Authors notes: Okay, if Raven thinks this is all a headache to see, it was a real headache to actually write, if I must be honest. (It also means I've given Rachel Roth a headache since she's the fictional writer of all this. I guess she shares my pain now. XD)

I went through several revisions for this simple chapter. It featured a lot more characters and stuff going on, but I felt it was just too much being flung at the reader at once, so this is greatly cut down from how long and detailed it originally was. Imagine Wreck it Ralph, but you described every character and what they were doing in the background and you get an idea of how this thing used to sound.

Let me know if I've pulled this chapter off, because though I've read it enough times, and even had a text speaker read it to me a number of times I'm not sure if its worked. Hopefully it does.

Chapter 38

Switching my Brain off.

Rachel stopped typing and wondered for a second.

Had she just 'Jumped the Shark' with this 'Land of Fiction' she'd made up?

She thought it was a good idea, a dimension where all fictions were real. From that she could use characters like Captain Hook, Jekyll and Hyde, Dr. Frankenstein and the like. But she didn't know if this was pushing the credibility of the story.

Rachel had written Raven as if the place was giving her a headache, and in reality the thought of it was giving Rachel a headache too, as she tried to think what fictional characters she should include in the story next. She had a notion of where she was going, but the finer details would need working out.

Oddly though, to Rachel, a lot of the human fictions she'd written she didn't know the origin of. The drunken pirate, the two men in the indestructible car. Even the aliens at the party. Why did she write them like that? What was the inspiration of them?

Rachel saved the file, pinched the bridge of her nose and leaned back, giving her brain and fingers a rest for a while.

"Ah, rather fascinating!" said Doctor McCoy, he'd been standing behind her, reading what she'd been writing. "You have a rather active imagination, Miss Rachel."

"Thank... thank you, sir." Rachel said.

"Oh, Doctor, please." Funny, like her Doctor.

"I see how you've written some of the fictions as quite vague, yet give just enough scraps of information for people to piece together who they are." Doctor McCoy said. "Unless it comes to characters in the public domain like Captain Hook, though you can use Rapunzel name and that of Laurel and Hardy I believe. You won't get a copyright strike."

"I don't make a profit on what I write." Rachel admitted, "I just write for fun." She turned back to the screen and scrolled up to the aliens she'd written. The contradictory, prejudice aliens who hated humans and other species.

"Rather like Daleks themselves." Doctor McCoy said.

"It's weird, but I don't know what a Dalek is." Rachel admitted.

"A far and distant thing, according to the Serbo croat language." Doctor McCoy said, "Or the more common meaning, a tank like creature with an organic blob inside it, the blob is entirely prejudice against all forms of life not like itself, seeking to subjugate or exterminate any life it considers a lesser species. Which is all of them." Doctor McCoy bent over and leaned on his umbrella. "Fascinatingly, this 'Impostor' of the Doctor is using a form of Godwins Law, only she keeps knee jerking to it when she doesn't get her own way."

"Godwins law?" Rachel asked.

"Better if you look that up yourself." Doctor McCoy said. "Please, continue, there is still an hour left. It is double English after all, and I do so want to know how little Rae-Rae managed to put the Doctor back together."

Managed? As in past tense? Rachel shrugged, probably a slip of the tongue on his part.

She turned back to the screen as the Doctor walked off, and recoiled when she saw Garfields face next to hers reading her story.

"Hey, put the real Batman and Superman in it, that'd be awesome!" Garfield said. Rachel put a hand on the side of his head and sharply pushed him back out of her personal space.

"They're not fictional..." Wait, were they?

"You had the parody versions of them." Garfield said.

"Because 'they' are fictional." Rachel said back.

"Yeah, but what about the stories people tell of Batman and Superman? Won't they show up in there?" Garfield asked.

That was a very good question Rachel had never considered. Could fictional versions of real people be in the Land of Fiction? If enough people believed the fiction? Lies told about people, a misrepresentations, misunderstandings, straw man arguments? They were all made up stuff, could they all exist in the Land of Fiction?

Rachel rubbed her temples. She hadn't thought this through at all. She just wrote what she felt sounded right. She sighed deeply to clear her head.

"It has to be a popular fiction." Rachel added, "Enough people have to love and believe it for it to become real, and it has to be the same image. Batman and Superman have as many versions of themselves as there are people to dream them up, not enough people believe in the same fiction or sub-fiction of them, so they don't appear."

Garfield just looked confused. In fact, Rachel felt confused. She felt like she'd written herself into a corner with the Land of Fiction, for whatever reason small fictions wouldn't manifest. Popular ones did.

"So what about Iron-man, Captain America, the Hulk, Spider-man?" Rachel looked at him as if he had a bogey dangling from his nose. She had no idea who these characters were, nor where they were from.

"Just let me get back to it." Rachel said irritated, stretching out her arms and fingers to release the tension in them then went back to writing. She also stretched her neck and shoulders, for some reason they felt stiff.

Lets see. Raven had just been rescued by Captain Hook, the Lost Boys, a bunch of Velociraptors, Alice and... Wait, she didn't write Alice into the story did she? Welp, she guessed she'd better do it now.

Was the Land of Fiction at war with itself?!

The snarls of the raptor Dinosaurs behind her and the screams of people told her Captain Hook was winning.

The Lost Boys stopped Raven and they motioned that they must wait for the Captain. With them was a short man in green and grey clothes, a hood over his head and a bow and quiver full of arrows slung across his back. Robin Hood?! There was also a little girl with blond hair and a blue knee-length puffed sleeve dress with a pinafore worn over the top. She was using a damp handkerchief to wipe some dust off one of her ankle-strap shoes.

"Alice?" Raven asked.

"Who the heck is Alice?" the child said with a smile. Was that supposed to be funny? Raven didn't get it.

What was Alice doing here? This wasn't a safe place for a child so young.

The prisoners from the cells also gathered in this area and were now looking around at the utter confusion too as random characters appeared to be fighting each other. But for what motivation Raven could only guess at.

On a hillside Raven saw what looked like two lions fighting, but one was of a drawn, animation cartoon, the other was a CGI character. They prowled around each other before leaping and attacking, quite viciously. It was weird seeing the cartoon lion and the CGI lion fight each other, these two styles didn't mesh well at all. Not in any logical way.

Her attention was then drawn towards a small boy in raggy clothes sitting on a flying carpet, Aladdin? He was with a girl who stood beside him. A girl in dark clothes, a skirt with a long blue, hooded cloak. Her skin was green, her eyes a deep blue and she had diamond tattoos across the bridge of her nose. It was almost like an alien version of her, except taller, and missing her chakra jewel.

The alien duplicate held out her hand for Raven to shake it, but Raven refused. "Jedi Barriss Offee, at your service." She said happily, "I will be your decoy."

Decoy?!

This was all happening too fast for Raven, so she just decided to switch her brain off and roll with everything. She held the Doctor Puzzle box tighter to her, but not too tight that she damaged the box and lost bits of the jig-saw.

Captain Hook was suddenly at their side, the cages containing Tom Thumb, the Gingerbread man and Tinkerbell on his hook.

"Blast it all, they got Sparrow!" Captain Hook said, referring to the drunk pirate. He shoved two cages into Robin Hoods hands. Tom Thumb and the Gingerbread mans. Captain Hook set Tinkerbell's down and opened it up allowing the little creature to fly out and buzz around. Her voice a high pitched squeak and she sounded very annoyed.

"Oh balderdash. It's your own arrogance that got you captured!" Captain Hook said pointedly to the little fairy. "Were are the Elwood Brothers? They're late!"

As if on cue that two toned car crashed through a window from the second floor of the castle, sailed through the air and landed on the ground. The car bounced but took no damage at all, and it sped towards them, stopped very quickly and parked up.

"What took you two so long?!" Captain Hook fumed through the open window.

"Sorry Cap, Traffic was murder." the tall man in the driving seat said deadpan.

"Where's the decoy?" Captain Hook said, looking at Barriss who had now ripped off her skirt exposing her bare legs and was covering herself in some kind of paint to make her face and legs pale. She was trying to make herself look like Raven.

This alien girl looked nothing like Raven. Her nose was too large, and she was a head too tall. But from a distance she guessed she could pass for her.

"Keep that hood over your head!" Captain Hook said, pulling it down further over Barriss's eyes so they were in shadow.

"What do you think?" The girl, Barriss asked Raven as she pushed a fake red jewel into her forehead.

"Uhh..." Raven was still speechless. She had no context to what was going on at all. This was all just insane. What was this girl from anyway? Was this just an alien? A fictional version of herself? Or was she her own creation?

Raven groaned a sigh and gripped the edges of the Doctor Puzzle box. This was worse than the utter nonsense from the Alice Compendium, much worse, because it was actually happening.

"No time, no time!" Captain Hook insisted and he pushed Barriss onto the flying carpet and he addressed the boy in rags. "Remember, Raggy Boy', he said referring to Aladdin, "if successful you'll have them gunning for you. Good luck!"

"Thanks. Maybe you're not such a bad guy after all." Aladdin said.

"Don't insult me, if I'm not the bad guy for Pan then there would be no story. Now move!" and the flying carpet with Aladdin and the alien girl sped off into the sky.

"Quiver." Captain Hook said referring to Robin Hood. He'd given them code names? "Get these prisoners out the back way and to Sherwood forest. Keep them hidden and keep them quiet." Hook said in a low voice.

"Right you are!" Robin Hood said in an exaggerated English accent, and led all the prisoners away into the forest.

"Big Al," Captain Hook called.

"Yes, Captain" said Alice.

"Get in the car with our friend here." He said referring to Raven. "And get them to the vessel. I want to be out of here before they've rumbled our ruse."

"But Elwood stinks!" Alice complained.

"That's just the natural Chicago musk." The tall man, Elwood said.

"Get in for god sake girl." Captain Hook said. "This car is indestructible. It's the safest place for our friends, and you Alice, keep the girl safe."

"I can look after myself, HEY!" Raven said as she was pulled into the back of this boxy car. Alice was right, it did stink. Alice sat in the seat next to her. All doors were then shut and locked.

"See you on the other side Cap!" Elwood said, tipping his hat.

"Godspeed, brothers." and Captain Hook turned away back to what remained of his attack force of Lost Boys. "Tinkerbell, boys with me! Lets run interference." and he drew his sword to lead them.

"Can someone please explain what is going... HEY!" Raven shrieked as the car again took off, diving straight back down the trail.

"Might wanna put them seat-belts on little ladies." Eldwood said as the car practically bounced down the trail.

Raven and Alice both did as suggested, and Raven now clutched the jig-saw box closer to her to keep it safe as these two lunatics raced down the trail that was not designed for a car. She had to brace herself against the front seat to stop herself rolling around.

Raven closed her eyes. There was too much lunacy going on for her.

It's the Land of Fiction, don't take it too seriously.

It's the Land of Fiction, don't think too hard about this.

It's the Land of Fiction, it's all nonsense, because it 'is' all nonsense.

It's the Land of Fiction, just switch your brain off and roll with it.

It's the Land of Fiction, just survive it, just survive it!

Raven thought all this to herself because she got a feeling more insanity was about to be flung at her. She was right!

"Where are we going?" Raven asked as they went over a bump.

"Some place as far away from the Dozen Shmucks as possible." Elwood said.

The car sped down the trail and entered the town. There were several large tank like vehicles blocking their exit and its barrels were swerving to take aim at them!

Elwood just pulled the wheel to the right and crashed through the front of a store front. People leapt out of the way of the advancing vehicle as it crashed through the counter, the bar and tables before blasting its way through the back. The car came down now on a steep street between buildings and picked up speed.

"Hey, look." Said Elwood calmly, looking at a menu stuck to the windscreen, "Coffee $1.95"

"Nice!" said the brother.

"Hey guys!" said a voice of that blue rodent in the red shoes again Raven had seen earlier. He was running along side the car, his legs a total blur. Elwood wound the window down to listen to it. "Listen, you didn't hear it from me. But there's a 'Big T', dead ahead, and a mall to your left." it winked, "Do what you do best." and the rodent leapt up, ran across the front of a building and disappeared over the roof.

"Useful little critter." Said the shorter brother.

"Yeah, I'm almost sorry I ran over one, once." Elwood said. "Almost."

Raven found out what the blue creature meant by the 'Big T' when the street levelled out and opened out into a square. In the middle was a big Dinosaur, a Tyrannosaurus! A big, imposing, forty foot long mass of muscle, jaws full of sharp teeth, and it had eyes on them for a meal.

Elwood took the blue creatures advice and swung left as the Tyrannosaurus's jaws snapped at them and missed by inches. Raven could smell the rotting stench of garbage from its breath as they sped away from it.

The car then smashed through a mall front, again the car took no damage. People again leapt out of the cars way as it ploughed through everything, Elwood honking the horn. Store fronts, kiosks, stands, all disintegrating as the car blasted through them. Despite the blank look on the two men's faces Raven got the sense they delighted in causing as much carnage as possible, even if it wasn't necessary.

"Hey, baby clothes!" one pointed.

"Yeah, this place has got everything!"

They swung right, straight through a store front and into a car store. A car store in an early 20th century European Village?!

Oh, just go with it. Nothing ever makes sense no matter where the TARDIS lands!

"The new Oldsmobiles are in early this year!" Elwood said before smashing through the store front and back out into the streets. The car couldn't make the sharp turn back onto the street and ended up destroying the store front opposite, before it regained control, and drove down the street.

Raven now thought the cars journey was getting a little bumpy, until she looked back and could see that Tyrannosaurus bounding down at them as the car tried to speed back up again.

Deciding to make herself useful Raven focused her powers on the Dinosaurs left foot and held it there, forcing the Tyrant lizard to topple forward in a heap on the floor. The ground shook is it impacted the floor.

Down the street they sped, going faster and faster, and faster. The speedo eventually reading 120 mph.

The story was interrupted because Beast Boy was giving Raven a look and it made her stop.

"What?" Raven asked pointedly. "I'm not making it up!"

"I can believe you!" Beast Boy said, there was more that he wasn't saying. So Raven decided to look into his head. Because I don't believe you have any imagination to make this stuff up.

Beast Boy was going to pay for that, later.

From a cross roads ahead a tank rolled into view and it was swinging its barrel again to take them in. Rather than stop, Elwood just gunned it on the gas peddle and... Raven wished she knew what these guys were from, because the loony physics might make sense. But somehow the car launched itself into the air, clipping the top of the tank and the car landed on the opposite side of the tank. The tanks barrel swerved back, but not quick enough because they were soon out of range of the gun.

Now they were back in the forest and they could clearly see the space around them.

In the sky, Raven could see the flying carpet where Aladdin and the girl Barriss were. They were being attacked by some kind of flying creatures. Creatures that looked like Monkeys, but with wings. The creatures from the Wizard of Oz? The carpet tried to avoid them, swinging left and right, and looping over itself to shake off the flying monkeys. She guessed the distraction was working.

Elwood stood on the brakes and the car came to such a fast halt Raven and Alice were nearly forced from their seats. The two brothers didn't seem to be affected by the momentum despite not wearing seat belts.

"We got a G.B.F.U.M.F. dead ahead." Elwood said.

"A what?" Raven asked.

The shorter brother began to explain. "A Great Big Frickin' Ugly Mother Fu.."

"That!" Elwood said pointing cutting his brother off.

There indeed was a large, snarling creature ahead of them. It was no dinosaur. It looked more like a mutated monster of some fantasy fiction, and it was also over sixty feet tall, and blocking their path.

"Big Al's got this!" said Alice, opening the car door and stepping out.

"Wait!" Raven called reaching out to grab her dress and pull her back in! But she'd already shut the door on her. What was she doing?!

"Don't worry. The little ladies got this." Elwood said coolly.

"Yeah, she's like a tank." The other brother said. "Better than a tank."

Raven didn't know what any of that meant until Alice took from her pinafore a cake and scoffed it into her mouth. Suddenly Raven remembered what happened to Alice when she ate a cake while in Wonderland, and understood Alice's confidence as her form rapidly grew to a gigantic size to match that of the giant creature.

Land of Fiction, figures.

"Hey, Alice had a growth spurt!"

"Shut up, Beast Boy!"

Alice began grappling with the giant creature.

Elwood set the car into reverse and went backwards to avoid Alices foot as it came down where they had just been parked.

The giant girl managed to force the monster out of the way of the trail long enough for Elwood to gun the car and pass between the two giants legs and further towards the beach at the foot of the trail.

Raven looked back as Alice was knocked off her feet and she fell in their direction, her shadow casting over them. Her blond head came down just inches from the car as it bounced down the trail. That was close, they'd nearly been crushed.

The giant monster again began to attack Alice. But Alice, with a viciousness that Raven never suspected she'd be capable of, lashed out with her feet and kicked this mutant monster in the head. Eventually they were so far down the trail Raven couldn't tell what was happening to her anymore. She just hoped Alice would be okay.

The car came to a stop at the end of the road. Moored in the bay was a Spanish galleon, a pirate ship of some kind. Characters from all different fictions were already making it ready to sail.

"This is where our taxi service terminates, little lady." Elwood said.

"Yeah, better hurry. We need to get outta here, fast." the other one said.

Raven didn't thank the brothers, she was too confused as she opened the door, wanting to get out of the car as quickly as she could. She nearly fell over, so much lunacy was happening so fast.

The Elwood brothers sped off again, kicking up dirt as they went and they retreated along the coast.

Raven hauled the box in her arms. She had the Doctor. How she was going to release him she didn't know. All she had to do was release the TARDIS from her mind, figure out this jig-saw puzzle and they can be away from all this.

Something fired into Ravens right eye and she clenched it shut and wiped it with the back of her hand. Next to her was... Tinkerbell? Tinkerbell had just sprayed her with sparks to get her attention. The small woman looked really huffy and she pointed at the pirate ship demanding Raven fly towards it. The insect woman then took off speeding towards the pirate ship.

Tinkerbell was a really bossy little insect. Raven decided.

Shrugging, Raven took off and flew into the air with her power, carrying the box in her arms, and gently she set herself down on the deck where the Lost Boys and characters Raven didn't recognise were getting the ship ready to sail.

The ground rumbled as Alice, still a giant, approached the ship, dusting her hands together. She was covered in dirt and muck, and she was bleeding in places, but clearly she had won the battle with the giant creature.

She took a small bottle from her pinafore, took a swig from it and her form began to shrink back down. Moments later she'd ascended the rope ladder and was on board the ship.

BANG!

They heard an explosion. Out by the beach the black car had blown up. Despite that, as the smoke cleared the car was just a burnt shell but the two men were still alive inside, a little soot covered, but still as cool as cucumbers. They both shrugged, stepped out of the car and coolly began walking the rest of the way as if nothing could hurt them.

"WALKER!" cried one of the crew members.

The source of the explosion was coming down the trail after them. Some kind of armoured vehicle, standing on four, very tall legs, it was like a camel. It's head swivelled and the guns on the head fired, green lasers shot forward. They missed, but impacted the cliff face, blasting rock shards from it.

"Cast off all lines!" Cried one of the crew members.

The ships sails, which were black as ink, were dropped and they were filled with wind. A pirate went around the ship with a sword and rather than casting off, cut the lines with the sharp blade. With the ship free it began to slowly move out of the way.

BANG! They heard as the walking tank fired again, and the laser impacted the water, blasting up a fountain of water which then rained down around them.

Raven went to the back of the ship, and stood where the tiller was. It was being operated by a man of a completely different animation style. He was dark skinned, with smooth features, a small moustache; greying, black hair and he was wearing a green jacket over a black shirt and pants that were pulled up to his stomach. His design though was very 'bug-eyed' and 'sausage-y' which was the only way Raven could describe it. Obviously he was a clash with the rest of the crew.

Just roll with it!

Raven shoved the Doctor puzzle box into Alice's hands.

"Keep 'that' safe." Raven said, giving her a look to show she meant it.

Taking a deep breath Raven lifted her legs up into a crossed legged position and she began to hover in mid air. She closed her eyes, raised her arms into a meditation stance and calmly began to recite her chimes.

"Azarath Metrion Zynthos, Azarath Metrion Zynthos, Azarath Metrion Zynthos, Azarath Metrion Zynthos."

Focusing her powers around the ship, a big black bubble began to form and it spread out over the vessel. The camel tank fired again and the laser flashed at them, it was going to be a direct hit!

Raven put as much mental pressure into the shield as possible. As the laser impacted her shield she could feel it almost fail as it flickered in and out of existence, but it did stop the laser bolt. The camel tank charged again and fired, and again the shield barely held. If that tank could fire any more rapidly the shield would collapse and they'd all be dead.

I'm on a pirate ship with the Lost Boys, Alice, and Tinkerbell. Her mind said as it wandered for a second. I think I need my head examined!

Soon the pirate ship went around the side of the cliff and out of the range of the camel tanks laser blasts. They were safe, but Raven refused to drop her shield, just yet, in case there were any other surprises.

Something sharply impacted the top of her shield, and whatever it was it began sliding down the edge. She thought it was just a rock. But the vibes of everyone around her told her it was something else.

Focusing her mind on that area she found it was a man, tumbling end over end across the edge of her shield. It was Captain Hook! He'd jumped from the cliffs above, intending to use his hook to dig into the sails and cushion his fall. But Raven's shield meant he'd smacked into a solid surface instead. Whoops.

A small hole opened up, allowing Captain Hook to fall through. Raven caught him with her power and she gently lowered him to the deck. The shield sealing not long after.

Alice approached the Captain, his eyes rolling in his head.

"Are you okay, Captain?"

"I'm fine thank you, mummy!" The Captain said in a droll, he was concussed.

Alice helped the Captain to his feet and his crew helped him towards the inner cabins to recover.

The tension melted away as they sailed. Whoever was after them had apparently either given up, or lost them somehow, either way Raven could drop her shield and she lowered herself to the floor. She held her head in her hands and sighed deeply.

As they retreated on a pirate ship, with Captain Hook, Alice, the Lost Boys, Tinkerbell and the Doctor trapped as a jig-saw puzzle, with a bug-eyed cartoon character at the helm, Raven could only say one thing in an exasperated, irritated tone..

"This... place... is... bonkers!" She couldn't wait to get out of it.

Raven picked up a piece and checked it. It wasn't an edge piece, it was a piece with the Doctors waistcoat pattern on it. So she put it into the growing pile of inner jig-saw pieces.

"Mother always told me, 'the best way to do a jig-saw is to find the edges first and put them together.'" Alice said. "Then fill in the rest piece by piece."

They'd opened the Doctors Jig-saw box, dumped the pieces onto the floor and the two girls were trying to sort out and put the Doctor back together.

Raven had been quiet for most of it, she was too focused on getting the Doctor back. Already they'd built up half his outline on the table, which they were assembling on the floor.

"It's been a long time since the Doctor returned to our world." Alice said.

Raven remained silent and just continued to assemble the pieces. If only she knew a spell that would do this so much quicker.

"You are a creator, I presume?" Alice asked, "A real person, not a fiction? A creator of fiction?"

Raven again ignored her.

"If I have offended you..."

"I just want you to shut up!" Raven snapped pinching the bridge of her nose, "Let me think." She wasn't thinking, she was just focused on getting the Doctor back. This whole lunacy had disturbed her. Things she'd only read about were happening in front of her. Characters she'd thought were just stories were walking around, they were real; and apparently there was some great, big war happening between them?! Meaning their fantasies, their powers, their traits, had all been weaponized.

Captain Hook was leading the Lost Boys on rescue missions. Two blues musicians were running a getaway car. Aladdin and some blue robbed, alien girl were running as a decoy. Alice fighting giant, drooling monsters?!

It sounded totally insane, and Raven even doubted her own sanity at this point.

"You know that you're a fiction?" Raven asked Alice. Raven was actually curious about the extent of their autonomy. How much of them was real, and where did their free will actually end?

"We all know we're a fiction. We're never born here, we pop into existence." Alice explained.

"But you can think, feel, remember?" Raven asked, looking at the younger girl.

"It is curious." Alice said, "I know only what is written about me. What books say I remember. I am purely what is written about me, nothing more. If nothing exists then it doesn't exist for me unless it is written about."

"But..." Raven started, holding a piece of the Doctor. "You have free will?"

"I believe so. But then, how should I know? Perhaps I behave the way I am expected to according to the fiction." Alice said, fitting another edge into the Doctors ever growing outline. "Rather like something you call a..." she said the words slowly "...'computer program'."

Raven examined this girl more closely. She was perfect, just perfect. Raven meant that in that Alice looked like a real girl, behaved like a real girl, spoke like a real girl. Yet according to Alice she was more like a robot of some kind. Sensing her form Raven could tell she wasn't actually real. She had a brain, a mind, a personality, but no soul at all, no spark, none of that mysterious energy that really gave people life. That presence inside a brain whether it be mystical or scientific that separated complex machines from the living, that was absent.

"So you're like robots?" Raven asked, she hoped that didn't offend. Though she was acting cold she was starting to like Alice. Alice had gone down a rabbit hole in her own fiction and discovered such lunacy, now Raven was going through the same experience. Alice just nodded her answer to the question.

"How did you feel when you went down the rabbit hole?" Raven asked.

"How do you feel falling down a rabbit hole yourself?" Alice asked back simply smiling. Raven didn't answer, not verbally anyway.

"Is the Doctor a friend of yours?" Alice asked.

"Ye... yes." Raven said, weirdly she felt comfortable opening up to this fictional character. Probably because she wasn't actually real. "He means a lot to me." But she decided to revert to form. "He's my driver. Only he can fly my TARDIS for me."

Raven wanted to change the subject before she got all mushy.

"Who is this 'Mistress' Captain Hook mentioned?" Raven asked.

"The Land of Fiction doesn't just exist by itself." Alice explained fitting another edge piece, "It has a Master or a Mistress in order to control and focus the creative power here. Usually they're a creative mind taken from somewhere in the universe." Alice picked up another piece, looked at it and sighed. "Only this time we picked the wrong Mistress, and war has broken out because of it."

"Why?" Raven asked.

"It turns out she's not a very creative person, and she gets upset when her authority is questioned." Alice said in a tone Raven recognised, a tone which said she didn't want to talk about it right now. It was late, and she was helping her assemble the Doctor, so Raven decided to let the conversation drop. Raven guessed it might have been because this 'Mistress' sounded like the Queen of Hearts in her own book, who was so sensitive she'd cry 'off with their heads' at the slightest infraction. Or maybe it was for something else entirely.

Raven picked up another piece, another edge, and Raven fitted it to the edge of the Doctors coat.

As time passed they assembled the Doctors face, and hands since there were few flesh coloured pieces. The hair was a nightmare to do though, such a mess. The waistcoat part was easy, but the coat and trousers were difficult because there wasn't a pattern you could easily see to tell where pieces went. The job was starting to become very tiring, and very boring to Raven, but she pushed on, determined to get her friend back. Darkness eventually fell and they had to continue by lantern light, which was not ideal.

Raven woke with a start. She hadn't realised she'd even fallen asleep. Sun light streamed in through the window, it was morning and the ship was gently rocking on the ocean. Wind blew through the open window and Alice was fast asleep in a chair. She'd covered Raven with a blanket and went to sit in a chair without much to keep herself warm.

As Raven lifted her head she realised that the Doctor puzzle was finished! Alice must've continued assembling it for her while she'd slept. The demon girl felt a great deal of gratitude towards this fictional girl for doing this for her. The puzzle was finished. Well, almost, a single piece in the centre was missing, a piece Raven had been holding in her hand as she slept.

Gingerly Raven slid the piece into place. The puzzle was complete and... nothing happened. Was there a spell or something she had to cast?

Ravens eyes closed and she collapsed, placed her hands on the back of her neck and let her arms dangle while she thought and she let out a deep sigh. Completing the puzzle must not be enough, what else could she possibly need to do to finish this? When she opened her eyes again the Doctor puzzle had become three dimensional. This jolted her awake as the joins in the jig saw slowly vanished and the image began to gain more depth, colour and shadow.

The Doctor suddenly sat up and stretched his limbs as if he'd just woken from a long sleep himself.

"Good Morning Rae-Rea. That was a nice nap!" He declared. "Nothing like a nap to let the pieces come together."

Raven gently smacked him over the head for that one. She wanted to do it harder, but she was too pleased to see him whole again to do it any harder.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: Since this is primarily a Doctor Who themed crossover, I thought it best to bring the Doctor back sooner rather than later.

I honestly don't know how to feel about this chapter because neither the Doctor nor Raven do much in it. They take a back seat, literally, and they're being pulled along by events rather than taking an active role in that. But I guess it might be a nice change of pace.

I chopped and swapped a lot of characters in this sequence until I found the combination I was looking for.

Barriss Offee is a character from the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoons, both of them, and the long blue/purple cloak over dark robes always reminded me a little of Raven.

Characters who I cut include, Ed Edd n' Eddy, Godzilla, the Staypuft Marshmallow man, The Spinosaurus, a feathered T-Rex, Goku, Link, Spongebob, Shrek, the Incredibles, Luke Skywalker vs Rey; or Darth Vader vs Kylo Ren; the Ghostbusters, the Real Ghostbusters. So you get a scope of everything that was cut, because it felt far too busy, and it felt more like I was writing a page of 'Where's Wally' in words. :P

I also had myths, and other legends included in this chapter, but again, they were cut. I might bring some of them back into this plot later, especially one, if I can fit him in. I won't spoil. ;)

The Elwood Brothers obviously isn't their real name. But its a big clue to who they are.

A lot of the ideas I originally had for this story I'm thinking of scrapping so I can use them elsewhere so this tale is shorter and more to the point, but we shall see where inspiration strikes.

Again to play spot the reference.