The Identical Pair of Mischief and Madness
a Doctor Who Fan Fiction
Chapter 1
The Impossible Occurrence that Happened Twice
Fire licked the ends of the Doctor's coat. His nose flared and sharply stole air only to banish the remains. He was alone as he ran for his life down the corridors, save for a device tucked under his arm. It beeped the rate of a heartbeat, and though it was otherwise inanimate, he coaxed it as though he cradled a sentient being. His own hearts beat double time, pushing his body to access every ounce of energy it had available. There was also a shovel that would never had been noticed if it were not grasped so tightly in his hand. His feet flew, yet the raging terror behind him grew more powerful. Stupid, disobedient, trigger-happy pyromaniac.
Bracing for impact, he flung himself out a window, sending him crashing into the alien foliage below. He rolled a good few paces, losing the device and the shovel in the process. As soon as he could, he scrambled to his feet and began searching through the thick of the jungle-like forest.
"Can you hear me?! Where are you?!" he hollered, but received no response. He grew quiet as he shuffled through the plants. Then quite faintly, he could hear the beeping and crestfallen, he realized that it had flatlined. His hearts broke.
"Oh..." he cooed in his deep gravely voice, "It's going to be one of those days, is it? When everybody dies?"
With a new walk, one of a man without mercy, he quietly looked for his shovel. It did not take him long, for it was not far away. He took it and swinging erect a black plant flashed open its blossom, shooting venomous barbs into the Doctor's neck. In pain, he stumbled backward a step, and very gingerly he pulled it out to examine it. He looked back at the vivid purple and yellow bloom.
"Did you seriously think that was a good idea? Sure a human being would have died in ten seconds but I... I am not a human." he tossed the barb aside and walked toward the plant, "If this were a game of chess, you would have just now cornered your king. I've lost everything, even my own life. So killing you, I risk nothing. Maybe if you had spared one of my friends today, I would be too scared to confront you or if you let me live I would be inclined to preserve my own life. But now you can count on me coming to meet you face to face."
With no more hesitation, he swung his shovel against the stem, cutting it. Then he took hold of it and uprooted it. The flower withered and shriveled, absent of life. Done with his deed, he took his shovel and walked onward through the jungle, ignoring the pain of the venom that was slowly taking root in his own blood.
It was a short walk to the source, the plant was still too young to have taken over a large area of land. He stood at the top of the hill to look down at a clearing. It was a meadow of the same flower, and only that flower. The black plants had their flowers closed, waiting for some unsuspecting creature to come close enough to be killed and feasted upon. In the center of the deadly meadow, was what looked like a small, troll-like tree with one eye resting at the very top. Their eyes met and the Doctor began walking through the meadow, the flowers each shooting their barbs at him. Many of them hit him but it did not seem to make a difference. He walked right up to the voiceless creature and it glared down at him. He struck the shovel into the ground and dug it out. The plant, cut off from its roots, began to wriggle as it shriveled. All of the surrounding flowers fell down flat. The Doctor shuffled around stiffly, then his demeanor flipped, a forced smile on his face as he applauded the plant.
"Well done! Well done! So few things are as stupid as you are! You couldn't stop eating, could you? Couldn't even bear to be neighbors with the grass! Well I've had enough of you!" he tore a leaf off and the plant curled like a wounded spider. "You will never harm anyone again! And as for your planet; oh I'll pay it a visit one day. But don't worry, I'm not like you. I don't destroy absolutely everything in my way. I will lock up the planet so tight that not another petal will find its way into orbit. Who knows, maybe your kind will find another solution to a problem that doesn't involve eating it. Or, you know, maybe they won't. Maybe they'll just eat each other."
The eye rolled back and it was clear the plant was dead. The Doctor threw the shovel and the leaf aside with disgust and began walking away. His eyes looked dead ahead, the events that just past coursing through his mind. He was the only survivor left on the moon, everyone else died. Three of the deceased, were his friends. And possibly before he could return to his Tardis, he would be dead as well. One of those barbs would have killed him in a day, but the added doses of the venom rendered his end much sooner. He could feel it all over his body already, and the regeneration process had already started. The Doctor's walk grew more crippled, and his breathing became less steady.
"I hope Clara won't be too mad at me," he said aloud, "She likes everything to always stay the same. No-Fun-Clara, she is. But, I suppose, I could say I tried my best... to last a little longer."
His eyes were bloodshot and he could feel his body rising in temperature. Staggering, he saw the familiar blue box. Just a bit further. He needed just moments to reach it.
"I hope that the eyebrows are a little more rational.. And maybe we could, you know..." he gestured to his face, "a little more... something-"
He fell to the ground, his hearts anxious to reach the Tardis before his end. The Doctor coughed, feeling his throat swell and his vision became blurry.
"Could I possibly get a face that people will listen to?" his voice was hoarse as he tried to pull himself forward, his head, heavy dragged in the dirt, "That would be nice."
The Tardis was out of his reach, he could feel himself at the very edge. The Doctor was a stubborn man and he forced himself to his feet nonetheless. Eyes focused on the Tardis, he tried to make himself walk. A chill ran down his spine as he noticed a small, gray figure standing beside the Tardis. How he was not alone could not be answered, but it saw him as soon as he saw it.
It began to run towards him and the Doctor threw up his arms, "No! Stay back!"
He felt the small figure hit him and then all he could sense was a raging fire that engulfed his very being. He was deaf to his own scream as every fiber in his body died, burnt away until it was as though it was never there. Then he felt his body stretch and ache, born anew in a violent way. Released, he stumbled onto his back. His senses fresh and perfect, a brand new life sent stumbling to be, laughing on account of the sudden and new energy he now possessed.
But his own laugh stopped him in his tracks, hands slapped onto his smooth cheeks.
"I'm a girl?!" his high pitched voice gasped, but another had said it as well. He turned to see a pale, blond boy with wide peaky brown eyes staring at him with such a fright. The Doctor must be short as well as female, for the lad who couldn't be a day older than twelve was also the same height as he.
"Who are you?" they both asked and they both replied, "I'm the Doctor!"
Their voices were in perfect unison, identical in every way. With a gasp they both looked down at themselves. They were both wearing clothes that matched what the previous Doctor wore. They were both young boys, and they were both the Doctor.