Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 52 - Hall of Secrets

The first thing she realized was that she didn't know where she was. 

The second thing she realized was that she didn't know how she got there either. 

When she looked around, she was in a long hallway full of elaborately carved wooden doors. Some were open, some were closed, and a few were covered with all sorts of locks and chains, clearly meant to remain unopened. The entire hallway was a light cream color with tan trim, and a gold and white carpet adorned the wood floor.

The hallway was dim, with no light source around that she could see. To her left, it quickly faded to near pitch black, lit by only a faintly glowing pale blue stream intertwined with gold that ran along the ceiling. A faint gold radiated around her, but didn't travel far into the distance before it disappeared into the dark. Shivering at the sudden cold running down her spine, she stretched out a hand to touch the wall closest to her. It was warm to the touch, strangely familiar to her in some unrecognizable way.

But she still didn't know where she was, and despite the inky blackness around her, she somehow knew that wherever she was was huge. It could easily stretch out for miles, if it were laid out in such a way that it were possible. And yet she somehow knew that... it wasn't. She spun around, straining to see in the darkness, but only succeeded in hurting her eyes. She was lost, in a big empty hallway, and she was alone.

A sliver of fear wormed its way into her mind, sending more cold shivers down her spine -

And was immediately wiped away as a soothing warmth washed over her, as comforting as a hug, and somehow making her think of the Doctor. She closed her eyes involuntarily, but then snapped them open again at the memory of the Doctor. If she was trapped in this place, maybe he was too. 

Wasn't that an episode later on with the Twelfth Doctor? Trapped alone in an unknown maze of rooms with a creature hunting him down, while he sought desperately for a way to stop it...

She was distracted when, as she watched, the blue light traveled down the wall to one of the doors in front of her and began to change it, blending it into the surrounding walls until it didn't even seem to exist anymore. 

Staring at it in disbelief, she trailed a finger along the wood, flinching backwards when she felt the frame of a door she could no longer see. Her hand falling to the side, it brushed up against a new metal chain covering the door. Whatever was behind that door, she was not meant to see it.

Her heart increased its pace in her chest as she cast a fearful glance to the darkness to her left, and felt a warning tug on something inside her. Instinctively, she knew that if she went that way, she would get lost in the inky blackness. And there was a very good chance that she might not be found again. 

Shaking her head and clutching her hand to her throat in search of her charm necklace, she stumbled backwards in fear, now feeling very worried and alone, and afraid to even speak a word and break the heavy silence. As if sensing her fear, the light around her began to dim, darkening the hallway even more.

But just as she was about to break down and take off running down the faintly lit hallway to her right in search of someone, anyone; fear crushing her lungs and making it hard to breathe, the warmth returned. 

It wrapped itself around her, giving her the distinct impression of a hug, before soothing away all the chills and fears. Somehow, wrapped up in this warmth, she was assured that everything was going to be all right, that she was loved, and wouldn't be going through this alone, in a very familiar voice.

She gasped, and her eyes flashed open to see that the blue light was wrapped around her. She started to lift a hand, only to realize that the gold glow around her had increased, and was, in fact, coming from her; radiating from her body into the hallway. She was the light in this dark place, and the blue was the Doctor. The lines weren't mixed together on the wall as she had thought earlier; they were separate, but together; and were brighter the closer they were.

And if that wasn't a hint, she didn't know what was. For some reason, she felt a touch of annoyance at the thought, but it was quickly dispelled at the reminder that she still didn't know where she was. She felt comforted, though, knowing that he was there with her. Wherever they were, they could get out of this together.

And speaking of together, she felt a strange tugging sensation on her glowing hand, and saw the blue light wrapped around it, pulling her forward. By far from the strangest thing she had seen, she willingly followed it down the hallway to her right, smiling when the walls became brighter and brighter around her. The further down they went, the more the tugging sensation increased, until they almost started to sound like words in a soft Scottish burr, encouraging her to go further.

"Come on, fairy-girl. You can do it. Come back to me, I know you can. Just follow my voice. That's it. You're almost there, just a little bit further. You just got a little bit lost, that's all. Just follow me, you're all right. You can do it. Just open your eyes now, you're all right."

A shock suddenly coursed through her system as though ice water had been dumped on her head, and the hallway disappeared, leaving her feeling as though she were floating instead. The blue line released her, slowly pulling away from her while still gently tugging her forwards. She let go reluctantly, but knew she needed to if she was ever going to reach her destination. She was speeding towards something, and she had to do this part on her own.

She opened her eyes.

And immediately reared back, the Twelfth Doctor's hands falling from her face as he dropped them with a relieved sigh.

"Thank goodness, I almost thought I'd lost you for a minute there. You did something... I've never seen anyone do that before, even you." Without waiting for a response, he swept her up into a hug.

The hug felt nice, it really did, but she was feeling really confused right now, so she gently pushed him away, narrowing her eyes at him in confusion. 

"Doctor? What's going on?" She heard some mumbling from what she now realized was a group of people at a table behind him, but stayed focused on him.

He sighed, looking down at a small remote in his hand. "I can't tell you yet, I'm sorry. I can only show you this." He clicked a button, and a female voice started talking quietly from a set of speakers on the table behind him. Her eyes widened when she heard the voice, easily recognizing it.

"My name is Lyssa Devons, human-ish. And I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will."

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A/N: (I know, I know, this is super short. Please believe me when I say that I really wanted to make this a longer chapter, but it just didn't work out.) Part of my house - namely the two rooms right outside my bedroom - are being reconstructed right now, which means access to my room is pretty tricky right now. :P (I have to watch out for cords and large holes in the floor when I walk, now, and wearing shoes is advisable most of the time).

In this case, it also meant I wasn't really able to enter my room - where my laptop is - for a large portion of today. (Literally, I was told that if I wanted to go in, I would need to use the window. I decided I could wait.) And that is part of the reason that this update is a teaser for the next episode.

I know this seems like a really weird chapter, with no connection to the ending of the last one, but it'll all make sense soon. Hopefully. ;D

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! :)

General Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, just Lyssa.