Chapter Twenty One
Scarlett awoke with a start, back on the TARDIS, as the Doctor ran frantically around the console.
"This is bad. I don't like this," he frowned before giving a harsh kick the console furiously. "Ugh! Never use force. You just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, in which case – always use force!"
"Shall I run and get the manual?" Amy asked.
"I threw it into a supernova," the Doctor replied.
"You threw the manual into a supernova?" Amy said incredulously, "Why?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes and ran down the stairs to check on the console, "Because I disagreed with it. Stop talking to me when I'm cross!"
"Okay, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us to dream about the future?" Rory asked in an attempt to understand what was happening.
"If we were dreaming of the future," the Doctor answered as he climbed back up the stairs.
"Of course we were," said Amy as if were the most normal thing in the world. "We were in Leadworth."
"Upper Leadworth," Scarlett corrected. She really didn't want that to be her future.
"Yeah, and we could still be in Upper Leadworth, dreaming of this," the Doctor said, getting more frustrated by the minute. "Don't you get it?"
Truthfully, no, Scarlett didn't get it. Her head was starting to hurt from all this dream-hopping and she just wanted to know for sure what was real and what wasn't.
"No," Amy shook her head, "No. This is real. I'm definitely awake now."
"And you thought you were awake when you were all… elephanty," the Doctor said with a weird gesture of his hands.
"Hey!" Amy frowned, stepping forward threateningly, "Pregnant."
"And you could be giving birth right now. This could be the dream. I told you; trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you. Examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true," he explained.
"Okay, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside," Rory started.
"With a bow-tie wearing alien," Amy continued.
"So maybe 'what rings true' isn't so simple," Scarlett finished.
The Doctor paused, "Valid point."
That was when the TARDIS started to power down, leaving the room in darkness.
"What just happened?" asked Scarlett with a frown. She may not know much about the ways of the TARDIS, but she was pretty sure that this was bad… Very bad.
"It's dead," the Doctor explained, looking deflated, "We're in a dead time machine."
The brunette stepped closer to her friend and spoke quietly so that Amy and Rory couldn't sense her fear, "What? So we're stuck here?"
"No!" He replied and Scarlett sighed in relief, "We just can't move anywhere."
The relief Scarlett had felt was brief, and her eyes widened at the news. "So we are stuck!"
The Doctor opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by sound of birdsong. Rory instinctively walked over to Amy and took her in his arms while Scarlett began to fall against the console.
"Remember," the Doctor said while fighting to keep his eyes open, "This is real. But when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels."
"It is real. I know it's real," said Amy before they all fell into the land of sleep once again.
When they woke up, Amy and Rory were sat in a bench outside of the library, while Scarlett was on the ground next to them. The Doctor was already standing, watching some schoolchildren pass by.
"Okay, this is the real one. Definitely this one," Amy said as she rubbed her pregnant stomach, "It's all solid."
"It felt solid in the TARDIS too. You can't spot a dream while you're having it," explained the Doctor while he waved his fingers in front of his face.
"What are you doing?" Rory said with a raised eyebrow as he helped Scarlett up off of the ground. Amy was in no state to do so herself.
"Looking for motion blur, pixilation," he said, voicing his thoughts. "It could be a computer simulation… I don't think so, though."
"Hello, Doctor," interrupted a woman passing by with a smile.
"Hi," replied the Doctor at the same time Rory said "Hello."
The Doctor immediately frowned, turning to look at Rory, "You're a doctor."
"Stating the obvious," Scarlett said.
Rory nodded, "Yeah. And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams."
"A doctor, not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed… How interesting," the Doctor said before turning and walking away.
With slight frowns, the Leadworth trio followed quickly. Or as quickly as a pregnant woman and her two friends could go.
"What is?" asked Rory.
"Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby," he replied. "Maybe this is your dream."
Scarlett cleared her throat not-so-subtly. "And his dream best friend."
"It's Amy's dream, too," Rory said in response to the Doctor, "Isn't it Amy?"
"Yes," she said a little too quickly, "'Course it is, yeah."
The Doctor eyed her sceptically before pointing over his shoulder, "What's that?"
"Old people's home," shrugged Scarlett.
"You said everyone here lives to their 90's. There's something here that doesn't make sense…" the Time Lord smiled, "Let's go and poke it with a stick."
The Doctor headed off and Rory and Scarlett followed behind with a groan.
"Oh," frowned Amy with her hands on her back, "Can we not do the running thing?"
"Oh, hello, Dr. Williams," smiled a resident of the old people's home when the group entered.
"Hello, Rory, love," added Mrs. Poggit.
"Hello, Mrs. Poggit," Rory grinned, "How's your hip?"
"A bit stiff," she replied with a small frown.
"Oh, easy, D-96 compound, plus… No, you don't have that yet, forget that," the Doctor rambled. The group just chose to ignore him.
"Who's your friend? A junior doctor?" Mrs. Poggit asked.
A small smile graced Rory's lips, as if he were a little bit smug that he was above the Doctor's status for once, "Yes."
"Can I borrow you?" the old woman said to the Doctor, "You're about the size of my grandson."
Reluctantly, the Doctor kneeled down in front of Mrs. Poggit as she pulled a jumper over his head, much to the group's amusement, "Slightly keen to move on. Freak psychic schism to sort out," the Doctor leaned forward, forcing Mrs. Poggit to sit back in confusion, "You're incredibly old, aren't you?"
"Doctor, don't be rude," Scarlett frowned.
Her frown only deepened as the birdsong started once more, and the Doctor, Scarlett, Amy, and Rory all fell to the floor, asleep.
"Okay, I hate this, Doctor, stop it," Amy frowned as they all picked themselves up off the ground of the TARDIS, "Because this is definitely real, it's definitely this one… I keep saying that, don't I?"
"It's bloody cold," Scarlett noted, wrapping her arms around herself as the temperature continued to drop.
"The heating's off," the Doctor explained.
"The heating's off?" Rory repeated.
"Yep. Put on a jumper," he said as he wandered around the TARDIS, "That's what I always do."
"Yeah, sorry about Mrs. Poggit," Rory shrugged, "She's so lovely though."
"Oh, I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you."
"What do you mean 'act'?" Amy asked him. Was he really suspecting a little old lady?
"Everything's off; sensors, core power," said the Doctor instead of replying to Amy's question, "We're drifting. The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere. Someone, something is overriding my controls!"
"Well, that took a while," said a voice from behind. Startled, the group turned to find a strange man standing at the top of the steps. He was short, had a receding hairline, and was a little on the heavier side. He was wearing a bowtie (Scarlett couldn't help but think the Doctor suited them so much more than he did), a striped shirt, and a tweed jacket. "Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm… Him in the bowtie."
Scarlett took a hesitant step forward, eager to find out who this man was and how he got into the TARDIS, but the Doctor held her back.
"How did you get into my TARDIS? What are you?" he asked, eyeing the intruder cautiously.
"What shall we call me?" the mysterious man pondered, "Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me… the Dream Lord."
"Nice look," the Doctor commented.
"This? No, I'm not convinced. Bowties?" the Dream Lord scoffed.
Carefully, the Doctor pulled a scrunched up piece of paper out of his pocket and threw it at the Dream Lord. Instead of hitting the man and falling straight to the ground, it passed through him, as if he wasn't really there.
"What?" Scarlett mumbled in confusion.
"Interesting," the Doctor said.
"I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord – it's in the name, isn't it? Spooky, not quite there," the Dream Lord disappeared for a moment, only to reappear behind them, "And yet, very much here."
The TARDIS residents turned once more to face him.
"I'll do the talking, thank you," said the Doctor, stepping in front of his friends to protect them, "Amy, want to take a guess at what that is?"
Amy looked surprised that the focus was on her, but answered nonetheless, "Uh, Dream Lord. He creates dreams."
"Dreams, delusions," the Doctor added.
"Cheap tricks?" Scarlett offered. She had a bad feeling about this 'Dream Lord'.
"And what about the gooseberry here; does he get a guess?" the Dream Lord asked, in reference to Rory. "Or are you going to let your girls have all the glory? Tell me, Doctor; are they going to get a nice little treat for being right? Or are you reserving those for this one?" he ended his question with a gesture towards Scarlett.
He's trying to make the Doctor angry, Scarlett thought. Cheap trick indeed.
"Listen, mate, if anyone's the gooseberry around here, it's the Doctor," said Rory defensively.
"Well now, there's a delusion I'm not responsible for."
"No, he is," Rory said, desperation slipping into his voice, "Isn't he, Amy?"
"Oh, Amy," sighed the Dream Lord, "Scarlie."
"Shut up," Scarlett said, though her voice came out quieter than intended. She didn't want some stranger calling her by a nickname that meant so much to her. That was reserved for close friends only. Amy placed a hand on her lower back reassuringly.
"You two have to sort your men out. Choose, even," he continued, the last part being directed mainly towards Amy.
"I have chosen," Amy snapped back, "Of course I've chosen." There was an awkward silence as Rory glanced nervously at his fiancé. With her eyes never leaving the Dream Lord, Amy reached out and smacked Rory's chest. "It's you, stupid!"
Rory let out a relieved sigh, "Oh, good, thanks."
"You can't fool me," the Dream Lord continued, barely batting an eyelid at the scene in front of him. "I've seen your dreams. Some of them twice, Amy. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply… or a real face."
The Doctor stepped forward then. "Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?"
"Me?" the Dream Lord practically scoffed, "Oh, you're on shaky ground."
"Am I?" he questioned.
"If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student... I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are."
"Just shut up!" Scarlett said, a little louder than before. When all eyes turned to her, she did her best to keep up her brave front, "Just stop talking to him like that." First he insulted Rory, then he provoked Amy, and now he was talking down to the Doctor? She wouldn't allow it. She just wanted him to leave.
"My, my, Doctor. Didn't you know that guard dogs should be kept on a leash?" the Dream Lord asked, feigning innocence.
"Don't talk about her like that!" the Doctor growled. How dare this man just saunter into his TARDIS, copy his clothes, and insult his companions? Especially Scarlett. The Time Lord wasn't sure why, but he felt an overwhelming urge to protect the brunette, more so than usual. Maybe it was because she was the youngest, or maybe it was because Amy and Rory had each other; he didn't know for sure, but he was planning on sticking by his instinct.
The Dream Lord simply ignored him and disappeared once more, only to show up again on the upper level of the sentient time machine. "Now, where was I?"
"You were –" started Rory, as helpful as always.
"I know where I was," he said condescendingly. "So, here's your challenge: Two worlds. Here in the time machine, and there in the village that time forgot. One is real, the other's fake. And just to make it more interesting you're going to face in both worlds a deadly danger... But only one of the dangers is real. Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep," he continued speaking, even as the group started to fall to the ground, fatigue taking over them. "Oh! Or are you waking up?"
A/N: So, 80 followers is so incredible (at least to me) and incredibly surprising. I never thought anybody would be interested in this story but I am so happy that you are. Now, I was planning on having the Dream Lord put Amy and Scarlett in their own little reality but I'm not entirely sure on what the danger could be... Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure it out. Anyways, thank you once again for reading and I'll see you soon! Xx