Journey Amongst the Stars
By Lumendea
Chapter Five: Mirror on the Wall: The Tower
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
AN: Sorry, but this episode is going to need six chapters instead of the usual five. There was something that I had to include which just made the climax longer than usual.
…..
The Doctor didn't have time to stop moving. Once Rose was inside, and the doors were closed, he rushed deeper into the TARDIS. An Eternal. His mind was spinning. He'd hoped for more time before they attacked to teach Rose to control her abilities. As it was, she was too vulnerable to them mentally while that sword made her a threat. It was a dangerous combination. Not for the first time, he cursed the Guardians for putting her in this position.
One positive thing about he and Rose's exploration adventures in the TARDIS was that he had a much better idea of where things were then he'd had in centuries. During the Time War, he'd collected and scavenged everything he could, but it was easy to lose track of it all. Reaching one of the storerooms, the Doctor paused and glanced back only to sigh in relief. Rose was right behind him. That was good.
"You alright?" Rose asked. "No thorns got you?"
"Nah, I had a fair maiden protecting me."
That made her smile a little, and the Doctor pushed open the door. Good. He preferred it when Rose was smiling, even if it was only a small smile. The storeroom lit up as the TARDIS did her best to help. Rose followed along after him as he picked up useful bits and pieces and tried to remember exactly how the transitioner worked. He'd only used it the one time, in his seventh body, shortly before the Time War started. It had been a foolish move, but he'd seen the Time War coming and had lost patience with the Eternals. Looking back now, he wondered if them destroying that planet for fun had been one last hurray in this universe before they fled. They'd probably felt the war coming too.
"We need to hurry," Rose said. "The Grimms are out there alone."
"I know." He pulled out the sonic screwdriver, using it to fuse two pieces together with a high-pitched hum that made both him and Rose flinch. "It's using them as the template. Hopefully, that will keep it from harming them."
"I hope they're safer than that," Rose murmured.
Rose fell silent and let the Doctor work. She watched his hands quickly and expertly assemble an odd looking device that seemed out of a prop department. Small wires were exposed in a few places, and it had a vaguely round shape though small bits were poking out here and there. Yet, it was still small enough to fit in the Doctor's hand. Leaning against a wall of the TARDIS, Rose focused on her breathing and did her best to stop the headache trying to build behind her eyes. If she hinted to the Doctor that the telepathic attacks of the Eternal were straining her, he'd try to leave her behind, and there was no way she was letting him go out there alone.
"This should stop it," the Doctor announced. "The biggest problem is that it only has a range of a few feet." The Doctor adjusted the device, his blue eyes sharp and worried. "And since I've done this before, it will likely know what I'm up to, so be ready for all the trouble it can throw at us." He hesitated and looked at Rose. "I'm sorry, but if this doesn't work-"
"My sword was created to fight Eternals," Rose said. She nodded and smiled gently at the Doctor. "It's okay. I killed a few when the rift opened, remember?" The Doctor's features darkened and Rose sighed. "I don't like it, Doctor, but sometimes… well, we can't let an Eternal just run wild in the Black Forest in 1810 now can we."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too," Rose said. "You're going to have to suffer a Disney marathon with me when this is all over so I can get over that Handless monster." She made a show of shuddering. "No come on, we can't just stay here. The longer we wait, the worse things are going to get."
The Doctor nodded and took her hand, squeezing it gently. Rose squeezed back, not needing to say anything. She hated the reality that they were going to be destroying an Eternal at the end of this one way or another, but she didn't see a way around it.
…
The wolves stopped and turned to look off in the distance. Jakob leaned a little further from the trunk and frowned in confusion. Once again, the wolves didn't seem to behave like normal. Then again, he was stunned at there even being a pack of wolves in the area. He thought they'd already been mostly hunted out around here.
"What are they doing?" Wilhelm asked curiously. "More strange behavior."
"I wonder if these wolves are part of the story as well, part of whatever is doing this' plan."
"I wish we knew more, but our new friends aren't exactly forthcoming."
"No," Jakob agreed.
Then to his great surprise, the wolves all took off and ran in the opposite direction. Towards the tower, if he had his bearings right. He blinked as the last gray and white mixed body vanished into the underbrush. Jakob didn't move, waiting for them to burst out of the bushes and circle the trees once more.
"They all went at once," Wilhelm said. "As if they heard something or there was a signal."
"What are you suggesting?" To his horror, Wilhelm began to climb down from the tree. "What are you doing? Get back in the tree this instant!"
"They've gone which means they don't need to keep us here now or there is a larger threat." Wilhelm dusted off his hands and walked over to stand beneath Jakob's tree. "We can't just stay up in trees."
"Yes, we can! And we should! How long until this creature unleashes more monsters? You know as well as I do some of the things that dwell in the local stories."
"Stop thinking about it," Wilhelm ordered. "Try not to think about the stories."
Jakob grumbled. It was far easier said than done when the forest was becoming a living fairy tale.
…
Rose grunted as she sliced through the thick vines. They weren't moving as much, and Rose was sure that the Eternal had turned its attention elsewhere. She desperately tried to remember Tegan's story about the boating race in space. As powerful as they were, it had seemed like the Eternals still needed help. They'd kidnapped human crews and messed with their heads so that they could run the ships. So they weren't all powerful. She cut down another vine that tried to twist around her leg. Sharp thorns still made her wary, but they were quickly moving away from the TARDIS.
The forest seemed darker than before. Rose was pretty sure that it was spring or summer given the temperature, but she was beginning to worry about nightfall. The last thing she wanted to do was run around a forest in the dark with fairy tale monsters jumping out at her. They stayed close together and didn't talk. Questions burned on Rose's tongue, but this didn't seem like to the time to be distracted with chatter. Her eyes scanned the trees, searching for any sign of the Grimms.
There was another push against her shields. Rose swallowed and pushed back, trying to focus on the shields while keep moving. It was difficult, like trying to juggle and she'd never figured that out. The snap of a stick made them both freeze, but Rose saw nothing. Then she spotted the tower and sighed in relief. Part of her had been sure that the Eternal would move it.
"Do we really think it's in there?" she whispered.
"It's the only structure we've found so far," the Doctor said. He didn't sound convinced. "We at least need to check it out."
"And it did drive us away earlier," Rose added, mostly to herself. "Rather than try to lure us in."
They reached the base of the tower, and the Doctor set his hand against the stone wall with a frown. Rose stayed close to him, and he circled the tower, looking for a way in, but Rose was beginning to worry that they'd have to climb the tower. Backing up, she looked towards the window and frowned. There was no light inside, no strange glow in the night. It looked empty, but she didn't trust that. In the distance, she thought she heard a low growl. It didn't sound like the wolves, and a horrible idea occurred to her.
"So, the dragon is Sleeping Beauty was a Disney addition, right?" Rose asked. She couldn't help but look up into the sky. "We're not going to wind up with a dragon attacking us."
"There is no dragon in the original Sleeping Beauty," the Doctor said. "The original is much worse." Then he froze and looked up into the sky. "But… there is a dragon in another one of the Grimm's Fairy Tales."
"How bad?" Rose asked.
"You know that story about the dragon eating maidens that are sacrificed to it."
"Yeah, it's a major fantasy trope."
"It's from The Tale of Two Brothers, a Grimm's Fairy Tale," the Doctor said. "That dragon had seven heads. Let's hope that one doesn't make an appearance."
Something in his voice really worried Rose. Besides, experience told her that now that the dragon had been mentioned, it was absolutely going to show up. She rechecked the skies as the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and started scanning the TARDIS. The Eternal had given up on the thorns, but Rose was sure it would be back with more twisted tales.
"No hidden door," the Doctor announced with a huff. "Not that Eternal needs it." He smacked the stone wall and backed up. "Nothing for it. Rapunzel! Let down your hair!"
There was no sudden appearance of a rope. Instead, hair began to grow out of the window, bright blonde and clinging to the sides of the tower like ivy. It crept across the rocks, no head in sight, like veins and Rose took a step back, very creeped out. The hair reached the ground and stopped growing as suddenly as it had started.
"Oh, my goodness."
Rose and the Doctor turned to find the Brothers Grimms standing behind them, expressions of shock and uncertainty on their faces. Wilheim recovered first.
"That wasn't how it was in the story," he said. "A bit more… dramatic."
"I doubt there's a princess up there," the Doctor said. He frowned as he looked up. "The question is what is this Eternal playing at."
"We still don't understand what you even mean," Jakob pointed out.
"It isn't from your world," the Doctor said bluntly. "It can shape the world around it. It is using the stories as a guideline since they aren't known for their creativity, but what it's after I don't know." He glanced towards Rose. "Might just be toying with us."
Above them, a light burst forth from the window, casting a pale green glow on the world. It was a sickly green that was unnatural and put Rose on edge. In the distance, she heard wolves howl, but even the sound of her allies wasn't enough to calm her. She summoned her sword once more and took a step away from the tower, bracing herself for the next attack.
"Rose I need to go inside," the Doctor said. He grimaced, but gripped the hair and started to hoist himself up. There were no screams from up above. "You stay here."
"Uh, no."
Rose released her sword and started to climb before the Doctor could argue with her. The hair vines held even though the texture was strange on Rose's hands. It felt like hair. It looked like hair, but her brain was struggling with the way that they grew over the wall like vines and held her weight. The Doctor scrambled up next to her, muttering something that the TARDIS did not translate.
She pulled herself through the window, right hand ready to summon her sword in case someone was waiting for her. The room was empty. No attacker was waiting in the shadows. On the far wall was a mirror with an ornate golden frame. There was nothing else in the circular room, no candles or chairs or bed or tapestries. It was empty except for the mirror which was the source of the green glow. Rose summoned her sword, and the surface of the mirror rippled. Climbing through, Rose stayed on guard as the Doctor followed her through. She blinked in confusion and then looked at the Doctor.
"Is that the Eternal?"
He was frowning at it and holding his device, suddenly looking unsure. He took a step forward, and the surface rippled again. Then he smiled a little and held up his device.
"Hiding again?" he asked. "In a mirror, really? You thought that was the best conduit."
Rose frowned. Conduit? That seemed like an odd choice of words. "It isn't here, is it?"
"Sort of," the Doctor said. "Hiding in another dimension, linked to normal reality through the mirror." He took a step forward. "That limits your power though." The Doctor drew closer and closer while Rose waited and tried not to do anything stupid. "What are you after?"
The surface of the mirror rippled once more, and Rose waited for a face to appear. It didn't. The Doctor seemed unsure still and started to reach towards the mirror. Before he could touch the frame, a strange field appeared around it, glowing the same sickly green. He drew his hand back with a hiss as if burned. Rose hurried forward to check his hand.
"I'm fine," the Doctor said. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "I can get through with the proper resonance frequency."
Before he could even get started, a roar shook the tower, echoing around them and hanging in the air. Rose knew exactly what it was without even having to rush to the window. Swallowing, she grimaced and looked at the Doctor.
"Shouldn't have asked about a dragon."
"Probably not." The Doctor turned his attention back to the mirror. "I need more time. It shouldn't attack the tower directly."
"But nothing can get out," Rose said. "So it can't really-"
A wave of light exploded from the mirror. It ran harmlessly past them and outside. The air changed, becoming lighter and Rose heard the wind rush past the window.
"The Eternal just released the barrier," the Doctor said. He looked towards the window.
Rose tried to feel what he was talking about. There was a difference in the air. It was lighter, not as heavy, but she didn't understand how the Doctor knew what caused it. What she did understand was that the dragon was now free to pillage the countryside full of innocent people.
"Fine then." She turned on her heel and went towards the window. "Be careful up here, Doctor."
"Rose! Where are you going?"
Rose stopped and turned back to smile at the Doctor. "I'm going to go slay the dragon."
"Rose-"
"I got this," Rose said. "You deal with that Eternal and its bloody magic mirror."
His shoulders slumped in defeat, but the worry remained in his eyes. Nodding, he turned back to the mirror, and Rose smiled. Rose reached the window and looked outside. Overhead, a massive seven-headed dragon was circling. Then it landed a short distance from the tower, three heads roaring towards the sky while the other four began to tear up trees and toss them to the side, forming a battlefield. Taking a deep breath, Rose didn't look back and instead, grabbed some hair and began to climb back down the tower walls.