Wherever You Go

by hunterofartemis080

A new regeneration of the Doctor brings him and Adelaide closer than ever before. An old friend follows them throughout the universe, watching their relationship resurge. It appears as though the stars have finally begun to align, but is everything really as simple as it appears? Sixth in the Crossed Stars. Time Lady - 12/OC

5. Myths

Myths

Adelaide glanced over to where the Doctor was working on Gallifreyan maths. She didn't know exactly what he was doing, only that he'd said he'd stop once Clara arrived...and had not stopped. At the moment, Clara was spinning in circles on a random swivel chair she'd found, looking incredibly bored. Adelaide was leaning against the console flicking through a notebook of the Time Lord's diagrams of the TARDIS.

"Your choice," Adelaide called to Clara, making her spin to her. "Wherever, whenever, anywhere in time and space."

"Oi!" the Doctor called, making them both look up at him. "I get to propose adventures."

"I've had plenty adventures without you, Doctor," she reminded him.

"My companion."

"Her assistant," Clara said, exchanging a grin with Adelaide.

"My TARDIS!"

"Shall we go looking for mine then?"

Clara spun to her, frowning. "You have a TARDIS?"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "I thought I'd made it quite clear that I've done a lot of traveling on my own. Having a TARDIS is typically required for Time Lords to do so."

"Where is it?"

"No idea." She sighed. "I crash landed into Bath in the summer of 2008 and wandered out as a human known as Caroline Alice Attwater, an employee in the Adipose Industries call center and the only daughter of the childless Katheryn and Ryan Attwater. My TARDIS, unlike the Doctor's, is advanced enough to put itself into constant flux as it repairs itself."

"Couldn't you scan for it?"

"It's hidden from other TARDISes. I'd have to go physically looking for it and I haven't gotten around to doing that yet." She pushed herself standing. "So, back on track: wherever, whenever, anywhere in time and space?"

Clara considered it for a moment. "Well, there is something, someone that I've always wanted to meet. But I know what you'll both say."

The Doctor turned, leaning on the railing of the upper level. "Try us."

"You'll say he's made up, that there is no such thing."

Adelaide nodded. "Yes?"

"It's...It's Robin Hood."

"Robin Hood." The Doctor glanced at Adelaide, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah." Clara stepped back, looking between the two of them. "I love that story. I've always loved it, ever since I was little."

"Robin Hood, the heroic outlaw, who robs from the rich and gives to the poor."

"Yeah."

"He's made up. There's no such thing."

Clara sighed, nodding. "Ah, you see?"

The Doctor turned, taking a book from the bookshelf next to him and flicking through it before putting it back. "Old-fashioned heroes only exist in old-fashioned story books, Clara."

"And what about you two?"

"Us?"

"Yeah, you two," Clara nodded between them. "You both stop bad things happening every minute of every day. That sounds pretty heroic to me."

The Doctor smirked, taking a lick from a nearby large spoon. "Just passing the time." He spun. "Hey, what about Mars?"

Clara frowned. "What?"

"The Ice Warrior Hives!"

"Adelaide said it was my choice."

He shrugged. "Or the Tumescent Arrows of the Half-Light. Those girls can hold their drink."

"Doctor," Adelaide called.

"And fracture fifteen different levels of reality simultaneously." He considered it. "I think I've got a Polaroid somewhere..."

"Doctor!" Clara said sharply, making him turn to her. "My choice. Robin Hood. Show me."

He sighed, coming down to the console. "Very well." The Time Lords worked together to start piloting. "Earth. England. Sherwood Forest. 1190AD...ish. But you'll only be disappointed."

"Be right back!" Clara called, turning off to run into the TARDIS...only to stop and come back for Adelaide. "Come on." She said, grinning, and grabbed the Time Lady's hand before either of them could do something.

|C-S|

The Doctor didn't bother waiting for the women to return. He was fairly certain Adelaide, in particular, would be a bit upset that he'd started adventuring without her – she, apparently, still had quite a bit to go before she made up for staying on Christmas for so many years – but he didn't particularly want to wait alone in the TARDIS for however long it took them to do whatever they were doing.

As it was, he was quite pleased with the forest they'd landed in. It was everything he'd expected it to be...lacking Robin Hood. "No damsels in distress," he said to himself, nodding, "no pretty castles, no such thing as Robin Hood..."

He'd barely finished the name when an arrow struck the corner of the TARDIS. The man who'd fired it, dressed in complete green – a shade the Doctor knew Adelaide liked, which made him frown – stepped out from behind a tree on the other side of the river that spanned between them. "You called?" the man winked, grinning. "Very, very nicely done with the box, sir. I saw a Turk perform something very similar at Nottingham Fayre." The Doctor, as he spoke, pulled the arrow from the TARDIS and made the hole close up again. "It's a trick with mirrors, no doubt?"

The Doctor made a face, frowning at him. "A trick?"

"A good jest!" the man laughed.

"This is not a trick. This is a TARDIS."

"Whatever it is, you bony rascal, I'm afraid I must relieve you of it."

"It's my property, that's what it is."

The man jumped onto a fallen tree that formed a bridge across the river. "Well, don't you know all property is theft to Robin Hood?" he gave a deep bow.

The Doctor scoffed. "You're not serious."

"I'm many things, sir, but I'm never that. Robin Hood laughs in the face of all. Ha, ha, ha!" he made each laugh very intentional.

"And do people ever punch you in the face when you do that?"

"Not as yet."

"Lucky I'm here then, isn't it?"

The Doctor had just stepped forward when the TARDIS doors opened and the two women emerged. He spun and his mouth dropped open...Clara had gotten Adelaide into a green dress of the time period.

Granted, Adelaide did look a bit uncomfortable in it. The Time Lady didn't normally dress up. The few times he remembered her doing so was when a companion – Clara mostly – had convinced her it would be fun. Now, the human had convinced her to wear a dark green dress that the Doctor was fairly certain was cut a bit higher than dresses should be so that the Time Lady wouldn't trip over the skirt, stitched with black designs.

Clara had gone for something similar, hers red and longer, but the Doctor just stared at Adelaide.

If he'd looked at Clara, he would have seen the human's very amused expression; this had been exactly what she'd been aiming for.

"A bit much," Adelaide mumbled, adjusting her sleeve. It was cut away at the elbow and the Doctor could see, quite plainly, that she still wore the bracelet he'd gotten her their first actual Christmas together as Time Lords. Normally, it was blocked from sight by her jacket or sweater. "What do you think, Doctor?" She glanced up at him. "Why is your mouth open?"

"By all the saints," Robin gasped. "Are there any more in there?"

Clara frowned at the man. "Is that..."

"No," the Doctor cut her off, but Clara couldn't be stopped.

"Oh my God, oh my God! It is, isn't it? You found him. You actually found Robin Hood!" Adelaide raised her eyebrows at Clara's slight flush.

The Doctor shook his head. "That is not Robin Hood."

"Well then, who, sir, is about to relieve you of your magic box?" Robin drew his sword.

He climbed onto the log himself. "Nobody, sir. Not in this universe or the next."

Robin raised his eyebrows. "Well then, draw your sword and prove your words."

"I have no sword. I don't need a sword." He opened his coat to prove it, spinning in a small circle. "Because I am the Doctor." He pulled on a leather gauntlet, making a very specific gesture that he heard Adelaide sigh at. "And this is my spoon!" he pulled out the spoon he'd licked early. "En garde!" The Doctor lunged at Robin, actually doing an impressive job at fighting a sword with a spoon.

Clara glanced at Adelaide. "Aren't you going to stop him?"

"How often have you sword fought?" Adelaide called.

"I've had some experience," the Doctor said, continuing to fight. "Richard the Lionheart. Cyrano de Bergerac. Errol Flynn. He had the most enormous..." Adelaide raised her eyebrows, even if the Doctor couldn't see it. "Ego."

Clara laughed. "Takes one to know one."

The Doctor managed to hit Robin on the backside, who responded by cutting off a button on his coat. He stepped back, holding his arms wide to trick the man into lunging forward. The Doctor deflected the sword with the spoon, spinning until they were back to back, and then pushed Robin back off the log.

"Doctor?" Adelaide said, sighing.

"Like I said." The Doctor shrugged. "My box." He glanced at Adelaide. "Our box."

"Notice everything."

A second later, Robin popped up and shoved the Doctor into the water. The combination of the Doctor's expression and Robin's pleased smirk had Clara and Adelaide laughing.

|C-S|

Robin Hood had been quite insistent that the trio come to visit him and his Merry Men. The Time Lords had been a bit uncertain, as they were both almost positive that Robin Hood was not a real person, but Clara had followed him without a question. There hadn't been much they could do to stop her.

Adelaide did have experience with real men turned legends, so she didn't completely discount the possibility that Robin Hood had actually been a real person. She just needed evidence either way.

The group of men had commandeered a series of small caves built into the roots and underneath of trees. Robin darted ahead to greet the Merry Men, who all looked rather excited to see him. "Let me introduce you to my men," he grinned, gesturing at them. "This is Will Scarlet," he patted one man on the back. "He is a cheeky rogue with a good sword arm and a slippery tongue."

The man bowed towards Adelaide, "my lady," and gave the Doctor the perfect opportunity to snag a bit of his hair and scan it. The action distracted the man enough that he didn't even think about turning to Clara. "Argh! What do you want with my hair?"

"Well," the Doctor shrugged, "it's realistic, I'll give you that."

Robin eyed him oddly but turned to the next man. "And this is Friar Tuck. Aptly named for the amount of grub he tucks into."

"You skinny blackguard," Tuck earned a laugh from all the men for that. He stepped forward, prepared to greet the women, but stumbled as the Doctor pulled off one of his sandals. "What are you doing?"

"This isn't a real sandal!"

"Yes, it is."

The Doctor sniffed it and made a face. "Oh. Yes, it is."

"This...er," Robin continued, speaking mainly for Clara as Adelaide stepped up to take the sandal back for Tuck, "is Alan-a-Dale. He's a master of the lute, whose music brightens up these dark days."

"Stranger you are welcome here," Alan sang, "in Sherwood's bonny glade." He was cut off with a shout of pain as the Doctor jabbed his arm with a needle.

"Sorry," Adelaide told Alan, although she honestly didn't sound that sorry as she stepped up to look at the device's readings. "Blood analysis."

The Doctor gave a low whistle. "All those diseases. If you were real, you'd be dead in six months."

"I am real," Alan defended.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Bye."

"And this is John Little," Robin continued, gesturing towards a man of a rather formidable size. "Called Little John. He's my loyal companion in many an adventure."

After a second of Clara staring at the large man with wide eyes, he stepped aside and let a smaller man jump up.

"Works every time," Will laughed, everyone joining in.

Clara shook her head at the collection. "Oh, I cannot believe this. You...you really are Robin Hood and his Merry Men."

"Aye!" Robin cheered. "That is an apt description. What say you, lads?"

"Aye!"

"Stop laughing." The Doctor frowned. "Why are you always doing that? Are you all simple or something?"

"Manners," Adelaide said calmly. "Sample?"

The Time Lord nodded at that idea, grabbing a nearby goblet and, tossing away the contents, walked up to Robin holding it out. Robin frowned at it. "Of what?"

"Ahem," Clara said, stepping up to Adelaide. "Excuse me, sorry...what are you doing?"

"Working through possible theories," Adelaide said.

The Doctor nodded. "They're not holograms, that much is obvious. Could be a theme park from the future. Or we might be inside a miniscope."

Clara shook her head. "Oh, shut up."

"A miniscope," Adelaide agreed. "Yes, possible."

Robin eyed the two Time Lords, glancing at Clara. "Your friends seem not quite of the real world."

"No, no, they're not really. Not most of the time, though she can have her days." She paused, thinking back. "Dark days?"

"My lady?"

"You said that these were dark days. What did you mean?"

"King Richard is away on crusade, my lady," Will told them. "His tyrant of a brother rules instead."

"And the Sheriff," Clara nodded. "Cos there is a sheriff, right?"

"Aye. It is indeed this jackal of the princes who seeks to oppress us forever more."

The Doctor shrugged. "Or six months in your case." The two Time Lords had stepped away, taking scans of the surrounding area in order to establish exactly what was going on.

"It is a shame to dwell on murky thoughts when there is such beauty here," Robin said.

"Why are you so sad?" Clara asked him, studying his expression.

Robin forced a smile. "Why do you think me sad?"

"Because the Doctor's right, you laugh too much."

Robin sighed. "You know, I do not live this outlaw life by choice. You see before you Robert..."

"Earl of Loxley," Clara finished in unison with him. "Yes." Then she blinked. "Sorry, do go on."

"I...er...I had my lands and titles stripped from me. I dared to speak out against Prince John. But I lost the thing most dear to me."

Clara smiled. "What was she called?"

"You're so very quick." Robin shook his head. "How does the Doctor stand it?"

"He's used to it," she nodded at Adelaide. "Marian?"

Robin's eyes widened. "You know her?"

"Oh, yes. I have always known her."

"It was Marian who told me that I must stand up and be counted." Robin straightened his back at that before he sighed. "But, I was afraid. Now this green canopy is my palace and the rough ground my feather bed. Maybe one day I will return home, but until that day...until that day, it is beholden on me to be the man Marian wanted, to be a hero for those this tyrant sheriff slaughters."

"Apologies for interrupting," Adelaide called, stepping up. "What season is it?"

"Dame Autumn has draped her mellow skirts around the forest, my lady. The time of mists and harvest approaches."

Adelaide looked around at the forest. "But it's very green here."

"So?" Clara asked.

"Notice everything."

Clara frowned. "Climate change?"

"It's 1190," the Doctor called.

Robin took a step back. "You must excuse me," he nodded to Clara. "The Sheriff has issued a proclamation and tomorrow there is to be a contest to find the best archer in the land. And the bounty...it's an arrow made of pure gold."

Clara's eyes widened and she rushed to grab Robin's arm. "No! Don't, don't go. It's a trap!"

"Well, of course it is!" Robin laughed. "But a contest to find the best archer in the land? There is no contest!" all of the men burst into laughter.

"Right," the Doctor said, shaking his head, "that isn't even funny. That was bantering. I am totally against bantering."

Clara stepped closer to the Time Lords. "How can you be so sure he is not the real thing?"

"I'm not sure," Adelaide shrugged.

The Doctor, however, was far more certain. "Because he can't be."

Clara frowned at him. "When did you stop believing in everything?"

"When did you start believing in impossible heroes?"

"Don't you know?" Clara shook her head. "In a way, it's rather sweet."

"Did you have a Robin Hood pin-up alongside your Marcus Aurelius one?" Adelaide asked, making Clara laugh, blushing slightly, and the Doctor frown and eat an apple before scanning it with his sonic.

|C-S|

Even if Adelaide was starting to believe that it was possible Robin Hood had been a real person at some point, the Doctor refused to accept that he was the only one who believed the man was impossible. He attempted to convince her to support him the entire time they'd spent journeying to the archery competition, at one point asking if she was just claiming to support Robin's legitimacy in order to spite him.

"Now, why would I do something like that?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at that. "That sounds more like something you would do."

"He's a character! A story!"

"Stories are based on facts. Legends are based on people. While I admit that it seems unlikely that Robin is precisely as one would expect from the stories, it is possible." The Doctor had pouted at that. "However, I will not discount the possibility that he's not real."

He'd been much happier at that admission.

Once they'd reached the archery competition, Robin displayed his natural talent of showmanship as he proved himself the best archer in the land. The Doctor had just grabbed a nearby bow and arrow and aimed, making the arrow split Robin's arrow. The whole crowd turned to look at him. "I'm the Doctor!" he stepped forward. "My skills of a bowman speak for themselves. I claim my reward." He stepped up to the Herald, taking the golden arrow. "A mere bauble." He threw it in the general direction of the Merry Men. "I want something else."

The Sheriff considered him. "Name it."

"Enlightenment."

They were interrupted by Robin splitting the Doctor's arrow, earning a cheer from the crowd. The Doctor fired his own, ricocheting it off a guard's armor to split Robin's. Robin did the same without looking.

"This is absurd," Adelaide sighed, pulling out her sonic to set the target on fire, which earned an impressed expression from the Doctor.

The Sheriff grinned. "Fascinating. Seize them!"

The guards drew their swords, approaching the pair. Clara ran forward, grabbing a nearby weapon and attempting to swing it, failing. "What are you doing?" the Doctor called to her. "Put that down!"

"I'm fine. I take Year Seven for after school Tae Kwon Do."

Robin left forward, sword out. "Don't worry, Doctor. I'll save you!"

"We don't need saving."

"Your honor is safe...for I am Robin!" he threw off his hat, earning great cheers from the crowd. "Robin Hood!" He swung his sword, cutting one of the knight's arms. It fell to the ground with sparks, which was not what they had expected; the knight was a robot.

"Witchery!" the crowd started to yell. "Witchery!"

The Doctor picked up the arm, studying it. "Robot." The knight's visor opened to reveal the metal face behind it, a sort of cross cut into its forehead glowing violet. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"Take them!" the Sheriff ordered. "Kill the rest. Kill them all!"

The knight started firing bolts of energy from its forehead, the other knights joining in to scatter the crowd in terror.

"He surrenders!" the Doctor shouted, grabbing Robin's hand.

"What?" The Doctor chopped the man's arm, forcing him to drop the sword. "You miserable cur! I had them on the run." He looked over to his men, all attempting to force their way towards him through the crowd. "Flee, lads, flee! Live to fight another day!"

The Merry Men did as he ordered, though the Sheriff didn't seem that bothered with them. "To the dungeons with all of them."

Clara glanced at the Doctor's pleased expression. "What are you up to?"

"Quickest way to find out anybody's plans, get yourself captured."

|C-S|

The Doctor found himself quite regretting his plan because it had ended up with the four of them locked in a very dark dungeon and he knew that those were two things Adelaide did not like. She already feared the dark, he'd known that, but over time he'd learned that that also meant she feared confinement. Normally that meant being completely and utterly enclosed, but he could tell by the way she was shifting that that meant being chained to something too – at least, for this regeneration.

Though, one of the only other times something like this had happened they hadn't actually been trapped and the TARDIS had been right behind them, so maybe he didn't have much precedence for how Adelaide would react.

He was barely close enough to Adelaide to touch her fingers, with the Time Lady being chained between him and Robin.

"Splendid," Robin mumbled. "Enchained."

Clara nodded. "Yep."

"Trussed up like turkey-cocks. Thanks to your friend."

"Shut it, Hoodie," the Doctor snapped, knowing Adelaide either wouldn't bother correcting him or wouldn't mind him being a bit rude to Robin, as he knew the man's complaints were not helping her in the slightest. "I saved your life."

"I had the situation well in hand," Robin scoffed.

"Long-haired ninny versus robot killer knights? I know where I'd put my money."

"If you had not betrayed me, I would have been triumphant."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You would have been a little puff of smoke and ashes."

"Oh, ha!"

"You'd have been floating around in tiny little laughing bits in people's goblets!"

"Balderdash, ha!"

He groaned. "Oh, right, here we go, it's laughing time."

"Well, you amuse me, grey old man."

"Guard!" the Doctor called, leaning forward. "He's laughing again! You can't keep us locked up with a laughing person!"

"Oh, I find that...I find that quite funny. Do you know, I feel another laugh coming on. A-ha-ha-ha!" Robin made that laugh loud to make a point.

"Guards, I cannot remain in this cell! Execute me now!"

"You heard him," Robin nodded. "Execute the old fool."

"No, hang on. Execute him."

Robin shrugged. "I do not fear death, so execute away."

"Execute him! I'd like to see if his head keeps laughing when you chop it off!"

"Oh," Robin grinned, "Robin Hood always laughs in the face of death."

"Yes, rolling around the floor laughing, I would pay good money to see that."

"Guard!" the two men started shouting in unison. "Guard! Guard! Guard! Guard! Guard!"

"Oh, you two, shut up!" Clara snapped, making both men go silent. "Do either of you understand, in any way at all, that there isn't actually a guard out there?"

The Doctor blinked. "Oh."

"I did, in fact."

"No, you didn't."

"Good job, Clara," Adelaide nodded, exchanging a smile with the human. "Notice everything."

"The Doctor and Robin Hood locked up in a cellar. Is this seriously the best that you can do? You're determined to starve to death in here squabbling."

"Well, I can tell you one thing," Robin scoffed. "I'd last a lot longer than this desiccated man-crone."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well, you know what? I think you'll find I have a certain genetic advantage...ow!"

Adelaide had, very hard, yanked on the chain that attached her to him. "This is not a competition over who can die slower, Doctor."

"It would definitely be me, though, wouldn't it?"

Clara sighed. "There was supposed to be a plan. Do any of you have a plan?"

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded, "of course I have a plan."

"I do have a plan," Robin said quickly.

"Okay. Robin, you first."

The Doctor frowned at Clara. "Why him?"

"Doctor, shut up. Robin, your plan."

There was a moment of quiet. "I am biding my time."

Clara sighed. "Thank you, Prince of Thieves. Last of the Time Lords?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "I have a plan."

"Can you explain your plan without using the word sonic?" Adelaide asked, who was greatly regretting the fact she'd never learned how to pick an Earth lock. She'd always meant to but had never actually gotten around to it; honestly, she'd never expected to spend so much time on Earth. But if she could just reach into her pocket...

Clara nodded. "Because you might have forgotten the Sheriff of Nottingham has taken your sonic screwdriver, just saying." When the Doctor said nothing, she sighed. "It's always the sonic."

"Okay, let...let...let...let's hear Robin's plan first."

"Oh, for God's sake."

They heard the sound of the door unlocking, both men perking up. "See? There was a guard. There was a guard listening the whole time, I knew it. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

The guard entered the cell. "The Sheriff himself commanded me to listen, to find out which of you is the true ringleader."

The Doctor nodded. "Ah, so he can do the interrogating. Very wise."

"Excellent! He will get nothing from me!"

"No, no, no, no, no, he will get nothing from me, because interrogation," the Doctor grinned at Adelaide, although she did not return it, "that's where I always turn the tables. You see, that's my plan."

Robin rolled his eyes. "Just hurry up and take me to him."

"No, no, chop-chop, come on."

But instead of approaching one of the men, or even Adelaide, the guard unchained Clara. Granted, the human was a bit surprised at that. "Seriously?"

"Come on."

"No."

"What are you doing?"

"Don't be ridiculous!"

But the guard didn't listen, locking the door behind him and Clara. "To be fair," Adelaide said quietly, "I am glad that he didn't pick me. I'm not good at interrogation on a good day." The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, but Adelaide cut him off. "Clara and I are the bosses, Doctor, we've established this."

"Clara's not a boss."

A/N: A bit more of a lighthearted chapter this week. Sometimes, the Time Lords can be quite sweet together :)