I've had this idea for ages, and I started writing it then stopped, then started again. To be honest, most of it is taken straight from the eppisode with only a few little changes. But we all love the changes! If only the eppisode really did go like this. As always, please please please please reveiw! And for those of you that care, don't worry I haven't stopped with my other story! I just felt i needed to finally finish writing this.
This may turn into a series of 'what if' stories, I haven't decided yet. Perhaps if I get enough reviews it will. :D
Disclaimer: If I owned Doctor Who, then this would be what happened in the Saten Pit. But did it? NO.
"If they get back in touch… if you talk to Rose…" he paused, hanging in nothingness, trying to think of exactly what to say, "Just tell her…" he didn't know whether to say it or not. "Tell her I…" so many thoughts were flying through his head, he didn't know what to say. Oh what the hell, he thought, I might never get to see her again. At least she'll know. "Tell her I love her." He unhooked the last clip and fell into the pit.
Ida stood, unable to speak. Not only had the Doctor just dropped himself into the pit, which meant that she was now on her own, but he'd said he loved her. So he did love her. She was sure he did, he definitely acted like it…
"Doctor, Doctor are you there?" Ida froze. "Doctor, Ida can you hear me?" Rose's voice cut through her. Oh God, she was going to have to tell her the Doctor was… "Are you there, Doctor?"
"He's gone," she whispered, unable to think of what to say.
"What do you mean he's gone?" Ida's breath caught. She couldn't bear this.
"He fell. Into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is, miles and miles and miles."
"What do you mean he fell?" Ida could feel tears welling up behind her eyes.
"Look, I couldn't stop him." Rose was silent, and Ida knew she had to tell her. "He said…" she paused, and carried on, "he said he loved you."
There was silence, and Ida didn't know what to do.
Rose stared forward, into space. She was empty. Zach took the comm. from her.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, but she didn't respond. He switched the comm. on.
"Ida? There's no way of reaching you. No cable, no back-up, you're ten miles down…"
Ida couldn't seem to breathe. She knew what was coming.
"We can't get there." She looked around, taking in the beauty of the cave.
"You should see this place Zach." She sat on the edge of the pit. "It's beautiful."
She tried not to cry. "I said I wanted to discover things. The tears started pricking the back of her eyes, "Here I am." There was a pause.
"We've got to abandon the base." Zach said, sadly. "I'm declaring this mission unsafe. All we can do is make sure no one ever comes here again." Ida felt the tears running down her cheeks.
"But we'll never find out what it was?" She choked.
"Well, maybe that's best."
"Yeah." There was a pause.
"Officer Scott-"
"It's alright. Just go. Good luck." She knew there was nothing they could do to get her back, so she might as well not try to make them stay for her. As much as she hated it.
"Thank you." Before he hung up, Ida stood up and spoke.
"Is Rose ok?" she asked. She couldn't imagine how Rose was taking it.
Zach looked over at Rose. She wasn't moving. He couldn't see any sort of emotion in her expression.
"She's… taking it pretty hard." Rose didn't seem to react.
"Ok." Whispered Ida. "Bye."
"Bye," Zach replaced the comm., with a tear in his eye. "Danny, Toby, closed down the feed links, get the power (A/N: did anyone actually hear what he said there?) online, then get to the rocket and strap yourselves in, we're leaving." Then Rose reacted for the first time.
"I'm not going." Zach looked at her, almost surprised.
"Rose, there's space for you." She shook her head.
"No, I'm gonna wait for the Doctor. Just like he'd wait for me." Zach felt a pang of pity. It was heartbreaking, this, really.
"I'm sorry, but… he's dead," he said gently, trying to reason with her. But Rose wouldn't take it.
"You don't know him, 'cause he's not…" he voice broke with repressed tears, "I'm telling you he's… he's not… and even if he was, how could I leave him? All on his own, all the way down there?" She calmed down a bit, trying to keep her voice steady. "No, I'm gonna stay." There was a silence, as no one knew what to say. "I love him," she whispered, as the tears finally escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Zach nodded, slightly hating himself for what he was about to do.
"Then I apologise for this. Danny, Toby, make her secure." She looked round suddenly, as they grabbed her arms and held her down.
"No! No!" she screamed, struggling, but they were too strong for her. "No! Let me go! Get off me! I'm not leaving! No!" Zach walked up to her and plunged a needle in her arm, and she went limp. "No…" she whispered, as she passed out. Zach picked her up and started carrying her out.
"I have lost too many people, I am not leaving you behind," he said determinedly, "Let's get her on board."
On the rocket, they were all strapping themselves in, checking various controls.
"Dislocating B-Clamp, C-Clamp… raising blue nitrates to maximum… Toby, how's the negapact feed line?"
"Clear! Ready to go, sir. For God's sakes, get us out of here!" As they prepared the last of the controls, Rose began to stir.
"Captain, I think we're gonna have a problem passenger…" Danny said cautiously.
"Keep an eye on here." Zach said, trying to pay as little attention to her as possible. She was going to hate him for doing this.
"Wait… I'm not…" Rose looked around her, as her consciousness came back to her.
"It's alright Rose, you're safe," Danny said, trying to reassure her, but it didn't work.
"I'm not going anywhere!" She tugged at her seatbelt, shouting, "Get me out of this thing! Get me out!" But it was too late, and the ship was already ready to go.
"3…2…1…" Zach counted down, "And… lift off!"
Rose was stressing out as the rocket took off. She couldn't let them do this. She had to get back. There had to be something she could…
Then she saw it.
"Take me back to the planet," she demanded, holding the gun she'd pulled off the wall straight at Zach. But he didn't even turn around. "Take me back!" she shouted.
"Or what?" asked Zach.
"Or I'll shoot," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He turned around, and saw the gun.
"Would you, though?" he asked, confidently, "Would you really? Is that what your Doctor would want?" Rose stared at him for a second, but she couldn't win. Danny looked at them, worried out of his mind. She gave up and slumped back into the chair, dropping the gun. "Sorry, but it's too late anyway. Take a look outside. We can't turn back." She pulled herself up and looked out the window, and saw the planet growing smaller and smaller, with the black hole behind it. "This is what the Doctor would have wanted." And it was. He'd have wanted her alive. "Isn't that right?"
A few minutes later, Toby was laughing to himself.
"What's the joke?" Danny snapped. He couldn't see a single thing to be laughing about at this point.
"Just… we made it. We escaped. We actually did it."
"Not all of us," Rose said bitterly.
"We're not out of it yet," said Zach, then trying to lighten the mood he said "We're still the first people in history to fly away from a black hole." It didn't really make people feel much happier. "Toby, read me the stats."
"Gravity funnel holding, sir," he smirked to himself. "Always holding."
"Stats at 53, funnel status at 66.5. Hull pressure constant. Smooth as we can, sir, all the way back home," Toby read out the stats. Rose wasn't listening and was just staring out the window, so sad. "Coordinates set for planet Earth." Toby's lips formed a sinister smile.
Suddenly the rocket began to shake.
"What happened? What was that!" shouted Danny.
"What's it doing? What is it doing?" gasped Toby, as they frantically pressed the controls waiting for it to tell them what was happening.
"We've lost the funnel! Gravity collapse!" Zach shouted over the noise of the rocket.
"What does that mean?" asked Rose, worriedly.
"We can't escape. We're headed straight for the black hole!" The boys all hysterically attacked the controls, trying to stop themselves falling in. Rose just sat back, staring out the window. She just couldn't be bothered anymore. The Doctor was gone, she was never going to get home again… what was there to live for?
The rocket turned back on itself and spiralled towards the black hole.
Rose looked out of the window, as the planet lost orbit.
"It's the planet," she said quietly, "The planet's moving. It's falling…" she imagined the Doctor stuck on there, as it fell into the black hole. She sat back in the chair, and looked over at Toby… and reeled backwards in shock. He was glaring at her, red eyes, the symbols on his skin again.
"I am the rage…" he growled, in the voice of the beast.
"It's Toby, Zach, do something!" Rose gasped.
"And the bile and ferocity," he was speaking very fast, and sounded almost scared.
"Just do something!" Rose screamed.
"I am the Prince and the fall and the darkness…"
"It's him! It's him! It's him!" Danny yelled, trying to push himself away from Toby.
"Stay where you are, the ship's not stable!" Zach shouted, then turned around as flames suddenly burst from Toby's mouth. "What is he?" he gasped, "What the hell is he?"
"I shall never die! The thought of me is forever!" Toby was shaking in his seat, "In the bleeding hearts of men… in their vanity and obsession and lust…" Rose had had enough, and picked up the bolt gun. "Nothing shall ever destroy me. Nothing!" Rose pointed the gun at the front window.
"Go to hell," she said darkly, and shot.
The glass suddenly shattered, and everything was being sucked out into the vacuum. Rose undid Toby's seatbelt and he was sucked out of the window and into space, straight for the black hole. He was roaring in fear and anger.
"Emergency shield!" shouted Zach, hitting a button, as metal slid down across the gap. But the rocket continued to shake and shudder, and fall for the black hole.
"We've still lost the gravity funnel. We can't escape the black hole!" Zach shouted over the noise.
"But we stopped him," said Rose, looking at the two men, "that's what the Doctor would have done."
"Some victory," said Zach indignantly, "we're going in."
"The planet's lost orbit! It's falling!" Danny shouted. They watched on the screen as the planet was sucked into the black hole. "The planet's gone," said Danny, then looked at Rose. She said nothing. "I'm sorry." He said, but she was inconsolable.
"Accelerate. I did my best." Zach sat back in his chair, shaking his head. "But hey – first human beings to fall inside a black hole. How about that? History." Rose sat back and closed her eyes. She was strangely relaxed. The men held onto the seats and squeezed their eyes shut, but Rose was fine. She just didn't care anymore.
They all sat, waiting for the end… when it stopped. There was silence.
"What happened?" asked Rose, but none of them knew the answer. They leant to one side as the rocket turned around.
"We're… turning," said Zach, confused. He looked at the screen. "We're turning around. We're turning away!" the comm. suddenly sprang to life.
"Sorry about the hijack, captain. This is the good ship TARDIS," came the Doctor's voice through the comm.. Rose's mouth dropped open, and her eyes lit up. "Now first thing's first - have you got a Rose Tyler on board?" Rose instantly put her hand up, even though he couldn't see her.
"I'm here! It's me!" she laughed, overjoyed. "Oh my God," she put her hand to her face, giddy with relief and happiness. "Where are you?" she asked.
"I'm just towing you home!" the Doctor said happily, "Gravity-schmavity. My people practically invented black holes. Well, they did. In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe. Oh, and captain – can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Rose Tyler… I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?" The Doctor smiled at Ida who was leaning against a pillar, unconscious.
"She's alive!" gasped Zach, delighted.
"Yes! Thank God," said Danny.
"Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be alright." He paused, be became more solemn, "I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet." The computer suddenly beeped. "Ah! Entering clear space, end of the line, mission closed."
Rose smiled to her self, so happy and relieved, and proud of him. Her Doctor. And he saved them. And most importantly, he loved her.
Rose opened the door of the TARDIS, and saw the Doctor on the other side of the consol. He looked up at her, and the biggest smile crossed his face. She grinned, and ran up to him. He ran around the consol and gathered her up in his arms, and lifted her clean off the floor. She kicked her legs out and hung off the Doctor, burying her face in his neck. He grinned to himself.
Putting her down, he smiled at her, all the love in the universe in his eyes. And she couldn't stop herself anymore. She leaned up and kissed him, wrapping her arms round his neck.
A second later she pulled away, and looked at the Doctor's astonished face. His mouth was hanging open and he looked at her as if… well, as if she'd just kissed him.
A smile tugged at the ends of his lips, as he realised what had just happened.
"I'm guessing Ida delivered my message, then?" He said, and Rose grinned.
"Yea, she did," Rose nodded, the leaned closer against the Doctor, "And I love you too," she whispered, and he lowered his face to meet hers, and they kissed. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and they deepened the kiss, opening their mouths, giving each other the most passionate kiss they were capable of.
In the ship, Ida was back with Danny and Zach, and they were discussing what had just happened.
"I don't know. I can't remember." Ida said, as she tried to remember what had happened to her.
"Well, it looked like a box," said Danny, frowning.
"What do you mean, 'a box?'" so far, Zach was finding it had to believe a word they'd said.
"Well, down in the hull. A big, blue box. It just appeared! I don't know." Danny shook his head, convinced he must be crazy. Then the Doctor's voice cut through on the comm.
"Zach? We'll be off, now. Have a good trip home."
The Doctor and Rose were standing against the TARDIS consol, hand in hand, Rose leaning against his arm, him smiling down affectionately at her. "And the next time you get curious about something… oh, what's the point? You'll just go blundering in. The human race…" he shook his head, smiling to himself.
But Doctor, what did you find down there?" asked Ida, "That creature… what was it?" The Doctor shrugged.
"I don't know! Never did decipher that writing. But that's good! Day I know everything I might as well stop." Rose looked up at him and whispered, seriously.
"What do you think it was? Really?"
"I think… we beat it. That's good enough for me." The Doctor answered, pressing some buttons on the consol.
"It said I was gonna die in battle," she said fearfully, tears building in her eyes. The Doctor looked at her, and said quietly, but with all the confidence and warmth in the universe:
"Then it lied." She smiled, and nodded. That's all she needed to reassure her. He leant down and placed a quick kiss on her lips. Then he turned back to the consol. "Right, onwards, upwards… Ida! See you again, maybe."
"I hope so," she replied.
"And thanks, boys!" said Rose happily. They grinned to themselves.
"Hang on though, Doctor. You never really said… you two… who are you?"
"Oh…" the Doctor looked at Rose and considered, "The stuff of legend!" he said, grinning, and pulled a lever as the TARDIS faded away, ready for another adventure.