Dark Land of the Renegades
Chapter 1: Eternal Grime of a Broken Mind
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its character. I do however claim ownership of The Admiral, The Eminence, The Warlord, The Absolute (Most times just referred to as Absolute) and Essence. I am not making any profit off of this story. It has been written for purely entertainment purposes.
A/N: Well my dear readers, here it is, the sequel to "Who Are You? Who Am I?" The chapters for this will be a little longer but hopefully not too much longer. I am a sucker for Doctor/Rose fluff and I'm afraid that they may not be able to keep their hands/lips off one another, though some questions I received about Rose's lack of a mourning period for John will be answered. The first few chapters are going to be a build up to something big. I hope you all enjoy it. As always, please review so that my muse will not lose hope or run off to find a source of sustenance elsewhere. The site has finally been fixed and I can post this as it's own story. Unfortunately I must now beg double time for those of you who reviewed the first time to now review again. Also, it give me a chance to read this thing over and try to make it better.
"Tear in the fabric of space time detected ma'am," a woman, appearing to be in her late twenties to early thirties with long straight medium brown hair that reached the middle of her back and gray eyes, reported from her place at the control terminal.
"Is there any signal from the Admiral?" her commander, a woman who appeared to be in her mid thirties with straight black hair down to her shoulders and intensely piercing green eyes, asked.
"No," the first woman reported "Perhaps there was a problem?"
"Head for the crack," the other woman commanded "This is the best chance we've had in four hundred years for freedom and I'm not going to pass it up."
The woman at the controls nodded solemnly. She too would give anything for freedom from the dimension they'd been trapped in. But the reality of ending up in the Void with no chance of escape troubled her deeply. Still, she dare not disregard her commander's orders. With great care, the woman navigated the ship towards the disruption in the fabric of the universe.
The massive craft, liberated by the current commander from a race of war prone people, with a weakness for the pleasures of the flesh, made its way through the crack and onto the other side. The woman at the terminal examined the readings "We're in the Void ma'am," she reported. Then something on the instruments in front of her caught her attention "This whole place is buzzing with energy…" she trailed off "It's… I think it's…" she looked up at her commander "Something definitely went wrong. The energy's been pouring into the Void."
"Deploy the power absorbers," the dark haired woman commanded "Let's try to keep as much of it from going to waste as we can." If they could capture enough energy they just might be able to make it out of the Void in one piece.
The woman at the controls did as she was told. She had to admit that she did miss her home universe. She'd been gone from Gallifrey for four hundred years and she missed it quite terribly. Her family had all probably forgotten about her by now though. Such was the fate of those who turned renegade. Her name would be forbidden to be spoken. But oh how she missed curling up with a book beneath one of the stunning silver leafed trees amongst the red grass of her home.
She was broken from her thoughts by a beeping from the terminal "We're receiving a message," she reported.
"Is it from the Admiral?" her commander questioned.
"I'm not sure," the woman replied "It's coming from another ship," she brought the message up on the screen.
The commander smiled widely, revealing stunningly white teeth "Eminence, it's been a while. I see you haven't needed to regenerate."
"Neither have you my darling Absolute," Eminence, a tall, muscular man, returned her smile "I see you found your way into the Void as well."
"Yes," Absolute replied as she leaned over the terminal that her subordinate was seated at "The crack we came through seems to have closed."
"As has my point of entry," Eminence replied "And I've found quite another surprise floating around this forsaken place. It seems the Admiral ran into a bit of trouble in his efforts to bring us all back together. He was sucked into the Void."
"Do you have him on board?" Absolute questioned.
"Yes," Eminence replied "He's currently regenerating. I see that as spacecraft go, you seem to be more well off. May I and my guest come aboard?"
"It would be our pleasure," Absolute replied. She turned to the other woman "Essence, guide The Eminences ship into one of the shuttle bays. Remain here and monitor the energy readings. I'll go welcome our long absent friends."
With that Absolute left the bridge of the ship and quickly made her way to the first shuttle bay.
XXX
The smell of apple grass filled the air as Rose rolled over on her side so that she was facing the Doctor. "It was a good idea to come here," she told him with a half smile.
"I was hoping you'd think so," he returned her smile. He'd been afraid that New Earth would bring back too many memories and that it would end up doing Rose more harm than good.
Rose nestled closer against him "What's on your mind?" she questioned knowingly.
He said nothing, just looked down at the top of her head before pressing his lips to her hair in a silent kiss. It was a few moments later that he finally did speak "It just seems too good to be true," he mused "You and me…"
She lifted her head so that her eyes met hers "It's real," she promised, kissing him firmly on the mouth.
He shied away from the kiss "Rose…" he began hesitantly.
She smiled sympathetically at him "I know," she replied, laying her head back down against his chest so that she could hear the beat of his two hearts "I just want you to remember, I never stopped loving you."
He nodded and kissed the top of her head once more. "I never stopped loving you either," he said softly "But, it's all so… complicated."
"It's not," Rose replied "I mean, not really… Okay, so maybe it's a little complicated but not when it comes to how I feel," she pulled back once more so she could look at him again "John was you but he was different as well and I loved him. But I never stopped loving you and," she tapped his forehead "Everything that was John is in there now too."
He smiled a bit as some of John's memories surfaced briefly, warm, conforting, pleasant memories of just being with Rose. John hadn't wanted to waste a moment of the time he had left with the woman he loved. The Doctor couldn't help but feel that having John's memories living on in his mind made him a little bolder. And still he hesitated. He'd lost Rose once before and he didn't want to lose her ever again. Yet losing her seemed inevitable.
"You know," Rose said after a long moment of silence "I believe I explained all of this to you before," she rolled fully on top of him and lay with her chin on his chest, staring at him.
"Yeah," he smiled sheepishly "I seem to remember something like that, right after I told you about having his memories."
"Why do you make me repeat myself?" Rose questioned in mock anger.
The Doctor shook his head "I'm not sure it's necessary for you to repeat yourself. If anyone understands what's going on, it's probably me," he chuckled "But maybe I just like to hear you say that you still love me."
Rose smiled and pushed herself a few inches forward so her lips met his "Definitely," she replied as she pulled away "And perhaps you should do some repeating of your own?" she suggested with a sly grin.
"I hate repeats Rose and I hate repeating myself," he told her in all seriousness.
"Well," Rose huffed and rolled off of him, lying on her stomach amidst the apple grass, her head pillowed on her folded arms as she pouted.
"What? What did I do?" the Doctor questioned, sitting up and looking down at Rose "Stop doing that," he referred to her pouting "Stop it… I can't stand it when you do that."
"It'll only take three little words to make me stop," she replied, jutting her lower lip out even further.
The Doctor chuckled as realization hit him. He gathered Rose into his arms "Only you could ever wear me down like this," he told her as she continued to pout at him, though it was becoming hard to keep the pout from turning into a smile the way he was looking at her.
He kissed her pouting lips "I love you," he told her "Do you want me to say it again?"
Rose grinned "I like hearing you say it," she replied.
"If you insist," the Doctor laid her down gently on the apple grass beneath him and began kissing her repeatedly "I love you, I love you, I love you," he said over and over again between kisses and in one case, into her open mouth as their tongues mingled.
Rose's mobile began ringing and she attempted to reach for it where it had fallen out of her pocket. The Doctor reached out and stayed her hand "Leave it," he told her before he kissed her again.
"It's probably Amy," Rose replied, attempting to push the Doctor off of her.
"She can wait," the Doctor replied, his lips coming down to claim her mouth once more.
"What if there's trouble?" Rose asked him in all seriousness.
"And what if there isn't?" he countered.
Rose burst into giggles "Get off of me you nutter," she swatted him in the chest and he rolled to the side.
"She'd better be about to be eaten by something," the Doctor muttered as Rose reached for the phone.
"Shut it," Rose tried to sound firm as she flipped the device open "Hello. Yeah, just… sight seeing… Oh that's good… Hold on, let me ask," she pulled the phone away from her ear and rolled onto her side to face the Doctor "Amy wants to know if we want to join her and Rory for lunch," she put a hand over his mouth before she continued "And just so you know, I'm starving so whatever you decide, I'm going."
The Doctor attempted to pull a pout similar to the one Rose had used on him earlier but she simply laughed at him. "Alright," he agreed finally.
XXX
"Eminence," Absolute flung herself into his arms upon seeing him exit his ship "It's been far too long."
The Eminence wrapped his arms around Absolute and lifted her off the ground "Indeed it has my dear, indeed it has." He set her back down on the deck and eyed her up and down "You look well. And how does our beloved leader the Warlord fair?"
Absolute's face fell "He's been dead these past fifty years," she informed him.
"How?" the Eminence asked disbelievingly.
"He attempted to enslave a civilization of weak minded fools," Absolute began "The worthless beings staged a revolt and he was stabbed through both hearts by a rather lucky young soldier who knew how to stop him."
"I assume the young soldier did not live to enjoy his victory," the Eminence said pointedly.
"I returned many years later," Absolute assured "At the time Essence and I were barely able to escape. But I assure you, he paid the price, he and his entire family," she smiled wickedly.
Eminence nodded in approval before turning back to his small ship "The Admiral is still regenerating. I would not advise moving him until he has finished."
"Agreed," Absolute nodded "Were you able to find out anything from him?"
"He was unconscious when I brought him onboard," the Eminence told her as he and the Absolute exited the shuttle bay "His mind was all a jumble from exposure to the Void and the energy that is currently bouncing around inside it."
"Essence is working to absorb as much of that energy as possible," Absolute informed him "I don't want to spend any more time in the Void than we need to."
"Agreed," the Eminence concurred before turning back to the subject of the Admiral "What little I was able to determine from his mind is cluttered and hard to interpret at best. There is a theme that binds his most recent experiences together, a single word, a name, one you and I are both familiar with."
"And what might that name be?" Absolute questioned.
The Eminence stopped in the hallway, putting a hand out to halt Absolute midstride "Do you recall that upstart who caused Gallifrey so many problems back in the day?" he laughed "Though in the end he stood with the rest of Gallifrey against us."
"There were many like that," Absolute recalled.
"This one was rather fond of humans and Earth culture," the Eminence continued "You probably don't remember him as well but the Warlord had asked the Admiral and I to keep an eye on him as a prospective member of our group."
Absolute shook her head "I'm still not sure whom you are referring to darling," she confessed.
"He calls himself the Doctor," the Eminence told her "And he seems to have played a roll in the bungling of the Admiral's plan to free us."
"Well," Absolute smirked "We shall just have to pay this Doctor a visit if we ever get out of this blasted place."
XXX
Rose and the Doctor walked along the streets of New New York, searching for Amy and Rory. It didn't take them long to find the couple. Amy was pushing a rather plain looking pram with a blue bonnet and Rory was carrying several bags.
Rose couldn't help but laugh as she reached out to try and alleviate Rory's burdon a bit "Are you sure you have enough baby stuff?" she asked.
"There were clothes to buy," Amy began "And toys and formula. There's one disadvantage to this situation is that I can't breast feed."
Rose smiled "Just think of the positives. You don't have to lose a whole mess of baby wait this way."
Amy smiled as there was a soft cry from inside the pram. Amy reached in and lifted the little ginger infant "Oh," she murmured "Rory, the little prince needs his nappy changed and guess whose turn it is?"
Rory reached into one of the bags that he was carrying and produced an unopened package of nappies "Let's find a changer," he suggested and the group moved off in search of someplace where Rory could change baby John's nappy without attracking too many wandering eyes.
It wasn't hard to locate a public restroom with a changing table. Not only that but it was a gentlemen's restroom with a changing table. Amy waited outside with Rose and the Doctor, marveling at how many different restroom signs there were.
"Just how many genders are there?" Amy asked, staring at the five different bathroom signs.
"It's mostly just male and female," the Doctor began "But then there are the multiforms and other beings that don't really identify with either gender. They're left to make the best choice between the other three," he surreptitiously indicated a two headed individual that appeared to have a male head and a female head.
"Don't stare," Rose whispered to Amy before the Doctor could notice her gawking.
It wasn't long after that that Rory reappeared with a freshly changed John cooing contentedly against his father's shoulder.
"Now, why explain to me again why we couldn't have gone baby shopping back on Earth?" he asked as he lay the infant back in the pram.
"What if you'd run into someone you knew?" the Doctor asked "How would you have explained suddenly having a baby who bears a remarkable resemblance to you both when Amy's still as thin as a rail?"
Rory seemed to think about that for a second "Still," he said finally.
"That and there are all of those little things that an infant needs for travel in outer space that you just can't find on good old twenty first century Earth," the Doctor continued. "Suppose the TARDIS decides to start jarring around like crazy? You're gonna be glad you've got those bassinette stabilizers so that little John here doesn't get woken up by the movement or heaven forbid tossed across the room."
Rory held his hands up in surrender "I yield to my wife's imaginary friend," he shot the Doctor a cheeky grin.
"Well come on you lot," Rose said finally "Let's get something to eat before John needs another nappy change."
XXX
The Admiral had completed his regeneration cycle but his mind had been permanently damaged by being exposed to the raw energy and to the Void itself. He lay on a bed in the ship's infirmary while the Eminence scavenged what remained of his mind for more information about the Doctor.
The Eminence growled in frustration as he pulled away. There was nothing in the Admiral's mind but flashes of things, jumbled up images. The Doctor, the Doctor, that was all he could get out of his comrade. It was useless. He stormed from the infirmary just as Essence slipped in.
The woman made her way to the Admiral's bedside. Absolute and the Eminence had not thought much of the newly regenerated Time Lord's comfort, having simply dumped him on the nearest bed. Essence set to work adjusting the pillow and grabbing the Admiral a blanket. She tucked it tightly around his shoulders.
She looked down into the Admira's new face before laying a hand on his forehead "It's good to see you," she murmured "I've spent too long with Absolute. I've seen too many horrible things…" she trailed off, not wanting to admit out loud that she was never cut out for this life.
The Admiral let out a low wheeze of a breath before he spoke. The words came out muffled and raspy but there was no mistaking them. Past his lips came two words that made no sense whatsoever to Essence though she knew she had not misheard "Bad Wolf."
A/N: Well there you have it. Chapter one of "Dark Land of the Renegades". What did you think? We've met some new and well I hope you can call them interesting characters (since I created them and I am totally insecure about my ability to create characters). Once again, I must shamelessly beg for reviews. I will attempt to get rework the second chapter and get it up soon. I probably left a lot of spelling/grammatical mistakes in this chapter but nobodies perfect.
