Hello everyone!
Thank you so much for all the support, I'm glad you're all enjoying it.
Just wanted to warn you that the Doctor is in a very bad mental state - regretting her regeneration and stuff - so warning for suicidal thoughts/feelings. Please don't read if that will trigger you.
I'm planning to update each weekend.
Hope you enjoy!
Robyn
The screen turned white and the words 'Twice Upon a Time' appeared on the screen.
[Tardis]
(Black and white 4:3 grainy picture - excerpts from The Tenth Planet, 709 episodes ago...)
DOCTOR 1: Quite an Arctic storm blowing out there. Hmm! Come along, Polly, my child, with my cloak.
POLLY: Hey, Doctor, you've got the most fantastic wardrobe.
(Ben is zipping up a parka, and Polly has found a fur coat and hat. Well, it is 1966. Such things were still okay then.)
DOCTOR 1: Yes. We don't know what we're in for outside there. Pretty soon we shall be having visitors.
"Woah, that's old. Is that really you? Who are those people?" Bill spoke, managing somehow to rock on her beanbag.
The Doctor grinned at her questions, she hadn't changed, still so curious. "Yes, that's me! My first face, well the first one I remember." She glanced at the Master who frowned but refused to give up his thoughts. She turned back to Bill, smile on her face. They didn't need to know any of that yet. "That's Polly and Ben, they travelled with me back then. It was all a very long time ago Bill."
[Tracking station]
(Later in the story - to a Cyberman.)
POLLY: You're different. You've got no feelings.
KRAIL: I do not understand that word.
DOCTOR 1: Emotions. Love, pride, hate, fear.
(William Harnell has David Bradley's face digitally placed over his as we come into colour and 16:9 ratio.)
DOCTOR 1: Have you no emotions, sir?
Everyone looked uncomfortable seeing the Cybermen. Especially Bill, who had been turned into one, and Clara who had lost Danny. The Doctor shuffled her beanbag closer to Bill and pulled the younger girl into a hug. She then shuffled them so Bill lay against her, her arm around Bill to comfort her. She wasn't normally so touchy-feely but she would make an exception to comfort her friends especially after she failed them so badly. The Doctor had a feeling she knew what they were going to see and she didn't like it. She didn't want everyone to see it.
(Later, at the start of part 4, the first Doctor's hand is glowing gold in a complete remake of the missing video.)
POLLY: What's happened to you, Doctor?
DOCTOR 1: I guess this old body of mine is wearing a bit thin.
"Your first regeneration." It was a statement, not a question but she looked up at River anyway and nodded grimacing.
"What caused it? I mean if you don't mind me asking." Yaz asked, biting her lip when she realised what she had asked.
The Doctor smiled at her. "It's okay, I don't mind, like I said it was a very long time ago. I died of old age ultimately. There was a thing with Mondas and Cybermen. Something to do with draining the Earth's energy or something, long story and it was a very long time ago. I think that might have been one of my only semi-natural deaths actually." She considered, did dying in her eleventh face (Chinny) count as natural? Yes, it had been old age but she had been in a siege for 900 years. Oh, well not the time to think on it. Her companions gave her concerned looks but decided not to ask anything else.
[Cyberman ship]
(At the end of the story.)
BEN: Doctor! Wakey, wakey, it's all over now.
(Polly and Ben free the Doctor from the cage.)
DOCTOR 1: No. It isn't all over. It's far from being all over.
BEN: What are you talking about?
DOCTOR 1: I must get back to the Tardis.
A long time ago, at the south pole the Doctor refused to regenerate...
[Antarctica]
DOCTOR 1: I can't go through with it. I will fight it. I will not change.
"You weren't going to regenerate? But we would have never of met you." Rose watched the Doctor, searching for something in those old eyes. The Doctor just shrugged half-heartedly, still holding Bill and glaring at the screen.
The Master glanced at her a bit surprised, she raised an eyebrow in question but he just shook his head and settled back into his chair with a blank expression. It wouldn't do to show his shock or worry. If she hadn't regenerated the first time; he would have never seen her again, no one would have known that she had died bar maybe a couple of humans.
DOCTOR [OC]: Hello? Is someone there? Hello?
...twice.
"Doctor. What does it mean 'twice'?" For once Jack was serious, glancing quickly between her and the screen. She didn't answer him, he'd find out. They would all find out how close she had been to not being here, how much she wanted to not be here sometimes (most of the time).
(And into the end of The Doctor Falls, but from the 1st Doctor's point of view.)
DOCTOR 1: Who is that?
DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor.
DOCTOR 1: Oh, I don't think so. No. Dear me, no. You may be a Doctor, but I am the Doctor. The original, you might say.
"Are you meeting yourself again? I thought you weren't supposed to do that." Amy asked.
"Yes, I met myself again. No, we aren't really supposed to do that. Though it does seem to keep happening to me, not always necessarily my fault." She mused on that, Gallifrey was definitely to blame for several occasions. "To be fair, this is well after the last video, at least a thousand odd years or so." She was probably a bit snappish but she really wasn't happy about what they were going to find out in this video.
(The Doctor gets to his feet.)
DOCTOR: You. How can it be you?
DOCTOR 1: Do I know you, sir?
DOCTOR: This is the South Pole. We're at the South Pole.
DOCTOR 1: Of course we are. Don't you know that?
DOCTOR: This is where it happened.
DOCTOR 1: Where what happened?
DOCTOR: This is it. The very first time that I, well, you, we regenerated. You're mid-regeneration, aren't you? Your face, it's all over the place, but you're trying to hold it back.
DOCTOR 1: What do you know of regeneration? Are you a Time Lord?
DOCTOR: You know who I am. You must.
"You really didn't know it was you that you were talking to?" Martha questioned looking worriedly at the quiet Doctor. She was never naturally this quiet which meant this was something she didn't want to talk about.
"Well, I didn't really expect it back in those days plus I was still pretty young despite appearances."
DOCTOR 1: Hmm. Have you come to take the ship back?
DOCTOR: The ship. You still call it a ship.
"What do you mean 'take it back'?" Mickey asked. He was comfortable on his sofa, arm around his wife as she cuddled into his shoulder.
Bill was happily leaning against the Doctor. It was rare the Doctor allowed physical contact as Eyebrows so she was enjoying it while it lasted. Plus, she appreciated the comfort.
River had gone back to sitting with her parents between videos so Yaz was now leaning back on the sofa, enjoying the space. She and the other two on her sofa shared a look, the Doctor had mentioned she had stolen it but they had never gotten much more out of her.
"Did I not mention that I stole the TARDIS and ran away?" She grinned a bit sheepish despite herself, she got her answer through a few vigorous shaking heads from some of her companions that didn't know. The rest of the companions grinned, most already knowing something about it but happy for the reminder and glad to see she was entertaining herself.
DOCTOR 1: Oh dear, what have you done to it?
DOCTOR: Nothing.
DOCTOR 1: (walking around the Tardis) The windows.
DOCTOR: I don't remember this.
DOCTOR 1: They're the wrong size. The colour.
DOCTOR: I don't remember trying not to change.
DOCTOR 1: I'm sure it's changed.
DOCTOR: Not back then.
DOCTOR 1: Look at it. It seems to have expanded.
"Oh, so you don't just insult each other, you also insult each other's Tardises." Clara smiled at the Doctor, but it faded a bit when she didn't meet her gaze.
DOCTOR: Well, it's all those years of bigger on the inside, You try sucking your tummy in that long. Why are you trying not to regenerate?
DOCTOR 1: I have the courage and the right to live and die as myself.
DOCTOR: Too late, it's started. A few minutes ago, you were weak as a kitten, right? Now you're fine. We're in a state of grace, both of us, but it won't last long. We have a choice. Either we change and go on, or we die as we are. But if you, if you die here, if your future never happens, if you don't do the things that you are supposed to do, the consequences could be...
"Is that really what regeneration is like? I know you've said it is painful." Rose asked, having seen two regenerations (well one and a half) but still unsure of what it actually felt like. The Doctor had been up and running and didn't really mention it again, well after collapsing unconscious for several hours.
"It's incredibly painful. Every cell in your body burns and is replaced. River and the Master could tell you the same."
"Yes, it's painful, but you've always seemed to have it worse than anyone I've ever seen my dear Doctor." The Master shared a glance with her, his expression blank. Both were thinking the same thing. Was it because of the Timeless Child?
The others ignored the exchange, choosing to focus on another part of her comment. "River? You're a Time Lord?" Rose asked shocked.
"It's complicated, I'm not a full Time Lord but I was conceived in the TARDIS so I'm not quite human." River explained a bit, but her attention was focused on her wife who was back to glaring the screen and refusing to meet anyone's eyes.
(The snow stops falling.)
DOCTOR: The snow.
DOCTOR 1: The snow?
DOCTOR: Look at it!
DOCTOR 1: How extraordinary.
(The Doctor flicks at a snowflake, which moves away then back to where it was.)
DOCTOR: Everything's stopped. But why? Maybe it's us, maybe it's something else, but somehow, something has gone very wrong with Time.
CAPTAIN: Hello?
(A figure in uniform, with a moustache and holding a pistol approaches. No prizes for guessing whose predecessor he will turn out to be, because it's far too obvious.)
CAPTAIN: Sorry. So sorry. I don't suppose either of you is a doctor?
DOCTOR: You trying to be funny?
"Doctor! You could be a bit nicer; he's clearly confused." Donna berated the Time Lady.
[Ypres 1914]
(My Granddad called it Wipers. Soldiers are resting in trenches while in a nearby bomb crater, two men are pointing their pistols at each other.)
CAPTAIN: There's something I should like to say. That is, there is something I should very much like you to understand. I do not have the slightest desire to kill you. The only reason I would do so is self-defence. However, since you are aware I might kill you in self-defence, there is the strong possibility you will kill me in self-defence. Does rather make me wish you understood English.
GERMAN SOLDIER: Lass mich einfach hier. Ich will dich nicht toten. Bitte geh.
(Translation - just leave me here. I don't want you dead. Please go.)
CAPTAIN: Or that I spoke German. War is hell, eh?
(As both men's fingers start to tighten on triggers, time freezes. But the Captain can still move. He climbs out of the crater and looks at the fires and smoke not moving, the bird in mid-flap. A transparent figure appears. It turns, he gasps, then there is a swift series of images of a giant chamber with lots of lit doorways.)
FEMALE VOICE: Timeline error. There is a timeline error. Timeline error. There is a timeline error.
"Who is that?" Mickey asked but received no answer.
[Antarctica]
(And the Captain is dropped into the still snowstorm.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Everything's stopped.
DOCTOR 1 [OC]: But why?
DOCTOR [OC]: Maybe it's us, maybe it's something else, but somehow, something has gone very wrong with Time.
CAPTAIN: Hello? Sorry. So sorry. I don't suppose either of you is a doctor?
DOCTOR: Are you trying to be funny?
(A bright light appears behind the Captain. He turns.)
CAPTAIN: She's coming. She's coming. It's her.
DOCTOR 1: Not human, I think. State your planet of origin and your intentions. This is Earth, a level five civilisation.
DOCTOR: And it is protected.
DOCTOR 1: It's what?
(The transparent figure and the light disappears.)
DOCTOR; Oh. Okay. That doesn't usually work.
DOCTOR 1: Protected by whom?
DOCTOR: Oh, it is early days, isn't it?
The companions all grinned remembering all the times the Doctor had saved the world. All her speeches and all the species she had sent running away from the Earth because she protected it. The Doctor watched the screen, analysing everything, who had she been kidding? How could she protect Earth if she couldn't protect Gallifrey? Or even know who she was?
DOCTOR 1: (to the Captain) May I suggest, for your own safety, you step onboard my ship?
CAPTAIN: What ship?
DOCTOR: He means, get inside the box.
(The first Doctor unlocks the 12th's Tardis.)
DOCTOR 1: A little snug from this angle
[Tardis]
DOCTOR 1: But you might be in for a sur... My Tardis. Look at my Tardis!
"Like the new interior Doctor! She's as beautiful as always." Jack looked a bit lovesick seeing the new TARDIS design. The others who hadn't seen it before were all studying the screen intensely, comparing it to the one(s) they knew.
CAPTAIN: This is impossible!
DOCTOR 1: Have I been burgled?
CAPTAIN: It's... but it's...
DOCTOR 1: It's hideous!
"At this point I think it is tradition for me to hate my future TARDIS designs until I regenerate into the appropriate face." The Doctor mumbled to herself, drawing a few raised eyebrows.
(Continuing that splendid tradition of Doctors hating each others taste in interiors.)
CAPTAIN: Bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
DOCTOR: You know, I thought it probably was. I'm glad it's not just me.
"You were really sarcastic that regeneration, weren't you?" Amy laughed. "Shame I didn't meet you like that; we could have been sarcastic Scots together!" Amy grinned wider when she got a returning genuine grin from the Doctor. Amy had probably been some inspiration in the accent subconsciously. Eyebrows may have had a face as a reminder of Donna and her words but the accent was all his little Amelia's. Or maybe it was for Jamie, who had lost all memories of him. Maybe it was for both of them, both of his dear Scottish friends, they would have gotten on well.
(Shuts the doors behind him.)
CAPTAIN: What is this place?
DOCTOR 1: This place is, or ought to be, my Tardis.
(The Doctor swings the scanner round.)
DOCTOR: Technically, that is your Tardis. It's about seventy feet that way, see? Always remember where you parked. It's going to come up a lot.
"Had a bit of trouble with that eh, Doc? You always need to leave it somewhere you will remember." Jack laughed along with Rose, both remembering the first time they had met back in 1941. The others looked at the pair confused before shrugging it off as an inside joke.
CAPTAIN: Is this madness? Am I going mad?
DOCTOR: Madness? Well, you're an officer from World War One at the South Pole, being pursued by an alien through frozen time. Madness was never this good.
"Says you, you're a certified madman." Donna scoffed. The Doctor shrugged. It's not like she could (or would) deny it.
CAPTAIN: World War One?
DOCTOR: Judging by the uniform, yes.
CAPTAIN: Yes, but what do you mean, one?
DOCTOR: Oh, sorry. Spoilers.
"That's my word honey. You really need to stop messing with history." River smiled at her wife who rolled her eyes. Like River had any place to talk, she messed with history just as much as she did, if not more at times.
DOCTOR 1: Enough of this! Who are you?
DOCTOR: Er, you know who I am. You knew the moment you saw me. I'd say stop being an idiot, but I kind of know what's coming.
(The 1st Doctor removes his astrakan hat and cloak and hands them to his successor.)
DOCTOR 1: I assure you, I do not have the faintest idea who you are.
DOCTOR: Well, I know who you are.
CAPTAIN: (holding a video tape) Is anyone going to explain what's going on?
(The Doctor shows off the regeneration glow in his hand.)
DOCTOR: Snap.
DOCTOR 1: You are me? No. No.
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes, I'm very much afraid so.
DOCTOR 1: Do I become you?
DOCTOR: Well, there's a few false starts, but you get there in the end.
DOCTOR 1: But I thought
DOCTOR: What?
DOCTOR 1: Well, I assumed I'd get er, younger.
DOCTOR: I am younger!
The others laughed at her offended expression, even the Master chuckled quietly in his corner. The Doctor muttered to herself, still offended by that comment. She may have been older in age, but she was younger in appearance!
CAPTAIN: You know, I really don't think I'm completely following. Oh. Oh dear.
DOCTOR 1: Oh, you're in shock. Let me help you. Er, brandy. Get him brandy. Do you have any? I had some somewhere.
DOCTOR: Hang on.
DOCTOR 1: Sit down here, my boy. Collect your wits.
(The Aldebaran brandy bottle, decanter and glasses are behind a roundel.)
CAPTAIN: Who are you people?
DOCTOR 1: I am the Doctor, and this is my
DOCTOR: It's complicated. Actually, I am also
DOCTOR 1: My nurse.
DOCTOR: Excuse me?
The others resumed laughing again. It was a change to see the Doctor get offended like that, of course it was her past face that did it.
DOCTOR 1: I realise that seems a little improbable.
DOCTOR: Well, yes.
DOCTOR 1: Because he's a man.
DOCTOR: What?
DOCTOR 1: Older gentlemen, like women, can be put to use.
DOCTOR: You can't, you, you, you can't say things like that.
DOCTOR 1: Can't I? Says who?
DOCTOR: Just about everyone you're going to meet for the rest of your life. Here.
"Before you say anything that was a very long time ago and I spent most of my time in the 60's so I picked up some of the time period's idiotic views. I'm going to apologise now for everything he, erm I, say. No, I do not agree with it." The Doctor put her hands up before the abuse started. She got a few questioning eyebrows to which she answered with a frown.
DOCTOR 1: Have you had some of this?
DOCTOR: Well, you know, I may have snuck a glass at some point in the last fifteen hundred years. It's been rock and roll.
"You have alcohol on the Tardis? And you never told me about this. Seriously Doc I'm offended, you've been holding out on me!" Jack laughed, hand on his heart in fake offense.
"Why do you even have it? You hate the taste, I kept having to remind you of that moron." Amy grinned thinking back to all the times she had seen him drink (and then spit out) alcohol.
"I didn't think it would be a good idea to give you more alcohol Jack, and my tastes change with the face Amy. Besides it doesn't really have the same effect on Time Lords as it does humans due to our-."
"Superior biology." Her companions mimicked interrupting her, bursting into laughter once they realised what they had done.
"Good to see you haven't changed much!" Rose managed to choke out amongst her laughter. The Doctor smiled at her companions, mildly offended but too happy to see them happy and distracted. Then she got curious and more serious look. "Is there something else that works like alcohol for you? I mean I know Advil is poisonous to you, but is there anything else we should know?"
"Advil's poisonous? Blimey Doc, you should have warned us." Graham blinked worriedly.
"Yeah, sorry Graham. Probably should have, guess it didn't come up. To answer your question Rose, ginger acts similarly to alcohol for us. We can't really metabolise it easily." The Doctor answered a bit sheepish. She purposely ignored the fact she had eaten ginger sweets around her latest companions without them knowing.
DOCTOR 1: There you are, get this down you. You'll feel a lot better.
CAPTAIN: Thank you, yes.
DOCTOR 1: I er, I don't understand any of this.
DOCTOR: Well of course you understand. I am your future self.
DOCTOR 1: Are you indeed. And I suppose this is meant to be my Tardis?
DOCTOR: Our Tardis.
DOCTOR 1: What's wrong with the lights?
DOCTOR: It's supposed to be like this.
DOCTOR 1: Why?
DOCTOR: It, it's atmospheric.
DOCTOR 1: Atmospheric? This is the flight deck of the most powerful space-time machine in the known universe, not a restaurant for the French. Good Lord, what is that?
(Rushing down the steps to his electric guitar.)
DOCTOR: Oh, look what someone has accidentally left here.
CAPTAIN: I say, it's some sort of guitar, isn't it?
DOCTOR: Oh, is it yours?
CAPTAIN: No.
"Wait, since when do you play the guitar?" Martha questioned bemused but entertained by the Doctor trying to pretend it wasn't his.
Clara and Bill groaned in sync. "He was always playing it in that face. Really annoying." Clara explained.
"To be fair he was really good at it." Bill admitted gaining a large grin from the Doctor.
DOCTOR 1: It appears to have been played quite recently. It's the only thing here that's been cleaned. Yes, in fact this whole place could do with a good dusting. Obviously Polly isn't around any more.
DOCTOR: Please, please. Please stop saying things like that.
(The Tardis shakes. It has been clamped and is being winched up on chains into a big diamond-shaped spaceship. The Doctor opens the door and looks down at the receding snowscape then up at their abductors, and goes back inside. He throws the main time rotor lever several times to no avail.)
DOCTOR: I can't get the engines to start. There's some kind of signal blocking the command path.
(The Tardis is now inside the spaceship.)
FEMALE VOICE [OC]: Exit your capsule. The Chamber of the Dead awaits you.
DOCTOR: I'll fix the engines while you keep her talking. Fields up.
"Chamber of the Dead. That doesn't sound like a nice place." Nardole muttered half to himself.
[Chamber of the Dead]
(A multistory room with lots of archways that light up at random. The Tardis is parked at the bottom of a long staircase. This is the place that the Captain was between Ypres and Antarctica.)
FEMALE VOICE [OC]: Look around you. You stand in the Chamber of the Dead.
(The scene is on the scanner in the Tardis too, and we keep intercutting, but without the watchers saying anything.)
FEMALE VOICE [OC]: You are known to all here, for you are the Doctor of War.
DOCTOR 1: The Doctor, yes. But the Doctor of War? Never, ma'am, never.
The Doctor grimaced, she had never imagined everything she would have done and seen when she first left Gallifrey. She never imagined she would gain any titles let alone one like the 'Doctor of War'. She had wanted to explore the universe and look after Susan not become any kind of figure or soldier.
"Doctor of War?" Yaz asked, biting her lip. They were learning more and more about the Doctor and it was making her worry more and more for the Doctor.
"I've travelled for a long time and picked up quite a few titles. Not all of them nice ones. I'm not proud of most of them." The Doctor sighed.
FEMALE VOICE [OC]: We offer you a gift. Return to us the human on your Tardis and in exchange, you may speak with her again.
DOCTOR 1: Speak with whom?
(A shadowy figure walks out of a ground floor archway with a bright light behind her.)
DOCTOR 1: Young lady, who are you?
BILL: Is he here? Is the Doctor here?
"But that's me! I definitely don't remember that. Doctor, what's going on?" Bill shouted confused, turning to the Doctor, eyes wide in hope of an explanation.
"Don't worry Bill. Everything will be explained I promise. It's nothing bad." The Doctor tried to reassure the girl. Bill watched the Doctor carefully looking for any tells of a lie, nodding slowly in a tentative agreement to wait after a minute of no tells showing themselves.
(Her Doctor comes out of the Tardis.)
BILL: Doctor! (they hug) I knew it! I did, I knew it. I knew you couldn't be dead, you don't have the concentration. Doctor? What are you doing?
(He scans her with the sonic screwdriver.)
DOCTOR: Just keep still, please. Bill Potts.
BILL: Yeah.
DOCTOR: My friend Bill Potts was turned into a Cyberman. She gave her life so that people she barely knew could live. So, let's be clear. Nobody imitates Bill Potts. Nobody mocks Bill Potts.
"You were turned into a Cyberman? I'm so sorry." Clara looked at the younger girl, understanding and sympathy on her face. "My boyfriend was turned into one, you know during the whole thing with the rain over the cemeteries."
"Oh yeah I remember that! Of course, the Doctor would be involved in that. I'm sorry about your boyfriend." Bill offered her condolences and the other muttered some as well. The ones that had encountered the Cybermen were stuck remembering their own experiences.
The Doctor glared at the Master as he had been responsible for both Cybermen invasions, and Clara and Bills suffering. The Master met her stare blankly, refusing to show any regret. She gritted her teeth. She was really trying to stop herself from leaping to her feet and punching him just to draw out some emotion. Then a new thought slammed across her mind and she had to stifle a chuckle. That made the Master look up at her bewildered at the shift in her mood. "Contact."
"Contact. That's three times you've tried Cybermen recently. Four if you count the Mondasian ship twice. Why? It never works and you always find yourself almost getting killed. You used to be so interesting and now you are reusing the same scheme over and over." She laughed at him over their mental ink with an edge of a serious question.
"I am interesting! How else am I supposed to get your attention? I'm not stupid enough to try the Daleks and I hate them too much to properly try. The Cybermen, however, aren't supposed to pose much danger to us but lots to your little pets." The Master answered, feelings of annoyance and a bit of desperation leaking across lowered mental barriers.
"You really aren't interesting. Some of your older schemes maybe, but definitely not anymore. You used to have manners back then as well. If you want my attention all you have to do is call me, I miss my friend." The Doctor stared him down for a minute to convey the seriousness of her message before turning back to the screen and decidedly ignoring him. He always led to such a mix of emotions, always conflicting ones. She hated him so much but she also still loved him. She hated herself for that.
BILL: Bill Potts is standing right in front of you.
DOCTOR: How is that even possible?
BILL: Well, long story short. I totally pulled.
DOCTOR 1: You, you did what?
BILL: Heather. Do you remember, the girl in the puddle? Well, she showed up. She came for me.
"Girl in the puddle. I'm sorry, what?" Mickey asked taken aback. That was definitely high on the weird scale.
"Long story." The Doctor, Bill and Nardole synchronised grinning at each other.
DOCTOR: How romantic. Where is she?
BILL: Well, she's. She's.
DOCTOR: And how did you get here?
BILL: I don't... I, I can't
DOCTOR: You can't remember. No, I bet you can't. (He scans her again.)
DOCTOR 1: That device. What is it?
DOCTOR: It's a sonic screwdriver.
DOCTOR 1: A, a what screwdriver?
DOCTOR: It's really a very good job.
DOCTOR 1: An audio screwdriver?
"You didn't have your sonic back then?" Martha asked the Doctor, mostly entertained by what she had seen so far.
"No, not back then."
DOCTOR: There are only three low-key markers indicating that she's a duplicate.
BILL: I'm not a duplicate!
DOCTOR: So, who has been stealing the faces of the dead?
(The Doctors walk up the stairs to some very advanced technology.)
DOCTOR 1: Time travel technology, eh? Obviously.
DOCTOR: From the far future.
DOCTOR 1: I know. Sunglasses?
DOCTOR: They're sonic.
DOCTOR 1: Indoors?
"That's new." Rose remarked, trying to determine what she thought. A few other companions laughed. River shook her head exasperated with her husband/wife.
(Flash. The Glass Woman appears.)
DOCTOR: So, what are you?
GLASS WOMAN: We are what awaits at the end of every life. As every living soul dies, so we will appear. We take from you what we need and return you to the moment of your death. We are Testimony.
(All the archways light up. Very Tomb of the Cybermen.)
DOCTOR: You come from the distant future. You travel back in time, find people at the exact point of death, and what, you harvest something from them?
GLASS WOMAN: Yes.
DOCTOR: On behalf of the dying, what is it that we have that the future needs so badly?
DOCTOR 1: And what has any of this to do with a War World One Captain landing at the South Pole in the wrong decade?
GLASS WOMAN: We were returning him to the appointed time and place of his death. An error in the timeline ejected him into the wrong time zone. Now his death must proceed as history demands.
DOCTOR 1: If I may.
(He peers at her through his monocle.)
That drew laughter from the companions. It was entertaining to see how the two Doctor reacted to things differently.
DOCTOR 1: Who were you?
DOCTOR: She wasn't anyone.
(Sonic screwdriver.)
DOCTOR: She's a computer-generated interface, connected to a multiform, inter-phasing data-bank.
DOCTOR 1: Oh, for heaven's sake, will you put that ridiculous buzzing toy away and look at the woman! You see? Her face, it's very slightly asymmetrical. If it were computer generated, it wouldn't produce that effect.
DOCTOR: Yes. You're absolutely right. I should have noticed that.
DOCTOR 1: Well, it might help if you could see properly.
"Do you ever stop fighting with yourself?" Clara sighed exasperated while the other companions laughed a bit at the two Doctors.
(He removes the sonic glasses and drops them on the floor. The Captain comes out of the Tardis.)
CAPTAIN: Er, excuse me! Doctor?
DOCTOR: Get back inside.
CAPTAIN: I'm not quite sure, but it seemed to me that this young lady's life was being offered in exchange for my own. As it happens, I think my number is pretty much up anyway.
BILL: What are you talking about? Doctor, what's he talking about?
CAPTAIN: So, might as well make it count for something, eh? I should be happy to take your place, if that would resolve this situation.
"That's very brave of him." Amy stated, drawing nods from the others around the room.
"Yes, he was. It runs in his family." The Doctor added grinning when everyone looked at her confused.
GLASS WOMAN: Accepted.
BILL: That is, that is not happening. That's totally not happening. Agreed?
DOCTOR: Tell me what to do, then. Bill Potts would tell me what to do.
BILL: Do what you always do. Serve at the pleasure of the human race.
The Master raised an eyebrow, turning to meet the Doctor's questioning gaze. "Serve the humans? Why? You are so much above them." He used their telepathy to ask his questions.
"I am not above them. I like them. I do it to save my friends and all the innocents. They don't deserve to die." A few of the others watched the two best enemies who seemed to be having a mental conversation, only a few of them realising how true that thought was.
DOCTOR: Here's what's going to happen. First, I'm going to escape. You, with me.
DOCTOR 1: Where are we going?
GLASS WOMAN: Escape is not possible.
DOCTOR: It is possible, and it is happening, and I'm taking Bill and the Captain with me.
DOCTOR 1: Why are you advertising your intentions? Can't you stop boasting for a moment?
DOCTOR: Mister Pastry, too. I could do with a laugh.
The companions laughed at the way the two incarnations of the Doctor interacted and the complete confusion of the younger Doctor.
(Trivia - Mr Pastry aka Richard Hearne was interviewed to be the 4th Doctor.)
GLASS WOMAN: Escape is not possible.
DOCTOR: Oh, I'm going to do way more than escape. I'm going to find out who you are and what you're doing, and if I don't like it, I will come back and I will stop you. I will stop all of you!
The companions grinned. No matter the face the Doctor didn't change too much. How they dealt with situations like this were ultimately similar. It was good to see them back to themselves, stopping evil plans.
DOCTOR 1: Who the hell do you think you are?
DOCTOR: The Doctor.
DOCTOR 1: I am the Doctor. Who you are, I cannot begin to imagine.
GLASS WOMAN: Then let us show you, Doctor. See who you will become.
DAVROS: Doctor!
DALEK: Exterminate!
CYBERMAN: You will be assimilated.
(Images of past Doctors fly around in bubbles, including the War Doctor.)
DOCTOR: No, no, that's not a good idea.
DOCTOR 10 [OC]: They all died.
GLASS WOMAN: The Doctor has walked in blood through all of time and space. The Doctor has many names.
DAVROS [OC]: The Destroyer of Worlds.
GLASS WOMAN: The Imp of the Pandorica. The Shadow of the Valeyard. The Beast of Trenzalore. The Butcher of Skull Moon. The Last Tree of Garsennon. The Destroyer of Skaro. He is the Doctor of War.
(The images disappear.)
"That's a lot of names, Doc." Graham said. The Doctor frowned as everyone watched her. She hated to be reminded of everything she had done. No one wanted to break the tension and ask her, some of them knew where some of the names came from but there was so many they didn't know about. River watched worried, she knew where most of the names came from and the way this episode was going was worrying her. This whole thing with the Tardis bringing them here was worrying.
DOCTOR 1: What, what was that?
DOCTOR: To be fair, they cut out all the jokes. Do what I do when I do it.
There was a splutter of laughter as the companions all remembered some of the funny moments over all their adventures. There was an edge though, most of them knew the Doctor used humour to cover up their issues and when they were hurt.
(The sonic screwdriver opens the hatch beneath the Tardis. Then the Doctor sonicks the winches to set the chains on the clamps holding the Tardis unwinding.)
DOCTOR: Jump!
(They all grab a chain each and descend towards Antarctica.)
GLASS WOMAN: They are not escaping.
The Doctor grinned, glad for the distraction. "Yes, we are."
[Antarctica]
(Their progress comes to a sudden halt. They slither down the chains to the Tardis.)
DOCTOR: Jump!
(They do. The Tardis was only a couple of feet off the ground. It starts to rise again.)
BILL: What do we do now?
DOCTOR: Run!
BILL: Where? They've got the Tardis.
DOCTOR: Yes, that's exactly what they're supposed to think.
BILL: But they do though. Look.
DOCTOR: They've got my Tardis. Over to you, Mary Berry.
"Nice plan." Jack nodded, grinning.
DOCTOR 1: Come on.
(The Tardis is back in the spaceship. Meanwhile, a lot less than 70 feet away -)
BILL: Doctor, is that another Tardis?
DOCTOR: No. No. It's another of the same Tardis.
BILL: Hang on, the windows are the wrong size.
DOCTOR: Inside, quickly!
[Console room]
(A proper one, all white and gleaming roundels with a label saying Bernard Wilkie next to the door mechanism lever as homage to a special effects man from the early days.)
DOCTOR: Take off, now! Deep space, anywhere.
"Woah, that's white and clean. What happened to it?" Martha asked. The rest of the companions were taking in the sight of the TARDIS shocked. It was nothing like the TARDIS they all knew.
"That's what she looked like when I first stole her. She gained some personality of her own since then. Desktop has changed a lot." The Doctor grinned. She really loved her TARDIS.
(The Tardis whizzes along the Vortex.)
CAPTAIN: I tell you what. These police boxes, they're ever so good, aren't they?
DOCTOR 1: The navigation systems don't function properly. I'm unable to programme our flight with any accuracy. So, my dear, I presume you travel with him.
BILL: Used to. Kind of miss it.
DOCTOR 1: Well, he clearly misses you. That ship of his is in dire need of a good spring clean.
DOCTOR: No, no, no, stop, stop, stop talking. Look, look, look. Oh, look at the, look at the astral map. Look at all the lovely blinking lights. Look at that.
BILL: He's you. He is, isn't he? He's you. He's one of your old faces.
CAPTAIN: I'm find I'm lagging behind a tiny bit again. You
"You keep confusing the poor man. He's had traumatic enough a day as it is. Honestly Spaceman you're a right Martian sometimes." Donna sighed exasperated. A few companions nodded in agreement with small smiles.
(The Doctor puts on his sonic shades.)
DOCTOR 1: Not those again. I forbid it!
(The Doctor sonicks up an image of the Glass Woman up on the Time and Space Visualiser.)
DOCTOR; There you go, I was right. Asymmetrical.
DOCTOR 1: I said that.
DOCTOR: Same difference.
(The Doctor puts the shades on his ancestor, who staggers slightly.)
DOCTOR: If her face was based on a human original, perhaps identifying who that was will tell us what we need to know about Testimony.
DOCTOR 1: Why am I wearing these?
DOCTOR: Because I love it. Never take those off.
DOCTOR 1: What's browser history?
(The Doctor quickly retrieves his shades.)
"What dirty secrets are you hiding Doctor?" Jack grinned suggestively, happy to have a break from the tension. She rolled her eyes at him, no matter how long it had been he never changed. Most of the companions laughed seeing his first face wearing the sunglasses. Even the Master broke a small smile that he managed to hide from (almost) everyone. It was a long time since he had seen the first incarnation of the Doctor, the face he had grown up and, although he would never admit it, he was feeling slightly nostalgic.
DOCTOR: I'm trying to match her face in the Tardis data bank, but there's hardly anything in it yet. We need a bigger database. Possibly the Matrix on Gallifrey. No. We need something bigger than the Matrix.
The Doctor frowned; she wouldn't have wanted to go back to Gallifrey anyway. It was too complicated with two of them and who knows what her reception would have been with how she had run off with Clara last time. That's to say she found it before the Master had destroyed it.
[Chamber of the Dead]
CAPTAIN [on screen] So basically, we're trying to track the Glass Lady, yes?
BILL [on screen]: Basically.
CAPTAIN [on screen]: A striking looking creature.
[Console room]
CAPTAIN: Quite beautiful, really, isn't she?
BILL; Yeah, if you like ladies made of glass.
DOCTOR 1: Well, aren't all ladies made of glass, in a way? (laughs)
CAPTAIN: (laughs) Very good, sir, very good.
BILL: Are we now?
DOCTOR 1: Oh, my dear. I hope it doesn't offend you to know that I have some experience of the er, fairer sex.
BILL: Me too.
CAPTAIN: Good Lord.
"You're into girls?" Clara asked.
Bill shuffled uncomfortable and nervous about where this conversation was going but answered in the positive. She got a reassuring nod from the Doctor which put her a bit more at ease, surely her friends couldn't be all too bad.
"Cool, I'm Bi. It's nice to have allies here." Clara smiled at the younger girl; she had a feeling they would be good friends. After all they had both dealt with Eyebrows.
"Same here. I mean I'm Bi too." Yaz spoke up, drawing a shocked glance from Ryan and Graham. "What?"
"No. no. Nothing wrong with that love. Should have known." Graham smiled at her while Ryan nodded frantically, trying not to offend her or give the wrong impression.
"You don't have anything to worry about. Jack will flirt and sleep with just about everything. No one will get judged for anything like that here." The Doctor pointed to Jack who grinned widely winking at the three girls. Around the room the other companions nodded and smiled, some of them weren't exactly straight and none of them had anything against anyone who wasn't. Clara, Bill and Yaz grinned at each other and shared a mental thought of having a proper conversation later.
"And I still can't get you, Doc. I think I even bought you that drink at one point." Jack flirted drawing an eyeroll from the Doctor who was also doing nothing to hide her smile.
"Back off my wife Harkness." River threatened. Jack put his hands up in mock surrender but winked at both of the married pair.
(The Time Rotor stops and the door opens.)
BILL: Where are we?
DOCTOR 1: But you steered the ship, you piloted her perfectly. We are at the very centre of the universe.
(Looking out on a scene of devastation, including a moon with a hole blasted in it.)
"Even you look so confused that you managed to land where you meant to. I think that tells you something Doctor." Rose teased while the others laughed.
"Hey! I can drive perfectly well thank you very much." The Doctor huffed.
River and the Master were laughing the loudest. "Sweetie, you leave the brakes on constantly." River pointed out.
"I like the noise! It needs to make the noise! Besides, the TARDIS and I have an agreement she doesn't always take me where I want to go but she always takes me where I need to be."
The Master chuckled. "You are still terrible. How many times did you fail your TARDIS driving test? Four, five, six, more?"
"Wait she failed? How many times did it take her to pass?!" Mickey spluttered. The others were watching and laughing, interested in the answer.
The Master laughed harder. "She didn't. Plus, she stole a Type 40 TARDIS, one from a museum whose navigation system was broken." He was enjoying embarrassing the Doctor, even if it was to her little pets.
"Hey! I drive perfectly well on my own. It's supposed to have six pilots and I've learnt how to drive over the millennia. She's perfect the way she is!" The Doctor tried to explain amongst her laughing companions.
"That explains so much Doc." Graham chuckled. It took a while for them all to calm down.
DOCTOR: Out there is the most comprehensive database of all life anywhere. There is just one little problem.
BILL: Which is?
DOCTOR: It wants to kill me.
"Doesn't everything." The Doctor sighed. The others laughed at her but they knew it was true. Most things that knew the Doctor either loved her or wanted to kill her. She was a bit like marmite in that sense.
[Villengard]
(Something screeches amongst the wreckage.)
DOCTOR: The Weapon Forges of Villengard. Once the nightmare of the seven galaxies, now home to the dispossessed.
CAPTAIN: I say, I think there's something moving over here.
DOCTOR 1: Step away, please.
CAPTAIN: Probably just rats. I'm used to rats.
(Something leaps onto his face. Shades of Alien. The Doctor sonicks it, and it runs off on multiple little green legs.)
DOCTOR: Deep breaths, deep breaths. Just breathe, Captain, you'll be fine.
DOCTOR 1: That creature, it looked familiar.
DOCTOR: It's mutated a bit, but yes, I should think it did.
"Doctor is that what I think it is?" Martha asked wide eyed.
"If you are thinking about the sewers in Manhattan than yes, kind of." The Doctor said matter of fact, mouth pulled into a grimace. The others watched the exchange, curious and worried but with no idea what they were talking about. Mickey thought it sounded familiar, his wife had probably told him about it at some point but he couldn't place it.
DOCTOR 1: Come along, my dear chap. You'll be fine.
DOCTOR: Get him into the Tardis.
BILL: What are those things?
DOCTOR: What we came here for. The biggest database in the galaxy. They'll settle down in a moment.
(There are hordes of the brains on tentacles scurrying around.)
BILL: So, do we talk to them, ask them questions? How does it work?
DOCTOR: We don't do anything. I do.
BILL: Oh no, no, no, no, no, no!
DOCTOR: You're going to wait in the Tardis.
BILL: Why?
DOCTOR: Because you need to look after the Captain.
BILL: You're lying. You think I'm a duplicate, a trick.
DOCTOR: I don't know what I think. But if there's the slightest chance that Bill Potts is alive and standing in front of me, then I will not, under any circumstances, put her life in danger again.
"Doctor." Bill looked at her, eyes wide and sad.
"No Bill, I failed to protect you the first time, if there was any chance that really was you there was no way I was letting you get hurt again." She glanced at Clara before finishing. "I have a duty of care."
BILL: Seriously. You're looking right at me and you don't even know I'm here.
DOCTOR: Correct. I ask you to respect that, and respect me.
BILL: You're an arse. Do you know that? You, you, you, you're a stupid bloody arse.
DOCTOR: As I have always respected you.
(The first Doctor opens the Tardis door and looks at Bill.)
DOCTOR 1: If I hear any more language like that from you, young lady, you're in for a jolly good smacked bottom.
(And goes back inside.)
DOCTOR: Can we just pretend that that never happened?
BILL: I'm a broad-minded girl. I mean, I know we have this whole professor - student thing going on.
DOCTOR: Can we just never, ever talk about this again?
BILL: I hope we talk about it loads. I hope we spend years laughing about it. Come back alive.
DOCTOR: Be here when I do.
Bill offered a warm understanding smile to the Doctor. It may not have actually been her but she appreciated the Doctor trying to protect her. Even if he/she was still a stubborn idiot.
[Console room]
(The first Doctor opens up that roundel again.)
DOCTOR 1: Perhaps another nip of brandy?
(The decanter has a lot more in it here, of course.)
DOCTOR 1: Hmm. So that's where it went.
(The Captain is slumped in the chair.)
BILL: I'll look after him.
DOCTOR 1: Good girl, quite right. Now, young lady, I don't want to have to repeat myself.
BILL: I don't think any of us want that.
DOCTOR 1: I'll see you both presently.
(The first Doctor leaves the Tardis.)
BILL: Brandy?
CAPTAIN: Please.
(But when Bill reaches for the decanter, we see a glass hand.)
"She's one of those things!" Rory pointed out nervous. The others watched scared for what was going to happen. The Doctor smiled sadly. Part of her was glad they were concerned but the rest of her didn't believe she deserved it.
[Villengard]
(The 1st Doctor has caught up with the 12th very quickly.)
DOCTOR 1: These creatures. What are they?
DOCTOR: Old friends of ours, but they've really come out of their shell.
DOCTOR 1: Out of their shell?
The Master looked at her with a look that could almost be mistaken for concern. She shrugged at him; he was right in what they were but he would find out what happens like the others. River had also worked it out and was watching her worriedly.
(The Doctor gasps and leans on some rubble.)
DOCTOR 1: Are you all right?
DOCTOR: I'll be, I'll be fine in a moment.
DOCTOR 1: What's the matter?
DOCTOR: I died a few hours ago, then I refused to regenerate. It catches up with you. You know, it's like a big lunch.
DOCTOR 1: I did exactly the same.
DOCTOR: I know you did. But why? I don't remember this. Why are you refusing the regeneration?
DOCTOR 1: Fear. I'm afraid. Very, very afraid. I don't normally admit that to anyone else.
DOCTOR: Don't worry. Technically, you still haven't.
"Well, you have now Spaceman. It's alright to be scared you know, you're dying." Donna tried to comfort the Doctor who was watching the screen blankly. She didn't like the reminders of everything.
"I've died a lot of times." She muttered vaguely.
"That doesn't ever make it easier Doctor." Jack spoke softly for once. She failed to supress an angry snort, of course he would be the one to know.
DOCTOR 1: Why are you?
(Laser bolts are fired from a tall creeper-covered building to a point near them. They run.)
DOCTOR 1: There's something in that tower!
DOCTOR: Must be my friend.
DOCTOR 1: Why do you call him your friend?
DOCTOR: He's got a great big gun. Are you suggesting I insult him? (runs into a beam of light) Just scan me. Go on, scan me. Because I've got big news for you. I'm dying.
"You normally don't worry about that when you insult people. Have you finally gained some common sense?" Amy asked shocked and disbelieving. Clara, Bill and Nardole laughed shaking her head. She looked betrayed, then turned pleadingly to her fam. They shrugged before shaking their heads too. She put a hand to one of her hearts in mock offense.
(The laser bolts stop and a scanning line runs up and down the Doctor's body.)
DOCTOR: You see, it's true. Dying. Now, be honest with yourself. Wouldn't you like to see that up close?
(The light goes out and door at the bottom of the tower opens.)
DOCTOR: Come on. Up and at 'em, Corporal Jones.
[Console room]
(The Captain's hand are shaking.)
CAPTAIN: Funny thing. I wasn't afraid in the crater. One doesn't want to die, of course, but one gets in a certain frame of mind, one pulls oneself together, and gets on with the matter in hand. Big shock for everyone back in Cromer, of course.
BILL [OC]: You have family?
CAPTAIN: My wife will miss me. That's perfectly natural. But she's a solid woman, remarkably solid, and my boys. Well, sons are supposed to move on from their fathers. It's the proper way.
BILL [OC]: Of course.
CAPTAIN: Trouble is, I thought I'd been rescued. It felt rather like a miracle, in fact. But I do have this feeling they're going to put me back. Back in that crater in time to die. And you see, I'm not ready any more. I've lost the idea of it. That's the trouble with hope. Makes one awfully frightened. (laughs) I must sound like the most dreadful coward.
(Then he looks up and sees the Glass Woman.)
"Oh no."
[Villengard]
DOCTOR: Okay, I'd better go up alone.
DOCTOR 1: I won't hear of it.
DOCTOR: That thing up there won't miss the chance to kill me twice. The paradox would rip the universe apart, and you know how much hard work it is putting it back together again. You keep a lookout down here.
DOCTOR 1: Oh, if you insist.
(So he investigates a shaking bush where something is also beeping. The Glass Woman comes out of the Tardis and walks towards him.)
Everyone was watching nervous for both the Doctors despite knowing she was here safe with them. A few were curious about the paradox ripping apart the universe and putting it back together comment but decided not to ask, they would probably be shown if it was important.
[Tower]
DOCTOR: You know what? You're a bit of a legend these days, but not everyone believes it. People don't think that it could happen. That someone like you could turn against your own kind, because your kind don't do that.
[Villengard]
DOCTOR 1: Out of their shells.
(He is holding a Dalek eye stalk as the Glass Woman comes up behind him.)
Everyone had worked it out at this point and were looking even more worriedly at the screen. The Doctor was alive and with them but they were still worried, she had a habit of getting herself into trouble and hurt.
[Tower]
DOCTOR: Because people don't believe there could be any such thing as a good Dalek.
(See Into the Dalek .)
RUSTY: I am not a good Dalek. You are a good Dalek.
(Rusty fires at him but just misses. He hides behind the doorway.)
[Villengard]
(The original, holding a piece of Dalek casing, turns round to see human Bill.)
DOCTOR 1: Oh. Hello, my dear.
[Tower]
DOCTOR: Now, Rusty, you know that I'm dying, and if you don't want me to go off and die somewhere else where you can't watch, you're going to have to stop shooting at me.
"Rusty? Our Rusty?" Clara asked looking at the Doctor for confirmation.
"Rusty? You know it?" Jack asked incredulous. The others shared the same expression.
"Yes, we had a little trip inside him. He's a good Dalek, or as good as they can be. He's not the first good or okay Dalek I've met but the others are all dead I think." The Doctor answered knowing they wouldn't get any further if she didn't answer.
RUSTY: I agree to your terms.
DOCTOR: Well, I'm going to need some proof.
(Rusty's weapon stalk slides along the floor to his feet. The Doctor enters Rusty's chamber, where the Dalek is linked to computer banks by glowing cables.)
DOCTOR: You know what? You are the very first Dalek that ever got naked for me.
"It disarmed itself? They never do that." River watched the screen; face crinkled in confusion and worry.
"It knows me and was interested in finding out why I was there. Like I said, Rusty's a good Dalek. Besides, he figured he could get something out of it." The Doctor shrugged, sending a reassuring smile to her wife.
[Villengard]
BILL: You're the first one, yeah? Like, the original version of the Doctor.
The Doctor refused to acknowledge the look she got from the Master at that comment. Both now knew that wasn't her first face.
DOCTOR 1: My dear, you should get back to the ship. This place isn't safe.
BILL: You're the one who stole the Tardis and ran away.
DOCTOR 1: The Captain might be needing you.
BILL: Nah, the Captain's fine. Why did you do it?
DOCTOR 1: Oh, I'm sure your Doctor has explained.
BILL: I'm not even sure he remembers.
DOCTOR 1: There were many pressing reasons.
BILL: I don't mean what you ran away from. What were you running to?
DOCTOR 1: That's rather a good question.
BILL: Questions are kind of my thing. How are you with answers?
The Doctor smiled at Bill, she missed having her around both as her friend and as her student. Bill asked great questions and not always the ones she expected. She was also curious about the conversation; her memories were still a bit blurry on it because of it being so long ago and the fact there was two of them around.
[Tower]
DOCTOR: It's been a long time. Remember the good old days, when I got miniaturised and I climbed around inside you?
RUSTY: You taught me to hate the Daleks.
DOCTOR: Billions of years ago. What have you been up to since then?
RUSTY: Destroying Daleks.
DOCTOR: Yes, all the ones who come here to murder you. Yes, I saw the mess outside.
RUSTY: Why are you here?
DOCTOR: As a Dalek, you are linked in to the Dalek hive mind. All Daleks are. Biggest database I know. I'd like to access it.
RUSTY: Why would I help you?
DOCTOR: Because helping me, in any way, does something wonderful. It hurts the Daleks.
"He's really a good Dalek?" Rose asked. The last time she had seen a supposed 'good' Dalek was also the first one she had ever met one and they had destroyed themselves after killing hundreds of people.
The Doctor shrugged. "About as good as they get. Rusty kills any Daleks that get near them." She looked at the Ponds and Clara. "He would probably fit in at the Asylum."
[Villengard]
DOCTOR 1: There is good and there is evil. I left Gallifrey to answer a question of my own. By any analysis, evil should always win. Good is not a practical survival strategy. It requires loyalty, self-sacrifice and er, love. So, why does good prevail? What keeps the balance between good and evil in this appalling universe? Is there some kind of logic? Some mysterious force?
"Is that really why you left?" Donna asked, for once soft in a kind of maternal way glancing at the Doctor. This video was worrying her. As was the whole manner of the Doctor, it reminded her too much of how she (then he) had been after the trouble on Midnight.
"Part of it, there was many reasons and I have forgotten half of them at this point. I didn't ever really fit in. I just knew I needed to leave, and I wanted a new start for Susan." The Doctor sighed. She shot a quick look at the Master, maybe the knowledge, the belief that she needed to leave was because of her past.
BILL: Perhaps there's just a bloke.
DOCTOR 1: A bloke?
BILL: Yeah. Perhaps there's just some bloke, wandering around, putting everything right when it goes wrong.
DOCTOR 1: Well, that would be a nice story, wouldn't it?
BILL: That would be the best.
DOCTOR 1: But the real world is not a fairy tale.
BILL: You dash around the universe trying to figure out what's holding it all together, and you really, really don't know?
DOCTOR 1: You know me in the future. Do I ever understand?
BILL: No. I really don't think you do. Everyone who's ever met you does. You're amazing, Doctor. (hugs him) Never forget that. Never, ever.
A round of nods and noises of agreements sounded throughout the room. They all agreed with what Bill had said, barring the Master, and were happily reminiscing on all their adventures. However, there was a tension lurking in the room, as much as they wanted to none of them could forget what this video was about – the Doctor was refusing to regenerate.
DOCTOR 1: Well, that's very kind of you.
BILL: We just needed to understand you, Doctor.
(Behind his back, her arms are glass.)
[Tower]
(The Dalek database has come up with a person, which is being projected from Rusty's eye stalk.)
DOCTOR: Professor Helen Clay, University Of New Earth, year five billion and twelve. There's footage. Can you run it?
[Villengard]
DOCTOR 1: A spy. A spy in the camp.
BILL: No, not a spy. I'm Bill Potts, but I'm part of Testimony now.
[Tower]
HELEN [projection]: The Testimony Foundation combines the resources of time travel, with the latest in memory extraction techniques. The near-dead can be lifted momentarily from their time streams, their memories duplicated, and then their physical selves returned to the moment of their dissolution without pain, distress or any recall of the process. Now the dead can speak again. We can hear the testimony of the past, and channelled through our glass avatars, they can walk among us again. This is Heaven on New Earth.
DOCTOR: Oh, it's not an evil plan. I don't really know what to do when it isn't an evil plan. Why did you stop it? Rusty?
"That's a very rare occurrence with you. Somehow you always seem to find trouble in the most normal of situations." Martha laughed alongside the rest of the companions at the Doctor's disbelief.
"I guess it was going to happen one of these days." Amy joked smiling at the other woman, they hadn't had much time to really talk much between each other but had all knew the Doctor and had travelled with him so they had to be good people.
DOCTOR 1: He didn't stop it. They've frozen Time again.
DOCTOR: Who has?
GLASS WOMAN: Not everything's evil, Doctor.
(She has stepped out of the projection of Helen, and morphs into -)
BILL: You're not the only kind one in the universe.
DOCTOR: I knew you weren't real.
BILL: Oh, shut up and stop being so stupid. Of course I'm real. What is anyone supposed to be except a bunch of memories? These are my memories, so this is me. I'm Bill Potts, and I'm back, and so long as I'm here, what the hell do you mean, you're not going to regenerate?
The companions were all trying really hard not to stare at the Doctor, shooting her concerned glances instead. It was Rory that broke the tense silence. "Why were you regenerating anyway, what happened?"
The Doctor grimaced, looking between Bill, Nardole and the Master, the only ones who had any kind of idea what was going on. She had just about gathered the courage to answer but Bill beat her to it. "We were on the ship escaping a blackhole. Me, the Doctor, Nardole, Missy and the Master (yes there was two of them, long story). The Master was trying to create an army of Cybermen and I was converted but retained myself. The Doctor messed up their plot, as usual, and they fled with us. We were trying to protect the last group of people but both the Master and Missy ran off and Nardole managed to take the humans to safety. The Doctor and I were left fighting the Cybermen. The idiot blew them up, but blew himself up alongside them. My friend Heather, who is the Pilot – long story, don't ask – saved me and we saved the Doctor, returning him to the TARDIS. When I left, I was unsure whether he was even alive." Bill rambled sadness permeating from her as she rambled trying to explain the situation. The others listened trying to understand and take in what had been said.
"Ran off? Ran off? You don't even know." The Master shouted angrily, glaring wide eyed at the Doctor. He was breathing heavily before he went wide eyed and started laughing edging into hysterics. "Of course, you don't know. So readily believing the worst, I bet you didn't ever really believe I would change."
"Don't know what? You left me. I begged you to stay with me and you ran off with your younger self! Of course, I believed you! I always believe you because I am an idiot, a hopeful idiot who misses her friend! Even though you keep hurting me and the people I care about." The Doctor shouted angry and desperate to understand. They had both avoided talking about Missy in all their interactions since, she needed to know what had happened.
"I killed the younger-me, so he would regenerate into me and I was coming back. I was going to stand with you. Younger-me didn't agree with my decision and shot me with his laser screwdriver. He thought he killed me with no regenerations but I had put protections into my corset. I lay there for ages, waiting for you to find me!" He was angry again, shouting at her while the others watched confused and worried. "Eventually, I managed to crawl away and found a way of that infernal ship." He paused for a moment before finishing with a hoarse whisper. "I was going to stand with you. Without hope. Without witness. Without reward."
She gaped at him, speechless unsure of what to say and unable to say anything. Eventually she managed to choke out, "I didn't know."
He shot her with a blank glare. "Of course, you didn't. You never do. You so readily believed I had betrayed you. What did you think the knife was for?"
"I thought you were threatening me like normal! What did you expect me to think? I begged you to stay so you take my hand and press a knife against my arm. Why would I think you were going to stab your younger self? You're usually all about self-preservation and survival. Besides I couldn't exactly come to save you seeing as I was dying at the time too!" She wasn't even sure if she was trying to beg for forgiveness or to shout angrily at him anymore. She watched him carefully looking for any sort of tells of what he was thinking. Nothing. She swallowed and turned determinedly away from him and back to the screen.
The companions shared a look, but didn't say anything and allowed the video to continue. The drama between the Time Lords was dangerous to try and get between on a normal day, with both of them being this emotionally charged in a small space together – they had no hope of staying out of it.
DOCTOR: There has to be an end, Bill, for everyone, everywhere.
BILL: What about the Captain? You know he has to die at his allotted point in time and space to correct the error.
DOCTOR: I'm so tired of losing people. If the Captain has to die, a request. This was our fault.
DOCTOR 1: How so?
DOCTOR: Let us take him back.
"You have a plan, right? You're not just going to take him back to his death? Right, Doc?" Graham asked worried, breaking the tense atmosphere that had settled after the explosive argument between the two Time Lords.
"Just watch Graham, it will be okay I promise." She sighed. She was so tired of everything and it was only going to get worse.
(Two Tardises travelling in space.)
DOCTOR 1 [OC]: How was this our fault?
DOCTOR [OC]: You and me tried to die twice in the same lifetime. Our lives are woven throughout time and space. We caused the timeline error that put the Captain in the wrong place. We created a whirlpool in time that landed him at our feet.
DOCTOR 1 [OC]: But why him? What's so important about one Captain?
DOCTOR [OC]: Everybody's important to somebody, somewhere.
The companions all glanced at the Doctor and then their own friends/family in the room. The Doctor's words rang true in all their heads. Some of them were remembering when she had said similar things around them.
[Tardis]
DOCTOR: Are you all right?
CAPTAIN: Yes, fine, absolutely. Just thinking. I told the wife I'd be home for Christmas. Funny how things work out.
(The Doctor sets the Time Rotor going.)
[Ypres 1914]
(Two Tardises materialise side by side next to the crater. Nice trick given that the 1st Doctor can't steer his. The Doctor helps the Captain back down the slope to his position opposite the frightened German.)
CAPTAIN: Thank you. Thank you all. You've all been most gracious in the unfortunate circumstances.
DOCTOR 1: I regret, Captain, that the universe generally fails to be a fairy tale.
GLASS WOMAN: When time resumes, you will not remember this. A perception filter will also render us invisible.
CAPTAIN: Yes. One imagines some of those words were attached to actual meanings of some sort. One thing you could possibly do for me, if you were very kind?
DOCTOR: Oh, anything. Name it.
CAPTAIN: My family. Perhaps you could look in on them, from time to time?
DOCTOR 1: We should be delighted. What's the name?
CAPTAIN: Lethbridge-Stewart. Captain Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart.
DOCTOR 1: I shall make it my business.
DOCTOR: You can trust him on that.
"He's Kate's grandfather? Or Great-grandfather?" Clara asked, blinking at the screen shocked.
"Yes, I think so. Funny how things turn out isn't it. I've met three generations of Lethbridge-Stewarts and they are all brave and amazing people." The Doctor smiled sadly remembering her dear friend and then cheered up a bit more happily thinking about Kate. She should really say hello to her and the Osgoods in this face, that may surprise them for once. Although there was that problem with the withdrawal of funding for UNIT.
CAPTAIN: Thank you so much. I believe I am now ready.
(He sits and points his pistol at the German. The Glass Woman vanishes and Time restarts.)
GERMAN SOLDIER: Das ist verruckt. Ich will dir nicht wehtun.
(That's crazy. I don't want to hurt you.)
CAPTAIN: :Cold, isn't it? It's about to get colder, I suppose, for one of us.
(Fingers tighten on triggers, then -)
GERMANS: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht. Alles schlaft, einsam wacht.
CAPTAIN: I say, is that singing?
"What's going on?" Mickey questioned. Despite his confusion a smile made its way onto his face. A few companions had a sneaking suspicion of what was going on and started to smile.
GERMANS: hochheilige Paar Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar. Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh! Schlaf in himmlischer
CAPTAIN: Is that Christmas carols?
BRITISH: Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon Virgin Mother and Child.
CAPTAIN: You know, I could swear it's coming from both sides.
DOCTOR: If I've got my timings right, and clearly I have, then we should be right at the beginning.
(Soldiers come out of their trenches with white flags, still singing.)
DOCTOR: I adjusted the time frame, only by a couple of hours. Any other day it wouldn't make any difference, but this is Christmas 1914, and a human miracle is about to happen. The Christmas Armistice.
Now everyone was grinning. Of course, the Doctor had managed to save him. That's what she did. What they all did.
(The Captain puts his pistol away.)
CAPTAIN: Wounded man here!
(He blows his whistle and stands up.)
CAPTAIN: Wounded man here! Wounded man!
DOCTOR: It never happened again, any war, anywhere.
CAPTAIN: I say, wounded man here. Wounded man!
(Stretcher bearers from both sides go out into no-man's-land.)
DOCTOR: But for one day, one Christmas, a very long time ago, everyone just put down their weapons, and started to sing. Everybody just stopped. Everyone was just kind.
DOCTOR 1: You've saved him.
DOCTOR: Both of them. Never hurts, a couple fewer dead people on the battlefield.
DOCTOR 1: So that's what it means to be a doctor of war.
DOCTOR: You were right, you know. The universe generally fails to be a fairy tale. But that's where we come in.
"So, you know then? You understand? The impact you have on people. You save so many Doctor." River spoke softly but hopeful. The others watched the Doctor with a similar expression, sometimes she could be such an idiot and didn't understand what she meant to people and the universe.
"It's never enough." The Doctor muttered quietly enough that most didn't hear and simply accepted her silence as a sign to move on.
(The famous football kick-about has started.)
SOLDIERS: For auld lang syne, my dear. For auld lang syne. We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne. For auld lang syne, my dear. For auld lang syne. We'll take a cup of kindness yet, For auld lang syne.
(As the soldiers shake hands with their opposite numbers, the two Doctors also shake hands. Their regeneration energy flares.)
DOCTOR 1: I think I'm ready now. But I should like to know, are you?
DOCTOR: You'll find out. The long way round.
DOCTOR 1: Whatever you decide, good luck, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Goodbye, Doctor.
(The first Doctor walks away. The Doctor picks up a tin cup and takes a drink. The Captain notices. The Doctor raises the cup in salute, and the Captain salutes him in return.)
[Console room]
(The Tardis dematerialises.)
DOCTOR 1: Well then, here we go. The long way round.
(Fade into black and white, 4:3 ratio, ready for William Hartnell's regeneration into Patrick Troughton.)
Everyone watched interested to see the Doctor's first regeneration and their second face.
[Ypres 1914]
BILL: Are you okay?
DOCTOR: Shall we go for one last stroll, Miss Potts?
(The Christmas Armistice is coming to an end.)
BILL: Do you know what the hardest thing about knowing you was?
DOCTOR: My superior intelligence. My dazzling charisma. Oh! My impeccable dress sense.
BILL: Letting you go. Letting go of the Doctor is so, so hard, isn't it?
The rest of the companions that had already left, everyone barring the current three, nodded in agreement. Smiling sadly at the Doctor who glanced around at them with a soft smile. That was one of the hardest things for her as well, losing them. Even when they left to lead a happy life it was so hard.
DOCTOR: You see, that's, that's, that's not the sort of thing the real Bill Potts would say.
BILL: I am the real Bill! A life is just memories. I'm all her memories, so I'm her.
DOCTOR: If you say so.
BILL: Okay, I'm going to prove to you how important memories are. I've got a little goodbye present for you.
DOCTOR: Oh, that's nice. Will I have to pretend I like it? Because honestly, that rug
BILL: Oh, come here, you. (kiss on cheek)
CLARA: Merry Christmas, Doctor.
"That's me!" Clara stated shocked.
"Yes, in a way that's you. In the same way the other one is Bill." The Doctor smiled at Clara.
"Do you ever have a calm Christmas? I know you spent most when we knew you saving people." Rory queried out of the blue, having noticed Not-Clara's words rather than her appearance.
"I can't really remember one recently, mine usually end in an adventure; some better than others." The Doctor shrugged; her face scrunched up trying to think back to her last properly peaceful Christmas.
DOCTOR: Clara.
CLARA: Hello, you stupid old man.
DOCTOR: You're back. You're in my head. All my memories are back.
CLARA: And don't go forgetting me again, because, quite frankly, that was offensive.
"So that's how you remembered?" It wasn't really a question, more a statement but the Doctor nodded.
"You forgot her? How did you forget her?" It was Donna, of course, who asked.
"There was a bad situation and we were too alike. It was dangerous. One of us needed to forget the other. Both had a 50/50 chance and in the end the Doctor was the one that lost his memories of me. I'm sure it will be explained properly at one point." Clara explained sadly. She was happy he remembered but sad it was when he was dying. And that he was dying alone.
BILL: Memories. Important, right?
NARDOLE: I know what you're thinking. Where is he? Hello, sir.
DOCTOR: When you're already dying, you're entitled to think that your day couldn't get any worse, but here you are. And both of you are here. How does that work?
"Oi! Be nice." Rose protested, sending a sharp glare at the Doctor who held her hands up in surrender, trying to hide her smile. Rose could be just like her mother at times and the Doctor was glad she wasn't in slapping distance.
BILL: We can be everyone. We are everyone.
NARDOLE: Yeah, it's good this, innit? Now I'm all made of glass, not just my nipples. Yeah, but they got my hair a bit wrong though, didn't they?
BILL: You don't have any hair!
NARDOLE: I have invisible hair. Got a suggestion for you, then.
DOCTOR: Oh, there's a novelty.
NARDOLE: Don't die. Because if you do, I think everybody in the universe might just go cold.
The Doctor scoffed. All her companions turned to her in shock, did she really not know what she meant to the universe?
"Doctor, you may be female now but you're still a stupid old man. Do you not remember on Trenzalore? Do you know what Vastra told me how about that time the Great Intelligence was erasing your timeline?" Clara ensured the Doctor was actually looking into her eyes before continuing. "The stars were going out. Whole galaxies never existed, other destroyed. Jenny was dead and Strax tried to kill Vastra. All those people you've saved. You have to understand that, the universe needs you."
"She's right. Remember the Pandorica? There were no stars in the sky in that alternative timeline because the TARDIS exploded and destroyed the universe. Then when you fixed it you weren't there and it felt so wrong." Amy added desperately trying to get her friend/daughter-in-law to see.
"Doctor, I don't remember much of the world where I met Rose, with the weird thing on my back, but I know you died and I know the universe was so much worse off because of it." Donna smiled sadly at her.
"Doctor. Sweetie. The universe needs you. And even if it didn't, we need you. I need you. We're your friends, your family and we all love you, no matter your weird quirks or past. We love you. If you don't want to regenerate that's your choice but we love you." River pleaded down at the Doctor who was staring blankly at the floor.
Bill reached over and hugged the Doctor who collapsed into her arms, hiding her face. The others continued to watch worried. Clearly, she had regenerated in the end but she still had the same thoughts from the way she was acting. It suggested she wasn't in a good place mentally, so what had happened since then? What was so bad the TARDIS wanted them to see to help her?
DOCTOR: Can't I ever have peace? Can't I rest?
BILL: Of course you can.
NARDOLE: It's your choice.
BILL: Only yours.
NARDOLE: We understand.
DOCTOR: No. No, you don't. You're not even really here. You're just memories held in glass. Do you know how many of you I could fill? I would shatter you. My testimony would shatter all of you. A life this long, do you understand what it is? It's a battlefield, like this one, and it's empty. Because everyone else has fallen. Thank you. Thank you both, for everything that you were to me. What happens now, where I go now, it has be alone.
"You really weren't going to regenerate? You were just going to give up. That's even more cowardly than normal for you." The Master initiated contact without looking at her, his face deceptively blank.
"I'm tired Master. I don't care if you think that's cowardly but I'm tired. You can't really say anything – you died in my arms to spite me. I can die if I want to die." She shot back mentally, keeping her face equally blank. None of the others needed to know.
"No, you can't. Only I get to kill you! And I say you can't die yet. I have to be the one to break you and then destroy you. Don't you dare give up on me, I don't care how tired you are." She decided it was better to not acknowledge him, that was his way of expressing concern despite the slightly twisted mentality.
(Bill hugs the Doctor. Nardole joins in.)
NARDOLE: Cuddle.
(Then they disappear.)
DOCTOR: Time to leave the battlefield.
"Thank you, Bill for everything. Really. I'm so sorry about everything and I'm so glad you are safe with Heather. You too Nardole, thank you for looking after me for those 70 years and for going with those children back on the ship. I never got to say that to you both properly but thank you." The Doctor pulled back from the hug and composed herself. She turned to look at all her companions. "Thank you to all of you for putting up with me and for everything you ever have been and are to me. It's selfish but I really wouldn't have missed a second of any of it."
[Tardis]
(The Tardis dematerialises.)
DOCTOR: Oh, there it is. The silly old universe. The more I save it, the more it needs saving. It's a treadmill.
(The Tardis beeps, flashes and burbles at him.)
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, I know. They'll get it all wrong without me. I suppose one more lifetime wouldn't kill anyone. Well, except me.
(The Cloister Bell tolls.)
DOCTOR: You wait a moment, Doctor. Let's get it right. I've got a few things to say to you. Basic stuff first. Never be cruel, never be cowardly, and never, ever eat pears! Remember, hate is always foolish. and love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind. Oh, and you mustn't tell anyone your name. No one would understand it, anyway. Except, ah! (collapses) Except children. Children can hear it sometimes. If their hearts are in the right place, and the stars are too, children can hear your name. Argh! But nobody else. Nobody else, ever. Laugh hard, run fast, be kind. Doctor, I let you go.
Everyone watched the screen in a gross mixture of fascination and sadness. Clara and Bill, the ones that had really known that face had tears in their eyes alongside a few of the others. It was painful and heart-breaking watching their friend, their family dying. And dying alone. Bill held the Doctor tighter in her arms, refusing to let her go. She needed the comfort, let alone the Doctor (who would never admit she needed some too).
The Doctor was analysing the screen having finally freed herself from Bill's arms. These were Eyebrow's last words and hopes for this regeneration and she hadn't been living up to them. It was so hard to be kind and nice, especially with Gallifrey's destruction and then all the lies. She had tried to seem happy and carefree this time. Tried to kept her fam safe by keeping her distance. It was just so hard. She was just so angry and the universe just kept throwing more reasons to be angry at her. She had died alone and regretful and that had imprinted on her.
(The regeneration streams out of him, causing Tardis systems to go bang. When it ends, the engines are stuttering, and the signet ring falls off the Doctor's right hand. In fact, all the clothes are rather baggy on this new body. The scanner reveals the reflection of the new, younger face with jaw-length blonde hair.)
DOCTOR 13: Oh, brilliant!
(The accent has moved southwards, from Scotland to Northern England. She presses a button, there's a small explosion in the console and the scanner proclaims - Systems Crisis MULTIPLE OPERATIONS FAILURES. The Tardis snaps back into normal space, tilts drastically and keeps going bang. The Cloister Bell continues to toll. The Doctor tries to hang on to the console, but looses her grip and slides towards the door which is now open with papers flying out of it. Now the Tardis is completely on its side, door open downwards. The Time Rotor explodes and she falls out towards the distant ground as the Tardis, its interior in flames, vanishes.)
"You fell out?!" River asked staring worriedly at her wife who was refusing to look anywhere but the floor. She hadn't been looking forward to the ensuing comments her regeneration and subsequent crashing would cause.
"I put off regeneration for too long, it made it more explosive. Plus, she was annoyed at me for regenerating in her again." The Doctor muttered shrugging. She really needed to stop regenerating in the TARDIS.
"How long? Doctor, how long did you put it off for?" Jack was serious in the way he only was around her in extremely serious circumstances. She muttered an answer quietly but the pair hadn't heard. "How long Doctor?!"
"Two weeks alright! I put it off for about two weeks. I had been injured by a Cyberman before we escaped and the explosion only made it even worse. I didn't think it would matter; I wasn't going to regenerate at all." The Doctor exploded arms flailing around at her sides as she glared between the pair.
She couldn't deal with the pity in their expressions. Her next words slipped out shocking both her and the rest of the room. "Besides he was wrong. I shouldn't have regenerated at all."
"Doctor." Martha was the first to speak amongst the tense room. "If you had died there, none of us would have ever known you were even dead. What about us? Don't we deserve a goodbye?" She was angry now, angry and scared and frustrated. And so sad for her friend. She spoke again, predicting the Doctor's protests. "And don't even try to claim that saving us from the Sontarans in your tenth form was a proper goodbye!"
The Doctor glared at the ground. She didn't know what to say. She was so tired and everything she had learnt in the Matrix in Gallifrey had only made it worse. She hadn't even meant to voice the niggling thoughts; they had been creeping over her more and more. The time in prison had only solidified her decision.
"What about us Doctor? If you had died there, we probably would have been killed by Tim Shaw and Karl definitely would have. Plus, all those other people we met on our adventures." Ryan pointed out. It was hard seeing his friend like this.
The Doctor knew she wasn't going to get anywhere, not now. "It doesn't matter. Let's just move on. I don't think any of us want to be here any longer than we have to be." The others watched her concerned. None of them wanted to drop the subject but they knew they weren't going to get anywhere at the minute. It was probably better to move on now before she closed off completely. They knew something bad must have happened for her to be thinking like this again and it worried them.
The Doctor put on a fake smile, taking a deep breath before looking back up at the others from her place on her beanbag. "Do you want to continue or does anyone want a break?" She received shrugs of indifference. "Okay, how about we watch another episode or two and then have a break?" This time the nods were more positive so they turned back to the screen a mix of nervous and excited to see what they would be shown next.