Chapter 11: Escape From Wonderland

(*FLASHBACK TO THE DOCTOR'S LAST ADVENTURE IN WONDERLAND*)

Will Scarlet and Amy Pond ran hastily through the Queen of Hearts' maze. They were trying desperately to free Rory before he was executed by the Queen of Hearts and also free the Doctor so he could get to the TARDIS and get them all as far away from Wonderland as possible.

"Are you sure you remember the way?" Amy asked him as they ran.

"Of course I do." Will said. "I've been through this maze many times before."

After a few more minutes of running, something Amy had gotten quite used to during her time with the Doctor, she and Will came to a dead end. A single wall of hedges separated them from the rest of the maze.

"Way to go genius." Amy said sarcastically.

"I know what I'm doing." Will said.

"Oh really?" Amy asked. "Well you just keep on telling yourself that while I turn around and find my friends."

"Stay here." Will said. "We're in the right place."

"Are you stupid?" Amy asked.

"This wall is special." Will said. "If you touch any of the other ones, the vines come alive and consume you."

"So why is this wall special?" Amy asked.

Will did not answer her. Instead, he simply walked forward. Amy watched as Will Scarlett walked right through the wall of hedges.

"Are you coming?" Will yelled from the other side of the wall.

"I don't understand." Amy yelled back to him.

"Just walk through the wall and you will." He said.

Amy took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and walked forward. She didn't feel anything as she passed through the wall. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself and Will standing in a long, black hallway dimly lit by a series of flaming torches that lined the walls.

"So the wall..." Amy began to say.

"Was never really there." Will said, finishing her sentence. "It's one of the Queen's tricks."

"So where are we now?" Amy asked.

"This tunnel leads directly to the dungeons." Will said. "Your friends should be there."

Will and Amy then walked cautiously and quietly down the ominous hallway.

"So how did the Queen get your heart?" Amy asked, hoping that some conversation would pass the time and lighten the mood.

"She took it." Will said.

"I figured that part out." Amy said. "Tell me more."

"Well...I asked her to take it." Will said.

"What? Why?" Amy said in disbelief.

"It's true. Not my proudest moment." Will said. "I was in so much pain. I'd just lost the love of my life. I didn't want to feel hurt anymore. So I asked her to take my heart and therefore take away the pain."

"Are you going to put it back in?" Amy asked.

"Probably not." Will said. "I still don't want the pain. The whole point in getting my heart back wasn't so that I could feel again. I did it to be free of the Queen. Now I'm sneaking through her bloody dirty tunnels saving people I don't even know."

"Thank you again for doing this. I'd never find them in time without you." Amy said.

"Have you got an escape plan?" Will asked. "Once the Queen discovers that her prisoners are gone, she'll lock this place down, even the secret tunnels. We won't be able to get out."

"The Queen has the TARDIS. All we have to do is find it and the Doctor will take us out of here." Amy replied.

"TARDIS?" Will asked.

"Remember that big, blue box that the Queen took in the maze?" Amy asked.

"Yes." Will replied.

"That's the TARDIS." Amy said. "It's bigger on the inside and can travel anywhere in time and space."

"Oh right of course it can." Will said sarcastically.

"I can't wait to see the look on your face when you walk through the TARDIS doors." Amy said.

"Shh." Will said. "We're almost there."

Amy and Will walked until they came to an unguarded door at the end of the long hallway.

"Doesn't she have any guards?" Amy asked.

"There were guards chasing you and Alice earlier today. They obviously haven't caught you. So I'd assume the Queen has told all her guards to keep looking for you in the maze." Will replied.

Suddenly, the door opened, revealing the Doctor and Rory on the other side.

"Rory!" Amy yelled. She then ran past the Doctor and gave her fiancé a loving hug. "I came here to rescue you."

"Why?" The Doctor asked. "I had my sonic screwdriver. The Queen of Hearts put us both in cages. All I had to do was use the screwdriver to unlock them."

"The Queen wants to kill Rory." Amy said.

"What?" Rory said in shock.

"Who's this?" The Doctor asked referring to the man Amy had been walking with.

"This is Will Scarlet." Amy said. "He helped me find you."

"Will Scarlet?" The Doctor pondered. "As in Robin Hood?"

"Yes and I'd prefer if you didn't mention him." Will said. "We had a little falling out awhile back."

"What were you two doing together?" Rory asked.

"Relax." Will said. "I was just doing her a favor. I know my way around the maze. So I helped Amy find you both."

"Thank you." The Doctor said. "Any idea where she would've taken my TARDIS?"

"She'd want to keep something like that very close to her." Will said. "It's probably in her royal court."

"Alright then." The Doctor said. "Let's go."

"Let's go?" Rory asked. "You plan on just waltzing on in and taking the TARDIS."

"No." The Doctor said. "I've got a plan."

"Really?" Amy asked.

"No." The Doctor admitted. "We'll figure something out when we get there. So let's leave."

Will Scarlett then led the Doctor, Amy, and Rory out of the dark tunnels and back into the bright daylight of the Queen's labyrinth. He then lead the time traveling trio through the maze on the most efficient route to the Queen's castle. They soon arrived at the castle doors, but there were no guards.

"They must all be looking for us." Rory said. "They've probably figured out that we've escaped."

"That means they're all in the maze." The Doctor said. "We can probably just walk in, get in the TARDIS, and leave."

"Sure, if the Queen isn't around." Will said. "I doubt she'd leave your TARDIS unguarded if she knew you'd escaped."

"We'll just have to see for ourselves." The Doctor said as he pushed the two doors open. On the inside, the halls of the royal palace seemed empty. "I told you. Nobody's home."

The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and Will proceeded to enter the castle, as Will led them through the seemingly abandoned building towards the Queen's royal court, which was actually outside on the other end of the large castle. Eventually, they arrived at the outside. They could see the Queen's empty throne and the TARDIS next to it. However, they were separated from the TARDIS by a stone bridge that connected the two ends of the room over a seemingly endless abyss.

"This doesn't feel right." Will said. "The Queen should be here. She wouldn't have just left the TARDIS there alone."

"It looks like she did." Rory said. "So can we please just leave Wonderland now?"

The four of them now ran across the bridge and had successfully made it to the other end. Just as the Doctor was about to open the TARDIS' doors, the Queen of Hearts appeared in a magic puff of purple smoke on the bridge behind them.

"Doctor!" She yelled. "I knew you'd come back here for your special box. It was only a matter of time. And you Will Scarlett. You have betrayed me. You know what happens to people who cross me."

"Get in the TARDIS." The Doctor ordered to his companions.

"No." The Queen said angrily.

The Doctor then whipped out his sonic screwdriver.

"Back off." The Doctor said.

"What do you hope to accomplish with that toy?" The Queen asked. Suddenly, two fireballs appeared on her hands. "I have power. You have nothing."

"It's not a toy." The Doctor said. "It's a screwdriver."

The Doctor then activated the his trusty device. Almost simultaneously, the stone bridge that the Queen of Hearts was standing on began to crack. The fireballs disappeared from her hands as she felt the bridge start to crumble. The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and Will ran inside the TARDIS. The Queen of Hearts watched angrily as the big blue box dematerialized. She transported herself away with magic purple smoke to avoid falling into the abyss as the bridge collapsed beneath her.

"Will?" the Doctor asked, "Where should we drop you off?"

"I don't actually want to leave Wonderland just yet." Will replied. "I'm a free man now. There's some things I'd like to do now before I leave."

"Any particular place in Wonderland?" The Doctor asked.

"The mushroom fields." Will replied.

The TARDIS soon materialized on a yellow road that ran between a field of gigantic and colorful mushrooms. The Doctor, Will, Rory, and Amy all stepped out.

"Thank you for all your help." Amy said.

"Don't mention it." Will said. "Goodbye."

Will turned around and started walking down the road as the Doctor and his two companions went back inside the TARDIS.

"Thank you sweetie." River Song said to the Doctor who stood with her inside her prison cell, while Amy and Rory remained in the TARDIS.

"You should thank Amy. She's the one who actually got your heart." The Doctor said.

"So tell her to come out of the TARDIS and I'll thank her." River said.

"No." The Doctor replied. "There's still quite a bit I don't know about you. I figured it'd be better for Amy to stay in the TARDIS."

"You don't trust me." River said with a smile. "It's alright. More fun that way."

River Song then took her beating heart out of the box and put it back inside herself.

"How did you know how to do that?" The Doctor asked.

"Spoilers." River said, as she typically does.

The Doctor then bid her farewell and went back inside the TARDIS. As the Doctor, Amy, and Rory flew away, he started to dread the thought of ever returning to Wonderland, yet he knew that he would one day with River Song in the future where she would get her heart ripped out by the evil Queen of Hearts. He then hoped he'd never have to go to Wonderland a third time.