AN: Sorry it has taken me so long to update. Probably the longest chapter yet, so I hope you enjoy, and remember to review.


Chapter 9: Dumb Luck or Fate?

'What did you do?'

'I didn't do anything, I swear! I just came up to Torchwood to work on some computer stuff I was adding to the TARDIS, and she just suddenly took off.'

'So you're telling me, you are out somewhere in time and space and it was an accident?'

'Well...yea.' There was a long pause and he heard nothing but the uneasy silence from her end. 'Rose? You there?'

'When can you get back?'

'Well...I'm working on it, but she is being rather stubborn so I'm not entirely sure how long it will be before I get back, because frankly I do not even know when or where I am at the moment.'

'Well find out so maybe I can find a way from here to get the TARDIS to come home.'

'Don't know how much help you'll find, but I will let you know as soon as I can.' He gave a sigh as he looked over to the closed doors to his ship. 'Rose...I love you.'

'I love you too, be careful.'

'I will.'

'Which means you are going to get into all kinds of trouble wherever you are.' There was a soft laugh from his side before there was a click signaling that he had hung up.

She immediately went for her keys and dialed Pete's cell as she went out of their home and down to her car. When he answered she explained everything she'd been told and asked him to meet her at Torchwood. Her next call was to Sarah Jane, asking her if she still had the base code for the TARDIS uploaded with K-9. Sarah Jane said the one from the other K-9's memory was in it, however, she wasn't sure if it would be the same as this TARDIS. Instructing the older woman to meet her and Pete, and for her to bring the dog with her as well, Rose hung up and gunned her car to speed faster down the road. As she watched the road before her she couldn't help, but feel emotionally torn, part of her believed the Doctor wouldn't lie about what happened, but the other half of her was thinking about how much she knew he wanted nothing more than to go on an adventure to some unknown land, and the thought that maybe being in the TARDIS for an innocent computer job brought too much of a temptation and he took off without her. An aggravated scream filled the car interior as she slammed her palms against the grips of her steering wheel. Taking a deep breath she brought her calm composer back to the surface and reminded herself that getting upset right now would not help her solve anything. The entrance to the establishment came into view and she turned off the main road. Sarah Jane and Pete were already there when she parked her car; they were waiting for her in the lobby; upon entering she felt all her focus rush to the front of her mind; they made for the tenth floor, she had a plan if she could find where he had locked up Jack's old vortex manipulator and program it to find the TARDIS and if that didn't work they would have to wait to get the information from the Doctor.

'Where did he put that thing...' She mumbled as she began digging through the safe boxes throughout the lab.

'What are you looking for?' Pete walked up next to her. 'Maybe we can help you find it faster.'

'The vortex manipulator.'

'We can't use those, they'll rip a hole in the fabric of time and space, you know this, Rose. It's how this whole thing started.'

'Not the ones that were made here, Jack's vortex manipulator, he gave me one of his back when I first travelled with the Doctor, when I got pulled over here the systems shot. I spent months fixing it, once it was back in working order I used it to get back to my original universe. At first I could only get into minds, so I found Donna and used her to send a message to the Doctor, finally though, I was able to completely transport myself to Earth over there. I didn't have his coordinates then so I just found danger and knew he would eventually come to where all the commotion was. That is what I'm going to do now, use the vortex manipulator to find the TARDIS, I'm just hoping the base codes are the same.'

'And what if they're not the same?' Sarah Jane said, a slight motherly tone in her question.

'Then, I'll have to hope it has the power to take me to the other TARDIS, the Doctor there can help me transport back. Once I get back I'm hoping my Doctor will have sent me the information I need about where he is.'

'This sounds like a huge risk, what if he manages to get back before you find him?'

'Then, I'll see him when I return.'

She leaned down to K-9 as she strapped the device onto her wrist and instructed him to download the base code to the memory bank. K-9's little antenna reached out to the machine on her wrist, it lit up instantly as numbers began dancing onto the screen, they finally came to a stop after about ten seconds. Thanking the tin dog she stood back up and pressed the button to activate the manipulator, with a bright flash she was gone.


Looking around the deserted town he gave a deep sigh, there was nothing about this place to give him any indication as to where he was and not one soul around to ask where or when either. From the looks of it this was a ghost town, while he usually loved a good ghost town this was not really the time to be in one. Coming to a stop, he noticed that he was currently in some sort of plaza or marketplace. The buildings surrounding the slightly open area were made of crude stone, a wall also surrounded the place and connected two large towers to a even bigger housing building. Spinning in a circle a grin spread across his face, he was in some kind of castle or outpost; which meant he was probably somewhere in the middle age. He pulled out his phone and flipped it open, he gave a frustrated groan...there was no service, he was going to have to get back into the TARDIS for it to work in this place. As he began to turn around to head back there came a queer sound beyond the building and wall to his left, he stopped and stared in that direction half wanting to go see what had made the noise and the other half knew it would be better to get back to the TARDIS. The sound came again, closer and even more menacing than the first, this made up his mind and he ran to his ship. A whoosh was heard behind him as something took to the night sky above him. The moon was covered by thick clouds at the moment making it hard to identify the darkened shapes of the buildings around him, much less the creature above him. He silently cursed himself for going to Torchwood today, knowing if he hadn't he wouldn't be in this mess now. Another thought crossed his mind as he ran, this whole situation would be more fun if he could regenerate if injured badly, however with a human body and only one heart, so regenerating wasn't an option and he very much didn't want to die at the hands of this unknown thing flying above him. Where the hell did he leave his TARDIS?

Like a moment of saving grace the moon peaked through the mass of clouds, granting a few seconds of light to glance around the street. To his left was an ally with a small floating light; however to counter his good fortune the creature landed not far in front of him, it was some sort of dragon, but with a head and neck like that of a king cobra; it hissed and flicked it's tongue at him. The notion that this creature could not only tear him to pieces, but was also very likely to be extremely venomous as well. He stood half crouched and keeping direct eye contact with the creature, it was waiting for him to move before it attacked. Out of nowhere came a shrill barbarian battle cry that was followed by a woman flipping off one of the buildings to his right and landed on the creature's wing. The thing hissed in fury as its head coiled around to see what dared to disturb it on its hunt.

'Go now!'

'What about you?'

'I know what I'm doing...' The thing went to strike her, but only met the steel of her sword. 'I've dealt with him before.'

Again the creature went to attack the strange woman and again she parried the blow.

'You were lucky the last time we met, Kyla, you won't be so this time...' It hissed and she prepared to attack. Instead of striking at her again it flapped its massive wing with a mighty thrust and sent the woman sailing across the street unceremoniously. She landed in a large pile of hay that thankfully buffed her decent. The menacing creature gave mighty roar of laughter at her expense.

'Come on, we both need to get away from that thing.'

'I know how to deal with this evil; you however have no weapon, and you don't look much of a warrior, you are just going to get yourself killed the longer you stay here arguing with me, Time lord...'

'Wait?! How did you know I was a Time lord?'

'Your clothes, and I've seen your ship before.'

'Enough prattle!' The monster yelled as it launched itself at them.

Stamping her foot down she sent a pitch fork flying back up and caught it then used it as a spear. With a mighty thrust of her arm and body she sent the improvised weapon sailing at the creature, it hit it's intended target, it's left eye. The creature gave a mighty roar filled with pain and an unspeakable rage. She grabbed his wrist and dragged him back down the street away from the safety of the TARDIS; he tried to protest, but she was too focused on getting them as far from the enraged creature as possible. Finally, as she pulled them around a dilapidated building she came to a stop.

'You're usually not so helpless, why so now?'

'Before I explain that, how have you seen...'

'You TARDIS before? That would be because a long time ago I lived in another universe that is much like this one, only when I was dragged over here I lost part of what I was. I used to be a goddess of the ancient world before the people converted to Christianity; my name then was Demeter, I was the goddess of the grains and fertility of the Earth as well as the sanctity of marriage, the sacred law, and the cycle of life and death. When I was pulled over here I lost the powers over those things, but was still able to retain my immortality.'

'But that means you ruled around...'

'1400-1200 BC...but ever since people of Earth began to look to this One God the rest of us felt our powers dwindling. There were just enough believers left to allow us to do minor things in the world, but we were too weak to actually go down to our followers. Now, to my question you've been trying so hard to avoid answering.'

'Well, I suppose it's been a while since you've seen me, because I have changed about nine times since then. I guess for starters I suppose to help you understand why I am not quite as defended as before is because I am only part time lord. Two years ago and in another universe, the one you spoke of in fact, there was a battle to save not just Earth or the universe, but all of reality as well. A former enemy, Davros and the Daleks, reappeared and had been stealing planets from time and space; hiding them within a pocket universe inside the Medusa Cascade. My companions, not all, but several , came together to help defeat them, and when I went to reunite with one that had been pulled from me the first time I got shot by a Dalek which forced my body to regenerate. However, I was able to stop the completion and send the excess energy into a hand I had lost the last time I'd regenerated...'

'But you have two hands.'

'It was still really early in my change I had enough reserved energy to regrow the missing appendage. Anyways, after I had transferred the energy to my hand we were forced to leave the TARDIS due to the Daleks taking it captive onto their ship, but as we were getting off, my companion, Donna delayed and got trapped inside. The Daleks planned to break me by destroying my most prized possession...Donna being stuck inside is probably the only reason the TARDIS survived. She touched the hand that had all that extra regeneration energy inside it and caused a two-way biological metacrisis which is how I came to be...I am part time lord part human. I have the mind of a time lord, but the body and lifespan of a human. In the end, we defeated Davros and his Daleks, but at a cost...I committed genocide according to my counterpart which left him no choice but to leave me in this universe instead of returning to the other with him. However, he was also bringing Rose and her mother who'd been trapped here before; Rose and my other self had a very unique relationship, it was one of those rare occasions where time lord falls in love with a human...'

'Let me guess, he knew it would be too much to really be happy with her because eventually he'd outlive her and the loss would be crippling. So when you appeared, being the exact same, but different in the perfect way for her he found a way to try and let her be happy with someone she loved and who could love her back.'

'That about sums it up.'

'Selfish bastard...'

'HEY!'

'Don't get me wrong, I understand and can respect why he did it, but I bet he never even told her he loved her, much less why he couldn't be with her. Though I have seen gods fall for mortals and commit to relationships with them as well.'

'He did attempt to tell her how he felt, because he thought he'd never get the chance to again...probably one of the few times I'd felt regret for a decision...'

'You?'

'Well, my other self, but as I told you, outside of my lifespan and body I am the same man.'

He noticed she was about to respond but stopped and became very quiet. Her head cocked to the side just a fraction, she motioned for him to remain still and silent; that's when he heard the dangerously low sound of hissing not very far from where they were hiding out. She looked around the corner slowly then returned to her previous position and mouthed that the creature was just around the corner, she motioned for him to follow her in the opposite direction. They moved quickly and quietly around the building; she weaved them in and out of the alleyways till they came back to the part of the street she had met up with him.

'We don't have long before he retraces back here and find us, we only had the distraction of his injury on our side before; where is your TARDIS?'

'Just in the ally there.' He pointed in the direction he parked it.

She maneuvered them to the ship. 'Now, get in that thing and get back to your Rose. You weren't left with her just to die on some adventure in time as a human.'

'What about you?'

'This is where I belong now, and I can handle this monster, I have the advantage of immortality. Now Go!'


Rose appeared with a loud booming pop, her equilibrium was slightly off making her sway momentarily. Once she felt stable again she looked around at her surroundings; she seemed to be on a TARDIS, however, it didn't look like the one she was supposed to be on. Someone behind her cleared their throat making her twirl around to see a young woman looking back at her peculiarly.

'I'm sorry...I might be in the wrong place...is this the TARDIS?'

'It is...who are you and how did you get in here? We are in the middle of space.'

'I'm a friend of the Doctor's, do you know where he is?'

The girl's eyes moved to something over Rose's shoulder; she turned to see a man staring at her as if she were a ghost that might disappear if he so much as blinked.

'Rose?'

'You changed...'

'Sorry, couldn't help it, part of the job when you're a time lord saving the world from an invasion by a desperate King of the Time lords trying to escape destiny.' He walked closer to her, a small smile playing on his lips. 'What I'm wondering is how you got here from the parallel world.'

'You two know each other?' The young woman made herself known again. 'Who are you?'

'My name is Rose Tyler, I used to be a companion of his much like yourself.'

'That was a lifetime ago.' He said matter-of-fact.

'Can't tell if you're being serious or trying to be funny.'

'Both! Now, you've managed to forget about my question, how did you get here?'

'Almost sounds like you don't want me to be here. But the reason I'm here is just accidental...I was trying for our ship, but apparently the base codes are not the same as this one. I'm a little surprised the vortex manipulator had enough power to jump here at all.'

'What is a vortex manipulator?' The girl asked.

'Cheap version of what we are doing in the TARDIS. Why can't you just get the coordinates for your ship?'

'He said that the TARDIS just took off on its own, and he hadn't figured out exactly where he was or when. This was the only way I had to reach the ship from Torchwood. The base code K-9 provided was still for this one but we thought maybe it might still work...worse case scenario I'd be stuck over here or stuck in the middle of space.'

'Why would it be bad if you got stuck here with us?' The girl asked. 'We are always getting into trouble and finding fun ways to get out of it. My name is Clara by the way.'

'It's nice to meet you, Clara; and as tempting as it is to run away with him, I've got to find my half time lord in my own world.' She held up her left hand revealing her engagement ring.

'You're married to a...half time lord?'

'Well, engaged, but yea. It's a long story though.'

'I thought you said all the time lords were destroyed a long time ago, Doctor?'

'They were, she is from a parallel universe to this one, where a carbon copy of my former self now lives; he has the mind of a time lord, but a human body.' He looked at her steadily for a moment. 'So, you're getting married to my other self?'

'Yes; if you had allowed me to come with you would you have asked me?'

'Probably not...'

'I'm so confused...' Clara mumbled.

'I'll explain it to you another time, Clara; now we need to get Rose back to her own world.'

'Can your ship locate our ship since it is it's child?'

'Hmm..not sure, but there's a first time for everything.'


Back in his TARDIS he was whizzing around the console trying to make it go back to where he was supposed to be, but nothing worked; the ship simply refused to go anywhere. He tried to sweet talk the machine, then got frustrated more and began yelling at the console, but no matter what the ship wouldn't budge. He sighed and pulled out his phone, thankfully the TARDIS still provided the signal he needed to call Rose, he dialed her number. The phone rang...and rang...and rang...

'Where are you, Rose?'

The door of the TARDIS banged open and in walked Kyla looking slightly beaten up and even more confused. 'I thought I told you to go back to your own time.'

'I'm trying, but she won't go...she's being stubborn.'

'You say that as if it's a thinking being.'

'It is, it just doesn't have a way to verbalize her thoughts. Sometimes I wish she could though, like right now for instance. I wish I knew what she wants me to do here.'

'Maybe it's not what you have to do here, but maybe it's something that's supposed to happen to you here,' she said off handily.

'I suppose, but exactly where is here?'

'A small city in Greece, 1385 BC, that monster destroyed most of the outer city and did minimal damage to the inner parts. Very few people escaped with their lives, and even some of them are probably dead by now due to venom from that thing. It came in the middle of the night like a coward, there was no warning; these people didn't stand a chance.'

'Were you able to defeat it?'

'For now, but I did not manage to kill it, it took it's retreat after I shredded one of its wings and left it with multiple gashes across it's body. I'd say we only have a couple of hours before it comes back. Although it'll be dawn by then and it'll be easier for us to move around.'

'Yea, but we'll be easier to see too...' he mumbled as he tried tinkering with the console again, but without any new results. 'So why did you change your name when you came here.'

'Well, my alternate self exists here too, I've been a goddess before, and they can be rather selfish and self-centered. That's probably been one of the best things that has happened to me since I was brought here. Brought a bit of reality to me, making me realize that I am nothing special, just blessed or cursed with the gift of immortality. I figure if I do some good by protecting the innocent then maybe it won't be so bad. So in short I became Kyla.'

'Don't the people get confused by the fact you look like the goddess?'

'No, they've never seen her, and that will be her downfall in the end...hush, do you hear that?'

He tilted his head a little as if focusing whatever it was she was hearing to go to that one higher held ear. There was something coming, but the noise was too faint to make out what it was.


'What are you doing...this is worse flying than you've ever flown this thing before.' Rose half yelled as she and Clara were thrown across the floor. 'Did you become an idiot when you regenerated?'

'Don't be silly, Rose, I'm clever.'

'That's still up for debate from my point of view,' Clara huffed as she yanked her hair out of her face. 'He says we are going to go to one place, but then we go to an entirely different place instead. Oh and let us not forget that he usually places us in the center of trouble.'

'I told you that is completely the TARDIS, she has got a mind of her own.'

'While she may have a mind of her own you are the pilot of this ship...so can we please get her under control before I get a concussion being thrown about?'

'Well, I think it's safe to say that I'm not the only one who has changed...you're not the same girl who travelled with me...'

'Of course I'm not the same as I was! The man I fell in love with left me on the same damn beach...TWICE! The first time I helped rip holes in the universe just to be with him again only to be left with a COPY!'

'Hang on...I thought you were marrying that one, aren't you happy with him?'

The confused expression and gentle voice of Clara brought Rose down from her angry high and back to the reality before her. Rose gave her an apologetic smile as she tucked some hair behind her ear. The Doctor cleared his throat and looked off to the side awkwardly.

'I'm sorry, Clara...I do love my fiancé, I just didn't realize that I was still mad. And Doctor, I'm sorry I yelled at you too, you just did what you had to do. Now, were you able to locate the other TARDIS, I'm ready to go home.'

'We just landed on Earth in your universe in the year 1385 BC.'

She ran to the door but quickly looked back at him, 'Is he here, or did you go to the wrong place again?'

'Hurtful...my ship detected your ship here, so unless it left him here alone then I would guess he would be here too.'

'You are going to come with me right, I know you can't resist a new adventure that is just laying before you.'

'Naturally...what are we waiting for? Geronimo!'

Rose opened the door and the three of them exited the TARDIS onto the same deserted street as the Doctor Smith had earlier that night. As soon as the doors closed to the ship a loud roar raged from the sky above them. The massive creature stared down at them with it's one good eye. They edged slowly to the side, but the monster had its eye locked on them and was preparing to strike.

'Rose?!' The yell came from an alleyway just behind the creature.

Everyone including the creature looked in that direction. The creature hissed in pleasure then flicked it's poisoned tongue out at the man who had ran from the safety of his own TARDIS. It only took a fraction of a second for Rose to know something was wrong and found herself running under the monster to her fiancé's side. She grabbed the fallen man up into her arms and held him tightly, his skin was becoming colder by the moment. Tears rained down her ivory cheeks as she begged him to hold on.'

'Rose, get out of the way, there is nothing you can do for him,' a woman's voice said gently over the sound of a sonic screwdriver blasting attacks in the background. 'Rose, you need to get to safety, as well as your other friends.'

'Who are you?'

'Kyla, and I'm a friend.'

'I'm not leaving him...'

'I understand your grief, but he is dying and there is nothing that can help him. Now, we need to move or we will die too.'

'I said, I'm not leaving him, he would never just leave me to die alone like this, and I will not do it to him...I love him.'

Just then, as Kyla was going to respond the other two who'd come with Rose joined them. 'Hi, I'm the Doctor, this is Clara. Now, get him into his TARDIS quickly. 'They picked the dying Doctor up and began moving him back into his ship as the creature began circling the courtyard to come after them. 'Now, we can do something productive...where's Rose?'

'She's going to face it all by herself...'

'But that's suicide...Doctor, you have to stop her,' Clara screeched.

Out in the courtyard Rose picked up an abandoned sword and a broken, bloodied pitch fork and advanced on the demonic creature. There was a fire in her eyes like never before without the vortex pulsing through her; her eyes screamed hatred for the monstrosity crawling before her, it gave a great laugh at the sight of her.

'So the little princess wants to come out and play does she? Well, come on then, give me your best shot.'

As if some great force had entered her body she found herself sailing across the air at the evil in such a fashion only seen in the movies. She buried the pitch fork in its throat, landing on the nose of the thing she buried the sword in its skull, but not quick enough to avoid feeling the poison bleeding into her system where it's tongue had wrapped around her body in a last attempt to take her with it.

She could hear faint cries of people running to her, but that's all they were, and then there was nothing.