Happy New Year 2012, everyone! I'm excited about this chapter since the next one will have the Doctor in it... in the flesh! :D Poor Hero is having a rough time of it, I'm afraid... *sigh* Why do I do this to my characters? Why?
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its loveliness. However, most of this chapter (except for the idea of Time Lords and sonic screwdrivers) is arguably my own... :)
Enjoy!
The corridor ahead was a very long one, tapering down into a pinpoint as I began to run towards the end.
The images pounding through me as I ran were confusing, jumbled. First there was a flash of being held by the real mother I didn't know, gazing out over the Time Lords' Citadel (now that I remembered what that was). It was so beautiful, so distant and alien, and I realized as I jogged downhill that most of my memories were of my human form. I mean, I remembered a small amount of time as a Time Lord baby, being held and played with and sung to and an image of the Doctor bending kindly over my cradle... He looked different then, very different, yet I recognized him at once as the same floppy-haired idiot whom I was searching for now.
For some odd reason I couldn't remember why he looked different now, since it seemed like something I should know, but I couldn't summon up the reason and it was nagging at me. My earliest memory, jumbled as it all was, was a fiery hot sensation followed by a popping sensation and feeling my own body. I had no idea how to process this memory. Weirdly, it felt connected with why the Doctor had a completely different body now that he was older.
Gritting my teeth, I realized that I'd been running for quite a while now, consumed by my memories and doubts, and I still hadn't reached the next destination in this mad "ceremony" or whatever the hell it was. I came to a halt, registering that my breathing had barely sped up to fuel my running. My hearts were thudding sharply, however, and I stared behind and in front in confusion. The tunnel continued on as it had before, tapering down until it vanished into a point. What was behind me was even more unnerving, since it appeared to also do the same. If I wasn't so sure of which direction I'd come from, I would have gotten confused as to which way was towards the Doctor and which was returning to the last room.
Despite my innate knowledge that I was once again a Time Lord, despite this knowledge throbbing in every cell of my being, I couldn't find an increased ability to figure out what to do next. I was surprised, a second later, when my brain told me that perhaps what I was seeing was an illusion of some sort. The tunnel couldn't possibly be what my eyes were telling me it was.
Of course... Perhaps this is another test...
Well, it couldn't hurt to try something.
I turned towards the wall on my right and slowly placed my palm against it, feeling its cool stones smooth against my skin. Yet I detected a strange sensation beneath my fingertips, making the small hairs on the back of my neck stand up a bit. Not sure why, I leaned my whole weight into my arm and pushed quite suddenly against the wall, gasping as my hand and wrist literally sunk into what had appeared to be stone a second before. It felt as though my hand was enclosed in pudding, sliding in deeper, urging the rest of my arm to follow suit. I felt a tingling in my brain, a general agreement with some new unknown genius inside my head which gave my conscious self permission to continued. Oh yay... I'm a baby Doctor... Got a smart-ass in my head. Brilliant.
In one smooth motion I teetered forward towards the strange wall. For one terrifying moment I was completely encased in the pudding-like substance, my eyes and mouth squeezed shut and my hearts thudding in excited terror. After a tense moment, however, I found myself released and quickly opened my eyes.
"WELL DONE, SPAWN OF THE TIME LORDS," blared a metallic voice, and for the first time since we'd landed on this insane planet I beheld my adversary. A tall figure made of a gold-white light stood before me, and I shivered when I couldn't distinguish a face among the glowing material of its body. I also felt a rush of adrenaline as I once again found myself in the presence of an alien being. I swallowed, staying very still in one place as I attempted to meet this thing's gaze, if it had one.
"YOU ARE CRUDE AND UNFORMED, TIME LORD CHILD," the creature continued, and I felt a flicker of annoyance.
"I think I'm doing alright, thank you," I retorted, balling my hands into fists at my sides, "and it's no thanks to you that I've been returned to my normal state; it was bound to happen sooner or later."
"NO, IT WAS NOT, WE FORSAW YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH THE CRIMINAL WHO CALLS HIMSELF THE DOCTOR... YOUR EXISTANCE HAS PROVIDED US WITH HONORABLE JUSTICE."
"How is torturing your prisoners honorable?" I cried at the being in front of me, "How is forcing another person to go through a whole string of stupid things while you allow their entire body to change? You can't possibly imagine what had happened to me now that I'm..." I gestured wordlessly to my body, words failing to describe my transformation. "How is that honorable? Who the hell do you think you are?" A small corner of my brain that kept some of its human emotions was telling me that I should feel afraid right now, but all I felt was righteous indignation, that and a growing thread of excitement that I couldn't explain.
"OUR WAYS DO NOT HAVE TO MAKE SENSE TO AN INFANT SUCH AS YOURSELF. WE ARE ANCIENT, WE ARE WISE, WE ARE WRONGED AND GRANTED REVENGE. YOUR PURPOSE IN OUR JUSTICE IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE. PREPARE YOURSELF."
The alien moved towards me slowly, extending long slender arms with glowing hands outwards. I backed up, bumping against the pudding-wall I'd come through. It didn't give like before, and I realized that it was probably one-way. There was no escape behind me. Glancing around very quickly I registered that I was in a large hall made of carved-out stone, not a natural cavern but perhaps a manufactured one. Floating orbs of light shown high above me, but most of the light was coming from the tall alien in front of me. It was now only about five feet away, and I could feel heat coming from it quite distinctly.
"YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RESIST," the creature blared, moving ever closer. I raised my hands in a protective gesture, glancing around feverishly. I had no idea what the alien was going to do with me, but I knew for sure that I didn't want it to touch me.
A burst of energy flowed through every muscle in my body and I leaped to the side, avoided the alien's long arms. I dodged away from it, running as fast as I could away from it and through the large hall. The alien roared an odd, gravelly, metallic roar, and I heard a faint hissing sound as it began to chase me.
"YOU ARE UNWISE, CHILD, RUNNING WILL ONLY MAKE IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR YOU," it cried, and I only ran faster towards a pair of large wooden doors on the far side of the hall, "TURN YOURSELF OVER AND LET US ENACT OUR JUSTICE!"
"Go to bloody freaking hell!" I yelled, screeching to a halt in front of the doors, yanking one open, and scampering through. I managed to pull it closed behind me but dashed on down yet another darkened corridor, hearing the alien fumbling with the door handle somewhere behind me.
I turned a sharp corner and found myself in a long thin room filled with tables. They blocked my way across to the other side of the room, and I had to slow down to maneuver and push my way through this chamber. When I had nearly reached the next set of doors, something to my left caught my eye and I froze in place.
Lying on a nearby table was... the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.
I felt a rush of warmth flood through my body as I realized that I could be very close to finding the Doctor himself. With a quick movement I leaped forward, grabbing at the sonic just as the alien came crashing into the room. Its glow had increased to an almost blinding brilliance and I whipped back towards the far doors and started to sprint, tucking the sonic into my pants' pocket as I went. My breath was coming in sharp pants, my hearts throbbing in my chest, yet I felt energy coursing through me like I was taking a sedate Sunday walk. I plunged ahead, running bodily into the pair of white doors, praying they weren't solid, and I crashed through them completely, feeling pieces fly past me as I charged on.
I sprinted around a corner, feeling a bit triumphant that I'd gotten ahead, and tripped over myself in horror as I realized that the alien, or perhaps another of its species, was now standing in front of me. I couldn't stop, I had been running too fast, and I felt the sonic screwdriver pressing tightly against my leg as I reached a protective hand over it and careened forward. The alien's metal voice seemed to cry out, like it too had been surprised, and I crashed headlong into it.
Every nerve in my body came alive, my eyes and brain completely blinded in light, and then there was nothing.