Ok, so you know how a few chapters back I said the future chapters were going to be long ones? Yeah, well it starts now :) Enjoy!
Once again, the point of view changes from person to person
"River! River!" the Doctor yells, bashing on the door in a similar way to when Elena got locked out of the TARDIS.
The Doctor pauses for a second as the realisation hits him, he growls to himself at spins away from the door, pacing back and forth around the small room.
"Come on, think, think!" the Doctor says, hitting himself on the forehead and trying to get his brain to think of a reasonable explanation.
He takes out his sonic screwdriver and goes over to the door, trying to sonic it open.
"Come on! Why won't you work!?" the Doctor threw yes sonic screwdriver onto the table in the middle of the room where it rolled straight off.
The Doctor gave it an annoyed look and returned to pacing around the room.
"How is this possible?! Gallifrey shouldn't even exist! I was there when it burned… I caused it to burn… " the Doctor pauses, his eyes turning sad, lost and distant
Snapping himself out of his flashback like trance, he sighs in defeat and sits down in a chair, crossing his arms and legs and staring angrily off into a corner. Just like a little boy who has just gotten into trouble.
After sitting in the same position for half an hour, the sound of the door unlocking can be heard and the door opens and a tall, handsome man walks in, smiling in a pleasant way.
The Doctor looks up at the man, but his expression doesn't change. The man, unfazed, walks up to the Doctor and holds out his hand.
"Hi there, how're you doing? I'm Nate"
The Doctor looks at Nate's hand and back up to his face, "I'm not going to shake it" he says is a slightly annoyed tone.
Nate shrugs and drops his hand, stepping back and drawing out a chair and sitting down across from the Doctor.
"So, the famous Doctor returns home" Nate's smile drops suddenly and his face turns deadly serious. His whole posture turning cold and stiff.
The Doctor does move, he doesn't even blink, Nate quickly sneers back, cold and sharp,
"What? No witty, sarcastic comments from our Doctor?"
"I'm not your Doctor" he snaps back, his eyes stormy and dark.
Nate leans forward, "oh but you are. You see, Doctor, you were born here; you chose your name here. This place is your home, your safety blanket, your life"
The Doctor doesn't respond right away and Nate grins evilly, standing up and walking towards the door,
"Do you really think you can ignore me? Ignore this place? This planet?" Nate turns back to the Doctor quickly and stares at him
"Do you think you can ignore the pull deep inside you saying 'come home, come home'? You feel it, I know you do. And every second it gets bigger, stronger and more desperate. Doesn't it?"
Just as the Doctor was about to shake his head, to deny what Nate was saying, Nate sprung forward, braced his hands on the arms of the Doctor's chair and put his face close to the Doctor's,
"Don't you dare and try to deny it Doctor" he growls, his eyes flashing with anger and hatred, "I know you feel it. Just admit it, admit you feel the pull. Come on Doctor, all powerful, all smart, all witty and all energetic.
Nate looked the Doctor up and down, "What happened to all that power Doctor? All that energy and wit? All that Time Lord strength?"
The Doctor was speechless, staring at Nate in shock and confusion, his mouth opening and closing but no sound comes out.
Nate smiled again, it looked twisted and wrong, "It's ok Doctor, I understand. Just admit it, just admit that it's all an act. That it's all fake. You're not the hero everyone talks about; admit that you want to give in to the pull deep inside you. Come on, admit it."
River was in her own little slice of hell. Her arms were tied behind her back with thick and heavy chains; she was sitting on a hard, stone chair in the middle of a dark, damp basement. The guard that has escorted her here was gone but he had left a small bowl of fruit by the door.
"Oh real smart" River thought to herself, rolling her eyes, "how on earth am I meant to get that when I can't MOVE!?"
Rattling and shaking her chains did nothing to loosen them. If anything, they only tightened. Silently cursing the Doctor and his stupid plans to impress Elena,
"Why, of all the times in the universe, did he have to attempt to take her into her own future?! Doesn't he know who she is?"
River sighs and looks around the room for the thousandth time, trying and failing to find an escape out of the basement.
"This has gone out of control, I should have come earlier. Elena's in danger and I'm stuck here and the Doctor…" River froze, she had no idea what happened to the Doctor,
"I hope he's ok…. Whatever's happened to him, I hope he's ok…"
Finding no escape, River looks back at the fruit bowl, thinking hard, "I wonder if I can contact the TARDIS and get her to give him a message. Never tried this before, I really hope it works"
River closes her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She had to get a message to the Doctor about Elena. Before it was too late.
"Elena? Elena… wake up."
A soft voice drifted through Elena's head. She opened her eyes at immediately shut them again, the white, fuzzy light was blinding.
"Oh, sorry sweetie. Here"
From behind Elena's eyelids, the light softened and faded. Opening her eyes slowly this time, Elena stared up at the white ceiling, waiting for her vision to stop being blurry. When it calms down somewhat, Elena looks around the room.
The room is small, white and clean. Not much in the comfort department. Elena's bed was in the middle of the room with the head pushed against the wall. A small window was on the wall to Elena's left and the door was on her right. Sitting down in a chair at the foot of Elena's bed was an old lady; she had short grey hair and was currently smiling at Elena softly.
"Wh-where am I?" Elena asked, her voice hoarse and rough
The old lady stood up and walked around to stand next to Elena's bed. She picked up a glass of water on the table beside the bed and gently helped Elena take a few sips. Once she placed the glass back on the table the old lady smiled again and sat back down,
"It's quite alright, you're safe here" she said
"Where is 'here'" Elena said, an uneasy feeling making itself known in the pit of her stomach.
"You're in my house"
Elena looked around once more, before looking back at the old lady, "who are you?"
The old lady smiled, "my name is Claire"
Elena nodded a fraction, "how did… how did I get here?"
"My son brought you hear after you collapsed"
"I… I collapsed? But I thought… I could have sworn that… " Elena struggled to put her memories in order. Everything was fine until she walked into the dome, then things went all fuzzy and distorted.
"It's quite alright" Claire said, standing up, walking to Elena's side and placing a hand on Elena's arm,
"You collapsed from shock once you entered the capitol. I can understand why though, you haven't been back in a while and your emotions got a little carried away"
Elena shook her head, wincing as she did so, "I-I've never been here before. I haven't ever seen this place before. I-I'm from… I'm from" Elena frowned, why couldn't she remember?
"I'm from Brisbane, in Australia" Elena managed to say, she blinked a few times as her vision went blurry all of a sudden.
"Take it easy, love," Claire said, "You've had quite the ordeal. You should probably rest for a while"
Elena shakes her head, trying to clear her vision and disagreeing with Claire at the same time, "no, I need to find… need to find the Doctor…. He was meant to take me to…. To Sydney…"
Claire froze and her eyes widened slightly, "so you do know the Doctor" she said softly, too softly for Elena to hear.
"Where am I? Which city? State? Country?"
Claire looked back at Elena, "I don't know what you're talking about. But you're in the capitol, on Gallifrey"
Elena froze, "you're joking…"
Claire chuckled and shook her head, "oh no. I'm quite serious. This is Gallifrey"
Elena blinked and shook her head once more to try and clear it. While she did so, a flash of something silver caught her eye. Focusing on it, she recognised the shape of a needle piercing her arm.
Trying to keep calm, Elena traced the tube that connected to the needle with her eyes, it lead to a bag with some sort of liquid in it.
"What's… what's that…?" Elena asked, frowning in concentration to keep the bag in focus
Claire walked over to it and fiddled with it for a bit, checking the tube and the needle before she looked back at Claire,
"It's just a little something to make sure you get better, you took a nasty bump to the head when you collapsed"
Elena shook her head, stubbornly knowing she didn't collapse, "I... I didn't…"
Claire placed her hand on Elena's arm and this time Elena realised how cold Claire's hand was. It was ice cold and Elena tried to move her arm away but she found her wrist was strapped to the bed, as were her legs and other wrist.
Claire suddenly stopped smiling and her soft, kind eyes went hard and cold, "And here was me hoping that you wouldn't struggle"
Elena immediately starting struggling at Claire's words, trying to loosen the bindings but the straps were thick and tight.
Claire walked around Elena's bed and picked up another needle, preparing it and looking at Elena sternly,
"Try not to move ok dear? I don't want to hurt you more than necessary" she said, holding onto the top of Elena's elbow with one hand and lining up the needle with the other.
"Stop… wh-what are you doing?" Elena stuttered, panic rushing through her.
Claire glanced at Elena and pushed the needle into Elena's arm, "making you a Time Lord again of course"
Elena's vision started to blur even more and go black around the edges. Just before Elena closed her eyes, a white hot pain sliced up her arm and around her body. Her back arched in pain and she screamed.
Claire winced at the noise but it soon died down as the pain became too unbearable and Elena was pulled into unconsciousness by the drug.