Lost in Thought : Snippets of an Alternate POV

Escape the Room

Full story: Chapters 34-39 of Lost in Time

Recap: Lyssa jumps to the Twelfth Doctor and new companion Bria, and they visit a Chuck E. Cheese-themed Escape Room that quickly turns into something much more sinister. With Bria and civilian Scott already taken by the animatronics and presumably dead, the Doctor and Lyssa are left traversing a not-so-fun house in the dark, hoping to find the exit and survive until dawn.

POV: Twelfth Doctor

The Doctor cast a worried glance behind him as he turned down yet another hallway, Lyssa's hand clutched tight in his. She'd been worryingly silent ever since Bria had been taken. Not just verbally, as was needed to stay alive, but emotionally as well - she'd shut down once the blood landed on her palm, visibly struggling to fight off flashbacks to Canary Wharf. He mentally cursed the Master for the fourteenth time that night, knowing he'd set that up deliberately just to toy with her.

Once he'd found it in himself to forgive the man for his many crimes, to offer him compassion and another chance to do better, over and over again.

No more.

Now, he knew that his childhood friend was well and truly gone, leaving only a vicious predator that had no hope or desire for redemption. After what the Master had done to Lyssa, to Vina and his alternate universe counterpart, after who he'd allied himself with... there was no coming back from that.

The beam from her flashlight wavered as her hand shook and he tightened his grip, trying to send her some of his strength and wishing once again that she was capable of sustaining a bond for that very purpose. She was far too early, and he knew that, but it would have been easier on them both. They'd been trapped for six hours and eighteen minutes by this point, and the constant surge of adrenaline was keeping her up, but he could tell she was reaching her limits. Particularly so soon after Canary Wharf.

He stopped in front of another open doorway, listening carefully. He didn't hear anything, or detect any odd airflow movements - only the ever-present scent of dried blood, a fact he'd very carefully kept from Lyssa - but that didn't mean anything.

He'd learned that the hard way.

He reluctantly released Lyssa and carefully moved across to the other side, then held up a hand to wait as he listened once more. When he nodded for her to go, she leaped across into his waiting arms, silently shaking as she buried her face into his chest and let out a shuddering breath. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight to him, resting his cheek on her hair but keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.

They couldn't stay there, and both of them knew it. They'd tried it earlier, just sitting still and waiting until dawn, but that had only attracted more of the animatronics. They obviously hadn't been found, but having the robots appear randomly in the hallway every few minutes - with rapidly decreasing intervals - had made it too dangerous to stay. It had only been a matter of time before one of them would have moved at the wrong moment, and so they'd kept going, wandering further into this labyrinth of a building where the inside was bigger than the outside in a gruesome mockery of the TARDIS.

He tightened his grip on her for just a moment, silently willing his fairy-girl to be brave, then released her. She let her arms fall away as she stepped back, avoiding his gaze as she swiped at her cheeks with her free hand, but not before he saw fresh tear tracks on her face. His hearts ached for her, but they couldn't afford to stop.

He led her through another hallway, sensing they were getting close to the end - the air smelled fresher - and hoping she could make it just a little bit longer. She was near constantly shaking now, her strength depleted after hours of surviving on pure adrenaline. Her reflexes were slower, leaving him even more tense each time she gathered what was left of her energy to cross an open doorway.