Sorry it's been a few days folks, here's the latest lengthy chapter of "Fear Within The Trenches!" I hope you enjoy, as all three of our Doctors finally meet and discuss their predicament...

Chapter Six

The Three Doctors

It was midnight. Outside in the trenches, the soldiers off duty were sleeplessly restless as they randomly played with their trinkets. No Man's Land was a deserted wilderness, occupied only by the soldiers' thoughts of what tomorrow would bring. Following the collapse of the bunker, The Sergeant was being tended to by a doctor in the medical bay.

"Well, it would appear that you've sustained no serious injury, sir," Dr. Jacobs confirmed kindly as The Sergeant rolled down his sleeves and placed his hat firmly on his head. "Although the stories that some of the soldiers have told in here are worrying me slightly. One even went so far as to say that there was a three headed animal attacking them." He chuckled and stroked his white beard, grown from years of service. "War will make madmen of us all."

The Sergeant did not smile, instead standing and saluting Jacobs.

"War is all we know," he replied. "And humanity will not see the end of it. Not today. Not ever."

The grin on Jacobs' face slid down like rain from glass. "Yes…yes, quite right, sir. But," he attempted to reconcile with The Sergeant. "We shall see victory on the Somme tomorrow! Led of course by our great captains such as yourself."

A flicker of a smirk threatened to disrupt The Sergeant's features, but he stood resolute. "Oh, yes. I shall see victory indeed." Without another word, he marched from the bunker leaving Jacobs standing alone with naught but a cold chill washing over him.

The full moon shone down upon the trenches, but Nine, Ten and Eleven had no inkling of its light. Inside their dark, dusty bunker, they only had each other for company with no means of escape - and Nine was not taking his new predicament well at all.

"So this is it then, eh? I come out of a bloody great war just to get thrown into another one. And my TARDIS has decided to stop working. Fantastic."

"Look," Ten sat opposite him at the table. The three sonic screwdrivers were sat in the centre whirring away like a surprisingly effective candle. "We are in this together. One way or another, we must get out of this - or me and this clown wouldn't be here."

"How do I even know you are who you say you are?" Nine persisted, as Eleven gave Ten a gawping, insulted look while mouthing "Clown?"

Ten sighed. "I understand your suspicions. Trust me, I do. And I'm sorry for what you've just been through. But I promise-" he placed a gentle hand on Nine's rough shoulder and smiled. "It gets better. I promise it does."

Nine furrowed his brow. "That still doesn't answer my question, and if it's alright with you I'd rather not discuss my little wartime stint in Gone-iffrey."

Ten looked at Eleven for support. "Aren't you going to help me out here? Don't you even remember this happening…?"

Eleven clucked his tongue and closed his eyes. "I don't know. It's weird. It's like…" He put his hands to his forehead. "It's like a train powering forward at full speed even when the tracks are just being laid in front of it as it goes. New memories are throwing themselves into my mind as everything…happens…" His voice grew faint. "It's getting very difficult to concentrate on it. It's all so cloudy."

"That thing," Nine interrupted. "The thing that attacked you. What was it? Definitely wasn't from this stupid planet," - Ten looked offended - "And what the hell is it doing on 20th Century Earth?"

"I have no idea," said Eleven, leaning forward. "But…we can work it out. Together. We might even be able to save it - for all we know it could be scared. Alone. Afraid. Ready to lash out at anything and anyone it sees."

A beam of understanding flashed between them, yet still Nine refused to smile. "If it's murdering innocent people," he muttered angrily. "Then it deserves to die." Ten's rage threatened to burst through to his surface.

"I think you've made enough such judgment today," he said through gritted teeth. "Don't you? There are soldiers out there. Boys. Men. Men who will die unless we help them by helping that creature."

"Even if we save them tonight, they're going to die at sunrise anyway," Eleven said solemnly. With his eyebrows raised in an earnest expression, he caught Ten's eyes. "This is a fixed point in time. We can't tamper with it." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "The timeline will either correct itself in the harshest way possible - and it will not be merciful - or all of history will happen at once. I've seen what can happen when a fixed point is ignored."

For the moment, Nine's sadness gave way to curiosity. "What d'you mean?" he whispered. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Eleven defended himself. "It was…urgh, never mind. You'll see. Anyway!" he clapped his hands together. "You wanted proof. Proof that we are you."

"The first time you met R-" he began, but Ten threw a finger on to his lips.

"Uhh, what he means to say is that revealing that sort of information would be giving far too much away!" he gave Eleven a very knowing look. "Just, trust us. We're The Doctor." He beamed from ear to ear. "Blimey, I've always wanted to say that!"

Nine sighed. It seemed he had no choice.

"Fine, but as soon as my TARDIS is working again I'm off. I've got better things to do than hang around with some boy band reject and a children's entertainer."

Eleven grinned and adjusted his bow tie. "I should think so, although I resent your description! You've got some fantastic days ahead of you!" Nine stared at him blanky, and Eleven looked crestfallen. Ten raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? Is it too much to want to be responsible for my own catchphrase?"

"What I want to know," said Ten, leaning backwards and placing his hands behind his head in thought, "Is why we're all right here, right now. All three of our TARDISes decided to land here. It just doesn't make sense…"

"A TARDIS can't communicate with itself in its own timeline," Nine contributed, folding his arms and staring at the three screwdrivers. "The paradox itself would either rip the life force out of the TARDIS, or it would be forced out of the time vortex. Now, seeing as we're all alive, well and apparently not mutilated or dead, I'd say we're still in the vortex.

"Not only that," interjected Eleven. "But we've been thrown into one of the most important dates in planet Earth's history. A primitive time, yes, but a date that humanity will remember for the rest of its days, from now until they become balls of gas and downloads and try to head off to Utopia and whatnot…"

"So," Nine continued, giving Eleven a glare that screamed 'shut up.' "Our TARDISes are still alive but for some reason all their power has been drained and we're stranded."

"My TARDIS has been hijacked before," Eleven replied. "Someone tried to blow it up. Tried being the primary word there," he smirked and adjusted his bow tie proudly.

Ten reached into his pocket and pulled out his glasses, placing them firmly on the end of his nose. Eleven smirked.

"…don't even need them…" he muttered to himself. Ten pretended not to hear him.

"Perhaps…" he leaned forward, evoking a sense of mystery. "Perhaps…someone wants us here. Three versions of the same person. Do they need our help? Is it a trap? A convenient assassination. And, in the middle of a war, who's to know who did it? And for what purpose?"

Eleven smiled, still bemused by Ten's glasses. "No…no! Who would do a thing like that?" Nine raised his eyebrows.

"I can list about twenty off the top of my head right now." Eleven's smile faded awkwardly.

"Fair enough…still! At least we've got each other, eh? The three musketeers! All for one and one for all! And all is one in this case…and one is all…and…well…"

Nine rolled his eyes and grabbed his sonic screwdriver "Well, the first one thing we've got to do is get out of this stinking bunker. The silence is making my ears go deaf."

"Your ears?" Eleven grinned. "Not those enormous Elephant-y things?" Nine slapped a hand to the side of his head and felt around.

"Shurrup," he said, offended, before pointing his sonic at the rubble blocking the exit to the bunker. "If two screwdrivers can tick off an enormous beast then three might be able to shift all this." Ten nodded his head in agreement and joined Nine.

"Change the setting to -"

"I know what to change it to, cheers," Nine cut him off. Eleven, smiling like a madman, picked up his screwdriver.

"No, you need to -"

"Are you gonna stop telling me what I need to do?"

Eleven cleared his throat and the whirring noise stopped. "Gentlemen," he beamed, flicking the settings on his screwdriver. Nine stared at it, reluctantly impressed. "Watch the master at work."

With a few shuffles of the functions, Eleven soon found a way to gravitate the rocks from the door, finally revealing the moonlit trenches and the soldiers on the other side. Ten stared at him, his expression a mixture of anger and bemusement.

"You know you could have done that the whole time we've been sitting there?" he said, following Eleven into the night.

"I know," Eleven laughed. "But it was just so much fun chill-axing with you two, how could I possibly pass up an opportunity like that?" Rubbing his hands together and grinning gleefully, he proceeded down the dirt-ridden pathways, Nine and Ten in his wake. "Now then, I'd - or we'd - like a word with The Sergeant!"

Again, thank you so much for reading and if you'd like to leave a review I'd really appreciate it! =)