Chapter 12: I ain't Afraid of No Ghosts

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, it belongs to BBC

Winter Song- The Head and The Heart

Tell me somethin', give me hope for the night

We don't know how we feel

We're just prayin' that we're doin' this right

Though that's not the way it seems

Kit thought there was nothing that she hadn't done but apparently she was wrong. Here she was sitting around a table in between Rose and Charles Dickens about to have a séance. She thought this was a horrible idea and that nothing good would ever came out of it. It didn't help that when she was ten she convinced her Doctor to let her watch a horror movie which happened to be about teens having a séance. In the movie, they were haunted by angry spirits that wanted to drag them to hell. She didn't sleep for weeks and she vowed to never ever have a séance. Kit really didn't want to be killed by angry spirits.

On top of it all, the Doctor was giving her suspicious looks. She had hoped he didn't hear anything of what Gwyneth said but the looks he was giving her told her otherwise. She hoped the seance would distract him enough to forget or at least to not question her.

"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town. Come, we must all join hands," Gwyneth told them happily and reached out her hands to them.

Dickens suddenly stood up. "I can't take part in this!"

"Humbug?" The Doctor asked jokingly. "Come on, open mind."

Kit shook her head. "Er, I think I'm going to have to agree with Dicky on this one," she piped in. "I really don't want to die."

"You're not going to die."

"Yeah, that's what those teens said in the horror movie I watched!" She stressed.

"You're going to be fine, Kit. I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you," he reassured her. Kit still felt uneasy about the whole thing. "Would it make you feel better if you sat beside me?"

Kit looked down at her hands. She felt so embarrassed about how scared she was. She'd gone up against Dalek, Cybermen and even Weeping Angles but she was scared of doing a stupid séance. She really wished she never watched that horror movie.

Kit looked back up at the Doctor. "Maybe… yes."

He gave her an understanding smile. "Mr. Sneed, do you mind switching places with Kit?"

Mr. Sneed didn't look happy about it but nodded anyways. They switched places and Kit suddenly felt much better.

"Your fears of this tomfoolery is irrational and foolish, child!" Charles snapped. "It's nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."

Kit bit her lip and looked down at the table. Dickens was right. She was being irrational and foolish. She shouldn't be scared of this. It was like her stupid fear of closed spaces. It didn't make any sense and she needed to get over it. She needed to grow up.

"Kit has every right to be scared and she's definitely not foolish because of it," the Doctor argued. "Everyone has their fears, even you Mr. Dickens. And don't antagonise Gwyneth. I love a happy medium," he smiled.

Rose shook her head and laughed. "I can't believe you just said that."

Charles still didn't sit and Kit sighed in frustration. "Can you just sit down so we can get this over with!"

"Fine," he huffed and sat down in his chair.

"Good man. Now, Gwyneth, reach out," He told her and then took Kit's hand, squeezing it in reassurance.

"Speak to us. Are you there?" She asked the air. "Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden."

Suddenly, there was a whispering, almost crying, all around them. Kit gulped and gripped the Doctors hand tighter.

"Can you hear that?" Rose asked everyone.

"Unfortunately," Kit muttered.

"Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly," Dicken insisted.

"Look at her," Rose nodded towards Gwyneth.

Kit turned to see Gwyneth looking up at the ceiling, rocking back and forth.

"I see them. I feel them," she whispered.

Kit looked up and saw blue gas drift above their heads. Everyone was silent, completely in shock.

"What's it saying?" Rose asked Gwyneth but she didn't respond.

"They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through," The Doctor explained.

"I can't!"

"Doctor, I don't think it's a good idea to let them through," Kit shouted over the whispering.

"It's going to be fine, Kit. Don't worry," he replied.

The Doctor thought she was saying that because she was scared but that wasn't it. Kit knew it wasn't a good idea to let things through the rift. She knew it was an even worst of idea to let things through the rift that they knew nothing about.

"You can do this, Gwyneth," the Doctor reassured her. "Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link."

Gwyneth suddenly snapped her eyes open. "Yes!"

A blue outline of people suddenly appeared behind Gwyneth. Everyone's jaw dropped.

"Woah," was all Kit could get out.

"Great God! Spirits from the other side!" Mr. Sneed exclaimed.

"The other side of the universe," the Doctor corrected him.

"Pity us," the Gelth pleaded with child like voices. "Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us!"

"What do you want us to do?" The Doctor asked.

"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge," they replied.

"Why? What do you need her for?" Kit questioned. She was getting an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction," they explained.

"Why, what happened?" The Doctor questioned.

"Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came," the Gelth told them.

Kit froze and shut her eyes tight. Please don't be the Time War. Please don't be the Time War! She pleaded in her head. If it was the Time War, she knew the Doctor would stop thinking straight.

"War? What war?" Dickens asked.

"The Time War. 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."

Shit, Kit thought. Why can't the universe work with me just once? She glanced over at the Doctor. He wore a deep frown.

"So that's why you need the corpses," the Doctor said thoughtfully.

"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," they cried.

"But we can't," Rose piped in and Kit agreed with her.

"Why not?" The Doctor questioned, giving Rose a cold stare.

"Because I've watched enough zombie movies to know that's a bad idea!" Kit hissed. She couldn't believe this Doctor was actually going to do this.

The Doctor shook his head. "That's not the same, Kit!"

"It's still a bad idea!" she barked. "It's- it's…"

"What? Not decent? Not polite?"

"No! It's stupid!"

"It could save their lives!"

Before Kit could reply, the Gelth begged, "Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth!" The Gelth disappear and Gwyneth collapsed.

"Gwyneth!" Rose shouted and rushed over to the girl.

Dickens was muttering to himself but Kit wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. Instead, Kit watched the Doctor. He looked to be pondering on everything that just happened. Kit understood that he was guilty about what happened to his planet and people. This was the Doctor right after he had killed them all but she really hoped it wasn't going to cloud his judgment.

"Someone help me get Gwyneth more comfortable," Rose requested.

Mr. Sneed got up and helped Rose lift Gwyneth and move to the other room.

"It could save their race," the Doctor suddenly said.

Kit looked at him. He wasn't angry. He looked sad and unsure. Kit felt bad for him but she wasn't going to let him make a terrible mistake.

"Or it could destroy another," she told him softly and then got up to help with Gwyneth.

They laid Gwyneth on a chaise longue. Mr. Sneed left and then came back with a wet cloth. Rose took it and started to pat Gwyneth's forehead with it. Kit could hear everyone moving around but she just sat on the ground in front of Gwyneth and looked at the ground. She sacrificed herself to save the whole world and because of the sacrifice, it opened up a rift right here in Cardiff. The Doctors words whispered in her mind. She looked up at Gwyneth. She knew the Gelth were bad, they had to be. She didn't want this innocent girl to die. She didn't deserve it. The rift opening wasn't worth the girl's death.

"It's all right," Rose suddenly said. Kit realized that Gwyneth was starting to wake up. "You just sleep."

"But my angels, miss. They came, didn't they? They need me?" She asked quietly.

"They do need you, Gwyneth. You're they're only chance of survival," the Doctor replied as he leaned up against a wall. Kit stood up and glared at him.

Rose head snapped towards him. "I've told you, leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles," Rose argued. The Doctor just sighed. "Drink this." Rose handed Gwyneth a glass of water.

"Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again. What are they?" Mr. Sneed jumped in.

The Doctor turned to him. "Aliens," he said matter-of-factly.

"Like foreigners, you mean?" He questioned, obviously still confused.

Kit shook her head. "He means they're from up there," she explained pointing to the sky.

"Brecon?"

"What? No! Not Brecon it's-" She stopped realizing that the old man wasn't going to get it. "You know what, yeah sure, Brecon."

"They've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked," the Doctor tried to explain. "Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. 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," Dickens finally spoke.

"They're not having her!" Rose snapped, looking at them in complete disgust.

"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," he tried to explain.

Kit frowned. He made it sound so simple, so safe but she knew that wasn't going to be the case. there were still so many variables they hadn't considered yet, so many things that could go wrong. Yet the Doctor wasn't thinking about any of that.

Charles suddenly laughed. "Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers."

The Doctor nodded. "Good system. It might work."

Rose suddenly stood up. "You can't let them run around inside of dead people!"

"Why not? It's like recycling."

"Seriously though, you can't!"

"Seriously though, I can!"

"No!" Kit finally snapped. "I knew you were mad but I didn't think you were insane! Nothing good could ever come out of this!"

The Doctor glared at her. "You know, I thought you of all people would understand, Kit. I thought you would want to help them!"

"Sure yeah, I would, if we knew who the Gelth were!" She countered. "If we knew how this would affect the future! If we did some kind of research! But we don't know anything, Doctor. We're going in blind!"

"We don't have time to figure that stuff out. You heard what they said, time's short," he hissed. "We need to help them! They just want to survive!"

"And what if you're wrong about this!? What if there's more to this?" She fumed, clenching her hands into fists. "You're not thinking!"

"I am thinking!" He shouted at her. "I'm thinking that the Gelth's whole race was destroyed from our war. I'm thinking that they need us!"

"And I get that. I get that you want to save them because you couldn't save your race. But you're getting too emotional," she pushed. She didn't mention the fact that he was guilty about killing his people. Probably best to leave that out.

He gave her a cold glare but she didn't waver. "It's more then just that! We're doing this and that's final, Kittredge!"

Kit crossed her arms over her chest. "No, it's not final. Look, I may not be as old and wise as you are but I should still have a say in this. This isn't even your planet so shouldn't me and Rose have a bigger say in what happens to our world! Our future!" She ranted.

The Doctor clenched his jaw. "We are saving the Gelth! Help me or go home! You two don't understand what's happening here, that's why I decide! And I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying!"

There was a long pause. No one said a thing. Everyone was waiting for Kit or the Doctors next move.

"Fine," Kit put simply.

The Doctor nodded. "Good. Now we need-"

"I'll go home," she interrupted causing the Doctor to stare at her in shock.

"What?"

"You said 'help me or go home'. I'm not helping you make a horrible mistake. I'll go home," she said so calmly that it kind of scared herself. "I'll meet you at the Tardis."

She pushed past everyone and out the door.

A/N- So there's a bit of a cliffhanger. Next chapter will be the conclusion of The Unquiet Dead. Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review!