Unto the Universe

Chapter Fifty-One: Torn in Twain: Walls Tumbling

By Lumendea

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any spinoff material, and I gain no income from this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: For years, I have kept these season stories 65 chapters long, five chapters per episode, but the episodes in this season are not working with me! I decided I needed to slow down the resolution and let the characters have some moments so there's gonna be another chapter making this fourth episode that has gone over its allotment. Not sure this story is going to keep to the original 65-chapter format.

….

There was an odd calm in the basement of the old UNIT HQ. The younger Doctor was rather impressed by it. Back when he'd been exiled, there were many occasions where the soldiers had panicked and made everything worse. Now, UNIT seemed to run on a calm and smooth course with a sense of 'here we go again' more than anything. It was almost humorous to him.

And Captain Smith had firmly stopped one of the privates from flirting with Peri. His companion hadn't minded too much, but the Doctor was grateful for one less distraction. There were too many as it was. His older self for one and his determination to unravel the source of this rip despite the danger and Rose Tyler for another.

He looked back toward his future spouse. His hearts jumped oddly, and he caught himself before he grinned too much. Today had been odd. Not bad, but certainly odd. The Doctor was grateful it was this him who was here today. Some of his other selves, no doubt, would have been too rude and driven Rose off. Then again… he eyed the gruff fellow in the leather jacket… maybe not. What Rose Tyler saw in that him, the Doctor had no idea.

Determined not to stew in questions about the man he would become, the Doctor turned his attention to another of the distractions. Jack Harkness, the man who would travel with him and his romantic partner. While he'd travelled with multiple people in the past, he was a bit surprised that there was another companion, given his future relationship with Rose.

Jack was verifying some of the scanning components for his future self. The man's comfort with the technology from the TARDIS that was making UNIT's excitable Doctor Malcolm twitter was impressive. Eve Zoe would have struggled with much of it.

"You know your way around this technology," the Doctor complimented. "I wasn't aware that the Time Agency knew of such matters. My experiences with them haven't been very positive."

"I can believe that." Jack grimaced and shook his head with obvious disgust. "I have an… odd relationship with them. There's a seriously dark side to the job, and I left under poor circumstances. When I met you and Rose, you let me stay on, and I've picked up a lot helping you with the TARDIS tinkering."

"I must trust you a great deal," the younger Doctor remarked. "I don't tend to have companions help with the TARDIS."

Jack's eyes lit up, and the Doctor wondered just what the circumstances they'd met were. There was something odd about the young man. Not bad. There was just a hint of something different about him. The Doctor was only catching glimpses of his timelines which were surprisingly bright, but they provided him with nothing concrete. Curious, just like everything else today had been.

Oh, he just wanted to use the time stabilizer and have this over with. He did understand the caution of his elder self, he truly did, but the rip in time was rattling all of his senses and filled him with a sharp sense of dread. And being around too many pieces of one's future had that effect as well. He was sure it was impacting his elder self as well.

Two women descended the stairs, both dressed in UNIT medical scrubs. One was fair with a hint of a sunburn, and the other was dark-skinned. Both were roughly Rose's age and seemed comfortable enough in the environment. Captain Smith sighed loudly at the sight of them though there was fondness in his eyes. The Doctor frowned and scanned the assemblage. No one was hurt.

"Sharon!" Rose's voice drew his attention back to her. "Shareen!"

She didn't leave her post near the door of the room, but her posture relaxed, and a brilliant smile lit up her face. That was certainly going to be a problem. The new arrivals earned a glance from the soldiers and Doctor Taylor, but no one made any move to stop them as they approached Rose. Releasing her sword, Rose turned her back on the containment room for a moment to hug both of the women quickly.

"Sorry to drag you back to Earth for this," the dark-skinned woman said. "Not the most fun day."

Rose shrugged and offered the pair a gentle smile before turning back to face the room. She resummoned her sword while the pair positioned themselves beside Rose while still giving her space to move.

"Maybe not, but it has been interesting." Rose smiled and glanced his way, catching him watching. "Sharon, Shareen, this is the Doctor in his sixth body. Doctor, this is Doctor Sharon Bell; she's a surgeon with UNIT and a childhood friend of mine." She inclined her head towards the woman of African descent, who smiled and nodded to him. "And Doctor Shareen Costello, one of UNIT's psychologists and therapists. Also, a childhood friend of mine."

"A pleasure," he said politely. "Do all of your childhood friends work for UNIT?"

"Not all," Shareen chuckled. "But most of us. Knowing Rose Tyler made for an interesting childhood. There's a reason you'll call her jeopardy friendly."

"It wasn't that bad. I never made you two tag along when things happened," Rose protested.

"How many times are we going to meet your boyfriend for the first time to him, Rose?" Shareen asked with a smile, but also the air of someone who was shockingly used to such things. "This is what? The third time? Maybe fourth?"

"Not sure," Rose admitted. She frowned a little. "Gets hard to keep track. Counting his eleventh self, fourth, I think."

"Rose, honey, I love you," Sharon said fondly. "But your life…" she shook her head and chuckled. Leaning forward, she kissed Rose's cheek and then turned her attention to the older Doctor. "We'll be borrowing our girl for the night once this is over, Doctor, so you best not run off."

The Doctor watched with interest as his older self nodded in understanding, though he pointedly ignored the look he was trying to send his way. Not that the younger Doctor blamed him, really. His own mind was spinning at all of the future information, and he wondered how his future self managed it. Being in a romantic relationship, meeting their partner's friends and the like. Oh, Rassilon, he'd probably met her parents. What even was this life?

Beside him, Rose chuckled and quickly kissed the cheeks of her friends before they returned to the staircase. No doubt to return to whatever was passing for the medical wing at the moment. The Doctor stared at Rose, doing his best to remain calm. He did catch a sharp look from his older self and a mental push against his shields. The Doctor nearly laughed. He didn't think that his older self liked him lingering beside Rose. Yes, there was a hint of jealously there, and that was more than a little amusing.

"Honestly," Rose huffed beside him. "You're so ridiculous."

Apparently, she'd figured out what was going through his mind or rather their mind. Not surprising. Rose seemed to know him very well. It was rather difficult not to just stare at the woman. He had so many questions for her, even knowing that he wouldn't be able to remember when this was done. She was quite fascinating and so used to his life that even her friends still living on Earth were rather flippant about it. Quite marvellous.

"Doctor, you're staring," Peri whispered beside him.

He jumped a little and looked down at his smirking companion. Peri was enjoying this far too much. They'd need to have a conversation about this later. If she couldn't keep a secret, then he'd need to erase her memories, and he hated the notion of that. No, he had faith in Peri, but that was an issue for later. Clearing his throat, he did his best to ignore the small knowing smile on Rose's face and went to check on the progress of his older self. Sooner or later, things were going to go wrong.

….

An alarm blared through the basement, and Rose grit her teeth at the shrill sound. When had that been installed? Why had it been installed? Beyond the wall and the windows, the rip was shuddering and shimmering, tearing wider before their eyes as shapes began to tumble out. There was a mixture this time. A few humanoids with slightly different proportions and a couple of long lanky animals that reminded Rose of giant cats.

Suddenly the containment room felt like a bad idea. She was too far to strike them down as they first fell out and were unsure on their legs. Rose paced between two windows that had been cracked open, waiting for something to get close enough.

"Easy," Mickey called to his men. "Easy. Watch them. Let's not put them into a frenzy if we can help it."

The younger Doctor stalked up to a nearby window and joined Rose in peering through. A sharp hiss escaped him, and he looked at Rose with visible alarm.

"There shouldn't be so many." He turned to glare at his older counterpart. "What could they possibly be connected to? Neverweres are rare!"

"A planet was erased," the Doctor answered shortly. "I can't tell you, so shut it!"

"I won't remember this!"

"Doesn't matter; some things the subconscious remembers." The Doctor's eyes jumped over to Rose, softening for a moment. "The situation is bad enough without us being reckless."

"Never thought I'd see the day when you said that," Peri said gently. Rose could tell that she was trying to calm the younger Doctor down but doubted it would work. He wasn't a fool. "Doctor, will your device send them back?"

"What?" the blonde Doctor blinked. "Yes, it will when it's activated with a Star Knight sword." He nodded at Rose, and his expression relaxed a tiny fraction. "But stay back in the meantime. Neverweres are echoes of things that were and no longer are. They are the remains of beings outside of time. They absorb time from those they come into contact with. It doesn't save them, but it seems to be an instinct they all possess."

"That sounds awful," Peri gasped.

"Yes," the younger Doctor agreed. "It is."

A crash of glass made Rose jump, and she swung around to see shards of the heavy-duty glass scattering across the floor. A large, dark, shimmering arm swung frantically around, reaching blindly for anything beyond the window that could help them. Shouting rolled down Rose's back. She was aware of the soldiers yelling and heard the Doctors snapping at each other. Thrusting her sword forward, Rose slashed at the arm. A sharp, high-pitched cry echoed in the room. More snarling and growling escaped the containment room. The creature ripped its arm back with a shriek.

"Windows are too high for me!" Rose shouted.

Mickey grabbed her waist and lifted Rose a few inches off the ground. Thrusting through the opened window, Rose could finally see more of the neverweres. Stabbing the first one, Rose held back the shudders threatening to take over her body. Her telepathic shield was holding now that Rose was focusing on it. She couldn't afford to be swept up in another vision. Part of her wanted to see their worlds so someone would remember them, even if it was just a glimpse, but the neverweres were coming too fast now.

Her feet were back on the ground a moment later. Mickey shouted something to the other soldiers. Gunshots rang in the basement as the soldiers fired into the room. More dull roars were the only response.

"Stop shooting!" Rose snapped. "You're not going to hurt them! They're not real!"

"Course they're real!" Someone yelled back.

"Not really, not like you're thinking. Only special weapons can stop them! All you're doing is making them mad!"

"She's right," the younger Doctor said.

Something large and heavy slammed against the walls, shifting the bricks. Rose took a step back on instinct, eying the dent with worry. Everything was still too damp to be as strong as it could have been. Mickey cursed behind her, and Rose leaned up to peer through the window. It was hard to count the neverweres that had made it through the rip. Two of them were larger than the others, with long arms that didn't match their legs.

"Hurry up!" the blond Doctor snapped. His impatience filled in the room, echoed by everyone inside it. "Those walls won't hold forever, and then we'll have a horde on us.

"It's still running the search," Rose's Doctor called back. "But it's close."

"So are the neverweres!"

"Mickey, lift me up again," Rose huffed. The arguing had started, and she could only be grateful that the search program was still running.

Mickey shared an annoyed look with her and lifted Rose up again, letting her stab another neverwere through the broken window. Another lunged forward, swiping at Rose, but she leaned back in time to avoid the attack. It sent Mickey stumbling back, but somehow he kept her from hitting the floor.

"Someone get a box!" Mickey shouted as he set Rose back on her feet. "The short one needs it!"

"Short one!" Rose might have hit Mickey if she didn't suspect that he was trying to ease the tension with a Lord of the Rings reference. "I'm not a dwarf, Mickey."

The wall shuddered, drawing everyone's attention. Rose didn't know if there'd be time to find her a stool. Her eyes jumped between the window and the door. Another crash marked another window being cracked. Thick glass fell to the concrete floor with a jangle, pieces still clinging together with layers of the chemical treatments they'd received. If they hadn't been in a crisis, Rose might have asked the Doctor if the physical makeup of the neverweres might be weakening the chemical bonds.

"Got it!' Rose's Doctor cheered. She spun around hopefully, but the glee on his face immediately vanished as dread took its place. "That… that can't be right."

"What is it, Doctor?" Jack stepped forward and peered at the screen. "No, that can't be right."

"The sensors are working," the younger Doctor snapped. "So, the results are good regardless of if you like them or not."

"What's wrong?" Malcolm was trying to see the screen around the Doctor's shoulder.

"Those rifts are connected to" the Doctor cut himself off. "Well, they're connected to Earth."

"Earth?" Rose repeated with building dread. Another crash behind her made everyone jump, and Rose spun around to face the room again but kept glancing back over her shoulder.

"Yes, not long in the future, in fact," the Doctor added. He shook his head while his younger self shoved his way in.

"That can't be" Now, the younger Doctor cut himself off and groaned. "No, it's right. That's not good news."

"Forewarned," Jack offered. He shifted away and strode towards Rose and the containment room. "But it doesn't tell us what will trigger these things."

"I suppose…" the younger Doctor looked towards Rose. "We'll just have to live the journey to find out."

"You won't," Rose's Doctor grumbled. "We will."

"You're me," the younger Doctor said drily. "As grim as you are."

"If you have the information, Doctor, then shouldn't we close the rip before any more of these things come through?!" Mickey snapped. "That wall won't hold forever, and Rose is the only one who can stop them."

As if summoned by Mickey's words, another neverwere slammed into the wall. It buckled, and a short snout at the end of an otherwise very humanoid form poked through. Peri screamed, and Rose rushed forward. It was pushing aside the bricks slowly, but they were definitely moving. Stabbing the creature, Rose hissed as visions of its homeworld washed through her brain. Her telepathic shields were too weak to stop it.

"Doctor, the stabilizer!" Rose snapped. Another neverwere scrambled to the take the place of the first, pushing on the opening as the bricks slowly slid on the damp mortar. "Hurry!"

She didn't dare turn her back on the wall again, not now. All the neverweres had noted the weak point and all seemed to be shoving their collective weight against it. The door shuddered as the wall anchoring it shifted. Behind Rose was a mess of noise. As soon as she had a clear position on the next neverwere, Rose destroyed it with her sword and did her best to ignore the twist of horror and guilt that always hit her.

…..

The Doctor glanced at his younger self. He was carrying the stabilizer over to Rose with Peri's help. Jack lunged forward to grab it when Peri yelped as a neverwere started squirming its way through the break in the wall. He should have felt more worried, but a strange staticy haze had taken hold. His eyes moved back to the screen.

The results were there, still the same as before. An estimation of the time displacement between their current location in space-time and that on the far side of the rip. Even accounting for a margin of error… it was too close. He shivered and not from the cold sensation that being so close to the rip caused.

"Doctor," Malcolm called urgently. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No." The Doctor glared at the screen. He'd already memorized the numbers. "No, we're fine to close the rip."

It was a good thing, too, because his younger self's face was set with that determined scowl. The Doctor couldn't even blame him. He was too young to understand just how fragile time was right now, how frayed the fabric of the universe was and how worried about these rips he would be. Moving quickly, the Doctor made a final adjustment to the scanner and downloaded the results. A snarl from a neverwere made him look towards Rose.

But she was fine. Rose was lowering her sword into the stabilizer. Her childhood friend Mickey kicked the neverwere back. Under other circumstances, the Doctor might have laughed at that. Jack was close to Rose, staying protectively beside her. A neverwere couldn't have gotten to her without going through either Jack or Mickey. He wanted to go to Rose, wanted to join her, but the date range flashed once again on the screen.

The time stabilizer released a flash of light. The computers beeped again as the signals the scanner was linked to suddenly vanished. The room went silent as everyone released a collective breath. It was Peri who tiptoed forward and leaned up to peer through the broken window. When she turned back to the others, the wide smile on her face reassured them of their success.

"It's gone," Peri confirmed.

"Excellent," the younger Doctor said. He picked up the stabilizer as Rose released her sword and let it return to her wrist. "I must say, your sword certainly made that easier."

"Glad to be of service," Rose replied drily, but the younger Doctor just grinned at her.

He probably should be irritated by the way his younger self was staring at Rose. It was something he shouldn't like, but honestly, the Doctor couldn't even muster up the energy for that. Jack laughed loudly at something Peri said and was smiling at his former companion. He should want to break that up. But he didn't move away from the screen even as the UNIT troops moved around him with their firearms and his skin crawled from being so close to their weapons.

The Doctor couldn't stop thinking about what the scan had found. There were other issues, immediate issues, but the date window worried him. However, he didn't know what he'd been expecting. It was always Earth. Always his favourite planet, the closest to a homeworld he had anymore and Rose's home planet. It was one of the only planets that had anchored the Web of Time that was left, and something very bad was going to happen soon. At least soon in relative time. Could be years or even centuries to him.

Except this was Rose's home era. She wasn't going to stay away from her friends or her mother. Whatever it was, he wouldn't be able to delay it or avoid it. A sigh escaped him, and he shook his head as the UNIT scientists and soldiers scattered. His younger self was still talking with Rose. Flirting based on the smiles on both their faces. Again, he tried to muster the energy to care but couldn't.

Whatever was going to happen, these rifts, he had a bad feeling that it was just another aftershock of the Time War. All those neverweres, all those erased worlds, were the fault of his people and the Daleks. The damage of a war that he'd failed to stop on so many occasions. Rose had said that he hadn't had the right to touch those wires together and stop the Daleks, but sometimes… he still wished that he had.

Rose looked his way, a small frown on her face. His shoulders tightened, but he forced a smile and nodded at the stairs. Rose wouldn't believe it for a second, but Mickey was trying to cut in on his younger self's flirting, and Jack had thrown an arm around Rose. She was safe, and he had no doubt that Sharon and Shareen would be down as soon as it was confirmed there were no injuries.

So he did something he'd been trying not to do. He ran. Heading up the stairs, the Doctor retreated towards his TARDIS that he'd moved into his old lab. It gave him space to breathe. There were still soldiers on guard duty, but most of the humans were downstairs. And if Alistair sought him out, his old friend wouldn't push. He could breathe.

There was danger coming, but it wasn't here yet. They wouldn't be able to delay whatever it was for long. No, that wasn't an option. Those dates flashed through his brain again. Months to a year away, something would happen on Earth that would rip the already damaged Time to shreds. His double bypass kicked in, and the Doctor made himself breathe.