A/N: Hello all! Like I said, I'll be updating my stories into newer versions starting with this one, all my Doccy Who stories will be in one story as different chapters rather than separate episodes, same basic story, but hopefully elevated skill and style wise. Enjoy!

The Nowhere Hotel

The Doctor wakes up fresh from a new regeneration struggling to find out who he is. Then after arriving in a strange hotel he meets a girl who doesn't remember who she is... or who the other two people inside her head are.

PART 1

She ran. Faced with an ultimatum, her future bearing down, confronted with the consequences of her actions… and she ran. Was that the right answer? Was there any other answer? She didn't know. Knowing didn't matter anymore; only running. Had she always been this fast? She could barely remember, already things were starting to slip away. How long had it been? Corridors that went nowhere, circular paths and damn— another dead end. She collapsed against the wall and banged her fists on the cold grey metal. She screamed.

Slowing down to catch her breath, she took a moment to steady herself. This was so beneath her. Tormented through an endless maze of grey, left then right then straight on to infinite nowhere. It was as if she hadn't moved an inch. Crumbling to a heap on the floor she dug her nails into her scalp, scraping back her hair. Had it always been that colour? She had to have moved… she was running from something, wasn't she? She couldn't remember.

He leant back against the cold metallic wall and slid down to sit. He held his knees close and gritted his teeth. Every two turns and he'd hit a dead end… but going back the way he came was always different. The walls were shifting, changing around him. Leading him somewhere? No— nowhere, because there was nowhere to go. Only endless running. He laughed, anger clawing at his mind, piercing behind his eyes. But they weren't his eyes anymore. He'd figured out their plan but there was nothing he could do… nothing but plot his revenge.

—

The Doctor positioned himself in front of the mirror; at least, what he thought was the mirror… his eyes were closed. He held out his hand and slowly reached out till he felt the wooden frame brush against his knuckles. Holding it tightly he took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts, preparing for the worst.

This regeneration had been subtle. It had crept up on him after years of wandering alone. Had anything really triggered it? Perhaps it was just time. Was he ready for the change? No— he hated change, or did he? Or was it just how this him viewed it? Who even was he? Right now at this moment… he didn't know. It was a strange feeling. Recent regenerations he'd had someone there with him; someone pushing him to face the fear of the unknown, reminding him of who he was… or helping him discover it. But not this time. This time he'd been alone. He couldn't remember the last time he'd set eyes on someone else. In fact, these eyes hadn't. He hadn't even spoken yet. Had he even blinked?

He rubbed his eyes, remembering that they were in fact, still closed.

Alone. The word twisted and turned in his head. Having found himself waking from a nap in the zero room he'd decided on doing something about it, which then led him to the wardrobe. Avoiding his own gaze from the mirrors was difficult; there were far too many mirrors in here. But that then posed an issue. How to pick for a form he hadn't seen yet? After much thought and more pacing through the racks, he'd finally decided on something he liked. He felt that he missed the shirt and tie look, so going back to that felt right. No jacket this time, but rolling up the sleeves felt comfortable. He looked down at his large hands and hairy forearms… was it red? He couldn't quite tell, but held the thought in the back of his mind. He placed his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders a few times, attempting to relax. He looked over to a nearby mirror and sighed. It was time.

He looked down at his feet, took a deep breath and opened his eyes having finally decided he was brave enough to look at his new body. Smart black shoes… yep. That's what he was looking at. He shifted his weight from his left foot to his right a few times before steadying himself and moving his gaze slowly upwards. Black trousers. Still good. That's what he remembered putting on. Further up he noticed he'd tucked in the white shirt he was wearing. He cringed. Absolutely not— he hurriedly untucked his shirt and straightened himself out. That felt better. He was set on the sleeves being rolled up, but realised the plain black tie was definitely too tight. He loosened it and undid the top two shirt buttons, then fiddled with his collar until he was satisfied with how it looked. Smart and casual. Somehow.

He smiled at himself in the mirror— wait! He hadn't meant to do that yet! He recoiled back realising he'd just looked at his face, apparently having forgotten that he wasn't ready for that part yet. He frowned, eyes flicking over his whole body. He straightened up again narrowing his eyes before looking over his new face… brown eyes, regular eyebrows; not angry or anything. So far so good. Nice jawline, stubbly beard. He rubbed his chin and gritted his teeth, leaning forward to check them more closely in the mirror. He looked into his own eyes… aged beyond the years this regeneration showed. Tired. He leant back and ran his fingers through his hair, judging the length. Longer than before, but ended just before his shoulders. Rough around the edges, not curly but not straight either… shorter bits in the front that arched over his forehead and flicked back. Then he finally noticed it. Staring him in the face the entire time.

His eyes grew wide and he smiled; it was a truly genuine smile. Excitement rushed through him and he laughed out loud.

"I'm ginger!" He cheered. Suddenly covering his mouth as he realised those were his first words. But he didn't care. He was finally ginger. He leant forward, pulling his hair down over his face and running it through his fingers a few times. He inspected each reddish tone, deeper to lighter, all blending together to create a natural dark ginger. Was he really this excited about it? Absolutely.

Pumping his fist in the air and clapping to himself he could have done a victory dance, but he was too preoccupied to think if he even knew how to dance or not. He laughed to himself as he posed in the mirror taking in his whole image.

This new form. It was certainly… different. He was tall and muscular; in fact, he was rather well built. Not quite so lanky as he was used to. He quirked an eyebrow and grinned at himself.

"Well hello there handsome." He said, admiring his new smile. Slightly crooked and ever so charming… but was that mischief he could sense? Was he mischievous? He might be?

He rubbed his arms and dropped his shoulders back, "Bit hairy…" He frowned and puffed out his chest, "Like some kind of wolf-man."

He flexed his arms and growled at himself in the mirror, laughing and turning a few times inspecting himself from different angles. Placing a hand on his hip he grinned again, raising an eyebrow at his backside.

"Now that is a nice arse." He said, the thought occurring in his head that perhaps this version of him was quite vain. He moved away from the mirror thinking about some of the discoveries he'd made about himself so far. Confident? Apparently. Cocky? Perhaps… Smug? Leading that way… Stunningly handsome? Absolutely.

His appearance clearly mattered to him, that was evident. Not that there was anyone else to appreciate it. He frowned and sighed apparently having spoilt his good mood. Another couple of things to add to the list: easily grumpy and doesn't like being reminded of his loneliness.

Attempting to take his mind off things he decided to take a stroll through some of his previous looks. As a reminder of good choices or a warning of fashion disasters he'd kept each old look in its own section, neatly organised. He couldn't remember if that was his own idea or something the TARDIS had done in secret when changing up the desktop. He looked through each outfit carefully, realising that each one had something significant about it. A little thing that really pulled it all together, something that defined the look. His bow-tie, his smarty-pants glasses… His long coat and converses… His scarf, his question mark pins… his celery. He rolled his eyes and moved on. What was he thinking back then? Coming up to another mirror he scrutinised his outfit again, suddenly realising that what he'd chosen was actually very plain. No patterns or stripes, a distinct lack of decorative question marks. He felt plain… and he started noticing little flaws in himself. Bad posture. Resting grumpy face. Lines on his forehead, had he already been frowning too much? He sighed.

He just looked tired.

Already though? He'd only just regenerated, so how could he be tired already? There was so much to do— with fresh eyes to see it! But again… no one to show it to. He folded his arms and turned away from the mirror. He needed something, and he was damn sure he was going to find it. He just didn't know what it was yet. He reached into the racks beside him and pulled out an umbrella, leaning on it in front of the mirror he smiled to himself and raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely not." He grumbled as he tossed the umbrella behind him. Whatever it was he wasn't going to find it here.

Walking through the empty corridors of his TARDIS he noticed the soft blueish glow of the lights against the brass walls, the sound of his shoes tapping against the metal floor panels. He smiled when he reached the console room. The desktop had finished updating and he couldn't be more pleased with how it looked. She'd continued the brass theme throughout and gone with coral pillars, brass metal grates covered the floor, the console itself sat on a platform and was made up of pipes and valves which extended into the floor. Around the platform were rails with a set of jump seats attached either side of the console, near the front doors was a spiral staircase descending down below the console. He rushed over and swung down the stairs, looking up at the inner workings of the console. This would make it easy if he ever felt the need to tinker with anything.

After that thought he heard a gentle humming sound coming from the TARDIS.

"Easy, old girl." He smiled, patting the wall beside him.

Climbing back up the stairs he noticed more of the pipes under the floor grates, they glowed faintly blue. Some of the floor sections closer to the console looked like storage, he knelt down and opened one up. Perhaps he would find what he was looking for in there? He rummaged through what seemed to be old machine parts… endless junk. He rolled his eyes and slammed the grate closed again. A low whirring sound emanated from the console.

"All right, sorry." He stood and leant on the railing. Looking around the console room once more. As nice as it looked, his TARDIS was missing something too. She had brought back the round things though.

The Doctor smiled. He felt nostalgic.

"You know. I still don't know what those are for." He said, walking over to the console and looking up at the glowing blue matrix, "I'm sure you'll tell me one day."

A beeping sound rang out around the room and The Doctor reached for one of the small screens attached to the console. He dragged it round to take a look at whatever it was trying to show him and smiled wide.

"Oh, you shouldn't have!" He patted the console and pressed a button, opening a small section underneath to reveal a brand new sonic screwdriver.

He twirled it through his fingers a few times and pocketed it. It too had a sort of plain look to it. A soft golden glow to the end and none of the irritating pointy bits. Simple and sleek, sure… but still a bit plain.

His eyes moved from the console to the front doors and he realised that he actually had no idea where he was. He'd set the console to go somewhere while he was busy regenerating but now that he was here he'd not bothered to check.

"I could just check the console of course… I'm sure you've taken me to wherever I need to be. But—" he rushed over to the doors and swung them open, "This is much more fun."