if you haven't already noticed. Belle, Karl, Jem and Tim are from another fanfic of mine, called "Tales Of Old" (Jem's name is Jenny in that story, but I changed it for... certain reasons.) they were a group of kids that pretended they were adventurers from the tales of the Thousand Year Door (go read the fanfic for more info) anyways, I couldn't resist sticking them in this story, and Tim just fits in so perfectly with the Doctor Who series. it's a pitty you don't see him till the next chapter.

How Alice had managed to get the Doctor back to Belle, Karl, and Jem's house was a mystery, but she wasn't complaining.

"It's Alice!" she called, banging on the door. It took a while for anyone to answer it, and in the meantime the Doctor seemed to get worse and worse.

"It's alright" Alice told him. "You're going to make it out of this."

"What happened?" Jem asked, answering the door. Her eyes darted down to where the Doctor was and shock crossed her face. "Is he alright!" she asked, looking between the two of them.

"He was attacked by Darkness" Alice explained.

"Get him inside! NOW!"

Alice didn't need to be told twice.

"This doesn't look good," Belle said, looking at the results from the scan.

The Doctor was lying on their couch, and had calmed down quite a bit. Earlier, he had been overcome with uncontrollable shaking. He was also currently unconscious.

"Is there anything we can do?" Alice asked

"No one has survived direct contact to Darkness if they aren't treated immediately." The look on Belle's face was grim. "I'm not sure if there's anything we can do that will not kill him in the process."

Alice swallowed. He couldn't die, not now. It wasn't right.

"Don't give up hope," Jem told her. "Maybe if we can get him to a Light in time-"

"The nearest Light is an hour's walk from here," Karl interrupted. "No way would we be able to save him."

The Doctor had awoken, and was letting out short gasps of pain. Everyone turned to look at him, except for Belle, who had gone back to looking at the scan results.

"This is odd" she said. "He's got energy spiking in his body."

"I know!" the Doctor gasped. "The regeneration process is starting, which is really, really bad news for me. I don't have another life, the energy will kill me. I can't fight it off forever." He let out a scream of pain.

"Ow! Ah!" he gasped. "Alice!"

"I'm here" she said, grabbing his hand.

"I'm scared, I'm so scared."

"It's alright," she said. "I'll get you out of this, I promise."

He passed out.

Alice turned to look at the three teens. "I'm not giving up, you can either help me get there or not. Which direction do I need to be going?"

"I'll come with you" Jem said. Her friends turned to look at her. "She needs help, and don't think that I'm going to ignore that! What happened to that spirit we had when we were kids? Going off to save the world and all that!"

"That was just pretend," Karl said.

"Yeah, so what, it was. But it changed Tim's life. He wouldn't be out there writing right now if it wasn't for those tales. Now I don't know about you two, but I'm going! I may not be able to save the world again, but I might be able to save someone's life." She turned to Alice. "Come on, if we don't hurry we'll never make it."

Between the two of them they managed to drag the Doctor outside, and get out of sight of the house.

"We'll never make it" Jem said. Alice turned to glare at her.

"Don't you give up" she snapped.

"Well it's true! At first I thought it was a good idea but now, I just think you're a bit crazy. We aren't going to be able to save him! I'm sorry, but we aren't."

Alice grinned, catching sight of something in the distance.

"Oh yes we are" she said. "Come on!"

"What's this?" Jem asked.

"The TARDIS" Alice replied, patting the side of the Time Machine. "We can use it to get there."

"You sure?" Jem looked at it doubtfully.

"Course I am! Now help me get him inside."

Jem was shocked when she entered the TARDIS. "It's bigger on the inside!" she gasped.

"Exactly," Alice said, heading over to the console. She looked at the screen, which was usually covered in symbols she couldn't read, but now it said plain and clearly:

'I can't get you there myself, but I can tell you how to get there.'

Alice smiled. Originally, when the Doctor told her that the TARDIS had a mind of its own, she hadn't really believed him. But there was no denying it now, as buttons and triggers lit up to tell Alice to push them. Within no time, they had made it to their destination.

Jem and Alice dragged the Doctor out of the TARDIS, and they found they were right by a cliff. Alice went as close to the edge as she dared and looked down, she had to shield her eyes. Down there, there was blinding light.

"You sure about this?" Jem asked. "Even if the Light is 'good' or whatever, it's still extremely dangerous. It might save his life, but kill him in the process. If we can even get close, I don't remember there being a cliff…"

"Even if I'm not, he's counting on me." She knelt down next to the Doctor and ran a hand through his hair.

"You love him, don't you?"

Alice looked up at Jem. "What! No! I mean-" she sighed. "Look, it's complicated."

A moment of silence passed.

"What do I need to do?" Alice asked.

"He needs to be closer, but I'm not sure if that's possible with the cliff in the way."

Alice nodded and dragged the Doctor closer to the cliff edge. She waited there for a few moments. Then, out of nowhere, something came flying by and nearly knocked her off. She stared at it for a second.

"Hey Jem," she called. "What was that?" she pointed at the thing as it flew off.

"Oh," Jem said. "That's well, it's the complete opposite of those Nightmare creatures. It's basically a good version of one of them. A Nightmare gone good."

"Okay…"

The Doctor groaned.

"Alice," he whispered. "I don't think it's working."

A single tear fell down her cheek and she turned to look below them, where the Light was roaring. She stared at it for a moment, and then got an idea. It was a sudden, spur of the moment decision, but she realized she had no choice.

Mind made up, Alice grabbed hold of the Doctor and jumped off the cliff, down into the Light. The Light that would heal the Doctor, but kill them both in the process.

"NO!" Jem cried.