Wolf Pact

Chapter Two: Beginning of the End

by Lumendea

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.

Rose gripped the railing around the TARDIS console as the Doctor and Jenny jumped around the controls. The ride was getting smoother and smoother as Jenny became more accustomed to helping her father pilot. They still bumped into each other sometimes, but gradually they were beginning to find their balance when it came to driving. Thankfully Jenny had a little bit more sense than her father when it came to driving. She liked to double check everything and less inclined to follow his 'wherever the wind may take us' attitude. As much as the girl loved to explore new places she liked to have some idea of what to expect.

"Where are we going?" Jenny asked as she followed one of the Doctor's instructions and adjusted one of the many small knobs on the console.

"The Ood Sphere," the Doctor informed her with a blooming smile. "They want to see me, summoned me even. I'm not usually one for summoning, but it's the Ood." He paused and frowned before he added, "Summoned me awhile ago actually, but then you and Rose came back and that was more important."

Rose straightened up at the mention of the telepathic creatures and thought back to John's story about him and Donna on the Ood Sphere. She frowned slightly, remembering the warning that the Ood had supposedly given him. Maybe it referred to the fact that he and Donna's time was limited, but John had always had a different suspicion. She hadn't thought about it at all since she returned and Rose's eyes quickly swung to the Doctor.

Her stomach churned uncomfortably at the idea of him regenerating. The idea of him becoming someone else just as she was beginning to believe that maybe they could manage to move forward. Nibbling at her bottom lip, Rose watched the Doctor as he moved around the console. He was smiling, but there was a tightness to it that she knew all too well. He was worried about something and there was a hint of resignation in his eyes that she didn't like. The Doctor was bracing himself for something but wasn't inclined to share his worries, at least not yet with her and Jenny.

The TARDIS landed with a soft thump rather than the usual shake that Rose had gotten used to over the years. It made for a nice change. Swinging away from the controls the Doctor beamed at her and Jenny. His eyes moved over to Rose, inspecting her boots and the coat that she was wearing. He nodded at her attire then sauntered towards the door. For a moment he paused at the door and Rose saw him take a deep breath, then he opened the doors with a flourish. He stepped outside leaving Jenny and Rose to rush after him.

The planet was a winter wonderland with thick mounds of perfectly white snow. Over their heads, the sky was a stunning blue with only a few wisps of clouds here and there. But what really got Rose's attention was the group of Oods standing in front of them. They were dressed much like the servant Oods back on Sanctuary Base 6 and carried the same small orb in their hands.

"Ah! Now, sorry. There you are. So, where were we? I was summoned, wasn't I?" the Doctor announced in far too cheerful a voice even as he moved towards the Ood as if he was completely unconcerned. "An Ood in the snow, calling to me. Well, I didn't exactly come straight here," the Doctor admitted before gesturing back at Jenny and Rose. "Found my daughter if you believe it, funny story. Not interesting then, alright what do you want?"

"You should not have delayed," the Ood informed him solemnly and the forced relaxed stance of the Doctor's fell away as his body tightened up.

"The last time I was here you said my song would be ending soon, and I'm in no hurry for that," the Doctor informed the Ood in a tight voice.

"You will come with me," the Ood told the Doctor who glanced back at them.

Rose noticed he looked worried, but he nodded for them to follow. Rose and Jenny stepped out onto the snow and she was pleased to discover that they didn't sink down too deep. They walked up the hill and Rose gasped as a beautiful city came into view.

"Magnificent," the Doctor cheered before turning to the Odd who seemed unaffected by the sight. "Oh, come on Odd Sigma that is splendid. You've achieved all this in how long?"

"One hundred years," Sigma informed the Doctor calmly.

"Then we've got a problem. Because all of this is way too fast. Not just the city, I mean your ability to call me. Reaching all the way back to the twenty-first century. Something's accelerating your species way beyond normal," the Doctor said quickly, looking less and less pleased with the situation.

"And the Mind of the Ood is troubled," Sigma told the Doctor seriously.

"Why, what's happened?" the Doctor asked cautiously.

"Every night, Doctor, every night we have bad dreams," Sigma informed him sadly.

Without another word to any of them the Ood Sigma turned and led them into the city. Jenny slipped her hand into Rose's as the Doctor walked stubbornly ahead of them without a word. Rose's mind of was racing, the Doctor's words about his death being prophesized put a cold weight in her gut and she could see that Jenny was distressed as well. Rose squeezed the girl's hand but kept silent as they walked through the earth and ice city. She wanted to be impressed by the spires, but she couldn't but think of the Doctor's words about it being too advanced. Thankfully the long walk ended they were taken into a large building. It was cooler than Rose was used to but warmer than the outside. Inside one small circular room waited for a group of Oods who all focused on the Doctor as soon as he stepped into the room. They were clothed in robes and seated around a round metal device that hovered in the air between them.

"Returning, returning, returning, it is slowly returning through the dark and the fire and the blood," one of the Ood Elders breathed oddly. "Always returning, returning to this world. It is returning, and he is returning, and they are returning, but too late. Too late. Far too late. He has come."

"Sit with the Elder of the Ood and share the dreaming," Ood Sigma told the Doctor, gesturing towards the Council.

The Doctor sat down with the Ood council as Rose and Jenny lingered in the doorway. Ood Sigma nodded to Rose deeply and moved further into the room after the door.

"So. Right. Hallo," the Doctor greeted with false cheerfulness.

"You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join," the Ood chanted.

After a moment of hesitation, the Doctor linked hands with the Ood and Rose saw him jolt slightly. She took a step forward with Jenny, but Sigma gestured for them to stay back.

"He comes to us every night. I think all the peoples of the universe dream of him now," the Elder informed them all, his voice echoing softly in the cavern.

"That man is dead," the Doctor insisted darkly in a tone that Rose had only ever heard her husband use when talking about one man.

"There is yet more. Join us. Events are taking shape. So many years ago, and yet changing the now. There is a man."

The Doctor tensed and stiffened as he was overtaken by a vision of something. Jenny had a small sound of distress and jumped forward before Sigma could stop her. She gripped her father's shoulder and Rose reached out to pull Jenny's back. The girl gasped and Rose felt ill as a strong sense of wrongness hit her squarely in the chest. In her mind, there was a flash of a strange face and the echo of laughter along with the soft low strains of an achingly familiar song.

"What about Donna, is she safe?" the Doctor demanded sharply.

"You should not have delayed, for the lines of convergence are being drawn across the Earth. Even now, the king is in his Counting-house," the Elder informed him.

Jenny collapsed back against Rose, releasing her father's shoulder and breathing deeply. Sigma motioned her to stay back. The Doctor hissed slightly as he was shown something else and shook his head in frustration.

"I don't know who they are."

"And there is another. The most lonely of all lost and forgotten.

"The Master's wife," the Doctor told them.

"We see so much, but understand little. The woman in the cage, who is she?"

"She was. It wasn't her fault, she was. The Master, he's a Time Lord, like me. I can show you."

The Doctor seemed to be showing them something and Rose felt an odd longing to lean forward and touch him so she could see as well.

"The Master took the name of Saxon. He married a human, a woman called Lucy. And he corrupted her. She stood at his side while he conquered the Earth. I reversed everything he'd done so it never even happened, but Lucy Saxon remembered," the Doctor explained in a tightly controlled voice. "I held him in my arms. I burnt his body. The Master is dead."

"And yet, you did not see," the Elder said sadly.

"What's that?" The Doctor shuddered and breathed sharply. "Part of him survived. I have to go!"

"But something more is happening, Doctor. The Master is part of a greater design because a shadow is falling over creation. Something vast is stirring in the dark. The Ood have gained this power to see through time because time is bleeding. Shapes of things once lost are moving through the veil, and these events from years ago threaten to destroy this future, and the present, and the past."

Rose felt a chill down her spine as something poked at her memory. Something that John had only ever talked about three times in the whole of their marriage, in a low voice in the safety of their room.

"What do you mean?" the Doctor demanded though Rose was certain he was thinking the same thing she was.

"This is what we have seen, Doctor. The darkness heralds only one thing."

"The end of time itself." The Odd Elder informed him. "Events that have happened are happening now."

"We're going!" the Doctor shouted as he leapt to his feet and rushed out of the cavern-like room. "Now!"

Jenny rushed after her father with Rose just on her heels. Behind them, Rose heard the Ood say one last thing, but it was lost to the icy wind as she ran after the others. She barely caught up with them as they reached the TARDIS. The Doctor struggled with the door for a moment. They tumbled inside and the Doctor began setting the controls with shaking hands and a thunderous look.

"Jenny, pilot us to Earth," Rose ordered as she gripped the Doctor's arm and pulled him away from the controls. "Doctor, let Jenny handle it!" Rose ordered as the young Time Lady rushed about setting the controls.

"It's the Master," the Doctor snapped, running a hand through his arm as he looked at Jenny and Rose. "And with the two of you…. No no no," he groaned as he stumbled towards the controls.

"Dad, she's already in flight," Jenny told him firmly, gesturing towards the controls. "We'll be to Earth soon, the TARDIS has locked onto something."

"See we're in flight," Rose whispered as she pulled on his arm. "You can't speed that up, now come on."

She half dragged the Doctor into the library and watched in worry as he slumped into one of the armchairs. His whole body was tense and she could tell that he was worried. Ever since she had come back he hadn't been like this. Their adventures had been fairly mild for the most part with him focusing much more just spending time with her and Jenny. It had been nice, but now she wondered if there was another part to it.

"What is going on?" Rose asked as she sat down across from him in another plush chair. Their knees were barely touching and she reached over to rest her hands over his. "Doctor? Please talk to me."

"My death," the Doctor breathed sadly. "It's been… well prophesied for a while now. Even before you and Jenny found me I'd started to get warnings about it." The Doctor shook his head, "I thought… well, to be honest, I had thought that it was about Donna or even you. I did regenerate the last time you were here…"

"But you don't think so anymore," Rose observed in a soft voice. "What changed?"

"Dreams," the Doctor breathed. "It hasn't just been the Ood dreaming when I've been sleeping lately there are flashes of things I'd rather not… remember."

"Maybe it's just nightmares," Rose offered gently, squeezing his hand in an attempt to comfort him. "A lot has changed lately, you've got a full TARDIS again."

"I didn't want to travel with Natalie," the Doctor told her suddenly. "I'd actually made the decision not to travel with anyone again, but something… something happened on Mars and I thought maybe I do need somebody like Donna said. And there was River…," he swallowed and gave Rose a guilty look. He shook his head sadly and looked over at Rose with a strange look in his eyes. "Then you came back and even though," he licked his lips and looked like he was struggling with words. "I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop to use a human phrase."

"Doctor," Rose whispered as she raised one of her hands to cup his cheek. Her heart stuttered when he leaned into the touch. "It's going to be okay," she whispered to him. "Even… even if you are heading for regeneration it won't change everything. I'll still be here and Jenny will be here, we won't leave over that."

"I thought you would once," the Doctor reminded her with an almost pitiful look.

"I was very young and scared about what had happened to you, plus I didn't remember what had happened," Rose told him with a stern look. "And I loved you, but you'd never told me about regeneration. I felt a little betrayed by that."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor sighed, turning his head and kissing her palm. "It's not something pleasant for a Time Lord to talk about. We live, but who we are now… it gets buried under the next. It's a change in identity, that's difficult to deal with."

"I understand that a bit more than you might think," Rose offered, brushing her thumb over his cheek. "I've started over a few times myself."

"I'm sorry I haven't found an answer yet," the Doctor told her and Rose chuckled.

"You haven't been looking all that hard," she teased him with a little smile. "Afraid of what you'll find?"

"More than a little," the Doctor answered honestly causing Rose to gape at him for a moment. "Does that surprise you?"

"Only to hear you admit it," Rose replied as she relaxed.

"Didn't he do that?" the Doctor asked, once again surprising Rose by bringing up her late husband.

"He did," Rose agreed with a small nod. "But he was… well a bit different from you in that regard. He wasn't afraid to admit things to me." It came off as more judgmental than Rose meant it to be and she flinched. "I'm sorry that came out wrong."

The Doctor chuckled and shook his head. "No, it didn't, not really." The Doctor breathed out and ran a hand through his hair. "I do love you, Rose, I did the first time you told me and I did when I dropped you off with him."

"I know," Rose assured him as she leaned closer to him. "I knew then even though you never said it, I did know."

"I wanted you safe and happy," the Doctor whispered as he looked at her. "And now you're back and we're heading towards the Master. I- I assume that he told you about him."

"He did," Rose replied gently. "And we'll deal with this."

"End of time," the Doctor muttered with another shake of his head. "Rose it's-"

"Maybe it's why I'm here," Rose offered carefully. "Bad Wolf was connected to time. Maybe it was this convergence that pulled me back here. After all, Bad Wolf gave you a warning last time someone tried to break the universe and I came back for that yeah?"

The Doctor looked terrified by the idea and swallowed thickly, but nodded. His hands suddenly moved and he cupped her cheeks. Their brown eyes were locked onto each other and Rose suddenly couldn't breathe despite the rapid pounding of her heart.

"Rose… may I?"

"Yeah," Rose breathed as she swayed forward.

Their lips met in a soft tentative kiss that was both familiar and so achingly different. Neither of them moved, just staying in the soft perfect moment. Then the Doctor's hand slid up into Rose's hair and she parted her lips. Years of longing, regret, and sadness were poured together and spilled out to make room for the elevation of this finally happening. Rose groaned softly and slipped her fingers into the Doctor's hair as he tugged her forward onto his lap. They parted only for quick breaths of air before crashing their mouths back together. Time stretched and twisted around them, lengthening the time they had together, but then the TARDIS came to a sudden and abrupt stop as they arrived on Earth.