Chapter Ten: Jungian Archetypes

TARDIS

It had been more than six hours since he had last heard from the Doctor and Rose, and Jack was worried. He knew all too well the almost uncanny ability his friends had to find themselves in trouble. Patience was a skill that he could excel in. He had been known to wait for a target for a con to arrive for days straight with little more than a hypervodka and another warm body to keep him company. However, even for someone like him, there comes a point when patience is no longer an option.

He was rapidly approaching that point.

Jack had tried calling Rose's cell phone only a few moments ago, to 'check on their progress,' but major interference had prevented a connection. "What the hell is going on?" he asked the too silent TARDIS, but as he expected the damaged time ship did not reply. The fact that he should have been able to reach Rose's phone no matter the interference only served to increase his worry.

"Damnit," he muttered under his breath as another precious second slipped away. If he didn't hear from the Doctor and Rose within the next few minutes, he would go after them.

After all, what were friends for?

-----

"Your what?" Rose asked, blinking as she tried to come to terms with what she had just witnessed. Vaguely she wondered if this was what insanity was like. One moment ago, she felt as if her very essence was being drained. The next she was in a world that was far stranger than any scrap of fiction she had ever read. After all, who would ever think that a coat that impossibly colored belonged in a display case?

"My mind," the Doctor repeated. He swallowed for a moment before turning towards her, "Rose, are you alright?"

"Alright?" Rose laughed, "We just faced the Soul Eater – something straight out of a Time Tot's fairy tale and you're asking if I'm alright? You're daft, you are."

His lips quirked into a smile, but it did not quite reach his eyes, "Sort of, yeah."

"Doctor," she began somewhat hesitantly, "What happened back there? That white nothingness, the feeling of evil...I thought it was going to overwhelm me."

The Doctor's expression was serious as he looked into her eyes, "It almost did. I wasn't expecting you to touch me, Rose. You were supposed to stay out of this – I was trying to protect you from it..."

"Protect me? Doctor! We've been over this already. You don't have to protect me. If anything, we protect each other. And protecting each other means you do not shut me out," Rose placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. For a moment, the Doctor was forcibly reminded of Jackie Tyler at her worst. He could almost feel Jackie's slap again from the force of Rose's glare.

"Rose..." he began.

"Doctor..." she said in the same tone.

"Would both of you leave the domestics outside? SOME of us are trying to find a solution to this problem of yours," a new voice interrupted their conversation. Astonished, the two time travelers turned to face what looked to be twelve mismatched, and sometimes rather oddly dressed, men.

"Oh no," the Doctor sighed.

"Oh yes," the identity of the earlier speaker was revealed to be a short rather funny looking man carrying a question mark handled umbrella. "You've made quite a mess of things, Doctor."

"I..."

Rose interrupted the beginnings of a rather angry rant, "Who are they?"

"They're me," the Doctor replied, fighting the urge to put his head in his hands. "Well, they were and will be me." His nose wrinkled slightly as he attempted to explain, "They're sort of..."

"Jungian archetypes," the Seventh Doctor finished.

"Rather annoying voices that won't shut up," the Doctor corrected.

Rose could feel a headache coming on. "As if one of you wasn't enough..."

"Oi! I heard that," the Doctor that she was swiftly finding herself referring to as hers assumed a rather affronted look.

"You were meant to," she smiled at him, "But, that doesn't tell me what they're doing here and what we can do to defeat the Soul Eater and get out of this mess."

"I like her," the Seventh Doctor said, "Reminds me a bit of Ace come to think of it. You wouldn't happen to like explosions, would you?"

Rose wasn't sure what to make of that comment so she let it pass. Instead, she looked at her Doctor and waited for an answer to her question.

"They're here because I'm in danger. They tend to pop out of the woodwork," he tapped his head by way of explanation, "to either give me advice or to tell me what a horrible job I'm doing. Generally it's both."

"And the Soul Eater?" she prompted. Rose suspected that the Doctor's 'Jungian archetypes' were flustering the normally unflappable Doctor. While on one hand it was amusing to watch, on the other she needed her Doctor back. He shouldn't be this easily distracted.

"That's a problem. When you touched me, you were pulled into a telepathic link between myself and the Soul Eater. I had to pull you deeper into my mind to prevent you from being, well, eaten. That gave it an opening. It's trying to get in, and I don't know much longer I can keep it out."

"Well...how was it defeated before? Maybe we can use that?"

"Rassilon never explained how he defeated the Soul Eater," the Seventh Doctor explained, "Sadly; we cannot repeat what we do not know."

"Then what were you trying to do with that telepathic link, Doctor?" Rose asked, suspecting that she wasn't going to like the answer.

He wasn't certain how much to reveal to her, especially since he knew of her opinion of his trying to protect her. "I was trying to distract it," he said in a soft tone, "So you could escape."

Rose sighed, "Doctor, I've had enough of this. Stop putting my life before yours! I won't have it. I'm stuck in here same as you. We're in this together, got it?" When he didn't immediately reply, she stepped forward and poked him in the chest, "Got it?"

"Got it," the Doctor began before his voice trailed off. A moment later, the familiar manic grin was back, "Rose Tyler you're fantastic! Brilliant! Beautiful! You did it!"

"Did what?" Rose asked, confused, but the Doctor was ignoring her.

"You solved the problem, Rose! I know what to do. I know what's supposed to happen!"

"Mind filling me in?"

"Don't mind if I do..."