Hiyah! I'm so sorry I didn't update last week. I've had the most hectic week of my life. 5000 word essay in, packing for home, christmas shopping, and I had a massive hangover on Sunday which didn't help matters at all. So here's the new chapter for Wandering in Wonderland. My apologies once again.
Thank you to all those that reviewed, skidney, sailormajinmoon, DragonRose4 and swetortonlover86, you're all wonderful people. Also thank you to those that favourited/followed the story, lovelosthate, 13, MagicBrownie, Nymartian, kickarseanime, Rg2104 and TimeLordPrime. You're fantastic as well.
Disclaimer: Not Mine
Rise of the Cybermen: Part Two
"I'm going back to the TARDIS," I said impatiently, having enough of Rose staring at a picture of our dead father who appeared to be alive right at this very moment. This was...disturbing in so many ways that I really didn't want to think about it, "I'm going to get a cup of tea, the rest of my stuff, providing it survived the trip here and try to find my way around a TARDIS which doesn't have any lights on at the moment," I looked at the Doctor, "Don't suppose you have a torch in your pocket," he pulled one out, handing it to me, "Thank you, kindly," I turned to go back inside, "See you in the TARDIS,"
I walked inside the little blue box, switching on the little torch to look around the place. Why was everything so much more creepy when all the lights were turned off? I would have no problem if the lights were on. I tapped the console, trying a switch and several buttons but it appeared to be as dead as the Doctor had told us. Fantastic. Suddenly being stuck in a parallel world for the rest of my life with my dead father was presenting itself to me. That was not going to happen in any ideas that the universe was having on my behalf, thank you very much. I liked my own universe rather well. Anything could happen in this world.
Talking about our own universe, I opened up my phone, holding it up to the ceiling as if willing to get some type of signal. I smiled when it did, dialling the number for my mother and placing it to my ear, ready to hear the sound of my mother's voice. It suddenly clicked through. "And when were you going to come home?" I frowned at my mother's words, "Three days, Miss Tyler, three days since you last came home and I'm worried sick. Where are you? You better not be with that boy. I have warned you about him,"
"Err...Mum?" I questioned, completely confused, "You know that I'm travelling, don't you? As in around quite a bit with the Doctor. How could you have forgotten?" I could have sworn that it was a lot longer than three days since I was on the last on the phone to her. Usually I left Rose to fill her in on our adventures, "But you'll be glad to know that Rose and I are currently in London," not our London but I didn't want to worry her about that. Still might be able to get home, "I'll see you soon...all right,"
"Oh he's a Doctor, is he?" I was really confused at that she was saying to me, "I don't care who he is, you better get home right now. It's my thirty ninth..."
"Forty," I corrected her, automatically. I then winced slightly, that was a very stupid thing to do in hindsight. What made me say that?
I could hear her clear her throat on the other end of the phone, "Thirty ninth birthday...that's what my official biography says. I was born on the same day as Cuben Gooding Jnr," I stared at the phone feeling dread come over me, "I don't care what you've got on, I want you here at the house with me, and with your father. Your father says it's very important that we appear to be a family for his business. I don't see why...he's as useless as anything. So I need you here to smooth everything over.
Oh damn. I mentally cringed, I had phoned the parallel Mum's phone and now she was talking to me like I was her daughter when I wasn't. This was awkward...I had absolutely no idea what to do now, "All right then?" I answered awkwardly, "I'll try to be right over as soon as possible. If I can...might be very busy for all I know. Might not make it,"
"Be sure that you do," she snapped, "Because there are some very important people going to be here tonight and I want you to be on your best behaviour," I couldn't help but roll my eyes at this, she was the same in this universe as my own, "And I don't want any of your friends to be here either. I've heard about all the trouble you got into the other day. Mrs Carter told me on the ear pods that you were driving so recklessly, causing all sorts of havoc. Imagine if the reporters had seen it, you know they're trying to sink your father's business,"
"Wouldn't that be a sheer shame?" I replied sarcastically, but carried on before she could answer me, "Look, I'll be right over...me and Rose, all right. And we'll be spick and span for your...thirty ninth birthday party. Don't worry about us, we'll be fine,"
"Well of course Rose will be. She's always well behaved," she snapped, "I'm making sure she gets a bath tonight otherwise she will stink to high heaven," that was a weird comment to make about someone, "Be here, five o'clock sharp otherwise there will hell to pay," the phone line cut out and I hastily pocketed my own phone. Never ever doing that again...that was just plain weird. How was I to know that Mum would have the same number in both universes. This phone was supposed to be connected to the other universe. Universal roaming charge and all.
I hurried to the kitchen using the flashlight, trying to turn on the kettle. I groaned as I realised that there wasn't even enough power to light a kettle. This day was getting bad to worse. My stomach roiled at that, and I just drank some lukewarm juice from the fridge, while sitting on the kitchen top. If we weren't careful then all the food in there was going to go off and we'd have to throw it all out. "Blimey...my stomach," I groaned, pressing my hands to my head. This was worse than the time that I had that headache on New Earth. Hopefully no body snatching aliens were lying in wait here.
"Mary Anne?" I heard the Doctor call my name as I could hear him walking through the TARDIS, "Mary..." He walked into the kitchen, "Ahh, there you are," I raised the juice carton to him, before drinking some of it, "No tea,"
"Not unless you like cold tea," I proposed for him, "Kettle's dead, like the rest of the power on this ship," he nodded distractedly, "My stomach feels like it has decided to become a sailing ship Doctor, and it's in the middle of a tsunami," he cupped my face gently, holding it up, "You better not kiss me, because I might just be sick on your shoes, Doctor,"
He frowned, "It's like you've got an allergic reaction to something," he said to me, and I tilted my head, "But I think I might just have the thing to help you feel better," he took out what looked like a couple of skittles from a small box, "Purple is for nausea, red is a painkiller, and green is an immuniser against any nasty bugs," I took them, "You chew them,"
I did so, grimacing at the bad taste, before swallowing them, "I might try eating apples next," I informed him, "Might make sure you don't have to give me those disgusting..." I straightened up, "Hey...what do you know? They work," he grinned, "Well at least I know that your medical skills are up to par," I hopped off the work surface, "Thanks for that. I feel a million times better," I quickly drank down the rest of the juice, "So what's next?"
"I don't know," he admitted and I frowned, "I don't know anything about this world. Completely different universe," I flicked a look at my phone, "Something happen?"
"Called my Mum," I admitted, "Thought that it was my universe's seeing as you put that universal roaming thing on it," I sighed, "Turns out that this universe's Jackie has the same number. Proved to be a very awkward phone call. Another universe and she's still the same as ever," I smiled slightly, "At least I exist over here...I don't know..." I watched him carefully, "Another Mary Anne Tyler, one who has her Dad and her Mum together. Blimey that's a strange thought. I don't know what I would be with my Dad around,"
"She's not you though," I definitely agreed with that word, "She hasn't done the same things that you have done, lived the same life. Hasn't met me, and I doubt that there are any Time Lords here, we used to govern the passages between parallels," I placed a hand on his face, silently comforting him, "But we ought to get out of here as fast as we can. This place is dangerous to us, we don't belong here. So many temptations,"
I looked around the dark hallway, with only my tiny torch to shine the way, "Not from me," I countered and he looked at me pointedly, "Oh...all right. I'd quite like to meet another version of myself, like a twin but not really. Doesn't everyone imagine if they have a twin?" I leaned slightly closer to him, "But don't worry...if we all stay together then we'll be fine, right?"
"Not if your sister wants to have her way and meet your Dad," he remarked and I sighed, "I always thought that it was odd that two sisters as close as you are to each other disagree about this one particular man. With the Reapers...I could understand it, but now..."
"I know...time was rewritten around the Reaper event," I spoke glumly, "And I have another chain of events in my head, the original and the modified. I'm not complaining, my Mum and I get on better because of the fact it all changed...but," I bit my bottom lip, "I can still remember the original timeline, and I still never knew my Dad. That hasn't changed, and this isn't even the man who saved all of creation. This is another...version of Dad. And he has his own daughters. I think Rose just can't stop chasing after that idea of having a father,"
"Well, we can't go around to meet him, that would be disastrous," he answered, before looking back at me, "And you know...you did it again," I frowned, "Zeppelins...you said Zeppelins right before we even got here. Just like with the spaceship and you said we were in the Eighteenth Century and the. Suddenly we were," he pressed his lips together, "It's become a lot stronger since we left the Game Station, because before you said that you saw me in a mirror,"
I nodded, "Well...yes," I replied. "I always wondered about that, you never did explain," I shone the light at him, "First time I saw your face was at the Game Station when it was still technically Satellite Five, and then I saw you several more times, always in the mirror, just watching me," I thought back to all those months ago, "Couldn't really see your face at first but then you sort of...became clearer. Never said a word either," I looked away, "But no one else could see you because I was in the TARDIS with Jack...I remember, and he definitely couldn't see you. It was only me,"
"My death and subsequent regeneration rippled back through your time stream...probably because I was the one to take the Vortex out of you. Slight crack in the time vortex, it showed me to you before even I became me," he placed his hand to his mouth, "This might be something different," he stepped closer, "Who are you?" I opened my mouth to reply when Mickey suddenly called from the other room, "He's supposed to be watching Rose," we walked back out into the console room, "I told you to watch her!"
"She'll be all right," Mickey brushed his concerns off, "And she wanted to be left alone, she didn't want anyone bothering her,"
"If she goes wandering off then there'll be trouble," the Doctor warned, "Parallel world...it's like one great big gingerbread house, all those temptations calling out," I sat down in the chair, watching the dead console, "It's dangerous...anything could be out there,"
Mickey folded his arms, "Oh, so it's just Rose then. Nothing out there to tempt me?" He demanded.
The Doctor grumbled to himself, "Well I don't know, do I?" He said, "If I could just get this thing to..." He kicked the console hard and then groaned slightly, holding his foot tightly, "Ow,"
"Did that help?" Mickey asked him and the Doctor nodded, "Did it hurt?"
"Yes," the Doctor sat down next to me, "Damn...that's going to be sore for a couple of days," he sighed as he looked up at the central column, "Hopefully we will be back to our universe before then," my phone beeped again and I clicked it opened to see a giant letter C on the screen, "Anything interesting?"
I pressed a button and a video started playing, "And it's good news for Great Britain as John Lumic returns to the country of his birth," a news reporter was saying, "Mr Lumic...the inventor of high content metals has denied allegations of ill health. With shared in Cybus industries doubling in price, Mr Lumic..."
"Oh for heavens sake," I shut the phone off, "Just some news thing," I pocketed the phone, crossing my legs on the seat, "So why exactly can't we move around in the TARDIS anymore?"
"It's like any other machine," he said, "Like putting diesel in a petrol engine. The TARDIS draws it's power from the universe, but we're now in the wrong universe. As I have said before, we're not meant to be here at all,"
Mickey leaned against the console, watching us, "No, but I've seen it in comics, people go hopping to parallel worlds all the time, it's easy,"
The Doctor shook his head, "Not in the real world," he explained, "It used to be easy...when the a Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea," that sounded just what we needed right at this very moment. Pity about the reality of the situation, "Then they died, and took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed," he looked desolately at the console, showing a tiny glimpse of what he was feeling, "Everything became that bit less kind,"
"Then how did we get here?"
The Doctor pressed his fingertips to the bridge of his nose, "I don't know. Accident? Should've been impossible. Now we're trapped," he frowned as he noticed something, "What's that?" I looked over in his direction, frowning she. I saw absolutely nothing, "Can you see it?" I shook my head, "That, there," he scrambled over to a grate, "Is that a reflection?" He pulled it up, "It's a light! Is it? Is that a light?" Mickey and I walked over to where he was standing, and I could see a very faint green glow, "I think that's a light. That's all we need," he beamed at us, so excited, "We've got power! Mickey, Mary Anne, we've got power! Ha!"
"What are you going to?" I asked and he immediately jumped down into the grate, passing out different bits of the TARDIS to us. Bits of circuit board, a metal plate...a lot of tubing, "So what is that light?"
"It's nothing," he said, getting the black tubing all wrapped around him, "It's tiny, one of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, And it's clinging onto life, with one tiny ounce of reality tucked away inside," he pulled it out, the green light illuminating all of our faces as we crowded around to look at it properly, "Ahh look at it, it's so tiny and so small!"
"So it's going to send us home?" Mickey asked, "We could go outside and lash it up to the National Grid,"
The other man shook his head, "Wrong energy, has to be from our universe," he held it up, "But we charge this up and then I could thread it through the whole of the TARDIS. Light us up," I smiled at his enthusiasm, "Now all we need is something from our universe," Mickey and I had the same expression on our faces, complete confusion, "Me..." He told us, "We've got me," he leant towards the power cell and breathed out towards it. Immediately the green light shone a lot brighter, "I just used up ten years of my life, worth every second,"
It immediately started to dim, "What's happened, is it going out?" I leant closer to it.
"No," the bulb lit up again before fading, "It's on a recharging cycle. It'll loop round and then power right back up. That would be in about..." He frowned, "Twenty four hours," he placed it in his pocket, "Shore leave for us then...let's go and tell Rose the good news that we can get home in a day. See where she's got to,"
"Probably gone exploring," I reasoned, as I strapped my bag to me, making sure I had everything, "Come on, you two. Twenty four hours in a parallel world, we can see what they've got that our universe doesn't have," we walked into the sunshine and I spotted Rose sitting on a bench by the waterside, "So she didn't wander off,"
We made her way over to her, "You all right?" The Doctor asked as we sat down next to her, "We've done it, twenty four hours and then were flying back to reality," Rose just looked at her phone as if she had never seen it before, "What is it?"
She tried to smile, "My phone connected...there's this Cybus Network thing, it finds your phone, and it gave me Internet access," she looked ahead of her, "I don't exist, there's no Rose Tyler, I was never born," I frowned at that, thinking over the conversation I had with the alternate Jackie Tyler. She had said that Rose needed a bath, I was sure of it, "There's Pete, my Dad, and Jackie. He still married Mum, but they only had Alice...not me," the Doctor reached for her phone but she moved it away from him, "They're rich...they've got a house and cars, and everything they want. But they don't have me," she stood up, turning to all of us, "I've got to go and see him,"
"You can't just become their daughter," the Doctor told her roughly, "It doesn't work like that, you can't go to see them,"
She looked frustrated, "You just said twenty four hours!" She snapped at him.
"And what happens when we get there?" The Doctor asked her, "We go up to the, and just say that you're their daughter in another universe?" He nodded towards me, "And what if they see Mary Anne?" I blinked at that, "Seeing a duplicate of your daughter, exactly the same? What exactly do you suppose might happen?" He turned to Mickey, "Tell her!"
But Mickey had just stood up, "Twenty four hours?" He confirmed with us before walking the other way, "I can do what I want," Rose started to walk in the opposite direction. I sighed before walking after her.
"Stay where you both are," the Doctor said to both of them, "Rose, Mickey! Come back here right now," Rose merely ignored him and started walking determined over over the road, "Mary Anne!"
"Someone's got to make sure she's all right," I called back, spreading my arms, "Otherwise she'll be walking all over London with no idea how to get back," I turned around to run after Rose, before hearing the Doctor shout something at Mickey before I hear him run after me.
Parallel worlds...just absolutely crazy.
So what did you think? Good? Bad? If I didn't see you before Christmas, happy Christmas! I'm thinking of doing a little Christmas story anyway, as a little interlude. But that'll be put up in a different story.
Reviews
Skidney: Glad to follow you. Love your posts on tumblr :)
sailormajinmoon: The water downpour was apparently a mystery, no blocked pipes, no blockage :s which was really weird but it hasn't happened again, thank goodness. The reaction to Mickey's departure is definitely going to be interesting. Love your posts on tumblr :)
DragonRose4: Ooh, I actually do the books, I never thought about that. I definitely should check it out, read it again. It's been ages since I've read it but I did just moved them into my flat so I should definitely read it :)
sweetortonlover86: I'm all right, just had a massive week and drunk far too much than I should have :o. Serves me right, I suppose. I'm definitely thinking of branching out into posting little miniadventures but I think they'll be put into a different story for miniadventures. I dunno, still thinking about it. I love hot chocolate, I gave in and visited starbucks today just because they're so lovely.
