CHAPTER 8
I do not own Doctor Who, Twilight, the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings books or movies, or Laurel and Hardy, and I am making no profit off of this.
Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!
Note: This chapter is intended as a pure tongue-in-cheek parody of these stories and is not meant to be taken as a serious depiction of them in any way so I hope that no one takes any offense from it. It's not intended as an insult or to put these stories down in any way.
THE LAND OF (POPULAR) FICTION
As the Doctor started to get to work repairing the TARDIS, he quickly realized that it was going to take a long time due to the damage that had been done to it. He knew that it might take him days or even weeks to get it fixed and going again. He realized with rising dread in both of his hearts that they didn't have that long. The Land of Fiction would probably try to destroy the TARDIS and strand them here at any minute now just as it had done before.
The only thing that he could hope for is that whoever's brain was currently being tapped into to keep the place going wasn't too violent or malicious. He hoped that they would let them go without attacking them.
Of course they couldn't be that lucky.
The TARDIS started to violently shake as it fell apart around them, and this finally caused Victoria to wake up. "Doctor, what's going on?" Victoria cried out in fear.
"The TARDIS is being pulled apart. We have to get everyone out of it now," the Doctor said.
"No, we don't," Victoria said suddenly calm now.
Then the TARDIS stopped coming apart and became quiet. The Doctor watched Victoria with trepidation and awe as he realized that she was doing this. She was fixing the damage done to the TARDIS just now.
"Victoria?" the Doctor asked in a fearful voice. Had the Great Intelligence survived after all?
"It's okay, Doctor. I'm still me," Victoria reassured him.
"I want to believe that, but how can I be sure when you're using the power of the Intelligence. How else could you get it?" the Doctor said.
"I don't know how I got it. I just do," Victoria said with a worried look on her face.
Jamie had been looking into her eyes intently without speaking all of this time. Finally he broke his silence as he said, "It's her, Doctor."
"How do you know that with such certainty though, Jamie?" the Doctor asked.
"I know because I know her, Doctor. I can tell just by looking into her eyes. I know that it's really her, and she's upset and worried because she doesn't know what's going on either any more than we do," Jamie said.
"Alright, I'll take your word for it then," the Doctor said still unconvinced but not wanting to argue with Jamie right now when things were already bad enough.
Victoria came closer to the Doctor and whispered to him, "Please keep an eye on me and if I am still the Intelligence in some way be prepared to stop me. I don't want anything to happen to any of you especially Jamie."
"Don't worry. I will, Victoria," the Doctor said now firmly believing that she was still inside there somewhere.
The TARDIS rocked again, and Victoria became silent for a moment once more just before it stopped. The Doctor realized that whoever was in charge of the Land of Fiction had just tried to tear the TARDIS apart again.
"Whoever's in charge here now is not going to stop until we find them and stop them I see," the Doctor said with a sigh.
"Aye, it looks like we'll have to. Victoria can't keep stopping them forever. I guess we have no choice but to go out there and find them now," Jamie said.
"Unless you could fix the TARDIS enough to get us out of here," the Doctor said to Victoria deciding that he trusted her for the moment at least.
"No, I can't. I can sense that she's broken, but I don't know how to repair her. This power is still so new to me. I don't know how to use it that well yet, but I'll keep trying, Doctor. Unless you don't think that I should," Victoria said.
The Doctor knew that she meant that she was afraid that if she kept using the power and the Intelligence was still inside her that it might give him more of a hold over her. The Doctor saw no signs of the Intelligence being there, but he had to admit that he was afraid of that as well.
"Keep trying, Victoria, but if you start feeling funny stop immediately and let me know about it," the Doctor said.
"I will, Doctor," Victoria said.
"I already told you, Doctor. She's not possessed by the Intelligence," Jamie said.
"How can you be so sure of that, Jamie, when I don't even know that for sure myself?" Victoria said.
"I know," Jamie said firmly.
"He is so in love with her that his judgment isn't exactly that trustworthy right now," Zoe whispered to Polly.
"I agree that he isn't that objective, Zoe, but I think that he knows what he's talking about. He knows her better than anyone. We can still keep an eye on her though just in case. She seems to want the Doctor to do that herself," Polly whispered back.
They noticed Victoria staring at them and then she nodded while flashing them a brief smile. They suddenly realized that she had somehow heard every word that they said and was telling them that she agreed with their plan.
Suddenly a voice could be heard all around them saying, "You will come out of your little blue box and free me as I was promised or I will keep attacking it until I rip it apart."
"So that was the Intelligence's plan," the Doctor said.
"That's just wonderful. Well, there really is no choice now. We'll have to go through the Land of Fiction and be attacked by who knows what in order to get out of here. I'm really not looking forward to going out there again. The last time I was here I was attacked by everything from Medusa to a comic book character come to life," Zoe said.
"That sounds like so much fun. Oh, I really look forward to this alright," Polly said sarcastically.
The Doctor tensed up as he saw Victoria touching Clara's forehead. He wanted to trust her. He really did. He couldn't let anything happen to Clara though.
"Victoria, move away from her," the Doctor said as he moved forward.
"I'm not hurting her. I'm trying to wake her up," Victoria said.
The Doctor was blocked from getting to Victoria by Jamie who said, "I told you that she's alright. Leave her alone, Doctor."
"What are you two fighting about?" Clara said in a drowsy voice.
The Doctor smiled as Jamie said, "See, I told you so."
"Are you alright, Clara?" the Doctor said with concern.
"I'm fine. I get the feeling though that even though we defeated the Intelligence that we're still in plenty of trouble. We are, aren't we?" Clara said.
"Aye, just like usual," Jamie said with a grin.
"What kind of trouble?" Cydonia said as Victoria woke her up with a touch next.
"Deep trouble unless Victoria can wake Oswin up too," the Doctor said.
"Victoria woke us up? How?" Clara asked as she watched her try to wake Oswin up now too.
"I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to find out," the Doctor said.
"It's not working on her, Doctor. I can't wake her like I did the others. It doesn't work no matter how hard I try. I think she's alright though," Victoria said.
"It's probably because she's a Guardian. She's not going to be as easy to fix as the others," the Doctor guessed.
He still wondered deep down inside though if it wasn't because the Intelligence was still inside her and preventing her from doing it in order to make sure that his revenge was carried out just as he had planned it. He really hoped for once that he wasn't right.
"I'm waiting, Time Lord! Come out here and free me or I will rip you out of there by force if I have to!" the same voice as before shouted.
The TARDIS shook yet again, and the strain of having to constantly fix it back was starting to show on Victoria's face this time. He knew that she wouldn't be able to stop whoever was doing this to them much longer.
The Doctor quickly explained what was going on to Clara and Cydonia while the two of them picked up the still unconscious Oswin and carried her out of the TARDIS. The rest of the TARDIS crew followed them outside and the same bright white light that had greeted the Doctor before was there once again.
Then as they continued walking forward the light faded, and they soon found themselves in a thick forest. The Doctor wondered what book that this could possibly be from.
"I still don't understand, Doctor. So you're saying that this whole place is coming from the mind of a single person? There's a machine that's tapping into their imagination?" Clara asked.
"Yes, Clara, and this person whoever they are wants me to take their place," the Doctor explained.
"So that you'll be trapped here forever while the computer running this place feeds off of your imagination instead," Clara said as the full horror of it all dawned on her at last.
The Doctor nodded and Clara shook her head at him. She wasn't going to let that happen to him. Not if she could help it. She'd stay here herself if she had to. No one would miss her anyway. There were already plenty of her to go around throughout all of time and space.
"Don't even think about it, Clara Oswald!" the Doctor said firmly.
"What are you talking about, Doctor?" Clara asked as she tried to act innocent.
"I told the Doctor what you were thinking just now telepathically," Cydonia said as she glared at her.
"You had no right to do that," Clara said.
"I have every right. I would miss you, Clara. I love you," Cydonia said in tears.
"I love you too, and you're not taking my place. End of subject," the Doctor said firmly.
"I won't let anything happen to you, Doctor," Clara said just as firmly.
Clara was staring at the Doctor with such intensity that she never even noticed as an extremely pale man came out of nowhere and swept her up in his arms. He raced away with her before the Doctor could even try to stop him.
"Clara!" the Doctor cried out in fear.
The man didn't stop running until he was miles away, and then he immediately set Clara down in front of him with his hands still holding onto her arms in a grip like steel so that she couldn't leave. That didn't stop her from struggling with him with all of her strength anyway though while she shouted at him.
"Let me go, whoever you are, or you'll regret it. Even if the Doctor doesn't find you, my sister will," Clara said.
It was still weird thinking of Cydonia and Oswin as her sisters, but they had all agreed to think of themselves that way recently. It was caused by their meeting each other before when they had to save the Latimer children. They had all found out how each of them felt inadequate compared to the others and decided to start calling each other sister so that they would all feel just as worthy of being alive as the other two. Clara had to admit that it felt good having sisters now since she had grown up as an only child.
It made her feel more confident to imagine Cydonia rushing to help her now as she faced off against this strange sparkling man. Wait a minute! Was his skin sparkling in the sunlight?
"What are you?" Clara asked in shock.
The man looked at her with sad, lonely eyes as he said, "Surely you know by now. I'm not human like you are. I'm doomed to live forever with a heart filled with nothing but pain and sorrow. There's no room for love anymore. I gave up any claim to love a long time ago. Now I must kill in order to survive. I must kill you. I'm so, so sorry. I have to drink you dry of blood now because I'm a . . . vampire."
He said the last bit with tears running out of his eyes like rivers as he whined and moaned in agony.
Clara looked at him in complete confusion as she wondered why he was carrying on so much. He should either attack her or let he go. What was the point of all of the waterworks?
Then the remarkably handsome but sparkly vampire screamed in soul crushing agony as he said, "I can't allow myself to hurt you though. Never you. I mustn't! I simply mustn't! I can't hurt you. I could never hurt you because I . . . love you!"
Then he proceeded to start crying rivers of tears yet again as he moaned in pain and sorrow. Clara rolled her eyes as she wondered just what in the world was going on here.
"You don't even know me. I mean I only just met you a second ago. How on Earth could you already be in love with me?" Clara asked in an annoyed voice.
"Haven't you ever heard of love at first sight? I just took one look at you and I knew that I would love you forever. I knew! I knew instantly that I could never love another! That's why I could never hurt you! Never!" the man screamed in torment.
"Oh, give me a break! Are you for real?" Clara said as her face scrunched together in repulsion as the man broke out into tears yet again.
"What I feel for you is real. It's as real as you and I are. My love will never die now that it's in my heart. I will love you for all eternity. Long after you've turned to dust I'll still go on loving you. It'll be your image and only yours that burns in my heart forever!" the man said as he started crying yet again.
Suddenly he screamed in agony as an arrow pierced his heart. Clara looked to see a young girl with a bow and arrow standing behind him smiling as if at some unseen observer and striking a heroic pose just before she shot another arrow into his back.
"Don't just stand there! Run before he destroys you!" the girl shouted as she gave her an over exaggerated look of concern as if she were hamming it up for an audience.
"Who are you? Why are you attacking me?" the vampire said as he turned on her in anger.
"You were going to kill her. I may be forced to kill in the games, but that doesn't mean that I'm cold blooded enough to stand by and watch you attack that poor woman. Get away from her. Get away from her I say!" the girl said with her hands gesturing wildly and theatrically in order to show the force of her convictions.
"Games? What are you talking about?" the vampire said as he stood there in confusion.
"Is this a trick to gain ratings? Is that it?" the girl said as she began to look confused now herself.
"Stoneicus Completicus Roranicus," a voice said from behind Clara.
She suddenly saw the vampire and the girl with the arrows turn rigid and stiff as statues. Neither of them were able to move.
Clara turned to see a young boy with glasses and an oddly shaped scar on his forehead holding a wand out in front of him. He looked at Clara with concern as he said, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I think so. What did you do to them, and can you undo it? The girl was trying to help me I think, and all the vampire did was cry every minute. I think that all I had to fear from him was being sickened to death by his constant moaning and groaning. I appreciate your help though," Clara said.
"Maybe it's better just to leave them that way. Maybe that way He Who Must Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Be Named Under Any Circumstances Whatsoever will pass them on by and won't bother them. Come with me and I'll try to keep you safe from him," the boy said as he shook with terror.
"Safe from who? Who are you so scared of?" Clara asked.
"He Who Must Not Be Spoken Of Not Even In Whispers Or Even In Jest Lest He Come And Strike Us Down For The Speaking Of His Forbidden Name," the boy said as if it should be obvious.
"Why don't you just call him Old Nameless and get it over with?" Clara joked.
"He's coming. We must run or he'll kill both of us," the wizard said as he ran with Clara's hand in his in terror.
"Whoa! Wait a minute!" Clara said as she struggled to keep up with him.
Clara and the young wizard were forced to come to a complete stop though when they both ran headlong into the Doctor and bowled him over. The Doctor sighed with relief as Clara helped him to his feet.
"Doctor, I'm so glad to see you. This place is completely crazy. First I'm attacked by Count Cries A Lot, then he's attacked by a girl with a bow and arrow who acts like she's constantly posing for a camera, and then both of them are turned to stone by this kid who keeps going on and on about some guy who he won't even name. Get me out of here before they drive me all mad too!" Clara said in exasperation.
"I can't stay here any longer. He's coming. He Who Must Not Ever, Eve-," the wizard started to say.
"Oh, shut up!" Clara shouted in anger.
The wizard then began to run in mortal terror as he said, "Save yourselves! He's coming!"
That was when the others finally caught up to the Doctor and Clara. Cydonia immediately hugged her with her face covered with worry.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine. I've never been so annoyed in my life though. Not even when the Doctor made me say a memorial speech for his ruined fez when he buried it. Other than that though I'm just peachy," Clara said in irritation.
"It's time to end this farce once and for all. If you want me so very badly, then bring me to you and stop all of these games, whoever you are!" the Doctor shouted upwards to the sky.
"Very well then. I will bring you all to me now. I agree with you that I too tire of waiting. I wish to be free now!" the same voice as before said as it came from all around them.
Their surroundings suddenly changed as they found themselves in the computer room that the Doctor had been in once before a long time ago. A floating globe filled with webbing rotated over a man connected to it with a thick cable going into his head. The Doctor instantly recognized the globe as the Master Brain which was the computer that ran the Land of Fiction off of the thoughts of whoever was attached to it.
None of them could see who the man connected to the Master Brain was though until they came closer. Then they all gasped in surprise as they saw that it was the Shadow, the old Black Guardian's servant.
"Aren't you dead?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.
"I can never die as long as there is a Black Guardian. My life is permanently linked with the power of the Black Guardian so I am always brought back to life sooner or later to serve the new bearer of that power. Discord may have killed me, but I will never die as long as there is a Black Guardian for me to serve. She knew this of course and made sure that as soon as I was brought back that I was imprisoned here and kept out of her way. Now though that you're here you or one of your companions can take my place so that I will be free once again. Then I will seek out the new Black Guardian and do their bidding," the Shadow said with an evil grin.
"Eris won't want anything to do with you. She's moved past her dark side now," the Doctor said proudly.
"Don't worry. I can fix that. I'll remind her of who she truly is and set her back on course towards her true destiny. After spending a few weeks with me, she'll be a proper Black Guardian reveling in chaos and destruction in no time," the Shadow said with a chuckle.
"I'm not about to let you escape then. I won't ever let anything reverse the progress that she's made," the Doctor said.
"I'm afraid that you have no choice, Doctor. Either one of you takes my place or you'll all die here. My friends will make sure of that," the Shadow said.
Suddenly several figures carrying swords and wearing dark robes and hoods that completely concealed their true appearance appeared between them and the Shadow, and the Doctor realized immediately that he had conjured them up out of his own imagination. They were the Nazgul from the Lord of the Rings.
"Are those what I think they are?" Clara asked in fear.
"You're read Lord of the Rings?" the Doctor asked in surprise.
"I've seen the movies," Clara said.
"Oh, of course. Did you know that I was in some of those? Not this me but one of my past selves. I appeared in those movies in disguise as a part of a plan to stop a plot by the Cybermen to turn the movies into a brainwashing device. They wanted to use them to help them upgrade Lord of the Rings fans. It was a very cunning plan if I do so say myself. My plan not theirs, and it was so cool to get to be in those movies. It still wasn't as much fun as I had being in that Laurel and Hardy movie though. Now that was cool. They had me in stitches the whole time that I was on the set and they even let me wear my fez. How amazing is that?" the Doctor babbled.
"Doctor, SHUT UP!" Both Clara and the Shadow said at once.
"Apparently you don't think that I pose any real threat to you while I'm hooked up to this machine, Doctor, so I will show you that I mean what I say," the Shadow said.
One of the Nazgul moved with lightning speed and grabbed Zoe. She screamed as it brought its sword to her neck.
Then another Nazgul moving equally as fast grabbed Polly and then a third one grabbed Jamie. They both held swords to their throats as well.
"Free me now, Doctor, or I'll kill them!" the Shadow shouted.
Next: How will the Doctor get out of this one? Will he or one of his companions have to stay behind? Will the Shadow be freed? What part will Victoria play in all of this and exactly what's happened to her anyway? All will be answered in the next chapter as this whole storyline is finally wrapped up, and the future of the Land of Fiction will finally be decided once and for all.
