Chapter Ten: Earth or Bust

Through the entire journey in the forest, the Doctor had been impressing Red Riding Hood with stories from his own life. Tales of creatures like Cybermen, Daleks, Sycorax, Autons, Sontarans, and many others that Red all believed to be part of this mystical land above the clouds known as "Gallifrey." It was such an impressive series of tales that Red could have believed some of it to be fairy tales, especially the part about the Cybermen.

"People encased in metal armor?" Red uttered, following on the description that the Doctor provided for her. "They sound a lot like knights to me."

"Not knights." The Doctor elaborated. "Definitely not knights…or people."

Red shook her head in confusion. "Not knights or people…what are they?"

"They're just…Cybermen." The Doctor only managed to answer.

Red chuckled. "You come from a very strange land, Doctor. The names of these enemies you have sound perplexing and fascinating all at once. And the strangest part is how you dress."

The Doctor quickly glanced at her at the mentioning of his attire, lightly touching his bow tie. "What about the way I dress?"

She saw the offended look on his face and felt a little ashamed. "Oh, I didn't mean any offensive, Doctor. It's just…you don't really dress like any of the people in this land."

"Well, from where I come, outfits like the one I'm wearing are very cool."

"Very what?"

"It's an expression. 'Cool' means 'good'…it's also another word to depict temperature like 'cold' or 'chilly' or…"

Red quickly stopped the Doctor before he continued any further. "I get the message, Doctor." She suddenly spotted something just ahead of them that alarmed her enough to beckon to crouch down into the foliage. "Doctor, watch out!"

Puzzled from her warning, the Doctor looked around to see what the danger was. "What? What's going on? What have I missed?" Red pointed ahead and the Doctor followed her gaze to find two black knights standing in front of a familiar blue box in the middle of the road. Seeing the blue box, the Doctor's face lit up with joy. "The TARDIS!"

Red shushed him just as soon as he gave his outburst. The two black knights turned their heads slightly, believing to have heard the Doctor; but they soon went back to keeping watch, ignoring the noise.

"Your what?" Red quietly asked.

The Doctor pointed to the blue box that the two black knights were standing in front of. "You see that thing? Well, it's what I use to travel between the land where I come from and the one here. It's called a TARDIS."

Looking over to the TARDIS, Red seemed puzzled. "But…you fell from the sky…I saw you."

"Yes, yes, that was the hard way." The Doctor said. "The TARDIS is the easy way." He kept his focus on the TARDIS every second, particularly noting the two black-armored guards in front of it. "I just need to figure out one easy way to get to it without being seen by those knights." He then wondered aloud, "What are they doing near it anyway?"

"Those are the Queen's men." Red informed. "Your blue box must be remarkable if she's interested in it."

From what the Doctor had read about the Queen in Henry's book, the situation did not bode well for him. "Now I really need to find a way to get it before she does."

"I know of a way." Red admitted. "But you have to promise me that you'll take me with you."

Upon hearing her request, the Doctor stared at Red for a long while; he saw the exuberant, hopeful look on her face, which told him how much she really wanted to go with him. Smiling at her, he finally told her, "It's a deal." He sealed the deal with her on a handshake right before she commenced in sharing her plan with him.

The black knights standing before the TARDIS said not a single word while waiting for more of the Queen's men to return with a wagon to carry the mysterious blue box back to her castle. Of course, the silence was soon broken once Red appeared before the knights and cried hysterically, "Please help me! There's a fire nearby! It's spreading fast!" She pointed in the direction of the supposed forest fire, and the knights saw a pillar of dark grey smoke rising above the trees, only a short distance from the road.

Following the direction of the smoke, the two black knights left their post and disappeared into the forest. Red watched them leave, dropping the hysterical act she put on and smiling victoriously. Just as soon as they were away, the Doctor emerged from behind the TARDIS and approached Red. "Brilliant! Just absolutely brilliant!" The Doctor told her with an amused grin.

"So…what now?" Red asked.

"Now I just need to do a systems check with the TARDIS, and we'll be off." The Doctor stated. "Just stay out here for a moment, and I'll bring you aboard with me."

Although Red was not entirely sure what a "systems check" was, she trusted the Doctor enough to let him do whatever necessary to prepare for whatever journey she was about to take with him. Turning to the doors of the blue box, the Doctor opened them with just the snap of his fingers. With the blue box's doors opened, Red briefly caught a glimpse of the inside, which was filled with strange machinery that she had never seen the likes of before – not even in a dream. The stranger part was how much bigger the inside of the blue box was than the outside.

The doors closed again, leaving Red standing alone outside the wonders in the Doctor's TARDIS. She waited patiently for him to do his "systems check," yet she seemed extremely anxious at the same time, hopping and grinning from ear to ear. Soon she heard noises that sounded close to grinding and whirring around the blue box as the light on top of it blinked on and off a few times. While these events were occurring, the TARDIS began to dematerialize before Red's petrified eyes. Before she could figure out what was happening, the TARDIS had vanished.

Alarmed, Red looked around in uncertainty, searching for any trace of the blue box and calling out to the Doctor. There was no response and no trace of the TARDIS, much to Red's immediate disappointment. After a few minutes passed, she fell to her knees and sobbed, feeling greatly betrayed by someone she was beginning to consider an excellent friend – if not more.

The last image that the Doctor had seen on the view-screen above the control console was Red Riding Hood's excited face as it morphed into confusion and then settled on sadness upon the TARDIS's departure. That last expression was one that he was all too familiar with; however, most times when he saw it, it was never intentional…unlike this case. There was no "systems check" needed for the TARDIS, at least not to the Doctor's knowledge. It was merely a lie to keep Red from going with him in the TARDIS. Had he told her the truth, she would have tried to convince him to stay in this land of fairy tales…that was what he kept telling himself while he traveled through the vortex.

"I'm sorry, Red." The Doctor said to the disappearing image on the view-screen. "My story has one unhappy ending that I wouldn't want you to be a part of." He then switched off the screen and focused on his primary objective: getting back to Storybrooke.