Darkness. Nothing but black around his body. The Doctor last remembered creating a telepathic link with a man from the hut. He looked around himself but saw nothing. Footsteps thudded behind him, getting louder and louder, accompanied by a voice.
The voice drifted around him like it was coming from all sides. "Oh… Aren't you a clever one... Glorious mind, but in so much pain... Delicious."
The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"
Several questions surfaced in his brain. Where was he? How did he get here? How could he get out? He whirled around to face what looked to be his doppelgänger, just standing stoically, his hands clasped behind him with a smirk.
"Alright, this is where it gets complicated." His ganger said.
"Doctor!' Elanna yelled out as she leaned over the Doctor's body. After the link was severed from the man, the Doctor was thrown away. He went to stand, fixing the buttons of his blue suit jacket in the process. Then suddenly, he wobbled and collapsed to the wood floor. Elanna frantically dove from standing next to Inuyasha to catch the Time Lord. Once in her arms, Kagome had helped her move the Doctor to another tatami mat where he now currently laid.
"Doctor! Open your eyes!" She called out to him, but he just lay there asleep. Looked over at the other man across the room, who was groaning in pain, though less so now. It was confusing to her how the Doctor was passed out.
She stared down at his face, worry rising up in her. She almost didn't notice when Kagome moved from the other man next to her.
"I'm sure he'll wake up soon." The priestess stated, causing Elanna to jump and turn her head towards her.
"What? Oh, right. You're right; he'll be fine. I'm assuming this isn't the first time he's been knocked out. When he wakes up, he'll probably spout a tale about how he got knocked out by police or some alien in 1953 or something." She nodded slowly, trying to bring a lighter tone into the bleak atmosphere.
Kagome gasped, grabbing the Time Lady's hands in her own, "I was right! You are from the future!"
Elanna's eyes went wide. Was she not supposed to mention anything? Did she just break the timeline? She began to fidget and stutter, her eyes shifting around the hut, trying to look anywhere but the priestess in front of her. "I-I.. uh... Don't know what you talking about.."
"It's okay! I'm from the future too! I came here from 1996, Tokyo!" She smiled brightly, and Elanna flushed slightly. "When are you and this man, the Doctor, from?"
"Well, I…" She trailed off, unsure of how much she should share with Kagome. She looked at the priestess deciding that it should be fine. "I'm from 2025 USA."
"Oh! That's way in the future! And is the Doctor from your time?"
Elanna looked down. The truth was she didn't actually know that much about the Doctor. She knows that she learned about him by sharing his memories with her when she was a preteen. He didn't really like to talk about himself. Better yet, he avoids it if he can help it. She peered back down at the Doctor's face. How could his eyes look so old and lonely for someone so young-looking? "I don't know…." Her feelings confused her. How can it feel like she's known him for years, but in reality, they've only met again about a month ago. But she knows she cares deeply for him. Placed a hand on the Doctor's cheek, looking wistfully at him.
Kagome let go of Elanna's hands and sat back. She side glanced at the pair. "He'll wake up, and when he does, you should tell him."
Elanna pulled away from the Time Lord with a gasp, "What?"
"I know that look. It's the one I had when I thought I would never come back here. When I thought I would never see Inuyasha again." She turned to Inuyasha, who was leaning against the doorframe of the hut with his eyes closed. His ears twitched, which showed that he was listening to them. She turned back to face Elanna. "He's gonna pull through."
Elanna nods with a small smile. Her thoughts are pulled back to the problem of the sleeping villagers. She mutters, "He said that someone was trying to connect to the guy's mind… Could it be some sort of telepathy? And if it is, then..." She suddenly stood up and leaped to Kaede's side, dodging around the small girl whose name she didn't know. "Kaede! You said this man wasn't the first. Do you know if other villages in the area have been having the same problem?"
The old priestess looked at her, startled but shook her head, "Nay, child. I think we're the only one that is affected. Do ye have thought about this?"
Elanna pondered, "It's hard to explain, but I want to guess that it's telepathy and works by proximity, and if it's only been this village-like, you think…."
"The thing causing this will still be in the area." Inuyasha finally speaks up.
"Exactly," Elanna stated. She moved back to the Doctor, kneeling down, and hesitated. She mouthed out an apology before nodding. Reaching into the Doctor's inside jacket pocket, she pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "I need to see if there is something at our ship that could help. It's a long shot since she's recovering from the crash. But I can't just sit here waiting for the Doctor to fix things when I can be useful." She stood up and made her way to the bamboo mat over the threshold.
"Wait! You can't go into the forest alone. Some demons are out there that can harm you." Kagome exclaimed.
Elanna turned around, "I can't just sit here! There might be a chance that If we stop the thing behind this, the Doctor will wake up!"
Kagome stood up and walked up to her. Seeing the determination on the Time Lady's face, she smiled. "Alright, Inuyasha will go with her."
The silver-haired man jumped, "Why me?!"
"Because I can't leave. I need to help Kaede, and Elanna is gonna leave either way. You have the power to protect her."
Inuyasha huffed and put his arms in his sleeves with a "Fine." Kagome just smiled at him before stepping closer and leaning up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, causing him to go bright red. He jumped back as he stared at her in bewilderment and embarrassment, "K-Kagome!"
Kagome just smiled at him, "You two come back safe, okay?" Inuyasha relaxed and silently nodded before slipping out of the hut, eager to get this expedition over. She stepped up to Elanna, who took one last look at the Doctor. "I'll watch over him. If he does wake up, I'll tell him what's happened."
With a nod, Elanna walked out into the night, where Inuyasha was already waiting for her. Though he was hunched down to the ground and sniffing it. "What are you doing?" She asked, confused. She knew he was a demon but was he a dog of some sort? Her curious mind began to race with questions. She kept silent, though, unsure if it was appropriate to ask. It seemed that Inuyasha was a relatively private person, and she didn't want to pry.
"What does it look like? I'm trying to track your scent to go to this ship of yours. Got it!" He kneeled, extending his hand behind him. Elanna was actually glad that he was able to track her scent. She was sure she wouldn't be able to navigate in the dark, let alone even finding her way back to the TARDIS. "Get on." Inuyasha continued. "It will be faster if I carry you." With apprehension, she climbed onto Inuyasha's back, his hands hooked under her legs to ensure she was secure. He lurched forward, and Elanna screamed, her arm rushing to wrap around his neck in fright. Inuyasha coughed, skidding to a stop on the lush grass. "Hey! Loosen up. You're choking me!"
"I'm scared of heights. How am I supposed to act?" She screeched, his ears flattened against his head at her volume.
"I'm not gonna drop you or anything! Just ease up a little."
Fear swept over her, but she slowly relaxed a bit. She nodded nervously. "I-I'll try. Sorry if I hurt you."
She could practically hear his smirk, "Feh. You can't hurt me. You're only a human." He sped up, running into the forest, earning a squeak from Elanna. He tracked her scent back to where the TARDIS crashed.
The Doctor revered his doppelganger with suspicion. The man held himself with stoic pride, devoid of emotion. He slightly admired the man for it. Although he did have one problem with his twin. "Come on! You could've picked one I liked if you're going just copy an appearance."
"What? This form isn't to your liking?" The man looked down at himself, "I thought it was nice, though a bit thin." He looked off into the darkness surrounding them as if searching for something. "How about…. Ohh. That's interesting.." His expression turned into a mischievous grin. "Are you scared of the big bad wolf, Doctor?"
"Don't you dare." The Doctor growled, glaring at his ganger. He knew exactly what form the creature was referring to, and he was not having it.
"Oh? Did I strike a core?" His ganger smirked. "Very well." The man snapped his fingers, and his appearance started to morph into another. A short preteen girl with long wavy brown hair wearing a short-sleeve shirt and blue pajama bottoms now stood in front of him.
"Elanna." The Doctor breathed out.
"Much better then? This one is clever, though overly imaginative. Might get her into trouble." The girl stated. "Why do you think about this one? You feel something, don't you? Something's coming."
"Who are you? I'm assuming we're in my mind, but that's not going get you very far." The Doctor started.
"Ah yes, a mental block. Usually happens with the strong ones. It is quite annoying." She looked down at her nails, looking a bit perturbed. "I get in sooner or later. Eventually, everyone can be broken."
The Doctor rubbed his earlobe as he spoke. "That would assume that you've met someone like me before. Time Lords are notorious for excellent control of our minds, can't have information so easily obtainable to the masses, yeah, too dangerous." He walked closer to the mini Elanna in front of him. He needed to figure out a way to push out this entity and find out what it wanted. "Oh! Where are my manners? I'm the Doctor. Perhaps you already knew that with being inside my head and all that, well, you've been in quite a few minds recently, judging by how many are asleep outside. Just who are you?"
The little girl stared up at him; she was about a foot shorter than Elanna, and she was only about shoulder height to him. "I am known as Yume no Seirei. My kind feasts on nightmares. I was buried deep underground with no access to a decent meal." She pouted.
"By meal, you mean innocent villagers." The Doctor pointed out. The girl shrugged.
"Food is food."
"So, you were buried underground. What caused you to suddenly start grabbing people and forcing them to sleep? They're hardly a decent food source unless... You can't move. Something or someone is keeping you where you are, which means you can only operate in your general vicinity, meaning that you probably only reached the outskirts of Kaede's village." The Doctor gasped as his mind raced. "Which is why only the farmers in the fields have been falling asleep!"
The girl smirks up at him, "oh, aren't you a clever one. Getting all of that from a few peasants."
"Oh! But Kaede said it had suddenly increased recently, the only thing that happened…" he trailed off as he remembered the TARDIS crashing. "Oh. That's a problem. That's a big problem."
"Not a problem for me. I should be thanking you for digging me up. It was getting awfully stifling." Mini Elanna pouted before it morphed into a smile and laugh.
The nothingness suddenly around them started to crack. White light struck like lightning, spreading around the two of them. Mini Elanna looks down at her hands as her fingers dissolve into smoke. "Wait! This is my world. What is happening!?" She exclaimed. She looked up and glared at a shocked Doctor. Her body started to dissolve into smoke until nothing was left, and the white light engulfed the Doctor.
The Doctor bolted straight up with a gasp, his two hearts thudding frantically in his chest. His gaze whipped around the small hut, noticing Kagome off to his right. He immediately noticed Elanna wasn't in the room. "Doctor! You're awake." The priestess gasped.
Pushing himself up with a slight wobble, he made his way to the bamboo mat that hung over the threshold. He knew he needed to find Elanna and figure out where the demon was. All he had to go off of was it was near the crash site. "Got to…get back to…the TARDIS." He muttered out. As he went to move to the outside, he nearly walked straight into Inuyasha, who held a struggling Elanna in his . Nothing but black around his body. The Doctor last remembered creating a telepathic link with a man from the hut. He looked around himself but saw nothing. Footsteps thudded behind him, getting louder and louder, accompanied by a voice.
The voice drifted around him like it was coming from all sides. "Oh… Aren't you a clever one... Glorious mind, but in so much pain... Delicious."
The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"
Several questions surfaced in his brain. Where was he? How did he get here? How could he get out? He whirled around to face what looked to be his doppelgänger, just standing stoically, his hands clasped behind him with a smirk.
"Alright, this is where it gets complicated." His ganger said.
"Doctor!' Elanna yelled out as she leaned over the Doctor's body. After the link was severed from the man, the Doctor was thrown away. He went to stand, fixing the buttons of his blue suit jacket in the process. Then suddenly, he wobbled and collapsed to the wood floor. Elanna frantically dove from standing next to Inuyasha to catch the Time Lord. Once in her arms, Kagome had helped her move the Doctor to another tatami mat where he now currently laid.
"Doctor! Open your eyes!" She called out to him, but he just lay there asleep. Looked over at the other man across the room, who was groaning in pain, though less so now. It was confusing to her how the Doctor was passed out.
She stared down at his face, worry rising up in her. She almost didn't notice when Kagome moved from the other man next to her.
"I'm sure he'll wake up soon." The priestess stated, causing Elanna to jump and turn her head towards her.
"What? Oh, right. You're right; he'll be fine. I'm assuming this isn't the first time he's been knocked out. When he wakes up, he'll probably spout a tale about how he got knocked out by police or some alien in 1953 or something." She nodded slowly, trying to bring a lighter tone into the bleak atmosphere.
Kagome gasped, grabbing the Time Lady's hands in her own, "I was right! You are from the future!"
Elanna's eyes went wide. Was she not supposed to mention anything? Did she just break the timeline? She began to fidget and stutter, her eyes shifting around the hut, trying to look anywhere but the priestess in front of her. "I-I.. uh... Don't know what you talking about.."
"It's okay! I'm from the future too! I came here from 1996, Tokyo!" She smiled brightly, and Elanna flushed slightly. "When are you and this man, the Doctor, from?"
"Well, I…" She trailed off, unsure of how much she should share with Kagome. She looked at the priestess deciding that it should be fine. "I'm from 2025 USA."
"Oh! That's way in the future! And is the Doctor from your time?"
Elanna looked down. The truth was she didn't actually know that much about the Doctor. She knows that she learned about him by sharing his memories with her when she was a preteen. He didn't really like to talk about himself. Better yet, he avoids it if he can help it. She peered back down at the Doctor's face. How could his eyes look so old and lonely for someone so young-looking? "I don't know…." Her feelings confused her. How can it feel like she's known him for years, but in reality, they've only met again about a month ago. But she knows she cares deeply for him. Placed a hand on the Doctor's cheek, looking wistfully at him.
Kagome let go of Elanna's hands and sat back. She side glanced at the pair. "He'll wake up, and when he does, you should tell him."
Elanna pulled away from the Time Lord with a gasp, "What?"
"I know that look. It's the one I had when I thought I would never come back here. When I thought I would never see Inuyasha again." She turned to Inuyasha, who was leaning against the doorframe of the hut with his eyes closed. His ears twitched, which showed that he was listening to them. She turned back to face Elanna. "He's gonna pull through."
Elanna nods with a small smile. Her thoughts are pulled back to the problem of the sleeping villagers. She mutters, "He said that someone was trying to connect to the guy's mind… Could it be some sort of telepathy? And if it is, then..." She suddenly stood up and leaped to Kaede's side, dodging around the small girl whose name she didn't know. "Kaede! You said this man wasn't the first. Do you know if other villages in the area have been having the same problem?"
The old priestess looked at her, startled but shook her head, "Nay, child. I think we're the only one that is affected. Do ye have thought about this?"
Elanna pondered, "It's hard to explain, but I want to guess that it's telepathy and works by proximity, and if it's only been this village-like, you think…."
"The thing causing this will still be in the area." Inuyasha finally speaks up.
"Exactly," Elanna stated. She moved back to the Doctor, kneeling down, and hesitated. She mouthed out an apology before nodding. Reaching into the Doctor's inside jacket pocket, she pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "I need to see if there is something at our ship that could help. It's a long shot since she's recovering from the crash. But I can't just sit here waiting for the Doctor to fix things when I can be useful." She stood up and made her way to the bamboo mat over the threshold.
"Wait! You can't go into the forest alone. Some demons are out there that can harm you." Kagome exclaimed.
Elanna turned around, "I can't just sit here! There might be a chance that If we stop the thing behind this, the Doctor will wake up!"
Kagome stood up and walked up to her. Seeing the determination on the Time Lady's face, she smiled. "Alright, Inuyasha will go with her."
The silver-haired man jumped, "Why me?!"
"Because I can't leave. I need to help Kaede, and Elanna is gonna leave either way. You have the power to protect her."
Inuyasha huffed and put his arms in his sleeves with a "Fine." Kagome just smiled at him before stepping closer and leaning up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, causing him to go bright red. He jumped back as he stared at her in bewilderment and embarrassment, "K-Kagome!"
Kagome just smiled at him, "You two come back safe, okay?" Inuyasha relaxed and silently nodded before slipping out of the hut, eager to get this expedition over. She stepped up to Elanna, who took one last look at the Doctor. "I'll watch over him. If he does wake up, I'll tell him what's happened."
With a nod, Elanna walked out into the night, where Inuyasha was already waiting for her. Though he was hunched down to the ground and sniffing it. "What are you doing?" She asked, confused. She knew he was a demon but was he a dog of some sort? Her curious mind began to race with questions. She kept silent, though, unsure if it was appropriate to ask. It seemed that Inuyasha was a relatively private person, and she didn't want to pry.
"What does it look like? I'm trying to track your scent to go to this ship of yours. Got it!" He kneeled, extending his hand behind him. Elanna was actually glad that he was able to track her scent. She was sure she wouldn't be able to navigate in the dark, let alone even finding her way back to the TARDIS. "Get on." Inuyasha continued. "It will be faster if I carry you." With apprehension, she climbed onto Inuyasha's back, his hands hooked under her legs to ensure she was secure. He lurched forward, and Elanna screamed, her arm rushing to wrap around his neck in fright. Inuyasha coughed, skidding to a stop on the lush grass. "Hey! Loosen up. You're choking me!"
"I'm scared of heights. How am I supposed to act?" She screeched, his ears flattened against his head at her volume.
"I'm not gonna drop you or anything! Just ease up a little."
Fear swept over her, but she slowly relaxed a bit. She nodded nervously. "I-I'll try. Sorry if I hurt you."
She could practically hear his smirk, "Feh. You can't hurt me. You're only a human." He sped up, running into the forest, earning a squeak from Elanna. He tracked her scent back to where the TARDIS crashed.
The Doctor revered his doppelganger with suspicion. The man held himself with stoic pride, devoid of emotion. He slightly admired the man for it. Although he did have one problem with his twin. "Come on! You could've picked one I liked if you're going just copy an appearance."
"What? This form isn't to your liking?" The man looked down at himself, "I thought it was nice, though a bit thin." He looked off into the darkness surrounding them as if searching for something. "How about…. Ohh. That's interesting.." His expression turned into a mischievous grin. "Are you scared of the big bad wolf, Doctor?"
"Don't you dare." The Doctor growled, glaring at his ganger. He knew exactly what form the creature was referring to, and he was not having it.
"Oh? Did I strike a core?" His ganger smirked. "Very well." The man snapped his fingers, and his appearance started to morph into another. A short preteen girl with long wavy brown hair wearing a short-sleeve shirt and blue pajama bottoms now stood in front of him.
"Elanna." The Doctor breathed out.
"Much better then? This one is clever, though overly imaginative. Might get her into trouble." The girl stated. "Why do you think about this one? You feel something, don't you? Something's coming."
"Who are you? I'm assuming we're in my mind, but that's not going get you very far." The Doctor started.
"Ah yes, a mental block. Usually happens with the strong ones. It is quite annoying." She looked down at her nails, looking a bit perturbed. "I get in sooner or later. Eventually, everyone can be broken."
The Doctor rubbed his earlobe as he spoke. "That would assume that you've met someone like me before. Time Lords are notorious for excellent control of our minds, can't have information so easily obtainable to the masses, yeah, too dangerous." He walked closer to the mini Elanna in front of him. He needed to figure out a way to push out this entity and find out what it wanted. "Oh! Where are my manners? I'm the Doctor. Perhaps you already knew that with being inside my head and all that, well, you've been in quite a few minds recently, judging by how many are asleep outside. Just who are you?"
The little girl stared up at him; she was about a foot shorter than Elanna, and she was only about shoulder height to him. "I am known as Yume no Seirei. My kind feasts on nightmares. I was buried deep underground with no access to a decent meal." She pouted.
"By meal, you mean innocent villagers." The Doctor pointed out. The girl shrugged.
"Food is food."
"So, you were buried underground. What caused you to suddenly start grabbing people and forcing them to sleep? They're hardly a decent food source unless... You can't move. Something or someone is keeping you where you are, which means you can only operate in your general vicinity, meaning that you probably only reached the outskirts of Kaede's village." The Doctor gasped as his mind raced. "Which is why only the farmers in the fields have been falling asleep!"
The girl smirks up at him, "oh, aren't you a clever one. Getting all of that from a few peasants."
"Oh! But Kaede said it had suddenly increased recently, the only thing that happened…" he trailed off as he remembered the TARDIS crashing. "Oh. That's a problem. That's a big problem."
"Not a problem for me. I should be thanking you for digging me up. It was getting awfully stifling." Mini Elanna pouted before it morphed into a smile and laugh.
The nothingness suddenly around them started to crack. White light struck like lightning, spreading around the two of them. Mini Elanna looks down at her hands as her fingers dissolve into smoke. "Wait! This is my world. What is happening!?" She exclaimed. She looked up and glared at a shocked Doctor. Her body started to dissolve into smoke until nothing was left, and the white light engulfed the Doctor.
The Doctor bolted straight up with a gasp, his two hearts thudding frantically in his chest. His gaze whipped around the small hut, noticing Kagome off to his right. He immediately noticed Elanna wasn't in the room. "Doctor! You're awake." The priestess gasped.
Pushing himself up with a slight wobble, he made his way to the bamboo mat that hung over the threshold. He knew he needed to find Elanna and figure out where the demon was. All he had to go off of was it was near the crash site. "Got to…get back to…the TARDIS." He muttered out. As he went to move to the outside, he nearly walked straight into Inuyasha, who held a struggling Elanna in his arms.