Note: As of 2016, the Dimensions Series and all affiliated works have been revised and republished.

Disclaimer: All rights to Doctor Who belong to the BBC.

Chapter 1: A World Away.

It had been a whole year without him and not a day had gone by without me wishing I could see him again, touch him—make sure he was real. Every day my memory of pinstripes, converse, and wild hair grew fainter. And the more time I spent here—a whole world away—the more I began to believe that my life in the other universe had all been a dream.

For a long time I was angry with him—how could he just leave me here? I had waited on that beach for three days. The worst three days of my life. I had sat there, on the rocks, just waiting. Because he couldn't just be gone. He wouldn't leave me like that.

But as days turned into months and months turned into years, my anger began to subside. I believed now that if he could find a way back to me he would have. So I did what he'd asked of me, once, a long time ago. Back on Satellite 5 when he had tried to send me home. "Live a fantastic life," he'd said.

So I tried. I really did. I went into the family business with Torchwood and I focused on defending the Earth as he'd said. He believed that I was succeeding with this feat, I was sure. That I was Rose Tyler; Defender of the Earth.

Truth be told, I was not.

Soon after I had taken my place at the new Torchwood here, there was an unexpected attack by this world's version of the Sycorax. A terrible war broke out despite our best efforts. The Sycorax were merciless. As punishment for our defiance, they took out my family one by one until only I was left. They quickly toppled all of the world's governments and ruled as gods. And as part of their reign, they fed on the scattered humanity that survived their initial attack and did not escaped to the underground.

Those who could not escape them were taken to "refugee" camps where they worked until they died—if they were lucky. Unfortunately, prisoners also made wonderful guinea pigs. When the Sycorax took someone, their only hope would be to die quickly or to successfully escape. Almost no one ever survived escape.

No, I was no great defender of this Earth. And although I remained leader of the Torchwood rebels, it was only by necessity. Without me, they would have scattered. They all heralded me as their savior, but I was no savior. I was a desperate woman fighting a losing war.

That is, until I came up with one final last-ditch effort plan.

Intelligence had known for a long time that the Sycorax here had the right technology to jump dimensions. At first I'd been skeptical. It had sounded too good to be true, and most things in my life that sounded that way usually were. I also knew that if I proceeded with a plan to steal this supposed Dimension Cannon to find a way back to my Doctor, I would likely die before I was successful. But after a whole year of near-death missions, lost loved ones, and dead friends; I was beginning to see dying for the impossible as an appealing alternative. The only problem? How to get to the device. According to my sources it was kept in one of the most heavily warded buildings of old London—the Torchwood Tower.

When I had proposed my plan to infiltrate the tower and steal the Cannon, my team had begged me to change my mind. They wanted to treat me like some sort of sovereign, or rather general, who would never go into battle but rather lead them from behind the front lines. I had steadfastly refused them. My plan was set. There was no going back now.

I strapped my gun to my hip and yanked on my coat. I smiled wryly to myself. Soon after I'd come to this world I'd found the garment one of the many, many closets of the Tyler mansion. It was a long trench coat which came down as far as the Doctor's had. All black of course, in honor of my very first Doctor. He would have loved it on me.

After I roughly pulled my hair up into a ponytail, I marched out to find George—one of the last people on this rock I could still call my friend. George Fleming, Don Maybelle, and James Stone were the three Torchwood operatives who had become closest to my father and I after Jake had died in the first Sycorax attack. They were all the family I had left on this world, and tonight they would help me break into the tower by providing a loud distraction for the bulk of the Sycorax forces.

I marched my way out of my quarters, down the hall, and through the small door into the loading bay where they waited. All three were already suited up; each carried heavy-duty machine guns as well as pistols strapped to their sides. I swallowed down my disgust at how normal the sight had become. What would the Doctor say if he could see how comfortable I had become with these things? Suddenly, the weight of the firearm at my side became heavier than normal.

"Are the zeppelins loaded?" I barked.

Fleming nodded. "Everything is set boss. We're just waiting on your word."

I nodded. "Good. Remind all teams that no matter what you will all retreat after five and a half hours unless you hear a direct order from me. Is that clear soldier Fleming?" My voice was like acid, but I knew he had a habit of disobeying my orders.

His jaw ticked. "Perfectly, ma'am."

We all turned when the sounds of scuffling and outraged cries rang out through the hanger.

"Oh, I don't care what your orders were; you have to let me through! Don, you can't go!" the outraged cry of Mrs. Maybelle made me wince. Jane had always hated that her husband went on these dangerous missions. She hated me even more because I kept sending him on them.

If we lived in a different time, in a different world where there was no war—at least, not a war like this—I would have agreed with her view. I hated to endanger anyone's life, but it had to be done. If we didn't stand up against our oppressors, who would? All the other major governments had fallen, and our many allies all over the world had gone silent. There just wasn't anyone else left to carry out what needed to be done.

I huffed. "What is she doing here?"

Don sighed heavily. "Please go easy on 'er, Rose."

I glared at him. "She has no business here, agent Maybelle. Get rid of her and meet us in the aircraft in 5 minutes. All carriers load up!"

"Let's go people!" Jim shouted as our assembled teams began to file into the loading bay.

I held my head high as I made my way into the pilot's seat of my aircraft, the TARDIS. I sank down into the cockpit seat, and flicked on the engines. I smiled to myself as she hummed to life. I'd spent hours tuning her just right so she could fly silently and stay undetectable to the Sycorax. I looked up as George flung himself into the seat beside me.

"All ready?" I asked.

He nodded. "The com's open. They're waiting on your word."

I tapped my earpiece into place and flipped it on. "This is the Bad Wolf, all teams check in."

"This is Red checking in," Don answered.

"Blue's all set, Tyler," Jim said, and I could almost hear the wicked grin in his voice. He got off on dangerous missions like this.

The other three teams called in, and I turned the nose of the plane towards the hanger doors. George settled into his seat and went about making the final checks to our systems as the doors opened. I revved the engine and flexed my hands over the controls.

"All teams." I felt my manic smile take over my face, and my tongue automatically pressed against my teeth. "Take me home."