Title: Pawns in the Game (7/8)
Author: Liz (surrexi on LJ)
Rating: PG-13 (mostly for language)
Spoilers/Timeline: a re-write of the Torchwood finale; spoilers for Doctor Who 2.13 "Doomsday."
Ships: Jack/Rose, implied OT3, slight Jack/Gwen and Jack/Ianto (about as much as was in the episode initially)
Summary: In the midst of increased rift activity, Rose Tyler appears in the plaza above Torchwood. Did the rift bring her there, or is something more serious happening in Cardiff?
Author's Note: Okay, if the Doctor isn't going to rip open reality and go get Rose, then I guess I'll just have to do it for him. Still, I don't own these people, so don't sue me. A thousand thanks to my wonderful betas tinuviel428 and autumnjoy.


"What… have you done?" Jack said weakly, the hand not holding Gwen's ankle clutching Rose's hand as if it were up to him to prevent her falling back through the rift.

Before anyone could respond, a shaft of blue light both Jack and Rose knew all too well shot up through the roof of the Hub.


Chapter Seven

The group ran through the plaza above the Hub, Rose and Ianto supporting Jack between them.

"Keep moving!" Owen shouted.

"Everything's going to fine, Jack," Rose was murmuring in his ear. "We'll get through this."

"Why is she still here?" Owen yelled over his shoulder.

"Because she didn't come through the rift," Jack ground out. They stopped running briefly when they'd cleared the plaza. "She came through the hole in the universe," he said raggedly, breathing hard. "The same one Bilis came through, and the same one he has probably made even bigger using the power of the rift."

"What?" Gwen said, bewildered.

In the corner of his eye, Jack noticed Bilis standing close by. He nodded in Bilis' direction. "You walked right into his plans."

The team turned and stared, horrified, at Bilis.

"From out of the darkness, he is come."

Rose pressed closer to Jack.

"What is he talking about?" Gwen yelled.

"Son of the Great Beast, cast out before time, chained in rock and imprisoned beneath the rift, on the edge of the void."

"What?!" Gwen repeated.

Bilis looked up above them, crazed fervor in his eyes. "All hail Abaddon, the Great Devourer!"

Slowly, dawning horror filling their faces, the team turned around. "Oh, no." Rose muttered. "Son of the Great Beast… because of course, throwing one into a black hole isn't enough," she began to ramble. "No, no, I get to have a run-in with the daddy an' the son, and no handy-dandy black holes to throw this one into."

"What is she going on about?" Tosh yelled.

"I told you," Jack yelled back. "She traveled a lot."

Behind them, Bilis was still calling to the monster. "Come to feast on life! The whole world will die beneath his shadow!"

The team stared on in horror as the beast moved through the city. Behind them, Bilis muttered something about his work being done, and vanished.

Gwen turned to Jack, who was leaning heavily on Rose. "How do we stop it?" She looked at Jack pleadingly. "Tell me what to do, Jack."

Jack looked at the stricken faces of his team, looked at Rose. She nodded slightly, and Jack looked back at Gwen. "Just you. Get me and Rose to an open space."

While Gwen drove to the outskirts of the city, Jack and Rose carried on an intense conversation in the backseat of the SUV, abandoning any pretense of discreetness in front of Gwen.

"I know what you're thinking," Rose choked out. "I can't let you-"

"Rose, it's the only way."

She shook her head, her eyes brimming. "No, there has to be something else. You don't know that you'll make it."

"Rose. In just the time I've known Gwen, I've been shot in the forehead twice. There have been countless other times I should have died, but didn't. But I never felt like there was a reason. Until now."

"But, Jack…"

"Something brought me back on Satellite 5, Rose. Maybe this is why."

Rose let out a strangled sob. "Jack. It was me. I brought you back on Satellite 5." She fought back another sob. "I brought you back because I loved you and I couldn't stand you being dead."

Gwen was having some trouble keeping her eyes on the road rather than the rearview mirror. This conversation was getting interesting. She heard a distant roar and pumped the accelerator.

"You brought me back?" Jack stared at Rose in shock and felt licks of retroactive panic for her safety. "But he sent you home, he told me he sent you home."

"He did. An emergency program on the TARDIS. Took me back to the Powell Estates and then shut down. Couldn't get her to do anything, not even blink her lights. But then I remembered Margaret the Egg, and the TARDIS translating in my head, and the Doctor saying over and over that she's alive. And me an' my mum an' Mickey managed to get that panel open, the one to the heart of the TARDIS."

"Oh, Rose."

"An' I absorbed the Time Vortex. Controlled the ship, took her back. I am the Bad Wolf," she intoned, her voice gaining a shadow of the goddess tone it had taken on when she'd had the Vortex inside her.

"You destroyed the Daleks."

"I made them dust. Every single one, except the Cult of Skaro and the ones the Time Lords put in that damn bigger-on-the-inside prison ship. Must have missed them. And then I felt you lying there on the floor, lifeless. And I couldn't… you're so alive, Jack. You just shine. All the time, and I couldn't stand that you… weren't. So I brought you back." She grabbed Jack's hand and squeezed, her eyes pleading. "I only meant to bring you back, I didn't mean to saddle you with…"

He put a finger on her lips. "Shh. Don't be ridiculous. You are the reason I'm here, I can't argue with that."

"So then don't." They both knew she was referring to his plan for defeating the beast. He shook his head.

"Would you love me as much if I didn't?"

Rose gave another broken sob and dropped her forehead to his knee. Her feelings for him were complex and difficult to classify and tied up tightly with her feelings for the Doctor, but he was right. She loved him for who he was, and the man he was would have to carry out the plan. He stroked her hair, an errant tear sliding down his own cheek.

"We're here," Gwen said softly, hating to interrupt. Rose shot up and looked out the window at the barren area where Gwen had stopped. Then they all piled out of the SUV. Jack staggered around the back and met Rose on the other side. She wrapped an arm around his waist and told herself she was supporting him, not clinging.

"So what exactly is your plan, then?" Gwen asked warily. She figured she knew, but didn't want to believe it until Jack said it out loud.

"If Abaddon is the bringer of death, let's see how he does with me." Jack managed a cocky grin. "If he feeds on life, then I'm an all-you-can-eat buffet."

"No," Gwen insisted, stepping in front of Jack and Rose. "Wait, you're too weak!"

"And if I waited longer, more people would die!" Jack softened a little, laid a hand on Gwen's cheek. "Stay back, Gwen. I'd tell you to leave, but I know that you won't. So please, just stay back."

"Jack."

"Gwen. Do as I say." He twisted around, prying Rose's hand from his side so that he could turn to face her. "You have to let me do this, Rose." He brushed a hand through her hair, used his thumb to wipe away the tears running down her face. "You've saved me too many times to count. Let me do this for you."

"Oh, bugger you," she muttered, and grabbed his face in her hands. She pressed her mouth to his in a fierce but short kiss. "If you live through this, I'm going to kill you," she rasped out. He touched his forehead to hers, then kissed her. It was a deeper kiss than they'd shared before, but it felt right somehow. Jack may not have said the words, but Rose could feel his love for her in the kiss. Then it was over and just their foreheads were touching again. "Promise me you won't leave me alone here," she whispered, her voice sounding younger than he'd ever heard it sound.

He smiled a little, pulled back. "See you in Hell," he said.

And he staggered down the road, away from Gwen and Rose, screaming for the beast to come and get him. Rose leaned against the SUV and let herself cry. Gwen, who was near tears herself, awkwardly put her arm around Rose's shoulders. They stayed when the beast came, and they stayed while Jack screamed.

When the beast fell to the ground, Rose felt the rift closing, the Earth settling. An eerie silence descended on the city. Rose ran blindly towards the place where Jack had fallen, Gwen hard on her heels.

Together, they held his body and cried.