Finally, you get to see what happens! I'd pushed myself into a corner with the last chapter, but I think I managed… Yes, I put "credits" in the last chapter. No, you're not getting a recap XD. Next to last chapter!
Chapter 8: No Way Out
"Jeremie!" Yumi panicked, "Isn't there anything we can do? Can we use a transport orb to move them somewhere safer so someone can shoot it?"
"We can't!" Jeremie yelled, "XANA won't let me do anything!"
"What if we devirtualized her? Would that work?"
"No. Not when the Scyphozoa has her. It's draining Rose, and if she gets devirtualized in the middle of it, there's no telling what it could do to her."
"Then what do we do?"
"We can't do anything," Jeremie replied, defeat plain in his voice.
"So it's up to him now…"
From the moment she met the Doctor, Yumi knew that there was something different about him. She still hadn't found out just what it was. But she felt that it was the very same thing he had thought about her before. The way he would approach things like this… Never faltering, never giving danger a second thought.
Not until now.
Yumi couldn't help but wonder… Who was the Doctor?
Did he have to make decisions like this every day?
Don't let me stop you… Don't do it.
Rose had never been in a position such as this before. She couldn't move; she couldn't speak… She could feel her very life rapidly diminishing. But she was aware of what was happening. He sight and hearing were growing fainter by the second, but she didn't need either of them to know that the Doctor was terrified.
Doctor… Can you hear me?
No… But you know I'm still here. I'm still alive. And I'm begging you… Don't do it. Don't give up the TARDIS because of me. You know what'll happen to it if you do.
It isn't worth it. Saving me… It isn't worth it when it puts the whole world in danger.
And not only that. The TARDIS is all you have left of your people… Your planet. To think what it must be like lose something like that … I can't let you.
Besides, how do you expect to get me home if you lose it? Had Rose the ability, she would have laughed.
I know… I know you're scared. And I know it's hard. You'd give up your only possession. You'd let the rest of the world be destroyed. You'd do anything… So long as it means you're not alone.
But even if I'm not right there by your side… I'll still be with you. And it's okay…
It isn't your fault.
"Doctor," Aelita said, "Think. Just think. You've seen every way we've defeated XANA before. This is just another thing we have to figure out."
"I know!" the Doctor said, not taking his eyes off of Rose.
"We just need to find a way to trick him."
"I know!" the Doctor repeated.
"Come on. I haven't known you for very long, but I can tell you're smart. You can get out of this."
"No, I can't!" the Doctor snapped, finally looking at Aelita, "She's dying! It's like he said. Time is running out, and I don't have that time!"
"Because you're panicking! You just need to calm down and think!"
"There is no way to trick XANA right now. It's either I hand over the TARDIS to him, or she dies. I have to choose who he kills! It's Rose or all of humanity!"
"If you hand over the TARDIS to XANA, she'll still die with the rest of us."
"She won't! Can't you see? When he's got the TARDIS and tries to kill everyone, then there's a chance that I can stop him!"
"You don't know that," said Aelita, "If we really have nothing to do but choose, then what would she want? Who is more important here? I understand how hard this is for you. She's your friend. We've been through this before, time and time again. We make choices like this. But when it comes down to it, saving just one person isn't worth destroying everyone else. I've been in her position. Even though we were able to avoid ever making that decision, I told them not to save me. If they let me live while billions of people died, I can tell you right now, I would never forgive them."
The Doctor fell to his knees in defeat.
"You can't just take her in your ship and fly her away. Maybe you've been able to do that before, but not this time. Doctor… Let her go."
"In 900 years traveling through time and space, you've seen so many planets die, Doctor," said XANA, "What's one more?"
"Time and space?" Aelita asked, "You're a time traveler?"
"Yes," the Doctor answered, "That's what the TARDIS is. It travels through time."
"And you've seen whole planets die?" Aelita asked.
The Doctor nodded sadly. "My own, even…"
"And Earth?"
"The sun expands… The year five billion."
"Then you know it's not right here and it's not right now," said Aelita, "This isn't when it's supposed to happen. You're willing to rewrite history in order to save one person? She can't want you to do that… Give her a choice."
After a moment of thought, the Doctor stood up. "You're right…" he said, "I've got to give her a choice."
"So you've decided?" asked XANA.
"Yes," said the Doctor, "I know what I have to do."
Everyone waited for him to continue… But what he said wasn't at all what they were expecting.
"Let Rose go and take me instead."
"The girl is weak," XANA said, "If this is what you want…To give her the key and place the fate of the world in her hands… So be it."
The Scyphozoa released Rose and immediately took the Doctor in her place.
Rose fell to the ground, her head spinning. She hadn't known what had been happening for a while now- she had been conscious, but all her senses had left her. Now that she was free, it took a while for her to adjust. She was about to ask what was going on… But she didn't need to once the TARDIS key dropped into her hand. She looked up, and sure enough, the Scyphozoa had taken the Doctor.
"No…" Rose faltered, "No!"
"He was saving you," said Aelita.
"No! He should have let me die!"
"Maybe there was some plan behind it. He's an alien. Maybe this can't kill him."
"He thought he was going to regenerate, but he won't! Not if he's killed before then!" Rose stared up at the Doctor, knowing he could hear her. "You can't do this!" she screamed, "We need you! You can't! Doctor, you can't!"
This was it. The Doctor was going to die. But it would have been better had she died instead. The universe needed the Doctor… Where would anyone be without him? Of course he left the choice to her because he knew she'd do the right thing. Letting him go was what she had to do. But she couldn't. What would happen now when the whole of creation was threatened? Who would save them? If anyone could stop XANA, it was the Doctor. And now he was dying. Rose couldn't do this on her own.
But she also had no choice. She looked up at the TARDIS, about to tell XANA that she wasn't giving it to him…
But something stopped her.
The writing on the TARDIS had changed. Before, it said "Police public call box." But now it was only two words…
Bad Wolf.
