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Danni groaned as the hit the floor very soundly. If it had been springy, she was certain she would have bounced. Instead, it was very solid and she just very suddenly came to a halt.
"Doctor?" she called with a cough as her vision came back. She felt the chill in the air and glanced around; she was sat on a hill. A wet hill. A cold, wet, probably muddy hill. It wasn't raining at the moment, but one look upwards told her it was about to at any moment. So, she was still in Britain.
She wasn't sure what had happened, but she was sure dream transitions weren't supposed to hurt that badly. She felt very slightly winded, though, from the less than graceful landing on the wet, dirty, grassy hill. Even in the damp weather the scenery around her was incredibly pretty. She did appreciate a nice landscape. In the distance she could see some houses and some sort of industrial area. It didn't help narrow where her brain had taken her to, but it seemed logical to assume that she was going to meet someone soon.
So, with no clue on where she was or if the Doctor was going to still be part of her dream, she stood up and decided to walk downwards. She was glad she was still dressed as she had been when the toy vortex manipulator had knocked her out because the air was rather biting. It would appear her mind didn't want her to go anywhere warm. Was that always a factor of her dreams? She'd never noticed it before. She wondered if she'd remember that whenever she was woken up again.
In the distance she caught sight of two figures. They were too far away to make out but they were definitely waving at someone. She followed what appeared to be their eyeline and saw a rather beautiful blue box sat in a graveyard. She grinned to herself; Doctor Who dream still continuing. That was definitely a win in her books.
She started running towards the little church in the middle of the graveyard, realising quickly that her momentum wasn't going to let her slow down easy. She could feel her feet stumbling over each other and it was a miracle that she hadn't fallen over on the way down.
The Doctor slowly came into view, crouched down looking at the grass. Two things stood out to her. One; the grass was patchy and blue. Two; the Doctor was wearing tweed.
"Doctor!" she cried, coming the sudden realisation that she wasn't going to be stop before she reached him. The Doctor jumped up, turning around and grinning wildly.
"Danni-Girl!" he cried.
"Move!" she shouted as she barrelled ever closer. He looked vaguely confused but she didn't have much time to process it as she ploughed straight into him, knocking them both to the floor. She groaned and he laughed happily.
She pushed herself up off him – a little reluctantly, after all what were dreams for? – but didn't stand up. "You're not the Doctor," she declared with a frown. She then shook her head. "No, that's wrong," she corrected. "You are the Doctor, you're just not the Doctor I was just with."
As she was about to continue he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her down for an unexpected hug. "Danni-Girl!" he cried again. "It feels like it's been forever!"
She enjoyed the hug for a moment before her senses kicked in and she rolled off him, landing rather clumsily next to him. "Well I was just with you," she replied. "Not you, though. Other you. You know, David Tennant." He sat up next to her, brows furrowing although she didn't understand why he was confused. "I thought transitions were supposed to be seamless. Why do I know you've regenerated since then?"
"You don't know what's going on, do you?" he asked her.
"I'm dreaming," she offered, although he pulled a face that made her think that wasn't what he was after. He pulled the face when he was looking for something more, something a little deeper, like he was working it out. "I was with Ten, now I'm with you. Not that I'm complaining."
He didn't reply. He stood up, brushed himself down before holding his hand out for her. She took it and he helped her stand up, smiling softly at her. Her frown didn't disappear. What was happening to make him look at her so sadly?
"Danni!" She turned and blinked in surprise at the sight of Amy Pond and Rory Williams. "I'm so glad you're here. Can you tell him that we can leave now?"
"Leave?" she asked, still confused. She looked around. Blue grass. Short skirt. "Oh, I know where we are!" she cried happily. "We're not in Rio!"
"Exactly!" Amy replied as if Danni had just proven her point. "Can you tell him that? He always listens to you."
"Well, of course he does," Danni said. "It's my dream, isn't it?"
Rory frowned. "Your dream?" he asked. "What-What does she mean by…"
"Just how early on are you?" Amy asked her.
"What do you mean?" Danni asked her before turning to the Doctor. "What does she mean?" He quickly held up a finger, shushing her and she narrowed her eyes. "Oi! Still rude!"
He shot her a wink and she smiled happily. That was more like what she was expecting. The Doctor, on the other hand, turned his attention to the countryside around them to very cleverly dodge her question. His gaze quickly fell onto the machinery at the bottom of the valley and suddenly all he wanted to do was explore it. "Oh, look! Big mining thing. Oh, I love a big mining thing. See, way better than Rio!" He turned to Amy. "Rio doesn't have a big mining thing."
"We're not going to have a look, are we?" Amy whined, already knowing the answer.
"Let's go and have a look!" the Doctor said as if he hadn't heard her. He grabbed Danni's hand and began pulling her down the steep slope. "Come on you two, let's see what they're doing."
Danni's smile widened. This felt more and more like a dream she'd have normally. She wasn't used to being in episodes, but she was much more used to the Doctor paying her more attention that the supporting cast. He held onto her tightly, pulling her along because her mind had finally decided that it'd had enough of a snappy Doctor and had given her one to include her. Not that she didn't like spending time with Ten. Nothing wrong with a bit of David Tennant, after all.
But now that she had her Doctor, she could finally enjoy herself without worrying about decoding everything.
She looked over her shoulder. "Yeah, come along Ponds!" she called. "It'll be fun!"
"Why can't all my companions have the same attitude as you?" he asked her.
"Because I'm fantastic," she replied factually. "Plus, who would want to go to boring old Rio when there is actually blue grass here?" She stopped their movement to reach down and pull some of the grass out of the ground. "Look. It's like grass, but it's blue. I'm actually holding blue grass."
He leant in a little closer, a rather enticing look in his eyes and a smug smirk on his face. "I know," he whispered.
"There can only be one thing more awesome than blue grass," she continued with a little nod to herself.
"What?"
"Apple grass." She pointed to blue grass at him. "I'd love to see apple grass. Remember that."
He frowned. "Have you not been to New New York yet?" he asked, once again looking at her like he was trying to work her out.
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused. "I was with Donna, then I was with you. That's how this works." He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, giving her a once over with a press and a buzz.
The end popped out, he read the results and his face dropped in an almost horrified realisation. He raised his eyes to meet hers. "You're young," he declared. "You're right at the beginning, aren't you?"
"What does that even mean?" she asked. "What's going on? You promised you were going to explain but you never got the chance before I was shot here." She pointed at him. "Painfully, I might add. What was that about?" He opened his mouth to start explaining when he was interrupted by Amy calling their names. He held back his sigh of relief as Amy linked her arm through Danni's, starting them walking again with the air of being the person in charge.
"This had better be good," she warned the pair.
"Oh, it'll be something," Danni muttered.
He ran his hand through his hair as he watched them go. She really had no idea, did she? He remembered her with Donna, he recognised the dress she was wearing although the grass stains were probably new. She had thought she was in a dream no matter how many times he'd told her otherwise.
She was so young. She didn't know anything. Once again this was something his previous body had left for him to sort out.
He glanced back to see if Rory was following. He didn't seem to be, but Amy wouldn't have just left him behind without good reason. And he couldn't leave Danni on her own, could he?
Plus, there was a big mining thingy.
~0~0~0~
"Restricted access. No unauthorised personnel," the Doctor read off the sign on the locked gate. Amy had let go of Danni to look at their seemingly blocked way with a little bit of annoyance, whereas the Doctor just saw it as a challenge. He smiled at her. "What do you think, Danni-Girl?"
"I think it's a shame we can't get in," she replied. "Perhaps Rio is on the cards now."
Danni loved Eleven. She'd started watching with Nine but he'd become very much her Doctor, as people said, and so most of her Who dreams revolved around him. However, as much as she loved him, this wasn't even one of her favourite episodes and the ending wasn't really 'dream' material, was it? She really liked Rory. Maybe it was time for her to try and take control of her own dream.
The Doctor nodded. "It is a shame," he agreed. "But then again…" He pulled out his screwdriver and pointed it at the lock. It opened with a spark, causing both Danni and Amy to jump in surprise. He just looked smug, chucking the screwdriver in the air with a spin before putting it in his pocket.
"That is breaking and entering," Amy quietly hissed.
"What did I break?" the Doctor protested.
"He's right," Danni replied. "Sonicking and entering. It's totally different." She looked up at the Doctor. "Looks like Rio's off again."
The Doctor couldn't help but grin with her. Even so early on she seemed so inclined to run into everything head first. He removed the padlock, chucking it to the side before opening the gate. He motioned Danni in first. Amy rolled her eyes and quickly followed.
He took another glance up towards the graveyard. "You're sure Rory'll catch up?" he asked, calling after Amy as she headed inwards.
Danni had waited for him. "Rory has his own thing going on," she told him. Apparently changing up her dream wasn't something she could do. So, back to following the episode it was. "Let's just follow Amy."
The main building wasn't anything exciting. The hallways were made up of concrete walls with no natural lighting, as if they were going underground. Which, Danni supposed, they probably were. The Doctor still looked rather confused, and a little frustrated that no one else seemed too bothered by whatever was bothering him.
"What about now, can you feel it now?" he asked them both.
"Honestly, I've got no idea what you're on about," Amy replied.
Danni held her hand up. "I can feel it!" she declared happily. She couldn't, but as she knew what was going to happen she didn't see any harm in playing up to that a bit.
"Of course you can," Amy retorted. "I bet you were the teacher's pet at school as well."
"I wasn't the teacher's pet," Danni replied. "Everyone loved me. I was everyone's pet."
The Doctor stuttered in his step for a moment. "The ground doesn't feel like it should," he said, probably a little louder than he meant to as he forced the conversation back on track.
"It's ten years in the future, maybe how this ground feels is how it always feels," Amy reasoned.
"Good thought!" the Doctor praised. "But no. It doesn't." A siren started sounded further into the building. "Hear that? Drill in start-up mode." He pulled out his screwdriver, flashed it briefly then put it away. "After waves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass." He pulled a piece of the grass from his pocket, put it in his mouth then promptly spat it back out again.
Amy laughed in disbelief. "Oh, please! Have you always been this disgusting?"
"No, that's recent," he replied. Danni laughed and he looked at her with a frown. "What?"
"Bakelite," she pointed out. He had a lot of questions. She was too new to know about him licking the Bakelite, and it wasn't something she was even there for. Instead of asking them, though, he shifted on the spot in embarrassment at the idea that she was calling him out for a rather weird habit he had.
"That was- That was nothing," he replied. "Nothing happened." He quickly set back off again, turning a corner and spotting a large set of double doors. A set of doors that were open. "What's in here?" he asked as he stepped inside. There was a woman already in there looking at some equipment, who didn't notice that there was anyone behind her until the Doctor spoke up. "Hello!"
The woman quickly looked around, looking outraged at the intruders. "Who are you? What're you doing here?" she demanded. She then caught sight of Amy. "And what're you wearing?"
"She dressed for Rio," Danni explained as she skipped to the Doctor's side. "Not Wales."
"We're in Wales?" Amy asked, more than a little disappointed.
"Aren't you always?" Danni replied cheekily. Everything was either set in Wales or filmed in a quarry in Wales. It was a Doctor Who staple, one that she both teased and loved at the same time.
Once again, though, the Doctor couldn't help but notice her words more than she probably meant him to. He took out his psychic paper and flashed it at the angry woman, tucking it back away before she could question what she'd seen. "Ministry of Drills, Earth and Science!" he said, dropping his voice low to sound more official. "New Ministry, quite big, just merged, lot of responsibility on our shoulders, don't like to talk about it. What're you doing?"
"None of your business," the woman replied sharply but the Doctor walked over to her machines anyway. He watched the readouts with a frown and the monitoring machinery beeped with each new reading. Lines fluctuated and writing scrawled down in green against the black background and none of it made any sense to Danni or Amy, so Amy walked away to lean against a forklift truck, bored. Danni stayed by the Doctor's side anyway because that was where all the fun happened.
"Beeping is never good, is it?" Danni asked the Doctor, who shook his head absentmindedly.
"No..." he replied thoughtfully. "Where are you getting these readings from?" The woman was picking up a large metal piece of equipment from a hole in the middle of the room and back towards the monitoring equipment.
"Under the soil," she told him. The Doctor quickly spun around, heading to the pile of dirt the equipment had been reading from. He crouched down, picking a handful up and letting it drop from his fingers. Danni crouched down next to him, trying not to get dirty.
"What are you doing when you do that?" she asked, genuinely curious. He tilted his head to look at her. "When you touch stuff, or lick it, or whatever? I've never understood and it's never really explained."
"Where are you from?" he asked her lowly as an older man came in through the doors.
"I told you; I was just with Ten," she replied. "Don't tell me my brain gave you a terrible memory."
"The drill's up and running again," the older man declared before spotting the new trio. "What's going on? Who are these people?"
"Amy, Danni and the Doctor," Amy told him, pointing at each of them as she did. Danni looked up and waved at him with a smile.
"Hello!"
"We're not staying, are we, Doctor?!" Amy continued, looking at him pointedly but he didn't notice.
"Why's there a big patch of earth in the middle of your floor?" he asked the pair. Danni wasn't going to give him a proper answer until he could sit her down and explain. It wasn't going to be easy, but now was not the time for it. She needed to be somewhere calm because it was going to devastate her.
"We don't know, it just appeared overnight," the woman replied. Realising they weren't making it to Rio, Amy walked over and peered in the hole. The Doctor shot up, startling the pair.
"Good, right, you all need to get out of here very fast," he told them as he headed to the monitor and typing on it. The woman seemed rather surprised that he seemed to know what he was doing.
"Why?" the woman asked.
"What's your name?" he asked in reply.
"Nasreen Chaudhry."
"Look at the screens, Nasreen," he told her. "Your readings. It's moving."
"What is?" Nasreen asked, confused. The man walked over, demanding that the Doctor step away from the equipment but the Doctor, once again, paid him no attention.
Amy knelt down next to Danni as the hole began smoking gently. "Is it supposed to be doing that?" Amy asked her.
Danni shook her head. "Doubt it," she replied before looking up. "Oi, Spaceman!" The Doctor's head shot around, staring at her in what seemed to be surprise. She tried not to smile, although it was rather nice to surprise someone who was supposedly rather clever. "It's not supposed to be doing this, is it?"
The Doctor saw the steam rising and shook his head, walking over. "Shouldn't think so," he agreed. "It's shifting when it should be shifting!" he exclaimed, looking more and more bewildered as his brain went over every possibility. He couldn't figure this out. Why couldn't he figure this out?
He glanced at Danni, who was watching him with a beam on her face. "What?"
"I always loved it when you were being all clever," she replied happily. He smirked, rather enjoying the attention for a moment before he shook his head. Now was the time to be serious, not to show off.
"What shouldn't?" Nasreen demanded, very confused and becoming more and more frustrated as she was being ignored.
As if it was listening to her, the whole room began to shake. Tools clattered to the ground and Danni and Amy shot off the floor, stepping away from the hole in the ground.
"The ground, the soil, the earth, moving, but how?" He rushed back over to the monitor but turned back to look at the hole. "Why?" he shouted at it.
"Earthquake?" Amy suggested.
"What's going on?" the older man asked. The Doctor ran back over to the hole, looking in every direction as he tried to figure out what was happening.
"Doubt it. Cos it's only happening under this room," he told them all. None of this made any sense. It was as if something was trying to break its way upwards. But what?
He jumped back as the ground gave way and created another hole by his feet. Amy shrieked as another hole appeared by her, the room filling with holes as the ground appeared to slip away underneath them.
"It knows we're here," Danni cried out, jumping away from the hole that appeared at her feet, landing next to Nasreen.
"The ground's attacking us," the Doctor confirmed quickly.
"No, that's not possible!" Nasreen said with a laugh of disbelief as she and Danni clung to each other, balancing on a very small piece of ground.
"Under the circumstances, I suggest... RUN!" the Doctor cried. He rushed towards the pair and reached out, grabbing Danni's hand. She in turn grabbed Nasreen's and they all headed for the door. The older man yelled as the ground he was running on collapsed under him and he became trapped knee deep in the soil. Amy stopped by him, not knowing what to do.
"Tony!" Nasreen shouted.
"Stay back, Amy! Stay away from the earth!" the Doctor warned her. She looked at him, obviously considering what he was saying, then back at Tony who was still stuck in the ground. It didn't take much of a deliberation on her part; she couldn't just leave him behind!
She jumped across a hole, grabbing his arm to help pull him out. "It's OK," she told him gently. She then screamed as the ground opened up and swallowed her up to her thighs.
"Amy!" the Doctor shouted. He quickly jumped over the holes to get to her, Danni hesitating only for a moment before hopping over as well. It was just a dream, in the episode Amy was sucked down, but she couldn't just stand back and watch it happen.
"Doctor, help me, something's got me!" Amy cried. The Doctor grabbed one arm, Danni grabbed the over and they tried their hardest to keep her out of the soil. Amy yelped as it pulled her down further. The Doctor stretched out on his stomach and reached for her. Danni skidded across the floor as she was pulled forward by the force of the ground eating Amy.
"The ground's got my legs," Amy told him as she was pulled down to her waist. He held onto her hand tightly as Danni skidded forward again, her feet landing in some soil.
"I've got you," he promised Amy.
Amy nodded, but still looked terrified. "Don't let go," she begged.
"Never," Danni swore with a reassuring smile.
"Doctor, what is it, why is it doing this?" Amy asked.
"Stay calm," he replied instead. "Keep hold of my hand, don't let go." He looked over his shoulder. Nasreen had managed to get Tony out of the soil and the pair were safe by the door. "Your drill, shut it down! Go! Now!" He commanded. Nasreen and Tony ran out of the room as Danni felt herself going down instead of across the floor as she struggled to keep a hold of Amy. She glanced down at her feet, now ankle deep in the soil. Her grip tightened on Amy; if they were going down they were going down together.
"Can you get me out?" Amy asked.
"Amy, try and stay calm," the Doctor said as calmly as he could. "If you struggle, it'll make things worse. Keep hold of our hands."
"We're not going to let you go," Danni added. Amy slipped from the Doctor's grip and sunk further down, pulling Danni down with her. The Doctor tumbled backwards but scrambled up and grabbed Amy's arm to stop her disappearing completely.
"Doctor, it's pulling me down, something's pulling me!" Amy cried, terrified.
"Stay calm." he told her firmly. "Hold on, if they can just shut down the drill..."
"I can't hold on!" Amy exclaimed. She was pulled down so only her head and arms were showing above the soil. Danni glanced down again. She was now knee-deep. The Doctor hadn't noticed and it was too late for him to save her as well. This wasn't how the dream was supposed to go. She wanted to stay with the Doctor.
"What's pulling me? What is under the earth? I don't want to suffocate under there," Amy sobbed, her eyes full of tears.
"Amy, concentrate. Don't you give up!" the Doctor almost pleaded with her.
"Tell Rory..." With a last bit of force, Amy was pulled under the Earth before she could finish her sentence.
"Amy!" Danni cried as she was quickly pulled under with her, disappearing from view.
"Danni, no!" the Doctor cried. He hadn't even noticed that she had fallen into the soil. She hadn't said a word, and now they were both gone. He shook his head. "No! No!"
He kept repeating the word as he fell forward into the soil, using his hands to try and dig through to the other side. There was nothing there, though, and his efforts were fruitless.
He slapped the ground hard, giving up angrily. He stood up, storming away from the hole for a moment before deciding he couldn't just give up. He should have been paying more attention. She was so new and young, he had expected her to be more reserved. He should have known Danni would try anything to save Amy. Now whatever was down there had not only Amy, but his Danni-Girl as well.
He pulled out his sonic, pointing it down at the soil and setting it off in the hopes that something might change. Nothing did, though, and with no viable readings of anything his arm fell limply at his side. The buzzing of the screwdriver died off as Nasreen and Tony rushed back into the room, panting heavily.
They both looked at the man who was staring at the hole in the ground, looking like he was about to cry.
"Where are they?" Nasreen asked.
"They've gone," he whispered sadly. "The ground took them."
~0~0~0~
Deep underground, oblivious to all of the chaos and worry above them, Amy laid unconscious on the floor, her body being scanned by green humanoid creature. Danni groaned, her head pounding from being crushed on the way down and the creature froze as Danni shot up and stared, wide-eyed at her. The creature approached her, ready to pounce and Danni backed away.
"Oh no, no don't do that. Please, I'm not a threat," she explained quickly. She held her hands up in surrender. "Please, my name is Danni, that is Amy and we're here to help."
Her pleas didn't stop the creature from advancing on her. It wore a white coat and seemed very intrigued with them both.
"I-I can name you," Danni tried again. "Er…" She tapped her head, trying to get it to work. Her head was jumbled up from the trip down. "Er…" She pointed at the creature, eyes brightening in pride. "Silurian!" she exclaimed. "Homo Reptilia. I know you don't think much of us apes, but to know that I must be pretty smart and worth keeping awake, am I right?"
The creature continued its approach, obviously not impressed at all by Danni's great intellect. She backed away slowly as she was quickly backed into a wall. As the Silurian reached out, syringe in hand, Danni felt properly scared once again. Scared about the dream advancing. She didn't want it to suddenly change and to lose her time with the Doctor. But she really felt in danger, and she continued to beg even as the needle entered her arm and she fell unconscious.