Stay
Author's Note: Thank you so much for all of your reviews, it means a lot to know that you're still reading and are genuinely interested. I'm sorry it's taken a while to upload, I've honestly been busy with work and doing two resubmissions with my assignments which have just been FUN. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next chapter.
Chapter Eleven
The Doctor was close to giving up.
He didn't like to admit defeat, but this was proving to be impossible. The TARDIS was constantly searching for any trace of Rose, but so far it had pulled up nothing. He was sat on the grating of the console room, cross-legged as he tried to picture Rose in his mind, wondering where she was, what she was doing.
Was she scared? Was she frightened? What was happening to her right now?
He tried to not get bombarded with these thoughts, knowing that it would only bring him down. He had to stay positive … for her.
All of a sudden, there was a beeping coming from the console. A beeping that only intensified until the Doctor leapt to his feet and grabbed the console screen, swinging it around to himself.
"Come on, old girl, what've you got?" It took a while before the results showed up. A slow, wide grin spread across the Doctor's face. "Oh you brilliant, beautiful ship! Ha!" He quickly ran to the door and through it open. "Jack! The TARDIS has a hit! If you're coming, then you'd better get in here!" He ran back to the console, and set the sequence in motion as Jack ran in and shut the door behind him in excitement.
"What have you got?"
"The Silence, they're a religious group, otherwise known as the Confessional Priests of the Papal Mainframe. They're a devious race, and can hide in plain sight." The Doctor was now rambling, but it typically meant that he was in a good mood. He started twisting knobs and hitting things on the console, setting a course. "They have the ability to erase your memory, and you don't even remember it happening."
"How do you mean?" Jack asked, helping the Doctor set the coordinates.
"It's like … it's like when you walk into a room with the intent of doing something, but then something else triggers your brain and you walk out of the room, and then forget what you went in for in the first place." The Doctor explained.
"What does this have to do with Rose?" Jack wanted to know, even more confused.
"Think about it Jack," the Doctor grumbled. "Rose once absorbed the power of the time vortex and became the Bad Wolf. Do you know how alluring that would be to those with nefarious intent? If Rose fell into the wrong hands – in this case she did – then what would they do to try and contain that power?"
"What do we know so far?"
"When I connected to Rose on a psychic level, she was in a hospital. She was confused, and gave me the impression that she wasn't sure if I was real or not. So what does that tell you?"
"That this race – the Silence – are trying to alter Rose's perception of her life?" Jack guessed, his eyes widening at the realisation. "If she forgets you, then it's the end of the world, right?"
"Potentially." The Doctor agreed with a shrug, hoping that this wasn't true. "This means that we need to find her quick, before it's too late."
Since there was no credible proof, there wasn't much to be done about the situation in Rose's room. It was in the process of being cleaned, and as there was no other room available, she was sent to solitary confinement. Being in here was worse than her other room. It was just like it was described in history books, a round, circular room with white padded walls and a cushioned floor. There was absolutely nothing, nothing in here to occupy her except her own thoughts.
That in itself was dangerous.
Where was the Doctor? Was he even real? If he was real, then who the hell was James supposed to be? No matter what the outcome, would she even get out of this place?
Her thoughts were interrupted however – probably for a good reason – by a hatch being pulled down in the doorway. Rose looked up from her position on the floor, see the face of a woman watching her closely, her dark curly hair tied back in a tight knot.
"Oh dear." She said in a pernicious voice, a voice that gave Rose the chills. "Has somebody been a naughty girl?"
"Who are you?" Rose enquired, pushing herself against the wall to stand.
"You can call me Madame Kovarian." The woman said, a sinister smile crossing over her face. "I'll be your new Doctor since Doctor Sanchez is over-worked. He has been neglecting some of his patients, including you. We searched your room whilst it was being cleaned, and we came across these." She paused to hold up a ziplock bag containing multiple pills. "You've not been taking your medication properly, have you?"
Rose paled under the intensity of Kovarian's glare. She really didn't like this woman, and they'd only just met. "I was scared." Rose admitted in trepidation. "I didn't know what was goin' on or where I was, and I still don't know wha's goin' on."
"That'll be the Silence." Kovarian explained.
"The wha'?"
"The Silence. They have the ability to wipe your memory when you so much as glance at them, therefore giving you temporary amnesia." Kovarian smiled, although it wasn't the kind of smile you wanted to come across. "This place, this hospital you're in, it's not real. It's all an illusion."
"Then wha's the point in it all?"
"Does the term Bad Wolf mean anything to you?"
"It might."
"We know the story, Rose." Kovarian said coolly. "You absorbed the time vortex in order to save the Doctor, he took it out of you – or so he thought – which resulted in his regeneration. The Bad Wolf is an entity which lives within you, it always has, since your birth. It just needed something to waken it up, hence the Doctor. You never got the chance to explore your true potential with the Bad Wolf. We're here to give you that chance."
Rose's mind was already reeling. "An' if I refuse?"
"Then we'll take it by force." Kovarian said with a shrug.
The door slid open, and Kovarian entered the room, with two tall, bald headed aliens that were probably the Silence. Their faces were gaunt, eyes dark and soulless, and their mouths were none existent. And for some reason, they wore suits and ties. Rose didn't like the way they looked at her, one on either side of Kovarian.
Rose was terrified. How was she supposed to fight against the Silence when she couldn't remember them when she looked away? She was practically defenceless.
"This is your last chance to willingly cooperate," Kovarian stated callously, clearly wanting to push forwards with the matter at hand. "If you don't, then we will take what we need with force."
"Stay away from me!" Rose demanded, backing away with determination, keeping her eyes fixed on the creatures, edging around the room cautiously. "I won't give you wha' you want!" She pressed herself further into the wall as they got closer, their faces terrifying.
"You had your chance, Rose Tyler." Kovarian murmured, no tone of sympathy for the other woman's distress. She withdrew a syringe from the inside of her pocket and handed it to the nearest Silence who wasn't restraining a screaming Rose. "Now you're playing our game."
"No, no, no, no, no please!" Rose begged, tears streaming down her face as she fought in the creatures arms, whimpering as the syringe was plunged without mercy into the side of her neck. "No ..." she gasped, the room fading to a blurred mess as everything went black.
Author's Note #2: So, I know the Silence and Madame Kovarian have been overused, but I recently watched the episodes with them again and genuinely found them frightening. Please let me know what you think. :)