"I was just wondering what the plan is?" Merlin asked.

"First, we find a way out of here," The Doctor said. "Then get to the TARDIS. Then we've got to get that 'crystal' out of Camelot."

"Alright, what's the plan there?" Merlin asked skeptically.

"I'll figure something out," the Doctor muttered.

"So what do we do, just wander around until we find an exit?" Merlin kicked a stone aside with his good foot. "That's a brilliant plan."

"I'm working on it," the Doctor snapped. "I'm guessing we find a tunnel that leads uphill-ish?"

Merlin shrugged. It was the best idea they had. "Fine."

The Doctor looked around for about a minute, then began to walk. Merlin followed, a little slowly, putting weight on his sore leg gently.

"Thing is," the Doctor said, "you said that you looked into these Crystals, yeah?"

"Yes," Merlin answered."

"You looked into the Time Vortex, Merlin, no one's supposed to do that," said the Doctor. "Well, no humans anyway. You should have suffered side effects."

"What?"

"Course, with the little TARDIS having a crystal shell, it might have dampened the power coming through," The Doctor shrugged. He seemed to have the tendency to completely miss statements that nearly gave Merlin a heart attack.

"What side effects?" Merlin asked frantically.

The Doctor suddenly whipped around, scanning him with the sonic screwdriver, then turning around again. "No worries, you're fine. TARDIS must've acted as a shield."

"Fine now," Merlin remembered the stress seeing the events he'd seen in the Crystal happen, like a countdown, and being able to do nothing about it. He had thought it would drive him mad. "I've already learned my lesson a few times too many."

"You've done this more than once?" The Doctor asked, worriedly.

"Only twice," Merlin said.

"Let's not try that again, though," the Doctor warned.

"Not if I can help it," Merlin agreed.

"Oh here we go," the Doctor leaned behind a rock face to find himself looking down a tunnel. "Let's try this one."

"What if it leads us further underground?" Merlin asked. "There could be Wilddereon or something worse."

"What's that first one?" the Doctor asked, already meandering in.

"Wildderoen," Merlin repeated. When this seemed to not ring a bell, he elaborated, "They're like… giant rat creatures. Nasty ones."

"R.O.U. ?" The Doctor laughed. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"R.O.– what?" Merlin was frustrated.

"Rodents of unusual size," The Doctor said.

"What is it with you and acronyms?" Merlin muttered.

"Well c'mon then," the Doctor turned to see Merlin hesitating. "Don't worry, it leads uphill."

"You sure?" Merlin was skeptical.

"Yeah," the Doctor assured him. "Can't you feel the draft?"

"No," replied Merlin.

The Doctor frowned, the shrugged. "Humans. You live on this planet and you're still trying to figure out how it works." he turned toward the tunnel. "Follow me."

Miles away, an older TARDIS sat in a lonely grove near Camelot, with an older Doctor inside. He sat in the jumpseat of his empty ship. This ship should ring with the sound of laughter. This ship should echo with the footsteps of Companions. And now it was empty.

It wasn't always empty. There used to be so many. And he could see them all there. In his memories they were always smiling. Alright, that last bit wasn't true. But the memories he held dear were of those smiles.

There was Susan, just there. Romana and Adric. Sarah Jane Smith. Ace. Rose Tyler. Donna Noble. Amy— oh Amy.

He had lost Amy too. Just when he thought he would get it right for once, just when he thought he wouldn't loose them. His heart had broken so many times last regeneration, he just wanted to have friends to share adventures with, he just wanted to do some good. Everything he touched got ruined. Now Amy and Rory, so constant, so accepting, so human, were gone too.

And River had to leave too. He had always known that she'd leave, he'd seen the day she died, he knew… but he had hoped, maybe she'd get to stay for a little longer. But he couldn't keep her forever.

Why had he come back to Camelot? He knew what happened here. He knew he couldn't do a thing. He knew. And now he had ruined Morgana's life too, it was all his fault.

But maybe he could fix this one.

He knew in his head that he couldn't. She caused a fixed point, her couldn't change it if he tried. And if he did succeed, there would be consequences.

But he jumped up, ran about the console, pulling levers and adjusting dials, and soon the TARDIS vworped into the Time Vortex again.

Just this once. Please, just this once.

"Here we are," the Doctor pointed to a light up ahead. "What did I tell you?"

Merlin's spirits rose. They were actually going to get out. "Wow! That's…" he laughed.

The Doctor grinned with pride. "I think the word you're looking for is fantastic."

"Fantastic," Merlin repeated. "Eh, not really me."

"I like it," the Doctor said.

The light was coming from a shaft, slightly above their heads. The light coming through was pure, unaltered daylight. Merlin had to blink it out of his eyes, it was so bright.

"I'll help you up first, then you pull me out," the Doctor suggested.

"Alright," Merlin agreed. He hoped he was strong enough to support the Doctor's weight.

The Doctor gave Merlin a leg-up, giving him just enough height to reach through and get a grip on the earth outside and haul himself to freedom. He slid out of the shaft, pulling up bunches of grass as he dragged himself across the ground. Once out, he rolled over on his back and just breathed for a few moments. How long had he gone without sleeping? How long had they been down there? The sun was high in the sky. Had he been missed?

"You alright up there?" The Doctor called.

Merlin sat up quickly, scrabbling back over to the shaft. From the outside, it opened up out of the bottom of a cliff face into the inner valley. "Yeah, I made it."

"Fantastic," the Doctor said. "Pull me up!"

Merlin reached both his hands down into the shaft, grabbing hold of the Doctor's hands. The man was heavy. Merlin was thankful for the traction of the ground. The Doctor scrambled up the wall and through the shaft, helping Merlin as much as he could. When he was free, the Doctor jumped to his feet immediately.

"To the TARDIS!" he rushed off to his left.

"We left it over there!" Merlin called out from the ground where he sat on his knees, pointing the opposite direction.

"Knew that!" The Doctor pivoted and ran the correct way.

She turned around and he was gone. She sat at her desk, staring into her mirror. Did she really blame him for not returning? Magic was outlawed, and, as she had seen today, that box of his got him in trouble. That was the Doctor? He had said so. She still trusted him to tell her the truth.

He had never really said he was coming back. He had said he was leaving. He had to go. She had to stay. She was barely eleven at the time, she couldn't just up and leave. But to see the stars, to sit in a box in the sky and watch the stars blink… it was beautiful.

That was the kind of magic she wanted. The kind of magic that should exist in Camelot. She would fight for that.

But if the Doctor tried to stop her, she wouldn't know what to do. She hoped what he said about not being able to was true.

Because she knew the Doctor lies.

"Right," the Doctor opened the doors to his beloved TARDIS with a flourish and ran over to the console. "Now, we'll have go back a few hours– all this crossing time streams is probably dangerous, but if we don't bump into our past or future selves we should be fine. And don't try and change the past, that'll just get you into trouble." he started adjusting levers and toggles. "Where were you at about–"

He turned around to see the young sorcerer collapsed in the jump seat, fast asleep, his head limp on his shoulder.

The Doctor smiled fondly. Humans. Could only take so much. He had to remember that. He pulled a sticky note pad from underneath the console and wrote a note in Gallifreyan, peeling it off the pad and sticking it to the viewing screen. Then he put the TARDIS into the Vortex and waited for Merlin to wake up.