Disclaimer: Though BBC and other official-like people insist that they own Doctor Who, I have a fantastic picture of Rose and the Doctor. Does that count?
The Wolf at the Door
She was eternal.
They were right – her mother, Mickey. The Doctor had changed her. Except that it was not him at all: Rose had changed herself. Perhaps it was because of him, or for him, or as a result of him, but the final decision had been hers. She had changed into something terrifying and everlasting and there was no going back. She did not want to go back. This is who she was, now, and this is who she would forever be.
Rose Tyler's reputation preceded her. It was as though the entirety of the multiverse recognized her, for wherever she went, the people always knew. Even if she had never touched a universe before, once a flash of blue light scorched the skies, the people shivered in dread. Their most primal instincts knew that something terrible had arrived. They tried to flee, to hide, to avoid notice, but it was impossible. There was nothing to do but pray.
The Wolf was at the door and she would not be denied.
The most terrifying thing about her, said the stories, was that she was fate incarnate. With that lightning-blue flash, she appeared in each new dimension: some war-torn, some peaceful, some almost familiar, and some completely alien. Her every action and every word she spoke or left unsaid could shake the foundations of every world and every universe she touched. She could bring utopia to a feuding world, or demolish a long-standing peace. She could breathe life into the dead or steal the breath from the most effervescent of bodies. But she possessed one more ability, something even more terrifying than her casual control over life and death, a power over people so strong that she need not even lift a finger to change the course of history. No matter when or where she went, this one ultimate truth remained: everyone obeyed the big Bad Wolf.
She could be as enigmatic and evasive as a sphinx and they would eagerly follow her slightest suggestion. She could tell them to fight for a cause, and they would march into danger like lambs to the slaughter. She could tell them to re-write their own timeline, even unto death, and they would. She could even keep her silence, and still they would follow her. No creature in the multiverse could resist. That was the most frightening thing.
The most terrifying thing about her, said the stories, was that she was as unpredictable and terrible as the ocean. Some traditions held that she used to be kind, even merciful. Some said that she once gave humanity to a Dalek with a single touch. They said that she used to calm the fury of a Time Lord with nothing more than a word and a soft look. They said she used to be known as the Defender of the Earth. None of it could be true, of course. Those could only be children's tales made up to stave off fear, to try to give humanity to the Golden One. Whatever Rose Tyler was, it was nothing so simple as a human. She was untamed and fierce. She was the heart of the supernova, but she burned coldly. She was all things primal and pitiless. There was nothing soft or merciful about the Bad Wolf. She was golden and beautiful and terrible. That was the most frightening thing.
The most terrifying thing about her, said the stories, was that change always followed in her wake. Whoever she was, wherever she came from, whatever she wanted, no one knew and no one cared. The only thing that mattered was that as soon as she appeared, it was already too late. Change was inevitable. With distant, gold-touched eyes, she would survey the people, the world, the entirety of the universe. Then, she would make her decision. If the people were lucky, if nothing caught her attention and if the Wolf was calm, perhaps she would just leave. Perhaps she would take her frozen inferno with her and never come back. If she was subdued, she would leave only ripples in her wake, changes that would take centuries to become significant.
More often, they were not so lucky. The Golden One would say a few words or appear to just the wrong people, and then all would turn to chaos. All would be lost; she would leave nothing save utter destruction behind her. It was not because anyone had done anything particularly bad, or because they had riled her; it was simply because she was fury and ice. She destroyed because her anger and frustration raged. She destroyed because the Wolf rampaged and howled and warred against the multiverse. She destroyed because whole civilizations were in the way and there was nothing that could stop her. That was the most frightening thing.
The most terrifying thing about her, said the stories, was that no one knew why she prowled the multiverse. Some tales insisted that she was on a quest, that she was searching for something or someone. But no one dared believe such tales, for whatever could capture her interest so fully would surely be a most fearsome thing to behold. The very multiverse shuddered to think of it. No, she could not be on a quest. The Wolf was merely a traveler, coming and going without warning. There was no explanation for why or when she would appear; no conceivable reason for her to be roaming across universes; and no knowing how she could show up on ancient Earth once time, then on Mars appledelta5 the next. There was nothing to say why she chose one planet, and not another; and if she happened to appear more often on planets with humans than on those without, well, surely it was a coincidence. It was pure chance, if rather unfortunate for the humans. When she was through with a dimension, when her device said it was time to move on, she would disappear, leaving only the ripples in fate that her mere presence caused to remember her by. That was the most frightening thing.
As a brilliant blue flash challenged the moon for dominion over the night, Rose Tyler appeared in yet another universe. Even before her vision cleared, she knew that this time was different. The feel of the possibilities, the very scent of the universe, it was all so familiar. At long last, she had arrived at the place she had set out for all those countless years ago, the place she had long since stopped searching for: her territory, her home. She could feel it in her bones.
This time, when she paused to survey her surroundings, she found before her a sight that was so much different than what she remembered. Yet somehow, it was exactly what she had expected to find.
A distant, long-forgotten part of Rose Tyler whispered to the Wolf. It saw the man standing there, with his wild hair and crisp suit, and said she should be overcome with emotion. It said she should smile, cry out in exaltation, run to him and hold him and shed tears for the joy of finding him. However, so much time had passed while she roved the multiverse. All those years had stripped such useless emotion from her. That quiet whisper speaking of gentle feelings was no more than a faint memory, not even enough to be considered a remnant of Rose Tyler, the pink and yellow human girl. It was irrelevant now.
"Rose," he said, his voice as empty as his eyes.
She met those soulless eyes and the Wolf assessed him. She searched the very deepest corners of his soul and he hid nothing from her, her Doctor. No, what she found was so much more than that: he was fire and he was rage. He was the storm in the heart of the sun. He controlled the turn of the universe and changed time to suit his whims. He was the Destroyer after whom all others were named. He was the Oncoming Storm.
"Hello, Doctor," she said at last, infinite time and pitiless fate echoing in her voice. The Wolf was pleased. She had found her match, something strong, something eternal, something elemental. Something worthy of her. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to see what she had become. Waiting for him to realize what would be.
"I've changed a lot," he said. It was an unnecessary statement. The Wolf already knew this. She knew that the Storm had been purged of any weakness, any humanity. She knew that he was as he should be. He was powerful and unforgiving. He was the ruthless dictator of time. She shrugged.
"So have I."
This seemed to stir his long-dormant interest. His critical eye looked her up and down, finding a woman whose body, while youthful, no longer held any traces of childhood. He found a woman whose eyes reflected an ancient knowledge not unlike his own. He searched the very depths of her soul and she hid nothing. She was feral and she was inhuman. She was fury and she was ice. She was the Wolf and she controlled fate as she pleased. The Doctor inclined his head. This time, when her device said that she could seek out the next universe, the Golden One did not disappear.
The course of the multiverse shifted irrevocably.
Their reputation preceded them. The entirety of time and space knew of them; wherever they went, the people fled. When the groaning of the TARDIS announced their presence, the people shivered in dread. Their most primal instincts knew that the rulers of time and fate had arrived and there was nothing they could do but pray.
The most terrifying thing about them, said the stories, was that an entire universe had to be sacrificed to contain them. It seemed a small enough price to pay. When they found each other that first time, the multiverse itself let out a sigh of relief. They were grateful, those other worlds and times and peoples, that the Destroyers so rarely ventured beyond the Doctor's universe. There was little need now that they were together. But when they did venture forth, when their attention was called away from that one little sacrificial universe by chance or the folly of some ignorant fool, a storm of fury the likes of which the multiverse had never seen before would be unleashed. The displeasure of the Destroyers at being disturbed echoed throughout all of time and space and across all of the dimensions. That was the most frightening thing.
The most terrifying thing about them, said the stories, was that they belonged to each other and anything that tried to get between them vanished. Rose Tyler and the Doctor were bound together by some unfathomable force. In certain times and places, people said that theirs was a romance of epic proportions. They said that once, Rose Tyler had faced certain death for the Doctor and had come out changed. They even said that, the Doctor had died for Rose Tyler. This could not be true, of course. Whatever bound them, it was nothing so simple or human as love. Whatever bound them was more complex than that.
They were two sides of the same coin. Together, they were balanced. Unpredictability and inevitability, change and perpetuity, the moon and the tide. Together, they became the Eye of the Storm, the epicenter of chaos and change. Together, they brought order; they destroyed those they deemed reprehensible and ignored the rest. But if their bond was ever tested, if they were ever separated, there would be no stopping their wrath. Total annihilation followed in their wake and no scrap of the multiverse was safe. Guilty or innocent, it did not matter. Everything fell before them. There was no escape. Not even fate itself was safe from their anger until they were reunited once more. Not even time could escape unscathed. That was the most frightening thing.
The most terrifying thing about them, said the stories, was that they never stopped. No matter where or when they went, they were always moving. Side by side, they prowled their universe, surveying their domain. All throughout time, they slowly, calmly, inexorably came. He shaped the universe to suit his fancies and she toyed with the fate of all things as she pleased. The multiverse itself trembled before them and no force stood a chance against them. They were the Wolf and the Storm. Destruction and rebirth. They were pitiless and forever.
They never grew old, they never grew weak, and they would never succumb to humanity.
That was the most frightening thing.
.:Fin:.
Author's Note:
I've always wondered what Rose and the Doctor would be like if something went wrong and they just stopped caring and became, well, dark. When Memoirs of a Dream showed me her idea for a dark Doctor fic, I just had to get a bite of it. Thus, Rose's story was born. I hope you enjoyed it and be sure to check out the companion piece and the inspiration for all of this: Memoirs of a Dream's The Eye of the Storm.
Reviews ward off the Golden One.