It'd been over four hours ago that Rose had lost control. Four hours. A lot of things could happen in four hours. But thankfully, nothing too bad had happened…yet.
It was a strange feeling to have no control of your actions and yet be fully aware of everything going on. Of course, Rose had experienced something like this once before on New Earth, but then she hadn't been as conscious as she was now. No, now she was painfully aware of everything she was doing and that she was directing absolutely none of it.
Her body had been meticulously preparing itself. Rose was hoping it was for bed, but she was pretty certain her body had plans to seduce the Doctor. And that was bad. Very bad, indeed.
It'd started back on G-351x, a planet near Earth the Doctor had been eager to show her ever since Rose had expressed an interest in the history of human exploration in space. It was one of the earliest successful colonies and was still thriving a thousand Earth years after the first humans had landed. But instead of his own quick history lesson before allowing Rose to explore it on her own, the Doctor had excitedly told her he'd gotten two tickets to the G-351x Space History Museum in the capitol city, and – he was near giddy here – they were having a special exhibition on early voyage spacecraft.
When Rose had questioned him why he wanted to take her to a history museum when he had a time machine, he'd waved away her query like she was being silly. "This is just as good a learning experience – probably better. There'll be proper toilets, proper food, and no risk of death from being sucked into the vacuum of space. Plus, there's virtual reality rides! Perfect simulations, honestly, and they sell candy floss afterwards."
Rose hadn't been in the mood to argue, so as the Doctor led her to the start of the tour, and Rose realized he'd taken her to a children's museum, she said nothing, trying not to feel awkward as one of the only two adults unaccompanied by kids.
She'd still been having a good time (spending any time with the Doctor was usually a good time), and so she hadn't made a peep when the Doctor had taken over the tour, zapping off the virtual guide with his sonic screwdriver when he decided he could do a much better job of explaining the difficulties the early human settlers experienced on G-351x. Bewildered parents were quickly quelled as he launched the group into a kid-friendly history/science lesson. Rose had to admit, he was an excellent teacher.
She sat beside him in the capsule designed to simulate the 'harsh' spaceflights the pioneers had endured, and she'd delightedly teased him how the flight wasn't so much 'harsh' as 'smooth' compared to his piloting of the TARDIS. It was good-natured fun, the Doctor pouting slightly and complaining how he had to navigate the whole of time and space while the pioneers had to contend with only their neighboring galaxy. Rose had poked him in the ribs in response, pleased as he squirmed beside her in their capsule.
And as they exited the ride and the Doctor bought them candy floss as promised, Rose said nothing as he continued the tour, leading the group to the exploratory spacecraft exhibition. However, her silence was severely tested when she noticed him using his newly found tour guide persona as an apparent distraction for stealing bits of antique spaceship.
"That's an excellent question, Geoff! You're right of course, as the explorers traveled deeper into unknown space they would slowly run out of fuel. Their goal was G-351x. They knew where and how many light-years away from the nearest space station it was, so it was relatively easy to calculate the amount of fuel required to reach the planet. But calculations aren't always accurate, and there were an enormous amount of variables up against them. One mistake, one stroke of bad luck, and every crew member on board this spacecraft," he patted the ship's hull reverently, "would perish. Forced to watch their friends die of starvation or take the quicker way out and take their own lives."
There was a collective gasp from parents and children alike, and Rose very nearly broke her silence then, but the Doctor continued, giving his tour group a placating look. "They knew the risks, and that's why, well before the voyage ever took place, engineers designed a device that would literally be able to fuel the ship for an eternity." Rose watched bemused as he opened one of the craft's rusty panels with his screwdriver, rummaged inside for a second, and pulled out several complicated-looking bits of tech. The children oohed and awed when another buzz of the sonic had the devices lighting up like little faeries and he passed them around for the kids to inspect.
And that's when she noticed his hand slip back into the ship's opened panel, grab something, and pocket it quickly.
Rose was pretty certain the Doctor wasn't a kleptomaniac, so the only explanation she could figure was that the Doctor needed certain parts for the TARDIS. Parts, apparently unique in design, that were wasting away inside the skeleton of a thousand year old spaceship. And he'd planned the day – their day – so he had the perfect opportunity to steal said parts. And he hadn't told her.
Oh, she wanted to have a word with him, she did. It was almost torture to bite her tongue as he'd further explained to the children just how special the things were they held in their hands, all the while the real treasure burning a hole in his pocket. Oh, they were going to have a talk, alright. But Rose felt perhaps a little childish. He'd done something without her consent – used her to get something he wanted – and it hurt. She was beyond mad at him. She wanted to hurt him the way he'd hurt her.
It was impulsive.
They'd exited the museum, the Doctor believing Rose was none the wiser on his covert pinching of invaluable space history, and Rose set on ditching him to explore G-351x on her own and find some trouble. The days on the planet were longer than Earth days – she'd learned that on the Doctor's tour – and from the position of the sun it only looked like early evening here.
Before he could suggest a quick shopping trip before heading back to the TARDIS, Rose had dropped the Doctor's hand she'd been holding and spoke. Finally.
"Well, that was fun – learned a lot. You were right, seeing it in a museum is better than seeing all the nitty-gritty of space exploration. Saw enough of that on Krop-Tor, right? And the candy floss was great." She'd spoke fast while walking backwards away from him. The Doctor had watched her in a combination of amusement and bewilderment. "Look, I've still got some credit from that shopping trip the other week, and I really wanted to check out those shops we passed by before they close. Saw some really cute things – so I'll meet you back at the TARDIS later, yeah? We got about five hours of daylight left," she said, glancing at the time on her phone and turning toward the shops. "So yeah, catch ya in a couple hours," she'd called over her shoulder.
Trouble wasn't hard to find. It came in the form of a back-alley stall promising mood tattoos, ink that changed its shape according to the owner's frame of mind. It was perfect. A little dangerous, something the Doctor would definitely disapprove of, but not life-threatening. Rose had never been against tattoos. In fact, she and Shireen had nearly gotten matching ones before they'd both chickened out over the needles. But she had apparently nothing to fear where the mood tats were concerned – it was completely pain free, she'd been promised. And it had been.
What she hadn't been promised was losing her mind. As the ink became a part of her, merging itself into her skin, she'd begun to slip. Suddenly, the hands gripping the back of the chair she'd been holding weren't hers. They weren't connected to her body – and neither were her legs, her arms, her chest. She wasn't connected to her body. Just like that, she was gone.
It was the most surreal moment of her recently strange life. With no control, no direction, Rose had stood from the seat when the tattooist told her she was done. A mangy mirror was thrust in her hands. She could feel where the handle had been broken as she gripped it and held it up. Her eyes inspected her own reflection, bare back marred by ink and the grit of the mirrors. She tried to look at herself then, using every power she had to force her eyes to focus on her face, but it was useless. She stared for a long moment at her exposed shoulder.
Two beautiful black birds, stark against the paleness of her skin. One stood perched, watching the other as it flew away.
And then she heard herself speak. "It's perfect."
Her shirt was replaced, her credit taken, and then she'd left the dirty alley, her mind battling for power against an unknown phantom and failing.
It was dark now, all the shops closed. A few people were milling about the streets, but the crowds of shoppers had disappeared. The TARDIS sat at a corner off the main strip beneath the orange glow of a streetlamp. The Doctor was leaning against the side, hands in his coat pockets. She felt herself smiling, and as he caught sight of her, he returned it.
The sight of him had her mind screaming. She felt like a prisoner shaking the bars of her cell, but no one could hear her. Her body skipped up to him, and he caught her in a quick hug.
"You didn't get anything?" he asked her, releasing her to open the TARDIS door. She followed him inside, sliding her hands into the back pockets of her jeans.
"Nah – didn't find anything, after all. Too overpriced."
"Really?" He gave her a quizzical look as he fiddled with the console to take them back into the time vortex. "I've always found G-351x shops to be undervalued. Great when you need some cheap, quality whatnots."
She felt herself shrug. "I don't know, maybe I just didn't realize all the great deals. Should 'a brought you with me after all. I'm sure I would 'a found something I wanted then." She gave him a smile that was a little more than coy. And then she leaned toward him and gave him a wink across the console.
Her disembodied mind watched in horror as the Doctor floundered in embarrassment at her shameless flirtations, his eyes widening and mouth spluttering for words. God, she was embarrassed! Something, that tattoo, was controlling her, and there was nothing she could do about it! But she had to try. The Doctor was psychic. Maybe he would be able to feel her mind if she tried to reach out to him.
She prepared herself to concentrate, taking advantage of the fact her eyes were still focused on his dumbfounded face to tunnel every ounce of mental energy she had left at him. She thought it might have worked, but her body suddenly spun from the console and she could no longer see the Doctor.
"Thanks for that museum trip, Doctor. You know, I always enjoy learning new things with you." She was walking to the corridor, her hips swaying ridiculously. Stopping at the threshold, she took a peak over her shoulder. He was watching her with rapt attention, his lips parted slightly. She gave him another wolfish grin. "You're such a good teacher. I wonder what else you could teach me." And then she'd left. As her mind raged in vain, her body locked itself in her bedroom and began to prepare.