The Doctor wanted to believe that everything was going to work out.

Truly he did. There was a part of him, deep inside, that believed that one day he might have joy; that he might have something he'd been seeking since the minute he ran away from Gallifrey. A contentedness, a purpose, something better than standing above the rest of the universe, afraid it might dirty their robes. It was the part of him that had kept him going after the war, if only to seek a nobler end than outright suicide. If he could die for the last time saving someone instead of destroying -

He stopped himself. That part of his soul was the same part that made him go back for Rose Tyler. The same Rose who had transformed herself into the deepest conundrum of all his lives.

She was incredibly dangerous, and not just because of the Vortex lighting up her mind like dynamite slowly burning down its fuse. He could sense Time itself wrapped around her. Wherever she went, things would happen, important things. Events that couldn't be changed. And they wouldn't all be good. He was the same way, of course, but that was why he traveled with other species who weren't so prone to change the universe accidentally. Humans, particularly before they gained real spaceflight, were simple, yet open to change and the unfamiliar. The Rose Tyler standing in front of him with her arms crossed fiercely across her chest was no longer human.

She had an amoral new brain to start with. They'd been apart long enough that it was difficult for him to tell how much the Master's thought patterns might be influencing her. She had already been different when he'd first picked her up, quieter, more thoughtful and better-spoken than the estate-born 19-year-old he'd first travelled with. Now her gaze was so intense he could hardly bear for her to turn it on him. How much of that was Rose Tyler, wealthy daughter of Pete Tyler, and how much was the Master?

She'd made herself over into something new, something unfamiliar. If she could be believed (and despite having free access to her mind, he wasn't quite sure he did believe) she'd created a whole universe just for them. And after all this, they'd bonded and she'd promised him she'd never leave him. Except he could still feel her flowing toward the Master in almost the same way her mind flowed toward his through their bond. She wanted him, the Doctor had no doubt. That she could even entertain the thought meant their bond didn't work the same way as folklore told him it would with a fellow Gallifreyan. She was human. They didn't do things for the long term. They couldn't - their whole lives went by in a flash.

Could he even begrudge her? The Master was the one who'd saved her in the end. She, a being considerably more powerful than they, was not afraid of the Master in the slightest. And he'd be lying to himself if he couldn't admit the Master was attractive. Always had been, no matter the incarnation. And oh, he'd had incarnations.

Yes, his mind supplied quickly. He could begrudge her. A promise was a promise. And he was Gallifreyan, even if she wasn't. The smell of another man on her was unbearable.

Even if that man was the Master.

Yet, despite all his misgivings, she was still Rose. Still the girl who'd challenged him, made him want to be better, made him want to make the universe better. Before they'd even left the TARDIS the first time she was fighting him.

When the Doctor told her what he'd done the last time they'd visited Rose was incensed. He already knew the Master basically agreed with her, if for different reasons.

If there had been anything he'd pictured about living a life with the Master and Rose both, it certainly hadn't been them ganging up on him.

But that was what kept happening. And it wasn't just the Master trying to irritate him by parroting Rose. One of them would say something and the other would agree, and despite their agreement he realized that they were mostly saying what he would have expected them to say. It wasn't as if either of them ever just went along with what he wanted.

"I can't believe you just blew up half their spaceport without even properly investigating! How many people died?"

The Doctor shrugged. "No idea."

"And you don't care?"

"Considering that if I'd left that unattended supply of time grenades and vortex adapters lying around, someone could have used it to do enough damage to destroy the whole universe? Yeah, I'd say I don't much care how many pirates and slavers died."

"But now it looks like they're all under the control of the satellite network! What if they were innocent?"

"They weren't innocent. Don't be naive. They're pirates. Even if they were influenced by the network, they were still keeping slaves in terrible conditions."

The Master picked that moment to join in. He had to be doing this intentionally. "The Releshi aren't known for trafficking slaves. Which makes sense, since they're dumber than the Judoon. Any reasonably intelligent lower life-form should be able to outwit them."

That was true but the Doctor didn't want to admit it. He didn't even want to think about this being more complicated than he'd chosen to view it at the time. He had seen those weapons, that round, featureless ship, and even though it had been many years for him since the war his whole body went cold just looking at them. He wanted them destroyed and he wanted to leave that horrible place and never return. Seeing that the majority of the people in the area were Releshi had just clinched the decision for him. He had no sympathy for them even if they'd only stumbled across the cache accidentally. His basic scan hadn't found any other traces of Gallifrey or the Vortex, so he'd blown up the weapons cache and hightailed it back to his TARDIS.

"What species were the slaves?" the Master asked. "Not human, of course."

"They were testing the weapons on them, that's what mattered to me at the time," the Doctor said coldly.

"And you could have found out what was really going on by figuring this out at the time, instead of leaving it for me to take care of later on," the Master retorted.

While he and Rose worked out their bond, the Master had modified an old perception filter to block the signal controlling the Kellisari military forces. It hadn't been too difficult for him since he'd designed the broadcast telepathy enhancer himself, at the request of the high council in the late stages of the Time War. Any sentient beings within range of the filter were abruptly disconnected from the controlling signal.

The winged forces had dissolved into anarchy, briefly firing at each other as confusion set in. Then they had abruptly abandoned their siege of the two TARDISes and flown off, taking their various weapons and ships with them. All that was left was for them to solve the mystery of where the Time Lord relics had come from and who had figured out how to use them. Whoever it was had enslaved at least the Kellisari and, though the Doctor was loathe to admit it, probably the Releshi as well. They were both local to this sector of this galaxy and neither was in the group of beings the Doctor would classify as brilliant. The Kellisari were sentient enough, but their intelligence was limited. They had never achieved spaceflight on their own, instead opportunistically taking advantage of the high levels of space traffic in their little corner of their galaxy. The Releshi - well, they weren't known for doing much other than stealing. Even their ancient ancestors had evolved as effectively a large rodent, stealing other animals' kills to survive. They were the sort of species the Doctor once would have pitied a bit, even if they were a major nuisance.

Looking for more information, a local leader, or maybe even a spot of local resistance, they landed their TARDISes in a quiet grove half a mile from the royal palace. They walked into the town outside the castle walls quietly, perception filters in place. They sought the date and found the Doctor's first trip here with Sarah Jane had occurred almost a century prior.

Not that long, from the Doctor's perspective, for a whole planet to go to hell.

Whatever was happening here, it was thorough enough that the locals had no idea what was going on. When questioned, finally out from under the influence of the mind control, most of the Kellisari had no idea where they were, much less what they'd been doing. They didn't recall tracking a Time Lord across their own city or the bombing of their main spaceport a few weeks prior. They were as confused and terrified as anyone would be, awakening in an unfamiliar place with no memory of ever travelling there. Even the Releshi, notorious for their bluster, trembled away from the Time Lords.

The last thing they remembered was all the same. A voice, a deep, husky woman's voice, telling them they never had to worry about anything, ever again.

The Master and the Doctor exchanged a look. Whoever was manipulating the Master's designs, he knew what he was doing. Even when he'd ruled the Earth for a year, the Master hadn't taken over the thoughts of the humans under his control. He'd merely influenced them into meekly accepting him. In this case, even though the same satellite-based technology was in use, the control was so strict that its subjects were effectively left with no mind of their own. Whoever was controlling all these people had an incredibly powerful mind. Even the Master seemed uneasy at the prospect. None of them were Kellisari or Releshi, so presumably they wouldn't be affected, but the Doctor couldn't help but think what might happen if the villain behind all this managed to gain control over Rose's mind.

****

They snuck back to the TARDIS to regroup and wait for the cover of nightfall to break into the palace itself. The signal controlling the satellite network originated there, so logically whoever was behind this must be hiding inside the palace.

The Doctor was still brooding as he put the finishing touches on a new device for detecting traces of the time vortex at long range. The palace was enormous, rivalling some of the structures in the Citadel on Gallifrey. He pushed his lips together in frustration as he fiddled with it.

"Doctor? You still with us?"

Rose had arrived from the wardrobe, warmly clothed in a sweater, skirt and leggings with a long trench coat thrown over her ensemble. He looked up at her and forced a smile. She quirked an eyebrow at him and didn't return the expression. He cursed himself inwardly, remembering that even when they weren't touching she could sense his true emotions. "'Course," he managed finally. "Just finished the timey-wimey detector. All ready to go."

The Master groaned from his place on the jump seat. "Could you please not call it that?"

"It's my design, I'll call it whatever I please," the Doctor told him firmly. Rose's lip finally quirked upwards at that.

"If your probably-useless device is finished, can we finally get on with this? I'm eager to meet the man clever enough to harness my mind-control tech. I bet we'll get along just fine. Likely have to throw you in the dungeon to pay for all the damage you've caused, but that's only fair."

"The damage I caused? Weren't you the one bragging about all the guards you had to kill to get back here?" He glanced at Rose out of the corner of his eye as he said it. She didn't flinch.

The Master snorted. "Those guards were expendable. The only bits of Gallifrey left in the multiverse weren't."

Rose made an irritated noise and zipped her trenchcoat shut. "Let's go and find out. Unlike you two, I've actually got a mind to finally get off this bloody planet."

"We'll probably walk straight into an ambush," the Master said, pulling on his leather jacket. The Doctor couldn't help but notice one of Rose's eyebrows creep up as she looked at the Master. He couldn't stop looking at her looking at him.

The Master wasn't exactly himself either. He was more friendly to Rose than the Doctor had ever seen him act with anyone, Time Lord or other. They had animated discussions about their past adventures and Rose never flinched at the mention of the dead bodies he'd left in his wake. The Master was clearly making some effort to get in Rose's good graces, but the Doctor couldn't tell if it was because he genuinely wanted her, because he wanted her power for himself, or if it was all an act just to irritate him.

He wanted badly to just ask Rose what she was feeling, but that had never been how their relationship worked. If he asked her what he wanted to ask her, she'd know everything he was trying to hide from her - his every insecurity. That he still couldn't trust her, not really. There were so many unknowns, and the Doctor liked knowing everything.

He could search her mind, of course. It was available to him, just as his was to her. But so far they had mostly left the full link between them unexplored. It had only been a few days since they'd bonded and those few days had been too busy for them to discuss their feelings.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. They should be happy, walking hand-in-hand to another adventure.

Instead he watched as the Master and Rose skipped out the door ahead of him, Rose's tongue in her teeth as she gave another man the smile she'd once reserved for him.

****

Rose was not surprised when they broke into the palace with no difficulty at all.

She and her Time Lords were surprised that the enormous castle - including the floating wings, it was like a dozen Buckingham Palaces all stacked together like a child's blocks - was completely devoid of life.

No guards burst out to greet them when the Doctor sonicked the lock on a cellar door. No attendants fluttered about, shocked by their intrusion. From the outside it had appeared a respectable enough pile, but inside it was rotting. It hadn't ever been sacked or attacked, by the looks of things. It had simply been left to decay. They climbed from the cellar to the ground floor on a set of stairs slippery with mold. Tapestries lay in heaps on the floor, their fabric nibbled away by this planet's version of mice. Dust and small debris built up in corners and crevices, leaving everything with a dingy look. Some of the rooms and halls were entirely empty, and others held dusty pieces of what Rose took to be furniture, though it wasn't much like furniture on Earth. The most interesting aspect of the palace to Rose was that there were two sets of doors everywhere - one larger set for the winged Kellisari, high above their heads, and a smaller, more utilitarian set at floor level.

Rose was intrigued. Her first real adventure since - well, since Canary Wharf, really. Torchwood missions hardly counted. She'd missed this.

She wasn't as pleased about the lingering, prickling discomfort she sensed. Something was still bothering the Doctor, something about her personally, and she could feel it through the link. He wouldn't tell her what, wouldn't send her a direct message. But she could sense his trepidation and irritation and a third emotion, one he was masking well enough that she could only tell it was there, occupying his thoughts. She had to have some respect for the privacy of his thoughts, but it was truly aggravating. She loved him, but he could be such a git.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye, examining his timey-wimey detector and raking his hand through his hair. She sighed and clamped down around the blossoming lust inside her. The last thing they needed right now was more distraction. The unsettled business between them was bad enough.

He thought her reckless and impetuous and he was frightened of what she'd become. All that struck her as reasonable enough; with her newly enhanced mind (not to mention several years' life experience), she recognized that her 19-year-old self had been a little hasty in her eagerness to implant herself in the Doctor's life forever. Hadn't asked him if he wanted that, any more than he'd asked her if she wanted to be sent home to her mother with only a hologram to keep her company. And it was true that she hadn't understood the timelines well enough to predict all the outcomes; she certainly never intended to endanger her own family or Pete's World. He was right, in a way, except he wasn't. Things had ended the way she'd wanted them, accidental universe implosion or no. She didn't know if his inability to accept that was down to sheer stubbornness or the need for control she'd always seen in him.

He liked things done his way, the Doctor. He was used to everyone listening to him, admiring him, taking his suggestions to heart. Her jaw clenched slightly as she recalled a conversation they'd had not long before, where he finally told her what happened during their previous visit to Kellisarium. How he'd found some Time Lord artifacts - all souvenirs of the war that destroyed his people - and traced them back to a bunch of pirates. Filled with blood and anger and revenge, or whatever it was that fuelled his actions these days, he'd blown them all sky-high without properly investigating. If the TARDIS hadn't insisted on coming back, he would have left the mystery unsolved forever.

That wasn't the Doctor she knew. The Doctor she loved. It made her realize that she would have to accept the changes in him, the same way he had to accept the changes in her. But their relationship was so complicated. How could she be a part of him, feel and know everything he was, and still not understand why he did the things he did?

He's still an alien, she reminded herself. With the TARDIS's help she knew more about Gallifrey than she ever had before, but that didn't mean she would ever think like a Time Lord. Rose wanted what she wanted. She didn't feel the need to set herself apart, to prevent herself from exerting too much influence on events. She could feel the timelines curling around a moment not too far away, and everything in her curious monkey brain wanted to see what was to happen. The Doctor felt the same way, she knew, but his ever-present restraint kept him from ever fully experiencing anything. That was another thing she didn't understand. What was the point of living millenia if you didn't experience as much as you could, as fully as you could? Rose wanted it all. Every taste, every aroma, every sensation, every memory she could gather. She wouldn't deny herself anything.

Rose shivered, excited by her own thoughts. She pushed her endless ruminations over the Doctor away. There was plenty of time for that later.

For now she absorbed all the new data flowing into her mind. She'd never spent so long inside the TARDIS without a trip somewhere before, and she was pleased to be on a different world, even if it was undoubtedly leading to one of their more dangerous adventures. Even if this world itself was fairly unpleasant, its air too thick and humid and too high in carbon dioxide for her tastes. It wasn't dangerous, especially not now that she was "enhanced," but she was definitely a little uncomfortable. Her lungs felt slightly tight, the mixture of molecules in the air keeping her alveoli from running at full capacity.

This section of the palace was empty; she couldn't sense any body heat or sentient minds within her range. She suspected it didn't mean much because the palace was so enormous they could get lost inside it and not find their way out for days. Every hall they entered was impossibly vast, walls stretching as wide as a football pitch and ceilings at cathedral height. Despite its apparent abandonment, there was still a very distinct odor of bird about the place. It reminded Rose of her friend Shireen's flat, back when her friend's mother had tried to bring in extra cash by breeding budgies in their back room; the not-entirely-pleasant aroma of ammonia and down permeated the stone walls.

"They aren't entirely dissimilar to budgies, really," the Doctor said casually, and Rose's eyes widened before she could stop herself. It still startled her when the Doctor plucked a thought from her mind so casually. "Just a lot bigger. About a hundred times the weight! They wouldn't be able to fly if the air on Kellisarium weren't so unique. Have to be careful with the open flames, though, or else you can ignite the…"

Rose smiled. How infrequently did the Doctor babble these days?

She reached out and touched the stone as they reached the end of the hall and approached a wooden door. The Doctor, leading the way, reached for the handle. Rose was surprised to see it was locked. The other doors they'd encountered had either been unlocked or ajar.

The Doctor flicked his sonic on and made short work of the locked door. It popped open and he stopped short, staring wordlessly.

Rose could see in the interior of the room in front of them. Smaller than the other rooms they'd encountered, it was unique in another way as well.

It was full. Completely full, of what appeared to Rose at first glance to be old space-junk, familiar to what she'd seen a dozen times on trips with the Doctor.

Then she looked again, using her new senses. Everything - absolutely everything - in the room positively vibrated with potential. Each tiny piece as potent to the timelines as Rose herself was.

The Master, who'd been dawdling behind them, stopped behind her. "Oh," he said. "So that's where the rest of it went."

"The rest of it?" the Doctor's voice had increased slightly in pitch.

"You know as well as I do how much bigger those Void ships were on the inside. No way was everything we saw the extent of it. It was just a question of how much the Releshi had managed to sell before we got here."

"Not much, by the looks of things," Rose said. Something in her head flickered and a bright light passed before her eyes. She shook her head uncomfortably. The Master noticed and gave her a questioning look, but the Doctor was already walking ahead of them. She shrugged and followed him.

The Doctor frowned and pushed forward into the large storage room. All the objects in the room were simply piled up on each other in slapdash fashion. He aimed his sonic at one of the piles, then looked at the readings. "This is mostly junk. Broken parts, looks like. But that way - " he pointed the sonic in the direction he meant - "I'm getting active readings."

"Off we go, then," the Master said, threading his way between piles of junk. "It'd be easier if we had wings like the Kellisari."

Rose saw what he meant - this whole palace would be easier to navigate if they could fly down the halls instead of plodding slowly on two feet. They'd already been walking for nearly an hour. This palace was enormous - bigger than any structure she'd ever seen on earth for certain.

The next door they went through was more junk, and the next, and the next. Rose felt puzzled. "But the Void ships - weren't they packed full of supplies and dangerous merchandise? Why is it just room after room of rubbish?"

As she spoke, another burst of white blinded her for a millisecond. She struggled to maintain her composure. If she was ever going to convince the Doctor she wasn't a dangerous liability, she had to be able to take care of herself. Taking a deep breath, she focused all her energy on the blinding sensation and pushed back against it.

The palace rattled under their feet.

A shriek rended the air, the sound so high-pitched that both the Doctor and the Master gasped in pain and covered their ears. Rose could tell it was useless by the contorted expressions on their faces. Fortunately for her, her still mostly-human ears could barely detect the sound at the very top of her audible register.

"What is that?" the Master shouted.

The Doctor was staring at Rose. "What was that?" he asked, and Rose knew he wasn't talking about the alarm.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Something was trying to get in...I pushed it away."

The door high above them burst open and a river of heavily armored Kellisari flowed through, toward them, and surrounded them. All three companions were caught in the flood and pulled apart, losing sight of each other in the flurry of feathers.