Author's Note: So, this is the first real chapter for this story...Sorry for taking so long to get such a short thing up, but I've been rather busy and it's been getting in the way of writing. That and writer's block.
I do hope you enjoy it.
Eleven glared at the lantern, silently blaming it for his own utter boredom. There was absolutely nothing to do besides just sitting there. It hadn't taken him long to realize that there was nothing he could do until the morning.
Rory had eventually sat back down and fallen asleep at the table a few hours ago, so Eleven had no one to complain to. Probably for the best though. Rory was already agitated enough not knowing what had happened to Amy, he didn't need to also be sleep-deprived.
It was incredibly boring. Just sitting there for what seemed to be an eternity. With absolutely nothing to do. It was practically torture.
Humans were lucky. If they had to wait a few hours for something, they could just go to sleep and set an alarm.
Eleven had tried sleeping. He had closed his eyes and counted sheep and even though he had counted over a billion of them…He had still stayed awake. Time Lords didn't need to sleep all that often, after all. It was rather sad, really, that he had even tried to just to have something to occupy his time with.
Of course, he'd gone outside. He'd looked around a little bit, made a few conclusions, but common sense had told him that it was best not to go too far, or to stay out for too long.
And so, he spent his time tossing his sonic screwdriver up in the air and catching it, though occasionally missing it and having it fall on his face.
Finally the sun slowly came up and it was finally morning.
Eleven almost jumped for joy, reaching over and shaking Rory awake quickly.
"Rory…" he shook him a bit harder. "Rory! It's morning!"
Still, Rory did not stir. Eleven frowned. The Roman must have been more tired than he looked. Not that that would keep Eleven from waking him up.
He shook Rory even harder, before whacking the nurse upside the head. "Come on, Roranicus! Amy could quite possibly be in danger!"
Rory's eyes opened and he sat up quickly.
"Ah, hello, Rory! It's morning!"
"Huh? Oh, right…"
"Come on, let's go outside for once, yeah? See if we can find the TARDIS! And Amy! Amy too."
Rory stood up, still bleary-eyed.
"Technically, I've already been outside quite a few times after you went to sleep," Eleven said. "However, I wasn't able to do any real investigating as I figured that going too far would only worry you if you woke up while I was out."
"Not really," Rory mumbled. "You wander off enough; I'm used to it."
Eleven opened his mouth to say something, insulted, before frowning and heading to the door. Rory followed, and the two walked outside onto the green grass.
The scene in front of them looked serene and peaceful; a beautiful forest almost untouched by man. If it wasn't for the wooden shack they had just walked out of, it would be difficult to believe anyone lived in that area.
"As you can see," Eleven stated. "It looks like a normal forest. Perfectly normal. But it's missing two things. I noticed it earlier. And one of those things is actually a large bunch of things, but I'm summing it up to one thing."
Rory looked at him curiously, raising an eyebrow.
Meanwhile...
Ten glanced at Donna, who was slumbering peacefully in the grass, and cringed at the very thought of waking her up. However, it had to be done.
He shook her awake roughly, kneeling over her. "Donna!" he hissed quietly. "Donna, you have to wake up now!"
She raised her arm, shoving her hand into his face and pushing him away, before slowly sitting up groggily.
"Oi!" Ten frowned. "No need to be sticking your hand in people's faces! Very rude, you know…"
"Oh, you're one to talk about manners!" Donna spat out, rubbing her eyes.
Ten wrinkled his nose, before standing up. "Interesting place, here….No wind…No signs of life…"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that there's no wind. Whatsoever. Or life. No animals, no birds, no insects…No life, except the plants. None at all. No wind, and no life. Or at least, there's no sign of it. Tried scanning it for life forms, but the sonic's acting up. But looking around at things…Doesn't seem to be anything alive here. Strange planet. Definitely not Earth."
"Well, then…What do we do now?" Donna asked him, standing up herself and brushing herself off.
"We need to find the TARDIS," Ten sighed. "Somehow…"
"I'll have you know I'm still wearing flip-flops, so whatever you do had better not involve running!" Donna reminded him, shooting him a look.
"That was not my fault!" Ten exclaimed. "The TARDIS was hijacked; there was nothing I could do to stop it."
Donna glared at him, but he ignored her, pulling out the sonic screwdriver and attempting the scan the area once more. Once again though, it started glitching after five seconds. He put it back into his pocket, frowning.
After around fifteen minutes of having no idea what to do next and childish squabbling, a twig snapped from behind them loudly.
Ten stiffened, his eyes widening slightly. "Someone else is here…" he stated, reaching into his pocket for the sonic screwdriver. "Or something…"
He and Donna both turned around, searching for whatever it was that was coming. There was the sound of leaves rustling, and he realized that it was coming from the forest that was just behind them. More specifically, from a rather large bush.
"Come out!" he ordered, pointing the sonic screwdriver at the large plant in front of him. "Now!"
"You heard 'im!" Donna piped up (not so) helpfully. "We're armed!"
The bush let out a small squeak, and a blonde girl stumbled out of it quickly, an assortment of leaves and twigs stuck in her hair. "Sorry, sorry, just looking for a friend!"
Ten froze the moment he heard her voice. Her oh-so-familiar voice. He lowered the sonic screwdriver slightly, not fully believing that it was true.
She looked up, biting her lip, eying the two of them warily. "Um, I'd appreciate it if you didn't…shoot me or nothin'," she said nervously. "I was looking around your forest with a friend of mine, and…erm, we got separated. My fault, really. He said to turn right; I think I turned left by accident…"
Ten stared at her, his lips silently forming her name as he tried to process the situation. Judging by the looks of her, this was her before he had regenerated. Which raised the question, where was the previous him? More importantly, how did he remember none of this?
She looked almost exactly like she did when they first met. Young and innocent, with long blonde hair and shining brown eyes. His pink and yellow human.
He swallowed, shaking his head slightly as he stuffed the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket quickly, hoping she didn't see it. Now was not the time to explain the entire process of regeneration to her.
Donna, of course, was the first one to speak. "And who are you then?!"
"Erm, Rose," the blonde answered. "Rose Tyler…I'm here with a man called the Doctor…Have you seen him? Blue eyes, black leather jacket…? Grumpy lookin'?"
Donna's eyes widened, recognizing the name. "You're Rose Tyler?!"
"Um, that's what I just said?" Rose blinked, confused. "Why, is that name special on this planet or somethin'?"
Ten elbowed Donna, shaking his head. "Just a lovely name, that's all. Forget my friend here; she's a bit eccentric."
Donna, of course, elbowed him right back, only harder, which wasn't fair as she had very sharp elbows. Ten winced, before ignoring her, looking at Rose.
"Now, Miss…Rose, is it? You…" Ten swallowed again. "You said you were looking for someone? Some sort of…Doctor?"
Rose nodded, brushing the leaves off of her purple jacket. "The Doctor, actually…"
Donna glanced at Ten, frowning, but Ten continued, seemingly cheerful. "Well then," he gave her a tight smile. "We'll just have to find him then, won't we? Can't have you going around and losing your Doctor. Right tragedy, that'd be."
"I'm Donna, by the way," Donna introduced herself, apparently deciding to play along. "This is…" She looked at Ten, not sure what to call him. "Erm, this is Frank. Yes, this here is Frank. Or Frankie, if you like."
Ten shot her a quick glare for coming up with "Frank" of all things, but nodded all the same, grinning at Rose.
"Are you two married?" Rose asked innocently. "I mean, I'm assuming you're a couple, or…?"
Ten almost choked. "No! No, most definitely not…We are not married, and we are definitely not a couple."
"He's my brother!" Donna nodded quickly. "Siblings, us."
"Yeah, course. She's my…older sister," Ten agreed.
"Older?!" Donna hissed, shooting him a look.
"Of course you're older!"
"Do I look older?!"
Ten wisely didn't say anything, instead coughing slightly.
Donna scowled, thinking for a moment, before angrily stating, "Well, I'm only older by ten minutes! And we both know you put Mum through a lot more trouble than I did!"
Ten let out an indignant gasp, opening his mouth to come up with some sort of clever retort, but apparently not finding one and closing it again, scowling slightly.
Rose laughed, smiling. "Twins then? Sorry, you two do sorta look similar, I suppose…Should have guess siblings first."
Ten's frown turned into a smile, practically beaming at her. "Oh, don't…Don't worry about it, Rose Tyler. You're perfectly fine."
Rose smiled, looking down, before noticing Donna's feet and frowning in confusion. "…Are you wearing flip-flops in a forest?"
Donna sighed. "It was supposed to be a beach…"
Elsewhere in the forest...
It took Nine approximately five minutes before he realized Rose was no longer following him. However, by that time, he'd already walked a fair distance away from her. It didn't help that she was probably walking in the complete opposite direction than he had been.
"Why do they always wander off?" he mumbled to himself, looking for her. However, all he saw were large trees and bushes. "Rose!" he shouted. "Rose!?" He sighed, realizing that she was too far away to hear him.
Twigs snapped under his boots as he walked, trying to figure out which direction she'd gone. He quickened his pace, slowly becoming more and more worried. She couldn't have gone that far, yet…He couldn't find her. Then again, had this even been the way they'd came? He was used to knowing exactly where to go and how to get back, however, every section of the green forest seemed to be identical. It was almost impossible to backtrack, and he had no idea where she'd wandered off to.
He inwardly cursed himself for not having kept a better eye on her; for not having held her hand the entire time to make sure she didn't get lost. This was a foreign planet—one that even he hadn't visited before—and he knew almost nothing of it. By the looks of it, there was no life on the planet. However, the sonic screwdriver had started glitching the moment he tried officially scanning the place, making it impossible to know for sure. Just about anything could be in this forest, and he couldn't find Rose. She could get hurt, and he might not find out about it until hours later.
He started running, becoming almost frantic in his search for her, when he ran into someone, sending him stumbling back and the man falling to the dirt.
"Ow…" the man mumbled, slowly starting to stand up. The man was fairly tall and lean, with brown hair and blue eyes, accompanied by a rather large nose.
So there was apparently life on the planet after all.
Nine pulled out the sonic screwdriver from jacket pocket, scanning the man quickly. "Who are you? What is this place? And I'm quite cross at this moment, so if I were you, I'd talk quick."
The man blinked, taking a step back. "Um, hi. I'm Rory…Rory Williams. Erm…I have no idea where you are or what this is….Sorry."
Nine frowned slightly. "Oh? …Not from here then?"
"No," Rory shook his head. "Just sort of…got trapped here."
"How?" Nine asked. "I need details. Where we you when you were taken? More importantly, when? How long have you been here? The more I know, the easier it'll be for me to get you home. Would you like to get home?"
Rory nodded, though he looked both confused and suspicious of Nine. "Of course I would….Erm…I just got here last night."
"Oh? Any idea why you might be here?"
Rory was about to say something when another, seemingly younger, man stumbled over. The younger man was tall and skinny, with dark brown, floppy hair.
"Rory!" the man exclaimed, brushing a few leaves off of his tweed jacket and straightening his red bowtie. "There you are! I've been looking for you."
"We've only been separated for five minutes, Doctor," Rory sighed.
"Wait, you called him 'Doctor,'" Nine stated, looking at the two of them, frowning. "Why did you do that?"
The man looked at him, his eyes widening. "Oh. OH. OHHH. Oh-oh-oh-OH. Oh…."
"What?" Rory asked. "What 'oh?!'"
The man laughed excitedly, pointing at Nine. "I remember when I was him! Oh, my, look at the ears! They're huge! Were they really that big? And the nose…Could have been much better…."
Nine narrowed his eyes, instantly realizing what the man was implying, and he crossed his arms. "No. You're not. Tell me you're not."
The man nodded. "Yes, I am. I'm most definitely you. Eleventh regeneration to be exact. Weeell, okay, technically twelfth if you want to go there….or thirteenth if you want to count that one with the hand thing…But we're going to go with eleventh."
Nine looked at Eleven, not looking very impressed with his future self. "You're wearing a bowtie," he pointed out.
"Bowties are cool!"
"And tweed, if you've noticed.."
"Tweed is cool!"
Nine groaned. "Is this really what I've become? A baby giraffe?"
"That…" Eleven started to frown, and then shrugged. "Baby giraffes are cool."
Nine rolled his eyes. "I want a DNA scan."
"No need," Eleven stated, a bit more serious than before. "You know I'm you. You can sense it, just like I can. Once upon a time, you could have just said that I was just a random, crazed Time Lord, but…" he frowned, looking down slightly. "That's the thing about being the last of your kind, isn't it? Don't very well have any excuse for this."
Rory finally caught up with the situation. "Wait," he gestured to Nine. "That's you? That's what, a past version of you?!"
Eleven nodded. "Yup. Pretty much. Regeneration. Bit of a nasty process."
Rory looked at Nine, before glaring at Eleven. "You hypocrite!"
Eleven blinked. "What?"
"You make fun of my nose when you used to look like him?!" Rory exclaimed indignantly, gesturing to Nine's face. "That's…You hypocrite!"
"What's wrong with my nose?" Nine asked him, raising an eyebrow. "Hmm?"
Eleven coughed slightly. "Alright, I'm sorry, Rory. I admit, you deserve an apology for that one…"
"Yeah, yeah, you do," Rory nodded, looking decidedly unhappy. "Now can we get back to trying to find out where we are so we can find Amy?!"
"Who's Amy exactly?" Nine asked.
"Amy Pond," Eleven said. "Lovely girl. She's Rory's wife."
"And she's gone. The TARDIS dropped us off, but took her," Rory frowned.
Nine nodded. "We also need to find Rose…She wandered off again."
"Rose…" Eleven nodded slowly. "Ah, good old Rose…She did wander off a lot, didn't she?"
Rory gave Eleven a curious glance, but didn't say anything about it.
In another section of the forest...
Ten, Rose, and Donna walked through the forest.
"Alright, where did you lose him?" Ten asked.
"Erm…" Rose thought about it. "We should have reached it already, but…Ugh, everything looks the same…"
"So it does," Ten nodded, looking up. "Interesting…You're right. Everything's the same. I mean, look at the trees…It might be just me, but I'm fairly sure they're all the same height. It's basically just hundreds of copies of the same tree."
"How does that work?" Donna asked curiously.
"Not sure, but I'd love to find out…"
"Maybe the Doctor can help after we find him," Rose suggested, before shrugging. "Who knows?" she bit her lip awkwardly. "Were you two…Um, mysteriously transported here recently?"
"Yup," Ten said, popping the 'p.' "Last night actually. Just…showed up."
"Really?" Rose blinked. "That's the same time me and the Doctor got here. Why you two though? I mean, I'm fairly sure The Doctor and I have nothing in common with you all, so…There isn't much of a connection for why we'd all be transported here on the same night…"
Ten shrugged. "Sometimes people have more in common than you think."
"Yes, yes, it's all very fascinating," Donna said. "But can we concentrate on finding him? After we've found him, I'd love to go on another search for food. I'm starvin'."
Rose laughed. "Yeah, me too. Do you think there's a chip stand nearby? I could really go for some chips right now."
Ten grinned. "Well, if we do happen to come across one, one of you two will have to pay."
Donna raised an eyebrow. "And why's that?"
"Well, frankly, I don't have any money, so…"
"You cheapskate," Rose snorted. "Yeah, you and the Doctor will get along just fine."
Amy woke up in a dark room. She blinked, looking around. She was lying on a stone floor, and she couldn't see a thing.
"Doctor?" she called out quietly. "Rory? Are you there?"
There was no answer.
She stood up slowly, walking forwards very carefully until she found a wall. She slid her hand across the wall as she followed it, before its surface changed when she got to a door. Her hand found the doorknob, and she tried to twist it before she realized it was locked from the outside.
She hit the door with her fist. "Let me out! You hear me?! You let me out right now or so help me…! You have no right to keep me in here!"
There was no reply.
She let out a cry of frustration, pounding on the door once more, before turning around and leaning against it. She crossed her arms, scowling.
Whoever had separated her from her boys was going to regret it.
Author's Note: So that was it. The first real chapter of this. Next time, we'll get to find out more about who has Amy, and all of that jazz.
I will gladly take any suggestions, though I might not use them if it interferes with something I've got planned.
Anonymous reviews are great, constructive criticism is cool, and flames will be used to dispose of all of my homework.
