Biting her lip, Rose grabbed a chair around the table set up for the seance.
"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in Bute Town." Gwyneth nervously said. "Come, we must all join hands."
"I can't take part in this." Dickens stated, completely rattled and she couldn't say she blamed him.
"Humbug? Come on, open mind." The doctor encouraged, even though he had no idea what he was getting himself into.
"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask. Sances?" Dickens scoffed. Rose, however, could see what lolled beneath. "Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."
"Now, don't antagonise her." The doctor said before looking over Gwyneth. "I love a happy medium."
"I can't believe you just said that." Rose replied.
"Come on, we might need you." The doctor spoke. Signing in defeat Dickens chose a seat between Rose and Gwyneth. "Goodman." He smiled at Dickens. "Now, Gwyneth, reach out."
"Doctor, are you sure about this?" Rose asked though she was pleading to see sense.
"Everything is fine." He reassured her. "Go on Gwyneth."
"Speak to us. Are you there?" Gwyneth called. "Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden."
The hairs on the back of Rose neck began to stand up on end as the whispering started.
"Can you hear that?" Rose asked the doctor directly.
"Nothing can happen." Dickens tried to once again denounce what was happening. "This is sheer folly."
"Look at her." Was all Rose said.
"I see them. I feel them." Gwyneth responded in reverence, truly not comprehending what she was seeing.
Above them, the gas tendrils drift over them.
"What's it saying?" Rose sought, though she already knew and they were liars.
"They can't get through the rift." The doctor acknowledged her, before turning back to Gwyneth. "Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it." The Doctor said, trying to sound reassuring as he could. "Now, look deep. Allow them through"
"I can't!" Gwyneth said clearly in distress.
Yet even not caring or unknowingly the doctor pushed her to her limits "Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link."
"Doc..." Rose began when she was interrupted by Gwyneth.
"Yes."
Rose watched as blue outlines of people appeared behind Gwyneth.
"Great God! Spirits from the other side." Sneed gasped in disbelief.
"The other side of the universe." The doctor informed them.
"Pity us. Pity the Gelth." The figure spoke with multiple children's voices. "There is so little time. Help us."
"What do you want us to do?" Doctor asked.
"The rift." The Gelth stated. "Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."
"No," Rose responded in an even and calm voice that had the doctor looking her way for a moment.
"What for?" The doctor continued to ask the being, completely ignoring Rose.
"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction." She knew by this point, it would be like talking to a brick wall, especially when he heard the rest.
"Why, what happened?"
"Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came." The Gelth told.
"War? What war?" Dickens asked.
"The Time War." And just like that, the guilt shone brightly in the doctor's eyes. "The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."
"So that's why you need the corpses." The doctor questioned.
"We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us."
"But we can't." Rose finally interrupted again, though the doctor was not pleased.
"Why not?" He questioned.
"We don't know who these beings are and you're ready to bring them through." Rose expressed. "How do we know they don't mean us harm?"
"It could save their lives." The doctor argued.
"At what cost?" She asked.
As soon as she said those words, she thought about her own life.
What cost was she paying right now?
"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through." The Gelth interrupted with their loud pitched voices. "We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth."
Rose could help but glare at the doctor slightly even as the Gelth left Gwyneth's body and went back into the lamp.
Leaving Gwyneth to collapse across the table.
Rose immediately went to the other woman's side.
"Gwyneth?"
"All true." Dickens said though Rose cared very little right now.
000
Rose didn't know how long she had been sitting there by Gwyneth laid on the chaise lounge, but when she saw Gwyneth move, Rose was there with a cup of tea.
"It's all right." Rose soothingly spoke. "You just sleep."
"But my angels, miss," Gwyneth asked. "They came, didn't they? They need me?"
"They do need you, Gwyneth. You're they're only chance of survival." Rose immediately whirled on him.
"I've told you, leave her alone." Rose snapped. "She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles."
"Well, what did you say, Doctor?" Sneed question. "Explain it again. What are they?"
"Aliens." The doctor returned, never taking his eyes off Rose.
"Like foreigners, you mean?' Sneed inquired.
"Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there." The doctor turned and said pointing to the sky.
Not understanding Sneed asked. "Brecon?"
"Close." Though it was anything but. "And they've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked." The doctor explained. "Only a few can get through and even then they're weak." A few. Rose wanted to laugh. "They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes."
"Which is why they need the girl." Dickson asked.
"They're not having her." Rose said adamantly.
"But she can help. Living on the rift, she's become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through." The doctor argued.
"Incredible," Dickens said with wonder. "Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers."
"Good system. It might work." The doctor shrugged.
"You can't let them run around inside of dead people." Rose tried to reason with once more.
"Why not? It's like recycling." She honestly couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Seriously though, you can't."
"Seriously though, I can." The doctor counted.
"It's just wrong." Rose insisted "Those bodies were living people. We should respect them even in death."
"Do you carry a donor card?"
"That's different." Rose argued.
"It is different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home." The doctor started only for Rose to inject.
"Fine take me home then ." She shouted, though not once meaning it. "But this has nothing to do with morality and you know it, this is about the fact we don't know what we are letting through and you're too blinded to see it."
There was deathly quiet in the room as they both stared, each other down. Neither one, willing to break the tension.
"Don't I get a say, miss?" Gwyneth asked Rose whirled around.
"Look, you don't understand what's going on." Rose tried.
"You would say that, miss, because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid." Gwyneth replied, causing Rose to falter.
"That's not fair." Rose answered, she was about to say more but Gwyneth got there before her.
"It's true, though," Gwyneth said. "Things might be very different where you're from, but here and now, I know my own mind, and the angels need me." Gwyneth then looked at the doctor. "Doctor, what do I have to do?
"You don't have to do anything." The Doctor said reassuringly.
"They've been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission. So tell me." Gwyneth said awe.
That was far from the case here. Rose thought.
"We need to find the rift." The doctor said as he turned to look at the living room. "This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mister Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house?" The doctor asked, turning to Sneed. "The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?"
"That would be the morgue," Sneed answered.
"Rose, we need to talk," The doctor quietly spoke, as they ambled behind everyone else. "I'm sorry, I yelled at you," She peered up at him but said nothing. "I promise no harm will come to her."
"You can't guarantee that." She mumbled quietly. "But I know you will try."
She saw him frown at her answer, but before he could say anything, they entered the morgue.
Rose knew Jack and the voice was right, she couldn't change the timelines too much but it was still hard to grasp.
The basement was cold, not that she was surprised. After all, it was where the recently departed lie under white sheets.
"Urgh. Talk about Bleak House." The doctor said, trying to lift the mood.
Rose tried one last attempt, she looked towards Gwyneth pleading. "Gwyneth you don't need to do this."
"I need to Miss," Gwyneth replied smiling. "My angels need me."
Suddenly, her hand was grabbed, and she couldn't help but jump a little.
Turning slightly she saw the Doctor holding her hand.
"Rose." He said firmly, which left no room for arguments. "They need our help."
"Doctor, I think the room is getting colder." Dickens interrupted.
Swiftly a Gelth arose out of a gas lamp by the door and moved to hover under a stone archway.
"You've come to help." The Gelth voice echoed in that child-like voice again. "Praise the Doctor. Praise him."
Rose was about to rush to Gwyneth but the doctor's hand tightened on her to stop her moving.
"Promise you won't hurt her." Rose pleaded.
"Hurry! Please, so little time." The Gelth said, completely ignoring Rose. "Pity the Gelth."
"I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer." The Doctor said, dropping her hand to move forward. "Somewhere you can build proper bodies." Rose felt her eyes water as she just watched. "This isn't a permanent solution, all right?"
"My angels. I can help them live." Gwyneth praised.
"Okay, where's the weak point?" the doctor asked.
"Here, beneath the arch." The Gelth echoed.
"Beneath the arch." Gwyneth repeated.
"Gwyneth." Rose attempted again, moving towards Gwyneth.
"That's enough Rose." The Doctor snapped.
"My Angels need me Miss." Gwyneth consoled Rose as she moved into the archway.
'I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch.' The doctor had once said to her.
Moving to Gwyneth she held her hand, tears fell from her eyes.
"It's okay child," Gwyneth whispered. "You can't save everyone." Rose held her stare at this. "Have faith in the doctor."
With a squeeze of her hand, Gwyneth let go.
"Establish the bridge." The Gelth begged. "Reach out to the void. Let us through!"
"Yes, I can see you. I can see you. Come!" Gwyneth cried.
"Bridgehead establishing." The Gelth stated.
"Come to me. Come to this world, poor lost souls!"
"It has begun." The Gelth cried "The bridge is made."
Gwyneth opened her mouth, and blue gas began coming out.
"She has given herself to the Gelth." Excitement filled the voice of Gelth. "The bridge is open. We descend."
Like before the sweet blue apparition turns flame red with sharp teeth. Its voice deepens and hardens.
"The Gelth will come through in force." The demonic voice growled.
"You said that you were few in number." Dickens his voice beseeched, while the doctor pulled Rose back to him.
"A few billion." It remarked coldly. "And all of us in need of corpses."
As it spoke, blue light entered the corpses and began to get up.
"Gwyneth, stop this," Sneed ordered. "Listen to your master. This has gone far enough." However, Gwyneth was not listening. "Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone, I beg of you."
"Mister Sneed, get back!" Rose shouted though not in time for the corpses behind Sneed to grab him and snap his neck.
Only for a Gelth to take over him.
"I think it's gone a little bit wrong." The doctor stated the obvious.
"I have joined the legions of the Gelth." Sneed groaned. "Come, march with us."
"No." Dickens spluttered.
"We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead."
"Gwyneth, stop them!" The doctor said, trying to maintain control. "Send them back now!"
"Three more bodies. Convert them." The doctor moved in front of Rose as they backed up against the metal gate. "Make them vessels for the Gelth."
"Doctor, I can't. I'm sorry. This new world of yours is too much for me. I'm so-" Dickens stuttered as he ran out of the room and up the stairs.
However, the distraction was long enough for Rose and the doctor to get behind the metal gate where the corpses couldn't reach them.
"Give yourself to glory." The Gelth chorused. "Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth."
"I trusted you." The doctor fumed. "I pitied you!"
"We don't want your pity." The gelth laughed "We want this world and all its flesh."
"Not while I'm alive."
"Then live no more." The Gelth mocked.
Rose couldn't help roll her eyes at that.
"I'm not dying here." She stated with determination, as she looked around the room trying to find something to hold them back until Dicken came back.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor sincerely mumbled to her, Rose looked at him for a moment as he looked at her. "It's all my fault. I brought you here."
"It's not your fault," Rose reassured him, though she was angry with him for not listening, she couldn't blame him. She could see how hurt he was and how much he wanted to believe the Gelth. Just, to fix something that was not his fault. "I wanted to come."
"I should have listened." The doctor started.
"Stop it." Rose snapped. "It wasn't your fault," she told him again, but she saw that the doctor wasn't convinced. "They preyed on your emotions, doctor."
"But."
"No, doctor, you wanted to help because that's what you do," Rose said, as she looked over his face. "and they tricked you with it, now don't allow them to win, by letting them feed on the guilt that you've placed on yourself." She then laced her fingers through his before stating firmly. "I trust you."
Rose looked up as one of the corpses' banged its body against the metal gate while the others continued to reach through the bars.
"We'll go down fighting, yeah?" Rose questioned, hoping to get the doctor out of his stupor.
"Yeah."
"Together?"
"Yeah." The doctor replied again, squeezing her hand. "I'm glad I met you."
"Me too," Rose replied. "Now let's figure out how to get off this."
"Doctor, Doctor!" Dickens yelled as he came running back into the basement. "Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now!"
"What're you doing?" The Doctor asked.
"Turn it all on," Dickens ordered as he began to turn on the gas lamps. "Flood the place!"
"Brilliant." The doctor commented as he looked around them. "Gas."
"Am I correct, Doctor?" Dickens questioned as he began to cover his mouth. "These creatures are gaseous."
"Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host." The Doctor explained to her. "Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!"
Rose watched as they began to leave them and headed towards Dicken.
Causing Dickens to back up. "I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately."
"Plenty more!" The doctor spoke as he tore a gas pipe from the wall. Rose watched as the Gelths left the corpses', but she knew it was far from over.
"It's working." Dicken said delight.
Though Rose was not sure even as the doctor and her, came out from behind the metal gates.
"Gwyneth, send them back." The doctor ordered. "They lied. They're not angels."
"Liars?" Gwyneth answered
"Look at me." The doctor requested, Rose, however, was barely listening as she was beginning to feel light-headed. "If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!
Rose covered her mouth as coughed, trying her best to stay clear-headed.
"Rose," The Doctor mumbled as his arm went around her. "Charles, get her out."
"I'm not leaving her." Rose shouted.
"They're too strong," Gwyneth replied almost in a monotone voice.
"Remember that world you saw? Rose's world?" The doctor began though she could barely focus on the words. "Get her out of here now, Charles." She tried to protest. "I won't leave her while she's still in danger." The doctor said just before she blacked out.
000
"Rose."
Rose groaned, opening her eyes to see a worried doctor looking down at her. "Doctor."
"You're alright." He said gathering her into his arms, holding her to him tightly.
"Gwyneth?" Rose asked weakly, as she looked around, though she already knew she didn't make it.
"I'm sorry, Rose but I couldn't save her." The Doctor mumbled into her hair. "I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch." Rose didn't say a word just buried her face in his jacket. "I'm sorry."
"I know." She said softly.
"She closed the rift." The doctor said.
"She saved all of us." Rose said in awe, she may have sounded disbelieving for Charles to interrupt.
"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor."
"She saved the world." Rose sadly spoke, as she turned to look back at the house in flames. "A servant girl. No one will ever know."
"Expect us." The doctor replied, still holding her close.
000
"Right then, Charlie boy," The Doctor said, clapping his hands together as they approached the tardis. "I've just got to go into my, er, shed. Won't be long.
"What are you going to do now?" Rose asked. "After all it's Christmas."
"I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste," Dickens replied, smiling. "This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them." Rose smiled at that. "After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital."
"You've cheered up." The Doctor noted.
"Exceedingly!" Dickens laughed. "This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I've just started." He sounded like an excited teenager. "All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor. I'm inspired. I must write about them."
Rose smiled sadly. "I would very much love to hear those stories."
"I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this Earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word, tell the truth."
"Good luck with it. Nice to meet you." The doctor smiled as he shook Charles Dickens hand Fantastic.
"Bye, then, and thank you." Rose said meaning every world as she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
"Oh, my dear." Dickens sputtered. "How modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?"
"You'll see. In the shed." The doctor said opening the tardis.
"Upon my soul, Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this. Who are you?"
Rose looked at the doctor as he answered. "Just a friend passing through."
"But you have such knowledge of future times," Dickens replied sheepishly, Rose saw how the doctor looked warily at Charles as he continued. "I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor, do they last?"
"Oh, yes!" the doctor said, smiling widely.
"For how long?"
"Forever." The doctor answered, causing Charles to smile. "Right. Shed." The doctor pointed to the Tardis. "Come on, Rose."
"In the box?" Dickens asked, clearly shocked. "Both of you?"
"Down boy." the doctor laughed. "See you."
With that, he pulled Rose along and closed the Tardis.
"I'm guessing he doesn't get to tell his story." Rose asked as she walked up to the console behind the doctor. She already knew what he was going to tell her, but it was sad nonetheless.
"In a week's time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies." He answered somberly.
"I can't help but feel sad for him," Rose said, watching the man outside. "He looks so happy. Alive even."
"True he's more alive than ever old Charlie boy. Let's give him one last surprise." He then hit one of the buttons of the tardis, while watching the Charles Dickens astonished face.