The Doctor ran his fingers along the smooth, metal wall that was a part of his TARDIS. Humming pleasantly under his touch, the machine slowly guided her thief into depths he had never explored before. His brown clad feet padded lightly across the glass and time spun in never ending spirals around him. Sometimes he wished it would stop. Although he would never dream of telling anyone, he watched those simple, brilliant humans with a desire hotter than regeneration fire, wishing for something he could never have. When it got to be too much, the Doctor parked himself somewhere quiet, like the top of Big Ben, and watch them as they sped about their lives. To stop running, to grow old, and to die without the hiccupping pain of regeneration, oh Rassilon, how he would love that. But of course, one can't take a vacation from destiny. What an annoyance, to always be needed by the universe.
I suppose this is what it's like when you've almost lived through your thirteen lives. He thought to himself.
He was in between Wednesdays, when he picked Clara up, and had lately started to quite enjoy those visits. Sometimes the Doctor enjoyed it so much, he skipped the whole week and started another adventure only moments after the last. He knew, of course, he was making his time with her shorter, but he couldn't stand to be alone.
They all left in the end. Soon Clara would grow bored of the universe and decide to stay at home, either that, or he would ruin her, like he had done to so many. He thought at one time it was better for them, for him, to travel alone, but he wasn't an idiot. The Doctor knew what he turned into without someone to stop him. That was why he had a new face. That was why he was drawing so close to the end.
The lights in the TARDIS took on a bluish light, reflecting his melancholy mood. The Doctor chuckled, "Oh stars, I am old." He leaned his head against the metal, holding still. The metal cooled and soothed him. "Not only have I managed to depress myself, but my time machine too."
The TARDIS sent him a comforting prod in the back of his mind, where they were connected. It seemed to say, shut up you idiot, I'm not leaving.
The Doctor smirked, his chestnut hair flopping into his eyes. He jumped up, wrestling down the impossible emotion of loneliness. "I know what I need!" he said out loud, skipping around a corner. "Somewhere happy, somewhere I don't need to save the world. I can just sit back and…"He intended to go back to the console room, but instead he found himself continuing to wind through identical halls. "And read a…" he was getting annoyed now. "Nice book…" he frowned, rolling his eyes, "Oh for Rassilon's sake, what did you do with the front door?!"
The TARDIS refused to let him find the console room, spinning him in circles. He heard the color of amusement splash like spilled paint through his head. "Not funny, dear. It is really not the time to play games…" the Time Lord crossing his arms comically.
As usual, the TARDIS paid absolutely no attention. She knew what her thief needed, and could give it to him without him ever leaving her halls. Somewhere safe and familiar, but not too boring; oh, she had just the place. The TARDIS had been waiting ages to show him this part of her.
It was about now that the Doctor was going start shouting at the insufferably stubborn machine when he ran into a door. It had not been there three seconds before, the Doctor was sure of it.
"If you are attempting to cheer me up, dear, you are doing a right horrid job at it." He muttered. Clearing his head, the Doctor studied the door briefly. It was dark, cherry-colored wood with golden letters hanging crookedly at eye level. I.N.K.S. said the letters.
The Doctor frowned. He was certain he hadn't seen this part of the TARDIS before, not that that was unusual, but it was still exciting. IT better be worth it. He thought.
Opening the door, the sight before him didn't even make the Doctor blink. It was just another hallway, however, the moment he stepped through the door, it was like the air was sucked out of him and replaced with… something. He didn't quite know what it was. It smelled like a carnival in the summer with cotton candy stuck to his fingers, and it smelled like hot-chocolate, snow, and sitting beside a campfire. Salt stung his tongue and a beach wind brushed his forehead. It was Christmas and Fourth of July; it was a tire swing in your back yard and it was the sap of a pine tree you can't wash off your hands. Making pancakes in the kitchen, being a pirate in a tree house, watching the sun set while fireflies danced, it was all of that, and something else entirely. Now the Doctor stumbled, under the weight of it all. He gripped the door handle, wanting more of the feeling, and terrified of it.
That's when he remembered. This was the smell, the taste, the sound of imagination, all cram-packed into one small hallway with doors on either side that went on so far he couldn't see the end. How did he forget it? How could he ever forget? It had been so long…
Slowly, the Doctor opened his eyes, breathing in deeply. His hearts sped up, and he grinned. Righting himself, the Doctor unattached himself from the door and stepped toward the closest room. "You've really outdone yourself this time, dear." He laughed. Room #1, the closest door said in gold lettering. Who would he find behind that door after he knocked?
The Doctor knew in his hearts he was getting the chance to do something impossible, and it thrilled him. The people and things in these rooms didn't breath oxygen, they breathed imagination. Under other circumstances, they couldn't exist, but here in the TARDIS, they were gently cradled from the pages they called home and their souls placed like scoops of melting ice-cream into the apartment rooms. For the first time, they had free will. They weren't chained to words, the way they had always been. They had been content prisoners, enjoying their captivity because they knew nothing else, but now… what happens when fiction tastes existence? They were free to wander through these halls, and it was glorious!
AN: Just so you guys know, all of the next chapters will be reasonably shout, and each chapter will show the Doctor inside another room/apartment with another group of fictional characters. Each room contains characters from the same 'universe'. These characters extend pass books and can be from TV shows, movies and anything else you can think of, as long as they are pretty well-known/famous, and I know who they are. Please, please review and tell me which fictional character you want the Doctor to meet. I live for Reviews, and I don't want to run out of ideas!