A/N: You guys are so, so fabulous! And fantastic ^_^ I promised you the next chapter as soon as I got 15 reviews and now I've exceeded that thanks to Artemis's best Huntress, LadaHathaway, JollyRoger1, Cassie, SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, Heart of Diamond, MyrninsBitch, aeonian, fantasticvoyage6, BlueDragonRising, Amelia , Jessiexyz, PrincessJenna89, ignitedsoul, Bad Wolf, Scififan2005, an anonymous guest, GeekChic13, SinginginThirds, and DreamIntoThOcean.
I was intending to post as soon as I hit 15…buuut then I went to bed and poof! You guys rocked it so I am taking time before work (I shall probably be late - worth it) to post Chapter 7 for all of you. Enjoy!
The Doctor, for once in his life, was speechless. In all of his dreams, all of his nightmares, this had never been a realistic possibility. Once he had said that he liked the impossible…but not this time. Standing before him was Rose, but not his Rose.
She was dressed in a crimson dress that fell to the floor, accentuating every curve of her body as it went. She was thinner than the last time he had seen her, with more defined muscles in her arms. The dress was strapless and plunged down her back exposing more of her than he had ever seen. Her hair was pinned up in soft waves and her makeup was dark and catlike. His eyes were drawn to her mouth which was as red as her dress.
He had truly never thought that he would see her again.
And now he knew who the consciousness had belonged to all along. It had felt familiar but he could never place it because this was never an option. All this time, it was her fear and anger he was feeling. Her pain. His stomach roiled and cold fury settled in. The Master was speaking but he could barely hear his words. Her eyes were upon him and she was looking at him as if he were a puzzle that she was trying to solve. Realization dawned on him and his hearts broke all over again
She didn't know him.
He was finding it hard to breathe, but his mind wasn't racing. It was standing still so he heard her words when she spoke.
"You will cease this, Master. You will free those you have enslaved and end this paradox."
A memory came to him then, the memory, and suddenly he was back on Satellite 5, big ears, leather jacket and all, images of her flashing before his eyes.
"I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here."
flash
"I want you safe, my Doctor. To protect you from the false god."
flash
"You are tiny I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence and I divide them. Everything must come to dust…all things everything dies. The Time War ends."
flash
"How can I let go of this? I bring life. The sun and the moon the day and night…but why do they hurt? I can see everything, all that is…all that was…all that ever could be."
The process of how this came to be finally connected in his mind. He had been such a fool to think that he could take the Vortex all of the way out of her. His beautiful, mortal Rose. What had he done to her? She had absorbed the Vortex to protect him. He, so unworthy of her sacrifice, so unworthy of her love.
And he did blame himself. Not the Master. He, the Doctor, who was supposed help people, but all he ever did was destroy. Rose, here. Martha out there.
The Doctor couldn't take his eyes off of Rose, the Bad Wolf, who stood there radiating power. No longer was her timeline a thin, short line going back only twenty years. That one was still there, yes, but it was now intertwined with a thick, golden line that went back farther than he could readily imagine, and farther into the future than he ever could have hoped.
Rose had merged with the Bad Wolf.
And she didn't remember him.
He didn't realize that he was crying until two tears splashed onto his clasped hands.
The Master was circling her now. Touching her. A feeling that he hadn't felt since Jack had traveled with them surged through him. Jealously. Time Lords did not feel jealousy. But this one did. Always jealousy when Rose and another man were concerned.
He watched as the Master stood behind her, taunting, "Is she my mistress? Oh how deliciously cliché. No, she is much more than that. My secret weapon, yes, but also my equal. The Queen of my new Empire of Time. The Big Bad Wolf and the Master. My new favorite fairytale."
One of his hands encircled her neck pulling her head towards him. And kissed her cheek.
Throughout all of this she was staring at the Doctor, her face a blank mask. Did she understand what was going on inside of him? Of course she didn't. Even if she were Rose she wouldn't understand because he had been too much of a coward to ever tell her how he felt. Time Lords did not fall in love. They most certainly did not fall in love with human girls. But this one had.
He could stand this no longer. Rose was his! She would probably kill him to hear him say that but that is how he felt about her. She was his and he was hers.
Almost against his will, his hands shot out and gripped the armrests of the loathsome chair. He mustered all of his strength, ignoring his screaming joints. He shakily got to his feet. He may be old. He may be weak. He may be one step from dead. But he would die before he ever let the Master own his Rose, Bad Wolf or no Bad Wolf. Even if she never remembered who he was.
The Doctor tried to open a telepathic link between himself and Rose but she was closed off. His mind reached a golden door that he recognized as the Bad Wolf, which he could breach, but beyond that there was a steel slab of power blocking him off from her. The Master. He was consciously blocking the Doctor from Rose and also blocking her memories. This gave him a shred of hope, and he needed all the hope he could get.
The Master turned to face him and addressed the whole room, "But now, as gorgeous as she is, her debut isn't the only reason I have all of you here. I haven't forgotten the crimes of the Jones family, and no crime goes unpunished in my empire. I have another message to send, this time to Martha Jones."
He strode past Rose, who remained motionless, and approached the Doctor. Almost without looking he pushed the Doctor straight back into his chair. The Doctor landed with a thump, his whole body on fire with pain. The Master wheeled him over and stopped in front of the camera setup in the corner.
He turned them on and the Doctor knew that the transmission was broadcasting all over the world. The Master couldn't resist an international audience.
"My people, salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman, but I know there's all sorts of whispers down there, stories of a child walking the earth, giving you hope. But I ask you, how much hope has this man got?" With this he wheeled the Doctor over in front of the cameras and stood behind him, "Say hello Gandalf." The Doctor, of course, did no such thing. The Master continued, "Except he's not that old, but he is an alien. With a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. What if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate?"
He was facing the Doctor now, laser screwdriver at the ready. Despite himself, cold fear snaked through the Doctor. He could feel the Master now. All shred of sanity was gone, replaced by the madness that the drums had driven him to. They had dueled in the past, yes. All throughout his regenerations, but this time was different.
"All 900 years of your life, Doctor - what if we could see them?" The Doctor had a split second in which he realized what was going to happen but he wasn't quick enough. The Master aimed his screwdriver at the Doctor and shot him with power. Immediately, searing pain and utter chaos ensued throughout his body. He shook and writhed, screamed.
He couldn't see that Rose lunged forward to defend him. She still did not know who he was but even as Bad Wolf, her compassion, her humanity could not allow this to happen. Something at the back of her mind was screaming, ceaselessly screaming. She was restrained by two guards and two Toclafane flew over, blades extended. She did not care.
Immediately power surged through her, knocking the guards halfway across the room. She disintegrated the two Toclafane into a cloud of golden dust. A bullet grazed her shoulder but she barely felt it. She was about to turn on the Master – but she was too late. He was done now and all that was left of the old man known as the Doctor was a pile of his raggedy brown clothes. All was silent on deck.
"Doctor?" the Master called, standing above the pile. Nobody dared move or speak, to even breathe. The Master cracked his neck from side to and then rubbed his face, all traces of his former glee gone. She could feel…something through the telepathic connection she held with him. He was…scared? Could that be possible?
The Master crouched down over the pile of clothes and suddenly movement came from inside. With bated breath they watched as a tiny creature poked its head out of the neck hole of the suit. It was slightly grotesque, with brown blotchy skin, wisps of hair, and huge, oversized eyes set in a head much too big for its body.
The Bad Wolf knew what had happened. A being too ancient to live one lifespan, forced to show 900 years of aging. How the Master had achieved it, she did not know, but here it was. This was what was left of the Doctor. Blood streamed down her arm from the shallow cut on her shoulder, dripping off her fingertips and onto the floor. Her power was still within reach but she did not know what to do with it now. Nobody knew what to do now.
The Master stood up, his expression was childlike, surprise, disgust, and a tiny bit of self-satisfaction all mingled together. Yet the Bad Wolf could feel his relief. Relief that the Doctor was still alive. Even after all of this, he still wanted him alive. He smirked and approached the camera, getting in close as he said, "Received and understood, Miss Jones?"
Cameras shut off, the Master gestured for a guard. He muttered something to the man who immediately ran off.
The Master whirled to face her, rage evident on his face. "Don't think that I didn't see your little act of rebellion, girl," he spat.
"What you have done is unforgivable," she said. "You will be made to pay. You will be stopped."
She heard the clicking of heels behind her and then Lucy was as her husband's side, her arm hooked through his. He looked at his wife with a slight look of disgust and shook her off. Her face looked as if he had slapped her.
The Master approached the Bad Wolf, trailing a finger down her bloody arm. He idly traced loops and circles in her blood that she recognized as Gallifreyan symbols. "You killed two of my children, little wolf," he said quietly, continuing his finger painting with her blood. "It is you who will be made to pay."
She lunged for him then, power ready, but he deflected her attack, somehow. He was still more powerful, more trained. More ruthless. She tripped slightly over the hem of her dress and had to support herself on the railing of the staircase. He was upon her before she could react, hands encircling her skull and he thrust the Bad Wolf back into the recesses of her mind, drawing forward the less powerful human part.
She took a shuddering breath and crumpled to the floor. This was not as it should be. Where was her power? There were more barricades in her mind now. She could feel them, kept running up against them as she struggled to regain the power and energy she had controlled only moments ago. He looked down upon her with satisfaction and turned towards the guard who was returning with a large birdcage.
Where in the world did that come from? She asked herself, idly, strange, exhausted giddiness sweeping through her.
The Master gestured for another guard to get the creature that had once been the Doctor as the other guard hung the cage. The Master and Lucy went to the elevator, and four guards came to lift her up. She saw the guard put the tiny creature in the cage. It gripped the bars and stared at her forlornly. Only at her. She felt a tickle at the back of her mind but the Master's barricades blocked whatever it was. She was so weak now. Having all of her power taken from her body so quickly had ravaged her, leaving her exhausted and powerless to resist the guards as they hoisted her off of her feet and into the elevator with the Master and Lucy.
She kept slipping in and out of consciousness as the elevator descended and when the doors opened she saw that they were in the engine room. It was dark and steam rose from various points. The Master and Lucy led the way as they navigated the metal catwalks and soon she was lost. She was so tired that she stopped trying to walk and one of the guards shifted her into his arms, carrying her bride-style. Her head lolled and she fought to stay awake a little longer.
She finally felt their movement stopped and peeled her eyes open. There was a man hanging from chains that stretched from each limb, dark hair plastered to his head with sweat, dirt streaking his clothes and body. There were holes in his white shirt that looked suspiciously like bullet holes. His head was down but she could feel that he was awake.
And sad.
And very angry.
He ignored them as she was made to stand up, and she barely registered the cold metal that was being clamped around her wrists and ankles. She slumped against the wrist restraints, the metal digging into her tender flesh, causing the wound on her arm to flare up in pain. More blood trickled down, this time down onto her neck and shoulders, but she was finding it hard to care. She could hear and feel the chains being tightened so that she was entirely spread eagled across the walkway, unable to move, facing the other prisoner.
Her head lolled to the side and she felt the Master plant a kiss on the exposed flesh of her neck.
"Sweet dreams, my beauty," he whispered in her ear. Her skin rippled in goose bumps and her mind screamed in revulsion but her energy was leaving her fast.
She heard footsteps as the Master and Lucy left them, leaving her and the other prisoner with two guards. Her eyes were becoming heavier by the minute but she was determined to stay awake as long as possible. Chains rattled as the suspended man shifted.
She heard a choked gasp and lifted her head slowly to look at him through locks of her long, blonde hair.
His expression was a mask of shock and horror.
"Rose?!"
A/N: Hehehe! I'm really getting into this story now that the introductory stuff is done. I hope this isn't too cliffhangery…if it was it was an unintentional one and I shall run and hide from your outrage _ But Jack finally sees Rose! Chaos will ensue! Doctor and Rose snogging will happen! But only if you review! Exclamation points! Yes, ahem, anyway, I apologize for that, I am awfully tired and have quite a bit of Dayquil in my system as I have a bad cold. Dayquil=silly me. I have said it before and I will say it again, you guys are simply the best and I will be posting very soon. Sooner if we can break 80 reviews. That would just be something special :D I know, I bribe you, it's a vice of mine, but it's only fair, right? Adoration and cupcakes upon all of you, my lovely readers. Xx- Lady Ten
