Welcome Home – chap 3

Rose shrieked as she looked desperately around for somewhere to hide. She grabbed the Doctor's hand and started running away from the Daleks who were gaining on them swiftly.

The Doctor saw that Rose was terrified and his heart clenched as he realised that she was scared for him as well. But he didn't move, he couldn't. Here he was, back home, back at the place that he loved and feared at the same time. The home of his nightmares.

He stared up to the small remainder of the sky that didn't have Daleks in, caught up in a nostalgic haze. The deep purple sky was littered with stars and the dusty pink moon shimmered in the sky. The amount of times he had seen that sky…mostly with smoke rising to it and screams coming from the ground. And now he had to face it all again. But there was one difference this time around. This time Rose was at his side. And he couldn't…no, wouldn't let her down now.

He tore his eyes away from the night sky and ran with Rose. They ran in terror, both of them thinking that they would be dead any second. The Doctor's mind was racing furiously, this shouldn't be happening, this should create a paradox so when would it take affect? We should all be burned until the wound was clean, we shouldn't be still alive. This did not happen in the Time War, I wasn't here, he thought. Judging by the stars and his own approximation of time he was at the fall of Arcadia now. Watching it burn the same way everything would in the end. He wasn't here.

But he was, running away from his most feared enemies. Ironic really.

"Doctor, we've gotta' stop, seriously, I can't run much further!" she shouted to him, between gasps and screams of "exterminate" behind them.

"Keep going Rose, we need to get to the beach ok? Just run to the beach." The Doctor replied frantically, clutching Rose's hand tighter as he pushed his legs to the limit.

He didn't know why he wanted to get to the beach, but he remembered that it was one of his favourite places before the Time War, maybe something there would help them now. He prayed it was so.

"Doctor, I…can't…do this" Rose cried, tears running down her face as she shuddered to a halt.

The Doctor closed his eyes briefly, knowing that if Rose had stopped then he couldn't leave her. He glanced over his back; the Daleks were a way behind. The cold breeze swept passed them, cooling them in its wake.

Rose started crying, thinking that she had sentenced them both to death. The Doctor brought his hand up to her face and gently wiped away her tears before hugging her close. He was glad she was here.

The Daleks raced around the corner. The Doctor groaned as nightmare situations came flooding back to him. His eyes were dark pits of memory as he took his sonic screwdriver out and held it in front of him hopelessly as he stood in front of Rose. Protecting her even to the end.

He waited as the Daleks sneaked closer to him as a lion would its prey.

"Time Lord detected, must exterminate." They repeated tonelessly, in mechanical voices.

The leading Dalek directed its laser at the pair and the Doctor closed his eyes, knowing that there was no way that he could escape this.

But the laser never came. When the Doctor opened his eyes again the Daleks had disappeared and he were somewhere completely different. He turned around, and found that Rose was gone.

"Rose!" He screamed out, looking around for her. But she wasn't here. Here being…The Doctor studied his surroundings. He didn't recognise this place.

He was underground, in an enormous cavern dripping with icicles. His voice echoed off of the silver…rock? No, the Doctor strode quickly over to a wall and licked it, a Gallifreyan metal he realised. Strongest metal there was. And there was no way out, apart from a slim door in the far corner of the cavern. But before he introduced himself to his host, he used his telepathic power to try and contact Rose. As he was on Gallifrey his abilities were enhanced, reaching even human brain wave frequencies.

He concentrated on his memories of Rose and sought contact.

"Rose…can you hear me?"

"Doctor! Where are you? How are you doing this? Help me, I'm on the surface, the Daleks are following, come back, they're going to kill me! Please Doctor" She begged in terror for her life.

The Doctor's hearts broke as he felt her fear and pain at being abandoned. He tried to comfort her.

"Rose, I'm here ok? Just keep running. Find somewhere to hide. I don't know what happened or where I am, but I can't help you from here. I'm going to try and find out what happened. Don't give up Rose…" His voice faded as he ran out of things to say. He couldn't help her now. He would be lucky even to help himself.

He stood up and was about to cross the cavern when he fell to his knees in pain as his mind was flooded with images.

"Doctor…" A terrible voice echoed in his head, making his eyes water in agony. Pictures of death and terror, the Time War filled his mind. The Doctor screamed in pain as he tried to shut this thing out, but he couldn't. It was far too strong.

Whoever this was, it was now showing the Doctor images of what happened to him and how he got here. He was teleported by…no, that was impossible, reason screamed inside the Doctor's head. That couldn't have happened! He had got here by a paradox in a limitation field. This thing had the power to create paradoxes at his leisure, destroying things when he wanted to.

The Doctor writhed in horror as he realised what the thing wanted to do. He wanted to create a paradox for this planet…for the Time War. He wanted the Daleks to win but for this planet to survive, and some of the Time Lords. Their weaponry could alter the rest of the universe.

But that paradox would destroy the universe. The amount of things that would die because of the Daleks surviving…or the Time Lords for that matter was huge…this would cause even more pain and suffering that the Time War had. Whole races would die…entire solar systems. The Doctor couldn't let that happen. The limitation field this creature somehow had couldn't cover this whole era. But the creature didn't care…he would do anything for this to happen, the Doctor realised reluctantly. And that was what made him so powerful. And The Doctor had no idea about how to stop him, he wasn't going to survive the Time War this time.

Suddenly the chain of images of the future broke up as a familiar voice screamed into his head.

"Doctor!" Rose screamed in terror as she ran and ran. Not knowing where to go, this wasn't her world. "You survived this before, you can do so again!" She shouted at him, understanding his thoughts.

"This shouldn't be happening. This could destroy the universe and I have no idea about how to stop it!" The Doctor said bitterly in his head. This was impossible…but the Doctor had to stop it and find Rose at the same time. And fast…time was running out on both accounts.