A/N: Thank you for all the alerts, favorites, and especially the reviews. They really all help in encouraging my muses to hand me the next tidbits to work into a story. Additionally, thank you all for being patient with the slow updates recently. I have had a lot on my plate as far as exams went, but they are done now so huzzah, more chapters faster (at least I hope so :D ). A brief note, I changed the title of the story slightly because a friend pointed out that Lupus is a disease, so I thought I ought to clarify, Lupus is latin for wolf, as it appears in the title. Sorry for that little mix up. As ever my ears are open to any comments/suggestions/random thoughts that happen to pass through your mind. Thank you as always. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the wonderful world of Doctor Who, though as most people in the fandom, wish I did.

Chapter Twelve:

Shrouded in cloaks of shadows three figures knelt around an upturned torch, examining a fourth, prone body. Darkness danced across their outlines, the light hid more of their faces than it revealed. Their light ascended into the heavens, a beacon for any who still cared, stark against the absolute dark. Beyond the faint circle of radiance things seemed to slither and slink, eyes that flatly reflected the light stared hungrily, but the companions were unaware.

"Is he still alive?" Jack's voice came out as a whisper; the darkness somehow seemed to forbid louder tones.

"Yup, that he is, unfortunately for us." The Doctor felt gingerly at the man's neck for a pulse. "Unconscious I would reckon, the transition was a little too much for him."

"Nearly was too much for me, for a second there I thought it would never end." Jack looked about, taking in the limited view. "I guess I would only be stating the obvious if I said it was awfully dark. Is this how dark it's always been?"

"When I left you could almost see without a torch, like midnight on a summer night. This-," Rose gestured, "-is new. Something must have happened while I was gone."

"More Tenebres arrived?" Jack offered with an uneasy smile.

"Maybe; we could never distinguish if they were one giant mass or individuals. Not that it really mattered in the long run, they destroyed us regardless." What could be seen of Rose's face tightened into a mournful expression.

"And the eyes are they new as well?" Jack was clearly ill at ease with the darkness, shifting constantly to keep the circling specters in view. The Doctor on the other hand was a still statue, his eyes closed and hands clenched in his lap. The Time Lord's brow was furrowed in concentration.

"Just wild dogs, they won't bother us." Rose gave a soft laugh as Jack visibly relaxed then she sobered. "The biggest dangers are the other humans, if they have any humanity left. They'll take all that you can give and more. That's why I learned to carry a gun, not to defend against the enemy but to defend against my fellow humanity."

"You with a gun. It still seems…wrong somehow."

"Jack, a hundred and twenty five years is a long time, a lot can change and has changed for me. Like I've told the Doctor I'm no longer the same person. Besides, you carry gun as well don't you?" She nodded her head to the gun concealed under his great coat.

"I know, but…I was raised for war; the fifty first century wasn't a peaceful place. I learned from an early age it was either us or them. They took a brother from me, Rose." Jack looked away, his eyes shimmering in the half-light.

"Oh, Jack. I never knew," Sympathy was etched in her features along with a shared pain of loss. "Believe me I don't enjoy carrying this gun. It reminds me of how much I've changed and how much I've lost."

They lapsed into a sorrow laden silence, each staring off into a different section of the night. Rose finally glanced at the Doctor, silent through their entire exchange. He still hadn't moved from his kneeling position, hands clenched tightly. He moaned softly, faint words escaped through closed lips, "Who… no… don't understand… too much… can't… hurts," the Doctor whimpered, rocking back and forth.

"Doctor? What's going on? Doctor!" Concerned for the Doctor, Rose reached out to grasp his shoulder to shake him from his trance.

As soon as she touched him, his eyes flew open. "Rose?"

"Yes it's me. I thought we lost you there for a second. What was going on?"

"The Tenebres…I think they're trying to communicate with me."

Rose looked at him aghast. "They were trying to communicate with you? But why, all they've ever cared about was wiping us off the face of the earth."

"I don't know, I couldn't understand what they were saying, they were too incoherent, too large. Never, Rose. Never have I encountered something like them, a vast mind pressing against mine, so full of foreign concepts." The Doctor shuddered at the memory.

Rose's voice was full of bitterness, "Let me guess; their thoughts were all bent on our destruction."

The Doctor, shaken by his experience, failed to notice the bitter tone of Rose's words. "I couldn't tell. They were too chaotic for me to make out anything more than basic feelings. Rose, the Tenebres are in pain, unbearable amounts of pain and so confused."

"Good, they'll be distracted, easier to kill." Rose's eyes shone with unmasked insanity as she contemplated the blackened sky.

"Rose…are you sure you really want to go through with this?" The Doctor hesitantly broached. "You sure you don't…I mean, we don't really understand why they are doing this."

"Yes," she hissed through clenched teeth, "They have taken everything from me. Doctor, I would have thought that you would have understood that."

"I do…I thought…well, it doesn't matter." The Doctor fumbled for words and then faltered into silence.

"Are you sure it's the Tenebres you sense? It couldn't be something else in pain?" Jack queried, uncomfortable with Rose's evident madness.

"Maybe, but it's highly unlikely. Nothing, last time I was here, had this kind of aura. Granted things could have changed in the past one hundred and twenty five years, but not a lot of things in the universe are this strong, so I doubt it." He added as an afterthought, "I don't know if they actually realize what they're doing here, it seemed to me they were like lost children."

Rose suddenly stood, walking off into the dark, her shoulders set. "Where are you going?" the Doctor called out after her.

"To find Marie, Isabelle, and Rick; the ones I left behind. They've been waiting, perhaps too long," she said without turning back.

"Let me come with you." The Doctor struggled to rise, but collapsed, clutching his stomach. "Rose, wait!"

She whirled about, eyes blazing uncontrollably. "No Doctor, I'm not going to. You obviously don't understand. These are the monsters that ruined my world, tortured me for over a hundred years. And here you are trying to communicate with them, attach feelings to unfeeling devils! Satan was right; Rose did die in battle, not at Canary Wharf, but here, on this world. You just put the last nail in her coffin Doctor."

"Rose…please let me explain. I feel them, I can't help it, they're screaming in my head, screaming so loudly. I-" But he spoke only to empty air, Rose had vanished beyond the curtain of night.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Jack moved to support the panting Time Lord. "I'll go after her, bring her back here." He rose to go but the Doctor caught his wrist.

"No, don't. This is between me and her. I love her more than life itself but I can't help but question the situation, that impulse is so much a part of me. I have to go find her." He struggled to his feet. "The Tenebres assault on my mind shook me, that's all. Besides, I know where the cave is; the one that she told the children to wait in, and someone needs to stay here and watch our friend Barker."

Jack nodded and sat back down by Barker. He undid the clasp on his vortex manipulator and tossed it to the Doctor, who caught it looking surprised. "Use it to find her, it can sense life signs. It should also tell you if anyone is hunting you; I don't like the sound of these people the darkness drove mad."

"Jack…" He looked like he was going to refuse it, then he closed his hand, "Thanks." The Doctor smiled then walked beyond the circle of torchlight, in time the noise of his passage faded and Jack was left alone with the still body of Julius Barker.

"Just you and me I guess. Not exactly a tropical vacation but I could get use to the dark, soothing after a little while. The team would have a fit if they knew where I was, after all those times I told them not to fool with the rift, and here I find myself on the other side of one. The irony of it all. Well, at least you're a good listener Julius, if not exactly a talker," Jack rambled, trying to fill the silence that rested heavily on his mind.

As if his name was the key, Julius started to moan and Jack pulled and trained his own gun at him. His eyes fluttered and then opened, he focused on Jack. "You!"

"Me!" Jack snarled. He still hadn't forgotten what this man had done to the Doctor. Oh how he wanted to squeeze the trigger, but for all they knew this man might hold the key to defeating Rose's enemies.

"Where am I?"

"Just where you wanted to end up Barker, the other side of the rift." They both froze as a noise sounded from beyond the circle of light, something far heavier than a dog. "Doctor? Rose?"

No response.

It sounded again. This time closer, it was a soft moaning noise. "Hello? Anyone out there?" Jack shouted and aimed his gun on the empty blackness, his back facing Julius.

Julius saw the opportunity and took it; leaping on Jack's back he tried to wrestle the gun from his hand. They both fell to the ground, and the gun was thrown into the void beyond the torch.

"You idiot!" Jack grunted as he pinned the smaller man beneath his weight.

Julius' lip curled in contempt and he spat in Jack's face. "What would you know of my intelligence Time Agent? Following the Doctor around like a puppy. I am capable of defeating the Darkness itself, I have brought empires to their knees, and the stars themselves fear my tread. Compared to me what is the Doctor but a meddling freak, with fools like you following in his footsteps, lapping up every word he says like it's manna from heaven."

Jack wiped the spit from his face with the back of his hand and then hit Barker, hard. "You don't know anything of the Doctor, or the Time Lords do you? What he's done for the universe, for you. Yes, even for sorry bastards like you, Julius Barker. He gave up everything he had for us, and more. Now the Doctor is alone in all of time and space. The one person he truly cares about is in danger of killing herself to save her own world and all you can do is sit there and call him a freak? I pity you Barker."

Julius made as if to speak but his face froze in horror, his eyes were locked, looking beyond Jack's head. Jack slowly turned around and vaguely registered red eyes and flashing teeth before stars burst in his head and fell into unconsciousness.

OOOOOOOO

Rose ran through the forest, not caring as the branches caught her clothing and raked her flesh. Tears coursed down her face; how could she have been such a fool? She had actually believed the Doctor would help her fight the Tenebres, how naïve she had been. He had broken the trust they shared. Knowing what she had been through at their hands, he still tried to understand them. There was nothing to understand; they had taken all that she had loved from her, and they had to pay, simple as that.

A small traitorous part of her wondered if the Doctor was right; what if there was more to the Tenebres? Rose quickly squashed that thought. They had struck the first blow, taken citizens of the Earth, and then coated the entire world in darkness. If that didn't constitute a desire to hurt humanity she didn't know what did.

She crashed into a clearing and looked up at the sky; it was darkness beyond night. Glancing back the way she came it was impossible to see past a few feet. Yet she still knew where she was. This was the clearing where she had entered the rift the first time; the cave was beyond the trees. Silently she prayed, may they still be alive, let them have survived.

Trepidation coiled in her gut like a slimy eel as she approached the hidden mouth of the cave. Carefully, oh so carefully, she pushed aside the concealing greenery and looked inside.

Light from a fire met her dark adjusted eyes, and she put up a hand to shield them. She gave an 'oomph' as a small body hurtled into her and attached itself to her own.

"Lupus, your back! I've been so scared, the others…" The petite form started to shake as she began to sob.

"Ella, what's wrong? Where are Marie and Rick?" Rose's joy slowly turned sour.

"They're gone…taken by the crazies." Ella clung tighter to Rose and broke down completely.

"Shh…it's alright. You're safe now, I'm back." She carefully smoothed the youngster's tousled hair.

After a while Ella's sobs calmed to broken hiccups. Rose knelt and tilted her charge's eyes to her own. "Ella, I have some very good news. While I was gone I found a way to defeat the Tenebres." She reverently pulled the pyramid from her bag. Its surface was no longer a dull steel blue but seemed to shine with its own inner light.

Ella frowned, "I don't care 'bout the Tenes, Lupus. I just want you back. Are you going to stay forever this time?" She picked up the pyramid out of Rose's outstretched hands and then placed it on the ground. Wide eyes innocently staring up at Rose, she held her arms out in their signal for a hug.

Rose smiled through the silent tears falling down her cheeks, "Of course Ella. I'll stay with you forever."

"I remember I asked you something like that and you gave the same answer." Rose turned around sheltering Ella behind her. Her face contorted in a feral snarl until she saw who it was. The Doctor leaned against the wall of the cave with the air of someone who knows they have witnessed something they weren't supposed to.

"Lupus, who is he? Is he a crazy?" Ella moved further behind the sheltering bulk of Rose.

"Well, you might say I'm a crazy, depends on who you ask." He winked at Rose. "I'm the Doctor and who are you?" The Doctor bent down holding out his hand towards Ella but she shrank back.

"It's alright; he can be trusted…sometimes." Rose laced the last word with emphasis.

"Rose, I'm sorry. I'm still going to help you defeat the Tenebres, I promised you. Remember when I said that I needed you to trust me, this is what I meant. I may be a Time Lord but even then I'm fallible. I won't go into a situation blind. Remember you taught me that with the Dalek; things are not always as they seem. I'm merely asking you to wait until I can completely understand." He continued in a softer voice, "Please Rose, will you wait?"

Rose's mind raced back to the day she had stopped the Doctor from killing the sole surviving Dalek, or at least it had been at the time. The Doctor had been so blinded by hatred that he had failed to see the pitiful creature standing in front of him, bereft of its own kind. She knew that the hatred burning inside of her was the only thing that had kept her going for so many years. Could that hatred now be blinding her in turn. Regardless, now she had the Doctor, couldn't her quest for revenge wait? Yes it could. He asked her to trust him, and she found that she did now that she explored her own heart.

"Yes, Doctor I can wait." Rose said solemnly holding his gaze. The Time Lord gave a sigh of relief.

"Rose? Who's he taking about Lupus?" Ella piped up. "Is he gonna help you defeat the Tenes? And what are Dalacs?"

"He's talking about me. Remember the man I told you about that I used to travel with. That's him and yes he's going to help me."

The Doctor glanced at Rose and grinned then addressed the small girl, "Daleks are evil monsters, but you don't need to worry about them, they're all gone now. Rose and I took care of them a long time ago."

"It's okay, I'm not afraid of any monsters. I faced down crazies, nothin' can scare me anymore." The young girl looked up stubbornly at the Doctor then ruined the effect by yawning widely.

"Ella, why don't you go get some sleep, you look exhausted. The Doctor and I need to talk about some grown up things." Rose shooed the girl off to the back of the cave where a nest of blankets marked her bed. Without protest the girl curled up, and closed her eyes.

As Rose headed back to the front of the cave a small voice whispered after her, "Forever?"

"Forever," Rose said with finality, speaking not only to the small girl curled behind her, but also to the Time Lord she loved.