A/N: I'm really sorry about my lack of updates. I'm a terribly slow writer, and I apologize. This chapter was also a pain for me to write, and it took a few rewrites before I could be satisfied with it. On the other hand, I want to thank everyone who have been leaving me reviews, it's helped me a lot through the hardship that was this chapter!
"Alright, well, if that's all, I really need to dash," the Doctor says, walking back to the TARDIS. "I'll come back and check on him later." He disappears inside the TARDIS, but pops his head back out a second later.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, he might be a little agitated when he first wakes up. Try to keep him calm, will you? It will be best for his health."
After closing the doors of the TARDIS one final time on UNIT and its petrified nurse, the Doctor takes a moment to rest against them, eyes closed.
Finally. Finally, he's done with all these distractions that were stopping him from doing what he really wants. He's finally free to go after those Drazfins, after Dzarn, and get Rose out of their grasp. He'll go to Karzad, he'll find wherever they are keeping her, and he'll save her, he'll –
What if he can't? What if he gets there too late? What if he can't find her? What if she tries to escape by herself, and they hurt her? What if –
No, he has to stop thinking that way. He can't start overthinking or doubting his every move. He takes a deep breath even as he feels himself becoming tense, the cold resolve that had taken hold of him when he realized they had taken Rose away rapidly dissolving.
"Doctor?"
His eyes snap open and focus on Ariz, standing uncertainly in the middle of the console room. He had almost forgotten the Drazfin was there. He forces himself to smile at his companion while trying to stamp away his fears.
"Ah, Ariz, yes, I'm sorry, I was just planning our next move," he lies smoothly as he pushes himself away from the doors. "My ship provided me with coordinates that would bring us to your planet, shall we go and see where?"
He strides towards the console with more confidence than he feels, Ariz following in his wake, a puzzled look on his face.
"Wait, your ship gave you coordinates? How does your ship know where we should go? And… and how did it just… appear in the room before? How did it do that? And where did you bring that man? Have we moved? Is that what all the noise and the shaking was about, just now?"
The Doctor chuckles at the barrage of questions as he leans against the console to look at his companion, thankful for the distraction.
"Yes, the materialization does tend to be a bit shaky, doesn't it? Anyway, yes, we did move. Look," he adds, bringing him in front of the monitor displaying the scene outside the ship.
The nurse has finally snapped out of his stupor and called for reinforcement. The Doctor smirks when he sees the dozen armed guards circling the TARDIS, guns raised and puzzled expressions on their faces. They don't know him in this universe, then, or they would have recognized the blue box.
He engages the dematerialization sequence to send them into the vortex and returns to watch the video vanish on the display, amused at the incredulous expressions of the guards watching them as they disappear, before turning back to the Drazfin besides him.
"As to where we were, that was just some old friends of mine. Well, not exactly, they don't know me, but by chance they seem precisely like the other bunch, so it should be fine. They'll take care of our man while we're away. Anyway, we just moved again. We're kind of… nowhere at the moment."
Ariz looks at him with wide, fearful eyes, and he waves away his concern.
"Don't worry, it's perfectly safe inside the TARDIS. That's my ship, the TARDIS. She can travel anywhere in space, at any point in time."
"Alright, this time I'll ask. She?"
"Mhmm, sentient ship. I think she's forged some sort of… special connection with Rose, and that's how she knows where to go. Anymore questions?"
Ariz shakes his head, baffled.
"Good!" the Doctor says, clapping his hands. "Well, let's not waste any more time, shall we?"
He turns back towards the console, preparing for their flight to Karzad. As he resets the coordinates to what the TARDIS gave him earlier, his enthusiasm dissipates, a new wave of fear crashing over him. Without any distraction left, he has no choice but to turn his mind to what he is about to do, and he can't deny how scared he is.
The Drazfins want to study her, to replicate whatever miracle has made her survive their energy blast, so of course they would want to keep her alive, but… What if they can't get it right? They are certainly not experts on humans, if their latest captive is any indication. Just trying to keep the poor man alive under sedation seemed too much of a challenge for them.
Even if they don't kill her by inadvertence… What if they hurt her beyond repair, the damage to her body, or to her mind, too extensive? Assuredly, with the TARDIS medical bay, he can heal most things, but… there's a limit to what even he can do.
And what if… what if he can't find her? An entire planet is certainly big enough to hide a single human. What if he searches in vain, what if Rose slowly loses faith in him with every passing day until she loses the will to fight her imprisonment, until she gives up? Or what if she gets tired of waiting and she tries to escape by herself, only to get shot by another one of these deadly energy blasts?
No, no, his ship provided him with coordinates, surely she must know where to go to save her. It's just like he imagined before, some sort of link must have forged between them when Rose looked into the heart of the TARDIS. He has to trust his ship.
On this final thought he pulls the dematerialization lever, sending them careening through the vortex toward whatever awaits them on the Drazfins' planet.
"Come on, old girl, this is where you wanted to go, this is where Rose is waiting for us!" he eggs the TARDIS on as he watches on the display the coordinates get closer and closer to their destination.
Just a little… bit… further…
Mere seconds before they would have landed, the TARDIS jolts violently, sending both him and Ariz sprawling to the ground. The ship is groaning and shaking, as though straining under some tremendous effort. As the Doctor is getting to his feet, another jolt shakes the room, and he pushes himself up with difficulty, using the console as support. The TARDIS is in pain, and it resonates inside his head, making it difficult for him to focus.
"Doctor, what's the matter?" calls Ariz, gripping one of the metallic pillars as he tries to stay on his feet amidst the tremors in the room.
"I'm not sure!" he shouts, rushing around the console, frantically adjusting controls in an attempt at rectifying the situation. "Something's interfering with her systems, keeping her from locking on to the correct coordinates to materialize. She's trying to fight it, but she can't – Ah!"
A new quake sends him crashing to the ground again where he stays, unmoving.
"Doctor!" calls Ariz.
All around him the console room is in disarray – bookcases falling over, sending their contents spilling to the ground, chair and table overturning, lamps smashing down into pieces. Ariz rushes over to the Doctor when he gets no response, stumbling himself as the shaking of the room intensifies. When he finally reaches him, he kneels next to him and shakes him by the shoulders.
"Doctor! Come on, wake up!" he cries frantically as the chaos around him worsens, lights flashing and smoke beginning to fill the room.
After a few moments the Doctor groans, raising a hand to his head, before opening his eyes with a wince.
"Ugh, the TARDIS, she's in so much pain… Ariz, help me get up, I have to – I have to send us back to the vortex."
With Ariz supporting him, he traipses slowly around the console, changing the controls to abort their flight and send them drifting into the time vortex. As he pulls the final lever, the violent quakes in the room instantly recede, the light in the room coming back to illuminate the devastation of the room amidst a screen of smoke.
The TARDIS hums weakly as the Doctor collapses on the console, the pain in his head subsiding but leaving him shaky. He takes a moment to rest, the smooth wood of the console pressing against his forehead helping him focus once more. Taking a deep breath, he finally straightens up and turns around, sullenly contemplating the wreckage in the room.
"Doctor?" Ariz pipes up tentatively after a stretched silence. "What now? Is there- is there anything we can do?"
"I don't know," he answers in a drained voice. "As I said, something was interfering with her ability of locking on to specific coordinates, I'm not sure what it is. We could probably land, but we would have no way of controlling the time or place. It could be anywhere on your planet, anytime in the past or future. The TARDIS was straining to get to the correct coordinates, but it was… hurting her. I think – I think it's crucial that we land at the correct place and time, for Rose. The TARDIS seems to think so."
"So… what's the plan?"
The Doctor runs a hand down his face, trying to stamp down the weariness taking hold of him. He had been so, so close. It feels like the whole universe is conspiring to keep her from him.
What option does he have now? There doesn't seem to be any choice other than land somewhere random, and try to fix the problem once they're safely materialized. If something's interfering with the TARDIS systems, it has to be coming from somewhere down on the planet. If he could find it, and fix it… then he could go to the correct coordinates.
But it's dangerous, he knows it is. When he lands somewhere, he becomes part of that timeline. What if while he's down there he learns about the fate of a human female, kept prisoner for decades until she withered away and died? Then he could do nothing to change it, it would be too late. Or he could… he could risk a paradox, go back and save her, but… the last time he did that, things didn't turn out too well.
No, no. There has to be something he can do from here. From inside the vortex. He just has to figure out what.
He can't lose hope, not now.
"I have to… I have to find the cause of the interference, and then maybe I can cancel it out from here. I need to study the TARDIS systems, it might take a while…"
He turns back to the console, absorbing himself into his work with desperation. Ariz watches him for a while before walking away, looking with a sigh at the complete chaos of the console room before wandering away in search of a broom. He might as well clean up a bit while he's waiting.
He's seen this same problem before.
The result of his analysis of the TARDIS' systems seems strangely familiar, a half-forgotten memory floating at the edges of his mind. He's not sure where or when he encountered this type of interference, if it was in this body or another, or what he did to fix it, but… he's sure he has fixed it before.
Although… the last time this happened, it is very probable that neither him nor the TARDIS cared about where they landed. He probably let the interference carry them where it would and corrected the problem once safely on the ground. Things are different this time.
Come to think of it, they are different in many ways. He was in an entirely different universe last time, too, and maybe that is part of the problem. In parallel universes things tend to repeat, with only… slight… differences…
Oh.
He's been to Karzad before, in his original universe. He met Drazfins. They were a peaceful race back then, they had been kind to him, helping him when he crash landed after he had encountered a strange energy signature. A strange energy signature that was interfering with the TARDIS systems.
Yes, of course. He remembers now. The Drazfins in his universe had just finished developing a new kind of energy source, but they were unwittingly tapping into the vortex itself, which was… extremely dangerous without the proper precautions. He had helped them isolate their system so that they could use it safely, and so that it would be safe for others, too.
But most importantly, he had built a device before leaving, a safeguard so that should they ever encounter the same problem again, the TARDIS wouldn't be affected by the interference. He had installed it onto the TARDIS systems, and promptly forgotten about it once he left.
"Ariz," he calls out. "This may seem like a strange question, but… The main energy source on your planet, what is it?"
The Drazfin pauses, his arms full of books he has collected from the ones scattered all over the console room. He looks at the Doctor with a frown.
"Um… They explained it to us at school, it's, um… They open up small pockets of space by separating… some kind of particles, and it, it releases a lot of energy. I could never really… understand it, I – Czif could explain it better… Anyway, it's highly effective, but also… very dangerous. There have been tons of accidents, and – "
"Yes! Perfect! Exactly as I thought!"
"I – Sorry, what?"
"I know how to get us out of this!"
With a grin towards his confused companion, the Doctor dives under the console in search of the device. It should still be there, he's sure of it, and it should still work. It's probably only due to a slight variation in energy signature that it hadn't worked, just now.
After all, parallel universes tend to thrive on slight variations of the same patterns.
So if he can just find the device… and tweak it… it might just allow him to stick the landing.
He lets out a triumphant cry as he finds it as he remembers it, linked to the TARDIS systems and still functional.
Now, now, everything will be fine.
"Alright, Ariz, get ready for take two!"
The Doctor emerges from underneath the console, hands and face grimy from grease and TARDIS fluids but feeling more energized than ever. After some careful analysis of the last flight's data and with some tweaking, he's now positive that they will be able to land unhindered, at the correct time and place.
From what he can tell of the excited hums of the TARDIS, she's certain of it, as well.
He grabs a towel kindly brought to him by his ship and wipes himself before looking around him, surprised by his companion's lack of response. He blinks in surprise at how much cleaner the room looks – Ariz has certainly not wasted any time.
The lighter bookcases have been righted and books have been stacked next to them in neat little piles, the ones damaged by their tumble set aside so he can decide what to do with them. The shards of glass from broken lamps have been cleared away, the desk cleaned of debris. And there, in the middle of all this, on one of the large armchairs, Ariz is dozing off.
The Doctor approaches him quietly and contemplates him for a moment. He looks absolutely drained, now that his features are not animated by his usual liveliness it. In the middle of everything that has happened, he had forgotten that the Drazfin was sick, too. He remembers Czif telling him that the five of them were among the least sick of their faction, but that the progression of the disease was always unpredictable, and sometimes lightning fast.
It was certainly catching up to Ariz now.
Now that he thinks about it, they had been taking daily pills to slow down the disease and hide its effects, but they had been forced to leave most of their stock behind. Worried, he wonders how long it is since Ariz has taken one.
Right.
Once he gets Rose back, he can focus on mass producing the cure for the whole planet. But first things first.
He walks back to the console, intent on letting his companion sleep. He can rescue Rose on his own, there is no need to put the Drazfin in unnecessary danger, not in his condition.
Stamping down on his nervousness, he darts around the console, tweaking dials and pressing buttons to send them to the correct coordinates once more. He scans the displays nervously as they plunge through the vortex towards their destination, half expecting the TARDIS to start shaking in pain at any moment.
What if… what if he has adjusted the device incorrectly, what if some small mistake on his part makes them land at the wrong place, the wrong time, despite the TARDIS' best efforts to prevent it? What if –
They land with only minimal jolting, and the Doctor breathes out a sigh of relief when the correct coordinates flash on the display. He rushes over to the monitor, eager to figure out where exactly his ship has sent him.
What he sees makes his blood freeze in his veins.
Rose.
Rose, her hands in the air, a dozen guns trained on her.
Something inside him snaps.
Striding forward and engaged in a shouting match with the Drazfin still holding a gun to Rose, he ignores everything else around him, his mind only focused on the woman's safety. She is looking at him with joy which quickly morphs into concern and horror, and he wants to erase that expression from her face forever, he never again wants her to be –
He freezes in surprise as she starts to glow, an ethereal golden light that first illuminates her eyes before diffusing over her entire body. She runs towards him and he can only watch in shock as the web of time dances around her in a slowed motion. Fractions of a second trickle by as an eternity, and he is rooted to the spot. She looks like a goddess.
Suddenly he is on his back, staring up at Rose, a blast of energy going through the space he occupied not a second ago.
"You're safe," she whispers.
Before he can do anything other than look at her in wonder, the golden light fades, leaving her paler than he has ever seen her. When it has completely disappeared she collapses in his arms.
A stupefied silence settles over the wastelands, every Drazfin watching as the Doctor slowly raises himself to his knees, cradling the woman's body in his arms. He brushes her hair away from her face, calling her name.
No response.
In the middle of this hushed scene, Ariz emerges from the TARDIS doors, half yawning, bleary eyes unfocused.
"Doctor, are we – "
Every set of eyes but the Doctor's turn towards him and he freezes, instantly awakened by the sight before him. He scans the scene with wide eyes, his gaze resting on the Doctor and Rose before taking in the armed men surrounding them, before finally stopping on a Drazfin standing in the middle, arms still held loosely in the air even though the gun trained on her has been lowered in surprise.
"Czif!"
He rushes towards her, engulfing her in his arms before the men, astonished by this new arrival, have time to react. Czif stands still for a moment, staring at him in shock before throwing her arms around him.
"Ariz…" she breathes out, her voice full of wonder.
"Czif, are you alright? What happened? Who are these people?"
Around them the armed Drazfins shuffle uncertainly, their gazes going between the Doctor cradling Rose in his arms, and Ariz and Czif embracing in their midst, uncertain which of them – if any – poses a greater threat. Suddenly a voice rings out amongst the murmurs that are starting to rise.
"Ariz?"
Ariz looks up, scanning the faces there in surprise. When his gaze lands on the person that has spoken his eyes widen.
"Azan? Is that you?"
Instead of answering the Drazfin rushes towards him, throwing his gun on the ground as he runs.
"Stand down! Everyone, stand down! It's my brother!"
Confusion erupts among the Drazfins as Ariz and his brother embrace, a tumult of voices rising in exclamations and questions.
While this scene is unraveling around him, the Doctor has not taken his eyes away from the woman in his arms. He brushes a few errant strands of hair away from her face, calling her name as he tries to rouse her without success. She is so pale, her heartbeat incredibly weak, her breathing faint. His hearts squeeze painfully as he is reminded of the first time he saw her, lying still in an deserted corridor. He had thought she was dead, at first, and when he realised she was not, he had been scared of losing her before he could bring her to the TARDIS. This was not a sight he'd had any wish to see again.
Of course, she did get better then, but he has no idea how. She just… improved on her own. He looks at her pale features, hoping for this to happen again, for her to open her eyes, or even just breathe normally again, but with every second that passes he begins to despair.
No, there's still hope. The TARDIS. He can bring her to the TARDIS infirmary. He rises, Rose in his arms, as Ariz and his brother are embracing, no one paying him any mind any longer. He strides inside his ship without looking back, and kicks the doors closed behind him.
He immediately heads for the infirmary, striding across the console room with a sense of urgency. He is about halfway there when the doorway leading to the rest of the ship suddenly disappears, morphing into the solid wall surrounding it. He comes to a grinding halt, glaring at the time rotor besides him.
"What are you playing at? This is no time for games, let me through!"
His glare changes to a frown of worry as he notices that the thrum of the TARDIS has changed from its usual low, regular vibration to an almost feverish pitch. His concern increases when he feels the air itself shift, some kind of energy slowly permeating the room and making his skin prickle. He approaches the console cautiously for a better look.
"Are you alright, old girl? What… "
He trails off as the console starts to glow, the golden halo slowly surrounding it vibrating and intensifying with each thrum of the TARDIS. He watches, stupefied, as every single particle of the luminescent cloud swirls around the time rotor in an effervescent chaos, the light it is emitting steadily increasing. Then suddenly the chaos seems to rearrange itself, the golden dust coalescing into a single whirling stream of energy that pulsates once, twice, before detaching itself from the console to pour towards where he is standing, petrified, with Rose in his arms.
He regains his senses just as the luminous stream is about to reach them. This is the same light that was surrounding Rose only minutes before, as she was rushing towards him, time itself slowing around her. How… how did it get on her before, and how is it here now? Is it sentient? What does it want? Whatever it is, it can't be good.
He takes a hasty step backwards to escape it, but the stream of energy seems to be following him, gaining on him as he backs away. As it finally reaches them it aggregates around the woman in his arms, engulfing her in golden light even as he tries to shield her from it. As the last of the cloud surrounds her it suddenly surges to a blinding intensity, forcing the Doctor to avert his eyes as he falls onto his knees. He can feel the energy on his skin where it touches Rose, but it doesn't hurt – rather, he is sensing the sheer power of it, vibrating in a wild rhythm in sync with the insistent thrums of the TARDIS. He opens his eyes again to see the light seeping into Rose's every pore, her hair billowing around her as it almost seems to liquefy into the golden aura surrounding her.
Instead of alarm or worry, he only feels awe as he watches the light dance on her skin. All of his earlier panic is gone, leaving in its place a sense of comfort. The energy is oddly familiar, soothing, like a song he has known all his life. Somehow… somehow he knows that it isn't hurting Rose, invading her body or her mind, it is helping her, it is part of her.
He has never seen anything more beautiful.
The intensity of the light gradually diminishes as the energy is absorbed into Rose, until only a soft golden glow radiating from her skin remains. He watches with bated breath as even this last glimmer is finally extinguished, leaving Rose looking perfectly healthy, her paleness gone. A wave of relief crashes over him as he feels the steady beat of her heart, her calm and peaceful breath. She simply seems to be sleeping.
"Rose…" he breathes out.
A hush has fallen over the room, the rush of energy gone, the hum of the TARDIS now low and subdued. His pounding hearts and shaky breath resonate in the silence as he tightens his arms around Rose and buries his nose in her hair.
He has longed for her, ever since they were separated. He can't explain it, this sudden, overwhelming and irrepressible attraction he has felt towards her, almost from the moment they first met, but he doesn't try to deny it any longer. He can't. He looks at her, safe in his arms, and he feels as though one of his hearts might burst.
She's alive. She's alive, and she's with him again. By some incredible miracle, she has come back to him from the brink of death for the second time in only a few days. He'll be damned if he lets there be a third.
He stands up and notices for the first time the dimness of the room, the unusually quiet humming of the TARDIS. Has she been injured by the energy pouring out from her console? He takes a step towards it, unsure of what he should do, when he feels a small mental push towards the door leading away from the console room, now back in its normal place.
"Old girl…?"
She nudges him again, humming once in a reassuring way, and he stops hesitating.
"Right," he says with a nod. He'll see to Rose, first. Securing her tightly in his arms, he strides out of the console room and into the infirmary.
After checking and re-checking the results of his test, he is forced to start believing what they say.
It is incredible, amazing, absolutely terrifying. His head is spinning with the possible ramifications as he sits staring at the monitor. This is…
Something that could have killed her ages ago. It could still kill her now.
The memory of what she said, when she told him about the time she looked into the heart of the TARDIS, flashes back in his mind.
It was hurting me, though, so you took it out of me, and… well, that's it.
Um, no, you never ran any tests. We were… kinda preoccupied right after that.
He has the greatest urge to find his future self and hit him so hard he'll feel the reverberations all the way into this body. How could he turn into such an idiot? How could he not have realized what had happened?
Thud – Thud – Thud
No, it's too unbelievable that he would miss something like this. The energy has merged with every single cell in her body, he would have detected it at the first sprained wrist, the first scratch that would have required the infirmary. And he's sure he hasn't changed enough by then that his companions won't need patching up any longer.
Could the energy have come from somewhere else?
No, no, there's no way this could come from anywhere other than the heart of the TARDIS. The energy signature is too specific, too perfectly matched. Then… this means it was dormant in her system all that time. What made it awaken? It had to be before he found her in that old warehouse, but after his future self went away.
Thud – Thud – Thud
Could it have happened when they shot her? Could that energy blast that should have killed her have made the energy react, given it the necessary boost? And once it was awake… did it protect her? Did it heal her?
This is a possibility, but there's more to it than that. What she did outside, the way she slowed down time as she rushed towards him, that couldn't have been just the result of latent energy. That was… something different altogether. Was she able to tap into the energy's power instinctively? Then how –
Thud – Thud – Thud –
The sound finally breaks through his thoughts, and he becomes conscious of the relentless pounding on the TARDIS doors, an indistinct voice shouting along with the noise.
His first instinct is to ignore it. Whoever is outside can wait, perhaps indefinitely. He has had enough of Drazfins. Ever since he and Rose met that race, they have been shot at, stunned, imprisoned, kidnapped. He just wants to be left alone with her. He wants to send the TARDIS into the vortex and look over her until she wakes up.
He wonders how long that will be. According to his tests, she is not simply sleeping. She has apparently put herself into some sort of healing coma, very similar to what Time Lords use to recuperate. The fact that she was able to do that amazes him. The energy doesn't seem to be just protecting her, it's enabling her to do things a human would never have been able to do.
Thud – Thud – Thud –
He groans, letting his head drop into his hands. He doesn't want to answer the door. He doesn't want any more distractions. He just wants Rose to wake up, and then he wants to…
What, exactly?
He wants to run more tests, of course. And talking would probably be a good idea, too. He wonders if she will remember anything when she wakes up. He should explain to her what has happened, what she did for him. She saved him, that amazing woman. That blast of energy would have certainly reached him if she hadn't rushed towards him and thrown him on the ground.
He lifts his head to look at her, by all appearances sleeping peacefully in the infirmary bed, her hair a golden halo around her head, and he realizes what he wants, most of all… is to touch her, to hold her, to settle in her mind and never, ever, be separated from her again.
He lets out a shaky breath as he imagines her opening her eyes, a smile slowly forming on her lips as she catches sight of him. He would stand next to her bed, brushing that lock of hair away from her face, and she would blush, wide whisky eyes gazing up at him. Her eyes would flit to his lips, sending a thrill through him, making his breath catch. He would lean closer, her eyes would flutter shut, and…
THUD – THUD – THUD –
He swears loudly as he gets up. With one last lingering look at Rose, he walks out of the infirmary and into the console room.
There the shouting becomes more distinct, and he recognizes Czif's voice calling his name. He stops next to the console, wavering. As much as he wishes he was done with the Drazfins, and away from their planet, Czif was with Rose when he found them, and he is curious to know what has happened to them since he was separated from them. Sighing, he steps towards the doors and opens them.
"What…"
He trails off as he takes in the scene before him. A Drazfin he doesn't know is holding Ariz in his arms, pale and unconscious, Czif standing next to them with a look of panic on her face.
"Doctor, please, you have to help us! It's Ariz, he's… he's dying!"