A buzz of the screwdriver, and it was complete. Grinning, very pleased with himself, the Doctor lifted up the tool to his face. It was like an eyepiece of sorts, with glass covering the right eye, a few wires in its handle and a switch at the side. He turned it on, and put it on his face. At once, numbers ran down his little screen, and he could see beyond the doors of his TARDIS and into the empty tunnels beyond. With another tap, the seven others that he had built over the space of two hours lit up at his feet, flashing numbers, and he grinned. Touching his piece again, he said, 'Hellooooooo Doctor!'

After a second's relay, the eye tools chirruped 'Hellooooooo Doctor!' Back at him. His grin grew wider.

'Excellent!' He said, turning off his piece again. One headset for everyone, so that when tomorrow came they would all be able to talk to each other. But at the thought of tomorrow, the Doctor's grin faded. It became almost fixed for a second as reached out and picked up the one he had built for Ezio.

This…this thing was something that the Doctor had not wanted to happen. In the weeks that led up to this moment, hanging over the precipice of the unknown, he had fought so hard against the eventuality that people would have to die.

And here they were, seeking out those who mattered most, and preparing for a war.

And yet, it still wasn't enough. There was something inside the Doctor, twisting and curling, and it screamed that time would not be fixed, even after people died. He could feel it. The very space around him seemed to shudder, at the very point of breaking. Listening to it, the Doctor took a deep breath, and shut his eyes.

'Come on come on,' he murmured. 'What is there left to do?'

Time hummed. And then, something hidden unlocked, and it exploded in his head. With a yelp, he was back in 2005, at a train station. There was a woman with a pen, and he was saying something to her…numbers…

'THE PEN!' He shouted, and as footsteps came running down the tunnels, he scrambled to his feet.

'Doctor?! What is it?!' He heard Amy shout after him.

'It's me!' He shouted back, swerving around the console and hurtling into another room.

'It's always you!'

'Yes yes, but in a good way this time!' The lights in the costume room came on. The clothes that Ezio and Leonardo had worn to the future were neatly folded on a table by the door, but the Doctor streaked past them and threw himself between the racks of clothing. 'I tied up all the loose ends! This is it! The one thing I've been missing, and it was the first thing I did!'

'What are you talking about!?' Amy and Rory, who both narrowly avoided a pair of shoes that were flung across the room. There was the sound of running footsteps behind them and then Ezio was there, his eyes wide.

'I heard shouting! Is everything alright?!'

'I – ' Rory began, and was nearly smacked in the face with a lady's blouse. 'You know, I don't even know anymore.'

'GOT IT!'

The three of them looked around to see the Doctor pull a long brown coat out of a heap of clothes. He looked at it fondly for a moment, and then his face lit up in excitement as he went through the pockets.

'Doctor – ' Amy began, but then he pulled out a biro – one with blue ink. He brandished it at them.

'Look at this! It's chewed!'

'Yeah, gross.' Amy said, wrinkling her nose. 'Doctor, why are you so excited – '

'IT'S CHEWED!' He shouted again, and then, throwing the coat over his shoulder and holding onto it with one hand, he hurtled past them. Ezio stepped neatly out of the way as the Doctor ran up to the console, and turned to brandish the pen at them again.

'Not just chewed, oh no. I went and found a pen that Lucy had, the one in her pocket, the one that at some point she would have chewed in thought and left her DNA all over it, meaning that we can find her,' he stuck the end of the pen in a slot in the console, and at once the screen lit up with numbers and DNA strands. Gleeful, he seized the handles and swung on it, laughing. 'And everyone else in the building!' He hit a button, and a picture of a woman with blonde hair and a small smile flashed up. LUCY STILLMAN, said the screen, and the Doctor laughed some more.

'Wait, this is her? The Lucy?' Amy demanded.

'Yes, yes!' The Doctor pushed his face up close to the screen, eyes scanning the lines of text that went scrolling by, and then shouted again as he smacked down on another button. Three more faces appeared. 'And these are the people we'll be rescuing tomorrow! He turned around and threw out his hands. 'WHO DA – wait, no, I promised I'd never say that again.' He waved his hands at Ezio, Amy and Rory as if they'd interrupted him, and he fixed his attention on the screen again. There was a little map in the corner now, spinning. It looked like the plans to a very large building. Four red dots had appeared in it. Three flashed as the Doctor read out a few names.

'Rebecca Crane, Shaun Hastings and – '

'Desmond.'

Silence. Amy, Rory and the Doctor turned to look at Ezio, who suddenly had an unreadable expression. 'He is called Desmond.'

Behind the Doctor, the screen flashed with a picture of a man who looked remarkably like Ezio, although much younger. A solid block of text ran down next to it.

'How did you know that?' The Doctor asked.

'Not so long ago, a god spoke through me to him. I have always wondered what the name meant. A spirit, an apparition, maybe.' He stepped forward, looking up at the face on the screen. 'And now I know. A descendant. My own flesh and blood, in the machine that you spoke of.'

'The Animus. Reliving your memories.' The Doctor confirmed.

There was a moment of absolute silence again.

'We'll get him out, Ezio.' The Doctor said. 'There might not be much left of him, but we will get him out.'

'What will be left of him, Doctor?' Ezio asked.

The Doctor was silent for a moment. Ezio looked at him steadily, awaiting an answer that he would not shy away from, or reject. And the Doctor was forced to give it to him.

'Too much of you.'

Years of hardship showed as Ezio's face remained completely blank.

'I will go after him tomorrow.' And without waiting for anyone to agree, walked away from them and out of the TARDIS without a second look back.

Amy and Rory sought for something to say, but found nothing. And as the Doctor stared after Ezio, all he could would think was that something – something was still there.

Something was still very, very wrong.

That's it for today! An update tomorrow! See you then :)