Sultry air and a pounding headache greeted the Doctor as his mind slowly crawled back to consciousness. His whole body felt as if it had been hit by a bullet train and every muscle felt achingly sore. He took in a deep breath, the iron tang of blood, smoke, and dust hit the roof of his mouth. Still in the Nether… He remembered. Dragon reborn had saved him from the ghast attack. He didn't know how or why, but he was thankful nonetheless for the player's sudden appearance in his moment of need. Took him long enough… A bitter voice from the back of his mind grumbled, but he waved it off, letting relief encompass the forefronts of his mind instead.

Slowly opening his eyes to dim light and letting them adjust, he found himself seated in a corner up against cobblestone walls in a small closed space. He spotted a hole in the bloodstone floor letting wisps of hot air in from the outside and a lit torch inches below the ceiling giving off a bright flickering flame. Then he noticed the disheveled character of Dragon reborn9 slumping against the wall opposite to him, eyes closed and head lolling to the side in a snooze. The Doctor quietly cleared his parched throat to announce his presence to the gamer.

Dragon started at the sound. "Doctor!" He nearly fell over once he jolted awake, but held himself and asked, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He inched towards him uncertainly and his hands wavered in hesitation, wanting to help the man in front of him, but failing to know how.

"I'm fine." His voice scratched out and he grimaced at its roughness. He gingerly shuffled up the wall and sat a little straighter, grinding his teeth as his muscles protested.

"You're not fine." Dragon huffed matter-of-factly. "You scared me half-to-death." He looked him up and down, his sudden sense of urgency melting away into worry. He quietly sighed and said in a calmer tone, "Where are you hurt?"

The Doctor cocked his head to the side, looking at the player in front of him quizzically. Something was different about Dragon reborn. "Why did you come back?" He asked.

Puzzled, Dragon sat back on his haunches with a look of concern before his gaze softened and he sheepishly said, "I couldn't just leave, especially after hearing everything you had to say. It kind of…sunk in after a while. Plus," Dragon pointed to his ear, "I could still hear you on the audio."

The Doctor winced. Dragon must have heard everything since he left… He offered a small smile and attempted a light chuckle, "You little eavesdropper. Thanks for coming back and…saving me." His gaze hardened, "So, you believe me now?"

Dragon reborn answered quickly, "Don't push your luck. But for right now…yes. It's a lot to consider."

"I don't blame you." The Doctor mumbled.

An awkward silence filled the air, both men were trying to look anywhere but, at each other. It was hard for Dragon reborn to not feel guilt scrabbling at his chest. It had taken him too long to let the Doctor's plea sink in. But it was a difficult idea to get across. He thought, knowing he was perfectly innocent in his actions and reasoning, but still couldn't escape feeling somewhat responsible for what had happened to the man.

The Doctor sighed and rested his head back against the hard stone. I should have told him from the beginning. He thought with a rising feeling of regret. We could have escaped a lot of this if I hadn't made up everything. If I'd explained, maybe he wouldn't have brought us to the cave where Clara and I got separated… The memories of the recent past only made the twisting knot in his gut grow tighter. He ran a hand down his face, bringing momentary relief to his tired eyes and feeling the accumulating stubble on his jawline. We should have never left the Tardis.

Dragon reborn hesitantly turned his gaze onto the Doctor, who's head rested back and eyes were trained on some fascinating detail in the unimpressive stone ceiling. The player shifted uncertainly and decided to stare at his fumbling hands, deciding to speak up again, "So…how does it feel?"

The Doctor brought his head back down to meet Dragon's hesitant gaze. "How does what feel?"

"You know…" Dragon reborn9 supplied, scratching the back of his neck as he tried thinking of a way to make light conversation, "Being in a videogame." The words had a funny taste in his mouth. I can't believe what I'm saying. Andrew internally groaned.

The Doctor's eyebrows rose and the hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth. "Not quite as much fun as you might think."

Dragon chuckled and put his head down. "No, no, that's not what I meant." He looked back up and waved his hands around as if he were trying to pull the words from thin air. "I mean…how do you really feel? What do you see?" He brought his gaze down to the Doctor again, an untapped curiosity glittering behind the young gamer's crimson eyes. "You must know Minecraft has a poor graphics system…what does this place really look like to you right now?"

You might want to spare him from some of the details. A voice chided from the back of the Doctor's mind. He was dimly reminded of the small puddles of blood underneath his hands that rested on the Nether ground. The Doctor gazed around their stone chamber and his eyes eventually landed back on the player. "It's all very…realistic."

Dragon reborn9's excited anticipation visibly deflated and he shot the Doctor a sardonic glare, "You're a real wordsmith, aren't you?"

The Doctor laughed softly and said, "There isn't really a better way of putting it. Use your imagination."

"So…" Dragon looked around with an uncertain expression, "we're really just standing here in a dull cobblestone room?"

"What?" Standing? Then it dawned on him, "Oh," the Doctor breathed out. "right. Low-level psychic feedback. Your subconscious and personality compose the motions and postures of your character for me to see while I'm in-game. We're sharing a one-way telepathic connection since I've been interacting with you. A very little one, mind you, but enough to see natural action from a fixed external origin." Seeing Dragon's confused features, he quickly attempted to simplify, "Since I'm in the game rather than playing it, I can see more dynamic motion in everything, including characters, I guess…" He made an uncertain noise and motioned with his hands, "Like, we're sitting a couple feet apart from one another up against cobblestone walls and you have that daft expression on your face, please shut your mouth, you don't want anything to fly in."

Dragon reborn quickly closed his slackened jaw and leaned back in shock, a hint of joy behind his eyes. "Dude…" He breathed out. "I got like, half of what you said, but that's so cool!"

"Glad you're having fun." He suddenly flinched and gasped as pain lanced up his right arm from his broken hand again.

Dragon's smile evaporated at the sound of his discomfort, "What's wrong?"

The Doctor gingerly cradled his throbbing hand and grumbled, "Remember when I punched you?"

Dragon reborn tilted his head to the side with a frown as he thought back. Then his eyes lit up with recognition and he breathed out a simple, "Oh… You broke your hand, didn't you." He didn't need an answer; Dragon already knew.

"Got anything for it?" The Doctor asked, hoping the player had another potion of healing in his inventory.

Dragon threw out a hand in questioning, "Don't you have that potion of regeneration?"

He pursed his lips and said, "I don't want to waste it on a simple injury like this; I was just hoping to speed up the healing process, you know?"

Dragon reborn9 nodded and added sympathetically, "Yeah, no. I don't have any more, you've kind of been using them a lot lately." He pondered for a moment, then offered, "Is there any way you could maybe…fix it? If things work a little differently here for you, maybe you could cheat the system."

The Doctor nodded in agreement, "Did that once or twice before, managed to convince a cave spider to come along with me while you were away last time."

Dragon shot him a disbelieving look. "What?"

He shrugged and replied candidly, "Named it Fuzzy."

"Dude, quit pulling my chain." Dragon couldn't help but smile and shake his head.

"I'm not joking." The Doctor laughed.

Dragon chuckled, "Fuzzy?"

He brought his hands up and shrugged. "Why not? It was." He suddenly had to stifle a hiss when he felt his sore hand protesting motion again. He quickly attempted to hide the discomfort from the gamer by casually bringing his hands back down to rest in his lap as gently as possible. However, Dragon's gaze flicking from the Doctor's expression to the injured hand quickly told the Time Lord his efforts to conceal the hurt were in vain. The Doctor suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and quipped, "Do you have any cloth or wool by any chance? Maybe some ice at least?"

Dragon's eyebrows rose into his bandana and he gestured to himself, "Do I look like a mobile hospital? Who in their right mind carries ice around with them?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Wishful thinking. It's boiling here."

Dragon reborn9 sat up straight, "Is it?"

"Were the pools of lava and plains of fire not enough for you?" He couldn't keep the underlying sting out of his tone and he winced.

"Hey, don't take it out on me." Dragon put up his hands in defense, "I'm just the kid at home playing a videogame that got more than he bargained for." He paused, shrewdly changing the subject before the Doctor could reply. "I heard you say before that you had a little way to go. You have a particular destination in mind?"

The Doctor jumped on the subject, "Yes," He rubbed his chin pensively, "I've managed to locate a portal. That's where I've been headed since you left."

Dragon made a motion behind them, "So, the other one we used before won't suffice?"

The Doctor shook his head, "I'm not risking going back the same way we came." He slowly began to get back up on his feet, using the wall for support. He couldn't linger any longer. "Herobrine knows of our whereabouts and he's got that underground base monitored somehow. I'm willing to take my chances with an alternative route if it means getting to Clara in one piece."

"So, wait, Herobrine?" Dragon asked, standing with him. "He's really real?"

The Doctor let go of the wall and stood up straight. His knees shook slightly and his legs weren't quite ready to support his frame, so he put his good hand on Dragon's shoulder to steady himself. "Not in the way your game's legend seems to portray him." He said, "He's stuck here just like Clara and I, and he wants to get out." Finally finding his balance, he let go and dusted himself down.

"Well," Dragon said uncertainly, "that's okay, right? He's just another guy who needs help."

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "I sincerely wish that were the case, but no." He gingerly began to pace around the few feet of space he had, his arms crossed and head down in thought as he retrained his steady stride. "He's the one responsible for pulling us in because he desperately wanted a way out. The problem with that, is he has some serious hostile intentions and he has Clara hostage. Worst thing is, I don't think she even knows how much danger she's in. I'd also go so far as to wager he knows exactly who and what I am. So, even if I fly him out of here, Clara and I will most certainly be killed once we reach the other side."

Dragon reborn's eyes grew wide. "You think he could do that?"

The Doctor looked back at the player and waved his hands out, motioning to the probability. "He certainly didn't seem too cut up about nearly beating me to death back in the clearing, and judging from our previous conversation, seems very familiar with the Time Lords. I wouldn't be too surprised if he also knows how to hijack my ship, hence why he doesn't appear to be too bothered by my dying before he can escape. All he needs really is the key, then he could figure out how to fly the Tardis."

Dragon reborn leaned forward, "The what?"

"My ship." He said simply, his mind elsewhere.

The whole dialogue took mere seconds to sink in to Andrew's mind. The confrontation between the two trapped souls back at the base finally began making sense to him. Suddenly realizing the depth of the situation, Dragon suddenly paled. As soon as he did, he quickly covered it up with a nervous laugh and scoffed, hoping to be proven wrong, "Ships, alternate realities, Time Whatsits… You're beginning to sound like the two of you are aliens."

The Doctor stopped his pacing and stared mirthlessly into the gamer's eyes for a few long seconds.

Andrew's blood ran cold for a heartbeat, "Holy shit."

The Doctor decided to ignore this and said, "We need to move. I've stayed too long already."

"Are you sure you're up for that?" Dragon asked, regaining his composure and taking in the sight of the tired man before him.

He ran a hand through his hair, "Clara's been held captive for nearly six days if we're counting this one. I don't want to wait any longer."

Dragon reborn pulled out his pickaxe and began making a small doorway out of the cobblestone shelter, asking, "Six days? It's been hours." Once the final bits of cobble crumbled away, he peaked out of the opening, and watched for mobs possibly lingering nearby. When he was satisfied with their surroundings, he stepped out.

The Doctor moved out into the furnace wasteland with Dragon. The hot air was more prominent outside of the shelter as a searing draft ruffled his hair and clothes, somehow only worsening the already choking heat. "I think time runs slower where I am," He said, "which can only explain your constant stamina since you're in a place where everything happens at a faster pace."

Dragon added casually, "And since I'm, you know, not in the game." He pulled out his iron sword and turned to look ahead where the Nether rack stretched on for several meters before the trail disappeared in the red haze. He turned back to the Doctor, an inquisitive expression on his face. "But if it's faster where I am, how come I can hear a normal speech pattern from you? Why isn't everything running like a tape on fast-forward?"

The Doctor chuckled and patted the player on the shoulder. "Now you're starting to ask the good questions." He moved ahead of the gamer, beckoning him to follow while they walked along the path ahead, and explained, "The psychic feed is helping us talk in the same instance, creating a tiny pocket of space in which our time frames can coalesce with one another, and keep everything in sync as long as we're together. Just be glad it works."

Dragon nodded, dimly aware of how stupid he felt as he tried making sense out of the man's words. They traipsed along the bloodstone path in growing silence, the sounds of crackling fires nearby breaking the quiet with their content pops and sizzles. I've been playing Minecraft with an alien this whole time. He thought. None of my friends are ever going to believe this. A concoction of bewilderment and giddiness twisted a knot in his gut. Dragon stole a quick glance at the man by his side. He pursed his lips and couldn't stop smiling to himself. After the first few minutes passed Dragon hesitated, then took a deep breath, and shattered the silence with a simple statement. "So, you look human."

"No," The Doctor corrected as they continued walking, "you look Time Lord."

Dragon laughed, "Right, so what's that then?"

"All you need to know." He ducked under a low overhang and continued on, his face expressionless as his mind seemed to be thinking on a more serious subject.

Dragon reborn lightly swatted the Doctor's shoulder. "Come on man, give me something." Noting the man's humorless response, he instantly felt diffident and decided to remain professional. "I've only just started believing people can become trapped in videogames. What makes you so special to this Herobrine? I thought we were going to start being honest with each other here."

The Doctor sighed, Well, he got you on that, he thought, you still owe it to him for every time he's saved you. He pursed his lips and wished he could just shut the annoying voice up for once. Taking a few moments to think, he said, "I'm a Time Lord, which means the race of people I'm affiliated with did some…bad things quite a long time ago. And this Herobrine is one of the many who would love to see me dead as payment for the losses they suffered all those years ago."

Dragon reborn could feel he was stepping into a very serious subject. Being careful with his next words, he asked softly, "What kinds of bad things?"

The man hesitated for a few seconds and Andrew thought he could hear the age in the Doctor's voice once he spoke, the words labored with years of grief behind them. "There was a war," He started, "waged across the universe in a fight between my people and another race called the Daleks. It destroyed every corner of space it touched, damaging many innocent lives and civilizations as it spread. By the middle of it, my people had changed into something far worse than one could have imagined before." He took in a deep breath. "In the end, both sides were left devastated with half a universe laid to waste from being caught in the crossfire." He paused, a trace of steel underlying the words that seemed to be meant more for him, "It may as well have been for nothing."

He looked at Dragon reborn to meet a somber expression before turning his gaze back to the path ahead, adding in a more direct tone, "But back there, Herobrine had said he would get back to his people and back at the Time Lords for what they did to him…" He frowned in thought, "Perhaps he never saw the end of the war. Clearly, the Time Lords did something that brought him this innate need for revenge, but what?"

Dragon reborn spoke up, "Well, you did say they did a lot of horrible things that affected lots of people…"

"Yes, but this particular vendetta seems much more personal." He quickly swerved around a bloodstone outcrop and wagged his finger at a mental note, "And how did he end up here, of all places?" He said, "He's just as stuck as I am, but he certainly didn't happen upon this place by accident." He looked up, thinking aloud, "Caretakers…" He mulled the word over carefully like a wine connoisseur taking a taste from a new carafe. "Maybe the Time Lords brought him here. Maybe as a form of punishment?"

"Even if that were the case," Dragon interjected, "what kind of punishment is trapping someone in a videogame?"

The Doctor shot him a look that read, have you not been here for anything I've said?

The gamer swallowed his chagrin and shook his head. "Never mind. But how could your people even do something like that?" Dragon ducked under a low segment of Glow stone, "And how could they have done it so long ago if Minecraft has only been around for a few years?"

The Doctor waved his arms out in a massive shrug. "A lot of questions are going on around here and I'm not the one who has all the answers this time." He let his arms go limp and gestured wildly, showcasing his uncertainty, "There's no telling why he's done all of this or how he's managed to survive this long, but as much as I would like to know, my main priority now is to get Clara out of here and leave this place."

"What," Dragon reborn quipped, "without him? He may be a bit nuts and a little leaning toward a chaotic-evil alignment, but he's still another person trapped in a living hell."

The Doctor cringed and added, "Yes, but if my people put him in here, then there's probably a very good reason why he hasn't been let out."

Dragon reborn pointed at him and said, "But I remember when he said something about his caretakers forgetting him, or whatever, back there. Like he knew how long he was supposed to stay. And what if he's just desperate? I know I'd be if I were in his position."

The Doctor responded in a grim tone, "There's a fine difference between desperate and malevolent, Andrew."

Their conversation ended abruptly when the path ahead dropped several feet down into a rolling landscape dotted with streams of lava and swine-like figures. The docile mobs meandered around a large structure that seemed to grow from the blood-puddled ground, its frame encased in brooding darkness.

Dragon reborn9 and the Doctor stood on the cliff edge, looking out at the gargantuan fortress looming in the red haze. The gamer's shoulders sagged and he moaned, "Please don't tell me that's where the portal is."

The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver, gave it a quick buzz, and flicked it open to read the results. "It says the portal's here." He said, the displeasure in his voice evident as he put the device away.

The building towered over them with long bridges and twisting corridors. It somehow smelled worse than the usual suffocating stench of the Nether, and smoke billowed from a few of the watchtowers that hid faithful guards keeping their domain with a careful eye.

The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to Dragon reborn. "Is this a normal thing in the game?"

The player, glad to finally offer something helpful, answered, "Yeah, Nether fortresses. They're pretty spread out in this place, but they don't take long to find once you start looking for one."

The Doctor took one look at the dark ominous structure that seemed to hum with threatening energy and he asked, "Why would anyone want to go looking for this?"

Dragon shrugged, "Need for exotic items, base of operations, monster hunting, take your pick. There's loads of stuff here that's dangerous, so you might want to stay by me."

Of course. Why wouldn't it be dangerous. "Will do."