A Doc, A Looney, and a Box
Author's Note: Writing, writing, writing! I've been doing so much writing lately, and none of it fan fiction I'm afraid. That's what happens when you decide to try and make a little money off your work. The fun stuff gets put aside for the tedious stuff. I've been writing freelance articles and blogs, here and there, just to make ends meet. But, since I had a little time this morning I thought I'd give this little idea I had a shot. So here you go!
Backwards Day
"Luna! Pond! Don't you do this to me!" The Doctor was on his knees, pressing down on Luna's chest as she bled out onto the ground of an alien planet. Rory was doing the same with Amy, tears streaming down his face as he babbled incoherently, a never-ending stream of promises, bargaining with her to stay.
On the ground, Luna stared up at the pale, lavender sky of Dexas 12, struggling to breath as the alien crystals exploded through her lungs and heart, tearing her apart from the inside out. But it was too late. The last thing she thought, as the darkness of death came over her, was that she hadn't meant things to end this way. And then she closed her eyes, her hand reaching out to clutch the wand laying at her side.
And then everything went black.
Twelve Hours Later
"What's he doing?" asked Amy watching as the Doctor scrambled backwards around the TARDIS, pulling gears and shifting levers.
"I don't know. Seems a little strange, doesn't it?"
As Luna spoke the Doctor froze, a bright gleam coming into his eyes. "It got I've!" he exclaimed, throwing one hand into the air and pumping it. And then his face faded and he fell into melancholy pacing, still backwards, as Rory-who had been standing off to the side, an excited look on his face-seemed to fade and backed onto a chair.
"Was that even English?" muttered Amy, crossing her arms over her chest as the Doctor continued to pace.
The Doctor threw is hands in the air. "You for beginning the just is this, course of." He paused. "Backwards traveling you're," the Doctor said, glancing at Luna.
"What's he babbling?" said Amy, narrowing his eyes.
Luna shrugged. Something was prickling at the edge of her thoughts, and she couldn't quite make it out. Finally, she asked, "Amy, how did we get here?"
"Hmm?" Amy turned around.
"I can't remember where I was five minutes ago," said Luna. "Everything feels so strange."
Amy froze. She pushed her hands through her hair, shaking her head gently. "I…no, you're right," she said. "Something's off. All I can remember is landing on this planet, and then it's like…like everything went black."
"Nervous me making you're! Seat a have, Rory." The Doctor said, stopping in the middle of his pacing. Rory stood up, walking backwards toward Amy and hovering near her. "Backward going ones the you're except," He said, then added, "Exactly," waving his hand.
"It's like everything's on rewind," said Amy, her face scrunching up in confusion. "Like we're moving forward and they're in reverse."
"Wait," said Luna. She reached out and took Amy by the arm. "The Doctor said exactly. Before you said that."
"Yeah," said Amy. Then her eyes widened and her mouth gaped open. "Oh my God, they're going backwards?" she gasped.
"I think we're going backwards, actually," said Luna.
"You. Us not," said the Doctor.
"But…but they…" Amy sputtered.
"Them understand really can you?" said Rory, glancing at the Doctor.
The Doctor sighed. Then, face down in concentration, he said haltingly, "Listen. You'll understand everything soon…oops…soon everything. Our time streams are opposite running of each other. All at right wasn't that, oh. I think I've sorted almost gotten it out."
"Oh, well that explains everything," said Luna. She moved back and watched the Doctor paced.
"So they really are running backwards?" said Amy in shock. They watched as Rory and the Doctor moved backwards through the ship, the Doctor thinking.
Then, pausing, he looked up and said, "Do I?"
"Well, obviously he finally figured it out," said Luna. "Remember a couple of minutes ago?"
"Patterns speech the not but words the translate can TARDIS the. Work good."
"The TARDIS can translate the words but not the speech patterns," said Luna, focusing on what the Doctor had said.
"If they're talking backwards how can we understand them?" asked Amy. Then, after a pause, added "Oh."
Rory slapped his palm against his forehead. "From came it where that's so!" He said suddenly.
The Doctor glanced at her and then pulled out a notebook from his pocket. "Funny. I was just about to say it would be a whole lot easier to just write it down," she said. And then, in surprise, "Hey! That's my notebook!"
Amy darted over to one side of the TARDIS, where a small pile of her things had taken over, and extracted the same notebook. She stared at it for a moment, then wrote in big block letter.
WHAT'S GOING ON?
The Doctor flipped his notebook over.
DON'T BOTHER TO ASK WHAT'S GOING ON. IT'S ALL A BIT CONFUSING REALLY. LISTEN, IN A FEW MINUTES HERE ITS GOING TO SEEM LIKE RORY AND I JUST RUSH OUT OF HERE. SORRY IF IT SEEMS A BIT RUDE BUT WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU'D BE HERE ON THE TARDIS SO DON'T TAKE OFFENSE. OH, AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T PRESS THE BIG RED BUTTON.
Then, leaning forward, he began scribbling furiously on the paper. After a moment, he slipped it back into his pocket.
Amy agitatedly showed him what he'd written. "He already told you not to ask," said Luna.
"What?" said Amy. Then, figuring out, frowned. "Oh."
Amy and Luna considered this for a few moments, and all of a sudden the Doctor and Rory both started rushing backwards toward the door, pushing it open behind them. Rory froze, goggling at the sight of them, and the Doctor took what seemed to be a few cautious steps back.
"Before you ask, we have no idea," said Amy as she began to catch on to what was going on.
"Here you're, goodness Thank." said the Doctor. And then he and Rory both backed out of the TARDIS, the door slamming shut behind (or was in front of) them, and Luna and Amy were left alone.
"All right. I want to know how this happened," said Amy.
"Well, I guess we'll find out if we just keep moving backward," she said. "Amy, do you think that's the same notebook the Doctor had?" Luna asked.
"It looked the same," said Amy. She turned it over.
"If it is, then anything we write in it now, the Doctor will eventually read. So we'd better tell him we're waiting in the TARDIS," she said.
"Ah," said Amy. She considered for a moment, then underneath WHAT'S GOING ON wrote WAITING IN THE TARDIS. GET YOUR SORRY BUTTS BACK HERE NOW! She turned back to Luna. "So now what?"
"I say we follow them."
Eleven and a Half Hours Earlier
"Where did they go?" Rory had said it a dozen times already. As he looked at the empty patch of grass where just a few minutes before he and the Doctor had watched Luna and Amy first die a million different scenarios ran through his head. Most of them involved wringing his hands around the Doctor's skinny neck. The others involved more gruesome forms of torture.
"Now that's an excellent question," said the Doctor. He was more subdued than usual although he did add, "But they had to have gone somewhere. And it's very hard to go anywhere if you're dead. So by my logic…"
"I'm having serious doubts about your logic…" said Rory.
"Ah, but that's only logical," said the Doctor. "Anyway, I'm assuming they're alive somewhere. We're just going to have to figure out where that somewhere is."
He and Rory stood up. The twin suns of Dexas 12 were now several inches above the edge of the horizon, lightening the sky to rosy pink. "Ow. Stop throwing things at me," said Rory.
"I didn't throw anything at you," said the Doctor. He turned around to see Rory rubbing the back of his head. His gaze flitted to the ground, where he saw a small notebook laying nestled in the grass. "Actually, I think that threw itself at you," he said.
"Where did it come from?" asked Rory. He knelt down to pick it up. He turned it over. "Wait a minute. It's Amy's."
"Really, now?" said the Doctor. He went over to Rory and plucked it out of his hand, opening it up. "There's something written here," he said. "What's going on."
"I don't know what's going on," said Rory. "Why don't you tell me?" he shouted.
"No. That's what's written, see? And in Amy's handwriting." He showed Rory the page. He took it from the Doctor. "Look under that. It says waiting in the TARDIS, get your sorry butts back here."
"Let me see it again," said the Doctor. He took it from Rory, scanning the pages with the Sonic Screwdriver. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Bit of time residue, but that's to be expected. Looks like they've written a whole bunch of other stuff, too," he said. "Watch out for the crystals. Take shelter during the eclipse. What did you mean about the big red button…now, what does that mean?" he said, turning the pages. "On and on for three pages."
"It's like they're sending us messages," said Rory.
"That's exactly what it is," said the Doctor. "We'd better get back to the TARDIS, then."
"But if she threw that at me just now, she's right out there!" said Rory. "Shouldn't we go look for her?"
The Doctor paused. There was a definite not-rightness about the situation. For one of the first moments since he'd met the man, he was inclined to agree with Rory. "Yes. I guess so. Let's have a look around."
They left the copse for the edge of the forest, searching the shadows. "Hold on," he said after a moment. "Footprints." He knelt down. "Luna's, I would think. Now that's strange," he added.
"What is?"
"They're not here, but I only see footprints coming, not going. And we came in over there," he added, pointing to a path through the trees some distance to their left. He made his way over to it, searching until he found his and Rory's footprints through the dense underbrush. There was no sign of Luna's or Amy's now and he pointed this out to Rory. "It's like they never came with us, in the first place," he said.
"But they did. They were with us. Right up until those things…"
"The crystals," said the Doctor. Then he froze. Watch out for the crystals. "Watch out for the crystals!" he shouted. Rory turned quickly and then, taking the Doctor by the arm, pulled them both to the ground. Glassy shards sprayed through the woods, just inches from where they'd been standing.
"If it hadn't been for the warning, we'd be goners," he said. He remained seated on the ground and pulled the notebook back out. Taking out a pen, he crossed through the warning on the paper.
"What're you doing that for?" asked Rory, panting.
"Just keeping track," said the Doctor. "Now, that was really strange. Stranger than the usual kind of strange."
"She warned us," Rory said. "She knew it was coming."
"Something like that," said the Doctor, although there was something he felt like he wasn't quite grasping. "Well, we'd better find those footprints and follow them. They seem to be heading in the direction of the TARDIS anyway."
He slid the notebook into his pocket and he and Rory made off into the forest. The suns rose higher as they trekked into the forest, an alien pink light saturating the landscape. They had been walking for twenty minutes when the Doctor suddenly noticed that the light had deepened to purple and he stopped, reaching over to keep Rory from moving any further.
He pulled out the notebook. "Take shelter during the eclipse," he read. Then added, "Rory. Look up. Do you see what I see?"
Rory looked up. The larger of the two suns was beginning to darken as a black crescent slid over its edge. "It looks like an eclipse," he said dully.
"Ah," said the Doctor. Then all of a sudden he and Rory were running breakneck through the underbrush. Along a ridge of rock they found a shallow cave and. They dove inside just as the sky went a dark purple, the only light that of the dim second sun. There was a deadly hiss and outside the world shuddered as shards of crystal went shooting through the forest, breaking apart into trillions of minute glassy spores. "Take shelter during the eclipse, check," he said, and crossed it off the list.
Ten Hours Earlier
"I think we're catching up. Or they're catching up to us. Or however this works," said Amy as they found more footsteps in the woody underbrush. THE RIGHT PATH, NOT THE LEFT, she wrote as they came to a fork.
"Actually, I think it'll be their left," said Luna. Amy frowned, then turned.
"You're right," she said, writing ACTUALLY, THE LEFT. "So you think this is going to work?"
"Well, the Doctor had the notebook," said Luna. "I think it led them back to the TARDIS. And if anything goes wrong, we can warn them with it, can't we?" she said.
Amy nodded. Then, pausing for a moment, turned to Luna. "Here. I know how we can find them." Underneath the last line, she wrote STAND WHERE YOU ARE FOR A FEW MINUTES. AND QUACK LIKE A DUCK.
"I just want to see if they'll actually quack," she said to Luna. They stood in the silence for a few moments, and then all of a sudden they heard a faint quack, the Doctor speaking and then she heard Rory exclaim,
"Quacking not am I!"
They heard the Doctor and Rory arguing and followed it until they found them. Amy and Luna hid behind a large bush as the Doctor and Rory walked backwards and the Doctor read something out of the notebook. "Should we tell them we're here?" said Amy.
Luna shook her head. "They need to get to the TARDIS, I think. Besides, they acted like they hadn't seen us all day. And I want to keep following them, see where this all started."
Amy nodded in agreement. Neither of them was yet able to remember what it was that had started them along their strange backwards journey. They waited until the Doctor and Rory were just out of sight and continued creeping along after them.
They entered a large grove of pale yellow trees. As they watched the Doctor and Rory suddenly dropped to the ground. Amy and Luna exchanged a glance and then, in unison, the dropped too. There was a rumbling tremor as a shower of crystals shot through the air. Amy added in her notes, YELLOW TREES. GET DOWN.
"What are these?" said Luna when the worst of it was over. She examined one that hadn't broken apart when it hit the ground. It looked like it was made of hardened sap, but it was perfectly clear. "I'm starting to remember something," she said quietly as she touched it and it broke apart. The powder it left behind stung her skin and she brushed it off on her coat.
"I think I am, too," said Amy. "The further we go. But it's fuzzy."
Luna nodded. She tried to concentrate, to remember whatever it was that had happened to cause everything. But it stayed entrenched firmly at the edge of her consciousness refusing to budge. "Oh, well," she said. "We'll figure it out, soon enough."
Nine Hours Later
"So what are these crystals, anyway?" said Rory.
"They weren't here when I last visited," said the Doctor. "Dexas 12 is a forest planet, supplied by deep veins of water that run deep beneath the ground. These silvery-gray trees, they're natives. Hearty little buggers," he added. "Not much else can thrive here. Those yellow trees are aliens. If I'd seen them when we landed the TARDIS I'd have turned right around and left."
"So those crystals? They come from the yellow trees?" said Rory.
"Those crystals are living cells," explained the Doctor. "They're like a fungus, the yellow trees. They shoot shards of sap containing millions of cells out to land on the forest floor. When those shards hit Amy and Luna, they began to grow inside them."
"And they killed them," finished Rory.
The Doctor paused. "Well, it certainly looked like it," he said. He picked up the notebook, glancing inside. "Doctor. Watch out for Rory. What?" he said, looking up. He jerked back just in time to avoid Rory's fist coming at his face and, backing up, avoided the second swing. "They're not dead," he said, "or else they wouldn't be leaving us these little notes. Hey now, watch it," he said as Rory's fist connected with his shoulder. He winced, rubbing it lightly.
"If my wife…"
"Hold on," said the Doctor. He pushed Rory back, thumbing through the notes. ":Luna's not dead either, in case you were wondering. Git.," he read.
"What?" Rory blinked. The Doctor turned the notepad over so that Rory could read it for himself.
"Tell Rory I'm not dead, and sodding get over it," said the Doctor.
"What?" said Rory.
"Her words, not mine," said the Doctor, holding up the notepad again.
Seven Hours Earlier
"This is so gross," said Amy. Her foot had sunk into the earth. She slowly extricated it, wincing as she looked at the mud that encased it up to the ankle.
"I don't know," said Luna. She picked through the grass, avoiding the soft earth that Amy had fallen into. "This is kind of fun. In a muddy, dirty, dangerous kind of way.."
Amy looked up, uttering a short laugh. "Yeah. That would be the Doctor's favorite kind of fun," she said. She shook her boot, sending a small spray of dirt reverberating through the growth.
Luna glanced up at the sky. "It's getting dark. Or, it's getting un-light," she said as the sun crept back toward the horizon. "Time really is running backward."
With an exasperated groan Amy swiped the last bit of dirt from her boot, then making sure the notebook was all right she tucked it away. "I still can't remember what happened," she said. "What about you?"
Considering for a moment, Luna finally shook her head. "Bits and pieces, maybe, although I can't be sure they're really memories or I'm just dreaming. I do that a lot, these days. I remember something about the crystals though. And it seems like my heart hurts." She placed her hands over her chest. "Right here."
Amy stopped. She put her own hand to her chest. "You're right," she said. "I can feel it too."
Their eyes met one another, one full of fear and the other fathomless, the only expression within a faint sort of curiosity mingled with confusion. "I'm starting to get a little scared by all this," she said.
"Don't be. We already know the Doctor works out a solution," said Luna. "We saw it, didn't we?"
"Yeah," breathed Amy. "But…do you think he works it out in time? Luna, if we were dying but got thrown into reverse…couldn't we be, like, winding back?"
"Dying again?" said Luna. "Well, I think that's very likely. I do hope the Doctor sorts it out."
Amy was about to speak, when she heard the Doctor's voice nearby. They both rushed after them and saw that they'd paused in the middle of a clearing. "Can you make it out?" asked Amy.
"I think he said her words, not mine," said Luna.
"What?" exclaimed Rory, off in the distance.
"Rory just said…"
"I know what he said!" hissed Amy. "Hold on."
They both listened. "Something about you being alive," said Luna. "Maybe he didn't realize until now that you weren't…you know?"
"Right," said Amy. "I'd better write it down. Although it's kind of rude that he's not worried whether or not you're alive," she added. "Hold on, I'll write something about that too."
She was in the middling of the scribbling when, still in reverse, Rory began swinging at the Doctor. They stopped and stared for a moment. Amy frowned. "What a moron. I better write a warning for the Doctor," she said, scribbling one last thing into the notepad before snapping it shut.
As the scene finished they continued along after them.
Four Hours Later
"Stand where you are, and quack like a duck," said the Doctor. Then, after a moment, he reread the statement and turned to stare at Rory.
"What? Are you kidding me?" he said.
"No, it's right there," said the Doctor. He held out the page and Rory glared at it.
"I am not quacking," said Rory.
"It's right there," said the Doctor. "It must be important. You'd better do it." He stared at Rory for a long moment. "Well?"
"I'm not…I mean…" When the Doctor didn't seem to budge, he sighed. Without paying much attention to Rory the Doctor leaned in toward the forest. There was a low faint rustle and he brightened, smiling.
"Quack. Quack quack," Rory mumbled. The Doctor stopped him, leaning close.
"I think they're watching us," he said.
"What? They're here?" he said.
"Shh!" The Doctor hissed. There had been another faint rustle, from further back. "Yes. Listen, I think I understand what's going on now. Somehow, when Luna and Amy were dying, Luna was able to do some sort of magic to send the both of them back in time. But not back properly, not to change what had happened. She simply reversed the time stream for the two of them, so that the crystal would shrink back and not kill them right away."
"Yeah, okay," said Rory. Then, he blinked. "What?"
"Think about it. Luna saved herself and Amy by sending them to a point in time where I was able to do something to save them. But time is trying to restore itself by pushing them backwards through it, to the point where the crystal killed them both. They're following us…sort of…back in time to the point where they died. The point, actually, where Amy must have thrown the notebook at your head to guide us back along this path."
"So what you're saying is they're going to die, all over again? If you can't figure out a way to save them?" Rory asked.
The Doctor stared off into the forest. "I'll figure out a way," he said. "Let's just keep going."
As the Doctor and Rory came to a fork in the road, they paused. The Doctor stared first one way, and then the other, before pulling out the notebook. "Actually, the left," he read. Rory started to walk towards the left side and the Doctor stopped him. "The right path, not the left."
"What?" said Rory. It occurred to Rory then that he was saying 'What' a lot that day, but it very much seemed a what kind of day.
"I think she meant the left," said the Doctor.
"But she said the right, not the left."
"I think she wrote that before she wrote actually, the left. So I'm thinking it's the left," said the Doctor.
It took a few moments, but finally convinced they both headed off on the left path.
Ten Hours Later
I can hardly breathe," said Amy, her hand now on her chest. "It hurts."
"It feels like something is growing in there," said Luna, her eyes unusually dim. She reached out her hand to Amy and helped her to her feet. "We have to keep walking. We have to make it to…to wherever."
Amy nodded and suddenly began to cough. A trickle of blood appeared at the corner of her lip. She touched it and stared down at her fingers. "I'm dying," she whispered.
Luna shook her head. "We'll make it. Don't worry, we will. I promise," she said. Then, as if she were pleading, "You're my friend right?"
"What?" Amy glanced up. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am."
"Then trust me," said Luna. "I won't let anything happen to you anymore than the Doctor would."
Amy took a deep, ragged breath. And together, the two girls walked off.
Eleven and a Half Hours Earlier
"I think I've got it!" said the Doctor suddenly.
"What?" said Rory, spinning around.
"I've just got to figure out a way to jolt Luna and Amy back in time to the point where they were when they started. It all makes perfect sense!" he said suddenly. "Because that's the reason they're in the TARDIS! Or will be, when we get there. They're going to wake up there, the moment I jolt them in. It's another time loop. Of course! Why didn't I see it! I just have to figure out the schematics to make it work…"
"I didn't understand anything you just said," said Rory. "But I hope for both of their sakes it works, Doctor."
They came finally through the forest and saw the bright blue shell of the TARDIS standing at the center of a clearing. The Doctor and Rory broke into a run and burst through the doors. Amy and Luna were looking calmly and somewhat bemusedly at them. The Doctor sighed.
"You're here, thank goodness."
"Idea no have we, ask you before," said Amy, holding up both hands.
The Doctor and Rory both rushed into the TARDIS, Rory pausing next to Amy and the Doctor making his way to the TARDIS console, where he began to flick idly at buttons. After a moment he leaned forward, taking out the notebook to scribble something which he held out for Amy to see.
DON'T BOTHER TO ASK WHAT'S GOING ON. IT'S ALL A BIT CONFUSING REALLY. LISTEN, IN A FEW MINUTES HERE ITS GOING TO SEEM LIKE RORY AND I JUST RUSH OUT OF HERE. SORRY IF IT SEEMS A BIT RUDE BUT WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU'D BE HERE ON THE TARDIS SO DON'T TAKE OFFENSE. OH, AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T PRESS THE BIG RED BUTTON.
Amy furrowed her brow, scribbling something in her own notebook. The Doctor ignored her for a moment. All of a sudden she rushed backwards, sliding the notebook into the pocket of an old coat, and started to babble in reverse.
"Oh! So that's where she got that!" said Rory, slapping himself on the forehead. Coming back around, Amy glanced at Rory.
"Oh," she said, and babbled something else.
"Patterns speech the not but words the translate can TARDIS the," said Luna faintly.
"Good work," said the Doctor. "The TARDIS can translate the words but not the speech patterns." He continued to pace, tapping his forehead. Then, every few moments, he would interject the babble between Luna and Amy with something else. "Exactly. Except you're the one's going backward," he said at one point. Then, turning around, "Rory, have a seat, you're making me nervous!"
Rory jumped and left Amy, sitting down at the other side of the TARDIS. "You , not us," said the Doctor after a moment more.
And finally, after a few more moments, he said, "You're traveling backwards." The moment he said it, a light began to gleam in his eye. He mouthed it again, twice, and suddenly shouted "I've got it!" Jumping up be began spinning dials and turning levers, turning knobs and gears until everything was in its proper place. Just one more thing…
Twelve Hours Earlier
"I can't go on." Amy collapsed on the ground. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. Luna knew, without question, that she was dying. "Take this. Get it to them," she said hoarsely. "Go."
Luna, with a nod, took the notebook, leaving Amy laying still and quiet in the grass. Although the pain in her own chest was excruciating she ran as fast as she could, closing the final distance between herself and the clearing.. She stepped up just in time to see the Doctor and Rory leaning over two still, pale bodies sprawled on the grass. She lifted the book…
At just the moment she started to throw it something jerked her through time and space with a terrific jolt. The book flew high in the air, where it would arc and twirl several times before finally striking Rory in the head. She was spinning, around and around, and all of a sudden she was crashing onto the deck of the TARDIS. Her hand reached out and hit something. A wailing alarm filled the small room as she gasped, sitting straight up.
The pain in her chest was gone. The Doctor was staring down at her. And time, finally, seemed right again.
"You pushed the button," said the Doctor.
"What?
"I wanted to push the button that sealed time back together," he said. "I told you not to."
"I'm sorry," said Luna. "I don't think I meant to."
The Doctor helped her to her feet, and somewhere on the other side Rory was doing the same with Amy. Luna took a long, deep breath. "So, we're back to normal?"
"As normal as things ever are around here," said the Doctor.
"Good." Luna put her hand to her chest, breathing deeply.
About five minutes passed before anybody could speak. Finally, the Doctor asked, "So where to now? I think we ought to be on our way."
"Earth," said Amy. "After that, we deserve a little earth."
The Doctor looked just the tiniest bit disappointed, but finally grinned. "Well then. If it's earth you want, then it's earth you shall have."
"Ominoreg!"