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So days before Doctor Who came back, I got this plot bunny of a pre-game Bracken meeting a post-game Roland via TARDIS travel. And it just made my brain hurt because it was definitely high on the timey-wimey scale. Because like, not only Roland has met Bracken before but he was also sent back in time to prevent the war that destroyed his country from happening. So technically, he lived at least 10 years of his life twice.

Just...don't think about it.

This was originally supposed to be like 1500 words long but once the Teselecta showed up and butted in, it got longer. orz

Pre-time skip (first section) was originally posted on tumblr on October 22, 2018.

Stick to the Script and Other Stories

By Bilbo-sama

First and Last Meetings

"Here we are!" announced the Doctor as he stepped out of the TARDIS, "London, Great Britain, Earth, twentieth century of local reckoning."

A young woman with light pink hair peaked out of the doors and raised an eyebrow at the curly haired man who excitedly rambled about local landmarks he wanted to show her.

"That's what you said yesterday," she remarked, "and we ended up scaring off sentient spiders out of some moon."

"But we're definitely on Earth this time, Bracken," replied the Doctor, "and this time we're definitely in twentieth century London!"

"You're close, mister," said a child's voice and the two travelers looked down to see a messy haired boy in a polo shirt and dress pants, "You're on Earth but this is Washington D.C. in the twenty-first century."

"We missed that concert by a lot, huh?" smiled Bracken.

The Doctor shrugged before readjusting his cravat, "Well, there's plenty to do here. Like the air and space museum! I hear the model of the USS-Enterprise is featured there!"

"That's probably closed right now," said the boy as he pulled out a device and tapped on it a few times, "Everyone is more interested in attending President Stone's inauguration today." He held up the device and on the screen was a picture of a large man in a suit with a very bushy mustache facing another man in a suit who was holding out a thick book. He was accompanied by a little red-haired girl.

"Ah, that's right. President Stone," lectured the Doctor cheerfully, "successor of President Crane. He got some big shoes to fill but he managed to make it work."

"That's good," said the boy, "Dad wont be disappointed in endorsing him, then."

"There you are, Sean!" a man's voice called out before Bracken could fully process what was just said. They all turned to see a man in a light purple suit, the boy's father the Doctor and Bracken presumed, approach them, "What did we tell you about sneaking away from your bodyguards?"

"Not to do it," huffed Sean.

"That's alright," said Bracken, "He was just giving us directions."

"They're time travelers, dad," revealed Sean, "and they are really lost."

"Is that so?" his father said with an amused smile as he shook his head. Several locks of his severely graying hair fell over his right eye before he tamed them back into place.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," introduced the Doctor.

"I'm Roland and this is my son, Sean," replied Roland while Sean casually waved.

"I'm Bracken."

Roland seemed to freeze when he heard that. His face made several interesting expressions before he settled on paling as if he saw a ghost as he looked in Bracken's direction. He then squinted as if he didn't believe what he was seeing. Bracken shifted uncomfortably as he stared.

Finally, he schooled his face into a neutral expression as he asked, "Who is the current king of Ding Dong Dell?"

"What?" said Bracken, surprised. The Doctor cocked his head, fascinated by this exchange.

"Who is the king of Ding Dong Dell?" Roland asked again while unconcerned that his accent slipped into something...familiar sounding, "It's very important."

"How do you know about Ding Dong Dell?" asked Bracken.

"It's a long story," the man ventured as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"You've been there?" queried the Doctor.

"Maybe," came the very frustrating reply.

"King Leonhard Tildrum," Bracken gave in, "why do you want to know?"

"Because..." Roland frowned before glancing at the Doctor who brought out a device that made a whirring noise, "someday we will meet again."

"You just sounded a bit cockney there, dad," pointed out Sean.

"Hmm," shrugged his father, "that's new."

"Oh dear," said the Doctor as he analyzed the results, "we should get going very sharpish."

"Why?" Bracken turned to the Doctor.

"Because a paradox is kind of happening. Can't explain it with a short version!"

"We will meet again," revealed Roland, his accent tinged with a variant that was reserved for Dellian royalty, "But it will be the first time I meet you."

"Please stop breaking the time line," complained the Doctor as he pulled a confused Bracken towards the TARDIS in hopes of escape.

"Don't say anything about this!" called Roland, "Not until, say, a week after five armies combine forces and win!"

"I gotcha," promised Bracken. Five armies? Aren't there three nations in her world big enough to have an army?

"Dad, are you saying that all the stories you told me when I was four were real?" she heard Sean ask incredulously as she crossed the threshold. The doors closed before she could hear Roland's reply.

"R-right," the Doctor clapped his hands together, "that could've gone way worse."

[Ten years later]

The incident was left on the back burner of her mind while Bracken had many more adventures before she returned home to a relieved Zip and Trey. Apparently she had been gone for three months in their perspective.

The three of them soon decided to start a company that would change their world. Even though Bracken was reluctant to share what technology she had seen on her travels, the trio's progress soon lead to Broadleaf becoming a nation of its own right.

And then Zip...changed. He became obsessive with the reactor project and was overworking everyone to the point of collapse. His kingdom was failing and he didn't seem to notice.

That was when King Evan of the fledgling nation Evermore and his entourage showed up and immediately promised to help Bracken bring sense back into Zip.

"Perhaps we should introduce ourselves," said the blond man with a Hydropolitan accent, "I am Leander Aristides."

"Alright," agreed Bracken, "I'm Bracken Meadows."

"I'm King Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum," smiled King Evan, "and this is my Kingmaker, Lofty." Huh, she didn't know Kingmakers can be that small.

"Chief Batu of the Sky Pirates," said the man with the bushy brown mustache. Bracken felt an inkling of familiarity but...it may have been a Leafbook post...

"I'm Tani," waved a tiny red haired girl.

A young man with his dark hair in a low pony tail concluded the introductions with "Roland Crane." His accent was not one she had encountered...wait. She did hear it before!

"We will meet again but it will be the first time I meet you."

She felt a headache coming on. So this is the thing Roland's older self and the Doctor warned her about.

"Don't say anything." Right, otherwise the universe might implode or something.

"Are you alright?" asked Evan, knocking her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm good," replied Bracken, wondering when the five army thing will become relevant.

"It's kind of funny isn't it? You traveled in a space ship with that Doctor guy and survived a lot of adventures but..."

"Yeah...it's ironic..."

"You met the Doctor?" asked a surprised Roland to Bracken as she held out the memolith containing memories of the day Zip gave Bracken her leg back.

"Who?" said Tani.

"Yeah, it's a long story," Bracken shrugged, "now's not the time."

"Right," coughed Roland, "Of course."

Roland then got incredibly antsy when the threat of the reactor annihilating everything in a twenty mile radius around Broadleaf reared its head. There was no time to ask why he close to panicking. Bastion needed to be dealt with.

He became calmer once Bastion was driven off. But the far-away look in his eyes remained.

"So, you met the Doctor too?" asked Bracken as the group headed to a cafe in celebration.

"He is a frequent visitor and savior of my world," said Roland distractedly, "he once returned the Earth back it to its original position after the Daleks stole it for some reason."

"They stole your planet?"

"Yeah. It was bad enough they invade it sometimes," the man seemed to return from whatever horror that just haunted him. He became more focused and alert. "But stealing it along with several others was the worst they have ever done."

"Did you ever travel with him?" said Bracken and got a head shake in return.

"Unfortunately," he smiled, "sightings of him in my country are very rare. But at the same time, it means we have less alien invaders to deal with than, say, Great Britain."

Roland sighed, "he'd be very disappointed once he finds out what went on in his absence."

"What happened?"

"War," said Roland simply as he made a pained expression that was quickly smoothed away with a more neutral look.

If there was a time for the Doctor to show up and save the day, it was now. The Horned One emerged from whatever dimension it was hiding in, souls were being stolen and enslaved to its will, and Roland has been looking incredibly ill ever since the Horned One made its appearance.

The Doctor, unfortunately, wasn't here and so there was nothing to stop war from happening.

And just like Roland's future self prophesied, five armies had combined their forces and they won the battle with the Horned One's shell (how Roland knew that it was just a shell, no one was sure, especially him). Now she has to wait a week...if she survives whatever is waiting inside the Horned One.

There was a Hydropolitan mage who ended up following the party to the Horned One's interior. The mage never spoke and just calmly followed the group as they stumbled around in the dark.

Somehow it seemed only Bracken had noticed the mage. The others moved on, not knowing of the possible danger they were in. Bracken would look back, just in case.

She lost track of the mage somewhere in the memory of Allegoria. There was other things to worry about such as purifying crystals to unlock the gate and how Roland got gradually worse until he finally collapsed for a few minutes. He insisted he was fine and that they should move on. And so they did with great reluctance.

It wasn't until the group was midway up the stair case from hell when Leander whispered to her, "There are two Loftys," and pointed.

...Yeah, there are two of him alright. This is getting too weird.

Wait.

"There was a mage following us earlier," she whispered, "I think they turned into Lofty."

"I saw the mage too," said Leander, his words tinged with relief. He must've thought he was hallucinating that.

One of the Loftys stopped and turned to look at them. He made a 'shhhh' gesture.

That...that's not really reassuring.

Bracken lost track of the false Lofty once it turned out that Roland and Doloran are soul mates and neither can harm or kill the other without consequences. It would turn out that the Horned One was Doloran's lover and Kingmaker transformed. It would turn out that Roland's country has definitely been destroyed beyond recognition.

Bracken had no idea what to do with Roland's lost country. She had seen Roland's future. Everything was fine so how in the world is that going to be fixed?

Actually, how are they going to fix the cracks in the sky made by the freed Horned One?

"Now would be a great time to show up, Doctor," she muttered.

"I don't think even he can fix this," said the false Lofty quietly. It had Lofty's voice but not his accent.

"Can't you?" asked Bracken.

"No," the fake Lofty shook its head, "Not our department."

"So...why are you here?"

"We came to deal judgement to the man you call Doloran," it explained, "However, certain factors are in the way." It turned its gaze to Doloran who was staring up at the sky, defeated. Next to him was Roland, who was looking up at the cracks with worry.

"Roland Crane is an important historical figure of his planet," said 'Lofty,' "We were never aware of his connection to Doloran nor were we aware of the catastrophe that brought him here. We need to find a way to bring history back on course without accidentally killing him."

"If I may be so bold," interrupted Leander, "considering how Doloran's plans have fallen apart, shouldn't he be deemed punished enough?"

"You mean by the ancient Terran concept of 'karma'?" 'Lofty' raised an eyebrow, "Well..." It paused for a moment, as if thinking it over.

"We suppose this situation applies," it said finally.

"So...what are you?" asked Bracken.

"This is the Teselecta," revealed 'Lofty,' "An artificial being commissioned by the Temporal Justice Department to punish history's villains on the day they've been defeated by law or death."

"Does the Doctor know about you?"

"Yes," cringed 'Lofty,' "We're...doing our best to avoid crossing paths with him after the Hitler incident. Let's just say...we didn't double check the year when we set out on the mission."

The Teselecta's crew watched, dumbfounded, as the sky resealed itself the moment the Horned One was defeated, as former King Doloran announced the passing of the Horned One's true self while surrounded by the ruins of his lost Kingdom, and as the young King Evan forgave Doloran and handed him a new reason to live.

The mission was more or less complete without their intervention. But Roland Crane's presence was still a problem.

"Captain," called the science officer, "I'm detecting energy similar to the Horned One coming from President Crane."

The rest of the crew turned to stare at the science officer as he continued analyzing.

"What?" said the captain, "What is it doing?"

"It appears to be...decreasing, sir. I suggest we stay to observe this anomaly."

Five days after the Horned One was defeated, Bracken entered the throne room and was greeted by the sight of a wailing Evan. Once he calmed down, he revealed that Roland was sent back to his world.

"Can't your Doctor friend bring him back?" Evan asked.

"I don't-"

"Please!" whimpered Evan, "Tell him to bring Roland back. He might be dying right now!"

Bracken held the boy king in her arms as he started another round of sobs. In the corner of her eye, she noticed Leander approaching Lofty, who last she checked, was next to Evan. She glanced down and found that he was still by Evan's side. Huh, so the punishment bot stuck around.

"The Horned One used its power to bring Roland here," Leander later explained to Bracken, "the Teselecta had noticed that the Horned One's hold on him was diminishing for the past several days."

"So once it wore off, Roland was sent back," concluded Bracken with a frown, "But..."

"Is something the matter?" Leander adjusted his glasses.

"I..." started Bracken before she slumped with a sigh, "it's not time yet."

Leander raised an eyebrow questioningly, "Oh?"

"I, um, promised to wait a week after five armies joined forces. It's been five days."

"Fascinating," said Leander, "Then I look forward to what you have in store for us in two days."

"Your Majesty," Bracken solemnly bowed to the sullen Evan on his throne, "I have something to tell you. It's...about Roland."

Evan was already upset by Roland's sudden departure and Bracken knew that she was about to make him feel worse. But...she had been holding on to this since she was eighteen. It was apparently safe to talk about it now.

And so she told the astonished group of how she met Roland and his son and how Roland claimed to have already met her. How the Doctor sensed some unknown danger and dragged her out of it. How she had to pretend to not have met Roland before several months ago. How she promised to not say a word of this until a specific day.

"So...what ye sayin' is..." Batu crossed his arms in thought, "Roland bein' sent back fixed things in his world?"

"I suppose that's what happened," said Bracken.

"Wait a flippin' minute!" flailed Lofty, "this means he has to live through it all twice!"

"I relived a whole year for three hundred years with the opportunity to do a day differently," pointed out Leander, "Given Roland's limited knowledge of magic, I doubt he knows how to cast time magic correctly. Therefore, he has only one chance to lead his country to the point Bracken had seen."

"So...he has quite a job to do," mused Evan before his ears drooped once more, "I hope we can see him again once he succeeds."

"Yeah!" agreed Tani, "I'm sure he has all sorts of things to tell us about!"

[One month later]

Bracken was about to take a bite of her sandwich when she heard a distant familiar groaning, wheezing sound. She set down the sandwich and ran to where she thought it was coming from.

By the castle gates, guards were shouting in panic as a blue box slowly materialized into existence. Is this an invasion? Should the King be evacuated? Why is it a blue box?

"Guys! It's alright!" shouted Bracken, "I know who this is! They're friendly!"

"Truly?" frown a mousefolk guard, "If you're wrong and harm comes to Evermore, it will be your responsibility."

"Ah...right," laughed Bracken nervously as she approached the doors of the TARDIS. She can hear faint shouting. Something about weddings and being late? Well...whoever they are is definitely late now.

She knocked on the doors, "Doctor! I know you're in there! Come on out!"

"Bracken?" said a voice. "What year is it?"

"Why don't you find out yourself?" she smiled.

"What's the worst that can happen?" said an unfamiliar voice, "Let's go!"

"Wait, Sean-!"

The doors opened and Bracken stepped back just in time for three people to spill out onto the ground. One of them was wearing a vaguely familiar purple suit.

"Well, that could've gone better," huffed Roland as he got up. He had gotten grayer since her first meeting with him.

"I'd say," giggled Bracken.

"Okay, Doc," said a young man who sort of resembled Roland during his year in Evermore. He got up and brushed dirt off his own suit, "Are we in the right place this time?"

"Well..." started the Doctor, who now had short brown hair and wore a long brown coat over his brown striped suit. No longer did he wear the waist coat and green velvet. But it was still loads better than the celery his younger self had pinned to his chest for reasons his older self (at the time) couldn't remember. "It depends..."

"You're in Evermore," shared Bracken, "Ruled by King Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum alongside his Kingmaker, Lofty."

"Sounds like the right place, Sean," smiled Roland.

"Wait, really?" sputtered the young man, now revealed to be an older Sean, "We're actually here?"

"Excuse me," called a guard, "But can you please tell us who you are so we can announce your arrival to His Majesty?"

"I'm the Doctor," shrugged the Time Lord.

"Roland Crane, Former Chief Consul of Evermore," called out Roland.

This immediately caused pandemonium among the guard to start up again.

"The Chief Consul has returned!"

"Sir Roland is alive!"

"What in the world happened to him?"

"Inform the King of his return!"

"But is it really him?"

"The Kingmaker will decide for us!"

There was a loud boom and all froze at the sound.

"Everyone quiet down!" shouted Tani from the balcony above as she lowered her lance, "We can hear you all the way up from the throne room! Now what's got your knickers all flipping twisted?"

The guards all shouted their responses at once.

"One at a time!" growled Tani. She pointed her lance at a particular guard, "What's going on?"

"Sir Crane has returned to us!" he called back.

Tani blinked, "Wait what? Really?" She further leaned over to see the ground better.

"Hello!" waved Roland.

"Blimey!" yelped Tani before retreating from the ledge, "bring him on up!"

"Of course, milady," nodded the guard.

"Um..." said Sean, "if anyone's wondering...uh, hi. I'm Sean, son of Roland."

"There's something you need to know before you greet Evan," declared Bracken as she and the guard escorted the surprise guests to the throne room.

"Oh geez," groaned Sean, "we landed wrong again, didn't we?"

"Oi!" said the Doctor.

"It's - " Bracken began.

"His Majesty will see you now," a different guard interrupted.

"Oh boy," whispered Bracken.

"Surely it's not that bad," smiled Roland nervously as they stepped into the throne room.

"ROLAND!" screamed two young voices and he was tackled to the ground by Tani and Evan.

"It's been a month on our end since you left," Bracken finally revealed.

"Ah," the Doctor made a face, "we are definitely a few years off."

"Is...is that kid purring?" Sean stared at the pile in the front of him.

"He's half-Grimalkin and a King," the Doctor rolled his eyes, "don't be rude."

It had been forty years in Roland's perspective since his adventures in Evermore. To him, it was eight years since Bracken stumbled upon him and created a time loop.

"I remember you calling it a paradox," frowned Sean while Bracken 'yeah'ed in agreement.

"That me back then had a lot of memory problems. Poor bloke just couldn't get his facts straight. Not until towards the end..." the Doctor sighed. "Anyway, it was a time loop and hopefully, if we're really careful, we wont cause another one."

Evan raised a hand and was about to speak when he seemed to think better of it and closed his mouth.

"Are my rooms still mine?" asked Roland, "I'm a bit tempted to try on my old coat..."

[Two years later]

Hydropolis was abuzz with chaos and celebration. People danced in the streets. Foreign dignitaries were mingling with the joyful Hydropolitans.

Near the inn, a blue box materialized. It's inhabitants stepped out and were met by Bracken in formal wear.

"Did we make it?" asked Roland, wearing his black formal coat that was re-tailored to fit him in his current age.

"You're just in time," smile Bracken.

An hour later, the wedding of Queen Nerea and Archon Leander Aristides commenced.

I'm of the opinion that Roland's accent changed a lot during his time in Evermore and if he's ever reminiscing or meets somebody from his past, it reverts back to whatever monstrosity he ended up getting by the time he went back to his world.

The Teselecta first appeared in Let's Kill Hitler and despite the episode's name, Hitler ended up getting stuffed in a closet and is forgotten for the rest of the episode. I wasn't planning to include the Karma Bot but it showed up to be completely out of its depth anyway.

The reason why Bracken and Leander can notice it is because Bracken's stint in the TARDIS made her immune to Somebody Else's Problem Fields and Leander spent 300 years repeating the same year over and over so he had to be good spotting things that could break the spell over Hydropolis. Lofty most likely noticed it and just left it be for the lols.

When I first wrote it out, I thought a paradox would be happening in younger!Bracken and older!Roland's meeting. But the longer I wrote this, the more it felt like a time loop is a better description for what's happening in here.

The Doctors I attempted to write in here are Eight and Ten and I'm still not sure if I got them right.