KITG: Hehehe, glad you are all still liking this. Thank you soooo much for all your reviews. You are all great. So here is the next part to the story…so what will happen?
A Shadows deceptionShe held on tightly to the Doctor's hand as they shuffled across the thin wooden lip ledge. Her other hand was clawed against the wood wall: clinging to the small lifeline. She could no longer hear the hacking sound of the man trying to open the door: but she did see him on the balcony. He was shouting at them, but she could not hear anything over the roar of the wind and the waves. All this left her concern when the husband threw the axe; it impacted in the wall at the side of her, nicking her arm. She recoiled in instinct her cut arm freewheeling; she thought she heard the Doctor call her name. She was jerked in her freefall, looking up she saw the Doctor had reached the fire exit stairs. He was holding on the rusted steelwork, his left holding tightly to Rose; she hung there a moment, seeing the seas boil and the sky rage in their fury.
The Doctor pulled her up beside him and helped her over the railing. She held onto him tightly a moment, breathing hard in her momentary fear. He coaxed her to a window, and opening it, made her go through first. The next instant she was grabbing for him, as the scream of old steal ripped away from the side of the building and down into the darkness. He was holding on: his arms over the lip of the windowsill; she grabbed hold of his brown coat and hauled him in.
"Well that was fun," the Doctor commented dryly. "Are you OK?" He gently took her arm, seeing the blood run down it from the cut.
"Don't worry: I'm fine. Come on, let's get this over and done with."
They opened the door to see they had been in room 37; so they worked their way back down a hallway until they came to room 33. They passed broken light fixtures and disintegrated side tables; some seemed to have once been display case, but they had gone the way of the rest of the hotel. Finally, they came to door 33: unlike the rest of the hotel this door looked newly made. Untarnished by time, as the Doctor reached for the handle he hesitated a moment.
"Doctor? What is it?"
"Something is wrong: time has not passed. It's as if someone has stopped it."
"I thought that wasn't possible."
"It shouldn't be," he replied, off-handedly. He then reached for the handle and swung the door open, inside it was like the room before: stuck in a summer breeze. The four-poster bed was made; various ornaments and toiletries were on a vanity table made of oak. In the center was what looked to be a jewelry box.
"Must be in there," Rose deduced, walking towards the box she opened it. Inside was the pendant, the black stone so dark it almost drew you in; it was then that they realized that the darkness was spreading out of the stone. She turned trying to see the Doctor but all she could see was darkness.
"Doctor!"
"You betrayed me, Rose," came a reply in northern accent. She turned to see the Doctor: her Doctor coming towards her……
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The Doctor looked on in horror as the darkness covered everything; he tried to see Rose: but she was lost in the dark.
"Rose!"
"You're not MY Doctor," he turned to see Rose walking towards him, but her outfit was different. She wore the punky fish outfit; she looked how she had when they had been on satellite 5.
"You're not Rose."
"I am. I am her heart: her truth. You are not her Doctor, you are a fake. I can never love you."
His heart plummeted, he had seen how she looked at him: searching for the Doctor she had loved, but then an image came to his mind: an image he wished he had never seen, but was also glad for the clarity it gave.
"Love…you…Doctor."
"This isn't real: you are not Rose. You are the shadow man trying to confuse me; you have no power over me," his voice was like a knife-edge and his face was set in stone.
The image of Rose disappeared into the ether; there was the shadow man, growling his impotence at the Doctor.
"Who are you Shadow Man?"
"Haven't you worked it out yet Time Lord? I must say Rassilon was much smarter," it replied with a sneer.
"I know you! Rassilon destroyed your parasitic kind."
"He imprisoned me within the Stone: my body ripped from me. I will have my revenge. Ahhh, how will your little friend stand up to me? Her fragile human brain filled with such pain," it practically drooled at the thought.
"She will defeat you as I have: I believe in her."
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Rose's heart seemed to stop as she looked at the form of the Doctor. It was as if nothing had ever happened: he was standing there in his leather jacket, his big ears and his piercing blue eyes.
"Doctor?"
"You left me, Rose."
"No, I never left you!" Rose exclaimed.
"You went off with that imposter, you ran off with a pretty boy and stole my TARDIS!" The Doctor was in cold fury.
"He said he was you: he knew stuff only you could know. He called it a regeneration," she pleaded: trying to defend herself.
"And do you believe everything a strange person tells you?" He replied, his tone in mockery.
"No….it's just….it made sense in some way," she was so confused.
"You pathetic Human…"
"What did you call me?" Rose stopped a moment. The Doctor had never called her a pathetic human…and never with such hatred: even after she had nearly destroyed the world trying to save her father.
"I love you………I believe in her……" A voice: a voice she had come to love.
"You're not my Doctor," she stepped back from him. "You won't break me."
The Doctor screamed and disappeared, leaving only the Shadow Man.
"You think you have beaten me, pathetic human? I think not," Rose double up, screaming in pain as it ripped through her head. She clutched at her hair, trying to drive it out, only dimly aware of the blood running from her nose.
"See? Your pathetic human brain cannot handle it! Give me the crystal and I will make all your pain go away. I will kill the Doctor: he is the cause of your pain." The voice so self-assured: so certain he had already won.
"You're….Wrong!" Rose forced the words out through the pain: "He is not the cause of my pain: he is my hope, my laughter and my tears!" She was shouting now, her thoughts in full momentum. "He is my light in the dark….and you know what Mr. Scary Shadow Man?" Now she was the self-assured voice.
"What?" His voice wavered a moment: this had never happened to him before.
"I love him. That makes me stronger than you. You shall not have him!" The last part was screamed, her pain crashing against her determination as she lifted the arm that held the pendant…and threw it to the floor.
"Nooooooooo!" A scream of rage and disbelief; but all she saw was the twinkle of light in the dark as the shattered pieces spread outward from the point of impact. Then she felt her body collapse to the ground: eyes still open. She could see but could no longer move: not even her eyes. She tried to call out, but even that was beyond her; it was like she was free of her body, and looking on the scene through a sound proof window.
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The Doctor heard the howl of rage, then the darkness disintegrated like shattered glass. He saw the Shadow man writhing before him: he was disappearing like smoke until nothing remained; the Doctor saw the pendant smashed at his feet. Then as the last of the darkness dissipated…he saw the form of Rose lying still upon the floor.
"Rose!" He crouched beside her: gently cradling her form to him as he tried to get some response. Her eyes were open, staring beyond him; she had a trail of blood trickling from her nose.
It was then he heard the building creek and groan.
"You must flee Time Lord! The building will no longer hold," he saw a form by the doorway, a beautiful woman with a child either side of her: one male and one female. The girl he could see was Sakura.
"Hurry, Time Lord. This way!" The Doctor picked Rose up and began to run: the dirty hallway flashing past as he fled. The building bucked beneath him as he reached the stairs. Pieces were starting to fall around him; he didn't dare stop as the flight of stairs swayed.
Finally he reached the bottom floor: seeing the entranceway before him. His arms heavy with Rose he ran, the door yielding before him this time. He turned just in time to see Sakura, her brother, her mother and also her father waving goodbye to him. As words reached him on the wind
"Thank you, Time Lord. And thank your lady for us."
Then with a roar of waves the cliff along with the house plummeted into the sea. Above, the storm died down, revealing a full moon and a sky full of stars.
"Rose, come on love: time to wake up from your strange open eye nap. I mean, I've seen some strange stuff but sleeping with your eyes open? Silly ape," he rambled, expecting her to thump him one any second: Rose made no move, hardly even a breath. "Please Rose……Please love."
He begged, but again nothing: he stroked her cheek as his tears began to fall; perhaps the Shadow man had taken her mind with him. He picked her up and carried her to the TARDIS, he went straight to the med bay and placed her on one of the beds: the room around sterile white. Here and there were various posters, all with the moving text of his race: looking like some kind of alien art. He watched anxiously as the TARDIS scanned her, trying to find a brain pattern. Anything. But it showed only minimal readings, the barest needed for her to breathe. In lamens terms she had become a Vegetable.
He collapsed beside her: crying his fear and loss; never aware that Rose was calling to him.
"Doctor! I'm here. I'm still here!"…………TBC…….
KITG: well, only one more chapter to go. Will it be a good ending….or will I be totally evil and end it with a funeral? Decisions, decisions………MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!