Twenty Seven

1.5K 40 3
                                    

BY THE time the four of them had woken up, the residents had vanished. In their place stood the Dream Lord, now wearing a dark suit and tie, and holding an x-ray in his right hand. He held said x-ray up to the Doctor's head, smirking.

"Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad. Look at this x-ray. Your brain is completely see through. But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor" he taunted, Pip's law clenching in anger.

"So you know him? And what do you mean always?" Amy asked, confused.

"Now then" the Dream Lord began, completely ignoring Amy's question, or though avoiding would have been a better word to use.

"The prognosis is this. If you die in the dream, you die in reality. Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens when you die in reality?"

"What happens?" Rory asked. Stupid boy.

"For God's sake use your brain. You die, stupid" Pip scowled, more so at the stupidity of the man stood a few metres aside than the short ghost of a man in front of them.

The Dream Lord didn't respond, still feeling slightly terrified of the brunette.

"You know him, don't you? You know the Doctor. Which means that the Doctor knows you" Pip spoke a second time.

"What makes you think that, Danforth?" The Dream Lord spoke, somewhat quietly.

"Because you wouldn't dare speak to him the way you have been. Especially whilst I'm here" she practically growled, the Dream Lord cowering slightly.

With that, he vanished.

"Okay, I dont like him" Rory announced.

"Who is he?" Amy asked, glancing at Pip to make sure she was ok.

"I don't know. It's a big universe" the Doctor answered, lost in thought.

"Why is he doing this?" Rory asked yet another question, which would again, not receive a straight answer.

"Maybe because he has some physical form. That gets you down after a while, so he's taken it out on folk like us who can touch and eat and feel"

"What does he mean, deadly danger though? Nothing deadly has happened here. I mean, a bit of natural wastage, obviously" Rory asked yet another question, which yet again, was not going to be answered.

"Oh, will you just shut up? Clever boy clearly can't answer that, can he?" Pip scowled at Rory.

"They're gone. The residents are gone" the Doctor muttered, turning his head round frantically.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Directly opposite the care home, a play area saw many small children playing together, whilst a woman, perhaps their teacher of sorts, was trying to get them to follow her.

"Stop. You two, over there? Come on, where's the rest of you? Come on, come on. We're going to the castle now. Come on all of you" she ran around in a panic, struggling to control her class of six year olds.

"Why would they leave?" Rory asked, referring to the residents who had disappeared about five minutes before.

"And what do you mean about Mrs Poggit's nice old lady act?" Amy spoke shortly after.

"One of my tawdry quirks. Sniffing out things that aren't what they seem" the Doctor answered, Pip gritting her teeth in anger at 'tawdry quirks'.

"So come on. Let's think. The mechanics of this reality split we're stuck in. Time asleep perfectly matches the time in our dream world, unlike in conventional dreams"

"And we're all dreaming the same dream at the same time" Rory finished, looking toward little Alfie, who was now back in his mother's arms.

"Yes, sort of a communal trance. Very rare, very complicated. I'm sure there's a dream giveaway, a tell, but my mind isn't working because this village is so dull! I'm slowing down, like you three have"

Pip and Amy shared a look, and smirked.

"Ooo. Ow. Really. Ow, it's coming!" Amy started shouting, 'in pain'.

Both boys started panicking, Alfie laughing at them. Pip also attempted to suppress a chuckle.

"Okay, you're a doctor, help her!" The Doctor shouted toward Rory.

"You're a doctor!" Rory retorted, his panick growing with each passing second.

"It's okay we're doctors" the Doctor announced, squatting down and holding his hand out to catch the baby, which wasn't going to come out, because the baby wasn't even coming.

"What do we do?" Rory was in hysterics.

"Okay, it's not coming" Amy stopped screaming rather abruptly, before breaking the news. Pip burst out laughing, Alfie still giggling.

"What?" The Doctor was still in shock, his eyes darting between the two women.

"This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet, so don't you call it dull ever again. Okay?"

"Sorry" the Doctor apologised.

"Yeah"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They were now at the park. Pip was pushing Alfie on the kids swing, Amy sitting on the one next to it. Rory started pushing Amy gently."

"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room" the Doctor began, Amy turning to glare at him.

"I have to be this size. I'm having a baby" Amy scowled at him.

"I was kind of thinking it was Rory's ponytail, which I've told him to cut countless times. Even Alfie tugs at it and tells him it looks silly on him, eh Pirate?" Pip locks eyes with her son, whom giggles in response.

"Silly uncle Rory, silly hair" Alfie smiled, making Pip, Amy and the Doctor laugh.

"How about we get rid of his silly hair? You can cut it off" the Doctor asked Alfie.

"Yay! No more silly hair!" Alfie shouted, Rory pouting in response.

"I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs Poggit as a babysitter, you two. What she doing? What does she want?" The Doctor asked himself.

At that moment, the heard the dreaded birdsong start up again.

"Oh no, here we go" the Doctor muttered, before they all fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello all,
I understand you've been waiting for this update.
Obviously so much has happened over the past week, too much to even comprehend.
I'm not going to talk about it here, however, but just know if anyone's been affected by any of the events, I'm here to listen, you can private message me.
I hope everyone is okay, and is staying safe during these hard times.
Thanking you all,
Nikki-Pip.

Eleven's Soulmate (An Eleventh Doctor and OC story)Where stories live. Discover now