I woke up in a cold, dark gray room. I slowly got up, my joints stiff as hell, and my blood feeling like lead. Where am I? I thought to myself. I rapped on the gray metal that was the wall. The coldness of the metal traveled up my arms and body, causing gooseflesh to rise. There was much more to the wall then it seemed, much more depth. Something was on the other side. But what? I walked around some more, hoping to find a way out. Nothing. No door, no windows. Only then did I become aware of an aching, almost empty sensation in my head. I tried to remember how I got there, but there was nothing. That sent a plunging feeling in my gut, and I decided to try to remember my name. But I couldn't even remember my name. Oh God. What's my name? That should be second nature! I walked around frantically, terror seizing my throat and panic surging through my body. Then, in the eerie silence of the place, I heard a loud, high pitched shrieking noise, the kinda noise that an old person who's dying of lung cancer makes just before they die. A flashing blue and white light was right in front of me. And then something even weirder than that happened: Instead of the flashing light, I saw a flashing white light, and heard the shrieking and terrifying noise of a fire alarm as a gentle breeze whipped my hair around my head. The stink of smoke reached my nose and a long, hollow scream burst out of my mouth. I slammed myself against the metal wall, this sudden memory making my head ache even more and the panic even harsher. The light slowly materialized into a blue box. What the hell is that? But by then the box had fully appeared and the door opened. I swallowed nervously. A young guy with bushy brown hair and a brown coat walked out. Okay, so now I have to wonder who this guy is too? Let's hope he likes answering questions! I thought nervously. The man smiled at me - a charming smile - and stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets and looked around the room with interest. "Hallo! Quite the pinch you've gotten yourself into, innit? Lucky I'm here."

"Who are you? Where am I? What's that box?"

"Woah, woah! Easy, tiger, one at a time!"

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. You can call me 'Doctor'. Easy enough, right?"

"Doctor who?"

"I do love that bit, but just 'the Doctor'. And you?"

I hesitated, racking my brain one last time, trying to inch something - anything out of my head that might let me know who I was. All I got was two light-brown, maniacal eyes. Like a wild animal's - hungry, angry, insane. Psychotic laughter filled my head, framed by four beats, like the beats of a drum in rapid succession. 1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. "I… um, I don't know. I don't know who I am, or where I am."

"Oh. That makes everything a bit harder, but I do love a good puzzle, eh?"

"Do you know where I am?"

"No, um - " he raised one long, slender arm to scratch the back of his neck and made a face. "I got some sort of distress signal. You weren't the one who sent it, right?"

"Um, no."

"Wonder who did, then..."

I looked behind the Doctor into his little blue box, where a blonde girl walked out, seeming to be in her late teens or early twenties. I looked back into the box, which - impossibly - looked to be bigger on the inside, but that wasn't possible. Hmm. Weird. "Hello." the girl called with a little wave and a warm smile. "I'm Rose." The way she held onto the Doctor's arm and how he looked down and smiled at her gave me the impression they were a couple. Huh. Cute couple, I thought. I decided to speak up about it. "How long have you two been together?" I wondered bluntly. Rose and the Doctor exchanged a quick glance and burst out in shallow laughter that seemed to me to be a little forced. "You're - you're not…?"

"What? No, we're not - we're not a couple." the Doctor informed me. Rose shook her head at me and chuckled. "I'm his 'companion'." she said with a roll of her dark brown eyes and finger quotes. They both nodded. However, I detected there was more to their relationship than companionship, but I nodded anyway. "Right. Okay, sorry. What's that box you were in?"

"Ah! That be-au-ty - " he said it in syllables, emphasizing the word with pride. "That's called the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"What the Doctor is trying to say is that this 'box' can travel anywhere he likes - through all of time and space. Sometimes alternate dimensions, but that's not really safe, so he stays away from those. My boyfriend Mickey got left behind in one of those - well, we didn't really leave him behind, he wanted to stay behind. His gran was alive in that dimension, you see." Rose explained kindly, rolling her eyes at the Doctor, who shrugged and made a face. "What?" she demanded. "What happens if I'm not here anymore? Then how will anyone understand what this thing does?" Rose implored. The Doctor glared at her with severity. "That won't happen."

"Well maybe it will! What're you gonna do?"

I felt tensions rising, so I broke in hurriedly. "So… it can travel time and space? Wherever - or whenever - you want it to?" I wondered. The Doctor - apparently easy to distract - smiled and nodded, patting the almost-glowing blue paint. "Yup! She's amazing, she is! And isn't this just the most beautiful shade of blue you've ever seen?" he said dreamily. Okay, now he's starting to creep me out. I thought, staring at the way he smiled up at it and the gentleness with which he stroked the box. Rose seemed to detect my distaste so she nudged the Doctor with an elbow. "D'you two need some time alone?" she joked. The Doctor looked from her to me and then shook his head. "What? No, sorry. Erm, why don't you come inside? I can get you back home in three ticks. Allons-y!" he shouted, waving an arm and leading the way into the TARDIS. I walked behind him but in front of Rose, and wasn't expecting grandeur from a little blue box that read 'Police Public Call Box' on the top, but what I got was more than grandeur. Wha - I weaved around Rose and sprinted outside, circling the TARDIS with disbelief and then cautiously stepping back inside, raising a hand and squinting. "It… it's - " When I couldn't seem to formulate the words, the Doctor happily jumped to my aid, grinning like an idiot. "Bigger on the inside?"

"Yeah…"

"I get that a lot! She's beautiful, isn't she? Just gorgeous!"

"Uh… sure? But I don't understand… how?"

The Doctor grinned even wider - if that was possible - and his eyes lit up with an excited fire. "Well the dimensional stabilizers have to be at peak capacity for the molecular development drivers to be fully functional, then the atomizers take control and cryogenically freeze the capacity filter, and then the - "

"Doctor, speak English." Rose said, her thumbs in her back pockets. I sighed inwardly, glad that she told him to make sense of what he was telling me. His smile faded just a bit, and he ran a hand through his bushy, rich hair. "Right. Um… science?" he attempted. After feeling comfortable with his answer, he elaborated. "Time Lord science, to be exact. I'm a Time Lord."

"Meaning: he's an alien from another world, another galaxy altogether. They're called Time Lords."

"Well, actually my species is Gallifreyan, my rank is Time Lord. People think we're so different just because Time Lords have two hearts and can regenerate, but really we're the same species, just a different rank. Time Lords earn their second heart and their regeneration cycle when they look into the Untempered Schism - "

"Which is a gap in the fabric of reality, where you can see all of time and space. At the age of eight, Gallifreyan children with top marks in their schools are taken to stare into this gap - the Untempered Schism - and they either run away, become inspired - "

"Or go mad." the Doctor finished. They looked at each other with wide smiles and small chuckles. I looked between the two of them with disbelief. The information they told me registered and I understood it well enough, but I couldn't imagine why they would deny the fact that they had hella big crushes on each other. They so like each other. I can't believe they even deny it! I told myself. But I decided to shrug it off. Stuff like this doesn't stay secret for long. But then again… Rose said earlier she might not always be around. What if that does happen? Hmmm… maybe I'm the person to tell them. But then again that would lead to some hella big drama, and I don't like drama.

"Hey… um, what's your name?" Rose asked me. Suddenly I remembered that I was in a conversation.

"Oh, sorry! Just… thinking." I tapped my fingers on my knees - not noticing I was tapping the awful beat pounding into my skull - but usually it's something that helps me concentrate. "I dunno what my name is. Just… woke up randomly, and saw this thing materializing all-of-a sudden.." I tried to concentrate again, but the beating in my head... It felt like my head was vibrating and if I didn't do anything, it would explode. "Where's the Doctor?" I asked a little harshly. Rose tilted her head.

"He went outside to check out where we are. You okay?"

I laughed a little. "Besides being amnesiac, I'm better than okay!" 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4. Oh God. Oh God. Why does it hurt so freaking bad it hurts it hurts it hurts... I heard Rose's voice, but I couldn't tell what she was saying. Just that damned pounding - it felt and sounded a lot like drums - pounding over and over in my head. I grimaced and clutched my temples, trying to squeeze it, to shake it out of me, but it didn't relent. 1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. Fuck… fuuck… I yowled inside my head. Suddenly I felt Rose's soft, warm hand on my shoulder and I looked pitifully at her concerned face as she tucked a lock of her shimmering blonde hair behind her ear. "You okay?" I could see her lips moving, but I couldn't hear what she was saying over the damned drums. "The Doctor…" I moaned, hoping she could hear me. She nodded and then tried to help me to my feet but I locked up, curling into a pitiful, tear-stained ball of fear and flesh on the ground. She didn't linger on me and hurriedly sprinted out of the room to find her Doctor… and then they came back. Thank god! The Doctor rushed to me, crouching beside me and examining my face. He slipped his thick-rimmed spectacles on his long, melancholy-looking face, over his eyes. I stared deeply in those eyes, searching desperately for something, anything, that would tell me you're safe. It's okay; you're safe.

And I found my reassurance. As he looked back at me I saw it in his eyes, those old, old eyes that betrayed all that he felt. I could see love, I could see hate. Rage, murder, anger - insanity, even, lurked in those deep, warm brown eyes. But past all the fiery, hot anger I could see other emotions. Sadness, despair, joy, glee, and love… so much love. How could one little man feel that much love? "Your eyes…" I croaked, not able to hear even my own voice above those drums, but I continued anyway. "I can see everything."

He looked back at me - like he was staring into my soul - and nodded. "I know." his lips whispered. Rose put a hand gently on his shoulder and he snapped to work, seeming to forget the entire conversation we had gone through. He yelled something energetically, eyes wide, and then reached into his pocket and pulled out… a stethoscope? How the hell did that fit in there? I asked myself. He grinned, as if reading my thoughts, and pressed the cool chestpiece to my sweating brow before turning white as a full moon on a warm summer's eve. "What?" he said, his face scrunching up in disbelief. "No…" I could see his lips. Suddenly a maniacal burst of laughter rocked me to the core, surging through me and reducing me to a pile of tears, sweat, and shaky breathing on the floor. As soon as it had began, both the laughter and the drums abruptly ceased, leaving me trembling but okay. "Blue?" the Doctor demanded frantically, taking my sweaty face in his long, comfortably cool hands and looking into my eyes. "Are you alright? What happened?" he implored. I blinked, and then again. The world came into focus and the Doctor's face hovering above me, Rose's just over his shoulder. I jerked up, pushing away from the Doctor with force and breathing hard. "Why did you call me Blue?" I demanded immediately, not giving my frenzied mind time to recover. The Doctor stuttered, unable to formulate an answer before I slapped him hard, hoping to knock some sense into him. "Why?" I demanded angrily.

"The nameplate beside the door… I think your name is Blue Destiel."

"What the hell kinda name is Blue Destiel?"

"Well, I dunno but if we can find your parents we might be able to find out - "

"My parents are dead!"

Woah. I had no idea how I remembered that crucial piece of information, but soon it came flooding back to me. The house fire, the black-clothed man sprinting into the dark, through the flames like a specter, my parents screaming for me to run. And so I did, from what I could remember. The Doctor stared at me stonily, this time betraying no emotion on either his face or in his eyes. "How do you remember?" he demanded coldly.

"I - I don't know. I really don't."

"What do you remember? Tell me everything you know."

"I just remember my house going up in flames, and then there was this man - "

"What man? What man, Blue? You need to tell me! If this is who I think it is I'm the only person that can save you!" he cried frantically. I took a sharp breath, about to make a snarky comment, but his face told me otherwise, to save it for later. So I closed my mouth and thought before answering. "I don't know who he was… but he was there when my house burned down. He was inside. Running away while my parents screamed at me to - " my tears cut me off and I found myself unable to breathe, my throat constricting and voiding me of speech. Wet, hot tears spilled over my eyelashes and streaked across my face like Olympic medalists, taking a diving plunge off of my chin and cheeks. My face contorted in misery and I sobbed against my will. Stop it, you idiot. Stop crying. Crying's for babies. Crying's for weak people. I convinced myself, but the tears wouldn't stop coming, the sobs wouldn't stop racking my body. My lungs heaved for air, but the only breaths I could take were shallow and shaky, making me sob even more. After a while, my eyes stung and I could feel Rose's arm wrapped around me comfortingly as the Doctor stared at me with intensity, analyzing me. I tore my hands from my face and looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Please…" I begged near-silently.

But then, a pair of light green eyes flashed before my own, I smelled chemicals, I heard a little girl's laugh and I felt a pair of hands on my shoulder. A different pair of memories. What? I started to walk around. Both of these things seemed... So real, but... Which one was real? I had a full memory though, but was that even true?

"Blue? Are you ok?" I could hear the Doctor ask.

"No. I can't tell if those memories I had are even real. I can't even tell if my name is Blue. There are other memories saying mom and dad are alive, but others that say they aren't. OH GOD, WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?" And that's when I lost it, the anger with inconsistent memories pissing me off, and I ran out of the TARDIS, heat rushing to my face. I could hear the Doctor and Rose shouting after me, but the only things that mattered were these memories. I was looking around the gray room, feeling… stifled, like this room was no more than a cage. The tears were still sliding down my face. There was only one thing that I knew was true: There was a fire involved. It may've been a home fire or a school fire but… Wait! Where'd that come from? A school fire. I could feel people rushing about for a moment, and someone's hand in mine… but whose hand was it? But then I heard my parents' voices calling out to me to run, and that one moment of certainty was gone. I felt my hand move, and knew I was about to hit the gray wall when someone grabbed my wrist. A light scream burst from my lips, but then I turned around and saw the Doctor behind me. Oh yeah. For a moment I'd completely forgotten what had been going on around me.

"Blue," he started to say, but I cut him off.

"Don't call me that unless you're certain that's my name." I snapped.

"I have to admit, your memories… were odd. They were sort of fuzzy around the edges." He saw my slightly horrified face and hurried on. "That doesn't mean that they aren't real, but I'm just saying, they could've been implanted there on a false lead."

"What the hell kinda bastard would do that? I mean," I said, laughing a little, "I just lost it in there. I may've lost my memories, but that doesn't mean I don't know who I am. And believe me, it takes an awful lot to make me cry like that." I took a shaky breath. "One more thing: I know for certain that I have gone through a fire."

"How do you know?"

"I don't know; I just do! Now it's your turn to talk. A false lead? What does that mean?"

He took a shaky breath. "I dunno if this true, but I think that...this man, put those memories in your head because he somehow knew that we'd meet."

"What man? How could he know that?" He was about to answer, but that's when I heard it, the sound of moving metal. The Doctor looked over my shoulder and seemed to pale for a moment, but then it passed. "Blue…" he began, and I tried to cut him off to remind him that that may not be my name, but he snapped, "I need you to hide."

"What? Why?"

"If this is who I think this is, he's not just after you, but me. I need you to go into the TARDIS."

"But why?" I snapped. "Tell me why!"

"We don't have time for this," he said coldly, and he practically dragged me back to the TARDIS. I tried to resist, and please understand, I'm a very curious person and I wanted to know what was happening. I wasn't resisting just because. I tried to slap him in the wrists or kick him in the kneecap, but since I was a bit blindsided, nothing worked and soon enough, he'd opened the TARDIS and shoved me into it. Rose caught me expertly and held me in a strong, but friendly embrace as the Doctor slammed the door after him. She quieted me and placed me on a cush bench, her big brown eyes filled with worry. "Ssh… it's alright! It's okay!" she told me urgently. I took four deep breaths and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. "Rose, I don't know what's going on." I begged quietly. She smiled weakly and put her hands on my shoulders. "Yeah, I know. I never know what's going on, either."

"I'm serious."

"Alright. Listen, I'm gonna go outside and help the Doctor - "

"He wouldn't let me help, why the hell should he let you?"

"Because… because I'm his companion! Just listen to me, okay?"

"Fine."

"I'm gonna go out and see what's happening and then I'll come back inside and fill you in, tell you if it's safe and such. Just… don't touch anything. No telling what the old girl'll do. Okay?"

"What if you don't come back?" I snapped. Rose stared at me for a long second before replying. "Then stay in here. Whatever you do, don't leave. See, the Doctor and I're really good at getting out of sticky situations, so if we're not back then something's really wrong."

"How long do I wait?"

"A couple hours. I've gotta go - before he slips away." She said this last segment with such melancholy, like she knew something bad would inevitably happen concerning these words. What happens when he slips away? I asked myself. She smiled and kissed my forehead, then sprinted to the doors to run after the Doctor. I silently fumed watching her and crossed my arms over my chest childishly. "I hate being the third-frickin-wheel." I said aloud, to no one in particular except maybe the machine which I was inside. 1-2-3-4. "What the hell?" 1-2-3-4. "What is that?" 1-2-3-4. "Who are you?" 1-2-3-4. "Get outta my head, you sick fuck!"

Can you hear it, Blue?

"Wha - ?"

Can you hear the drums?

"Who the hell are you? How the fuck are you even inside my head?"

Can you hear the never-ending drums, always pounding. They're driving me mad, Blue. They're driving me mad!

"Are you the guy? Are you the one the Doctor's so scared of?"

Listen… listen. Can you hear it? Can you hear the drumming?

"You better start answering my questions, you bastard, or I'll - "

They're coming, Blue. Closer and closer. Faster and faster, louder and louder. Can you hear it?

1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. "What the hell is that?"

He can smell me. I've got to stop the smell. Got to stop the stink. He can smell me anywhere - everywhere I go he can smell me. How can I stop the smell? The filthy, rotten stink?

"What the hell!"

Do you know? Do you know how I can stop the smell?

I leapt from the seat and ran to the door, flinging it open and leaping outside, clawing out of the TARDIS and finding myself back in the dull, gray room, but this time there was an opening in the wall. Both the Doctor and Rose were gone, but I swung around the opening and searched frantically for them in either corridors. The voice in my head… it stopped. The man speaking to me silenced, and I listened carefully for any signs of the reluctant lovers. If I listened hard enough… there it was. Soft footsteps and gentle laughter emanating from the corridor to my left. I took off in a sprint down that way, chasing the noise. Another turn and they were in eyesight. Their backs to me, I viewed Rose's arm looped around the Doctor's, whose hand was tucked deep into his trouser pockets. He looked down at her and smiled warmly, captivated by her big, gentle eyes. Brown - such a warm colour. It fit nicely for a girl like Rose and a man like the Doctor. Blue - or whatever my name is - you're being creepy. Go to them. I broke out into a sprint and weaved around Rose, not wanting to be beside the Doctor when he was cross - which I didn't doubt he would be when he found out I'd followed him. "Hey, lovebirds." I laughed uneasily. The Doctor stopped dead, staring at me stonily. "What're you doing here?" he demanded. When I hesitated to answer he tore himself from Rose and advanced on me, not laying a finger on my person but his angry demeanor intimidated me enough.

"Look, I get that you wanted me to stay in the TARDIS, but that beating started again... And I freaked. Ok?"

But he didn't stop. Panic started to get the better of me. "What the hell's wrong? I apologized!" But nothing I said worked, and I got even more freaked out, so I turned on my heels and ran. The Doctor stared after me stonily and I could hear the soft echo of Rose's voice trying to soothe him and make him see reason. His less quiet voice objected as I turned a corner and stopped, breathing hard. "No, it's not safe for her here!"

Rose's soft muttering which I couldn't make out.

"If this is who I think it is then no one is safe, Rose! You've got to understand, that means you and me as well! I can't have you getting hurt!"

He stomped down the corridor toward me and I closed my eyes, took deep breaths, and calmed myself down. Just as he and Rose passed me I spoke up. "Doctor," I called quietly, almost ashamed. He whirled around and glared at me, looking like he should've been breathing fire out of his nostrils. "I'm sorry. I really am. But he - whoever he is - is inside my head, and I didn't feel any safer in the TARDIS than I did outside. Listen… I feel safer when I'm with you because it seems like you know what you're doing. It feels like you've dealt with this before." I explained ashamedly. His face softened a bit and he shook his head mournfully. "I've never seen him do anything like this - and it may not even be him. But I just need to be sure you're safe."

"Blue's right, Doctor. She's safer with you than inside the TARDIS."

"The TARDIS is the safest place in the Universe, Rose!"

"You can't hide from something that's already inside your head." Rose replied quietly, looking at the ground with emptiness in her formerly-warm eyes. 1-2-3-4. The Doctor looked down at her - the guy was freakishly tall - and slipped his hand over hers, making her look up and smile a bit. "This is nice n'all, but don't you think we should really get going? Where are we, even?" I said timidly. The Doctor nodded - but didn't tear his hand from Rose's, and looked around at our surroundings. "Well, it looks like we're in some sort of penitentiary."

"A peni-what?"

"Like a prison or somewhere they discipline or punish people. Y'know?"

"Oh. That's not… good, is it?"

"Opposite of good! Especially if the man I think is here is running the operation. I dread to see what happens to these poor people when he gets his hands on them."

I nodded a bit. "But… who do you think this guy is? I mean, he's in my head! I think I have a right to know."

Darkness fell over the Doctor's face and he looked at me, looking like Death himself. "He's called the Master. Or, that's what he calls himself. He's a Time Lord, like me, except initiation went wrong. Very wrong. Like we said, when an eight-year-old Gallifreyan child looks into the Untempered Schism, they either run away, become inspired, or go mad."

"And… the Master?"

"He went mad. Absolutely insane."

"Oh… wow." I know, I know, brilliant, but what do you say to that? "So… why's he after you? I mean, you're both Time Lords, right? So is he like your… brother or something?"

"No! No, we were childhood friends. We used to play the days away, not a care in the world."

"That doesn't exactly explain why he wants to kill you. If you two were friends as kids, then what the hell happened that made him go homicidal?"

"Well… just the fact that he's mad."

"No, I know that, but… well, did anything happen with you two after he went crazy?"

"Well, a lot of things. Nearly every one of my regenerations have had an encounter with the Master. I dunno why he hates me so much, he just seems to enjoy fighting me. In an odd way, we have a sort of… connection from trying to defeat each other so many times and failing. I can never rid the Universe of him - even if I don't want to - and he can't successfully kill me. It's a circle that goes on and on."

"We didn't see him when you were your ninth regeneration, Doctor." Rose said curiously. The Doctor sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, I know. We've not yet seen him in this body, either. But I don't doubt he'll come knocking sometime or another."

"I think this is really interesting and all, but you keep mentioning regeneration. What does that mean? And yes, I've been asking loads of questions, but all of this is new to me."

"Right, yeah, of course. I'm surprised Rose didn't catch that." the Doctor said with a smug look and a wink at Rose. She swatted his arm lightly and chuckled. "Don't be cheek!" she admonished. He shrugged and repositioned his hand over hers. "Yeah, alright. A Time Lord has abilities to regenerate, which is he can change every single cell in his body if he's dying." she explained. The Doctor made a face and decided to intervene. "Well, a Time Lord can regenerate whenever he or she wants to, but it's not advised, as we only have a few regeneration cycles before we can't regenerate anymore. Twelve, actually."

"Yeah, and so when he regenerates he's usually dying and he changes his face, his looks, his voice, nearly everything. His brain remains mostly intact, but a little bit of it changes, I think the emotion center."

"Ah." I know, another brilliant comeback, but my mind was a little overwhelmed by all the new knowledge. "Which regeneration are you on now?" I asked. The Doctor and Rose grinned. "Tenth. Actually, I think this is the best one yet." he said with a smile down at her. She agreed with a giggle and for a moment they had some kinda romantic electricity flowing between them, and it was making me uncomfortable. I know it was selfish but I felt like the third wheel, and I hate feeling like the third wheel. I cleared my throat and they both looked at me. "So… are we gonna go find this jerk or what?" I demanded. The two of them grinned from ear to ear as the Doctor replied energetically. "Of course! Allons-y!"