TALES OF GALLIFREY: THE SECRET HISTORY OF ROSE TYLER
CHAPTER 1
I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.
Thank you to everyone who has read The Adventures of Rose Tyler, Time Lady. It has reached 10,000 views!
This series is set in my War of the Guardians universe and is set concurrently with my It's Better With Two title for Rose. The adventures on the Gallifrey of the past could be anytime within the two hundred year lifetime of Arkytior, Rose's first incarnation as a Time Lady. This particular story is right before the Reunion of the Daleks in It's Better With Two for Rose and during Arkytior's time at the Time Lord Academy for the parts set in the past.
The Fateful Meeting
Jackie Tyler was sitting in a lawn chair in her front yard letting the soft, gentle breeze blowing around her relax her. She found herself wondering as she usually did what Rose was up to back in their original universe. She wasn't sure if she'd want to know the details or not. They'd probably make her hair turn white. She would just be satisfied with knowing if she was alright.
As if in answer to her unspoken question, Jackie heard the sound of a TARDIS materializing nearby and immediately jumped out of her chair. She hoped that it was Rose. She loved Jenny, but she really wanted to see Rose right now.
Jackie smiled as she saw the familiar hot pink sports car sitting on her lawn. Only her daughter would pick something like that as a disguise for a time machine. It was just so Rose.
Rose emerged from the trunk of the car, which was the way into the Console Room, and started to smile as she saw her mother waiting there for her. She raced over to her and gave her a massive hug. Both women had missed each other greatly. Rose hadn't seen Jackie in at least a few weeks.
"Are you okay, Rose? I had a really bad feeling about you not too long ago. It felt like you were in trouble. I guess that's just me being ridiculous and overprotective though, isn't it?" Jackie asked with a hopeful tone to her voice.
"Of course it is. I'm fine, Mum. I've never been better," Rose lied.
She hated lying to her mother, but she didn't exactly think that it would be a good idea to tell her that she had died and then been brought back to life recently. Knowing her, she'd probably lock her up in the house and never let her out again. That was if she ever stopped yelling at her long enough to do so.
She was 230 years old, but she still had to worry about being yelled at by her mother. She wouldn't have it any other way though.
"I'm so glad to hear that it was just me worrying too much. I know that you've got all of those powers now to protect yourself with so I really shouldn't worry so much about you, should I?" Jackie asked as if she were trying to talk herself into believing it.
"That's right. You don't need to worry about me at all. I'm impossible to get rid of," Rose said with a grin.
Jackie could tell from the way that she was acting that Rose was lying to her, but she went along with it. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know what had happened to her to make her lie straight to her face like that. It must have been very bad though because she knew that Rose normally didn't lie to her. She wouldn't dare.
"You know I've never seen the inside of your TARDIS before. Do you think that you could give me a tour?" Jackie asked.
Jackie wasn't interested in seeing the TARDIS as much as she was in talking to Shareen, who she knew lived with Rose. Shareen would tell her the truth. She needed to know what had happened no matter how bad it had been.
Rose led Jackie inside of her TARDIS for the first time. She was already suspicious of her mother's motives. She had never wanted to see the inside of her TARDIS before after all.
Shareen was looking at a hologram of Arkytior, Rose's first incarnation, when they walked into the console room. Shareen had just met Arkytior recently when there was a massive time paradox that resulted from Rose and Arkytior meeting each other, and the universe came close to being destroyed.
Jackie stopped dead in her tracks as she asked, "Who is that?"
"That's me. It's what I looked like in my first incarnation," Rose said.
"It can't be. That's just beyond belief. It's just too weird," Jackie said to herself as she shook her head.
"Mum, what are you talking about? You're starting to worry me. I already told you the truth about myself a long time ago once I opened that fob watch," Rose said.
"I know that, Rose. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the fact that I've seen that woman before except she was younger than the one there," Jackie said in disbelief.
"What?" Rose said in complete surprise.
"I met her when I was a kid. I couldn't have been but about eight years old. I was alone and scared, and she helped me," Jackie said as she kept looking from the hologram to Rose and shaking her head.
"Is that true?" Shareen asked Rose.
"I don't remember that ever happening, Mum. I think I'd remember meeting you even if you were a little girl," Rose said.
"I never told you my name, and you never saw my face. I had a Little Red Riding Hood costume on that was too big for me, and the hood covered my entire head. I could barely see in it. That's one reason that I got lost," Jackie said.
"It's true," Rose said in a shocked voice.
"It really happened?" Shareen asked in amazement.
"Well of course it happened! Why would I make up something like that?" Jackie asked indignantly.
"I thought maybe you just saw someone who looked like her," Shareen said as she flinched from Jackie's angry tone.
"No, it was me. I remember now. I can't believe it! I actually met my mum when she was a little girl before I was even Rose. It's official. I'm even worse than the Doctor when it comes to the sheer weirdness in my life," Rose said with a groan.
She began to tell them the story of what had happened that day from her point of view. Jackie would fill in the details from time to time where Rose didn't know or remember them, and Shareen got a full picture from the both of them of just what had happened the day that they had first met.
Gallifrey, Hundreds of Years Ago
Arkytior was excited because her class was going to go on a field trip to Earth. She had wanted to go to Earth for the longest time now ever since she could remember. She had loved to read about it and its inhabitants ever since she was a little girl. Now she was finally going to get to see it for herself.
She was beyond excited now as she got onboard the TT capsule (what would be called a TARDIS now) with the rest of her class. She couldn't stop grinning the whole time that they were traveling through the Vortex.
They arrived in the city of London on October 31, 1975. Arkytior had wanted to see this country in particular for some time now. She had especially wanted to try a local human delicacy that a friend had recently told her about called chips. She had a feeling that she would love them. They sounded absolutely delicious.
Borusa, the head instructor of her group, lectured them about what they could and could not do now that they were on the planet as he said, "We are only here to observe and not to interfere. Anyone who tries to interfere in the affairs of any of the inhabitants of this world, even if it is to help them, will be expelled from the Academy for the rest of your life cycle. Is that understood?"
The class all loudly said that they had understood. Arkytior became very, very concerned.
She fought past her usual shyness as she walked up to Borusa and asked him, "Does that mean we can't buy any of the local food and eat it? Would that count as interfering?"
Borusa actually smiled, which was rare for him, as he answered, "No, Arkytior. You're safe if you want to eat some chips. I'll even give you some of the local money to buy them with."
Arkytior breathed a sigh of relief as Borusa took several pound notes out of his pocket and handed them to her. Then she realized that Borusa knew about her desire to eat some chips and wondered how. She proceeded to ask him so, and Borusa's smile got even wider which really began to make the other students around him nervous. Borusa never smiled usually unless he was about to punish someone.
"There's no need to worry. It's not known through the school. Theta told me about it, Arkytior. He's always telling me about how much you love the Earth and want to try out its local foods. He talks a lot about you actually," Borusa said as he smiled at her fondly.
Arkytior was one of his best and brightest students. She and Theta were easily Borusa's favorites even if Arkytior herself didn't seem to realize that. Even after all of the years that she had been his student, she was still hesitant to talk to him most of the time. It was only when it was something that was very important to her that she even attempted to talk to him. This was apparently one of those times. It only showed that Theta had been right when he had told him about how interested Arkytior was in the Earth.
"He talks about me with you? What does he say?" Arkytior asked intrigued.
"Nothing but good things you can be sure. He's always talking about what you like, what you're interested in, or what you're up to lately. If you ask me, he has more than a passing interest in you," Borusa admitted to her.
"He's my best friend," Arkytior said.
"He's much more to you than that I'm willing to bet," Borusa said with a sly grin.
"No, we're just friends, and that's all. We're just really good friends," Arkytior said in a low tone as she looked away from him, and her face turned red with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, Arkytior. It appears that I was mistaken, and I apologize if I have embarrassed or offended you in any way," Borusa said meaning it.
"No, I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about," Arkytior said with an overeager smile.
She then quickly ran from Borusa and hid among the other students who were already starting to explore the area. Borusa watched her with curiosity for a minute and then shook his head.
He had asked her about this before and had gotten the same result. He had hoped that as time passed that maybe they would have gotten closer together and actually overcome their initial shyness towards each other. Unfortunately, it hadn't happened yet. He wondered if the two of them would ever realize just how strongly that they really felt about each other. He hoped that they didn't go the rest of their lives without telling each other about it.
Arkytior waited in line with some of the others from the school, and then practiced her English as she ordered fish and chips. She eagerly sat down and devoured all of the food with a huge smile on her face. She liked the fish well enough, but she absolutely loved the chips! She had never had anything that good in her life. When you poured what humans called ketchup on top of them, then they were even better if that were possible.
She couldn't stop smiling after having finished them, and she went back and bought some more just to experience that heavenly taste once again. She quickly wolfed them all down in a matter of minutes, and yet she still wanted more.
She was about to go spend all of the money that she had left on buying some more of them when Borusa called out for all of them to go. It was with a heavy heart that she left the restaurant behind. She silently promised herself that she would have some more of this marvelous food someday.
As they traveled through the streets of London, Arkytior looked at each and every sight with awe and wonder. She was soaking it all in and absorbing every detail. She stored every little detail that she saw to memory and knew that she would treasure these moments for the rest of her lives.
It began to get dark, and she saw the streets fill with children dressed in costumes. She smiled as she remembered what day this was.
"In case you're wondering why the children are dressed oddly tonight, this is the holiday that many humans throughout the world celebrate known as Halloween. Children across this world dress in costumes and go from house to house asking for candy. They commonly say "Trick or Treat" when they do this," Borusa lectured.
"What does 'Trick or Treat' mean?" one of the students asked.
"It means that they are asking for candy; and if they don't get it, they will pull a trick on the person who doesn't give it to them," Borusa explained.
"What kind of tricks? Do they blow something up in their yards? Maybe enlarge their pets to the size of dinosaurs and set them after them? Shrink them down to the size of a small doll perhaps?" Koschei asked mischievously.
"No, Koschei. The tricks are much less violent than that. More like putting toilet paper all throughout their yards," Borusa explained.
"That's nothing. What kind of fun is that? That won't make them give them the candy. They have to explode a couple of trees in their yard and send them a clear message! Give me candy, or you will suffer the consequences!" Koschei said with madness in his eyes.
"You're always wondering why people don't invite you to parties. That's why," Theta Sigma said as he rolled his eyes.
"What? Nothing but some harmless fun," Koschei said with a massive grin on his face as he thought of ways that he would celebrate such a holiday.
"I'd hate to see your definition of harmful if you think that's harmless," Theta said with a sigh.
Arkytior smiled at the banter between the two. The two of them were as close as brothers, and they argued just like brothers as well.
"Those two are incorrigible, aren't they?" Cliodna asked.
"Yes, they're both idiots!" Arkytior agreed with a wide grin.
"They're our idiots though," Cliodna said with a laugh.
"Yes, they are. The three of you are my only friends, and I love you all," Arkytior said, suddenly turning serious.
"We love you too, Ari. I'll say it for those two as well because you know that they're never going to say it. Especially not Theta," Cliodna said.
"Don't start on that today. I'm trying to enjoy my trip to Earth. Borusa's already done that to me today already. Not you too," Arkytior said as she started to get angry.
"Alright, alright! Don't listen to me. Just wait until you go through all of your regenerations waiting on good old Theta to finally figure out how you really feel about him. Whatever!" Cliodna said with a deep loud sigh.
"I know that you mean well, but you don't understand the situation. Just leave it well enough alone," Arkytior said.
"In other words, 'Mind your own business, you annoying little busybody!' That's what you're saying in a much nicer way," Cliodna said with a grin.
Arkytior only laughed but said nothing. Cliodna had already said it all for her.
That was when she noticed a little girl around eight years old, if she was guessing correctly, who was dressed up in a huge, oversized red hood and cloak. It was so big that you couldn't even see her face inside of it. All that showed through the hood were multiple strands of blonde hair sticking out from underneath the edges of it.
Arkytior might not have even noticed the child despite the oversized costume except for one thing. The girl was crying and obviously upset about something.
"Something's wrong with her," Arkytior said to Cliodna.
"You remember what Borusa said. If we interfere here, we'll get kicked out of the Academy for good," Cliodna reminded her.
"It won't hurt just to talk to her. Maybe I could cheer her up," Arkytior said.
"You have the biggest hearts of anyone I've ever known," Cliodna said with a warm smile.
Arkytior walked up to the little girl and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay? I'm obviously lost. I got separated from my grandmother, and I can't find her," the child said with a mixture of attitude and fear in her voice.
Arkytior could tell that she was scared to death but trying not to show it by acting tough. Her hearts went out to her, and she knew right then that she was going to help her no matter what.
"Where was she at when you saw her last?" Arkytior asked.
"She was near that restaurant where they sell the great tasting chips. I stopped there to look in the window because I wanted some, and then she was gone. She had walked on without me without even noticing that I was gone. I've been trying to find her forever, but I don't see her anywhere," the little girl said in despair.
"You should have stayed there instead of moving around so much so that she could retrace her steps and find you," Arkytior said.
"I know that now. Telling me that now doesn't help me any at all. I need help finding her not for somebody to point out my mistakes," the girl said with the return yet again of that attitude of hers.
"You're right. I'm sorry. Why don't you go back to the restaurant, and tell them that you're lost? They can try to help you," Arkytior suggested.
"I don't remember where it was now. I've never been here before, and I don't know where anything is," the girl said as her attitude began to give way to despair yet again.
"I know where it was. I can take you back there if you want," Arkytior offered.
The child hesitated for a minute as she mulled this over, and then she asked, "How do I know that I can trust you? I mean who are you anyway? What's with that get up that you're wearing?"
"What get up?" Arkytior asked.
"I'm talking about that weird looking costume that you're wearing right now. Aren't you a little old to be dressing up for Halloween? What are you supposed to be anyway?" the girl asked.
Arkytior realized that the girl was talking about her Academy outfit. She had been told that her perception filter would make the humans not notice what she was wearing, but this child obviously did. She must be very intelligent and have tremendous willpower to see through the perception filter's effects.
Arkytior struggled to think of what kind of costume that she could say she was wearing. The red hooded costume that the little girl wore brought to mind the old Earth story that she had learned about when she was a child herself.
"You're supposed to be Little Red Riding Hood, right?" Arkytior guessed.
"Yeah, I'm supposed to. Only my grandmother made the costume by hand instead of buying it like a normal person, and she made it way too big. You can't even see me through this stupid thing!" the girl complained as she pointed at the red hood.
"Well, I'm a fan of little Red Riding Hood too you see so I came as one of the characters from it too. It's odd that you came as her because I came as the Big Bad Wolf," Arkytior said thinking on her feet.
"What are you talking about? You don't look anything like the Big Bad Wolf, and you don't seem to be much of a villain at all. You seem about as dangerous as a kindergartener to me wearing that ridiculous looking costume," the girl said.
"I'm the Big Bad Wolf in disguise though. Do you remember how it disguised itself as Red Riding Hood's grandmother? I'm the Bad Wolf disguising itself as a young woman wearing really weird clothing. No one would ever know that I'm really supposed to be the Wolf at all, and that's when I'd get them," Arkytior said with a big grin.
"Now you're starting to scare me. You sound a little like a nutter," the girl said warily.
"Oh, you don't have to worry. I'm not that kind of Bad Wolf. I'd never bother a little girl like you," Arkytior said, having fun with this story.
"Well you shouldn't call yourself the Bad Wolf then. You should call yourself the Good Wolf, shouldn't you?" the girl said as she talked to her like she was stupid.
"Maybe but calling myself the Bad Wolf just sounds cooler, doesn't it?" Arkytior said with a big grin.
"You sure you're not a nutter?" the little girl asked.
"When did I ever say that I wasn't a nutter? I never made any such claims," Arkytior said with a chuckle.
The little girl laughed along with her, and Arkytior could tell that she felt a little better than she had when she had first saw her. She was happy and appeared to be relaxed now. If only she could get her to go with her to search for her grandmother now.
She was about to attempt to ask her to go to the restaurant with her again now that they had gotten to know each other better when she heard a woman's voice saying, "There you are! Where have you been? I've been searching everywhere for you. You've had me scared to death."
"I stopped to look at a restaurant, and you walked off without me. I tried to find you, but I couldn't. I was so scared until I found this nice lady. She actually made me forget that I was afraid for a while," the little girl explained.
"Thank you for staying with her until I could find her," the woman, who was obviously the little girl's grandmother, said.
"No problem. I couldn't just let her sit there and cry without trying to help her," Arkytior said.
"You could have like everyone else around here has, but you didn't. Thank you so much for that!" the girl's grandmother said.
"I was glad to do it. You take care now, and don't go getting lost anymore, okay? I don't want to have to spend my entire life helping you," Arkytior said with a grin.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sticking to her like glue from now on. I wouldn't want to have to look at that horrible costume again," the little girl said.
Then the little girl ran over to Arkytior and hugged her tightly as she whispered into her ear, "Thank you!"
She left with her grandmother then, and Arkytior smiled to herself. She suddenly felt a pair of eyes staring into the back of her head, and she slowly turned around to see to her horror that Borusa had been watching what she had done.
"You've broken the non-interference agreement that all students of this Academy are bound by when we visit other times and places, Arkytior. I'm afraid that this means that you're going to have to be expelled . . . permanently," Borusa said with a stern look on his face.
"It was worth it. That little girl might have continued to wander off and never found her grandmother if I hadn't kept her in one place long enough," Arkytior said.
"You would do it, wouldn't you? You would actually give up everything just to help one human that you'll never see again," Borusa said.
"Yes. I'd never be able to live with myself if I didn't," Arkytior said honestly.
Borusa's face suddenly changed from hard and stern to a gentle smile as he said, "Your big hearts may prove to be your undoing someday, Arkytior. Not today though. I won't tell anyone about this if you'll do one thing for me."
"Anything you want. What is it?" Arkytior asked as she let out a sigh of relief.
"Ask Theta out on a date," Borusa said with a laugh.
Present Day, Earth
"So what happened next?" Shareen asked deeply involved in this story now.
"I tried to ask the Doctor out on a date but as usual he had no clue that it even was a date. I asked him to sneak out with me to look at the stars outside of the Capitol one night. He never seemed to realize just how romantic it was for the two of us to be sitting out there alone at night looking up at the stars together. All he could do was go on and on about the life cycle of the Flutterwing. That's a Gallifreyan insect that looks like a butterfly. I'm sure that neither of you know that the Doctor has a very strange interest in butterflies. He actually has a butterfly room on the TARDIS. Don't ask me what it's all about. I never knew," Rose said with a chuckle.
"I still can't believe that you're the one who helped me that day. I was so scared, and I didn't know what I was going to do. For a long while after that, I thought that you must have been my Guardian Angel. It seemed like that you were sent there just to help me. My grandmother never would believe me when I said that you were wearing an odd costume. She said that you were wearing ordinary clothing. I never did understand that until now. Although I still don't quite get how that perception filter stuff works," Jackie said.
Rose looked at her mother for a long time then as she weighed a decision in her mind, and then she finally said, "Mum, there's something that I have to tell you."
"Well, it's about time. I thought that you'd never come clean with me about whatever it is that happened to you recently," Jackie said.
"You knew?" Rose asked astonished.
"You're a terrible liar, Rose. I saw through your story about being dressed like the Big Bad Wolf when I was a kid, and I've gotten even better about seeing right through you as the years have passed by. I know you better than you know yourself, Rose Tyler," Jackie said.
"I'm sorry, Mum. I shouldn't have kept anything from you. You're not going to like what I'm about to tell you though," Rose said with a serious face.
"It's okay, Rose. I'll put up with it because I know what you really came here for. You've wanted to talk to me about it this whole time without even realizing it yourself. You're just as scared about what occurred to you as I was when I was lost all of those years ago. You helped talk me through my fear back then until I felt better, and now it's my turn to return the favor," Jackie said.
"It seems that we've both been helping each other a lot longer than either of us thought," Rose said.
"Maybe it wasn't a lucky accident after all that your TARDIS found me to give you to when you made yourself into a baby. Maybe the universe has always been drawing us together, Rose," Jackie suggested.
"Probably because the universe knows what a great mother you are. It knew how much I'd need you, and how much I still do," Rose said.
The two of them hugged each other tightly once again as Shareen looked on with a smile.
Next: The story of Rose's first meeting with the Mara as Arkytior.