Who Are You? Who Am I?
Chapter 4: And It Haunts Her
A/N: You lucky, lucky people. It seems as though I've found another chapter in me. This is gonna get complicated a bit and I'm flying by the seat of my pants here so you'll have to give me a little bit of leeway here because I'm making up stuff for this story and taxing and over taxing my poor brain so please, I beg you to forgive me for the craziness about to ensue and any plot holes that may or may not be big enough for trucks to drive through or that may or may not make this story look like swiss cheese.
Last night after I updated the site experienced a bit of shut down and as a result, my update was left buried on the second page where it was after adding chapter two. So to anyone who wants to leave a review for chapter three as well as this one, I would be grately appreciative. I hope all of you enjoy.
After a warm cup of tea and some sandwiches with Amy, and Rory who had eventually joined them, Rose went in search of the Doctor. She headed to the console room to find him still fiddling with the sonic. She plopped herself down in a seat and cleared her throat.
He looked at her "Hello," he smiled softly.
"Hello," she responded.
He pocketed the sonic screwdriver and moved to sit beside her. He found himself taking one of her hands into his. "Rose," he murmured "My Rose…"
"I wish you'd explain all of this to me," she replied, her eyes searching his for something that would spark her memory.
"I wish I could," he said softly, knowing that when she did inevitably remember, she would remember the Metacrisis Doctor, the Doctor who stayed when he himself had left her behind. He selfishly feared her memories. As much as he knew she wanted to remember and as much as he knew it would help him to determine what it was that had happened to her, part of him wanted things to continue as they were at that moment. Him and Rose, together. And another part of himself hated him for wanting this.
"Why not?" Rose questioned, reaching up with her free hand and touching the side of his face tenderly "Please Doctor. I can tell that we have a history. I see it when you look at me. You know me so well and I know barely nothing of you."
"It's…" the Doctor began "Rose, there are so many things that I want to tell you but," he stopped abruptly when she leaned forward and kissed him.
One of her hands went to the back of his neck as one of his lost itself in her hair. His other arm wrapped itself tightly around her waist and pulled her closer as the kiss deepened. Rose leaned back in her seat, pulling the Doctor down on top of her.
For a moment, one blissful moment, the Doctor lay on top of her. His was head fuzzy with pleasure. He was here, with Rose. But reality, as it often does, came crashing back. He sat up and pulled away, leaving Rose looking at him with confusion written all over her face.
There was silence in the console room for a long time. It was the most awkward and heavy silence that the TARDIS had seen in a long time. Fose at last cleared her throat and stood "I suppose I should be off to bed," she informed him as she turned to leave.
"Rose…" the Doctor opened his mouth but all that got out was her name before he trailed off.
"Don't," she replied in a ghost of a voice before running for her room. She was so confused. What was going on? Who was this Doctor who knew her and who she seemed to trust implicitly? How had she come to be in that alley? Why had she been running and what had she been running from?
She reached her room and threw herself onto the bed, tears falling from her eyes as she clutched a pillow to her chest. She'd forgotten everything about who she was. She wanted to remember, desperately.
She eventually cried herself to sleep.
XXX
"Get away from her," the voice was low but firm. Rose felt comforted by the sound. She became aware of her surroundings. It was dark and there was a hand gripping her wrists painfully tight.
"I don't think so," a sinister voice replied. Rose somehow knew that it was the voice of the person holding her captive.
In an instant Rose felt herself knocked to the ground by the force of someone tackling the man holding her. She felt gentle hands helping her to her feet and the next thing she knew, they were running.
"You can't," she was standing face to face with the man who had rescued her, her eyes locked with his, she was pleading with him "It'll kill you."
"And if I don't do it, then we both die," he told her as he cupped her face "I won't let that happen. I'm going to do it Rose, I'm going to force the TARDIS here. He'll find you. You'll be safe. I promise."
"I won't let you," she told him, snatching the piece of TARDIS coral from his hands "We can find out way back to Pete's world. Just don't leave me," she began crying.
Gentle arms wrapped around her "I love you," he whispered, disarming her with a kiss. Her grip on the TARDIS coral and he took it from her "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Rose but I have to do this," he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the TARDIS coral. "Now RUN!"
XXX
Rose shot up from her bed in a cold sweat, tears streaming down her face. She ran for the console room without thinking about it. The Doctor was still there. She grabbed him by the arm and turned him to face her "I remember!" she shouted "And I need your help!"
The Doctor stared at her with wide eyes for only the briefest of momehts before he nodded in understanding. "Rose, how did you get here?" he asked.
"There's no time for that!" she screamed "I've wasted too much time waiting for my memories to come back! We have to go NOW!" She began dragging the Doctor in the direction of the TARDIS doors "We might still be able to save him!"
Puck entered the console room just as Rose had started pulling the Doctor towards the doors. Neither of them seemed to be paying him any mind and he would have passed them straight by if he hadn't noticed the frantic expression on Rose's face. For a moment he thought of getting Amy and Rory but it was the middle of the night and the couple was sleeping. As Rose pulled the Doctor through the TARDIS doors Puck decided to follow them to make sure they didn't get into any trouble.
He didn't know yet just how much trouble Rose was leading them into.
As she dragged the Doctor through the streets of Maladorius she spoke frantically "He magnetized the piece of TARDIS coral you gave him, that's how you came here. There's this man, the Admiral, that's what he calls himself. I don't have a single clue what he's the admiral of..."
"But why bring you here?" the Doctor asked "Why bother crossing the Void?"
Rose didn't answer him. She knew that if she did that he would make her stop and take her back to the TARDIS. The reason John had sacrificed himself was because this Admiral, planned to use her as a conduit for the energy that was released at the full brightness of the Golden moon. The energy needed an organic conduit and because of the residue of the time vortex that still existed within her DNA thanks to the Bad Wolf, she was the perfect candidate.
The Admiral had made no secret of the fact that the experience would kill her but give birth to a new order, giving the Admiral the power to lord over the entire universe and any other universe he chose to annex.
"It's this way!" Rose said, turning down a side street and coming to a stop in front of a large warehouse. "The Admiral will be at the back where his computer terminals are set up. If John's still alive, he'll be there too."
The Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to unlock the large door. He looked worriedly at Rose before he entered first. She attempted to step in front of him but he pushed her behind him, refusing to allow her to put herself in the line of fire if he could help it.
XXX
John Smith, the Metacrisis Doctor, clawed at consciousness with everything he had. He was going to die soon, he knew that. There was nothing that could be done to stop it. To magnatize the TARDIS coral so that the little thing, stil growing, still small, could draw its parent to this planet, he'd had to expose himself to some very lethal energy forces that were killing him.
He was surprised that he hadn't already died. He must have been a bit more Time Lord than he'd thought. As he lay, staring at the bars of the cage that his jailer had seen fit to leave him in, he began to laugh. He knew he had won. The Admiral's wicked plan could not come to pass as long as Rose was beyond his reach. And John knew that the Doctor would make sure of that. They were the same after all.
Different faces now, different personalities and different fashion sense but he knew that the original Doctor still loved Rose with all of his two hearts and would do anything to protect her.
The Admiral was soon standing over him "Wipe that smirk off your face," he ordered.
"No," John replied with self satisfaction. The pain of the Admiral's boot in his stomach did nothing to diminish his laughter. The pain of the raw energy that was liquefying his organs made it almost unnoticeable anymore.
"You think you're so smar," the Admiral hissed "I will find her."
"No," John continued to laugh "No, you won't."
"You think you're so smart," the Admiral growled.
"Oh… I am…" John gasped out "I'm… brilliant! And… you've.. lost."
"John!" a yell from the far side of the room made the laughter die on John's lips. He strained to lift his head and all hope left him as he saw Rose, attempting to push past a young looking man.
"Damn," the part Time Lord murmured as his head fell backwards "Why Rose, why did you have to come back…?"
"It appears I will prevail after all," the Admiral smirked down at his prisoner.
"Don't count on it!" the youngish looking man, the Doctor, proclaimed "Whatever it is you're planning, I'm going to stop you!"
The Admiral's gaze shifted from his prisoner to the Doctor "Really, Doctor. I don't think you will stop me," he crossed the room to stand before the newcomer "Yes," he said to his visitor's bewildered expression "I know all about you. I didn't need to beat it out of the weakling over there, for you see, I've been watching you for a long time Doctor. I know many things about you."
"Then you know I will stop you," the Doctor stated plainly.
The Admiral laughed "I know Doctor, that you are weak compared to me. Look at you," he pointed mockingly at the man "You haven't even figured it out yet," he turned his head in the direction of John's prone form "Even he figured it out and he's a genetic mistake, shouldn't have been able to figure it out and it took him a while but he figured it out. Thoug he apparently still thought that you were a match for me."
The Doctor gazed long and hard at the Admiral "You're a Time Lord," he murmured, recognition coming over his face. "The Admiral, you're supposed to be dead, you and te rest of your little band."
"Oh but we're not Doctor," the Admiral smiled "Me and all my associates are very much alive, scattered across the multiverse but still very much alive. And once to Golden Moon reaches its peak at the height of the festival, I will unite them all and we will rule."
"I won't let you do that," the Doctor said in a low dangerous voice.
The Admiral threw his head back, releasing a long loud burst of hearty laughter "Oh my dear, insignificant little Doctor, you are doing quite the opposite," his gaze shifted to Rose "For not only will you not be able to stand in my way but you've delivered the last piece of the puzzle right into my clutches."
The Admiral reached out in an attempt to grab Rose and pull her to him but the Doctor stopped him, taking the other Time Lord's arm, twisting it violently and hurling him to the ground "Don't you touch her," he growled.
"Good show," came a weak cheer from where John was lying.
The Admiral recovered quickly and pinned the Doctor to the floor. He knelt on top of the Doctor's chest, one of his feet pressing into the Doctor's throat. The Doctor gasped for breath and felt himself about to pass out when he saw Rose out of the corner of his eye. She leapt forward in one swift motion and kicked the Admiral in the face.
The Admiral fell backwards and the Doctor found himself able to breathe again "Nicely done," he praised Rose as she held out a hand to help him to his feet.
"Thank you," Rose replied.
"You… you…" the Admiral seethed as he pulled himself up to his full height and faced the blond woman, fury blazing in his eyes. He was completely ignoring the Doctor "You are lucky that for the time being, I need you alive," he growled.
This time when he reached to grab Rose the Doctor wasn't able to stop him as Rose was at that moment standing between him and the Admiral, trying to shield him. She was jerked so violently that she stumbled as the Admiral brought her in close "But that doesn't mean I can't give you something to be afraid of. He pulled a device from his pocket and stabbed it into Rose's neck. He pressed a button on the device and she screamed as the torture mechanism sent waves of unimaginable pain through her body. The energy exploded from different points and ripped holes in the fabric of her clothes. Rose crumpled to the ground in a heap and lay motionless. The only sign that she was still alive was her ragged and shallow breathing.
"That'll keep you quiet for a while," the Admiral smirked with satisfaction. He retrieved the torcher device and faced the Doctor who was glaring with hatred at him. "Now what to do with you Doctor," he smirked "From what I know of you it would be pointless to offer you a postion in the new Universal order that my comrades are about to bring about. But what to do with you… I know, oh yes I know. Oh you will be quite useful after all," in a lightening fast movement the Admiral had thrust the torcher device into the Doctor's chest. Full Time Lords weren't affected as badly by the device unless the energy was delivered directly to the hearts.
The Doctor clutched at his chest as he attempted to suppress the scream that passed through his parted lips as he collapsed. He was rencered completely helpless, unable to move, staring up at the Admiral as he sneered down in return.
"Relax Doctor," the Admiral told him as he lifted Rose's limp body from the floor "We still have a few hours until the show begins."
A/N: Oh, did I do an evil thing again? Let me know what you think?