"Going to have to get creative with this one. It was so horrific even the Doctor repressed the memory of it. But I do at least have something to go on..."
Amy lay, bound, gagged and weeping on the floor. Rory was chained to the wall, his head bowed. Both had died seven times now. Seven agonising tortures at the hands of the fat, laughing man. They had been poisoned with radiation, thrown from great heights and forced to watch the other scream and weep as the Dream Lord vivisected them, still conscious and devoid of anaesthesia.
He looked down at Amy's whimpering body with a look akin to that of pity. But there was no remorse in his evil eyes. His face remaining stoic, he adjusted his cravat and leant down beside the red headed girl. Rory didn't even have the strength to cry out.
He stared at the Dream Lord now through blank and glassy eyes. He had never felt such hatred in all his life. The monster was draped in a dark morning coat, complete with waistcoat and cravat. Throughout the tortures he had wore a variety of quirky outfits, including a hideous and garish multicoloured coat and an outfit which included a ludicrously long scarf.
Not that what he wore mattered. The man was still evil to the core.
He spoke to Amy now, his voice so soft that Rory failed to hear what was being said. He wanted to shout, but he was too tired. He could not save the woman he loved, and therefore he was little more than a broken man. A failure.
Just as Rory Williams once more began to wallow in his melancholy, there came a curious, yet familiar sound. Rory looked up. A very welcome sound. The Doctors screwdriver.
Without warning, Amy disappeared. The Dream Lord looked momentarily shocked, then turned to face Rory with a devious grin.
"Oh, he's earlier than I expected. Still, it makes no difference..."
Then, for Rory, everything went dark.
Then he woke up. In the TARDIS. With Amy weeping in his arms.
The Doctor was staring at him sadly. A young man in a black suit fiddled with controls on the console. A young, blonde woman stood behind the Doctor.
But the most surprising, and horrific sight, was the man who stood behind him.
The Dream Lord.
Breathing heavily, the sweat from his nightmares rolling down his forehead, Rory turned to the malicious being.
"This isn't real either? Why are you doing this?"
"No Rory... This is real, I just don't know how," the Doctor said sadly, pacing around the now corporeal form of the Dream Lord. "Or why."
"Oh come on, you know both surely? It can't be so hard that the last of the Time Lords can't figure it out?"
As soon as he finished talking, the Dream Lord promptly fell over, a trickle of blood running down the back of his head. The Master stood behind his fallen form, proudly holding a now-bloodied mallet.
"You killed him?" Jenny asked, the shock ringing out clear in her voice. The Master smiled.
"Oh you think?" the Master said, waving a hand at the body. A golden light was swirling around it. The Doctor shot his old foe a look.
"You know what's going on, don't you?"
"I didn't, but I figured it out. It was hardly difficult. I had assumed when we met that you were in your eleventh incarnation, but as soon as I saw him I knew I was mistaken."
"But I am in my eleve-"
The Doctors reply was never finished, as quite out of the blue the body of the Dream Lord snapped upright, standing rigidly on the penultimate step leading to the console. Golden energy billowed out of his jacket, obscuring the mans head and hands. Rory, though preoccupied with caring to Amy, could not help but stare in disbelief. Jenny turned to her father, a look of recognition mixed with confusion in her eyes.
The Master laughed. The Doctor grasped his sonic screwdriver tighter, knowing it was useless but feeling comforted by its presence all the same.
Then the regeneration stopped. Standing before the Time Lords and Humans stood a man quite different in appearance to the Dream Lord. He was tall, older yet faintly handsome, with receding black hair. The Doctor and the Master recognised him instantly, though their paths had not crossed for literal lifetimes.
The new man frowned and turned to the Master. With surprising speed, he lunged forward, punching the Time Lord in the chest. The Master flew backwards and slammed off of the TARDIS console before collapsing in a heap on the floor.
"I liked that old body, though I can't say I liked its choice in clothing." the new Dream Lord said simply, turning to the remaining four occupants of the TARDIS.
"I know who you are."
"Yes."
"How? I was told quite expressly that you formed during my twelfth and final regeneration, not my eleventh."
"Oh Doctor, are you really so blind to it all? How many regenerations have you been through?"
The Doctor frowned, puzzled by the question. Surely he had already answered it, he was in his eleventh incarnation...
"Ah I can see the old gears turning away there Doctor. You're in your eleventh incarnation! How does that possibly allow little old me to gain physical form?" he laughed maliciously. "Then let me answer with another question, did you think that ol' biological metacrisis really avoided the regenerative process?"
The Doctor's mouth opened. "No..."
"Yes. You regenerated, but you did not change your face. And then you regenerated into... That," He looked the Doctor up and down with distaste. "Which makes twelve."
Amy, the tears still flowing from her eyes and down her cheeks, desperately shouted a question at the Doctor, the only emotions in her voice pain and despair.
"Who is he Doctor? And why is he doing this?"
"Me? I am the Valeyard. And I'm doing this because I can."
"Okay, I've got the whole regeneration thing straightened out in my head, but really, how did you manage to get physical form now? Why not months ago, when the pollen got caught in the time rotor?
The Valeyard was casually searching the unconscious body of the Master. A dry chuckle revealed that he had discovered the object of his desire. A small brass cylinder.
"Another story for another day," he said simply, holding the device up in the light. The Doctor instantly recognised it as the Master's laser screwdriver. Before anyone could react, the Valeyard pointed the device at Jenny and pressed the activation button...