Hi folks, here's Chapter Eight! What's The Valeyard really up to? And why is he here? Let's find out - the plot thickens...

Chapter Eight

A Problem Shared

"But that's impossible," Eleven slowly and carefully approached The Sergeant, frowning with every ounce of his being. "You were defeated. On Gallifrey, at my trial. All those years ago. "

"The what?" exclaimed Nine, confused. "The Valeyard?"

"Don't you remember?" said Ten, staring at his previous incarnation, screwdriver hanging loosely in his hand. "The Valeyard attempted to prosecute us in our sixth incarnation. The High Council of Time Lords were corrupted, and he," he nodded at The Sergeant, who was still grinning maliciously, "wanted to show us in a horrific light so that they would imprison us."

"You wanted to steal our future regenerations for yourself," Eleven whispered, his voice growing colder with rage. "But you were destroyed. I defeated you."

The Valeyard laughed, an ice cold laugh that sent shivers down the Doctors' spines. "Yet again your arrogance knows no bounds, Doctor." He spat the last word, lowering his arms. "You think yourself invincible, free from the laws of the Time Lords and your own future!"

"The Time Lords are dead," said Ten angrily. "There's nobody to trial us. Nobody to impose any sort of rule."

"And that's just it, isn't it Doctor?" The Valeyard pointed a long, accusing finger at Ten. "The Time Lord Victorious. Given your way, you would -"

"Oh, shut up," Nine cut him off and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I remember you. You tried to make us look like a naughty boy so that the Time Lords would condemn us, blah blah blah. I honestly could not care less, so if it's all the same with you, why don't you just hop along back where you came from and leave us alone, eh?"

"Oh, we're past the point of leaving now, Doctor," The Valeyard grinned. "All I have to do is wait. I am you, after all."

"Wait?" Eleven was enraged. Watching his previous incarnations sparring with The Valeyard was frustrating enough, and he was choosing his words carefully. "All we want to do is help who we can, and leave in peace. And you -" He pointed at The Valeyard angrily - "are doing nothing to help anyone."

"What do you mean you are me?" Nine unfolded his arms and stared. "You were destroyed. The Time Lords should have banished you. My future will never be - be you!"

Ten sighed and explained. "Y'know I liked being you but you aren't half slow sometimes!" Nine opened his mouth to retort, but Ten intercepted. "On Gallifrey, The Master told us that The Valeyard is what we become at some point in our future. Somewhere between our twelfth and thirteenth incarnation." He cleared his throat and struggled to meet Nine's eyes. "The Master called him an 'amalgamation of the darker side of The Doctor's nature.'"

"So what the bloody hell is he doing here?" Nine exclaimed, frustrated. Eleven turned round, furious.

"Would you two shut up? I can't believe I used to be so - so - thick!" He took a step back from the grinning Valeyard and rubbed his hands together nervously. "He's here to get more evidence."

"What evidence?" Ten raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"Time is in flux right now, the whole universe is in danger," Eleven replied. "When you arrived, I asked you if…"

"…if the Time Vortex was ripping apart…" Ten finished for him. "Yes…"

"It was…him." Eleven looked at The Valeyard. "He's altering time…"

The Valeyard laughed. "Well, I'd love to stay and have a chat with you fine Doctors about my plan and you can all figure out a way to stop me, but I'm afraid I still have a little make believe war to fight." He put his hat back on his head and slipped his pistol back in to its holder. "Until next time."

Eleven stepped in front of him to halt his steps, but The Valeyard simply grinned. "Nice try." He rolled back his sleeve to reveal a vortex manipulator.

"But that's…that's…" Ten started forwards and examined the wrist strap in a panic. "That's impossible!"

Without another word, The Valeyard was gone in a beam of blue light, and The Doctors stood in silence with nothing but the candles to shed any light on their situation.

"So then," said Nine after a long pause. "Here we are. Three of me, stuck in World War I with some kind of creature ready to rip us to shreds and an evil future version of us trying to make us look even worse! Fantastic! And in the morning, we're off to take part in a glorious massacre!" He threw his arms in the air and left the bunker in a rage, Ten and Eleven staring awkwardly at each other.

"I think -" started Ten, but Eleven broke his sentence.

"You just stay quiet," he said angrily. "Nothing you can say can make this situation any better for any of us."

He stormed out of the bunker in Nine's wake. "Stop!" shouted Ten, stirring several soldiers around them. "We need to stay together, we need to find The Valeyard!"

"I'm sure he'll turn up somewhere!" Eleven replied through the darkness.

Nine could barely hear his counterparts, and he wandered aimlessly through the trenches, ignoring the soldiers staring at him. His head bowed low and his jacket rustling with his movements, the mind inside his Time Lord head was racing. These two other Doctors, if that was even what they were, had caused him to get dragged here against his will, fresh out of a war zone. All he wanted to do was find the TARDIS and leave, but no. Some stupid paradox had thrown it out of the loop and it was only a matter of time before he was either forced to take part in this war or the beast inside the trenches caught him.

"Fantastic," he groaned again to nobody but himself. He missed having someone by his side. Grace was fun for a while, but he had left her no sooner than he had met her, and besides nobody would even recognise him in this new body. Even if it just meant somebody to speak to, to bounce his thoughts off, he needed someone. Anybody. And one of his other selves just wouldn't do.

His train of thought soon came to an end when he hit a dead end in the trench. In fact, he had kept his head bowed so low that he had completely lost track of where he had come from. Turning to retrace his steps, he tripped over something on the ground.

"What the -"

In a nonplussed moment of annoyance, he kicked the ground on which he had tripped - but it was only when he examined it further that he noticed a strange spike protruding from underneath the surface. He bent down, removing his sonic screwdriver as he did so.

"But that…that's just…oh no…"

Outstretching his hands to retrieve the mysterious object, Nine heard a shuffling behind him. Sharply turning his head, his eyes saw nothing.

"Oi! Whoever that is, knock it off. I'm doing some very clever work here, so unless you're coming to admire it, get lost!"

He turned back to stare at the spike, but it was gone - instead replaced by a horrific skull.

"Oh…"

The shuffling noise crept louder behind him and Nine stood sharply, holding up his sonic screwdriver. His hearts started beating a little faster - he'd almost begun to forgotten the feeling of fear.

"Who's there? Come out and show yourself!"

A howl pierced the air, and Nine gave a sudden cry as an enormous claw threw itself into his line of sight; he felt a slash across his chest and, as he fell to his knees, he weakly acknowledged the warmth of blood on his fingers.

Before he could say or do anything, darkness clouded his senses.

Uh oh! Hope you enjoyed that folks, I really appreciate you reading and reviewing =] Apologies for a lot of dialogue and exposition, but I'm not a fan of stories that just have action scene after action scene without any character building. Plus I felt the need to explain The Valeyard, just for memory's sake.

Thank you! =]