Chapter 4: Fragmented

Now, where exactly could one hide a blonde-haired girl in Paris? Plenty of places, surely. In a house, down an alley, in the sewers. But timing was an issue. Only way they could've got far would be to use a transmat beam, especially since she doubted that Rose was playing the damsel in distress. She'd fight her captors. She'd struggle. She'd leave some sort of trail.

After all, that'd be what she'd do.

However, she could find nothing. Nothing more than the same debris-strewn alleys and muck-covered pavement. No signs of a struggle, no signs of any human – or alien - passage other than her own.

"Bollocks," she muttered and turned around, intent on returning to the Doctor. Perhaps he'd had better luck.

When she reached the alleyway five minutes later he wasn't there. Sure, she was a minute overdue from their time limit of ten minutes, but he should be here.

Unless...

He might be in trouble. No, wait. He was the Doctor. Definitely trouble, then. Which meant that she, as usual, would have to rescue him.

Only one thing for it, really. She set off to find him, keeping her eyes on the ground to try and track his earlier movements and her other senses strained for some indication that he was about. A sound, a scrap of fabric, anything.

Then she heard it. So loud, so sudden, so full of anguish.

A shout of what? Denial? Grief?

She growled low in her throat as she sprinted toward the sound, desperate to reach it. She wasn't certain of why she suspected – no, why she knew – that it was the Doctor, just that she did. And that certainty lent her greater speed.

Hurry, hurry, hurry. She could see something just ahead. Just a glimpse, but she knew it was the Doctor. She was almost upon him when it happened.

The noise stopped. No more emotional outbursts. Nothing.

Now that she could see his face, she knew that something terrible had happened. Rose. No, please, no. She couldn't be...

"Give her back to me." The words were spoken calmly, dangerously, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise in reaction. She'd never heard him sound like that. Not when he was still her Professor. Not even when she was in danger.

An unfamiliar voice laughed. "Oh, no. This is ours. We won it fair and square. What is the human term? Oh, yes, 'you snooze, you lose'."

She edged closer to the corner. She had to see this man, judge if she could take him out, rescue Rose, and get the Doctor out of there. Though the Time Lord seemed to be in complete control, she could see the truth.

A part of him was slowly beginning to unravel.

"I gave you a warning. There are no second chances."

"That's exactly right," the voice replied and – ah, now she could see them. Two Caxtarids and the Teralnishtapins. But no Rose. What the bloody hell? "For-"

"Kraal," a second Caxtarid said urgently, interrupting him. "There's another signal."

"What? Here?" Kraal's attention wavered slightly, but not enough for her to take action.

"This city, this planet," the Caxtarid confirmed.

"Oh, so sorry to dash, my friend." Kraal apologised as he picked up something like looked like a piece of crystal. "I've got work to do, but my friends will keep you entertained." The Caxtarid turned toward the Teralnishtapins. "Kill him."

"No!" the Doctor shouted to little avail as, a moment later, the Caxtarids were snatched away by a transmat beam. Which left the Time Lord – and, in turn, herself – facing a group of slobbering Teralnishtapins.

She darted out into the open and grabbed his arm, tugging urgently. "C'mon, Doctor, run!"

He paused, breathing hard, shock and disbelief written across his face, and she wondered if she'd have to struggle with him as well as the creatures. However, the roar of the Teralnishtapins seemed to convince him.

They ran.

"Second verse, same as the first," she muttered as they turned down the next alley. Only, this time, she wasn't injured, and they didn't have a Dante-Katsume photon emitter.

Bollocks!

What she wouldn't give for a nice canister of Nitro Nine...

Time.

He was a Time Lord and he didn't have enough time. Never enough time. Not time enough to save Rose, not time enough to save them.

No time.

All he would've needed were a few seconds. Just a few tiny seconds and he could've traced the transmat beam and brought them back. He was good at transmat reversals. But, no, the Teralnishtapins were hungry and had apparently decided that Time Lord would make a perfect midday snack.

Which was keeping him from Rose.

Rose.

He should've guessed. He should've known. But, no, he'd continued on in ignorance, thinking that everything that had happened to her was just because of Bad Wolf.

Now he knew better. Bad Wolf was only the start. She was a fragment of the Key to Time. Another Princess Astra and he hadn't even realised.

Oh, Rose.

He had to dodge as one of the Teralnishtapins took an experimental swipe at him, the loud rip of fabric heralding the loss of part of his jacket. He had to think of something. They couldn't run forever and hunger leant the creatures extra speed.

"MEAT!" one of the aliens growled from behind them.

"This is getting old!" Ace complained from beside him as they sprinted down another alley.

He knew exactly how she felt. Right. Enough running. It was time they figured out a way of stopping their pursuers.

Teralnishtapins. Teralnishtapins. What did he know about their homeworld? Heavy gravity and water. Lots and lots of water. Now there was something important about that. Water.

What was it? If only he could...

Ace pulled him off his current course and down another alley. Belatedly, he realised that he'd almost run into a wall while he was lost in his thoughts.

"Salt!" he exclaimed in triumph. That was it! "Teralnishtapins are allergic to salt. Well, when I say 'allergic', I really mean that they'll melt on contact with salt. Or was it explode? Can't remember. Which means…" He steered them toward the street, increasing his pace. There had to be a market, or even a restaurant around. Somewhere that he could get salt. Any type of salt would do, really. Table, sea, whatever.

When they reached the street, the Teralnishtapins hot on their heels, he did a quick scan of the shops lining the street. "Why is there never a Tesco Metro around when you need one? Oh, yeah, cause this is Paris. And, of course, they closed down all the Marks and Spencers in France... Oh, wait. This is before that ever happened. Haven't even crossed the channel yet. Well, doesn't matter anyway."

"Doctor, over there!" Ace directed his attention just down the street. A few doors down, small sign – no wonder he'd missed it before - ah, yes. It looked like an épicerie, small, probably owner-run.

"Brilliant!" he praised her and turned in that direction.

"MEAT!" the leader of the Teralnishtapins shouted again.

"Unimaginative lot, aren't they?" he observed as they ran toward the grocer's. He regretted leading the aliens out onto the street, but it was, thankfully, semi-deserted. Hopefully the people who would see them would dismiss this particular event as the result of a little too much to drink the night before.

Hopefully.

Well, he'd sort it later if he had to. He wrenched open the door and burst inside, scanning the small shop quickly. "Salt?" he asked the startled shopkeeper.

The other man pointed down one of the aisles. "Second shelf."

"Ta! Oh, and you might want to duck..." He dashed down the indicated aisle and pulled off boxes of salt, handing them to Ace. "Open these, scatter them on the ground."

Ace nodded and began to do as he asked, the ripping sound of the containers echoing through the small shop. The Teralnishtapins should be here any…

"Hey! You can't do that! You haven't paid for them!" The shopkeeper interrupted his thoughts. Oh, of course the human wouldn't listen. When he told someone to duck, it was a good idea to…

CRASH!

The door must've burst open. He could hear the growl of the aliens as they entered the store.

The shopkeeper turned toward the noise, but his protest died on his lips. "Mon Dieu!"

"Oi! Shopkeeper! Get over here!" Ace commanded, spurring the other man into action.

The man rushed toward them, followed closely by the Teralnishtapins. The aliens were no longer concerned with just getting him. They just wanted food. Wonderful. He pulled another package of salt off the shelf and tore off the top.

Right. The shopkeeper hurried past them, but his attention wasn't upon the other man. It was on the Teralnishtapins. They were getting closer to their salt ring. Closer…closer…

Oh, he was going to regret this.

The problem with Teralnishtapins and contact with salt was the reaction was instantaneous. And rather dramatic. Well, he amended the thought as the first creature exploded, he really meant volatile.

Ace threw the contents of her package of salt at the remaining Teralnishtapins as he did the same. Probably wasn't the nicest thing he could've done for the poor cowering shopkeeper behind them, but he had saved his life. Had to count for something, right?

"Yeah, sorry about that," he apologised as he picked a remnant of a Teralnishtapin off his jacket. "Here." He reached into his pocket and, after pulling out a couple of large denomination francs, he tossed them at the other man. "That should help you fix things up around here."

"Wha-what were those things? Who are you?" The shopkeeper was dazed.

"A friend," he replied. "Come on, Ace. We've got work to do." Without bothering to wait for a reply, he headed out of the shop at almost a run.

One problem was fixed. Now he had to find Rose – oh, Rose, please be safe – and stop the Caxtarids from assembling the entire Key.

It never rained, but it poured.

The Doctor was just ahead of her, his speed increasing with every moment until they were both at a full sprint. She wondered if he noticed, but somehow she doubted it. He was desperate to rescue Rose.

What she couldn't understand, however, was why she hadn't seen Rose. She'd seen Caxtarids, the Teralnishtapin, and the Doctor but the most conspicuous thing about it was that she hadn't spotted Rose. There wasn't a location to hide her – not in that alleyway – and it certainly couldn't explain why the Doctor had behaved as if Rose were there, in the Caxtarids' clutches.

Maybe they'd already sent her off somewhere via that transmat beam? No. That wouldn't explain the Doctor's expression. He'd acted as if Rose was there, in front of him, and just within his reach.

But why? And how?

She shook her head. The only one with any answers wasn't talking and probably wouldn't until they were back in the TARDIS and well on their way to finding Rose. He'd always played his cards close to his chest. This wasn't any different. Only, this time, she wished that there was something else that she could do.

It only took another minute to reach the TARDIS and slip inside. The Doctor hurried to the main console, flipping switches and muttering to himself as he practically danced around the controls. She could only catch a few phrases – "Key", "Rose", "Bad Wolf", and something that sounded like a curse word, but the TARDIS wouldn't translate it.

"Doctor?"

Nothing. He just muttered some more and slapped his palm against the console.

"Doctor!" she tried again, raising her voice.

He paused only for a moment to shoot her a glare before returning his attention to the controls. "What? I'm busy!"

"Mind telling me what happened back there? And I'm not talking about the exploding Teralnishtapins. What happened to Rose?"

She must've said a magic word. Either that or the one thing that could possibly break him. His hands stilled their frantic movements over the controls and he braced himself against the console. The Doctor's face was expressionless only in that she could see the effort that it took to prevent the cracks in his armour from widening.

Oh, hell. What the cruk had happened back there?

"She's gone."

Before she could do more than open her mouth to express her disbelief – how could Rose be gone when he'd been acting as if she were still alive? Unless he was implying that she had been transmatted away before the Caxtarids. No. That still didn't make sense. Not with how he was reacting. – he continued. "She's a fragment, Ace. A piece of the Key to Time."

The Key to what? Time? Since when had time needed a key? She could definitely feel a headache coming on.

She realised belatedly that he was still talking. "-the Caxtarid caused her to revert to the natural state of the Key."

Definite headache. "She's a piece of a key?" Revert. He'd said that Rose'd reverted to the natural state of the key. The only thing that she'd seen that was out of place of a Parisian alley was that crystal that Kraal had picked up just before they'd transmatted away. "Wait a mo', you're telling me that Rose Tyler was somehow turned into a chunk of crystal?"

"Exactly," he replied. "And now they're searching for the last piece of the Key."

"So, this is why the future's going to be destroyed in two days? Because of this Key?" Massive headache.

"Yes."

Simple question, simple answer.

"Well, cruk." That summed up her thoughts rather well, really. Rose was a piece of a Key and the Doctor was falling apart before her eyes. This really was turning out to be one of her better days.

Yeah, right.

"Now if I can only change some of the TARDIS' protocols, we might be able to-" He flipped a switch. "-trace the transmat beam and, possibly, find the sixth piece of the Key before they do. We know it's in Paris, at least. And in this time zone."

It was a plan. Not much of one, admittedly, but a plan. "So, say we find the sixth piece and keep it away from the Caxtarids. How do we get Rose back?"

He paused again to give her another glance. "Break the tracer beacon. That'll shatter the Key, scattering the pieces throughout time and space. Last time I had to do this, oh, several hundred years ago, the fragments were still in one piece after they were separated. Princess Astra was fine afterwards, went back home, had a family. Nice and simple."

Oh, no. Not nice and simple. Not at all. What was there to say that Rose wouldn't end up in some other time zone? Some other planet? All of time and space? That was one hell of a haystack. "What about Rose, though? She gets sent off through time and space, there's no guarantee we'll know where she'd end up."

The Doctor spun a knob and turned toward her. "Oh, I know exactly where she'll end up. Back in 2006, Powell Estates, London. Back at the beginning, really. All we'll have to do is pop by and pick her up. See? Easy!" He grinned at her and returned his attention to the controls.

If she hadn't been paying attention, she never would've heard his next words. They were spoken more to himself than to anyone else but they gave her little hope.

"At least, I hope so."

To be continued...