AN: so in apolgy for missing last week and due to the fact i have finals this week and a new chapter is probs not going to be a thing im posting this early
for lengths sake i had to cut some stuff on this one. any cut parts follow canon for the most part. maybe ill write them out later as an extra or somethung
even still this thing turned out long
oops
EDIT: went and fixed the formating issues. sorry, it was late when I posted this.
Chapter 2
Seven Devils
She can still see the sun if she closes her eyes.
It is burned inside her eyelids, a permanent of the parasite that nearly wrecked them, that terrible, terrible yellow glow still haunting them. The haunted screams of Rose as it invaded her mind and tried to pull her apart. The Doctor's desperate plea for it to take him instead. In the end they won, but it was worth a serious round of drinks at what the Doctor had described as "the favorite bar of an old friend" (she knew who that friend was now, but that was irrelevant) and a long vacation on New Earth before anyone breathed easy again. Martha could handle a close call. She'd had her fair share now, with the Doctor and Rose. It'd been closer than most, but still...
Close calls were one thing.
The Master; well...
The Master was another thing.
She'd rather be haunted by the sun for the rest of her life then have to remember him.
...
"How do you do it?" asked Martha.
"Hmmm?" Rose set down her coffee, still only half-awake. They had gotten up early to watch the sunrise on New Earth, which the Doctor swore was absolutely fantastic, but then of course he had disappeared to do something-or-other. He had mentioned what it was; Martha just wasn't really awake or listening either.
"Keep going like this. All these close calls. Doesn't it scare you that you might lose him?"
"Every day."
"Then why don't you stop?"
"I have too much fun. Besides, we always make it out alright. Close calls are just how we do things."
Martha understood that, sort of. She did like it too much to stop. And it was all close calls, nothing really bad ever actually happened.
"You two are so close, I don't get why you're not married yet. I can't see you with anyone else."
Rose smiled. "We have talked about it, yeah. But what's the point? Weddings are just big shows for families. Neither of has one of those anymore."
"C'mon, you've got to have someone. There's no such thing as someone who's really alone."
Rose shook her head. "Nope. My family was never that big to begin with. He never talks about his. They're both effectively dead. Friends and family, the whole lot. There's no point in changing things if no one's there to watch."
"So you conquered 'the talk', that's something though." Martha steered the conversation away from the minefield of families and into mildly safer ground. Rose never really talked in that direction before and she gets the feeling she's not about to start.
"What, the mystical 'where are we going with this' talk? It's not that scary."
"For you maybe." Martha scoffed.
"No, but really! All you gotta be is honest."
"It's never exactly ended well with me."
"It will one day, I promise."
Rose swirled around her now-empty coffee cup, like more is going to magically appear. The magic falls to happen, so the paper cup is tossed to the side.
It's still pitch black out here. Ugh.
"Have you ever considered stopping?" asked Rose. She's not trying to imply anything, she's just trying to keep up a conversation.
"Not really. I assume I will one day, but traveling right now is just-"
"Fantastic?"
"Fantastic. What about you?"
"Only if I had to. Like if I had to take care of someone."
"Like a little kid?"
"Martha, before you even go there, yeah, I've had that discussion too. Apparently it's freakishly illegal."
"Freakishly illegal? Wow, that's one thing you /don't/ expect to hear."
"To be honest, I've kind of gotten used to the unusual shit."
"Yeah, well, me too. But would you even want-"
"I'd love it, it's just not a option. Doesn't bother me too much, anyways. I mean, come on Martha. Look at this. Look at what we get! Isn't it wonderful? So much wilder than any little domestic life?"
The sun was finally starting to peek over the horizon. The Doctor was right, it was beautiful.
"What did I tell you?" He's come back, trenchcoat and all. Oh yeah. That's what he'd been getting.
"You were right, it is spectacular."
The trouble is bound to start soon, Martha thought. They've never been anywhere this long without trouble. She's getting antsy, Rose is getting antsy, the Doctor is going stir-crazy. The vacation had been nice, but it's the adventure they all really crave.
"So where are we going next?" asked Rose. "It's about bloody time we got off this planet."
"I was thinking-" The Doctor cut off suddenly.
"What? What is it?" Martha gushed excitedly. She knew that look, that look meant trouble.
At the foot of the hill walked four people, scepters in black, a mother and father and daughter and son. Martha couldn't see their faces; the distance was too great.
"Who are they?" asked Rose, the edge of a thrill in her voice.
"I don't know! They're not from this planet."
"Trouble, yeah?"
"Oh, most definitely."
The tallest said something to the youngest, and the little child's voice carried over the hill.
"Your Family is here, Doctor!"
"What is she talking about?" Martha asked, bewildered.
"Martha, run!"
They're just suddenly there, no longer at the bottom of the hill but perched at the top, black-cloaked specters with no faces. The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand rather violently before flying after Martha, and it became painstakingly obvious that this was not the good kind of trouble. No, the Doctor knew this Family, or at least knew of them, and they meant real trouble.
The console exploded into a shower of sparks instants before Rose closed the door. Oh great, now they're armed too?
"Martha! Did they see you?"
"No- I don't think so-"
"Did they see you, Martha, this is important!"
"No. No, I don't think they did."
"They most definitley saw me, though."
"Yeah, well, you're going to be a problem here anyways, Rose, that's irrelavant."
"Excuse me?" she snapped back.
"Doctor, who were they?" Martha cut in.
"The Family. They're a race that feeds off the life forces of others, literally using up their lives. If they got to me...well, they could live forever."
"But we- we can outrun them, right?"
"Now that they've got the scent? No, they'll never stop. Too many connections and I'm too big of a prize. It wouldn't just be them that lived forever, they could spread my lives out among their whole race. The Family's too dangerous to have that kind of power, they're too hardheaded."
"Alright, then, what do we do? How do we get them off us for a while?"
"If the scent disappears for long enough, they'll die. Their lifespans aren't that long without anything to feed on, they're like bugs."
"But it can't disappear without you, what, dying? There's no-"
"Actually, there is." The Doctor dug in his pocket and pulled out two pocket watches. One was silver and battered from centuries of riding shotgun in the pockets of a Time Lord, the other was polished and gold; it's been taken much better care of. He handed Rose the gold one.
"It was my granddaughter's, but it'll work for you." he said.
"What's the plan?" she asked. She didn't say a word about the watch or the neat circles on the front; she trusted what he was doing.
"Remember what I was saying about how you were going to be a problem? It's like what happened with the Judoon, you're just enough not human to set off their radars."
"How did that happen, anyways? You never told me."
"It's a long story."
"Short version, then."
He sighed. "Bad wolf."
Rose nodded. "Okay. I get where you're going to go with that. Back to what you were-"
"- There's a way to get them to lose our scent. It's a chameleon arch. You can use it to disguise yourself as an alien race. It'll separate my timelord soul out of me- or your weird mutated bits and literally rewrite your DNA, your whole personality so you become an individual of that species. You won't remember who you are or what you are. It was a last resort for TimeLords back in the day, we were all required to carry one."
"So we hide out as whatever for a couple months-"
"Three should do it, their lifespan isn't that long-"
"Then we come back and everything's good, yeah? But who makes us remember if we can't?"
"Martha! She stays human, we go human, then after three months she just opens the watches near us and we're back to normal. And Rose-" He slid up behind her, hands on her hips so she smiled, and bent over to whisper something in her ear. Whatever it was, it made her very, very happy, because she proceeded to turn her head and start kissing him a little fiercely.
Dear God, you're like a pair of overeager sixteen-year olds. She gave them a minute before coughing just enough to suggest she was still in the room.
Rose didn't look sorry in the least.
...
"Are you quite sure you're alright, Mrs. Smith? It's not like you to sleep this late."
Martha hated being a maid with a fiery passion. It was far too menial for her; the only consolation being she had only two weeks until this fiasco was done.
"Oh, yes, I'm fine." Rose said softly. "Thank you for worrying, Miss Jones."
It was still too weird, to call Rose Mrs. Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the schoolmaster and his wife, well, he had certainly set them up well. She wished Rose- the real Rose, not this formal, too-curious creature that Martha constantly had to hide a watch from- was still here so they could laugh about all this, how stupid these people were. She missed her friend.
"Can you get my coat, Miss Jones? I'm going out today."
Martha grabbed it and wondered for the fiftieth time what the Doctor's motives had been in setting Rose up as his wife. There were the obvious reasons, of course, but she suspected other reasons, reasons that involved Rose's conversation with her about that talk and the apparently illegality of the whole affair. Rose had been suspiciously worn down these past few weeks...
Martha contained a smile. The whole thing was just too damn /cute./
"Yes, of course."
Rose stood up and took it from her, going to walk out before stopping at the doorframe.
"Actually, Miss Jones- do you mind if I call you Martha? You've worked for me long enough, I feel like we're friends now."
"Whatever you want, miss."
"Martha, can I show you something? I don't really have any other friends here, and I'm dying to show someone."
"Sure, what is it?"
Rose smirked a little giddily. "Follow me."
She trailed behind Rose until they hit a little closet door just beyond the reach of the Smith's room. Rose pulled a key off a ribbon around her neck- it was so similar to how she used to keep her TARDIS key it was creepy- and unlocked it before stepping into the darkness.
"John and I made it when we first got here," she said, turning on the light, "but I don't think anyone's seen it before."
The closet had been converted into a tiny little nursery, nothing remarkable except the walls. They were half-painted with beautiful arrangements of stars and planets, an fascinating collage for Martha, let alone any baby who might eventually occupy the room.
"John did them." said Rose, noticing her entrancement. "He's quite the artist. Says he dreams about all these wonderful adventures."
Martha had heard quite a bit about John's "adventures". The real deal was way better than his twisted version, in her opinion.
"We didn't think we'd touch this room for a while, to be honest, that's why he never finished them. Don't know when he's gonna finish them now, he never has the time, but they do need to be done."
"Are you-?"
"I think so, yeah."
Her hunch was fucking right. Martha loved it when this happened.
"Congratulations." Rose was going to love this when she came back, but it was also slightly freakish. Like, oh, while you were out, your weird human self was making you a kid. You're not going to remember much of it. It's just going to be there.
Pity this room will be lost when they leave, it really is pretty. Although, knowing the TARDIS, it might just be copied onto another room. That's a thing the TARDIS has been doing lately, copying rooms from the various places they stop.
"Martha? You zoned out for a moment there."
"Oh, sorry. Are we staying here any longer?"
"Might as well go, I've got places to be. Don't tell anyone of your servant friends, okay? John is the only other person who knows yet, I want to keep it quiet for the time being."
"My lips are sealed." Martha swore.
Oh, Rose was going to be so bloody happy, the impossible dream come true.
...
"We need to make a fuel stop." said the Doctor.
"Fuel stop? What are you talking about, what does this ship even run on anyways?" questioned Martha.
Rose grinned cheekily. "Can I take this one? I feel really clever for knowing this."
"Go ahead."
"Back when the Timelords were still around, it ran off the machine on the planet that collected time energy from all the traveling people were doing. Now that they're gone, we've got to find it somewhere else. There's this rift in Cardiff, a rip in the middle of time and space, created back in the 1800's. All we gotta do is drop in, sit there for a few minutes with the engine ports open-"
"-like filling a car up with petrol-"
"-and off we go!"
Rose twirled around in the Doctor's outstretched hand as they bounced sentences off each other. Not married, my ass. Martha thought. They'd even kept their rings from 1914.
"You two gonna stop eyefucking each other and actually get us to Cardiff?"
She felt like a belligerent mother taking care of her teenage kids or worse, a grandmother minus the cookie shit.
Yeah, she was happy for her friends, but Christ. If she wasn't around all they'd ever do would be stare at each other.
"Yeah, on it!"
The familiar tremor of landing shook the TARDIS, and Martha fell back into one of the chairs, trying to make it look graceful and intentional at the last second.
She wondered what'll happen to her, when Rose and the Doctor inevitably stop in a few months. She doesn't want to leave this life, not yet. Maybe someday, but no, not for a long time yet.
The Doctor checked his watch. That's another thing her two idiots held onto- those bloody watches. They're fitting the adorable newlywed stereotype so perfectly it's pathetic.
"That should do it!" he announced. "Rose, close up the engine feed, third one on the left."
From outside, a faint shout drifted inside the TARDIS.
"Doctooorrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
"What's that?" asked Martha.
The Doctor dragged the screen over to his side. "Absolutely nothing! Let's go!"
His face said something very different.
Rose reached over his shoulder to see what he was seeing. "But that's Jack! We can't just leave him here!"
"Yea, we can, and we're going to!" The TARDIS takes off, but doesn't stop, only accelerating in shakiness and speed as the screen switched over to something in Gallifreyan.
" 1 billion...30 billion...400 billion...60 trillion...what?"
"What's it doing?"
"We're accelarating, flying forward in time, but we can't be going this far, I've never even been this far! 100 trillion, what!"
They landed suddenly, Martha falling out of her chair and onto the floor.
"When are we?" asked Rose softly.
"End of the universe."
"But what's out there?" Martha picked herself off the floor.
"Haven't a clue. The TimeLords never came this far. We should go, we should really-"
He had that look on his face again.
"Oh, come on, I know you want to." said Rose with a devilish smile. "It's killin' you to suggest we go."
The Doctor laughed and threw open the doors. The sky was black and starless, the landscape hard and windy, no sign of any life or light at all. On the ground lay a man in a 1940's military trenchcoat, unconcious, maybe dead.
"Jack!" shrieked Rose. "I thought we left him behind!"
Martha checked his pulse. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but there's nothing. He's dead."
"No, he's not. In three...two...one..."
"AHHHHHH!"
Martha jumped back, startled.
"Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you?"
"Stop it." intoned the Doctor.
"Can't I even say hello?"
"Jack! But you were dead!"
Jack lifted his head. "And out of the dust, a lovely rose comes calling my name. Aren't you supposed to be dead, Miss Tyler?"
She hugged her old friend. "I find being dead suits me better. Less bills to pay."
"So the last one of you must be- Doctor! You've regenerated!"
"Hello, Jack." He didn't look very happy.
Oh, well that's just wonderful.
...
"So tell me, Doctor, why am I like this? Why can't I die? Last thing I remember, I was surrounded by a bunch of Daleks." asked Jack, pulling the power coupling out of its socket.
"Rose."
"How? I thought you sent her home."
"I did. She came back. Opened up the heart of the TARDIS, absorbed the Time Vortex itself, saved us all. But she wasn't meant to have that power, Jack, no one is. Give it to a Time Lord and he'd be a vengeful god. But Rose was so human, so kind, so she brought you back, except she didn't know how to control it right and brought you back for good. I took the power out of her, it was killing her, but then it proceeded to kill me. That's how I regenerated."
"Was? Why did you say 'was human'? Isn't she still?"
The Doctor sighed and leaned up against the porthole glass. "I don't know, Jack. It changed her in ways I can't fix. I'm not sure exactly what it did to her...but she doesn't really qualify as human anymore, she's been mutated by the power of the Time Vortex. Maybe one day it'll have some relevance, but for all I can tell it just made her more stubborn."
Jack laughed, and Rose sighed so audibly over the intercom the entire room echoed it. "You know I can hear you, right?"
"Why do you think he said it?"
"Love you too." she muttered under her breath.
...
The universe yawned, a great blue hole opening in its surface, and deposited four travelers in the alley before closing it's mouth.
"Argh! Time travel without a capsule, that'll do ya in." groaned the Doctor.
"Oh, my head." said Martha.
Rose stumbled forward, coughing violently, one hand hitting the opposite wall for support. She didn't seem to be able to stand without support, her legs threatening to give out.
"Rose! Are you alright?" The Doctor rushed to her side.
She shook her head breathlessly.
"She shouldn't be that affected,she's not even human! If anyone should be hurt, it's Martha, and she's fine!" worried Jack.
"That could be argued." grumbled Martha.
"Yeah, well, she's a little more vulnerable lately." said the Doctor.
It took Jack about a minute to get it, his face changing from confused to very, very pissed off.
"You are joking."
"Jack..." The Doctor cautioned.
"You bloody hypocrite! All you ever do is yell at me to keep it in my pants, and meanwhile, you're making monsters that are nightmare fodder for the most experienced Time Agents!"
"Jack, it's not like that, there was- some fancy time-lord science thing involved, that watch thing-whatever it's called, we both went human for a while, okay? Not that stupid." cut in Rose, regaining her breath. "Doctor, stop looking at me like that, I'm fine."
Her voice was dripping with annoyance, but there was a smile hiding in there somewhere.
"Oh. Okay. Good on you, then."
She rolled her eyes at Jack before straightening up and walking on, ponytail bouncing at him tauntingly.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Jack asked one last time.
"I've done this for two months already, I'm fine."
The Doctor still dipped in to take her hand.
"Earth. Twenty-first century. Well done, me, didn't think it was fixable."bragged Jack, stating the obvious about where they'd landed.
"No, that was me, I got us here-"
"So, how do we find the Master?" asked Martha, breaking up the conversation before it turned into a rivalry match.
"He'll be here somewhere big, he likes power, drawn to it like a magnet. I'll know him when I see him."
Martha stared at one of the televisions in square that's been tuned into the local news. "I forgot the elections just happened. I wonder who won...Doctor!"
"What?"
"That voice, I just remembered where I'd heard that voice before, that's Harold Saxon, he just got elected-"
"-as prime minister! The Master's prime minister! The prime minister and his wife."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the blonde woman the Master was holding hands with on the screen. "Looks like someone got jealous, look Rose, she's blonde!"
"Is this really the time for jokes?" said Jack.
"Don't worry, Doctor, she's got nothing on us." said Rose playfully.
"Martha, can we go back to your apartment? I need to borrow a computer, we need to find out how long he's been here, what he's been up to. Can't have been much, I locked the TARDIS before he took off, he can only take it between here and the year 100 trillion...well, give or take eighteen months..." The Doctor drags on as usual.
"Yeah, sure, whatever."
They walk the couple of blocks and Martha unlocks the door to her flat, chuckling to herself.
"Four days. I checked the date and it's only been four days, yet I've been traveling with you lot for nearly a year. Isn't that odd?"
"Welcome to my life."
The Doctor booted up Martha's laptop while she turned on the TV.
"Doctor?"
"That clever man, look at this history he's built himself. It's half legitimate, too, or at least during the length of time he's actually been here...launching the Archangel network, what's that?"
"Phone network, I've got it, everyone's got it. Even the other carriers are covered by it."
"Aha! Tell me Martha, were you going to vote for him?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I was."
"Why?"
"I-I don't remember."
"He's hypnotizing people, I knew it! Only way he rose to power so quickly. There's some sort of subtle signal in the phones, encouraging people, telling them to vote for him, do his bidding."
He sounded both impressed and disgusted.
"Doctor?" said Rose. "Our lord in Downing Street is addressing us."
The Master's face crackled into life. "Dear friends, I have been contacted."
"Oh, great, what now?"
"Shut up, I'm listening."
A pair of spheres flickered into existence besides him.
"My friends, the kind Tecclophane-"
"The Tecclophane! But there's no such thing!" This time it was the Doctor interrupting.
"Shut up! He's talking!"
"You shut up! Why would he be making up a race?"
"I don't know! Why does it matter?"
"This matters, Martha, this is important, what are those spheres?"
"-and I don't know, every medical student?" The mAster on the screen kept rambling.
"Shit! He knows we're here!"
"Run!"
Jack grabbed Martha by the hand and made her follow them down the stairs and out the flat. They weren't twenty feet from it when it exploded violently, bits of metal raining down on them.
"Everyone alright?" asked the Doctor.
Martha whipped out her phone. "I'm calling my family."
"No, you can't!" ordered Rose. "You'll draw him to us."
"Try to bloody stop me!"
"Martha, listen to me. Getting them involved won't help anything. The only reason my family's gone is because I got them involved. Chances are, if he knows who you are, he's got them already. Calling them will only make things worse, do you understand me?"
Martha's hands were shaking, but she closed the phone. At the same time, Rose's rang in her back pocket.
"Who'd the fuck be calling me?" she wondered aloud. Literally no one this side of reality except the Doctor and Martha had her new number.
She answered the phone apprehensively. "Hello?"
"So it's the pretty one. Do me a favor, hand the phone over to your dear hubby for me." The Master's voice bled through the other end.
Rose contemplated smashing the phone on the spot, then wished she could reach through the phone line and strangle him. He was going to pay for that comment.
Instead she just handed the phone to her husband, as asked.
She let him wander off down the street and talk, pretending she couldn't hear every word as they trailed behind. Gallifrey. Tecclophane. The Destroyer of Worlds. Such big words, such power in them.
Sometimes being the only one of your kind is worse than being among the dead.
"-oh, and guess what? You won't be able to hide for long. Right now you're public enemies one through four, and I've got the whole world on my side. Oh, you're at the Waitrose station, hiding in the grocery, isn't that cute."
"He can see us!" realized Rose, forgetting she was supposed to be eavesdropping.
"Run!" shouted the Master. "Go on, listen to your wifey. Run!"
"His 'wifey' is going to murder you in your sleep." Rose hissed.
But they did exactly that, ran and ran until night had fallen and peace was found by firelight.
Martha showed up with a bagful of food about five minutes after they had sent her out. "Managed to get this, don't think anyone recognized me."
"Oh thank God, I'm starving." gushed Rose, devouring it like a starved lion.
Jack side-eyed the Doctor. "Better get used to this, mate, she's gonna be a fun one."
"Oh, joy."
"Oi." said Rose through a mouthful of chips. "Just because I'm pregnant it does not mean you get to blame every single thing I do that you don't like on hormones. That's worse than assuming a woman's on her period every time she ticks you off."
"Sorry, my lady." said Jack with an exaggerated bow. Rose proceeded to punch him playfully. She was married to one of these bastards and the other was closer than a brother, she didn't understand how it had even happened that they could be such idiots.
"Anyways, I've got us tuned in to the government wavelength," said Jack, "we should pick up anything that comes through. Oh- hello! Encrypted file... I'm gonna need that computer, but Doctor, don't kill me."
"Why?"
"Well, you've been busy since we last met. So have I."
Rose leaned over to see what he was doing. "Jack, you better have a damn good explanation for why you're logging into Torchwood."
"WHAT?" The Doctor sounded worse than an angry parent.
"Doctor, I swear, they're different now-"
"They're the reason Rose lost her family in the first place!"
"Please, trust me, I revamped them, and I did it in your honor." Jack rubbed his face with his hands. "Looks like the Archangel file...more information on how every damn face on this planet is looking for us. Oh, but this is new! The locations of where they're flying in the people for tomorrow's alien meeting. If we could get in there..."
"Hang on, I've got an idea." said the Doctor. "TARDIS keys, everyone, give me your TARDIS keys. Oh, and Martha and Rose, your phones."
It was funny, all the weird places they kept their keys. Jack's was with a million others on a key ring on his belt, the Doctor's stashed in one of his bottomless pockets, Martha's on a dog tag, and Rose's on a yellow ribbon necklace. Some degree of tinkering later, and the Doctor handed them their new perception filters.
"As long as we don't draw attention to ourselves, we won't be seen. Clever, eh?"
"It's brilliant." said Martha.
"So we're ghosts, going to chase some nonexistent aliens? Sounds like my kind of day." said Rose.
"Onwards?"
"Onwards."
They sneak onto the airfield and watch Air Force One land, depositing the President to meet the Master. No one can hear the conversation at this distance, but the President clearly disapproves of the new Prime Minister.
"-meet at the Valiant-"
"Did you hear that?" said Rose. "He said Valiant, where is that?"
"Aircraft carrier, I can get us there with my vortex manipulator." replied Jack.
"Then let's go- hold up, there's a police van getting here- no! No!"
Rose grabs Martha's hand before she can do anything else, and they fly off into the universe's maw again.
"But that was- that was my family-" Martha starts bellowing the instant they land.
Rose lies back into a corner, recuperating.
"Yeah, it was. Sorry, but-" the Doctor starts.
"But what? We have to help them!"
"-but we can't do anything right now."
"I hear the TARDIS." Rose murmurs.
"What?"
"She's downstairs, I can hear her."
"What even is this place?" asks Martha." Are we even on the sea?"
"Nope, in the sky."
"What?!"
"C'mon!"
The TARDIS has been parked in a corner, amongst piles and piles of boxes, and the Doctor hurriedly unlocks her.
Already she sounds wrong. There's no welcoming murmur of engines, only a groan of overworked systems. The light has gone red and disgusting, the console ripped away to form a center pole of wires and dials.
"No! NO! What has he done to you?"
Rose had her hands over her ears. "She's screaming..."
"The Master's turned her into a paradox machine, he cannabalized her! What has he done to you, why? What paradox does he need to support? At this rate, it'll go off at 8:02-"
"...exactly two minutes after our fake aliens arrive." finished Jack.
"We need to get to the bridge!"
Teleporting in would attract far too much attention given Rose's current reaction to it, so sprinting up stairs it was.
Fucking stairs.
They stand in the back of the room and watch in horror as the scene unfolds, the Master taking control and killing the president before addressing the world.
"I've got a plan." hissed the Doctor.
"What are you waiting for, go for-"
"You think I can't see you?" crowed the Master. "Perception filters don't fool me."
Jack rushed forward in attempt to distract and joined the dead instants later. So much for the Doctor's plan.
"Seize the Tyler girl." ordered the Master.
Thick, sharp hands grabbing at her, pulling her back, as she writhes and tries to resist. She heard her Doctor calling, begging for her, but he can't do anything.
She must fight.
But she's outnumbered and it doesn't matter how strong you are, five against one never works.
"What do you want from me?" she growled. "I'm not your precious Doctor."
The Master poked her still-flat stomach. "I'm more interested in the monster you're carrying. What a pleasant surprise."
Idiot. There's nothing monstrous about her baby, only human, but let the man believe that if it'll keep her alive.
The guards were a little bit distracted by the Master's comment, and Rose took her chance, scrambling out of their arms. She got maybe three steps before the Master pulled a screwdriver-like-device from his pocket and aimed it at her, lightning wrapping its way around her wrists. All she can smell is her own burning flesh.
Then the world goes black.
...
"Francine, no! I know you want to kill him, but that's not the way."
Martha's mom hesistates and lowers the gun, hands shaking.
"There you go."
They've done it now, reset time, fixed everything. The year that never was. Even the Master is restrained, and the last threat to his life has been talked out of killing him.
So where's Rose?
All this time, she was the only thing he ever asked about and the only answer he never got. He hasn't seen her in over a year, he can't even begin to explain how worried he is. Worried for all three of them. It's been a year here, she'll have the baby with her now. Maybe that's why she hasn't come up? It has to be.
The Master turns to run for the elevator, but Jack makes a convenient entrance and blocks him. Some plans work too good to be true.
"So what do you do to me now?" spat the Master.
"You're my responsi-"
A gunshot cracked the air, the Master staggering forward with a neat hole sliced into his brains. What? Who's shooting? There's no more guns in the room!
The Master, his hands starting to glow green, turned to face his assailant. Any other person would have died instantly, but he's got the regeneration turnaround on his side.
The Doctor stared too, not sure what to make of the scene.
The elevator doors must have opened again and he didn't notice- no- no!
Rose was there, but decidedly empty-handed except for the sharp pistol in her hands. She was still in the same jean jacket she'd been in on arrival, although it'd been washed. But what hit him hardest was her eyes.
They were completely dead, dead as animal that's been hit by a truck, devoid of all emotion. She didn't seem happy to see him or anyone else, no joy, not even sadness if something had happened to her, which he was praying nothing had.
"Go to hell." she snarled at the Master.
She was waiting, he realized too late, waiting for just the right moment in his regeneration cycle, just the right-
"NO!" he bellowed.
But it was too late.
The first shot did it, but Rose kept going, emptying the entire clip into the Master's chest until he fell to the ground. He was beyond help, beyond regeneration.
"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?" he screamed.
But she still doesn't react, no fear or regret or sorrow, only the same dead look, her fingers loosening just enough for the gun to drop to the floor.
She's just...dead.
So very, very dead.
What happened to you?