(A note from the future: this story was written in 2005, before the Ninth Doctor's final episode. Some aspects have since been contradicted by canon, and others have since become canon and therefore aren't as surprising as they were originally intended to be. Whoops.)

This story is complete: four chapters and an epilogue. I'll be uploading them all in the next few days.

Although the fic contains spoilers and references up to Boom Town, Captain Jack is not in it. This is a pity, as I adore Jack, but I began work on it before he entered the storyline and couldn't work him into it when he appeared.

There are no Silent Hill spoilers. The only things taken from Silent Hill are locations and the slightly odd nature of said locations. Although it's a crossover, I hope that the story is understandable without knowledge of the game.

Certain aspects of this fic are likely to be rendered AU by the final episode in the series.

Doctor Who belongs to the BBC; Silent Hill to Konami.

Enjoy!

Of Towns and Toasters, Chapter One

It said a lot for what had happened to her that Rose Tyler could wake up, get dressed, walk through a convoluted maze of passageways in a police box that also happened to be a time machine, cheerfully greet an alien who was intently examining what looked like a toaster but was in fact essential to the well-being of said time machine, and ask in a matter-of-fact manner what they were going to do today.

And when the Doctor was pumping up the TARDIS in preparation for taking them to the planet of T'skasa (the details about which he had been worryingly vague, but he had assured her that she was going to love it there), she didn't bat an eyelid. After all, she had seen it all before.

This time, however, something seemed a little... different. She watched with mild interest as the lights around her began to flick on-and-off with ever-increasing rapidity, and then all turned abruptly to the exact same shade of mauve.

And then, before she had the chance to realise exactly what that meant, the thing-that-looked-like-a-toaster exploded.

The Doctor froze, staring in horror at the smoking remains. He turned to grin at her after a second, but it seemed a little forced.

"We're in trouble."

"Why?" asked Rose, worried. "What's it do?"

"I don't know, but that can't be good."

"You don't know? How can you not know what it does?"

"It just... turned up. I didn't put it there, but it must be important, because otherwise it wouldn't be in the TARDIS."

Rose shook her head, trying to make sense of what she had just been told. "So... a toaster appeared in here, and because it broke we're in trouble? What, are we going to die from lack of toast?" Even given everything else she had been through, this was just too unbelievable.

"It's not a toaster."

She knelt to pick up a piece of the partially-melted metal casing, and squinted to read the words engraved into it. "Bad Wolf. Aren't they some kind of toaster place? Y'know, kitchen appliances?"

"Never heard of -" the Doctor began, but before he could finish his sentence an explosion rocked the TARDIS.

Rose didn't know how long it was before she regained consciousness, but when she did the Doctor was sitting by the door, watching her. He started when she opened her eyes - a little guiltily, she thought, but she wasn't in the mood to wonder why. She pulled herself to her feet and stared at him.

"...Where are we?"

He nodded towards the door. "Had a look around before you woke up. It's safe." He looked troubled, though, and she frowned.

"What was that crash? Maybe we should just leave."

"What, the noise? That was just the TARDIS making one of her more graceful landings." He grinned at her, and Rose realised to her relief that his spirit was returning to him. "And anyway, we can't leave until we get another 'toaster', can we?"

She stepped out onto the street, tugging the coat she had taken from the wardrobe closer around herself to keep out the cold. "Where are we?" Everything seemed to be tinged with grey, she noted as she looked around - grey clouds, grey streets, grey buildings. "Can't we go someplace cheerful for a change?"

"I didn't decide to come here," the Doctor said shortly, locking the TARDIS. Rose had thought that he was beginning to cheer up, but she guessed that the gloominess of their surroundings was having an impact on his mood. "That thing exploded, and it landed us here. Y'see, there are a lot of things that can go wrong with time travel - you may have experienced a couple yourself." Rose could barely restrain herself from snorting. "And the only thing that stops there from being an infinite number of things to go wrong is the fact that we're only confined to the one universe, the one dimension. And the only thing that keeps us there is that bloody toaster thing."

She watched him warily. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, Rose Tyler," he said as he replaced the key in his pocket, "that we're on Earth."

"Earth? What's wrong with that, then?"

"Not your Earth. This is in a different dimension - I don't know what the changes are, but whatever they are, they're focused here. I couldn't stop us from landing, but I was able to track the major differences and land us in this area."

Rose took a moment to process this rather startling information. "Why'd you want to do that?"

"Can't you go five seconds without asking a question?" he snapped, and then, after a brief hesitation, shook his head. "...sorry. I thought we might be able to find the part we needed here. Good a place as any." He paused. "Plus, y'know, I was curious."

They were both silent for some time, looking around at the street in which they had landed. Rose was just thinking that the place was clearly deserted and therefore exceptionally unpromising, when the Doctor stretched and spoke.

"Foggy, isn't it?"

She stared down the perfectly clear street, and then turned to look at him, bewildered.

"...No."