Hey guys! This is not my first story on fanfic, but it is on this account (I shudder at the thought of my childhood tastes). This story came to me last night – I'd really love to hear what you think. Send me comments, suggestions, likes, dislikes. No hate please, but advice and suggestions for sure. I will update as quickly as I can, but school keeps me pretty busy.
This story will include several direct quotes from Doctor Who, but I own nothing.
She was absolutely insane. It was the only explanation for what she'd just done – run off with a strange man in a strange box that was strangely bigger on the inside. Now Rose was sitting in some sort of observation deck, watching the sun inch closer and closer to the earth.
Her home, she mused, pursing her lips together. Her home was about to be consumed by the sun that had provided warmth and comfort during her lifetime. This brought her to a new train of thought – what was her lifetime? She was 5 billion years in the future…was this still her lifetime? The Doctor, the man she'd known for both a single day and 5 billion years, had brought her here and she'd jumped on his spaceship or phone box or whatever he wanted to call it and followed him to the end of her own planet. Who was he, even? He was at least twice her age, by the look of him, he was an alien…and what was she? Human. Boring old human. Why had he even brought her? What made her special?
Now she was on a space station with people who were having a party just to watch her home burn. She sighed.
She'd almost been burned alive. The thought made her hair stand on end. She'd almost been burned alive 5 billion years into her future. Not even on earth – on a satellite. She could barely make sense of it – she'd talked to her mum on her mobile, told her she was on top of the world, and then almost been burned alive.
And she'd seen the last human, Cassandra, flattened out paper-thin. She'd watched Cassandra be torn apart, and seen the disgust on the Doctor's face when he looked at her after learning what she'd done.
And now she sat face to face with The Doctor, sitting in an old chippy not far from the estate, eating the vinegar-covered chips from the newspaper basket that sat on the table between her and The Doctor. She thought of the look on his face as he talked about his people and his planet. The only Time Lord in the whole world. She thought of his face when she'd simply said, "there's me," and the smile and chuckle when she'd declared she wanted chips. She looked at his face now, at the slightly puzzled expression written across his features and he looked back at her. He winced as he took a bite of a chip – she did tend to douse her chips in vinegar – but polished it off all the same.
"Why me, then?" she asked suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere. His eyes met hers, his expression serious and direct.
"What?" it didn't even sound like a question when he said it. Her face burned and she almost felt it turn bright red at his stare. His eyebrows were pulled out in a not-quite frown, and even with some of his more…noticeable features, like his ears that stuck out and his roman nose, he looked intimidating.
"Why me?" Rose asked again, refusing to look away. She dusted her hands off on a napkin and folded her arms on the table. "You could'a taken anyone with you. Why me?"
He didn't look away and it took him a few seconds to speak. The pregnant pause cause Rose to tense up as she waited for his answer. "I like you, Rose Tyler," he said simply, as though that fully explained everything.
In all honesty, she already trusted him at this point. There was no going back. When they made their way back to the TARDIS (would she ever get used to it?), she clasped his hand in hers. He squeezed it once and held it at his side until they were in his time machine.
Mauve is a ridiculous colour for danger, she thought. She almost wished she were wearing a mauve shirt, rather than the union jack that was plastered on her chest. Her hands were burning, but she gripped the rope as tightly as she could because letting go was certainly not an option.
She was hanging from a barrage balloon in the middle of an air raid. Her heart raced faster than she'd ever felt it and she struggled to get any sort of grip with her shoes, desperate for any other support. She wasn't sure how much longer she could hang onto the rope.
How long had she been hanging? Minutes? Hours? It felt like forever, and it was certainly much too long, considering everything. Where was The Doctor? Her breathing quickened as she clung desperately.
She certainly didn't notice when she caught the attention of a Captain, who watched her attentively from a window.
She did notice when she was enveloped in a sort of force field and heard a voice that sounded as though it were coming through a speaker.
And then she was moving – with very little warning, she might have added – sliding down the light or force field or whatever it was. She spoke briefly to the attractive man whose voice she'd heard before everything went black.
His name was Captain Jack Harkness. And he had psychic paper. He certainly didn't belong in the middle of World War Two. He'd called her a time agent…what was a time agent? She tried not to let her confusion show and simply nodded.
Was she honestly drinking champagne on top of an invisible space ship, tethered to Big Ben, in the middle of an air raid? Would she ever consider this kind of thing to be normal? She doubted it. She was certainly in attractive company – dancing with Captain Jack.
What was a Chula warship?
Thank God she'd found The Doctor, and that he'd played along with her "time agent" charade. Unfortunately, Jack was a conman, and human DNA was being rewritten.
One hell of a situation.
Everybody lived. Everybody lived! She wouldn't soon forget the look on The Doctor's face as he shouted triumphantly. It was quite possibly the largest smile she'd ever seen on anyone's face. Even before, the hope she'd seen in him was breathtaking. He wanted so badly for everyone to live…it was hard to keep her eyes off of him, and his joy was infectious. The cockiness in his voice when he'd said, "you want the moves, Rose? I'll show you the moves," had widened her smile even further.
She barely noticed when Jack joined them on the TARDIS. Her attention was locked on The Doctor as they awkwardly moved around the console room. Of course, when Rose had invited Jack to dance, The Doctor had suddenly remembered his moves and the two of them pranced around the console, eyes locked on each other and wide smiles on their faces. She was certain that In the Mood had just become her new favourite song.
She was on a Dalek ship. They were supposed to go extinct! Did The Doctor know where she was? Did she think she was dead, killed by the disintegration beam?
She stood as far as she could from the Dalek that advanced towards her quickly, backing away so that she collided with the wall. They continued to move through the arches, increasing in numbers. She watched numbly as they opened a communication with the satellite. She stared at him, eyes wide, as he refused to communicate with her captors.
Relief flooded through he when proclaimed that he would rescue her, and she would not lose hope in her Doctor, even when all she could hear was loud, robotic cries of EXTER-MINATE from every Dalek. There were too many of them, she thought. They were supposed to be dead, long gone. And yet here they were, demanding that she predict what The Doctor would do.
When the TARDIS materialized around her, her eyes immediately found The Doctor. When he wrapped his arms around her, and she him, she never wanted to let go. She kept quiet as Jack and The Doctor bantered around field, and her eyes stayed locked on The Doctor when he talked to the Daleks and the Dalek emperor, which was easily the largest suit of army she'd ever seen for such a small creature. She tried to keep her face still and remain impassive, but she was struggling. Her eyes were wide with fear. But when the emperor started to talk about the human race, she felt her face twitch in disgust.
The Daleks were insane, driven to that point by their own flesh and existence.
When they'd retreated back into the safety of the TARDIS, Rose's heart went out to her Doctor. He leaned his forehead against the doors and remained there, unmoving, for too long. She couldn't begin to imagine what he was thinking as the cries of the Daleks echoed through the console room.
She hit the doors of the TARDIS roughly, pounding the door as hard as she could, trying to get them to open. Anger and betrayal burned in her core as the TARDIS took off, dematerializing from the Game Station. She yelled his name, crying for him to open the door. She continued to try to free herself until the Doctor's voice came from behind her.
"This is emergency program one." Rose whirled around at the sound of his voice and found a transparent image of her Doctor talking directly to her. "Rose, now listen. This is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger, and I mean fatal. I'm dead, or about to die, any second, with no chance of escape."
"No." the word tumbled from her mouth and she quickly moved closer to the hologram, inspecting it from every angle.
"…And that's okay, hope it's a good death," The Doctor continued, his eyes still facing the door. "But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home."
Rose's mouth fell open in shock, horrified at this statement. "I won't let you," she said, quickly, even though she knew he couldn't hear her.
"And I bet you're fussing and moaning now. Typical." He was still sternly facing the door. "But hold on, and just listen a bit more." He wasn't looking at Rose. She was beside him now, near the edges of the console. Her eyes were locked on his image and she began to shake. "The TARDIS can never return to me. Emergency program one means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do: let the TARDIS die." Rose had manage to school her features, but this statement sent a wave of shock through her. "Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it, no one will even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner, and over the years the world will move on, and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, you can do one thing. That's all. One thing." Until this point The Doctor had continued to stare directly at the doors, but at this statement, he turned his head to her, his holographic eyes boring into hers and the ghost of a smile on his lips. "Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life."
And with that he was gone.
"You can't do this to me." Rose breathed. "You can't!" she moved to the console room and started moving every switch and pressing every button she could see in an attempt to steer the TARDIS herself. "Take me back!" She cried desperately, "Take me back!"
Her attempts were in vain, and soon she found herself sitting in a small diner with her mum and Mickey. Her mind was far away. She tried to explain to them that she needed to get back to The Doctor. She couldn't get through to them. She cried out her explanations in a desperate flurry of words. They hadn't seen what she'd seen. They couldn't know.
Sitting in a cement park, the words chalked into the pavement finally jumped out at her. Suddenly they were everywhere.
BAD WOLF
They had probably ruined the tires on Mickey's car, trying to open the console to access the heart of the TARDIS. It took a recovery truck and much too long to finally open the console.
When it finally opened, light flooded through the TARDIS and filled the room. Rose's eyes were locked on the source of that light – the heart of the TARDIS. She didn't notice when the doors slammed shut, locking out her mother and Mickey. She didn't notice when the TARDIS took off without further direction. Once the heart of the TARDIS was opened, Rose Tyler was no longer Rose Tyler. Light travelled in two steady streams, directly into her eyes, filling her mind with the time vortex.
She didn't see her Doctor's eyes snap open at the sound of the TARDIS's motor, nor did she see the terror on his face when the TARDIS materialized, and she didn't see The Doctor stumble backwards and fall back so that he was sitting on the ground. When the doors opened on their own, and Rose Tyler stood in the doorway, she did not see that the console room was now entirely filled with bright yellow light. Strands of light exited the TARDIS and Rose seemed to disappear from the doorway and suddenly be right in front of the Doctor. Hey eyes shone bright yellow and the light seemed to follow her as she moved.
"What have you done?" The Doctor's cry did not go unheard. Rose's eyes locked on him.
"I looked into the TARDIS." Her voice was soft, as were her features as she gazed at him, "and the TARDIS looked into me."
"You looked into the time vortex, Rose, no one's meant to see that." He explained desperately. Her face remained the same, her eyes remained on him.
"This is the abomination," the emperor's voice resonated through the 500th floor of the satellite. A Dalek fired at Rose.
Her eyes snapped up immediately and her hand shot out. The beam seemed to bounce off Rose's hand and return to the Dalek. The Doctor's confusion was evident on his face as he followed the shot.
"I am the Bad Wolf." Rose's voice was still unbearably soft, and she looked back at The Doctor, who had returned his gaze to her. His eyebrows were knit together as he stared at her, his eyes wide with incomprehension. "I create myself," she continued seamlessly, "I take the words. I scatter them in time and space." The letters high above them that read Bad Wolf Corporation were suddenly freed from the wall and were sent away by Rose's hand. "A message to lead myself here."
"Rose," The Doctor begged, "you've got to stop. You've got to stop this now." Rose was no longer looking at him. She faced straight ahead, seemingly not hearing his pleas, and the yellow light in her eyes continued to dance. "You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're gunna burn." He implored of her to understand, to stop, to save herself.
At this, Rose looked down at him and the glow disappeared from her eyes. She met his gaze. "I want you safe." This statement caused The Doctor's expression to change from fear to surprise as he continued to watch her face. "My Doctor." There was absolute truth in this. He was hers he continued to watch her with wide blue eyes, desperation clearly written on his face. "Protected from the false god."
"You cannot hurt me," the emperor interrupted. "I am immortal."
Rose raised her hazel eyes to him. "You are tiny." There had been a double intonation in her voice from the moment she had stepped out of the TARDIS, but now it became even more pronounced as she spoke with more force. "I see the whole of time and space, every single atom of your existence, and I divide them." At this, Rose's eyes once again shined with yellow light and her hand shot up. With this, each Dalek began to dissolve, from end to center, scattered into atoms. "Everything must come to dust. All things." Tears left traces down Rose's cheeks, but she continued. "Everything dies." Both arms raised and The Doctor followed Rose's gaze to each Dalek as they began to disappear into yellow light. "The Time War ends."
The emperor resisted, crying out, as Rose turned her gaze on him. He too, was gone, as was every Dalek.
"Rose, you've done it. Now stop." The Doctor said sternly as he watched his Rose, her arms extended, breathing heavily. "Just let go."
Rose's voice was soft when she answered, "How can I let go of this?" With the time vortex swirling in her eyes, she continued, "I bring life."
"This is wrong!" The Doctor was desperate once again. "You can't control life and death!"
"But I can," Rose interrupted, the glow leaving her eyes as she turned her gaze on her Doctor. He looked up at her in fear. "The sun and the moon, the day and night. But why do they hurt?" Her voice was getting weaker.
"The power's gunna kill you and it's my fault." The Doctor replied, averting his gaze.
"I can see everything," Rose continued, her eyes still on The Doctor. This brought The Doctor's eyes back to her face in shock. "All that is. All that was. All that ever could be."
The Doctor stood so that he was looking down at his Rose. "That's what I see. All the time. Doesn't it drive you mad?" His eyes searched hers for an answer.
Her eyes were filled with tears as the time vortex continued to dance within her. "My head," her voice was so weak.
"Come here," The Doctor took her hands in his.
"…Is killing me." Rose finished. Her face was twisted in fear and pain.
"I think you need a doctor," The Doctor pulled her to him, locking his eyes with hers as he lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers, pulling the time vortex out of her.
Rose was lying on the floor of the TARDIS when she woke up. The Doctor was leaning casually over the console. He made a ridiculous joke about singing the Daleks away. She listened as he rambled about Barcelona and made no sense as he talked about a process that he did not explain. Fear shot through her when he seemed to explode with golden light. He told her that his body was changing, that he would change.
"Before I go, I just want to tell you that you were fantastic." He told her. She stared him down. "Absolutely fantastic. And you know what?" She shook her head ever so slightly, not unlocking their eyes for a second. "So was I." He finished.
And then he exploded with golden light.
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