The Seven Doctors

[Deleted]

The Doctor smiled at the Tenth incarnation, he had a fond memory of their time in Egypt, one of the main reasons being that at the time he was incredibly alone and meeting himself did do alot to cheer him up he had to admit, he greeted him with a simple, "Hello Doctor."

"Well, that's everyone I imagine. Obviously there's some kind of block on our original self up to our Fourth, but where are Twelve and Thirteen then? You'd think if they were aware of this, they would help." Again, Seventh smiled jollily at the youngest of the incarnations, "I don't think any of us have ever met those incarnations, unless you lot know something I don't, unfortunately I think this is to be another of those times where we do not meet them."

He continued to pilot the TARDIS whilst he talked, well not so much pilot but keep stable so they could talk without rocking around all other the place, thinking about his future incarnations he thought it strange also that none of them had ever met their twelfth and thirteen incarnations, he concluded it was something important to do with their time-stream and questioned it no more.

"So, where now Doctors?"

[The Ninth Doctor (Retired)]

He breathed, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, "I don't know why I'm telling you this. You already know what I'm thinking. You thought it when you were me."

As the younger man spoke, the Doctor swapped out black linen slacks for black jeans, and pulled on boots. Then, shrugging his leather jacket on with the air of a knight girding for battle, he turned to face his past. "You're telling me," he said, "because if you don't tell someone you're going to burst. Because you're being forced to make a decision that nobody should have to make."

Spinning on his heel, he strode across the room and stared his younger self in the face. "And because you know that, when we get back from this, you'll have to climb in the TARDIS and make that decision. Watch Gallifrey burn, or watch the universe burn."

He stared at the agony in the younger man's face, remembering when - not so long ago, it seemed - he'd been that man, staring into the eyes of his next life.

"I'll tell you this," he whispered, voice thick. "When you make that decision, you aren't saving the universe."

He squeezed his own eyes shut, remembering what had gone through his mind. "You're saving Ian and Barbara. Vicki. Steven. Katanna and Sara. Dodo, and Ben and Polly. You're saving Jamie and Victoria and Zoe and the Brigadier. Liz, and Jo, and Sarah Jane and John Benton and Mike Yates and Harry Sullivan. You're saving Adric, and Nyssa and Tegan. And Turlough and Kamelion and Peri and Mel and Ace and Grace and all of them."

Suddenly, he pulled himself into an embrace. "You don't save the universe. You save people. Never, never, never forget that."

[Deleted]

“Twelve and Thirteen?” The Sixth shrugged as the Fifth asked him that question. He shoved his hands into his pinstripe yellow pants. “I haven't really thought about them. I'm quite sure that you're well aware by now that I am helping you all for the sake of reality, the less I interact with myself the better, although lately I seem to be having a hard time avoiding that option...” recalling the moment he had encountered his Second form and Jamie.

A shrug and one of his little hum noises, the Doctor put his hands behind his back and paced around the console.

“So, what is the reasoning behind Mavic Chen returning? Perhaps we should investigate various points of time that could have been tampered with by his hand, see if there's some sort of link and why?”

Standing around wasn't going to do anything, he eyed the Tenth.

“Come on, let's see if we can get a lock on where Mavic Chen has been prior to this recent pit stop.”

[Deleted]

The Tenth Doctor had been examining the new console room. He'd read the Gallifreyan up on the top of it. It was all very nice, very nostalgic. Regardless, their younger selves were gossiping about their final incarnations. He looked to his future self and asked, "Then, they haven't turned up yet, have they?"

"No, afraid not. Not that I'm all that bothered by it. It's a bit odd looking into your immediate future."

"Tell me about it."

The Eleventh smiled knowingly and patted himself on the shoulder, "Now now. I can't even find our original self up to our Fourth. Coordinates are all jumbled up, and I can't lock on to them."

"Well! Let's have a look then!" The Tenth Doctor immediately had them sidetracked as he began running around the console, looking rather manic as he worked the controls expertly, as if he'd been in this console room the whole time. Finally, he grabbed the scanner and pulled it to himself and the Eleventh, "And there he is. Doctor number Four. Took a bit of looking, but I've got him."

Beaming to his future and past, he asked, "Well, let's pick him up then."

[Deleted]

The Doctor was sat on a bench, a bench on Earth to be exact, he'd been rather bored lately, not much to do he thought to himself, he laughed at the notion that wouldn't it be fun if someone were to drop out of the sky and cause trouble for once instead of him having to do all the work, it was rather tiring he said out-loud to himself whilst gaining some strange looks from passers-by.

Just as he was about to get up to leave, he heard the sound, not just any old general sound that you here everyday of the week, the sound, he was even shocked further as he watched the TARDIS materialize in front of him.

"Well isn't that odd."

Throwing his scarf over his shoulder, the Fourth Doctor marched up to the TARDIS and knocked on the door before walking straight inside, he stopped almost immediately in his tracks as he gazed at the many different incarnations of himself roaming about the very different console room.

"What are you all doing here?!"

[Deleted]

"Oh! Hello!" The Eleventh greeted, and was still rather impressed with his younger self for locating their Fourth incarnation, and so easily too. Who knew that ripping through their own personal timeline could be so amusing? With a sigh, The Doctor congratulated himself for a job well done.

"You made that look easy. Brilliant work Doctor."

"Well, thank you Doctor. Might've left a bit of a rip in the space-time continuum, but sometimes that's the sort of thing you need to do to save the whole darn thing, eh?"

"I suppose so- wait, you did. Oh, you are so irresponsible. And young!"

"I'm really not."

"You really are!" Turning back to theirself in the scarf, the Eleventh continued, "We need your help Doctor. Crazy man from the Dalek Invasion of Earth, Mavic Chen, you remember, I'm sure. Anyway, he's got a bomb, this, reality bomb. It needs to be neutralized, and Chen needs to be stopped."

[Deleted]

The Eighth knew exactly what his older self was saying the second he'd started. However, he let him remind himself of what he was doing and why he was doing it. He had a point, something that was good to remember, something he needed to keep in his mind. Why he'd do what he'd have to do.

To protect them, the people who didn't know what was coming.

To protect Charley, and Lucie, Tamsin and Molly and Alex. Fitz and Sam, everyone. His friends, his family. That's why the Time Lords had to fall. They'd lost their way, and The Doctor knew it.

But, the hug was nice. The cold chill he'd felt for nearly a year now melted away. With a big sigh, the Eight patted his Ninth self on the back before pulling away. He breathed in, and then out, a heavy sigh.

"If we leave us out there to our own devices for too long, we might have trouble. Best go have a look."

[The Ninth Doctor (Retired)]

His younger self sighed and pulled away. "If we leave us out there to our own devices for too long, we might have trouble. Best go have a look."

The Doctor settled his leather jacket a little more comfortably. This version of it clearly hadn't worn in a while, so it creaked and generally felt a little stiff. "What, us? Get into trouble with ourselves?" he grinned. "Game face on, now. No need to let the younger uses know what's coming up."

He pointed a finger. "And I know you're tempted, because I'm not that far removed from you. So, mum's the word, all right?"

---

The Doctor returned to the primary control room, in time to see his sixth Incarnation pacing like a cat. “So, what is the reasoning behind Mavic Chen returning? Perhaps we should investigate various points of time that could have been tampered with by his hand, see if there's some sort of link and why?”

Standing around wasn't going to do anything, he eyed the Tenth.

“Come on, let's see if we can get a lock on where Mavic Chen has been prior to this recent pit stop.”

"Well, I'm sure we all remember that he had a rather unhealthy obsession with ruling the universe," the Doctor said. "He did, after all, try to play the Daleks for fools. But that's a good idea, and I rather thought it was when I was you. Let's get the time-space viewer hooked back up."

He paused, looking around. "Oh, and have we arrived to pick up our fourth Incarnation yet? Or has our future self not impressed us with that yet?"

[Deleted]

"He's right over here, old boy," The Fifth announced to his future, holding his hand out towards his past. No longer the youngest of Doctors in the TARDIS, he was feeling a bit better, less out of the loop than he had previously been. Smiling brilliantly, he spun on his heels, as they all tended to do, to face his youngest incarnation, "Good to see you've decided to join us this time. Instead of just get jumbled up in some kind of time fracture, or whatever it was."

Light teasing aside, the Doctors had work to do. The ones in leather seemed to be all business, while the two eldest, the ones in suits, happily jabbered on, firing witty repartee at himself without a care in the world.

"One might think that seven heads are better than one. But when one head is instead seven, they do nothing but waste time. Let's set a course. See if we can't find our dear friend Mavic's return following his run in with the Daleks?"