Reality Crisis

Here was one place where everything was exactly the same -- her room in the TARDIS. In the dim light, Rose lay staring at the sweeping ceiling overhead, listening to the quiet hum... quieter now... that meant she was home. In Pete's World, before she'd crossed back over into the universe where the Doctor had been, she would lie awake at night and stare at the plain white ceiling above her, wishing that it was exactly what she was seeing now. Now that she was here, sleeping seemed the worst way to spend her time.

Hope had started its unsteady climb back up into her again. Nothing would be the same, nothing but the TARDIS... and maybe that was enough for now. She straightened the blankets around her for the seventh time and dropped her arms back at her sides again.

Finally. Finally home. The spark started in her chest and radiated out. Finally home. Before she knew it, she was smiling in the dark. She rolled over onto her side, then, and curled her arms around her pillow. Home. And she wasn't, she really wasn't tired at all. Oh, she felt the exhaustion, the wear on her body from the long walk, the lack of sleep, the bad food -- exhausted, sure. But tired... no. Not tired at all.

The next minute, she was slipping into the thin robe laid out on the foot of her bed, tucking her toes into the blue slippers waiting, pushing still-damp hair back behind her ears. The light was dim, maybe because it was night, and maybe because the TARDIS needed to conserve power, but it was still enough to see. She edged her door open, then gently closed it, and tiptoed down the corridor. It was time to get reacquainted with home again.

Their exploring had been cut short by the evacuation of the settlement - die Festung, it was called, or so those who lived in it said... The stories of what'd happened the world were nothing short of harrowing, and nothing out of the ordinary for Rose and the Doctor.

The Doctor... Even now, Rose had reservations about the one she'd been left with. Her Doctor wanted her to make him better, so he'd said. Rose didn't know if it could be done. At the very most, she imagined her influence could only make him different. And yet, as she spent more time with the Metacrisis, she found herself noticing parts of him that were very much like the one she'd first fallen for... and she wondered...

Was different better?

He was compelling... The best and worst parts of each of her Doctors, all in one, with a dash of something else nothing like the ones she'd known before... He was entirely different, and so very familiar.

These thoughts rolled around in her head as they milled out with the rest of the settlers onto the hardly-could-even-be-called-a road. Unlike others, who moved with urgency and dread, she wandered... hands in pockets, eyes and ears open, taking all of it in. There were some that weren't, apparently, from this world. There were ones that believed the others were some sort of blessing (or curse), so the whispers said. And somewhere along the line, during her wandering, she lost sight of the Metacrisis.

That was when she found it: A blue box, inert and quiet, no lights to be seen, being towed in the caravan.

Bright hope fizzled and burst through her, fireworks set off by desperation and love and too many other emotions to capture. She almost immediately looked around for him, not him, but him, her Doctor. It was all that was in her mind -- that name, over and over. She found herself shouting it at last, discomfiting those around her. Didn't care. She needed him now.

Her scanner had buzzed as River was taking a tour of die Festung. She was particularly interested in the structure being built just outside of the walls - a lot of effort was being put into constructing an amphitheater. For what? It certainly wasn't necessary for survival in a world like this.

The alert pried her attention away with little difficulty. She gaped at the announcement for a moment, then immediately walked away from the construction site to find the cause of the alert. It was two things, really. One, a familiar complication of time and space that she knew was the TARDIS, even if the readings were a bit wonky. Secondly, a binary vascular system that was wandering about in the same vicinity.

( Read more... )

The TARDIS faded into reality with a familiar vworp! vworp! It connected solidly with the ground and moments later the door opened, releasing The Doctor and a plume of smoke. No matter that he pulled the door inward when the sign on the TARDIS clearly indicated that the doors were meant to be opened outward. It was habit.

"Amelia! Amelia! I worked out what it was! I know what I was missing!"

The Doctor hopped over the root of a ancient tree branch, running quickly through a patchwork of realities before he realized he was running through a patchwork of realities and was not, in fact, in the quaint front yard of a seven year old Scottish girl's English home.

"Right."

Normally he would have been content to take a curious peek around, especially since, and this was odd for him, he didn't immediately recognize the time period. Sticking his tongue out in the air he tasted a mixture of prehistoric and twenty-first century air.

Turning on a heel he walked calmly back to the TARDIS, grabbed the handle and pushed.

She wouldn't open.

The Doctor tried using his key. He tried pulling. The TARDIS still didn't budge.

"No, no. Don't do that to me now." He leaned against the TARDIS, and being alone, spoke soothingly to her, tracing his fingers along the window. She was still rebuilding, or trying to. There was so much smoke!

Something was wrong with this world and if he was going to save Amelia he would have to take a slight detour and look around in this world first.

So he started running. His converse sneakers were only barely holding up. They'd been a brilliant footwear choice, excellent for running but part of the sole on his left shoe was slightly melted. Oops. None of his clothes were his own, not really, but he could stand to be raggedy for a bit longer.

Duel circulatory system and Time Lord physiology made running a bit easier than the average human. He tried taking in every detail he passed, but new body made it harder to focus or even coordinate. Instead of running through the gates into the first sign of (collapsing) civilization he ran into them and knocked himself unconscious.

The Doctor felt the heat of a broken world as it crumbled around him, and he stared at the older looking male who, in fact, was younger than him. Staring back at him, at the nameless 'Doctor', he frowned and clutched Clara in his arms as they began to back away. He heard the man say something along the lines of, 'What I did, I did without choice. I did in the name of peace.' The Doctor frowned and glared back at this man with understanding, "But it wasn't in the name of 'The Doctor'..."

The world began to shake again as memories began to fold in on themselves and had to right themselves. They'd overstayed their welcome, and he had to get out now with Clara or they'd both burn up and die on the weight of his own memories. He grabbed her and they moved, climbing the rocks, he found the shaft of light he'd used to get here and sailed through it with Clara back to the fields of Trenzalore themselves. Collapsing into a heap as they burst into the control of a future TARDIS, he took her by the hand and they moved as fast as they could through the lost and dark corridors, pushing through doors and walls, and eventually coming up through his wife's gravestone.

Bursting through the earth they turned and began to spin in place and he then ran back towards his TARDIS, Clara's hand in his. Bursting through the doors of his TARDIS he began to run around the center console, flipping switches and buttons and all that he could, before looking back towards the young, scared, but so brilliantly brave woman. She had to be confused now, and the ordeal... god that ordeal. How could a Time Lord survive it, let alone a human girl? But she was... she was such a special girl. He smirked then spun again as he went to work on the console and pointed towards a nearby railing, "Hold on. She's not going to like this much."

He hit the final lever and slammed it down, the TARDIS worped to life, but the engines sounded labored and it screeched in pain as it tried to get out of this hell hole faster than it ever had gone. Yet the timelines and broken laws were so much, they crossed the time stream and caused the TARDIS to veer out of control. The thing spun through the air, through the Time Vortex, but completely out of control. He fought to gain that control back, but he was losing it and he looked back towards Clara... she was gone. She wasn't there. He flipped a switch on the main console, and frowned... that didn't, well it just didn't make any... sense? She'd been thrown from the TARDIS, back to her own time, her own world. He looked up at the TARDIS, it's power cells were shutting down and he smiled. It had risked what power it had left to make sure she was safe, as the TARDIS itself lost its power. It would have thrown him safely from its interior, but he'd never have gone. If they were to die, it was always together. Always them.

He ran around the console, picking up what power he could muster in the crash units, in the stabilizers, and held on for dear life. He grit his teeth and smiled, "Geronimo."

The TARDIS fell through the Time Vortex, and then swirled into what looked like a black and purple funnel, spinning through it was spun out of control and rocked left and right, until shot from the vortex, from the sky, and skyrocketed down through the clouds that blanketed this desolate world, and slammed hard into the ground below, tumbling across the ground until it landed on its back, the doors facing up towards the sky. The Doctor himself had been thrown around the console room, and down a few corridors, but managed to keep alive.

Crawling through the interior, he managed to claw his way to the control panel and hit a button that forced the doors open. He snatched up his trusty grappling hook and threw it up, so that it hooked onto the edge, and climbed towards the door of the tiny blue box. He popped his head out suddenly and looked around... blinking as armed guards made their way towards his crashed ship.

He smiled to them all as they pointed at him. He dragged himself out of the ship and dropped in front of them, brushing off his hands on his pants before smirking at them all, "Hello, I'm The Doctor."

"Welcome to die Festung, Doctor... you're going to come with us." Guns cocking as they pointed towards the man and his box.

He gave a face at the guns, "Always with the guns..." he waved them off and began to walk around the TARDIS, checking it out here and there, before then turning around to face them, "Mind helping me give it a push? Should really be stood up... also anyone have some gum? Have to pop my ear."

Said as he stretched and worked his jaw while sticking his pinky into his ear and swirling it around a bit.

The Doctor stepped out of his blue box with a quick step, and locked it behind him as he made his way back into the city; the trek was a long one, but The Doctor was more than fine with walking, or running, or what have you. His mind was racing with thoughts, ideas, concepts, and theories; all the while he was taking in the environment around him, trying to catch to see if anything was different, anything out of place from what he'd seen only days before. Days, he'd been here for some time now; he'd only met a few, and those he'd met were an introduction to this world. That had been his inspiration to fix his girl, and get the TARDIS back on line; as far as he could gather, the TARDIS would be essential to get this world and reality fixed once more.

That tan twee jacket swayed in the winds as he made his way into the city, the bow tie of his tightened, and the white button up shirt beneath glimmered in the little light that splayed across him. The steps he took were deliberate, and the path he had was focused. He needed to understand the city, the people, their history; he wanted to figure out what had happened and why. An epicenter could usually be the fix-all button, and if he could find that he'd save this world and all of reality from collapsing in on itself and crushing the universe as he, and everyone, knew it from complete existence. As he moved, loafers plodding along, The Doctor finally found what could only be described as an apartment complex.

He pushed his way through the door and pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver, flipping it in hand before he began to scan the walls and stairs and hallways. Reading the device, he scampered inside and spun about as he looked around, trying to get bearings and an idea of everything that was here. He wanted to meet these other 'chosen', try to get a sense of how they all ended up here. He felt the full truth wasn't being disclosed to him, and he needed to figure out the rest of that truth if he was going to solve this problem.

As he began to make his way inside, he continued to glance around gathering what information he could, noting the inhabitants who were actual city dwellers. Quick scans showed they were from this reality, and he knelt in front of one of them, watching him as the man just stared back at him. The Doctor had a way about him, an aura, that seemed to intimidate, cause fear; or, in some cases, cause awe. He didn't seem phased by the shouts of others, or the snarls of some. This man seemed haggard at best, and he seemed less inclined to attack him; the Doctor wondered secretly if attacks were common or not. The man could barely even speak and so the Doctor just set his hand on his shoulder, "What happened to your people? To your planet?" He was speaking a bit more under his breath, before speaking up.

"No worries! I'll figure it out, and get you all moving about once more," he stood up to his full height and began to make his way deeper into the building. He'd heard rumors that this place was where The Chosen made their homes; a place he was asked to stay in, but he chose his TARDIS for obvious reasons, "Derelict planet, collapsing realities, broken people, and a group of fictional characters all in one place. Together. And me without my TARDIS, how are we going to get out of this one old girl?"

He pulled his screwdriver up and scanned the pipes before turning to make his way up some stairs and continued to investigate. There was a connection to fallen realities, apocalyptic worlds, and fictional characters. Which came first... he wondered.

Belia Ohorek sat at her desk, waiting. They'd gotten word to her rather quickly about the strange sites outside the city as well as the strange one who entered with one of the hunters. She had her own network always watching for something or someone new, as she felt the more information she had, the better she could serve her people.

She had to make choices everyday that she knew most wouldn't understand, certainly not the Chosen. One of these choices had long ago been that she would make sure she knew everything that came and went in her city and around her city. Now, she had someone new to deal with, although the attitude was that this new one was much stranger than any they'd seen.

Belia was willing to overlook strange if it came with a way to save her people and her world. Of course, she knew that all of this came with a price. Currently the price was quickly becoming a sense of distrust among the Chosen, which she would accept as long as they stayed. She would find away to save everyone, possibly not matter the cost.

The Doctor stood with that infamously hollow smile; one that spoke of the centuries of the Doctor's life, the one that let anyone who saw it feel like everything would be alright, but all who knew him, know that there was a quiet loneliness that expanded this vast universe. It was in his eyes on days like this, when his companions left the TARDIS. The most loyal of his companions, that blue box, stood graciously in waiting behind him while he watched from its door Amy and Rory making their way back into their lives. Amy had intentions of returning, going after some change of clothes; Rory too, because of course he would never leave her side.

The smile was dropped the moment the two turned their backs and the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS. He was a danger to them, she'd been held captive because of him, and he was not about to let it all come crashing down around them once more, not this time. So the Doctor hopped up his steps and twisted on his feet before coming into a complete 360, and landing dead center in front of the flight controls of the TARDIS. He looked at the view screen outside once more, waited until he saw Amy's door shut, and then he flipped a switch. The brakes let off, he began to twirl a knob here, pump a stick here, pulled a lever and then placed it back; and quickly began to spin a wheel. That familiar whoosh and whee of the TARDIS beginning its ascent into the time vortex was the alarm needed for Amy to come rushing out of the house.

He stared at the screen, and for a moment hesitated, then finally slammed a button that had the TARDIS vanishing into thin air, and the box began to spin its way through beautiful light show of the time vortex. Red and blue tunnels of clouds surrounded the Doctor's beloved and a true smile showed on his face once more. ( He was at it again. Another adventure. )