Doctor Who?
Summary: The Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Doctor are all called to the same location following a distress signal, but maybe things aren't as they seem. Each Doctor has one companion with them. Who called them all together and why?
The Doctor breathed in a deep breath for what felt like the first time in forever. His lungs hurt for some unknown reason and it took a moment for him to realise how uncomfortable he was. His back was uncomfortable and he shifted a bit. Slowly, his eyes blinked open and he shifted again, before quickly sitting up when he realised his back was soaking wet and cold. He looked down at the floor to see inches and inches of snow along with an imprint from where he'd just been lay.
Quickly, the Doctor stood up in order to get away from the freezing snow and shook himself for a moment. It was as he was looking around at his unusual surroundings and walking that his foot hit something hard yet soft. He looked down with curiosity to see a figure. A familiar figure wearing a denim jacket and a rainbow top.
With wide, concerned eyes, the Doctor threw himself to the floor and shook Bill to wake her. At first she didn't respond and the Doctor was forced to put two fingers to her throat just to be sure, but after a bit more shaking when he was certain she wasn't dead, his student/ friend finally groaned in annoyance at being woken up. She shoved him away with a request for five more minutes, to both the Doctor's great relief and annoyance.
"Come on, Bill," the Doctor told her, grabbing her arm to pull her up. Thankfully, she complied when she heard his voice and made an effort to get up.
"Doctor, where are we?" She asked with confusion.
The Doctor looked around at the village they were in, trying and failing to remember or recognise anything. Even something small and useless like a particularly long icicle would be useful. "No idea," he told Bill, hiding the confusion in his voice with nonchalance.
"Oh," Bill said, not as good at hiding her confusion. "Wait!" She suddenly exclaimed, grabbing his arm to which the Doctor startled at the unexpectedness of it. "I think I see someone."
Looking in the direction Bill was, he squinted his eyes to see what she was pointing at. Surely enough, in the darkness and the fog, at the end of the cobble road, was two figures. One was definitely female while the othet was male, yet they were around the same height.
The Doctor nodded his head in the direction of the newcomers and started heading towards them, Bill quickly following behind.
When the Doctor and Bill got close enough to the man and woman, he noticed that the woman hesitated a little bit behind the man before finding her energy again and rushing forward to grab the Doctor's hand.
"Oh, my- it's you!" She exclaimed with a little giddy laugh at the end. The Doctor froze for a moment in shock, unsure what to do, when thankfully the woman let go of his hand and stepped back. He was glad to find that he wasn't he only one as confused as he was. The man beside the woman didn't seem to recognise him, and looked beffuddled.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said, "do I know you?"
"Oh, right, sorry," the woman apologised with an almost guilty smile and backed up a bit, "no, you don't know me. But I know you."
The woman reached inside her coat and rummaged around a bit before she pulled out something oddly familiar, yet different. She pressed a hidden button and the top of it lit up a bright orange colour, along with a familiar sonic noise.
The Doctor slowly reached into his own pocket and pulled out a similar device, this one blue at the end. He pressed a button on it which resulted in the sonic screwdrivwr glowing blue and making the same noise the woman's was making.
"You're..?" The Doctor started, but was unable to finish his sentence.
"Yep!" The woman grinned.
"You're the next me?"
"I am."
"But-" the Doctor started, only to be interrupted by the woman- his Thirteenth regeneration.
"I know," she said, her happiness subsiding for the moment, "I know. But best not to ask questions, right?"
"I suppose," the Twelfth Doctor reluctantly agreed, despite how much he wanted to know how- or why- she existed. Not that she couldn't exist, exactly. (God knows how many extra regenerations the Time Lords gave him).
"Sorry," Bill said, a confused smile appearing on her face, "what's going on?"
"Ah, right," the Twelfth Doctor said, remembering that Bill was with him, "sorry. Bill, this is my future self."
"Your future self? But... she's a woman?" Bill said slowly. "A young woman."
"I know. My race, we have a way of sort of cheating death if the need arises. We can change our entire physical form, heal any wounds or sicknesses, whatever, and become someone else. We're still the same person, of course. In here," the Twelfth Doctor tapped his head, indicating what he meant.
Bill stared at him open mouthed for a few seconds, as did the future Doctor's friend. Apparently he (or she) hadn't told their new companion about regeneration either.
"So, she's you then? You got sick or died, or whatever and changed into a woman?" Bill said.
"Yep," the Twelfth Doctor nodded.
"That's amazing. How come you never told me you could do that?"
"It never came up. Until now," shrugged Twelve.
Bill shook her head fondly and gave him a light shrug to which the Doctor scoffed with false annoyance.
A polite cough caught their attention and they looked up to see the man with the Thirteenth Doctor. He waved somewhat awkwardly, looking guilty for interrupting them until he looked towards his Doctor and she grinned at him.
"Oh," she said with a little laugh, "sorry. Guys, this is Graham! Graham, this is Bill and me. Well, the twelfth version of me. Except he's not actually the twelfth. Technically, he's the thirteenth and I'm the fourteenth. One of us dropped the 'Doctor' title. But that's a long story and now we go by the Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctor-"
"Ahem," Twelve interrupted her. Thirteen turned her attention to her last regeneration and gave a sheepish shrug.
"Sorry, not that good with introductions. Or maybe I'm just socially awkward. Who knows?"
"I've got a lot to look forward to then," Twelve muttered, causing Bill to grin, having heard him.
"Anyway," the Thirteenth Doctor said, turning back to Graham, "seeing as there's two of us and we don't want things to get confusing, just call me Thirteen, and him Twelve."
"Cause they weren't confusing already," Graham nodded, seeming to want to ask more questions but looking like he knew they wouldn't make sense to him in the slightest. Twelve decided he liked him.
"Now that that's sorted," Twelve said, clapping, "does anyone know where we are? Or why we're here?"
Graham and Bill shook their heads, though Twelve was sure they wouldn't have known anything anyway.
"Nope. We just woke up on the ground somewhere over there and decided to have a wander. Not sure where Ryan and Yaz are either. Can't seem to find them," Thirteen said with a pout.
"Ryan and Yaz?" Bill questioned.
"Yeah! Two of my new best friends. Graham's the third. Ryan is Graham's grandson and Yaz is a police officer."
"Okay, enough of that. Don't want to spoil my future," Twelve said, interrupting anything else Bill might have asked. Something along the lines of 'where am I in the future?', he's sure. "I just have one question before we do any exploring," he continued and shared a knowing look with Thirteen. It seemed she knew where he was going. "This is a lovely little village. Rows upon rows of houses. So, where are all the people?"