CHAPTER 53

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My name is Rose Tyler. Okay if you want to get technical, my name is Arkytior. It isn't the name that I call myself by though. I call myself Rose. That's who I am in my heart of hearts. I think sometimes that I was always Rose Tyler even back on Gallifrey I just didn't know it yet. Rose is who I would have been anyway if not for the Bad Wolf radically changing my life. I was always a renegade at heart even when I didn't act like one. You can't marry a man like the Doctor and not be wild in some way or another.

Enough about me though. I know that I'm not that interesting. Then again if you're reading this title about me, then you must think that I am. I don't make a big deal about myself though, and I never have. I'm just Rose for better or worse. Take me or leave me as I am. I'll just tell you this story from my life instead and hope that you'll like it.

I had been feeling funny lately as if something was wrong even though I couldn't tell just what that something was exactly. I had been having this strange feeling ever since the end of my fight with the Vortex Daleks. I felt that there was something that I was overlooking or missing in some way about that whole thing. I had no idea what that could be though.

Then one day when I was asleep in my TARDIS, I felt another person touching my mind even while I was dreaming. I could feel them there just out of my reach, and they felt just like me. It was the same feeling that I had always had around the Pythia, my alternate universe self. The Pythia was dead though and all of Davros' clones of her were as well.

After a feeling like that, I had to find out for sure whether she was really gone or not. I had to convince myself that there was no trace of her left anywhere on Earth before I would rest easy. I reached out and used my Bad Wolf powers to search for her throughout the entire planet.

Even after all of this time since I had started using these powers on a regular basis, I still felt weird using them. It still made me uneasy somehow. It just didn't feel like me at all. To be honest, Arkytior still didn't feel like me either sometimes. I sometimes felt like a very human Rose who had suddenly had a lot of extra parts added onto her life and had to try to make sense of them somehow. At other times, I loved who I had become; and I felt like everything and every part of me made perfect sense and fit into one big picture that was the story of my life instead.

It's hard for me to process all of the changes in myself even now. I just know that there are plenty of times that I wish that I was just simple Rose Tyler again. I'm almost tempted to use the Chameleon Arch on myself sometimes. The reason I don't is because I'm not sure if I'd stay me or not, and I'm not sure of how the Doctor would react. I never want him to leave me behind ever again because I'm just an ordinary human being with an ordinary life span. If I have to stay Arkytior and the Bad Wolf forever to keep the Doctor, then that is a price that I will willingly pay.

To get back to the story, I used my powers to search for any trace of the Pythia or her clones on Earth. I was shocked when I suddenly found someone who was very similar to the Pythia but a little bit different at the same time. The feel of this person's mind was close enough to make me want to find out more about them anyway. I teleported to their location right away and found myself at Daisy Pythia's house. She was the fake ID that the Pythia had used when she had been human.

I turned invisible and entered the house. I soon found a woman who looked just like me sitting in the chair watching soap operas. She seemed to like the same ones that I did. She was obviously enjoying them from the wide grin that was all over her face. I started to smile too. She was just having an ordinary day just like the ones that I used to have before I met the Doctor. There was nothing sinister going on here that I could tell.

I traced her timeline backwards and found out the truth about her. She was one of the clones that Davros had made of the Pythia. She had escaped being destroyed by a Dalek computer error. She was the only one who had survived. She managed to get out of Davros' secret base, and then wandered around outside of it with no memory of who she was until she broke into a Dalek ship. To her own surprise, she managed to figure out how to fly it back to Earth all by herself. I was pretty smart even as a human after all, and I figured out new technologies very quickly. My other self must have been the same way.

She came back to Earth and hid the Dalek ship where she had hoped that no one would ever find it. I could see Jack and Torchwood finding it later though but having no clue who had brought it there or why. She then started to remember bits and pieces about Daisy Pythia's life from the Pythia's memories.

She stepped right back into Daisy's life by claiming that she was her sister from back home who had come to investigate Daisy's sudden disappearance, which would explain why she had a different face from Daisy's but had a personality just like hers. She called herself Iris Pythia and had quickly decided to take her 'sister' Daisy's place in her absence while she pretended to look for her. Daisy's old roommate and the Pythia's daughter with a new personality and wiped memories, Cathy, bought this story and took Daisy's 'sister' in as her new roommate just like she had Daisy before her. This was due to the Chameleon Arch's influence on her mind.

After she had been Iris long enough, she had completely forgotten her memories of ever having traveled in space or having been on another planet at all. She managed to convince herself that she was and always had been just plain old Iris Pythia. She quickly settled back into Daisy's old life without a hitch and had been perfectly happy living the life of an ordinary human ever since.

I quietly looked through her mind and couldn't find a trace of the Pythia in there or any of her memories either. Even her memories of knowing about other worlds and alien technology had just disappeared completely now and been quietly suppressed. All that was left of her to tell that she had ever been anything but a human being was her Time Lord body.

I had a decision to make. What should I do about her? Should I destroy her, or should I leave her here the way that she was now? I wasn't sure what to do. The Doctor had left the original Pythia in this life once before, and she had come back to haunt us later on. On the other hand, I couldn't bring myself to want to do anything to hurt this smiling woman who was just sitting here watching her soaps before me.

I thought about it for a long timem and then I finally came to a decision. I let the part of me that was Rose decide what to do with her. Once I decided that, the rest was easy. Rose Tyler always did follow her heart.

I used my powers to complete change her into a human being with no trace of anything Time Lord left in her. I also removed all of her memories of anything having to do with the Pythia or other worlds. She was now just ordinary Iris Pythia with an ordinary human lifespan plus an extra couple of years that I added on for good measure.

She had never even felt anything happening to her. She was still watching TV and completely clueless about the sudden change that she had just experienced. That was a good thing though. I never wanted her to remember anything about her previous life ever again.

I took one last look at her and smiled. I hoped that she was as happy as she seemed in her new life and that she would enjoy it.

As I teleported back to my TARDIS, I knew that the clone's life was not the kind of life that I wanted to lead and never had been. I simply had wanted to return to the old days when I was just Rose and didn't have to worry about Vortex powers and cosmic enemies with insane powers constantly trying to kill me. That part of me prefers fighting Daleks and Cybermen with nothing more than a sonic screwdriver any day. That part of me is probably just crazy in a good way I guess.

As I returned home, I heard talking outside of my room and went outside to investigate. I found Penny talking excitedly to Emma about something. I hated to eavesdrop, but I just had to know what was going on.

"He asked me to marry him, Emma," Penny was saying.

"What did you say?" Emma said with a look of joy on her face.

"I said yes!" Penny said with a huge smile.

Emma and I both screamed at the same moment, and Penny looked at me in surprise. She had had no idea that I was there.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just heard you talking about something in a happier voice than I had ever heard you use before, and I had to hear about it," I apologized.

"It's okay. I was going to tell you anyway because you're like family to me. You're more than my friend, Rose. You're more like my sister," Penny said with a huge smile.

The two of us embraced each other then, and Emma joined in. We were all so happy about this incredible news. I know that Emma in particular had wanted this to happen for Penny for a long time now ever since she and Jack had gotten serious about things.

I was happy for her as well and for Jack. I hoped that this would help him get over the destruction of his Torchwood team and headquarters. Maybe it would even inspire him to rebuild and start over again. The probabilities of that occurring seemed to be more and more likely now from what I could see of the possibilities of his future.

I already saw little John coming in Penny's future soon enough if things kept proceeding as they were now. I already knew about him long before Jenny told me about him. It's another reason I sometimes miss Old Rose. I hate knowing the future sometimes. I'd rather be surprised like everyone else I think.

I've come to accept my new role in life though, and I use it to help others the best that I can. If I am unhappy sometimes in this new existence, it's a small price to pay to get to be with the Doctor again that's for sure. If I had the chance to be just Rose again though, I'm not so sure that I wouldn't take it.

Anyway, I'm sure that you've heard enough of my thoughts. This story has come to an end, and I hope that you enjoyed it. Maybe I'll come back some other time to narrate something again. Until then, I'll see all of you around.

Next: Rose should have been careful what she was wishing for because in the next chapter she just might get it and at the worst possible time too.

Oi! What's that supposed to mean?

You'll find out, Rose. (Evil laughter heard in the background.)