"Surprise!" The Doctor said, grinning and reaching her arms out wide. "Probably weren't expecting me like this, were you?" She asked the shocked, young woman. The Doctor was certain of it because the last time Dani had seen her, she'd been, well a man. She couldn't blame her for being surprised.
Meanwhile, Dani was trying to get the words out. She definitely hadn't been expecting the Doctor to be a woman. And she was still unsure if it was the Doctor or not, but she had brought up the mental block that was in Dani's head and no one else knew about that. Not to mention the fact that she was styling a, extremely interesting outfit choice. She was now 100% sure that this was the Doctor.
"It actually is you!" Dani exclaimed excitedly.
"'Course it's me!" The Doctor said. "Well, I think it's still me. "Not quite sure anymore." She sighed and looked off in the distance. After finding out about her past and the fact that she might not even be from Gallifrey, she wasn't quite sure who she was anymore. She snapped out of her thoughts and noticed Dani still staring at her with a slightly concerned expression on her face.
"Oi, what about a hug, then?" She said to Dani.
Dani was a little bit worried for her friend. Apparently a lot more had happened after Dani had stopped traveling with him. She told herself not to pry, and went over to give the Doctor a hug. She was glad to see her old friend, despite the fact it meant seeing her because of something strange happening.
"Ok, now that we have established that it's actually you and I do have a couple of questions, do you have any idea of what's going on?" Dani asked after they'd stopped hugging.
"Not a clue." The Doctor admitted. "But that's the fun part. It'd be too boring if I always knew what was going to happen."
"You know, all I wanted was a nice spa weekend to get away from all the wedding planning and planning the anniversary party for the bookstore." Dani said wistfully. "But that's not going to happen, is it?"
"'Fraid not." The Doctor said in a sympathetic voice. "Especially if that lot have a say in it." She said, gesturing to the now empty hallway, which had been filled with trance-like women moments ago. "Probably why I was brought here."
"Wait, you were brought here?" Dani asked.
"Well, I was sent a message on the psychic paper with coordinates and this exact date and time, so I put 'em in the Tardis and here we are." The Doctor replied.
"Ok that's weird." Dani responded, "Because the only reason I came here this weekend was because Andy said some woman handed him a spa certificate and told him that he should make an appointment for me because I was all stressed over everything that I had to do. You don't think that there's a reason why we both came here on the same day at the same time, do you?" Dani asked, her eyes wide.
The Doctor was silent as she reflected on what Dani had brought up. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility that someone was trying to put them together. That had happened before with a few of her past lives. The question was, if this were true, who was trying to put them together and why were they trying to put them together?
"You might be right." The Doctor said. "Still brilliant as ever."
Dani grinned, then sobered up as she had another thought. "So what do you think we're facing?" She asked seriously.
The Doctor shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno." She said. "But whatever it is, it seems to be affecting everyone, except for you, but that's most likely because of the mental wall I put up in your head. Now, what do you say about finding out, shall we?" She asked Dani with a challenging look on her face.
Dani couldn't help but grin. She missed this. The mystery of it all. The adventure. The adrenaline. She admitted to herself way too many times that all the running and saving people was one of the things that made her become more confident. She couldn't deny that. And the fact that she was getting to do it all again, reignited the fuel. "Oh, you know I'm all in." She replied.
"Let's get too it." The Doctor said. "Come on then!" She quickly sped up the pace as Dani fell in behind her, trying to match her long strides. The Doctor stopped suddenly, causing Dani to almost run into her.
"Ohh, You just said you were getting married, didn't you?" She said.
"Oh yeah. To Andy. That's one of the reasons he sent me here. Because I was getting too stressed out about planning it, along with planning the 25 anniversary party for the bookstore." Dani said as they followed the other women down the long, silent hallway.
"Always love a good wedding, me." The Doctor said. "Been married a few times myself. Well, my past selves. Even got married to Marilyn Monroe once."
Dani started laughing but then stopped as realization hit her. "Wait, when you say your past selves, do you mean your lives before this one?
The Doctor nodded. "I've regenerated about 14 times now." She said. "Or maybe more." She said quietly to herself. It wasn't that quiet, because Dani heard what she had just said.
"Wait, did you say you may have regenerated more times then that?" She asked with a curious expression.
Fortunately for the Doctor, they had stopped. "Oh, looks like we're here already. Now we can see what's going on." She said quickly, changing the subject. The last thing she needed was to go through an entire explanation.
Dani raised an eyebrow. The Doctor was hiding something. She knew that for sure and one way or another, she was going to find out what it was. Not now, though. Right now they had to figure out what was going on with the entranced women.
Both the Doctor and Dani pretended to be in a trance their faces stoic as they entered the room where they had been heading. It looked like it was used for either yoga or a meditation class. The large, hardwood floor was currently covered with pillows and the cloying smell of jasmine incense wafted through the room. There was what appeared to be a small stage up front that a gold covered chairs. They joined the group of silent women on the pillows, all the while giving each other quick glances. Something was definitely off here. They both could feel it.
The lights dimmed and a woman appeared on the stage. For all intets and purposes, she looked human. She had a long, reddish-yellow braid that fell down to her back and was wearing a red and orange tunic with yellow leggings and dark red sandals. The one thing that could have possibly set her apart were her eyes, which were the color of the sunset. The Doctor's Time Lady senses were tingling, and she felt like this woman was very familiar to her. Glancing at Dani, she could almost sense the same thing that she was feeling. Neither of them could shake that feeling. Suddenly, the woman began to speak.
"Hello my children." She said in a musical voice. "I am here to bring you to a more enlightened state before sleep. As I can tell, you have already begun the process."
The entranced women all murmured their thanks in emotionless voices. Dani shivered. It was a flashback to Rome. After that, the woman in the front began to speak again.
"Now, you will all repeat after me: 'The Goddess is within me.'"
"The Goddess is within me." The crowd chanted back, except for the Doctor and Dani who mouthed it.
"I will obey the Goddess within me." The woman said again.
"I will obey the Goddess within me." The crowd chanted.
"The Goddess of my soul is a strong woman who must take down all mankind." The strange woman said at the end.
"The Goddess of my soul is a strong woman who must take down all mankind." The crowd chanted.
As Dani went cold at those words, the Doctor grabbed her hand and squeezed it as a way of letting her know that she had figured it out as well. Suddenly everything was clear to them. Why she seemed so familiar. Both of them were so lost in their own thoughts that they noticed that the chanting had stopped and the women were waking up from their trances.
"I hope you all enjoyed that mediation session and I hope it brought you to a more centered place in your lives." The woman said in a cheerful voice. "There will be another session tomorow night for anyone so inclined." The Doctor noted a hint of laughter in that last statement.
Everyone walked out of the room, talking about how amazing they felt and how renewed they felt, except for the last 2 stragglers who took their time walking out of the room. Dani and the Doctor waited until everyone had gone to their own rooms and started off back down the hall in silence, until Dani broke the silence.
"Doctor, is that who I think it is?" Dani asked, almost hoping that she was wrong, but the Doctor squashed that right away.
"The Kura who pretended to be a goddess and tried to enslave the Roman women, including you before I saved you." The Doctor responded with a grave look on her face.
"Ok, well guess I was right." Dani said, her heart dropping. "But I thought they took her back and imprisoned her?" She asked, confused.
"She must've somehow escaped." The Doctor said, as they got to their rooms. She looked at the crestfallen look on Dani's face and her hearts broke for her. She knew that it had been a tramautic experience for her and didn't want to have her face it again, but things happened. But, she wasn't going to let that stop them. She was going to make it sure they got it right this time. "Don't worry." She said, back to her cheerful self. "Now you go get some sleep and I'll try to figure out some way to stop her."
Dani nodded, suddenly realizing how tired she was, and bade goodnight to the Doctor. As she entered her room, she hoped that the Doctor could think of a way to stop her again.