The lost companion (Ace/10th Doctor)

"Doctor?"......"DOCTOR! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Ace shouted as she saw herself in a strange house unlike the one she was in before with the Doctor looking to strange disappearance that had been going on in the house for years.

Only it look to have been the sight or years of neglect and after getting up from the floor. Ace had a look around trying to find clues of where she is and more importantly when she was fearing that the Doctor was lost to her forever,feeling her eyes welling up as she saw little hope in seeing the Doctor again.

(Moment Earlier)

Professor what are we doing this creepy old house reminds me of Gabriel Chase, "this is another one of you surprise is it ?" thinking that something nasty from Ace past was going to bite her to make her realise something good about her.

Saying that as she walk down a corridor when the light went out.

((A little more detail would be of great help next time. Where are they? City? Country? The time? How did they meet? What does the old building look like? What about everything around it? details, details details. Sense you just got back, i will help you))

The Doctor stood, leaning back on his control console, feet crossed and hands tucked into his pockets as he stared up at the ceiling of the control room. It had been days sense he had heard from anyone he knew, much less people that would travel with him as a companion. Adventures had become less frequent as they were before, time had seemed to slow down to a close on The Doctor. To him, it was a though he was standing inside of a room, a pitch black room, with the walls closing in on him with each passing day he lived. What would happen when those walls crushed him? Would he fall into the eternity as lonely as he was when his people died? Shaking his head, The Doctor released a sigh and turned back and over to his control console.

Pulling over the scanner, he yanked the main lever down, sending the TARDIS spiraling through the time vortex and into the twenty first century, where it would land, he didn't honestly care. Unbeknownst to him however, the scanner picked up on a disturbance, something had created a shift in time, minutes were displaced. The TARDIS automatically locked on and ripped through the vortex, focusing down onto the disturbance without The Doctor knowing. When the TARDIS landed, The Doctor had no idea what he was getting himself into, not as he strolled down the ramp and flipped on his trench coat and especially not when he opened the door, slipped through and was immediately welcomed by the sight of an aging mansion. The walls were brown and greyish, the windows had become loose and were dangling down, barely clinging to their original positions. The front door was halfway open, the very wood it was made of was covered in moss and barely holding together. Gates out front still stood tall but sun and the elements had weathered them down, corrosion and rust had taken hold and was the prominent browning color opposed to the original black. The grass was dead and leaking brown; all in sense of the world, the very mansion in front of him appeared haunted or at the very least, abandoned for several years.

(Thank you Professor for the advice I remember that for next time )

Ace thought she heard the sound of the Tardis as she continued to search the huge house look for any sign of the Doctor or who was here before to give her anything in a way of getting back to her Doctor and looked at the painting that hung on the wall seeing some depiction of history of the house and it residence.

Even if they were warped by the light of the sun and dust didn't help either,trying to think what happened that night at this old house and what she saw or at least she thought he saw plucking her mind trying to think as she did she inadvertently pushed a vase off it pedasi.

Just as she thought she had an image in her head the sound of the vase barking made her jump "WHO'S THERE?!" turing on the spot looking for some that she thought was there and seeing the Vase and realising that it was her. After giving a sigh Ace continued to look about the floors of the house trying to retrace her steps of that night,hearing the creaking floor boards at her feet as she walked.

Ace stopped when she heard another noise that made her think that she wasn't alone in this house any more, this put fear in her. But had to look and face who or what was in the house with her.

Think that it may have something to do with the reason she was here in the first place and rushed downstairs to look.

The Doctor glanced around the scenery in front of him, at first there was a blank expression planted across his face but then, suddenly a smile edged its way onto his face. "Brilliant!" He exclaimed, nonchalantly strolling up through the gates of the mansion, his hands placed restfully into his pockets until being forced to take them out as he squeezed through the barely open doors. With the use of his sonic screwdriver, he was able to bring more light to the pitch black surrounding furniture and broken down decor.

The floor beneath The Doctor creaked as he cautiously proceeded further into the mansion, his sonic screwdriver flashing over the rooms as they passed; The Doctor peered over and into each one, finding nothing each time he did so.

Ace got to the bottom floor and started to look around for the source of the noise taking her time not to make too much noise herself so no scare the who ever was here hearing a strange buzzing sound started to come from nowhere,that when Ace thought was some alien scanner or weapon that was being charged up.

Ace had to think on her feet as she left her rucksack in the Tards remembering that as her hand mistakenly thought that she still had it as it reached for a nonexistent bat "ow and I got no Nitro 9 on me either" she whispered as she crept along the corridor.That when she remember there was a kitchen and when there look for a weapon as she was there she looked for a knife,thought turned to taking it but then again that could the Professor looking for her and instead took a frying pan.

As she did she pulled a load of other pot with her and took her new weapon with her and hid in the nearby pantry and waited there for strange thing to come and look for her and that when she would ambush to.

Feeling her heart beating rapidly in fear as she stood there in with can that had long since past there sell and eat by dates making it smell a bit bad.

((You are doing a lot better with your replies. Just be sure to do some read over's after or before you post and to use commas (, ') to break sentences so it is not run on. For example you can read through mine, and see how i use the commas and etc etc. Besides that, good job))

The sonic screwdriver peered around the corner of the next room, shinning light into the kitchen area before The Doctor popped his head over and gazed through. Moving the rest of his body through, The Doctor continued through the frame of the door and into the kitchen. Initially The Doctor saw nothing, nothing but dust covered pots and pans, then, something caught his eye. An uneven levels of the pantry, especially in the last set. Walking slowly over to the first pantry door, the wooden floors beneath his converse shoes creaking as he did so. Extending out his foot, he opened each pantry until coming up on the last one which he had previously had suspicions about; raising an eyebrow he stopped and knelt down in front of it, "Come on out, i'm not going to hurt you" he said gently, jumping to the conclusion it was someone young or in need of help, "Trust me, my name's The Doctor..i can help" he added, extending his hand out to open the pantry door.

Ace hard the strange buzzing once more and more louder as the sound started to come near her direction as it was getting louder as did the creeks on the floor did as well.

Hearing it moved across the floor, Ace was starting to get panicky and felt that at any moment she would have to do something in order to get away from the thing that was on the other side.

She maneuvered herself to a better stance to swing the frying pan as she raised it once more above her head. She could hear her heart beating as it was telling her brain to make a choice fight or flight and had to pick fast as felt that fight was her best choice, Ace slowly raised the frying pan over her head as if where her bat ready swing.

When she stopped in mid stride as a voice spoke out to her telling her to come out and she wouldn't be hurt and this made her sceptical of the person intentions and thought about what they wanted. As she stood there motionless like a statue only her heartbeat booming in her ears in fear.

Ace then hears the man say that he was the Doctor, this made Ace relax but into a confused expression and her posture slump a little in confusion as she listened to the male voice. Thoughts told her that the Professor was outside the other side of the door waiting for her to come out.

After a brief tense moment of silence Ace spoke "here you don't do sound like the Doctor?!" she shouted and raised the frying pan above her head once more, "WHO ARE YOU?! AS I'M ARMED."

Knowing this was a lie of sorts she had to try, not knowing who this person was or doing here in the first place.

The Doctor listened closely to the voice that replied from the other side of the pantry door in front of him; his eyebrow raising as the voice finally clicked inside of his mind. "There's only one person i know who sounds like that" The Doctor finally replied, grabbing the pantry handle and slowly opening it, peering through to the figure behind it with the pan raised high. "Ace McShane" He said proudly, lowering his sonic screwdriver, "The girl who wouldn't allow a man to tell her what to do, what was too dangerous and what wasn't. The iceworld icecream girl who let out a dodo in my zoo on board my TARDIS and dumped icecream on her boss's head after getting fired..or do you not remember all of that?" a smile grew onto his face as he awaited her reply.

It had been years sense he had last seen Ace, easily one of his most unique companions that ever traveled with him and or entered his TARDIS. It was good to see her again, good to see that she was doing alright especially after her departure which in all honesty, was not a polite and easy going one.

Ace was ready to swing the pan when came round the door frame and watched the pantry door slowly opening,hearing the buzzing getting louder and now accompanied with a blue light as once more a voice spoke once more to her.But this time with a bit more compassion this time and sound as if he know her.

She was once more in a state of panic and worry asking her self again what to do with the frying pan as quickly a person appeared from the other side with a smile and putting away the buzzing blue light stick.That he had on him and he went on to not only call her but her name but her life history and the only one that could know that, was The Doctor.

But the man that stood before her not only sound different he looked different and this made Ace eye's well up thinking that the Professor and this man had taken his memories to either get rid of her or worse. All she could do was stand there and look in the man's eye's thought her now glazed over eyes filled with emotion backed by anger asked in a raised voice.

"Ok so you know me,But who are you ? and WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH DOCTOR?!";still firmly holding the frying pan above her head ready to swing at the man.

The Doctor rose his hands to his side, as if to show Ace he had nothing that could harm her, "It's me!" he began, "It's literally me. I am The Doctor, the one and only. A TARDIS, sonic screwdriver, time and space". Winking, he managed a slight smile before noticing that the frying pan was still hoisted high above Ace's head, then continued trying to convince her of his identity, "Ace, it's me. It's literally me. Same man, just different face..well..couple faces sense i last saw you. But still..same person" he paused, "Same Doctor that walked through those doors of the Iceworld on Svartos...and offered you to travel with me after Mal left". Pondering the situation for a moment, he smirked then held up three fingers in front of him, "Three rules" he began, hoping she would remember the three things he told her before he allowed her to travel with him, "One. I'm in charge. Two, i'm not the professor, i'm The Doctor. And three...well...i'll think of three when you get out of this pantry and put down your weapon".

Ace was still in two minds about the man that stood before her,even her hands started to lose grip on the frying pan as where her emotions as her eyes welled more as tears started to run down her cheeks,hearing the man telling her that he was The Doctor and made more references to her.

That only The Professor would know even though that some of his statements were a little off but still he was the only one who would know the most about her.Not even her mother know about her she was too busy with her rotation of men and alcohol,her hands quivered as she finally dropped the frying pan and moved to The Doctor and hugged him.

Before letting go and lightly punched him in anger "why didn't come looking for me?! I missed you I thought was alone forever,with no way of ever finding you." "Not only that you changed? what happened here in this house;that made you lose me and you change?" Even if it was a moment that Ace was gone but it seemed that years had flown past since that split second that she disappeared from her Doctor.

She whipped her eye's and looked at The Doctor "so what now Professor ?" saying that with a bit of smile on her face,there was still some question's and wonder about this new Doctor and what adventures lay ahead.

The Doctor welcomed her hug in and hugged her back warmly with a grin and a laugh, "Haha!" he exclaimed happily before Ace posed the question of his regeneration. Pulling away from the hug, The Doctor glanced down at the ground then back up to her, "Time Lords change Ace..when we die..we regenerate. We are still the same person but..with a few changes" he chuckled, "I was shot..well..that was for the face you recognize..the two after are a different story". Finishing his conversation with Ace in his kneeling position, he forced himself up and walked over to the frame of the kitchen door, peering out and into the hallway as he once more took out his sonic screwdriver and shined it through for some light. "Oh, sorry about leaving you by the way" He finally said, replying to the question she posed before, turning slightly around to face her as he spoke, "Got busy. Had things..with The Master to take care of. I don't know...decided it best for you to get on with your life..you had years ahead of you" looking at her, he managed a faint smile, "Looks like you've done well though".

Turning away from Ace, The Doctor looked once more around into the hallway, raising an eyebrow as he stepped out through the frame of the door, "Why so many missing doors" he mumbled to himself as he walked through to the room directly across from the kitchen. Once inside of the room, he glanced over the various furniture, some turned over and covered in dust, others sitting where they had for years. The rug beneath The Doctor's feet slid at his first step, but stopped once rubbing up against the splintered wood beneath it.

Ace felt the joy of the moment of being reunited with The Doctor even if he had changed and looked at him as he explained how he changed his appearance and what happened to the version of the Doctor that she fell in love with,this made her heart sink a little a the fact that not only where he gone in a way but had died.

After taking a breath and watch The Doctor somber mood change back to normal effervescent self and followed him as he took out his odd blue pen device out once more,when Ace hear The Doctor apologising for him leaving her she glared at him;but inside she forgave him and that he was busy with bigger thing to deal with then looking for her and had to understand.

As The Master is a conniving man that only want to make thing difficult for The Doctor and his companion remembering the time that she nearly changed into a cheetah because of him,but that was all in the past and gave a odd look at The Doctor as he said that it was best for her to get on in her life and that that she looked after her self.

Ace was about to say something when The Doctor as he turned away and back to looking around the house and hear random mumbling coming from him as he walked into another with rather dusty furniture.

"What do you mean get on with my life?, I only went missing a moment ago and you change into a younger version of yourself with now a odd blue buzzing pen and you want me to just go on in life ? My home is the is with you and the Tardis I don't want to go back to the naf old life I had."

Watching The Doctor looking around the room and see him slip and asked "are you alright Professor?" and held out her arms think that he was going to fall backwards.

"Well.." The Doctor began, exaggerating the word as he has always done, especially in this incarnation, "For you it may seem that long, but when you're inside the TARDIS time moves around you...you never know how many things have passed" he explained, turning back around to her. "What feels like a few years for you was hundreds for me" He told her, his mind now recalling all that happened between where he left her and this very moment, "There was a war Ace....", he paused and moved over to the couch adjacent to him and flopped down into it, "The Daleks fought the Time Lords...for the sake of the universe..for the sake of all reality. And we lost....we all lost. The Time Lords are no more...Gallifrey..The Master..everyone's gone Ace. It's just me..i'm the last of the Time Lords".

Looking over to Ace, he glanced down at his sonic screwdriver ,which he held loosely in his right hand, then peered back up to her, "I couldn't go back...can never go back. You see..the thing about time is..it moves on, everything has it's time..it's end and beginning.", managing a smirk he dangled the sonic screwdriver up at Ace for her to see, "New screwdriver. Sleeker, younger. Like me. Oh, wait until you see the TARDIS, changed a lot sense you've last saw it..still same blue box though".

The expression on Ace face turned to sadness for the The doctor as reality of the pain he must gone thought;when he loses some like herself and has to move on and sighed looking at the Time Lord with more competition for the man and his blue box. Her eye glazed over and held back the tears and gave a nod to The Doctor.

She moved to his side "I'm sorry professor I didn't realise how painful it was for you" and sat down next to him in a sympathetic way as she listened to The Doctors troubled past make her small comparison and rightly so as her was only minor transgressions compared the burden and scars of war.

"Well I'm here for you Doctor,here and now and you know I will never leave you side no matter what happens" and gave a his shoulders a hug and looked at the odd device that The Doctor held up to her face and listened to the explanation of it and was delight that he could still surprise her; and that was just the tip of the iceberg as she heard that the tardis had change she could only laugh a little at it.

"It about time; so what do the it do your sonic screwdriver as didn't think you were the sort for space age power tools, Professor?"

The Doctor flipped his sonic screwdriver and caught it with the same hand, rather proud and happy that Ace had remembered who he was and now surely believed that he was indeed the same man. With a smile appearing on his face, he glanced back over to Ace, "I've always had a sonic screwdriver Ace" he told her, "Well..back then it looked like a long metal stick with a red circle on the end. But still, had one. Maybe all that nitro nine has gone to your head" he joked, forcing himself up off of the couch and did a quick look around the room. "So! A good question is..why did you come here? Of all the places to go, you decide to go to one of the most deserted places on London" He asked, looking over to her before his eye caught sight of a light flashing across the hallway in front of him, across the living room before moving out of sight.

His eyes widened as he dashed over to the hallway and peered through before quickly pulling back and spinning behind the cover of the frame of the door way just as the image of a luminous floating figure hovered by. The figure glanced over in the living room for a second before hovering off down the hallway; The Doctor staying completely still the whole time, holding up his index finger to his lips as he looked back over to Ace, "Ssshh" he told her as he looked out over the door frame and into the hallway.

Ace smiled as The Doctor flipped his space age toy sonic screwdriver and thought back in her memory to remember if The Professor did have such device or used something similar on their adventures but drew a blank and gave a tut and rolled her eye's. When The Doctor said the Nitro 9 had gone to her head like sugar to hipper child,which what she thought he had had too much of seeing the energy of a big kid bounce of the sofa.

When The Doctor asked what Ace was doing here she thought back in her mind again "I came here with you Professor we were looking to strange disappearances that had been going on to the owners as the move in and few night and then they just vanish.""Maybe ho...." Ace was stopped mid sentence and watch The Doctor going to the door frame and slowly followed behind him and whispered "What is it Professor ?"

Walking into the hallway, The Doctor peered down the portion where the floating, glowing, figure had just gone. Once seeing it was safe, The Doctor motioned for Ace that it was safe and to come over. Once over, he readied his sonic screwdriver once more as he began to cautiously walk after the figure, "It's an Axon" he finally replied to Ace, in a whispering tone, "intergalactic being of energy, feeds off of life force to fuel itself...must have crashed landed here and cleared out all of the inhabitants..long ago. But why here?". After cautiously following where the figure had went, The Doctor and Ace finally came up onto a corner where light shinned brightly through causing The Doctor to become more cautious as he placed a hand over Ace to tell her to slow down as they approached the corner.

Looking around the corner, The Doctor stepped out and into the light, immediately recognizing the source once he saw it. "Axonian ship...type three" He clearified as he approached the small, ball like, ship that sat in the middle of a debris filled room. Wood lay every where around it; the ceiling above it having been broken through obviously by the ship. Glancing around the room, looking for the figure before entering, The Doctor circled around the ship, peering inside before scanning it with his sonic screwdriver then looking over the readings it showed, "Engines are shot..life support systems fine..looks like it's been shot by something" he reasoned.

Ace move across the floor as silent as she could to The Doctor side and followed behind him as they walked along the corridor watching The Professor taking out his sonic screwdriver and listened to him as him explained what the figure that was in front of them.

She felt fear rising up in her hoping that it didn't around to hurt them,"Do you think that use beeing here may have woken him up from it sleep and looking for a snack?" She whispered feeling that if there not too careful in being quiet as she could.

Taking her time to wait for the Doctors signs telling her it save for her to move forward to where he was,tip toeing their way to a room that made Ace eye grow wide as she didn't see this before much let alone hear the ship crash in the first place.

Ace watch the Doctor as he looked around and took the time to be lookout as she followed the Doctor around the ship,"so it stranded then,can you fix it ?" look at the damaged console.

The Doctor took another look at the crashed ship, "I don't know" he mumbled with a sniff before looking up and over to Ace, "I don't know if i want to...there's no telling what this one might be up to. Last time i met the Axon's they tried to consume every single living soul from the planet Earth..not exactly in a mood to let that happen again". Suddenly, light shinned brighter from the left hand corner of The Doctor's eye, immediately catching his attention and shifting it over to it. From the corner of the room, in floated the Axon, it's attention set on The Doctor and Ace from the beginning it walked in, "It wont" it assured, it's voice echoing across the room. Turning his body to the Axon as it hovered through the room, The Doctor rose an eyebrow, "And why is that?" he asked curiously, "I am a renegade Axon...my people have grown too hostile in the coming years...i tried to escape but they shot me down, causing me to crash land here".

Suddenly a realization struck The Doctor, leaving him in complete and utter bewilderment as his eyes widened, "They shot you down?" "Yes" the Axon replied, "Why?", "Because..that means they're close and if they can track that signal back from your ship and follow it back...here....". Swiftly spinning around, The Doctor dashed back out of the room, down the hallway and bursting through the front doors. His eyes immediately shooting to the sky just as three ships began to loom and hover over the house, their gargantuan shapes filling up the sky, nearly covering all blue. "No..." He mumbled, "That's not good..".

Ace listened to the Doctor as he told her a little about the Axon history as she looked at the damaged ship more and think how it may of looked before it was damaged to get a good mental image in her head, of what it looked like as she only see one from behind so far.

Out of the corner of her eye Ace saw a light getting brighter like a car with it head lights on and turned to see the Axon and was stunned and frozen on the spot like a deer caught in headlights scared of what was going to happen next to her or The Doctor. As Ace listen to what happened to the Axon and the Doctor seeing his face go pale in colour as he realised something and watch as he ran out of the room, leaving Ace with Axon alone.

"Doctor?!...." shouting that as Ace was footsteps following him and stopped just short behind him and looked up and saw ships in similar size and shape to the one that crashed in the house and heard The Doctor saying this is not good and said "the must be look for the Axon they may here to cover their tracks."

"What do we do?..now?, if only i had some Nitro 9 on me"

"They're not here to cover their tracks" The Doctor mumbled before glancing over to Ace, raising an eyebrow, "They're here to cover..her..tracks". Glancing back up at the ships, The Doctor sniffed as he turned around, "Come on" he mumbled nonchalantly as he strode back into the house and jogged a little towards the end of the hallway as the ship reached his sites. The axon turned, spinning around as The Doctor entered, "They're here aren't they?" she asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer as she lowered her head and shook it, "I don't know what i am going to do....Doctor..please help". The Doctor smirked, taking off his trench coat and tossing it to the side, "Two words i never turn down" he commented before shifting his attention over to the ship and dashing to the side and opening up the protective cockpit.

The cockpit opened with a hissing sound and a smoke cloud of cool air rushed out, The Doctor waving it away from his face with his right hand and releasing a couch before flipping out his sonic screwdriver and assessing the damages on the controls. "Now! The axon's won't stop with just you" He called back to the axon and Ace, "They will consume this planet just as they tried to before. But! This ship just so happens to still have the life support systems connected. All i've got to do is...get the code from your onboard date core and transfer it to my screwdriver. Allowing me to activate and deactivate anything with that code". As he narrated what he was doing, The Doctor ravaged through the various hanging cords and control panels lining the sides until finally inserting his sonic screwdriver into one of the panels and beginning to type on the touch pad controls.

Ace gave a confused look "Her?you can tell there gender" thinking that the Axon did have a gender but then again what did she know about alien anatomy and looked back to the Doctor after looking up in the sky and saw that he was once again rushing off again. Hearing him shouting and gave a quick last glance up into the sky before rushing off.

"I'm Coming" and nearly missed the room where the crashed ship was;in time to hear the Doctor talking to the Axon as it pleaded for it life,even though it was a consider a monster to the Doctor and to some extent to Ace. She couldn't help but have some mercy for the space being, but still held some reservation with it as they didn't know if her motive would change as soon as the Doctor finished helping it.

For now she would do as the Doctor asked of her as he took charge of the situation and went into the cockpit,"What do you want us to do Professor ?" feeling that she would be need to do something to help him get the ship up and running again.

The Doctor pulled himself up out of the cockpit, his sonic screwdriver red hot after just downloading the required systematic's for the feat he was about to endure and execute, "Ace. I need you to get inside of the Axon's ship. Inside on the left hand side of the console is a red button, it activates the ships teleportation system and will beam you up to their ship. Wait for my signal then press it" he told his companion before turning to the Axon, "And i will need you to hail them. Yes...i know they will know where we are then but right now that doesn't matter. Let me speak to them".

The Axon paused for a moment then nodded, giving The Doctor the benefit of her doubt as she extended out her right arm and pressing down onto her wrist band immediately causing a projected image to appear in front of the ship. A larger sized Axon appeared on the screen, three Axon's behind him, all turning their attention over to the screen in which The Doctor stepped in front of. "Who are you?" Proclaimed the Axon, "I'm The Doctor. I'm a Time Lord and this woman you are chasing, this world and all inside it are under my protection!", the Axon laughed, "And how do you intend on denying us the right of this planet and her?", "This". The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver, "A sonic probe?! It cannot harm us!", "Oh yes! That's why i like it. Doesn't hurt, doesn't wound, doesn't maim. But what i can do is lock onto signals and data codes very well. And i just so happen to have a fully functioning Axon life support system which i've already hacking into so all i would have to do is press one button..well..two, but still. Two buttons and your life support systems begin to fail. In other words, i've got the remote control..and unless you leave..i will press it".

when Ace heard the Doctor calling out instruction to her and did as instructed and ran in the ship and looked for the console on her left and duly pressed the red button and looked at the screen watching it as worked through the process that was need to teleport her to the Doctor.

"It doing something Doctor!" hoping that it was doing what her and the Doctor want it to do and watched the monitor doing something and number scrolled across the screen.

But had to wait for the Doctor signal before she could press the red button again, so had to play the waiting game wait and looked outside, seeing the downbearing ship that was making the landing on the house grounds,getting worried that they would start to fire upon the ship.

It felt like thing where taking forever as she wait for the Doctor and there was no telling what was going on and hoped that the Doctor and Axon were ok thinking that something was going and want to be there to help, but like a good companion,she would do as she was told.