Chapter 2: The Doctor's Regeneration
"But you can't go!" A sobbing 20-year-old girl with shoulder- length blonde hair stood, shaking, in front of the man she loved.
"I'm not 'going' anywhere, Rose. I'm simply regenerating," the ninth regeneration of the Doctor replied calmly.
"Are you going to be a completely different person?"
"Yes."
"Will you—will you remember me?" Rose's bottom lip was trembling.
"Of course. How could I forget you? Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf, the Girl Who Saved the Universe," the Doctor grinned as his hands started to glow.
"You promise?"
"I promise."
There was a binding flash of an unearthly golden light. The Doctor felt every particle in his body expanding and morphing as Rose watched with fascination and horror; her tears drying. He let the golden light consume him, changing his body down to the last molecule. After what felt like an eternity, the Doctor's cells resettled and the golden light faded. The tenth regeneration of the Doctor was born.
"New teeth. That's interesting," the Doctor remarked, moving his tongue around in his mouth. He moved his long and slender fingers, flexing them and getting used to the way they moved. He continued to feel his new body until he heard the girl behind him clear her throat. The Doctor turned around and grinned as his eyes rested upon Rose.
"Hello, Doctor," Rose said quietly. She did not recognize this man. Was he really her Doctor?
"Hello Rose! Now, I need you to answer one very, very important question for me."
"What's that?"
"Am I—ginger?" Rose held back a laugh as she saw the Doctor's face become more and more serious, as if this question was the most important one in the universe.
"Uh…no. You're sort of…brownish."
"Why? Why couldn't I be ginger? I'm never ginger!" the Doctor exclaimed. Rose smiled. This man may be new and mysterious, but he still had all of the Doctor's strange quirks and oddities. Suddenly the Doctor's face contorted with pain.
"Doctor? Doctor! What's wrong?" Rose was worried. Was this normal? She wasn't exactly an expert on Time Lord regeneration.
"No. Nothing. It's fine. It's just…so many memories came with this body," the Doctor winced but it seemed as though most of the pain was gone.
"What do you mean, 'so many memories came with this body'? That's not someone else's body, is it?" Rose was horrified to think the Doctor had stolen not only someone else's body, but their memories as well.
"No. Well, not anymore, anyway. Technically speaking, this body is modeled off of somebody else's. It's not them though. Just their body. And occasionally their memories, but I've never had quite so many before. This is new."
"You have someone else's memories?" Rose was curious now. Horrified and curious.
"Well, yes. How familiar are you with Greek Mythology?"
"With—what?"
"Greek Mythology."
"Oh, um…yeah. I mean, I know the gods and goddesses and stuff. Why?"
"Are you familiar with the way death and the Underworld works?"
"Not really. May have missed that lesson. I remember Hades, though. What's this got to do with having somebody else's memories?"
"Trust me, I'll get to that in a second. So, the Underworld. In Greek Mythology, there were different places you would end up after you died within the Underworld depending on who you were when you died. With me so far?"
"Yeah, but—"
"In a second, Rose. The first level of the Underworld was Tartarus. That was where the Titans ended up. Only really, really bad people could end up there, and those who did where usually immortal or demigods. You were tortured. Tartarus was what we would picture Hell as today. If you died as a bad person—you know, a thief or conman or criminal — you'd end up in the Fields of Punishment, doing some sort of punishment for eternity."
"Like that guy…Sisyphus! The one who cheated Death! He had to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, yeah?"
"Yes, exactly! Anyway, the next area of the Underworld were the Fields of Asphodel. That was where your run-of-the-mill, neither fully good nor fully bad people ended up. Lastly, there were Elysium and the Isles of Blest. If you died a hero, you would end up in Elysium. That was one of the best places to go—it was better than the Fields of Asphodel. It was almost like you were still living a full life. However, those who ended up in Elysium could also have the option to be reborn and do even more good on Earth. If those people died three times as a hero, they'd end up in the Isles of Blest. Very, very few people ended up there. You were forced to give up your memories if you chose to be reborn. It was possible that you could end up as a bad person in one of your new lives."
"That's risky. Who'd want to do that?"
"Oh, Rose. The Isles of Blest were paradise in the Underworld."
"Thanks for the history lesson, Doctor, but I still don't understand what this has to do with regeneration."
"Ah. Well, now that you have the context, I can explain. Time Lords have been regenerating since the creation of Gallifrey and its people. But, you see, it is impossible to rewrite your genetics so completely without some sort of model. The very first Time Lords devised a method to give us new bodies, and non-Time Lords second chances. Whenever we regenerate, we take on the body and sometimes the memories of those who need second chances, whether they be criminals or people who lost so much in their short existence on Earth or elsewhere. Usually we only get a few memories, but for some reason I seem to have taken in this man's entire life story. That should only happen if—but no, that's impossible!" The Doctor was running his hands through his hair. Rose could almost see the thousands and thousands of thoughts being formed and cast aside in the Doctor's head.
"What? What is it, Doctor? Why is it impossible?"
"Because, Rose, we only take important memories…or memories that are lost."
"So then that would mean—"
"Yes. That would mean that whoever this man was, he lost all of his memories. Every single last one of them. But Rose…there's something else, too. I can feel it."
"What, Doctor?"
"This man…he lost his soul."