A/N: Hello my darlings! You guys are just the most amazing, wonderful, best people in the world! Thank you so much to: Rozablood, Zaknafein (yes I do watch Sherlock, love it so much), Matron Malice, Names Have Power, Severus Snape, FloraFaveXNara-Wire, AvenJackel, OnceadiaryintheTARDIS, LadaHathaway, Pig-Rabbit-Suk (I'm afraid the cliffhangers don't end dear), JollyRoger1, Suuki-Aldrea, Whitepurity, Anonymous, RoseKatnissWeasley7, TitanLover3353, SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, PirategirlRobin, LatherTheBloodOnYourHandsRom eo, Chris4, (HUUUNGRRRYYYY), hungrywhovianpotterhead, and 3 guests for your STUPENDOUS reviews!
Okay now, here's the deal. You are all going to hate me at the end of this chapter. Each and every one of you. I am actually very scared to post this. BUT! 1. This story has a happy ending. A perfectly, happy, wonderful ending. 2. I have the next chapter written so if I get 20 reviews, hell, how about 25? you guys get the next chapter pronto. Oh and 3. Yes it is another cliffhanger, I can't help it. They don't start out that way but I have to divide the story somewhere and these are the only places that make sense.
Do you still love me?
You might after the TWO KISSES I give you in this chapter. Yep, I said it, TWO. So you're welcome.
And I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry.
Then a giant halo of golden power flew out from her, carrying with it all in the room. The Doctor had to shield his eyes to look at her, so overwhelming was the light that came off of her in waves.
Rose was gone.
The Bad Wolf was here.
Jack gasped to life, all of the pain of being shot in the head returning to him before fading away. He could hear the sounds of the battle going on around him and quickly sat up. His hand bumped into something and he saw it was the guard who had shot him, now with a bullet through his own body. Jack recoiled and got to his feet. It took him a moment to focus his eyes on the chaos, but almost immediately his gaze fixed on the standoff between Rose and the Master.
Rose had positioned herself between the Time Lords, shielding the Doctor's cage with her body. A look of fierce determination was planted firmly on her face, her eyes showing no hint of fear. Jack had seen that look on Rose's face before and knew it meant trouble for whoever that look was directed at.
Jack was about to stride forward and take the Master out from behind when he saw the Doctor. The small creature was not looking at the Master, he was looking up at Rose with an expression of such great sadness that it made Jack stop short without knowing why. He saw a tiny hand lace its way through Rose's long blonde hair, saw as she leaned back. The Doctor closed his eyes and whispered something in Rose's ear.
The effect was immediate. Jack had time to register the sight of Rose's body being consumed by golden light before he was thrown forward, towards her, along with everything else in the room. People, equipment, furniture, they all were lifted and sucked in the same direction.
Jack knew what was happening – knew what the Doctor must have done, but had not time to do anything about it. He paused in his impromptu journey through the air as time stood still for a fraction of a second. He had a moment to see the terror in one of the guard's faces before an enormous supernova of power slammed into him like a brick wall. Time resumed all at once as he was thrown back into the large table, the air being knocked out of him in a rush.
The entire room was filled with a white-hot light, blinding Jack as he gasped for breath. The power in around him was making his skin prickle, as if the entire room was electrified. The smell of metal and heat and something he could not identify was all around him.
The Doctor had done it.
He had released the Bad Wolf.
The rest of Jack's senses began to return and he could hear cries and crashes coming from all directions. He tried to stand and eventually succeeded, turning in the direction in which he thought Rose might be. The light was beginning to fade and he could see outlines of figures, only one of which was still standing.
"Rose-" he choked, hardly daring to believe what he was seeing.
She was standing exactly where she had been before the explosion, arms slightly outstretched, head thrown back. Her body looked like it was lit from within, wisps of golden energy coming off of her, entwining with anything they came into contact with. Her dress hung off of her in tatters, the ends of the fabric lifting and falling, her hair floating out from her body as if she was submerged in water. She dropped her head down and Jack's jaw went slack as he took in the light pouring from her eyes.
This was not Rose.
For the first time he understood what sort of power had made him immortal. This…Bad Wolf…this Goddess of Time that stood before him was like nothing he ever could have imagined. He tried to take a step towards her but found himself unable to move. It was not from shock, he was frozen in place.
Jack pushed against the invisible barriers and succeeded in forcing his arm out slightly and oh so slowly. It felt as if the air around him had become thick, so thick that any movement took great effort to make. He had felt this sensation before, in dreams, but this was no dream.
His eyes seemed to be able to work normally, and he took in the sights around him. He first noticed a chair falling downwards in slow motion, and then his focus shifted to a person colliding with the floor at an excruciatingly slow pace. A crystal carafe was in the process of shattering against one of the far walls, and Jack could see the cracks ripping through it, see as one shard, then another inched their way away from the object as a whole as amber liquid bubbled outwards.
Jack thought it was fairly safe to assume that time itself had been slowed, that she was controlling it as she awakened. As bizarrely fascinating as the slow-motion chaos and destruction was, he remembered the one who was responsible for all of this and sought the bastard out. It did not take him long to find him.
The Master lay sprawled at Rose - the Bad Wolf's feet, shielding his eyes from the light that came off of the slim figure. He seemed to be as paralyzed as Jack was. Jack only wished that she would unfreeze him so that he could take out the Time Lord once and for all, but, alas, he remained trapped in the barriers of time.
The Bad Wolf was the only one moving at a somewhat normal pace as she looked around the room. Her glance fell down towards the Master but her face remained blank. She seemed to find him beneath her notice, for she turned her back upon the figure, fixing her attention instead upon the creature in the cage behind her.
She took two steps to the side, revealing the Doctor's shrunken body, and as Jack looked on, she opened the door to the cage with a slow wave of her hand.
The Bad Wolf leaned forward, extending glowing hands into the cage and wrapping them around the Doctor. She lifted him carefully through the opening, and turned away from the cage, her hair traveling through the air behind her in a slow, golden arch.
"My Doctor," she said in a quiet, ethereal voice, and Jack could see the Doctor's enormous saucer eyes gazing up at the unearthly creature that held him with wonder and sadness. He seemed to be able to move at the same pace as her, for he reached one small hand towards her shimmering face and placed it upon the golden skin of her cheek.
Slowly, painfully slow, the Bad Wolf lifted the Doctor towards her, simultaneously lowering her head.
Their lips met.
?*?*?*?
The Doctor dropped his arm and squinted against the golden light that poured from the figure that stood before him. He could sense that time was not in its proper place - that it was slowing at a steady rate until, it seemed, everything was nearly frozen. Nearly, except him and her.
He didn't see Jack getting to his feet, didn't see the Master laying at hers. He could only see the Bad Wolf as she came to life and slowly turned to him.
She held all of time within her eyes and it came off of her in tendrils of sparkling, glowing mist. In all of his long life he had never seen anything like her. She was the Vortex incarnate, a Goddess of Time. Not even on Satellite 5 had she been this powerful and his terror was only rivaled by his awe.
Unable to speak, he got to his feet, fighting against the near stand-still that she had placed on the rest of the room. In a distant corner of his mind he wondered if it might not just be this room. From the sheer power he could feel coming from her, he was willing to bet that the entire planet was frozen and under her control.
Was there any of his Rose left inside of this being? She was looking at him with such a vacant expression, as if she was seeing everything and nothing at the same time.
Hope flickered to life within him as her eyes fell upon him, those golden windows into the Vortex, hiding away from him the dark brown eyes that he had loved so much. She rounded the cage to the small door and, with a wave of her hand, it drifted open.
The Doctor watched her with bated breath as she reached into the cage for him, wisps of her energy dancing in towards him in front of her fingers. His hearts hammered away as she gently placed her hands underneath his arms, like one would a small child, and lifted him out of his prison.
He knew it was ridiculous, that now was most certainly not the time, but he couldn't help how his entire body sang at the contact between him, rejoiced at the sensation of her hands once again upon him.
Free from his cage, legs dangling beneath him, the Doctor looked up at the Bad Wolf who held him before her. He tried to establish a psychic connection with her but was met by a wall of golden light. Fear snaked its way through him, fighting with his joy, as he realized that he could not feel Rose at all. She was nowhere that he could reach. Could it be that, in turning her into the Bad Wolf, that he had sacrificed her once and for all?
He knew that there had been a possibility of that before he had whispered those fateful words into her ear, before the TARDIS had filled Rose with the last of her energy, but he hadn't wanted to truly believe that it would come to pass. But now, held in the hands that he adored, gazing into the face that was simultaneously her and not hers, he was terrified that Rose, his pink and yellow, mortal, oh so human love of his lives, was gone.
But then she spoke, her words ringing like bells in his mind.
"My Doctor."
Tears welled in his too-large eyes, the pain of all of this too much for him to bear. He reached out one small, wrinkled hand, so unworthy of touching her yet unable to stop himself. Electricity and power flooded his body as he placed his hand gently upon her cheek and tears tickled their way down his face.
Then she was lifting him towards her and tilting her head.
This was a reversal of the last time they had stood like this, Time Lord and Bad Wolf. "I think you need a doctor." Then, it had been her who had needed saving, and he had gladly died to do it. Would always die to save her. But now, now he was the one who needed saving.
His eyes found hers and for a moment he thought he saw a glimmer of Rose behind the Wolf, and then her lips touched his.
The effect was immediate.
Power coursed through their connection and he felt himself being filled by the time energy that inhabited her body. With eyes closed, he felt his legs lengthening, arms extending, felt the hair growing out of his head. He felt the reversal of time.
His feet touched the floor, yet he did not break their kiss, instead wrapping his now long, strong arms around her slight body and pulling her closer, digging one hand into her impossibly soft hair, the other gliding down her back to the dangerously low place where her dress and skin met and pressed his body flush against hers.
He could feel every point of contact between them and his body hummed with an intoxicating euphoria as his hearts pounded out a double rhythm. Her mouth was warm and soft against his and opened at his bidding, bringing them even closer together as their tongues fought for dominance. Goosebumps made their way down his neck as one of her hands ran up the back of his head, fingernails grazing their way through his hair, her other hand gripping his lapel. They poured into one another everything they had, every memory, every emotion, every ounce of love, pain, guilt – they shared it all. The Bad Wolf was not gone, he could feel her under the surface, but his Rose was the one who was present and, oh Rassillion, how he had missed her!
All too soon she pulled away and he caught a last flash of his Rose before the Bad Wolf came forward and pushed her back and out of his reach.
She looked at him for a long moment with eyes that he did not recognize then turned her attention to the Master who was still lying upon the floor, captured by the slight time-lock she had placed upon the entire planet.
Sadness swept through the Doctor but he would think of that later. He was restored! With wonder he looked down at his hands, the ones that he knew. His clever, capable hands that would save this planet. The Bad Wolf must have given him more than just his body back because he surged with energy, his blood coursed with time and tendrils of it drifted off from him, blue instead of her gold.
He was back!
The Doctor felt it as the Bad Wolf restored time to its normal pace, the whole room erupting with crashes and shouts as people and objects abruptly ended their journeys through the air. He saw Jack spring forward, an enormous grin on his face, saw the Master snatch his laser screwdriver and scramble to his feet, saw Martha, brilliant Martha, run to embrace her family. He was relieved to see that they were all still alive, that Clive was still alive after the blow he had received.
More people came in through the doors and Toclafane materialized all over the room. The Valiant rocked slightly and the crew dove to their positions to regain control of the ship. The Doctor thought he saw a flash of red and thought it might be Lucy, but his attention was directed back at the Master.
The Doctor realized that all of it, the supernova, the kiss, his restoration - every recent event must have taken place in in under a minute, maybe two. The Master gaped at the Doctor's young body with astonished rage and he leveled the screwdriver at him.
"No!" he shouted, "No, it's not fair!"
"You have committed the most atrocious crime the universe has ever seen," the Bad Wolf said, her quiet voice somehow magnified to reach throughout the room for everyone stopped to watch. "You will answer for these crimes, Master."
"No! I created you! You will obey me!" he declared again, pathetically, the realization of the situation hitting him as the Doctor looked on.
"I am the Bad Wolf," she said, this time even louder, "I create myself." A small wave of energy came off of her, forcing the Master to take a step back and a sudden wind picked up, whipping itself around the room. The human witnesses shrank away from scene but looked on, unable to turn away. "You mean nothing, are nothing, I can erase you from all of time and space, forever."
She started toward the Master who made to shoot his laser screwdriver at her but the beam stopped short as she brought up a hand to halt it. The Doctor watched, fascinated, terrified, as the laser beam retracted back into the screwdriver, turning the device red hot. There was a sizzling sound and the Master gave a shout of pain, dropping the now smoking weapon and retreating from her until his back hit the wall and he cowered down, hands covering his head. Defeated.
Suddenly, the Doctor registered her words and leapt forward, grabbing her arm. She was going to destroy the Master just as she had destroyed the Daleks. He had done nothing before, only watched as his immortal nemeses, the bane of his existence had vanished into clouds of golden dust. He had been unwilling to stop her from doing what he had wished so many times that he could do himself. But this…
The Master was the last Time Lord besides himself. Even after all he had done, all the pain, suffering, murder, torture, even after all of that, he could not let the Bad Wolf erase him.
So, ignoring the wind that whipped her hair like a lash around her face and tugged at his clothing, he gripped her arm and stepped up beside her, facing not the Master, but the Wolf.
"Please," was all he said, quiet enough so only she could hear him. She turned to look at him, eyes exuding the Vortex, concealing from him any sign that Rose was still within. She studied his face, what she was looking for, he was unsure, and then gave one nod of her head before stepping back.
Relief flooded the Doctor and he gazed at her a moment longer before striding over to the Master. He still relished the feeling of his long legs, the ease with which he now moved, but pushed that all aside to address the problem cowering at his feet.
Pity filled him, and regret for his poor, mad, former friend and he knelt down and did what no one expected. He embraced the sobbing body of the other Time Lord.
"I forgive you," he said, putting all the suffering and loneliness he had endured since the destruction of Gallifrey through their mental connection.
Suddenly the Master stopped sobbing and said, "My children!"
"Protect the paradox! Protect the paradox!" the Toclafane in the room began to chant and began to swarm the Bad Wolf. More Toclafane appeared out of thin air and through the doors, joining the others.
"Protect the paradox!"
"Protect the paradox!"
The Doctor shoved the Master away, making to go to the Bad Wolf, but he was stopped short by the multitude of Toclafane that surrounded her, blades and guns extended. He saw Jack run towards her as well, but then changed course to stand by the Doctor's side.
Laughter erupted behind the Doctor and he whirled around in time to see the Master extract Martha's teleport device from his pocket.
"No!" he shouted and dove forward to wrestle it from the Master's grip but he was too late and he felt the pull of the teleport. His last glimpse was of Toclafane disappearing into gold dust one by one, only to be replaced by four more as the Bad Wolf fought them off.
When they arrived at their destination, the Doctor was thrown to the rocky ground. They were outside, on Earth. He got to his feet and saw the Master looking out over a terrifying field of rockets.
"Now it ends, Doctor," he shouted, arms outstretched. "Now, it ends!" A deafening alarm begin to sound as smoke rose from the bases of each giant rocket.
"We've got control of the Valiant, you can't launch," the Doctor said with certainty that he did not feel.
"But don't you see?" the Master asked, turning to face the Doctor. "Don't you see? The TARDIS is dead, the paradox falls upon her. The Bad Wolf!" He spat the name with venom and anger. The Doctor did see, yes he saw now. It would have been easy to destroy the Paradox Machine inside of the TARDIS, all he had to do was rip out the wires and equipment that the Master had installed. However, with the Paradox now being supported by Rose, by the Bad Wolf…
"Ah, now I see you are getting it," the Master said, gleefully. "Yes, Doctor, to save this planet, you have to destroy the woman you love."
Dread coursed through the Doctor, his mind running at a million bits per second trying to devise a plan, trying to think of any alternatives. There were none.
To end the Paradox and restore the world…he would have to sacrifice Rose. She was still in there; she had been the one who had kissed him.
Could he kill Rose?
NO! His hearts screamed in unison. He had to find a way past this.
"You still cannot launch without the Valiant," he said, trying to buy himself some time.
"Oh, but I've got this," the Master said, holding up a small square device. "Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you. We shall stand upon this Earth, together, as it burns!"
The Doctor's mind was racing and he was fighting hard to conceal the panic that was threatening to overcome him.
"Weapon after weapon after weapon," the Doctor said, approaching the other Time Lord as he would a wild animal. "All you do is talk and talk and talk. But over all these years…and all these disasters, I've always had the greatest secret of them all. I know you. Explode those ships, you kill yourself. That's the one thing you can never do." He held out his hand, hoping beyond hope for the Master to see reason. "Give that to me."
The Master glared at him, the gears ticking away in his head. The Doctor remained where he was, hand out. With a grimace of defeat, the Master slapped the device into the Doctor's waiting hand.
"This still doesn't solve the little problem of the paradox," the Master said smugly, struggling to maintain the upper hand.
He was right. Why did he have to be right? The Doctor could sacrifice Rose to save the world, or let the Earth recover from all of the horrors it had endured under the Master's reign. They could do it, humans were amazing, but time was wrong. This was never meant to happen and if the paradox stayed in place reality would begin ripping itself apart. The weight of the paradox would eventually destroy her as well. He had to get back to the ship. Had to get back to her.
He dove for the Master, tackling him to the ground, both wrestling for control of the teleport. Finally, the Doctor got his hand on it and pressed the button. The sickening pull of the teleport was short-lived and instantaneously they were back on board.
The Bad Wolf was still surrounded by Toclafane, her attempts at destroying them useless as each one was replaced by more and more, all rushing to defend her against potential threats. She must already be weakening under the strain of the paradox because if she had all of her strength the Doctor was sure she would wipe them all out in one fell swoop. Jack was shooting them down with a gun that he had obtained from the guards, and others were fighting them as well but to no avail.
The Toclafane were winning, he could see that right away. The Doctor swept up a metal bar that had been lying amongst the wreckage and began battering his way into the swarm towards the Bad Wolf. Toclafane blades sliced his suit but none landed damaging blows. He suspected that they were still under orders from the Master not to kill him and he took advantage of this as he fought to her side. He came up short as her glowing hand rose to meet him, she had been about to destroy him but directed the power towards another group of Toclafane.
He opened his mouth to speak but suddenly she was in his mind.
"I know, Doctor."
"There has to be another way. Surely there is another way!"
"For the paradox to end, so must the Bad Wolf."
"No! I cannot lose you again! I won't survive it!"
"You will survive. You must. You are the savior of worlds, the Lonely God. You have so much to do. Time and space can go on without Rose Tyler, without the Bad Wolf, but it cannot without you."
"I will not let you do this."
Ignoring the chaos around them, ignoring the swarm of Toclafane, the Bad Wolf reached out a hand and placed it upon his cheek.
"One last goodbye, my Doctor."
Suddenly it was Rose's eyes staring back at him and tears were beginning to stream down her face. The Doctor placed his hand over the one on his cheek and put his other upon hers, drawing her closer until their foreheads were touching. It was her, it was his Rose. She smiled up at him through her tears, just as she had during their last goodbye at Bad Wolf Bay.
"Rose," he said out loud, the sound coming out rough as it strained through his tight throat for tears were spilling out of his eyes as well.
"This is how it has to be, Doctor," Rose said, wiping one of his tears away with her thumb. "The beast said I would die in battle…and here we are. I always thought it was Canary Warf but it's this. It has always been this."
"No, I can't let you do this, Rose, we can think of something! You and me, the stuff of legends…"
She huffed out a little laugh, "Shiver and Shake."
She was crying now, and the sight sent daggers through him.
"I'm so glad I got to see you again, before…before-"
"Rose-"
"No! Doctor, this is the only way, I saw it when I was…her. I can still see everything and this is the way it has to be. If I have to die to save the planet…then that is a good death." She let out a little sob, her emotion breaking through the wall of strength she was trying so hard to keep up. "You have to let me do this…but before I do. Please, Doctor. When I stood on that beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me?"
The Doctor looked down at Rose, his beautiful, amazing Rose, and swallowed, "I said, 'Rose Tyler.'"
More tears came then, brought on by the excruciating memory. "Yeah? And how was that sentence gonna end?"
The Doctor knew exactly how that sentence was going to end. For the first time in his impossibly long life he was going to say those words. And then the black hole energy disappeared and he was cut short to live a life of regret, doomed to always punish himself for not saying what so very much needed to be said.
Golden light was still cascading off of her, wrapping its way up his arms and causing her skin to glow. Nearly a thousand years of pain and guilt came to a head within him as he looked down up on the woman that he loved more than anything else in the entirety of time and space. He drew her closer, cupping her damp cheeks in his hands as she gazed up at him with the fate of the entire world resting upon her small, mortal shoulders.
He took a breath, and said what he had wanted to say since he first grabbed her hand and said, "Run".
"Rose Tyler, I love you."
Her hands latched onto his lapels and drew him down, their lips coming together in their second, and last, kiss. He could taste her tears and wrapped his arms around her, hand tangling in her hair, pressing her as close as possible to him in an attempt to never, ever have to let her go.
And then she was gone.
There was an enormous burst of power, all of time exploding out from the body that he had held in his hands, rocking the ship and sending everyone flying backwards. Toclafane disappeared in clouds of golden dust and the Doctor could sense time reversing. But he didn't care. All he cared about was his now empty arms. She had been right there, and then her atoms dissolved into gold. He had tried so hard to hang onto her, but his hands met nothing but air as the cloud of golden particles that had been the center of his universe evaporated into the air.
I love you. The words came through his mind as faint as a breeze and then they were gone.
She was gone.
Mayhem was erupting all around him as everyone found something to grab onto as the past year rewound itself.
It would be as if none of this had ever happened.
As if she had never been here.
He felt the TARDIS burst back into life, her song of joy quickly replaced by one of devastating sadness at the loss of her favorite companion. Rose's last gift to him. He remained rooted to the spot, willing the destruction of the paradox to take him too, but when the motion stopped and he could taste last year upon his tongue, he was still there. Was still all right.
He was always all right.
A/N: Don't kill me! Like I said, there's a happy ending and another chapter waiting for you after 20-25 reviews. PLUS you got two kisses, that counts for something right? …Okay maybe not after that mean, evil thing I did there but hang in there my lovelies, for good things are on the way.
Xx Lady Ten
