Chapter Four

"Oh, you've redecorated! I don't like it."

Somewhere, in a swirling vortex that exists outside of Time itself, flew a police box that was not a police box.

It did, however, contain eleven confused occupants. Rose in particular, was very, very, confused. She kept looking at Two, Four and Twelve, a very surprised, and slightly concerned look on her face. Two noticed, though she tried to hide it.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked her gently.

"No," she answered. He smiled knowingly.

"No? You're surprised at all of my faces, is that it?" Two pried. Rose decided to trust him.

"A little. I mean, I thought I knew him, but this…" she trailed off.

"Two!" Twelve called. "We need you back on navi-" he cut off as he realized that Two was explaining something. "Get Polly or Sarah Jane to explain it. The old girl's being a bit temperamental." As if to prove his point, the TARDIS rocked a bit. Two sighed.

"All right. Girls, could you explain the changing-face-thing for me, please?" Two beckoned Polly and Clara over.

"Jack, no!" Twelve dove over to the door where Jack was attempting to leave the console room. He slammed it shut.

"Jeez, Doc," Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "You'd think I was a con man from the future, the way you're acting."

"You are con man from the future," Nine said.

"But you let Sarah Jane leave," Jack tried again.

"We trust her," Twelve shepherded Jack over to the others.

"But we can go, right?" Clara asked, trying not to smile.

"Yes."

"What about us?" Ben pointed to himself and Jamie.

"No." The boys broke out in protests.

"Why not?"

"I-We don't trust any of you not to get lost or break something." Twelve said. He looked pointedly at Jack. "Or to nick something."

"Jelly baby?" Four tried to cheer them out as the girls exited, trying not to laugh.

After closing the door, Polly turned to Rose.

"What was it the Doctor wanted us to explain again?" Polly asked. Rose looked away.

"Noffing," she said.

"Are you sure?" Clara asked.

"Yeah, I just said so, didn't I?" Rose looked at Clara and Polly. "And what makes you two special enough to explain this to me?"

"Because I think that we've both seen the Doctor change his face before," Clara said, looking sideways at Polly to confirm this. Polly nodded yes, so Clara continued.

"But to be honest, I'm still not quite used to it," Clara admitted.

"Me neither," Polly agreed.

"What's that all about, changing his face?" Rose asked after a moment's hesitation.

Clara opened her mouth to speak when the TARDIS suddenly pitched downwards, then rocketed back up. The girls dropped to the floor. They stayed there until they were sure that the turbulence had stopped. As they picked themselves up, Four poked his head around the corner.

"There's something interesting going down in the console room, do you want to see?" As quickly as he appeared, the Doctor swept back around the corner leaving Polly, Rose, and Clara to run after him.

They skidded to a stop, and turned around to see what everybody was staring at. It was the doors. They were open, and revealing a bright meadow.

"We didn't move!" Jamie threw his hands up in the air and moved to inspect the console. Two stopped him.

"No, no, we did move, see?" Two pointed at something on the horizon. The other teammates strained to see it. Clara tried to take a step outside to get a better look, but Twelve pulled her back.

"But that's just a storm cloud, Doctor," she protested. "Don't tell me that you're getting scared of clouds now."

"I'm not scared of the cloud, Clara," he said cryptically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ben asked, but he was ignored. Twelve took a hesitant step out.

"Do be careful!" Two warned.

Slowly but steadily, the group filed out of the TARDIS. They would all eye the cloud with suspicion.

"Look down there," Rose pointed at a silvery figure, marching at the bottom of a nearby gully.

"Oh my word," Two retreated slightly. "Is that-"

"A Cyberman, yes," Nine confirmed.

"They've redesigned," Sarah Jane muttered under her breath. "I hope they're still allergic to gold."

"They are, but have you got any gold on you? No? Didn't think so, come on," Twelve dragged Sarah and Jamie away, nodding for his other selves to do likewise with the stragglers.

"But what about the cloud?" Nine said, looking up. The cloud was much darker now, and had become even bigger.

"Never mind about the cloud for now," Four said, patting Nine's shoulder as if to try and comfort him. But it was clear that Nine still worried.

"Should we get back to the TARDIS?" Polly asked. She rubbed her arms and shivered. Jack graciously removed his overcoat and gave it to her. She smiled in thanks, and he winked. Nine stared and shook his head as if to say, remember Jack, no flirting. Jack winked at him instead.

"Back to the TARDIS?" Four looked shocked at the idea. "Why on Gallifrey would we do that?"

"Because it's cold, Doctor," Sarah Jane said. "You probably don't notice, but some of us don't have that scarf to keep us warm."

"I've got a thought," Two said thoughtfully, stroking his chin. "What if we're in the Death Zone on Gallifrey? That could explain the cloud, and the Cyberman."

"No," Nine's voice was definate. "We are not on Gallifrey."

"But how do you know? The scanner is not working," Four asked.

"We are not on Gallifrey!" Nine repeated. "We can't be!"

"Nine," Twelve was unusually gentle.

"But we can't! You'd know that! You were me, you know what's happened!"

"And I've come after you, seen things that you will not see. Believe me, we can be on Gallifrey."

Nine stared. "But everything we've seen-"

"I will not say a word about your future, so don't try to ask," Twelve walked past Two and Four, who were glancing at each other, confused.

Clara ran to catch up to Twelve.

"Why didn't you tell him?" she asked in a low voice.

"Because he never knew," he answered. "And I'm not changing my own history. Meeting myself is bad, but telling myself of events to come would be even worse."

"Okay, but how are you going to explain that discussion to Scarf and Recorder over there?"

"Oh that's going to be very simple," Twelve said, with nothing to show that he had any intention of elaborating. Clara glared at him, trying to get him to continue. Resigned, he sighed.

"I'm not going to explain it to them."

"Hey!" Jack's voice cut through the air. He was staring up. "Remember that cloud?"

"Of course," Twelve was apprehensive. "What about it?"

Jack pointed. "It's growing fast. It's going to cover the whole sky in a matter of minutes."

The group looked up.

"Well, you're not wrong," Four said.