The Question had been answered. At first nothing happened but then the whole planet started to shake; in fact the Doctor was quite sure that the entire Universe was shaking. Everyone fell to their knees, including the Master, who laughed as he saw the massive red form of Gallifrey begin to materialise.
"Thanks a lot Doctor!" roared Jack, "You sold out the Universe to rescue four people."
"Four brilliant, gorgeous people," the Doctor replied and turned to them, "All of you get into the Pandorica; it'll be a squeeze but that's the only thing that will protect you when the Time Vortex gets torn apart."
"What about you?" Clara asked. The Doctor shrugged.
"If I'm going to destroy the Universe it's quite fitting that I get destroyed with it," he said, "I guess this is the fall of the Eleventh; I'm going down with the rest of the Universe."
Then they heard a sound; the sound of the TARDIS. But it was much louder than usual as though there were at least nine TARDIS' materialising. Everyone looked around and the Master suddenly seemed uncertain; this clearly wasn't part of his plan. Then nine identical TARDIS' emerged and from each one of them, a man stepped out.
Nine out of ten of the Doctor's previous incarnations had arrived. The Eleventh Doctor stared in shock as his predecessors looked around.
"It's all of you!" he said.
"Who are you?" asked his Second incarnation.
"I'm you in the future," said the Doctor and then gestured around, "And all of these people are you too. Each, regeneration has come together; very good timing too."
"Well the cloister bell tolled and the TARDIS brought me here," said the Fourth Doctor, "Obviously the same thing happened in the TARDIS at some point in each of our regenerations. So what Universal disaster are we facing this time?"
"Oh god, someone is trying to destroy the Universe again," said the First Doctor irritably, as though that sort of thing happened every day, "I'm getting too old for this."
"You're the youngest of all of us," said the Fourth Doctor in amusement.
"My golly," said the Second pointing up at the sky, "That's Gallifrey coming towards us."
"Oh no," said the Tenth Doctor, "The Time Lock has been opened."
"Time Lock?" the Third Doctor asked.
"Oh right it hasn't happened in your timelines yet," the Tenth Doctor said and then gestured to the Eighth Doctor, "Well this version of us puts Gallifrey into a Time Lock due to the Last Great Time War."
"And now he's opened the Time War for the second time," said the Eleventh Doctor, pointing at the Master, who seemed unable to move due to the shock of being faced with all the incarnations of his greatest foe.
"Koschei," said the First Doctor, using the Master's true name, "So you are the one behind this."
"Technically you're Eleventh incarnation is the one behind it," the Master said pointing to the Eleventh Doctor, "He spoke his name and opened the Time Lock."
"Because you forced him no doubt," said the Third Doctor, "So what fresh horror have you prepared for us this time?"
"The destruction and restoration of the Universe," the Eleventh Doctor said, "Another Universal domination plan," he looked around, "Where's the Ninth Doctor?"
"Wait he's not the Ninth Doctor?" said the Eighth Doctor pointing to the Tenth.
"No I'm the Tenth," responded the Tenth Doctor.
"Oh great," muttered the Eighth Doctor, "I'm going to regenerate very soon aren't I?"
"Gentlemen I believe we have a more pressing problem right now," said the Sixth Doctor, "In case you haven't realised, Gallifrey is descending on us with no sign of stopping. And Time's tearing itself apart."
"Yes, that's how we were all able to come together," said the Seventh Doctor thoughtfully, "All the Kings of various Chess games in one place."
"Oh will you stop with your damn Chess references!" the Eighth Doctor said with intense irritation, "This is exactly why I don't like thinking about when I was you!"
"Ah but life is a Chess game," said the Seventh Doctor, "And we are the pieces."
"Look are we going to save the Universe or not!" cried the Eleventh Doctor.
"Koschei's trying to escape," said the First Doctor casually as the Master ran towards his ship. The Sixth Doctor lunged forwards and tackled the Master to the ground.
"You're not going anywhere you egotistical maniac!" he shouted.
"You're calling me egotistical?" the Master said, "You're probably the most arrogant of all your incarnations." The Sixth Doctor looked at his Seventh, Eighth, Tenth and Eleventh incarnations.
"Am I?" he said.
"Oh yes," said the Tenth Doctor cheerfully.
"So how are we supposed to seal this Time Lock before the Universe falls apart?" asked the Fifth Doctor nervously, looking up at Gallifrey which was still coming slowly but surely towards the planet.
"Well our true name opened it," said the Seventh Doctor thoughtfully, "So perhaps it can close it."
"That is how we sealed the Time Lock in the first place," the Tenth Doctor.
"That's far too easy," said the Eleventh Doctor, "If we just had to speak our name to open and close the Time Lock whenever we chose we wouldn't have to hide it in the first place."
"I always wondered why you lot hid our name before the Time War even began," said the Tenth Doctor.
"Well it's always nice to be mysterious," the Fourth Doctor said cheerfully, "What's the point of being an alien from outer space if there's no mystery around you?"
"What if we all forgot our name?" suggested the Fifth Doctor quietly. All the others looked at him, "Think about it; if we wiped our name from all of our memories, then we would never have spoken it in the first place. That would also mean we actually have an excuse to not tell anybody our name."
"That could work," said the Seventh Doctor, "If the Time Lock was created by us it will forget that we ever spoke our name to it, as long as we've forgotten it. The link can only remain if our name is inside our heads; once we forget it the link should snap since it hasn't yet reached its destination, due to the fact that the Time Lock is not fully open yet, and it won't lead anywhere. A Time Lock only knows its password for as long as the one who created it knows the password."
"Yes but without our name we would never have been able to lock the Time Lock in the first place," the Tenth Doctor told him, "It will never have been there."
"Yes but Time is only falling apart as long as the Time Lock is opening," said the Seventh Doctor, "If it never existed, the paradox should cancel out the danger of the Universe being destroyed. Fight paradox with paradox."
"Just like killing a Weeping Angel with its own food source," the Eleventh Doctor said, remembering how Amy and Rory had killed all of the Angels in Manhatten just before they'd been sent back in time by one that had been hanging around in a graveyard. Thinking about Amy and Rory didn't hurt so much now that he had Clara; she really had helped him recover.
"The Time War could be unleashed upon the Universe then," pointed out the Tenth Doctor.
"I can pop up there and put the Time Lock back on as soon as it fades," said the Eighth Doctor, "I'll have to be fast of course, but I think I can manage it; I know how a Time Lock works. But I'll need to know my name, and I have to forget it first, along with the rest of you."
"I can give your Eighth incarnation your true name sweeties," said River, stepping between the different incarnations of her husband, "Eleven over there told it to me just before you arrived."
"Ah, Professor Song," the Tenth Doctor smiled sadly, "Wasn't expecting to see you again; not in this body."
"What do you mean sweetie?" asked River.
"Spoilers," said the Eleventh Doctor, glaring at the Tenth before he said something he shouldn't. Suddenly the planet rumbled again; Gallifrey was getting ready to smash the Fields of Trenzalore to pieces and the Time Lock had almost completely opened. All the Time Lord's on the planet, including River who was less than half Time Lady, could feel the Time Vortex straining to keep itself together. Clara, Jack and Canton couldn't sense it but they could definitely feel the planet wide earthquake.
"Right we need to wipe each other's memories," the Tenth Doctor said, "It will create a paradox but River can set it right by telling us our name once the Time Lock vanishes."
"I think it's best if we wipe Koschei's memory too," grunted the First Doctor, "He doesn't deserve to know it."
"No problem," said the Sixth Doctor who was still on top of the Master. The Master struggled but the Sixth Doctor head butted him hard, telepathically erasing his real name from the Master's mind.
"I don't know why I didn't do that, centuries ago," muttered the Second Doctor.
"Maybe because we're all about to forget our own name?" the Eighth Doctor suggested.
"And the Master had already forgotten it because of the drumming in his head," added the Tenth.
"Good point," agreed the Second and all incarnations closed their eyes. Telepathically they linked with each other, feeling the essence of the same man with different faces and different personalities spread through each incarnation. Then they telepathically wiped their memories of their mother telling them their name and all the times it had been mentioned since their birth. Each of the Doctors opened their eyes.
"What's your name?" the Eleventh Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed to the First Doctor.
"We just wiped each other's memories of our name," the First Doctor said irritably, "I can't remember."
"But we do remember the memory wipe itself," the Fifth Doctor said.
"Yeah we just can't remember the exact words we erased," the Tenth Doctor said.
"Why don't we call ourselves John Smith?" suggested the Fourth Doctor, "A nice Human name, John Smith."
"Too simple for my taste," grunted the Seventh Doctor, looking up at Gallifrey which had literally just vanished from the sky, "Oh look it worked. The Time Lock hasn't happened yet, because my successor forgot the name needed to create it."
"You'd better create the Time Lock within the next few minutes or the Time Lock won't have existed and the Time War will be unleashed on the Universe," said the Tenth Doctor said to the Eighth Doctor, "I know you won't be fast enough because a few Daleks will escape but at least you can stop the Final Sanction."
"Alright I'm going," said the Eighth Doctor and hurried into his TARDIS.
"Wait a moment!" called River, "You can't create it without knowing your name."
"Good point," said the Eighth Doctor and hurried back to his future wife who whispered his real name into his ear. As she did so the Tenth and Eleventh incarnations both remembered their real name. With a brief nod, the Eighth Doctor sprinted to his TARDIS which dematerialised.
"How long does it take to create a Time Lock?" Clara asked the Eleventh Doctor having walked over to him cautiously. She was standing close, looking around at his other incarnations warily. They may have been the Doctor but none of them were her Doctor.
"Couple of minutes," he replied. Only a couple of seconds later (the Eighth Doctor had decided to time travel on the way back, since there was no way he could have created the Time Lock in only seven seconds) they heard the TARDIS reappearing and the Eighth Doctor stumbled out.
"What's wrong?" asked the Third Doctor in concern.
"Got a very unwelcome guest in my TARDIS," panted the Eighth gesturing into the interior of the ship.
"Exterminate!" said the voice of a Dalek as it emerged from the TARDIS.
"You let a god damned Dalek into the TARDIS?" bellowed the Sixth Doctor leaping to his feet and releasing the Master in the process. The Master sat up.
"Not on purpose," said the Eighth, "They've become rather good at infiltrating TARDIS'. I managed to keep the rest of them out though."
"I'll take care of this," said the Eleventh stepping towards the Dalek, "Obviously this Dalek is in bad shape; if it was at full strength you wouldn't have time for regeneration." The Dalek was looking extremely battered from what it had experienced during the Time War. It tried to fire at the Eleventh Doctor but had apparently used up its last bit of power to hit the Eighth. The Dalek backed away.
"Mercy," it pleaded.
"What did you say?" asked the Eleventh Doctor.
"Mercy!" said the Dalek again.
"Sorry dear you'll have to speak up," the Eleventh Doctor taunted.
"MERCY!" cried the Dalek again. The Eleventh Doctor ruthlessly tore off its head and activated the self-destruct with his Sonic Screwdriver before shoving the doomed Dalek into the Eighth Doctor's TARDIS. The Eighth Doctor stumbled past him to the TARDIS and stepped inside, glancing out at them.
"Well I think I'm going to go and regenerate in private," he said, "During the Time War I found it's best to be alone; stops you from losing people you care about. Plus I don't think it would be very nice for you lot to watch a past or future version of yourselves die," he closed the door and his TARDIS dematerialised.
"What about the Master?" asked the Fifth Doctor, looking at the Master who now had a black eye and was in the grip of the Third Doctor instead of the Sixth; the Sixth Doctor looked slightly annoyed, as though the Third had just stolen his prize.
"Well we could kill the power mad conspirator," the Sixth Doctor said.
"No," said the Tenth Doctor, "After the Time War, he's the last remaining Time Lord apart from us. We can't kill him."
"So lock him in the Pandorica," said the Eleventh, "It was designed to be a prison and he will never die as long as he's in there."
"We imprison him for eternity?" asked the Tenth Doctor doubtfully, "I think that's too cruel."
"Well we don't want him trying to tear the Universe apart," the Eleventh Doctor replied, "How else are we supposed to ensure he doesn't try and conquer the Universe again?"
"He has got a point," said the Seventh Doctor.
"Alright then," said the Sixth, "into the Pandorica you go Master!" The Third nodded in agreement and started shoving the Master towards the box like prison.
"I'll be back, Doctor!" snarled the Master as the Third Doctor dragged him towards the Pandorica to lock him inside it, "This Universe will be mine someday!"
"Oh shut up, that's what you always say," said the Eleventh Doctor rolling his eyes, "Honestly you should find yourself another hobby." The Sixth Doctor locked the Master into the chair inside the box like prison. The Master screamed and cursed his enemies but they ignored him as the Pandorica started to close. For as long as the Master remained inside it, there was no way he could threaten the Universe. Of course if someone let him out that was different. The Silent's had all fled, like the cowards they truly were, too frightened to stay when all of the Doctor's incarnations were in one place, but obviously everyone present had forgotten that they'd even been there in the first place.
"Well I think we had better get going too," said the First Doctor, "After all we're not supposed to be meeting past and future versions of each other." The others all nodded as the First Doctor went to his TARDIS. He gave them a brief nod and then closed the door.
"Alright then," said the Second Doctor, "I've got to go; things to do, places to be! I'll see you all when I regenerate into you!" he hurried to his TARDIS.
"Goodbye my dear fellows," said the Third Doctor, "I look forward to becoming you." He left in his own TARDIS.
"Well I'd better get going before Sarah Jane wakes up. Humans really can sleep can't they?" said the Fourth Doctor. He flicked his extremely long scarf over his shoulder and strode to his TARDIS whistling a tune.
"I've got a cricket game soon," said the Fifth Doctor, "Goodbye," he went to his TARDIS.
"Saved the Universe once more," said the Sixth Doctor, "Now I'm going to do so again at another point in time," he went to his own TARDIS.
"It has been a pleasure saving the Universe with you," said the Seventh Doctor and sauntered to his TARDIS with a relaxed, calculating demeanour and closed the door. Now only the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors were left.
"Well goodbye," said the Tenth Doctor holding out his hand. Before the Eleventh could shake it, the TARDIS materialised again and a man wearing the Eighth Doctor's clothes appeared. He had long black hair which hid his ears and kept falling in his eyes.
"Glad I didn't regenerate in vain," he said grinning, "Just came to drop off the pieces of scrap metal that used to be a murderous robot with a Kaled mutant inside it. I don't want a Dalek in my TARDIS."
"Well I don't want one in mine either," said the Eleventh Doctor in disgust, "I've only ever met one nice Dalek since I regenerated."
"I'll take the pieces," said the Tenth Doctor.
"Thanks," grunted the Ninth Doctor, "Well, I'll see you, although not with this face. I'll look at you in the mirror sometime. Speaking of which, I wonder where the mirror in the TARDIS has gone. I won't be able to look at my new regeneration until I find it or another mirror. Ah well; might get a pleasant surprise when I do see myself," he grinned and then pushed his long dark hair out of his eyes, "Oh but I think I need a haircut; this hairs much too long. Honestly why did I have long hair in so many of my other lives?" With that he tossed the pieces of the Dalek out of his TARDIS before disappearing back inside. The TARDIS dematerialised.
"Bye then number, Eleven," said the Tenth Doctor, "I just visited the Ood and was headed back to Earth to stop the Master after what must be at least his third resurrection. That man simply refuses to die."
"Nice meeting you, number, Ten;" said the Eleventh. The Tenth Doctor gathered the pieces of the destroyed Dalek and carried them into the TARDIS. He raised his hand in farewell before closing the door. The TARDIS made the familiar groaning sound as it disappeared. River stepped up beside the Eleventh Doctor.
"I can't believe none of your past selves ever bother to put on the brakes," she said in exasperation.
I want to make it clear that I'm not expecting all eleven Doctor's to return for the 50th anniversary. In fact I don't think it would work on TV since three of the actors are dead and all of the Classic Series Doctor's, with the possible exception of Paul McGann, are too old to play the role anymore. However since this is just a fanfiction, and the chances of it being like the 50th anniversary special episode are extremely slim I figured, why not? There are people out there who want all eleven Doctor's to return, but since I doubt it would work well on TV, someone might as well write a fanfic about it. Plus River has complained about the Doctor not putting on the brakes before in The Time of Angels, and I wanted to give her a chance to complain that all of his incarnations are as bad as each other when it comes to landing the TARDIS. I did consider only doing Doctor's eight to eleven, which I think is the best way to do it if any previous Doctor's get brought back on TV, but in the end that last line caused me to cram all of them in. I hope this chapter was successful; I have a vague idea (only very vague mind you since this is nowhere near as important as the actual anniversary special) of the kind of panic Steven Moffat must be feeling as he writes the 50th anniversary episode or episodes.
You might think that simply erasing the Doctor's memories of his name is too easy, but don't forget that most of the last few series have been about memories; the Silence's ability to erase memories, the Doctor causing almost the whole Universe to forget he'd ever existed and Clara's most well-known quote "Run you clever boy…and remember". As for why all the Doctor's before the Eighth had to forget their name, they are all the same man and I'm trying to show that by having the Time Lock recognise them saying, or even subconsciously thinking, although that only maintains the link after it's been created by actually speaking, their true name from any of their incarnations. Since the Eighth Doctor was so close to regenerating into the Ninth, erasing his memory erased the Ninths at the same time. Once River whispered the name in Eight's ear, only his successor's remembered it, which is my attempt to explain why none of the previous Doctor's ever mentioned their name even before the Time War.
Try and guess why I gave the Ninth Doctor long hair. This was the hardest chapter to write since I have only very briefly seen Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, just after Peter Davison's regeneration scene for Baker and in the first few scenes of the Doctor Who movie for McCoy, and I haven't seen Jon Pertwee at all yet, so I hope I portrayed their Doctors right.