Flashback
Disclaimer:
I did no prior research on the physics of time travel before writing this. I only used the knowledge I had obtained from the show. Anything I didn't get from the show is probably wrong.
Chapter 1:
What?
Doctor Who? Dorium's question had been on the Doctor's mind for what seemed like ages, though it was only a standard day ago. As the TARDIS glided through space, the Doctor played with the controls.
"Where to now?" he said, realizing that he was alone. "No matter what happens, it's always just you and me in the end, eh Old Girl?"
Having recently faked his own death, the Doctor now faced the worst burden of all: being alone, with no one knowing you're alive. The lonely traveler, cruising the stars with just a blue box that's bigger on the inside. Saving worlds. Having adventures. There was never a dull moment in the life of the Doctor.
"I guess you never realize just what you have until you've lost it," the Doctor said to himself. "Time for a new beginning."
The Doctor was the last of his species, the great Time Lords. He killed them all in an attempt to bring the Last Great Time War to an end. Everyone lost, but the Daleks, the Doctor's worst and most dangerous enemies, lived on. One lone Dalek ship, falling through time. The Time Lords had died in vain.
As the Doctor pushed buttons, flipped switches, and pulled levers on the TARDIS console, he reflected on everything that he had done and how many lives he had ruined, something he did far more than was healthy. Rose, Amy, Rory, Martha, Donna, Sarah Jane. I ruined their lives. Oh, how much better off they would be if they had never met me. If I hadn't taken them away in my blue box and promised them the universe. Amy waited twelve years for me, and look what I've done to her. I guess this is why the Time Lords refused to meddle.
He could still here River say it. "Doctor, the word for healer. In the language of the Gamma Forests, the word "Doctor" means "great warrior". Look what you've become."
Oh, River Song. She always kept him in line. Her bravery and abundant amount of sass never failed to amaze him. Nobody knew him better, but he still knew very little about her, given they both age in opposite directions. Trouble seemed to follow her, so keep your distance, unless you're ready to put up a fight. They had had some good times.
Suddenly, the TARDIS lurched and shook. The Doctor, having been lost in thought, was knocked down onto the level below the console, where the inner workings of the TARDIS lay just inches below the floor. He darted up the stairs and ran to check the readings on the computer screen attached to the console.
"Ohhh, that is not good. That is really very extremely not good," he muttered to himself.
He ran his hand over the massive cylinder that extended from the console to the ceiling and said, "Well, what's got you all upset?"
He then began to dart around the console a fast as he could, trying desperately to restore order to his TARDIS. After about a minute, he finally noticed what was wrong. How could I have possibly missed that? The TARDIS had materialized inside of itself, but he hadn't landed it yet.
"If I haven't landed her yet, then she would have no reason to rematerialize, so that means…"
He was cut off as a man poked his head out of the newly appeared TARDIS's door. He had messy brown hair, a blue pinstriped suit, and topped it off with a pair of red trainers. It was his tenth reincarnation.
Both the Doctors looked at each other, puzzled looks on their faces. After a couple of minutes of just staring at each other, their jaws dropped at the same time, and they both said, "What?!"
The Tenth Doctor stormed out of his TARDIS and yelled, "What have you done?!"
The Eleventh Doctor snapped, "Me? You're the one who landed your TARDIS inside of mine!"
"You didn't have your shields up, did you?"
"It's my TARDIS, I'll put the shields up when I want!"
"That sounded unbelievably childish."
"Well, it's true."
"Yea, I'm sure it is. I have a more important question. Which one are you?"
"Ummm. The Eleventh."
"Ohh. Wonderful. So, when does this happen?"
"Spoilers," the Eleventh Doctor said with a grin.
"Oh no, not her again."
"Oh yea. You'll be seeing a lot more of her."
"You changed the inside of the TARDIS…"
"Ummm. Yea. I don't want to reveal too much, but it may or may not have exploded at one point."
Seeing the Eleventh Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver on the console, the Tenth Doctor said, "And a new Sonic? I guess everything did change. Not even a trace of me."
"Well, something may have happened to the Sonic too. You'll see eventually."
"Wow. I have a very strange fashion sense in the future, too. Tweed, suspenders, bow tie, dress shoes. Ughh. Dress shoes," the Tenth Doctor said sadly.
"Yea. I thought the trainers with the suit looked kind of nineties and stupid, but you'll see it my way soon."
"Oh, yea. Can't wait."
"So, past me, how do we get out of this?"
The Tenth Doctor then pulled out his glasses and began to closely examine the screen attached to the console, nodding and muttering to himself as he did so.
"Ohh, yea. I remember the Brainy-Specs. You don't even need them. You just think they make you look clever."
"Well, yes."
"So what do you make of this Doctor?"
"Well, Doctor, it looks like we may have fallen into some sort of temporal trap. It seems as if somebody is trying to create a massive paradox that could rip a hole in space and time."
"Yea. Exactly the size of Nepal, by the looks of it."
"Wow. That's was really random."
"It's true, though. It looks exactly like Nepal. It's uncanny!"
"What do you think could have caused it?"
"Or who," the Eleventh Doctor added.
As if on cue, the time rotor in the middle of the TARDIS console stopped moving, the wheezing sound stopped, and there was a crash.
"Why don't we go find out?" the Tenth Doctor said with a sly smile.
Chapter 2:
Sontarans!
The Doctors stepped out of the TARDIS onto bright beach, with bright white sand as far as the eye could see.
"Wow. Some trap," The Eleventh Doctor said.
"Wait for it," the Tenth Doctor said, sounding on-edge.
There was a sudden burst of laser fire that zipped past the Eleventh Doctor's ear, missing it by mere inches. The Doctors hit the ground and crawled to safety behind the TARDIS.
"What do you think it was?" the Tenth Doctor asked breathlessly.
"I don't know. I'll go back out for a better look."
"No! Are you crazy? You can only get that lucky once in your whole life."
The Eleventh Doctor just ignored him and stepped out from behind the TARDIS, and saw an army of soldiers dressed in blue armor and armed with high-power blaster rifles; and they were running right for them.
"Sontarans!" the Eleventh Doctor exclaimed.
"Perfect," the Tenth Doctor said.
"Well, how long do we have before Nepal?"
"About twelve hours?"
"Do you have a plan?" the Eleventh Doctor asked hopefully.
"No. Nothing at all."
Mere seconds later they were surrounded by Sontaran troops. A Sontaran officer with a unique gold insignia stepped forward and said, "I am Commander Schwartz. You are the Doctors, yes?"
The Doctors hastily nodded.
"Why do you want us both here so badly? You could have ripped a hole in time and space with the massive paradox you just created, which is exactly the size of Nepal, by the way."
"We had to have you both here so you would not foil our plans as we move to become the greatest military force in the universe!"
"Why didn't you get the others too?" the Tenth Doctor asked the Sontaran Commander.
The Commander replied, "We only had so much energy, so we settled on the two most recent ones we could find."
"Well, you've got us. So, what now?" the Eleventh Doctor asked.
"We will keep you here on Daylon 1. You will not be allowed to leave. We will take care of your TARDIS."
"Oh, that's fantastic," the Tenth Doctor said.
"I'm soooo bored!" the Eleventh Doctor shouted as he paced the small room they had been placed in a few hours ago. "How long until Nepal?" he asked the Tenth Doctor.
"Exactly seven hours," the Tenth Doctor replied.
"How do we get out?" the Eleventh Doctor whispered, avoiding the Sontaran guard that was currently guarding the door.
"What's a Sontaran's one weakness?"
"The vent on the back of their heads."
"That Sontaran isn't facing us…"
"Wow, that's clever."
The Tenth Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver and pointed it at the power box across the room and activated it. It sparked and popped, forcing the Sontaran guard away from his post.
"They didn't confiscate yours?" the Eleventh Doctor asked.
"Well, I wasn't brandishing it around trying to find a way out when we were barely in the building and surrounded by a squad of twenty Sontarans."
"Ohh. I guess that's true."
The Tenth Doctor then unlocked the door to their room wityh a buzz from his Sonic and came back to sit on the bed, tucking it away in the inside pocket of his blue pinstripe suit.
"Why aren't we escaping? The door's unlocked," the Eleventh Doctor asked.
"When they switch guards at midnight, we're alone for about three minutes. You'll escape then, go get your Sonic, and come back to get me when you can."
"Where would it be?"
"At the guard station, most likely. It should take you about fifteen minutes to get there, if you don't get into any trouble along the way."
"Okay. How long until I go?"
"Two hours."
"Wait, what do we do about the TARDIS?" the Eleventh Doctor asked worriedly.
"We'll worry about that when you get me out. I'll start drawing up a plan when you're gone. Everything gets put on hold until we get out of this room."
The Eleventh Doctor sighed and jumped on the top bunk of their bunk bed, and waited.
Two hours later, the guard left his post at the shift change, just as the Tenth Doctor had said. The Eleventh Doctor jumped down from the bunk.
The Tenth Doctor said, "Alright, run for the guard post, get your Sonic, come back here and get me out, then we'll go find the TARDIS and get out of here before Nepal."
The Eleventh Doctor ran over to the door and turned back to the Tenth Doctor. "Geronimo," he said with a grin.
Chapter 3:
Run!
The Eleventh Doctor slowly slipped into the hall and took off as fast as he could, while remaining silent. He turned a corner and saw a group of eight Sontarans coming down the hall. He ran back around the corner and into a supply closet. When they passed, he proceeded down the hall and up a flight of stairs. Almost there, he thought tiredly.
As he rounded the corner, he saw the guard station in the distance. He breathed a sigh of relief and slowly proceeded towards it. He was almost there, just a few more steps. Just before he reached it, he heard a soldier yell, "Stop right there, Time Lord!" Oh no, so close!
The Doctor turned around and waved, "Hello!" He then ran down the hall and barged into the guard station. He darted across the room and grabbed his Sonic. He burst out of the room and pointed it at the light above the group of Sontaran soldiers. It buzzed and the light sparked and went out, followed by the others around it.
The Doctor ran down the hall in the dark, stumbling and taking side halls and doorways at random, desperate to get to the next level where he could find some light. He finally came to an elevator; he hurried inside and used his Sonic on the control panel. He didn't know how far up or down he was going, and he really didn't care.
Okay, I've got my Sonic, now I just have to free my past self and find the TARDIS, not necessarily in that order, of course.
He walked out of the elevator and onto to sixth floor. He had started in the basement, worked his way up to the guard station on the first floor, and had ended up here. He started to walk down the hallway, trying to find a guard station so he could use their computer systems to get his bearings.
The Doctor went through the hallway, checking every room and door. There was no sign of a guard station whatsoever. It has to be here somewhere.
The Doctor continued to look for about fifteen more minutes, but he still couldn't find anything. He hurried back to the elevator and tried floor five, nothing. He ran back to the elevator yet again and tried the fourth floor. He emerged from the elevator to find a room filled to capacity with Sontaran troops. He had run right into their barracks.
I knew I was getting a little too lucky by dodging all those patrols.
He grinned and said, "Well, I should be going now. Bye!"
The Doctor ran out of the barracks and headed for the elevator, with the Sontarans clumsily putting on their gear and trying to keep up. He got to the elevator and hit a button, too preoccupied with not dying that he failed to notice which one he pushed.
As the elevator ascended to the roof, the Doctor heard a voice on the intercom say, "Attention! A prisoner has escaped! Brutal takedowns authorized!"
As the elevator came to a halt, the Doctor checked his watch. Great. Six hours to Nepal.
The Doctor ran across the roof, dodging lasers as the Sontarans charged out of the other elevator and the two flights of stairs.
It was the first time the Doctor had seen the outside of the building. They were in a decent sized city. It appeared uninhabited. The buildings were close enough together so he could jump from one to the other with ease. He could easily evade the Sontarans that way.
He could have made it off of the roof of the main building, if it hadn't been for the grenades and other explosives the Sontarans were now throwing. A grenade had blown a hole in the roof right in front of the Doctor. He fell through and hit the ground, covered in rubble and dust.
"Awww. I just had these pants and this jacket cleaned!" he said angrily.
All that anger instantly vanished, as he got up and turned around to see his TARDIS standing in the back corner of the room.
Chapter 4:
Nepal
The Tenth Doctor was lying on the bed, worried about what had happened to his future self, having heard the alarms and the intercom announcement authorizing deadly force. He looked at his watch. Six hours to Nepal. Where is he?
No sooner had he finished that thought than a familiar wheezing sound cut the silence and the TARDIS materialized in the middle of the small room.
The Eleventh Doctor opened the doors and grinned and said, "You miss me?"
"Brilliant!" the Tenth Doctor exclaimed as he followed his future self through the doors.
Safely back inside the TARDIS, the two Doctors zipped around the console yelling instructions to each other.
"Five and a half hours to Nepal!" the Tenth Doctor shouted.
The Eleventh Doctor reached across the console, snatched a lever back, pulled out a mallet and hit a metal pad twice,
pulled another lever, and the TARDIS lurched and settled down.
"Wow, that was clever. What did you do?" the Tenth Doctor asked.
"I activated the backup shields. You have about fifteen minutes to get your TARDIS out of here. They should last about an hour, but I need some extra time to fix the main shields.
Your TARDIS is interfering with mine. Two TARDISes at different points in their time streams; definitely not good."
"Of course, I guess I'll be off, then," the Tenth Doctor said as he strolled toward his TARDIS.
"It's been a pleasure, Doctor."
"At least I know I'll regenerate into someone clever," the Tenth Doctor said with a grin. "Goodbye Doctor."
The Tenth Doctor then stepped through the doors of his TARDIS, and it dematerialized. Alone again.
Epilogue
The Doctor wandered aimlessly around the TARDIS console, pressing random buttons and pulling random levers. His mind began to wander once again. He began to think again about his companions. They always came up when he let his mind wander for even a second.
Rose is trapped in a parallel universe. Donna became a Time Lord hybrid trying to save me, so I had to wipe all traces of me from her memory so she wouldn't die. Sarah Jane had been waiting for me all this time, and I never knew. I turned Martha into a soldier; she wanted to be a doctor, she was almost there. I left Amy when she was a kid, and I came back twelve years later and acted like nothing ever happened. She waited for me all that time. It's just like I told Dorium, I was getting too loud. The world is better off thinking I'm dead.
He thought back to what Dorium had said just a few days ago. So many secrets, Doctor. I'll help you keep them of course, but you're a fool nonetheless. It's all still waiting for you. The Fields of Trenzalore. The fall of the Eleventh. And the question.
The question that must never be answered.
Hidden in plain sight.
The question you've been running from all your life.
Doctor Who?
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