The three TARDISes combined into one, joining together as they progressed through the void in space time. Canary Wharf became Cardiff, which turned into Northleach, which led to the Titanic plane. The Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors all stood united again in the newest control room, all of them around an empty chair. Eleven looked at the empty seat before him and missed his newest friend.
Rage built inside him, knowing his action caused Serenity's end. His hatred bubbled and boiled over, easily eclipsing how he used to feel about the survival of the Daleks or the pain from losing his friends at the end of his Tenth incarnation. "This is my fault… Serenity," he spoke from a clenched jaw, "I promise, I will make this right. I promise I won't let you down. If it takes everything that we have, we won't disappoint you. Because you believed in us, and your Doctors won't disappoint."
Eleven stood and faced his past selves, pushing back a tear. Nine and Ten both knew exactly how he felt, because they were feeling it as well. "I remember all of it," Nine revealed, showing his bare wrist. "After I took off the Chronon blocker, Selene helped me remember everything about you two. I… I can't let her down," he meekly spoke, remembering the oldest Moon Goddess who needed to forget her troubled life.
Ten took a different stance on their missing friend, having known her best when she was a teenager... a rebellious, untrusting teenager. "Rena was so scared when she hung onto me in that dungeon," Ten told them. "That's a lot of trust to put in someone you just met. She even asked me if I was a drug dealer…" he laughed. Watching his future and past selves missing their friend made him miss his. He dug into his pocket and removed the mechanism that she planted on him on Nova Atar. He looked at the cogs set into the shiny brass, knowing full well that this little machine was, at least in this case, the best hope they had. "But she trusted me; trusted all of us. We need to end this. If we can stop Endymion, maybe…"
"Maybe we can get her back," Eleven spoke. He stood determinedly and made for the door. Ten and Nine followed behind, each of them wanting to get the small girl back as bad as their predecessor did.
The wooden doors creaked open, letting the Time Lords out into a world of immense and complex beauty. The skies were shades of purple and magenta, hues often not found on many worlds the Doctors had visited. The sky seemed millions of miles long and the grass beneath their feet was black in color. It was a wild frontier unlike anything they'd encountered before.
"Well, this is a bit new," the Ninth Doctor commented as he looked around at the strange orange colored trees and odd looking boulders sunken into the ground. A shrill shriek echoed in the air high above them. "I haven't seen a pterodactyl in ages," Nine remarked, seeing an aerial dinosaur swimming in the magenta sky.
"Maybe this is where the one in Cardiff came from," Ten spoke, recalling a pterodactyl that Torchwood Three recovered and kept in their underground hub. "The spatial rift leads from here into the spots that Serenity told us to go when we activated the Mandala node, maybe all the stuff that floated into the universe from the rift came from here. The Void ship Torchwood One had, the pterodactyl…"
Eleven also recalled Torchwood Three, and then some of the unsavory elements they dealt with. "Oh I hope not. If the pterodactyl came from here, maybe those things that they called Weevils did as well." He could only think about the alien infestation of Cardiff by what Jack and company called Weevils. They were man sized, but displayed only the most basic animalistic instincts and had a sharp set of teeth to match. Brown skinned and hugely ugly, no one seemed to know where they came from, not even the well-travelled Doctor.
The Eleventh Doctor took out his Sonic Screwdriver and let the tool act as his guide. He scanned the frontier, searching for any sign of activity, life or electronic signals that he could find. Off ahead, he found at least one of the three. "That way," he told his predecessors.
He led the charge, through the black grasses and magenta skies, over a hill. The landscape went from one of pastoral and serene but ultimately awkward beauty to one of devastation, in any color scheme. Large rips of the planet had been scooped out, like a gigantic steam shovel was left in autonomous mode and had gone on a rampage. The air became hazy and the bright purple hue faded to a dark, almost orange color. All the trees were felled as far as the eye could see, save for a few odd stands of trees, and the few patches of grass that remained smoked and smoldered, as if burnt by nothing other than massive power.
The sight was unexpected and caught all three Doctors off guard. They all stood silently, drinking in the view of the ruined landscape. They all wanted the awkward trees and magenta sky and black grass back. Those were normal. This… this was reminiscent of war. And it was something that they were all too familiar with. "I don't like this at all," the Tenth Doctor commented, looking out over the smoldering fires that never extinguished.
"Me either," Nine agreed as he recalled the Time War of which he just finished fighting in.
Eleven kept his Screwdriver out and scanned ahead. The blip he was reading was through the ruination. "Well, we need to head that way," he told his predecessors. He examined the Screwdriver having grown quiet and sullen. "It's some kind of power source ahead," he spoke. "If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably wherever Endymion is getting his power from." He started again, silently and adamantly.
For as much as the Tenth Doctor had hated how goofy he became, he could tell that losing Serenity had weighed heavily upon his future self; perhaps as much as losing Rose had done to him. With each silent, eerie step forward, the Doctor could tell that his successor was not being true to the man he normally was. The unblinking, unsmiling man he looked at leading him was more akin to Wolverine from the X-Men than the Doctor. Even his past self, who was now walking next to him, still looked in awe and amazement at the wonders of the universe, despite being a war veteran in the bloodiest conflict that, in the end, cost him everything.
"Are you all right?" the Tenth Doctor asked. He took a few large steps forward, catching up with his newest version, "You don't seem you usual, happy and glib self."
Eleven paid no attention as the trio traversed the burnt stretches of land toward the power reading. "I'm perfectly fine," he spoke, "Everything's just dandy. How are you?"
"Concerned," Ten flatly told him. Eleven stopped for a moment. "From the moment I met you, you were… different. Instead of worrying about causality or why the three of us were in one spot, you commented about how squeaky my voice went; that's you. You're not the serious type. That's him," Ten spoke, tossing a thumb at his past self. Nine smiled dumbly.
Eleven took a step closer to his old self. "You and I both know full well how furious you and I are capable of becoming. You remember how angry we became when the Wire took Rose's face? How about when Martha got kidnapped in New New York? The infected water on Bowie Base One on Mars in 2059? You know full well the extent of our ferocity. This is no different."
Ten did recall all of them. "But after the rage is gone, who we are, how we act is more important. I was so wrong on Mars. I took it too far. It wasn't my place to change the timeline like that; to act out of character. And I've realized that. That chat I had with the TARDIS helped me to realize that. She showed me that our legacy was safe with you. That goofy joviality you have is what makes you, you. It's what Serenity loved about you; the Stetson and bowtie and general absurdity. She wouldn't want you acting all sullen."
The world around them flashed a hue of blue, unnoticed by the Doctors. "You're right," the Eleventh Doctor admitted, realizing his error. He looked at the short hair and steely blue eyes of his predecessor, who had successfully reminded him of who he was. "We should get moving." The Two Doctors started again.
"Hold on… this isn't right," the Ninth Doctor spoke, as he followed his successor. An odd feeling gripped him, one strangely familiar but somewhat alien.
"What isn't?" Eleven asked. "It's the two of us, heading for the blip to try and save Serenity, just like before."
"But… but it's not right," Nine protested. His face crumpled as he looked around, trying as hard as he could to remember something long forgotten. "We're missing something. What is it?"
Eleven looked toward their destination and started again. "I haven't the faintest what you're bleating on about," he told his past self, the only person there with him. "Just you and me, trekking across this barren plain to what I'm assuming is some sort of castle or mechanized war fortress." He stopped and turned around. Nine hadn't followed him. "Are you coming?"
The Ninth Doctor looked up at him, his eyes misshapen and sad looking. "Can't you feel it?" he asked as an empty and hollow feeling gripped his soul. "It's… it's so… wrong. Why can't you feel it?" He swallowed loudly and put a hand over his racing hearts. "It's there, just there. I've felt it before. When someone messed with my timeline… why haven't you noticed?"
Eleven looked at his immediate forerunner curiously. "Maybe if something is affecting you, my damaged calm is protecting me. My only concern right now is getting Serenity back. The fury of the Time Lord…" he spoke.
"But a man is a sum of his memories, a Time Lord even more so," Nine spoke. "I've said that… one time, long ago. On the Eye of Orion, just before that business in the Death Zone on Gallifrey." He recalled five versions of himself being drafted unwillingly by Chancellor Borusa to play the Game of Rassilon. The ultimate prize was immortality.
The Eleventh Doctor started slowly back to his precursor, recalling playing the Game of Rassilon with four other versions of himself. "Is it like you're being diminished, whittled away piece by piece; like great chunks of your past are detaching themselves like melting icebergs?" he asked, curiously. Eleven raised an eyebrow over his past self.
Nine nodded almost furiously. "Yeah, that's it, you know the feeling. But it doesn't feel like it's my past; it's like an unfulfilled future…" Nine spoke.
"But your future is standing right in front of you," Eleven spoke, patting himself on the chest. "I'm right here and nothing's wrong with me. Maybe it's a regeneration spasm?" he pondered.
"No," Nine protested, still shaking his head. "It's something else. I know you're the future me, what I'll become one day, but you're not right somehow."
Eleven was growing doubtful of the whole thing. "I don't think you're done regenerating and it's making you a bit crazy…"
His patience was wearing thin. "The first thing you did after you regenerated, what was it?" Nine asked.
Eleven recalled his exploding console room and falling out of the sky around London. "I crashed into the shed of a young Amelia Pond. There was a crack in the fabric of space in her bedroom wall," Eleven explained.
"What were you wearing?" Nine asked. He recalled awaking in the awful dress of his past self.
The strange feeling now fell over the Eleventh Doctor. "I had on a tattered blue shirt, maroon tie and Converse trainers," he recalled. It didn't make any sense. "But you never wore anything like that. Why would I have that on when you became me?"
Nine had a theory. "Start counting. From seven on up," he instructed.
"Seven, eight, nine, eleven…" the Doctor spoke, paying little attention to the counting exercise. The odd feeling that gripped him grew in size and intensity. "It's like I forgot one. An important one, maybe even the most important one…"
Nine's theory was gaining traction. "There's another of us. Another Doctor. In between you and me; the intermediary. With him gone, nothing makes sense. I mean, what's the atomic weight of cobalt?"
"Well, that's a bit non sequitur…" That wasn't even a challenge for a scientific mind like the Doctor's. The elements were kiddy stuff for Time Lords. Yet still he struggled. "I… I can't," he finally said, puzzled.
Nine nodded excitedly. "See, nothing makes sense. It's like something prime and elemental was ripped from the universe. We should be able to think of the atomic weight of cobalt, because we know what it is. We just can't express it…"
Another flash of blue lit the sky. Like a shadow shouting at them at the top of its lungs, both Doctors felt overcome by the word 'decimals.'
"Right, Decimals," Eleven spoke. "59.8; that's the atomic weight of cobalt. How could I forget that?"
"I don't think we did," Nine told him, trying to keep his train of thought on track. "I think we simply forgot about decimals. It's so simple… we have that many fingers. Decades, decapods, the atomic number of neon, the number of hydrogen atoms in butane, the Ten Commandments and ten Rorschach inkblot tests, and Ten Downing Street… Ten!"
Eleven was slowly becoming a believer. "The Tenth Doctor…" his voice waivered. "The Tenth Doctor…" he repeated. Images of his past life and all his great adventures came flooding back. "The family of blood, the Titanic, Empress of the Racnoss, Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, Torchwood, saving River Song in the Library, Madame du Pompadour, the Adipose, Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott…" The torrent continued, rushing back to with the ferocity of a thousand hurricanes. "Dogs with no noses on Barcelona… the Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith… driving the final nail into the coffin of the Time War… how could I have forgotten him?"
"I think something made us forget," Nine spoke. The memory shot at him suddenly. "Because he had the machine to stop Endymion in his pocket. He was right here. You were talking to him before, not me. I don't know what you're talking about on Bowie Base One. I didn't do that, or I haven't done that yet. But he did."
"I can't believe I forgot him," Eleven commented. "I wouldn't be the man I am without him… how could I forget?"
"Well, don't beat yourself up too much," Nine told him. "I think your little friend knew her boyfriend could do stuff like this and that's another reason she recruited the three of us. If one of us were to go missing or be removed from a timeline, the others would know instantly. It's almost like the evil here can alter reality, or at least our perception of reality… clever little girl, that Serenity."
"Yes she is," Eleven spoke, reveling in what he and this suddenly new Tenth Doctor had discussed. He had to be himself for Serenity's sake. "How about we split up? I'll go and try to find some way to restore Serenity so she can help us and you go and find our missing Doctor?"
"Fine with me," Nine agreed. "I'll work out what happened to our missing Tenth Doctor, you go on and scout ahead, maybe you can find where Endymion lives. I mean Serenity's power came from the palace on the moon; I reckon Endymion's power is the same."
Eleven looked at the Ninth Doctor, glad there was more than one of him to deal with the Endymion situation. "Remember Borusa and the Death Zone? Together, four Doctors easily outmatched him, and he was one of the greatest Time Lords ever."
"He'd have really been in trouble if the scarfed one wouldn't have gotten stuck in the Time Vortex… So, this Endymion doesn't stand much of a chance, does he?" Nine spoke, finishing Eleven's thought. "Go on. Go and find your girl, I'll get cracking and find our lost self."
Eleven nodded goodbye. "Take care."
"I will," Nine assured him.