away, rummaging through the contents of a crate.

“It was nothing” he replied shortly

“Again, you say nothing and give me no reason to believe that it is, so what is it?”

“Just stuff, from my past. We’ll leave it at that.” the Doctor started looking through another box.

“Does this have anything to do with being older than you look?” Alice asked. He ignored her. “I mean, how much older can you be?”

                “Nine hundred years” the Doctor replied quickly, becoming very interested in the contents of yet another box.

                “Is this another way Time Lords are different from humans?”

                The Doctor didn’t respond for a second, but then said quietly “Yes. I don’t age, I regenerate. I change… I change everything, new face, new body, new person. It’s a nice way to cheat death, but you grow tired after a while… and,” he paused “why am I telling you this? Not trying to be rude or anything, but we’ve only known each other a day.”

                “I understand” Alice said, smiling “but I’m also curious now.”

                “You and you’re questions” the Doctor muttered, but Alice could tell he was kidding.

                “Last one, I promise. So what he said about you is things you did in past incarnations, right?”

                The Doctor nodded, and began rummaging through the contents of another box. Alice watched him curiously for a few moments before asking “what are you looking for?”

                The Doctor turned and glared at her “you said that was you’re last question.”

                “Last question about you,” Alice said, grinning

                “Fair enough” the Doctor returned to digging through a box. “I’m looking for some type of power source.”

                Alice glanced over at the box she was standing next to and pulled out a small stone engraved in little lightning bolts. “What about this?” she said, tossing it to the Doctor. He caught it, looked it over for a second before breaking into a grin.

                “Perfect!” he said, before pulling out other random objects from the boxes, seemingly at random. After gathering what he needed he pulled a few things out of his pockets. Alice watched in amazement as he started assembling a very odd looking object.

                “What’s that?” she asked

                “It’s a…” he paused, making an odd face “it’s this thing that shoots a high powered beam of light. It kills any dark creature we might run into, or do something along the lines of that. Won’t necessarily kill them, but will get them out of our way.”

                “We’re going after the Knight aren’t we?” Alice asked.

                “Yep!” the Doctor just grinned “I can’t just leave Hyrule and let him turn it to darkness. And I definitely can’t have him become me. That would be a disaster waiting to happen. One problem though,”

                “And what is that?”

                “It just needs one more piece, and I don’t have it with me. Well I do, but not here, here. It’s back in the TARDIS.”

                “The what?”

                “My time machine, thingy” the Doctor said “and it’s on the other side of Hyrule, or close to that. Not to mention the fact that there are probably already dark creatures searching for us. No, wait, they’d be searching for me. So you have a choice” he looked her in the eye “go home and hope I manage to solve the problem, or come with me and help me solve the problem. You’re choice, and choose quickly. I don’t have all the time in the world.”

                Alice stared blankly at him. She had known him only a day, not even a day, and now she had a choice. Go with him, and help save Hyrule, or sit around at home waiting for him to do so, like princesses of the past had done. As the princess, reason told her to choose the latter. But she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Because something deep down inside of her wanted to go with him, wanted to take the adventure. The Alice in her wanted to go.

                “I would have treated you like Alice” the Doctor had said “because that’s who I met. I didn’t meet the princess, I met you.” Recalling the memory she broke into the grin and said: “I’m going with you”

“That’s my Alice!” the Doctor said, grinning just as wide.

“What do you need me to do? If we’re going to be traveling across Hyrule with monsters on our tail we’re going to need a weapon. And yours isn’t finished yet.”

The Doctor grabbed a sword off the wall and tossed it to her “Improvise” he said, opening the door. Alice looked at him and then at the sword in her hand. She wondered for a second what she had just gotten herself into before running after the Doctor.

They covered a good amount of distance before anything started attacking them. And of all things to start attacking them, it was bats. “I never knew there were so many bats in Hyrule!!” Alice said angrily, swatting another one away with the sword. It was a very old sword, and the blade was dull, so it was easier just to swat at things then attack them.

“And you could have at least grabbed a better sword!” she added

“It was the only one in the room” the Doctor yelled, he was ahead of her by a good five yards or so.

“Really?” Alice called after him, running to catch up “I could have sworn there was another one!!”

“Well, I grabbed that one, and there’s no going back now!!”

Alice frowned, but found that he was right, and decided to stop complaining. They covered only a bit more ground before anything else showed up. “Kargaroks!” she swore, swatting off the annoying birds with the flat of her sword. “How much farther?” she asked the Doctor.

“No idea!!” he replied

“Great,” Alice muttered to herself, warding off the rest the darn birds.

She hadn’t taken more than three steps before the Shadow creatures came. Quite a few Shadow bats and Shadow Vermin showed up “well hurry up!! The Dark creatures are starting to find us!” she called, swinging at a few before running at full speed away from them. She hated rats with a fiery burning passion.

The next few minutes went by in a blur of sword swinging and running really quickly as Shadow Deku Babas and regular Deku Babas popped out of the ground and started biting at them. One would have nipped Alice’s leg of if the Doctor hadn’t pushed her out of the way in time. She repaid him quickly by killing one before it bit off his head.

“Nearly there!!” the Doctor called over his shoulder

“We better be” Alice muttered, noticing that plenty of Shadow Kargaroks were on their way.

“There it is!!” The Doctor called gleefully after a minute

Alice turned around and saw a blue box standing in the middle of the field “that!?” she asked, turning back around to face the Shadow Kargaroks that were attacking

“Yup!!” the Doctor replied, running inside

Alice made to follow but was stopped by a red wall of energy. Fearing what could only come net she turned around very slowly. Standing there were three Shadow Monsters. “Shoot” she whispered, knowing it would be impossible for her to kill these things all by herself.

“Doctor!!” she called over her shoulder, not taking her eye off the Shadow Monster “hurry up!!”

“Give me a sec!! Just have to find the right part!!”

“Of course he does” Alice sighed, desperately hoping that he knew what he was looking for. She plunged her sword into the heart of the first monster while she was waiting.

“Got it!” he called as he ran back out.

“Take care of that one over there!!” Alice yelled, pointing at the Shadow Monster on her right as she ran to take care of the one on her left. Of course, the Doctor had completely ignored her and was kneeling next to the one she had killed previously and examining it. She drove her sword through the heart of this Shadow Monster, still assuming the Doctor was taking care of the other one. But as soon as her monster hit the ground the other one let out an ear piercing scream.

 Alice cringed when she heard it, nearly dropping her sword so she could cover her ears. She started to turn towards the Doctor to yell at him when it stopped. Mid-scream, just stopped. The Doctor twirled his light-gun thing and grinned.

“Worked better than I thought it would” he mused, returning to examining the one that lay at his feet “what were these creatures anyways? Some type of-”

“Shadow Monsters,” Alice said, cutting him off “annoying, if not deadly, beasts. They haven’t been around since the Dark Times, when the Twilight was still around. The only way to defeat them is to kill the last remaining two at or close to the same time so the last one left doesn’t have a chance to scream and reawaken his friends. Thought killing one mid-scream, that’s pretty impressive, how did you manage that?” she looked at the Doctor, who was staring at her in awe.

“What?” she asked

“Nothing,” the Doctor said, standing up “nothing…”

“Okay, so now what?” Alice asked “You’re weapons fixed, what do we do?”

“Find the Knight and get rid of him” the Doctor replied, as if it was a daily routine for him. Alice was staring to think that it was. “But where do you think he is?”

“At the Castle” Alice replied matter-of-factly.

The Doctor looked towards the Castle as he asked: “how would you-” he paused, noting that the Castle was shrouded by darkness “alright, I see how you could think that. Let’s go!” he twirled his Light Ray and ran off, Alice at his heels.

“Fallen Knight of Darkness” the Doctor yelled at the Knight, who was attacking Castle town brutally “Previously ranking third in the Council of Shadow until you were cruelly stripped of your powers,” he added something in a language that Alice couldn’t understand “by the Order of the Shadow Proclamation and the Laws of Treaty on a Foreign Planet, I order you to hereby cease and desist!!”

The Knight paused his rampage for merely a second to ask mockingly “Which Article, Doctor? You have to be more specific!!”

“Article Three subsection A!!” The Doctor replied.

The Knight smiled slyly and turned to face the Doctor. “Fine then Doctor, I’ll stop destroying Hyrule. But according to the Laws of Treaty on a Foreign Planet, you have one hour to come up with a treaty we can agree with. I didn’t think that was a wise choice for uses of Authority.”

“Yeah well, it sounded more impressive”

“Showing off for the lady? I don’t think that’s necessary. We have other matters at hand right now.”

“All I want you to do is leave Hyrule alone.” The Doctor said

“And I would really appreciate it if you left him alone too!” Alice added quickly

“Thanks” the Doctor whispered to her

“No problem” she replied

“I’d say no to what you added” the Knight spat at Alice “but you are the princess, so you do have right to add anything.” He sighed “And what if I don’t agree?”

“Then I’ll have to stop you” the Doctor replied coldly

“With what army? What weapons? I have a million creatures of darkness on my side, who’s on yours?”

“I am!” Alice said

“Anyone else?” the Knight of Darkness looked around “because no matter how good you two are, you’ll have to stop fighting eventually.”

“Hate to say this Doctor, but I think he’s right. And this sword isn’t much good” Alice whispered

“Are you kidding me? With this thing” he hefted his Light Ray “it will be a piece of cake.”

The Knight let out his battle cry, and his minions started to attack. The Doctor took out the first wave of Dark Creatures with a blast of his Light Ray. Alice took out a good portion of the second with a few good sword swipes, the Doctor killed what she couldn’t with a few well placed beams of light.

Alice wasn’t so sure of how long the fighting went on, because everything was lost in the blur of battle. It was all just a bunch of sword swipes, screaming, flashes of light and clouds of darkness. “This way” the Doctor called over the noise and they ran into Hyrule field, the Knight and his Army in their wake.

“We can’t keep fighting to long” Alice informed the Doctor as she fought off a mass of Shadow Bats “the Dark Creatures we killed will reconstitute themselves soon. We need to corner the Knight and force him to surrender or something”

“Good thinking, but where do we corner him?” the Doctor asked as he shot a few Shadow Kargaroks down with a few light beams.

“The cliff?” Alice suggested

“Good idea!!” the Doctor started forcing the Knight and his Army that direction. Alice followed his lead. His Army was dying off, thanks to the Doctor’s Light Ray. The Knight was now easier to get to.

Only a few feet from the cliff, Alice somehow managed to drive her sword through the Knight’s stomach. The Knight glared at her and staggered back a few steps. He pulled out the sword and cast it to the side, his wound slowly beginning to heal.

“Don’t think you can stop me that easily!!” he spat

“Of course not” the Doctor said, pointing his Light Ray at him “call off you’re army and surrender, we have you cornered.”

“At the edge of the cliff, I could jump down there easily and still survive, you call that cornered?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Because do you know what’s at the bottom of that cliff?”

The Knight shook his head.

“The Abyss” the Doctor replied. At his words the Knight paled instantly “I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you down there.”

“Don’t send me back there” the Knight said “do anything you want with me, just don’t send me back there!!”

“Will you leave us alone?” Alice asked

“I’ll go” the Knight said

“You’re surrendering too easily” the Doctor said, skeptically.

“Trust me, I’m not. I just realized that if I do anything right now, I’m going to mess with history and possibly stop the creation of the Council of Shadow. I wouldn’t dare risk it.”

Alice looked at the Doctor “should we let him go?”

The Doctor didn’t say anything for a moment but then said “I guess we do.”

The Knight smiled slightly “I did all I needed to,“ he whispered “I got you two together, and that’s all that matters.” He broke into a grin “see you!” and he disappeared.

The Doctor and Alice looked at each other, slightly confused. “What did he mean by that?” Alice asked

“No idea” the Doctor said with a shrug. He smiled “but there is a way to find out.”

“And what would that be?”

“You could come with me”

“Where?”

“Anywhere, and anywhen you like.”

Alice smiled “I think I’d like that” she said

“I thought you might, come on!” the Doctor started in the direction of the TARDIS, which wasn’t all that far away. He pushed the door open and let Alice go in first. “Whoa…” she said, awestruck.

“Not the first,” the Doctor muttered, waiting for her to comment about it being bigger on the inside.

“This is amazing!!” she said

The Doctor was shocked for a second that she didn’t seem confused about the fact that the TARDIS was bigger on the inside, but disregarded the thought and headed towards the console.

“Where do we begin?” Alice asked

The Doctor stopped, looked at her for a second, then said “for you, we start with a change of clothes. You can’t travel throughout time and space in that, no offense or anything.”

“None taken.” She looked around the TARDIS for a second before asking “where do I find a change of clothes?”

The Doctor just grinned at her, grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her into the depths of the TARDIS to the wardrobe.

NEW EPISODE STARTS HERE!!!

“What do you think?” Alice asked the Doctor, indicating her new choice of clothes. The Doctor looked her over. She was wearing a knee-length blue skirt and blue shirt of lighter color, along with a pair of blue Converse.

“You look great” the Doctor said “a bit blue, but great”

“Had to find something to match the shoes” Alice replied

“Fair enough”

“Where are we going first?” Alice asked, walking over to the TARDIS console, where the Doctor was.

“I was thinking Earth, about the year 2013, around spring. Haven’t decided where on Earth though, any suggestions?”

Alice shook her head “I have no idea what Earth even looks like”

“Good point,” the Doctor looked at the TARDIS controls thoughtfully for a minute before pressing a few odd buttons and switches. Alice had to grab on to something to avoid being thrown about, but as soon as it stopped she burst out laughing.

“Fun?” the Doctor asked, grinning at her

“You bet!!” she replied. After a few minutes of uncontrollable laughter she managed to calm herself down enough to ask: “so, where are we then?”

“First trip, and you’re acting as if you do this every day!!” the Doctor, if possible, grinned even wider “I have no idea where we are. Well besides it being Earth and all. Why don’t we have a look?” he ran over to the door, opened it and looked outside. Alice followed.

“Any idea yet?” she whispered

“Give me a second!” the Doctor responded, sounding quite annoyed. But he was grinning, so Alice knew he wasn’t. He barely even looked around before saying “London. Typical. Always London… nothing against London or anything, but I wanted something new!!”

Alice looked around. The Doctor watched her with a curious look. Alice, after absorbing the scenery for a bit, noticed the Doctor and asked “what’s that look for?”

“Nothing! I was just wondering how you would react, probably not the best place to take you first time around…” he made an odd face “but then again, you don’t seem to be freaking as much as I imagined you would.”

“Traveled the outskirts of Hyrule enough,” Alice replied, as if that explained everything

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Ever been to the Mushroom Kingdom?”

“True… I could see how that makes sense. By the way, remind me not to take you to Japan…”

“What for?”

“No reason!” the Doctor said quickly, a bit too quickly.

A little boy in the park ran over to the drinking fountain. To his surprise it was already running. Giggling slightly at the fact the drinking fountain had broken, he called to his mother. His mother ran over, asking what was going on.

“Look mommy!! Look!!” the little boy said, pointing at the drinking fountain which was spewing water everywhere

“That’s cool!!” the mother said, even though she actually didn’t sound impressed. “I wonder if anyone’s going to notice that it’s running anytime soon and fix it, come on, you’ll have to get a drink somewhere else.” She grabbed her little boy’s hand and started to drag him off.

“Wait mommy!!!” the little boy said, pointing at the water again “look!!”

The mother turned around to look, and notice now that the water was taking shape. Confused and curious, she started to inch closer. The water was starting to take form as a face. A face of a monster.

It roared and lunged at them.

The boy and the mother screamed…

The Doctor paused, and then grinned. Someone was screaming. “That’s my cue!!” he said, running off in the direction it came from. Alice followed at his heels.

“You do this often?” she asked

“Enough!!” the Doctor called back. He started to turn left, but Alice called: “Other way!!” and he went to the right.

“You’re hearing is remarkable!!” the Doctor told her

“Thanks, but come on!!”

They were at the park in no time, with nothing out of the ordinary to be seen. Well, besides a random drinking fountain that was still running when no one was around it.

“What is it?” Alice asked, surveying the area “what happened?”

“I don’t know” the Doctor replied, heading over to inspect the odd drinking fountain. He pulled out his sonic screw driver and started examining the thing. Alice was still looking around, quite confused.

“There doesn’t look like there was anyone screaming…” she said, mainly to herself “so what happened?” she tore her gaze away from the playground, where plenty of little kids were playing happily as if nothing had happened, and went over to the Doctor.

“I don’t get it, nothing’s here.”

“It’s usual, whatever it was probably left after…” he paused for a second before saying “It did whatever it did.” He looked at the drinking fountain, which had now stopped its continuous running.

“That’s not all of it though” Alice said “everyone here is acting as if nothing happened. They had to have seen something, or at least heard the scream. Don’t you think that’s a bit odd?”

“A bit, yeah…” the Doctor looked around, noting that Alice was indeed right, and that no one was acting like anything had happened. “Actually, more than a bit. That’s just weird.” He looked around, scanning the scene. No police cars, no freaked out people, no nothing. Just an ordinary day at an ordinary park. “Something’s not right” he said.

“Do you think we should ask someone?” Alice asked

“Normally I would say no, but… I think the best idea is yes.” He stood up, pocketed the sonic screwdriver and headed towards the playground. Alice followed, smiling slightly to herself for no particular reason. The Doctor stopped suddenly, causing her to nearly run into him. He continued after a second, shaking his head.

“What was it?” Alice asked

“Nothing…” the Doctor replied, but he didn’t sound so sure about it.

Alice started to press the matter further, but they were within earshot of other people, and she was nearly positive she would end up saying something that would throw them all off. She kept her mouth shut.

“Umm, excuse me…” the Doctor said, getting the attention of one of the nearby mothers “but have you seen anything odd happen around here lately?”

She shook her head no. “Sorry sir, nothing unusual.”

“Thanks!!” the Doctor said, grinning, and he turned around and walked away. Alice gave him an odd look.

“Not going to press the matter any further?” she asked

“I honestly don’t think I need to, no one’s noticed anything. I would actually be shocked if they did.”

“Does this have anything to do with why you stopped earlier?”

The Doctor beamed at her “you’re good!! It does, as a matter of fact. There’s some perception field around the playground, it keeps anything unusual from filtering in.”

“So whatever we just so happen to be against, it has the ability to make sure no one notices is what is going on?” Alice asked him

The Doctor nodded. There was another scream from the distance. “And whatever it is, it seems busy” he mused, and the chase began.

They finally caught up to the monster quite a bit later when it took a rest stop in someone’s kitchen sink. Alice rang the doorbell. After a minute or so the door was answered by some little girl.

“Hi!!” the girl said

Alice grinned at the little kid “hello sweetie!” she said “is your mom or dad home?”

“We’re here to look at your sink” the Doctor added helpfully

“Hang on” the little girl disappeared and returned a few seconds later with her father.

“You don’t look like plumbers” the father said doubtfully

“He’s in training” Alice said before the Doctor could come up with another excuse “his boss is around the corner, this is his first time going solo.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I’m his sister, he’s dropping me off at a friend’s house after this.”

“Yeah…” the Doctor said, quite dumbfounded though

“Well,” the man said “for an easy job as this, I won’t complain that a professional isn’t around. I’m Larry Charleston” he held out his hand.

“John Smith” the Doctor replied, shaking Mr. Charleston’s hand.

Only a few minutes later, the Doctor was focused on “fixing” the broken sink, leaving Alice and the little girl sitting in the girl’s living room, talking. The girl seemed to only be paying half attention though, for she was playing with her toys. “What’s your name?” Alice asked her.

“Angel” she replied, not looking up “what about yours?”

“Alice”

There was a bit of silence before the little girl asked. “That man in there working on our sink, your brother, is he going to be able to fix it?”

Alice nodded

“It’s been running for a few days” Angel went on “off and on. Sometimes it will stop randomly, and then start up again. Or we would turn it on, but it would never turn back off. You sure he can fix it?”

Alice nodded again.

“But sometimes… I think that there’s something more to it than just a broken sink. I think there's something else there… waiting… for the right moment. A monster, in the depths of the water.” The girl paused, and then looked at Alice. Alice was taken aback by the sudden force at which the girl looked at her with “that man, do you trust him?”

“Of course I do!!” Alice said, even though this girl was starting to make her think otherwise. “He’s my brother!”

“Is he? Is he really your brother?” the girl wouldn’t take her eyes of her, and Alice got this odd feeling that the girl wasn’t human. “He’s too old, to powerful to be related to someone as young as you. Though there is something… magical, about you. Like you don’t belong here…”

Alice said nothing, but didn’t need to. The girl wouldn’t stop talking “Take my advice Alice, and go back home. Save your home from evil that will only come if you stay with the Doctor. It’s waiting… deep down, it’s waiting patiently. Waiting for the right moment. It’s like the monster in the water. But the water will wear you away, eat away at your soul… you’ve delivered yourself into its hands.” The girl stopped then, and took a deep breath. She collapsed.

“Alice!! Come see this!! I think I got results!!” the Doctor called from the kitchen.

“Coming” Alice said, standing up. She tore her eyes away from the little girl that lay on the ground and headed into the kitchen. “What is it?” she asked the Doctor. The Doctor wouldn’t take his eyes off the water that was flowing from the faucet.

“Wait for it,” he whispered. Alice watched the water, and as she watched the water began to take form. It slowly formed into a monster. The monster had a head of a snake, with a body more like a demon of sorts. It roared.

“There we are!!” the Doctor said, quite happily “what are you then? Where are you from?” The monster only hissed as a response.

“What did you do to her?” Alice asked, even though she had no idea why she was doing so.

Both the monster and the Doctor turned to her, the Doctor confused and the monster slightly amused. “Who?” the Doctor asked her quietly.

“The little girl” Alice replied, and the monster cackled. “She kind of went crazy at the end of our conversation there” Alice explained “started talking about the monster in the depths of the water, waiting… She said that the water would wear you away, eat away at your soul…”

“No…” the Doctor whispered, as the monster let out another cackle.

“We will meet again!!” it hissed, before dissolving.

“What was it?” Alice asked “what was it doing to her?”

“I can’t honestly explain what it is… it’s a water creature, able to use and manipulate the water around it. It basically is water itself, gaining complete control of all water. And the human body is what, like seventy percent water isn’t it?”

The realization hit Alice like a tidal wave, pardon the watery pun, and she let out a small gasp. “Now you’re getting it” the Doctor said, and the two of them ran out of the house to find the monster again.

“Hang on,” Alice said, recognizing the direction they were heading “why are we heading back to the TARDIS?”

“We’re going to do a bit of traveling, going to somewhere less public.” The Doctor replied as they rounded the corner. A sudden scream from a bit farther away, stopped him in his tracks. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered, changing direction and heading towards the sound of the scream.

They reached a crowd that was gathered around some random house, where the sprinklers were going haywire. Water was going everywhere. “Back!! Get back!!” the Doctor called, shoving his way to the front of the crowd and pushing everyone behind him. Alice reinforced the ‘get back’ idea and stayed back.

                “We’re meeting a bit sooner than you had planned aren’t we, hmm?” the Doctor called to the water, which was starting to writhe and twist in the air as it shot from the sprinklers.

                “What is he doing?” someone from the crowd asked, as another asked: “is he mad?!” Alice ignored their comments and said nothing. She stood and watched the Doctor as he addressed this odd alien life form.

                “Yeah, yeah, I know what you are… but I would like to know who!” The Doctor shouted at the water, and Alice could see why people could think he was crazy. The alien was either communicating telepathically, or speaking in a language they all couldn’t understand, or just not responding. “Where you’re from even” the Doctor said, as if offering suggestions “why you’re here?”

                The water did nothing, but the sprinklers did switch off. The Doctor muttered something under his breath that sounded quite a bit like swearing. Maybe it was in a different language…

“What is it?” Alice asked, going over to him.

                “I just made a fool of myself in front of a crowd of people” the Doctor replied, quite tersely “made myself look like a madman. What could possibly be wrong?” He glared at Alice, then softened up “sorry, but still… over nine hundred years of having a good reputation for communicating with aliens, I come down to this.”

                “Well, what are we going to do now?” Alice asked, noticing the crowd of people was dispersing “going to go after it?”

                “Yeah,” the Doctor replied, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. He started buzzing it over the area “I’ll get a reading on this and we should be able to track it easily.” He waited for a second before running back towards the TARDIS “come on!!”

                Alice followed, and watched with mild interest as his screwdriver and the TARDIS swapped info, and the screen of the TARDIS changed its picture to show a map, with a little moving blue dot. Now the chase really began.

                “It’s moving again!!” Alice called to the Doctor, who was looking for something.

                “Pull the lever!!” he replied

                Alice glanced over all the TARDIS controls and called back “which one!?”

                “The one on the right!!”

                Alice looked at the controls for a moment before pulling a lever on the right which she desperately hoped was the right lever. It apparently was, because the TARDIS started its whirring as it followed the destination route of the monster. “Is flying the TARDIS really this easy?” she asked, giddiness creeping into her voice for some reason.

                “No!” the Doctor replied, wandering back with his nose in a book “I just have it set to follow the water creature wherever it goes. And we’re only traveling across the planet, not through time and space.”

                “So what you’re trying to say is that I’m not actually flying the TARDIS”

                “Exactly.”

                Alice sighed. “It’s stopped, should we go do something?” She glanced over her shoulder at the Doctor, who came over and looked at the screen and where the alien was. He shook his head.

                “To public a place, it won’t want to talk to us.”

                “So we’re just going to sit here and wait for it to move again?” Alice asked, the Doctor didn’t reply, for he had gone looking for something again. Alice sighed and watched the little blue dot patiently. As soon as it started moving again she hit the lever and the TARDIS took off again.

                “Here we go” the Doctor said, causing Alice to jump. He had snuck up behind her. “Now we can stop.” He started out the doors of the TARDIS before she could even register what was going on. Alice followed him, wondering why this spot was so different from all the others.

                She didn’t even need to take three steps to find out why this place was so different. They were on an empty beach, the water spreading out as far as the eye could see. “You sure this is a good idea?” she asked “there’s water everywhere.”

                “I’m positive” the Doctor replied, sounding quite sure of himself. Alice still thought otherwise. But she couldn’t stop him as he strode over to the water and cast his glance out to sea. “Right then,” he called “willing to talk now!?”

                The water reared up and took the form of a giant sea serpent. “There we go!!” the Doctor said, grinning like a maniac “now then, why are you here?”

                “So much water” the serpent replied

                “Right, any other reason!?”

                The serpent snapped at him, and the Doctor took a step back. “Oi!!” he yelled “no need for that!! I’m trying to help!!”

                “Then leave me be!!” the serpent hissed

                “And let you kill more innocent people? I think you’ve done enough!!”

                The serpent snapped at him again, and he took another step back. “Just let me help!!” he called again angrily. Alice watched and started to notice something. The serpent was toying with him, and the tide was coming in.

                “Doctor!!” Alice shouted “the tide!!!”

                “Not now!!”

                “Doctor!! The tide is coming in!!” she shouted again.

                “What!?” the Doctor asked, looking over at her. But it was too late, the water was already snaking around his ankles, and he was pulled under. The serpent let out a satisfied cackle.

                “NO!!!” Alice screamed

                She looked up at the terrible monster that was towering over her and shouted “what did you do to him!?” It merely laughed in response. Alice was now really, really, really mad, and grabbed a rock from the shore and chucked it at the sea serpent’s head.

                The serpent made to snap at her but she was too far away from the water for it to do any good. “HE WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP!!” she shouted.

                “There was nothing he could do!” the monster hissed back

                “There was plenty he could do!!” Alice shouted back at it “he could have taken you home!!”

                “I couldn’t have gone back home even if I wanted to”

                “And why is that?”

                “I was banished!!”

                “Yeah, I could see why…” Alice said “but there’s got to be a planet out there with plenty of water that’s only inhabited by… fish or something. I would have to ask the Doctor about that, SO WHY DON’T YOU GIVE HIM BACK SO HE CAN HELP!!”

                “It’s too late” the snake hissed, a hint of amusement in its voice.

                No, it’s not Alice told herself, and then said to the serpent “how’d you get here anyways?” It nodded over to a rock that Alice now noticed really didn’t look like a rock. It was some type of space ship. “Did it crash?”

                The serpent shook its head “landed. First planet with water. Locked on.” Alice frowned at its sudden use of fragmented sentences but ignored it.

                “Can’t you leave then? Go to a different planet or something?”

                The serpent took a while to consider this, but then slowly nodded its head “I suppose I could…”

                “Then get a move on with it!!” Alice shouted. The serpent snaked into its ship and left. Alice watched it go, slightly doubtful. “That shouldn’t have been that easy…” she muttered to herself.

                “What shouldn’t have?” a voice from behind her asked, and she turned on the spot to find the Doctor walking up to her, perfectly unharmed, though soaked. Alice rushed over and hugged him. “I could tell you missed me… the whole minute and a half I was gone.”

                Alice grinned and let go of him. He looked down at his wet clothes and frowned. “Never did like these pants…” he mused with a laugh “come on!!” he said, going back into the TARDIS.

                The Doctor emerged from the wardrobe a while later, wearing something really casual. A pair of jeans and beat up old tennishoes. He was also wearing a plain black t-shirt and a blue plaid jacket. “What do you think?” he asked Alice “I’m not sure if I really like it, now that I think about it.”

                “It’s fine” Alice assured him. He smiled, and with that they were off to their next destination.

-woo woo!! Another new epi!!-

                The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and grinned immediately “Look where we ended up!!” he said happily “the lost, well, previously lost, moon of Poosh!!”

                “The what?” Alice asked, stepping out behind him

                “Had to have been there” the Doctor told her

                “fine then…” Alice muttered

                “Let’s have a look around then!” the Doctor said, striding off in some random direction. Alice followed, pausing a second at the feel of the ground beneath her feet. It went hot suddenly for a second or two before cooling back down to normal temperature. She started to mention it to the Doctor but didn’t have the chance, because two people were running towards them.

                “Oh my gosh, Bill!!! I can’t believe it!!” one of them yelled, though more of to her partner than to them. The other person, who was apparently called Bill, shook their hands and smiled.

                “Sorry!!” the girl gasped when she reached them “Bill can’t do the proper hellos, he went mute a while ago. Anyways, I’m Ren Whitman, and this is Bill, obviously. I said his name about a million times” she grinned “he’s my brother. We’re here as part of the Poosh Moon Recovery Squad,” she turned to Bill and asked him quietly “that’s right, isn’t it?” he nodded and she turned back to the Doctor and Alice “we’re just here to make sure nothing went to wacko during the moon’s recent disappearance.”

                “Nice to meet you!! I’m the Doctor”

                “I’m Alice!!”

                Ren smiled at the two of them “let’s head back to the base then. No need standing out in the cold. Come on!” she turned around and headed back in the direction where Bill and her had first come from, and the other three followed.

                “You’ll never guess what I found!!” were the first words out of Ren’s mouth when they arrived at the base.

                “What is it this time Ren?” someone asked from the nearby computer desk.

                “I found people!!”

                “Really now?” the guy said, not bothering to look up from his computer “I won’t believe it till I see it,” he chose that moment to look up and spotted Alice and the Doctor. “Oh my gosh, you weren’t kidding!!” he stood up and shook their hands “I’m Timothy James Smith Jr. Call me Tim.”

                “Or TJ” Ren laughed

                “Shut up Ren” Tim said “Who are you two?”

                “I’m Alice”

                “I’m the Doctor”

                “Well, welcome to Poosh” Tim said, going back to his work on the computer.

                “Come on!” Ren said “let’s go meet the rest of the crew!” and she headed through a nearby door. The Doctor and Alice exchanged glances, but followed never the less. They reached what seemed to be the main part of the base, where a few more crew members were hanging about. The Doctor caught sight of one of them, and his jaw nearly hit the floor.

                Ren, meanwhile, was doing introductions “Everyone!! I’d like you to meet Alice, and the Doctor, they showed up here a bit ago. Alice, Doctor, I’d like you to meet the rest of the crew. Over there we have Jenna” she pointed at a girl over in the corner, who waved “That’s Chris” she pointed at another one of the crew, he waved also “and that right there is-”

                “Ida Scott” the Doctor finished, grinning “what are you doing here?”

                Ida turned around and frowned at the Doctor. “Who are you? And how do you know my name?”

                The Doctor was left speechless for a moment, and then he remembered. “Right, sorry, did change a bit since the last time we met. I’m the Doctor, do you remember? We were on that Impossible Planet, orbiting round that black hole, we explored that cavern together. And please tell me this isn’t in your future or something, because then I’d feel really, really embarrassed.”

                Realization dawned upon Ida’s face “No way” she whispered “you can’t be!”

                The Doctor smiled “well, I am!!”

                “What happened to Rose?” Ida asked

                “Oh, she’s gone. Been gone.”

                “Did you two break up or something?”

                “Who says we ever to--” the Doctor stopped there “you could say that” he muttered “Look, I don’t want to talk about it” he said, as Ida started to ask him another question. There was a bit of slightly awkward silence, much of it spent with everyone staring at the Doctor, before he asked “so what do you guys do here exactly?”

                “I already told you” Ren said “we’re”

                She never did finish her sentence though, because right then the ground shook tremendously, causing nearly everyone to fall over. The only ones who managed not to fall over were the people sitting, and the Doctor. Alice, meanwhile, fell towards the Doctor, but he caught her and set her back on her feet.

                “You see,” Chris said, standing back up “that’s just our cover story. We’re really here to find out why the ground’s been shaking, why there are random hot flashes under the surface, and the mysterious cave that has something in it, but we just can’t find out what.”

                “We’ve sent at least three probes in there,” Jenna added “and not a single one has returned. We were going to send another in, just as you showed up.”

                “Really now?” the Doctor asked, going over to a nearby computer “What are we waiting for then? Let’s get this show on the road!”

                “Right,” Ida said, pressing a button for the intercom “Tim! Send that thing out there!!”

                “Already done!” Tim replied “you should be receiving feedback now.”

                Video showed up on each of the computers, showing a mysterious cave. Everyone in the room watched with baited breath as the probe navigated its way through the cave. After what seemed like ages it reached a very large central cavern.

                “What’s that?” Alice asked, pointing at something that was off in the corner.

                “We don’t know” Ida said “it could be anything”

                “Can we zoom in on it? Try not to move the probe any closer.”

                The view zoomed in, getting a closer look at whatever the thing was.  Alice stared at it in disbelief. “Can we get any closer?” she asked.

                “But you said-”

                “Do it anyways!!”

                The probe moved closer, very, very slowly. “No…” Alice whispered “it can’t be…”

                “What?” the Doctor asked. Alice never answered though, because suddenly the thing moved. It opened an eye, and then snarled. Its head snapped towards the probe, and then everything went black.

                “Rewind that video a few seconds!” Alice said “now pause!” She looked at the face of the creature, and couldn’t help but grin. “A dragon, it’s a dragon!!”

                Upon noticing the look on everyone’s face Alice added “or at least, that’s what it looks like.” There was a bit of awkward silence after this. Everyone slowly went back to what they were doing.

“That was awkward” Alice whispered to the Doctor after a bit

“It wasn’t a bad idea” he said “whatever that thing was; it was some type of creature. A dragon is a nice possibility.”

“Look, I know I might just sound crazy, but I know a dragon one I see one! And that thing was definitely one!”

                The Doctor stood up “why don’t we go find a more private area, and you can tell me your idea.” Alice rolled her eyes, but followed him as they went to another room, that also had a computer. The Doctor messed around with it for a bit before the same video came up.

                “Okay, look. Right there, when you first see the creature it looks like nothing more than a really large rock. But there, it moves a bit and you see a bit more detail. It’s probably just sleeping or something. And there! When the probe got to close, it woke up. There’s its eye, it probably saw the probe as a threat and it attacked.”

                “Any creature would have probably done that Alice” the Doctor said

                “But I swear! It’s a dragon!! You believe me, right?”

                “If we were in Hyrule, yeah. But dragons don’t exist. At least not in this part of the universe, and not anymore. They’ve probably gone extinct. Besides, why would one be here?”

                “Good point” Alice sighed

                “But there is something really off about Poosh” the Doctor said after a minute “There was a city last time I was here. It was even famous for its swimming pools.” He laughed “It’s definitely not here now though… I wonder what happened to it.”

                “I’ve got no clue”

                “Let’s stick around a while, maybe we’ll find out what’s up.”

                “Have you ever thought of sending an actual person into that cave?” the Doctor asked the crew a while later.

                “Are you sure it’s safe?” Ren asked “whatever that creature is, it doesn’t seem friendly.”

                “Maybe it’s just not a fan of mechanical things coming into its home” the Doctor replied

                “It’s not a bad idea…” Ida said “I think we should send a few people in there. Maybe we could find out what the creature’s up to, if it’s up to anything at all.”

                “I agree with Ren,” Chris said “it isn’t a good idea to send anyone into that cave. Or not yet, anyways. I say we should wait an hour or two.”

                “Why wait?” the Ida asked

                “Why should we send anyone in the first place?” Jenna piped up

                “I think firsthand experience is a great idea. We aren’t going to keep sending probes in forever” Tim argued

                “So we’re going to send people in there, and put their lives at stake?!” Ren asked

                “If you didn’t want a little danger, why did you come on this mission in the first place?”

                “Quiet” the Doctor said

                “I didn’t think we would be doing anything dangerous!!” Ren replied

                “Yes, because investigating earthquakes and other strange happenings is never dangerous!!” Ida said sarcastically

                “Quiet!!” the Doctor said again

                “Don’t be so mean!!” Jenna said

                “But it’s true!!” Tim said

                The Doctor sighed and pressed the button for the intercom, and said into it “quiet!!” his voice rang out loudly over the speakers, causing everyone to be quiet.

                “Much better” the Doctor said, letting go of the button “now, did you all hear yourselves there? Arguing over nothing! You should be ashamed. Now, raise of hands, who wants to send people into that cave?”

                Ida was the first to raise her hand, then Tim, and then Chris, and reluctantly, so did Bill. “And who doesn’t?” the Doctor asked. Ren and Jenna raised their hands. “Right then,” the Doctor said “majority rules. Someone’s getting sent into that cave. I’ll volunteer to do so, anyone else?”

                “I will” Ida said

                “There we have it.” the Doctor turned to Tim “so when are we leaving?”

                “First thing in the morning” Tim replied “I think we could all do with a good night’s rest.”

                And, as if on cue, the crew all nodded and headed to their respective rooms. Tim looked at Alice and the Doctor “come on, I think we have a spare room or two for you guys.” he said, and led them off.

                They had ended up sharing a room, though it had two separate beds. Alice was very thankful of this fact for some odd reason. Though she couldn’t remember why exactly, hours later, as she stared at the ceiling, wide awake. She glanced over at the other bed, wondering if the Doctor happened to be sleeping, only to find it empty.

                Alice made a face at this fact, before getting up to go get a drink or something. She then laughed at the thought of them having Lon Lon milk. She wandered out to the dining area of the base, and found the Doctor sitting at a table mulling over a cup of tea. He glanced up to see who it was before looking back at the cup.

                She started to ask a question, but he replied quickly before she could ask him anything. “No, you’re not the first to travel with me, yes, I will do my best not to abandon you, but I make no promises, and possibly to that question at the back of your head that you didn’t even know you were going to ask until I mentioned it.”

                Alice laughed “I was only going to ask if you were tired” she said, sitting down in the chair across from the Doctor.

                His eyes went wide and he laughed nervously, but took a drink of tea to cover it up. “Nah!! Who needs to be tired on a night like this!! Besides, I don’t need as much sleep as humans do.” He looked up at Alice and then asked “what about you? Aren’t you tired?”

                Alice shrugged “Hylians don’t really need sleep I guess; it’s more of just a habit.”

                The Doctor contemplated the thought for a second and then grabbed another cup of tea and pushed it across the table to Alice. She made a face at it, but took a drink anyways.

                “So…” Alice said after a minute “who was Rose? A friend in a past incarnation?”

                “Yup.” the Doctor replied “Tenth, and Ninth. To be exact.”

                “What incarnation are you on now?” Alice asked

                The Doctor took a second to reply, but then said quietly “my last.” He looked up at Alice and flashed her a grin “but you know what, I’m glad that you’re here to enjoy it with me. Wouldn’t have wanted anyone else.”

                Alice blushed furiously, and took a drink of tea to hide it. There was a minute or so of silence between the two of them, each lost in their own thoughts.

                “I think we should probably head to bed” the Doctor said finally, standing up. He reached towards Alice’s tea, but then paused and looked at her.

                “Go ahead, I’m done” she said. He took it along with his own cup and discarded them. Alice stood up and headed back to their room and wondered for a moment if the Doctor even planned on actually sleeping. She discarded the thought and lay down on her own bed, recalling what the Doctor had said only a few moments ago.

                So he wouldn’t want to spend his last incarnation with anyone else? she thought, he sure knows how to make a girl feel special.

                Unless there’s more to it than that….

                No!

                He wouldn’t!!

                Would he?

                The mysterious Time Lord, fall in love with some random girl from Hyrule?

                Unthinkable!!

                But entirely possible…

                Stop fantasizing! she told herself finally, you’re just over reacting.

                But what if I liked him back?

                Her mind drifted off to sleep before she could argue with herself farther.

                Her sleep wasn’t exactly peaceful, though.

                There was this odd feeling that there was something wrong.

                And indeed something was.

                Her dream-self turned around, realizing that she was in a large cavern, and found herself face to face with the dragon. She started to scream when the dragon spoke.

                “No worries, dear child” it said “I will not harm you. You have given me no reason to, much unlike the others. You saw me for what I truly am”

                Alice stood there, shocked then asked “where’s the Doctor?”

                “Doctor? Doctor Who?” the Dragon asked, a grin spreading across its face “do you mean that Time Lord that wandered by? He’s more ancient than me, and yet he still doesn’t believe in the old magic. Shame on him, we would have been great friends.”

                “What did you do to him!?” Alice asked, starting to panic

                “Feisty! And simple minded,” the Dragon laughed “but, I did what needed to be done. He got what he deserved.”

                “Did you kill him!?”

                The Dragon only laughed

                Alice awoke with a start. She looked over at the bed across the room, and noted it was empty. The Doctor either decided not to sleep or was already awake and she had slept in. Having an odd feeling it was the latter; she headed out to find him.

                “Doctor!?” she called, heading into another room.

                “Just missed him!” Tim said “he and Ida left only a few minutes ago. Did you need him for something?”

                “I need to tell him something” Alice said

                Tim laughed “call him on the intercom then, but don’t hog the line!” he headed out.

                “I won’t!!” Alice called after him. She pressed the button for the intercom “Doctor? You there?”

                “Alice!!” the Doctor said “I thought you’d never wake up!!”

                “Listen to me!” she said urgently “you have to come back! You have no idea what you’re dealing with!!”

                “Alice, I’ll be fine! Besides, what’s any old monster going to do to me?”

                “I don’t know! Eat you or something!!”

                “That’s never bothered you before, why are you worrying so much now?”

                Alice groaned.

                “Listen, this isn’t going to take long, I’ll be fine! So stop worrying about me,”

                Alice rolled her eyes and hung up.

                The Doctor looked at Ida “she hung up on me!!” he said “she hung up on me, while I was in the middle of a sentence!!”

                Ida just shrugged

                “Hey! Where are you going!?” Chris asked as Alice started to leave the base.

                “To find the Doctor” Alice said “if he won’t listen to me from here, I probably have a better chance of smacking some sense into him if I’m actually nearby.”

                “I can’t let you do that!” Chris said

                “And why not?” Alice asked, glaring at him, arms crossed

                “Because…” Chris stumbled over words as he thought of what to say “I just can’t okay! It’s dangerous out there alone!!”

                “Then come with me if you’re worried so much, but with or without you, I’m going to find the Doctor” Alice said firmly, starting for the door again.

                Chris stopped her, and handed her a communicator. “We need to at least be able to contact you” he told her “take this.” Alice took it and grinned.

                “Thanks!” she said, heading out the door.

                “Alice” Chris said over the comm. device “may I ask why you need to smack some sense into him?”

                “Because he has no idea what he’s getting himself into” Alice replied

                “Well, here we are again” Ida said, looking up at the entrance to the cave “you, me, a large cavern”

                “And someone yelling at me over the intercom” the Doctor finished “my day couldn’t get any better”

                Ida smiled as they headed in and maneuvered their way through the twisting tunnels of the cave, trying to find the main cavern. The Doctor kept shining his flashlight along the walls, examining the graceful loops of writing that kept showing up. Ida watched him with mild amusement.

                “So what did happen between you and Rose?” she asked after a moment.

                “She moved on” the Doctor said, not looking at her. As Ida started to say something else the Doctor added “listen Ida, I’ll apologize now if I end up being short with you, but I don’t really want to talk about it” he let out a sigh and did his best not to turn and glare at her. “It might not have been all that long for you, but for me it’s been quite a long time. I’ve changed since then! I’m a completely different man now, and I’ve got every reason right now to just put the past behind me and forget about it, and you’re making it kind of hard to do!” He stopped and rubbed his head “sorry, sorry. There’s just something that feels off about all of this, and it’s driving me nuts.”

                “It’s fine” Ida said “I’m getting an odd feeling too”

                “Good, I’m glad I’m not the only one” the Doctor muttered, then broke into a grin “come on! Let’s stop chatting and go explore this cavern. See what’s hiding out in here.”

                Ida gave him an odd look, but decided not to press the question farther.

                The Doctor continued his examination of the odd writing that kept showing up as they walked along. He paused and ran his fingers over one of the words, muttering something under his breath, trying to figure out what it was.

                “Still traveling?” Ida asked

                “Course I am!” he replied, turning away from the word as they headed round a corner and into largish cavern with more tunnels leading out of it. “Which tunnel?” he asked

                “This one” Ida said, going to the one farthest on the right “I think,”

                “Don’t tell me we’re lost!”

                “We’ll find our way there, most of these tunnels have to lead to the main cavern eventually”

                “Got a point there” the Doctor muttered, looking at another of the weird words for a second before walking on “I see you’re still exploring.”

                “Yeah” Ida watched as he examined another one of the words “any idea what they say?” she asked

                “No, actually” the Doctor admitted “I mean, I recognize the language, but none of these words actually mean anything. It’s just gibberish, random letters just thrown together. It’s almost like it’s not meant to be read, not meant to say anything at all. Maybe it’s just here to confuse people.”

                “Is that good?” Ida asked

                “It could be” the Doctor replied “and yet it could be really, really bad. But whatever it is… it sure is confusing.”

                “Let’s not worry about it, we should get a move on. There’s still something waiting in that central cavern for us.”

                “I suppose there is…” the Doctor muttered. The two of them set off towards said cavern that was waiting for them.

                “Hang on, did you see that?” the Doctor asked, pointing his flashlight at the wall where another one of those words was. It had a faint glow about it.

“See what?” Ida asked, looking around and finding nothing.

                “That word right there, it just moved. The letters kind of jumped around. Hang on,” he went closer and examined it “no… it can’t have!” he looked at it closer “I’m here…” he muttered, running his fingers over the word.

                “What?”

                “That’s what it says. I’m here.” He looked at the words in disbelief as they changed again “help…” they changed again “I’m here…” he looked at the words closer, then said “but that’s impossible!!”

                “I thought you said those words made no sense” Ida said, a bit confused.

                “Yes, that is what I said, but it’s almost as if there’s something here changing the words. And it’s calling out. It needs help or something” he shook his head “But that’s impossible. It can’t just change the words; they’re engraved in the wall.”

                “So what’s going on?” Ida asked, looking at the Doctor.

                “I don’t know” he said, rubbing his head “I don’t know”

                Upon entering the cave, Alice suddenly felt the presence of something at the back of her mind. What the…? she thought, closing her eyes and feeling around to figure out what it was. She suddenly felt something like fire there and opened her eyes in shock.

                Young child, so far from home… a voice whispered

                Alice knew that voice. It was the Dragon. What are you doing here!?

                This is where I live, it replied

                Alice’s mind flickered back to the dream. Where’s the Doctor? she asked, getting a bit worried.

                Who? the dragon replied

                He’s a Time Lord, if that helps. Alice added.

                The dragon paused, and Alice felt its mind search around for a second. There is a Time Lord in here, along with someone else. I think it’s a human. Hard to tell these days, I’m getting old. It laughed.

                So he’s still alive? Alice asked, unable to stop herself from letting out a sigh of relief.

                Of course dear little one, why would he be dead?

                Alice’s mind went back to the dream, and she felt the dragon take in the information it was given. She got a sense of shock coming from it, but then it let out a laugh.

                Oh curse my blasted subconscious, it said, all I was trying to do was reach out to someone, it either got mixed up on the way over or your subconscious read it wrong. Or that is a possibility of what might happen in the future…

                Alice broke out in a sweat, a possibility!?

                Sorry child, but if my dragon instincts kick in too quickly, I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything. I can do my best to keep him alive, but if he ends up saying something that might offend me… It trailed off, as if it wasn’t so sure about that fact. It must have sensed the discomfort radiating off of Alice because it said: I’ll help you find your friend if you can help me get out of here.

                How am I supposed to do that?

                Why should I tell you? Dragon’s like their riddles.

                Alright, Alice let out a sigh. After a minute a question sparked into her mind and she asked it to the dragon. What’s your name?

                The dragon laughed again I have many, a few of which you would spend forever trying to say. But I was called Shyfire by an old friend of mine. She could feel it smile at the back of her mind, and couldn’t help but grin also.

                Deciding what the best idea to help the dragon was, Alice heading into the tunnels in search of the Doctor.

                After a while of fruitless efforts Alice said silently to the dragon: hey Shyfire?

                Yes child? The dragon was quick to respond, almost eager, in fact.

                Do you mind helping me? I need to find my friend and I have no idea where he is. Do you think you could help?

                Shyfire took a minute to respond. He’s on his way to where I am, and I can lead you to me. Maybe you’ll run into him on your way.

                Sounds like a plan to me. Alice thought, something off to the corner caught her eye, and she saw a faint glow in the shape of words. She went over to them, and looked them over. It took her a second to decipher what it said, for she didn’t really recognize the language. But after a minute she got it: ‘this way’ it said.

                She walked on a bit farther, where more words were glowing. She followed the path of glowing words, stopping to read each one as she went. They all said the same thing ‘this way, this way’ soon enough it became a small whisper in the back of her mind, stopping only when she was heading the wrong way.

                It was a pressing nudge now, pushing her in the way she should go. It became more than just a small feeling after a while. It was now an explosion of the senses. Sight of glowing words, a tingling on her skin, there was a different sound for each direction, even the smell of the air was different.

                It was almost as if she was walking blind, not even walking at all. Just going, going to where she needed to.

                No! something inside of her cried out, and Alice stopped, nearly falling to the ground at the sudden release of whatever had been holding her. She stood and caught her breath. I don’t need to find the dragon, she told herself, I need to find the Doctor.

                She was on her knees now, unsure of exactly how she got there. She looked at the words that were only glowing faintly now, and slowly ran her hand across them. A jolt of power surged through her as she touched it, and an idea sprang to her mind.

                Alice put her hand on the word again, and a map of the tunnels popped into her head. She used the newfound power to point out life signs, and found four of them. Her own she found quickly, knowing exactly where she was somehow. The one in the central cavern was large and complex. Two others right next to each other, one plain and simple while the other was complex, but not as complex as the dragon’s.

                There he is! She thought and sent a message out through the impossible words on the wall to him.

                The Doctor watched as the word he had been studying for the past who knows how long changed again. He squinted at it, trying to make out what it said.

                ‘Doctor…’

                He watched as the word flashed and changed again.

                ‘Be careful…’

                It changed again

                ‘I’m coming to find you…’

                “Now that’s weird” he muttered, “no, scratch that. This is just downright creepy.”

                “What is it Doctor?” Ida asked

                “It knows my name…” he said, sounding quite terrified at the thought “odd, impossible words on the wall know my name. Or whoever’s controlling them does. And it’s coming to find me.”

                It changed again, glowing brighter as it did so ‘this way’

                “And it’s telling us what way to go…” he turned to Ida “do you think we should follow it?”

                She shrugged “maybe it will lead us to the central cavern, we do seem to be lost.”

                “Or it could lead us to our dooms…” he mused “shall we go find out?” He got up and started following the path of the glowing words, Ida at his heels.

                Alice continued going, but at a slower pace as to not get caught up with the magic of the spell that was pulling them all in. She ran her hand along the wall as she went, feeling a grateful burst of power each time it ran across a word.

                Shyfire? she asked. The dragon, as usual, was quick to respond.

                Yes little one?

                What is it with these words? Did you do something?

                The dragon thought about it for a second, I don’t know, I might have. It’s either me or some other power source in this cave. It could be anything, I would be careful with it.

                I will, Alice assured the dragon. I promise.

                You better be, the dragon told her, almost playfully, but it was still serious.

                A strange sensation came across her when her hand made contact with another word, and the image of the map flashed into her mind again. She noticed quickly that there was something wrong with two dots traveling together. The more complex one was moving quickly, and she could feel a spell active.

                Did you send that spell thing to find you throughout the entire cavern? she asked Shyfire after a moment.

                Yes, why?

                You’ve caught more than you should have, that’s all. Alice told the dragon, doing her best not to sound annoyed. She stopped and concentrated hard on the power flowing through the words, and sent out another message.

                ‘STOP!!!’

                The word came suddenly, breaking the continuous blur of ‘this way.’ The Doctor was pulled out of the spell, and Ida gave him a concerned look as he nearly collapsed.

                “You alright?” she asked

                “Yeah, fine…”

                “You sure? You were kind of out of it there for a moment.”

                The Doctor looked at her, “out of it how?” he asked

                “I don’t know, you were in like a trance or something, just going. It was hard to keep up, and you wouldn’t respond when I asked you to slow down. It was weird.”

                “Things get weirder the longer we’re in this cave” the Doctor muttered, going over the wall where the word had changed from: ‘STOP’ to ‘CARFUL!!’ It was still glowing furiously, and he reached out to touch it. A jolt of power rushed through him, and he caught a brief flash of Alice before it all faded away.

                He hit the ground before he could even register what had happened.

                “Doctor!!” Alice cried out, feeling as his brain faltered and he lost consciousness.

                Oh no, oh no, oh no!! I’ve killed him!! she thought

                No, he’s still alive. Shyfire told her

                Then what happened to him?

                It’s the power. His body, oddly enough, wasn’t able to process it, and knocked him out before it could do any damage to him.

                What for? Some type of defense system?

                How should I know? Shyfire asked, I’m not a Time Lord.

                Alice couldn’t help but smile. Will he be alright?

                He’ll be fine.

                She stopped the conversation there, and then started moving again. If he was out, it meant that she could get to them and cut them off before they reached the central cavern.

                I need to move fast though…

                “Doctor!!”

                He blinked his eyes open, and then sat up. “What happened?” he asked, his voice coming out slurred. Then he remembered and winced at just the plain thought of it. His body was still screaming in pain.

                “I don’t know,” Ida was telling him “you just sort of collapsed.”

                He looked at the word on the wall, which had paled down to a soft glow.

“You have any idea why?” Ida asked

“Well, I don’t know. Some sort of energy… but it was different. Not of your usual type of energy.  My body panicked when it entered my system and sent itself into lock down so that it could get rid of the energy as quickly as possible. But that leaves the question: what’s so different about it?” he studied the words closely.

“I think we should get a move on, ignore the words and just find the central cavern. Maybe you’ll find your answer there.”

“Good idea…” the Doctor muttered, pushing himself to his feet. He and Ida started heading through the tunnels, still following the continuous: ‘this way’ the words spelled out. They moved much slower though, because the Doctor was still a bit out of it.

The glowing string of ‘this way’s stopped at one large archway, and the words now read: ‘I’m here…’

“That was easy” Ida said

“Yeah, maybe a bit too easy” the Doctor replied, sounding a bit worried.

“THERE YOU ARE!!” came a scream from off to the right.

“Alice!?” the Doctor asked in shock, recognizing the figure that was running towards them instantly. She slowed down and stopped right beside them. “How long have you been here?”

“No idea” she replied “but I’ve been looking for you for ages!! I thought I would never find you!!”

“I told you it wouldn’t take long, why didn’t you just stay back at the base?”

“It’s not like you weren’t careful. You passed out!!”

“I did not pass out! My body sent itself into shutdown when a foreign energy entered it and-” he paused “how did you know that?”

“I might have been the one that caused it” she muttered, still smiling “though you should be thanking me! Otherwise you would have ran straight into that central cavern without second thought!!”

“What!?” the Doctor asked, truly confused

“The continuous path of words whispering ‘this way’ that soon turned into more than just words? That became more than just a pressing nudge at the back of your mind?” she looked at him, the expression on her face was fierce.

“You did to be in some sort of a trance earlier…” Ida said

The Doctor looked between the two of them, confused.

“Listen, whatever’s in that cavern, it’s probably nothing but some odd creature that has every right to live here” he said, starting to sound angry.

“Doctor, I think it’s stuck here” Alice said “and it needs our help to get out”

“How do you know that?” he asked her

“Maybe it would be a good idea for you two to stop arguing, and we should all just go see what’s in there“ Ida said.

The two time travelers looked at her, then back at each other. “Fine with me” Alice said.

The Doctor said nothing, merely turned on his heel and walked through the arch. Alice was quick to follow. Ida followed behind.

The cavern was larger than it had ever seemed, the ceiling being at least fifty feet tall. The impossible words were scattered all over the walls, each one constantly changing and pulsing with its own faint light. There was so much light coming from the words, that it wasn’t dark in the cavern at all, but illuminated with a, for lack of better word, magical glow.

The creature was off in one corner blending in with the wall behind it. It was a pale grey, but Alice could tell it was once incredibly beautiful, only reaching this worn state because of its great age. It picked its head up when they approached and let out a yawn. It looked at them with an amused glint in its eyes.

Took you long enough to get here, even by human standards. It said, but still laughed.

“Sorry,” Alice said, addressing it out loud for once. It felt a bit odd doing so. “Can you speak, or is it all telepathic?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t being rude.

Telepathic, the dragon replied, don’t worry though, you should all be able to hear me.

The Doctor turned to Ida, and she nodded to say that she could indeed hear the creature.

“What kind of creature are you exactly?” the Doctor asked

The dragon regarded him with an amused look and said to Alice, I can see why you were worried about him little one, he seems to have a tendency to be a bit rude.

                “I meant no rudeness!” the Doctor said

                I know, the dragon told him, in fact it seems almost familiar. The same rude tone, and his mind is familiar… it looked at him closely. He stared right back.

                ”Shyfire!?” the Doctor asked after a moment, breaking into a grin.

                I’m still quite unsure why you decided to name me that, Shyfire said, but it is nice to see you again old friend.

                Alice stared at both of them. “You know each other!?” she asked

                They both said “yes” and burst out laughing.

                And I’m not sure why I didn’t recognize him sooner. Doctor, Time Lord, a girl worrying about him, I must be getting old.  You have changed though. It directed this last bit at the Doctor.

                “I have regenerated quite a few times since the last time we met. Though you shouldn’t talk much, since when were you grey!?”

                I’ve been this color for at least a hundred years now

                Ida hadn’t said anything until now, but finally brought up the courage and asked “so, I’m still confused, what exactly are you?”

                A dragon of course! Shyfire laughed

                “But I thought-”

                Alice stopped her there “yeah, I’m nearly positive that’s what we all thought.” She turned back to the Doctor and Shyfire, who had started up their conversation again.

                So how’s life been for you?

                “Good! What about you?”

                Tiring, very tiring

                “I hear you there”

                So Doctor, what incarnation are you on now?

                “Last one”

                Already? You seem to be dying faster than I can blink! I would have believed you if you told me you were still on your tenth!

                “It’s not my fault!!”

                Of course it isn’t

                “I swear! It isn’t!!”

                Shyfire refused to believe him.

                “Um, if you don’t mind, we’re still here” Alice said, stopping the lovely reunion “and I thought you had an issue I needed to help you solve.”

                “What issue?” the Doctor asked her, but she waved him off.

                Oh don’t worry about it, I’m fine. I honestly came up with that on the spot, I don’t need any help.

                Alice frowned.

                Sorry, but it is slightly amusing to watch humans go through all that trouble just to solve a problem that doesn’t need solving, and then when they find that out!! she laughed, but then looked at Alice, but you aren’t human are you little one.

                She shook her head “Hylian and proud of it” she said, grinning.

                “Well, that’s the mystery of Poosh solved then,” Ida said.

                “Yeah, now what?” Alice asked the Doctor

                He looked at the dragon who stared right back at him with a bit of sadness in her eyes.

                “Goodbye?” he asked

                Hate to see you go so soon, but I think it is.

                “I’m sure Alice won’t mind if we stay awhile” the Doctor said

                No, I’m sure she won’t, but I don’t want to keep you from the adventures you have ahead of you. At the rate you seem to be dying, you may not have all that long.

                The Doctor gave the dragon a look “I may have longer than you think”

                Whether you do or not is not my problem, I know I have places I need to be going. Shyfire stood up, stretched a second and let out a loud groan. Oh me and my stiff joints, I’m really getting old.

                “Still not as old as me” the Doctor joked

                I’m definitely getting there, Shyfire replied, grinning.

                “Bye old friend” he said

                Goodbye Doctor

                “Bye Shyfire” Alice said

                Goodbye little one…

                They stood by the TARDIS outside of the cave a while later, after saying their goodbyes to the crew. Alice looked at the Doctor. He had ditched the jacket.

                “She’s gone” he said after a moment

                Alice nodded, even though she didn’t need telling. She had felt the dragon’s presence leave her mind herself. “Think we’ll ever see her again?”

                The Doctor shrugged “no idea” he replied

                There was a rush of wind and they looked back in the direction of where the base was. Or had been. A large city now stood in its place. They both stared at it in shock.

                “Where’d that come from?” Alice asked

                “I don’t know” the Doctor replied

                “Well, whatever happened here, it sure was magical” she said

                The Doctor looked at her. “I don’t believe in magic” he said

                “How can you be friends with a dragon and not believe in magic?” Alice asked

                He shrugged in response. “You want to go?” he asked, nodding at the city

                Alice shook her head “Nah, I think I’ve had enough of Poosh for now”

                “Good point.” The Doctor went back inside the TARDIS, and Alice followed.

                They were gone quickly.

-new epi! (which still needs a title)-

                Two wolves walked through the forest. The older one had fur that was as black as night, while the other wolf’s fur was a mix of red and gold, patterned like fire.

                “Stop a second” the older wolf said “did you hear that?”

                The younger one paused, “no” he replied.

                The older one frowned at him “you disgrace wolfkind!! Open up your ears!”

                “Sorry” the younger one mumbled, and cocked his head to the side “still don’t hear anything”

                “It’s gone now” the older wolf growled.

                “I do smell something though” the younger wolf said “two somethings to be exact”

                “Continue…” the older wolf urged, knowing that this young wolf’s sense of smell was incredible. Even by regular wolf standards.

                “I think it might be people,” he said, sniffing the air “positive it is actually. One’s female, and she smells… I don’t know, green. The other,” he sniffed again “male, and he… I don’t know. His scent’s all muddled, a bunch of smells all thrown together. Faintly of ashes, old paper, and… something else” he shook his head “I can’t tell. There’s something else in the air too. Metallic, but not quite…”

                The older wolf nodded his head, that information was enough. “I’ll go check it out. Head back to camp and warn the others, we may have to run again”

                The young wolf nodded quickly, before running off. The older wolf headed deeper into the forest. He came across the two people quickly, but didn’t approach them. The young wolf had been right, now that he was close enough to tell, the girl did smell green. There weren’t many occasions when a smell could only be described in color, but there was no other explanation for her scent.

                The man’s scent was hard to make out, just as the young wolf had said. Now that the older wolf was here though, he could define something else about their scents that the younger one had missed, or maybe had just left out. They both smelled faintly of magic, but definitely not enough for them to be full magical.

                Whoever they are, the wolf decided, they aren’t from around here.

                He made up his mind them to go out and confront them, and walked out to them, hopefully pulling off the best innocent wolf act possible.

                “Aww!!” the girl said, getting on her knees and reaching out to pet him.

                “Alice” the man whispered sternly “I wouldn’t…”

                “It’s fine! He’s not going to hurt us!” she scratched his ears “are you little wolfy?”

                The wolf looked at her and took in her features. Her skin was an olive color, and her hair was as dark as his. Her eyes were a deep blue.

                “How do you know that?” the man asked, the wolf turned to him and took in his features as well. His hair was red, and his eyes were brown. But there was something more to his eyes. They were warm and kind, yet fierce and deadly at the same time. And, while the man looked young, his eyes betrayed great age.

                What is he? the wolf thought, for he hadn’t met a Magical like this ever before. And this man was giving him mixed feelings. Half of him wanted to run away, while the other half trusted him completely, without second thought.

                The wolf growled and backed away, causing the girl to back up, shocked. He continued growling as he took in the rest of their looks. The girl wore a denim skirt, white tank, and blue converse all-stars. The wolf smiled slightly at this, but kept up his growl.

                The man was wearing a light blue t-shirt, dark jeans, and sneakers. The wolf met his eyes, and decided that attacking would probably be a really bad idea on his part. But of course, if he backed up now, he would end up looking like a wimp and there really was only one other option…

                And he didn’t think he trusted them that much. But, then again, maybe he did. With a sigh, he stopped his growling and reluctantly dropped his wolf form.

                Alice gasped in shock as the wolf in front of them suddenly stopped being a wolf and started being human.

                “Impossible!” the Doctor whispered, sounding slightly awed.

                The boy couldn’t be much older than 16 and had hair as dark as the wolf’s fur had been, with dark eyes to match. The Doctor started to say something, but the boy beat him to it.

                “Hey!” he snapped “this is my territory!! I ask the first questions!”

                Alice was taken aback by his voice, it still sounded as fierce as a wolf’s growl, even though the boy certainly wasn’t one anymore.

                “Go on then” she said quietly “ask your questions”

                “Who are you?” the wolf asked

                “I-I’m Alice” the girl said, her voice warm

                “I’m the Doctor” the man said, voice equally warm

                “May I ask who you are?” the girl said

                He smiled at that. The girl’s mind was in the right place, and her heart seemed to be too.

“My name is Samuel, and don’t even think about calling me Sam.” He looked at the two of them “where are you two from”

“Not anywhere near here, that’s for sure” the man said

“Why do you think I asked you if I didn’t already know that?” the wolf replied

“I’m from Hyrule” the girl said

That explained a lot. The green smell and why he had trusted her. She’s a descendant of the hero… Samuel couldn’t help but smile. “And you?” he asked, turning to the man.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you”

Samuel didn’t take his eyes off the man, nor did he say anything. The man gave in after a minute “I’m from Gallifrey”

That sounds familiar… was the first thing that went through Samuels head. “What are you then? Not you” he looked at Alice “you’re Hylian, I already know that. But you” he turned back to the man “you’re different.”

“I’d like to ask the same of you”

“Tell me first, and maybe I’ll tell you”

“Time Lord”

Okay… that sounds familiar too… what is with this man?

“I’m a wolf-kid. Half human, half wolf, a hundred percent Magical.”

“But that’s not possible” the man said “no amount of science could do that properly.”

“CLEAN YOUR EARS OUT!!” Samuel shouted “I said magic! Magical! There’s no science involved!!” he would have punched the man by now, but was managing to keep himself from doing so. He turned there on the spot and ran off.

Alice watched him go and then turned to the Doctor. “Nice going” she said “you scared him off! What’s your problem with magic anyways!?”

With that, she stormed off after the wolf-kid.

“Samuel!” Alice called, running up to the boy just as he started to change into a wolf “that was your name right?”

“Yeah” he grunted

“Listen, I’m really sorry about him. There’s just something about magic that he doesn’t like” she dropped her voice down to a whisper and added “he says he doesn’t believe in it.”

At this, Samuel turned and gave her an odd look.

“I know! Just yesterday we ran into a dragon, and you know what he told me only minutes later? He said he didn’t believe in magic. Plain and simple, no explanation about it”

“How the heck can you meet a dragon and still deny the existence of magic?” Samuel asked

“I was thinking the same thing!!” Alice said, laughing “if he ever insults you, just don’t take it seriously, he probably didn’t mean it.”

They stood in silence for a second “I need to go” Samuel said “I’ve got a family to protect.”

“Family?” Alice asked “You don’t look old enough to have a family.”

“They’re not my kids, if that’s what you’re suggesting” he snapped “but they’re still my responsibility. Now I need to go.”

“Hang on!” Alice said quickly before he could go “protecting from what? You’re all half wolf or whatever aren’t you? What do wolves need protecting from?”

He shook his head.

“If I knew, I might be able to help. Well, not me entirely, but the Doctor would be able to. I’m sure of it. Whatever here that’s after you I’m sure we can help you get away from it.”

Samuel turned back around at this, a look on his face that seemed to say he was going to hate himself later for doing what he was going to do. “Fine, but you’ll need to come back to camp, I can explain there.”

“Okay, hang on I just need to-” Alice paused, then turned around. No surprised, she found the Doctor standing there. “How long have you been hiding back there?” she asked him

“Few minutes, didn’t hear much if that’s what you’re worried about.” He replied.

Alice sighed and turned to Samuel “so, camp?”

“Yeah, camp” he grunted, leading them deeper into the forest.

“Right, here we are” Samuel said when they reached a clearing “camp. Let me go first, they need to be warned. It’s not often that we get visitors, let alone ones we can trust… which reminds me, I need to do a trust check on you two later.”

Alice and the Doctor were a bit taken aback by the comment, but ignored it. Quite a few things were odd about this entire thing in general.

“THERE YOU ARE SAMUEL!!” many of them screamed when Samuel entered the clearing. A girl about the same age as him ran up and pulled him into a hug.

“I thought I lost you!!” she said, letting go

“Uhh… I was only gone like, ten minutes.”

At this, everyone in the clearing looked at him like he was crazy. Alice caught one of them whisper to another: “you sure that’s still him? They might have perfected that cloning thing I heard rumors about.”

“Shut up!” the other one hissed, and the two of them returned to looking expectantly at Samuel, who also seemed as confused as the rest of them.

“It might have been fifteen” he said

“Samuel” the girl said slowly “you’ve been gone for a few hours.”

“That’s impossible” Samuel said

“Sorry” the Doctor said, making his presence be known “that might have been my fault You see-“

“Who the heck is he?” the girl asked before the Doctor could say anything more

“Oh umm…” Samuel began, but he didn’t seem so sure of where he was going with that sentence, “he said he could help…”

“I don’t trust him” the girl said, shooting a glance at the Doctor.

“Yeah well, I was getting to-” Samuel began

“I’m not sure if I can even trust you!” the girl said suddenly, backing up a few paces from Samuel “Coming back hours late, without even knowing you were gone. And you brought them with you!! How the heck am I supposed to know that you’re not a-a clone or something! Or you could have been brainwashed!!”

“Check me then” Samuel said calmly

The girl bit her lip, looked at Samuel for a moment, then looked over her shoulder at another one of the kids and nodded slightly. The kid stood up and walked over to Samuel, who obediently held out his arm. The kid took his wrist and felt for a pulse.

“He’s not a clone” the kid said and then went back and sat down.

The girl looked relieved. “That’s one question out of the way”

Samuel rolled his eyes and whispered something in her ear. The girl brightened up immediately after she heard what he had to say, and Alice could see a blush threatening to show on her cheeks.

“That still doesn’t explain why you were gone for so long” the girl said

“Well, as I was saying,” the Doctor seemed eager to pick up where he had left off “I’ve got this space/time ship thing that might have caused this problem. Because of all the… uhh…” he paused, grimaced, but didn’t continue.

Alice looked at him “you’re not going to say it are you?” she asked, when she received no response, she rolled her eyes and told the children “magic” before turning back to the Doctor for him to continue.

“Right, because of that, well, my ship doesn’t agree with that sort of thing, and it probably threw her off balance. While she’s still recalibrating, there will probably be some temporal disturbances, which may cause a difference in the time flow between two different areas, and I believe that could be the answer to this question.”

The Doctor then thought of something else and added, “Either that or we’ve got a bigger problem on our hands involving some Geranshees, and I really hope we don’t because I am not in the mood to deal with them at the moment.”

“Okay…” Samuel said after a moment.

“It sure sounds like he can help!!” one of the kids said

“Trust check first” Samuel said “before we start taking care of issues. Where’s Allie?”

It couldn’t have been more than a minute later when a young girl, probably no older than eight or so, came over. She was pale, had grey eyes, and off all things, short grey hair. After a minute of looking her over, Alice noticed something else that just added to the growing list of odd things about these children. This young girl had a pair of grey fox ears peaking out of her hair, and not only that, she also had a grey fox tail.

“What?” she asked sharply “never seen a fox person before?”

Alice started to answer, but never got the chance.

“Considering where you came from, I don’t think you have” the girl said.

“Allie, be nice” Samuel said “there’s time for rudeness later, at the moment we need to know if these two are trustworthy.”

The little girl, Allie, looked at Alice carefully. “Trustworthy, yeah, and a bit clueless. She’s got the blood of the Wolf of Courage running through her veins, if she isn’t trustworthy I’d be worried. Though that doesn’t account for the cluelessness” she laughed “if only you knew of the things to come.”

Allie now turned her attention to the Doctor. “You’re a strange one” she said after a moment “and I have no idea why so many people have trusted you. People that barely knew you, they even died for you. Considering what you’ve done… but that’s all in the past isn’t it? All the losses, the deaths, all the pain, the sorrow” she winced suddenly and turned away “sorry about that… going a bit too far” she whispered “you’ve seen it though, seen her, the Baddest Wolf of them all.” She looked at the Doctor, expression full of sadness, and then turned back to the children. “We can trust him, he won’t try and kill us or anything. I think he’s lost too many to let any more go.”

And with that, the odd little child walked off.

“Alright,” Samuel said “enough crowding, go back to business as usual.” Obediently, the crowd of children all turned their attention to something else.

“Umm, Samuel” the Doctor said “can you explain to me exactly what’s with you and this group? You’re on the run, I gather that, but what for? Who from? And more importantly: why?”

“I’ll explain in a minute” Samuel replied “you need to know, for lack of better term, what we are first. So umm, yeah, I’ll do a bit of introductions.” He started leading them around the clearing and pointing out random people. “Over here we’ve got Erik and Karl, youngest of the wolf kids, and here’s Jeremy, another wolf kid, this is Mel, yet another wolf kid. Over here, there’s a few of the fox people, odd type, and that’s Juli” he pointed at the girl who had hugged him earlier “you already know that’s Allie” he said, gesturing at the other girl from earlier “she’s got some psychic abilities up her sleeve, that’s Arnold, and that’s Lenny” he gestured at a few young fox boys, then he moved on to another group of children “this is Mark and Matt, they’re elves” another group of children “Amy, Jeff, and Keith” he pointed first at a girl with wings, then a normal looking boy, and then a younger boy who also had wings “Fairy, wolf kid, and angel. Technically speaking though, he’s just a boy with wings.” He moved to the last group of kids, all of which were girls “and this is Kathryn, Kate, Rachel, and Samantha” he paused, then added “Kat and Kate are wolf kids, Rachel’s a fox, and Samantha’s a Storm Child.”

Samuel remembered something then, and asked loudly (probably to the entire group) “Anyone know where Stephanie is?”

A silence echoed through the camp as everyone stopped their small talk. No one seemed to want to answer his question. After a minute Juli came over and said quietly to Samuel “she died last week, remember?”

“Oh,” Samuel said “right… it’s just hard adjusting to the fact that she’s gone… she was one of the first”

“What happened to her?” the Doctor asked

“She was a Storm Child” Samuel replied, then noticed the confused look upon the Doctor’s face “gosh you are clueless,” Samuel sighed “you wonder why they’re only called Storm Children?” after receiving no response, he continued “it’s because they don’t usually make it out of childhood. Storm Children, well, they’ve got a lot of energy built up in them. They have the ability to control and create storms, and that’s a lot of power to have. They’ve got three different elements bound up inside them, lightning, water, and air. And sometimes… well… it just becomes too much for them to handle. Some storms have just too much energy, and that alone can kill a person”

“I’m sorry” the Doctor said

“Yeah” Samuel replied

There was a minute of silence as that thought settled.

“So uhh… back to my original question” the Doctor said

“Right, well, there’s been this organization thing after us for the past few years, trying to solve the ‘mystery’ behind us all. The entire, half wolf thing, or fox deal, or well, no idea why they would want the elves or fairies. They’re convinced that it’s not entirely magic and want to know what our secret is.”

“So you’re running to keep the secret?” Alice asked

“No” Samuel replied “there isn’t a secret to keep, we’re running so we don’t end up getting killed by them or something. But it’s getting harder to do now that they’ve finally got the cloning device working properly, or close to at least. Still can’t seem to mimic a heartbeat perfectly yet. But that’s good, that’s real good.”

“And, how exactly am I supposed to help?” the Doctor asked

Samuel shrugged. “I don’t know. Helping us reach the next safe zone would be alright, but stopping the organization would be better.” He laughed “fat chance that’s going to happen though!”

“Who knows, maybe I could talk some sense into them” the Doctor offered

“Yeah, maybe” Samuel said, but he didn’t seem to sure of it

It was sometime later, while they we are eating, when Alice started to feel comfortable and started making small talk. “So,” she asked one of the girls sitting next to her, it was Rachel if she remembered correctly, “where’s this safe zone I’ve heard about?”

“Just past the forest here and through maybe half a mile of desert. The forest is the entire reason why we picked up Mark and Matt in the first place. They insisted on staying with us and helping us through the forest at least. Personally, I think they’ve grown too attached to this group to leave anytime soon. Not like I’m complaining though, we could use all the help we can get.”

“I’ve noticed” Alice said “otherwise I probably wouldn’t be here.”

“Yeah. Um, I never bothered asking, and I don’t think Samuel mentioned, but, what’s your name?”

“Alice”

“Oh” Rachel made a face “terribly common name that is, ever since… well, ah you probably wouldn’t get it.”

Alice started to protest, and then laughed “no, I probably wouldn’t.”

“And who’s that guy? What’s his name?”

“He’s the Doctor”

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“That’d be a terrible name”

“I don’t even think it’s his real name. He just goes by it for some reason.”

Rachel laughed “I get it, it’s like people who have really stupid names, and so they come up with some cool nickname to go by. Maybe that’s what people consider cool where he comes from.”

“Maybe” Alice said “maybe…”

Their conversation was interrupted though, when a sudden shout went though the camp. “THEY FOUND US!!”

The camp suddenly turned into a mad rush of running children as everyone got ready to leave. Alice (and the Doctor, wherever he was at the time) had no idea what to do, and felt like she should be doing something. But of course, what she should be doing was a total mystery.

“You!” Rachel said, running back up to her “come with me, I’ve been put in charge of you”

“What for?”

“Don’t know, don’t care, and whatever Samuel says goes. Within reason of course, we wouldn’t just go jump off a cliff randomly because he said so. Now come on!” She ran off with that and Alice had no choice but to follow.

After a minute the Doctor had caught up to her, and he sent a glance Rachel’s way.

“You got one too?” he asked

“Apparently” she replied

“Oi!” a boy called, Jeff she thought he was called “less talking, more running. Thanks to you I can’t go wolf and I’m not going to let that slow us down. COME ON!!!”

It wasn’t long before the clearing behind them was showered with bullets.

After what seemed like ages the running finally stopped.

“Not far enough” Samuel said, addressing the entire group “we need to be on the move first thing in the morning. Get some sleep if you want it, but you’ll probably regret it if you don’t.” Samuel turned to the Doctor and Alice “if you two want sleep, no one’s stopping you, but you’ll have to manage on the ground. Though if you’d rather go back and see if you can follow them back home or at least knock some sense into them, be my guest.”

“I’d rather help getting you to the safe zone first” the Doctor said “especially if they’ve got guns.”

“Not even proper bullets, I don’t think” Samuel said “the most damage you’ll get if you get hit is just getting knocked out, they don’t want us dead. At least, I don’t think they do. They might have changed tactics recently, we’d never know”

“Exactly why I need you at the safe zone first”

Samuel looked the Doctor over. “You are one strange man” he said finally, before going off to probably get some sleep himself.

“Helping children that probably don’t even need help” Alice mused “he’s right, you are strange.”

“Yeah” the Doctor replied, sitting down on some random rock formation. Alice looked at him for a second before deciding to sit down next to him.

“You’ve lost too many haven’t you?” she asked quietly after a moment. He didn’t respond.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to” she told him

“It’s not just that” he said “but I feel like I shouldn’t be here, like that something’s going to go terribly wrong if I stay”

“We could always go, I’m sure they won’t miss us”

“No, they probably wouldn’t, but it just doesn’t seem fair to leave them here.”

“They’ve managed this long, I’m sure they can manage longer”

“But they’re suffering for no reason, they don’t have anything to hide, and it’s not like it’s their fault they were born half-wolf or whatever. It’s not right.”

“And apparently neither is staying here”

He didn’t say anything.

“Look,” Alice said “if you want to go, I’d come with. And not only because you’re my ride back home.” If I even want to go home, she added in her head.

“So you’re saying that whatever I do, you’re perfectly okay with it”

“As long it doesn’t involve jumping off a cliff, yeah, I think I am.”

He laughed, and soon enough Alice laughed too.

The next day was spent entirely on foot, and surprisingly no one complained. Not even the youngest few, which were somewhere between six and eight years old. Alice and the Doctor were nearly ignored, and neither of them was sure if that was good or bad. But it didn’t really matter, everyone seemed to be going along like it was a normal day, despite the fact that they had two strangers in their midst.

Alice did happen to pick up quite a bit on all of the people in this group very quickly after one day also. She noticed within the first hour, at most, that Samuel and Juli liked each other. She also noticed that Allie was usually left on her own. Not only that, but Amy and Keith seemed to have a brother/sister relationship and it was perfectly understandable. They were the only two with wings. These were only few of many random things she picked up.

“Have you noticed” the Doctor said as he walked over “the traits of the fox people? It seems that they’re incredibly different than wolf kids. Apparently, while having the ability to transform into a fox at will, they usually try and avoid doing so. And it seems that the ears and tails stay, even if they are in human form.”

“You seem to be feeling better” Alice noted

“Still a bit… off… but I think I’ve settled alright”

“So the,” she dropped her voice down to a whisper, “magic, isn’t bothering you?”

“I still don’t believe it’s magic”

Alice shook her head at that comment. “If you keep that up, I think we might be forced to leave.”

He started to say something, which probably led into some deep scientific explanation of why exactly he didn’t believe in magic, but Alice didn’t give him the chance. “Don’t even bother bringing science into this” she said “you can call it whatever you like, but I think that magic, plain and simple, does it for me.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Humans” he sighed

Alice smacked him. “Don’t you dare even think about calling me human!!” she said, threateningly “I don’t care how close a Hylian might be compared to a human, they’re definitely not the same!!”

“Sorry” he muttered

“You better be.”

They reached the edge of the forest finally, early the next day. “Alright, you two” Samuel said. Alice and the Doctor both looked up from what they were doing and looked over at him, only to realize he was talking to the two elves. “Are you staying with us?”

Matt and Mark looked at each other, seemed to exchange a silent thought or two, then turned back to Samuel. “Yeah sure” Matt said “we’ll stay.”

A small cheer went through the crowd of children, leaving Alice and the Doctor feeling as left out as ever.

“Right then” Samuel said “brace yourselves, we’ve got about half a mile of desert ahead of us until we reach the safe zone. And I sure hope I’m not going to lose any of you. Wolf kids; going wolf is strictly prohibited, unless I say otherwise or we’re attacked.”

A groan now bounced around out of the mouths of a few of the people. Apparently a few of the wolf kids didn’t like this idea so much. That all done and said, everyone set out into the desert that awaited them.

“So,” the Doctor asked Samuel later “where is this safe zone? It’s not in the middle of the desert is it?”

“Course not! It’s in the hills past the desert.”

“Oh. You sure that’s protected enough?”

“Yeah. It’s in the hills, past a desert, past a forest, past, I think, a lake. We were in that forest a while, I can’t exactly remember”

“Are you guys going to be the only ones there?” the Doctor asked after a moment

“We shouldn’t be, at least two more groups were at that safe zone last time I’d heard. I just wonder if that’s a good thing or not…” Samuel trailed off, getting lost in his own thoughts.

The Doctor left him alone and went to go find someone else to talk too.

“Here we are!” Samuel called at last when they reached the top of the hill. Down below them was a building, maybe two stories high, with a few windows and a door or two.

“Doesn’t seem too hidden” the Doctor mused

“Not to us, no” Samuel replied “but we’re meant to see it.”

The Doctor didn’t seem to sure about that though…

“What?” Alice asked, coming up behind him. In front of them, the group moved on.

“That awful feeling, it’s worse than before” the Doctor replied “I don’t like what’s going on here.”

“This place is probably covered in protection spells and stuff,” she told him “that’s most likely the reason why you aren’t getting a good feeling off of it. There’s probably more magic around here than anywhere else.”

“Can you tell for sure?”

“No, it’s all foreign to me… not to mention the fact that I’m most likely not as magic inclined as them. I bet I’ve only got half of what they’ve got, not even.”

The Doctor cast a glance at her, and then turned back to the building.

“We need to investigate this building.”

They followed after the group of children, hoping that this safe zone was as safe as it should be, despite all odd feelings.

Downhill travel went quickly, and they were inside the building within no time. It looked deserted, and it seemed a layer of dust coated everything. The Doctor ran a finger over a table, leaving a nice streak of dust-free wood where his finger had been.

“Something’s not right” he muttered, then called “Samuel!! Don’t let the kids get too comfortable… I have a feeling we might have to leave soon.”

“Why would we have to leave?” Juli asked

“Well, for starters, this building’s empty” the Doctor replied

“So, they’re probably looking for food or something” Samuel said

“All of them?”

“Well…”

The Doctor continued searching, trying to find what else wasn’t right. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s been here for ages…” he muttered

“I’ll look upstairs” Alice said, already heading that direction.

Upstairs wasn’t a pretty sight either. Windows were smashed, doors were taken off their hinges, and one door was even broken in half. There was a nasty dent in at least two of the walls, and the ceiling was caving in some places.

Alice bent down next to a hole in the floor and looked down. Right below her was the Doctor, examining other things. “Umm…” she said. He looked up and noticed what the problem seemed to be.

“Oh dear” he muttered

“What?” Samuel asked. The Doctor merely pointed up at the issue, and Samuel looked too.

“That can’t be good”

“Upstairs is terrible” Alice reported, jumping the last three steps “you’ve got broken windows and doors, dents in walls, not to mention the ceilings falling in. Also, it seems that some of the banister is missing.”

“It looks as if there was a fight…” the Doctor muttered, more of to himself than to anyone. He started looking at other things. Then, on a hunch, he turned around one of the chairs, to reveal a timer, counting down.

“Oh no” he whispered, then shouted loudly: “SAMUEL!!! We need to get everyone out. Now.”

“What for?” Samuel asked suspiciously, and then he noticed the bomb that the Doctor had uncovered. “EVERYONE!! OUT!! NOW!!!” he shouted, and in response everyone started out the doors and windows.

The Doctor was one of the last few out, and he was running out at top speed. He couldn’t have gotten much farther than a few yards when…

BOOM!!!!

The building exploded.

-another new episode!! I should be mean and wait a week to put it up though…-

                They all came out alright after the explosion. Everyone was a bit dazed, but no one had broken bones or anything. Most of them had been knocked back by the shock wave and were all recovering from that.

                The Doctor groaned and started to get up, only to realize that one of the fox girls had landed on him due to the force of the blow. She wasn’t terribly heavy, but just enough to keep him pinned.

                “You can get off now” he mumbled, starting to shove her off. She firmly stayed put.

                He took a second to try and figure out which one it was, then tried again. “Juli…”

                Her response was to shift her head so she had her ear pressed to the Doctor’s chest. “Two hearts” she whispered finally.

                “What?” the Doctor said, starting to panic

                “Two hearts” she repeated, louder, as she sat up. “Samuel!!” she called “he’s got two hearts!!!”

                “What?” Samuel’s voice came from off to the side.

                “No I don’t” the Doctor lied, sitting up.

                “Oh no, why didn’t I see this before?” Samuel asked himself

                “See what?” the Doctor asked, standing up now. He backed up a few paces.

                “Doctor, Time Lord, Gallifrey, all this, staring me right in the face…” Samuel was muttering.

                The Doctor had backed himself into a pile of rocks. Alice had come over and cast a glance at the Doctor.

                ‘Two hearts’ he mouthed simply

                “Jeremy!!” Samuel called “pulse check!!”

                “Oh” Alice replied

                “Got it!!” a kid, Jeremy, said

                The children had formed a crowd, apparently now very curious about what was going on. Jeremy was in front. Though something like this shouldn’t be scary, both the Doctor and Alice were as freaked as heck. Alice reached out and grabbed the Doctor’s hand, whether that was for her own comfort or for his was a mystery.

                “Leave him alone” she said, voice surprisingly calm even though she was incredibly nervous. She was standing slightly in front of him, as if to protect him.

                “Look, all I need to do is feel his pulse” Jeremy said “that’s it.”

                Alice didn’t move

                “Please” Jeremy said “this could mean life or death later”

                The Doctor squeezed Alice’s hand slightly, and she turned to look at him. Their eyes met, and although he said nothing she got his meaning, and backed up.

                Jeremy grabbed the Doctor’s wrist and felt for a pulse, his eyes widened instantly. “Yeah, two hearts” he said, and then smile slightly “and blimey, you’re panicky… never heard a heart beat so fast. Or hearts…” Jeremy mulled the thought over.

                “Hey Alice” Jeremy said “let go of his hand a second”

                Alice quickly dropped the Doctor’s hand. Jeremy made a face, as if he was thinking about something. “Go ahead and grab his hand again” he said after a moment

                Utterly confused, Alice slowly grabbed the Doctor’s hand again. Jeremy’s eyes lit up and he turned back to the group of children, flashing them a wry grin. Apparently they got his meaning, because a bunch of suppressed laughter and giggles went through the crowd.

                Jeremy walked off, work done. Alice and the Doctor looked at each other, and stopped holding hands.

                “Why didn’t you say something before?” Samuel asked the Doctor, as the crowd of children dwindled off to make sure everything was fine after the explosion.

                “Didn’t think I needed to” the Doctor replied “besides, things don’t usually end up going great when people find out.”

                “Well, it’s a good thing we found out before they did. If you were just plain Magical or even an Abnormal they would have let you alone, but as soon as they found out you had two hearts…”

                “Can I assume that wouldn’t be a good thing?” Alice asked

                “Yeah…” the Doctor replied, he turned back to Samuel, ”have I been putting you in danger the entire time I’ve been here?” he asked

                “No, we’ve been putting you in danger. Now come on, number one priority is getting you back to the TARDIS, if you stay here any longer… I would feel terrible if you were dissected or something because I didn’t tell you to go” Samuel shook his head and walked off.

                “Come on guys!!” Samuel called to the kids “we’re heading back to the forest.”

                “Hang on…” Alice said, looking at the Doctor “I don’t remember you mentioning the TARDIS by name.”

                The Doctor looked at her, a bit shocked “I don’t think I did”

                “Then how did he know?”

                The Doctor merely shrugged, and looked at the group of children that seemed to be waiting for them. “I don’t know, but I guess that’s the least of our worries at the moment, we need to get back the TARDIS and I don’t think we’d manage by ourselves.”

                “You sure about that?”

                “Well, I’m not going to turn down their offer to help. Come on,” the Doctor headed off, following the group of kids as they made their way back through the hills.

                “Samuel, can I ask you something?” the Doctor said, sitting down next to the boy. They had stopped and made camp recently.

                “You already did,” Samuel replied “but I suppose you can ask me something else.”

                “You said that the people that were chasing you didn’t want you dead” the Doctor said, ignoring Samuel’s comment, “so why did they plan an explosion?”

                “I told you, things have changed recently. It’s entirely possible that they do want us dead now. But whatever’s going on, I don’t know and don’t care about it. All that matters is getting you back home.”

                “Why do I matter so much?”

                “Hmm… let me see” Samuel replied with a slight edge in his voice “a bottle of your blood could change the future of the human race, your brain is about twice the size of a human’s, you’ve got two hearts, you’re alien, you’ve got a machine that can travel through time, do I need to go on?”

                “How do know all this?” the Doctor asked

                Samuel sighed. “Trust me Doctor, you don’t want to know.”

                “Have I met you before, like in my future, your past or something?”

                “First time I’ve seen you in my entire life”

                “Then how do you know all this?”

                “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you!”

                “If you know so much about me, then you’d probably know that I would”

                “I doubt it, besides, there are other reasons I’m not saying anything”

                “What reasons?”

                “The same ones that justify why you haven’t been to earth a lot since you’ve ran into Alice, and why you’ve avoided the game room in the TARDIS.”

                The Doctor said nothing. He was left speechless.

                “Exactly” Samuel said, standing up and walking away

I’m bored and need to write something to get rid of the writer’s block. KH/DW crossover it is!!

                “Where are we headed this time?” Alice asked

                “Small town, nice and quiet, should give us a nice break” the Doctor replied, flipping switches on the TARDIS console.

                “Maybe we’ll even get to do some sightseeing!!” Alice said, though there was a bit of sarcasm in that statement.

                “That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

                Satisfied that they had landed properly, the Doctor ran to the doors and stepped out, though he wasn’t too happy with the sight that greeted him. He stopped dead in his tracks, realizing that a bunch of little creatures had appeared.

                “Alice” he called back into the TARDIS “we have a slight problem”

                “I knew it!!” she replied “I never get a day of peace!!”

                It was then that the Doctor realized that he hadn’t been the one who had caused the appearance of the creatures; in fact, they seemed to be completely ignoring him. All the creatures were focused on attacking this one kid, who seemed to be killing them with ease.

                “He’s good” Alice said from next to him, and it was impossible to miss the pleasure in her voice.

                “You would like a kill fest wouldn’t you?” the Doctor replied, turning to look at her.

                “Sorry, it’s in my blood, can’t help it!!” she replied, shutting the door of the TARDIS

                “Haven’t heard that excuse before”

                “I’m coming up with new ones, considering you ask that question a lot.”

                “I do not!”

                “Maybe not in the exact words, but the meaning is still there!”

                The Doctor frowned at her. “Whatever” he said “let’s stop bickering and start, I don’t know, doing something.”

                “Like what? Saving the world!? It seems that kid’s got it under control” Alice nodded in the direction of said kid (who is Sora, if you haven’t already guessed). He had gotten rid of all the creatures in the time it had taken them to have that conversation. He turned around and noticed them, causing Alice to groan.

                “Great, now he’s noticed us!! We should have left sooner!!!” she said

                “Too late now, come on” the Doctor replied, walking over to the kid.

                “Who are you?” the kid asked

                “I’m the Doctor, and this is Alice” the Doctor said. Alice waved.

                “I’m Sora” the kid said

                “Nice to meet you! We were just, passing through, need to be on our way. We’ll head off now, won’t keep y-”

                “Watch out!” Sora cried suddenly. He attacked a creature that had been sneaking up on them and disposed of it quickly.

                “What was that?” the Doctor asked

                “That,” Sora said “was a Heartless”

                Alice had her eyes on the weapon Sora was using. He caught her glance and lifted his weapon up, so she could get a better look at it.

                “Keyblade” Sora said simply, before she could even ask.

                “That just sounds cool”

                “So, what are you two doing here in Traverse Town?” Sora asked

                “Just passing through,” the Doctor said, but Alice interrupted him before he could get any farther.

                “He promised me a library” Alice said “largest library in the universe, but no! He sees trouble and is all like: ‘hey let’s go poke it with a stick’”

                “I do not!!”

                “Tell someone who will actually believe you”

                Sora laughed. “You visit other worlds often?”

                “Yeah”

                “That must be a lot of fun. Though, I’m not complaining. I’ve seen quite a few worlds lately also” Sora said “I’m trying to find my friends.”

                “I hope you find them” Alice said

                “Yeah, we better get going” the Doctor said “might cause trouble if we stay here too long.”

                “And he’ll be the one to cause it” Alice added, causing Sora to laugh again.

                “Well, I’m not keeping you” Sora said

                “Tell you what,” Alice said as the Doctor headed back to the TARDIS “if we ever run into your friends, we’ll let them know you’re looking for them. Might even give them a ride here.”

                “Thanks!”

                Alice walked off back to the TARDIS, but just before going in turned back to Sora. “Hey Sora!!” she called “you’ll want to see this!!”

                Sora watched in amazement as the TARDIS disappeared. Donald and Goofy came up behind him.

                “What was that?” Donald asked

                “I don’t know” Sora lied, not taking his eyes on the spot the TARDIS had been.

                “Well we can’t just stand here all day” Goofy said “we’ve got things to do”

                “Yeah, I know” Sora said

That was fun!! Let’s try actually writing now…

                “Needless to say” one of the fox boys said “but they’ve found us”

                “Thanks Lenny” the Doctor said, looking out at the totally unfair amount of armed soldiers that stood in the desert, backed by possibly a tank or two. Samuel cracked his knuckles, Juli glared at them. Alice grimaced, and Samantha looked at them with a look in her eyes that no eight year old should have.

                Samantha looked over at Samuel, who turned to look at her. He bit his lip, looked back out at the approaching army, and then at Samantha. Slowly, he nodded.

                “Get back” Samuel called, pushing everyone except Samantha behind him. He backed up a few paces also.

                Samantha closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Storm clouds roiled in the distance, and a fierce wind picked up, blowing sand everywhere.

                “What’s she doing?” the Doctor asked

                “Time to see a Storm Child in action” was Samuel’s response.

 The Doctor looked down at him in shock. “You can’t let her do that! She’s only a kid!!”

Samuel shook his head.

The winds had gotten stronger, and more storm clouds had appeared. Rain began falling, but not a single drop affected Samantha. She was the only one at the moment unaffected by the elements.

The soldiers had stopped their advance, and covered their eyes.

Lightning was forming now, and the storm clouds grew ever darker. The rain was pouring harder now, soaking the soldiers. The crowd behind Samantha was getting wet, but not enough to be considered soaked. Samantha was the only one that remained dry.

A lightning bolt struck out, but never hit its mark, for Samantha knocked it away. A torrent of lightning bolts then lashed out, on her command, at hit a drastic amount of the soldiers, probably killing all that were caught in the blast.

Everyone watched, some in awe, some in horror. More lightning was thrown out, getting rid of even more of the soldiers. Everything seemed to be going perfectly (despite the Doctor’s horror) but then it all started going wrong.

The wind started picking up way more than needed, and Samantha was starting to get wet. The lightning seemed to be striking freely. Samantha’s eyes flew open, a look of horror on her face. “RUN!!” she shouted, and the crowd behind her scattered.

“What happened?” Alice asked, once everyone had reached safety. Everyone was unsettled, and quite a few seemed close to tears. Rachel just shook her head, and Alice knew. She closed her eyes.

“Too much” she said quietly to the Doctor, who she knew was going to ask. “It was too much for her to handle. She burnt herself out.”

“Do you mean she’s…?”

Alice nodded solemnly.

“She died” the Doctor said quietly “she died, to save my life”

“She did more than that” Samuel said “she saved all of our lives. We would have been slaughtered if it wasn’t for her!! She’s hopefully gotten rid of all of that army, maybe leaving a few to come find us.”

“I wasn’t complaining!” the Doctor said tersely “it’s just a bit shocking”

“Yeah, well we better get moving, or all this will be wasted when they call up reinforcements before we actually get anywhere. I know we’re all shocked, moved, sad, or whatever about our loss, but sitting here mourning will do us no good. Let’s not let dear Samantha’s death go in vain.” This last part was directed at everyone.

So it became a unanimous decision to keep moving forward, despite what losses would occur. And so the small group of ragtag kids and two adults trudged deeper into the forest, hoping that they weren’t being followed.

“Mark, Matt, go see if you can find what we’re looking for. You two know this forest better than anyone else” Samuel said.

The two elves nodded, saluted, and were off.

“Hey Alice!!” someone called, and then two girls ran up behind her.

Alice did her best to remember who they were, but pegged them down as Amy and Kate pretty quickly. Amy’s wings were kind of a dead giveaway though.

“Yeah?” Alice asked

“Well,” Amy said “we were wondering”

“That’s a lot of w’s” Kate interrupted

“Shut up,” Amy spat, glaring daggers in Kate’s direction, “why you decided to start traveling with the Doctor.”

“That’s a random question” Alice said, and took a moment to consider it. She had thought about this quite a bit herself during her travels, and had come up with a suitable explanation for herself, but now that she was about to tell that explanation to someone else she was thinking twice about it. “I don’t know” she said finally, even though that was a pretty lame explanation.

Then she noticed the look on Amy’s face, which had gone from happy and curious, to slightly sad and downtrodden. “It’s kind of complicated, why do you want to know?” Alice added, while internally smacking herself for taking this conversation any farther.

“Just wondering” Kate said

“Well, I guess, it was because… well…” Alice bit her tongue, like she did when she really started concentrating “I wanted something different in my life. I was sick and tired of being the princess of Hyrule.”

Amy and Kate exchanged shocked looks upon hearing this, causing Alice to groan.

“Yeah, I’m the princess, get over it”

“I would never have thought” Amy said

“Does this have anything to do with why you wanted to travel with the Doctor?” Kate asked.

“Well, I guess, kind of, yeah…” Alice sighed “he saw me for who I really was, and not just as the princess, like nearly everyone else. Even when he found out I was the princess, he still treated me like I was Alice. Kindest thing anyone’s ever done for me. I guess that might have been the reason why…”

“And what do you think of him?” Amy asked “I mean, considering his past and all.”

“He’s nice” Alice replied “really nice. He’s like a hero, just not the way you would usually think of one. He’s also really funny, and…” she paused, and then turned slowly to look at Jeremy, who had randomly shown up and was now currently feeling her pulse.

“What the heck are you doing?” she asked him

“Uhh… nothing…” Jeremy said quickly, letting go of her wrist. He looked at Amy and Kate and grinned. Kate smiled back, and Amy giggled a bit, and then the three of them just walked off, leaving Alice as confused as ever.

(oh, so we’re starting a new scene… whoops)

“Not again!!” someone cried. This cry was ignored though, because it just happened to be young Arnold screaming because he lost another game to Lenny. Lenny laughed insanely and shuffled the cards and started dealing them out again.

“I am so bored” Alice muttered

“Then do something” the Doctor told her absent-mindedly as he fiddled with some odd device. He adjusted a few things with the sonic screwdriver and the device sparked a bit. He pulled back his hand and blew on the device.

“Like what?” she asked, eying the device with a worried expression.

“I don’t know”

She let out an exasperated sigh. The boredom was killing her. And she was starting worry, because this felt like the calm before the storm. Which meant something was coming. Something big.

Bang!

And there it was.

Everyone paused in the middle of what they were doing and looked around. It took a minute for whatever it was to come into sight. It turned out to be a few soldiers that had survived Samantha’s attack.

There was a moment of silence before all, umm, heck broke loose. The soldiers were skilled in hand to hand combat, and thankfully hadn’t pulled out the guns yet. The camp broke out in flying fists and magic, leaving Alice and the Doctor out of the loop.

Most of the wolf kids had gone wolf, and were attacking in that form. The foxes were resorting to punching, kicking, and the occasional spell shooting. Lenny though, was using the playing cards as weapons and seemed to be doing a lot of damage. Amy was doing a lot of odd fairy things, ranging from kicking people in the face to shooting random bolts of multicolored magic at people. Keith was also one for kicking people in the face, and his wings gave him a good advantage.

“What are we supposed to do?” Alice asked a nearby person. Said person happened to be Rachel.

“I don’t know!” Rachel called, taking out one of the soldiers “do you have any combat skills?”

“Only with a sword” Alice replied

 “Well then, you can think of something” Rachel was caught up in the battle again.

Alice glanced over at the Doctor, who was still tinkering with his device. “Is that going to do us any good?”

“Don’t know” he replied.

“You’re no help”

It was then that a gun was pointed to the Doctor’s head. He immediately stopped what he was doing and said very calmly: “There’s no need for that.” He turned slowly to the person holding the gun. “Just put the gun down, you don’t have to kill anyone.”

The Doctor turned to Alice, smiled, and then looked back at the soldier with the gun. He pushed himself to his feet and looked the soldier in the eye. “Listen, I’m the one you want”

“DON’T!” Alice screamed, getting the attention of quite a few people.

“Call off your troops” the Doctor said “and I’ll-“

He never did finish that sentence, because Samuel ran over and punched him in the face. “Sorry Doctor, you aren’t going to be the hero today” Samuel said, then turned and punched the soldier even harder in the face and began attacking.

                “What was that for!?” the Doctor asked

                “There just clones” Samuel said “they won’t listen to reason, and even if they did, I’m not letting you go off and try to save everyone. Everyone here is my responsibility, not yours. You can take care of yourself and make it a heck of a lot easier for me, or you can be an idiot and get punched in the face each time. Your choice.”

                Samuel didn’t give anyone a chance to say anything though, he transformed into a wolf and ran off to take care of more of the soldiers.

                “He’s insane!” the Doctor shouted, rubbing where Samuel had punched him.

                “He just saved your life” Alice said

                “By punching me!!”

                “It worked didn’t it?”

                There was a silence that passed between the two of them, and it also seemed to echo throughout the rest of the camp. The fighting had stopped, and at the moment everyone seemed to be inspecting damage.

                “We lose anyone?” Samuel asked

                “I can’t find Amy” someone said

                “Mark went down on our way back” Matt said, causing everyone to realize that he had shown up.

                “Everyone else still here?” Samuel called

                “Yeah” came the nearly unanimous cry.

                “Right” Samuel turned to Matt “Matt, did you find it?”

                Matt nodded

                “Then we should get going” Samuel said

                “We need to be careful” Allie said “there are more coming. Tons of them. We must hurry and leave this place, or we shall be slaughtered.”

                “Noted” Samuel muttered. And then everyone began trudging off deeper into the forest in search of the TARDIS. Of course, their travel didn’t last all that long, because as soon as they reached another clearing of the forest they were surrounded by more of the soldiers.

                “This is ridiculous!!”

                “We’ll get slaughtered!!”

                Despite cries that they were never going to make it, the children wearily hopped into battle.

                “I hate not doing anything!!” Alice said

                “You’re not the only one” the Doctor told her “though, I’m not so big on fighting...”

                “You didn’t complain back in Hyrule”

                “Those were dark creatures, you don’t have to feel guilty about killing them, they just come back to life eventually. Even if these soldiers are clones, they’re still technically people.”

                Their conversation was cut off, as young Arnold was thrown into a tree right in front of them. They both winced, but he was on his feet and back into the fray in no time. It didn’t last long though, Arnold was thrown into the tree again, and didn’t get back up this time.

                Over at another part of the fight…

                “Samuel!! I don’t think we’re going to make it, there are too many of them!” Juli said

                “I’d rather go down in a fight than surrender!” he called back

                The moment was short-lived though, because suddenly all the soldiers froze. Mid-movement, mid-battle, mid-air even, they all froze.

                “Okay, I’m officially confused” Juli said

                Then two figures appeared in the middle of it all, and everyone that could still move instantly formed a crowd.

                “Hi!” the older of the two said with a grin, “my name’s Dairine Richten, and this is Star” she pointed at her collogue, “and we’re here to save your lives.”

                “Dairine,” Star said, looking at a watch that hadn’t been on her wrist a minute ago “hurry up with the explanation. The time freeze won’t last us forever, and there’s still that other thing that needs to be taken care of.”

                “I don’t see what needs to be explained, except that we have to accept the fact that there’s no running away from this fight” Dairine said with a yawn “so you either have the option of sitting back and letting some professionals take care of this or fight for yourselves with our help. Any objections?”

                Everyone shook their heads.

                “Right now, time freeze ending in 3… 2… and a 1”

                The soldiers started moving again, some of them falling from their original positions and landing on the ground with a thud! Others took a moment to look around, confused, realizing that their targets had moved.

                “Everyone, stick together!!” Dairine called over the roar of the spell she was forming “It’s alright to split up in other battle situations, but not when you’re outnumbered by this much!!” She let the spell go, and a wave of magic spread out and knocked the soldiers back.

                “CHARGE!!” Star cried, and everyone went into the fray.

                “Again, with the doing nothing” Alice muttered

                The Doctor shrugged. “This isn’t really my department, I think something bad would happen if I did try and do something.”

                “Meh”

                They watched the fight with mild interest.

                “Can we just go?” Alice asked

                “Don’t know where the TARDIS is, remember”

                “Have you ever lost it before?”

                “Well… no…”

                “Then shouldn’t we be able to find it?”

                He said nothing.

                “You want to help don’t you?” She turned to look at him, only to realize that he wasn’t there. “Doctor? Where’d you go?”

                “You alright?” the Doctor asked, looking at the girl. If he remembered correctly, her name was Star. She was clutching her side, as if in pain.

                “Don’t touch me” she hissed

                “I can help”

                “No, you can’t”

                “Listen, I’m a doctor”

                “Doesn’t matter, you won’t be able to help” she said, teeth clenched. “Now get away from me, I can’t hold it in much longer.”

                “Hold what in?”

                “GET BACK!!” Star shouted

                “Okay, okay” the Doctor muttered, and backed up a few paces. She glared at him, and he backed up even more.

                The girl exploded with energy, knocking the Doctor back a few feet from the blast. It looked about as violent his regeneration was between his tenth and eleventh incarnation, except regeneration wasn’t involved.

                “GET DOWN!!” Dairine cried, about a fight away. Everyone who had the smarts to listen did, and the wave of energy spared them. The soldiers though, not so much. Everyone except Dairine and the Doctor were cheering, considering all the soldiers were dead or at least down for the count.

                “STAR, GOSH DARNIT!!” Dairine yelled “I thought you had you had stopped doing that!!”

                “So did I” Star groaned

                “She alright?” the Doctor asked

                “I think so” Dairine replied, kneeling down next to her friend. She propped Star up in a sitting position.

                “On the bright side, all the soldiers are dead” Star said

                “Yeah, that is good. Can you stand?”

                “Can you get back to me on that?”

                Dairine smiled and stood up, looking at the Doctor. Alice had wandered over, along with Samuel and a few of the other kids who weren’t busy doing something else.

                “Okay,” Dairine said, looking at all of them. “I would like to know who all of you are. You must be pretty important if we were called here.”

                “I’m Samuel”

                “Doesn’t ring a bell, sorry. Now you,” Dairine poked the Doctor, “you’re different. What’s your name?”

                “I’m the Doctor” the Doctor said, holding out his hand for Dairine to shake.

                Dairine’s jaw dropped. “No way…” she said.

                Star, who was back on her feet, laughed. “I can see why you had a crush on him” she said, punching her friend in the shoulder.

                “I did not!” Dairine said quickly

                “Mmhmm” Star said, not believing her one bit.

                “Have we met?” the Doctor asked

                “No” Dairine said, looking the Doctor over. “What incarnation are you on?”

                “My last…” the Doctor replied slowly.

                “Really now” Dairine squinted. “I guess that explains why I didn’t recognize you… but… I don’t know, there’s something… telling me… that I should know you…” her eyes widened a bit with worry, and then she turned to Alice and all worry fell from her face. “You’re Alice” she said.

                “How did you know that?” Alice asked

                Dairine just laughed. “I knew you back when… oh wait,” her smile fell, “that’s your future. Sorry… I hate prequels. Anyways, it’s great to meet you. Brilliant in fact” she laughed.

                “I have to ask, mainly because I get extremely curious, but what happened to Star a minute ago?” the Doctor said

                “Energy burst” Star replied. A bit of recognition, interest, and sympathy flashed through Samuel’s eyes. “My body tends to produce too much energy at once. The energy’s got to go somewhere eventually, and without a proper output that has something to receive the energy on the other side, it just kind of explodes out of me.”

                “I still don’t know why it happened, I could have sworn we fixed that” Dairine muttered.

                “You’ve still got the key” Star told her.

                “Sorry!!” Dairine fished a bluish key on a string out of her pocket and handed it to Star. Star took the key and hung it around her neck.

                “When you say energy, you mean magic don’t you?” the Doctor asked

                “Course I do” Star replied. The Doctor grimaced.

                “He doesn’t believe in magic” Alice informed them.

                Dairine gasped. “I would never have thought!! You, Doctor, of all people! Not believing in magic!!” she shook her head sadly. “I can’t believe it. You just weigh out to be an Abnormal! I’m ashamed!!”

                “There isn’t such thing as magic!” the Doctor said firmly

                “No, Doctor, there isn’t” Dairine said “but only because you don’t believe it. Though, why you don’t is a good question. What about the Carrionites? They used ‘witchcraft’ didn’t they?”

                “That was linguistic science”

                “No, that was linguistic magic. Very reliable actually, words are powerful things. Besides, isn’t regeneration, I don’t know, magical, in a sense? Changing your face, behavior, becoming a new man?”

                “Now that’s different!”

                “No, I don’t think it is. Sorry Doctor, but I’ve got you out smarted, and I could go on for days discussing this.” Dairine glanced at a pocket watch. “Of course, I can’t though, because we’ve got something else to do. Come on Star!”

                The two of them disappeared, leaving everyone else there totally confused.

                “I liked her,” Alice said after a moment “she was funny.”

                “Yeah, whatever” the Doctor muttered “let’s just go back to the TARDIS.”

                “I still don’t think it’s right!!” the Doctor said for like the millionth time.

                “We’ll be fine” Samuel assured him, again. “We’ve managed like this for years, we don’t need you to save the day.”

                “I just wish I could do something to help”

                “We don’t need your help. In fact, I don’t think that there’s anything you can do to help. We’re fine!!”

                Alice, who was standing right next to the Doctor, suddenly grinned. “What?” he asked, turning to look at her.

                “You don’t feel it?” she replied. The Doctor frowned, waited a second, and then grinned also.

                “Samuel, I think I can help” he said.

                I’m surprised to find you here, little one, a voice at the back of Alice’s head said.

                Hey Shyfire!! Alice called back you think you can land near us? I think the Doctor’s got something to ask you.

                Oh dear, I should be worried, shouldn’t I?

                Within a minute or two, the dragon had landed nearby. Samuel and the rest of the kids seemed pretty shocked at first, but everyone calmed down quickly.

                “Hello Shyfire!” Alice said, reaching up and patting the dragon on the nose.

                “Hello, little one” Shyfire replied

                “I thought you said it was all telepathic”

                “Back there it was, I am back home now, it doesn’t need to be. Now, what did the Doctor want?”

                “Well,” the Doctor said “I was wondering if you could look after these kids…”

                “They’re not yours are they?” Shyfire asked

                “NO!!” the Doctor and Alice both shouted at the same time.

                “Just teasing, of course they aren’t. I would have been able to tell. Any particular reason why?”

                “Umm, hi” Samuel said “I’m Samuel, leader of the group, I guess. We’ve got an evil organization hunting us. I’m assuming that the Doctor is asking you to uhh… protect us.”

                Shyfire smiled. “Sounds like fun” she said, a glint in her eye.

                “That was an easy fix” the Doctor told Alice later when they were in the TARDIS. “A bunch of stubborn kids who didn’t want help, and what did we do? Threw a dragon in their midst and solved the problem like that!” He snapped his fingers to emphasize the ‘that’.

Alice took a sip of her hot chocolate and leaned back in the chair. “You don’t have this much luck often do you?”

                “Not with stubborn people”

                Alice yawned. “Is it just me, or are you really tired for some reason?”

                “Yeah, actually, I am” the Doctor said, yawning also.

                “I’m gonna go to bed then” Alice said, standing up and putting the hot chocolate aside. “Night Doctor!”

                “Night Alice.”

-Of the Mind (this could get interesting)

                She was in the library, reading peacefully, when the laughter of two little kids interrupted her reading. She looked up, only to find her daughter, Princess Zelda, and the young Sheikah boy, Sheik, playing. She smiled at them.

                “Are you two having fun?” she asked

                Her daughter nodded, still laughing, but Sheik stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. Zelda laughed and nudged him.

                “It’s fine!” she giggled, “my mom doesn’t care.”

                Sheik only nodded, but didn’t say anything.

                “Run along now” the Queen said “you don’t need to be playing in the library.”

                Zelda giggled, and then dragged Sheik off.

                At the back of the Queen’s mind, an odd sense of déjà vu nagged at her. She dismissed it and attempted to get back to her reading.

                But Alice just couldn’t. There was something that felt off about the entire situation.

                But what? she asked herself.

                Hyrule was in its golden age, no problems, no worries, a piece of cake to run. Being the Queen was easy. There hadn’t been any sights of evil in quite a few years either. It was perfect.

                But maybe that was what was bothering her.

                Don’t be silly, she told herself, everything is fine.

                But part of her didn’t want to believe that. The Alice in her didn’t believe that. She wanted to know what was wrong and was determined to find it out, and find it out soon.

                “Alice!!” the Doctor called again. He was at the window of the room she had gotten herself trapped in, and apparently they were sound proof or something, because Alice wasn’t responding. That was probably because of the device she was hooked up to, though.

                Annoyed, and extremely angry, he banged his fist on the wall.

                “Alice!!” he called again. “What you’re seeing isn’t true!! It’s virtual!! They’re just messing with your mind!!!”

                He groaned, noticing that she hadn’t heard him. The walls were too thick. But he couldn’t get in. The door was locked, and he had lost his sonic screwdriver a while ago. Not only that, but the locks were lock-pick proof.

                “Alice!!” he called again. This would be his last chance to get a response. The day shift would begin any minute and if he didn’t get back to where he was supposed to be he would be in huge trouble.

                “Please Alice!! Listen to me!”

                Again, he got no response. The Doctor let out a long, exasperated sigh and started to leave. His eyes lingered on Alice’s unconscious body for a second.

                “I promise you Alice,” he said, even though she couldn’t hear him. “I’ll find that key today and get you out of there.”

                He left, and not a moment too soon. As soon as he left the area the bell signaling the beginning of the day shift started to ring.

                “Uhh… excuse me,” the Doctor said, approaching a desk. “Are you the person in charge of the virtual prison cells?”

                The women behind the desk nodded. “What do you need?” she asked

                “The key to cell 766,” the Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and showed it to her. “I’m the prison inspector, and I seem to have lost my key.”

                “The prison inspector? Weren’t you here yesterday?”

                “Oh, yeah, I was,” the Doctor laughed and put his psychic paper away. “But this is quite a large prison, and it takes a while to do a thorough inspection.”

                The woman smiled behind the desk. “All the other inspectors do seem to miss a lot.” She handed the Doctor the key. “Here you go, sir”

                “Thanks” the Doctor said, taking the key and sticking it in his pocket.

                “Let me know if you find anything wrong!” the woman called as he walked off.

                The Doctor smiled to himself, partially ad how easy that was. Now all he had to do was wait until a quieter time of day to get Alice out and leave this blasted place.

                She was having an odd dream. In that dream there was a man, and he had a strange blue box. They had landed on a planet, which the man described as an inter-galactic prison.

                She had asked him why exactly they were there, but the man merely shrugged and gestured at the box, saying they had been pulled in. Sure that the odd blue box had a good reason for bringing them here, the two began to investigate.

                It wasn’t all that long before guards had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. They grabbed her by the arms and dragged her off, leaving the man shouting at them, calling her name…

                Alice woke up and blinked wearily at the book she had been reading. Slightly embarrassed that he had fallen asleep in the library, she got up and put the back where it belonged.

                Odd dream, she thought, trying her best to recall it. But it had slipped away. She shook her head, deciding that all this reading had gotten to her.

                She glanced out the library’s ridiculously large windows and noticed that the sun had just begun to rise. She had been asleep here all night. She sighed and headed off to do something Queen-like.

                She considered breakfast, but she wasn’t hungry. It was also frowned upon for the queen to go out riding, so that was out of the question.

                There’s nothing to do! She thought ruefully, and that nagging little voice at the back of her head started its argument about there something being wrong again. She ignored it, but then instantly felt bad for doing so.

                “Your Highness” one of the servants said

                “Yeah?” she asked, turning to look at him.

                “Sorry to inform you, but today’s that day again.”

                She sighed, knowing what day he was talking about. It was the day all the people came to her with their problems. Though, it was getting better these past few years. People had started having less and less problems. Not like she was complaining, it meant less work for her.

                And that’s a problem, the voice in the back of her head said.

                “Pardon my asking” the Doctor said, walking over to the supervisor of a project in the virtual cells area. “What are they working on in there?” He showed the psychic paper to the supervisor.

                “A new holding cell” the supervisor replied, “some of the prisoners have strong minds, and are requiring more to hold them. This new prototype should solve that problem. I’m nearly positive it even has enough strength to hold a Time Lord.”

                The Doctor hid the look of surprise that crossed his face. There was something about the way the supervisor had said that that had given him the chills. It was almost like he knew…

                The sooner I’m out of here, the better, the Doctor decided. He headed off to go find Alice.

                He reached cell 766 quickly and opened it with the key. He rushed in and checked the status of the machine Alice was hooked up to. The results made him grimace. If he were to turn it off her brains would be fried. The only way to get her out was to wake her up.

                Frustrated, but only slightly, he began talking to her.

                She had finished quickly, and now had nothing to do. Bored out of her mind she began wandering the Castle corridors aimlessly.

                This isn’t right, the voice in the back of her head told her, mother never had any down time.

                I guess I'm just lucky, she thought back, annoyed.

                Then, out of nowhere, came a voice.

                “Alice” it whispered

                She turned around, only to find no one there.

                “Alice,” it said again, louder this time. “Listen to me!” The tone in the voice was urgent.

                “Who are you?” she asked to thin air, receiving no response. But she didn’t need a response. Something else, deep down inside of her, knew that voice. And it was crying out for joy.

                In the blink of an eye, the Queen was gone and Alice had returned. “Doctor!” she cried gleefully.

                “Alice, listen, the world you are in isn’t real!!” the Doctor said, his voice coming out of nowhere. “It’s just virtual reality. Whatever you’re seeing isn’t real!! It’s fake!”

                At this point, the Doctor was beginning to think that this was useless. But then Alice slowly mouthed the words:

                “I knew it”

                He broke into a grin. “That’s my Alice!” he said “All you have to do is wake up and we can get out of here!”

                There was a moment of complete silence as the Doctor waited. The machinery that was attached to her skin fell away and the straps holding her down released. The Doctor grinned and hugged her.

                “What happened?” she asked, a bit groggily.

                “I’ll explain later” the Doctor said, “right now, we have to get the heck out of here!”

                They ran to the door

                “Uh oh!” Alice said, “people!”

                They darted into a nearest to room to hide and waited for them to pass. As soon as they did Alice couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

                Something made a noise behind them. Alice and the Doctor looked at each other, eyes wide, and then slowly turned around. Standing there was the team that had been working on the new virtual cell prototype.

                “Yes! Now we can test it” one of them said, the happiness in his voice scary.

                The Doctor quickly tried to open the door, but it had locked itself.

                “We’re stuck” he whispered

                “What about your sonic screwdriver?” Alice asked

                “Lost it”

                “What do you mean you lost it?”

                The Doctor didn’t have time to respond. Two of the workers had grabbed him by the arms and started dragging him over to the chair that was the heart of the machine.

                Alice screamed. “LEAVE HIM ALONE!!”

                But it was too late. The Doctor had already been restrained and hooked up to the machine.

                Alice, who was extremely mad, shoved all the workers out the door. It locked automatically. On the bright side, the workers had probably no way of getting in. But that also meant that she was trapped in here.

                “What do we do?” one of the workers asked

                “Leave her” another said “she’d die sooner than leave him.”

                And so they left.

                Alice rushed over to the Doctor and started trying to wake him up. She tried fruitlessly for what could have been hours. Finally, close to tears, she whispered in his ear: “if you won’t wake up, at least tell me what you’re seeing.”

                “Alice,” the Doctor replied wistfully, “you should see it. It’s beautiful…”

                “What is?” she asked, glad she was getting a response from him.

                “Home” he croaked

                “But I thought it was destroyed…”

                “Not this time. No one’s dead. No one’s gone. Everything’s fine”

                “Who’s there?” Alice asked. She instantly wished she hadn’t though. But she couldn’t stand the silence any longer.

                “Everyone, everyone I ever lost!”

                “Even the Time Lords?”

                “Yes. Even the Time Lords”

                “But that’s not right!” Alice said angrily. “What about the war!? I thought if they came back so did it!”

                “But we won the war”

                Alice bit back tears. It broke her heart to see the Doctor so happy over something that wasn’t real. “It isn’t right though!” she told him.

                “Why? What’s wrong with a world without pain? Without loss?” He sounded angry now, as if he couldn’t believe that Alice was being such a jerk. Couldn’t believe she would destroy his hopes so easily.

                “But isn’t that what life is!?” she asked

                “Then life isn’t worth living!!”

                Alice was both angry and slightly heartbroken. “So it isn’t worth me?” she asked. The Doctor didn’t respond.

                Alice sighed and tried to calm herself down. “You know what comes with pain and loss? Love, and isn’t that worth it?”

                The Doctor didn’t respond again, causing Alice to believe he was ignoring her.

                “Please Doctor,” she whispered, looking at him sadly. “Answer me.”

                He’s never going to wake up, she realized, it would take a HUGE shock to wake anyone up from that…

                Suddenly an idea popped into her head. It was fool-proof too, and as big of a shock she could managed. She let out a breath and then hesitantly, very hesitantly, leaned over to kiss him…

                The two of them blundered into the console room about the same time, and said simultaneously: “I just had the oddest dream.”

                They both exchanged looks of shock before continuing to say things at the same time, such as: “Really?” “What did you dream about?” “You go first” “No, you!”

                After a while, Alice took a deep breath and said: “Well, I dreamed that we had gone to this prison planet thing and-”

                “You were dragged off…” the Doctor finished for her.

                “Yeah…” Alice replied slowly. “And there were those virtual cell things…”

                “Yes!” the Doctor said “and you were in one!”

                “And then you got stuck in one!”

                They both paused, remembering how the dream had ended. A bit of awkward silence passed.

                “So, now where?” the Doctor asked a bit quickly

Boredom:

                “He still visits my little sister, once a year, every year…”

                The Doctor sighed; he wasn’t so sure about this. He looked into the mirror. It was really the only thing in the room. There she was, hiding behind the chair. The chair was the only other thing in the room.

                “I wonder if maybe one day he might forgive her…”

                There was a look of sorrow on his face. It had been forever since he had trapped her in the mirror in the first place. For the past few years, he had begun to consider letting her go. In fact, he had even started visiting more often, and talking to her. That was why the chair was in the room.

                Usually though, she just hid, but he didn’t blame her, considering what he had done to her and the rest of her family.

                “Doctor?”

                The Doctor looked up and saw Alice in the mirror.

                “What are you doing?” she asked

                He swallowed. This was one of the things he feared she wouldn’t react to well. The possible outcome of this conversation scared him.

                “Can you see her?” he asked after a moment. A confused look crossed Alice’s face. “Right there, behind the chair.”

                Her eyes darted to that spot.

                “You can only see her in the mirror” he clarified.

                Alice looked at said spot in the mirror, just as the little girl hid herself completely behind the chair.

                “Who was that?” Alice asked, looking at the Doctor.

                “The youngest of the Family of Blood” he replied. He couldn’t turn to look at her, just stared at her reflection in the mirror.

                “What happened?” Alice asked

                “The fury of a previous incarnation,” the Doctor said, keeping all emotion out of his voice. It was hard, but for some reason he was on the verge of tears. Alice sensed his discomfort and took a step forward, grabbing his hand.

                The Doctor blinked a few times, brain processing what she had just done. He looked down at their hands, and then up at Alice. She returned the look he was giving her. They stood there for a moment, staring at each other. Then, he smiled. She smiled too.

-of Nightmares, yeah

                “HOLD ON!!” he called, running to the doors of the TARDIS. He threw them open, but the scene he found wasn’t what he had been looking for. He hadn’t made it. He was too late… again…

                Because there she was, falling, falling down into the Darkness. He wouldn’t be able to catch her, he couldn’t fly, and the only thing below the two of them was Darkness. The TARDIS refused to go any lower, too.

                “NO!!!” he screamed, kicking the door. He ignored the TARDIS’s silent protests and started to turn his back on the scene so he wouldn’t have to watch it again. But he couldn’t tear his eyes away, and he watched as she fell, screaming, down into the Darkness.

                The Darkness welcomed her body, and she was gone.

                Tears streamed down his cheeks.

                “I’m sorry” he said, even though she wouldn’t be able to hear him. The Darkness was laughing.

                “Go on” it said “you’ve got nothing else to live for… just jump. End your life, and then you could be with her forever…”

“Doctor?”

He gasped, hearts skipping a few beats as he was pulled out of the dream. He took a few deep breaths and then got a good look at his surroundings.

“You alright?” Alice asked from behind him.

The Doctor looked down, and then immediately wished he hadn’t. The sight made his hearts beat even faster and made him feel a bit dizzy. Time Lord or not, he was still scared of heights. And he was on the edge of a cliff, or something very cliff-like anyways.

“I was going to jump” he gasped, the realization hitting him hard.

“What?” Alice asked. He took a few steps backwards away from the edge and turned to look at her. “Why would you do that?” she asked.

                “Well I- I must have sleep walked here. I was – dreaming, if you could call it dreaming.” He took a few deep breaths. “That was a nightmare.”

                “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

                “No, I-I’d rather not”

                “I understand” Alice said “maybe you should head back to bed, see if you can get some real sleep.”

                The Doctor sighed, calming down already. “Yeah, that would be a good idea” he said, and started out the door.

                Everything from there was all slow motion though. A sword was thrust at him from behind, and would have gone straight through his stomach if he hadn’t moved in time. He turned to see who was wielding the sword. It was Alice.

                Freaked, and yet not so freaked, the Doctor ducked to avoid getting his head chopped off.

                The next part was all a blur, but then the Doctor watched as Alice’s body fell. He looked from her body to his hand, which was holding a blood covered knife.

                The Doctor woke up in a cold sweat. His hearts were racing faster than should have been possible, and he was having a bit of trouble breathing. He checked to make sure he wasn’t dreaming again, and was happy to find that he wasn’t.

                Alice!

                His mind had come to that conclusion quickly, and he was out of bed and running through the TARDIS’s numerous corridors within seconds. He reached Alice’s room in no time, but what he found made him worry.

                Her bedroom door was open, and she was nowhere inside.

                The Doctor ran to the console room, and did a scan to see if Alice was anywhere inside the TARDIS. She wasn’t.

                “Where could she have gone!?” the Doctor asked aloud. “We’re in the middle of the vortex…” He realized then that TARDIS wasn’t moving. They had landed. Now where they had landed was a mystery.

                The Doctor went to the doors of the TARDIS and headed outside. It looked like they were on Earth. Or a planet very similar to Earth. He pulled a device out of his pocket and set it to track Alice. Thankfully she wasn’t too far. Now he just had to find her.

                “Just one more step,” it whispered in her ear “that’s all it will take…”

                Alice stood there, in some random person’s backyard, on the diving board of their pool. Her hands were tied loosely behind her back, but only because it is impossible to tie your own hands behind your back properly. One more step, and she would plunge into the pool.

                But now she was having second thoughts…

                “What do you mean?” it asked. “Don’t you remember what happened to him?”

                Images flashed through her head, playing the horrible scene again.

                Sword in his side, knife in his back, blood: everywhere. He was covered with it, she was covered with it. The entire scene was just one dark bloody mess.

                She turned to look at him, but all she could see in his eyes was the Darkness

                “Don’t make me watch it again!!” Alice shouted. If there had been room for her to fall to her knees she would have. It was also a really good thing that the people that lived in this house weren’t home.

                “Do it then!!” the Darkness told her. And so she did. She took the final step that would send her into the depths of this pool.

                The water was cold, and immediately shocked her out of the dream and back into reality. Her head hit the surface, and she gasped in some air before she was pulled back down. She struggled against her bonds and escaped them easily. Her head broke the surface again, but she was pulled down again. She made an attempt for dry ground and eventually grabbed the edge of the pool.

                One of her hands slipped, and when she reached up to grab the edge of the pool again, a hand tool hold of hers. It was strong, and kept a firm hold on her. For a split second, she panicked. She looked up though, and was greeted by a pair of warm brown eyes and a small smile.

                “Doctor!” she gasped, joy and relief filling her.

                “Alice” he replied, sounding as happy as she was. He held out his other hand and she took it. He pulled her out of the water easily.

                “You alright?” he asked, sounding extremely worried.

                “I’m fine” she said, even though she wasn’t quite positive about it.

                “Good” he said, pulling her into a hug, not caring that he was getting soaked in the process.

                “Do you know how I got here” she asked as he let go.

                “No clue, but I think I might have an idea. I’ll have to explain later though, right now we need to get back to the TARDIS and then get the heck outta here!!”

                “Good idea”

                That decided, the two of them ran for the TARDIS.

                “NO!! Nonononono!!!” The Doctor shouted “IT WAS RIGHT HERE!!! Where the heck did I go!?!”

                “You’ve lost the TARDIS?” Alice asked

                “No! I haven’t lost it!! It just disappeared!!!”

                “That’s just great, isn’t it?”

                They both sighed.

                “Maybe it’s deeper in,” Alice suggested “this does look like a pretty big forest.”

                “Yeah, maybe.”

                They trudged deeper into the forest in search of the lost Time Machine.

                “I don’t even know what planet we’re on!!” the Doctor said

                “And you think I do?” Alice asked “it looks like, uhh, Earth. But, how should I know?”

                The Doctor glared at her.

                “What? I was just saying.”

                They walked on in silence for a minute. The Doctor pulled out a device and started scanning the area. “Maybe, if I use this thing to scan the radio activity I could figure out exactly what the…” he muttered a bunch of unintelligible scientific stuff after this.

                Alice sighed, and realized that they had walked right out of the forest. She looked around and gasped.

                “Doctor,“ she said. He shushed her.

                “No, but, LOOK!!” she nudged him in the shoulder.

                Still muttering, he looked up, and then his jaw dropped.

                “Okay… definitely not earth then…”

                The sky was a mixture of night and day, Light and Darkness. It looked as if there was a war going on above their heads.

                “That’s… special” Alice said

                “WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING!?!” a voice called. Two teens, both of them probably about fifteen or sixteen, maybe seventeen, came running up to them.

                “Get out of the shadows!!” the second one said. She glared at them. Reluctantly, but only because they were really confused, the Doctor and Alice stepped out of the shadow they had been standing in.

                “What are they thinking?” the boy, who had first shouted at them, was saying. “Just standing around like that in the shadows! You would think they want to die!!”

                “Karl, calm down” the girl said.

                The boy, whose name was Karl, completely ignored her and continued his rant about them being idiots. “I mean honestly!?! Do they want to be consumed by Darkness!?” The girl looked at her friend, shook her head, and then turned to Alice and the Doctor.

                “What’s wrong with the shadows?” Alice asked

                “What’s wrong with the shadows!?! EVERYTHING is wrong with the shadows!!” Karl said

                “Do you honestly not know?” the girl asked.

                “No,” the Doctor said, “we’re not from here.”

                “NOT FROM HERE!?!” Karl shouted “how the heck can you not be from here!?!”

                “Actually,” the girl said “I don’t think they’re lying.”

                “How are they not lying!?” Karl asked, continuing his rant.

                “KARL!!” the girl shouted “look at their eyes!!”

                The Doctor and Alice looked at each other, and then back to the teens. Karl paused long enough to look at the two of them.

                “Yeah, so what!? There’s no Darkness in their eyes!! Good for them! What does that have to do with anything!?”

                “No, but, Karl! There’s no Light in their eyes either.”

                That stopped Karl. “What?” he asked.

                “Okay” Alice whispered, “I am thoroughly confused.”

                “Yeah,” the Doctor said, “me too.”

                “How can they not have Light in their eyes?” Karl was asking his friend. “Everyone was cleaned after the first attack.”

                “Why don’t you ask them?” the girl said.

                Karl muttered something unintelligible and turned to Alice and the Doctor. “What’s up?” he asked.

                “I told you, we’re not from here” the Doctor said calmly. “Now can you please tell us what is going on?”

                The girl sighed. “Well, first off, my name is Belle; loud mouth over there is Karl.”

                “Hey!” Karl said

                “I’m Alice”

                “I’m the Doctor”

                “Oh! A doctor!” Belle said happily. “We could be using one of those.”

                “So what’s with the shadows?” Alice asked.

                Belle cast her glance up at the sky, and so did everyone else.

                “You see that?” she said, “we’ve been able to keep the darkness at bay for a while now. But when you throw light and darkness at each other, your usual result is a shadow, or twilight. Everyone knows that going into any kind of darkness is suicide, even the shadows. Of course, you can survive in the shadows for a few seconds, but eventually the Darkness will consume you.”

                “That doesn’t sound like fun” Alice said

                “Ya think?”

                There was a bit of silence.

                “Well,” Belle said “we should probably take you guys back to the house, there’s no way out of here now.”

                “There you two are!!” another girl said, answering the door. “Oh, and you brought people!!” She shoved her friends aside and held out her hand. “Hi! I’m Jem.”

                The Doctor shook her hand. “I’m the Doctor.”

                Alice waved. “I’m Alice.”

                “Nice to meet you two!!” Jem said happily.

                “No time for chat now” Belle said, pushing her way into the house. Alice and the Doctor followed. “Where’s Tim?”

                “Where do you think?” Jem asked, shutting the door.

                Belle groaned. “Honestly, the world is ending and he’s off writing!!”

                “He’s always writing” Jem said, “besides, the last two times we thought the world was going to end he was writing, and we came alright. Maybe it’s a good thing he’s out there.”

                “So uhh, is there anything I can do to help?” the Doctor asked.

                “Not if you plan on getting rid of the darkness, no” Jem said.

                “Yeah” Belle said “there’s only one person who’s supposed to be able to stop the Darkness and it’s been seven years since this entire thing started apparently, so…”

                Alice did her best not to laugh at the irony.

                “But” Karl said, for the first time they had arrived at the house. “I do think there might be another problem you could help with.”

                “So you’re telling me that there are these creatures roaming around the city here, making life miserable for everyone” the Doctor asked.

                Karl nodded. “Yup”

                “Do they have a name?” Alice asked

                “No, they don’t, not really. They’re just referred to as ‘Them’. They’re basically everyone’s childhood nightmares come to life.”

                The Doctor took a deep breath. “Well, I guess I can help. You want me to just get rid of them, right?”

                “Get them out of the city and our lives,” Karl said.

                “Okay,” the Doctor stood up. “Come on Alice! We’ve got some nightmares to fight!”

                Grinning, Alice stood up too, and they headed for the city to take care of these pests.

                “Doctor?” Alice called, turning down what she thought would be the last hallway. Of course, it wasn’t.

                They were in an old abandoned warehouse, and had gotten separated. They were smarter than They looked, but what could you expect? They were creatures that lived off nightmares. Even if they had originated as just the nightmares of children, they were able to feed of whatever was near, and that didn’t exclude two adults that had come to get rid of them.

                So, of course they were smart. They would need to be to face these two people.

                “Doctor!” she called again.

                One of Them sprung up on her from behind, and would have gotten her with its razor sharp teeth had she not moved in time. It did manage to pin her though.

                “Doctor!!” she called louder and more frantically.

                “I’M COMING!!” he called back, running down a corridor somewhere that was elsewhere. After a moment, Alice felt the weight of the thing lifted from her body, and she jumped to her feet immediately.

                “You know,” she said, “we need to come up with a name for these guys. ‘Them’ doesn’t stick to well.”

                The Doctor gave her a look. “Of all the things to think of at the moment!”

                She shrugged. He sighed.

                “Just call them Nightmares if it makes you feel better” he said. She grinned.

                “Now come on, there are more lying around. We need to get them out of here.”

                Alice nodded, and then ran off down a corridor to face more of these Nightmares. But as soon as she turned the corner everything went dark.

                She was starting to realize that these creatures didn’t all look the same, or relatively the same. There were a few that looked a lot alike, and they all were just like shadows brought to life, no color to them at all. Well, that wasn’t counting their red eyes.

                But each of them had something different that set them apart. Some had wings, others had tails. There were ones with teeth and others with claws. Some had all of these or combinations of these traits.

                The oddest thing though, was the fact that they were the Castle guards.

                Okay, Alice thought, I must be dreaming.

                ‘Of course you are child…’ one of them said.

                Its voice wasn’t completely spoken, it had a mental nudge to it, but it wasn’t completely telepathic either. These creatures were definitely odd.

                Then she realized: oh crap! They’re in my thoughts!!

                ‘How else do you think we created this dream?’ Was that another one of them, or was it the same one? It was impossible to tell, they all sounded alike.

                “Okay then,” Alice said. “If I’m dreaming, shouldn’t this be a nightmare?”

                ‘She’s good!’ That was definitely a different one speaking now. ‘Didn’t know humans were this smart’

                “I’m not human!!” Alice spat

                ‘Good point, you aren’t. Now… let’s see… What do we have here?’

                The room instantly went black, but when vision came to her again she realized that it was the same room, only with all the Nightmares gone. Also, she was chained to a pole. She struggled against her bond for a moment, and the only sound in the room was the rattling chains, but then a cough broke through that. She looked up, to see the Doctor lying on the floor.

                “Doctor!!” she called, trying to run to him. The chains didn’t let her get more than a few feet away from him. She sunk to her knees and reached her hand out to grab his, but even that wouldn’t reach.

                He groaned.

                “Are you alright?” she asked.

                He rolled over revealing that a knife had been shoved in his side. Blood was slowly leaking out of the wound and onto the floor.

                Alice reached out her hand again, but came short of reaching him.

                “Doctor…” she whispered.

                “I’m right here.”

                She blinked her eyes open wearily and was surprised to see the Doctor’s face. Well, not surprised exactly, the surprising thing was that she was in his lap.

                Alice took a moment to survey their surroundings. They were in the same old warehouse, but in a different room it seemed. The Doctor was sitting on the dusty ground and he was holding her.

                Awkward? Oh definitely.

                But Alice put that aside for the moment. He was alive!! She knew all along that the entire thing had just been a nightmare, but it had felt so real. She threw her arms around him.

                “You have a nightmare too?” he asked as she let go of him.

                “Yeah” she said, and all awkwardness of the situation came back. She adjusted herself so that she was sitting next to the Doctor instead. He didn’t seem to mind.

                “I guess I just woke up sooner than you did” he said.

                “I wonder why?” Alice asked. He shrugged.

                “So what happened to the Nightmares?” she asked.

                “I don’t know” he replied, “but I think they might have left.”

                Alice looked around the room, now able to take in more of the surroundings that the awkward moment had passed. She noticed a piano over in the corner and raised her eyebrows. Of all things…

                Slowly, Alice got to her feet and went over to the piano. It was a baby grand, and also covered in dust. The Doctor turned to watch her, a curious look on his face. When Alice sat down at the piano bench he pushed himself to his feet and headed over.

                “I didn’t know you could play” he said quietly.

                “Not so sure if I can either” Alice admitted. Yeah sure, she had taken a year or two of piano, but she couldn’t recall any songs that she had learned. Though even if she could, they were probably only beginner’s songs, nothing interesting.

                Sighing, she placed her hands on the keys. She played a few feeble notes. It was always hard to start at first. But within the next few seconds she had started playing. It wasn’t exactly a song, she was just making it up as she went along.

                Finally, she ended the song, and the Doctor clapped from behind her.

                “What song was that?” he asked

                “Wasn’t a song” Alice admitted, “I was just kind of making it up as I went along.”

                “Do you think you could play it again?”

                She shook her head.

                “Pity, it was very beautiful.”

                Alice smiled, and did her best not to blush. “I’m glad you think so” she said.

                The moment was ruined before either of them could blink. Out of nowhere, something that looked like a lightning bolt snapped out. Except it wasn’t lightning, it was complete Darkness. The Darkness hit the unsuspecting Doctor square in the chest, and he was knocked backwards by the force.

                “NO!!” Alice screamed, and dove to his side.

                “I’m alright” he said, “a bit shocked but-” He stopped mid-sentence, something he usually didn’t do. His eyes widened in shock, and an expression that could only be described as pure terror was written on his face.

                “It’s eating me” he gasped. “Eating my soul!!”

                How Alice had managed to get the Doctor back to Belle, Karl, and Jem’s house was a mystery, but she wasn’t complaining.

                “It’s Alice!!” she called, banging on the door. It took a while for anyone to answer it, and in the meantime the Doctor seemed to get worse and worse.

                “It’s alright” Alice told him. “You’re going to make it out of this.”

                “What happened?” Jem asked, answering the door. Her eyes darted down to where the Doctor was and shock crossed her face. “Is he alright!?” she asked, looking between the two of them.

                “He was attacked by Darkness” Alice explained.

                “Get him inside! NOW!!”

                Alice didn’t need to be told twice.

                “This doesn’t look good,” Belle said, looking at the results from the scan.

                The Doctor was lying on their couch, and had calmed down quite a bit. Earlier, he had been overcome with uncontrollable shaking. He was also currently unconscious.

                “Is there anything we can do?” Alice asked

                “No one has survived direct contact to Darkness if they aren’t treated immediately.” The look on Belle’s face was grim. “I’m not sure if there’s anything we can do that will not kill him in the process.”

                Alice swallowed. He couldn’t die, not now. It wasn’t right.

                “Don’t give up hope,” Jem told her. “Maybe if we can get him to a Light in time-”

                “The nearest Light is an hour’s walk from here,” Karl interrupted. “No way would we be able to save him.”

                The Doctor had awoken, and was letting out short gasps of pain. Everyone turned to look at him, except for Belle, who had gone back to looking at the scan results.

                “This is odd” she said. “He’s got energy spiking in his body.”

                “I know!” the Doctor gasped. “The regeneration process is starting, which is really, really bad news for me. I don’t have another life, the energy will kill me. I can’t fight it off forever.” He let out a scream of pain.

                “Ow! Ah!” he gasped. “Alice!!!”

                “I’m here” she said, grabbing his hand.

                “I’m scared, I’m so scared.”

                “It’s alright,” she said. “I’ll get you out of this, I promise.”

                He passed out.

                Alice turned to look at the three teens. “I’m not giving up, you can either help me get there or not. Which direction do I need to be going?”

                “I’ll come with you” Jem said. Her friends turned to look at her. “She needs help, and don’t think that I’m going to ignore that! What happened to that spirit we had when we were kids? Going off to save the world and all that!”

                “That was just pretend,” Karl said.

                “Yeah, so what, it was. But it changed Tim’s life. He wouldn’t be out there writing right now if it wasn’t for those tales. Now I don’t know about you two, but I’m going! I may not be able to save the world again, but I might be able to save someone’s life.” She turned to Alice. “Come on, if we don’t hurry we’ll never make it.”

                Between the two of them they managed to drag the Doctor outside, and get out of sight of the house.

                “We’ll never make it” Jem said. Alice turned to glare at her.

                “Don’t you give up” she snapped.

                “Well it’s true!! At first I thought it was a good idea but now, I just think you’re a bit crazy. We aren’t going to be able to save him! I’m sorry, but we aren’t.”

                Alice grinned, catching sight of something in the distance.

                “Oh yes we are” she said. “Come on!!”

                “What’s this?” Jem asked.

                “The TARDIS” Alice replied, patting the side of the Time Machine. “We can use it to get there.”

                “You sure?” Jem looked at it doubtfully.

                “Course I am! Now help me get him inside.”

                Jem was shocked when she entered the TARDIS. “It’s bigger on the inside!!” she gasped.

                “Exactly,” Alice said, heading over to the console. She looked at the screen, which was usually covered in symbols she couldn’t read, but now it said plain and clearly:

                ‘I can’t get you there myself, but I can tell you how to get there.’

                Alice smiled. Originally, when the Doctor told her that the TARDIS had a mind of its own, she hadn’t really believed him. But there was no denying it now, as buttons and triggers lit up to tell Alice to push them. Within no time, they had made it to their destination.

                Jem and Alice dragged the Doctor out of the TARDIS, and they found they were right by a cliff. Alice went as close to the edge as she dared and looked down, she had to shield her eyes. Down there, there was blinding light.

                “You sure about this?” Jem asked. “Even if the Light is ‘good’ or whatever, it’s still extremely dangerous. It might save his life, but kill him in the process. If we can even get close, I don’t remember there being a cliff…”

                “Even if I’m not, he’s counting on me.” She knelt down next to the Doctor and ran a hand through his hair.

                “You love him, don’t you?”

                Alice looked up at Jem. “What!? No! I mean-” she sighed. “Look, it’s complicated.”

                A moment of silence passed.

                “What do I need to do?” Alice asked.

                “He needs to be closer, but I’m not sure if that’s possible with the cliff in the way.”

                Alice nodded and dragged the Doctor closer to the cliff edge. She waited there for a few moments. Then, out of nowhere, something came flying by and nearly knocked her off. She stared at it for a second.

                “Hey Jem,” she called. “What was that?” she pointed at the thing as it flew off.

                “Oh,” Jem said. “That’s well, it’s the complete opposite of those Nightmare creatures. It’s basically a good version of one of them. A Nightmare gone good.”

                “Okay…”

                The Doctor groaned.

                “Alice,” he whispered. “I don’t think it’s working.”

                A single tear fell down her cheek and she turned to look below them, where the Light was roaring. She stared at it for a moment, and then got an idea. It was a sudden, spur of the moment decision, but she realized she had no choice.

                Mind made up, Alice grabbed hold of the Doctor and jumped off the cliff, down into the Light. The Light that would heal the Doctor, but kill them both in the process.

                “NO!!!” Jem cried.

                He was falling. He could feel the wind rushing past his ears. But somehow, it was relief from the Darkness. It was already going, leaving him…

                The Doctor opened his eyes and realized that he was, actually, falling. And he was alone. But that made no sense, Alice had been right there a second ago, where did she go? He looked around, and saw her off to the side, falling like he was.

                He remembered that first nightmare, with Alice falling done into the Darkness.

                But she wasn’t falling into Darkness, she was falling into Light.

                It was almost like a nightmare gone good.

                Suddenly, he got an idea.

                If the Nightmares could read thoughts, certainly these things could too… Now all I need to be able to do is fly…

                Something grabbed him under the arms. He turned around to look at the thing. It looked exactly like a Nightmare, just more of a pale grey instead of black. Suddenly, he stopped falling, and started, well it wasn’t flying, but he was definitely floating at least.

                “We need to save her!!” he called over his shoulder. The ex-nightmare thing nodded and flew him down to Alice.

They were getting closer to the Light, and it was becoming harder to see. It wasn’t like the Light was blinding, it was, but that wasn’t just it. It crept into your thoughts, getting rid of everything it established as ‘bad’ or ‘evil’. The Doctor was starting to get light-headed.

If this is what it’s doing to me, image what it’s doing to Alice!

The ex-nightmare thing sensed his discomfort. ‘Just reach out and grab her!’ it said.

Hoping that it was right, the Doctor held out his arms, to his amazement Alice fell right into them. She was still alive, unconscious, but alive. He let out a sigh of relief.

“Get us out of here!”

The ex-nightmare thing obeyed, and pulled them out of the pit.

Jem stood there, along with Belle and Karl. They all seemed extremely relieved when the Doctor came back up. The ex-nightmare set him down and then flew off.

“Thank goodness you two are alive!!” Jem said. “When Alice jumped I thought, I thought…”

“Don’t rejoice yet. Is she going to be alright?” He looked at the three teens. They could all hear the worry in his voice.

Belle walked over. “Yeah, she’s fine. You might want to let her rest a while though. She’s suffering a bit of overexposure, but she’ll be alright.” Belle made a thoughtful face. “Well, she might try to be a bit heroic for a while, but that’ll be the only problem.”

A grin spread across the Doctor’s face, and he laughed.

“Good” he said. “I need to get going though. You three take care.” He headed back in the TARDIS and went to go lay Alice down.

He was just about to leave, when there was a knock on the door of the TARDIS. Confused as ever; the Doctor went to go answer it.

There stood a boy, about the same age as Jem and the rest of them, except he looked a bit more mature. He had scruffy light brown hair and a wild look in his blue eyes. He also held a torn journal under his arm, and his clothes were covered in dirt and stains.

“Can I help you?” the Doctor asked.

The boy started to say something, but from behind the Doctor a weary voice asked: “Who do we have here?”

The Doctor looked behind him to find Alice. “You should be resting” he told her.

“I’m fine” she said, and shoved him aside to look at the boy. “So who are you?”

“I’m Tim!” he said

“Oh! So you’re Tim!!” Alice held out her hand, which Tim took and shook enthusiastically. “Nice to meet you!!”

“I think the pleasure is all mine!” Tim laughed. “I heard what you two did today, and I was wondering if you minded if I wrote a story based on it. Your real names don’t have to be used in the book, and I can stick to pure fact if you insist.”

“I don’t mind.” Alice turned to look at the Doctor.

“As long as you don’t use my name I’m perfectly okay with it” he said.

“Thank you so much!!” Tim said, grinning. “If you want to give me your address I can have it mailed to you as soon as it’s done, or you could stop by in a year or so and I could just give it to you then. It will be free of charge!”

“We’ll just come around in a year” the Doctor said.

“Okay!” Tim pulled the bag off his back and started digging through it. “In the meantime though, if you would like to buy some other books of mine, I’ve got a list of titles right here.” He handed them a piece of paper.

Alice looked it over. “Some of these sound good, I would love to buy a few.”

“One problem though,” the Doctor said. “I don’t have any money.”

“I’ve got money!” Alice said quickly. “Be right back!” She ran into the TARDIS. A minute later she came back. She fished a few rupees out of a pouch and handed them to the boy. The Doctor watched doubtfully, but the boy took them and his grin grew even wider.

“You’re from Hyrule!” he said. “I found quite a few things to write about there. Great place. Anyways, which books were you wanting?”

“Let’s see, Tale’s of Old, a Lover’s Tragedy… Can I just get them all?”

“If you’ve got two hundred rupees, then yeah you can.”

“Sweet!” Alice handed over the required amount of money, and in return Tim handed her a stack of books.

“Nice to meet you two!” he said, waving. “I’ll be off then! Got thing’s to write, and adventure ahead!!” He laughed and ran off.

“He’s a nice kid” Alice said, turning to look at the Doctor. “Don’t you think?”

“Yeah. Reminds me a bit of me when I was younger. Well, if had been an obsessive author back then.” He laughed.

“So where next?” Alice asked as they went back in the TARDIS.

“Well, I was thinking,” the Doctor hit a switch. “One year from now, so we can go get that book before I forget.”

Alice grinned. “Time travel is so weird!!”

Death, Destruction, and Daleks (this episode will be fun!!)

                “Alice, I forgot to warn you” the Doctor said, turning to look at her. “There are three things you need to watch out for when traveling with me.” He sighed. “Death, destruction and Daleks”

                “And what?” Alice asked

                The Doctor let out a small smile. “Alien race. My sworn enemy. They want to kill everything that isn’t Dalek. Ruthless creatures, with only one emotion: hate. If given the chance, they’ll kill me on the spot.”

                Alice grimaced. “Any particular reason you’re telling me this now?”

                “Look around you” the Doctor responded.

                Alice, a bit confused, did so. At first, she thought they had just landed the TARDIS on an empty street, which wasn’t unusual at all. But now she realized that the street wasn’t just empty, it was deserted.

                It was destroyed.

                At least half of the buildings were on fire, and a good portion of the rest were knocked to the ground. There were piles of rubble everywhere, along with piles of destroyed cars. Amongst all of this, there were plenty of dead bodies lying around.

                “This,” the Doctor said, voice solemn. “This, is the work of Daleks.”

                “How can you tell?”

                “I’ve seen it enough. Death and destruction everywhere, just because of the Daleks.”

                Alice turned to look at him. There was a distant look in his eyes. It was almost as if he was looking at this scene, and remembering others just like it from his past.

                A past that spans over ten different lifetimes, Alice reminded herself. She laid a hand on the Doctor’s arm. She wouldn’t want to see this more than once, let alone more than once in a lifetime, and then again the next, and again the next.

                Just thinking about it made her shudder.

                “I fear we might have come too late” he whispered.

                “Don’t give up before the fight’s even begun!” Alice told him firmly. “Don’t be a quitter. Fighting and losing is better than not fighting at all!!”

                “Is it?” the Doctor asked quietly. “When you fight, you risk the lives of the ones you love.”

                Alice noticed the deep look of sorrow in his eyes. She could tell that throughout his lifetimes he had lost many, and quite a few because of the Daleks. She let out a sigh. “Are you alright?” she asked him, and he turned to look at her.

                “I’m fine” he replied, swallowing. He grinned, though it looked a bit forced. “How would you feel if I asked you to help me try and get rid of this Dalek threat?”

                “I would be honored.” Alice said, grinning.

                “So where are we anyway?” Alice asked as they walked down another empty street.

                The Doctor took a moment to consider this question. “If I am correct, then we are in the sky city of Disarray on Earth in the year 2104.” He cast a glance over a nearby sign, which said in bright letters.

                “Welcome to Disarray!!”

                “And Daleks attacked?” Alice asked, ignoring another dead body that they passed.

                “Easy target, nice and close if they have any ships around,” the Doctor said. “Let’s just hope they haven’t moved on to the rest of the world yet and we can stop them before they kill more than they did here.”

                Something in the corner of her eye caught Alice’s attention, and she turned to look at it. A light in one of the windows of an undestroyed, but still pretty damaged, house blinked one… two… three times. She tugged on the Doctor’s shirt.

                “I think we should check out over there” she whispered, pointing at the house.

                The Doctor gave her an inquiring look, but they headed over to the house anyways.

                It was a two story house, and at first seemed deserted, but there was a little noise from above, and they went to investigate it. In one of the rooms there was a woman, lying half under a pile of rubble from the half collapsed ceiling.

                “Oh thank goodness you’re here!!” the woman said. “And that you’re not a Dalek. When I heard the door open I was afraid they had finally found me.”

                “Are you alright?” Alice asked, running over and attempting to move the rubble. The Doctor went and helped, and together they were able to get the fallen ceiling off the woman.

                “Yeah,” the woman said. “Much better now that the ceiling’s off of me. I’m Tabitha Richards. You two are…?”

                “Alice.” She paused, considering the fact that Tabitha had given her last name. Maybe she should give hers too? Not that people in Hyrule had last names, you didn’t need one. The likeliness of two people having the same name was extremely rare. But still… “Alice LiteHart.”

                The Doctor gave Alice a funny look, wondering where ‘LiteHart’ came from. “I’m the Doctor” he told Tabitha. “Can you stand?”

                “Yeah,” Tabitha said, standing up.

                “LiteHart?” the Doctor asked Alice quietly. “I thought people in Hyrule didn’t have last names.”

                “We don’t,” Alice replied. “It’s the last name of some girl who showed up in Hyrule a hundred years or so before my time. She was the last person who showed up ‘in clothes like that’” She quoted the last part from the first conversation she and the Doctor had.

                He shrugged.

                “Glad to see you’re alright” he said, turning to Tabitha.

                “Only thanks to you. Have you seen the ruin outside? The Daleks aren’t kiddin’ when they say that they’ll kill us all. Blimey.” Tabitha shook her head sadly. “Disarray has gone from best place to visit to worst place to visit in all of ten minutes.”

                “That’s what Daleks tend to do” the Doctor said. “Nice name of this place, by the way. It’s different. I like it.”

                “Yeah, if only it could have stayed that way.” Tabitha let out a sigh.

                “Sorry” Alice said.

                “Have the Daleks gone on to attack the rest of the planet?” the Doctor asked.

                “They’re probably still setting up base,” Tabitha said. “That’s why they destroyed Disarray in the first place. Needed a place to center their plans or something.”

                “That’s good” the Doctor said. After receiving an odd look or two, he quickly added: “That they haven’t attacked the planet, I mean. Not so much about the city. Well, a bit about the city, because that means their base is close. And the closer it is, the sooner we can stop them. So where would this base be?”

                Tabitha shrugged. “We could always try City Hall. That’s where I would go if I needed to start a war with the world. And if not, it’s at least got a computer we can use to scan for alien life.”

                The Doctor grinned. “I like you Tabitha!! It’s been a while since I’ve met someone with a little brains and initiative!!”

                Alice punched him hard in the shoulder. He rubbed it and turned to look at her. “Well, besides you of course” he muttered.

                Tabitha hid a laugh. “I guess we’ll go to City Hall then,” she said, still smiling.

                The trip to city hall was short, and they were outside within minutes. The Daleks didn’t seem to be around anywhere, “but that doesn’t mean anything” the Doctor said looking sternly at Alice and Tabitha. “Now, Tabitha, where’s that computer?”

                “Over there,” Tabitha whispered, pointing. “Come on!” She led the group over to where the computer was. It was in a pretty secluded place, under a bunch of torn wires. “Seems the Daleks have been around here,” she mused, “let’s just hope they haven’t messed with the computer.”

                Tabitha started typing pretty quickly on the keyboard. The screen flickered on, revealing a map of Disarray. There was a large white dot signifying where they were standing, and then a bunch of smaller purple dots that signified the Daleks.

                “Hang on,” Tabitha said, pointing at the screen. “What’s that?” She was pointing at the white dot, which had three smaller dots inside of it. One was blue, one was green, and one was red.

                The Doctor squinted at it, and then laughed. “I think that’s us.” Tabitha raised her eyebrows, so he explained farther. “You see, blue stands for human. That’s you.” He turned to Alice. “Can you guess what green is?”

                “Me” she laughed. “Typical, it seems Hyrule’s always represented in greens.”

                “That means I’m the red one” the Doctor said. “I’ve never been red before. Interesting. Though…” he ran a hand through his hair as he looked at the rest of the map. “Okay, tons of Daleks, they all seem to be crowding around here.” He pointed. “Which is right next to us it seems. Where is that?”

                “Science lab” Tabitha answered. The Doctor groaned.

                “Okay,” Alice said. “Do we have a plan of action?”

                “Not yet,” the Doctor told her. “First we need to figure out what they’re up to. Any way we can do that?” He directed this last bit at Tabitha.

                “We’ve got a few robots around in the lab.” She said, pulling up another window on the computer and starting to type again. “If I can get into the mainframe I might be able to get one online without anyone noticing. We can watch safely from here.”

                “No!” Tabitha shouted after a moment, whacking the keyboard. “They’ve locked the systems!”

                The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and used it on the computer for a second. “Try that” he told Tabitha.

                “There we go,” she said. “There’s still a spiderbot working. It will probably be our best shot. Spiderbots are nice and small, should be able to move it around without noticing.”

                “Tabitha, you are brilliant!” the Doctor said, only to receive another punch from Alice. He turned to look at her. “Well, you are too, but I’d like to see you try and do anything with a computer.” She punched him again. “It’s true!!”

                The conversation was stopped short as the video and audio from the spiderbot came up on the computer screen. There were a few Daleks in the room.

                “REPORT!!” one of the Daleks said.

                “ALL THE HUMANS HAVE BEEN EXTERMINATED. WE CAN PROCEED TO INVADE PLANET EARTH” another replied.

                “Good, things are going as planned” another voice said.

                “No!” the Doctor whispered, half shocked and half annoyed.

                Something wheeled out of the shadows. It was like a man in a Dalek wheelchair. Man on top, Dalek on the bottom. “No sign of him, am I right?” the man said.

                “AFFIRMATIVE!!” a Dalek replied.

                “Of course he survived. Of course he did!” the Doctor muttered angrily.

                “Who is it?” Alice asked

                “Davros,” the Doctor replied. But he smiled. “Still scared of me though. They call me the Oncoming Storm. I’ve destroyed enough of their empires since the war, and it seems another is going to go down quickly.”

                “Oncoming Storm, eh?” Alice seemed impressed.

                “Yeah” the Doctor said, seeming a bit out of it.

                “So, what are we supposed to do?” Tabitha asked.

“No clue” the Doctor said. “Usually, by now, I would have a good reason to get rid of them, but all I know is that they’re invading the earth, no reason why. They would have, I don’t know, contacted me or something. They don’t even know I’m here!”

“Isn’t that good though?”

“I’d say yes but…” he rubbed his head. “I don’t know. I need to get rid of them. All of them. If this is my last life, then this might be my last chance to destroy them all, and I have to make sure they stay destroyed. I can’t let them live, because when I die… that leaves them to wreak havoc across the cosmos with no one to stop them!”

Alice laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright” she said. “You’ll be able to do it. I know you will.”

The Doctor smiled. “Thanks” he whispered.

“So what are we going to do?” Tabitha asked.

“Well,” the Doctor said, standing up. “I’m going to see what I can do in the lines of weaponry. We need a weapon that can kill all of them before they can get away… I can’t risk going and getting the TARDIS, the Daleks might notice.” He turned to Tabitha.

“There’s a weapons stock on the third floor” she said before he could even ask.

“I’ll go see what I can find there then,” he said. “You two keep an eye on the Daleks and see if they give anymore plans.”

“Okay!” they replied.

“So,” Alice said after the Doctor had left. “Do you think you could teach me how to use a computer?”

Tabitha laughed. “Sure!”

Alice learned quickly. She was exploring the fun of playing games at the moment.

“So,” Tabitha said, “are you and the Doctor… you know… together?”

“No!” Alice replied, but more of on impulse than anything else. She got a game over. “No…” she said, but now a bit unsure. Were they? At first, the obvious answer was no. But it seemed that everyone had been hinting it from the beginning.

There was Darwin, but that might have just been to tick them off. Then there was that little girl, but she only had asked if she trusted him. Later, with the group of kids lead by Samuel, they seemed to think something was going on. There was also that dream they both had. Then Jem had asked her if she loved him.

But she had reason didn’t she? Even if she only loved the Doctor as a brother. He always was just… cool. And a bit amazing. There were times when she was in danger, and he always saved her. He also seemed to be a bit annoyed when she had been threatened. And back on Poosh, when he had told her that he wouldn’t want to spend his last life with anyone else.

So maybe he loved her, maybe only as a sister. Or a friendship sort of way.

But that still left the question: did she love him? Like, honest to goodness, love. Not as a sibling, or a friend.

She turned to look at Tabitha. “Are we?” she asked.

“Why do you think I asked you?” Tabitha replied.

Alice sighed.

“It sure looks like you are,” Tabitha said. “If that makes you feel any better. Maybe you just haven’t realized it yet. Do you love him?”

“I don’t know… maybe I do… but even if I did, would he feel the same?”

“It looks like he might.”

Alice sighed again and went back to the computer.

The Doctor returned later, arms full of random weaponry. “This is about all that will kill a Dalek” he said, putting them down. “I didn’t know that you had particle guns yet.”

“Disarray’s a bit advanced” Tabitha explained.

“That makes some sense.” The Doctor looked around. “Any news on the Daleks?”

“No” Tabitha said.

“No,” Alice said, even quieter. Her mind was still swimming.

“Alice, are you alright?” the Doctor asked, putting his hand on her shoulder. She nodded and shrugged his hand off.

“I’m fine,” she answered, voice tight. “Thinking, that’s all.”

“Okay,” the Doctor returned to the pile of weapons.

“So what are we going to do?” Tabitha asked “Just run in and kill as many as possible?”

“Too risky,” the Doctor replied. “We could all get killed before we even make a dent in their ranks. This is an empire they’re building here. No matter what we do, it probably won’t be enough. We need to get rid of all of them at once.”

“And how are we going to do that?”

“I have no idea. The only sort of large scale anything I can think of will destroy the entire Earth. And that is definitely not an option.”

“Doctor,” Alice said. “We’ve got a problem. The robot’s been noticed.”

The Doctor and Tabitha joined her to look at the screen, and found that they were staring straight at a Dalek’s eyestalk. There was a sound of a laser firing and the picture went.

“Were you able to locate the point of origin?” Davros asked

“YES!” the Dalek replied.

“Establish visual contact” Davros ordered.

The picture returned, this time showing Davros. “It seems we have survivors” he said.

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed. “Hello Davros” he said.

“Doctor!” Davros said, sounding pleased. “I wondered when you’d show up. You’re just in time to see the rise of my new empire.”

“I won’t let you do it. I’ve stopped you a million times, I can stop you again.”

“Oh but can you?”

 “Listen Davros, there doesn’t need to be a battle” The Doctor said, voice urgent. “What if we just stop this, right here, right now? We’re both tired, we’ve been fighting for ages. We could end this, I’d leave you alone if you’d leave me alone. A treaty. We’re both on the verge of death, probably won’t live another fifty years. Could you just leave the universe alone?”

“THAT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE!” one of the Daleks said.

“I THOUGHT THAT YOU HATED DALEKS!” another said.

“Maybe I did,” the Doctor replied. “But now, I’m just sick of this. Can’t we just stop?”

“NO!!”

They broke the contact.

“It was worth a shot,” the Doctor mused.

“So you seriously don’t think you’ll live another fifty years?” Alice asked.

“At the rate I’ve been dying, I’ll be surprised if I make it another ten” the Doctor replied.

They all moved away from the computer screen.

“Sorry Tabitha, but I forgot to ask,” the Doctor said after a moment. “Did anyone you know get killed? Any family, friends?”

“No,” Tabitha said after a moment. “I moved up here so I could get into college. All of my friends stayed back down on the planet. I never made any new friends here.” She paused, thinking hard. “Well, besides this one guy. But he’s not dead.”

“You sure?” the Doctor asked.

“Positive. I’d tell you how I know but, you probably wouldn’t believe me.”

“I’d believe more than you think I would”

Tabitha laughed and shook her head. “It’s just too crazy. Besides, there’s a more pressing matter at hand. What are we going to do about the Daleks?”

“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do!” the Doctor said. “We’re going to make an even bigger weapon to get rid of them.” He grinned, and set to work on doing so, using the weapons he had scavenged.

“Doctor?” Alice asked when Tabitha left to go get some more parts.

“Yeah?” he replied, not looking up from his work.

“How old are you?”

The question wasn’t as random as it seemed. It was just part of the big mass of thought that was going through Alice’s head at the moment. One that she might have to talk herself out of soon.

“Nine hundred thirty-seven” he replied, then paused. “I think, I did lose track a while ago, so it’s possible I might be a thousand two hundred something.”

“Why don’t you just use a number that’s roughly in the middle?” Alice suggested. “Like, I don’t know, nine hundred seventy-four.”

The Doctor turned to grin at her. “I never thought of that. I might just consider doing that.”

“Glad I could be of help” Alice said, but she really wasn’t paying attention. Her mind had gone back to the thought that was going through her head.

I’m in love with an alien who’s older than me by at least nine hundred years. Probably closer to nine hundred and fifty. This is just ridiculous!!

But maybe that’s why I’m not backing down from the idea so soon. Just because it’s so ridiculous. It’s also… I don’t know… different?

Well, that’s obvious.

But what would the people back home say if they found out? They’d probably shun me for life!

But then again, what if they don’t find out? There’s nothing saying I HAVE to go back home. I could stay with the Doctor for the rest of my life if I wanted to.

If he would let me…

She was pulled abruptly out of her thoughts. “Alice, can you pass me the Biological Inver- well… that thing there!” the Doctor pointed at an object. Alice picked it up.

“This one?” she asked

“Yeah!” he said. She passed it to him.

Tabitha came back about then. “I could find much” she said, handing the Doctor what she had found. “But what I did find should be extremely useful.”

“Ooh! Yes, they should be!” the Doctor attached a few of the things that Tabitha hand handed him to the device and got to his feet. He walked across the room and attached a few more things from over there.

“Now if you excuse me, I’ll be going to go stop the Daleks. You’re not coming,” he told Alice before she could even ask.

“Why not!?” she asked instead.

“Because it’s dangerous” he told her, still messing with the device.

“Like that’s ever stopped me before” she retorted.

He sighed, but ignored her.

“You could at least give me a good reason!!” she said.

The Doctor fumed for a few seconds, before putting down the thing he was holding. “You know what!? Fine!” he turned to look at Alice and took a deep breath.”I’ll do my best to explain this as quickly and thoroughly as possible, okay?”

She nodded.

“Brace yourself” the Doctor warned, but he didn’t exactly give her time. Because the next thing she knew, he was kissing her.

It didn’t last long. Alice started to ask him something once they broke apart, only to realize he had run off. She stared at his retreating figure, unsure if she should be glaring at him, or grinning.

“You know,” Tabitha said, “that expression on your face is quite amusing.”

“Shut up”

“On the bright side though, at least this answers your question.”

Alice groaned. “Men!”

“Tell me about it,” was Tabitha’s only reply.

“I’ll do it! I will!!” the Doctor warned, then took a second to look around. “Hang on, where’s Davros?”

The Daleks completely ignored his question.

“THE WEAPON IS HARMLESS!!” one of them said.

“What!? No it’s not!!” the Doctor looked at his device thing, which resembled something like a gun and an old fashioned telephone at the same time. He then realized his problem. “Shoot! I forgot the Catalyzer!!”

One of the Daleks fired and shot the weapon right out of his hand. The Doctor pulled his hand away from the singed air and shook it. He looked at the Daleks that had nearly surrounded him.

“EXTERMIN-” the Dalek speaking was shot to bits by a laser. He turned to look in the direction it came from, and was shocked to see the person who was standing there.

“Jack!?”

“Hello there!” Jack replied cheerfully, blowing up the rest of the Daleks. He paused only when they were all gone, realizing that the man he had just met had called him by name. “Hang on, how do you know my name? I didn’t think I was that famous.” Jack walked over to the Doctor. “Do I know you?”

The Doctor just laughed. “I wonder how long it’s going to take you to recognize me. I’d say maybe five minutes.”

“Doctor!” Jack said happily.

“Or less” the Doctor laughed as Jack hugged him.

“Long time no see!” Jack said as he let go. “And you’ve regenerated. Again.”

“Yeah, keep dying. I managed for a while on the last one, until I got thrown off a cliff.”

Jack winced sympathetically. “You with anyone?” he asked after a moment.

“Yeah! Course I am!! Travelling alone seems to be hazardous to my health” the Doctor laughed again. “In fact, I wouldn’t have been thrown off that cliff if there had been someone there with me. If only I had found Alice sooner.”

“Alice, eh? That’s a nice name,” Jack smiled. “Where is she now?”

“Back in city hall.”

Apparently that sparked something in Jack’s mind, because he immediately asked: “Have you seen Tabitha?”

The Doctor grinned. “That makes a lot more sense!! She’s fine, by the way. Probably still back at city hall with Alice.”

“Knowing Tabitha, and assuming Alice is like any other of your companions, I’ll bet they’re over there coming up with a plan to come and rescue us or something.”

The Doctor sighed. “Sadly, the answer to that is probably yes.”

They both laughed.

Jack looked around at all the destroyed Daleks and frowned. “Where’s Davros? I could have sworn I heard him when I was on my way over here.”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor said. “You’re not the only one wondering where he is.”

“Shall we go find out?”

They grinned at each other and began their search through the Dalek base.

“So are we just going to sit here and wait for the Doctor to come back?” Tabitha asked.

Alice grinned. “Sure! I’d love to go after him,” her face fell and became all serious. “But we don’t have any weapons. He pretty much disabled all of them. And I think that going into a Dalek army without any weapons is a bad idea.”

“Who said we don’t have more upstairs?” Tabitha said, “He only took the ones from the stock on the third floor, we’ve got more.”

“What are we waiting for then?” Alice asked, smile returning to her face. The two headed up the stairs to find their weapons.

Of course, every single weapon that Alice found, she had no idea what to do with. This became extremely funny after a while, and in no time Alice was picking up weapons at random and holding them backwards on purpose to get a bunch of laughs out of Tabitha.

But then Alice caught sight of a weapon she knew how to use.

                “What are we going to do about you!?” Tabitha laughed, nearly on the floor because she was laughing so hard.

“Oh, I think I’ve got just the thing!” Alice replied.

They burst into another room, which was actually more like some sort of warehouse. There were Daleks everywhere, which all swiveled around to face them. Jack started firing frantically, but with good aim. The Daleks fired at them also, but the Doctor and Jack dove behind crates to avoid getting shot.

“Hold your fire!!” a voice called.

Immediately, all the Daleks stopped shooting. Reluctantly, Jack lowered his gun.

“Davros?” he asked the Doctor quietly

The Doctor shook his head. “Too young. The voice is way too young.”

“You can come out,” the voice called, “Daleks won’t shoot unless I give the order.”

Slowly, Jack and the Doctor stood up and looked around for the source of the voice. It was a young man, standing on a platform off to the side. His hands rested on the railing, and he looked down as if he owned the place. He was flanked by two Daleks.

“Oh look!” the young man said happily. “It’s Captain Jack Harkness and the Doctor. Didn’t think I’d ever run into you. Oh wait, yes I did! As soon as I took control of the Daleks and killed the idiot Davros.”

“Who are you?” the Doctor asked.

“And how do you know our names?” Jack added.

“I’m Edd Dice” the young man said, “soon to be Ed- oh who am I kidding? There’s no way I’m getting a promotion out of this. But it is going to be a hell of a lot of fun.” He grinned. “And Captain Jack, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I can read minds!”

Jack made a face that was a cross between shock and anger. The Doctor immediately started feeling sorry for the boy.

“I don’t need your sympathy!!” Edd shouted. “I don’t need anyone’s help!! And you,” he suddenly rounded on the nearest Dalek. “It would be nice if you could stop screaming at me!! It was nice, a few days ago, when I couldn’t hear you at all. Couldn’t hear your constant screaming, why do you hate me so?” He was staring the Dalek straight in the eyestalk.

“Is he a bit… insane?” Jack whispered.

“I am not insane!!” Edd said defiantly.

“I would be,” the Doctor said. “If I were like you, with your mind constantly open to others’ thoughts, always hearing, never able to shut them out.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Edd’s voice was completely calm, all trace of the recent anger gone. “All designated Daleks will board the ships,” he said into a microphone, and his voice echoed throughout the entire city. To the Doctor he said: “You have thirty minutes until we invade the planet. You have until then to come up with a plan. That is, if you don’t die first. See ya!”

Edd walked out of the room, and the Daleks immediately started attacking again. Jack started firing also, but it was going to be impossible to get them all. Just then though, a few more laser shots came through the door Edd had just walked out, and knocked two Daleks dead.

“Hang on,” the Doctor said, staring at a laser that shot by. “That’s not a laser…”

It was an arrow.

Tabitha and Alice ran in, Tabitha jumping off the platform and getting Daleks from down there. Alice rounded on the Daleks that had chased them in, and aimed an arrow at it.

“THE WEAPON IS USELESS!!” the Dalek said.

“Wanna bet?” Alice replied, and let the arrow fly. The arrow went straight through the Daleks eyestalk and out the back of its head. Wiring was stuck to the tip of the arrow, and then the Dalek exploded.

“She’s good!!” Jack laughed, shooting another Dalek down.

In no time, the three had rid the room of Daleks.

Satisfied, Alice lowered her bow and headed down the stairs to the lower level, glaring at the Doctor. He gulped, and a pit of fear grew in his stomach. He hadn’t been this scared before, even when he was surrounded by Daleks.

“You kissed me” she said simply.

From behind, Jack laughed.

“You kissed me” Alice repeated.

“Yes,” the Doctor said. “I did. You’re not mad are you?”

“I saved your life didn’t I?”

She couldn’t have been more than a foot away from him now. She was still holding the bow and an arrow, the weapon might have been down but she looked ready to pull it back up again any moment. Even though her eyes formed a glare, there was still amusement behind them.

“That could mean anything” he replied, relaxing. But only slightly.

“That was your reason?” she asked

“What?” The Doctor was now totally confused.

“Kissing me was your reason for why I couldn’t come?” she clarified.

“No! No, that wasn’t my reason. That was my explanation for my reason.”

It was Alice’s turn to look confused.

“Think about it,” the Doctor told her. “Use that brain of yours.”

Alice thought about it, and when she got what he meant she stood there, dazed. It couldn’t be true, couldn’t be. “Are you saying-” she began, but had to start over. “Are you saying that you love me?”

“And I would hate to see anything happen to you” he finished for her, smiling. He looked into her eyes. “Now please tell me you don’t hate me or something.”

To his surprise, Alice threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. “Of course I’m not mad!!” she said. “I’m extremely happy!! And I’m not one to use that phrase often. Why do you think I asked how old you were earlier? I thought I was going to have to talk myself out of loving you!”

“Glad you two are happy” Jack said, “but don’t we have something else we need to be doing?”

“Actually, yes.” The Doctor pulled out of the hug and turned to look at Jack. “We need to figure out how to completely destroy the Daleks. Any ideas?”

“We seemed to do just fine” Tabitha said. “I’m sure all of us together could do some damage.”

“Too risky,” the Doctor said. “And there’s too many. No way we would kill them all.”

“How have you defeated them other times?” Alice asked. “Maybe if you did that again, it would work.”

The Doctor thought about that for a minute, and then grinned. “Oh Alice, that idea is brilliant!!” His face fell though. “Too bad the only way is that one. Even it’s a bit dodgy. I nearly killed myself the last time that happened. Actually, no, I did.”

“Can’t you just regenerate?” Jack asked

“No,” the Doctor answered, “out of regenerations.”

                “Well, what do you need to do? I could always do it, considering I can’t die.”

                “It might even be too much for you.”

                “But-” Jack protested

                “Listen, Jack, I need to look into the heart of TARDIS.”

                That knocked the idea out of his head. “There isn’t another way?” he asked quietly.

                The Doctor shook his head. “The only reason the Daleks survived after that is because of the Cult of Skaro, and they’re all dead. This is our only option.” He sighed. “Jack, do you mind going and getting the TARDIS?”

                Jack nodded and saluted, before running off.

                “Jack can fly the TARDIS?” Alice asked

                “No, but he should be able to have her lock onto me. And then she’ll do the rest.” The Doctor paused, but sensed the question on Alice’s mind and continued. “Jack travelled with me. A few incarnations ago. Well, more than that, it feels like forever since then. Probably has been.”

                Alice could tell that this wasn’t something he wanted to talk about, and immediately dropped it. They sat in silence for a while.

                Jack returned with the TARDIS quickly, the distinct sound of its engines filling the room. At the same time, Daleks began to flood the room.

                The Doctor turned to Alice and put his hand on her cheek. “Alice, I am sorry that I have to pull a stunt like this on you now. I’m extremely sorry, I am.” He met her blue eyes for a second, and then gave her another kiss.

                She pulled away, and smiled slightly. “Do what you need to do” she told him.

                He nodded, and then ran into the TARDIS.

                “Be careful, Doctor” Jack said, running out of the TARDIS.

                The Doctor sighed and looked at the TARDIS console. “Let’s do this,” he whispered.

                Outside the TARDIS: Alice, Tabitha, and Jack were holding off the mass of Daleks that were advancing. Edd strode in, a sly smile on his face.

                “Well then Doctor,” he called, “you’ve had your time! Don’t tell me that you’re just going to run away. I’d be so disappointed.”

                A golden light spilled out of the TARDIS. Edd backed up a few paces, eyes open wide in shock. “NO!!” he screamed.

                The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, surrounded by golden light.

                “You wouldn’t!!” Edd shouted

                The Doctor laughed. “But that’s where your wrong Edd, because I would. I’ve already said it, I’m tired. I want to put an end to this war, for good. If you’re as good of a mind reader you said you were, then you would know that.” There was more power behind his voice than it should have been possible.

                Edd glared at the Doctor. A thought drifted into his head, a memory.

                “If a Time Lord did that he’d become a god. A vengeful god.”

                “You’re a coward!” Edd spat. “There’s no way you would actually do it!”

                “Really now?” the Doctor asked. “Even you know that everything must eventually turn to dust!” He waved a hand, and one of the Daleks divided into atoms.

                All of the Daleks divided into atoms.

                “NO!!” the Daleks screamed, but their screams didn’t last long.

                “You’ve done it!!” Tabitha said gleefully. Jack let out a cry of joy. Alice turned to look at the Doctor, who was staring straight at Edd. He was shaking, as if trying to get a hold of himself.

                “Doctor,” Alice said quietly. “You can let go of the power now.”

                “I don’t think I can.” He hadn’t taken his eyes off of Edd, and the shaking was getting worse. “There’s something about him. The whole vortex cries out in anguish when I look at him. The universe quakes in fear. There’s something that he’s done, something that he’s going to do, and the universe wants me to kill him now so no one will suffer.”

                “Then don’t listen. What’s the kid’s name anyways?”

                “Edd Dice”

                Alice’s eyes widened in shock, then formed into a glare. She turned to look at Edd, who was staring at them, wondering what was going on. His eyes narrowed.  “Jack,” Alice said, not taking her eyes off of Edd. “This is going to sound really stupid, but what color are his eyes?”

                “Umm... brown. Does it matter?”

                “It matters a ton.” Alice turned back to the Doctor, and reached up and turned his head so he was looking at her. “I know exactly who he is, and have a good idea of what he’s done. Yes, he is a terrible man and should be killed. But not yet. It’s too early in his life. He’ll do something later in his life that impacts Hyrule’s history greatly. If that event doesn’t take place, I could cease to exist. Now look at him again, Doctor.”

                He turned his head to look back at Edd.

                “If you kill him, it’s more than likely that you’re going to kill me too. Are you willing to do that?”

                “Never,” the Doctor said. He was starting to even sound more like himself. He turned back around, facing the TARDIS, and let out a breath. The power flowed out with it, and went back into the TARDIS, where it belonged.

Of Friends and Foes

                The happiness was short lived. Even if they had just gotten rid of the Daleks, hopefully for good, there was still one more problem to deal with.

                “Congratulations,” came Edd’s dry voice. “You’ve destroyed the Daleks, but what are you going to do about me?”

                “That depends,” the Doctor said, turning to look at him. “You can just make all of our lives easier and go home. But I’ve got a feeling that that’s not going to happen.”

                “Of course not! I might still be able to get a promotion out of this.”

                “That means I’ll have to stop you, from whatever you’re going to do.” The Doctor turned to Jack. “Don’t kill him.”

                Plans were already swimming in his head. All the things he could do to make their lives miserable! Of course, he couldn’t kill the Doctor. Doing so would make him public enemy number one back home. But that didn’t mean he could have some fun. Maybe he would get promoted because he made a really awesome future episode.

                But where to start?

                There was Jack, he wasn’t a bad target. But he wasn’t important. No, and neither was that girl, Tabitha. His main focus now was the Doctor and Alice. He knew who just to start with. Grinning, he set the plan into action.

                “Alice,” the Doctor whispered. She looked up at him. “Edd’s a mind reader, if you know anything that might be in his future, block it from sight. Make sure he can’t get into it, you hear me?”

                Alice nodded. “No problem.”

                Edd lunged forward, eyes only on his target. Jack got in his way. Edd glared, but then cast an amused glance at the gun Jack had trained on him. “You wouldn’t kill me” he laughed. “Which is great! Because it means I can do this!” An electric green lightning bolt formed at his fingertips, and he jabbed Jack in the stomach.

                Jack fell over, dead.

                “Now let’s just give him a minute” Edd said. “Three… two…”

                Jack gasped, and came back to life.

                “Wasn’t that fun?” Edd asked, a creepy smile on his face. He reached forward and grabbed Alice by the wrist and pulled her towards him. Producing a knife from one of his pockets, he held it to her throat.

                “Also fun,” he said, still grinning that creepy grin. “Now if you’ll excuse us.” The two of them disappeared in a flash of light.

                Alice stumbled away from her captor, and ignored him long enough to keep building that mental wall up around anything that might have something to do with his future. Edd grabbed her by the shoulder and forced her to turn around and stare at his cold eyes.

                Cold, green, eyes.

                And not just any color green either. Electric green.

                “No,” Alice whispered, “Jack said-”

                “Jack said what I told him to say” Edd explained. “It was only a low level mind-control. He’ll be fine, but it got me what I wanted. If I’m lucky, I might still be able to get a promotion.”

She turned on him, bow aimed.

                “I don’t see why you all keep doing this,” Edd drawled. “If you kill me you’ll mess up your past. Also, you’d lose your ride back to civilization.”

                Alice glared at him. “Answer this one question, because it will decide whether or not I’ll shoot you through the heart, right here, right now. Have you met anyone named Abigail?”

                “No,” Edd replied. “Is she important?”

                “She’s the only thing keeping you alive right now” Alice said, and lowered the bow.

                “I’m getting the strangest of images. Not a lot, your mental block’s a strong one. I’ll give you that. Hundred years ago, Hyrule’s past, I did something and it involved her. Abigail LiteHart. You don’t seem too happy about it, even though that event is very important in your timeline.” Edd shrugged. “I won’t argue with the laws of time, I guess that can be my next stop. But first…” He laid a hand on her cheek, which she immediately tried to shy away from, but he had trapped her in his gaze. A smile of sick satisfaction crept onto his face.

                “Put down the bow” he ordered.

                “No” Alice said. Speech still worked, though it seemed movement was near impossible.

                “You’re a fighter aren’t you?” Edd asked. His eyes formed a glare and the smile fell off his face. “I’ll ask you again, before I force you. Put down the bow.”

                Alice did her best to look away, but she couldn’t keep herself from looking at his eyes. They contrasted well against the white background, which Alice trying to focus on. Where ever the heck they were, there was nothing but whiteness around them. There wasn’t even a way to tell the difference between the ground beneath their feet from the sky above their heads. If there even was a sky.

                “Be that way then,” he snarled. His eyes flashed, bringing Alice’s gaze back to them. “Put down the bow” he ordered, voice rising. The order was both spoken and mental. A stronger voice in the back of her head relayed the order.

                Against her will, she dropped the bow. Using this moment of freedom Alice slapped Edd’s hand away. “Don’t touch me!!” she shouted at him.

                Edd was fuming. “THAT WAS A FULL FLEDGED FREEZING SPELL!! How the heck did you managed to break it? Do something like that again and I’ll chain your hands to the ceiling!!”

                “There’s a ceiling?”

                “I don’t know,” Edd admitted. “But there definitely can be!”

                They glared at each other in silence for a while.

                Back in “civilization” as Edd called it (we would know it as Disarray) the Doctor was sitting on the spot that Edd and Alice had disappeared from moments before. He stared at the ground, eyes not seeing. Images flashed through his head.

                Companions, lost, to a wide variety of mishaps and dangers. People, dead, because of him. His home, lost in fire. Everything, gone. And he’s the only one that survives.

                He had even said it himself. Everything must turn to dust.

                “Doctor,” Jack said, “she’ll be fine. That wasn’t much of a teleport, he can’t have gone far. Even if he has, there was a lot of energy displacement. He’ll be easy to track.”

                “The TARDIS won’t be able to get where they went” the Doctor said quietly. “That was… a certain type of energy that we won’t even be able to trace. And even if we could; where ever he took her won’t be a place where the TARDIS can land.”

                “I’m sure he’ll bring her back.”

                “Even if he does, imagine what he could be doing to torture her as we speak.”

                “What could a kid like that do to harm anyone?” Jack asked.

                “The entire vortex was screaming out in anguish at him!!” the Doctor said angrily, turning to glare at Jack. “The whole universe wanted him dead. Even Alice admitted it, he was, or is, or will be a terrible person! A man that should be killed!! He could do plenty of terrible things.”

                “Maybe we could look him up, and then we’ll know what we’re up against.”

                Tabitha grinned. “I think I’ve got just the thing to help you!”

                “Why the heck are you doing this anyways?” Alice asked, pulling back from another mental attack of Edd’s. He shook his head, apparently more damaged than she was. (Alice scoffed at this idea.)

                “Well considering this knowledge won’t affect the process; I’ll tell you. The mind is a complex thing, filled with many pressure points. Certain people, like me, have the ability to invade the mind and hit these pressure points, causing it to weaken. A weaker mind is easier to control.” He explained this all like it was kindergarten knowledge. And maybe, for him, it was.

                “Speaking of which, do you know about the uproar you caused back home?”

                Alice did her best to ignore him. It was easier now that he had taken the freezing spell off of her and resorted to chaining her wrists to the ceiling and feet to the ground. Apparently magic just didn’t work on her. Edd blamed it on the fact that she was Hylian.

                “You left, no note, no goodbyes, no nothing” he continued. “They’ve sent search parties looking for you. Accused many of kidnapping, and your sister misses you oh so much.”

                Alice bit her lip. Show no reaction. It will only make it worse, she reminded herself.

                Edd smiled. He began pacing, staring at the floor, deep in concentration.

                Alice wanted to smack herself in the forehead for forgetting that he could read minds.

                “Maybe she doesn’t miss you a ton. She seems caught up quite a bit in running Hyrule. A job that, if I remember correctly, you were supposed to get? You just ran off, leaving the duty to your poor younger sister.” He looked up at Alice, but she gave him no emotion.

“I see,” Edd said, “she would have gotten it anyways. You two had a plan. But still, that leaves one thing. If there’s anything that your sister hated; it was the fact that you missed her coronation. You promised, no matter what happened, that you’d be there.”

Alice couldn’t help the guilt that ran through her. Edd smiled.

“You know,” Edd said thoughtfully. “It’s been a while since I’ve had to use this tactic on anyone. Especially not with anyone who had such a pretty face.” He put a finger under her chin, and she immediately grimaced.

“Are you flirting with me?” she asked, disgusted. “If you are, then, well, ew! I’m like four years older than you!!!”

“And the Doctor’s how many years older than you?”

Alice frowned. He had a point. “There’s a species difference” she muttered.

Edd laughed. But it didn’t sound like he was laughing at her, but at something else. “I get what you mean. I fell in love with a girl who was 1,700 years old.” His expression turned sour, and tone turned bitter. “She hated me though. Despised my guts.”

Despite her position, Alice couldn’t help feel sorry for the kid.

But Edd didn’t take to that nicely. “I don’t need sympathy!” he said angrily. But then a smile lit up his face. A sick, cruel, disgusting, smile.

“But that’s the answer isn’t it?” he asked to no one. “The perfect plan! Perfect in so many ways, and so simple!”

Alice immediately started to fear for her life.

“Here we are,” Tabitha said, pulling a book off the shelf. “Good thing the Daleks didn’t manage to destroy this section of the library. It’s a pity about those other books though.” She looked sadly at the rest of the library, that was either on the ground or up in flames.

The Doctor took the book from her and inspected the cover. In clear letters it said: “The Characters of the Imagination Chronicles”. He frowned.

“Try under antagonists” Tabitha said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows in interest and did so. To his surprise, Edd was one of the first people listed. He looked up at Tabitha. “He’s a character from a book?”

“He’s in about three, actually. He’s the main antagonist of only one though, with the exception of short stories.”

“But that’s not possible!!” the Doctor said defiantly.

“He’s got teleport and time travel under his belt, it’s fair possible.”

“No, but- he can’t-”

Tabitha sighed. “If you want an explanation, you’re going to have to read the books. But right now we need ignore how he got here, and focus on the fact that he is here. Because he’s either extremely dangerous at the moment or he can be forced to leave if you offer him something simple.”

The Doctor made a face and looked at the book.

name: Edd Dice

gender: male

species: wizard

traits: brown hair, brown eyes in earlier books, electric green eyes in the rest

powers: basic magic, as you would expect from a wizard, usually based around simple energy control. His energy color is electric green. He also has the ability to read minds and later (around the time his eyes turn electric green) attains the ability to control minds. His ability to control minds is much stronger than any other in existence (that we know of) considering he knows not only how to control people, like most mind controllers, but also how to control their thoughts and emotions.

The Doctor stopped reading there. That information alone was enough to get by. He handed the book back to Tabitha, and she put it back on the shelf. “I know why Alice was so keen to know the color of eyes. Jack, what color did you say they were?”

“Green” he replied

“I could have sworn you said brown” Tabitha said.

“I thought I said green” Jack looked at the two of them, eyes wide in shock.

“If his eyes are green, that means he’s extremely dangerous, unless he only acquired the ability recently” Tabitha said solemnly. “But he sure looked like he knew what he was doing to me. I hate to say it, but that would mean he’s most likely at the peak of his power.”

Jack and Tabitha realized that the Doctor hadn’t said a word.

“Doctor, she’ll be alright” Tabitha told him. “We can reverse whatever he does to her. Trust me. These books were childhood favorites of mine; I’ve got a million plans of what to do if I were ever to face Edd.”

Slowly, the Doctor swallowed. “What exactly goes under the category of ‘thoughts and emotions’?” he asked quietly.

Tabitha took a second to think about that. “Well, there’s-” she paused, and a worried look grew on her face. “Oh no…” she whispered. “He wouldn’t, he wouldn’t.”

“He wouldn’t what, Tabitha?” the Doctor asked her urgently.

She shook her head and stared at the ground, refusing to look the Doctor in the eye.

“It’s scary, what he can do” she whispered, not looking up. “I tried not to think about it in my childhood, because as soon as I did I wish I hadn’t. You think about it, and you realize what scary power he has, and realize what he’s willing to do with it.

“He can reshape people’s thoughts, he can block memories, he can force you to do things you would never want to do. Once he’s in your head, you don’t walk away untouched. You can escape his control, sure, of course you can. But your mind will still be tainted with his presence. I’m sorry Doctor, but you might have lost her.”

The Doctor closed his eyes, trying to stop the tears that fell. He lost her, before he even had her. “I should have just killed him!” he said angrily.

“Doctor, we’ll get her back” Jack told him, and looked at Tabitha. “We can get her back, right?”

“It may not be too late,” Tabitha offered. “There’s still a small chance.”

“There better be,” the Doctor said.

Let’s take a break!!

Sum: using the 13th Doctor from my fanfic “Alice and the Doctor”. Quick story about how the Doctor went from 12th incarnation to 13th.  All that we know is that he was thrown off a cliff. Note: none of this is canon, so BACK OFF. This spawned from my own imagination. Oh, and that of a friend’s. Troll Doll! If you’re reading this, I hope you’ll get a laugh

                An arrow shot by and knocked the spear out of his hands. The Doctor bit his cheek, this enemy was a formidable one, even if it was just a tribe of Kantuks. Well, an extremely angry tribe of Kantuks that wanted him dead. And for no good reason. How was he supposed to know that the rocks the TARDIS had landed on were sacred?

                They had cornered him against a cliff. He held up his hands in surrender, and shouts went up among the people. There was also a bunch of chattering that served as their language, though the Doctor got not a single word out of it. Even so, the meaning was clear.

                They were going to throw him off the cliff.

                “No!! Please don’t!” the Doctor said loudly, but sadly, they couldn’t understand him.

One of the Kantuk warriors, a very strong looking one at that, advanced. Another one followed behind him. The stronger looking warrior grabbed the Doctor’s shoulder in his firm grip. The other warrior turned triumphantly, arms raised, to his tribe and shouted a few things. The tribe replied with a series of shouts.

The warrior turned around, and shoved the Doctor in the chest with one hand. Even though his maneuver didn’t do anything, the strong one’s sure did.

Next thing the Doctor knew, he was falling.

And falling

And falling

Odd random thoughts went through his head as he fell, and he desperately hoped that his life wouldn’t start flashing before his eyes. If it did, it would take a long time. He thought of a wild array of companions, and wished that one of them had been here now. At least then there would be someone to miss him.

Though there was no telling what the tribe would have done to them. They wouldn’t survive a cliff fall, that’s for sure.

And he was starting to think that neither would he.

The ground hit hard beneath him, and he felt bones crack in places that should have been fatal. But he wasn’t dead. He hurt too much to be dead. Indeed, the pain was searing white hot through his body.

Then another something was searing through his body. The feeling was unmistakable. He was regenerating.

“Hurry up and do so!” He told his body impatiently. “The pain’s getting unbearable!”

Finally, the energy ceased, and all his broken bones and cuts and bruises were mended, also leaving him with a different face. He felt different, that was for sure. Maybe a bit taller, which was good, his last incarnation had been short. He seemed to have the same amount of hair. Even so, what color was it?

Slowly, he sat up. His body was still aching, but it was expected. He found a stream nearby and pulled himself over to it. He looked at his reflection, and didn’t get past the hair color to look at facial features.

He was ginger!!

Nine hundred (or so) years of waiting, and he was finally ginger!

“Took it long enough” he muttered, and pushed himself to his feet. He had to dive to the side immediately though, because the Kantuk warriors were throwing spears and arrows his way. They must have noticed he had survived.

The Doctor slowly looked up as the shower of weapons stopped, and was surprised to find a spear, standing straight out of the ground, inches from his face.

Realization dawned on him then. He was going to have to be careful from this point on. This was his last life, he had no regenerations left to spare. He would either get killed, or get nearly killed and die from regenerating.

That thought alone wasn’t pleasant.

Another unpleasant thought was: how the heck am I going to get back to the TARDIS?

Kay, now back to the story at hand

                “What are you going to do to me?” Alice asked. Edd was sitting (what on was unclear) in front of her, chin in his hands, eyes closed, deep in thought. He was also ignoring her.

                Even so, he didn’t need to answer her. She could already feel it happening in her mind. All attempts to back away from it failed, he attacked her mind like an army would attack a small village. It was scary, feeling the power he was using on her, and she immediately questioned what he was capable of.

                All she had learned from Hyrule history was that he could control people, read thoughts, and a small bit of background Abigail had given on what he had done to the rest of the world out there. She never did learn what the limits were to his powers. No book ever said. No book ever could say.

                There was nothing she could do. Eyes closed in deep concentration, she did her best to resist. But it didn’t seem that Edd was trying to control her at the moment. No, he was in the back of her thoughts, messing with them.

                She couldn’t tell what he was messing with, he was keeping it from her.

                A hand was placed on her cheek, and she attempted to shy away from it. She recognized it as the cold, cruel, touch of Edd. Something she didn’t want to be feeling. But, hang on, it wasn’t cold… it was warm.

                Alice was instantly enraged with herself. How the heck could she think that? Edd was evil!! She started to shy away from the hand again, finding that she could move. But something in her didn’t want to…

                Her heart was pounding now. It couldn’t be possible! Couldn’t be!!

                “What did you do!?” she asked angrily.

                “Open your eyes” was Edd’s response. His voice was kind now, warm even.

Something that shouldn’t be possible for a man like him! Alice thought angrily, but the thought was bashed down.

Open your eyes!! A stronger voice in her mind ordered. It was impossible to resist.

Slowly, and against her will, Alice opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Edd’s eyes, the terrible electric green that they were. But she couldn’t get herself to hate him for some reason.

Those same eyes were also the last thing she saw before all went black.

Edd smiled a sick smile of satisfaction. It had worked, and so easily to. Either she was weak or he was getting stronger.

He let the chains that held her release her, spanning the amount of time it took for the effects to settle in. They had settled in quite well apparently, because before he had time to think about what he had just did, he found that Alice was kissing him.

It’s getting easier to make people fall in love with me these days he thought. If his mouth wasn’t currently occupied, he would have grinned.

Grinning in his mind, Edd snapped his fingers, causing him and Alice to disappear.

And reappear right in front of the Doctor.

There’s quite a list of things you don’t want to see when you turn the corner. And seeing the love of your life kissing another guy was definitely one of them. Behind him, the Doctor could feel both Tabitha and Jack tense.

“He didn’t!” Tabitha whispered angrily. “He’s sick!!” She turned to look at the Doctor and put a hand over his eyes. “Don’t make yourself look more than you have to. Jack, stop them!”

Even if he couldn’t see didn’t help matters. The image was burned in his mind, probably left to scar forever. It was going to be a hard thing to forget, even when he did have her back. And I will have her back, the Doctor reminded himself angrily.

Tabitha removed her hand from his eyes. He glared at Edd, doing his best to keep Alice out of the picture. His rage must have been felt, because Edd grinned.

“You like my work, Doctor?” Edd asked.

“What do you think?” he replied, doing his best to keep a civil tongue.

“Apparently not” Edd said, his face a mock look of sadness. “It seems she does though.” He nodded over at Alice. The Doctor didn’t follow, he was trying to block her from view at the moment.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance!!” the Doctor said, rage rising.

“And risk losing her? Why would you do that? At least now you have some chance of getting her back. If you kill me, there’s a high chance she won’t exist. And I’m nearly positive that once time is unwritten it can’t be rewritten.”

 The Doctor bit his lip. “Can’t you hear it?” he asked Edd, voice filled with sorrow. “She’s screaming inside!! Or are you mind reading skills not that powerful? Because right now, down under whatever she’s thinking on the surface, she’s in pain.”

“You’re making that up!” Edd spat

“I’m not” the Doctor replied. “Listen through me if you must, you’ll know that I’m not.”

Edd frowned and grabbed Alice’s hand. The Doctor’s rage rose. “Why would I want to do that?” Edd asked, sounding innocent. “It would ruin what we have!!”

Alice giggled, and the Doctor’s rage sky rocketed.

“You don’t have anything!!” Tabitha said, from the sidelines.

“Wanna bet?” Edd asked.

The Doctor didn’t see what happened next, Tabitha had covered his eyes again. “Trust me, you don’t want to see” she told him. He trusted her. He had to. She was the only one keeping his anger in check at the moment.

He dared to think it, but if Tabitha wasn’t there, someone might be dead.

Even though Tabitha’s anger couldn’t match the Doctor’s, she was still extremely angry. It was hard to not be angry at someone so… sick. Seriously, what kind of sane person mad people fall in love with them just to make others mad?

Well, there was Edd, but he certainly wasn’t sane.

Much to Tabitha’s disdain, she couldn’t do anything. If she moved the Doctor might look again, and that was something she had to keep from happening. No one in this room knew Edd better than her (with the exception of Edd himself) and she knew that he was only doing this to get the Doctor angry. It was working obviously. But she also knew that the Doctor didn’t need to suffer through this.

She waited until Alice and Edd pulled apart, and then proceeded to punch Edd square in the jaw. Praying that Alice wouldn’t attack her, Tabitha did it again.

“Doctor!” she called over her shoulder. “Talk to her! Maybe she’ll wake up! True emotions should overpower the fake ones, you might be able to pull her out of Edd’s control!”

Edd had recovered, and glared at Tabitha. “You’re a smart one aren’t you?” he asked “How do you know so much?”

“I’ve read your books” Tabitha replied

“They exist in this Realm?” Edd seemed a bit surprised.

“I’m sure glad they do!!”

The fight going on between Tabitha and Edd was surprising. They both fought with words. Tabitha also added a few punches and kicks into the midst, and there was no doubt Edd was using his powers.

The Doctor forced himself to look away. Tabitha was buying him time. There was no way he’d be able to get through to Alice if Edd was focusing properly. He owed Tabitha.

He pulled Alice to the side and sat down on the floor, pulling her down with. She refused to look at him. That fact alone tore at his hearts. “Alice, please look at me” he said quietly.

“No” she replied. Her voice sounded a bit strangled though, as if she was saying it against her own will.

“Please”

Alice slowly turned to look at him. The look on her face was blank, and her eyes- The Doctor sighed heavily. Her eyes, usually an ocean blue, were now the same green as Edd’s.

“Oh Alice,” the Doctor said quietly. “What has he done to you?”

She said nothing, but the blank stare she gave him was enough.

The Doctor stared at the floor. Where could he start? What was he even supposed to say? Tabitha had said that true emotions would overpower the fake ones, but how was he supposed to do anything with that?

You’re the Doctor! he told himself firmly, think of something!!

Unsure where he was going to go with this, the Doctor said: “Do you remember, back in Hyrule, the day we first met?”

“Hey you!!” someone called.

“Who? Me?” the Doctor asked, turning around as Alice ran up behind him.

“Yeah you!” she replied, stopping next to him “you’re not from around here are you?”

“No.” the Doctor said, continuing to walk through the streets of Castle Town. She followed. “How’d you notice?” the Doctor asked her.

“You stick out like a sore thumb in clothes like that” she replied

The memory was strong.

“We bonded quickly, you and I,” he continued. “You saved my life in the library there, then took me on a tour ‘round Hyrule. When faced with the threat of Darkness, you never dared to turn away. And so you came with me.”

Where was he even going with this? It wasn’t like she had forgotten and needed to be reminded. The memories had to still be there, but maybe she just had to be reminded…

“After that we went to London and fought a water monster. You got pretty angry when I nearly drowned.

“Next we landed on the lost moon of Poosh. We met the team of researchers that were exploring the mystery of one of the caves. You kept telling everyone that there was a dragon in there, but no one believed you. You turned out to be right though, it was my old friend Shyfire. Maybe I was already falling for you then. I remember, I told you that I wouldn’t want to spend my last life with anyone else.”

Maybe he knew where he was going with it now… maybe.

“Our next stop was, well, I don’t know where it was. But we met that group of children. You remember them, don’t you? Samuel, Juli, Jeremy, Samantha, Allie. That impossible group of children. But that’s not the only thing I remember from that. You see, remember when they just had to feel my heartbeat to see whether or not I was Time Lord? I remember that you stood with me, held my hand through what could have been my darkest hour.”

He reached out and took her hand in his. She didn’t pull away. He was a bit shocked, he had almost expected her to.

“Then, after that, there was that odd dream we both had. You were stuck in a prison cell, and I vowed I would get you out. And I did. We were both there for each other. But do you remember how that dream ended? As a desperate attempt to wake me, you kissed me. Or you nearly did, the dream ended too quick.”

He laughed, and put his forehead against hers. She wasn’t back yet, he knew that, Edd was still in her mind. But he didn’t care, he wasn’t done talking.

“I think by then, it was pretty clear I was falling for you. Those nightmares we had, well, each and every one of mine had something bad happening to you in it. We were faced a darkness we couldn’t kill, and it threatened to consume me. You jumped off a cliff, just so that I wouldn’t die. And even if we did die, we’d die together.

“Next thing we knew, we ended up here. The Sky City of Disarray, standing in its ruins. All because of the Daleks. It was clear that I had to kill them. Knowing that I had to do it alone, I kissed you and ran off. I realize now that it wasn’t such a good idea, considering you seemed so angry afterwards.

“Honestly, I was scared. I had this feeling that you wouldn’t love me back. When you said that you did, you wouldn’t know how happy I was. After that I looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and destroyed the Daleks for good.”

He sighed.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t stop Edd, which is why you’re in the predicament you’re in right now. Even so, I’m not going to kill Edd, not until I know I won’t lose you for good. Because I love you, Alice, and I always will.”

“NO!!” Edd screamed. The Doctor ignored him. Edd didn’t matter, not now. Definitely not now. All that mattered now was Alice, and getting her back to normal.

The Doctor leaned down to kiss her. At first, she backed away, like there was something keeping her from him. It didn’t last long though, within seconds she was kissing him back.

There are a few places you don’t want to find yourself when you wake up from being under the control of a freaky jerk such as Edd. Oh who am I kidding? Alice found herself exactly where she wanted to be. She was kissing the Doctor.

They broke apart after a while, and she started to recall what had happened within the past hour or so. That included what had happened with Edd. She backed up a few feet, and the Doctor gave her a questioning look.

“I kissed him” she stuttered, eyes (which were blue again) filled with horror.

“What?”

“Edd. I kissed Edd.” She seemed to have a bit of trouble saying it, like she didn’t want to believe the fact. Before the Doctor could respond, she darted to the nearest trash can. After puking her guts out, she returned.

“Is he that bad of a kisser?” the Doctor asked jokingly. Alice grinned.

“Actually, no. If he wasn’t evil, I’d envy his girlfriend. But he’s… I don’t know, just empty inside. No emotion behind anything. Besides, what he did was just plain wrong!”

“You’re right. It was” the Doctor broke out into a grin. “It’s good to have you back!!”

“It’s good to be back!”

There was a click of a gun safety being released, and they both turned. Edd had a gun pointed at himself. “I’ll do it” he said. “If I die she goes down with me. I’m perfectly okay with that.”

“You wouldn’t kill yourself,” the Doctor said.

“Yeah, I would,” Edd replied angrily. “I’m dying anyways! I might as well die by my own hand than by the hand of someone else.”

Alice looked off to the side, where Tabitha lay. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. “Is she dead?”

“Just unconscious” Jack told her. “She’ll be alright.”

“Just put the gun down, Edd. You don’t need to do this.” The Doctor sounded as if it was hard to keep his voice as calm as it was.

“You’re not the boss of me!!” Edd shouted angrily. Alice held back a laugh, he sounded like a child who was angry at his parents. He turned on her as soon as she thought that. “I am not an angry child!!”

“Never said you were.” Alice went over and took the gun from Edd’s hand and tossed it to the side. “But listen, I can give you a good reason why you should just go. One hundred years ago, in Hyrule’s past, shortly after the fall of the Twilight, you did something. I can’t tell you what, but you might just get a promotion from it.”

“Really?” Edd was listening now. He’d do anything for a promotion.

“I don’t know, but there’s only way to find out.” Alice smiled slightly. “You need to go live it out. And remember, there was a girl named Abigail LiteHart, she’s the key.”

Sights set on a new plan, Edd disappeared.

“That was easy” the Doctor muttered.

“Whatever, at least he’s gone.” Alice turned to look at the Doctor. “Should we go?”

“Yeah… that would probably be best.”

Sunrise

                “Alice!!” the Doctor called back into the TARDIS. Alice looked at him, he was sitting in the doorway. “You’ll love this view!!”

                Alice smiled and walked over, only to notice that the TARDIS was suspended in midair looking at a city. He patted the floor next to him and Alice sat down, swinging her legs over the edge.

                “You’re just in time” the Doctor told her, looking towards the city. The sign was just rising, and the city was sparkling in the light.

                “It’s beautiful” Alice whispered.

                “I knew you would like it” the Doctor replied

                Alice smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her.

Coldplay

Square One

                When Alice walked into the console room of the TARDIS the next morning, the sound of music graced her ears. Growing up in Hyrule, the only music she had ever heard was from the wandering minstrels or that constant tune that just kept playing in Castle Town.

                “You’re in control is there anywhere you wanna go?” the Doctor sang to the music, oblivious that she had just walked in. “You’re in control is there anything you wanna know? the Future’s for discovering, the space in which we’re traveling.” At that last line, he looked up at noticed her and grinned.

                “Alice!!” he said happily. “You ever heard this song?”

                She shook her head.

                “Didn’t think so,” he laughed.

                “What got you in such a good mood?” she asked

                “I found a box of all my old Coldplay music. And I found the perfect place for us to go, nice little island. They call it Crystal Reef. It’s home of the best smoothie hut in the universe.”

                “You’re taking me to get a smoothie?”

                “Pretty much, yeah.”

                Alice grinned as the TARDIS landed. “What are we waiting for then? Let’s go!” She ran out and then paused, and the smile fell off her face. “We’re going to have to pass on the smoothies” she called back into the TARDIS.

                “What for?” the Doctor asked, stepping out. He then realized what her issue was. Standing right in front of them was a bewildered treasure hunter. A man of his mid-forties, this adventurer had a bushy mustache and was nearly bald.

                “Well hello there” he said in a deep voice. He pulled out his shovel, plowed it into the ground, and then leaned against its shaft. “You don’t happen to know where the treasure is, do you?”

                They shook their heads.

                “Pity, I lost my map.” The treasure hunter’s attention was pulled somewhere else. “WHY HELLO SAILOR!!” he bellowed, before running to the docks.

                The Doctor turned to Alice. “Smoothie?” he asked with a feeble smile. She nodded, and they headed off to the Smoothie hut.

                Their smoothie drinking was interrupted when a young boy ran through into the smoothie hut and hid behind one of the tables. Following him in pursuit were a few larger and stronger looking islanders.

                “You can’t hide forever!!” one of them called. Apparently they weren’t able to see the boy behind the table.

                They waited for a while, and the boy didn’t come out.

                “Whatever,” the leader said. He crumpled up a few papers and tossed them on the floor and then stomped on them. “That’s what we think of your ‘work’ by the way. Come on boys!”

                The group of older islanders left. The boy peeked out from behind the table, noticed his work on the ground and dove over to it. He did his best to uncrumple the papers, but didn’t manage successfully.

                “You alright?” Alice asked, going over to the boy. She could see that he was clearly hurt.

                “I’m fine” he told her, but it sounded as if he was lying. “Go away.” He turned around and noticed that Alice was still there. “Stop mocking me! No one ever cares about me or my work, why should you?”

                A bit taken aback by his outburst, Alice said nothing.

                “That must be a lonely life,” the Doctor said, walking over.

                The boy, who had been crying, wiped away his tears and turned to look at the Doctor. “How do you know?”

                “I’ve been lonely too. And I’ve been hurt. You certainly seem like you’re the same.”

                The boy turned away. “Like you care” he sniffed.

                The Doctor took the papers from the boy, who didn’t really give a fight, and examined them. After a second of thinking, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and ran it over the papers and immediately they went to a less crumpled state. He handed them back to the boy.

                The boy looked at them in disbelief, then turned to look at the Doctor again. “How did you do that? Never mind - who are you?”

                “I’m the Doctor”

                “I’m Alice”

                “I’m Xavier.” The boy stood up, still staring at his papers in disbelief.

                “You mind if I ask what those are?” the Doctor said.

                “A few poems” Xavier replied. “But no one appreciates my work, they complain because my poems don’t tend to rhyme. But I’m terrible at rhyming. Besides, if I did rhyme, it would sound like I was trying too hard. Seems like I’m back in square one again…”

                “Can I read a few?” Alice asked.

                “Go ahead.” Xavier handed her the poems. The Doctor took a few from her. Intrigued, they both read and found that the poems were brilliant.

                “Where do you get your inspiration?” the Doctor asked.

                Xavier grinned.

Speed of Sound

                They walked in a quieter part of the island village, Xavier balancing on a low stone wall, Alice and the Doctor walking on the path, hand in hand. To their right were the mountains, towering high in the middle of the island. On the left was the village and beyond that the ocean.

                “Every since I was little,” Xavier was telling them, “I’ve always just seen these odd things. Things that aren’t even there, that don’t actually exist, or do exist but you just can’t see them with the naked eye.

“Originally I tried to draw them, but I can’t draw to save my neck. So instead I put these things in the form of poetry.”

Xavier sat down on the wall, looking out towards the village. “I’ve always wondered what it would like to be a famous poet, but as you already know, no one likes my work. Maybe somewhere out there someone would, but where would I go? What place?”

“That’s how I feel a lot,” the Doctor said, “I never know where to go. But if you start going somewhere maybe then you would find the place where you need to be.”

Xavier shrugged. He turned around and pointed up at the mountain. “Do you think maybe if I climbed that I’d be able to find something on the other side?”

“Are you crazy?” Alice asked him, looking at the mountain herself. It was extremely steep. “You can’t climb that!!”

Xavier squinted at it. “You sure? There’s a path there, I can see it.”

“What else can you see?” the Doctor asked, leaning against the stone wall.

“I can see the planets moving at night” Xavier answered. “And in the day I can see the stars. And when I lie on the beach I feel like my head’s underneath the sand.” He paused, head cocked to one side as if he was listening for something. “I can hear all this noise too, every day and night.”

“What noise?”

“Just noise. Like the waves, but louder than they should be. Or a bird that’s miles away. There’s also a lot of static sometimes.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t explain it if I tried. Look!” He pointed, but there was nothing there.

“What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?” the Doctor asked.

Xavier sighed sadly. “You can’t see it then. There are these birds, flying really fast. But, here’s the crazy part, it seems as if they’re coming up from under the ground. You wouldn’t understand.”

He turned back around to look at the village. “Sometimes I can also see other things, like the plans for buildings or these crazy machines. But, I can’t draw so I can’t sketch out what they look like so people could build them.”

Xavier squinted up at the sun. “But there are some things I can’t see, too. Like the light looks weird to me. I can see it all around me, but I honestly couldn’t tell you that I see the sun. There’s an outline there, where I’m assuming it should be, but nothing else. It’s puzzling.”

“You’re one strange child” the Doctor told the boy.

“I know,” Xavier said, not turning to look at him. After a second he said: “there’s a storm approaching. Physically and metaphorically. There’s a storm on our shore, and danger’s around us…”

“What does that mean?” Alice asked.

“A big storm is going to hit the island” Xavier explained. “And that something bad is going to happen soon. I don’t know what though.”

They sat (or stood) there in silence for a while. Then Alice screamed. Xavier and the Doctor turned to see her get carried off by a giant bird.

“That’s one of those birds!!” Xavier said. “Well, it’s a bit larger, but it’s still one of them!” The bird was black, though in the sunlight its feathers took on a more purplish or bluish shade.

“Where is it headed?” the Doctor asked, turning to look at Xavier.

Xavier took a second to think about it. “Follow me” he said, running off.

Clocks

                The clouds had covered the sun by now, and it was starting to rain. The Doctor stood on the beach, looking out to an extremely small island (large enough for three people, or an extremely large bird, to stand on) on which the bird stood. Where the bird had put Alice was a mystery, and he desperately hoped that the bird hadn’t eaten her.

                Clouds had covered the sun by now, and it was beginning to rain. The tides were coming in too, along with the massive amount of wind. The bird hadn’t listened to his pleas up to now, and was refusing to give Alice back.

                “Please,” the Doctor said, “I’m begging you. Give her back to me!!”

                The bird squawked and shook its head.

                “It’s not listening to us, Theta” Xavier said. The Doctor turned to look at him.

                “What did you just say?”

                Xavier swallowed. “Theta…” he said slowly.

                “How did you know that?” the Doctor asked.

                “It’s something else I see,” Xavier said. “Sometimes I can see people’s pasts, and I heard someone call you that. It slipped out really, I didn’t mean to say anything. Sorry.”

                “No, no, it’s fine.” The Doctor turned back to look at the bird. “Any idea what that is?”

                Xavier took a second to think about it, and then shook his head. “Nope. But, I might be able to talk to it. Maybe if I say the right thing, something will happen.” He turned to look at the bird. “You’re… confused. There’s something that you’re waiting for, that will come and take you back to where you came from.”

                The bird squawked its agreement.

                “What does that have anything to do with the girl?”

                The bird made a few noises. Xavier turned to the Doctor. “He doesn’t know, and if it would make you feel better, he’ll trade the girl for a ride home.”

                “I’m perfectly okay with that. Where does it live?”

                Xavier looked back at the bird and closed his eyes. “334.56 delta blue 71”

                “Alright then,” the Doctor said. Alice appeared right next to him looking a bit bewildered. After a brief hug, the two of them walked off, followed by the bird. It took Xavier a moment to realize that they had left, and he quickly ran after them.

                Xavier stopped though when the blue box they had just entered disappeared.

                Nearly two years later, Xavier sat on the same spot the TARDIS had been, staring out at the ocean.

                That was it, my last chance to get off this island and I just let them go.

                He sighed, and turned back at the village. There were bigger problems now. The tribesmen that lived on the other side of the island had come over and taken over the village. And as much as Xavier wanted to help get rid of them, he felt that he would only make things worse.

                He looked up at the night sky, where he could see the planets moving as always. I bet they’re out there, he thought, traveling across those planets. He sighed and looked back down, and blew a piece of his auburn hair out of his emerald green eyes.

That would be the life.

                Definitely better than the life I live now.

Violet Hill

                Xavier stood on a hill overlooking the village. It was December, and it was snowing. Of all things, it had never snowed on this island before. Ever since the tribesmen had been here, everything had gone out of whack.

                He clambered down the snowy hill to the central square of the village, where the tribesmen sat inside their houses, staring through the windows at the freezing villagers.

                Xavier went over to a group of the villagers. “Shouldn’t we do something to fight them?” he asked.

                “What for?” one of the villagers said. “At this rate, we’ll all freeze to death if we try anything. We should just lie low for now.”

                Xavier sighed, and wandered off.

                These times were hard times. Food was scarce, and a once beautiful island with its beautiful greenery had frozen because of this long winter that they were never supposed to have. The trees were covered in ice, the fruit had all died, and the smoothie hut had gone out of business. It was too cold to swim, and there was nothing to do to pass the time. Everyone was just too cold.

                I’ll fight them, he told himself. “I will, I’ll get rid of these tribesmen!” he looked over at a few of the villagers that were staring at him. “And if I die trying, so be it!” Xavier was angry, these people that hadn’t hesitated once to throw him across a room because his poetry was bad didn’t want to fight to get their freedom back.

                But it wasn’t like Xavier could do anything. He wasn’t a soldier. He didn’t even know how to fight. And his ability to see things didn’t help one bit. He cast a gaze up at the sky, where he could see the stars shining even though it was day.

                The Doctor was out there, somewhere. Maybe he could help. Xavier had seen it, in his past, he helped people. And he just left the island behind.

                Maybe I am just that unloved.

                The Doctor and Alice were on a hill, gazing up at the stars. The Doctor was pointing out a few of his favorite constellations. It was after a while that he realized Alice hadn’t said a thing. He turned to look at her.

                “Am I boring you?” he asked

                “No, no” she answered, but seemed a bit distracted.

                “What’s wrong?”

                “It’s just… I feel a bit bad, we just kind of left Xavier behind. We didn’t even bother say goodbye.”

                The Doctor frowned. “Are you suggesting we go back and find him?”

                “Yeah, I guess I am.”

                “Okay,” the Doctor stood up and held out his hand. Alice took it, and he helped her to her feet. They went into the TARDIS and left.

Viva la Vida

                “Snow?” was the first word out of the Doctor’s mouth when he stepped out of the TARDIS. “It shouldn’t be snowing here!” His thoughts were interrupted when he was hugged. He looked down to see Xavier.

                “You’re back!!” Xavier said happily.

                “Did you miss us?” Alice asked, as the young boy went over and hugged her too.

                “How long were we gone?” the Doctor asked, walking slowly towards the village. “And what happened? Why is it snowing?”

                “It’s been two years” Xavier answered, then looked at the village. “The tribesmen from the other side of the island took over. I don’t know about the snow, but it’s ruined everything. All fruit and trees and other plants have died, the smoothie hut had gone out of business, and all the trade ships have stopped coming.”

                “That’s not good.” The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the sky, where dark storm clouds were pouring out snow. “This isn’t good,” he said after a moment. “Definitely not good.” He turned to Xavier. “Any possible way I can speak to the Tribe leader?”

                “Who are you?” the Tribe leader asked, looking up from his game of cards. “Who let him in? I’m busy!”

                “I’m the Doctor, I’ve come to ask you a few things.”

                “I am busy, you can come back later.”

                “No, I’m afraid I can’t. The snow is destroying the island, I would like to get some answers before it’s totally irreversible.” The Doctor sat down in front of the tribe leader and looked him in the eye. “Why are you doing this to the village?”

                The Tribe leader put down the cards in his hand and sighed. “I doubt you would understand. I used to be the king of the tribe back home, until I was unfairly accused of treason. I went from king to lowly tribesman overnight

“And the rest of the tribe just loved their new king. Apparently he was better than me. I heard that there was another town over on this side of the island, I thought I would make a living here.”

“’Make a living’!?!” the Doctor asked, enraged. “Everyone’s scared to death of you!!”

“Point?”

“They people out there want you dead! You’ve ruined their lifestyle, their trade, everything!! They can’t make a living anymore! Keep up like this and you’ll die too! Is that worth being King?”

The Tribe leader didn’t say anything.

The Doctor took a few breaths. “Besides, what’s with the snow anyways? How did you manage that?”

“We did not.”

“What did you mean you didn’t?”

“The snow had nothing to do with us,” the Tribe leader repeated. “We did not cause it, and we wish for it to go as much as everyone else does.”

The Doctor reported what he had found out to Xavier and Alice later. “What could be causing it then?” Alice asked.

Xavier looked out to the village. They were standing on the same path with the stone wall they had stood on ages ago, with the mountains to the right and village to the left. “Maybe it’s the birds” he said quietly. “I haven’t seen them in ages. Maybe they don’t like the tribe that took over and sent the snow in attempt to get rid of them.”

The Doctor took a second to think about that. “It is highly likely, but I thought I took all the birds back to their home.”

“Maybe they thought they should do the island a favor.”

The Doctor shook his head. “I don’t think so. They would know that the snow would ruin the island. But that doesn’t mean the two things aren’t connected…”

“Maybe it’s because the birds left that it started to snow” Alice suggested.

“That would make sense,” the Doctor admitted. “Considering they are aliens, there could have been something they were doing to make this place habitable while they were living here.”

“So what are we going to do?” Alice asked “Should we bring them back?”

“Don’t go!” Xavier said. “You just came back, you can’t leave me again! I don’t want to wait another two years!!”

“We’ll be right back” Alice promised.

“If it would make you feel better, Alice could stay here” the Doctor added.

“Hey! I’m not agreeing to that!!!”

Both of the boys looked at her with pleading eyes. Alice groaned and rolled her eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me” she muttered.

As soon as the Doctor returned with the birds, the effect on the land was almost immediate. It stopped snowing, and the sun started beating down hard. The snow was already starting to melt.

“That was effective!!” Xavier said happily.

“How do they do that?” Alice asked

“Basic compact teraforming,” the Doctor said. “It’s in their feathers; it makes it so wherever they go they can live without having to adapt to the environment themselves.”

“Now we’ve just got to get rid of the tribesmen.” Xavier looked out at the village, where everything was starting to go back to normal.

“Do you need help with that?”

Xavier shook his head. “Nah, the villager’s have got hope to fight back now. And I’m sure Beth wants revenge for the destruction of her smoothie hut. This shouldn’t take long.” He grinned at the two of them, and then ran down the slope to go help out.

The villagers got rid of the tribesmen quickly. Apparently it was extremely easy to just convince them to leave and go to an island that was a week’s travel away by boat. Whether not that island existed was a different story.

Xavier returned to the hill where he had left Alice and the Doctor, only to find them gone. Quickly making a decision, Xavier ran to the other side of the hill. The Doctor’s blue box thing was still there, which meant they had to be too.

He found them in the smoothie hut. “There he is!!” the Doctor called when he entered. “Come on over, we got you a smoothie!!”

Xavier smiled, and sat down at the table with them. Alice flashed him a smile and pushed a smoothie across the table to him. It didn’t happen to be one of his favorite flavors, but it wasn’t a terrible flavor either, so he didn’t mind. “Thanks,” he said.

“You’re village is one strange village, you know that?” Alice laughed.

“I know”

“I’ve seen stranger” the Doctor commented

“I bet you have”

The Doctor smiled and took a drink of his smoothie. “Just goes to show, life is persistent no matter what.” His smile changed to a grin, and he lifted his glass to the air. “Viva la Vida!!”

Xavier laughed and lifted his glass also. “Long live life!” he replied.

Alice just laughed.

Of… What the heck is going on?

                “Where to now?” Alice asked after nearly running into the Doctor in a hallway of the TARDIS.

                “I was just going to ask you” he replied. She raised her eyebrows. “Well, I know what we’re going to do, but where we’re going to do it is another story.”

                Her expression grew even more confused.

                “Star Wars!” the Doctor said excitedly. “I thought maybe we could watch all six movies in a row, or kind of in a row. That’s why I was going to ask you, I wanted to know if you wanted to see them in theaters or if we should just watch them in the movie room of the TARDIS.”

                Even though that didn’t really answer her question at all, Alice smiled. “Let’s just stay here.”

                “Okay!”

                About two hours later, in the middle of the second Star Wars movie:

                “You know,” Alice said. “I think you and me are a bit like Padme and Anakin.”

                “You wouldn’t want to be,” the Doctor replied quickly. “I wouldn’t want to be.”

                “Why?”

                “For starters, you’d be dead. And I’d be evil.”

                “On the bright side, at least you’d have twins.”

                The Doctor and Alice both turned to look to their right, where a girl about the age of thirteen was sitting, eating out of a ridiculously large bowl of popcorn. “Want some?” she asked, turning to look at them with a twinkle in her blue-grey eyes.

                The Doctor took a second to gape, and then asked: “Who are you?”

                The girl laughed. “My name’s not at all important. Besides, if I told you, you’d freak or end up with a million bounty hunters after you.”

                The Doctor processed that for a second, and then asked: “Why are you in the TARDIS? And more importantly, how are you in the TARDIS?”

                “I walked right in when you landed in my backyard sometime during your tenth incarnation.”

“That was forever ago!” the Doctor said. “Like, fifty years! You shouldn’t be this young.”

The girl paid no attention to the last comment. “Really? It feels like it’s only been a month or two. Maybe a year at most, but I don’t think I wasted that much time. Anyways, what incarnation are you on? I don’t recognize you, and I’ve been up to date for a while, unless I really did just waste six months playing video games.”

The Doctor started to reply, but then the girl leaned around him to look at Alice. “Who are you?”

“I’m Alice.”

The girl’s eyes widened. “Really now? That’s… interesting. You’re from Hyrule, aren’t you?”

Alice nodded.

The girl turned back to the Doctor. “That means you’re on your last incarnation. Wow,” the girl stared into her bowl of popcorn. “I shouldn’t be here. I really shouldn’t be here. I can’t meddle too much, that will just throw everything off.” She set the popcorn off to the side and stood up. After one last glance at Alice and the Doctor, she headed out the door.

Of course, they just had to follow.

“How do you know what incarnation I’m on just by knowing Alice is here?” the Doctor asked

“It’s like pieces of a puzzle Doctor, put the right ones together and you’ll see the picture without putting together the entire puzzle.”

“Yes but-”

“How’d you know I was from Hyrule?” Alice asked before he could get anymore out. The girl stopped walking and turned back around.

“It’s the ears,” she stated plainly. “The only other place I’ve seen ears like that, well…” The girl paused and a thoughtful look crossed her face. “You don’t smell of magic enough to be from there. And frankly, you smell a lot like musty castle and the grass of Hyrule.”

This statement only gained the girl even more confused looks.

“You said you’ve been up to date,” the Doctor said finally. “But up to date on what? And what does it have to do with me?”

The girl sighed. “I can’t tell you, it might through everything off!! And you probably don’t want to hear it either.”

“Does that mean I shouldn’t?”

“Trust me, no one should!”

“What if I want to?”

The girl rolled her eyes. “You probably won’t after I’ve told you, and finding out might just send you into a state of depression, confusion, anger, or might cause suicide. And I don’t want a dead Doctor on my hands.”

“You’re just making me want to hear it more!”

The girl let out a growl, and then looked at Alice, then back at the Doctor. “You haven’t even told her, have you?”

“Told her what?” the Doctor asked

“I’ve been in the game room, Doctor. There’s not much you can hide, and you can’t keep her out of there forever.”

Alice scowled at the Doctor. “What does she mean?”

The Doctor bit his lip.

“I could tell both of you, right here, right now, if it would make you feel better,” the girl said. “I’ve explained it enough, to quite a few different people from quite a few different places. Breaking the news to you won’t be too hard. And you’ll have someone there with you, isn’t that nice?”

They stared at her.

The girl’s expression was firm. “I’m warning you, as soon as you find out, things will never be the same again. You won’t be able to look at things the same way, you won’t be able to think the same way, every little thought will just bring you back to this big huge fact. Are you sure you want me to tell you?”

The Doctor and Alice exchanged glances.

“Do you want to?” he asked quietly

“I have no idea what she’s even talking about, this is probably going to be our only way to find out.”

They turned back to the girl.

                “Yes,” they both said.

                The girl made a face that said ‘you’re getting yourselves into this, don’t blame me’ which quickly changed to a thoughtful one. “Now who to tell first?” She looked between the two of them, and then finally settled on the Doctor. “I’ll start with you. Why? Because you can easily tell her and if I don’t tell you now I don’t think anyone will.” She took a deep breath.

                “Doctor, you’re entire life has been documented. Okay, not all of it, but a good portion. Anyways, it’s been documented and turned into a TV show. Don’t give me that look! There are crazier things out there. I mean, just wait till you hear what she needs to!”

                The look on the Doctor’s face was priceless. “What the-” he muttered, then asked: “my entire life is a TV show?”

                “No!!!” the girl said quickly, sounding as if she had done this a million times. “There’s a TV show based on your life, a very good one too, good actors and incredibly accurate. It’s the reason why I missed your trip to Mars in your tenth incarnation.”

                “Why would you want to be there?”

                “To smack you in the face.” Upon receiving the look she did, she laughed a bitter laugh. “I’ve seen many good men go crazy with power hunger and it never ends well for them. I didn’t want you to just be another one.”

                “What about me?” Alice asked

                “Oh you’re easy” the girl replied without second thought. “Not even a main character.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a Nintendo DS. After fiddling with it for a few seconds, she handed it over to Alice. “Ignore the technology, and let me know if you recognize anything.”

                “That’s Hyrule,” Alice breathed.

                “Yup.” The girl took the DS back and shoved it in her pocket. “You’ve got a video game based on your life. Well, not your life. The lives of the Heroes; present, past, and possibly future. I don’t know, what time period you came from, so I can’t say much. Now, do you need to forget what I just told you? Because I know a person or two that could help with that.”

                The Doctor and Alice exchanged glances again. Eventually, Alice said: “no, I think we’re fine.”

                A silence passed.

                “Are there any other worlds or people out there that are the same?” Alice asked

                “What do you mean?”

                “Like, other video games or TV shows based off of peoples’ lives or whatever.”

                The girl smiled. “Of course! Where do you think I am right now?”

                Alice shrugged.

                “I’m in a book,” the girl replied. “A book that has yet to be finished, but a book indeed. Oh, I know someone you might recognize. Mario, he’s got a good fifteen video games or so about him.”

                “Really?”

                “Really.” The girl turned to the Doctor. “Now please tell me I don’t have to go into long complicated explanation on how all of this is possible, because I’m not in the mood.”

                He shook his head, a bit confused.

                “Good!” the girl said happily. “Now if you excuse me, I think I’m going to go kill Ansem again. Why? Well for starters:” the girl started laughing “I just can’t stand his foul stench!” She burst out laughing, then stopped. “That, and I want to watch the ending of Kingdom Hearts on your ridiculously large TV with surround sound.”

                The girl skipped off, and they never really saw her again.

                -------

                She was in her room, hanging upside down from the top bunk, music blaring, Nintendo GameCube controller in hand, racing Mario Kart. Of all the oddities out there, she was probably the oddest of them all. She had a habit of just popping random places. Mainly places that you would only find in video games. Of course, being the avid gamer she was, she would explore. Then she’d run into the main character of the game, they’d be confused because she knew like everything about them, and she’d usually just end the visit by telling them that there was a video game based on their life or something.

                Today was different though. Why? Well because her racing and music listening was interrupted by a loud noise. A noise loud enough that it caused her to lose her balance and fall to the ground with a loud thump! She got up quickly, checked to make sure the controller was alright, and then ran to the window.

                And of all things to find out there, she found a blue police box.

                “No way” she said.

                This girl was not only just an avid gamer, but also a huge fan of Doctor Who.

                “The TARDIS just landed in my backyard.”

                She also tended to think out loud.

                But still, it was an oddity among the odder ones. The TARDIS, in her backyard. More importantly, in the back yard of… never mind. I couldn’t tell you where she lived even if I knew. Why? Because you’d end up on a wanted poster.

                Anyways, not able to believe her luck, the girl quickly switched off the system, grabbed the book she was currently reading, the video game she was currently playing, and the memory card for her GameCube, and headed out the door.

                The Doctor had already left, she could tell, because she saw him walking off in the distance.

                “Tenth incarnation” she muttered, “has to be.”

                She ran to the TARDIS and then pulled a very odd looking key out of her pocket. After banging it against her thigh a few times to make sure it was in the shape she wanted it in, she stuck it right in front of the keyhole.

                There were a few sparks, and then the door of the TARDIS swung wide open. Grinning, the girl walked inside.

                Once she was inside, her speculations of it being the Tenth Doctor were confirmed. The console was set to the “Coral” theme. She shut the door behind her.

                A hologram suddenly appeared, showing the Doctor with a scowl on his face.

                “How did you get in the TARDIS?” the hologram asked.

                “Oh please,” the girl muttered, and started digging around in her pockets.

                “Security protocol 112 activated, you should leave immediately” the hologram said. The girl continued ignoring it and turned the device she had just pulled out of her pocket over in her hands, checking to make sure it was adaptable. As soon as she decided it was, the girl plugged the device into the TARDIS. The hologram disappeared, and a long string of figures flickered to life on the screen above her.

                She shouldn’t have been able to read what the figures said, but her device was translating quickly, which the TARDIS was well aware off.

                ‘You shouldn’t be here’ the TARDIS said

                “I know” the girl replied. The words on the screen flickered and rearranged themselves quickly into new words.

                ‘The Doctor won’t approve of this’

                “He won’t even know I’m here”

                The words shifted again.

                ‘I should go through with the security protocol’

                “But you won’t. You can’t have me dead, you know that perfectly well. Just let me stay, there’s got to be a million rooms in here that I can hide in. You can keep a close eye on me too. If I get out of line, you can just kick me out on the next planet you land on. I’ll find a way back home.”

                The TARDIS made a few bleeping noises, which the girl took to mean ‘yes’ and she smiled.

                “Now could you be really nice and pull up a map for me? I need to check and make sure I don’t need to go get anything, the Doctor could be back any minute.”

                The TARDIS obliged, and the words on the screen shifted to show a very large and complicated map. The girl studied it for a minute, and as soon as she decided that there were enough rooms to fit her needs, she headed off to find the game room.

                -------

                “So, uh, back to Star Wars?” Alice asked. The Doctor shook his head.

                “I need to think about what just happened”

                “I could make hot chocolate,” Alice offered. “Or tea, if you like.”

                “Sure”

                Minutes later, in the Kitchen:

                “Are you having issues with all of this?” Alice asked, setting a cup of tea down in front of the Doctor and then going to the other chair and sitting down.

                “A bit. Not so much about the fact my life’s on a TV show, but more about the fact that there’s been a random girl in the TARDIS for fifty years. I mean, how did I not notice that?!” He threw up his hands in frustration.

                “We could always go ask her about it. She did say where she was going to be. If it bothers you this much you should do something about it, and not just sit here complaining.” Alice shrugged. “For example, I’m going to ask why you decided to keep this secret from me for so long.”

                The Doctor immediately winced. “You’re not mad, right?”

                “Only a bit. It does seem that you had fair reason to keep it.” She made a face into her tea cup, and then set it off to the side. “You could have at least warned me, though. But then again, maybe it’s not so bad. It’s not like the games are actually about me, right?” Alice looked up, only to notice that the Doctor was glaring at her. “Sorry, shouldn’t have said that, huh?”

                “You think?”

                “Sorry, sorry, I am sorry, extremely sorry.”

                “Stop apologizing. It’s not your fault.”

                “Yes it is! I should have thought before talking!!”

                “I meant it wasn’t your fault that there’s a TV show about me.”

                “Oh”

                They sat in silence for a while.

                “Do you want to ask the girl about the details concerning her stay in the TARDIS?” Alice asked finally.

                “It would help my mental state”

                It took them a while to find the game room, but only because the TARDIS was pretty insistent on moving it around. When they did find it though, they heard a bunch of shouts, most of them being something along the lines of: “Take that Ansem!! In your face! In your face!! In your fat, stinky, stupid, heartless face!”

                They found the girl on the couch, PS2 controller in hand, screaming at the TV, which was ridiculously large. It seemed she had defeated Ansem.

                The girl turned to look at them, frowned for a second, then shrugged and turned back to the TV. “You can watch if you want!” she said, not bothering to look at them. “I haven’t managed yet without crying, and I want to make sure I’m not the only one who finds the ending a bit sad.”

                Approximately ten minutes later, they were all sitting on the couch. The girl was close to tears, and singing along with the song that was playing while the credits rolled. Alice also looked sad, but wasn’t singing. The Doctor was totally unmoved.

                “Please tell me there’s a sequel,” Alice said.

                “Of course there is!” the girl replied, now happy. “I’m glad that someone else thinks it’s sad.”

                “Not much, but enough to have that upset feeling inside.”

                “I blame the song”

                “I have no idea what you two are going on about” the Doctor said.

                “Play the rest of the game, maybe then you will” the girl told him.

                “What I would like to know is how you got in the TARDIS in the first place” the Doctor replied

                The girl frowned. “I told you, I walked right in.”

                “I keep the door locked!”

                “I have a key”

                “To the TARDIS?”

                “No, just a key that opens any lock. When it’s not being temperamental, that is.”

                “That doesn’t make sense!”

                “My home was very technologically advanced.”

                “Okay fine, but how did you hide for fifty years?”

                “I asked the TARDIS nicely if she would help me. And I’ve done nothing more than sit and play video games, and my room has a TV. And a computer, and iTunes.”

                “You asked the TARDIS?”

                “Yup”

                “This is ridiculous!!!”

                “You can kick me out on the next planet you decide to land on.” The girl had gotten up and was turning the PS2 off.

                “I’ll take you home” the Doctor corrected.

                “Can’t do that,” the girl said over her shoulder, not even stopping as she turned off the TV and put the game back. “You landed in my backyard by chance. Do it twice, and someone might get killed, and it probably won’t be me. I can find my own way home, trust me, I’ve already had to once after being kicked off of the Comet Observatory.”

                “Why can’t she just stay?” Alice asked, turning to look at the Doctor. “You haven’t noticed her for fifty years, you probably won’t notice her for another fifty, even if you do live that long.”

                The Doctor mumbled something.

                “Is that a yes?” the girl asked

                “I think it is,” Alice answered.

                The girl made a face and turned to look at Alice. “I’m going to be seeing you more often, aren’t I?”

                “Probably. I want to figure out what happens in the rest of Kingdom Hearts and see if those Zelda games are any good. I might need someone to show me the ropes.”

                The girl grinned. “So is that it for now? Can I go and watch random scenes from Chain of Memories?”

                “I guess” the Doctor muttered. He and Alice left the room.

                “Feel any better?” Alice asked.

                The Doctor shrugged. “Not really, but I guess I’ll deal.”

                “I think I have something that will make you feel better,” Alice said, and then kissed him.

                The girl walked out of the game room, and made a slightly disgusted face when she noticed what Alice and the Doctor were doing. She shook her head and closed her eyes.

                “I’m invisible, I’m invisible, I’m not here, I don’t exist” she said under her breath, and then snuck around the corner.