A/N: I finished writing the story quicker than I thought I would. Sorry about the delay, I had college finals to study for and papers write.

Journey to the Center of the Tardis- Part 2

We ran for a long while, and in every step, I winced in pain. As we ran, I learned the names of our two guests, Tricky and Gregor. Tricky, I learned, was a robot. We came to an opening and ran down the stairs The Doctor sonicks open a hexagonal panel, "The centre of the Tardis."

We stepped through the panel and started down the corridor. The Doctor is scanning with his sonic as he leads us down the corridor. Something flashes across the corridor. "Hush. Something's in here." Clara said.

"Those things, they've followed us." Tricky breathed.

I looked at The Doctor. "Doctor, what are they? What aren't you telling us?"

"Trust me. Some things you don't want to know." The Doctor said.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something crosses behind us, "They're on the move again." Gregor said.

"Run. Move, move." The Doctor yells and we all started running. I started to fall behind because of my leg. Clara notices and lags behind as well. After a couple more moments, we got separated again.

"Doctor? Doctor?" Clara called, "Again." Clara groaned. The burn on her hand is becoming clearer - mirror writing.

"Clara, there's writing on your hand." I pointed out. She glanced at me and shhed me.

"I know what I said. I was the one who said it." Came an echo of Clara's voice.

"You said it was looking at you funny." An echo of The Doctor's voice.

"Now you're creeping me out. Please tell me there is a button you can press to fix this?" Past clara said.

Clara and I round the corner to see The Doctor, facing away from us. "Oh, thank god. Doctor, what's going on? Say something."

"Clara, something's wrong." I said as she inched forward.

"Clara, Lia, stop." We both jumped and whorled around to face The Doctor. I looked between both of the figures "Don't touch it. There's a rupture in time somewhere on board the ship. A small tear in the fabric of the continuum. It must have happened when the Tardis was pulled in by the salvage vessel. The Tardis is leaking."

"Leaking what?" I asked.

The Doctor leads us along corridors, "The past. You, me, Clara. Everything we've done, everything we've said. Recent history. It's not real. It's a memory."

We came across a single bodied glowing red eyed creature, "What about this?" I asked.

"If you're giving me the option, I'd say this one's real." We ran and it chases us.

"She's right on to us." The Doctor yells.

"She?" Clara yelled back.

"Clara, don't ask me any more."

"You're like one of those guys who can't go out with a girl unless his mother approves." Past Clara says.

"It's important to me you get along." Past Doctor say. The creature follows the echo people. There is a banging sound.

"What's that noise?" Clara asked.

The Doctor looked at the ceiling, "We're right under the primary fuel cells."

"So? So, so what?" Clara asked.

"So, so the fuel's spilled out, so the rods will be exposed. Means they'll cool-"

My eyes widened, "And start to warp."

"And start to warp." The Doctor says, nodding, "Maybe even-"

"No, you don't say it. Don't you dare say it." I said as The Doctor looked at me with 'that' look that meant we could all die.

"Maybe even break apart." A rod flies through the walls just in front of us and I jumped back, staring at the rod. That had been too close for my comfort.

"Run?" Clara asked.

The Doctor tried to smile, "I'm liking how you're thinking."

"Yeah." Clara said, with a glance to me. We ran forward as more rods pierce the corridors from different angles. Up ahead, someone screams. Tricky has been speared by a rod through his shoulder.

"Tricky, oh Drax." I said, using a curse word that I learned on Drax Three and knelt down next to him. My twisted ankle felt suddenly unimportant as Tricky stared at the metal rod that went through his shoulder.

"Cut it off. Just cut my arm off." Tricky said, groaning.

Gregor shook his head, "No."

"It's the quickest way to release me. No fear, no hate, no pain. I can get a new one. Disposable parts. Just do it. It won't hurt me."

Gregor looked like he was about to have a panic attack, "Tricky, you just don't understand."

"I'm an android. Cut me!" Tricky yelled.

"You made it through." Clara said.

"What's the matter with you? Why won't you cut me?" Tricky asked as Gregor was close to tears.

The Doctor glared at Gregor, "Tell him."

Tricky looked confuse, "Tell me what?"

Gregor looked down to the floor, not answering so The Doctor said, "You can't, can you. You're a coward. You won't save him, but you're scared to tell him why."

Tricky stared at Gregor, "What's he going on about?"

"Robots don't need blast suits. They don't need respirators. They don't get frightened of monsters in the dark." The Doctor said. My eyes widened as I listened to The Doctor talking. He wasn't a robot. I put my hand on Tricky's good shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"What's he talking about?"

"Two bionic eyes and a synthetic voice box. But you, my friend, are human. Flesh and blood." The Doctor said.

"It was a joke." Gregor mumbled.

"What?" Tricky gaped at Gregor.

Gregor continued, "It was just a stupid joke. We did it to relieve the boredom."

"Well, it was very funny. They lied to you. Changed your identity just to provide some in-flight entertainment." The Doctor said.

Gregor hung his head, "I'm sorry. You're human, Tricky."

"Cut the metal. Cut the metal! Go!" The Doctor commanded.

After Gregor had cut the mettle, we continued walking "Where are we?"

The Doctor didn't even glance in his direction, "Power source. Right, you lot, wait here. I'll check it's safe. We can only survive for a minute or two in there."

"Er, what happens if we stay longer?" Clara asked.

"Our cells with liquefy and our skin will start to burn." The Doctor answered.

"I always feel so good after we've spoken." Clara says and I snorted, actually finding it funny. Clara glances at me and gives me a grim smile.

"Marvellous. Keep this door shut."

"That will not be a problem."

The Doctor enters the room. Gregor scans Clara.

"Lancashire. Sass." The Computer said.

"Intelligent sensor." Gregory said, shaking the little device in his hand. He then scanned me.

"Origin Unknown. Intelligence… Unknown." The computer said.

"Unknown? But I was born on Earth." I said as Clara frowned.

"Ever pointed that thing at yourself, Gregor? What would it see? What sort of person does this to another human? Made them believe they're made of metal. Who am I?" Tricky yelled. Gregor rips a patch off his suit. Van Baalen Bros.

"My mouthy little kid brother." Gregor said.

"Why, why can't I remember?"

Gregor sighed, "It was a salvage accident. There was a big explosion. You lost your sight, voice and your memory."

"And you, you thought of a way you could have some fun with me? I just wanted a brother beside me!"

"You were always the smart one, Tricky. He wanted you to take over. He made you captain."

I saw confusion spread across his face, "He?"

Gregor looked down, "Dad."

"I don't remember him. You did this to me just to be captain of a heap of junk!" Tricky attacks Gregor.

"Stop! Tricky, listen to me. Ask yourself why he couldn't cut you up. He has just one tiny scrap of decency left in him, and you helped him find that, okay? Now you. Don't ever forget this." The Doctor said.

We ran through the door and into a room with a very orangish atmosphere and a chasm with a catwalk across it to the other side. "Okay, move, move, move!" The Doctor yelled. We all ran onto the catwalk. "The Eye of Harmony. Exploding star in the act of becoming a black hole. Time Lord engineering. You rip the star from its orbit, suspend it in a permanent state of decay. This way, quickly."

There is a creature behind the other door. And the female is at the one they have just come through.

"There's no way out. We're trapped." Gregor said, panicking.

"You're going to tell me right now. If we're going to die here, you're going to tell me what they are." Clara said.

"I can't."

"Tell me. Tell us." Clara corrected with a glance in my direction, " What's the use in secrets now?"

"Secrets protect us. Secrets make us safe."

"We're not safe!" Clara yelled.

"Sensor detects animal DNA. Human core element. Calculating data. Calculating data." The computer said as Gregor started to scan the creatures.

"No, no, turn it off!" The Doctor yelled.

"Lancashire. Sass. Identifiable substance. Clara." The Computer says.

"That's me." Clara said, staring at device Gregor held in his hands.

"I'm so sorry." The Doctor says.

"It's me. I burn in here." Clara said, shocked.

"It isn't just the past leaking out through the time rift. It's the future. Listen, I brought you here to keep you safe, but it happened again. You died again."

"What do you mean, again?" Clara asked sharply.

Tricky and Gregor are trying to keep the door closed against another creature.

"Hang on. As long as we can interrupt the timeline, this can't happen. Don't touch each other, otherwise the future will reassert itself." He pulls them back, and the creature breaks in. It claws at Gregor's backpack with the light bulb in it.

"Gregor, Gregor, let go of the circuit!" The Doctor yells.

"Just let it go." Tricky pleads.

"Gregor, Gregor." Tricky knocks this creature off the catwalk. Presumably it is future burnt Doctor or maybe Bram, although he is already dead. Then the conjoined creature and burnt Clara break in.

"Okay. Er, er-" The Doctor says, unsure of what to do. Tricky attacks the conjoined creature, kicking it off the catwalk. He is left dangling.

"Tricky!" Gregor yelled.

"Doctor?" I asked, wanting to help.

"No, don't touch him, or time will reassert itself." Gregor pulls Tricky up onto the catwalk and they change into the conjoined creature.

The Doctor, Clara and I ran into another room. "The engine room. The heart of the Tardis." We ran forward to the edge of a cliff.

"We're outside." Clara breathed.

"No, we're still in the Tardis." I said.

"Correct, Lia." The Doctor said with a nod.

"There's no way across."

"No, okay, you're right."

"So what do we do?" I asked, "Time for a plan. Do you have a plan?"

"Well, no. No plan. Sorry." The Doctor said.

"If you don't have a plan, we're dead."

"Yes, we are. So just tell me."

Clara looked at him, confused. "Tell you what?"

"Well, there's no point now. We're about to die. Just tell me who you are."

Clara looked at me and I tried very hard to keep my expression blank, "You know who I am."

"No, I don't. I look at you every single day and I don't understand a thing about you. Why do I keep running into you?"

"Doctor, you invited me. You said-"

"Before that. I met you in the Dalek Asylum. There was a girl in a shipwreck and she died saving my life, and she was you."

Clara shook her head, "She really wasn't."

"Victorian London. There was a governess who was really a barmaid, and we fought the Great Intelligence together. She died and it was my fault, and she was you." The Doctor continued, advancing on Clara.

"You're scaring me,"

"What are you, eh? Are you a trick, a trap?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Clara says taking a step back and nearly steps back off the edge of the cliff. The Doctor grabs her and holds her tight in his arms.

"You really don't, do you."

"I think I'm more scared of you right now than anything else on that Tardis." Clara responded.

"You're just Clara, aren't you." The Doctor hugs her again and I watched.

"Okay, I don't know what the hell this is about, but the hug is really nice."

"We're not going to die here. This isn't real! It's a snarl."

"What?" Clara asked.

"What does a wounded animal do? It tries to scare everyone away. We're close to the engine. The Tardis is snarling at us, trying to frighten us off. We need to jump."

Clara pulled back, out of The Doctor's arms, "You're insane."

"We'll cross a portal to the engine."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I can't."

"Okay, well, that's watertight." Clara snapped.

"Hey now, Clara, I have piloted this ship for over nine hundred years. Trust me this one time, please. Okay. Okay. As well as all the other times. Lia? Ready?" The Doctor grabs Clara's hand and then grabbed mine, "Geronimo."

Even though I thought this was an insane idea, we ran and jumped off the edge of the cliff into a white space filled with pieces of metal frozen in time as we travel out from an explosion. "The heart of the Tardis. The engine, it's already exploded. It must have been the collision with the salvage ship."

"We're not dead."

"She wrapped her hands around the force. Froze it."

"So, so it's safe?" I asked.

"Temporary fix. Eventually this whole place will erupt. There's no way I can save her now. She's just always been there for me, and taken care of me, and now it's my turn and I don't know what to do. I think it just- Clara takes his hand, and he sees the burn marks on it, "Oh, Clara. Oh." I looked at the mirror wording which now read Big Friendly Button on it. "You are beautiful. Beautiful fragile human skin. Like parchment. Thank you. The rift in time. All the memories leaking out. I need to find the moment we crashed. I need to find the music."

We were under the time console. There is a vertical crack in the wall with bright light streaming through. "The time rift. Recent past, possible future."

"What are you going to do?" I asked, stepping forward.

"Rewrite today, I hope." The Doctor He uses the sonic screwdriver to etch the letters onto the grenade from earlier, "I've thrown this through the rift before. I need to make sure this time. Going to take it in there myself. There might be a certain amount of yelling."

"It's going to hurt?" Clara asked cautiously.

"Things that end your life often do that."

"Wait! All those things you said. How we've met before, how I died."

The Doctor smiled at Clara, "Clara, don't worry. You'll forget. Time mends us. It can mend anything."

"I don't want to forget. Not all of it. The library. I saw it. You were mentioned in a book."

"I'm mentioned in a lot of books."

"You call yourself Doctor. Why do you do that? You have a name. I've seen it. In one corner of that tiny-"

"If I rewrite today, you won't remember." The Doctor said, "You won't go looking for my name."

"You'll still have secrets."

The Doctor smiled sadly, "It's better that way." The Doctor forces his way through the crack in the wall, screaming as he pushes against an immense force until he suddenly vanishes.

Clara is drying her hair as she walked into the console room and I was leaning up against the railing, feeling drained for some odd reason. "I feel exhausted. I feel-" Clara started.

"We've had two days crammed into the space of one." The Doctor responded. Once The Doctor said that, my brain felt like it was going to explode. And I remembered what had happened. I rubbed my right temple. "Are you alright Amelia?"

I glanced up and saw The Doctor looking at me with some concern, "Yeah. Fine. Just a headache." I replied, straightening up and walking over beside the console.

"Why would you say that?" Clara asked, looking at The Doctor, as if I hadn't even spoken.

"I don't know. I say stuff. Ignore me. Do you feel safe?" The Doctor asked.

"Of course."

"Give me a number out of ten. Ten being whoo hoo, one being argh."

Clara eyed The Doctor, "You're being weird."

"I need to know if you feel safe. I need to know you're not afraid."

"Of?"

"The future. Running away with a spaceman in a box. Anything could happen to you." The Doctor said, staring at Clara.

Clara smiled, "That's what I'm counting on. Push the button."