Authors Note: For those of you who have read the original version of this story I would like to apologize for the sudden change, the original character that I had used previously in this story has been replaced by Clara. The setting had also changed, this revised version (the one you are reading now) is set after "The Name of The Doctor", but in this version the Doctor did not save Clara, he had been kidnapped before he could do so- by whom? Well you shall have to read the story to find out…..
CHAPTER ONE:
Eight months, two weeks, three days, twenty-two hours, thirty-three minutes and forty two seconds. That was what the timer on the TARDIS console read, a timer that the ship had set up automatically the day that he did not return, counting with precision as the seconds ticked on. Of course, still, no matter how many seconds were counted, not one guaranteed that he would actually return.
No. Don't you dare think that. You will find him.
Clara Oswald quickly brushed such melancholic thoughts out of her mind and focused on the task at hand. Eight months. It had been eight months since she had last seen the Doctor, eight months since the TARDIS malfunctioned, setting the place ablaze with fire and sparks, eight months since the terror of that moment when she realized the Doctor was not coming back sunk in.
"I'll be back soon, "he'd said.
"I just have a few errands to run, you know, loose ends to tie up" he'd flashed that same smile that he always seemed to flash at all the right moments before he turned and left the TARDIS, shutting the doors gently behind him.
It seems that she had forgotten the number one rule that must not be forgotten when travelling with the Doctor: the Doctor lies. And after that day, she will never forget it.
Her mind drifted for a few more moments, sifting through lost days as she tried desperately to find away out of the TARDIS, for the Doctor had taken the liberty of setting up the master lock on the TARDIS door as an extra precaution. Nevertheless she didn't stop trying, and though it took her a few days she finally did locate the TARDIS library and after forty-eight hours of searching without sleep she was lucky enough to find a very useful book, it was titled "How to fly a TARDIS, for dummies", written by a Lesley Crawford, God bless his sole (still, she couldn't help but wonder if the TARDIS had altered the title for her specifically..)
By now she had the book memorized; of course, thankfully though, it didn't take her long - roughly two weeks, actually. By day three and page two hundred and ninety-six she had managed to override the master lock by re-routing the main circuit board to respond only to her voice. Of course, though, the Doctor wasn't going to make it easy. Some errands these were - apparently they were important enough for him to make TARDIS automatically eject herself into space. Clara had tried to trace the last coordinates, but they had been deleted the moment they were ejected.
By day five she had learned to fly the TARDIS though space and by day six through time, then by day one of week two (page five-hundred and sixty-eight) she had successfully landed (she might have done so sooner if the TARDIS hadn't been in such a foul mood ever since the Doctor had vanished)... of course, the fact that she landed by no means implied that it had been a gentle landing.
The moment she stepped out of the TARDIS though she knew that there was nothing to be found there, the planet was merely an endless expanse of dirt, and rock, completely void of any life from watch she could tell, the TARDIS's scan confirmed this so she set out to search for somewhere else to look.
Thirteen planets and two galaxies later she still had nothing to go on, she was beginning to feel a bit hopeless and overwhelmed at the prospect of literally having all of time and space to search through. That soon changed, though, when the TARDIS locked onto a low level microwave transmission from a near planet and create a link to its radio receiver, though they could not pick up much (which is to be expected considering there was a bit of a rough solar storm going on, that and the fact that the TARDIS's idea of near was approximately three light-years) but been the two of them they managed to catch the words "Doctor-lost-visit-Quer" .
The last word, when checking into the TARDIS database she find out was the name of a planet, but apparently in the time frame they were in it had burned nearly three million years ago.
Ant that was the last lead she had had, it had nearly been three months sense then and once again she was beginning to loose hope.
Clara snapped herself back into the present when she heard a loud ringing sound echo throughout the TARDIS, she recognized it quickly, it was the TARDIS warning signal.
She ran straight to the monitor and saw the words "Low power" staring her in the face, cussing under her breath she began to pace.
Logic. That was what she needed now, she must think logically. What is strong enough to power a TARDIS?
For heaven's sake! Your in outer space, surely there must be something you can use to power the TARDIS!
"That's it!" she said, a triumphant grin spreading across her face as she ran towards the monitor, she typed as quickly as she could (well as quickly as one could on a type-writers keyboard).
The nearest Supernova was approximately one light-year away, that wasn't very far for a TARDIS to travel, she quickly typed in the coordinates, using her foot to push down the lever as she did, the TARDIS jerked into motion, she hugged the side of the console and she cranked up the speed, faster and faster, the warning bell rang louder as they hit critical levels, both speed and power.
"Come on, come on, you can do it," she muttered on to her breath as she stared at the monitor, watching the power level lower at an alarming rate.
The lights in the TARDIS began to fade, by now circuits on the console were letting out loud crackling sounds as Clara ran around in a manic rage pressing levers and pushing buttons that in her current state couldn't quite be sure of their functions.
Finally with only two-percent power left to spare she linked onto the supernova, and within seconds the TARDIS was refueled, she set the coordinated to about three hundred miles away, once at a safe distance from the supernova she let out a sigh of relief, setting the TARDIS into "drift" mode she leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes.
It only been about thirty seconds when her eyes flew open and she leaped up from the chair, grabbing the side of the console for a few seconds until the dizziness subsided, she once again began to pace.
She had an idea. A dangerous idea. An incredibly dangerous idea that only a desperate fool would attempt.
"Well I guess this means I am a desperate fool," she muttered as she walked back over to the other side of the TARDIS.
At that moment the she heard the Doctors voice.
"You should not do that," he said
She turned towards him in disbelief "Doctor… " She said, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"I am not the Doctor. I am a voice interface"
Her expression quickly faded to one of irritation "Of course the TARDIS would pick him" she muttered impatiently
"I heard that"
"What do you want" Clara said ignoring the interface's comment
"I am here to tell you not to do that"
"Yes well, I don't particularly care at the moment. You and I both know that this is the only way that we can find the coordinates of where the doctor went"
"Nobody is meant to travel through their own timeline"
"This is the only way, I have to go back and get the coordinates before your processing system burns them "
"I cannot let you do that"
"You can't stop me"
"Yes, I can" at that moment the lights in the TARDIS faded, as well as the voice interface. The usual humming stopped and she was surrounded by silence.
Clara smirked "You actually thought that that would work?" she called out to the TARDIS
She raised her arms to reveal that she had been holding the exposed wires of the TARDIS's reserve energy feed, with a determined look in her eyes she brought them together with a spark, the light in the TARDIS immediately turned on, she ran towards the one an only dusty, unused section of the TARDIS console, the PTC, the Personal Timeline Coordinator, setting the coordinates she pulled the two levers, pressed the buttons in the sequence that she now new by heart the quickly turned the speed dial to maximum.
She was thrown back by the force of the TARDIS whizzing through time and space, the ship groaned in protest, the console sparked, she could smell smoke and see the shadows cast by a fire somewhere behind her.
The TARDIS stopped though; she felt it start to go backwards, it was reversing itself, trying to go back.
"No!" Clara ran up to the console, the TARDIS jerked nearly throwing her backwards but she managed to grab hold of the of a metal bare just in time, she saw the PTC lever switch back into place, the TARDIS apparently was not going to allow her to follow through with her plans.
Clara reached towards the navigator lever wildly, the TARDIS jerked once more, this time forward, she wad thrown across the console and onto the other side, the felt a lever switch underneath her foot as she did, glancing at the monitor, she saw plainly that the TARDIS was not going through her timeline anymore, but it was still heading straight towards the exact time and date of the Doctors disappearance, as the TARDIS continued to plummet forward the circuit board continued to spark, more fires began to erupt just as she collided into herself.
MEANWHILE:
The Doctor sat hunched over, the think impenetrable wire wrapped around his hands and legs continuously chafing against what was left of the skin in that area, sweat poured down his back, his stomach burned with hunger.
It had been weeks since he had last eaten, his joints hollowed out, he had progressed through malnutrition to the point were he couldn't even grow facial hair, the rest of his hair was coming out in tufts, he wondered how much longer they were going to keep him here.
He hears footsteps approaching, it must have been that same time of day; he lowered his head pretending to be asleep, knowing full well that he was not going to fall for it.
A tall man wearing a long coat, walked through the door, his face was hidden in the shadows, only his silhouette against the faint light of the door could be made out clearly as he approached the Doctor who sat in a crumpled head at the opposite end of the room.
"Come now, I thought we were done with these little games of yours…" his captor said pacing around him in circles, attempting to make the doctor nervous by standing in his blind spot.
"What do you want, Rook," The Doctor said raising his head with a sigh, his gaze icy.
"Oh I think you know what I want, Doctor"
"You know that I wont let you near her"
"Ah, but that really isn't up to you, is it?" The man named Rook pulled a knife out from his coat pocket, his turning it between his hands, the blade glinted off of some unknown source of light, its tip looking much too sharp for the Doctors liking.
"You see," The man said, turning around with a malicious grin on his face "You and I both know what's going to happen…. She's going to come and try to save her precious little Doctor" He pressed the tip of the blade into the side of the Doctors cheek "And we all know what happens then…."
"No!" the Doctor said, leaping forwards while ignoring the pain in his cheek as the blade slid across it "You will not hurt her"
"Who said I wanted to hurt her?" Rook snapped his fingers and two men, one holding a knife, the other a whip, emerged from the shadows "she is caught in the crossfires once again, Doctor, and you can't save her this time…"
The man turned away and walked towards the door, leaving the two men grinning menacingly behind him as the walked slowly towards the Doctor. One the man had gone the only sounds that could be heart from the room were the agonizing cries of the Doctor and the sadistic laughter that followed them…
Authors Note: please review the story, I would very much like to hear your ideas, thoughts, or any suggestions of what you would like to see in the story, and- to those who read the original version-whether or not you like the changes that I have made. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.