The Twelfth Doctor sighed and put one hand on his forehead, thinking. Across the table, Luke and Sky sat patiently waiting. Only now did the Doctor truly realize the enormity of what he had taken on; they were not ordinary children.

"So," he said. "A scientifically engineered boy genius, and a deactivated bomb girl."

"Sounds about right," Luke said nervously.

"Do you still want us?" Sky asked.

"Well Sarah Jane gave me more than I bargained for, not for the first time either, but I think it's for the best. I can handle machines better than humans…sometimes," he added, looking over at the Tardis. She creaked in reply. "I just meant that you manage me sometimes, dear!"

"We aren't machines," Luke insisted. "Mum scanned me, and at first she thought I was a normal human."

"Yes, you have so many human aspects about you, it's why I find you so completely fascinating. Anyway, I'm legally stuck with you now, whether or not I want you, so where would you like to go first?"

"What?" Sky asked.

"Where would you like to go first? All of time and space, yours to explore."

"I don't understand," she said slowly. "My mother just died."

"Yes, but you can't expect the whole world to stop and mourn forever, can you? Life moves on, and you've had several days to grieve already. The sooner you accept that, the better."

"You act like you didn't even care for her!" Sky exploded.

She stood up with clenched fists, glaring at him. Luke remained seated. The Doctor froze, and his mask faded for a split second. He looked so sad, and so very old.

"She was one of my best friends, she was with me the longest. Of course I cared for her, I loved her like a sister, so don't you dare accuse me of that again young lady!"

"Fine. You can move on with the rest of the world if you want, but I don't have to!"

"You could do that if you wanted to, but I don't think the Sarah Jane Smith that I knew would like that very much. And neither do I! One of the most important lessons I've learned in over 2000 years of travel in time and space is that you've got to move on. You love people, but eventually they leave. You don't know how many friends I've lost, I've lost my whole planet for Pete's sake, but you always keep moving on. You keep trusting people, you keep letting them in, and you keep falling in love. And that's ok, it's not dishonoring the people you lost, do you understand that?"

"I…I think so," Sky lied.

"Yes," Luke answered truthfully. "You're right, Doctor."

"Well, Sky, you'll understand soon. Now, I'll ask you again. Where would you like to go?"

"Haven't really thought about it before," Luke confessed. "Can we just go to a random place?"

"Well, I do have a Randomizer somewhere around here. I got bored with it a long time ago, so I turned it off, but…ah, here we go!" He pulled a few switches and a big red button appeared on the console. "That's more like it! I do love big red buttons. Actually, any buttons in general. Luke, would you like to do the honors?"

"Sure, why not?"

Cautiously, Luke walked up and gently pressed the button. The Tardis instantly took off into space, spinning and hurtling around.

"Here she goes! Hold on, Skye!" the Doctor cheered.

With a loud thud, it landed. Skye gingerly sat up from where she had been thrown to the floor.

"That was…short."

"That's the whole point," the Doctor said, confused. "It's a time machine. It's basically a giant shortcut."

He stepped out into a peaceful green glade. Instantly, there was a thud to his right, and an arrow quivered in the Tardis. Looking forward again, he noticed a figure shrouded in a blue cloak and crouching behind a bush.

"Robin Hood!" the Doctor said sarcastically, pulling out the arrow. Behind him, Luke and Skye stepped out in wonder. "Will you stop putting arrows in my Tardis! Changed your outfit, I see. Doesn't hide the ugly, I can see it from over here!"

The figure stepped from the bushes and threw back the hood, releasing a cascade of unruly red curls. The young woman drew herself up to her full height and notched another arrow to the bow.

"I don't who this Robin Hood person is," she exclaimed angrily in a thick Scottish accent. "But I am not she! I am Princess Merida, firstborn of the clan DunBroch." She paused for a moment and whistled shrilly. "And I have just one question for you: Where is my mother?"

Unable to speak, the Doctor's mouth dropped in surprise. Luke was also apparently star-struck, but Skye rushed forward to meet her hero.

"Oh my…you're Merida!" she squealed.

"Yes," she answered warily. A large horse galloped forward and stood behind Merida.

"Oh, and that's Angus, isn't it?"

"Yes, responding to my whistle for help. He can beat you into pulp if I ask him."

Skye ignored this. "I'm such a huge fan!"

"I'm sorry, lassie, I don't understand. In Scotland, a fan is a paper object we used to cool ourselves in the summer. What does it mean in your country Britania?"

"Oh, it uh…It means I admire your skills very much!" Skye promised.

"Ah, saw me at the archery contest last week, did ya?"

"Yes, you were amazing!"

"Are these two lads trustworthy?" Merida asked, still keeping the bow trained on the speechless Doctor and Luke.

"Yes, I promise. You don't need to kill us."

"I'll take your word for it," Merida said. She lowered her bow and replaced the arrow to her quiver, then quieted Angus. "Perhaps you can help me better alive than dead. My mother, Queen Ellinor, is missing. She disappeared into these woods two days ago. Have you seen her?"

Before they could answer, Merida held up a hand and twirled on the spot. In a flash, she had re-notched her bow and held it at the ready. The Doctor lunged forward and pulled Skye back towards the Tardis as a great cracking of branches was heard. A moment later, a huge black bear ran into the clearing, roaring fiercely. Angus reared and whinnied in fright.

Merida fired as it reared up on it's huge legs, and the arrow hit it's mark on the inside of the rear leg. The bear roared almost indignantly, then used its free paw to swipe at the arrow, which caused even more pain. Still standing on two legs, it flailed about uselessly for a moment before toppling to the ground and rolling.

"The poor beast is suffering from some sort of malady," Merida yelled over the bear's grumblings. "Just look at it's eyes!"

Sky noticed the eyes were larger and more intelligent looking than any normal bear, and for a moment they flickered towards Merida with a look of…was that pleading?

"Best close your eyes, I'm going to put an end to it's misery," Merida said, drawing her sword.

"No, stop!" Sky said, running forward.

"Sky, no!" the Doctor said, grabbing her arm at the last second.

"Merida, it's your mother!"

"Are you insane, lassie?" Merida asked, keeping her eyes on the bear, which had fallen quiet at Skye's remark.

"Skye, this isn't like the movie," Luke hissed.

But the Doctor took out his sonic and pointed it at the bear, who moaned and clutched both paws to her head.

"It's a very interesting theory," he said. "I need some of your DNA to prove it."

"A what?"

"A blood sample, spit, anything from…"

Merida spit in her hand and held it out to him. The bear looked at her crossly and snorted, much to Merida's surprise.

"That's so like my mother," she said hesitantly. "Will this do?"

"Yeah," the Doctor said, sticking the end of his screwdriver in it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Skye could see Luke grinning. "What?" she whispered as the Doctor performed some more scans. But Luke simply shook his head and continued watching.

"Seems like Skye was right," the Doctor said finally. He bowed in front of the bear, gesturing to the kids to do the same. "Queen Elinor, delighted to meet you at last."

Elinor sat up on her haunches in a very queenly manner and tried to wave her giant paw in the dismissive gesture. Unfortunately, bear paws don't work the same as human wrists, so it seemed like she was just trying to swat away a pesky fly. Unnerved, Angus backed away.

"Impossible!" Merida explained, shocked.

"So, you don't know what happened?" Luke asked.

"Obviously not!"

"Do you not know if your mother ate anything strange before she disappeared? Something that might have caused this?"

"How should I know? I don't watch what my mum eats!"

"Luke, Skye, with me," the Doctor said. "We'll only be a moment, your highness." He pulled them around to the other side of the Tardis. "Look, this is obviously the events Brave was based off of, but it becomes a legend. So the story changed and evolved over the years to become the movie that you know. Something entirely different is happening in real life, right now. We can't say anything about it again, understand?"

"Yes," Luke and Skye said.

"Now, let's have some proper introductions," the Doctor said, returning to find Merida staring incredulously at her mother.

"Yes, let's. How did you know it was my mother? Were you the ones who turned her into a bear?"

"No. I'm the Doctor, this is Luke and Skye. We've seen another case of a human turned into a bear, but it's completely irrelevant and there's no need to mention it again. But since we've seen this before and are bear experts, we might be able to solve this case for you. So tell me about your relationship."

"I don't see how…"

"Do it. It helped last time."

"Fine, it's not good. Very strained. Basically, I hate her."

"And, you're not sorry for her now that's been turned into a bear?" Luke asked timidly.

"Nope. She tries to turn me into a proper princess, you saw her after the tournament! She's an absolute horror to live with."

"She is right here," Skye said coldly.

She had noticed Elinor's mask begin to slide away, like the Doctor's had done earlier, and despite her effort to maintain her queenly compose, she looked extremely sad and disappointed. Merida didn't see this.

"Yap. I noticed. She also can't talk, so now it's my turn to lecture her."

Merida launched herself into a rant for several minutes, unable to be stopped by any of the humans. Finally, Elinor roared at her daughter nonstop, until Merida shut her mouth.

"Everybody just calm down," the Doctor said. "After we change the queen back, we will get you two a therapist and you can work out your differences."

But Merida was hardly listening. She stared at a point behind the Doctor, beyond the Tardis.

"It's a wisp," she murmured.

"Oh!" Skye breathed, turning.

"It's beautiful," Luke said. Of course, the Doctor sonicked it.

"It's magic," Merida explained. "Of course it's beautiful."

"No, it's not. It's an energy trail!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Tell me, is there a witch around these parts?"

"Yes, an old ugly woman," Merida said. "We try to keep away from her."

"This is her energy trail," the Doctor said. "Basically, whenever she does "magic", and then leaves, she leaves behind a trail of this stuff. But it's only visible part of the time…that's curious."

"Do we follow it?" Luke asked.

"Of course we do," the Doctor said. "There are similar readings about Queen Elinor. There's a very good chance they might be connected."

The four of them raced down the trail, Elinor lumbering clumsily behind. Eventually, she gave up and ran on all four paws. They ran on for quite awhile, leaping over small streams, ducking under logs, and passing beautiful little waterfalls. After awhile, Skye grew tired, and Merida let her ride behind her. Riding bareback on a huge horse was absolutely terrifying, but oddly thrilling at the same time. The summer air felt warm and peaceful, and the children almost believed that nothing was at all wrong or out of the ordinary.

Finally, they reached the end of the trail. The last wisp disappeared in front of an abandoned cottage. Merida instantly identified it as the witch's cottage.

"She was here," the Doctor said, scanning the area. "But I can't tell where she went next. It seems like she realized we were following her and managed to hide her trail. We'll have to split up."

"I can go with Merida," Luke said, a little too quickly. The Doctor looked at him sharply.

"I disagree," Merida said, crossing her arms. "I'll stick with women, thank you very much, and since I'm not going with her," she pointed at Elinor. "I'll take Sky."

"Well, that settles it, then. Luke, go with her majesty, and I'll poke around here a little more."

"Be safe," Sky whispered as she hugged her brother.

"You too."

"Oh, and you realize you're totally out of your league with Merida, right?"

"Yeah," Luke said reluctantly.

Disappointed, Luke walked off with Elinor one way; Merida and Skye took the exact opposite direction on Angus. At first he didn't see anything unusual, except the woods were growing darker. He found this odd, remembering it had been midday of midsummer when they first arrived.

Stop being paranoid, he told himself. It's just the trees growing together more thickly here.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Elinor's great big bear head twitching. Thinking she was trying to get his attention, Luke turned in time to see her eyes grow black and dim. He knew that look, even though the last time he had seen it had been in an animated movie from hundreds of years in the future.

The wild bear had taken over.

But then he realized that wasn't even the scariest part. He was in a thick forest, probably out of hearing range, with no help anywhere nearby. He wasn't even sure if he could find his way back to the cottage if he wanted to.

Elinor raised herself to her full bear height, no longer clumsy and human. As she roared down at him, Luke saw the witch step out from behind a tree and mutter something. He barely had time to think 'Oh, crap,' when Elinor's paw slammed into him.


The Doctor heard the roar and knew exactly what had happened. "Sky! Merida! Come here, now!"

The girls came at a gallop.

"What is it?" Merida asked.

"I heard a roar, a real bear roar, from that direction. Something is very, very wrong. Is there any more room on there for me?"

"You doubt my Clydesdale." Without wasting any more time, the Doctor swung himself up behind Skye. "Hiyah!"

Angus burst off, hardly feeling the extra weight. The Doctor could tell there was hardly room for him, since even though he was an accomplished rider, he could hardly stay put and kept jostling around.

They reached the scene only moments later, to find not only Elinor, but another, smaller bear wobbling beside him. Elinor roared at them, but when Merida dismounted and glared at her fiercely, she backed down, and her eyes returned to normal.

"What happened?" Merida asked.

"A bit of wild bear in her," the Doctor explained, helping Skye down. "It seems like she can only maintain her sanity when you're around, Merida."

"Why me?"

"I don't know."

"Doctor," Skye whimpered.

The smaller bear had approached Skye, and she was obviously terrified, but not from the bear itself. It had nuzzled its head against her entire body and was moaning.

"It's Luke, isn't it?"

Solemnly, the Doctor scanned the new bear. He didn't have to tell Skye the results, she could see the confirmation in his face.

"Is he himself?" Merida asked cautiously.

"Seems to be, yes," the Doctor said. "Perhaps they keep their sanity when their loved ones are near."

"My mother? Ha! She doesn't love me. If she did, she'd let me do what I wanted."

"That isn't what parenting is about," the Doctor said, slightly confused at Merida's point of view. "It's doing what's best for your children."

"But…"

"STOP IT!" Skye sobbed. "We have to change him back!"

"Oh, but my dear, you can't change him back. I need him."

A woman emerged from the trees, the witch in her true form. Her long black hair fell unheeded down her back, held back by a tiara with a blue gem in the center. Her sleeveless, floor length dress was the same turquoise at the top but deepened into blue-green at the bottom. In her hands, she held a long silver sword, which, although not held at the ready, she could easily spin and behead anyone nearby. Obviously recognizing her, Merida sank to the forest floor in a deep bow of respect.

"Who is she?" Skye whispered.

"Get down on your knees!" Merida hissed. "This is the goddess Artio."

"No, I don't think so," the Doctor said loudly.

"No?" the goddess asked gently. "Pray tell me why, foolish mortal."

"First of all, I'm not exactly mortal. I'm a Time Lord. And secondly, I've been secretly scanning you behind my back. You're an alien. Not one that I've seen before, but you definitely aren't from here, and you've disguised yourself as a popular icon of the culture. Well done. Of course it's not that big of a surprise to me, I've seen this done before, in Ancient Rome.* And I suspect your real name is Artio, since there isn't any legend of you before this time."

The not-goddess smiled thinly. "Clever boy."

"You're turning people into bears," the Doctor stated. "Why?"

"Why should I tell you my plan?"

"So I can decide whether or not to stop you. Are you repopulating your planet or something?"

"In a way, yes," Artio answered cautiously. "But bears are not the dominant species. We hunt them for sport."

"Ah, hunting for sport. This whole thing is one big sport to you, isn't it? The wisps weren't an energy trail, well, they were, but they weren't being used like that."

"What were the wisps, really?" Merida asked, rising to her feet again and looking disdainfully on the woman.

"It's a trap, luring her next victims into this clearing so she can transform them."

"How is it a trap?" Skye asked, puzzled. "We outnumber her."

"Are you paying attention? There are bears all around us."

Merida whipped out her bow as a bear lunged at them. The circle of bears moved in closer; all of their eyes were dark, and even Elinor and Luke were losing it this close to the Artio's control.

Merida was firing arrows in all directions, with Elinor watching her back and swiping any bear that came near her. The Doctor fiddled with his sonic and tried all sorts of settings, but to no avail. Luke simply curled on the ground, fighting to maintain his human mind. Then Skye screamed as a large male bore down on her, and Luke snapped. He leaped to his feet and jumped over Skye protectively, fighting off the stronger bear.

Luke won.

The bear backed off and found it sufficient to glare at them from a safe distance. Somehow, Luke could tell this was a natural bear, not a human. Artio was muttering curses, but the bear was following his natural instincts and staying away. But Luke knew it wouldn't last forever, and there were other human-bears here too, innocents that didn't have to be killed simply because they were being controlled.

Luke roared in defiance and jumped over the ranks of bears and landed next to her. Dodging the powerful sword, he opened his mouth and bit her round the legs, holding as hard as he dared to without killing her. Artio screamed and swung her sword wildly at him, muttering curses to get him back under her direct control. Luke kept staring at Skye, in danger now that he was gone. He bit harder.

"Stop! I surrender! Retreat, retreat!" she yelled.

The bears slowly backed off, still thirsting for blood. Very slowly, Luke released his jaws but didn't move his head. The Doctor knew he had to get them out of there, and fast.

"Turn every bear back into a human, leave this planet, and never return," the Doctor said darkly.

"Not all of them were humans," Artio said, grunting with pain. Luke growled at her, and she spoke quickly. "Some were animals, some were natural bears."

"Turn all who were human back into humans. Then take the other ones and go!" the Doctor said. "I'll warn you: I'm the Doctor, I'm the last of the Time Lords and I own the last Tardis in this universe. I can and I will hunt you down and make sure you are following these terms of surrender."

With a glare, Artio released the curse and disappeared with a snap, along with a good deal of bears. The Doctor instantly covered the girls' eyes.

"Look away, girls," he said. "I'll be back with some clothes for all of you, just stay put!"

He led the Merida and Skye back to the Tardis, and was able to find a variety of 14th century Scottish clothes and distributed them to a dozen of Artio's victims. Luke was not too happy about his kilt.

"You can change back to your Britania clothes after the feast," Elinor declared, hugging a disgruntled Merida (who was doing a very poor job of hiding the fact that she was glad her mother wasn't a bear).

"No, sorry," the Doctor said, eyeing Luke (who was doing a very poor job of hiding the fact that he was glad at a chance to be with Merida). "We're honored, but we can't go to any feasts at the moment."

"Whatever it is you're doing can wait. I order it to."

The Doctor was about to protest, but the look on Merida's face stopped him. "Yes ma'am."


"Morning," Luke said, walking into the console room.

"Morning. How did you sleep?" the Doctor asked stiffly.

"I'm glad Queen Elinor let us come back to the Tardis to sleep. I'm sure these beds are much more comfortable."

"Course they are. I want to talk to you about yesterday."

"Yes?"

"You purposely attacked Artio. You nearly bit her leg off."

"In the middle of a battle!"

"No, you have to understand this. Violence never ends violence. You always try to negotiate peacefully first."

"Says the man who blew up Gallifrey. Mom told me."

"I didn't blow it up, I saved it. Using thirteen of my regenerations and Tardises placed at equidistant intervals around the globe, I moved it to a different universe and the Daleks destroyed each other. But only my 11th and 12th reincarnations remember it. The other mees thought I destroyed it. See, peaceful. That's the way you have to do it."

"Life moves on," Luke said simply just as Skye joined them, still munching a piece of toast.

The Doctor opened his mouth to protest, but couldn't think of a proper retort.

"Fine," he muttered, hoping Sarah Jane wasn't rolling in her grave. "Skye, where would you like to go?"

"Can I use the button? Only, I thought since when Luke pushed it we found his crush..."

"Shut up, Skye."

"Please?"

"If that's what you want. But not all fictional crushes will turn out to be real. Unless it's Luke Skywalker, of course. No, forget I said that."

Skye looked intrigued. "Maybe on another day," she said, and she slammed her hand down on the button enthusiastically.

A moment later the Tardis jerked to a stop.

"Remind me to teach you how to fly the Tardis," the Doctor said. "Three hands will fly smoother than one."

He went to the door and opened it for the shock of his regeneration. A boy with white hair and clear blue eyes hung down from the roof, a goofy grin on his face.

"Cool magic trick," he said.

The Doctor slammed the door shut and turned around.

"Seriously, Skye?" Luke asked. "Talk about out of your league."

But Skye wasn't there. She slipped behind the Doctor and ran out the door.

"Oh, here we go again," the Doctor muttered. He ran out after her. "Jack Frost, put her down!"

*in the Doctor Who book "The Stone Rose," a genetically engineered genie disguises himself as a goddess to survive in Ancient Rome. I highly recommend reading it, it was an excellent short story and I really wish they could have made it into an episode.