TRIAL OF A TIME LORD: THE VALEYARD

Chapter Twenty Three

While Hamish busied himself with freeing the Doctors, Rain took Alan's hand.

"Come on, while he's freeing them, we can go into our Doctor's mind and free him," she said.

Alan nodded. They walked beside the tubes, counting them until they reached the tenth one. While Alan quickly told Hamish and Mirza their plan, Rain looked through the frosted glass. Her hearts lurched when she saw the vague form of her husband trapped inside. Once Alan was finished informing them what they planned to do he turned and stared at his brother, anger churning inside him.

"Do you want to do a mind link and then enter his mind?" Alan said to her.

"Yeah, if he's in some kind of dream world, we need to go together and stick together just in case that bastard did something to stop intruders," she said.

Alan nodded. He took her hand and both of them closed their eyes while Hamish and Mirza continued to free the others. One and Two watched them with curiosity.

"I say, who are they?" Two asked Mirza.

"Um, that's that man's brother and wife," he said.

One and Two did a double take and looked at each other.

"I have a brother?" Two said.

"I have a wife?" One added.

Rain and Alan ignored them. Alan entered Rain's mind and established a firm link, making sure they were bound together so they wouldn't be separated in the Doctor's subconscious. Once Alan was sure the link was secure, he signaled to Rain and both of them reached out and found the Doctor's mind. Alan took the lead since he could navigate his brother's subconscious better than Rain could. They finally found his mind and entered into the dream realm. They found themselves on a deserted street in the middle of a large city. For a moment neither one recognized anything and then suddenly Rain pointed off to her right.

"Bro, it's that theater we went to in Beijing. The night the Doctor found us," she said.

"So the dream has something to do with that meeting and I'm betting Valley Girl isn't giving Brother a simple stroll down memory lane. Come on, Te'lesu, he has to be around here somewhere," Alan said, taking her hand.

As they neared the theater, Alan held up his hand and stopped Rain. He put his fingers to his lips and both of them listened intently. They heard the faint sound of weeping near them. Rain's eyes widened when she recognized her husband and Alan nodded. They followed the sound of the Doctor's voice as he wept, freezing once when they heard him let out an anguished, "NO!" before he resumed weeping and sobbing. Rain swallowed hard, dreading what they were going to find. They follow his voice to a nearby alley and then they both froze in shock and revulsion when they saw him.

The Doctor had his face against a building on the right side of the alley, his forehead touching the cold bricks while he cried uncontrollably. Spread out around him were dream images of Rain, Alan and the others, all of them except Alan had their necks twisted around 180 degrees. Alan was lying nearby, face up, both hearts pulled out of his chest. The hearts were lying near his body while Alan's dream self stared blankly up at the sky. Rain looked at her husband's hands and saw that they and the cuffs of his shirt were soaked in blood.

"I think Adam had it right, kill the sodding bastard!"

Rain looked at Alan when he said that and noticed pure rage on his face. She squeezed his hand and let go, inching close to her husband while Alan followed behind her, keeping an eye out for traps. Rain came up behind the Doctor and put her hand on his back.

"Doctor?" she said.

The Doctor stopped sobbing and slowly turned his head around. He was taken aback when he saw her and Alan.

"No," he said in a hushed voice. "No, it can't be, there's no such thing as ghosts."

"I'm not a ghost, Doctor. This isn't real, it's a dream," Rain said.

She tried to put her hand on his cheek but he flinched and quickly sidestepped away out of her reach. He stared at Alan and his face became ashen as he swallowed hard.

"I...I never meant to," he stammered as he stared at Alan. "I couldn't help myself. I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want to kill Ro..."

He trailed off as he turned his anguished gaze down to Rose's dead body.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he bent down to stroke Rose's cheek.

Alan knelt down beside him.

"Doctor. Brother, listen to me, this isn't real," he said gently. "The Valeyard captured you..."

"Yes, I know. He enslaved me so I could kill you and...I did. Oh please, please, I'm sorry, I know it's too late for that but I don't know what else to say. I couldn't stop myself and now...you're dead."

Alan glanced at Rain while the Doctor squeezed his eyes shut in agony. She came close to him.

"Doctor, listen to me, it's not real," Rain said.

"I'm sorry for you as well," the Doctor said, opening his eyes and looking at her. "You were an innocent victim and you didn't deserve to die. I..."

Rain put her hand over his mouth.

"I didn't die. Alan and I are alive and so are your children and your family. This isn't real, it's a dream world. The Valeyard put you here to keep you busy so you wouldn't fight back while he drained off your dark energy. It didn't happen this way, Love. Remember? You came back to the hotel with us and roomed with me and Imiko released you from his control. Do you remember this?"

"I...I remember dreaming about that and you and my family."

"No, this is the dream. Your family is real, Alan and I are real," Rain said, pleading with him to understand. "This...scene here never happened. You married me, you raised a family with me and we had children together, that's the reality, not this. Look at us; look at how solid we look. Do we look like ghosts to you?"

The Doctor swallowed hard when he saw tears start to fall from her eyes. He raised his hand tentatively and touched her cheek. Rain's hearts soared when she saw the look of hope on his face while he pressed on it.

"But...it can't be real. Nothing that wonderful ever happens to me," he murmured.

Alan groaned softly and knelt down next to Rain. The Doctor's gaze shifted to him and Alan saw the pain and guilt in his eyes.

"Forgive me, I never meant to mistreat you."

Alan chuckled.

"Mate, we've been through this before and I forgave you about two and a half centuries ago. Rain's right. This is an illusion that bastard forced on you and you're buying it hook, line and sinker. Stop it, ya old fart, you know better than this."

Rain giggled when the Doctor gave him an indignant look.

"Well, it's true. You're smarter than this, Te'lesau. You can't seriously think this is reality after two hundred plus years of living with us. Everything you've done with us and all the children you have and the family who loves you and in ten seconds flat Valley Girl has you thinking it's a dream. Now who's Mister Thickety Thickface?"

The Doctor gazed at the bodies of his murdered family members and looked at Rain who had tears rolling down her face. The Doctor reached up and brushed away the tears with the pads of his thumbs before he cupped her chin.

"Tell me again that you're not a dream," he murmured.

Rain smiled. She leaned in and caught his lips in a passionate kiss. The Doctor eagerly accepted it and moaned softly while he kissed back. When she finally stopped, the Doctor guided her to his chest and kissed the top of her head while he held her near.

"Now do you believe us?" Alan said. "After I had to watch that disgusting display of cootie sharing?"

Rain giggled when the Doctor smacked his head.

"That's better," Alan said. "At least you're back to your old hit me on the noddle self now."

Rain wrapped her arms around his back while the Doctor held her protectively and rubbed her back.

"I'm sorry I doubted you were alive," he said. "I'm glad this is just a dream and I really didn't kill you. I don't think I could have lived with myself if I had."

"Nah, Imiko was watching you, remember?" Alan said. "I doubt she would have let you do any of this even if you did have the inclination."

The Doctor opened one arm and guided him into his embrace. Alan smiled as he patted his back.

"Thank you for coming to find me," the Doctor said.

"We couldn't let you or any of your other lives stay like this forever," Rain said. "I would go nuts without you around and the children would be heartsbroken along with everyone else. You're not alone, not by a long shot."

"I know that and I'm glad, so very glad."

"Well, now that we've talked some sense into you, are you ready to wake up and get the hell outta here?" Alan said.

The Doctor nodded. He gave him one more tight hug and Alan returned it with gusto. Holding onto Rain, he stood up and the two of them helped the Doctor to wake up.

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