This is my first fanfiction, and sadly, I hate it. Please read it at your own risk. I used this as a stepping stone, and I feel that I have improved immensely in the last 6+ years since writing it.
Because I have not gone back to re-read this story, I can't be 100% sure of what content to warn you against. I do know there are character deaths. I can't be sure what chapters those are in, so read with caution. However, this IS the only fanfiction that has all sex content EDITED OUT. So you can safely read this at work in that respect.
If you want the full adult version, please go to my profile page and find the paragraph containing my Doctor Who beta. There should be a link to her page that will bring you to the website containing the unedited version of Twist of Time. You can search for my name authore name, Firewithin, and it should lead you there. Keep in mind that this is the one and only time I will/did do this. I no longer frequent that website.
Chapter One
Twenty-four hours. It had only been a day. Just…a single day. And yet, the Doctor had forgotten time altogether. He refused to eat, refused to rest, and at times, refused to even breathe. He just stood there, frozen at the console of the TARDIS, trying so very hard to gain control of himself.
Emotions were consuming him like wildfire – pain, suffering, loss, heartbreak. The friends who had travelled with him, his Children of Time… He had seen them all safely home, one by one until there was nobody left within the TARDIS. His last glance at Donna as he walked out her door had nearly killed him as reality dropped like a crumbling brick wall – he was alone. Always alone!
Oh, dear sweet Rose. How much he needed her right now...
The Doctor swallowed hard, his jaw tense as he thought back to the moment when he'd left her with his human counterpart to live a somewhat normal life. That human part of him was a reminiscence of his ninth self before Rose had undeniably changed his very soul. The man would love her and she would heal the single heart he carried inside. But the Doctor found himself asking the same question over and over again; letting her go…it was for the best, right? She was just a human! Brilliant and kind and full of life, yes, but still a mere human who would one day fall prey to claws of time.
He really should stop focusing on what was now in the past. He was cursed to live this life of exile! The Oncoming Storm, the Destroyer of Worlds, Killer of his own Kind; he deserved no one!
His inner self-loathing was interrupted when the TARDIS suddenly lurched from her peaceful drift within the Time Vortex, throwing the Doctor off his feet. He scrambled for the jump seat as his beloved ship rocked violently, the vessel groaning in rebellion as she fought to override the Doctor's control settings.
"Of all the bloody times, why now?!" he shouted at her, unable to do anything more than hold on tightly to the seat. Buttons flickered, dials spun, and levers shifted of their own accord as the TARDIS redirected their course of travel.
"What is it old girl? Tell me what's wrong with you!" The Time Lord strained to reach the console to no avail. Visual screens were going haywire, static replacing what should have been coordinates of their current location. Something was very wrong and he had to get the ship stabilized before she crash landed on some foreign planet.
With a growl, the Doctor lunged at the console in a last-ditch effort to hit the manual reset sequence, but the TARDIS shook and a strong electric pulse zapped his hand back with force. The shockwave sent a message to him, a clear and single shout that echoed deep within his soul from the TARDIS herself. "DOCTOR!"
Before he could even process the cry, the TARDIS pitched forward as she hit solid ground, tossing her occupant from the jump seat to the ramp below. With a hiss, the single front door swung open of its own accord as his ship moaned from her efforts to keep them both alive and safe.
TheTARDIS pulsed, a mental cry that begged him to exit the ship. The urgency of her cry was enough to drag the Doctor to his feet before he stumbled out the door, completely disoriented from his fall.
It took the Doctor a second to regain his thoughts as the world once again settled to a stand-still. Rubbing his head gingerly with one hand, he walked a full circle around the blue box, checking for exterior damage.
"Right then, no physical damage to be found…," he murmured, satisfied with his exam before glancing up at the sky. "…but, where in the blazes have you taken us?"
Red soil, red mountains, and a blood red sky greeted him. That was a whole lot of, well, RED - not a colour he was particularly fond of. The air was dry and dusty, with not a plant or drop of water for as far as his eyes could see.
"Honestly now, what's gotten into you all of a sudden? Why take me here?" The Doctor asked – more to himself- as he took in the deserted wasteland. No signs of life or civilization, so was this a dead planet?
Turning back to the TARDIS in confusion, he thought to check the readings on the console, but the doors suddenly slammed shut in his face, the locks echoing after to reinforce the statement.
"WHAAAT? What is this?! What the bloody hell is going on?!" He tested the doors, tried his key, and then even snapped his fingers – something he'd only done once before when he met River Song in earlier travels at the library- but the doors would not yield, effectively trapping him outside.
Frustrated, the Doctor placed a hand against the doors and mentally sought the TARDIS inside. It was calling out, mourning something lost yet never forgotten. He could feel its internal plea, the calling of something distant, something tormented that needed saving.
"You brought me here for something, but what? What would cause you to override the system and strand us out in the middle of nowhere?" he mused to himself as he drew out his sonic screwdriver. He adjusted the settings and began scanning the air around him, trying to detect some form of life or clue of his whereabouts before a smile lit up face as he found exactly that. Life!
"Ha! Brilliant, I am! We're not alone; we have life on this planet after all…" He knelt to the ground, bringing the sonic down as he scanned for a more direct answer. There was life indeed, deep below the surface of the earth!
"Question is, how do I get inside?" He stood and began pacing in large circles around the TARDIS, all the while scanning the air and ground.
"Ah, there we are! We have a signal," he murmured aloud before setting off to find the source. Minutes passed by until the Doctor found himself at the base of what looked to be a large, rocky cliff.
"I bet this is more than meets the eye…"
As he drew the sonic across the red rock, he found exactly what he'd been looking for – a hidden door. Switching the frequency, he channelled the sonic at the invisible lock until the rocky wall snapped and shuddered, giving way to slowly reveal an opening.
For a moment, the Time Lord hesitated. It had only been one day since he'd separated from his friends after such a painful victory against the Daleks. His hearts were still bleeding from the turmoil aching within. Was he truly ready to strike out on such a strange planet so soon? Could he cope with his loss in the middle of all this potential chaos?
The Doctor swallowed hard as he took one long glance at his beloved TARDIS sitting out in the distant red desert. Yes. He had to push forward with this. His ship was hurting and he had no idea what was wrong with it. Her pain and anguish within his mind was almost unbearable when he actually focused on it. She was begging him to find the source and he would do this for the sake of the TARDIS, if nothing else.
The cavern within was lit with what seemed to be simple torches anchored to red stone wall, but the sonic screwdriver told him they'd been burning for over a thousand years. Instead of a solid surface, the ground was literally made of metal grating, very similar to the TARDIS console room flooring. The grating simply seemed to be self-suspended, floating on the black abyss below because it wasn't anchored to anything solid. A quick scan of the sonic revealed that the basis of the planet was electromagnetic, so the Doctor made the assumption that the planet had a Central Computer Core, somewhere deep within.
"So if the planet is centred on a CCC…" the Doctor read his scans as he walked, always one to examine the make-up of every new thing he came across. His findings only seemed to become more unsettling with every step.
"Ooooh, I have a bad feeling about this. I need to find the power source; these readings are very wrong. The planet structure should have collapsed by now…so why are you still standing?"
He paused when the cavern opened up into a wide, torch-lit chamber, several doorways littered along all sides of the circular cavern.
"Fantastic…now what?"
With nothing stirring within the open chamber, the Doctor crept out and scanned his surroundings. That's when the sonic screwdriver pulsed and gave an unusual bleep, something the Doctor was unfamiliar with.
"Hello, what have we got here?" He pulled his glasses out for a moment and placed them the bridge of his nose, rereading the meter in disbelief as he puzzled over this new scan.
"The TARDIS…how on earth are you doing that?"
The Doctor was now more than a little concerned. The TARDIS was a living vessel, as much alive as it was a part of him, but it rarely took control of their travels and it never, ever interfered with his sonic. How was that even possible? Then again, the more he said "impossible," the more it seemed to be just the opposite.
Pocketing his glasses, he found himself being directed through the second doorway to his right, his ship locking the sonic's signal to an unknown source it so desperately mourned for.
A planet that should already be dead, the TARDIS's distress - the puzzle was becoming more of a headache with every step!
With his mind thrown into full alert, the Time Lord made his way through the doorway. This new tunnel was much longer and quite narrow, his worry getting the better of him as he sped up his pace. He tried to control his anxiety, but it was becoming less and less stable. Too much had happened in too short a time period.
For just a split second, time suddenly seemed to freeze. A mild shock of electric engulfed him and then came the echoing crackles of static as a rather frightening power surge boomed from somewhere up ahead. The grating rattled and hummed with the force and the Doctor was thankful for his Superior Time Lord Biology, allowing him to withstand the shock wave coursing throughout the halls. That's when he heard a pair of very shrill, long, and agonizing screams, causing him to break into a run at such a distressful sound.
"I'm coming, hold on!"
The screams and static vanished minutes later, but he didn't stop running. The Doctor barrelled through doors and halls as his senses took over, directing him to the source until-
He skid to a stop when the hallway ended, grabbing the metal railing before him as he found himself staring into a massive black pit, lit with torches and hovering balls of light. The metal grating had several floors and levels both below and above him, all inner linked into a massive oval. Ramps and doorways were seen through thick steam coming from the blackness below. That's when he realized his error. The Doctor was no longer alone, hidden in the shadows…
"Intruder, capture him," a man in a solid black uniform bellowed, arming himself with a rather large gun before rushing to intercept the trespasser. Metal screeched from behind as a grated door fell to seal off the Doctor's current means of escape.
Guess it's safe to say they're hostile.
The Doctor was standing on a single ramp that led down to the main floor grid and it happened to be just a one-way ramp. If he jumped the railing to evade capture, or if he even tried to charge the men rushing at him now, surely he'd be shot on the spot.
Dropping the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket –hoping they didn't take notice of this fact- the Doctor sank to his knees with his hands in the air.
"Alright, alright, I'm kneeling, see? No harm done, I surrender," he spoke as the men surrounded him.
It was then that he realized these creatures were not human. While they resembled a human form, their eyes were a vivid glowing green and they had razor edged teeth, curled claws, and were all quite bald with just a few random black spots scattered across their scalps. They also looked horribly identical, whatever race they happened to be.
Surrounding the Doctor, the creatures began speaking in a new tongue all together, clearly debating about their next plan of action. It slightly miffed him that he was unable to translate the language…a new language all together perhaps? Or was the TARDIS translation board malfunctioning?
"Who are you, and how did you get here?" The leader finally spoke in a known dialect that the TARDIS could translate, as he prodded the Time Lord with the tip of his gun. If the Doctor didn't know any better, he was pretty sure those guns were Particle Laser Barrels, and they were a bit out of date if he was guessing correctly.
"Yes, right then. I'm the Doctor! And, I came here because…well…I don't know, really… I believe I'm quite lost." He spoke up cheerily enough, trying to act as dumb as possible.
"But do tell me…what are you, and where exactly am I?"
Might as well push for some answers while they were in the listening mood, right? His captors eyed him with suspicion before once again speaking in their unfamiliar language. Why on earth wasn't the TARDIS able to pick it up?
"We are Grethrals," one of the creatures spoke from the right. "And you're going to regret ever stepping foot here. Welcome to Rovinrukbar."
With that, the conversation ended as the leader pulled the Doctor roughly to his feet and shoved him forward with his gun. He was escorted up and down a series of corridors in silence, but his mind was blazing with so many questions.
This planet was new to him and also past its timeline. It shouldn't even exist because the core was literally dead, nonexistent. It was being powered and forced into submission by a strong outside source. The TARDIS had taken them here for whatever reason… but he had a feeling there was something even bigger at stake. But of course, he didn't even know where or when he was within the universe itself and that feeling was unnerving. It was almost as if his Time Lord senses were being manipulated somehow.
The endless march through corridor after corridor led them to a large room filled with grated prison cells. It took him a second to adjust to the dimmer light…and then he hissed in horror.
Cell upon cell lined either side of the prison, caging in masses of people as they cowered as far away as they possibly could from the approaching group. Men, women, children, all huddled together with desperation and fear in every eye.
"What is this?! What have you done to them? What the hell is going on?" Language and propriety be damned!
The Doctor instinctively began to struggle but he was bashed in the head from behind, enough to remind him that he was at a serious disadvantage here. It was just too much…too much too soon to sanely cope with his situation. He couldn't think clearly, couldn't focus on a way out of a hopeless situation. His normally composed features were crumpling at his feet and there was nothing he could do about it.
His captors came to a stop at the very last cell in the back. Unlike the rest of them, it held just two occupants, both of whom were chained and in a crumpled heap on the grated floor. The men hesitated, eyeing the two unconscious people before the rattle of keys could be heard. As the door was unlocked, every gun was aimed at the three hostages before the Doctor was pushed inside, the door slammed shut behind him.
"We'll leave him here until the King decides on what to do with him." With guns lowered, the leader gave a signal to retreat.
The Doctor stood there, his mind in shock at the horror laid out before him. All these people – humans, they had to be humans! And they were in bloody cages!
"You, there! Tell me, please, what's happening here?" The Doctor called out to a man who was staring at him from several cells away. The man simply shook his head and turned away in fear.
"What about you? Tell me, what have they done here? What do they want with you?" He tried another boy who looked to be closer to his teens. Again, there was no reply.
"No, no, no! What the b-" Grabbing his hair in despair, the Doctor spun around until he remembered there were two people locked in the same cell with him. He whipped out the sonic screwdriver, dropping to the first person.
"Wha-?"
The Doctor fell back when he read the scan, clearly and utterly confused. With speed, he grabbed the unconscious man by the shoulder and flipped him over, pulling him out straight on his back to get a better look at him.
"…It…it can't be…Jack!"
Sure enough, Jack's familiar face greeted him in peaceful slumber that would have fooled anyone else as a dead man. His wrists were cuffed to long chains which were bolted into the red stone wall of their cell and he looked roughed up, probably beaten at some point, if nothing more.
Panting heavily from the over whelming amount of confusion, the Doctor swung around to the woman a few feet away from Jack. He knelt beside her with trembling hands as he ran the sonic over her body for vital signs of life. She had her head cradled in her arms as she lay on her stomach in a small ball from where she fell, her legs curled under her slightly to one side. Her hair, blonde hair, was a tangled halo surrounding her face, hiding it away from view. She wore simple jeans and a blue shirt with white trainers. Granted, her clothes were dirty, worn, and torn in many places…but that's not why the Doctor was suddenly hyperventilating.
With hands shaking so bad from the gut wrenching fear within him, he brushed back her hair to get a glimpse of her face… and then his hearts froze.
"…Rose!" he whispered with a sob.
-
End Author's note: Beyond this chapter, I do not know what all I wrote in regards to author's notes. This is the only chapter I have gone back to edit my notes. However, I still enjoy reviews should you choose to leave one; both the good and the bad. Please be sure to check my profile for any updates in the future!