Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to Doctor Who.
Annabella ©2011-2016 MamaBunyip
Everything else and story line by me but of course they're set in the Dr. Who Universe so I still hold no rights to them.
Story takes place somewhere in the 11th Doctor Era. I hope you enjoy it!
Rating: It's perfectly safe for the whole family, like the show. So don't worry.
PART 3: An awkward development
She didn't step into a whole world, like she remembered, but rather a room. The doctor opened a door by waving his gizmo at it. He then put his head out and looked to both sides.
"Brilliant. Seems we're clear, come along."
They stepped into a corridor. Even though it wasn't as wide as the world she remembered waking up in as a child, it was definitely made of the same stuff. It pulsed with that purplish hue, and was as if technologically alive, the hue glowing and dimming like it was breathing. It was large, though; wide enough to fit a tank, tall enough to fit two people.
The doctor kept his gizmo at hand, pointing it as if it was a flashlight, only it glowed green at the walls as he quickly marched on, followed closely by Annabella.
She finally struck up the courage to point at the gizmo.
"What's that?" She asked, "where are we?" So many questions.
"Sonic screwdriver. And we're in the prison ward of their mothership."
"Sonic screwdriver? What does it do?"
"Oh, mostly everything," the Doctor replied, proud of his toy, stopping as the corridor opened to two others. He thought for a second before pointing to the right, "this way!"
She followed him, curiously looking around. The feeling of adventure had her heart racing as every glance could bring something utterly new, and though it felt amazing and empowering, it left her brain little time to process information.
"Why are we in the prison ward?"
"Just…helping some friends that were captured," he said, thinking of something else before suddenly stopping, next to a large gate. "Come," he requested, motioning her on with one hand while waving his sonic screwdriver at it.
Annabella approached, "tell that panel there to open the door, please." He requested, now focused on her.
She looked and saw a small panel, double the size of her hand.
"Ask it to open?" She said, puzzled, and at that the panel beeped and the gate's extremities fizzled, rising it open to let them pass.
"Brilliant. I knew that would work," he clapped his hands twice, smiling proudly. "Come along", he nudged his head onward, going inside.
She followed him, feeling proud she had helped. A few seconds later – again, brain lagging due to adrenalin – she wondered what she had done exactly? After a few seconds, it came to her that the door had perhaps reacted to the word 'open' she had accidentally said.
"Why did that work?"
The Doctor didn't break his stride, nor did he stop looking around, side to side as they they crossed multiple cells. "What worked?"
"Me telling the door to open."
"Well," he suddenly interrupted himself, looking at his gizmo. "Tell this cell to open," he whispered to her, pointing to his right.
"What? But there's no panel."
He pulled her in and looked at her, gravely, glancing at the end of the hall "just do it!"
Wide-eyed and confused, she turned to the side and said "open."
The cell again buzzed, and opened. The Doctor pushed her inside.
"Close it, close it!"
"Close," she said, and the door closed.
"Now ssshhhh…." The Doctor asked of her, mysteriously looking around as if waiting to hear something. And soon enough, crushing steps came approaching.
It was a monster, like in her memory.
No, they're robots. Robots piloted by aliens, I have to remember. Uh, aliens!
She was more excited than scared, a dichotomy that quickly switched around when the sound didn't stop approaching. Gasping, she stepped back frightened. The Doctor quickly followed her steps, whispering very softly.
"Shshhsh…don't worry…he won't notice us…"
And he didn't. The sound passed through the door and continued on lowering its volume until it disappeared from hearing. They waited a few moments longer, tense. The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the different ends of the corridor
Finally, he smiled content and waved her along.
"Alright, let's be off, my friends must be tired of waiting, I'm sure. Get this thing open."
She did so, they were back to trailing the hall in a matter of seconds. She slowly relaxed, calming down after the near encounter with one of the beasts. After she felt appropriately calm, she remembered the Doctor had not explained why the panels were responding to her commands.
"Doctor," she called out.
"Yes?" He said, glancing back at her for a second – which seemed to be about as long as he could look at anything really – before resuming his visual scrutiny of all that surrounded him.
"Why are the doors opening when I ask them?"
"Well I'd gather it's because you have such a convincing voice," he jested, smirking at her "or a sweet voice, or perhaps it is your commanding tone or fear," he added, looking ahead "we should really be asking the doors." The tone with which he proposed that idea was actually serious and brimming with curiosity, but still, he was clearly japing.
Annabella raised an eyebrow, but as she was going to respond in an effort to force him to give a proper explanation, the Doctor raised his voice to call out. "Amy! Rory? Can you hear me?"
"Wha—"
"DOCTOR?!" a female voice sounded out in response, blocking her own. She would be utterly confused if the doctor hadn't warn, in a quick passing comment, that he was saving some friends. Funny enough, she only really processed that comment right then.
It was strange how hard it was to keep up with what he said, she was beginning to think that while he said most things passively and absent-mindedly, they were all very important.
She had to pay more attention. Maybe she should be talking to doors?
"Amy?!" The Doctor shouted back. "Speak, Amy, speak!"
"Doctor, over here!"
He followed the voice of this Amy character to a cell's gate. Like all others, it didn't have a visor nor anything to see through. He smiled, glad, and looked at Annabella.
"Terrific. Now, Annabella, if you would be so kind..."
Annabella nodded a smile, glad to be of help.
"Open," the small cell door obeyed, slowly opening. And from inside, a woman jolted out, leaping at the Doctor.
She hugged him, and him her while a man followed her out. His hair was blonde wanting to be black. He had such bright eyes and was, without a doubt, handsome. He walked sort of timidly out of the jail cell though not without purpose.
"Doctor," he greeted, a bit doubtful. When Amy let go of the Doctor, Annabella was surprised to notice how much alike herself she was. Red-headed and fair skinned, they were definitely from the same gene pool, whatever it was.
But they were even more surprised to see her. And more confusing yet, they actually recognized her.
"Doctor?!" Amy reacted, confused. "What's she doing here?"
Annabella winced, entirely involuntarily, as her brain ran to understand what was happening.
Had they met? No, at least, she hadn't met them. She wanted to voice the question but she felt it was stupid since they had obviously met her.
Once she introduced the time-travel variable into the equation, though, she reached the conclusion they were talking about some future version of her.
Their dress code matched her era, but she was now millenniums ahead of her era. Had they thus met some decade-older version of her? Time travel, after all, didn't just worked in thousands of years.
The doors responded to her, however. That was the primary clue that burst open the flood of understanding that connected all the dots. The realization transformed her face and she noticed the Doctor was looking at her, reading her mind.
"How do they know me?" Annabella asked him, a bit shyly.
"Annabella, Amy and Rory. Amy and Rory, Annabela," he introduced them.
"Hum…" Annabella awkwardly lifted her hand, "hello."
The Doctor tapped his mouth and looked up in thought.
"You know, calling you Annabella is much too tiresome, it's too big," the Doctor voiced in affront as if this was a big problem, "And Annie's too close to Amy, it'll be confusing. Last name's too formal, too, right?" He asked Amy and Rory, but he didn't actually wait for a reply.
"Stella," he raised a finger, "I'll call you Stella."
"What? No," Annabella blushed, Stella reminded her of that play. A voice of a comedian screaming Stella at the top of his lungs sounded loudly in her head and she couldn't take the embarrassment, "don't call me Stella."
"Well what else can I call you?!"
"You can call me Anna," she said. She always liked Anna.
"How about Leader?" Another and all too familiar voice sounded out from behind Annabella.
Amy and Rory opened their eyes in surprise and Annabella turned around at the sound of crashing steps. She saw two of the machines, as tall and big as she remembered them, towering over the woman they were flanking like guards.
The woman was stunning. easily in her mid-30s, if not at their start. She was dressed in a flamboyant pale-white dress which enriched her pale skin, despite the glowing purplish veins that formed patterns across her skin, glowing through the dress.
Her eyes were blue, her lips light pink, and her hair red. Annabella was looking at some kind of mirror and that was the final point of all her thinking.
Her mind went blank.
Future self, a future self that the Doctor's companions knew. No, that the Doctor knew. The gates and technological world obeyed Annabella's commands, a technology that was biological, alive, that would know the voice of…their leader.
"D.d.d. ?!" Annabella pleaded, almost losing strength in her legs.
"Doctor?" Amy echoed the confusion.
"Doctor!?" Rory asked, half-demanding.
"The Doctor," her future self announced, in greeting, with a pleased smile.
Everyone was looking at him and he grinned like a kid holding a broken toy out of view which had obviously been seen.
He tugged at his bowtie in an apparent nervous twitch, shaking his head to the side a bit as his eyes glanced at all of them, one at a time.
Then he just looked at them all, joining his hands in front of his head.
"Well, this is awkward."
Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time.
Ok, well, hold on to your horses 'cause this is about to get very wobbly very quickly. The plot continues to tangle on the next part.
Also don't worry, the story is fully written. Next update will come up next week, God willing.