AN: So this is a story that I started last year as a writing block buster. As I'm working on NaNo and my reworking I've been adding to it, and decided to share. I've already posted it on AO3, so this will be a cross posting. If and mature content pops up that will only be posted on the AO3 version.
Now onto the story
John Noble lived a long life, saving an alternate Earth many times over during it. Of course without a Tardis his life was limited in many ways, but one thing that never changed was his Rose. Quite literally. As he walked the slow path, she walked alongside him- always the 20 year old that had looked into the heart of his Tardis and destroyed a good portion of the Dalek race to save him. And as the years passed people took notice of the fact that she wasn't changing, and in not so good ways. Pete protected his not quite daughter for a long time, and John took up the charge after he could no longer do so. But as the former Time Lord grew older, the ones who wanted Rose for thier own purposes became bolder in thier attempts to take her to thier labs. So John, knowing that once his slow walk was over the Time Lady who walked beside him would be alone and in danger- with no way to escape the ones who were after her, worked on a device in his later years. One that he never told her about.
It would kill him- there was no doubt about that, but if he succeeded it would be worth it. This timeline would cease to exist, and Rose would be safe with his younger self. The one who would look for the things that his tenth should have. Nine would know about the Gift that Bad Wolf gave herself while she held the heart of the Tardis and burned the Daleks, John had no doubt about it. That incarnation had been sharper, more observant in so many ways, because his body had been born in the aftermath of war. Unlike Ten who had been born in the aftermath of desperation and love, and had been idiot enough to resist the happiness he could have had with Rose. Ten had been forever hurting Rose, by swanning off with other woman and never being able to say the three words she had needed to hear from him. That couldn't happen again so John had to get his timing right. He needed a certain Doctor to be able to pull this off.
John Noble, Metacrisis to the Doctor, ended his life one rainy day. He took the plunge only after he wasn't able to move fast enough to stop himself from being shot. It would only get worse from here on- with Rose devoting her attention to helping him heal she would be less aware of her surroundings and he couldn't' have that. He couldn't be the reason that she spent the rest of her long life in a lab, dying and regeneration to the whims of power hungry humans So while she was out trying to secure supplies to help him heal, he activated the device that he carried on his person at all times. It hurt, worse then the gunshot had, but he forced himself to focus on the one moment that would change it all. He spared the woman that his future self would have married but a thought as he felt himself torn from his body. River had been but a consolation prize at best and a duty at worst from what he understood, and the Doctor who would forget Rose would be no more. He was sure of it.
Seeing Rose, bathed in gold, still sent a sliver of fear through the metacrisis it seemed. Even if he knew that one way or another this would turn out well and not with her frying from the power, but he had chosen this moment for a reason. This was the time where his pink and yellow goddess had seen all of time… had remade herself and Jack so that they could give him forever. And this was the only point where his desperate attempt change and entire timeline would be able to work, she would be able to see him and hopefully she would listen to what he had to say. He moved closer to Rose, knowing his younger self would not be able to see him, and he felt when she went to jerk Jack back to life. This was the first change that he had to make, that he had to make. Remembering the pain his other self had felt around the man after this. He didn't want his younger self to lose this man either.
"Gently now love, craft the life you give him into what you see for us. Don't fix him to a single point or he will be lost to us forever just as he is now. It will hurt me to be around him in the beginning, and later it will hurt you. Once the changes you've made to yourself mature." He spoke softly, standing in her line of vision to catch her attention. In making sure that he was standing in her line of sight he knew that her head would not turn and alert Nine that something else was at work here. It wouldn't do to have the other man trying to stop him after all. When her eyes drifted to him, he heard his younger self tell her that she had to let it go, fear for her clear in his voice.
He knew what came next, and knew he had to speak again and try to convince her to let the Vortex go on her own. John's plan's centered on this version of himself being alive for a while yet, for him to guide her through the changes she had brought onto herself. The two of them… they had fallen in love already even if he was too stubborn to admit it. They knew each other, trusted each other in ways that would make sure what happened in his timeline wouldn't be repeated. His next self had to start over with Rose in a way and that along with the botched regeneration had allowed her changes to herself during this time to go unnoticed. Had allowed the next one to re-harden the walls that this final act had broken down in this incarnation. And most importantly, this version of himself deserved more time with Rose. Time he could give if she headed his warning. John could only hope that warning her that her Doctor would be harmed by taking the energy would be enough to make the woman let the power that was overwhelming her go. If this failed then he didn't know what to do next.
"Listen to him, and don't you dare let him kiss you until it's all out Rose. I've lived this. He kisses you to take the Vortex out and then you lose him, and he takes on another incarnation, the one I come from. He dies to save you from something you are not ready to handle. The changes you've made to yourself have not matured and won't for a long time yet. Keeping the vortex will kill you and he loves you too much to let that happen even if he may not admit it to himself yet. And my next self… He misses the changes you've made to keep your promise of forever. And so much suffering is had because of it." He encouraged, a desperate tone in his voice that he wasn't ashamed to admit was there. Her eyes landed on him, and she seemed to struggle to understand what he had told her. But as the Doctor rose from the ground, she looked back at him before taking a step, then another backward- towards the Tardis and putting space between her beloved doctor and her. She couldn't let him kill himself saving her after she had protected him.
"I understand now, and I can not let you die in my place My Doctor." The eerie dual voice that marked her bonding with the Vortex. "I need to let it go, so the stars stop hurting and I will not lose you." The Ninth Doctor's relief was John's own. It was working. She was listening, and the chances that he was actually making the changes that he wanted to were growing. Rose wasn't going to be doomed to be trapped in Pete's World with their scientists picking her apart.
"That's it my precious girl. Just a few more steps then let it go." Nine encouraged, keeping his voice level even though his panick was clear to anyone who saw it and wasn't holding the Vortex. John sighed heavily, feeling completely drained. He needed this to work so his Rose's suffering never happened, or his death would mean nothing.
'She will always be a part of me. I am singular, created by myself for one man. Her memories will never die, and what she has learned in your perils will be her boon for her trials.' John heard echo in his mind, and his heart broke just a little. Rose would still know what he had prevented, she would have the memories of people chasing them, shooting him. He hadn't wanted that. 'I thank you my human Doctor, for the sacrifice you have made to correct a mistake that I could not foresee. Your love will never be forgotten, do not lose hope. I will keep every one of my dear Doctor's safe from harm.' He watched as Rose exhaled, willingly letting go of the Vortex that was killing her in order to save Nine. As the last of it left her she collapsed, and Nine caught her on her way down. He watched his younger self lower her to the ground, holding her tightly to his chest as he reassured himself that she had let the vortex go, and was still alive. John could remember the fear he had felt that day, so he wouldn't begrudge his younger self this moment. Before, he had felt himself dying by this point. There hadn't been time to worry.
"You stubborn, beautiful woman. You coulda killed yerself pulling this off. Never again. I can't have ya die fer me Rose" Nine muttered, kissing the top of her head, inhaling her smell, and reassuring himself that she was still there. John felt like a peeping tom as he rested his unseen self against the Tardis, feeling his time ending. He didn't know what would happen when it did, and it turned out he didn't have to. Not long after he 'touched' the Tardis he.. fell for better lack of terms and knew nothing more then his beloved machine's song. At least that was all for the foreseeable future.
Jack skidded into the control room where he had left Rose and the Doctor half expecting to see no one there, considering he remembered dying and had no idea how much time had passed. They may have left him, because there was no way that the Doctor hadn't realized what happened to him. Instead he saw two forms on the ground, and the Doctor looked up from where he was holding a hopefully unconscious Rose. The former Time Agent saw relief in his blue eyes, which made him assume that whatever was wrong with Rose wasn't serious. If she was dying or dead, there would be other emotions shining through. He had come back from the dead, so thier pink and yellow girl couldn't be dead herself right?. He came closer, feeling sick to his stomach as he took in thier companion's unmoving body, even if she was alright seeing her like this felt wrong.
"Is she alright?" He forced himself ask, when the words wouldn't come out on their own because he was afraid of the answer. The Doctor's eyes hardened as he looked back down at the Blonde, before stroking her hair.
"I sent her home, tricked her into going into the Tardis and used the Sonic to initiate transport. But the silly girl found her way back to us. She looked into the Tardis' heart Jack. She looked into it, and then she saved us all. Brought you back to life even. But even when it was killing her she wasn't going to let it go, not until she saw something that made her understand that if she didn't do it herself that I would help, and I wouldn't have this daft face for much longer if that happened. We've got to get her inside so I can check to make sure she didn't damage herself, but.." The Doctor's voice broke as he spoke, ending roughly. Jack knelt down next to them, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
"I'll help you bring our girl inside so we can get her checked out, yeah? Sound like the two of you had a rougher time then I did dying and coming back." He murmured, feeling something loosen in his chest when he felt just the slightest press against his hand and they both watched Rose breath for a minute or two. The Doctor nodded after a moment, signalling that he was ready to move Rose. Jack flashed him a small grin before he helped him up, then helped lift and bring the young woman into their home so the examinations could begin.