When the Sun Sets ☼ Eleven x Reader

VIII - When the Clock Strikes Twelve

'Hello!' the Doctor beams eagerly, throwing the door to the next room open with great enthusiasm. 'See,' he says in an aside to you. 'I told you it was fourth door from the right,'

'Okay, just because I might have got the counting a bit off does not mean you know better,'

He smirks at you deviously, and shines you a 'Really?' look before you jab him swiftly in the ribs with your elbow. It wasn't a hard attack, and so he taps you on the head condescendingly.

'Maybe try again next time, huh [Y/N]?'

'Oh, just shut up, you,' you reply playfully as he walks back towards the centre of the room where the Doctors were still scanning the droid.

'Make me!' the Doctor shouts back, turning on his heel slightly as he walks and shooting you a vague wink as he reaches the other men.

You scowl slightly at the smoothness of his remark and reluctantly follow him over to the other Doctors.

'Right! If this is going to work effectively I'm going to need a way to differentiate between you three. I can't just call you all 'Doctor'.' you state as you arrive.

'Well, let's see then. He was the ninth one,' the Doctor says, indicating towards the one in the leather jacket. 'And he was the tenth. So you can call us by our numbers, that works- for sake of ease,'

'Okay, so Nine, Ten and Eleven,'

'Oh no, no, no,' the Doctor says. 'I'm just 'Doctor'.'

'Well why do you get the special name?'

'Because I'm the special one and it was my idea anyway so HA!' he replies quickly and immaturely, but you can't help but elicit a small giggle at his excitement. Nine and Ten didn't look too pleased at not being ranked 'the special one', and looked as if they were about to protest the matter before you stepped in.

'So, what have you found?'

'Pretty much everything we need to find,' Nine replies.

'Right. You might have to give us a little more than that.' you say.

'Well, to put it briefly,' Ten starts. 'The scanners are a form of alien drone created by a company called Prometheus Industries. See here, there's a little logo.' he shows you it so quickly you barely get a chance to see it. You just about manage to make out the outlined shape of an apple before it's whisked away from your face. 'This 'Christian Skinner' whose face seems to be slapped on every surface in this place is the Head of the Company. Doesn't look like much of a trustworthy man, his face is a bit too big for his body. Anyway, his book 'The Me Inside of Me' is a best-seller on many different planets, and it seems to be earning him quite a bit of money, too. That's pretty much all we've got.'

'But what about the clones? What's up with them?'

'Wow, you really haven't connected these clues together yet?' Nine says, a little confused. 'I thought you'd be clever enough to connect the dots by now.'

You give the three of them a blank stare, and you can feel them on the brink of explosion from the desire to tell you about the clones.

'Go on then, tell me.'

Your Doctor steps forward and opens his mouth to speak, before turning back to the other two, almost asking for permission to tell you. They nod for him to continue, and he bounces a little in happiness before composing himself to speak.

'With the combined power of all three of our sonics, we have managed to identify the last half of the earlier verdict. 'PERSONIFIED GUILT'. The clones are literal embodiments of everything that plagues our memories. That's why Mr Skinner wrote his book. It helps you identify what it is that's wrong with you, and allows you to live without the weight of your heaviest burden- for the small fee of £19.99. It's like radicalised therapy.'

You sit for a moment, a little unsure of how to react to this.

'Oh!' the Doctor adds. 'Just for a bit of extra trivia- it's all to do with Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein.'

'What?' you say, now more aware of the situation. 'I studied that book. How does this have anything to do with Frankenstein?'

'Well.' Nine now steps forward to speak. 'Prometheus Industries' is named after the alternative title to Frankenstein- 'The Modern Prometheus'. The apple in the logo represents Adam and Eve, Adam being the name of the monster in the book and the Bible story with the apple being the source of all that's wrong in the world, or with you, as the company helps you with. Oh, and the whole 'clone' thing's a bit 'Frankenstein-y' anyway, isn't it?'

'Now you put it like that, I don't feel quite so bad for not understanding what you were getting at the first time around.' you smile. 'I just have one more question. We've tried almost every room here, and we still haven't found clones of Amy and Rory. Why?'

'Who?' Ten asks, leaning in closer to the Doctor.

'The other two. There's four of us.' he explains.

'Travelling with more than one? Good on you, mate.' Ten congratulates, hitting the Doctor encouragingly on the back.

'To answer your question, [Y/N],' the Doctor replies, almost ignoring Ten's remark. 'Amy and Rory are on cloud nine. They've just got married, they're in the TARDIS with their two favourite people. Their happiness overshadows their other emotions. the scanners couldn't find any overwhelming guilt that plagued them.That'd be my guess as to why they don't have a clone.'

Suddenly, you hear a loud chime of a clock outside of the room, and jump back in shock. The Doctor steadies your balance by carefully wrapping an arm around your shoulder. You look down and check your watch, eager to find out how much time must have passed since you were at the pool together. It had to have been longer than an hour, but you were certain you hadn't heard the clock chime until now.

'Midnight.' you say, looking up at the Doctor at the end of the last chime. His face is contorted in confusion, looking across the room. You follow his gaze to find something you could never have anticipated.

Nine, Ten, and the eight other sleeping Doctors had all vanished without a sound, and without a trace left behind.