The End of the Universe (Doctor Who fanific)

Chapter 8

The new arrival was dressed all in black, with grey curly hair. He was glaring at them, or at least he seemed to be. It was hard to tell if that was just his natural expression or not. "Come on, do none of you have an idea, something that could get us out of here?" he asked.

"Who are you?" Ten asked suspiciously.

"That depends on who you ask," the new arrival answered. "Most people call me The Doctor, but you know that already, don't you?"

"Yes, but which number?" Ten asked impatiently.

"Twelve," he answered. The others nodded, but Ten and Eleven looked at each other in alarm, taking Twelve aside.

"You can't exist," Eleven said.

"No, I mean you physically can't exist," Ten said urgently. "I used up an extra regeneration. he's the last one."

"Yes, staying exactly the same. I can't imagine why," Twelve answered shortly.

"The point is," Eleven said, holding up a finger in teaching mode, "He used up an extra regeneration and there's that other one in between Eight and Nine." He shook his head, clearing the memories out of his thoughts. "That makes me the one who's going to run out of regenerations. There can't be any more after me!"

Twelve rolled his eyes, "You want to try to keep up. Obviously there can, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"But there's no way to get around it!" Eleven cried, looking over his shoulder to see if any of the others were listening.

"Weeeeellll," Ten said. Eleven looked at him expectantly, but he didn't go on.

"Well, what?"

"Well, we were just saying only about an hour ago that if anyone could figure out a way around the limit, it'd be one of us," Ten said.

Twelve nodded to Ten, "You want to listen to number Ten. Or is it Eleven? I get so confused now, thanks for that, by the way. I never used a name, now I don't even get a proper number."

"Well, what do you think?" Eleven asked. "He could be an imposter."

Ten shook his head, "No, I don't think so. If we're the only ones who have been brought here, then it stands to reason he's one of us too."

Oh," Eleven drew himself up. "So I must find a way around the limit. That's a nice thought." He looked extremely proud of himself, and Twelve stared at him.

"Get a hold of yourself. We're never going to do anything if we don't get out of here." He turned to everyone else and raised his voice, "What have you figured out so far?"

"That we're trapped here, that the universe is collapsing, that we were probably brought here by mind control," Six said lazily.

"But we can't figure out if we're being held here from the outside or if something's messing around with the TARDIS," Five said.

"Well, it's the TARDIS, of course," Twelve said, rolling his eyes when everyone looked blank. "Come on, don't tell me you haven't thought of it. How could more of us keep arriving if something's keeping the TARDIS blocked off?"

"Oh, yes," Three said. "I see what you mean."

"Well, it could be..." Eight started, "No, no, it couldn't shut off the time vortex, could it? Not if it wanted more of us to come through."

"Exactly," Twelve said, snapping a finger at Eight. "See, problem solved. You just needed someone around who knew what he was doing."

"Now that's a bit harsh," Four said mildly.