Fifteen back to Thirteen, Brunette.
- A Doctor Who Unbound short story -
By TimeTraveller-1900.
The Doctor panted as sweat dripped down his face, his dark skin glowing with regeneration energy. Staggering into the TARDIS, he put the old girl into flight quickly. Pre-regeneration pains made it increasingly hard to concentrate as he guided the old girl towards a corner of Earth which was devoid of life and would make it safe for him to regenerate; ever since the day he had regenerated into his past self, the Doctor had finally realised the dangers of regenerating in the TARDIS.
Gazing at the Time Rotor in wonder for a moment, the Doctor looked at his glowing hands in acceptance; ever since he had accepted his true history as the Timeless Child and that he was not a Gallifreyan, the Doctor had come to see every subsequent regeneration since his twelfth incarnation who hadn't wanted to go on being 'somebody else' as a stepping stone, and since he had discovered that he could be the people he had used to be in the past, as the Curator had told him when they had met in the museum after saving Gallifrey with his tenth and wartime selves, he had wondered how he could experiment.
It was strange; he had spent his earlier regenerations trying to keep being the person he had been at the time, telling the likes of the Master and the War Chief never to waste their lives, and yet now he found that he was starting to not care who he was because at the end of the century he was still the same Doctor. Whether the likes of his enemies liked it, or not.
He closed his eyes, picturing the people he had been - the ones he could remember at any rate since he had still to open the fob watch he'd recovered during the Flux - and he wondered if he should spend his next few lives revisiting them. It would be good for his previous to revisit their unique personas in a universe which had long since changed since the Time War.
The TARDIS landed.
The Doctor turned and smiled just as he was about to walk out of the console room. "Look after the next one, you beauty," he said to the old sentient time machine.
Slowly opening the door, the Doctor was a bit surprised to find himself on top of a building in the middle of Sheffield - he recognised the skyline, it held so many distinctive buildings, but it was strange being back here. He closed his eyes as he remembered Yaz's expression as she left the TARDIS. With a sigh, he sat down and took a deep breath, already feeling the change shift his lungs with their new selves…
X
Inside the Doctor's mind, by the Edge where the personalities regenerating retreated into the psyche and new, fresh ones left for their time in charge, a former personality was speaking to the Guardians of the Edge.
"I'd like a chance to go back," the personality said.
"Ordinarily you know that we cannot allow that, but given how we have broken the rules and we can do whatever we like, we can do it now," the Guardian said, phasing first from the First Doctor, through to the Fifth, the Tenth and the Sixth and lastly to the Eighth.
The old persona smiled at them.
"Doctor, here I come," the Doctor's past persona smiled.
X
Still seated, the Fifteenth Doctor began to regenerate into the Sixteenth. Their arms flung wide, regeneration energy shooting out of them as it renewed and restored them to their former health and fitness. As the old Doctor faded into his mind, able to sense as their clothes and body changed, becoming top heavy, the new Doctor's thoughts surfaced and the Fifteenth recognised who was coming, and he was becoming female once more.
Finally, it was over and the Doctor pitched forwards, long brunette hair falling into her lap while she panted and took deep breaths. Lifting her head, the Doctor examined her body. The Doctor lifted herself up, noticing the dark blue jeans and the boots while noting the dark jacket and the familiar rainbow-coloured shirt.
"Wow," the Doctor smiled to herself, rolling her teeth around in her mouth. "I'm back."
The Doctor stood up and searched her pockets for the TARDIS key. Once she found it she went inside and looked for a mirror. Once she found one she gaped in amazement and delight. She looked exactly like her thirteenth self, baring the clothes and the long brunette hair. She looked down at herself, checking out her clothes for the first time. She still had her rainbow-coloured shirt, but her former coat and trousers were gone. Why? Was it because while she was in her own mind, with the likes of her ninth self and the others she had begun to cringe at the questionable fashion choices of her former tenures? Or was it simply because she was just looking forward to moving on?
The Doctor didn't know. She just shrugged her shoulders and she just felt it was a mixture of both. She had to admit, after her last two regenerations, she had begun questioning her original time in charge. Looking around the console room, the Doctor wondered to herself what she should do next, where to go next; she would have to tell Kate she'd regenerated and update her profile (fun, but after encountering the new UNIT for the last few years, she knew she would need to have a good enough profile), but just as she was about to set the controls for UNIT HQ, her hands paused over the console.
Why had the TARDIS brought her back to Sheffield, of all places?
Unbidden, an image of Yaz entered her mind. And not just Yaz, what about Dan, Graham, and Ryan? Hell, she also pictured in her mind Ace and Tegan, and through them, she pictured some of her other companions. While she'd had fun with Sarah Jane when they weren't dealing with the Krillitanes, the Trickster or the Daleks, the Doctor had never returned to her former companions, although she had the ability. One of her biggest fears was she would visit her friends and discover they were long since dead. But then she recalled that she owned a time machine. She could learn of a friend's death and yet they could play puzzles over a hot cup of tea.
Maybe it was time for her to take advantage of that power.
X
Yaz Khan, now DC Khan, sighed in relief as she got inside the front door of her flat. She dropped the pizza box on the table and she took a quick shower. Eating the pizza, side-eyeing the picture of herself, the Doctor, and Ryan and Graham back in the good old days before everything had taken a turn for the worst, the bizarre and the frightening, especially after the Master's insane plan to steal the Doctor's body.
She often wondered to herself where and when the Doctor was now; after hearing from Tegan and Ace how the Doctor never really kept in contact, she felt hurt by the notion she would never see the Doctor again.
After shaking her head at the notion as she watched some good telly, Yaz let herself relax before the door rang. She cursed but then her training returned and she wondered who was outside. Cautiously she went to the door and checked the peephole. She gasped in astonishment.
She flung open the door.
"Hi, Yaz," the Doctor said with a shy smile.
Yaz couldn't speak for a moment. "It can't be," she whispered. "Are you sure you're not the Master?"
The Doctor jumped in offence. "Excuse me? No, I am not the Master! Yaz, I'm so sorry, it's been a while for me, but it is definitely me."
"But you're….brunette," Yaz fingered some of the longer hair.
"Does it matter?"
"No, I guess not," Yaz smiled before she suddenly became angry. "I was worried about ya!"
The Doctor sighed. "I don't like endings and I don't like looking back. It's one of the curses of being a time traveller; you can continually revisit the premiere of a movie or an old concert, but it never feels the same, and I always get frightened of seeing a companion I cared about dying. Stupid, I know, since I have the TARDIS. And I'm gonna change all of that."
"What do you mean?" Yaz was intrigued by the comment.
"I was thinking of reuniting with some of my former companions."
"Well, that's easy," Yaz grinned.
X
A few days later, Yaz and the Doctor went to the rented-out hall where Graham and Kate had organised the get-togethers. According to Yaz, they had managed to find several other of the Doctor's former companions since the initial meeting, and now the membership had grown to three times the original number.
Yaz kept the Doctor behind her as a surprise. "Hi, everyone."
"Hi, Yaz, did you manage to get a day off?" Martha greeted.
"Yeah, I managed to organise it with my boss," Yaz said, "but there's someone here who'd like to say hello."
Reaching behind herself she pulled the Doctor forward.
"Hi, everyone," the Doctor grinned but the nerves were clear in her features.
Silence fell in the room.
"Doctor?"
"Professor? You've got the same face!" Ace was confused.
"Doctor? Is that really you?" Ian Chesterton (the sight of her old friend was a surprise) croaked.
"You really are a woman?" Liv whispered.
"That's the Doctor?" Rani Chandra gaped, and the Doctor smiled at Sarah Jane's protege.
The Doctor nodded. "And this isn't exactly the same old face," she replied. "Actually this is my sixteenth self. It's been a while for me. But when the Master stole my body that time, I found myself in my mind and discovered the place where every one of my personas goes when the regeneration occurs, and since then I've realised I can give those old incarnations a second chance."
"So that means you can regenerate into the body you were in when we were working at UNIT?" Jo asked.
"Yes," the Doctor nodded. "It first happened when I regenerated back into the body I was in when you and I met Martha," the Doctor added with a sad smile aimed at Martha, remembering the way they'd met when they'd met during that ATMOS disaster and how cold she had been with him. The Doctor had accepted her mood because she'd deserved it after everything Martha had been put through.
"But that's not why I'm here," the Doctor sat down and looked at her hands. "I don't revisit my former companions because I'm scared."
"Scared of what?" Mel asked.
"Scared of what I'd find," the Doctor didn't lift her gaze, scared to see what her old friend's reaction would be. "I've met former companions before who turned out to be bitter towards me for my past behaviour, but what scared me the most was I would find them older, and I would keep regenerating and going on living while you died. Stupid right, since I do have a time machine. But with this new incarnation, I want to change that. I want to make amends, extend the olive branch - never understood that saying - and try to rebuild old friendships while letting you know I never stopped looking out for you. I know I don't deserve it, but I thought I'd make some effort."
Everyone looked at each other in surprise. They hadn't expected this, but seeing the Doctor's attitude and body language, they could see she was scared - that was strange for someone as self-assured as the Doctor, and then it hit them. She was telling them the truth. They knew the Doctor lied, but they could tell she was being honest this time around.
Please let me know what you think. I've been having this in mind ever since David Tennant came back.