When they rematerialized, Ten panicked looking at the monitor noticing the other humans gripping their heads in severe pain right outside the exterior of the TARDIS and rattled, he glanced at Nine. "Stay here." His hands on the controls carefully examining the monitor. "Don't step out the door." Ten flipped a few more switches, making the TARDIS hop through space but not time, landing them in a tight closet.
Nine looked at the monitor. "Nice driving."
Ten inhaled sharply through his nose, put his hands in his pockets, and grinned proudly. He rocked back on his heals. "I do have my moments." Both Doctors checked the monitor.
Wilf's phone started to ring. "Donna?" he answered. Ten looked up. The Time Lords could hear Donna tell Wilf there was something wrong with her mother and Shawn. "What about you?" Wilf asked her. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," she answered. Just then Wilf got another call, cutting off Donna. Ten quickly returned his attention to the monitor.
"Donna?" asked Nine quietly.
"My best friend," answered Ten. "Best friend I ever had." He frowned, and Nine could feel Ten's grief. He knew something terrible must have happened. "Radiation spike seems to have dissipated," said Ten. He nodded towards their human companion. "Should be safe now," he added.
The three men quickly left the TARDIS. Ten turned back, and using Nine's sonic, sent the TARDIS a second out of sync. "Don't want the Master finding her. That's the last thing we need."
Nine nodded in understanding. "Maybe you should wait here," he said to Wilf. "Not bloody likely."
"Don't swear," ordered Ten as they left the closet in the Naismith mansion. But as soon as they stepped foot out of the closet, they were surrounded with versions of the Master.
"I take it back," said Nine. "You're driving's awful." "Yeaaah," agreed Ten, nodding.
"Ooh, look at you," said one of the Masters to Ten. "I thought I killed you." He looked at Nine. "Or is that what you are. His next regeneration."
"Something like that," answered Nine. "What's the matter?" asked another Master. "Didn't think you could take me on your own?
Thought you had to go back to get help." He tisked. "Breaking the laws of time, Doctor. Not very Doctorly of you, is it."
A few minutes later Wilf was tied to a chair and both Doctors were confined just as Ten had been on the show.
"Do you like it?" asked the Master. Neither Doctor could answer because of their gags. "It's called an immortality gate." Ten recognized the name from what Lilly told him. "It's a medical device. And I've used it to transplant myself into every human on the planet. The Master turned, looking Nine directly in the eyes. "You always did like the human race the most. Now, they're actually something to be proud of. There are enough weapons and soldiers to turn this planet into a war ship." He gloated. "Nothing to say, Doctor."
When the Master began tormenting the Doctor about not being able to speak, Wilf piped up. He may only be an old man, but that didn't mean he would take this lying down.
"Your Dad's still kicking up a fuss," the Master told the Doctors. "Yeah, well, I'd be proud if I was," said Wilf.
The Master had enough. He stalked closer to the human, and using a telepathic command, raised his finger to his lips. "Hush. Now. Listen to your Master." Wilf was stunned. He suddenly found himself unable to speak, and he suddenly found himself very afraid. But before the Master's command cemented itself in Wilf's psyche, his cell phone rang.
"That's a mobile," said the Master in surprise. "Yeah, it's mine. Let me turn it off."
"No, no no no. I don't think you understand," started the Master. "Everybody on the planet is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?" The Master began to frisk Wilf, finding the gun first, and then his cell phone. "Donna. Who's Donna?" he demanded after reading the caller ID.
"She's no one," tried Wilf.
The Master answered the phone, and listened to Donna plead for help. "Who is she? Why didn't she change?"
"It was this thing the Doctor did," Wilf answered. "A Meta-Crisis." "Ohh," said the Master in disgust. "He loves playing with Earth girls!"
Nine glanced over at Ten, wondering what in the universe would have possessed him to create a human Meta-Crisis. That would have been cruel, even for him.
"Find her," ordered the Master darkly. "Found her."
"Say good-bye to the freak, granddad." The Master put the phone up to Wilf's ear, and Wilf immediately started telling Donna to run. Suddenly, the Master lost contact with the whole area.
"I don't want to die," said Donna, and the line went dead. Wilf began pleading with his granddaughter to answer. He knew she'd started to remember. And he knew if she remembered, she would die. He started to cry.
Nine looked on with worry. While Ten was grinning a huge smile behind his gag. The Master looked at both Doctors. Something wasn't right. He knew it. He stalked over to the smiling Doctor, and removed his gag.
"Oh, hello. That's better." Ten smiled disarmingly. "But really. Do you think I'd leave my best friend without a defense mechanism?"
"Doctor," asked Wilf, "what happened?"
"She's alright, she's fine, promise. She'll just sleep."
The Master wasn't happy. Even with a world of himself, and the Doctor strapped in his custody, the Doctor had still won. He grimaced. "Tell me," ordered the Master. "Where's your TARD..."
"Sir, we found it." The Master stood up. "What?"
One of his copies stepped forward, holding a phone to his ear. "We found his TARDIS," said the copy.
Both Doctors paled.
"Having it brought her now, sir," the copy continued. "We never would have found it if we hadn't been tracing that call. Picked up a huge power spike at the same moment. She lit up like a... Christmas tree." The copy smiled at the reference to the current time of year on Earth.
The Master laughed. "Perfect."
Brought here, thought the Doctors. Then it couldn't be Ten's, because Ten's was already here. It would have to have been Nine's. But why was there a power spike? Both Doctors suddenly feared for their wards, and Rose.
I hope that lock holds, thought Ten, wishing he'd built it himself.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Master had spent the last few hours doing everything he could think of to get the TARDIS tucked in the corner of the room in the Naismith's mansion to open. He'd gotten the outer lock device off using Ten's sonic screwdriver, and ungagged Nine to gloat. But, to both the Doctors amazement and relief, for some reason he hadn't been able to open her doors. They could feel the TARDIS struggling to keep the Master out. They could feel her strain. They could feel her fear. And so could the Master.
"Open it!" the Master demanded the Doctors. "Don't think she wants to open," said Nine. "Nope," added Ten. "Definitely not."
The Master stormed back over to the machine. He shouted at it. And in a moment of clear frustration, he pounded three times on the door. CLICK. The doors opened. Both Doctors gasped as they felt the loss of the TARDIS in their minds. The Master stopped in surprise, watching a human girl slumped to the floor and slip into unconsciousness by the console. His eyes widened. He looked back at the Doctors with a devilish grin.
"Activate program!" shouted Ten. "Intruder alert!" Nine looked at Ten, puzzled. Ten groaned. Of course Nine didn't have that program yet. He'd never been through the year that never was. He had no idea he needed it.
"Nothing's happening," said the Master, thinking of the emergency program Ten supposedly activated. "Still." He didn't want to risk himself. "You," he said to a copy, "get the girl." He turned to another copy. "Check on that program. The rest of you, see what else you can find." He was careful not to step foot inside the time ship himself.
"What did you do to her?!" demanded Ten, when the copy dumped Sara's body on a nearby sofa. Nine clenched his jaw in anger when he saw her.
"Oh, I didn't touch her," said the Master. He let his eyes wonder over the girl. "...yet," he added.
"Sir, she's dead." It was one of the copies referring to the TARDIS. "No power. No control. Not even lights."
"What?" The Master ran into the TARDIS. Several minutes went by before he reemerged. "What did you do?" he asked the Doctors.
"Intruder alert program," lied Nine. "Can't have her falling into the wrong hands."
"You wouldn't," said the Master in disbelief. "You... you wouldn't kill your own..."
Nine could feel the absence of the TARDIS' mind in his. With all he'd lost in the last few days, losing her touch in his mind was almost too much. It took all his willpower not to break down right there.
"You would," concluded the Master in disbelief when he felt the Doctor's grief. "The last TARDIS in the entire universe. You moronic bastards! What's a Time Lord without a TARDIS?" The Master's words hurt Nine even more.
"Sir." The Master turned around to see what his copy wanted. Rose and Lilly had been brought out, and were roughly dragged away from the TARDIS. They'd obviously been pulled out of bed, still dressed in pajamas. "Look what we found."
"Ohh, Lilly Brooks." She cringed at the Master's use of her name. "You and I have some unfinished business, I think." He came incredibly close to her, making her feel uncomfortable. He raised his hand to caress her cheek, letting it drift down her neck before letting it drop. But first..." He turned his attention to Rose. "...introductions. Who are you?"
"She's nobody," Lilly answered quickly for her. "Just some chav we picked up yesterday. Marion. But she goes by Mary." Rose was surprised Lilly knew her middle name. But Lilly just hoped Rose wouldn't be offended with her calling her a chav. "Mary, this is the Master." Rose instantly understood the seriousness of the situation they were in. Lilly hoped even more that Rose would play along. If the Master had control over the TARDIS for two and a half years, there was no telling what kind of information he'd come across. And if he somehow knew about Rose, she would be in a lot more danger than a typical human. "We were just going to drop her off, and..." The Master's hand tightened around Lilly's throat.
"Don't. Lie. To. Me," he ordered.
Sara blinked open her eyes when she heard the Master, instantly recognizing where she was. How did I get here? she wondered. She was even more frightened when she realized she couldn't move.
The Master turned to Rose, but didn't release Lilly. "Your name," he demanded in a low voice. Rose glanced at Lilly. She was struggling to breathe. "Rose." She looked back at the Master. "Rose Tyler."
The Master released Lilly and stepped back. "Rose Tyler?" he said, raising his eyebrows. "Rose Tyler, as in THE Rose Tyler." He turned around to face the Doctors. "Ohh, this is Christmas. You shouldn't have. No. No, I mean it. This is too much." He waved a hand toward the time machine. "A TARDIS. Which I will figure out how to get her working, by the way." He gestured toward Lilly. "A time sensitive." He nodded at Sara. "A snack." He looked over Rose.
"And to top it off, you give me... Rose Marion Tyler." The Master gestured grandly toward the human. He glanced back at the Doctors for only half a second, before facing Rose again. "The same Rose Tyler who helped stop a Gelth invasion in 1869. The same Rose Tyler who helped stop World War Three, who destroyed that Dalek in Utah?" Rose looked at him completely stunned, and the Master grinned at her. "Nice work, by the way. Forcing it to assimilate your DNA so you could order it to kill itself. Smart. My kind of girl."
"I don't know what you're talkin' about," said Rose.
The Master picked up a strand of Rose's hair, and began rubbing it between his fingers. "You know what my favorite bit was," he told Rose. "When you stole his TARDIS, and used it to single handedly murder every last Dalek in existence." He came close and breathed in her scent. He whispered in her ear, "Genocide." He spoke the word with reverence, drawing it out. "How did that feeeel? asked the Master, moving back to look in her eyes. Rose tried to step back, but she only ended up bumping into the Master's copy holding onto her.
"Stop it," ordered Ten. Nine only stiffened.
"All that power." The Master ignored the Doctor. "And using it to kill."
"Stop it!" Ten's voice was louder
"To rip a part an entire species," the Master went on. "All to save your precious Doctor."
Nine looked questioningly at Ten. And Ten looked back at Nine, letting him know the Master was right.
"Blimey," said Nine. He was suddenly simultaneously in awe and a bit scared of Rose Tyler. Just what kind of companion was she?
"You're completely mental," said Rose. "I don't know who you're talkin' about, but 's not me." The Master studied Rose for a long moment, disappointment all over his face.
"Why doesn't she remember?" He turned back to face the Doctors. "Weeell," Ten drew out his word. "She is only human." "Oi," said Rose, slightly offended.
"Yeah," the Master frowned. He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then smiled. "Still..." He began to laugh. "I always did like blonds." He turned to one of his copies. "Bring me a piece of cloth, about a foot long."
"No!" shouted Ten. Nine looked at him, puzzled.
"And tie her. Make her secure." The Master motioned towards Lilly. But said nothing about Rose. Sara could tell she could move again, but didn't dare. She kept her eyes closed, only peeking through her lashes.
Ten began struggling against his restraints. "Let her go," he ordered.
"Oh, I don't think so," the Master answered.
"What's the matter?" Nine asked Ten quietly.
"Are you thick?!" answered Ten. Nine glared at Ten. "A piece of cloth," Ten repeated, "about a foot long."
"No," Nine realized. "She's human! Why would he...?
"Because she's yours," answered the Master. "Because I can take her from you just like I've taken your TARDIS. Like I've taken everything."
"He's done it before," whispered Ten, "with a human." He was thinking of Lucy. The Master had destroyed her.
The Master stalked over closer to the Doctors, dragging Rose with him. "Remember Lucy?" he grinned. "Now, think about Rose Tyler. Think of everything I'm going to do to her, the woman you love."
Ten began clenching his hands into fists, and using all his strength, began pushing against the straps binding him.
Rose looked at the Master, shock covering her face. "Doctor?" She looked at Nine, questioningly.
"It's alright, Rose," he tried to reassure her.
"More than alright," said the Master. His grin made her skin crawl. Rose tried to pull out of the Master's grasp, but he was too strong.
A few minutes later, the scene was set. Both Doctors were again gagged, so they couldn't interfere. Lilly was tied hands behind her back to a decorative pole. And the Master stood facing Rose in front of Lilly. One of his copies stood behind her, holding her arms, so she couldn't run. The Master took one of her hands, and bound one end of the cloth around it.
"Wha'... Wha' are you doing," Rose demanded, fear in her voice. She glanced between the Doctors and the Master. He looked into her eyes, like a starving animal drooling over a turkey dinner.
"It's called a bonding ceremony," answered the Master. Both Doctors were struggling violently to escape their chairs. "Oh, your human," he commented to himself. "We're getting married," he explained in human terms.
Rose sputtered a laugh. "Yeah right, mate. 'S not happenin'. Takes two to agree to that. And my answers no."
The Master stepped closer to her. "I don't need your permission. Time Lord bonds were arranged. No consent needed. Now hush!" He put his finger to his lips, and stared into her eyes. Rose couldn't look away, she couldn't move, and she couldn't speak. She could feel the Master's telepathic touch tickle near her temples, and her whole body relaxed. The copy let her go. Rose didn't try to run. She didn't move. She just stood there, staring into the Master's eyes. "That's better," said the Master, "Like a woman should be."
The Master turned to face Lilly, coming way to close for comfort. He leaned in, and looked into her eyes. "I consent and gladly give," he said. Lilly didn't move, she didn't look away. She couldn't. "I consent and gladly give," the Master repeated.
"I... I con..." Lilly stopped, trying to break away. "I consent and gladly give," said the Master the third time. "I consent and gladly give," Lilly's mouth spoke the words on its own, and the Master grinned.
"Oh, how's that going to work then," piped up Wilfred. "Forcing a marriage. How does that make sense? Just leave the poor girls alone." The man seemed to pull all his emotion together. "Let them go," he demanded.
The Master rolled his eyes. "Time Lord bonding," he answered, "is so much more than your concept of... breeding." The last word was spat out with disgust. He turned to his copy. "Gag granddad," he ordered. "Wouldn't want any interruptions."
Sara carefully began to sit up. She looked around the room. Besides the Master, there were only three copies in the room. And all of them were focused on Rose and Lilly. Sara looked over at the Doctors. They looked back at her. She carefully, and ever so slowly, slid to the floor. She began to crawl towards the Doctors, and began to quietly unbuckle Ten. He was the closest, so she started with him. As she worked at the straps, she could hear the Master.
"I am the Master. I am of the House of Oakdown. I am a Time Lord of Gallifrey. And as is my right, I lay claim to this woman as mine." His hand was wrapped in one end of the long cloth. The other end was wrapped around Rose's. He could see the struggle in her eyes. Every part of her was trying to get away from him, trying to run. Her breathing was labored, but her body refused to move.
The Master looked over at Lilly. "I consent and gladly give." Lilly's words cut the air, and the Master grinned. He closed his eyes, and sighed. Rose could feel him touching the outside of her consciousness. She could feel his essence crawling over her skin, and she began to tremble. His overwhelming presence instantly penetrated her core. It was nothing like anything she'd ever felt before. She knew he was claiming her. She would be his forever, no escape.
"Ohh, that's gooood," sighed the Master. He opened his eyes to look at his wife, and smiled. His smile slipped, however, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He dropped the bonding cloth, and stormed towards Sara who was crouched behind Ten working frantically to free him. The clones followed close behind him. She saw him coming and scrambled to get away from him. "I don't think so," he shouted, grabbing a hold of Sara, pulling her to her feet.
He gasped when he touched her. "Oh, what do we have here?" Sara tried to pull away, but the Master quickly readjusted his hold to both her upper arms. He leaned in close, an inhaled. "Ohh, what are you?" He didn't hesitate. The Master leaned in, pressing his lips to hers, tasting the energy she'd already started to replicate again. Sara stood stunned for a moment, staring at the Master in shock. She turned her head, trying to get away from him, but he followed her, forcing the kiss, reveling her taste. She kept turning her head, first one way, and then the other. The Master slipped his hands down to her wrists, and pinned her hands into the small of her back, pulling her into him. He continued to chase her kiss. Just like the Doctor kissing Rose to pull the time vortex out of her on the game station, the Master was kissing Sara to pull the energy she was creating to satisfy his unending hunger.
Finally, Sara's energy was exhausted. She could no longer fight him, and his kiss deepened. When he released her mouth, she collapsed against him. "THAT was delicious." He smacked his lips together. Suddenly, the Master was hit over the back of the head with the butt of a gun. He dropped Sara, and dropped to the ground. Simultaneously, one of the Master's copies landed on the ground next to him also having been hit. The two remaining copies removed their helmets.
They were the Vinvocci, come to help. The female Vinvocci ran over to Wilf, and began cutting his ropes, while the male started unstrapping Nine. When Wilf was freed, the female Vinvocci moved on to cut Lilly's ropes. Wilf ran over to Sara, trying to pick her up bridal style.
"Oh," he groaned under the strain. "too old for this." He couldn't get her up on his own. Lilly looked at Rose. She hadn't moved.
"These straps are taking too long!" said the male Vinvocci. They could hear the copies coming. The Master groaned.
"Just," the female looked at Lilly. "Just wheel him," she ordered, leaving Lilly to help Wilf carry Sara. "We don't have time for the others."
Wilf hesitated.
"Go!" Ten tried to shout through his gag. A moment later several copies ran through the room, chasing after Nine, Wilf, Sara, and the two Vinvocci. The Master jumped to his feet, shot Ten a glare, and ran after the others. Besides the still unconscious copy, only Lilly, Rose, and Ten were left in the room. Ten strained everything he had on the last few straps Sara hadn't been able to get to. His whole body shook with effort. SNAP! The first band broke. Snap snap. The last bands were finally gone. He reached up and removed his gag, reached down to free his legs, and raced over to Rose. He took her by the shoulders.
"Rose," he pleaded, looking into her eyes. "Rose," he tried again. Ten reached up, briefly touching one temple, pulled back and snapped his fingers. Rose and Lilly both blinked.
Ten nodded. "Good. Good." He raced over to Lilly, snapping her ropes. The Vinvocci had almost finished cutting through them, making it easier for him to break.
"C'mon," he said to Lilly, pulling her back over to Rose who was still a little dazed. "He's in my head," Rose winced.
Ten didn't waste any time. He grabbed her hand as he and Lilly ran by. "Run," he said in that special Doctorly way.
"Oi!" they heard the only copy left in the room shout. Ten didn't waste any time. He pulled the two girls in an out of hallways and rooms, finally ending up in an empty closet just as several copies ran past. The three of them were silently holding their breaths.
Only a moment after the copies ran by, the Doctor turned to Rose. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so, SO sorry. But you've got minutes. Rose, do you understand, you've got minutes until what he did is permanent. He didn't touch you after he... So, it's not permanent yet. Point is you've got minutes. I can still undo what he did, but you're going to have to make a choice," he warned her. Usually, he would have just done what he knew was best. But after all the mistakes he'd been making lately, he had to let Rose choose. He couldn't make this choice for her.
"He's...," she grimaced. "He's inside me," she said. "I can feel him inside me."
"I know. I'm sorry." Ten swallowed. "He's bonded with you. If I leave it, in a few minutes he'll be with you forever, for the rest of your life. Or..."
"Or wha'?" asked Rose.
"Or you can bond with me. The other Doctor would have worked too. But you've got to make a choice now, and he's not here. There's no way to break a Time Lord bond. The only thing I can do is transfer it. And I can only do that because he didn't touch you after he bonded with you."
Rose involuntarily stepped back from the Time Lord bumping into shelves of bedding. There was a look of disgust on her face. How could she even think of bonding with this Doctor after everything he'd done? How could she even trust him?
"Please, Rose," the Doctor begged. "With all my hearts, PLEASE!" He looked at her with eyes as old as time, tears catching the tiny bit of light coming through the space around the closet door. "I promise I'll do better. I'll spend the rest of my lives trying to be worthy of you." He dropped to one knee. "It's him or me," he explained. "And its got to be now."
Rose looked questioningly at Lilly. "Oh, the Doctor is definitely a better choice," she answered.
Rose hesitated a moment more. "Alright," she answered, wincing and rubbing her temples. "He's... He's calling me."
"We've got to hurry." Ten stood up, pulled off his tie, and wrapped it around Rose's hand. Taking the other end for himself, he said, "I am the Doctor of the house of Lungbarrow. I am a Time Lord of Gallifrey. And as is my right, I beg this woman to be mine." The Doctor stared into Rose's eyes. To Rose, it was like looking into eternity. To the Doctor, it was like looking into heaven.
"Oh!" Rose winced in pain. The Master was trying to find her. "Lilly!" The Doctor whispered a shout. "I consent and gladly give. Sorry," she added, "I forgot."
But the Doctor and Rose were no longer listening. His eyes were closed, and he looked like he was in deep concentration. Rose could feel the Doctor's consciousness spreading over her skin. She could feel him beginning to battle with the Master for claim over her. She felt Ten shift, and begin moving inside her mind, spreading himself through her soul, pushing the Master out. The Doctor didn't feel like the Master. While the Master felt hard and cold, the Doctor filled her with warmth. There was a sadness he carried with him, a sense of loss. She couldn't help but reach
out to comfort that sadness. And with her mental touch, the sadness turned to a deep sense of gratitude, and... and something else.
When the Doctor's overwhelmingly powerful presence took the place of the Master in her core, both the Doctor and Rose sighed a groan in relief. Simultaneously, they could hear every copy of the Master cry out in pain, and loss. Rose could feel the Doctor claiming her, making her his, forever. Rose was nervous. She didn't really know this man. She'd only met him a few days ago. And he hadn't made the best impression. The Doctor could feel her hesitation, and regretted having to take this action, especially since she had no idea what she'd just agreed to. But at least she wouldn't be trapped with an insane Time Lord in her mind. The Doctor would let her have her freedom. He'd protect her, protect her freedom with every ability he had. She was Rose Tyler, and now she was his, really and truly his.
The Doctor opened his eyes, and looked at his wife. Rose was amazed. She could feel the Doctor. She could feel his emotion, his love for her echoing through her soul. How could anyone love so much?
Rose. She heard him call her name. My beautiful Rose. A tear slipped down Ten's cheek.
D...Doctor? She thought, feeling that familiar presence she'd come to associate with Nine.
He smiled at her. I'm here.
She looked into his eyes, knowing he'd heard her. And with a stab of fear, she tried to back away.
"You're in my head," she told him.
Ten could feel her fear, and her desire to run from him. It hurt. He remembered when his Rose had been so upset about the TARDIS being in her head back on Platform One, and cringed. This was so much more than that. Would she ever be able to accept this?
Rose could feel the Doctor's hurt. She could feel his worry, and wondered. She was instantly sorry she'd hurt him, and the Doctor knew it. She felt his surprise at her sympathy towards him.
"Blimey," she whispered. Ten quietly chuckled at her thought. It does take some getting used to. "I... I've got a boyfriend," Rose whispered. Mickey the idiot, remembered the Doctor.
"Oi!" "Shhhh," warned Ten.
"The Doctor will find us a way back home," whispered Rose, thinking of Nine. "I know he will, so..." Suddenly, the understanding of what happened to her universe flooded her mind. Ten hadn't meant to think it. It just happened.
"Wha'... wha was that?" asked Rose, suddenly concerned. Ten swallowed. "Rose," he whispered, "Can we talk about it later? We're kind of..."
"No. No, you were thinkin' of my mum, my dimension, my..." Rose covered her mouth. "Oh, no."
"I'm sorry," started Ten. "Rose, I'm so sorry." She could feel the Doctors guilt. Wha' did you do? she wondered. I killed them. The Doctor couldn't hold back. Rose was in his mind.
No. She shook her head. No, not my mum, not Mickey. But Rose could feel what the Doctor knew he had done. She just knew. Sharene? Grandma Prentice? Natalie and Suki and the Rogers next door and... Rose looked at Ten, feeling her world crash down around her.
Rose, I'm so sorry. How could you! she demanded. He could feel her hurt, her anger. "How could you... Why..." "Rose." Ten let go of his tie, and reached out to comfort her.
"Don't touch me," she almost shouted. "Don't you ever touch me." Rose dropped his tie. "My family. My friends. My planet." The sound of her voice was getting louder. "My whole world!" Tears flushed her eyes.
Rose, you need to calm down. The Master...
"Don't tell me what..."
Ten raised his fingers towards her temples. She gasped. And he stopped just shy of touching her.
"You wouldn't," said Rose, understanding he was thinking of putting her to sleep. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and it was getting harder for her to control her breathing.
Ten knew if Rose couldn't be quiet, the Master would find them. He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let the Master get a hold of his wife. He was a Time Lord. And the Master would use her against him. The Doctor hesitated. I can't let the Master find you, he thought to her. Not you.
So, you just force me to sleep! What kind of person does that! Thoughts of all the people Rose knew who'd died in the other dimension ravaged through Ten's mind as she remembered them. He was struck with tidal wave after tidal wave of grief and anger, feelings of betrayal and feelings of despair coming through their newly constructed bond.
Oh, Rose. Ten struggled against the onslaught, but he didn't resist. He knew he deserved it. He deserved this and so much more. His bottom lip quivered. Tears tracked down his face. Lilly silently watched as the high and mighty Time Lord experienced his own personal hell. The utter and complete rejection he felt from Rose was worse than anything he'd ever felt in his whole life. In that moment he wished he could die. No. He wished he'd never been born.
Suddenly, the onslaught stopped. Rose sucked in little puffs of air, trying to stop her crying. "Don't," she said. Don't think like that. There's... She held her breath, trying to stop her sobs. There's been enough people dead today, yeah?
Ten swallowed hard. He was completely and utterly amazed at the woman he'd just married. How could she not hate him? How could she not wish he was dead? She'd just lost everything, her mum, Mickey, her whole world. But she was trying to push her own hurt aside so she wouldn't hurt another, so she wouldn't hurt the one responsible. He wanted to take her in his arms, and hold her close. He wanted to give her any amount of comfort he could. But he knew, she didn't want that. She might not want to hurt him. But she certainly didn't want him to touch her.
Rose. Ten tried to tamp down the unbridled emotions raging through his mind, so she wouldn't be overwhelmed. I need to touch you. If I don't, the Master could still take you back.
Rose hesitated. Would the Master be better? Ten felt his hearts begin to break. What kind of monster had he become, if Rose Tyler thought the Master was better? She took in a staggered breath, reached out, and slipped her hand into his. Their hands fit together like a glove. Both Rose and the Doctor inhaled sharply as they felt the bond cement into place. It was no longer in flux. The bond was fixed.
"Thank you," whispered Ten. He could feel the stability of his own mind regaining some privacy. He knew Rose would always have access to his mind anytime she wished it, but at least now she wouldn't be hit with his stray thoughts. Rose, on the other hand, would need some training. It would take some time for her to learn how to keep her thoughts to herself.
"That looked like it hurt," said Lilly, after a moment. She remembered what it was like to have Ten work his way into her mind. She remembered the searing pain of the Master thrusting himself into her. And she wondered at what Rose had just experienced. The bonding certainly didn't take as long as Ten had when he'd been trying to remove his name from Lilly before. Maybe he'd been in a rush to complete the bond so the Master couldn't try to bond with Rose again.
Rose shook her head as she let go of Ten's hand. She turned away. She was still silently crying. "Bonding's different than telepathy," explained Ten to Lilly. He was hit with another wave of emotion from Rose, and closed his eyes to steady himself. She was trying to hold back, but she couldn't help grieving. And he still felt it.
The Doctor sniffed deeply. "He's coming," he warned. He could sense the Master's approach. "I need to get to the TARDIS." The Doctor looked up. He was searching for a place to hide the girls, someplace where they would be safe while he went after the TARDIS. And he'd found it. "Attic access." The Doctor pointed at the ceiling. "I'll leave you..." He closed his eyes, again feeling emotions from Rose. "I'll leave you two here, and go after the TARDIS on my own. I'll come back for you." The Doctor reached up, and pushed the attic access open. "Rose," he said. She turned back to him, and let him boost her into the attic, but she didn't look at him. Ten could still feel her fighting her anger. She was so furious with him. He frowned deeply.
"You're next," he said to Lilly. But instead of hoisting her up like he had for Rose, he linked his hands together to create a foothold for her to step on. She placed her foot on his linked hands, holding onto his shoulders as he lifted her towards the ceiling. As Lilly crawled into the access door, something in her pocket caught on its frame. It was her iPod.
When Lilly had made it back to the TARDIS, and after she'd visited with Sara, showing her an episode of 'Doctor Who' on her iPod, she'd taken a quick shower and changed into her pajamas before going to bed. She'd slipped her iPod into her pajama pants pocket, so she wouldn't forget it in her bathroom. But when Lilly finally made it into her room, she was so tired, she'd fallen asleep in her chair. She'd never made it to her bed, and she'd never emptied her pockets. She hadn't put her iPod back in her dresser like she'd planned. And when the copies of the Master woke her, all thoughts of her iPod fled her mind. She'd forgotten it was there.
The iPod was caught on the attic access frame, and pulled out of her pocket when she continued into the ceiling. It plummeted to the ground next to Ten. Oh no! she thought. Ten reached down. He picked up his tie and Lilly's iPod. Lilly went to reach for it, but at the same moment they could hear someone just outside the closet doors. Ten slipped the iPod into his pocket, and jumped up, sliding the attic access closed. He landed only a half second before the closet door opened.
"Hiding in a closet," accused one of the copies. "Always the coward, Doctor."
"That's me." Lilly and Rose heard him answer. "Where are the girls?" asked the copy.
"Girls?" the Doctor played dumb. "Oh, right. Lilly and ... your wife?" He looked at the copy. "How's the marriage going?" he asked. "Did my other self manage to cause a divorce?" He grinned.
Lilly and Rose heard a scuffle. Rose inhaled sharply. She could feel the Doctor's discomfort. I'm alright, Rose. I'm alright. Rose calmed a little at his words. He was still alive.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
After the Master witnessed Nine and Sara transmatting away with the two Vinvocci, he ran back to the main room, determined to make the Doctors suffer through what he was going to do to Rose.
"Aarg!" he growled when he saw the empty room. "Find them!" he shouted. The Master calmed himself. With the telepathic command he'd given Rose, she hadn't been able to think too much. But if the Doctor had released her... The Master took a deep cleansing breath, and closed his eyes. Rose, he thought. He could feel her. He could feel her mind squirming to get away from his. Rose, where are you? he asked. Oh, he thought, there you are. Don't think you can hide from me. I can feel you.
"Check dark small rooms," shouted the Master. "They're in a small room, no windows." He closed his eyes, again searching for what was his. Suddenly, the Master was struck with the presence of another mind. Doctor. The Master recognized him. He could feel the Doctor's powerful mental energy pushing him off of Rose's mind. NO! The Master struggled to maintain control. He reached deep within himself, grasping at her. Unexpectedly, the Master's mind felt like someone was ripping it in two. The pain was beyond description.
Get out! they all heard and felt the fury of the Oncoming Storm throwing them from Rose. The Master, and every copy dropped to the ground, screaming in agony. When the Master finally managed to get to his feet several minutes later, he felt empty, alone. His wife was gone. He'd lost her. With an angry shout, the Master flashed blue, shooting energy from his hands. When some of it hit the TARDIS, she lit up. What? thought the Master in surprise. He could feel the sentient ship in his thoughts. Well, look at that. That was some of the energy he'd stolen from Sara. Interesting.
The TARDIS tried to close her doors, but it didn't do any good. The Master had several copies already on board. And with just a few simple commands, the TARDIS was his. He ran into the ship, fully intending to use her. But he was disappointed when he realized her energy levels were still too low. She might be alive, but she wasn't going anywhere without another energy boost.
The Master knew he didn't want to expend anymore energy, at least not until he'd refueled himself. Where are you? He thought of Sara. Oh, she tasted divine. He stepped out of the TARDIS to see several copies dragging a beaten Doctor into the room.
"There's no sign of Rose or Lilly," reported a copy. "But we're still looking." The copies began restraining Ten back in his chair, taking care to replace the broken straps as they went.
The Master stormed up to him. "Where's my wife?" he demanded.
"Ohh," said the Doctor, wincing at his split lip when he tried to smile. "She's not on this planet anymore." The Master struck him hard across the face. And the Doctor could feel Rose worry. He knew she could feel his distress. "She's long gone," he told the Master.
"With your next self." The Master seemed deflated. "But if I kill you..."
"Yeah, that won't help," explained the Doctor. "You see. He's number nine." The Doctor gave the Master a look. "I'm the older model."
The Master deflated for only a moment. "Which means she's already long dead to you. She was only human. Tell me, Doctor. How does it feel to lose someone you've bonded with?"
The Doctor calmed his features. He wouldn't think about what it would be like to watch Rose age, to feel her slowly die right in front of him, to feel her die and not be able to save her. He wouldn't think of how much emptier his life would become without her. He couldn't bare it. He felt Rose's surprise and sympathy as he tried to push those thoughts away. How was she still reading him? He hadn't sent anything to her. The Doctor swallowed.
"You could be so wonderful," he told the Master, shifting his thoughts to the problem at hand instead of the problems in the future. "You're a genius. You're stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars."
NO! The Doctor felt Rose's fear. It's alright, Rose. Trust me. I'd never let him hurt you, thought the Doctor. Her anger and grief
still radiated through the link. He closed his eyes, taking the wave of emotion.
"It would be my honor," the Doctor continued with the Master. It was so hard to think while feeling what Rose was going through. "'Cause you don't need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough."
"Would it stop then? The noise in my head."
For a moment, the Doctor had hope. "I can help." "I don't know what I'd be without that noise," said the Master. "I wonder what I'd be," responded the Doctor, "without you."
The Master looked at the Doctor thoughtfully. He swallowed. "Yeah," responded the Master. But the Doctor could barely hear him. He could feel Rose sobbing inside his mind. She was trying so hard to hold it back, trying so hard not to hurt him. But she was human. And humans needed to grieve.
Go ahead, Rose, the Doctor tried to tell her. You don't have to hold back. He watched the Master walk away. The Doctor knew he'd be busy for a while. Whatever he was up to was taking all of his attention. Probably trying to find his dimensional duplicate, he thought. If Rose was going to release her emotions, now would be the best time. But she held back, pushing down her feelings. The Doctor knew that was the worst thing she could do.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Nine was furious finding himself transported onto a spaceship, having been forced to leave Rose and Lilly behind with his counterpart. He threatened the Vinvocci with every dire warning he could muster to turn their course to Ten's TARDIS but they refused to listen, utterly set on their course.
Barely had they undid the straps, did Nine make some swift calculations in his head, turning to the Vinvocci. "Where's your flight desk?" He asked while hurriedly using his sonic on the transport control panel reworking the location where the transmat would ultimately send them.
"But we're safe!" The Vinvocci protested. "We're a hundred thousand miles above the earth!"
"Oh, right, then." Nine said. "And who has control over all the missiles on earth?"
The female Vinvocci swallowed. "Good point." She started to run down the corridor as Nine hesitated, bent down to lift Sara up in his arms gesturing for Wilfred to follow. He knew they would set a destination away from earth as soon as they reached the controls, so he prepared to have the three sent back to a location right near Ten's TARDIS.
"Wilfred!" He said loudly, interrupting the older man's apparent attempt at star gazing, "Need you over here." Wilf complied looking puzzled. "But what-?" He asked.
"Take my arm." Nine said, leaving no room for argument. His hands were full carrying Sara and holding his sonic. The older man thankfully complied and as soon as he did, Nine pressed a button on his sonic, activating the transmat device sending them into a closeted interior right near where Ten's TARDIS was located. He was thankful that Ten had taken the precaution of giving him an additional key and Nine already knew the frequency that was being used that put the TARDIS out of sync. No guards were present so he had to be quick.
"I still can't move." Sara groaned, frustrated at being so helpless as she attempted to lift her legs, grating her teeth in anger.
"Need quiet from both of you to do this." Nine instructed. Handing the TARDIS key to Wilfred, he told him. "Think you can unlock the door as soon as she appears. Must be quick."
"Course I can." Wilfred exclaimed. Nine aimed the sonic, the TARDIS came back into view, and Wilfred immediately moved, unlocking the door for Nine. They heard the sound of footsteps in the corridor as the Master's clones were hurriedly closing in on their location. Swiftly, Nine carried in Sara behind Wilfred, shutting and locking the door behind him, which, he knew, would prevent the Master from gaining entry for now. This TARDIS was fully functional but it wasn't his TARDIS from his dimension and he could sense the distinction with her presence being ever so slightly off. Despite their safeguards, he didn't have the control he would need to navigate her console. His name would work as a code word for his TARDIS in his own universe but for this TARDIS he would need to be granted direct authority by Ten where his counterpart would verbally present Nine with his own name to open up the TARDIS mainframe. In retrospect he should have secured this from his duplicate but the events had left him inexplicably stranded, which only left him one solution. It decidedly was an unpleasant task but the sooner he moved the TARDIS out of sync again the better so he could work out a strategy to locate Lilly and Rose.
He pondered how Sara would cope with this impending trial by fire and he shook his head knowing this wasn't how they wanted to introduce her to the TARDIS but he had no choice. She had managed to overcome her own fear and self-doubt by saving the life of the very man who abused her. In turn, he would be forced to tell her that Ten had made another life altering decision in order to save her life and there was no taking it back. He braced himself to prepare for the aftermath of what he knew would be a chaotic experience since Sara was ill equipped for this.
Placing Sara down on the jump seat, hearing the pounding outside the door, he bent down to her level. "Need to tell you something Sara."
"It's not that I'm time sensitive again, right?" She muttered. Sure, she and Lilly had this discussion but it didn't mean she was happy about it.
He winced. Lilly must have had her hands full with that conversation and Sara still seemed resentful but he had to be patient. Lilly hadn't suffered from abuse by a Time Lord for several weeks when she ran into his TARDIS. In Sara's case dealing with the loss of her dimension and then Ten's predilection to play along with her fantasy of their life as a show on the tele dealt its own damage. He swore when it was over, he would strive to work more patiently with Sara on coming to terms with reality. But that would have to wait.
"No." He told her and she looked relieved.
"Sorry 'bout this but need your help with this TARDIS."
"My help?" Sara asked blankly.
"Can't navigate her without permission from my counterpart." Nine explained. "His name."
"You already know your name." Sara shook her head confused.
"This TARDIS isn't from my dimension and the same goes for my counterpart. Only one he freely gave his name to is you." Nine explained.
Sara looked stunned. "But I didn't ask…"
Nine took her hands. "Wouldn't have given it to you if he didn't trust you. Need you just to think of the name right now. 'S all I need to navigate."
"I don't understand." Sara appeared perplexed but the pounding on the door caused her to think that it might not be the right time to pursue an explanation "But fine, if that's all you want." The request seemed simple on the surface as she allowed her thoughts to purposefully dwell on the Doctor's name.
She shrieked in pain, clutching her head feeling an overwhelming surge of information starting to seep into her mind that reminded her all to well of Ten's telepathic intrusions into her consciousness. Only the speed of delivery, the voice of the TARDIS, the images surrounding her, she couldn't possibly sort through it. Is my mind going to burn, like Donna's? "No!" She cried out. "Make it stop." It was agonizing. She had no warning and no preparation for this kind of onslaught.
"Deep breaths, Sara." Nine advised as he quickly went to the console, instantly going through the dematerialization procedure. "Will be right there."
He had managed to sync them a second out of the events happening at the Naismith foundation, which would leave him the opportunity to plan his next step.
"What's happening to her?" Wilfred demanded. "What did you do?"
Nine for the moment ignored him, gripping Sara's arms and she could tell he was saying words but they were indistinguishable. Can't make it stop. Did he exact upon her what would be the same fate that occurred to Ten's last companion?
"Please don't wipe my memory!" She begged as she struggled to breathe and Nine took a swift intake of air while Wilfred looked alarmed.
"You won't have to do that to her too?" Wilf demanded of the Doctor who glanced back at him perplexed.
"He did it before?" Nine asked Wilfred remembering all to well Ten's accusations of brutality when it came to the 'final action'.
"My granddaughter. Doctor told you about her. Donna. Said her mind would burn without it." Wilfred told him sadly.
"Don't want it." Sara cried out. "Please don't-"
"Not going to. Promise" He said adamantly. "You control the connection. Can slow it down or turn if off in your mind. Just need to do it."
Sara's mind was nearly overwhelmed, Nine knew, and needed to adjust. Time Lords spent nearly over a century in the Academy learning the discipline of handling the TARDIS along with other mechanics of time and now he had to see if she could cope with the pressure of the telepathic connection of the TARDIS in a matter of minutes.
"Just focus." He prompted. "She's getting' to know you. Ask her to slow it down." Finally, after the space of several minutes Sara's face relaxed visibly as she looked around the TARDIS perplexed.
"What the hell was that?" Now that the pressure on her mind had eased she was furious. Nothing like that had ever happened and she had been on Ten's TARDIS for weeks. Now she felt a force nudging her gently within her mind and she didn't know how to respond. Much of the information she received, she could hardly interpret and her head pounded fiercely in result.
"I'm sorry." Nine muttered.
"For what? What happened."
"My counterpart told you our name." Nine explained.
"Yes, you said that already but I've had your name for weeks and-"
" 'S not the same thing as being given the name directly by a Time Lord." Nine told her.
How could he explain this to a human, especially to this human. He paused, weighing the situation in his mind. " 'S different from reading it in a book and you were granted it by the Time Lord himself."
Sara was getting tediously frustrated by a mistake she had already berated herself in making the moment she had seen 'The History of the Time War' and now there seemed to be only further consequences to her act of stupidity. "Then you have to remove it." She told him. It was too much of a burden and she had no idea why Ten would add insult to injury by vocally giving her his name in the first place.
The Doctor was silent while Wilfred looked at the pair curiously. He never inquired about the Doctor's name himself but given Sara's reaction to having it, he could only fathom, the name must be something terrible or embarrassing for the Time Lord to have since no one would say it aloud.
"Remove it!" Sara pleaded. "You have to take it back!"
Nine couldn't meet her eyes. "I can't."
"Can't or won't."
"Can't even if I wanted to. Once the name is given freely, can never be removed." He told her gently.
Sara looked at him desperately as she struggled in her chair attempting to move, feeling still lethargic having endured that perverse attack by the Master.
"Why would he do this to me?" She seriously pondered whether she was simply cursed. "I thought-" Sara was shaking her head. "I thought he was sorry."
"Probably is." He had to put it at simply as he could. "Name being shared like that is a gift. Sign of trust."
"But I'm not a Time Lord." Sara declared vehemently remembering Lilly's words that only they had the right to use his name.
Nine was silent for a moment thinking on the matter. His counterpart should be present to explain these details to Sara since it was Ten being fully aware of Gallefreyian customs presented her with his name.
"Nope still human." He finally replied which in his mind was a safe response while pulling out his sonic to confirm his previous findings that she had depleted the available energy stored in her cells while already in the process of restoring it at a tremendous rate. Nine took a moment to reflect on the sudden energy spike in his TARDIS that had made her location apparent. Can't be. He looked up at Sara and silently cursed.
He refrained from telling her all the implications of what Ten had invoked not wanting to overwhelm her but this? When they questioned her before, he only wanted to make certain she hadn't caused a paradox but if she had unwittingly attempted to heal his TARDIS, it was his decision not to forewarn her that put his companions in the predicament they were in now.
Nine grimaced as fury raged through him when he was forced to witness Rose being bonded with the Master, which tore through his very hearts. The only way to free her from such a union once it had been fixed was to kill the Master himself. Kill another Time Lord. Already so few of us left. Rose would then be forced to suffer the consequences of an emptiness that could never be filled. Rage burned inside him as he weighed the suffering Rose would endure at the hands of the Master if he remained alive versus having him perish and he clenched his jaw in anger.
"What?" Sara asked. "What is it?" Even she could tell he was infuriated and truth be told, he was making her a bit nervous. She remembered the look of horror he had given her earlier when he brought her back from the derelict fields for which he then concealed under a mask of effusive cheerfulness. She was seeing that very same transition occur all over again as he looked at his reading while again glancing at her.
"Nothin', you're fine. Just need some rest and-"
"You're lying to me, aren't you Doctor?" Sara accused flatly.
The Doctor was momentarily stunned having a flashback to when Lilly had accused him of the very same thing. Has to be a connection between the two.
"Why'd you ask that?"
Sara rolled her eyes. "River was right about you both."
"River?" He frowned. Who was River? Is she predicting the future? He frowned at Sara.
"The Doctor always lies." Sara was irritated that again this practice was in force and Nine was a full participant. No wonder Lilly so readily agreed to this deal she spoke of otherwise, how could she be certain she was securing an honest answer? Maybe it was Lilly's deal and not his. That was beginning to make a strange sort of sense as she looked at the Doctor who was examining her strangely. "I spent weeks imprisoned by Ten while he continued to lie directly to my face. You know what Sol IV is?"
Nine frowned. "Mars but what does that-?"
"Exactly. Mars, where he tried to break a fixed point in time. Told me it was Sol IV because he thought I had a phobia I had to confront. A lie by omission is still a lie!"
He grimaced. No wonder she was upset and maybe she was right. He only thought he was doing what was right but it disturbed him that like Lilly, Sara seemed to be this in tune with his personal rules.
"Has he met River yet?" Referring to his counterpart.
"Once so far." Sara paused. "She's dead."
He raised his eyebrows.
"Paradox." Sara explained. She pondered now with two Doctors in the timeline what impact that would have on River's life. Contemplating River's personality, she might thoroughly enjoy twice the fun or they could be on the road for a real set of disasters. Personally, Sara looked forward to meeting River but she knew if she tried to explain it to Nine, he wouldn't permit her. No. If she survived the Master, she and Lilly would discuss the potential outcome in secret away from their prying ears. Far away. Sara thought since Time Lords had impeccable hearing and she wouldn't risk obliterating this universe as well.
Nine observed her curiously and shrugged. At least she had some self-control and that answered the question of how Lilly and Sara obtained his personal rule to some degree.
"Sara," He tried. "Promise to explain it after the Master. We won't lie to you." He assured her. "Think my counterpart needs to be here to tell you. Can't just be me."
"But he's lied to me-"
"He'll tell the truth, promise." Nine assured her and he knew he would make an absolute certainty of it.
Sara was slowly regaining strength back in her legs and she slowly pushed herself back onto her feet unsteadily. Nine took her arm to offer support. "You all right?"
"Yes, the Master just-" What did he do? Twice now her strength had declined to the point she could hardly move and she couldn't determine a reason.
"Using your energy like fuel to keep him alive." Nine provided and Sara looked down at herself in disgust. Once again, she was a weapon, only this time to feed a psychopath who had cloned himself six billion times. She closed her eyes remembering how the Cybermen attempted to use her energy in a similar manner and shuddered as she contemplated the scenario where she and Lilly found themselves transported aboard, imprisoned by Ten, which caused her last suicide attempt. Was it truly worth it to keep a weapon like herself alive? Would she ever be safe anywhere or was she destined to put all those she cared about in danger?
She swallowed hard as she attempted to pull away. "Sara, 'S not your fault." Sara glanced at him blankly. "Yeah, okay." Letting out a brief sigh, wanting nothing more then time to herself, she glanced at him pleadingly. "I'm just going to use the bathroom. I'll find you when I'm done."
He decided not to push the matter, giving Sara her space and released her as she staggered down the corridor while he assessed the TARDIS console around him. It was nearly identical in every respect but still the loss of his own TARDIS grieved him and he felt an emptiness upon seeing her death that staggered him greatly but for now he was forced to set that aside since he had two companions on board depending on him for their survival.
"Going to check the storage room." He informed Wilfred who insisted on coming along only to get distracted by the library, which he noticed through the preceding door.
He shook his head, assessing the equipment available and as time passed, he kept a close eye on the corridor, pondering what was taking Sara so long. Humans. He thought remembering all too well how Lilly lingered in the bathroom while she still had shanoids festering inside her skin. Sara had promised to find him when she had finished but she seemed to have taken to dawdling in a very similar pattern. If he didn't see Sara in the next five minutes, he would have to go in search of her himself.
XXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Several minutes had passed for Lilly and Rose as they huddled in the attic room that Ten had left them in as Rose waged an internal battle within her own mind, Lilly could only hold her friend's hand as a means of support. What if it had been me? The prospect horrified her that her marital choices would be dwindled between mass murdering psychopath and a man who abducted her, invaded her mind and threatened her with lifetime imprisonment.
" 'S not s'posed to be like this." Rose pressed her free hand to her head. "Don't even know him 'cept he stole you like he did Sara. She wouldn't wake up." Her eyes widened in reflection. "Destroyed my dimension."
"It was the Valeyard." Lilly tried to explain. "That's a little different because-"
"Sara said their shape changers, the Doctor, different body, yeah?" Rose asked perplexed.
Mentally Lilly cursed that she was left with this unpleasant task to talk up a version of the Doctor she was only lukewarm on herself. Rose didn't have the opportunity to grow to fall in love with the Doctor as she was meant to and Lilly shivered at what Nine's reaction would be. What about River? How would this impact the universe? She shook her head looking at Rose knowing her friend needed to know what she was getting into as a means of reassurance.
"The Valeyard is not the Doctor." Lilly emphasized. "He's what happened because of the Time Lord Victorious."
"The wha?"
"You always made him better." Lilly explained. "But he lost you twice and-"
"His Rose, did she die?" Rose asked quietly.
"No. She's alive in an alternate dimension living with his human duplicate."
"You're joking." Rose paused. "'S what you meant by my fantastic life. Living there with him."
"It took a few years. Didn't just happen overnight. You were meant to help him save the world because I knew without you, he would die and the universe would die. All realities would cease to exist."
"Our universe is already dead." Rose said bleakly. " 'M only eighteen. Didn't want to get married. Not to him."
"He's not so bad. When he lost his Rose, he changed, suppressed his emotions and then Sara came along. He wasn't meant to have a companion and the timing was terrible. When he declared himself Time Lord Victorious, he tried to alter time. Sara managed to stop him but there were repercussions. He didn't pop out of it like he was meant to. He cut himself off further from his emotions and well-"
"Got worse?"
"Until recently." Lilly remembered how Ten had saved her from the Master and mended her shoulder extending an almost gentle demeanor. Something drastic had to occur to Ten although she could only speculate since he made a complete about face in asserting that Sara had been right all along regarding what occurred on Mars. She hadn't want to press Sara about it being exhausted herself and Sara being so readily upset with Nine's confrontation about her supposed time sensitivity but she suspected that both Ten and Sara had the answers to this question.
Rose was silent, and then grimaced as she turned to Lilly. "How am I s'pposed to believe him?" She expressed as she gave way to tears. "He was goin' to force me to sleep." She clutched her head. " 'S that how it's going to be? In my head all the time now? What 'appens if he gets mad?" For the first moment, Rose questioned her choice in coming to this universe so readily. She was petrified and that Doctor was not one she was remotely close to trusting. "I just want to go home." Rose murmured hopelessly as she started to weep in agony, feeling utterly trapped by her situation. Lilly put her arms around the friend she had grown to think of as a sister and rather then offer some false consolation, she empathized. "I know." She whispered in Rose's ear allowing her own tears to fall when she gave thought to her family, her little brother and all her friends that she knew she might never see again.
Hope kept her going but it was also a wearying prospect barely illuminating the corridors Lilly's life was forced to progress on but everyday brought new disappointment, more loss and toll. Would this be how she spent the rest of her life clinging to such little promise when disparity occurred around her. Did her family and friends notice her departure? Was her face plastered on missing posters or would police shuffle her off as a runaway? Did her reality even exist anymore? Since Sara's faced extinction, it raised serious questions about the health of her own dimension.
So she offered comfort to Rose by therefore easing her own agony clinging onto the girl, weeping with her as exhaustion slowly claimed them in that dim little corner of the attic, both of them holding onto each other, collecting what warmth they could as they faded into a dreamless sleep.
Slumber did not prove to be a lasting respite as both girls were jerked awake by the crashing sound of the attic door being opened and the Master's clones descending upon them yanking them forward.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Master had retreated; busy giving orders to his multiple selves while rapidly tearing the estate apart in search of Lilly and Rose while seeking transmat coordinates for the Vinvocci ship. For this, Ten could feel smug because surely his counterpart would burn out the transport device and secure the ship simply by the merits of what his own choices would be so-
"Evidence of transport on the premises." One of the clones reported.
What!? He seethed. What was his counterpart thinking?
"Find them." The Master demanded. "Get her back for me."
Sara. If the Master got his hands on her, she would give him an unending fuel supply and he clenched his jaw in desperation. Didn't he promise he would protect her.
"They're in the TARDIS. We can't get inside." One of the clones said.
"I have his sonic and with the right settings-" The Master started to say.
Ten suddenly felt Sara's terror and panic overwhelming her echoing through his mind and then he knew what his dimensional duplicate had compelled her to do.
"They already dematerialized." The clone reported as the Master turned on Ten furiously.
"Where did they go?"
The Doctor was already burdened with both Sara's incapacitating dread and the connection in his mind that tethered him to Rose as she sought comfort from Lilly. There was no choice. He told himself. It was either him or me and I couldn't let him take her. He readily knew this and knew being bonded to the Master for any human was a fate worse then death. The Doctor couldn't let that happen, even if she wasn't the Rose that had jumped dimensions to be at his side. She was still Rose and he still undeniably loved her. He was alleviated when finally Sara's emotions began to settle as her terror began to recede but it left him to hear in his mind Rose's struggle to cope with her impending grief.
' 'S not s'posed to be like this. Don't even know him 'cept he stole you like he did Sara. She wouldn't wake up. Destroyed my dimension.'
Her words became clear in his mind as guilt surged through both his hearts. Ten was already well aware that he didn't deserve her and she was only just a child. He would never have put her in this position if there had been another way around it.
"It was the Valeyard. That's a little different because-"
He heard Lilly's voice through Rose's consciousness as she strived to comfort her friend.
"Sara said their shape changers, the Doctor, different body, yeah?"
A simplistic description. His personality didn't match his predecessor and even Lilly who quoted the varying traits had difficulty understanding regeneration. He knew it would be just like dying where every part of him fades away and a new man walks off alone.
"The Valeyard is not the Doctor. He's what happened because of the Time Lord Victorious."
He grimaced in reflection of those words. No, the Valeyard was not the Doctor but it was his future regeneration, which destroyed Rose's dimension that he held himself entirely accountable for.
"The wha?"
He berated himself thinking of the Time Lord Victorious. The man who took and tormented your friends, who let his companion die on Mars and told his ward it was her responsibility. What kind of monster am I? He thought.
"You always made him better. But he lost you twice and-"
"His Rose, did she die?"
It felt just as awful as having Rose die when he left her with his dimension duplicate to return to his TARDIS, he had to cage in all his emotions despite the agony he felt when he saw his Rose passionately kiss his human double. And why wouldn't she? He had to tell himself that this was a man that was like him in every respect except that he would age at the same time Rose would so he should be happy for her. It was empty consolation when he returned to the TARDIS alone at the end of the night having been forced to wipe Donna's mind.
"No. She's alive in an alternate dimension living with his human duplicate."
"You're joking. 'S what you meant by my fantastic life. Living there with him."
He winced sensing that this was an early prediction Lilly made for Rose's life fully believing that it would come to pass. Time surely had been rewritten at least for this Rose.
"It took a few years. Didn't just happen overnight. You were meant to help him save the world because I knew without you, he would die and the universe would die. All realities would cease to exist."
"Our universe is already dead. 'M only eighteen. Didn't want to get married. Not to him."
He swallowed at that. Maybe in time things would change and Rose would grow to trust him but he closed his eyes pondering how she could ever trust the man responsible for decimating her own dimension, eradicating everyone she ever met. How could he possibly make it up to her, do better as he claimed to balance the scales in Rose's eyes?
"He's not so bad. When he lost his Rose, he changed, suppressed his emotions and then Sara came along. He wasn't meant to have a companion and the timing was terrible. When he declared himself Time Lord Victorious, he tried to alter time. Sara managed to stop him but there were repercussions. He didn't pop out of it like he was meant to. He cut himself off further from his emotions and well-"
"Got worse?"
"Until recently."
It wasn't Sara's fault he didn't listen and how many times had she tried to tell him but he simply denied her, pushing her accusations aside and now…suddenly he felt a surge of sadness that he knew was coming from Sara, her thoughts muddled though he could discern her mind lingering on Christina's death and whether as a weapon, she should even be alive. She doesn't even know what she saved my life. His own sorrow grew in response to Sara's as he focused his mind to send her a message hoping she would understand. I am so, so sorry. There was little more he could say at the moment so overcome by Rose's grief and Sara's torment that his own turmoil couldn't navigate around theirs.
"How am I s'pposed to believe him?" "He was goin' to force me to sleep. 'S that how it's going to be? In my head all the time now? What 'appens if he gets mad? I just want to go home."
He had nearly come close to doing it again as he had rendered Sara unconscious so many times before. It almost became habitual that he found his hands lifting to Rose's temples rather then using his words to try to calm her down. She was frightened of him and rightly so as he had done little to prove to the contrary that he could be anything but this dominant and fierce person she had only barely met. He wanted to give her privacy within her own mind but her voice echoed so clearly in his.
I'm sorry, Rose, he began opening up her emotional wounds with his words. I'm sorry about your mum.
Stop it.
I'm so sorry about Mickey.
Stop!
I'm so, SO sorry.
Suddenly, he was hit with what he'd been trying to help her release. It wasn't as bad as before. But even as a Time Lord, it was almost too much to bear. For the next several hours the Doctor suffered his wife's anguish. He suffered only a fraction of what he knew he deserved. But what he suffered was nearly too much. When Rose finally stopped, crying herself to sleep in the attic crawl space, the Doctor was emotionally exhausted.
Her grief triggered memories in him. And now that she was asleep, now that she wouldn't feel what he felt, he let himself suffer his own grief. For the first time he finally grieved the loss of his Rose, the one who chose the meta-crisis over him. For the first time he let himself grieve the loss of Donna, his best friend. One by one all the companions and friends he'd lost came to mind. One by one he felt the hole left by each of his children, for his Gallifreyan wife, for his parents, and grandparents, for his grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, for his planet, his people. Every emotion he'd been running from, every emotion he'd refuse to acknowledge, every emotion he'd hidden away and saved, so he didn't have to hurt, ran through him. It ripped apart his hearts and mind like a torrential hurricane leaving only his guilt behind amidst the devastation.
But what the Doctor didn't realize was Rose felt it all. Even in her sleep she was aware of his mind in hers. Even in her sleep she could feel him. The Doctor felt a calm come over him, like the calm after a storm. But within the calm was that sensation he instantly recognized as Rose Tyler, a warmth. She was a healing warmth spreading through his mind like a healing salve. And with her warmth came sleep. Ten couldn't hold his eyes open. He couldn't check up on the Master, or worry about what Nine was up to. His mind was too ravaged. And his hearts were too torn up. Sleep claimed him as Rose Tyler's comforting consciousness smothered the Doctors open wounds with the comfort he'd been needing all his life.
Moments seemed to pass in this tranquility when he was suddenly jarred awake by Sara's overwhelming terror entering his mind that caused him instant alarm as he pulled himself upwards, ever vigilant.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Rather then use the restroom as she inferred to Nine, Sara went straight to the old room she occupied and was alleviated to see the Cup of Athelstan on her nightstand. For a moment, she touched it knowing as long as she lived she wouldn't forget Christina or the impact she had on her life. She hadn't stepped foot in this room since she nearly died from dehydration in protest from being locked inside it premises and she barely repressed a shiver of how this area haunted her as she was given to the vague remembrances of the shadows creeping along the walls coming to claim her.
I am so, so sorry.
The stray thought jolted Sara as well as the feeling of regret that came associated with it that echoed in her mind nearly like a residual memory. Somehow it felt more recent and the grief more tangible but at the same time it seemed to belong to someone else. She briefly considered locating Nine to ask him if he might define to her what was happening.
No. She seized the golden cup from her nightstand, dashing out of the room, heading back to the console to find it empty. Glancing around, she gave way to pacing within the confines of that area pondering her original train of thought and whether Nine truly thought and considered her a weapon. He had just previously emerged from a war where to his knowledge, he had been forced to wipe out billions of people to save the universe. The Time War was never shown in its entirety on the show and writers stipulated that they considered it a novel concept to have the Doctor be the last of his species with this sudden act of genocide.
The Time War. Sara thought. I can't imagine what that was like.
Suddenly she was surrounded by images that were utterly horrifying as she watched buildings on fire, collapsing around her as Daleks flew in from the skies. Screams surrounded her as she saw the ground littered with bodies, carcasses that putrefied the air while their flesh was seared away. Sara panicked and turned to see children running through the streets, directly through her as she watched helplessly as they were shot down to be left smoldering in the surrounding flames.
"No!" She cried out. "Stop it, stop it!" Sara clutched her head in protest but she could still see every visual aspect of the war laid out in gruesome, graphic detail. The Time Lord council unleashing weapons against their enemies and the Doctor himself arriving to put a message of 'no more' on the wall in preparation for him using 'the Moment' device. Blood was everywhere, seeping through ground, the red grass and the whole sky mirrored the violence that was occurring.
Sara couldn't breathe and blindly, she ran through the images in order to escape the torment of what she was seeing. There was a door to an under dwelling left seemingly untouched by the destruction and she seized upon it to escape the perpetual fire and violence outside. Seizing the handle, she wrenched it open, going inside, slamming the door shut behind her hoping to find a welcome respite from the nightmare she had witnessed.
Suddenly the Time War disappeared and she found herself completely bewildered to be standing in relatively normal looking hallway as she glanced out the window, she saw that night had suddenly fallen. Wasn't it daytime before? Did I go forward in time? She felt her stomach clench knowing she had gotten off the TARDIS while it was only a second out of sync with time. Sara looked around perplexed attempting to discern if she could locate it's position but the machine was invisible. She had wandered outside the perimeter and she suddenly stiffened in fear as clones of the Master appeared surrounding her.
"Gotcha." The Master said, his tone laced with excitement as he seized Sara's elbow, yanking her forward. Sara shook her head frantically as he allowed himself a lingering caress down her cheek, before taking a firm grip of her neck, giving her a fervent kiss.
In utter fury, Sara bit down hard, tasting his blood in her mouth and he pulled back looking at her fiercely before dealing her a blow with the back of his hand. She glared at him, raising a hand to her cheek to ease the pain.
"Do love a woman with spirit." He murmured to her before shoving her back into the arms of two of his clones. "Bring her." He instructed. "I want an audience."
She was propelled back into the room, which contained Nine's TARDIS and was barely able to distinguish Ten's horrified expression upon seeing her return. "Don't the best things come to those who wait, Doctor?" The Master posed to him greedily, taking the cloth off the table, while weaving it dexterously through his fingers. She struggled fervently with his clones as the Master smiled in appreciation. "Oh she'll do nicely."
"We found them." A voice was issued from behind her that caused Sara to panic. Did they find the TARDIS? One minute she was there and the next she had stumbled into the open corridor and she started to inwardly curse.
"Good, just in time." The Master only looked at her triumphantly.
Found who?
A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying what we have going so far and there will be more clarification coming in the next chapter. Thank you to Christy-Flare for inspiration behind an idea we are setting into motion here. Thank you for all the reviews as they do help us with new ideas.
