Earthbound, Chapter 19
Chapter Title: A Meeting of Minds
Summary: As the various Doctors gather together, and argue as usual, Eight has terrible news for them all.
Disclaimer: I do not own any Doctor Who canon characters, places, whatever.
"What do you mean, the wrong man?" an elderly gentleman shouted back at the strangely dressed man, his wrinkled face pinched and scowling, "The summoning went perfectly!"
"Ah, no, I don't think it did, actually," a strange little fellow in a gigantic fur coat replied, stepping closer to the Doctor and putting a hand on his chest. "There, you see, only one heart. He's not me -- er, you -- er, us. Is he?" He peered up at the Doctor with a strange, disconcerted expression.
Rose leaned into the Doctor and muttered through gritted teeth plastered in a nervous smile, "What the hell is going on, Doctor?"
The Doctor groaned as all his previous selves began arguing in loud, rancorous tones. "Not again...Okay, wait. Shh. No. Stop... QUIET!!!" Dumbfounded silence filled the room as they all turned to stare at him. "There. Thank you. Now, you didn't get it wrong. I'm me, you, whatever, but not exactly. I had a bit of a...meta-crisis."
"And now you're going to explain what the hell is going on, yeah?" Rose asked impatiently.
"Working on it, alright? Now, I'm assuming we don't have time for the whole story, but I grew out of a hand that got cut off, and sort of...used the biology of a companion of mine to work out the rest. I'm still the Doctor, but I'm part-human now. Hence the single heart. I'm assuming you tried to call the original me, er, tenth version of me, and got this me instead." He ran his hands through his hair and exhaled heavily, "Blimey, this is complicated."
"If I recall," piped up a man with a thick head of curly hair and a scarf that trailed to the floor, "We were all called here because time is of the essence, quite literally. Let us work with what we've got, hm?" He flashed a wide grin and if she hadn't been completely confused, Rose would have found herself smiling back.
"Oh, my God," Rose breathed as all the incarnations of the Doctor gathered together to discuss the dire situation, rushing through the crowd, shoving aside Time Lord and companion alike before nearly tackling her target, burying her face in his worn leather jacket.
"Hello, Rose," the Ninth Doctor said, petting her hair.
"Long time no see."
"Well, actually, it hasn't been all that long for me," he grinned.
"Yeah, first we're all standing around the TARDIS console having a laugh, then suddenly we're here. By the way, where's my hug?"
Laughing joyfully, she let Jack wrap her up in a giant, spinning bear hug. "I didn't think I'd --" She caught herself short, unsure of what sort of damage she'd do to the time lines if she said too much.
Jack lifted an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"As my earlier self was saying," the part-human Doctor piped up, bouncing on the balls of his Converse-clad feet, "If we've all been summoned here, we don't exactly have time for long-winded reunions, as much as I'd love to. It'll have to wait 'til later."
"First, though, to ease some confusion for our poor companions, we should probably give a who's who of sorts," a fancy-looking young man with sad blue eyes said, then turned to the companions, most of whom had been looking around in a state of shock. "As many of you know, Time Lords can regenerate. Each one of us fine gentlemen are the Doctor from separate points in our own personal time line."
He pointed to the earlier versions of himself, one-by-one. "This was me in my first body, and my second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. I am the eighth incarnation of the Doctor."
"Oi, why didn't you look like that sooner, Professor?" Ace asked Seven with a wry grin, "I mighta had a bit more fun with that."
"Yes, thank you, Ace. Can we move on now?" He replied with a grimace.
The eighth Doctor turned to his future selves and raised his hands a bit in an apologetic gesture. "I'm sorry, but as you are both from my future, you'll have to introduce yourselves."
"Ninth."
"And I'm the Tenth. Hello!" He wiggled his fingers at everyone, grinning widely as he looked out at all the people from his past that was gathered around. Susan, Jamie, Jo, Sarah Jane looking oh so young, Peri, Mel, Ace and Jack. And, of course, there was his present and his future. His Rose. His eighth self was alone, and he could feel in his mind that they were on Gallifrey.
Ten lowered his hand and turned his horrified gaze to his ninth self, who simply stared at him in return with a dark expression. They were on Gallifrey during the Last Great Time War.
"We have a very serious situation," Eight continued, "We are in the heart of another Time War, bigger than any other Time War in previous memory. The problem is, the Time Lords are losing, and I was lured here, to the Tomb of Rassilon, sealed in without my TARDIS. Whoever it was wanted me out of the way so that the Daleks will win the war. As I said, the Time Lords are losing, and without me, Gallifrey will be lost."
The silence in the room was deafening as they all stared at Eight, who had fallen silent himself, not for dramatic pause, but because what he was about to say was so unthinkable that he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to believe it. Still, there was no other possibility. He had to force himself to believe.
"Only a Time Lord could have sealed the Tomb of Rassilon. One of our own must be working with the Daleks."
Nine and Ten turned to look at each other again, both now wearing an expression of complete shock. "That's impossible," Nine said, shaking his head, "That would be in our memories, but we don't remember you being locked in the tomb."
"Someone is altering the time lines. Dalek Caan flying into the Time War to rescue Davros must have put cracks in the Time Lock," Ten mused, his hands tangling in his hair.
"He does that a lot, doesn't he?" Peri asked, grinning at Rose, "No wonder his hair looks like he took a walk inside a wind storm."
"Yup."
Sarah Jane cleared her throat. "So, wouldn't the first course of action be to get out of here, Doctor? I mean, Doctors?"
"Quite right, young lady," The first Doctor said, motioning to the TARDIS sitting in the opposite end of the room, "Thankfully, whoever sealed my eigth self in here didn't bother to ponder the chance that he'd call other versions of himself that do have TARDISes to get out of here. Thank Rassilon whoever did this doesn't have the foresight to think of that."
"Yes, exactly," Five spoke up, tossing Ten a brief glance, "And since all of our TARDISes have landed in the same spot and sort of merged...again...who knows which desktop theme we've got in there, but no matter. Let's all just get out of here first, then start investigating so we find out who's behind all this before Gallifrey's destruction is assured."
As the Time Lords and their respective companions filed into the TARDIS, Nine and Ten once again exchanged bleak looks. Their other selves had no idea what sort of hell they were walking into.
Summary: As the various Doctors gather together, and argue as usual, Eight has terrible news for them all.
Disclaimer: I do not own any Doctor Who canon characters, places, whatever.
"What do you mean, the wrong man?" an elderly gentleman shouted back at the strangely dressed man, his wrinkled face pinched and scowling, "The summoning went perfectly!"
"Ah, no, I don't think it did, actually," a strange little fellow in a gigantic fur coat replied, stepping closer to the Doctor and putting a hand on his chest. "There, you see, only one heart. He's not me -- er, you -- er, us. Is he?" He peered up at the Doctor with a strange, disconcerted expression.
Rose leaned into the Doctor and muttered through gritted teeth plastered in a nervous smile, "What the hell is going on, Doctor?"
The Doctor groaned as all his previous selves began arguing in loud, rancorous tones. "Not again...Okay, wait. Shh. No. Stop... QUIET!!!" Dumbfounded silence filled the room as they all turned to stare at him. "There. Thank you. Now, you didn't get it wrong. I'm me, you, whatever, but not exactly. I had a bit of a...meta-crisis."
"And now you're going to explain what the hell is going on, yeah?" Rose asked impatiently.
"Working on it, alright? Now, I'm assuming we don't have time for the whole story, but I grew out of a hand that got cut off, and sort of...used the biology of a companion of mine to work out the rest. I'm still the Doctor, but I'm part-human now. Hence the single heart. I'm assuming you tried to call the original me, er, tenth version of me, and got this me instead." He ran his hands through his hair and exhaled heavily, "Blimey, this is complicated."
"If I recall," piped up a man with a thick head of curly hair and a scarf that trailed to the floor, "We were all called here because time is of the essence, quite literally. Let us work with what we've got, hm?" He flashed a wide grin and if she hadn't been completely confused, Rose would have found herself smiling back.
"Oh, my God," Rose breathed as all the incarnations of the Doctor gathered together to discuss the dire situation, rushing through the crowd, shoving aside Time Lord and companion alike before nearly tackling her target, burying her face in his worn leather jacket.
"Hello, Rose," the Ninth Doctor said, petting her hair.
"Long time no see."
"Well, actually, it hasn't been all that long for me," he grinned.
"Yeah, first we're all standing around the TARDIS console having a laugh, then suddenly we're here. By the way, where's my hug?"
Laughing joyfully, she let Jack wrap her up in a giant, spinning bear hug. "I didn't think I'd --" She caught herself short, unsure of what sort of damage she'd do to the time lines if she said too much.
Jack lifted an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"As my earlier self was saying," the part-human Doctor piped up, bouncing on the balls of his Converse-clad feet, "If we've all been summoned here, we don't exactly have time for long-winded reunions, as much as I'd love to. It'll have to wait 'til later."
"First, though, to ease some confusion for our poor companions, we should probably give a who's who of sorts," a fancy-looking young man with sad blue eyes said, then turned to the companions, most of whom had been looking around in a state of shock. "As many of you know, Time Lords can regenerate. Each one of us fine gentlemen are the Doctor from separate points in our own personal time line."
He pointed to the earlier versions of himself, one-by-one. "This was me in my first body, and my second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. I am the eighth incarnation of the Doctor."
"Oi, why didn't you look like that sooner, Professor?" Ace asked Seven with a wry grin, "I mighta had a bit more fun with that."
"Yes, thank you, Ace. Can we move on now?" He replied with a grimace.
The eighth Doctor turned to his future selves and raised his hands a bit in an apologetic gesture. "I'm sorry, but as you are both from my future, you'll have to introduce yourselves."
"Ninth."
"And I'm the Tenth. Hello!" He wiggled his fingers at everyone, grinning widely as he looked out at all the people from his past that was gathered around. Susan, Jamie, Jo, Sarah Jane looking oh so young, Peri, Mel, Ace and Jack. And, of course, there was his present and his future. His Rose. His eighth self was alone, and he could feel in his mind that they were on Gallifrey.
Ten lowered his hand and turned his horrified gaze to his ninth self, who simply stared at him in return with a dark expression. They were on Gallifrey during the Last Great Time War.
"We have a very serious situation," Eight continued, "We are in the heart of another Time War, bigger than any other Time War in previous memory. The problem is, the Time Lords are losing, and I was lured here, to the Tomb of Rassilon, sealed in without my TARDIS. Whoever it was wanted me out of the way so that the Daleks will win the war. As I said, the Time Lords are losing, and without me, Gallifrey will be lost."
The silence in the room was deafening as they all stared at Eight, who had fallen silent himself, not for dramatic pause, but because what he was about to say was so unthinkable that he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to believe it. Still, there was no other possibility. He had to force himself to believe.
"Only a Time Lord could have sealed the Tomb of Rassilon. One of our own must be working with the Daleks."
Nine and Ten turned to look at each other again, both now wearing an expression of complete shock. "That's impossible," Nine said, shaking his head, "That would be in our memories, but we don't remember you being locked in the tomb."
"Someone is altering the time lines. Dalek Caan flying into the Time War to rescue Davros must have put cracks in the Time Lock," Ten mused, his hands tangling in his hair.
"He does that a lot, doesn't he?" Peri asked, grinning at Rose, "No wonder his hair looks like he took a walk inside a wind storm."
"Yup."
Sarah Jane cleared her throat. "So, wouldn't the first course of action be to get out of here, Doctor? I mean, Doctors?"
"Quite right, young lady," The first Doctor said, motioning to the TARDIS sitting in the opposite end of the room, "Thankfully, whoever sealed my eigth self in here didn't bother to ponder the chance that he'd call other versions of himself that do have TARDISes to get out of here. Thank Rassilon whoever did this doesn't have the foresight to think of that."
"Yes, exactly," Five spoke up, tossing Ten a brief glance, "And since all of our TARDISes have landed in the same spot and sort of merged...again...who knows which desktop theme we've got in there, but no matter. Let's all just get out of here first, then start investigating so we find out who's behind all this before Gallifrey's destruction is assured."
As the Time Lords and their respective companions filed into the TARDIS, Nine and Ten once again exchanged bleak looks. Their other selves had no idea what sort of hell they were walking into.