Disclaimer: I don't own "Doctor Who" or "Twilight", and the essential details of the original concept of this fic came from a video posted on YouTube by heroesdwtw- which has unfortunately now been taken off YouTube- and is used with their permission
Feedback: Much appreciated
AN: The final story in this series, as Bella reunites with the Cullens and the Doctor has words for the Volturi…
AN 2: To those wondering, as this story begins the Doctor is leaving the planet Esselven, a world in the thirty-sixth century whose ruling family were saved from a complex temporal anomaly and a ruthless dictator by the Sixth Doctor in the novel "Palace of the Red Sun"; it's a particular favourite and I wanted to include some reference to it before this series ended
New Dawn
"Wow," I said, looking at the Doctor with a broad grin as we returned to the TARDIS after our last trip, which was also one of those rare occasions where everything went as the Doctor had planned. "That whole place was just… wow."
"Glad you liked it," the Doctor smiled at me.
"Liked it?" I repeated incredulously. "What's not to like about a chance to have a meal with the king of an entire planet? And when you knew the chancellor… I still can't believe that was a robot!"
"Oh, Greeneight's been through a lot since I met him; back at the start he had trouble telling a standard Red Sector where it should go even when he knew it was wrong, and now he's making decisions that affect the whole planet," the Doctor smiled at me. "Still, that's what happens when you spend over two hundred years working on the largest gardens in history; you have a lot of time to think about what you'll do long-term."
"And it's all still there…" I smiled as I remembered the apparently small planet we'd just departed. The people had been nice, but the trip had mainly made an impression because of the planet itself, which was easily one of the most beautiful I'd ever seen in my travels with the Doctor. "They really kept it that way after everything they went through?"
"It was their home for centuries; it wasn't always an easy life, but you grow attached to somewhere after you spend that long on it, particularly when it was intended as a holiday home for the royal family anyway," the Doctor shrugged. "I actually had that problem myself once; was stuck on Orbis for a few decades in my eighth body and had trouble getting back into the swing of things for a while after I was let out into the wider universe, even if Orbis was fairly dull…"
The Doctor's speech was cut short when the TARDIS suddenly came to a halt, leaving the two of us to exchange glances before the Doctor went to study the TARDIS 'yearometer'; even I'd been here long enough to know that the TARDIS didn't normally take that little time to go from one destination to another when it was on random.
"Is there a problem?" I asked, as the Doctor looked uncertainly at the screen.
"Actually… we're just back on Earth."
"Well, there's nothing wrong with Earth-"
"Pretty much on the day we first met, actually," the Doctor finished, looking at me with a stare that had a new sense of uncertainty behind it I'd never seen from my friend. "We're in Mexico at the moment and it's a few hours later anyway, so there's no risk of paradox, but… well…"
"Oh," I said, guessing what the Doctor wasn't saying to me and wondering whether or not I should answer that.
On the one hand, I had been thinking that I'd learned enough from my time with him, but on the other hand, did I really want to leave just because we were in a convenient place? The Doctor's piloting skills weren't perfect, but he could get me home the moment I left if I wanted to go back…
"Well," I smiled at him, lost for anything better to say in this awkward moment, "since I've never been to Mexico, shall we just take a look around before we go?"
"No harm in that," the Doctor said, opening the TARDIS door. As I stepped out of the ship, I found that we were in a shaded alleyway looking out on a quiet street, the buildings around me high while still fairly similar to what I'd seen back in America, apart from cooler tones for the various building materials.
As I took in my surroundings, wondering if I should be impressed or disappointed that this was just my present, my train of thought was suddenly interrupted when something hit me with such force that I was amazed nothing was broken. For a moment I thought I was being attacked, but then I recognised the feel of the body that was suddenly holding me and realised what was happening.
"Alice?" I said, stepping back to look at the shortest Cullen in shock. "What are-?"
"How aren't you dead?"
"Excuse me?" I asked, confused at the blunt question; I knew that the Cullens had wanted me out of their lives, but that seemed a bit harsh-
"You vanished!" Alice insisted, looking at me in confusion. "I saw you jump; why would you try and kill yourself?"
"When I… I was cliff-jumping," I clarified, realising what Alice must be referring to as I let out an awkward little laugh; after so long with the Doctor, that particular experience was almost amusing, so long as I didn't think about the embarrassing parts of it at the same time. "It… was meant to be fun, but it… didn't work out like I'd-"
"I saw that, but I also saw you vanish!" Alice interjected, still shaken at the sight of me. "I thought you were dead; what happened to you? I was going to go back and see for myself, but then I just… I felt as though I'd get the answers if I stayed here, and then… it's only been a few hours since you jumped, how could you-?"
"How did you see that?" I cut in. "Edward said he'd asked you to make a clean break-!"
"Just because I wasn't looking doesn't mean I'm not still attuned to you," Alice clarified, before she looked at me for a moment as her expression became confused. "Or at least, I was attuned to you… I can't quite see what's coming…"
"Oh, that'd be me," the Doctor cut in, stepping forward to look between Alice and I with a curious smile. "I take it this is Alice, right; the Cullen who can see the future?"
"You told him?" Alice asked, looking at me with a sense of betrayal in her eyes.
"Hey, the Doctor isn't exactly normal either-" I began, before I rolled my eyes and grabbed Alice by the sleeve, thoughts of looking around Mexico put aside in favour of explaining the situation to Alice. "Come on; we need to talk."
"What-?" the Doctor and Alice said almost at once before I opened the TARDIS door and led Alice inside, the smallest Cullen staring at the ship's interior in shock as the Doctor shot me a pointed stare.
"Didn't we have a discussion about inviting people into my ship without my permission?"
"I trust Alice, Doctor," I countered.
"I… sorry, but what is… and who's this?" Alice interjected, looking at the Doctor in confusion before she sniffed and her eyes widened in shock. "Hold on; two hearts… and what is that smell…?"
"Don't," I said, looking coldly at Alice; we might have 'tweaked' the genetic memory of Alice's breed of vampire, but that didn't mean that there wasn't some kind of deeper instinct in there to act against the Doctor's race.
"To answer your first question first, the fact that you didn't see Bella survive that cliff is probably my fault," the Doctor explained nonchalantly. "I learned a couple of lifetimes back that I'm a natural 'rogue element', in that I throw off usual laws of cause and effect and make it harder for anyone who can see the future to predict what's going to happen once I get involved."
"Really?" Alice looked at my friend, clearly grateful to be getting answers to something even if she was still troubled by the bigger question. "And… how does that effect Bella?"
"Oh, the same people revealed that when I take on companions I essentially 'contaminate' them with the same thing that makes it hard for anyone to predict what I'll do," the Doctor elaborated. "Nothing dangerous, I assure you; Bella's just spent so much time with me it's probably hard for you to see what she'll do any more."
"I… see," Alice said, looking between the Doctor and I in confusion. "And… you've been this… contaminated by him… when you've only known him for a few hours?"
"That's… a very complicated question to answer," I said at last, not wanting to give away too many of the Doctor's secrets too quickly. "For now, let's just say that the Doctor saved my life from that… incident… and leave it at that."
"All right," Alice said, looking at me with a grim shake of her head. "He was a fool to think you'd survive alone; I've never met anyone so prone to life-threatening idiocy-"
"Actually, I've been doing all right," I countered; as much as I was grateful to see Alice again, I wasn't going to stand for being treated like a completely useless idiot. "The Doctor and I have been through a few… close calls… since I met him, and as you can see, I'm still here."
"And that wasn't all just me stepping in," the Doctor added with a smile. "Seriously, you'd be amazed at what-"
Alice suddenly reeled backwards, clutching at her head with an expression that I would have called pain on anyone else if I didn't know that vampires couldn't get headaches or anything like that. I stepped forward to try and get her attention, but before I could try anything Alice had turned and practically slammed her hands down on the control console, staring upwards at the ceiling.
"Uh… what's happening?" I asked, glancing over at the Doctor after I was fairly sure that neither Alice or the TARDIS were actually attacking each other.
"I'm not… entirely sure," the Doctor admitted as he looked uncertainly at Alice. "The TARDIS has enhanced human mental abilities before; an old friend of an old companion once had his telepathy triggered just because he followed me to the ship, as an example."
"Humans can be telepathic?"
"With the right circumstances to set it all off; the odds of humans developing that level of power on their own are rather rare," the Doctor clarified, even as he continued to study Alice thoughtfully. "I'm just not sure what she'd do to a precognitive vampire; she's been around you long enough to have picked up on your memories and understand that Alice won't hurt anyone, but my last encounters with vampires have never worked out well…"
I was saved from further questions when Alice's eyes snapped open as the TARDIS's central column began to move.
"You have to help me," she looked urgently at the Doctor. "If we don't keep going now, Edward's going to die!"