Thank you everyone who read the last chapter!
(This chapter could alternatively just be called Chloe's Bad Mental Health Day)
((Some possible tws for this chapter: Thoughts of dying/generalized depression))
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who
"Peter Alan Tyler, my dad. The most wonderful man in the world. Born 14th of September, 1954."
Chloe's head still briefly stung from the two day brainstorm Krop Tor had given her four days ago, the Doctor having been hesitant to take her anywhere after she revealed it refused to go away completely, but the mention of Pete had her head pulsing again.
Where had she heard these words from again? "He was always having adventures. That's what mum always says. So, I was thinking… could we? Would we go and see my dad when he was still alive?"
Oh, she thought numbly, right, the reapers. The second most terrifying thing in this world.
"Where's this come from, all of a sudden?" the Doctor asked. Chloe looked up from where she was leaning against the second jump seat that had appeared only the day before, and quickly noted that Rose was looking between her and the Doctor.
"All right then, if we can't, if it goes against the laws of times or something, then never mind, we'll just leave it." the blonde mumbled, and Chloe all but snorted at her attempt to manipulate the time lord.
"No, I can do anything. I'm just more worried about you." he replied.
"I wanna see him." Rose confirmed.
"Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for." He stood up and offered a hand to Chloe, who took it. "Event?"
Chloe mentally hesitated, but her mouth moved before she could stop it. "Not that I know of? Pete's mentioned a couple of times, so I assume this is more of a book or comic event."
Why? Did she really hate herself that much?
Judging by the bright grin the Doctor gave her, she would be inclined to say yes. Shaking her head, she turned to Rose, who wasn't quite looking at her. "Did… did it really say stuff 'bout him?"
It was a loaded question, but Chloe nodded, gently pulling the girl into a hug. "Oh, Rosie, he loved you so much. More than life itself."
As it turned out, her brainstorm had only gotten worse while they sat at the back of the crowd, watching Jackie's and Pete's marriage ceremony. "I thought he'd be taller," Rose murmured.
"Sometimes we embellish stories of those we love. Or sometimes, our imagination builds up something that life fails to hold up," Chloe murmured back.
"I'd never thought to ask," Rose said towards her after a few seconds. "Would you ever want to," she motioned towards the altar, making the redhead blink and tilt her head.
"I don't know," she finally said. "Maybe. I haven't exactly found anyone I'm interested in who has shown interest back. Well, aside from Jack, but he's Jack."
"Jack?" The Doctor asked, making her shrug.
"Future companion? He travels with y-us in… a couple weeks? It's soon, and he's considered the third member of Team TARDIS."
"Fourth," Rose corrected, sending a pointed look towards her.
"I don't count," she protested. "Now hush, we're here so you can see this."
"He died, just outside of the flat. Nobody was there; the driver didn't bother to stop. I wanna be that someone. So he doesn't die alone."
"November the 7th?" The Doctor asked, making Chloe grimace and stand up.
"My head still hurts," she admitted. "I think I'll… I'll try to lay down."
At their nods, she did her best not to sprint down the halls, cursing herself as she walked into her room. Going into one of the wardrobes, she pulled out the shoebox and began to add in details to the Father's Day page.
Was it bad that part of her wanted to get erased with the TARDIS when the Reapers initially came?
Ok, yeah, that was pretty bad.
Sighing, she laid down on her bed, desperate for the headache to go away.
"Chloe?!"
She jerked awake on a park bench and looked around, instantly spotting the blue box and the Doctor. Hearing growling, she didn't even bother looking up as she darted forward, the time lord seeing her across the street.
"What the hell is happening?!" she cried, running beside him.
"Reapers; we have to get back to Rose." She could hear the reapers behind them as they came into view of the church and, in turn, came into view of Rose. "Rose! Get in the church!"
There was a reaper above Rose, about to form, and she kicked it into overtime, tacking the blonde as it swooped.
"Get in the church!"
Pulling her up, Chloe helped a few others before the doors were shut, unable to stop Stuart's father from running out.
"They can't get in. Old windows and doors, okay. The older something is, the stronger it is. What else?" The reapers let out a screech and she gave the Doctor a panicked look. "Go and check the other doors!" he told her, and she quickly went into the antichamber, checking the windows and doors as she went.
"I should've said yes," she mumbled once making sure everything was ok. A reaper screamed again, landing against the window, making her take a couple steps back. "I could've stopped this…" Swallowing, she shook her head and went back into the main room.
"That's the very first phone-call, Alexander Graham Bell," the Doctor was saying as he handed over a clunky phone. "I don't think the telephone's gonna be much use."
"The doors and windows on that side are clear for now. One looks like it's been replaced recently though." she reported. "Doctor, what are those things? Why are they here? How can we stop them?"
"They're called Reapers. Nothing in this Universe can harm those things. Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilize the wound." Rose, the adult, came up beside her and the Doctor glanced at her. "By consuming everything in sight."
Rose looked ready to start crying. "Is this because... Is this my fault?"
The Doctor didn't answer, instead guiding Chloe away and leaving Rose alone.
"Doctor," the redhead found herself saying. "What happened?"
"An ordinary man lived when he was supposed to die," he answered as quietly as she had spoken. "And it's all my fault."
"How? How did you come up with that fact?"
He didn't answer, instead leaving her beside a pew to look over the doors and windows again.
She wasn't sure how long had passed since the Reaper invasion had begun, only that her watch was frozen. Well, no, not quite frozen. It kept ticking every four seconds, the same four seconds, like when River had spared the Doctor instead of killing him.
She didn't know whether it was safe or not to bring that up with the Doctor, who was talking to the different guests. She could also see Rose by the altar, face full of tear tracks as Pete walked up to her. They talked for a few minutes before embracing, and she could see Jackie's lips turn up into a sneer.
Suddenly, a reaper walked along the glass window, causing everyone to go silent just before the large doors shook.
Chloe took a deep breath, but her head between her knees and did her best to count to twenty.
Somehow, she ended up sitting beside the Doctor, playing with baby Rose as he talked to the infant. "Now, Rose... you're not gonna bring about the end of the world, are you? Are you?"
"So is this before or after you learn to speak baby?" she found herself asking.
"Oh, I know it. She's just bein' stubborn." he replied. "I reckon you're used to baby Rose."
"Ha, no, I moved to Powell when she was 12." The Rose she helped raise joined them after she said this, making the Doctor look at her.
"Jackie gave her to us to look after. How times change," he joked.
"Maybe for you," she teased.
"I'd better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken." Rose joked, voice weak as she reached out to touch her younger self, but the Doctor quickly grabbed her hand.
"No. Don't touch the baby." Chloe's breath hitched, and she mentally prayed that they didn't connect the dots between her laughing at that to now- the reapers let out a loud, ear piercing screech that had baby Rose start to cry before the Doctor continued, leaving the redhead to try and calm the baby. "You're both the same person and that's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox happening. Not with these things outside. Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in."
"Can't do anything right, can I?" Chloe's heart broke at the blonde's words, and she let out a pained noise.
"Since you ask, no. So, don't... touch... the... baby." The Doctor said, slowly.
"Doctor," she murmured. "Don't,"
"Don't what?" he asked, sounding annoyed.
"Please don't make me choose. One hand, she shouldn't have saved Pete," Rose winced. "Other, the laws of time haven't been explained to her."
There was silence, and she could see the internal war going on. "I'm sorry," he finally said. "I wasn't really gonna leave you on your own."
"I know,"
"But between you and me, I haven't got a plan. No idea." She glanced back up at the window, shivering slightly as she realized that the reaper wasn't there anymore. "No way out."
"You'll think of something." Rose tried making it better, but the Doctor just shook his head.
"The entire Earth is being sterilised. This, and other place like it, are all that's left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures. They'll get through in the end. The walls aren't that old. And there's nothing I can do to stop them. There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening, my people would have stopped this. But they're all gone. And now I'm going the same way." He explained.
"If I'd realised…"
"Just... tell me you're sorry."
"I am. I'm sorry." Chloe watched as the two hugged it out before Rose jerked away. "Have you got something hot?"
There was a sizzling sound before there was a bright glow and the sound of a key being dropped on the floor. "It's the TARDIS key! It's telling me it's still connected to the TARDIS!"
Chloe set the baby back down into her car seat before standing up on the pew and whistling as loudly as possible, getting everyone's attention. "Listen up y'all! The Doctor has an important announcement that you'll want to hear!"
"Thank," he said as she moved to sit down. "The inside of my ship was thrown out of a wound but we can use this to bring it back. And once I've got my ship back, then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?"
"This one big enough?" Stuart asked, holding up his father's phone.
"Fantastic." the Doctor took the battery out of the phone and began to sonic it, looking around. "Just need to do a bit of charging up and then we can bring everyone back." The others began to murmur hopefully before going silent as the doors shook violently once again.
Once it became apparent that the reaper wasn't coming in just yet, Chloe moved to stand beside the Doctor. "Doctor, I… what happens if this doesn't work? Am I a secondary wound?"
"Why would you say that?" he asked, frowning at her.
"I'm not supposed to be here," she answered. "I changed events in the most heinous of ways. Am I a secondary wound?"
He hesitated, and it made her stomach knot up. "Yes," he finally admitted. "But you have no chance of interacting with a younger you, so they don't know you yourself is the cause."
She blinked, forcing herself not to cry. "And what happens if everything gets consumed? You said everything of this world."
"You wouldn't be able to exist without being tied to something," he instantly said. "You would've faded away in a couple years otherwise. I most likely tied you to the TARDIS; she's a reliable thing."
"Y-yeah, she is," the redhead agreed weakly before sitting down as the doors rattled again.
The three ended up sitting shoulder to shoulder at the back of the church, Pete close to Rose as Jackie glared at him. "When time gets sorted out…" Rose began.
"Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed." the Doctor answered, making Chloe look away.
"You mean I'll still be alive," Pete correctly, making Chloe nod almost immediately. "That's why I haven't done anything with my life. Why I didn't mean anything," he mumbled.
"Peter Alan Tyler," she found herself saying. "You made one of the most important humans on the planet. You're not useless."
Rose reached over, putting her hand on Pete's arm. "This is my fault," the blonde started.
"No, love. I'm your dad. It's my job for it to be my fault."
Chloe could see Jackie a second before the others, and managed an 'uh oh' before she appeared, all but breathing fire. "Her dad? How are you her dad? How old were you, twelve?" She could see the Doctor starting to move away, but she caught his arm and slightly shook her head.
'Baby', she mouthed, and his eyes widened.
"Oh, that's disgusting," Jackie finished.
Pete stood up. "Jacks, listen. This is Rose." he tried to explain.
Despite being angry, the elder blonde knew to keep her voice low as she held her infant daughter to her. "Rose? How sick is that? You give my daughter a second hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?"
"Oh, for God's sake, look! It's the same Rose!"
Pete moved to take the baby, but both Chloe and the Doctor stepped forward. "The Roses can't touch!" Chloe snapped. "It's a paradox, and a paradox is what let the Reapers out in the first place."
"Please, as if they're the same," Jackie scoffed.
"Mum-" Rose, the older one, spoke, and Chloe winced.
"Don't you dare!" Jackie yelled, her voice just barely raising. Upon seeing that the woman wasn't going to let her baby go any time soon, Chloe glanced at the time lord.
"Doctor, if Rose's past is changed; if she's raised with a father… there's a good chance I'm still going to fade away,"
"Explain," he demanded, whirling on her.
"Initially, my reason for being here was to make sure Rose's timeline stayed intact… well, for the most part, anyways. If I've faded, but my influence remains and Rose never took that job at Henrik's…"
"The timeline would be destabilized. Time itself would collapse," he finished. "We can figure out a way with this new timeline,"
"At what cost?" she countered quietly. "At what point do we decide to play god? At what point do we stop caring about the people?"
"You're suggesting-"
"Doctor, Pete loved Rose. He loved her more than life itself," she fixed him with a pointed look.
"So this was an episode."
"I don't know why I said I didn't know. But Doctor, Pete Tyler can not live past today. No matter how many corrections we do, nothing will compensate for this one man."
He looked at her. "What do you know?"
Swallowing, her mind flashed to Canary Wharf, and Rose's 'death'. "I can't say," she finally said, voice cracking as she looked away. "God, everything that needs Pete Tyler dead is stuff I can't talk about until it's over."
"Tell me when they happen," he finally said. "Tell me the events that were so important, they cost an innocent man his life."
As he walked back towards them, Chloe could only stand, frozen, his words repeating in her head as Jackie finally got so annoyed that she put Baby Rose into Adult Rose's arms.
"No!" the Doctor cried, too late to grab the baby before a Reaper came into the church. Everyone around her screamed. "Behind me!" She could feel someone drag her, putting her at the back of the church but… "I'm the oldest thing in here."
Horror leapt up into Chloe's throat as the Reaper swooped down on him and for the tiniest of seconds, she swore she could hear flesh tearing before the Doctor was gone, consumed, and the Reaper swooped around the church before colliding with the TARDIS, making both of them disappear.
As Rose went to go pick up the key, Chloe's ears began to ring as her fingers went numb. Glanding down, she was relieved to see she hadn't started to fade just yet and instead moved towards Rose. "It's cold," Rose told her in shock. "Oh my god… he's dead…" Pete came up to them, but Chloe shook her head at him. "It's all my fault… all of the people here… the whole world…"
"This is it. There's nothing we can do… it's the end."
Chloe couldn't find anything to argue against the statement.
About fifteen minutes later, Chloe was desperately trying to hide her missing hands as she sat down beside Rose.
At thirty, she lost feelings in her legs.
"What'll happen to you, once we're all gone?" Rose asked quietly.
"I'll fade away," the redhead answered. "Forever trapped within the void to be forgotten."
"The void?"
Chloe's lips twitched. "Some call it hell." The blonde immediately looked sickened.
"Chloe…" she whispered. She then did the one thing the redhead didn't want her to and tried to grab her hand, collapsing the arm of her jacket. "What…"
"I am… I was… tied to the TARDIS. It was the only thing keeping me around. Since I've spent years here, I've became dependant on it. When the Reaper bumped into it and shifted it back into the void…"
"You…" tears formed in Rose's eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?"
Chloe looked at her with a sad, but happy expression. "I'm your godmother, Rosie. It's my job to worry about you, not the other way around."
She faded away twenty minutes after that.
Now let it be said, dear readers, that the void is exactly what they say it is.
A long, black hall extending forever, never to end, never to have any light.
Chloe Nightingale didn't know how long she was in there, only that, in the end, she deserved it and more.
Chloe Nightingale woke up in a bed, with a familiar being sitting beside her.
"Where…?" She rasped, making the time lord look up.
"Easy," he said. "You were trapped in the void for possibly a year."
Chloe's heart immediately stopped as she blinked at him. "Ja-"
"It's only been fifteen minutes for Rose," he answered. She instantly knew what the for Rose was, and instead nodded slightly. "Do you need anything?"
Chloe paused, thinking back to the ramblings and quotes she had said over and over, trying to remember why she was there and desperately trying not to think about the darkness that had been everywhere she looked. "Notebook," she finally murmured. "Eccleston One. Please."
"Right away. Stay there,"
As the Doctor left, Chloe closed her eyes, and for the first time in a year, let out one of the most painful sobs she had ever felt.
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