And it's me again!

Disclaimer: I own… err… not much. Certainly nothing you'd care about.

SIAPNIAN: For those of you who did not see the Livejournal (TheAltVerse dot livejournal dot com) post, I am hereby making this announcement again: Because of Support Stacie and an unrelated original!fic writing commitment, I will be unable to update through April. I am dreadfully sorry about this, truly. But at least I'm not leaving you on a cliffie all that time, yeah? So, um, please don't kill me…

WARNING: Un-betaed.

-BAD WOLF-

It was peaceful, dying like this. Rose had faced death quite a few times in her life—quite probably more than was normal even for a companion of the Doctor's—and it always struck her how truly quiet it was. There came that point where all the pain and the screaming and the fear dripped away and then… nothing. Silence. Sleep. It was actually almost pleasant, all things considered.

Of course, said the tiny part of Rose's mind that was still conscious and fully aware of what was happening and how much she should be panicking right now, that was probably partly the fault of the water screwing around with her head. There'd be very little point in having its victims thrash about all over the place; it was easier to just let them die quietly. Happily, almost—yes, there was some kind of vague pleasure somewhere between her lungs. Odd, that. Good of the water to kill her that nicely, though. She didn't even really feel any pain.

But she couldn't sleep. Her eyes were closed, her thoughts were dim, her pulse was shallow as it twitched helplessly against her throat—but she couldn't die. Why was that?

She frowned a little, confused. That didn't make sense. She was dying, she knew she was dying. Why was she taking so long about it? What was holding her back? She supposed asphyxiation was hardly the quickest way to go, but surely she should have at least passed out by now…

An impression pressed itself hazily into her brain—there was something she needed to do. She couldn't go to sleep now, she had to… she had to… what?

Completely baffled now, she came a little more to her senses. There had to be something around here that would help her remember, something… The water was most likely making her forget (although the oxygen starvation couldn't have been helping), but… maybe… Frustrated, she clenched her hands. She had to—

—wait—

What was that? In her hand?

Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it

She traced the shape, running a thumb along the smooth metal. It was almost familiar… but shouldn't there be a faint texture there, little cracks along the surface?

Suddenly, she was totally and completely awake. She wasn't in her home universe, the sonic screwdriver was different here—but there it was, and there the Doctor was not, and that was why she couldn't die right now, she had to go to him and save his lives (again).

Which meant that she had to save her own life first. Easily done, since the stupid Time Lord had decided to be stupid and give her his only weapon against these things.

The switch was in a subtly different place than where she was used to, which threw her for a couple of seconds; but she found it quickly enough. The water melted away from her like… well, like water, actually; and she scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could, gasping. Luminously black splotches danced in front of her eyes and she stumbled, but kept her footing; she pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead, wincing, and spent several seconds enjoying her newfound ability to breathe.

Finally, she felt somewhat more substantial. She let out a sigh and tugged her damp hair away from her face.

The fake Doctor stared at her for a moment, totally emotionless, and lost all semblance of solidity. He splashed unceremoniously into the rest of the water, and in the space of two seconds even the difference in colour was unnoticeable.

Telepathic, sentient, mobile water that changed colours, she thought. Fantastic.

"I don't suppose you'd be so kind as to tell me where the Doctor is?" she asked it.

It didn't even give her the honour of an answering ripple.

"Didn't think so," she mumbled, and scratched the side of her nose absently for a moment. There was only one thing for it, then; if she was going to find her (her?) Time Lord, she was going to have to follow him.

"I'm so going to kill him for this," Rose commented, and trudged back towards the warehouse.

-BAD WOLF-

So the Doctor's still in trouble, but at least Rose is alright, yeah?

Remember, peoples, I and many of my betters are being auctioned off as we speak. And if you didn't read the above SIAPNIAN, do so—it's actually important this time. (I know! Shocking!)

Be well, my minions—err—-coughs- friends!