"Doctor, where are we?" Rose asked as she followed him out of the TARDIS. She tried to not look uneasy as she took in her surroundings. It seemed that the only clear light source, aside from the red haze that offered little help in illuminating the space around them, was the light from the at the top of the TARDIS and The Doctor's sonic screwdriver.
"Doctor?" The Doctor was to absorbed in scanning the area around him to hear her.
"I don't like the look of this place," Jack announced as he walked out of the TARDIS. "Where are we?" He echoed Rose's question.
"You're right," The Doctor sad solemnly. "I don't like the look of this place either." He turned on his heels. "We should leave."
"Really?" Rose and Jack asked in almost unison. The Doctor repeated himself, and started to walk in the direction of the TARDIS. The funny thing was that none of them remembered walking that far from it.
"We're actually leaving?" Rose asked as she followed him.
"Yes," he answered, ignoring the look of utter confusion displayed on her face.
"Why?" Jack asked, his voice was almost as stone-like as The Doctor's.
"Because I've been here once before." The Doctor stated. Both Rose and Jack knew that was as good of an answer as they need and were going to get.
That was when the TARDIS light flickered off. Rose felt a shiver go down her spin, the only thing that she could make out were the silhouettes of The Doctor and Jack. "Did the bulb need changing?" She asked softly.
"Shh," The Doctor whispered, taking her hand.
"Does your screwdriver, by any chance, have a flashlight setting?" Jack asked him, but there was no response. Rose squeezed the Doctor's hand, and noticed for the first time that it was shaking almost as much as her's was.
"Doctor?" She whispered.
"It's not working," he told them.
"What-"
"Listen to me, both of you," his tone had changed to on of determination. "I need you to focus, ok?"
Rose nodded in response, and quickly realized that he couldn't see her nod. "Alright," she kept her voice steady.
"Yeah," Jack murmured.
"These..." The Doctor paused, searching for the right word. "Creatures feed on fear and grief. If you stay calm and level headed they can't hurt you. Now they won't be able to hold the TARDIS for long, we just need to wait them out."
"Is there a way to...you know...beat whatever's out here?" Jack asked.
"No." The Doctor spoke softly, and another chill passed through Rose. She was starting to felt the wind gently moving around her, trying to pull her away from the other two. Beckoning her out into the crimson darkness. Another chill ran through her, and she felt a slightly giddy. When the lightheaded rush subsided, she felt as if there was a block of ice inside her skull.
"It's in my head!" She hadn't meant to speak out loud, and she wished that her voice had come out less frantic. The Doctor let go of her hand, placing both of his on her shoulders. She knew that, if there was enough light for her to see his face, he would be staring into her eyes, as if searching from something.
"Rose, focus. It's trying to see into your past and find your most venerable memories. I need to to think of anything that makes you happy. What's the happiest memory that you can think of?" He voice had a touch of worry, and maybe fear to it.
"Umm," Rose tried to think of something joyful, but she could feel her mind pull her to her darkest moments. "I met you," she blurted. That wouldn't work, she told herself. At the time she had been frighten and confused. "Dancing!" She nearly shouted. "Dancing in the TARDIS."
"Good, hold onto that moment, shut everything else out." Rose did all that she could do to follow The Doctor's instructions. Hold onto joy. Hold onto the laughter. Don't think about the pain. Don't think about the fear. Or loss. Don't think about Dad.
She wasn't sure how the thought had come to her, but now that it was there she couldn't let it go. She couldn't shut it out. All of the pain she had felt when she had lost the father that she'd had so little time with came back to her. She could almost see him, almost hear his voice.
"Rose?"
Her heart skipped a beat. That was her father's voice. He was there, somewhere in the darkness, calling out to her.
"Rose?"
"Can you hear him?" She breathed, The Doctor's grip on her shoulders tightened. "Do you hear him?"
"It's tricking you Rose!" The Doctor yelled, as she pulled out of his grasp. She walked forward, as if in a trance.
"Help me, Rose!" Her father's voice called out to her.
"Dad!" She called out into the never ending red haze. She felt Jack grab her arm as she tried to walk past him. He didn't let go, when she pulled, and a rush of panic flooded her. "Let go," she said sternly. "He needs my help."
"Rose you're not in your right mind," The Doctor tried.
"He's out there!" She screamed.
"Rose, listen to me," his voice was desperate. "It's trying to trick you!"
"Doctor," Jack whispered.
"What?" He all but snapped.
"I think it's in my head." It was obvious that Jack was trying to force panic from his voice, making him sound overly calm.
"You heard what I told Rose, try to focus." Jack gave a humorless laugh.
"It's kind of hard to do that right now," he said through his teeth. The Doctor knew that Jack was indicating to the fact that he was still struggling to keep Rose with them. He took her other arm, trying to think of something to say.
"Let me go!" She shouted again, trashing against the two of them.
"Just a few minutes now, the TARDIS should be here soon." He spoke more to himself than Jack or Rose.
"Doctor!" Jack had stopped keeping the fear from his voice. If The Doctor could see his face, he would have noticed that Jack's eyes had glazed over. Jack's hold on Rose loosened, before her let her yank her arm from him.
"No," The Doctor breathed. He knew that he couldn't keep both of there, if Jack's state was anything like Rose's. "Jack," he started, but Jack didn't hear him.
"Gray?" Jack took a few steps away from them. "Is that you?"
"Jack!" The Doctor shouted after him. Jack began to walk at a faster pace, calling after the phantom voice that The Doctor assumed he was hearing.
"Gray!" Soon Jack was running into the darkness. The only way that The Doctor would have been able to get him back was if he let go of Rose, and even then he wasn't sure if he'd be able to stop him.
"I'm sorry!" Jack was shouting. "I didn't mean to let go, I'm sorry!"
"Jack!" The Doctor tired one more time, to call him back, but there was no use.
"Doctor, please." Rose's voice was softer now, but she was still struggling to get free from his hold on her.
"Rose, your father isn't out there-"
"He is, I know he is," Rose insisted.
At that moment, The Doctor felt a chill pass through him. He knew what this meant, but when the cold sensation filled his head, he couldn't find a happy memory to focus on. His thoughts wouldn't tear themselves away from the fear of loosing Rose like he had lost so many others.
"Doctor?" It wasn't Rose's voice that was speaking his name. He closed his eyes.
"It's not real," he whispered. He heard screams, pleading, terrified voices yelling his name. All those that he wasn't able to save. He had saved thousands of lives, but it would never be enough.
Something grabbed him foot, and when he opened his eyes he expected to see nothing. To his horror, he looked down to see a hand with it's fingers coiling around his ankle. He tried to to shake it off, but another one joined it. Emerging from the ground and wrapping it self around him. More and arms came, pulling him to them. The dirt started to melt away, revealing the torsos heads of the arms dragging him down.
At this point, Rose had broken free. He desperately screamed after her but she didn't even turn her head. A sharp tug, from one of the hands brought his attention back to them. The more he tried to struggle, the faster he sank into the ground and into their clutches.
The voices rang louder. "Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!" He was able to pull his arms free to place them over his ears, but that wasn't enough to drown anything out.
Through the allusions and his own shouts of terror and frustration, he heard the familiar sounds of engines. The TARDIS was had returned, but it was too late. Rose and Jack were gone, and he had been pulled to deep into the ground to get away.
The only thing that the TARDIS did was offer a light that let him see the faces of those pulling to his doom. Once he had looked upon them he wished that he hadn't, he wished that they had killed him before the TARDIS had arrived. For when he looked down, he saw the faces of his family and those who had once been his friends. All of the Time Lords who's lives he had ended.
They pulled him deeper into the ground, until only his head remained visible. The Doctor took one last gulp of air as his eyes took in the blood red darkness that would be the last thing he would ever see, before he was plunged into the surface of the planet. Suffering a combined death of choking on the dirt and being ripped apart by the the dead and gone.
Hello whomever is reading my attempt to write horror! This is a card fic, meaning that Scarlet Phlame, Corliss Kat, llamapop, and I were playing cards and betting on oneshots instead on money. Thanks for reading, please review!