KITG: Humm. Seems a lot of you like this. To answer some of your questions. No that wasn't it (obviously); as to the question of whether Rose lived or dies: you'll have to wait and see! You lot should know me by now…I can't just write two chapters in a story like this. Hehehe.

Goddess of Twilight: Thanks for the review. Sorry for the mistakes. Did get it betaed, but must have missed some. I know us Brits often spell words a little differently, so again: Sorry.

Monypythonfan: Helloo there. Glad you liked this also I was getting worried I was loosing my touch, as seen as not many people seem to be reviewing "Guardians of the Time Lords".

To everyone else who reviewed thank you. Here have some cookies.

Waking into a nightmare

Rose slowly opened her eyes; she shut them quickly as the bright light pained her. Was she dead? Was this the afterlife? She tried again, having more success this time, seeing a large bay window: the lace curtains flowing in the sweet sea breeze. She could see the room: pristine and clean. The oak bed she was lying on looked as if it had just been carved. Outside it must be summer, the sound of seagulls and other summer birds. The mattress below her was comfortable; she moved her right hand, to feel the soft fabric. She felt a small twinge in her stomach and tried to sit up to look. It was then that she felt the weight on her left shoulder; she turned to see brown hair. There was the Doctor, his head resting on her shoulder; he was gripping her left hand as if it was his lifeline. Rose could tell he was a sleep: she gently rolled him on his back so she was free to move. He seemed OK, other than the fact that he had a rope mark around his throat. Tracing it gently, she could feel the heat radiate from it. Again she felt the twinge, she looked down at her stomach and gasped. It was covered in partially healed scars: it was then that she remembered what had happened. She had heard the shuffle of a footstep behind her and had turned to see a shadowy figure without substance. All that had been truly clear was the knife that had seconds later plunged into her stomach.

She looked back at the Doctor, had he also been killed? Was that why they were lying side by side on this bed? Rose smiled down at him, her heart doing funny flips as she gazed at his serene face; she gently stroked it, his cheek soft under her fingers. She didn't care about the room around her, or that she was alive: all she could do was gaze at his face. What did that mean to her? She remembered she had told him that she loved him, before her world had gone to darkness. Would he remember? She thought she had heard the Doctor say that he loved her too: but that might just have been a dream. She did love him, she knew that now; but with that realization came guilt: at the thought of betraying his previous self. She had realized her love for this incarnation was just as strong, if not stronger. When her heart had leapt in joy, as the truth became known to herself, then nightmares had come: they were always the same; he would come in with smiles, his leather jacket on him. Then the feeling would change: he would look sad and alone, angry that she had left him for a pretty boy. Then she would wake, crying for what she had done.

Rose was brought back to the moment by him moaning her name; he seemed to be rousing from the dark place he had been sleeping.

"Rose…."

"Shh, Doctor: I'm here," she watched as he blinked his eyes into focus. When he laid eyes upon her, he had to blink a few more times. Next thing she knew she was in his tight embrace.

"Oh Rose, he killed you: I saw you die. I thought….." He couldn't voice it, she could feel him shaking.

"I thought I had lost you too, Doctor: I thought I would never see you again," she buried her head in the crook of his neck. He just kept murmuring in her hair: "My Rose" over and over again. He pulled back a little to see her torn shirt; he laid his hand on her stomach.

"Can I look?" She nodded and he lifted up the shirt a little so he could see it: and the healing scars. He traced a finger over them, making her shiver. He began to shake again and hugged her once more as it crashed in on him, again.

She pulled back to look at his throat.

"What happened?" She asked as she traced her hand across the red mark.

"Someone thought it would be fun to hang me," he replied, he just looked at her as though he thought she would disappear at any moment. She reached out to trace the mark again: still he watched her. Until finally he reached forward and cupped her cheek, making her look into his eyes. Rose gasped at what she saw there: such fear, but such love also. And before she realized what was going on, the Doctor was kissing her. She forgot everything else all there was, just the feeling of his lips on hers. They were slightly cooler than a humans and soft as silk: he was being gentle, showing her all the emotion he held for her that it left her breathless as he pulled back. He smiled at her and she couldn't help return it.

But then the guilt rose in her mind, and her smile slipped: he saw this, he looked concerned and panicked at the same time.

"Rose…" he asked and she felt sorry for him: he thought he had done something wrong. She was about to reply when a young girl appeared in the room.

"You're awake" The Childs voice was lilting and un-earthly, as if she did not exist on this plane. Even as Rose looked, she saw she could see right through her. The child looked around 5; she was in a pretty blue dress, hair long and golden. She was a pretty child: her innocence marred by what she had witnessed.

"Who are you?" Rose asked, trying to escape from the Doctors concerned gaze.

"My name was Sakura," she replied, coming to stand beside the bed.

"What happened? Rose and I were dead one moment and alive the next. Inside a hotel that until a little while ago had been falling to ruin," the Doctor had finally stopped looking at her, but she could still feel his hurt.

"Yes, you were dead, but mother told me to help you. You are in a memory: a past event. My mother could not greet you for she spent all her energy bringing life and healing your wounds."

"We are grateful, thank your mother for us," they watched as the child seemed to speak to someone, before turning back to them.

"She says you are welcome, but we need your help."

"We will if we can," Rose sat at the end of the bed beside the Doctor so they could hear better what the child needed.

"We need you to destroy the Shadow man. Years ago my mother inherited an amulet off her grandmother: inside this the shadow man was imprisoned. We came here with my father and brother for a holiday. Father and mother had been arguing a lot recently, father had changed: becoming paranoid. He thought mother was being unfaithful: saying the amulet was not a gift from grandmother but from another man. We came here so they could mend their life; what mother did not know was that the shadow man was feeding on the feelings of hate. He placed images in my father's mind of mother, so whatever she said he thought was a lie. Until that night, he went mad and killed us all: this released the shadow man from the amulet, but he no longer has a body. Destroy the amulet and you will destroy him," she finished, looking fearfully now at the door.

"Why us though?" Rose asked, even as she saw the darkness spreading from the door, the clean hotel becoming it's true form. She came close to the Doctor, who grabbed her hand.

"You two have a connection that cannot be broken: whatever lies the shadow man will show you, you will know they are lies," she walked over to a picture of her mother, handing it to the Doctor. The mother looked like she came from the east and was very beautiful Around her neck was a pendant with a large black stone in its center.

"That is it, you must destroy it. Now I must go, be careful. The stone is in my mother's room on the third floor: Room 33"

The child disappeared quickly, as the room dissolved into ruin, leaving the Doctor and Rose sat on a moth eaten mattress. Outside the storm still raged through the curtainless window, the glass broken and glinting on the floor.

"Looks like we need to get to the 3rd floor then," the Doctor jumped to his feet and walked towards the door.

"You make it sound so easy," Rose came by his side as he opened the door, she looked round, seeing the entranceway through the arch at the end. So they must be on the first floor: in the back of the hotel; she looked at the door, seeing the number 1 on the door, the copper turned green with time.

"Yeah, easy. Look: there's the lift, get in, press three: go to room 33……Hey, that rhymed! Anyway, smash the pendant, which no doubt is holding the TARDIS: then off we go!" They stood before the lift; the Doctor had pressed the call button. The lift motor bringing the lift down to this floor. Rose saw a glint out of the corner of her eye, and pulled the Doctor out of the way as a knife lodged in the wall."Yeah…..easy, Doctor"

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They had entered the lift, Rose voicing that maybe this wasn't such a good idea as the old lift squealed in protest. The Doctor was forced to agree when it dropped suddenly and ended up halfway between the 2nd and 3rd. They forced open the door and dropped down to the second floor, walking towards the stairs at the back. Now they were walking down the dark forbidding hallway, hearing things rattle in the wind and footsteps coming from all around. It was like someone was walking back and forth all the time, as if someone was looking for something. There would come a random crash and then perhaps a scream, afterwards they had heard another loud scream of fear. Ahead of them came a woman in a maid's outfit, she came running towards them, only to fall to her knees with a cry: she fell to the floor face down, a dagger in her back.

"Ayame! Ayame! where are you, wife?" The angry male voice echoed down the hallway and there in the flash of lightning stood the man with a fireman's axe from before.

"There you are, Ayame, and with another man! Whore! Unfaithful! You shall die with your lover!" he came running towards Rose and the Doctor: his face in a terrible snarl and the rope burn clear on his neck. He wore what would have once been a white shirt, now stained with the blood of his family. The shirt was not buttoned properly: his hair wild and unkempt. It was as if he had worn the same clothes for days and not brushed his hair. He looked mad, wild and insane: all these words described him and more

"Um, Rose…."

"Run?"

"Run!" They ran down a side hallway, and through a door, shutting it close behind them. Next instant there came the concussive metal on wood as he began hacking at the door with the axe.

"Heeere's Jonny!"

"Doctor!" Rose cried as she tried to find another way out.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," then he was with her, looking for the way out. He went to the balcony looking out to the crashing sea below. This hotel was almost ready to fall in: every impact of the waves vibrated through the entire building.

"Rose! We're going to have to climb round: I can sea a fire exit. The stairs go up to the third floor!" He had to shout to be heard over the sound of the wind and sea. Rose came beside him, looking at the drop, then at the thin ledge they would have to shuffle across to reach it.

"Are you nuts!" She shouted over the wind.

"Thought you said I was," he said with a grin then climbed out on to the ledge. Rose looked back at the nearly gone door, then out at the Doctor who was holding out his hand to her, his face serious…..yep….she was nuts. Then she climbed out after him just as the door gave way.

TBC…….

KITG: sorry for the wait, every time I seemed to sit down to write this chapter something interfered. First me laptop dies…so I have to format it. Then my sister comes round with her young kids, so it's auntie this and auntie that…..then my ex comes round saying his van has blown up and can he borrow my motorbike. So sorry for the wait everyone

Think there is going to be five chapters to this. And there will be smut….but obviously not for those on it's not allowed. So if you want to see the un-cut version. It will be posted on "A teaspoon and an open mind" a Doctor Who fan fiction archive.

See you all in time:)