Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it, nor do I get paid for it.

A/N Thanks for the lovely response on the last chapter. Can't believe the story is nearing 100 reviews already. Seriously, your response keeps me writing.

This chapter starts out with a light-hearted adventure.

Happy Reading!

Chapter Four

Rose was still in a bit of a daze as she walked through the corridor, hoping the TARDIS would point her in the right direction. For all her anger and resentment towards him, Rose would be lying if she said that she had never wanted to see the Doctor again. But she had never expected to end up here of all places.

But perhaps it would be a good thing, she decided, as she saw a solitary wood panelled door at the end of the corridor. This was the worst time in the Doctor's life, and if nothing else she could be a friend and his hand to hold. Her Doctor didn't talk a lot about the war but Rose had been there when the inevitable nightmares would sneak up on him. Anything she could do to make sure to reduce that pain he would feel, she was willing to do.

She opened the door, and was a bit surprised to find a brand new room beyond it. Good thing too, since Rose didn't think she would be that fond of her old room especially without all her things in it. Or perhaps, even if they were there by some quirk of time and space, she would still be uncomfortable with all her memories in there.

This new room was almost the same size as her old room, and had parchment coloured walls and dark rosewood furniture. The duvet and sheets on the bed were a deep shade of red that matched the carpet on the floor. The ensuite was much the same as before, but with unidentifiable labels on the bottles of shampoo and soap.

Rose knew that TARDIS wouldn't give her something that she would be allergic to or anything, so she set about shedding her clothes and stepping into the shower. As she stood under the spray, she took a moment to analyse her injuries. There were light scratches on her calves but they had already turned pink and would heal in their own time. Her shoulders felt stiff, though a few moments under the warm spray of water worked wonders.

The worst injury was her wrist with the vortex manipulator. There was a long, ugly scar spanning around her wrist, that looked worse than it felt. Rose flexed her wrist a little and decided that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. She wasn't particularly concerned about the scar; not like she didn't have enough of them already.

Her hair shampooed and conditioned, body scrubbed of dirt, sweat and god-knows-what else, Rose stepped out of the shower and picked up the big white towel on the rack to dry herself and a smaller one for her hair. Emerging into her room with the towel wrapped around her, she started searching the wardrobe for appropriate clothes. Everything in there looked brand new, so Rose grabbed a set of clothes, making sure that they would be practical enough for whatever was about to come rather than anything else.

The black trousers certainly felt sturdy as she pulled them on, as did the midnight blue jumper that fit her just snugly enough. There was a black coat very similar to her ruined one sitting in the wardrobe, and Rose sent a silent thanks to the TARDIS as she picked it up. It was double-breasted and had a tie around the waist and a little longer than the one she had before but it fit just as well, and Rose felt much better once she had it on.

She would be okay, she realised, as she finished getting ready. She was strong enough.

The Doctor was staring at the results on the TARDIS monitor, his eyes fixed on the words. It wasn't possible, it just wasn't.

"Doctor?"

He switched the monitor off and turned around to greet her. She did look much better after having cleaned up, yet somewhat more closed off than she had seemed before. Or perhaps it was the way she had chosen to dress herself in dark, severe colours with her hair in a tight French braid. Everything from the military boots on her feet to her stance seemed awfully familiar and he wondered briefly who she reminded him of.

"Hello Rose," he said with a quick smile. "Find everything alright?"

"Yeah, thanks," she nodded with a small smile. "Uh, I didn't know what to do with this," she said, holding up the vortex manipulator that was now all but useless.

The Doctor took it from her and placed it near the rotor. "I'll leave it here for now. You never know, we might find a use for it after all."

Rose nodded with a small smile. "So, anywhere we have to be?" she asked.

He nodded and flicked a switch next to the monitor so that when he turned it on, it wouldn't display those results. "A standard check of the war outposts," he said. "We can start with Viridian. It's the closest one to Karn and one of the biggest ones."

"What exactly do these outposts do?" asked Rose.

"Some of them are defensive positions, strategically speaking," he said as he started to steer the TARDIS away. "Others, like Viridian, are resource planets."

"What resources does Viridian have?" asked Rose with interest.

"Metals of almost every kind, making it invaluable to Daleks and Time Lords alike," said the Doctor as the TARDIS started to materialise with the usual sounds.

"And why are we going there?" asked Rose as the TARDIS landed on Viridian.

"Viridian is the foremost Gallifreyan outpost set up to engineer weapons needed to fight this war," said the Doctor as he and Rose stepped out of the TARDIS.

The planet outside looked empty of all life, yet the tall glass buildings and concrete roads were spotless. There was an odd sort of a hush in the air, as if the smallest of sounds would bring forth chaos.

"Still doesn't answer why we are here," said Rose in an automatic whisper.

He stared at Rose for a moment before answering. "I want to see what they have been up to," he said, leading her down the concrete road.

"Don't you know?" she asked, sounding surprised.

He looked distinctly uncomfortable at that. "No," he admitted.

"That doesn't sound like you," she snorted. At his raised eyebrows, she rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, you said yourself that this was the biggest war in the cosmos and you, of all people, would not have kept your nose out of it. Especially when it comes to weapons."

He glared at her furiously. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked, feeling some dread at the thought of the man he would become.

She rolled her eyes again. "I meant, the weapons factory would have found itself burnt to the ground and have a banana grove on it instead if you thought they were doing something wrong," she said.

He barked out a small laugh at that, his demeanour softening. "You are not wrong," he said. "I have actually kept my nose out of it. Wilful ignorance, as a matter of fact. It is something I regret," he admitted softly.

Rose's eyes melted in compassion. "You tried to stay away from the war, didn't you?" she asked.

He looked at her in surprise. "How did you know?" he asked.

"I know you," she said with a rather sad smile. "Why now, though? Why set aside your rules now?"

"I haven't set my rules aside, Rose," he said with a sigh. "But I won't stand by as the universe gets slaughtered to bits in this bitter, endless war. I intend to end it, by any means necessary, if it means the survival of the universe."

Rose stared at him for a long moment before nodding. "Okay," she said simply as they continued walking. "Just one question."

"Yes?" he asked.

"Have you realised that we are being followed?" she asked.

Without missing a beat, his lips quirked up. "Of course. Ever since we left the TARDIS, in fact. Would you like to come with me into that dark alley so that we may ambush our pursuer?" he asked.

Rose's smile was bright and lovely. "Thought you'd never ask," she said, slipping her hand into his as they rounded the corner and took cover to hide from their tail.

Rose's mind drifted to her time with Zara and she suppressed a shiver, though judging by the way that the Doctor stiffened made her think that she hadn't exactly succeeded. He looked at her in concern but she avoided his gaze as they hid in the shadows.

Their pursuer's steps sounded almost metallic and Rose racked her brains to remember where she had that sound before. She got her answer a moment later when the four-legged metallic spider scurried up and started scanning the area, undoubtedly looking for them. It was different than the ones Cassandra had used, and looked sturdier and more menacing than she would have expected a spider made of metal to look.

She looked at the Doctor and found him frowning thoughtfully. A moment later, he dropped Rose's hand and left their hiding place, presumably to confront the spider. Rose rolled her eyes at his back before going after him. The spider turned towards them as they approached it.

"Hello, where did you come from?" asked the Doctor in a way that someone would greet a stray kitten.

The spider made no move to respond, just kept completely still. Rose felt a sense of unease, but the Doctor seemed mostly unperturbed. "Who sent you then, eh? Could you take us to your leader?" he asked.

The sense of dread worsened, and just as the red scanning light on the spider got a little brighter, Rose seized the Doctor and pulled him away. The laser from the spider hit the spot where the Doctor's head had been moments before.

"Run!" shouted Rose as she dragged the Doctor behind her.

The two of them ran down the concrete road of the seemingly deserted outpost, the metallic clink clink of their pursuer's legs sounding behind them. "We have to lose it," said Rose as they ran.

"Quick!" said the Doctor, thrusting the sonic screwdriver in her hands. "When I say so, point and activate it."

Rose took the sonic screwdriver, different from the ones she had seen before, and watched as the Doctor tossed a red marble at the spider. The marble burst open into a mesh that engulfed the spider and at his shout, Rose pointed the sonic screwdriver at it and pushed the button.

The whole thing sparked and the spider broke down into pieces as it was destroyed. The Doctor and Rose turned to each other in relief, and Rose gave him his screwdriver back.

"That's that then," said the Doctor with a grin. "And now…"

"Onto the secret weapons base?" asked Rose.

"Indeed," he nodded as they continued along the road towards the tall green glass building. It stood out like an emerald among the others, though there was still no sign of life.

"Shouldn't we have seen someone by now?" asked Rose uneasily. "They're hardly likely to send one metallic spider after us and then just let us have a wander around their secret weapons base."

"Unless…" said the Doctor.

"Unless what?" asked Rose.

"Unless, there really is no one here," he said.

Rose raised her eyebrows. "You said this was one of the biggest outposts," she said flatly.

"Well, yes, and look around you. Does it really feel like a major outpost during a chaotic war?" he asked.

Rose sighed and tucked a few errant strands from her braid behind her ear. "What about the spider then? Someone must have sent it after us, right?"

"Not if it was just left behind," he shrugged.

"Doesn't really make sense to abandon an outpost suddenly, does it? It doesn't look like it's been attacked," she said, looking at the pristine buildings and roads.

He smiled bitterly. "You really don't understand, do you? The war isn't the Daleks and Time Lords shooting guns at each other and blowing things up. Each side has gathered their allies, either by persuasion or force, and have been ranging a complex warfare over all of time and space. Whole species are being wiped from creation, some were never born at all and time itself is being used as a weapon. Whatever happened here, despite all appearances, was rather brutal."

"So what then?" asked Rose. "We can't just stand here. Shouldn't we be scanning for something? Find out if there are traces of who or what attacked Viridian."

He nodded. "Yes, we do," he said as he pushed open the door that led to the lobby of the green building. "We should…" he stopped and turned sharply in the direction of a storage closet that had creaked open slowly.

Rose turned too, having seen the door open, and stifled a gasp as a man emerged from beyond it, stumbling on his feet. He looked ancient; loose skin hanging over bones, eyes that were half-blind and the green robes on him at least three times too big for his weak, thin frame. The Doctor and Rose ran to him, and the man collapsed in the Doctor's arms.

He was saying something and it sounded like grunts and whispers to Rose, though she caught an occasional word. She wondered if the TARDIS wasn't translating for some reason, but then the man lost consciousness and unless she was mistaken, he had stopped breathing altogether.

"Is he…?" she asked in a small voice.

The Doctor looked horror-struck as he lowered the man's body to the floor. "Yes, he's dead," he said, as if he was in a daze.

"Did you know him?" she asked, looking at him in concern.

"No," he said, and his voice held much regret. "But he was a Time Lord."

Rose gasped and looked down at the man. She could see no signs of regeneration. "Why isn't he...you know, changing?" she asked.

"He's run out," said the Doctor flatly. "Burnt through all his regeneration. In a span of a few decades."

"How is that possible?" she asked, shocked. "And what did he keep talking about? He sounded like he was grunting and slurring his words."

"Did you understand anything of what he said?" asked the Doctor, still staring down at the dead Time Lord.

Rose's brow furrowed at the odd question. "I guess so," she said. "He kept saying something about shadows and houses, I think."

The Doctor tore his eyes away and looked at Rose in surprise. "Yes, he did," he said. "He said 'Shadow Houses', to be precise."

"And what are Shadow Houses?" asked Rose.

"A myth," snapped the Doctor unexpectedly. "He was confused and had no idea what he was talking about."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "Or, he was telling the truth and they aren't a myth," she said gently.

The Doctor rubbed his forehead in irritation. "Shadow Houses were a myth. In all my years, I have never seen an honest-to-goodness Shadow House on Gallifrey," he said, insistently.

"Doctor, now is not the time to debate mythology," snapped Rose. "Myth or not, we have to get to the bottom of this and if you could suspend your disbelief for one moment, we might be able to get some answers. So, what exactly are Shadow Houses and why exactly are you so adamant that they didn't exist?" she demanded.

The Doctor glared at her and looked away. "Shadow Houses were said to hold Time Lords whose regenerations had gone wrong. Discarded as being harmful or useless, they were tossed away in these houses, hidden away from the rest of Time Lord society," he said and then looked down at the Time Lord. "He said he was from the Shadow Houses and that he was being used for feeding."

"Feeding what?" asked Rose, horrified.

The Doctor closed his eyes. "He didn't say," he admitted. "But he was telling the truth, about the feeding part anyway. Someone has been feasting on his life force. They drained it out of him until he aged and aged and regenerated until he couldn't anymore. Then they tossed the husk out," he said, anger colouring his tone.

Rose swallowed back her revulsion. "Daleks?" she guessed.

The Doctor laughed bitterly. "I wish," he said.

Rose looked at him in horror. "Time Lords?" she asked in disbelief.

"No one else it could be," he said, his face closed off.

Rose nodded rather sadly and looked at the Time Lord on the floor. "We can't leave him here like this," she said.

The Doctor nodded and drew out a small silver sphere from his pocket that he set on the Time Lord's chest. He crossed his hands on top of it before pulling Rose away as they retreated a few steps. The silver sphere emitted an iridescent purple flame that engulfed the Time Lord's body.

"We burn our dead," said the Doctor softly.

Rose's eyes were forlorn as she stared at the flames. "Yes," she said. "I know."

The Doctor looked at her in question but she avoided his gaze. The purple flame burned brighter and took the Time Lord's body with it as it extinguished completely, leaving only a charred mark on the floor. Rose blinked, as if returning back to the present from a memory and turned away.

"So," she said, looking at the Doctor. "What do we do now?"

"The lift is through here," said the Doctor as they walked further into the lobby. "I think we ought to find an archives room."

"Or a security room," said Rose shrewdly. "They might have records monitoring Viridian. Split up?"

The Doctor nodded reluctantly and pointed at the numbers in the lift. "Security is level 3, archives is 18. Meet me back in the lobby in an hour."

Rose gave him a nod as the doors opened on level 3. Like a proper office building, it was posh and quiet but there was not a soul in sight. She walked out of the lift and went towards the large room with monitors set all around it. She was just about to start browsing through their last recorded data when she heard a sound rather like a TARDIS materialising.

She snapped around and gasped in surprise when a woman wearing all black materialised into the room, holding a bracelet in her hands. "Time Ring," she said as soon as she had become properly solid. "Horrid way to travel."

"Who the hell are you?" asked Rose.

The woman gave a sinister smile. "I am the Rani. Welcome to the domain of Morbius."

The Doctor tried not to jiggle his foot impatiently as the lift climbed its way up the floors. Finally, it arrived on level 18 and he got out at once, eager to get to the bottom of this whole mess.

Level 18 was just as quiet as the rest of Viridian, and the Doctor realised that it had been divided into sections based on the year. He went to move towards the most recent data cubes when he realised that there was a Time Lord already sitting at the magnificent desk in the middle of the room. His head was bent over the data cube in his hand, but the grand robes proclaimed him to be the President of the Council, an absurdity in itself.

"I knew you would not stay away for long, Doctor," he said as the Doctor approached him.

"And you ought to know not to wear clothes that don't belong to you," said the Doctor, a chill running down his spine.

The man looked up and gave a tired smile. "They will belong to me soon enough, Doctor," he said. "Your friend, Romana, is it? She is trying her best but her best is not enough to win this war."

"You're not saying that the Time Lords resurrected you?" said the Doctor, hoping with all his being he was wrong.

"Resurrected me?" he sounded amused. "Oh my dear Doctor, not only did they resurrect me, they emptied Viridian for my use, and have been feeding me excellent Time Lord life force to nourish me back to the height of my power."

The Doctor's hands trembled with rage. "I realised that the situation is rather desperate but I failed to recognise how low they had fallen to bring the likes of you back to life," said the Doctor viciously.

It only served to amuse him further. "I would not be so quick to judge, Doctor. Time Lords from the Shadow Houses are well and good, but I require more. The spirit of a warrior, the brains of a scientist and the body of a fighter," he said, getting to his feet slowly.

"You shall not have my life, Morbius," said the Doctor.

Morbius threw his head back and laughed loudly. "YOU? You pathetic disgrace of a Time Lord, you dare assume I shall seek your life force? RANI! Bring her forth."

The Doctor's blood went cold when he saw the Rani carrying an unconscious Rose in her arms. Morbius smirked at him in amusement as Rose was laid down on the desk. "The Artron energy in her is powerful than any Time Lord that Gallifrey could produce, and the Huon particles in her bloodstream are stronger than many of the TARDISes we produced for this war."

"Don't even try," said the Rani, pointing a blaster at the Doctor when he tried to move towards Rose.

Morbius was too lost in his imminent victory to pay any attention to them. He smirked triumphantly at the Doctor and raised his hand to touch Rose's temple. "It is her life force that I seek, Doctor, for it is her life that shall bring back Morbius! And with me, shall come the end of this war and victory for ME!"

A/N End of Chapter Four. Let me know what you thought of it.

Return of two major Time Lords from Doctor Who's history. Don't be taken in with their initial actions. War changes a lot of things.

The next chapter will be up soon. See you then!