A/N: Last chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading this and reviewing it. You're the best and I really appreciate the feedback!
"But why are we here? What do you want?" he pleaded.
"We want you. Your mind. Your brilliant Time Lord mind."
"Well you can't have it." He answered resolutely. He turned around and picked up Rose and walked over to the door with Donna following. He pulled on the handle but nothing happened.
"You're locked in, Doctor." The woman told him.
"Not for long." He glared at her. "I still have one trick up my sleeve. Quite literally."
Out of his right sleeve slipped his sonic screwdriver. He grabbed it and pointed it at the handle. But when he tried to open it again it wouldn't budge.
"What have you done?" he put Rose down and stood in front of the screen.
"Did you think we would let you roam about with a device like that sonic screwdriver at your command?" she smirked. "That was the first thing we took from you when we placed you in the holoroom."
"But, that can't be!" he was puzzled now. "I used it to save Rose! To destroy that hologram emitter."
"Only because we allowed you to. We are in control, Doctor."
"No." he retorted.
"What do you mean?" the woman asked him.
"I mean 'no.'" he told her. "No one controls me. No one. Ow!" he grabbed his leg. "My legs gone asleep! Oh, I hate when that happens."
He began shaking his leg energetically, attempting to wake it up.
"Hold on." He put his foot back on the ground. "How's that possible, then? I've been running around like a mad man. I've barely stopped for even a minute. Running, running, so much running. So tell me, how is it that my leg's asleep?"
The woman didn't respond.
"Unless," he began. "Oh! How could I have been so stupid?" he ran his fingers through his hair and paced the room. "Of course!" he was practically screaming now. "It's so obvious!"
"What's obvious?" Donna asked.
"My leg is asleep. That's not possible. Unless, I haven't moved. This whole time I haven't moved. Everything around me is all in my head. I've been sitting in the same spot imagining all of this. But my imagination hasn't run away with me, has it?" he turned back to the screen. "You've done something. Somehow you're inside my head."
For the first time since he'd seen her, the black haired woman looked concerned.
"You said you wanted my mind." The Doctor looked right into the woman's eyes. "But when you mess with a Time Lord's mind you pay the price!"
He closed his eyes and images started flashing through his head. Everything he knew. Gallifrey, the TARDIS, the Time War, Daleks, nano genes, Skasis Paradigm, Cybus Industries, Zygon, Skarasen, biological metacrisis.
The woman on the screen started screaming in pain. The Doctor opened his eyes, which were now glowing gold.
"All that is. All that was. All that ever could be. That's what I see all the time. That's what you wanted isn't it?"
The woman and her two assistants behind her had collapsed and fallen out of the frame.
"Ah!" the Doctor looked at his right hand where he had just felt a jolt of pain. "That's it! That's where you're connected to me! I'm almost there!" He closed his eyes again. He was shaking with the effort of channeling all his knowledge. He clenched his hands and a fierce look came across his face. The Shadow Proclamation, The Master, Raxacoricofallapatorius, Nestene Consciousness, Terraforming, Dalig Ulv Stranden, Rose. He opened his eyes again. They had returned to their normal brown but they weren't seeing the same thing they had been a minute ago. He was back in the basement. Where it all started. He could see his TARDIS just feet in front of him. But he was sitting in a chair that was surrounded by pale, greenish-white, scaly aliens. They were all writhing in pain and grabbing their large oblong shaped heads and blinking their enormous black eyes that were like dark endless pits. He glanced at his hand and jumped in his seat and screamed in shock. One of the aliens was latched onto his hand with its mouth. It let go of him to reveal its long purple tongue that resembled an octopus tentacle. Its mouth was small and circular with sharp pointed teeth lining the edges. The Doctor's hand was bleeding profusely from the many teeth marks.
"What have you done?" the alien closest asked in a very melodic voice.
"I gave you what you wanted." The Doctor spat back. He jumped out of the chair and leapt for his TARDIS, but the aliens formed a barrier.
"You cannot leave." They sang together. "You must not leave."
"Why?" the Doctor yelled back at them. "Why can't I go? You got everything you need." He tapped his head.
"You overloaded us. The information was lost. We must begin again."
"Not likely." By now the Doctor had surmised that the aliens talked the way they did because they were sensitive to harsh sounds. "Please be there." He whispered as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, raised it above his head, and switched it on. A horrid, high-pitched, shrieking noise erupted around the room. The aliens all screamed and collapsed in agony. The Doctor kissed his sonic screwdriver.
"You haven't failed me yet!"
He ran to the TARDIS and was about to open the door when he paused.
"Wait," he said to himself. "What if none of this has really happened." He turned to look at the creatures panting on the floor. "What if they're still messing with my head and they just want me to think I escaped. Just like all the other times."
The aliens started stirring and began getting to their feet. The Doctor pulled out his key, unlocked the TARDIS, and ran inside, slamming the door behind him. He peered out the window at the aliens all around his ship. He turned around and walked toward the console, still wondering if it was real. The other times where he thought he had escaped, Rose and Donna were still there. No matter what had happened, they were still there. Now he was alone.
"No." his voice echoed around the empty TARDIS. "This is real."
