Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 120 - Day of the Doctor, Round 1: Part 1

A/N: Let the games begin...

Lyssa stared at the Doctor. He met her gaze evenly - and blankly.

"I... what?" she stammered. "Sorry. You... don't know who I am?"

He bounced to his feet and offered a polite hand to help her up. She took it automatically, and felt a shiver run through her. It felt like him.... but it also didn't. Like touching a mirror - it looked like a familiar face, but was alien to the touch. As if there was a disconnected wire somewhere.

"Not a clue, sorry," he said as he released her hand, appearing somewhat regretful, though still exuberant enough. "Believe it or not, this is not the first time it's happened to me. I tend to do things a bit out of order, I'm afraid. So! You obviously know who I am," he grinned, dusting off his pants. "Mind returning the favor?"

She hesitated, trying to subtly slide away a few steps without him picking up on it. Maybe her nerves were just off after falling out of the sky, but something felt... off. "You really don't know who I am?" she pressed, concern growing - both for the situation and for him. "I don't even look vaguely familiar?"

He grimaced, apologetic expression growing more genuine. "Sorry. I've got a bit of experience with suppressed memories, and I tend to know what they feel like, even if I can't actually remember. I've never met you before in my life."

Lyssa hesitated, wrapping her arms around herself as her stomach tied into a knot . "But... how is that possible?" she asked, trying to look casual as she stepped away another step.

By the way his eyes tightened around the corners, he'd likely noticed, though thankfully he didn't react - if anything, he seemed to politely withdraw away from her a bit in turn, keeping his stance loose and non-threatening.

"You seem to know me fairly well, and given the time period, I'd say you know about the time travel bit as well," he deduced easily. "I meet people out of order sometimes, and this seems to be one of those times. You just happened to meet.... well, fall into me, rather, before I met you."

"Right," she nodded in pretend understanding, mind racing.

The Doctor's seventh regeneration, several centuries ago, seemed to recognize her - and yet this man had never even met her in his life? Well, given that he clearly wasn't the Doctor, he probably wasn't lying about that at least. This man - whoever he was - seemed to have focused entirely on copying the Tenth Doctor physically, and not at all on the bigger things the Doctor should have known.

But she was, at least in theory, alone in the woods with a strange man who was pretending to be the Doctor. She didn't really want to challenge him aloud on that until she was certain she could get away. Or better yet, find the actual Doctor.

Her mind ran through the various species that she knew could mimic. The Atrellians had managed to take at least basic knowledge when they'd mimicked the Doctor, although he'd hidden almost everything he knew about her away to protect her, seemingly just for situations like this. The Zygons also seemed to be able to take basic information, although she wasn't sure if they'd be able to mimic the Doctor or not. They never had in the show, but that didn't rule it out. The Teselecta could also mimic, but she would have thought that they'd at least know of her considering how long she'd apparently known the Doctor.

Not to mention that they seemed rather fond of the Doctor, inasmuch as a robot filled with tiny legal vigilantes could be fond of people. Or at least less cross with him. They wouldn't have tried to enact one of their punishments on him - and he hadn't even met them until his eleventh regeneration.

She wasn't sure it was even worth considering the Nestene Consciousness. It struggled enough copying humans - poor Mickey came to mind, although Rory's copy had been much better - that attempting Time Lords would probably be a bit beyond them . Or if he was, she realized a bit belatedly, he might not remember, the same way that Rory hadn't. Although again, if this was a situation like Rory's, he should have remembered her.