Unto the Universe

Chapter Fifteen: The Doctor's Wife: The Dying One

By Lumendea

….

Rose was still and silent, staring at Jack's body and the Doctor. Waiting. Jack should wake up at any moment. He couldn't die. He had on Game Station, but then she'd brought him back. The power she knew he'd have was in place. It had to be. Didn't it? Bad Wolf had to have been the event that gave him that power. Her in a powerful state of existence and not wanting to lose her friend.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said softly, reaching down to close Jack's eyes. Rose watched him swallow thickly but didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say.

"Just wait a moment," Rose whispered. "He won't need long."

"Rose." The Doctor stood up, reaching to take her hands. "Look at him, don't look at him. He's gone." He brought a hand up to her cheek. "We'll get him back to the TARDIS-"

"Why isn't he waking up?" Rose asked.

"What?" the Doctor asked. Concern filled his voice. "Rose-"

"TARDIS," Rose asked. "Why isn't he waking up?"

"You haven't woken him yet," the TARDIS answered with an odd little laugh.

Rose didn't bother to look at the Doctor's expression. This was taking too long. He should have been awake by now. She was trying to remember how long it had taken the first time. Only moments, or had it only seemed like moments in her shock at the strange man dying to protect her.

Wrenching her hands out of the Doctor's, Rose dropped beside Jack and reached towards him. He was so still. Not breathing or reacting.

"Rose, darling," the Doctor called, kneeling beside her. "We need to go. We'll take him with us, but it isn't safe to stay here."

Rose wanted to explain, but her mouth was too dry. Her mind was a mess of worry. Had she done something wrong? Had she changed the timeline somewhere without meaning to? Or was Jack supposed to die here only to return somehow in the future? With trembling hands, Rose forced herself to shift closer to her friend.

The moment she touched flesh, Rose's skin turned hot. There was no flash or light or spark that jumped from her fingers into Jack or anything so showy. Jack suddenly started breathing again and coughed painfully as he woke up. The wound closed up before their eyes.

"Jack!" the Doctor gasped. "You're-"

A groan came from Jack as he started to sit up. His eyes found the burned spot on his clothing, and the smooth flesh is exposed. "What? What happened?"

"The dying one," the TARDIS said firmly. She nodded and grinned. "You always get back up."

"What?" the Doctor repeated. He shook his head and stared hard at Jack. "This isn't possible. You were dead."

"Was I?" Jack seemed just as stunned as the Doctor.

"You're okay now," Rose said softly. The wound was gone though his shirt was still ruined. Throwing herself forward, Rose tightened her arms around Jack. "Please be more careful. I hate watching you come back." She finally realized that there were tears clinging to her eyelashes. "You really scared me this time."

"I died," Jack said softly. "I mean, I died."

"Yes," the Doctor said, not sugar-coating it at all. "And then you got back up."

"Yeah," Jack said weakly.

Rose reached over and hugged Jack's arm. She didn't know what to say but could feel the Doctor's eyes on her. Looking at him, Rose nearly grimaced at the suspicion and worry in his eyes. Releasing Jack's arm, Rose took a step back and a deep breath. She brushed the tears off her cheeks.

"I know this is a lot," she said. "But we can't delay. We need to find a way to get to the TARDIS and restore her." She gestured at the TARDIS, who was watching them with a quizzically tilted head.

"You said that I always get up," Jack said to the TARDIS. "So, this is going to happen again?"

"Oh yes," the TARDIS said before Rose could stop her. "Over and over and over. You're the dying one." She smiled as if pleased while Jack looked ready to be sick.

"TARDIS now," the Doctor said. "Unravel mystery later."

"Right," Jack said weakly.

"We need to check you out in the TARDIS infirmary," the Doctor said. "It… it might have been some sort of leftover technology from House." He didn't sound convinced.

"Oh, I won't be able to tell you anything," the TARDIS laughed. Then she grimaced and gasped for air. "Though, yes, I would like my body back now."

Jack nodded his agreement and took a shaky step. "Is it just me, or is it colder?"

"It's colder," the Doctor agreed. He stepped up to Jack and put one of the man's arms over his shoulders. "The universe is dying. With House gone, there isn't anything holding it together. It's going to keep getting colder."

"Let's get moving then," Jack said. He shook his head and pulled his arm away from the Doctor. "I'm okay, just a little shaken."

They started to walk a bit slowly at first, with the TARDIS running ahead and waving them forward. With House and the minions gone, Rose was able to focus more on Jack than the TARDIS. There was no sign of injury on Jack, and he was moving normally, but there was an uneasiness to every step. Rose licked her lips, unsure of what she could safely say. Jack hadn't agreed to this, to whatever had happened to him, to whatever she'd done to him on the Game Station.

"I'm sorry," Rose finally managed. "I think I did this to you."

"Did what?" Jack blinked at her. "Rose, sweetie, I'm a little freaked out, but I'm not angry. I'm still alive; I'll take that." He grabbed her hand and squeezed, his back and shoulders straightening a little as he walked a little faster.

The walls of junk loomed over them as the temperature slowly dropped. Rose shivered and kept searching the junk for signs of the Nephew. She regretted the fate of the lost Ood but wasn't sure what she was hoping for. Given House's total control of the beings here, there was no way it was safe to take with them. Its absence made her wonder if House had already killed the poor thing before departing with the TARDIS. Without the need to contact Time Lords, there was no need for the Ood.

They briefly went through the area where the TARDIS had been. Its absence was sharp and cold to Rose, and beside her, the TARDIS was moving slower. The seeming unlimited energy that she'd had before was dimming. Rose looked around, still fighting that same uneasy feeling though now she could chalk it up to worry about dying from the cold, worry about the TARDIS, and worrying about the Doctor and Jack.

"Here," the Doctor said.

Ahead of them was a cliff of stone and junk overlooking more of the junkyard. They looked down into the valley of parts. Rose shivered. An odd sense of loss pushed at her, but she didn't understand it. Then the TARDIS's grip on her hand tightened further. Rose looked over at her and found the TARDIS looking out over the landscape sadly. It was then that she took in how familiar some of the twisted and broken shapes were. There were several partial TARDIS consoles scattered amongst broken-down shells.

"I'm the last TARDIS," the TARDIS said. "For now, at least. Won't always be, but now all of my sisters are dead. They were devoured, and we are looking at their corpses."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said. "This might be hard to see, but-"

"But you're going to use their remaining parts to build a functioning TARDIS," the TARDIS said calmly. "Yes, the thing that killed them and their Time Lords must not escape."

They clamored down the hillside, the Doctor already scanning for the parts he needed. Jack, for his part, fetched the things that the Doctor needed without question, but Rose could tell he was still shaken. Guilt curled in her gut. Jack had been through so much lately with learning about what the Neverweres did to him. Now this.

"We need to get moving," the Doctor told the TARDIS. "Uh, do you have a name?"

"Seven hundred years, finally he asks," the TARDIS retorted.

"He's a man," Rose replied while Jack laughed behind her.

"Enough from the peanut gallery," the Doctor groaned. "Do you like TARDIS?"

"TARDIS is fine though I do like when you call me Old Girl or Gorgeous." The TARDIS smiled sweetly. "Makes me feel warm inside."

"Come on then, Old Girl," the Doctor said, holding out a hand. "Let's make sure it's another seven hundred years."

"Oh, your life spans are due to increase dramatically," the TARDIS said. "After this-"

"Spoilers," Rose snapped.

"I'm guessing Rose, and I aren't still having around then," Jack said. Then he shuddered. "Though, with me…"

"Oh, not always, but you visit with Ath-"

Rose lunged forward and slapped a hand over the TARDIS's mouth. "Spoilers," she hissed. Then the TARDIS licked her hand, but Rose kept it in place. Raising a hand and pointing at the TARDIS, she met the TARDIS's gaze and firmly said. "No."

"Bad TARDIS," Jack added, holding back a laugh that was barely on this side of hysterical. Rose wasn't sure if she was happy he'd managed to laugh or not.

"No spoilers," the Doctor agreed. "Now come on, there's work to do."

He wasted no time in directing Jack to the parts they needed to drag over while Rose and the TARDIS gathered up smaller bits and pieces. If digging through the remains of her fellows TARDISes bothered their TARDIS, she refused to show it. A stern determination filled her human features.

"Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter," the TARDIS told the Doctor.

"I have rebuilt a Tardis before, you know," the Doctor huffed. "Recently, if you recall. I know what I'm doing."

"You're like a nine-year-old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom. And you never read the instructions," the TARDIS said.

Rose and Jack glanced at each other, continuing to help pull over the parts that were needed. Neither of them knew what to say to add to the conversation, and Rose was curious as to where this would go.

"I always read the instructions," the Doctor huffed.

Jack snorted, closing his eyes as he tried to keep his body from shaking. Rose pressed her lips together tightly. That was the biggest lie that the Doctor had ever told.

"There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for seven hundred years. What does it say?" the TARDIS asked the Doctor.

The Doctor glared at her as they lifted another piece of a wall into place, and he secured it with the sonic screwdriver.

"That's not instructions," the Doctor insisted.

"There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?" the TARDIS pressed.

"Pull to open," the Doctor grumbled.

"Yes. And what do you do?"

"I push."

"Every single time. Seven hundred years. Police Box doors open out the way."

"I think I have earned the right to open my front doors any way I want," the Doctor retorted.

"Your front doors? Have you any idea how childish that sounds?"

"You are not my mother," the Doctor huffed.

"And you are not my child."

"You sure about that?" Jack asked softly.

"Jack, hold that down," the Doctor said, gesturing at the make-shift console. "The blue one."

Without another word, Jack held the part in place while the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to secure it.

"Since we're airing things out," the Doctor said. "I want to say that you've never been very reliable."

"And you have?" the TARDIS countered.

"You didn't always take me where I wanted to go."

"No, but I always took you where you needed to go," the TARDIS replied with a soft smile.

"I suppose that's true." The Doctor's features relaxed. "It's a shame that talking to you isn't always this simple."

"You know I'm not constructed that way. I exist across all space and time, and you talk and run around and bring home strays."

"Not going to take offense at that last part," Jack said loudly.

But then the TARDIS crumbled, her knees buckling. The Doctor caught her, a terrified expression on his face.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked.

"One of the kidneys has already failed," the TARDIS answered. "It doesn't matter. We need to finish assembling the console."

"Using a console without a proper shell. It's not going to be safe."

"This body has about eighteen minutes left to live," the TARDIS said. "The universe we're in will reach Absolute Zero in three hours. Safe is relative."

The Doctor looked over at Rose and Jack. They both nodded. There really was no choice: possible death or certain death. And with Jack now able to come back from the dead, she had no idea what being in a place like this would do to him. Could he just cycle between life and death endlessly? A chill rolled up her spine that she didn't think had anything to do with the physical temperature.

"Then let's get a move on, old girl."

With renewed fervor despite the cold, the crew launched into assembling the pieces. Rose and Jack were quiet, holding what they were told to, and Rose occasionally using her sonic pen to fuse parts together under the TARDIS's watchful eye.

"You'll need to install the time rotor," the TARDIS told the Doctor.

With quick movements, the Doctor inserted the part in question into the mess that was the make-shift console.

"How is this going to make it through the rift?" the Doctor asked seriously. "We have the parts, but…"

"Do you ever wonder why I chose you all those years ago?" the TARDIS asked as she examined a wire coat hanger and started to twist it into a new shape.

"I chose you. You were unlocked."

"Of course I was. I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord, and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough."

The Doctor chuckled and shook his head. Then she gestured at the console. "I think that's everything. Impressive work for twelve minutes, but there's no time to run tests."

"I'd recommend these," Jack said, running up with four ropes with hooks on the ends. "Not the idea safety lines, but they're something."

Once everyone was strapped in as best they could manage, the Doctor took a deep breath and pulled a lever. The console layout was different than the one Rose knew, and she watched, waiting for him to do more. He didn't, and nothing happened.

"Shit," the Doctor hissed.

"What's wrong?" the TARDIS asked.

"It can't hold the charge!" The Doctor gestured at the console's central column. "It can't even start." Shaking his head, he exhaled a deep and defeated sigh. "I've got nothing."

"Oh, my beautiful idiot," the TARDIS said with a soft smile. "You have what you've always had. You've got me."

The TARDIS kissed her fingertip, keeping her eyes on the Doctor. Golden energy danced around her fingertips as the TARDIS's face briefly lit up. The TARDIS touched the console, transferring the energy. Rose watched it climb up the old and beaten central console, making it spark to life as the golden color seeped it. Then the TARDIS looked at her and winked before their make-shift time machine jolted into action. Gripping the console desperately, the air was pulled out of Rose's lungs as they took off.