AN: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Forgive me? If it makes any difference, I have been extraordinarily busy with exams and the end of school and then my best friend ever so kindly exploded my brain...so FF hasn't exactly been at the top of my priority list recently. It's still no excuse for such a hideously late update, but I swear I'm back now. In other news, THANK YOU ALL for such lovely reviews, and I'm sorry I didn't reply to them all. I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
TWO
Once Rose's head felt a little less...scrambled, they began walking. She knew the Doctor had no idea where they were going, and she knew that he knew that she knew that, but he'd said that the only way to find out who'd brought them here was to go and find them, so that was the plan for the moment.
Thinking in long sentences made her head hurt.
They'd followed the tunnel where it branched off to the right, and were just rounding a bend when they heard footsteps, rushing towards them, and a voice shouting "RUN!"
Rose stiffened, wondering if they were about to discover who had brought them to this place, and suddenly the person was upon them – a tall man wearing a tweed jacket and a bowtie, dashing past without looking at them and yelling "Run!" once more at the top of his lungs.
Then there came a monstrous roar and as the Doctor grabbed her arm Rose realised that the newcomer's idea wasn't half bad. She ran.
Once Amy realised that the 'monster' – whatever it was – wasn't following her, she slowed her pace a little, still fast but less of the break-neck speed, which must have been named for a reason.
She realised it was likely that whatever they'd heard roaring was now following the Doctor, and it worried her, but she could hardly turn back and help him now. If he had any sense, which he appeared to sometimes, he'd be turning bends and doubling back trying to give the beast the slip, and by the looks of these tunnels she'd never be able to find him again. No, she'd keep going, and perhaps find out who'd brought them to this place and why they had a raging monster on the loose.
She kept running until she realised her footsteps weren't the only sounds in the tunnel. Not far ahead she could spot two silhouettes, a man and a woman, who by the sounds of it were arguing loudly.
"I'm going to kill you, Spaceman," the woman's voice said, "We escape from one tunnel and the next thing we're inside another one, where are we anyway?"
"How should I know?" came a man's voice. "We were teleported – I couldn't have caused it if I'd wanted to!"
At this point, the woman must have heard Amy approaching, for she stopped and turned around. "Hello – are you lost as well?"
Amy nodded, taking in the woman in front of her – medium height, smart-casual clothes, hair a similar colour to her own. "Yeah," she said, "I was with my friend – we got split up. Something was chasing us. I'm Amy, by the way."
"Donna," said the woman, grinning, "and this is the Doctor."
Rose had had a lot of practise in running lately, meaning she could keep up with the Doctor and the other man easily. They slipped round corners and ducked under low archways, until finally they could no longer hear the heavy, thudding footsteps of whatever had been after them.
They slowed to a walk, the bowtie man still striding ahead of Rose and the Doctor. "What were we running from?" she asked no-one in particular.
The man in front of them stopped short, turned to face them. "I don't know," he said. "Didn't wait to see, but it sounded like-Hold on..." he trailed off, gazing in wonder at the two of them, as if noticing them for the first time. "Are you...? You are, aren't you? Oh, you are."
The Doctor looked at Rose and shrugged. Turning back to the man, he said, "I'm the Doctor and this is Rose, and we've never seen you before in our lives. Don't take it personal, our lives don't always happen in the right order – we haven't met you yet."
The man was still gaping at them. "Oh, this is marvellous! Or as you might say, 'fantastic'. I love it when this happens!"
Rose frowned, "What, when you stop in the middle of running away from a monster to have a chat with someone you've never met before?"
"Oh, Rose Tyler, we've met before all right," the man said, gazing at her intently. "And you!" he turned his head to face the Doctor, "Don't you know who I am yet?"
The Doctor looked nonplussed. "Nope! Never seen you before in my life."
"Well, that's true enough..." said the other man, straightening his bowtie and reaching out to shake hands, "I'm the Doctor."
The Doctor and Ace had been walking through tunnels for a bit too long for her liking. "Got any clues yet, Professor?" she asked.
"Patience, Ace," he replied. "I think I might know where we are – or at least, what we are inside."
"Well?"
"I think," said the Doctor, tapping his umbrella against the wall of the tunnel they were walking down, "We are in a maze."
"A maze? What, like the ones made out of hedges and stuff?"
"Well, yes," the Doctor conceded, "Except this one's made from something else entirely, and it's giving off a substantial amount of heat. If the maze is the right shape and that heat is channelled properly it could create a huge amount of power..."
"Like an engine, you mean?"
"Exactly, Ace!" he quickened his pace suddenly. "The question is, who built it – and why bring us here?"
"But... But..."
Amy was standing in front of the two strangers, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.
"Are you all right?" the woman – Donna – asked.
Amy nodded. "Yeah...just...it must be a coincidence, my friend uses the same name."
"Where is your friend?" the man asked, gazing at the tunnel behind her, "You said you got separated?"
"Something was following us," she told him, "he ran one way, and I ran the other. I lost him."
"What sort of something?"
"I don't know, a big growly something. We didn't wait long enough to see it, we were too busy running."
"Oh, well, this is just brilliant!" Donna interjected, "We're in a dark, yucky tunnel being chased by a monster, this couldn't get any more typical. Wish we had the TARDIS so we could go somewhere a bit less-"
Amy cut her off, "How do you know about the TARDIS?"
"You what?" Donna said, shaking her head. "It's his ship, the Doctor's. Looks like a-"
"Big blue box?" Amy completed the sentence.
"Well, yes."
"It belongs to my friend," Amy said slowly, "What have you done with it?"
Donna looked like she was about to reply when the tall man next to her said, "That's not the most important question right now."
Amy rolled her eyes. "So what is?"
The man looked at both women and finally said, "How come everyone gets to be ginger except me?"
"You're the who?"
"The Doctor."
"Don't be stupid, I'm the Doctor."
"Yes, yes you are. And so am I. Don't you get it yet? I. Am. You."
Rose stared at the two men, one gaping in disbelief and the other grinning madly. "Yeah, I'm not getting any of this – so you do know each other after all?"
The Doctor – her Doctor, turned to her, an unreadable expression on his face. "Rose...meet my future self."
"Your what?"
"We're the same man," the other Doctor said, "But I changed my form. Twice, actually. Still the same person, though, got all the memories. Hello, Rose. I did miss you."
"Hello," she said, warily, looking at her Doctor for confirmation.
"It's true," he told her. "Time Lords have this...trick. We can cheat death by regenerating every cell in our body, we start over a new life, but it means we end up with a different face."
"And a different dress sense," the other Doctor added, eying his former self's jacket critically. "Why did I ever think leather was a good idea?"
"Leather," said Rose's Doctor, "is good. Bowties, on the other hand..."
"Bowties are cool! What's everyone got against bowties?"
Rose shook her head, "Right, so, let me get this straight, you're, like – the same person but in different bodies, yeah?"
"Yes." They both said together.
"But," she reasoned, "When I went back to see my dad, you said if two versions of the same person touch, it causes a paradox which destroys worlds and stuff. And you two just shook hands."
"Time Lord genes," said her Doctor. "Humans were never meant to travel in time, but for us – me – it's part of the job description. Different set of rules."
The other Doctor suddenly looked serious, as if a thought had just struck him. "There's something else, though. I don't remember being here before. I should remember having the other side of this conversation when I was you – but I don't. I should know exactly what you're about to say and what I'll reply, but I-"
"Shut up a minute," said Rose's Doctor.
The other looked faintly surprised, "Though I could've guessed you'd say that."
Rose's Doctor shook his head. "Something's rearranging the timelines. Something very powerful. Probably the same something that brought us here. Were you teleported, too?"
"No, we came in the TARDIS," said the other Doctor. "But not by choice. We were dragged to this time zone."
" 'We'?" asked Rose's Doctor quizzically.
The other Doctor suddenly opened his eyes, wide. "Amy!"
He watched them on the screens, dithering about in the tunnels, not one of them noticing the tiny cameras watching their every move. He watched without a hint of a smile or a frown. Years of this solitude had made outward displays of emotion rather pointless, but in his heart he allowed himself a glimmer of hope.
They were heroes, after all. Perhaps, this time, one of them would be able to help.
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