The Last of the Time Lords

Rose Tyler's mission became more important. Not just for her, but for the universe. Stars were disappearing. She had no idea why, or if it was only in their universe or in the other one as well. But regardless, she would do her part by investigating once she was in the other universe. She would only drag the Doctor into it as a last resort.

"All right. Go ahead. 48 hours."

"48 hours. All systems are go."

She had been distracted while in the Void. This meant she landed too late. Rose stood behind the police line, depressed. Why couldn't it just be easy?

"Listen, there is this woman that's going to come along. A tall blonde woman called Sylvia. Tell her that bin there, all right? It'll all make sense. That bin there."

Rose regarded the red-headed woman calmly. She wouldn't stay. Hopefully whatever this Sylvia needed from the bin, she would figure out on her own.

She strode away. Next time. Next time she would get it right.

It wasn't the next time. Or the time after that. Bad Wolf was directing her towards the Doctor, but she always managed to be just a little bit late, or stuck somewhere she couldn't reach him. The Doctor was traveling with the red-haired woman from before. If she had only talked to her . . . She hadn't seen any sign of their relationship being anything but platonic, but it still hurt that he could replace her so easily.

Pompeii, the ood, earth again . . . Rose lost track of what was happening, only barely stopping for food and a little sleep each time she returned to the Pete's world.

She was getting closer each time. She would make it work. She had to.

When she landed, Rose found herself in some unknown location. Bad Wolf growled, and Rose shuddered. Something was wrong.

She crept through the dim halls.

She stopped. Before her was the TARDIS, but it wasn't the TARDIS anymore. It had been . . . violated. No wonder Bad Wolf was upset. Rose went faster now. Every time she heard voices, she ducked away. Who knew where she was. It would be better if she kept out of sight until she knew what was happening.

Rose heard a kind of groan. She couldn't help but gasp when she saw him. Jack. Captain Jack Harkness. He was alive, here, and chained up.

"Jack?" she whispered.

His head snapped up. "Rose?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, it's me," she hissed. "Can I come out?"

"Don't, the guards are coming by soon. Unless . . . are you a hallucination?"

"No, no I'm not," Rose said.

"Shh, shh," Jack hissed, looking desperately at her. Rose faded back into the shadows as a guard marched past.

"Jack, what's going on? How are you here? How are you alive?"

"What do you mean? And how did you get here? The Doctor said you were trapped on a parallel world."

"What, did he think I'd stay there without a fight? I've been searching for him. Is he here?" Rose maneuvered so that she was behind Jack. He was strung up, and she began searching for a way to cut him down.

"Yeah. Listen, Rose, this is a bad time. There's another Time Lord, calls himself the Master, and he's been taking over earth, and . . ."

"Good time for me to step up, eh?" Rose murmured. She reached for one of Jack's wrists.

"Rose, no. If they find out I'm gone, that will make it worse for him," Jack said.

She drew her hand back slightly, then returned it to rest on Jack's hand. "Jack, I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do to help right now?"

"Just don't get caught. The Master's plans are climaxing tomorrow, you should hide until then."

"All right. And you're sure you'll be okay? We could hide together," Rose suggested.

"Nah, Rosie, I'll be fine. Just stay safe. Don't want you dying before the Doctor can get a look at you."

Rose skirted around so she was facing Jack. She lifted her hand and gently placed it on his cheek. "I've missed you."

"Missed you too, sweetheart. Now quick, go."

Rose went up on tiptoes to place a kiss on Jack's cheek before she ran.

And then she waited.

She hadn't been quiet enough. Rose was violently thrown into the room. She concentrated on the carpet, as her face met it. It was a nice carpet.

Vaguely, she heard Jack yell at her to run, but it was far too late for that. Rose pushed herself to her feet, her eyes scanning the room.

The man pointing some kind of sonic screwdriver at her had to be the Master. The Time Lord.

There were two women, the red-head and someone Rose didn't recognize.

Jack was there. A cage held a small creature, and bile rose in her throat as she realized that it was the Doctor.

The Master must have done that to him. Rose began to hate the Master.

"How's it going?" Rose went for a casual approach.

The Master looked enraged. "Where did she come from?"

She clenched her fists to keep from trembling. This kind of situation, she had to appear strong. And not the fake-strong she had once demonstrated in front of the Sycorax. She strode forward, ignoring the guards. She didn't let herself look at the Doctor.

"Hi. Who might you be?" she asked cheerily.

The man was definitely about to explode with anger. "I am the Master. What are you?"

Rose scoffed, "the Master? What kind of a name is that? You probably got teased all through school, huh? S'that why you're destroying everything?"

"Tell me who you are, or you will die." He pointed something that looked like the Doctor's sonic screwdriver at her.

"Hmm. What's that?" Rose kept stalling, getting even closer to him and considering the tool.

The Master pointed it at Jack, and Rose panicked. "No!" She snatched at it, but the beam hit Jack, who instantly collapsed. Rose gaped at his body, tears springing into her eyes.

"Ah, so you know him?"

As Rose watched, Jack suddenly took a breath. "It . . . didn't kill him," she said in wonder.

"Oh, that's just him, love. He's special, he can't die. You, however . . ." the Master was prowling around her now, but Rose kept her gaze fixed on Jack. He shook his head at her as her eyes questioned him. "So you know him. Do you know the Doctor as well?"

"Doctor who?" Rose asked innocently, refocusing on the Master.

He growled, and seized her by the throat. Then he noticed the wires running from the back of her head down her shirt.

"What's this? You're not human?"

"I'm human. That just helps when I'm beating evil masters," Rose snarled. If he pulled them out, her team at Torchwood would get readings that she was unconscious, and they would bring her back.

"Does it then." He fingered them, and smirked at her. "So how do you know our good Jack, eh?"

Rose shrugged. "He tried to get me to dance with him. I declined. End of story." She chanced a glance at Jack, and saw him attempt to give her a pained smile.

"What would you do if I danced with you?" he murmured silkily. Rose looked at him in astonishment. He was trying to seduce her.

"Are you insane?"

That set something off, and Rose saw the rage in his eyes. He hit her, hard, and she was sent sprawling. There was blood in her mouth. Rose spat it out.

"That's it. Playtime's over. You tell me who you are and what you're doing, or you'll be tortured."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," Rose drawled, but inwardly she was shaking. She had become accustomed to the pain that came with jumping through the Void, but real torture . . .

The Master pointed the screwdriver at her.

She heard shouting, and then all was pain. Finally, it went away, and Rose was left trembling on the floor, unable to focus her eyes on the man above her. Bad Wolf was whimpering.

"Stop it!" she heard a woman shriek. Rose rolled her eyes to latch onto the red-head.

"Who're you?" she slurred.

"So you really aren't with the Doctor."

Rose pushed herself to her feet, swaying dangerously.

"Tell me your name."

Rose bowed her head. "Why should I?" She tried for once last act of defiance.

"If you don't, I'll kill her," he pointed at the red-head, "and then you."

Rose raised her head. "My name is Bad Wolf." She couldn't let him know who she really was.

Rose Tyler's secret was her name.

The Master appeared to be distracted. "I can't deal with you right now. I'm running out of time. Guards, hold her."

The Doctor felt like screaming. He had dreamed of Rose returning, but to have her appear now, of all times, was a nightmare.

Martha and Donna looked completely lost. The Doctor concentrated, accessing the Archangel Network.

"So, Bad Wolf. I'll get to you soon, but first . . ." The Master gestured to the guards to bring Martha and Donna forward.

"And now, kneel," he commanded the women. " Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?"

Rose began laughing.

"Shut up!" the Master growled, and pointed his laser screwdriver at her. The Doctor and Jack cried out as she was hit with another blast and fell to the floor, writhing in pain. The Master went back to his speech.

"At zero, to mark this day, the child Martha Jones and the woman Donna Noble will die. My first blood. Any last words? No? Such a disappointment, these two. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex." The Doctor heard Rose snort. "These are useless. Bow your heads. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward . . ."

"No." Rose Tyler, beautiful and strong, stood. "That's not gonna happen."

"And what would you know about any of it?" the Master smirked, "you didn't even know who I was."

She shrugged. "Because, the Doctor always wins."

"So you have been with him. Bad Wolf. Who are you really?"

Rose smirked. "Look at those women you're planning on killing. They're smiling. Doesn't that worry you the littlest bit?"

The Doctor smiled himself. Rose didn't have any way of knowing their plan, but she believed in him.

"No." The Doctor could tell that the Master was lying. "Who are you?"

"I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me," Rose said in a sing-song voice.

"You're going to lose," Donna said strongly. "I have no idea who she is, but hey, we don't even need her help. Because all this time, we've been getting ready."

Martha spoke up. "We told the world to think of one word, at one specific time."

The Doctor breathed deeply, getting ready.

"Right across the world, in word, just one thought at one moment, but with fifteen satellites," Martha declared.

"The Archangel Network," Jack whispered.

"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word is Doctor."

The countdown ended, and the Doctor felt the energy surge, as millions of people began chanting his name.

While he began to reverse and become himself again, he chanced a look at Rose. She wasn't chanting his name like the others. She was singing, her eyes closed. The unearthly tune reverberated through the air, and the Doctor could feel the power in it, even more than if she had been saying his name.

The Master was fighting it. He picked up the laser screwdriver, pointing it at the Doctor.

The Doctor hoped the power was strong enough to stop it. The beam shot out, and he prepared, but then Rose was there, the laser striking her outstretched hand.

"No!"

Jack tackled the Master, taking away the screwdriver, while the Doctor strode towards Rose.

"Doctor, take care of the Master, I'll get Rose," Jack urged.

He put aside his feelings, focusing on the Master.

"You know what I am going to say," he said sadly.

"No," the Master whimpered.

"I forgive you."

"My children," the Master suddenly hissed.

The Doctor shouted, "the paradox machine!"

And then Rose was in front of him, eyes glowing. "The TARDIS will be free."

Time began reversing. Everyone was thrown to the floor, and the Doctor could only stare helplessly at Rose as she stood, swaying slightly and singing.

But she was back. She was with him, and no matter what, he wasn't going to lose her again.

Time was right again.

"How wonderful, this victory," he heard the Master say somewhere. Rose shuddered violently, and somehow the Master was behind her. He pulled at the wires at her neck, and Rose screamed in pain.

"No!" the Doctor shrieked, but Rose didn't collapse, she only stumbled. She looked at him in panic.

"Doctor, it will pull me back. I had 48 hours, but now . . ."

"What are you talking about? Rose?"

I'll find you, I promise, I'll . . ." She disappeared.

The Master laughed cruelly. "You may have won, Doctor, but you just lost everything."

He couldn't respond. Rose had been right there. Right in front of him, and he had lost her again.

Everything fell to pieces, as the Master's wife shot the other Time Lord, for all the lies and deceit, and the Doctor couldn't save him. Just like he couldn't save Rose.

The Doctor's secret was his despair.

A/N: Why is this so hard to write? Ugh! I love how supportive you guys are though-thanks for the reviews! 3