Disclaimer etc.: see Prologue.
Sorry for the delay. I have no good excuse. I am a slacker. –grins–
I'm eagerly awaiting Saturday's episode, but don't want Rose to go… Silly Billie Piper.
Oh, and I can't seem to be able to put equals signs in, so sorry if it's a little unclear later on...
Anyway. Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, and I hope this one doesn't disappoint. Enjoy!
Golden Death
3 - Joining
She gave in.
He felt it.
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With a violent gasp the Doctor crumpled to his knees in the endless corridor, a hand rising to press against his throat. A golden starburst blasted into his mind and he suppressed a moan of pain and fear.
God no please no Rose!
The red being stopped and turned, a crease furrowing its crimson forehead. "Doctor?" Its tone held genuine concern.
The Doctor didn't notice the little things in his companion's expression, in its voice. All he was concerned about was…
"Rose," the Time Lord croaked.
The being stepped closer, just one step, halting and painful. Dread flooded its voice, eyes and stance. The Doctor barely noticed. The being's tongue flicked out and licked its lips in worry. "Is she…?"
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But she didn't fall.
And he knew that too.
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"No." His head snapped up. "No."
She was strong; she would hold until he could get to her. Until he could save her. He just had to find her before they snapped her mind in two.
The Doctor pushed himself to his feet, ignoring or not noticing the red being's outstretched hand. "She isn't," he bit off, his lips forming the words in short bursts.
The red being's hand was dropped to its side and it cocked its head to one side, studying the silently raging Time Lord. "How can you be so sure?" it asked, voice barely above an intimate whisper.
He spared his companion a glance, and let a bare hint of a smile flick across his face. "Because she's Rose."
"That's not an explanation," the red being rebuked.
The trace of a ghost of a smile vanished and nostalgic and pain slid across the Time Lord's young face. "No," he whispered in a daze. "It's an excuse."
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She watched them closely as they moved in slow circles around her, limbs fluttering like birds' wings in a bizarre dance. Murmurs filled the 'room', echoing again and again and again until fading away amidst the cacophony of other whispered notions.
What am I doing? she wondered lethargically.
Her mind was fogged; unable to remember anything. A tiny spark of golden light shone through the mist, but its light was faint and wavering. She vaguely recalled something cold and hot and rough and smooth all at once being tipped gently down her throat; of cool hands holding her still as she choked and twisted and struggled.
Where am I? her hazy mind put forward.
As she watched from her position on the floor one of them glided over to a just-appeared tray that hovered in midair. Its back shifted so that all she could see was gilded fabric, and her gaze wandered away, ignoring the sudden rasp of metal on metal and the sudden increase and focus in the whispers.
Confusion. Who am I?
She couldn't remember.
She felt hands on her arms, gently lifting her up and up and up. She smiled happily, kicking her legs in the air like a naïve toddler. A breathless giggle escaped her lips as she stared up, her gaze latching onto a bright light that shone from the ceiling, bathing the room in watery radiance that spun crystal daggers into her eyes. Her fingers snatched at shadows, wanting to touch, to feel.
She only wanted to feel, to experience.
Something cool slid under her skin with a sharp pinprick and she gasped in childish pain. The hands released her, and she was falling, down and down and down to the ground. The moment she made contact with the floor she began to shake violently, her limbs dancing a violent tango against the wishes of her protesting mind.
And suddenly the fog was gone, and she remembered in diamond-sharp clarity.
Rose gasped. Shock and pain. "Doctor!"
One of them crouched down before her, and somewhere inside herself she wondered at the fact that it had a body. "He is not here Rose Tyler," it informed her with clinical detachment. "We cannot allow him to reach you."
Her lips formed letters, words, sentences, speeches, but nothing came out.
"And now Rose Tyler," the being continued, reaching out to stroke an insubstantial pale finger down her soft cheek, flushed by fear, "it is time for you to let loose the Wolf. Just as you promised my dear."
His finger reversed direction, dragging a torturous trail up her satin-smooth flesh. Her hands were shaking and she just wanted to get away, to feel the Doctor's arms around her, holding her safe.
The pad of its fingertip brushed over the skin of her temple, and the world shifted a step on the colour spectrum.
Everything blazed, the colours magnified and exacerbated and reflected around inside her fragile skull. Reds danced like fire; greens twisted with shades of jealously; blues shone with the light of the moon. And over it all there was a faint sprinkling of gold.
She was burning; her head was burning.
She couldn't hold this power; it was like another entity inside her that was eternally bound to her heart and soul. It hurt so much to use this energy, but at the same time it made her feel complete. Whole.
Come Rose Tyler. Unleash the Wolf.
There were whispers in her mind, whispers that corrupted the eggshell-thin skin of her psyche. They wanted something; they wanted her to show them the gold in her heart.
Unleash the Wolf upon the universe!
Her eyes flickered up, the gold swirled within her brown irises glowing, giving her gaze an iridescent sheen. "Don't…" she hissed out, pure power contained with her throaty growl.
Unleash it! Show us! Let it out!
She fought it; fought her own desires and passions. Embracing the power would mean it wouldn't hurt anymore and embracing it was exactly what her nature sang to her to do.
She fought it, but she didn't want to. And the gold knew that.
The Bad Wolf whispered to her, a calm voice, so much like his that it shook her. She could trust herself, and the Wolf was her. Show them, it advised her. They want a show? Give them a show.
She smiled at the Wolf's thoughts intermingled with her own. Her glowing gaze slid over to the being that still touched her temple. A smile twisted her lips. "Unleash it?" she questioned.
What could almost be described as a triumphant smile slid across its features. "Yes," it whispered. "Let it out. Show us."
She leaned forward, forcing it to move back with her. "You asked for it," she whispered almost-maliciously, her breath gusting over his phantom skin.
Gold filigree traced through her voice as the two halves of her spirit wound into each other, merging, blending. Becoming one. Her mouth curved into an exquisite smile as power and energy thrummed through her veins.
With a grin on her lips she extended one hand, sparks crackling along her arm to dance on her fingertips with fairy-like alacrity. A single thought caused the fairies to coalesce together into a blast of fire; a snap of golden lightning crackled out from her fingers.
A twitch of her mind and the lightning raced around the room, crowning each of them with a halo of thorny light. She held it there, the entirely of the place ablaze with light and energy and power and the Wolf.
She looked back down at the being before her. The brown of her eyes was gone completely, replaced by blazing gold. "You wanted a show," she murmured, power jolting through her entire being. "And I've only just begun."
For some reason, it seemed to smile. Mockingly. Cockily.
Don't smile, she thought hardly.
Let's show them who they're messing with, the Wolf whispered inside her head. Let's show them how good we are.
For him, Rose thought hazily, almost dreamily.
There was a pause, and then the Bad Wolf would have smiled. For the Doctor.
For my Doctor, Rose murmured, and her fingers contracted into a fist. The power in her went wild.
But the smile didn't leave the being's face.
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It's simple maths really; two factors combining to become one. No graphs or formulae or diagrams, just x plus y equals z. Elementary mathematics.
For one calculation, one pertinent to the travellers within the TARDIS, the x and the y stand for this:
x – Rose Marion Tyler
y – The Bad Wolf
Write this information out in an equation (substituting numbers and all that), it comes to this:
Rose Marion Tyler + The Bad Wolf equals...
But equals what?
No one knows; it has no name. No name, no shape, no form, no voice. It is Power, pure and simple and uncomplicated.
Write the sum again.
Rose Marion Tyler + The Bad Wolf equals Power. Pure Power.
And for some, power is everything. Not Rose, all she wants is her Doctor's arms around her in their little corner of the Universe. She wants the Doctor and the TARDIS and the simplicity of her life, the life that would be hard for some but is simple and easy for her.
But now she has power, power that is beyond anything in the Universe. Beyond even her lover's comprehension. And that is saying something.
All she really wants in her life is simplicity.
And for the Angels, the corruption of power, and those who hold the power, is oh-so-simple.
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