First part of chapter 10! Sweet, right? Right!

After thinking it over I decided not to wait and post everything in one long segment, so here's the first part of chapter 10! Only 2 parts to go and The Doctor Who Experience is officially finished! This part was written by Aklana, edited by me since I had to get the edited version of chapter 9 to match up with it.

There's not really anything in this chapter either (or nothing I can state before you guys read it) but I'll put in a little backstory to have it maybe help... When Aklana and I first started writing The Doctor Who Experience, we were halfway through season 3. But by the time we got to this last chapter, we were almost 3 quarters of the way through season 4... so... in light of needing ANOTHER antagonist character, we decided to combine the ending plots for both season 3 and season 4 together... maybe that can help explain a few things.

Read and enjoy!

Signed, with fancy calligraphy, sonorahugagi

DISCLAIMER: Since this IS a fanfiction site, and everyone understands that, I don't see why this is needed; I'll cover my basics anyway... I DO NOT, nor WILL I EVER, own Doctor Who or any of its spin-offs. If I did, you wouldn't see this here -- it'd be the show!

THE DOCTOR WHO EXPERIENCE

Chapter 10: The Parting of the Ways

(1 of 3)

Ow... what the hell...

Lara slowly opened her eyes, rolling over onto her stomach and peering around. There were no lights in the room except an occassional spark from the walls, where it looked like someone had taken a nuclear warhead to the room. The box lay a few feet in front of her, the thin yellow substance wafting out every now and then, with the lid laying all the way across the room. Lara struggled to get to her knees only to find her head felt like a dump truck plowed over it -- then reversed and went over it again. Repeat that process three times and you had her headache. After letting her forehead fall to the floor and grumbling for a few minutes, she made the effort to get to her feet and ended up just sitting back on her knees, squinting in pain every time a wire shorted and sparks flew out. It was the stupid box... stupid box.

She finally got the courage to fight through the headache and stumble to her feet, picking up the box without looking at it and slamming the lid down. The faint glow disappeared and the box turned into the old gold box it was supposed to be again. Lara dragged her feet through the doorway and looked around, massaging a temple with one hand. She still had to get back to the Doctor, insane circumstance and headache or not. Suddenly remembering the Dalek, she tensed and looked around quickly to check there were none around before hurrying off down the hallway.

She went down identical hallways and passages, curving around all the little nooks and crannies in the floor and walls so as not to make a sound and attract any attention because she could almost guarantee that the Master and her friends thought she was dead. I just hope Jack didn't pass out if the Master put it on screen. She thought to herself with a small smile. So much for my promise to not open the box or get myself killed...

Aklana jerked awake. "Oh my God!" She said loudly, looking around as if to see Lara standing next to her. They'd been in the cage nearly 4 hours since Lara had died, and there was no sign of Maufuki anywhere still. One by one they had all dropped off to an uneasy sleep.

"What is it Aklana?" Laney asked sleepily, opening one eye and pushing herself up to a half-sitting position.

"Nothing... it was nothing, I had a dream about Lara, that's all, nothing more..." Aklana said after a pause, trying to convince herself that she didn't just hear in her mind what she thought she heard. Lara had been talking about Jack passing out and her promise to not get killed... but that wasn't possible. Lara was dead. Now convinced that it was just a grief dream, she leaned back to her previous position, put her head on the Doctor's shoulder, and went back to sleep.

As Lara continued on her way through the TARDIS, not noticing she knew exactly where she was going even though she had been completely lost on the way to the room, she heard voices and stopped dead in her tracks. They were heading towards her in the direction she was going. Looking around, Lara's heart dropped into her stomach when she realized there was no place to hide. All she could do was step to the side and pray they didn't turn their heads at all. Don't see me, please God don't see me... she thought, pressing herself against the wall the best she could. Finally two men rounded the corner. One Lara recognized as the Master right away, but the other -- a very wrinkled old man with a blue eye in his forehead and what looked like a Dalek bottom as a sort of "wheelchair" -- looked like nothing she'd ever seen before.

"So, Master," The second man spoke in a slow, very gravely tone. His head turned towards Lara and she tensed, expecting him to raise an alarm, but his eyes seemed to slide over her because he looked back at the Master. "What is your plan to destroy this Doctor person?" The two stopped walking and the Master bent down to do something with his shoe... tie it, Lara could guess.

"Well, I had planned on aging him with my laser screwdriver until he's a shriveled old midget--" The cheeriness in the Master's voice made Lara want to puke and punch him in the face at the same time, because who knew how horrible he could be in real life? "--and then maybe raping that vampire he finds so attractive." At this the Master made a face and glanced up, again looking in Lara's direction and making her tense. But again, he didn't seem to see her and bent down to his shoe again.

"And the others?"

"Captain Jack I planned on killing until the end of time, I don't have to worry about his girlfriend because she got herself killed somehow, and then I figured that Laney girl can be my slave. I actually planned for Martha to be my slave, but I figure that having a different girl would be just as well."

"What about the last one… that... Maufuki girl, I think they said?"

"Oh yes that one…" The Master made a slightly troubled face as he stood up. "The Daleks haven't been able to find her anywhere but I'm sure they will. Her DNA is very unusual, it must have screwed up the detectors on the cage and that's how she escaped... Well she's stupid enough that I might be able to convince her to join me as my partner, then steal her DNA. They could be useful for the Daleks." He shoved his hands in his pockets, just like the Doctor did, with a thoughtful epression on his face. Lara held her breath as a silence descended over everything. Then as suddenly as it had come, it was gone, and the Master beamed at the other man. "Well, let's get going, eh? I'm sure the Doctor would love to see you again, after all, and I don't believe we can keep them waiting much longer."

The other man nodded and the two moved off down the hallway. Lara waited until she couldn't hear their footsteps and she absolutely HAD to breathe before letting out her breath, stepping away from the wall, shivering. How had they not seen her? She wasn't invisible or anything... but more pressing matters invaded as she glanced at the box in her hands.

OH GOD I have to tell the others! Lara thought with extreme urgency, quickening her pace.

"OH MY GOD!" Aklana yelled as she woke with a start again. And this time she woke everyone else up.

"Aklana, what is it? Did you have a nightmare?" the Doctor asked straightening and putting his arm around her shoulder. She shrugged it off impatiently.

"Lara's alive, she has to be! That's the second time I thought I heard her voice tonight since the video feed." She said, pulling away from all of them and standing up, testing the bars of the cage.

"Aklana, it's not her. Lara's dead." Jack said in a harsh tone, standing up as well. His whole manner had been depressive and angry since the video feed cut off.

"SHE'S NOT DEAD! Don't you think I would know if my best friend's voice in my head was really her or not? The Master could have been lying to us, maybe he's just holding her somwhere!" Aklana yelled, turning on Jack after realizing the bars really wouldn't let her through. There was some sort of a force field thing surrounding it that she couldn't put her hand through.

The Doctor had jerked to his feet and was staring at Aklana. "What did you say?" he said sharply, cutting off Jack's reply. The two looked at him.

"What?" Aklana matched his tone.

"What did you say, about Lara really being alive, what name did you say?"

Aklana's eyes widened as she caught on, and she glanced at Laney. Laney looked just as surprised as she did. Oh. Crap. "I didn't say any name."

"Yes you did, you did so don't lie to me. What name did you say?" The Doctor demanded in a tone Aklana rarely heard, even in the T.V. show.

Well, there was no taking it back now... "The Master. I said the Master. I would've told you earlier but I was afraid he'd do something if he realized we knew who he was." She glanced at Jack, who know looked hurt and confused. "The Master's a Time Lord. He and the Doctor were friends once... once. He was executed before the Time War, I think, but... er..." Should she go on? The Master was supposed to tell this to the Doctor himself, though by now they were so far off the story-line it didn't really matter much either way. "But the Time Lords resurrected him or something along those lines to fight; instead he ran away to end of time and space, locked his memories in a little watch thing, and someone reopened it recently, that's why he's here. To take over Earth, and then some probably. And... a-and..." Her voice eventually lost strength under the Doctor's gaze, so she just mumbled quietly, "That's all I know..."

The group was silent while the Doctor and Aklana had a staring match, Aklana almost losing because of the torrent of emotions that passed not on the Doctor's face, but in his eyes. Finally the Doctor spoke first, "So the Master's alive?"

"Yes." Aklana muttered, breaking gaze and looking down. "The 'Tinternet' told me back on the TARDIS before Steak 'N' Shake, but I had no idea any of this was going to happen, I really didn't."

"DId the Tinternet tell you Lara was going to live, too?" Jack said sarcastically, breaking the somber mood between Aklana and the Doctor.

"Why don't you just shut up!" Aklana said angrily, turning back to him. "I'm telling you she's alive!"

"Aklana!" Laney said quietly, looking towards a doorway. Everyone ignored her.

"You saw what was on the screen, there's no way she's still alive!" Jack said loudly back.

"Lara knew the risks when she went out there, if she hadn't acted she would have been killed by the Dalek." The Doctor said, looking between the two. "There's no reasoning with the Master when he's gets like this."

"She's NOT dead!" Aklana shouted.

"Quit fooling yourself into thinking something is real when it isn't! Just accept the fact that she's dead!" Jack yelled, grabbing Aklana's shoulders and shaking them. Aklana growled and exposed her fang teeth.

"Jack!" The Doctor shouted.

"Guys!" Laney screamed over them, pointing. "Look!"

The three turned their heads in one joint motion to look where Laney was pointing. There, standing across the room looking a little pale and drawn, the box clamped tightly in her hands -- was Lara!

Lara smiled faintly. "Well, at least someone had faith in me. Thanks Aklana."