Okay, here we go. Chapter 3, the chapter where...stuff happens. Anyway, should be heartbreaking. The next chapter may be more heartbreaking. We shall see. Let me know what you think in the reviews and enjoy!
I don't own Merlin, Doctor Who, nor Sherlock. -sad sigh-
The woman looked bored, picking at her fingernails.
"Doctor, I assure you, you are quite safe here. You and your friends have seen our little exhibit, and now you will be escorted off the premises before you cause any trouble." As she was about to summon her security guards, the Doctor whirled around and noticed a hallway with no doors leading down to a large white wall. Two levers stood at either side in front of the wall, and it seemed to give off a negative energy that only a Time Lord would consciously notice.
"Hang on, what's that?" Everyone turned to look at the wall.
"It's a wall, Doctor," the Torchwood woman said, "And not a very interesting one at that." The Doctor turned on her, getting in her face and hissing,
"Don't play dumb with me. That's not a wall. It's some sort of portal. I know it, I can sense it. What. Is. It?" Merlin had started slowly advancing towards the wall. He could sense something, too, but something completely different from what the Doctor was sensing. It was a strange feeling, and he felt heavier every time he got closer to it. Arthur did a double take and noticed Merlin walking towards the wall.
"Merlin! What are you doing?"
"No, hang on," he called back, "This is weird. Just let me…" He put out a hand and touched the wall. Immediately he flinched and pulled his hand back, staring at it in awe. Arthur jogged over to him, followed by Sherlock, leaving John to stare at the ceiling and wonder how he'd gotten into this mess in the first place. Arthur grabbed Merlin's hand and turned it over, looking at it before releasing it.
"There's nothing there," he said bemusedly, "What happened?"
"Merlin," the Doctor called out in warning, "What did you do?" And then, "Rose, don't." Rose, overcome with curiosity, came over to them and frowned when she saw Merlin's hand.
"There's nothing wrong with it." But Merlin was panting as though he'd just run a mile. He was staring at the floor before, but now he looked up at Arthur. He looked terrified.
"What's wrong with...Doctor, what's wrong with Merlin?" Rose put a hand on his shoulder and asked,
"Merlin? Merlin, are you alright?" Merlin shook his head and stayed mute. The Doctor and John hurried over to them.
"Merlin, what did you see?" the Doctor asked quietly. Merlin shook his head again and cast a nervous glance at Arthur.
"He's having a panic attack," John interjected. Arthur looked even more worried now.
"What does that mean?" he asked anxiously. The Doctor waved him away impatiently, and Rose put a gentle hand on his arm and guided him away.
"Everyone take a step back from Merlin. Or several. Just give him some room. Now!" the Doctor said quickly. Then he hissed quietly at Merlin, "It's overwhelming your senses, but don't let it in. You're going to be fine, just tell me what you saw." His hands were clutching Merlin's shoulders as he stooped down to look him in the eye. His eyes were kind, but also urgent.
Merlin gasped, "It's empty, so empty. Not just space, negative space. It's evil, empty, negative space. I can feel the darkness and the nothingness and -" He was cut off as he fell to his knees and put his hands to his ears. He was shaking violently and nothing could stop Arthur from coming over to check on him now. Rose halfheartedly put a hand on his arm to keep him back, but Arthur pulled his arm out of her grip and put a hand on Merlin's shoulder.
"Merlin?" he said, ever so softly, "Merlin, can you hear me?" Merlin was still shaking, but he slowly took his hands off of his ears and put one hand on Arthur's where it rested on his shoulder, clutching it like a lifeline. The Doctor was staring at Merlin, taking in every detail and watching for anything else he might do. Then he walked back over to the Torchwood woman and hissed through his teeth,
"Can't you see that boy? That wall is not ordinary and everyone knows it now. Now I'm going to ask you one more time: what does that portal to?" A guard from far off called,
"Mrs. Thompson, is he bothering you?" She waved the guard away and rolled her eyes.
"If you really must know, it's where we got these two," she said, pointing to the Genesis Arc and the Cyberman commander, "I believe it's something you would call The Void." The Doctor paled and ran a hand through his hair.
"Okay, yeah, no, you need to get rid of that right away. I'm telling you now you won't find any more specimens in there, so shut it down," he said quickly, staring at the wall.
"On the contrary," she laughed, a tinkling laugh that made the Doctor want to shake some sense into her, "We've found more of these beings and we'd like to bring them in. We want to see if there's any variety, if there's any different ones. We've also found potential for expanding our own technology to mimic theirs. The technology in the Cyberman controller, as you call it, is quite advanced, and the Genesis Arc even more so."
"No. I'm telling you right now to shut it down or…"
"Or what, Doctor? You'll shut us down. I really don't think so, and in fact, I think it's time for you to leave now."
"Oh, I don't think so," he said quietly, his face slowly draining of color as he glanced behind her, "I think you need to do something about them first."
"What on earth do you...oh." She turned around to see the Cyber controller taking aim at the glass and shooting at it. Cracks were already starting to show. And the Genesis Arc was starting to release steam, as if under pressure and about to explode.
"Nonsense," she said, as if reassuring herself, "They've never...it's impossible for them to…" Everyone watched helplessly as the Cyber controller smashed open his prison and the Genesis Arc was starting to make loud noises.
"I told you!" he said exasperatedly, "Now get us out of here!" She nodded before running away to a corner of the huge room.
"Doctor!" Sherlock warned, "She's not letting us out. She's getting herself out." Sure enough, everyone looked over and found that the woman had disappeared with no indication that they were going free. Then Sherlock pointed to a camera and the Doctor looked at that too. It was pointed at the two prisoners and as the Doctor glanced around, an expression of terror Rose had never seen before made an appearance on his face.
"Doctor?" she rushed over to him, "What's going on?" He pointed slowly at the camera.
"She's got that to...monitor them. Those cages are just a precaution. This whole room is made to ensure they never get out into the human world." Then he pointed at the wall where Arthur was just getting Merlin to stand up. "And that...that is where she will release them if they ever do escape. This whole room is meant to contain them until she gets a chance to flip the lever to open up the portal to...oh my…" Rose seemed to realize what was going on a minute after the Doctor said all this and they both immediately started shouting,
"Get away from that wall!"
Then the Doctor shouted, "Grab hold of anything you can and don't let go! Do it now! Arthur, get Merlin out of there!" Sherlock and John looked bewildered, but Sherlock looked at the camera, then at the wall, then at the Doctor and grabbed John by the arm and screamed,
"John, grab that lever, do it now!" John did so after a moment's hesitation and Sherlock yelled for Arthur and Merlin to do the same. The Cyberman controller had stepped out of its prison and the minute it took a shot at them, the wall gave a giant boom and then opened to reveal blackness that was just sucking everything in. The Doctor and Rose had managed to grab the giant door handles where they had come in just in time, and Sherlock and John and Arthur and Merlin had all grabbed the two levers on either side of the wall. They were too close to grab anything else. The Cyber controller was pulled into the Void, right before the Genesis Arc exploded, shattering the glass. It opened on impact, releasing a good number of Daleks into the room. Rose screamed and the two Camelot men just paled and gripped the lever tighter. The Daleks started to scream when they realized they were going to get sucked into the Void, and they were getting pulled steadily.
One of the last Daleks hit John hard on the way out, causing his grip to slip. Sherlock yelled in surprise and John called desperately,
"Sherlock!" Before he disappeared, their fingertips touched when Sherlock reached out to grab him, and then John was gone in a flash of blue. Sherlock stared at the spot where he disappeared and he yelled for him once more before looking back at the others. They all looked shocked and Sherlock let one hand go of the lever, as if daring them to stop him.
"Sherlock, do not let go of that lever!" the Doctor yelled ferociously, "That won't do anything for you and it won't save John! Now knock it off and keep hold! You're not going anywhere!" Sherlock looked at him helplessly for a minute. He was lost without John, anyone could see that. Rose had gotten to like the sensible doctor more than the others and was also deeply distressed by his disappearance. She couldn't bear to see any of the rest of them go.
"Sherlock, please," she pleaded with him, her eyes filling with tears, "Please don't let go." Sherlock set his jaw and waited another moment before putting his second hand back on the lever. Merlin and Arthur stared at him in shock and then Merlin said in a low voice,
"Arthur, I don't want to worry you, but my hands are slipping."
"You're joking," the king said over the noise of the wind, staring at Merlin's hands then back at his face, "Are you serious?" Merlin nodded nervously and readjusted his grip. "I won't let you fall," Arthur added seriously.
Merlin gave a small smile, "I know. I'll try not to fall." They were silent for a minute and noticed that the Portal didn't seem to have any intention of closing.
"Is she trying to kill us?" Merlin yelled at the Doctor.
"Probably," he called back, "We witnessed her breaking an intergalactic law. No witnesses, right?" He smiled ruefully and looked a tad demented from his hair flying all over the place and his skin stretched back due to the pull of the Void. "Just keeping holding on."
"I'm trying," Merlin muttered, readjusting his grip. In doing so, one of his hands slipped and Arthur instinctively reached out to grab him, and in doing so, both of his own hands slipped.
"No!" Merlin cried, snatching Arthur's arm before he could fly away. He looped his legs around the lever and pulled his arm around the lever tighter, holding on tight to his heavier friend. "Arthur, don't let go, I've got you!" Arthur looked terrified.
"I didn't want to let you fall," he said stupidly, his voice cracking. Rose's eyes were wide as she watched the scene helplessly. Setting her jaw, she let go of the door handle with one hand to grab another attachment on the wall so she could climb her way to them.
"No!" the Doctor interjected, grabbing the scruff of the back of her shirt, "You're not going over there. Rose, stay right here and do not move."
"What, and let Arthur fall? Not likely!" The Doctor looked desperate.
"Please. Please stay here."
"I'm sorry. I've got to help Merlin. He can't hold Arthur on his own." The Doctor let out an uneasy sigh and told himself he couldn't stop her. He could never stop Rose from doing what she wanted to do. It was one of the best things about her, because when she disobeyed his wishes, she was usually right.
"Merlin, hang on!" she called. Merlin looked back at her and she was horrified by what she saw in his eyes. Pure terror, mixed with sadness and confusion. He was in a world he didn't know and now he may lose his best friend in it.
"Quickly!" he pleaded.
Rose maneuvered her way there without falling herself by clinging on to whatever was sticking out of the wall. Once she got there, she reached out her hand and said loudly,
"Arthur, you need to let go of Merlin with one hand and give me your hand!"
Arthur looked from Merlin to Rose and back again and shook his head. "I can't!"
"Arthur Pendragon!" she scolded, "Do it now!"
"Rose, he'll slip!" Merlin protested.
"No he won't, I've got him. You can't hold him, Merlin!"
"Yes I can!" he protested again, his arms shaking from the strain. Arthur looked at Rose's hand and untangled one hand from Merlin's to reach towards hers. Merlin's hands were still slippery, so when he let go with one hand, the other hand slipped as well, and Arthur started to fall.
"No!" Rose shouted, lunging forward and grabbing his arm. She let out a gasp as her other hand released the lever and both she and Arthur fell back. A blue flash surrounded them, and the two disappeared.
Merlin choked at the sight, having swallowed air down the wrong pipe and he started coughing violently. He grabbed the lever with both hands and curled himself around it, hot, frustrated tears immediately welling in his eyes. Someone was screaming, or more than one. Most likely the Doctor and himself. He eventually felt the pressure disappear and the three remaining fell against the ground. Blindly, Merlin stumbled up to his feet and ran in a crooked line towards the wall. He slammed into it and put his hand against it, slamming his palm against the smooth white service. Sherlock was there too, looking for a hidden hatch or anything that could make them come back. The Doctor simply slipped his hands into his pockets, numb from the shock, and walked slowly and purposefully towards the wall.
Nothing on Earth could bring them back.
