Chapter Text
Dårlig Ulv Stranden, or Bad Wolf Bay. It was as good a place as any to get closure, though in hindsight it would have been nicer if it were closer to London. It was a nice beach, if a bit windy, all things considered. Although, The Doctor had no right to focus on the beach when Rose Tyler was standing right there in front of him, well, not him exactly; a hologram of himself, a ‘ghost’ as she described the timelord.
“Am I ever going to see you again?” Dear Lord, what has he done? Those words shot through his hearts and made him feel as though he was going to regenerate.
“You can't." The Doctor can see it in her eyes when she breaks. It was gut wrenching to see such a strong, strong woman, a fitting companion, crumble like this.
“What’re you going to do?”, she asks him as if he isn't a nine hundred and three year old timelord. The wind catches her hair in her face, and she pushes it away in vain.
“Oh, I’ve got the TARDIS. Same old life, last of the Time Lords.” The Doctor smiled at her, trying so hard to reassure her even if they both knew it was futile.
“On your own.” Rose cracks for a moment, trying so hard to choke out words he never thought he’d hear. “I love you.”
“Quite right, too.” he grinned, lightening the mood one last time. “And I suppose, if it’s one last chance to say it, Rose Tyler-”
No. No, no, no, no, no! That’s not right! The view of the bay fades and the whirring background noise stops dead. Rose! She was gone, he couldn’t see her, he couldn’t say to her- no, no, no! The Doctor stood there in shock for a moment, a single tear escaped his eye without consent but he couldn’t bring himself to wipe it away. There was a low mumbling coming from the TARDIS but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he fixated desperately on the hologram, as if staring at it would make it turn back on so The Doctor could contact Rose again. When the humming became louder, more insistent on his attention, he snapped myself out of his thoughts.
“What is it, old girl?” he murmured to the TARDIS, slowly walking around the main console and setting the controls to neutral, but that only seemed to panic the ship more. The background noise became more intense and a violent shudder wracked the control room making him lose his balance briefly and need to duck around a falling box.
“Hey now! What is all this!” The Doctor called out, rushing to the terminal and gripping onto the railing as he tried to stabilize them, unsure as to what she was playing at. The TARDIS shook again, The Doctor would have been knocked off his feet if he hadn't had such a vice grip on the banister, and he rushed to pull up an echo map of what the situation outside looked like: it wasn’t good. The energy source the timelord had drawn power from was becoming unstable and the prior connection that made it so we could line up with the parallel universe got all mumble jumbled thanks to the imbalance of power jolting the universes. The Doctor watched in horror briefly as the TARDIS’ chimes rang out and they sank into an unknown universe. This was bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad! He flicked as many switches and settings, trying to keep enough order that the universes wouldn’t collapse in on them as they passed through a split between the two universes and it appeared as though it was working. The TARDIS shuddered viciously and the force knocked The Doctor down, hitting his head on the controls as he collapsed. Thankfully, the timelord wasn’t rendered unconscious and he quickly got to his feet, groaning slightly as the room spun - though whether or not that was from the shock waves of the crash or the blunt force head trauma, he couldn’t tell. The TARDIS stopped shaking, but as the whooshing breaks turned on, the lights on the main console flickered.
“Oi, you old ship! What are you doing? Where are we?”
The TARDIS chimed uselessly before she stopped making noise all together: the machines that filled so much silence stopped humming, the console stopped vibrating, the warmth fled out of the room.
“No, no, no, what is this? This isn’t right! This shouldn't be happening!” The Doctor cried out harshly, clutching his head in his hands as he curled under the damaged terminal. Loose metal hung dangerously close to his head and wires threatened to either tangle his limbs or electrocute him entirely. He knew it wasn't safe to hang around in the TARDIS right now since the place was a wreck and a far cry from how the vast ship typically acted as a safe haven. With a heavy sigh, The Doctor crawls out from where he sought asylum from the chaos and brushes off the dust and wrinkles from his suit. He frowned in worry at the ship that was disconcertingly quiet now until shaking his head and walking towards the doors.
Slowly, cautiously, quietly, The Doctor pushed the old door open and poked just his head out. Trees, there were a lot of trees, and it was very dark- can a guy not get a light around here? The timelord tasted the air carefully, checking for any out of place elements; there was a strange tint to the air that he didn’t recognise but for the most part it was seemingly a consistent amount of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, water vapour, and noble gases. Was this earth? Did he panic too quickly, are we safe? No. That strange taste lingered and unsettled him, that wasn’t something The Doctor had ever noticed before anywhere on earth. This could be a parallel universe, was it the one Rose was in? It’s possible… No, that isn’t what he should be thinking about right now. If this isn’t his earth and the TARDIS isn’t working then he's stranded in a potentially hostile environment: for all he knows this is a universe where humans have been entirely wiped out and violent mutants roam the land. Yikes, don’t jinx it!
Setting his mind on a productive task, the timelord stepped out of his dear ship and locked her up, “sorry old girl, need to be safe.” She wouldn’t hear him, whatever had happened had fully cut her off and he was unsure whether or not that would affect how he interacted with this not-right-earth. Looking around at the trees, it was clear that they'd crashed down in some sort of clearing; deep skid marks paved through the forest to the west, coupled by broken trees or bent branches. The Doctor groaned loudly and looked up at the sky, estimating the time to be around eleven o’clock in summer, Scotland, based on the stars and climate and environment. Good to know hitting his head didn’t scramble his brains at least. Now! First order of business: fixing my ship. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his coat and pointed it around the dark clearing. After finding no toxic material or potentially deadly plants, The Doctor deemed this area relatively safe enough to go back inside to check on his TARDIS.
It was just when the timelord was trudging back to his doors that he heard a snort, followed by a whinny, which made him stop in his tracks. Why would a horse be this deep in the woods? The Doctor turned around to get a look at the animal but was extremely caught off guard when a unicorn of all things stepped out of the underbrush. Brilliant. What could a unicorn be doing on earth? While it wasn’t unusual for folklore to hold truth, the spaceman had yet to come across such painstakingly real -or seemingly real- evidence on earth. The creature was truly beautiful: tall, almost pure white if it wasn’t for its golden hooves, with a long horn easily the length of his arm protruding from its head. What a magnificent thing, Rose would have loved her. She stood in front of The Doctor, as if she was sizing him up like he was to her, he remained still and counted the double beats of his heart as he waited for her to pass judgement. After what felt like an age, the unicorn snorted and turned her head sharply away from the man.
“Oh, come now, what’s that for? Am I really that bad? Well, maybe that’s a question that should be left unanswered… You are good.”
Clearly, the unicorn agreed with the sentiment because she turned back to him and snorted. Was she trying to communicate a message to him? Surely the TARDIS would have translated it or was she really too damaged? That’s a worrying thought and definitely one that he can’t ignore. The unicorn, who really needs a name, dragged the timelord back to reality by pawing at the ground and throwing her head side to side.
“Woah, woah, woah! Calm down, girl. What’s the issue?” he quickly took a step back as the beast panicked, letting out a high pitched neigh and kicking out with her back leg. She turned back to him and neighed again, pawing at the ground more fervently.
“What’s wrong?” he asked again, looking around the clearing. The Doctor hadn’t noticed anything strange originally, but with the creature’s current behaviour he wasn’t so sure anymore. With a final snort, the unicorn reared up to his shock and galloped off deep into the forest.
Slightly anxious now, The Doctor reached the doors of his TARDIS and slipped inside. The room was filled with shadows as the lights powered off during the crash making him have to rely on his familiarity with his ship to navigate her. The spaceman made it to the main controls and from there traveled the TARDIS slowly to find where the backup power was: it didn’t take too long, but the constant fumbling and dead ends made reminded him of a time very, very long ago when he had only just began learning how to work with a TARDIS. Eventually, he found the backup and jingled a bit with the settings on it until the lights slowly flicked on throughout the halls with a low, booming noise. The quiet humming of electricity circulated the ship and The Doctor let out a relieved breath he didn't know he was holding in, finding it much easier to make it back to the main room with the lights on.
“Welcome back, sexy.” he muttered quietly, tracing his fingertips over the metal walls. The TARDIS seemed to respond eagerly to that as the main terminal chimed happily. The timelord swung a console around and tried to pull up an echo of the surrounding area but was puzzled to see that it came up blank. Assuming it was something faulty from the crash, he checked on it briefly with his sonic and was even more confused when nothing seemed wrong with it according to the sonic. It was possible that there was an external force intercepting the connection, the question is: what is it?
The Doctor spent some time moving around the ship, scanning each device to check what needs fixing. Fortunately, a lot of the damage was superficial and could be easily fixed with a few tweaks; unfortunately, there was damage to the brakes and main terminal and even the main power that were irreparable without swapping parts or rebuilding them altogether. This was looking to be quite the long project, which was especially unfortunate due to the highly concerning fact that the timelord was stranded in a universe that wasn’t his own.
“It’s fine, I’m a Timelord, I know how to fix this.” he whispered to himself over and over like a mantra as he set out to fix any and all loose parts or any other manageable damage.
Once everything The Doctor could do was done, he sighed and stepped away from the electrics. He swept his gaze over the room approvingly and patted a nearby railing.
“Don’t worry, old girl. We’ll get you feeling better soon.” the timelord nodded firmly at the affirmation, willing it into existence. With the rate the backup power was going at to power the whole ship, there would only be enough power for three hundred and fifty six years, or one full rotation around the sun. He could only hope that that was enough time to fix the main power. Thankfully, he could find most if not all of the parts on earth given that most of them were electronic devices used in many models, and any that he can’t, The Doctor was sure he could build for himself - He was one of the oldest, smartest beings in his universe. For now, he needed to be able to fit in with the humans and possibly forge some legal records outside of Torchwood since he won’t be held favourably by them until the 2000s, that is if Torchwood is a thing in this universe. In fact, it's unlikely that they exist since he hadn't been in this universe long enough to make his presence known. For now, his psychic paper should suffice, but it appeared as though John Smith would be making an appearance!
After a while of stewing in his thoughts, The Doctor ventured out of the TARDIS and into the forest, more careful this time after his encounter with the unicorn. It’d be nice if he could run into her again, with the TARDIS working again in fair shape he should be able to understand what the creature was trying to tell him. He let his train of thought wander while pushing his way through the shrubbery, though he kept his gaze firmly aware of every little noise and movement in the corners of his eyes.
So, The Doctor was stuck on an Earth that wasn't his with no way to get home and a limited supply of power. There was an interference in the surrounding area with the TARDIS so he doesn't know where or when he is other than the fact that it's summer in Scotland. Oh, and there's also unicorns and Satan-knows-what else in this forest and potentially all over the globe because he's in a whole other universe with no idea of what the current state of it is!
During his miniature recap, a few rustling noises caught his attention, leading him to bring out his sonic screwdriver. The timelord pointed it in the direction of the noise but once again his sonic came up blank; this is so bizarre! Even if it was a simple, little cricket the sonic should have been able to pick it up, but it was as if something was blocking all of his readings. Perhaps he'll need to have a play about with the frequencies of this alternate Earth when he has a bit more time. Keeping his wits about him, The Doctor picked his way through the foliage until he reached the edge of the woods.
The moon casted a simple, pale beam across the grass when he stepped out of the dark woods and it made him smile faintly. He supposed, even in a parallel universe, you can count on the stars to be present when you need them. He was quickly snapped away from reminiscing about the expanse of space when he took a moment to really observe the areas he'd stumbled upon.
From where he stood, a large hill rose from a vast lake shrouded in a quiet mist due to the time of night. The hill, however, wasn't what caught my eye. No - it was the massive castle built upon it, a castle he was certain does not exist in Scottish architecture. Towers and spires peaked over stone walls and brick bridges and walkways connected different sections of the impressive castle. A path weaved its way up to the castle from a boathouse on the lake on the other side of where he'd emerged and was pleasantly lit with a similar yellow glow that every window in the castle shone with. The castle wasn't too far from the forest, in fact, there was even a stretch of grass that connected the two occupied by a little hut (possibly a groundskeeper?) And a brutish looking willow tree that didn't bare a single leaf.
Just as The spaceman was going to go down to that little hut to explore, he spotted two figures coming from his right. The Doctor supposed they worked on the grounds and saw him and were coming to tell him off, which was very valid given that he must be trespassing - even if it's unintentional. The pair approached as he hung around, deciding it would be more incriminating if he ran away now, and it was very helpful as the closer he got the more able he was to make out their features more clearly.
The one on the left, a woman who looked to be in her twenties with strikingly pink hair, wearing a leather studded coat that easily fell to her ankles over a pink and grey hoodie, leggings that definitely looked like they'd seen better days, and black combat boots.
On the right, a tall seemingly older black man, he was certainly bald and wore a Kufi cap which matched his long, purple and patterned robes.
As the two got closer, it was not hard to notice that they were both carrying sticks with them?
The Doctor couldn't fathom what a stick had anything to do with the current situation, perhaps he should pick up a stick too? He had about a minute and a half before these guys reached him with their sticks and he spent a pitiful minute of that deciding whether or not he needed a stick too. This isn't his Earth, what if this is the social norm? Unicorns exist here, why wouldn't sticks be really important here too? He quickly bent down and grabbed the nearest good looking stick off the floor and stood up straight, dusting himself off as the pair finally approached.
“Ah! Hello, I'm the Doctor. I seem to have accidentally stumbled into this forest, do you know how I can leave?” He put on a polite smile and waved at the two, figuring that it was best to stay friendly with the first people he meets on this Earth.
The couple didn't seem very impressed and the man even raised his stick at The Doctor threateningly(?) “How did you get on to these grounds? You couldn't have apparated and the barrier was supposed to keep people without permission out.”
“I'm afraid I didn't understand a word you just said, sir.”
The woman turned to the man and muttered something under her breath that he could barely make out, “You don't think he's a muggle, do you?”
“No, there's no way a muggle could get through the barrier or even see the school.” The man shook his head slowly, casting a weary glance in his direction.
The Doctor stayed quiet, carefully looking between the two strangers with a polite smile. It was better to sit back and watch what they were saying about him until he had a better grasp of how this Earth works. Really, all there was to understand here is what a muggle is and why he is or isn't one.
The woman looked between The Doctor and the other man briefly, trying to keep her voice low though it was difficult when they were all standing next to each other, “So is he a wizard? That doesn't look like a wand, it just looks like a stick.”
Ah. The stick is supposed to be a wand. You know what, The Doctor never could have guessed that and now he feels just a little bit silly holding this muddy stick so he subtly chucks it back towards the forest.
“You, doctor, do you have any reasons to be trespassing on school grounds?” The man finally decided to begin questioning him.
Wait, wait, wait, that's a school? That massive castle is a school? Is this medieval times? No, the fashion is too recent. This is all a bit confusing.
“Ah, well you see, I was minding my own business talking to a friend when all of a sudden the world began to spin! Very disorientating, I think I have a minor concussion. Anywho, all of a sudden I find myself crash landed in that there forest! I made my way through the trees and ended up out here.” The Doctor easily recounts, sure he left out some minor details and maybe he tweaked a few things here and there, but the idea is the same so it's fine.
“You ‘crashed' into the Forbidden Forest?” The woman looked at him, was she shocked?
“Ehh, yes?” The Doctor offered helpfully.
“And you are a wizard?” She continued, clearly curious about the circumstances.
“I don't know what classes as a wizard but many people have described me as magical!” He grins, were these people stereotypical wizards with pointy hats and robes? He could work with that.
“You don't know if you're a wizard? Did you ever get accepted into a wizarding school?” The man asked, both of them were clearly skeptical. The timelord needed a good excuse and fast.
“There weren't any local ones from where I'm from, I grew up very cut off from the world.” The Doctor frowned, really trying to sell the idea that he wasn't socialised as a child.
“We can discuss this further at the ministry, we need to bring you in for questioning.” The man clearly seemed done with all of this and wanted to move on. That's fair enough.
“Uhh. Yes! I'm sure we can, just for reference, what is the ministry?” The Doctor smiled, tilting his head slightly. Was the Ministry the wizarding version of Parliament, perhaps?
“... You'll find out when we get there.” The woman sighs, holding out her hand to me. “Have you ever apparated before?”
“Definitely not! Is it fun?” He grinned, glancing at the woman with a sparkle in his eyes.
“Just hold on tight.” She huffed, and The Doctor easily obliged. He stepped over to the pair and grabbed hold of her arm.
In one swift moment, everything went black.