A/N---- Ok guys this is quite a long chapter, but I adore it. Please read and review. I hope I did Gallifrey justice. Review and let me know.
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"You have to stay here Rose. If this is enough to endanger the Time Lords I…I can't let you get hurt. You have to stay." The Doctor spoke carefully, each word weighted with cautious deliberation.
"No chance." Breathed Rose, hurriedly. "When have I ever left you? You need me and I'm not leaving your side Doctor." Her words were a comfort to him and her smile more so. Rose lifted her hand and brushed it softly against his cheek. She could feel his fear; she had never seen the Doctor this way. When she had first travelled with him, out to Platform One they had returned and he had spoken of his home. It had been brief but the intensity with which he had spoken all those voyages ago was enough for Rose to understand how much the Time War had truly taken its toll on the Doctor. But even so, his fear now was harder to witness than anything she had seen so far. He was being forced to return to his home which was destroyed. Forced to see all the people that would meet their untimely demise in the war, forced to live with the knowledge of their fate and do nothing. Rose was beginning to truly understand the curse of the Time Lords.
She moved towards the door but the Doctor grabbed her arm.
"Wait," he seemed to hesitate more for himself than for Rose. He pretended to be checking something on the console but Rose knew he was readying himself for what he was about to do. She moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She wanted to give him comfort, let him know that she could protect him as well. But then something occurred to her. With her head still resting on his shoulder she spoke,
"But wait…aren't you crossing your own timeline? I mean, if we are at your home in your lifetime, isn't that bad?" she attempted to control the worry she was feeling, knowing that if they were indeed crossing the Doctor's timeline then things were far worse than they had encountered possibly ever before. She wanted her voice to sound calm for the Doctor.
"The Tardis has brought us here, I need to be here and if I destroy myself in the process then so be it. But I'm not letting my world burn again, not now." His hand rested on Rose's head, partly for comfort and partly to stop her from moving and looking at him. He could feel tears beginning to burn behind his eyes and he couldn't bear to let Rose see that. He gathered himself and with a manly sniff that he attempted to disguise as casual he took Rose's hand and they walked to the door.
Rose trembled slightly as the door opened, she had a strange feeling as if something in the very air was waiting for them and the promise of adventure hung close to her. Stepping out of the Tardis her feet bounced slightly on the soft grass, grass wasn't usually this springy she observed, liking the sensation of it. The grass was a deep red and seemed to almost engulf her shoes with it's softness as she stepped onto it. She looked up and gasped. It was beautiful.
The Doctor stood watching Rose. He had glanced at his home planet but even in that second's look his whole body seemed to ache from sadness, so he turned to his Rose and some of his self was back. He even smiled as he watched her bounce (in a slight bunny hop fashion) through the grass and skip around, then stare in awe out at the trees, shadowed by the great mountains, under the blaze of the second sun. Her hair seemed to blaze in that light even more than the silver leafed trees and he couldn't stop himself from moving towards her and from behind wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin lovingly atop her head, his Rose, the only person who he could really share this with.
"It's beautiful." Rose's voice was breathy as she spoke. "But it's so…it's just so…"
"Intense." The Doctor finished for her.
"Yeah, it's like being caught in a whirlwind. It's like, this whole planet is alight with something, the sky, the grass, even the trees. Ha! But the trees are silver. There are silver trees!" Rose was awed and intense as she began but by the end of speaking she was laughing with a huge grin on her face and she was pointing out to the trees. She turned in the Doctor's arms so that she could see his face. Upon it was a look of such fervor and also such sorrow. He was staring out into the mountains, deep in thought. Rose wondered where her wide eyed wanderer was at that moment. She lay her head over his chest and heard the familiar drumming of his hearts, that sound soothed her and she planted a soft kiss upon his chest to show him that she was there, there for him in every way and in every world, forever.
"You are not expected here" a soft voice spoke from behind the couple and with the Doctor's arms still around her Rose turned with him to follow the voice.
"The senators do not know of your arrival. And they must not." The calm voice continued. Rose could now see that it was coming from a young girl, a few years younger than herself. Rose would have guessed about twelve. The girl was small but slender, almost unnaturally so and she was draped in a delicate white and silvery dress that seemed in itself to reflect the whole planet and beyond. The same phenomenon occurred in the speakers eyes. Those young eyes held wisdom and power far beyond her age. It was as if within those eyes was contained far more than they had seen, they appeared to hold everything. The girl's hair was long and silvery white, she wore silver leaves from the surrounding trees as a sash or belt or the most delicate kind.
"Quite right" beamed the Doctor at the girl. "They probably wouldn't like us being here, so ummm…who are you then?"
"My name is Tiresia. And you Doctor, you will not save us. The child will." It was almost a whisper, but it was firm and sure. As Tiresia spoke the last three words she turned towards Rose, her eyes unmoving. Rose's eyes widened. She automatically and unconsciously took a tentative step in closer to the Doctor. The girl was calming and seemed almost nice Rose thought. No, perhaps not nice exactly, but safe and kind. But at the same time Rose could not help but be disconcerted and a little afraid by the fact that not only did this girl know who they were, but she was telling them that she, Rose would be the one to save Gallifrey, not the Doctor. Also, Rose was quite frustrated by the fact that someone so young insisted on calling her 'child'.
"How do you know us?" said the Doctor charily, removing himself from Rose and clasping her hand in his so as to show her that he was still her comfort.
"What do you mean she will save you? How do you know all this?"
"I may not see this world Doctor but I see all others. I see what has been and what is to come even if I do not see the present." Tiresia spoke knowingly, her voice showing little intonation.
"Wait. You can't see?" Rose had regained her confidence somewhat and was now intrigued and a little distressed by the child's latest statement.
"No Child. I was blinded many moons ago. I was punished. But I need not to lay eyes upon you now as I can see your virtue." The young girl smiled and for that time she looked so much younger, she looked almost like a normal child, almost.
Rose laughed slightly. "Virtue. I don't think I have much of that. Jimmy Stones took that a long time ago." Rose laughed, trying to break the awkwardness she felt.
"The loss of naivety in the essence of the physical form touches not on your virtue child. You are innocent and untainted. You have the spirit of a child and the kind and loving heart of a woman." Even as she spoke her words, Tiresia moved towards Rose and laid a small hand over Rose's heart.
Rose felt slightly saddened by Tiresia, this child knew too much, she could feel the weight of all the past and all of the future running through the girl.
"But you're so young. Why do you know all this?" Rose asked quietly, she could almost feel tears beginning to form. Tiresia stood silent for a few moments, seemingly contemplating how to answer Rose, but then somewhat instinctively she reached up and wiped away the tears from Rose's face.
"I have lived longer than most worlds, but I shall remain forever a child. It is my honor and my curse, for only a child's imagination and wonder can truly 'see'. I see these things because it is needed, it is my gift, my blessing. You too Child have your gifts and though your heart may be a burden, would you ever relinquish it?" Rose couldn't stop herself, she knelt down to be level with Tiresia and stroked her hair. She was reminded of her own childhood and as much as she loved her life traveling she would not have given up those innocent and carefree times for anything. A child shouldn't have to know things, they shouldn't have any worry or responsibility, Rose thought.
"Her name is Rose, not just 'Child'. So why will she save you? What does she have to do?" asked the Doctor, still guardedly, he was far too protective over Rose and was worried about what danger he had put her into. For once she didn't need him, this was her task, and he felt lost not being able to act for her.
"There is a child," Terisia spoke, her voice somewhat more distant than it had been. "He is lost. There are those who would hurt him, those who would destroy him. She shall care for him. The child of the flowers will protect the lost boy, the lonely infant."
"Why are people after him? How will that stop the war?" asked the Doctor with a slight urgency in his tone.
"You do not need to stop the war. The senators shall attend to that. But she must keep the boy safe, he has a destiny. The lonely warrior, the wanderer. He will become a traveler Doctor, he will pass through time and give life to the wrongly damned. He shall never truly know his planet, but he will save others. He will be the man without a name. He is fated." As soon as Tiresia stopped talking, Rose turned her open mouth stare to the Doctor who was as wide eyed as Rose herself.
"Yes Doctor. Flower Child, you will protect your Doctor."
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A/N --- So what did you guys think of that chapter? I am taking suggestions for what you guys want to see happen! Oooh by the way in case any of you are interested, Tiresia is named after Tiresias, the blind prophet/seer in Greek mythology.
Please review as it spurs me to keep writing. Plus this is my first real adventure fic and I'd love to know what you guys think. Please just leave a quick review…it only takes a second!