Chapter 4: Anger in the Dark
Rated T reminder, for a sensual scene (not graphic)
"We painted, whitewashed everything when all that remains are shadows of the stains. Tell me, where did we go wrong? Can we just move on?"
"H-how do you know my name?" The Doctor brushed a lock of long brown hair out of his eye.
"Not that hard to figure out my dear, you said it to that little Josnian girl." He spoke with a deep, rich voice.
"I thought Josnians were blue." The Doctor nodded, impressed.
"Yes that's true, but sometimes their kids are orange. She'll grow out of it as she gets older." He smiled at her. "I appreciate people who are compassionate towards children."
"We should be compassionate towards everyone," Rose countered. The tall Time Lord gave a deep chuckle.
"True again. I like you Rose." The girl on his arm suddenly shivered, being clothed in only a seventies style thin striped t-shirt and blue dress pants that matched the blue in her shirt. And Rose was sure it was seventies style; she had just been there two days ago.
"Doctor," she complained. "It's cold." Without a word the Doctor unwound a long, red scarf from around his neck and handed it to his companion, who then proceeded to wrap it numerous times around her own neck. The Doctor adjusted his brown coat as he introduced them, not knowing that Rose already knew who they were.
"Rose, I'm the Doctor, and this is my companion, Sarah Jane Smith." Sarah Jane stuck her hand out and Rose shook the pretty young girl's hand. She held back a smile. Of course, Sarah Jane was still beautiful when Rose had first met her, but it was still interesting to see her when she was young, much younger in fact. No wonder she had such a hard time getting over the Doctor; it was clear how impressionable she still was. Rose figured all his female companions were, including herself. Rose winced, feeling Sarah Jane's future change. She'd fix that later.
"Sarah, can you find where Harry's gone to, make sure he didn't get lost. I'd like to talk to Rose alone." Rose immediately backed away.
"No, no I better be on my way."
"Please?" He held out his hand but Rose refused it.
"Alright, I'll stay, but whatever you need to say, say it fast." The Doctor frowned but didn't reply to that.
"Let's take a walk," he guided her away from the carnival games. "You seem to know me and my companion already." Rose stopped walking.
"Is that what you wanted to talk about? You know as well as I that time travel can cause things like this." The Doctor turned around to look at her.
"You're extremely bitter Rose, and for some unknown reason it's directed at me." His eyebrows furrowed in a frown. "And no, that's not all. I sense an extreme amount of energy radiating off of you, so much it shouldn't be possible." Rose took a step back.
"There are some things you weren't...aren't supposed to know yet, especially about me." She winced as a headache flared. Sarah Jane's future was unraveling because she recognised Rose in the future. "One moment," she thought back to a few minutes ago and changed her hair to black. There, now her bleached-blonde look shouldn't be as recognizable when Sarah Jane met her at that school. The Doctor frowned. He was enough of a time traveller to see her hair vibrate from blonde to a striking black. Not strangely, it seemed to fit her current mood.
"You have powers you shouldn't be messing with." He lowered his voice dangerously. Rose inwardly scoffed at him. He had been the one to do this to her in the first place only, he didn't know it yet. She could get mad at him for something else though.
"Oh, so what, you're going to stop me? Try to govern my life, make my choices for me, like you always have? I don't need you to tell me how to live my life. Now I really should be going. Thank you for your time." She departed and was about to zap away to another time period when she changed her mind. This much younger Doctor wasn't going to ruin her day, she was going to stay here, enjoy the games, and stay out of his way as much as possible. With her head held high she strode into the building housing the ice skating rink.
The Doctor watched her go. What she had said, it was obvious they meet in his future but her past. Maybe she was a future companion.
He was curious about her powers, but even more curious about why her personality was so dark. He had seen how kind she was to that Josnian girl, so why was she so mad at him, especially since he hadn't met her yet?
Rose quickly found her seat inside the rink and waited for the next tournament to start. She was still fuming over what the Doctor with the long scarf had said to her. He hadn't even met her and he was trying to control her! Just like always! How many times had she been sent away, dropped off or left on her own just because the Doctor thought something else was more important? Even her Northern Doctor had done it a few times.
"That bloody Time Lord is so big on himself, he thinks he has the correct answer to everything. Pig-headed, selfish ba-..." her head snapped up as she saw a stretcher being rolled into one of the back hallways. She got up from her seat, her outfit morphing to a nurse's uniform.
"Let me through, I'm a nurse! The crowd parted as Rose shoved her way through. A woman in a sparkling skater's dress lay on the stretcher. She checked for a heartbeat and found none. The contestant was dead. "What happened?" She asked the skater's manager who was standing by the stretcher, a harrowed look on his face.
"She was just warming up, she was next up you see. Having a bit of trouble with her back step when suddenly she just clutches her heart, before collapsing." Rose frowned. That sounded like a heart attack. She dismissed the stretcher and took a step back, her head taking in all the facts. The first contestant had died suddenly from a heart attack. But she was young and athletic, her heart should have been fine, unless...
"We've got another one down!" Someone shouted and the people around her leapt into action. Rose bit her lip in concentration as she saw the second contestant receiving CPR. She turned around and saw the Doctor standing there with Sarah Jane and who she assumed was the Harry he had mentioned before.
"Someone's killing off the other contestants," he said. Rose frowned.
"Oh, you're a nurse?" Harry said after being introduced. "I'm a doctor," he shook her hand enthusiastically, overly glad at meeting someone from his own profession who also knew the Doctor. Rose thought he looked nice enough, a bit dull though, to put it nicely.
"Oh, she's not a..." the Doctor started, then probably realised Harry wouldn't understand. "Never mind. Sarah, talk to some of the witnesses, see if you can find anything unusual...and take Harry with you," he added the last part as an afterthought. After his two companions were gone he studied Rose closely. "Since when did you go to nursing school in the past twenty minutes since we've met?" Rose fumed.
"None of your business," she snapped. The Doctor held up his hands in defense.
"I only hope you know what you are doing."
"Of course I did...do, damn it." Getting these tenses wrong was downright annoying. "I know enough to see that these people aren't just dying of poor hearts."
"You suspect murder? Well then, it seems we're after the same thing. Would you care to join up?" Rose debated this. She really didn't want to work with the Doctor, but yet they had to catch the killer before he/she took out too many more contestants.
"Okay," she said, a bit reluctantly.
With one sweep of the Doctor's psychic paper he was established as the representative of the Shadow Proclamation. One outfit change and Rose was his deputy. Sarah Jane and Harry were on their own as a reporter and a doctor. Rose only grinned knowingly at that.
"Sarah Jane would make a good reporter." She commented to the Doctor she barely knew.
"You know, I think you're right." He turned and smiled at that. Rose smiled back, until she remembered who she was smiling to. It quickly disappeared, and the Doctor turned back to the scene, disappointed. He really liked this Rose, no matter what her problem with him was. She was smart, beautiful, caring, hold on, beautiful? Where had that come from? He shook his head. He knew the dangers of getting involved with humans. Sarah Jane hung a little too close to him already, but there was nothing he could do about that.
"So, how is pretending to be a copper any different than pretending to be a nurse?" Rose asked.
"Because, I know what I'm doing."
"And I don't?"
"I didn't say that."
"But you meant it." He spun around to face her at that.
"Rose, just what is your problem with me? I haven't done anything wrong!" He saw her mouth the word 'yet'.
"You really want to know what my problem is with you? If someone doesn't agree with you, they must be wrong. You think you're the only one who knows exactly what they're doing. News flash, but you're not. I've been doing this for a while, and I don't need to be told how to do this."
"Fine."
"Fine!" They were both quiet for a few moments. Rose began to feel a bit guilty for snapping at him. She opened her mouth but he waved her off.
"Never mind, I'm sure I'll figure you out someday. Let's just solve this one, then we can go on our separate ways. Alright?" Rose nodded.
"How many contestants are left?" She asked, the air still filled with tension.
"Three. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"That one of the contestants is killing off the others to win? Not very bright if the person kills them all, leading us right to them."
"I think the killer may be done. The three who died were at the top of their competition, the other three are around the same skill level." He leaned down close to her ear, ignoring how she flinched as he drew nearer. "Let's go interview them shall we?"
Forty minutes later the Doctor and Rose stepped out out the interviewing room, thoroughly stunned.
"None of those contestants could hurt a fly, much less kill someone."
"Yes, I'd have to agree with you. Plus, they all have sound alibis"
"Dalia Wenckus, Tory Dubalani, Seri Kila. Which one..." She grinned, remembering Tory's interview. He was quite good-looking, with long brown hair, broad shoulders and chin, and kind eyes. She'd have to find him again later tonight. The Doctor seemed to notice where her thoughts were going and coughed nervously. They both stood up straighter as Sarah Jane ran up, Harry at her heels.
"Doctor, we found something." She stood in front of him, her eyes glancing at Rose, a bit of mistrust lingering in her eyes. Rose wasn't offended, there was a certain air of mysteriousness about her that wasn't safe to trust. She preferred it that way. "One of the people in the audience saw a woman with a heart-reducer device." She grinned at the Doctor, obviously waiting for his approval. The Doctor kissed her forehead in joy. Rose frowned. He obviously was leading the poor girl on. Just like someone who used to kiss her forehead...
"A heart-reducer device! Used for people with overactive hearts, usually due to Orin's disease, common on this side of the galaxy. That would induce a heart attack to a normal beating heart. What did the woman look like?"
"That's the thing, the woman didn't look like Dalia Wenckus or Seri Kila. She was older."
"The mother." Rose muttered.
"What?" The Doctor turned to her.
"Tory's mother. He will...no, did mention how much his mother had given up to get him here. She may be doing more than that."
"Where was Mrs. Dubalani last seen?"
"Over on the West Wing."
"Alright," the Doctor sprang into action. "Sarah, Harry, take the front entrance, Rose and I will take the back, we'll corner her inside."
The four of them met inside the West Wing, but Ula Dubalani was nowhere in sight.
"She's probably already at the airship leaving the planet in two minutes," Harry said, holding an airship schedule.
"We'll never get there in time!" Sarah Jane cried.
"I'm on it." Both Harry and Sarah Jane gasped as Rose disappeared in a gold flash. The Doctor only stood there with a grave look on his face.
"Doctor, who is that woman?" Sarah Jane demanded.
"I really don't know." But he had this distinct feeling he should get to the airship, and fast.
Ula smiled as she threw her bag onto the airship. The game makers were so intensely into their games, the three deaths wouldn't stop anything. Now her son could be a star, just like she'd always wanted him to be. The Dubalani name would be known across the universe.
"Stop!" Ula screamed as a woman with black hair in a copper's uniform appeared right in front of her. Rose raised a hand and Ula was thrown on her back. "You killed those people," Rose stated, her eyes growing brighter and brighter until they were shining gold. "All just for fame." Ula was too frightened to even speak, she crawled backwards in fear, but the woman with the golden eyes advanced on her. "You will pay with your life." She raised a hand and Ula screamed as her body began to fade away.
"Rose, stop!" Rose dropped her hand and Ula came back into existence. "Rose, this isn't you!" The Doctor cried, rushing up to her.
"How do you know who I am, you don't know what I've been through, what I've lost!"
"I know you're not a killer. Someone who's that kind to children couldn't kill someone in cold blood. Remember, we should be compassionate to everyone?" Rose sniffed, her eyes filling with tears.
"I miss him so much," she gasped, the pain in her heart growing until it was nearly overwhelming. She cursed herself, saying she wasn't supposed to cry anymore. The Doctor came up to stand in front of her, his young brown eyes searching her face. He didn't know who she was talking about, but it was clear she had loved him.
"Would he want you to kill this woman, no matter what she's done?" He knew he had hit a weak point by the look on her face. She looked at him, heartbroken tears coming down her face. Without a word she disappeared.
The Doctor shook his head ruefully, before hauling Ula Dubalani up and giving her to the authorities that Sarah Jane had brought with her.
He knew he wouldn't be seeing Rose again, at least for a very long time. In the meantime, he would lock away all the memories of meeting her, to keep their time limes right, after telling Harry and Sarah Jane never to mention her again. He knew Sarah Jane wouldn't speak a word, but he wasn't sure if Harry could or not.
Rose appeared in front of Tory Dubalani's room and knocked. As soon as he opened the door she threw herself on him, kissing him and running her hands through his long hair. Tory was surprised at first, but then responded. It wasn't that often a hot girl kissed him without a word. He also couldn't think straight, his head still reeling that his mother had murdered on his behalf. He had told her over and over again, he wasn't doing this for the fame, but for the immense pleasure it gave him, just as this mysterious woman who had interviewed him earlier was doing now.
She dug hungrily at him, her mind picturing it was John instead of Tory. She missed him so much, she'd do anything to feel him again, even if it wasn't him she was feeling. As long as she was pretending, he'd always be with her. Tory pulled her inside his dressing room and Rose followed willingly. Tory slammed his body against her's and the door rattled with their weight.
"John," she gasped as Tory bit at a particular weak spot on her neck, one that John preferred as well. Tory frowned as she spoke someone else's name, but didn't stop.
She got her fill of him for a few minutes then let go of him. She frowned, seeing Tory's starstruck face instead of John's. She disappeared and Tory blinked twice, wondering if he had imagined the whole thing.
Sometime after that, Rose had been feeling a lot better. If she hadn't met that younger Doctor, she wouldn't have had to do that in the first place. She zapped to a house in Ealing and swayed for a second. She frowned. Why was she feeling so weak? She shook her head and her energy came back. Oh well, she probably just hit some sort of energy spike. She knocked on the door and couldn't hold back a grin, knowing what would happen when the door opened. Sarah Jane opened the door and saw Rose standing there, her hair jet black.
"Rose, how nice to...wait...oh! That was you!" Memories of that day, so long ago filled her head. The woman the Doctor had said never to mention to him again. The woman with the strange golden powers.
"Guilty as charged Sarah Jane." She smiled as Sarah Jane let her inside.
The first thing she asked Sarah Jane was no questions about the Doctor. She only replied with "We all knew you were going to get that clone of the Doctor's."
"John," Rose corrected.
"John. The Doctor always leaves those he cares about, Rose. It's a sort of self-defence mechanism." She laid a hand on Rose's sympathetically and Rose didn't reply, only tried to give her a grateful smile, which wasn't very believable.
"So, what have you been up to?" Rose asked, trying to get off the subject of the Doctor. She had already met Luke, her son, a few minutes ago.
"Oh, not much, I've got a group of kids helping me, we kind of...take care of the aliens that Torchwood misses."
"Torchwood! How is Jack doing, do you talk to him at all?"
"Not very often, but I know he misses you. He'd be overjoyed to see you, after what's happened to him."
"Why, what happened?" Sarah Jane told her about the children of Earth speaking in unison, and Jack losing Ianto. Rose dug her fingers into the arm of her chair.
"Just another broken heart that the Doctor could have prevented."
"Rose," Sarah Jane implored.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just, I will have a lot to be mad at him about." Sarah Jane looked at her quizzically. "No, wait, I already do. Time travelling, messes with your head." Sarah Jane bit back her questions and instead continued.
"I know you do, have a lot to be mad about that is, but you can't let this control your life. Sooner or later you're going to have to let him explain his side of the story." Rose put her head in her hands.
"I know. I just need a little bit more time." She looked into the eyes of one of her dearest friends, knowing that if the Doctor would have said those exact same words she would have snapped at him and stormed off. Maybe she was being a bit to harsh on him. Not that she would forgive him, at least not for a very long time.
"So, tell me about some of the places you've gone to." Rose smiled. That subject was a much better thing for her to talk about. Sarah Jane still had a few questions, but she had the feeling she wouldn't get the answers to them anytime soon.
About an hour later Rose stood up. "I really shouldn't take much more of your time," she looked at Sarah Jane closely and saw her sigh. "Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not. I'm dying."
"What?!" Rose cried, wanting to believe she had heard wrong. "No, you can't."
"It's cancer. I've got a few months left, I'm not going to cry about it, so you shouldn't either."
"No, but, I can help you," she raised a hand and gold light began to seep out around it.
"No Rose, stop!" Sarah Jane remembered seeing this new Rose disappear in a flash of gold light right in front of her on that ice planet, so many years ago. "Not like this." Rose looked genuinely confused. A flick of her hand and the gold snapped back into her.
"Why not? If I can save your life, why not let me?"
"Because, if it's my time to go, I'm not going to fight it."
"But Luke, all your friends, the Doctor..."
"Luke is going off to college, he doesn't need me anymore."
"That's not true."
"Please, let me finish. I said a proper goodbye to the Doctor a few months ago. He doesn't know it but I do. My time is done."
"He deserves to know. I'm sure he would want to see you one last time."
"No. He's regenerated, he has a new life, new companions. He needs to let me go."
"Hold on, he's regenerated, again?"
"You didn't know? He has brown hair, a large chin and nose, runs around like a three-year old who just learned to walk."
"Yes, I know who you're talking about." That was the Doctor she had been seeing when she first started jumping.
"Rose, do you see my wisdom? That life needs to move on, as it's supposed to?" After a few moments, Rose nodded.
"I'll come and see you before..."
"No, don't. I want you to remember me now, when I still look fine." Now Rose definitely saw the wisdom in that. Rose hugged Sarah Jane desperately. Just another person dear to her she was never going to see again. "Goodbye Rose Tyler."
"Goodbye Sarah Jane Smith. You've been a good friend. I wish you well."
"Thank you, and you too." Rose left and wiped a tear from her eye, seriously debating whether or not her life was cursed. She remembered what Sarah Jane had said about Jack and transported over to Torchwood 3.
As soon as Rose appeared she was enveloped in a giant bear hug. Jack clung to her desperately.
"Oh Rose, I'm so glad to see you. Any friendly face would have worked but I'm glad it's you." He held on to her tighter and Rose found it a bit hard to breathe. She knew he needed this though.
"I'm so sorry about what happened Jack."
"Me too," he gasped. "I don't care how you got here, or where the Doctor is, I'm just glad you're here." Finally he let go of her. "So, where's the Doctor?" He said, as if he hadn't heard what he just said. Despite the situation, Rose couldn't help but chuckle.
"I thought you said you won't...didn't care."
"Well, now I do. So come on, where's that clone Doctor of yours?" He looked down and noticed the ring on her finger. "Mrs. Clone Doctor, no doubt."
"Oi, there's a perception filter on this!" Sarah Jane, Harry nor the younger Doctor had noticed her wedding ring.
"Come on Rosie, I work with a perception filter every day," he pointed up where the upper entrance to Torchwood was. He smiled in joy, glad to see at least one of his friends happy. But Rose crushed that with two words.
"He's dead."
"What? Come in, tell me all about it." As much as she hated to talk about it (she hadn't even told Sarah Jane about John's death) Jack was her dearest and oldest friend besides Mickey and he had a right to know. Mickey, she'd have to find him...no, she didn't deserve to see him again, not after all the pain she had put him through. Her old boyfriend probably never wanted to see her again, and with good reason.
So she let Jack lead her up to his office and she explained everything, pouring her heart out for the first time. She thought he would be sympathetic towards the Doctor like Sarah Jane had, but she was surprised to find that hatred that also lingered in her heart.
"He thinks he's so good, saving people he doesn't even know, but yet he lets our loved ones die." Jack knew he couldn't blame the Doctor for what had happened to Susie, Estelle, Owen or Tosh, they had been his responsibility, but the whole Earth had been in danger when the children of Earth talked, and Ianto had given his life trying to stop it. Gwen even begged for the Doctor she never even knew, and yet not a sign. He had left all of them on their own, and the whole planet had nearly been enslaved. "He could have done something." Hell, he couldn't even talk to his own daughter again, ever. He closed his eyes and shuddered. Doing that to her was the worst thing he had ever done, even worse than the things he had done back when he was just a thief and a conman.
Rose couldn't reply, not because she didn't know what to say, but because her headache had returned in full force. Jack saw her wince.
"Rose, are you okay?"
"My head," she gasped, the pain becoming too great. Jack rushed to her side as she collapsed to her knees, gripping the sides of her head. Jack grabbed her shoulders, truly afraid for his friend. He was shocked as her previously raven black hair shimmered to her original blonde, albeit a more natural shade. She looked into his eyes and smiled sadly. She kissed him on the cheek as a sister would to her brother, right before she felt her body fling itself to another time.
Meanwhile the Doctor in the bow tie gasped, holding his head as previously locked memories filled his mind.
"Rose!" He gasped, remembering the black-haired woman with the bitter personality. Oh, she had never been a figment of his imagination. She had been real. She was here, and she was mad at him.
"Oh, so what, you're going to stop me? Try to govern my life, make my choices for me, like you always have? I don't need you to tell me how to live my life."
"You really want to know what my problem is with you? If someone doesn't agree with you, they must be wrong. You think you're the only one who knows exactly what they're doing. News flash, but you're not. I've been doing this for a while, and I don't need to be told how to do this.
"I miss him so much."
He had been surprised at how damaged those words had sounded coming out of her mouth. He hadn't recognised it then, but now he realised that it was the voice of someone who had lost everything. It sounded exactly like his own voice.
He knew he had to find her. Right now.
Rose, I'm coming for you.
Had you going there at the end of the last chapter didn't I? haha, couldn't help it, I haven't written enough of Four in my short...ish lifetime :)
P.S. I love Harry dearly, I'm just poking fun :) (RIP Ms. Sladen :/) Hope that scene with Rose and Tory didn't cross any boundaries, I mean, I'd totally understand if she needed to do something like that, losing John would be like losing your own soul, especially in that traumatic way I would think.