I would have updated yesterday, but PBS showed Hamlet, and I had to watch it. :)
(Disclaimer) That's right. I own Doctor Who. That's why I've got the Doctor, Jack, and Ianto all tied up in my basement. ;)
Searching Souls
Part The Twelfth
Neither having noticed the Dalek until hearing its loud call, it stands fair to say that neither of the lovers was prepared to deal with the alien. Since neither one was prepared, it is also fair to say that both the Doctor and Rose (along with Donna and her family, who had witnessed the entire scene) were relieved at the timely appearance of a certain fifty-first century Captain, who quickly took out the unwanted alien before anyone could get hurt.
The two had pulled apart at the Dalek's cry, and when it was gone, all attention was once more on the lovers standing in the middle of the street, hand in hand. The Doctor was forced to let go of her, however, when Captain Jack ran up to the pair and pulled Rose into a fierce embrace, having believed he would never see her again.
When Rose was released from the arms of the friend they had left behind, she knew, from the smile on his face, that it would be just like the old days, saving the universe in time for tea, with plenty of banter along the way.
"Well, well, well, Rosie, it would appear you've got some explaining to do. Last I heard, you were trapped in a parallel world, and now not only are you here, you're also pregnant?" Jack dropped his mock-serious tone as he exclaimed, "Wherever you were, I want to join in next time!"
The blond grinned right back at the Captain, laughing as she exclaimed, "Oh, Jack! I've missed you!"
With a pout, the Doctor cut in, "Hey! Where's my hug?"
As the Captain obliged the Doctor, Donna made her way over to the trio, a grin on her face at how obviously overjoyed the Doctor was, having never seen him so ecstatic in all their time together.
When she saw the redhead approaching, Rose turned to greet her, holding out a hand as she spoke, "Hi, I'm Rose." After a second she added self-consciously, "I dunno if he's mentioned me..."
Donna grinned at the younger woman, answering, "Of course I know who you are! I couldn't get him to shut up about you if I tried! I'm Donna, by the way, I don't think we were ever really properly introduced."
Rose laughed lightly, despite the impending danger that they were all ignoring for the moment, "No, I don't suppose we were.a Have you been keepin' him out of trouble?"
It was Donna's turn to laugh. "I don't think I could if I locked him in one of those padded rooms!"
Before Donna and Rose could say any more, the two men who looked nothing near their actual ages approached, the Doctor announcing, "Let's get back to the TARDIS before any more Daleks come to ruin our fun."
When they reached the ship, Donna paused to tell Wilf and Sylvia that they should stay inside before she, too, entered the blue box. When she reached the middle of the room, Donna took her place next to the two men, both of whom were staring expectantly at Rose, waiting for her to begin her story. After a quiet moment, Donna, seeing that no one else would, prodded, "Well?"
"Well what?"
Before anyone could answer the blond, the ship shook roughly and the lights dimmed. Stumbling over to read the swirling letters on the monitor, the Doctor exclaimed, "They've got us, power's gone! Some kind of chrono-loop!"
The ship shook one more time and all four passengers landed on the metal grating. As the Doctor quickly moved to help Rose up, Jack commented, "There's a massive Dalek ship at the center of the planets, they're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination."
Donna, frowning in concern, prodded the Doctor, "You said these planets were like an engine, but what for?"
Rose hardly paid any attention to the resulting question from the Doctor, giving him the answer that they had decided upon at Torchwood in the other universe, as a way to explain their project to UNIT, or anyone else with the authority to demand an answer. "It's the darkness. Stars were going out, one bye one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dieing. Basically, we've been building this... Um, this travel machine, this..." Rose frowned as she tried to describe it, pulling out the yellow device and fidgeting with it as she continued, "This, uh, dimension canon, so I c-... Well, so I can..." She was not entirely sure why she was having such a hard time finding the right words.
"What?" The Doctor prodded.
Smiling sheepishly, Rose answered, "So I can come back." When the Doctor giggled - though he would never admit that 'giggle' was the name for the sound that escaped him - she frowned and admonished, "Shut up. Anyway, suddenly, it started to work. The dimensions started to collapse." As she continued to explain their predicament, Rose watched everyone's expressions grow solemn, knowing that all of creation was at stake. The blond continued, knowing that the Doctor needed to know it all, "Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the void was dead. Something is destroying everything."
"And now we know who's behind it," Jack supplied, wondering just how many times the Daleks would interrupt their lives.
"But what are they doing?" The Doctor wondered aloud, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
Before anyone could supply an answer (although that was not likely to ever happen), the ship jolted once more, this time in landing.
Always up for the challenge, the Doctor announced, "The Dalek Crucible, all aboard. We have to go out, 'cause if we don't, they'll get in."
Rose frowned, protesting, "You told me nothing could get through those doors. Remember? The assembled hordes of Genghis Kahn couldn't do it?"
"You've got extrapolater shielding," Jack chimed in, remembering the night he installed it.
The Doctor sighed, explaining, "Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers, hybrids, and mad. But this is a fully-fledged Dalek empire, at the height of its power. Experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door, it's just wood."
As the Doctor's words sank in, Jack turned to Rose, knowing that she and the baby had to come first. "What about your dimension jump?"
Rose frowned at the device, answering, "It needs another ten minutes, and anyway, I'm not leaving."
The Doctor nodded, knowing that he would never believe her to be safe if he could not see her with his own eyes. Turning to the Captain, he asked, "What about your teleport?"
Rose hardly heard Jack's negative reply as she moved toward the central column, enjoying the ship's musical hum in her head. She hardly noticed Donna asking the Doctor what they could do, she was simply enjoying the peace of mind that being on the TARDIS once more gave her.
"It's been good, though, hasn't it?" The Doctor's words pulled Rose out of her nostalgic daze. "All of us, everything we did." He looked at Dona, Rose, and Jack in turn as he spoke, "You were brilliant. And you were brilliant. And you were brilliant. Blimey..."
The Doctor led the way out the door, Donna and Jack following directly behind. Rose began to move towards the doors, but felt something holding her back, keeping her from leaving.
"Rose," the Doctor called, "You're no safer in there!"
The pregnant woman moved forward, bu the wooden door slammed shut just before she reached it, trapping her inside the ship.
Frantically tugging at the door handle, Rose called out, "Doctor! What's going on? What have you done?"
The Doctor, every bit as scared and confused as the blond, answered, "It wasn't me, I didn't do anything!"
Through the doors, he heard her stubborn exclamation, "Oi! I'm not staying behind!"
Still worried, the Doctor turned to the Dalek in front of him, accusing in anger, "What did you do?"
"This is not of Dalek origin."
Panicking, Rose called out, "DOCTOR!"
Still addressing the red Dalek before him, the Time Lord exclaimed, "Stop it! She's my... She's my everything, now open the door and let her out!"
The monotonous reply he received did not lift his spirits in the slightest. "This is Time Lord treachery!"
"Me?" He exclaimed, incredulity and frustration apparent in his voice, "The door just closed on its own!"
"Nevertheless, the TARDIS is a weapon and it will be destroyed." The words crushed him, but not nearly as much as the floor dropping out from under his ship.
"What are you doing?!" He cried out, "Bring it back! What have you done? Where is it going?"
"The Crucible has a heart of Zed-Neutrino energy. The TARDIS will be deposited into the core."
As the realization hit the Doctor, (though he though it to be impossible) his hearts broke further. "You can't, you've taken the defenses down! It'll be torn apart!"
Donna frowned before she spoke up, seeing the Doctor's obvious pain, but able to do nothing to assuage it, "But Rose is still in there!"
Jack, a surge of protectiveness over his younger friend rising up, chimed in, "Let her go!"
The cold, mechanical voice cut over their protests, "The female and the TARDIS will perish together. Observe." As the alien spoke, a screen dropped from the ceiling, and a most terrifying image of the blue box surrounded by flames appeared upon the screen. "The last child of Gallifrey is powerless."
Desperation in his voice, the Doctor supplicated, "Please, I'm begging you! I'll do anything! Anything at all! Put me in her place! You can do anything to me, I don't care, just get her out of there!"
Merciless, the Emperor Dalek spoke, "You are connected to the TARDIS. Now feel it die!"
During the course of his beseeching, the Doctor had stepped forward towards the Dalek he addressed, and Donna, seeing his pain, stepped up to him and grasped his hand, the only way she could think of to provide support for the broken Time Lord.
As everyone watched the screen, the Emperor Dalek spoke, "Total TARDIS destruction in ten reels. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. The TARDIS as been destroyed. Now tell me, Doctor, what do you feel? Anger? Sorrow? Despair?"
In defeat, the Time Lord, whispered brokenly, "Yeah."
The cruel alien continued to antagonize the Doctor, "Then if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you."
Jack, embodying the organization he headed, and not caring one bit, let his anger overcome him. He pulled out his gun and exclaimed, enraged, "YEAH? FEEL THIS!" With the declaration, the Captain started firing at the Dalek, releasing his anger on the creature.
The bullets did not harm the Dalek, but the creature exclaimed, "EXTERMINATE!" before firing at the immortal Captain, causing him to die once more.
Donna, shocked, started forward to see if he was okay, to do something, anything, to help the man, only to be stopped by the Doctor pulling on her hand, speaking, "Donna, come here. Leave him."
Appalled and in shock, she whispered, "They killed him..."
As the Daleks led them to the "vault", the Doctor turned back to Jack in time to see the Captain wink. The Time Lord, crushed at the loss of his love, his child, the ship that he called home, everything he had, drew his strength from the knowledge that Jack would come up with a plan, knowing that Donna needed him to refrain from breaking down for the time being. As soon as the whole mess was over with, he would have time to grieve, but until that moment, he would have to carry on.
Shorter this time, I know, but I wanted to leave off on a cliffhanger. ;) I think there's about three chapters left (including an epilogue), the story's wrapping up rather nicely, I think...
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!! The POLL is also still open, but I've pretty much decided on the baby's name... Also, I'm still accepting pick-up lines, if you've got any - details on my profile.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time, it makes my day to see the reviews in my inbox!
*TRD*