A few days later, Belle called the number and stepped nervously into the blue police box. As she looked around, her mouth fell open in shock.

"It's … it's …"

"Bigger on the inside?" the Doctor supplied helpfully.

Belle shook her head. "I've heard of things like that before. Genies' lamps, magical objects. No, I was going to say, it's like something out of a science fiction book."

The Doctor laughed. "Science fiction doesn't know what it's talking about half the time. Trust me, I know."

"What is this, anyway?"

"It's a TARDIS," said the Doctor. "Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It can take us anywhere in all of space and time."

Belle grinned and said, "Prove it. Take me someplace amazing!"

"Now that, I can do," said the Doctor, smiling as he pulled a lever on the control panel. A whirring noise surrounded them. Belle didn't feel as if they were flying, but when the noise stopped, the Doctor turned to her and said:

"Here we are. New Earth, the year five billion and ten. Want to go out and have a look around?"

Belle stared at him. "You're not serious?"

"Try me," said the Doctor.

Despite her doubts, Belle couldn't contain her excitement as she opened the TARDIS doors. She looked out to see a skyline unlike anything she had ever imagined. Silver skyscrapers towered over the horizon, and things that weren't quite cars flew past. If this was New Earth, it certainly wasn't anything like the old earth. Or maybe it was. She hadn't seen enough of the old earth to know for sure.

"That's New New York," said the Doctor, pointing at the skyline. "In another decade or so, it'll be really impressive, but right now they're just starting to build it. There's a big revival movement going on."

"Why?" Belle asked, looking up at him.

"Well, it's the year five billion and ten," said the Doctor. "The sun expanded a few years back, and the old earth was destroyed. That was enough to get everyone nostalgic. They picked this planet because of how much it's like the old earth. Blue sky, green grass, that sort of thing."

"Do other planets not have blue skies?" Belle asked.

"Some of them," the Doctor said with a shrug. His cheerful demeanor vanished, and he grew pensive. "My planet's sky was orange. It's funny how you spend your whole life running from something only to miss it when it's gone. Just like you humans and your earth."

Belle thought back to what he had told her before about how his world had been destroyed.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"No need to be sorry," he said. He smiled again, but she could tell it was forced. "Come on. Let's go explore New New York."


The streets of New New York were bustling, full of people walking to and fro, vendors selling food that Belle didn't recognize, and more flying cars zooming past. It was clearly a city under construction, but a city well on its way to becoming a shining alien metropolis.

The people on the streets looked human enough, but Belle couldn't help but wonder. After all, the Doctor looked human, too.

"Oh, yes, they're human," he said when she asked. "Of course they're human. Why wouldn't they be?"

Belle shrugged. "I just wasn't sure. I've seen people who looked like they should be human and weren't quite … except they were, really."

She was thinking of Rumple, but she realized when she said it that she could just as easily say the same thing about the Doctor. The two men couldn't be more different, and yet they had that in common.

"You've seen a lot of things, haven't you?" the Doctor asked.

"Nothing like this," said Belle. "Mostly the insides of castles. And dungeons. And hospital rooms."

She shuddered, but the city around her was too incredible to let her dwell on anything painful for long.

"Well, no dungeons or hospitals today," said the Doctor. "There are much better things to see. Come on, I'll show you the city. Just remember: don't wander off."

As they wandered up and down the streets, Belle suddenly heard a strange whining sound coming from behind one of the buildings, like the cry of an animal in pain. Without thinking, she started off toward the noise, darting between two of the buildings and into a side-street. The city transformed in front of her. What had been a silver metropolis gave way to dark alleys and shabbier buildings. She heard the cry again and followed it, barely noticing that the Doctor was no longer beside her.

There, lying in the alley, was a cat.

Well, not quite a cat. It was larger than any cat Belle had ever seen, with long hind legs like a human's, and strangest of all, it was wearing a tattered human dress. But its face was definitely a cat's face, and it was in pain. Her heart melted. She approached slowly, trying not to frighten the poor creature.

"Hey there," she said. "Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you."

The cat snarled at her. Then, in a human voice, it said, "Leave me alone."

Belle stared at the cat. For a moment, she thought she was imagining things, but then it spoke again in a scared-sounding voice.

"I said go away."

"I'm sorry," said Belle quietly. "But did you just speak?"

"Well, what do you think I did?" the cat asked.

This really was bizarre, Belle thought. It was as if she had been carried off to Wonderland or Oz instead of an alien planet years in the future.

"My name is Belle," she said. "What's yours?"

The cat glared at her distrustfully. Then: "Katrina. Katrina Harrison."

"And …" how to ask without seeming rude? "I'm not exactly from here. If you don't mind me asking, what …"

"What am I?" Katrina asked. "I'm a cat, of course."

Ah. Well, that much was obvious. "Where I'm from, the cats are smaller, and they don't talk."

"I'm not one of your housecats from Earth. I'm Catkind."

Katrina's proud tone was still tinged with pain and fatigue. Then she coughed and spat up blood on her sleeve as she rushed to cover her mouth.

"You're ill," Belle said softly.

Katrina nodded. Belle reached out instinctively to stroke the cat's fur, but she shrank back. "It might be contagious."

"Sorry. Look, I have a friend who's a doctor. Not that kind of doctor, I don't think, but still. Maybe he can help you."

She stood, and Katrina the cat looked up at her with sad eyes.

"I'm not leaving," she said. "I'm just going to find my friend, and then I'll be right back."

When she rushed back out into the main street, the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. She ran up and down among the silver buildings, looking through the crowd for the familiar face with the big ears and leather jacket, but there were too many people and he seemed to have vanished. Then – there he was! On the opposite side of the street, craning his neck and looking for her. Their eyes met, and she ran to him.

"Doctor, I need your help," she blurted out.

"Belle?" he said. "Where have you been? Didn't I say not to wander off? Why doesn't anyone listen when I say that?"

Belle ignored him. "Come on. I found a sick cat – a cat-person. She needs our help."

The Doctor's eyes lit up, and he let Belle drag him back across the street and into the alley where Katrina the cat was waiting, curled up in pain. The Doctor's face fell when he saw her.

"What's wrong with her?" Belle asked.

The Doctor paused. "I'm not sure. Weakness, lack of energy, coughing up blood … could be any number of diseases. But she shouldn't be out here in the streets. We need to get her to a hospital. That's the only way she'll have a chance."

The cat shook her head. "Don't you know what this is?"

Belle looked to the Doctor, hoping he would understand, but he looked just as confused as she felt.

"It's the cat plague. No one survives."

The Doctor scowled and shook his head. "There's a lovely hospital somewhere around here, run by cat nuns. They can cure just about anything."


They took Katrina the cat to the city's shining new hospital, staffed by cat nuns who assured them they would do everything they could to save her. But even Belle and the Doctor were astonished when Katrina came back out into the lobby an hour later, smiling and looking totally healed.

"Well, that was fast," said the Doctor. "How …"

"We are the most advanced hospital in the known universe," said one of the cat nuns. "A simple cough is nothing for us."

Belle glanced around cautiously. She had a bad feeling about this place, but she didn't want to voice it. It was just an after-effect of what she went through in the asylum, she told herself. Of course she would feel uncomfortable in a hospital. That didn't mean there was anything wrong going on.

"Let's get out of here," she whispered to the Doctor. "I don't like hospitals."

So they did. Later, he would come back and learn the truth, but for now, they left together to explore New Earth, still blissfully ignorant.


They sat down to eat at a strange little restaurant. Belle didn't recognize everything on the menu, even though the Doctor told her it was supposed to be "old Earth nostalgic", but she figured she couldn't go wrong with a burger and iced tea. Flying cars zoomed by overhead. Humans and cats mingled in the streets. For a moment, Belle could see why people in the future would choose to make this planet home.

Then the peaceful scene shattered. A man ran down the street, screaming.

"Help!" he cried. "Please, someone help! They're going to make me forget! I don't want to forget!"

Belle and the Doctor sprang to their feet in unison. They approached the screaming man. The crowd cleared around them. Everyone else seemed to want to get as far away from him as possible.

"What's the matter?" the Doctor asked, running up beside him.

The man's eyes went wide. "Don't you know?"

Belle sighed. How many times was someone going to say that today?

"No, we don't," she said. "We're new in town. So tell us."

"The hospital … they've invented a new drug. They call it Forget."

Belle fought the panic that rose up in her as she remembered the years she had spent in the hospital back in Storybrooke, not knowing where she had come from or why she was there.

"And they want to use it on you?" she asked.

He nodded vigorously. "My wife died in a car crash. One that I barely survived. They healed my body and they say the drug will heal my mind, but I don't want to forget a single moment. My memories … they're all I have left."

Belle nodded. She glanced at the Doctor and saw a look of understanding on his face.

"So you escaped," he said.

The man nodded. He looked nervously over his shoulder.

"I don't understand," said the Doctor. "That hospital is the best in the universe. How could they do something as unethical as non-consensual memory modification?"

The man didn't reply. Belle thought that "hospital" and "unethical" went pretty well together in her experience, but maybe things were different billions of years in the future than they were in a cursed 21st century town. Or maybe not.

"They wouldn't have forced me to. Except I learned their secret. They can't risk that I'll tell anyone. That's why they really developed it, I think."

"And what's their secret?" Belle asked.

The man shook his head. His eyes widened, and he pointed at something in the distance. A trio of cat nuns was approaching.

"There's no time," he said in a panicked tone.

"Come on, let's go!" said the Doctor.

They set off down the street together. But when they turned the corner, an army of cat nuns was waiting for them. Belle stared in shock at their feline faces. Then a strange scent filled her nostrils, and the world faded to black.


Belle woke in a hospital bed. The room around her was blindingly white, and – oh, god. She couldn't move. Her wrists were strapped down to the bed. She felt her heart pounding and all of a sudden she was back on a cot in a padded room staring at the only four walls she had ever seen, trying to remember something, anything, waiting for the cold-eyed nurse or the smirking woman just to know that there were other people out there. She felt tears stream out of the corners of her eyes. She could have handled monsters, swords, scary aliens, anything. Anything but this.

"Belle? Are you okay?"

The Doctor's familiar voice brought her back. She turned her head toward the sound and saw him lying on the bed next to hers, also struggling to break free. The stranger was nowhere in sight.

"What's going to happen to us?" She couldn't contain the fear in her voice.

"I don't know," said the Doctor. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you here."

Belle wanted to shake her head and tell him no, she didn't regret it. She would rather see the universe and lose it all than stay stuck in Storybrooke all her life. But she couldn't find the words, and she wondered if they were true.

The door opened, and a cat nurse came in. She glanced over her shoulder and closed it carefully behind her. Belle's heart was racing, but she clenched her fists, determined not to show her fear.

"What are you going to do to us?" she demanded, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Nothing," said the nurse.

"Nothing?" the Doctor asked. "Nothing as in, 'you won't remember a thing'? That sort of nothing?"

The nurse shook her head and loosened the restraints on Belle's wrists. "You'll have to hurry. They're coming for you, and I won't be able to stop them. They've already given the memory modification drug to your friend, and they'll be back for you in a few minutes."

"Wait," said Belle, sitting up and rubbing her wrists. "You're helping us? Why?"

"I don't agree with what they're doing," she said, moving to free the Doctor. "Mood drugs can do wonders. I helped to develop a few of them myself. But somewhere along the way we decided that we know what's best for people whether they agree or not, and that's wrong."

"Thank you."

"You should come with us," said the Doctor.

She shook her head. "I cannot."

"You stay here, they'll probably make you forget," he said.

"I know," she said. "But this is my life's work, and I won't leave it. Now go."

Belle exchanged a quick look with the Doctor, and they ran for the door.


"What is it with this Forget drug?" Belle asked as they ran.

"Oh, you know, every society has something," the Doctor told her. "For New Earth, it's mood drugs – things to play with your emotions, you know? Happy, Bliss, Honesty. Forget. Some of them become quite popular a few decades from now. I never thought about how they got started, but it makes sense that they come from here."

"Let's get out of here," she said as they turned the corner.

"No, no, we can't go yet," said the Doctor. "We've got to get to the bottom of this."

"Doctor," said Belle, stopping in her tracks. "You've been to New Earth before."

"Never to the hospital," he said. "But yes."

"Are the mood drugs still a problem in 20 or 30 years?"

He shrugged. "They exist, but not like this."

"Then there's nothing to worry about. Things will sort themselves out."

The Doctor was silent.

"Won't they?"

"Maybe not. Maybe it's what we do now that decides if that happens."

"Doctor!" Belle cried. The sterile white walls of the hospital loomed up around her. She couldn't contain her panic. "Please. I can't do this. I can't stay here. I just want to go home."

Home. Where was that now? It had been so long since she had a proper home, and yet right now all she wanted to do was go back there.

His eyes softened. "I'm sorry, Belle. I really am. I put people in danger, I get them killed trying to be the hero, it's what I do. I have centuries' worth of blood on my hands. And I'm sorry."

"What are you saying?" Belle asked.

"That I'm getting you out of here," he said, taking her hand. "Come on."

They ran through the hallways until finally they reached the lobby and burst through the front doors out into the street. The crowd in the streets stopped to stare at them, but no one got in their way. There it was, the TARDIS, just across the street, and then they were bursting through the doors into the impossibly large control room. Her chest heaving, belle slammed the door closed behind them. That noise started up again, and the Doctor caught Belle in his arms. He pressed a kiss onto her forehead.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Belle murmured. "It's mine. The … hospital thing. Maybe the adventure thing, too. I just … I just can't …"

He just held her, and she slowly felt the tension in her body melt away.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"In space," he said. "I have an idea – a way we can help New Earth without putting you in any more danger."

Belle wasn't sure what the Doctor was doing when he pulled out a box of fireworks. But he clearly did.

"It's getting dark now," he said. "Almost time. We can go back down and watch if you like. Not in the city. We'll have a better view away from the crowds, anyway."


So they stood on a hilltop on New Earth, watching "DON'T FORGET" blink across the sky, spelled out in little bursts of light again and again.

"Do you think it will work?" Belle asked.

"I don't know," said the Doctor. "Time is fluid. Forget will probably come back someday. I know some of the other mood drugs stay popular. But that's a worry for another day."

Belle nodded. "You'll come back, then?"

"Maybe," he said. "Probably, sooner or later."


He dropped her off back in Storybrooke.

"I'm not saying never again," she said. "Just no more space hospitals, or any hospitals, and … I just need some time. To figure things out, you know?"

"Take as much time as you need."

"You never did go back for Rose, did you?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"You should," she said. "Next time I go on an adventure with you, I want to meet her."