A/N: Second chapter. Sorry, I know I haven't updated in a while.
Disclaimer: Still don't own.
Just then, in 1562, another, old, grizzled man landed, after coming through the portal.
"Did someone lose a fez?" He asked. The two male doctors almost fell over backwards, and they both blanched, like they had seen a ghost. Thirteenth burst out in loud laughter. She seemed to be doing quite a bit of that lately.
"You!" Tenth gasped. "How can you be here?! More to the point, why are you here?" He turned to Eleventh. "Do you know what happens next?"
"I… I don't remember." He said. Tenth turned to Thirteenth.
"Do you know?" He asked her. She smirked at him.
"I'm not sure. Sorry, Sand shoes. I can't really remember that well. Two thousand years does that to a person." She said. "And even if I did remember properly, then I wouldn't be able to tell you. Maybe that's why I'm here!" She put a finger to her chin. "Because I forgot."
"Sand shoes?" Tenth questioned.
"Yeah. Got a problem with that?" She put a hand on her hip, and slid her blue visor up. The grizzled, old man put his hands behind his back.
"Ah. I'm looking for the Doctor." He said. Tenth swallowed, Eleventh's forehead creased, and Thirteenth smirked.
"Well, you've certainly come to the right place." She said.
"Good. Right." The old man said. "Well, who are you three? Are you his companions?" Thirteenth broke out in laughter, again.
"Can you stop that?!" Eleventh asked.
"No! This is hilarious!" Thirteenth told him, smiling brightly. "Well, it is for me."
"His companions?!" Tenth asked, outraged.
"They get younger all the time. And prettier, may I say?" The old man said. Thirteenth rolled her eyes, and Tenth blew out a breath, while Eleventh's forehead creased again.
"Here we go again. Seriously, are all the male regenerations like this?" She asked.
"Well, if you could point me in the general direction of the doctor…" He trailed off, expectantly. Thirteenth rolled her eyes, and then unhooked her gun, holding the trigger down. The golden stone buzzed and made the Sonic Screwdriver's noise. Tenth and Eleventh both raised theirs, and the old man's eyes widened. "Really?" He asked.
"Yep." Tenth said.
"Really." Thirteenth continued.
"Completely and utterly." Eleventh finished.
"Even that one?!" He pointed to Thirteenth, who rolled her eyes.
"Yes. And yes, I am a girl. I am still you. And I still know what you did." A haunted look came into her eyes.
"You're my future selves?" He asked, again.
"Yes!" All three exclaimed, in sync.
"Am I having a mid life crisis?" He asked. He stepped towards the three of them, and Tenth and Eleventh pointed their Sonics at the grizzled old man, while Thirteenth just kept up with her tinkling laughter.
"Why are you pointing your screwdrivers at him?" She asked, through her laughter. "Now, this is why I had my Sonic put into a gun case. Much more threatening that way. People really will think twice before pissing you off then!"
"Yes. Why are you pointing your screwdrivers at me?" The old, grizzled man asked. "They are scientific instruments! Not water pistols!"
"He has a point." Tenth said. Eleventh's forehead creased, yet again, and he flicked his Sonic off, and put it back in his coat. Tenth did the same. Thirteenth walked up between Tenth and Eleventh, and put a hand on both their shoulders, smiling at the elderly man, even though she knew what he did, or what he was going to do. At this point, she couldn't quite recall whether or not he had used the Moment yet. She realised that she had completely forgotten most of what was to come. Truly, this was a reminder of days past.
"You both look like you've seen a ghost." The man remarked. "And you." He pointed to Thirteenth, "Are weird. Just weird."
"I get that a lot." She smiled, cheerfully.
"Still, I'm loving the posh, gravelly thing." Tenth continued, trying to lighten the mood. Thirteenth nodded.
"Very convincing, I have to admit." Thirteenth said.
"Brave words, Dick Van Dyke." Eleventh said. Thirteenth realised that those words were aimed at Sand shoes. Then, there was a yell, and they were surrounded by a bunch of men in suits of armour, holding out spears that did not look all that comfortable. The three doctors turned, and pressed their backs together. Tenth felt the cold of the white metal armour that Thirteenth wore, and the warmth of the tweed suit that Eleventh wore, as he pulled the Sonic from his jacket, and pointed it. He knew that the other two would be doing the same.
"Again with the pointing! And you! I thought you were smarter than that!" He said. Thirteenth realised he was talking to her.
"My Sonic actually functions as a weapon. But it only incapacitates, it doesn't kill!" She hastily corrected when she realised that the other two probably would protest. "It tranquillises."
"Ah. Good." Eleventh said. "I really don't like it when people die."
"Of course you don't, sweetie." She said.
"Don't call me that!" Eleventh insisted. "Only River can do that."
"Okay, okay, geez, I was just kidding, Chinny." Thirteenth corrected.
"Chinny?!" Eleventh was outraged, and Tenth decided that now was probably a good time to cut in.
"You two!" He butted in. "Stop it."
"Enough!" A man dressed absolutely ridiculously, with a cape off one shoulder, a rather odd haircut, and one of those strange neck frills stepped up. "I am looking for the Doctor."
"Well, this has all the makings of your lucky day." Thirteenth said, smiling. Tenth could tell she was going to laugh again.
"The Queen is bewitched. I would have his head." Tenth raised an eyebrow.
"Sir Robert Dudley, if I am not mistaken." She muttered. "By the way, does the name 'The Virgin Queen' mean nothing to you?"
"I know, I know." Tenth replied. "And yes, that is Robert Dudley. I met him at a ball some days ago. Quite infatuated with Elizabeth, as it would seem."
"You have some competition." She replied. "You win, in the end. By the way."
"Thanks for that little tidbit of information." Eleventh muttered. "Now, are you done with your gossiping?"
"Doctor, what's going on?" Clara's voice again.
"That thing. What witchcraft is it?" Sir Dudley asked.
"Ah yes." Eleventh started. "Now that you mention it, Sir Dudley, that is witchcraft. Witchy witchcraft it is, too."
"Good one." Thirteenth whispered to him.
"Hellooo!" Eleventh called into the rip. "Hellooo in there?!" He looked over at the knight. "Excuse me. Am I speaking to the witch of the well?"
"He means you." Back in the gallery, Kate prompted Clara, who grumbled.
"Why am I the wicked witch?" She grumblingly asked.
"Clara?" Eleventh called.
"Hello." She replied.
"Clara! Hi. Hello." He turned to look at the humans. "Would you mind telling these mortals to get themselves begone?"
"…What… What he said." She muttered, half-heartedly, peering into the spinning vortex as if she was hoping she could catch a glimpse of her Doctor.
"Yes, tiny bit more colour." He muttered back, trying to prompt her. She sighed.
"Right." She put her hands on her hips, and put on a fake nasally voice. "Prattling mortals… Off you pop? Or I'll turn you into… Into frogs!" Back in the Tudor era, on the other side of the vortex, Sir Robert Dudley nearly wet his pants.
"Frogs. Nice. You heard her!" Thirteenth said. "Now, off you go!" But it was ruined when Clara groaned.
"Er… Doctor, what's going on?" She asked him.
"Ummm… It's a timey wimey thing." He tried, shrugging. Thirteenth rolled her eyes, and Tenth groaned, while the old men raised an eyebrow.
"Timey what? Timey wimey?" He asked, contempt obvious in his voice. Tenth looked over at the two of them, and Thirteenth walked up behind the old man. Tenth shrugged, and tried to act nonchalant.
"I've no idea where he picks that stuff up." He said, and Eleventh shot him a dirty look. Thirteenth smiled.
"If memory serves me, and it so very rarely does, after all, two thousand years can do that to a person, but wasn't it you who first coined that expression, Sand shoes?" She asked.
"No one likes a tattle tale. And they're not sand shoes." He shot her a rather dirty look. Just then, Elizabeth walked over the hill, and Thirteenth burst out in laughter again.
"Would you stop that?!" Eleventh protested between her loud giggles.
"What? If you were me, and believe me, someday you will be, you would find this whole thing hilarious!" She said. "I'm only an observer, remember."
"The Queen!" Dudley exclaimed, and all the men fell to their knees. "The Queen!"
"You don't seem to be kneeling. How very brave of you, young men." There were two coughs.
"Hey! I'm a woman!" Thirteenth pointed out.
"And I'm most certainly not young!" The older man said.
"Which one are you?" Tenth asked. He turned to Thirteenth. "Which one is she?"
"I'm… I'm not sure." Thirteenth peered at the Queen.
"How can you not know?!" He turned to her, spitting the words out.
"Woah there, Sand shoes." She held her hands up in defence. "I can't tell you. It would change the course of history. It is meant to happen this way!"
"Which one is she?" He spat each word out.
"I can't tell you, Sand shoes!" Thirteenth mockingly copied him. Tenth growled, and turned to Elizabeth.
"Which one are you?" He asked, suspiciously. "Where's the other one?"
"Indisposed. Long live the Queen." The soldiers copied her.
"Long live the Queen!" They chanted.
"Arrest these men." She instructed. "Have them taken to the Tower."
"That's not the Queen, that's an alien duplicate!" He pointed to her, and then Thirteenth walked up beside him.
"And, you can take it from him, because he's really checked." Eleventh pointed out.
"Aww, stop it!" Tenth protested.
"Venom sacs in the tongue!" Thirteenth reminded him.
"Both of you!" Tenth protested, again. "Seriously! Stop it!"
"No, hang on." Eleventh cut in. "The tower!" He said it loud enough so that they would be heard back in the under gallery. "Ah yes! Brilliant. Love the Tower! Breakfast at Eight, please." He walked out, and flapped his hands about a little. "Will there be Wi-Fi?" Tenth rolled his eyes.
"Oh, this is getting good!" Thirteenth said.
"Are you capable of speaking without flapping your arms about? And are you capable of doing anything that doesn't remind us that you know what's going to happen?" The old man snapped.
"Yes!" Eleventh spread his hands out, then realised what he was doing, and hastily slapped them back together again. "No."
"Aww, come on. That was below the belt." Thirteenth protested. "You'll all get your turn, someday. I can't help it!"
"But you don't need to act all high and mighty about it!" The older Doctor said. Thirteenth had a name for him. It was buzzing about in her memory.
"War Doctor…" She whispered. "Of course."
"What was that?" The War Doctor asked.
"Nothing." She walked up behind Eleventh.
"I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower of London with my co-conspirators Sand Shoes, Gramps and Short Temper." Eleventh demanded. The other three doctors began to protest.
"Gramps?!" The War Doctor asked, outraged.
"I do not have a short temper!" Thirteenth insisted, shooting Eleventh a dirty look.
"These aren't sand shoes!" Tenth protested. Thirteenth rolled her eyes.
"Yes, they are." Said the War Doctor and Thirteenth in sync. Tenth grunted.
"The Tower is not to be taken lightly!" Elizabeth said. "Very few emerge again."
A few hours later found the four Doctors, past, present and future, inside the cell in the tower of London. Immediately upon arrival, Eleventh picked up an old, rusted screw, and flicked it. It made a resonance, and he smiled in glee. Tenth raised an eyebrow.
"What are you doing?" Tenth asked.
"Getting us out of here." Eleventh replied. Meanwhile, the War Doctor was scanning the door with his Sonic, which had a glowing, red tip.
"That's not going to help." Thirteenth pointed out. "It's too primitive for the Sonic."
"Well, you aren't exactly helping, either!" Tenth pointed out to her.
"Cool it, Sand Shoes. I'm completely lost too. I've forgotten most of the details of what happens next. Two thousand years, remember?" She said. The War Doctor sighed, and sat down on a rotting, wooden bench.
"She is right." He said. He looked around the room, and spotted Bad Wolf in the corner of the room, leaning up against a brick pillar. "A Sonic would take centuries to figure it out. By the way, why is it that you three act like children? What is it about being a grown up that you three seem to detest?" The two other male doctors sent him a glare, and Eleventh paused in his scratching. Thirteenth put a hand on her hip. "The way you two look at me. It's like you've seen a ghost!"
"When you are in their position, you'll understand." Bad Wolf said, softly. Thirteenth turned, and looked at her, but she realised that the other two couldn't see her. She locked eyes with the War Doctor. Eleventh resumed his scratching.
"It must be really quite recent for you." The Eleventh Doctor said.
"They aren't even considering the truth." Thirteenth whispered to herself.
"What was that?" Tenth asked.
"Nothing." She said, hastily. "Just… Just worried about Ronan."
"Recent?" The War Doctor questioned.
"The Time War!" Tenth spat.
"The day you killed them all." Thirteenth saw the sadness in his eyes as he looked at the War Doctor. She saw him lock eyes with the Bad Wolf, who looked so much like Rose Tyler. She could vaguely remember Rose. From when she had Tenth's face.
"The day we killed them all." Tenth muttered.
"It's history for them." Thirteenth said. "It's history for me, too, I suppose. But I think that the next few hours may just change that."
"What do you mean?" Tenth questioned.
"Spoilers." Thirteenth muttered. "That was one thing that I do remember."
"What's your excuse?!" Eleventh stood, and looked Thirteenth in the eye. "If you know what's going to happen, then why do you act like a child?!"
"Why do you need to know?" Thirteenth asked.
"Because I want to know where I am going!" Eleventh exclaimed.
"You want to know?! Fine!" Eleventh had pushed all her buttons, and her temper really was quite short. "Because its easier!"
"Easier?!" Tenth spat. "Easier than what?! You know what's going to happen, you know what he did! You know what we did!"
"It's easier than facing up to the fact that I'm the Doctor and I'm a girl!" She threw her hands in the air. Tenth was silenced. Eleventh stopped his scratching.
"What do you mean?" Eleventh asked.
"Wow, you lot really are thick!" She exclaimed, in disgust. "The Doctor is a man, a knight in shining armour, come to save the universe from the big bad monsters. And when that knight comes riding in, it's a girl! Don't you think that they're a little pissed? Not to mention the ladies, who were expecting a handsome young man, and instead they get me, a space-age, not at all dapper, not at all male, not at all handsome, not at all sweeping them off their feet, girl!" All three of the other Doctors blanched at her furious words. "Why else do you think I was being chased by the Sycorax? All the big bad monsters, they think that they'll win, just because I'm a girl! Well, you know what, I am a girl, but so what? I'm still the Doctor, and I can still stop the big bad monsters, no matter how much they push me! So what's your excuse, Doctors?" She spat.
"My excuse?! My excuse?! I killed them all! All the members of my race! All of them!" Eleventh said.
"Did you?!" She spat back. "Let's test that."
"Enough!" Tenth snapped, coming between his two warring incarnations. "Enough. We need to get out of here, and you both aren't helping." Thirteenth rolled her eyes, and went to sit down next to the War Doctor. Eleventh resumed his scratching. The Bad Wolf looked at the Doctors sitting on the bench.
"Ask them what you need to know, War Doctor." She said.
"I can see her, you know." Thirteenth muttered to the War Doctor.
"Why are you here?" The War Doctor asked, abruptly. "You don't need to be."
"I don't know. I guess I'll have to find out." She said, simply.
"Ask them what you need to know." Bad Wolf repeated.
"Go on." Thirteenth said. The War Doctor spoke up.
"Do you ever count them?" He asked.
"Count what?" Eleventh asked.
"How many children were on Gallifrey that day." He added. "Do you know how many?"
"I have no idea." Eleventh said, nonchalantly. Tenth looked at him in horror.
"Four hundred years, and you never once counted?" The War Doctor asked, in disgust. Eleventh stopped his scratching, and looked up at the grizzled, old man.
"I have moved on." He muttered. Thirteenth could see that he didn't mean that. Not in his eyes. His big, sad, round eyes, that were so familiar to her, but the expression, the personality within them, so foreign.
"Two point four seven billion." Tenth enunciated the words clearly, reciting a number that he had forced himself to remember.
"You did count." The War Doctor said. But Tenth ignored him.
"You forgot?! How could you forget?!" He exclaimed. "Four hundred years?! Is that all it takes?! I don't think I like where I am going."
"Please stop!" Thirteenth tried to get between the two Doctors, but Tenth just shoved her aside. Eleventh shook his head, and turned back to his scratching.
"What happened to me?!" He asked, half to himself. Thirteenth tried again to stop them.
"Stop!" She demanded, but neither was listening. Eleventh dropped the screw, and turned to look at Tenth.
"You don't want to know what happened." He muttered. "You don't want to know. Forgetting, it is easier."
"No." Tenth muttered.
"What?" Eleventh asked.
"No." He repeated, louder this time.
"No what?" Eleventh spat.
"It is easier. It is an injustice. You are forgetting the billions that died, because of you! Because of us!" Tenth spat. Thirteenth decided that enough was enough, and she stepped between the two, holding her arms out. She placed one against Eleventh's chest, and one against Tenth's. Tenth was surprised to see that she had a tear, in the corner of her eye.
"Just stop. Please. I'm begging you." She murmured. "I have these memories, these memories of what my past selves did, and I remember that day. But it is always like I am an observer. I watched memories of Amy, and Rory, being sent to the past by the Weeping Angels. I watched memories of Rose, being separated from you." She looked at Tenth. "I watched a coffin, being carted away from Versailles, with the body of Reinette, Madame de Pompadour, inside it. And I watched as you both experienced the pain… the immense pain of the fact that they are dead. They are all, dead. But they are all the memories of an observer, not the person actually there. I always wondered, what kind of a person I used to be, what kind of people I used to be. Now I know. And I am not sure whether I like it. The man who carries the pain, and the man who shoves the pain in a box." She was interrupted by the War Doctor.
"I don't know any of you. You certainly are not me." He muttered.
"Yes, they are." He turned his head to see Bad Wolf in the spot that Thirteenth had once occupied. "They are who you become, if you press that button. The man who regrets, the man who forgets, and the woman who observes their pain." The War Doctor looked down at his hands, then back up at his three, future incarnations. The two men, one with floppy brown hair, pale skin and green eyes, with his bow tie. The other with sideburns and brown hair, pale skin, and brown eyes, wearing sand shoes, and a brown suit. And then, between them, like an oil slick in water, his female regeneration, Thirteenth, with her white, space-age armour, and short auburn hair. Her green eyes, staring at him, out of that oval face with chestnut skin. Then, as if on cue, all three sighed, and went back to whatever they had been doing before.
"No." He muttered.
"No what?" Thirteenth turned to him.
"Just, no." He repeated, as Eleventh began to laugh. Tenth turned on Eleventh.
"Did I miss a funny thing?" He asked, sarcastically. "You are not better than her." He spat, pointing to Thirteenth. "Thinking everything is absolutely hilarious."
"Hey!" Thirteenth protested. "That wasn't fair."
"It's the truth. All you do is laugh, and giggle, with that infuriating laugh of yours, doing nothing to help us out of here, nothing to help me figure out which Elizabeth is which!" He exclaimed. "We could have all been killed."
"You know that I would never let that happen!" She stood, and walked up to him, staring him in the face. "I would never let us be killed, but I also can't just tell you which Elizabeth is which. I, firstly, can only just remember, so what if I chose the wrong one?! And also, I can't affect what's going to happen, because I have already seen it. I can't change the course of my own, personal history, you know that! You'll understand when you come to be me, because some time in the future, you will be me!" She whirled on Eleventh, still scratching away, but as she watched, he finished, and put the screw down on the floor. "Why don't you ask him?! He was you, so he would know, wouldn't he?!"
"No, I wouldn't." He muttered. "I don't remember this. That means that eventually, you will forget this too." He gestured to Tenth. Thirteenth rolled her green eyes, and then walked over to one of the mossy, stone brick pillars, and took out her Sonic, disguised as a gun, and spun it on her finger, by the trigger.
"It's the same screwdriver." Bad Wolf murmured. "Same software, different case." Then, it came to him. The War Doctor stood, and looked at the three other Doctors before him.
"Of course…" He whispered. "It's the same screwdriver!"
"What do you mean?" Tenth asked.
"If I scan the door, and then turn it into a subroutine in the screwdriver's software architecture, the the calculation will keep going…" Then, Tenth caught on too.
"Of course!" He exclaimed, flicking up his own screwdriver. "No, the calculation is still going for mine." Eleventh stood, at took out his screwdriver too.
"Still going…" They all turned, and looked expectantly at Thirteenth, who slid back a panel on the side of her gun, revealing a small screen.
"Calculation complete." Eleventh smiled.
"Well, boys, and girl, we may have had our differences…" He scratched the back of his head a little. "Which is, frankly, odd in the circumstances, but we sure are incredibly clever…" He was cut off by the cell door opening, and his companion, Clara, stepping through, panting, as if she had just run a long distance. The smile fell from Eleventh's face. "H… How did you do that?" He asked. Tenth raised an eyebrow, the War Doctor looked between Clara and the four of them, and Thirteenth held back a laugh.
"Wasn't locked." She pointed out.
"Right." He looked at his feet, sheepishly.
"So these three are your past and future selves?" She asked, looking at the four, the Tenth Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor, the War Doctor and the Thirteenth Doctor.
"Yes." Thirteenth butted in. "Nice to see you again, Clara. I think."
"You're the Doctor too?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes! Just because I'm a girl…" She grumbled.
"Doctor, maybe this will help you get more in touch with your feminine side. Not that you needed much help in that area." Clara smirked. Eleventh blushed.
"Clara!" He protested.
"Nice suit." She remarked, looking at Tenth.
"Thanks." He muttered, looking at the ceiling nonchalantly. Then, Clara realised.
"Hang on." She looked between the door and the four doctors, and then raised an eyebrow. "Four of you, in one cell, and none of you thought to try the door?"
"Should have been locked." The War Doctor muttered.
"Yes. Exactly. Why wasn't it locked?" Eleventh asked. Then, Elizabeth stopped into the light, her hands clasped before her.
"Because I was curious to see what you would do once you got out." She said. "It seems that you are rather fond of this world. It's time you see what's going to happen to it." She turned, and walked off, expecting the Doctors to follow behind her.
