Chapter 11
The next room was just like the first; the walls were black and the room itself was small and empty, except this time there were a series of pictures hung up around the room. The Doctor recognised them immediately because they were all of him. His different regenerations. Lily took a few seconds to look at each one, starting from the wall on her left and making her way round counting ten different faces. Good thing there isn't eleven thought The Doctor as he looked at the space between the ninth and tenth picture frames.
The Doctor watched Lily intensely as she took in each picture one by one. He had no idea who the strange man they had talked to was but he knew that he had only one goal: to torture the Time Lord. He knew exactly what he was doing. The Doctor knew what his past regenerations looked like and, even though he didn't like to look back at what he used to be, he knew that that wasn't what the rooms and the museum was for. It wasn't aimed at him. It was all for Lily. The person who had set this up had done so to expose Lily to as much of The Doctor's past as he could.
Eventually Lily drew her eyes away from the pictures and looked at the real Doctor who stood in the centre of the room with that serious expression on his face that only he could have.
"They're all me. All of them. You've probably seen quite a few of them already in your dreams. This is the curse of the Time Lords."
"You change. You become a whole new person. Why?"
"Lily, this is what we do, the Time Lords. When we're about to die we regenerate, and we cheat death. I have lived a long life, Lily. I have lived far too long and picked up so many memories along the way and the worst thing is I remember them all."
"Then why do you keep regenerating? Why do you keep going?"
The Doctor looked uneasy now. "Because I'm scared," he said. "I'm scared of dying and I don't want to go."
"Wrong. You keep coming back, you keep cheating death, because you want to. Because you know that there is so much left for you to do and because you love being the one that protects us and saves us time and again."
"Lily…are you me right now?" he asked tentatively.
"You have been on so many adventures, Doctor, and there are still so many awaiting you." she replied still stood looking at him just as she normally would.
"Lily, you have to stop this. Stop it now!" he demanded, knowing that she was using her ability again.
"You're going to go further than you ever have before. The things you'll do, Doctor. It's amazing."
"Lily! Listen to me. Right now you're me and that's dangerous, especially because at this moment you're a future version of me. Somehow you're seeing my future and reading my future thoughts and if I find out details about my own timeline that could be catastrophic."
"I can't stop." she wimpered.
"Yes you can," he replied grabbing hold of her shoulders. "Your ability is progressing and that means that you're learning to control it. Just focus."
Just from looking into her eyes The Doctor could see the intense struggle going on inside her head. Eventually she closed her eyes and held them tightly shut until she felt safe to open them again.
"Doctor, you…"
"Not one word," he said, holding his finger up in front of her face. "Tell me anything about my future and you could create a paradox."
Lily nodded in acknowledgement.
"Well well my dear Doctor," came a voice from behind him. "Looks like your new companion is progressing quite nicely."
The Doctor wheeled around to see the same man that they had talked to in the foyer standing next to the doorway to the next room. A rush of anger flowed through him. "I don't know who you are or what you want but your fight is with me so you leave Lily out of this, because if you hurt someone that I care about then there won't be a place in this universe that will keep you safe from me." he barked.
"Excuse my manners. Here you are threatening me and I haven't even properly introduced myself yet. You can call me The Tour Guide. Sounds a bit Time Lord-like but oh well. And you needn't worry about me hurting your precious friend there; she wouldn't be any use to me then."
"You know, in the past I would have offered you a second chance, but as I get older I get more and more impatient." replied The Doctor calmly.
"I am only a humble servant though, Doctor. There would be no point in killing me. This road that you are on will lead you to the same place whether I'm alive or not. Bye for now." he said cheerfully, before disappearing once again.
Lily looked worried. "Doctor, what did he mean when he said I'm progressing nicely? What's my purpose in all of this?"
"I don't know yet." he answered. I seriously wish I did though.
The Doctor opened the door to the next room and the two of them stepped inside. However, what they had stepped in to didn't appear to be a room at all. A beautiful landscape stretched out in front of them and they looked down upon an immense city with magnificently tall buildings that reached up towards the ambient sky. There was proper ground beneath their feet and they could feel the air on their faces. Wildflowers bloomed and the mountain range that they were stood on glowed orange beneath in the sun's light. Lily looked amazed, but The Doctor looked terrified.
"Wow. This place is amazing!" Lily exclaimed. "Where are we?"
She turned around to see just how amazed The Doctor was at the beautiful planet that lay before them but instead she found him with his mouth open, close to tears. "Gallifrey," he said sounding horrifically amazed. "We're on my home planet."