The Doctor, Jane, and Will gasped, shooting to their feet.
"Oh, this is bad, this is very bad." The Dream Lord came walking into the playroom, the three adults being the only ones there. "Look at this x-ray! Your brain is completely see-through! But then," He turned to look at the Time Lord. "I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."
"Hold on," Will held up a finger, "Who's this guy? What is this?"
"You're split between a dream and reality and it's up to you all to figure out which is which." The Dream Lord replied. "Now, the prognosis is this; if you die in the dream, you wake up in reality. Ask me what happens if you die in reality."
"Okay," Will spoke up. "What happens if we die in reality?"
The Dream Lord cocked his head, looking at Will like he was the stupidest lifeform alive. "You die, stupid, that's why they call it 'reality.'"
'"Have you met the Doctor before?" Jane demanded. "Do you know him?" She turned to the Doctor. "Dad, does he?"
"Don't be jealous, he gets around, our old boy. And he is old, don't forget that." The Dream Lord turned to Jane. "But never mind that, you've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two… and call me in the morning." He grinned, before vanishing.
The Doctor sat there, glowering at the space where the Dream Lord was.
"Okay… I don't know what the hell that was, but I don't like that guy already." Will stated.
Jane crossed her arms, staring down the Doctor. "Who is he?"
"I don't know." The Doctor answered. "It's a big universe."
"Why is he doing this?" She probed.
"Maybe because he has no physical form." The Doctor suggested. "That gets you down after a while, so he takes it out on us, folk who can eat and sleep and feel." He got to his feet, pulling the knitted sweater off.
"But, wait," Will held up a finger, "He said die. That means we're in danger. What kind of danger?"
"They've gone." The Doctor stated, suddenly realizing the playroom was empty. "They've all gone." He broke into a sprint, running outside.
The Doctor stopped, looking at the children at play in the park. None of them were the ones from the orphanage, so that begged the question… where had they all gone?
"B-" Will looked around, confused. "Where did they all go?"
"And what did you mean about the 'little girl act?'" Jane questioned.
"One of my tawdry quirks." The Doctor responded. "Sniffing out things that aren't what they seem." He said, approaching the park. "So," He clapped his hands, "Let's think. The mechanics of this reality split we're in… time asleep exactly matches time we experience in the dream, unlike regular dreams."
"And you and Jane are dreaming the same dream." Will replied.
"Yes, sort of communal trance, very rare, very complicated. I'm sure there's a dream giveaway, a tell." The Doctor said. "But my mind isn't working because this town is just so… dull!" He shouted to the heavens. "I'm slowing down, like you two."
"Oof!" Jane suddenly doubled over in pain. "Oh. OW!"
Will and the Doctor looked over to her, frightened.
"Really… OW!" Jane screamed. "It's coming!"
"Oh, God, Okay!" The Doctor ran over.
"Help her, you're a Doctor!" Will said to the Time Lord.
"It's okay, I'm a Doctor!" He held his hands out, under the woman, ready to catch. "What do we DO!?"
Jane suddenly took a deep breath. "Okay, it's not coming."
"…what?" The Doctor stood up, looking her in the eye.
"This is my life now." She took a step forward. "And it just turned you white as a sheet, so don't-" She poked the Doctor in the chest. "Call it dull again."
The Doctor blinked, gulping. "Sorry."
Jane turned away and started walking towards the park. She sat down in the seat on one of the swing sets, and the Doctor sat in the one next to her, gently swinging.
"So, isn't anyone going to mention the elephant in the room?" The Doctor asked as he swung.
"I have to be this size," Jane angrily turned to him, "I'm having a baby!" She turned back.
"No, no," The Doctor stammered, "The hormones seem real, but- no. Aren't we going to talk about that ridiculous ponytail?"
Will self-consciously touched the bit of hair on the back of his head, as Jane giggled.
"You hold him down, I'll cut it off?" The Doctor offered.
"This from the man in the bow tie?" Will retorted.
"Bow ties are cool." The Doctor shot back. He abruptly stood up, taking a few steps, looking at the little girl from before staring at the crowd of children. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't let her have any playdates with the baby."
The child turned to stare at the Time Lord.
"What's she doing?" The Doctor muttered. "What's she want?"
Birds began to chirp.
"Oh, no…" Jane groaned. "Not again…"
"Cold." El shivered, clutching herself.
"There should be some stuff down there." The Doctor pointed. "Go and have a look."
The girl nodded, as she and Sarah Jane went.
The Doctor hopped down to the underside of the console, walking over to the storage box. He sat the mug he carried on top, and opened it, taking what looked like a mechanical whisk out.
"What are you dreaming about, Sarah?" The Doctor called over. He walked back up to the console, as Sarah Jane and El came back up, wrapped in blankets.
"Oh, nothing special." She answered. "Just… that stretch of my life when I thought you were dead."
"Ah. El, start winding if you please." He handed the generator over to the girl, "Sarah Jane, plug this into the console." He handed her the plug, moving over to the monitor.
"Why is the Dream Lord doing this?" El wondered. "Why us?"
The circular monitor nearby the door switched on, and the Doctor whipped around, facing it.
"Where are we?" Sarah Jane inquired.
"Trouble." The Doctor answered, as stars drifted by on the screen.
A blue, glowing orb appeared on the screen, looking like the TARDIS was getting closer by the second.
"What is that?" El asked.
"A star." The Doctor answered, breathing in. "A cold star." He charged down the stairs, running over, opening the doors for just a moment. "Ah! That's why we're freezing! It's not a heating malfunction! We're drifting towards a cold sun! There's our deadly danger for this version of reality."
"So, this is the dream." El decided. "You said stars burn."
"So is this one." The Doctor replied, trying to warm himself back up. "It's just burning cold!"
"Is that even possible?" Sarah Jane asked.
"Well, it's happening!" The Doctor retorted, checking his watch. "And we've got about fourteen minutes before we crash into it! But that's not a problem."
"Because you're going to fix this?" Sarah Jane inquired.
"No, because we'll have frozen to death by then." The Doctor answered.
El shivered. "W-What do we do?"
"Stay calm." The Doctor outlined. "And try not to get sucked into it, because this might just be the battle we have to lose."
"Oh, dear, Doctor." The Dream Lord suddenly appeared. "Giving up already, are we? There was once an old Doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away. He let down his friends and-" He looked up, as birds started to chirp. "Oh no, we've run out of time. Don't spend too long over there, or you'll catch your death here!"
The Doctor ran over to the heart of the playground, stopping. "Where have the children gone?" He asked, looking at the piles of dust and the discarded bits of plastic lying around.
"Dunno." Will shrugged. "Playtime's probably over."
The Doctor frowned, running over, scanning each pile of dust with the sonic screwdriver. He suddenly stopped, staring in horror at the notebooks and pencils lying haphazardly nearby.
"Dad?" Jane questioned. "What is it?"
The Doctor gulped, standing up. "Playtime's definitely over…"
"…oh my God." Jane breathed, staring at the remains, even as she took a step back.
"What happened to them?" Will questioned.
The Doctor glanced over to the street, seeing the children from the orphanage marching in unison down the road. "I think they did."
"But they're just kids." Jane said.
"No… They're old. Very, very old." The Doctor replied, running over.
"Oh, what's this?" The Dream Lord popped into existence as the Doctor approached the horde of children. "March of the Munchkins? Give me a break! This has got to be it. What do you think 'Jane?'" The Dream Lord asked her. "What do you say? Let's all jump under a bus and we'll wake up in the TARDIS! You first!" He pointed at the Doctor.
"Leave her alone." The Time Lord snapped, growling.
"Do that again." The Dream Lord replied. "I love it when he does that. Tall, dark hero… 'Leave her alone!'"
"Just leave her!" Will said.
"Yeah, you're not quite so impressive at it." The Dream Lord scoffed.
"Drop it." The Doctor commanded. "Drop all of it. I know who you are."
"Of course you don't." The Dream Lord glared at the Doctor.
"Course I do." The Doctor replied. "No idea how you can be here… but there's only one person in the universe who hates me as much as you."
The Dream Lord gave the Doctor a crooked smile in response. "Never mind me. Maybe you should worry about them."
The Doctor turned, watching as the legion of children marched towards them.
"Hi." Will awkwardly waved.
"Hello." Jane greeted, nevertheless taking a step back.
"Hello!" The Doctor said. "We were wondering where you lot went! To get reinforcements by the look of it! Are you all right, you look a bit… tense." The Doctor took a step back.
"Oh, look, it's Holly!" Will recognized the girl as she approached. "How's it going?"
"Will…" The Doctor warned.
"Ah, it's fine." Will waved a way. "She's a friend. Hell, I'm practically her uncle-" Will gasped, as the thirteen-year old lifted him by the shirt. "Was it something I said!?" He screamed, as he was suddenly sent flying. "How did she do that!?" He screeched, shooting to his feet.
"I suspect she's not herself!" The Doctor replied. "Don't get comfortable, get ready to run, fast!"
"Can't we just talk to them?" Jane hissed.
Holly came to the front of the legion, opening her mouth. The trio recoiled, as a green eye, catlike and unblinking, poked out.
"There's an eye…" Jane took a step back. "In her mouth."
"Oh, God, Mike's going to kill me."
"There's a whole creature inside her." The Doctor scanned the girl with the sonic screwdriver. "Inside all of them. Waiting there for years."
"That is disgusting." Will gagged.
Holly shot forward, the creature inside her body hissing, as a green spray emanated from the eye.
"Run!" The Doctor pulled Will and Jane out of the line of fire. "Let me talk, you two run!" The Doctor motioned for the creatures to calm down, as Will and Jane tried to run away. "Talk to me, talk… You are Eknodines!" The Doctor named. "A very old, very proud race! You are better than this! Why are you here, why aren't you at home?"
"We were driven from our planet-" Holly began, voice tinged with inhuman undertones.
"By upstart neighbors." The Doctor finished, rolling his eyes.
"So we've-" The child tried to begin again.
"Been hiding in the bodies of immature humans." The Doctor cut off. "Clever plot. You'd be hard pressed to find a human willing to harm a child." The Doctor tugged his bow tie. "Guess that also solves what happened to the parents of the orphanage children."
"We were humbled and destroyed. Now… we will do the same to others!" The alien using Holly Wheeler as a mouthpiece proclaimed.
"Okay, makes sense I suppose." The Doctor remarked. "Credible enough threat to be real." He took a step back.
"Morning." A mailman greeted, walking past the Doctor.
Holly's eyes locked on the man, and she hissed, green mist shooting out from the eye onto the man. He screamed as it burned away at his flesh and quickly reduced him to nothing more than dust.
"You need to leave this planet." The Doctor growled, as the alien screeched back at him.
"Wait, stop…" Jane requested, breathing heavily as she leaned on the fence outside of the house. Will wrapped an arm around her shoulders, helping her along, up the path to the house.
An eight-year-old stepped out of the bushes, looking at the two.
"Okay, this is crazy." Will stated. "Wait, that's Mister Clarke's kid! I hid him in the background of one of our issues!"
"Richie," Jane addressed, "We don't understand."
The little boy snarled, an eye poking out of his mouth.
"Alright, I'll deal with this one, love." Will gently pushed Jane to the side, going for a plank of wood nearby. "…I can't do it. I can't hit a kid."
"Oh, for God's-" Jane rolled her eyes, throwing out a hand. The boy went flying far across the air, landing unharmed in the field across the way. "In!" She commanded, opening the front door to the house. She sat down on the stairs, breathing heavily, as Will locked up the door. "We ran away. We just ran and left dad there…"
"Hey, he'll be fine." Will came back over, holding a table. "You know the Doctor. He's Mister Cool."
The Doctor walked, stumbling away from the children pursuing him as birdsong filled his ears.
The Time Lord stumbled through the door of a nearby shop, the bell ringing as he slammed the door.
"Oh, I love a good butcher's, don't you?" The Dream Lord appeared. "We've got to use these places, or they'll shut down! Oh, but you're probably a vegetarian, aren't you? You big, flop haired wuss!"
"Pipe down, I'm busy!" The Doctor hissed, trying to get into the back room.
"Oh… maybe you need a little sleep?" The Dream Lord suggested.
The Doctor suddenly found himself unable to stand, sliding to the floor.
"But wait," The Dream Lord loomed over the Doctor. "If you fall asleep here, several dozen angry kindergarteners will destroy you with their horrible eye thingies!"
The Doctor pulled himself up, trying to plug out the birdsong, as he walked behind the counter, falling down.
"Yes, we've got lots of steak here this week!" The Dream Lord said to the children forcing their way inside. "Lots at stake! Get it?"
The Doctor's eyes snapped back open, as he scrambled for the refrigerator at the back.
"Are these jokes wasted on you?" The Dream Lord asked.
The Doctor's back hit the door and he slid down, the birdsong picking back up. "Wait, wait, stop!" He pleaded, rooting around for the sonic screwdriver.
"Oh, oh," The Dream Lord theatrically covered his eyes. "I can't watch."
The Doctor soniced the door handle and entered the refrigerator, sonicing it shut behind him as he finally succumbed to sleep, dropping to the floor.
"Ah," El shivered, wrapping herself up. "Colder."
"The three of us have to agree, now!" The Doctor looked between El and Sarah Jane. "Which is the dream, and which isn't."
Sarah Jane shook her head, shivering. "It's not this."
"…I don't know." El quietly admitted, earning her a look from the Doctor. "Both feel real. Very real."
"Well, you have to come to a decision, soon!" The Doctor replied. "Nine minutes till impact, it's all on you, El."
"…don't want to die." El shivered.
"We're not." The Doctor resolved. "But we're running out of time. If we fall asleep here, now… we're in a lot of trouble. If we could divide up, we could have an active presence in each world, but the Dream Lord keeps switching us up." He suggested, walking around the console. "Why? Why? What's the logic?"
"Good idea, veggie." The Dream Lord appeared. "Let's divide you all up so I can have a lovely little chat with miss El here."
Sarah Jane looked up. "Do you hear that?"
El quickly shook her head. "No."
"El, listen." The Doctor placed steadying hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry, we'll be back, just… don't… listen to him…" He dropped to the floor, along with Sarah Jane.
Glass shattered as Will's eyes snapped open, the children outside trying to break their way through the outside windows.
Reacting quickly despite the confusion that she still wasn't awake, Will grabbed his wife under the shoulders, and began dragging her up the steps.
"Sorry, honey." Will apologized, grunting. "Sorry."
Dragging her to the top of the steps, Will dragged Jane's sleeping form into the nursery, and slammed the door shut, locking it.
Will walked over to the window, observing, as the possessed children tried breaking into the house from below. Some were even at the front doors of the TARDIS, trying to break inside the ancient timeship.
He ran back over, placing a chair under the doorknob, and sat on it, jittering as he waited for her to wake up.
