The young girl sat in the corner, trying not to be seen. However, it didn't seem to be fear of her surroundings that kept her hidden. She was trying to prevent others in the room from seeing what she was doing. She was fiddling with an odd watch on her wrist, her brow furrowed in consternation.

"Hey, are you alright? It's alright, no one's gonna hurt you," a blonde said, walking carefully over to the girl. Around her, men grabbed their guns, raising them at the girl who had appeared in an odd flash of light.

The girl looked up, her green eyes swiftly taking in the blonde walking towards her, and the men with their guns. Her eyes were disconcerting: so old on such a young face. She didn't look to be more then eighteen, and was wearing a sea-green hoodie and dark blue jeans. "You want to tell them to put down the guns? Then maybe we can talk."

A man with dark brown skin lowered his gun and frowned at her. "You American?" he asked, a London accent coloring his voice, the same as the blonde's.

"Yeah. Obviously. We in London?" The girl asked curiously, giving up on whatever she was trying to do with the watch. At the man's nod, she continued. "Huh, I was in Cardiff a second ago." Suddenly her eyes narrowed, taking in her surroundings more carefully, looking at the logo on one of the computers. "I thought this place was destroyed."

Everyone frowned at her in confusion, until the blonde stepped forward again. "Are you talking about Canary Wharf? The place with the ghosts, yeah?" At the other girl's nod, she continued. "That place was destroyed. This version is still here, 'cept—"

"Oh, I'm going to kill him!" the girl exclaimed. "He got me stuck in a parallel world! What did I tell him about playing with the rift?" she grumbled, and then took a deep breath. "Sorry, um, I'm Sparky. I work for Torchwood Three sometimes; I'm friends with the captain."

"How old are you?" The blonde asked.

"Seventeen," the girl replied with a shrug. "But no, that's not too young. I mean, you humans mature so slow, yeah, but not everyone in the universe." At her words, the guns were back.

"Whoa, put them down. I'm Rose by the way, and this is Mickey Smith. What do you mean though, are you an alien?"

The young girl frowned at her. "Yeah, of course. And if I wasn't, going through the rift unprotected would have killed me, let alone crossing the void. That would have blown all my lives in one go!" she sighed. "But luckily I have some Ziton crystals, so that stabilized things a bit. If I had been in my ship though..." she trailed off, looking unsure.

Rose stared at her, eyes wide. She swiftly grabbed the girl and Mickey, and dragged them into her office, locking the door.

"Rose, what's goin' on? You look like you've seen a ghost or something?" Mickey said.

The blonde ignored her friends questioning. "What are you exactly? What species, what planet?"

The younger girl walked over to the window, observing the alternate world, her sharp eyes taking in the old and new sights. The zeppelins filling the skylines, the Thames gently flowing, many familiar buildings. She took a deep breath as she turned back to Rose and Mickey. "Like I said, my name in Sparky. I was raised on earth, born there actually. Never really knew I wasn't human until I opened that watch..." She took another deep breath, her eyes distant for a moment. "My planet was destroyed in a war, but it was called Gallifrey."

"Gallifrey? You're from Gallifrey? Where is that?" Rose sputtered, staring at the young girl in front of her. Seventeen years old, with natural whitish blond hair and deep green eyes that seemed too old on her young face. She was wearing contemporary clothes common to teenagers. She looked so human that it was difficult to believe that she was wasn't.

"No, I'm from earth. I was born on earth. My species just comes from Gallifrey." She seemed adamant about being from earth, like it was more important than anything. "It's like...if you were an illegal immigrant in America. If you had a kid there, it would automatically be American, despite whatever nationality you are."

Mickey nodded at her. "Okay, well then, what species are you then? I mean, you look pretty humanoid...are you from any future human colonies then? Rose said that she's seen some."

Sparky rolled her eyes. "I can assure you that I am not human. And anyway," she said, turning to Rose, "How would you have seen all of that? I mean, no offense, but twenty-first century earth isn't that advanced, in any universe."

Though the question was aimed at Rose, Mickey replied when he saw Rose's face pale, as it usually did at any reminder of her time with the Doctor. "I think you're avoiding the question."

"I think you're right," Sparky replied lightly. "Hmm, well apparently my people had many names. We were well known across the stars, for our technology and our abilities. But like I said, Gallifrey was lost in a war. It's gone now. I'm not sure if there are many of us left." Rose was regarding this girl intently now; she had a feeling she knew exactly what this girl was. She had mentioned a war, having multiple lives...quite similar to things she had heard from her former travelling companion. "But most commonly, I believe, my people were known as Time Lords...though I think that I would be called a Time Lady."

Mickey gasped, exchanging a look with Rose. "So you're like the Doctor then?"

Sparky's eyes flew to his. "You know the Doctor?"

"Yeah," Rose answered carefully. "I used to travel with him. All 'cross the stars, visitin' so many worlds, meeting' all types of aliens." Her eyes grew sad. "But then I got stuck here."

Sparky regarded Rose carefully now, taking in both her words and the emotions that accompanied them. Obviously, Rose had cared deeply for this Doctor, and didn't enjoy being trapped in the parallel world. "You're not Rose Tyler by any chance, are you?"

Rose gasped. "How'd you know my name?"

"Well, like I said. I worked for Torchwood Three sometimes since I'm friends with the captain...Captain Jack Harkness."

Rose's eyes widened. "Captain Jack? He's alive and workin' for Torchwood? The Doctor never told me about that!" Rose began to sway where she stood, and Mickey guided her to her chair. Offering to get everyone tea to calm them down, he swiftly left the room.

"Yeah, well Jack always wondered why he was left behind. He went back to the past, hoping to find you and the Doctor again. He really misses you both," Sparky said softly, walking to sit across from Rose.

The blonde nodded. "Alrigh', Jack's alive. But I thought that all the Time Lords were killed off in the war? That's what the Doctor said."

Sparky nodded once, her eyes distant. "Well, up until a few months ago, that was true. You see, my parents left Gallifrey when the Daleks began attacking the Citadel. They went to earth and created a life for themselves. But then they were called back, and so my father returned to fight. But when they went to earth initially, they brought me, while I was still inside the loom—Time Lords can't reproduce naturally, they have to use machines—and when I was born, my mother put us both through the Chameleon Arch, which made us both human. Our Time Lord selves were contained in these pocket watches. A few months ago, I was going through the attic, and found mine." Her eyes were now glittering with tears. "Imagine, after growing up one way, discovering everything was a lie? And then, my mother had destroyed her watch, so that she would remain human. You see, my father died in the war, and she actually loved him. Usually, Time Lords just marry for convenience, but they were some of the few that actually married for love."

Rose reached out and grabbed the girl's hand. "I'm sorry, I really am. That must've been horrible. But how do you know all of this, if you were born after the war?"

The younger girl smiled. "There was this thing on Gallifrey, called the Matrix. Every deceased Time Lord's memories were put into it for future use. My father uploaded his memories into a version of it before returning to Gallifrey, and left them with my mother. I found them, and gained a lot of them...he was careful about which ones he left you see. I think he knew what my mother was going to do, and that I would need him one day. He left me everything about how to work a TARDIS, stuff about the universe. Things that I would need to know if Gallifrey was gone." She cleared her throat, and blinked away the tears, before briskly standing up. "Alright, so do you want to go back to your universe? 'Cause I'm sorry, this place might be nice and all, but it doesn't have that feeling of home."

Rose watched her for a moment. "You know that's impossible, yeah? You can't cross the void, it could collapse."

Sparky grinned at her brightly. "Well then, how did I get here? And anyway, this is Torchwood! I bet you have a bunch of stuff that could be used to help! Namely though, I think we need to find a place with a rift. Want to go to Cardiff?"

"Why you going to Cardiff?" Mickey asked from the door, holding a tray of tea.

"Because Mickey, I'm going home!" Sparky ran out past him, darting down the hall. "And I need transport to Wales, pronto!"

NOTE: Remember, the first time that Gallifrey was ever mentioned in the New Series was in the Runaway Bride. Rose has never heard of it!

Also, this prologue is a bit of a teaser—I want to see if people are interested before continuing to write. I do have parts of this story written, but I am not going to upload the rest until I have finished most of it, which will likely occur during the summer.