I could feel myself slowly coming back to consciousness; my eyes were firmly shut, and a deep, sharp throbbing in my head told me that something very heavy had struck the side of my skull. Shifting slightly, keeping my eyes closed, I realized that the something heavy had actually been my own head striking a very hard floor which was still beneath me.
After a moment I opened my eyes slightly, just a crack, and didn't see much of anything, just dark shapes that melted together. My head was throbbing very badly, making my vision twinge and fade from blurry to clear and back to blurry again. Great... probably a concussion... or worse... I sighed and closed my eyes again. The right side of my chest felt really strange, almost weightless, and I realized that my heart there was beating again. It felt... achy.
There was a sound of something stirring next to me, and I turned my head slightly towards the sound. I could hear someone breathing, followed by a gentle touch of hands on my arm and opposite shoulder. Still feeling a bit bleary, I managed to pry my eyelids open once more and beheld what appeared to be the outline of the Doctor bending over me.
There was a pause, and then I heard him fumble around with his jacket and then I quickly shut my eyes again as the bright light of the sonic screwdriver swept over me, emitting a high-pitched whirring sound. There was a flick as the Doctor examined the results; apparently he was checking to make sure I wasn't about to drop dead or something... After a moment, he made a small thoughtful sound to himself, and I saw the glowing light from the sonic through my eyelids as he looked down at me.
"Look at you..." he murmured, and I peeked my eyes open a crack. The Doctor was staring straight at me, and he drew back slightly when he realized that I was conscious. "Ah, hello," he said in a regular voice, smiling sweetly at me. His features were outlined starkly in the dim green light from the sonic.
"Erm..." I cleared my throat, my voice feeling a bit rusty from dust or something, "H-hello... What happened?"
The Doctor sat up a bit straighter, still holding the screwdriver aloft over us for light, "Well, we fell into this... dark place." I nearly giggled, since his ability to be descriptive appeared to have failed him.
"Wait, well..." I frowned slightly, trying to remember the events leading up to my unconsciousness, "what happened... to me? Back there?"
"You regenerated," the Doctor replied, looking very pleased, "well, sort of, you started to. Was this your first?"
I stared at him for a moment, then at once began to frantically feel my own body. Same arms, same face, ouch my head!, same sides and front...
"Wait, so what happened? Wasn't..." I paused, sort of afraid to continue, "wasn't I supposed to change in someone else? Another face?"
The Doctor smiled at me, patting me gently on the shoulder as if to be comforting and reassuring all at once, "It was your first time to change, so things can sometimes go a little... a little different. Apparently, you used the power growing within you to destroy the DakTar's defenses and to release us, but you didn't change form. Apparently it isn't your time..."
"But... I was dying, right?"
The Doctor started speaking in a musing, thoughtful voice, his thinking voice, which sounded kind of... sexy, "It's very curious, Hero Smith, because I could tell that you were dying, and there seemed nothing left to do for you, but then we fell... quite a ways down! Perhaps the landing was enough to shock your heart into beating properly again."
A thought occurred to me. "Wait... how did you know..."
The Doctor gave me a slightly embarrassed look, "I just knew."
"Ah..." I tried not to giggle, which would have been highly undignified considering I was still laying rather unceremoniously on the cold floor where I'd landed. I still grinned, though, and the Doctor grinned goofily back, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "So, Doctor," I continued, striving to retain some of my dignity, "What happens now?"
"Well," he replied in an excited tone, "Thanks to you being brilliant," I blushed, thankful he probably couldn't tell in the faint sonic light, "we have the sonic screwdriver in our possession. Which means we may be able to find an exit or something else pretty cool." He ended with a crooked grin, then without warning he bent over me a bit and scooped me up in his arms like I weighed nothing at all. I mean, I was a lot smaller than him, but it still seemed impressive as my head swirled from the changing position. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, leaning against his chest, as my bruised head decided to give me a painful lecture for sitting up.
Murmuring soft apologies, the Doctor hoisted me into a more comfortable position, clenching the sonic tightly in one hand, and slowly began to move forwards into the darkness. I froze in shock as I felt him plant a gentle kiss on my forehead before he raised his head to get a better view of our surroundings.
"Yes, yes, this is very promising," he said aloud, talking to no one in particular and completely oblivious to my nervous gulp and trembling hands. Unsure of what to think, and feeling my cheeks grow warm as a part of my mind hoped he didn't kiss all the girls' foreheads, I settled against him a bit more and strained my eyes ahead into the darkened cavern. I could feel his silly bow tie tickling the top of my head, and I smiled quietly to myself, feeling my eyelids grow heavy.
"... plated metal is very curious because of it's thinness. Remarkable..."
"Hrm?" I managed, dragging my eyes open as the Doctor seemed to continue his self-rambling to the general air around us. I blinked and then gasped as I realized that we were once more in one of the metal-lined tunnels from before, when I'd first began looking for the Doctor on my own. So did that mean... the DakTar had simply let us go?
"Ah, you're awake," the Doctor chirped, clearly in a good mood, "This passages are brilliant, don't you think?"
I chuckled, happy to discover that my head was feeling a bit better. "Wait... Doctor, have you really been carrying me all this time? I'm sorry..."
"Not to worry, you're exceedingly small so it was no trouble," he replied, like he was shushing a fussy child.
"Um... thanks..." I suppressed another giggle as I imagined a dwarfed version of myself being carried like a doll by a gigantic Doctor...
Without a warning, a large door slid open in front of us, and warm golden light spilled out towards us. We both perked up at this sight, and with a few long strides the Doctor brought us right up to the doorway so that we could peer through.
"And where did the two of you get th' idea that we like thinkin' you're dead?" cried an indignant female voice, and we beheld Amy Pond in all her ginger wrath. Though I thought I saw her lip tremble slightly and her arms relax with relief at the sight of the Doctor and I. Rory stood nearby, arms folded across his chest in what I hoped was supposed to be an annoyed pose, but it mostly came across as relieved as well.
"Amelia Pond!" the Doctor cried, and for a brief second I thought he might fling his arms wide towards them and throw me aside in the process, "Rory the Roman!" I grinned at the two people before who were doing their best to look stern and failing horribly.
"Aw, come here you two..." Amy relented, opening her arms and quickly enfolding the Doctor and I in a bone-crushing hug. The Doctor clearly liked getting hugs, so he returned the gesture with enthusiasm until I flailed from being nearly squished to death between them. Rory stepped closer, clapping a hand on the Doctor's shoulder and smiling at the pair of us.
"Are you okay?" he asked me, noting that the Doctor had still not set me down on my own two feet.
"I'm okay, I think..." I smiled at him.
"She's more than fine," the Doctor added, and I heard pride in his voice, "she's... brilliant." Boy, he really liked that word. And oh goodness, I was blushing again...
"Great," Rory smiled back, and helped me set myself down firmly on the ground. I felt a bit unsteady, but between three very helpful people I had no problem staying upright. "You'll have to tell us everything, like how you're both alive..."
"...and what happened to Hero," Amy added, checking me up and down for large amounts of blood, apparently.
"...and how you, Doctor, managed to get a full pardon," Rory finished, and the Doctor and I looked at each other.
"Well..." the Doctor trailed off, looking slightly puzzled but happy all at the same time, "I'm not really sure, to be perfectly honest, but I have a hunch it was something Hero did."
"Those... aliens... the DakTar? Yeah, they made the announcement about half an hour ago," Amy explained, pulling us bodily further into what turned out to be Damon's cavern. A large group of green-faced aliens stood nearby, apparently waiting for us.
"Yes... It's time for a good talk," the Doctor replied, and I felt him quietly slip his hand into mine. Not sure whether anyone else had seen or not, I found that I didn't care, and I snuck a side-long smile at him. He smiled shyly back.