Eternally the Bad Wolf and the Oncoming Storm

A Doctor Who Fan Fiction

"Oh come on Doc?" Jack pleaded.

"Oi! I told you Harkness, not without buying me a drink first!" The Doctor shot back along with a smirk as he glanced up at Rose. Words couldn't describe how he felt, she had come back to him, how none of them where sure, but she had. She'd done the impossible, crossed the void, and now here she stood in the console room watching as Jack did his very best to try and seduce him.

"Fine then, Rosie will tell me how well this new body 'dances' if you won't!" He smirked as he turned to face her. He wasn't quite sure if he should be worried or not as he observed her, if looks could kill he was damn sure the look she was currently giving would be his end, immortal or not.

"Sorry Jack, you're on your own. Wouldn't have a clue, maybe you'd have a better chance of findin' out than me!" She snapped as she stormed out of the console room and down the corridor, trying desperately to hide her pain and tears.

"Rose? What was all that about then?" The Doctor queried as he turned to Jack.

"That my dear Doctor was jealousy, pure and simple." Jack smiled at him.

"What? Rose? Jealous? What of?" He asked still in complete ignorance.

"Sometimes I can't help wondering at what point in over 900 years of existence you became such an idiot Doc." Jack laughed at his friend's expression.

"WHAT?!!" The doctor spluttered indignantly, "I am not an idiot thank you very much, and if there was something wrong I think I'd know!" Jack just sighed and rolled his eyes.

"You remember when I first came aboard right, the impression I got from you was 'hands off the blonde'! And before you say anything, I know you never actually said that, but it was obvious with the death glares and all, at one point I was worried I'd be launched out an air lock. Which is why I'm surprised you'd never noticed before." He said scratching his head in confusion.

"I don't know what you're on about Jack." The Doctor replied turning to tinker with yet another random part of the TARDIS that didn't actually require any attention.

"Then I truly am sorry for you Doc?" Jack sighed heavily.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean!" The Doctor snapped.

"That means, Doctor!" He said getting slightly annoyed," That before I met you, she made it quite clear that I should keep MY hands off a certain Time Lord. And even though Donna and Martha share nothing more than friendship with you, she made sure they knew it as well, even if she didn't realise it. She was yours then, still IS now!"

"Rose belongs to no one Jack, least of all me!" He shouted.

"Yeah, well she loves you, she came back to you, she doesn't want anyone else, trust me if she did I'd be there in a heart beat! So maybe you should talk to her before you break her heart again!" Jack was furious now, he loved Rose too and he refused to let him hurt her.

"I would never hurt her Jack, and what do you mean again!!!!" The Doctor was raging now at Jacks accusation.

"I know about Madame De Pompadour, Doctor! You left her! With Mickey of all people in the 51st Century with no hope at all! You abandoned her for some French whore, who was nothing in comparison! Rose is everything Doctor! She's heart and soul, she was willing to die for you, still would die for you!" Jack screamed.

"I couldn't take her with me; if I couldn't get us back she would have died there! And I had to preserve the timeline; I had to save Reinette or risk creating a paradox. I would never abandon Rose. As soon as my link to the TARDIS disappeared she would have taken them home!"

"You think that's what she wanted? She wanted you! The old you would have found another way, he would never have discarded her for another woman who she felt she was nothing in comparison to." Jack fumed again.

"How do you know how she felt, you weren't even there!!!" Jack was playing with fire now, and he knew he was but a moment away from coming face to face with the Oncoming Storm.

"While you were fixing the TARDIS after she was cannibalised, I found her room Doc, her diary was open to those few pages. She said when you rode through the mirror she felt empty, as if her soul had been ripped in half. She thought she was nothing to you. The tear stains and mascara where still as clear as the day they fell. And then you came back, but when she realised that you had asked Reinette to come with you, she believed that you loved her. She was ready to give you up and leave because she wanted you to be happy. She loved you so much she was willing to forget herself and return to Earth alone, as long as she knew you weren't." Jack couldn't help the tear that slid silently down his cheek, and he could see the Doctor visibly wince as he spoke.

"How could she think that? I never loved Reinette; she died Jack, waiting for me, wasted her life on the hopes that I'd return, all I could think about was Rose. I don't want her wasting years pining away over something that could never be. Maybe she was better off in Pete's world. She would have moved on, found someone, had a family, a fantastic life."

"You were her life Doc."

"You of all people know what it's like to watch the people you care about wither and die, and I won't."

"Two hundred or twenty years Doctor, is it worth her pain not loving her the way she loves you? Because immortal or not, if you won't love her then I will!!" They were mere inches apart, both seeing the rage building behind the others eyes.

"I'm a Time Lord Jack, I can't! She's human; her mind and body wouldn't be able to withstand Gallifreyan bonding. It would kill her! I refuse to lose her again!" He bellowed and Jack could see the pain and tears well up in the Doctors eyes,

"Then tell her or you will lose her." Jack replied quietly, his heart breaking knowing now that it was not by choice that his two best friends would never be together.

Rose lay in the bath; water so hot it had begun to tinge her flesh red as it burnt. She felt numb, nothing but emptiness consumed her heart and mind as she silently floated. She could feel the TARDIS hum her concern in the back of her mind but paid her no regard. She had nothing left. She would never tell him she had watched her entire family grow old and die as she lived on, 150 years had passed since she had declared her love for him on the beach in Norway, 150 years wondering if his response was to reciprocate her feelings, but since her return their relationship merely continued as it had left off, he was becoming increasingly more distant and she couldn't take it anymore, she knew now that he didn't. He didn't want her, and if he wouldn't love her then she had nothing, she was alone, she needed him, but he didn't need her.

She dragged the razor from her wrist to her elbow, feeling nothing as the sharp edge cut through her vein and her life blood seeped out into the water. She had nothing, was nothing to the one person that meant more to her than life itself. No one would miss her and no one would care. A single tear spilled as she closed her eyes and mirrored the same cut on her other arm. She welcomed death; the darkness would be a comfort, no pain or hurt, hatred or love, just an all consuming nothingness.

"I'm sorry girl, take care of him and Jack for me. I love you." She whispered to the ship as she felt her heart rate decrease as she slowly began to slip away.

The TARDIS gave an almighty lurch throwing Jack and the Doctor to the floor. She began to spark and explode profusely as the Doctor dragged himself back up to the console, every alarm was set off and the cloister bell echoed relentlessly through her depths. Everything the ship could manage she thew at him, she invaded his mind pain/hate/love/guilt/death/life/anger/fear doubling him over as she continued her assault. SAVE HER THETA, SAVE HER, PLEASE!!!!!!

"SAVE WHO!!!" The Doctor screamed out in pain.

"DOCTOR, WHATS GOING ON?" Jack shouted over the noise. And for the first time the TARDIS used her voice.

"THE STORM MUST SAVE THE WOLF, SAVE HER THETA, SAVE OUR ROSE!!!" The TARDIS screamed as the image of Rose's lifeless body submerged in blood flickered on every screen in the console room.

"ROSE NO!!!!!!" He cried as he launched himself down the corridor and burst into her room with Jack following mere seconds behind. He hauled her from the bathtub and wrapped her in the blanket Jack held up. He clung her to his chest as he rocked her back and forth. He was too late. She looked up into his eyes one last time and her eyes fluttered closed. He felt her heart beat its last and watched as her chest rose and fell for the last time.

"No no no no no no No, please no, Rose come back, don't leave me! Come back!" He sobbed. All Jack could do was watch and cry as the Doctor clutched to the woman he had loved and now lost again permanently. He whispered an endless stream of pleas in Gallifreyan. Even though Jack couldn't understand them, he knew it to be so.

He silently followed as the Doctor carried Rose's body into the console room and carefully placed her down onto the metal grating of the floor, the TARDIS dimming her lights and humming in mourning. Save her Theta, please She sobbed into his mind. Tell her Theta, tell her how much you need her, and love her, please.

"I can't save her, there's nothing I can do." He responded coldly, "She's gone."

The Doctor flung open the doors of the TARDIS, and the Oncoming Storm faced the universe in all his fury.

"YOU TAKE AWAY EVERYTHING, MY HOME, MY PEOPLE, MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS. YOU TOOK ROSE ONCE, NOW YOU'VE TAKEN HER AGAIN. I DEFEND YOU YET EVERYTIME I'M LEFT WITH NOTHING, NO ONE, ALWAYS ALONE. WHY COULDN'T SHE BE MINE? ALL I WANT IS A MATE, WHY COULDN'T IT BE HER, ALL I WANTED WAS HER, I NEEDED HER. I LOVE HER YOU HEAR ME, THE LAST TIME LORD, ONCOMING STORM, DESTROYER OF WORLDS, IN LOVE WITH A HUMAN. AND NOW SHE'S GONE BECAUSE I COULDN'T LOVE HER THEY WAY SHE NEEDED ME TO. SHE DID THIS BECAUSE OF ME. I HOPE YOU'VE HAD A GOOD LAUGH BECAUSE I QUIT, DEFEND YOURSELF, I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" And with that he slammed the doors on the universe and retreated into the vortex.

The Doctor fell to his knees next to Jack who was stoking Rose's wet blood stained blonde hair. He took her in his arms as he spoke to Jack.

"You were right, I couldn't protect her from myself, I should have told her and now it is too late."

"Oh Rosie," Jack sobbed,"I'm sorry Doc, so sorry."

"Yeah, so am I." He replied despondently as he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I love you Rose Tyler, through all of time and space, and I will love you until the end of all my lives and into eternity." He breathed as he closed his eyes and pressed a kiss to her cold lips, "Good bye." He shut his eyes tightly and let the tears spill down his face and onto her cheeks.

"No, never goodbye." She spoke against his lips and his eyes snapped open "Rose?"

"No……and yes….I am the Bad Wolf." She said eyes glowing golden as a fine mist encircled Rose's body protectively. The Doctor hung his head as he spoke, "I killed her, its all my fault, she died because of me."

"Yes Doctor, but she was destined too, and now because of it, we will live."

"Huh? We? I don't understand." He said quietly, and the Bad Wolf chuckled.

"Just as The Oncoming Storm is the Time Lord power within you Doctor, so too am I. Rose is compassion, love and hope. I, the Bad Wolf, represent her power, her protection and love for you, her will; the power of the universe, the power of a Time Lord."

"But she's human, if she were a Time Lord I would have felt her, there's nothing, I feel nothing its empty just as it always was!" He said impatience and anger dripping off every word.

"Not anymore. All she needed was for you to admit how you felt, and now you have, and you will have her, your friend, your equal, your mate. She was made for you and you for her. You are two pieced that are meant to come together, The Doctor and Rose, The Oncoming Storm and the Bad Wolf, the Destroyer of Worlds and the Creator of Life."

The Doctor could only gape at her in awe as the golden mist around her intensified. He watched as Rose's hair changed and lengthened from shoulder length blonde to a deep fiery red that stopped against her waist. Her skin paled slightly and she gained an inch in height, her eyes changing from deep brown to an almost ethereal emerald green. She was regenerating, Rose, the Bad Wolf, was regenerating and he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face when he felt the familiar thrumming of a dual heart beat that matched his own. And then he felt it, he felt her in the back of his mind, a place that had once been so desolate and empty, now burning bright and golden with her essence. She was Gallifreyan, a Lord of Time, a goddess, his goddess, his Rose.

"The spirit of the Bad Wolf lives within my heart
peacefully, yet ever wild
flying through time to the far reaches of space
dancing in the stars that drift in the Heavens.

The Bad Wolf resides within my soul
humming to the song of her Oncoming Storm
Because of our Love; the Universe will be safe for all eternity."

The Doctor felt a surge of power as she spoke, and he saw his time line increase to encompass all thirteen of Rose's lives, he would be with her forever, their forever, the Doctor and Rose, the Oncoming Storm and the Bad Wolf, the last two Gallifreyan's in existence, the Last of the Time Lords. He continued to watch in awe as he saw hundreds of time lines branching off from the intertwined gold and silver that was himself and Rose……..they were children, his and Rose's children and their children's children. And the TARDIS offspring. Tears of pure joy began to spill from his eyes; he knew now that none of them would ever be alone ever again. And he saw Jack, the Face of Boe, destined to follow along the path of the time lords, linked together, and then when their lives where through he saw them ascend together, they who would become the Eternals, forever watching over and guiding the future protectors of the universe, a new race of time lords not bound to stand idly by while its charge was in need.