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Despairs Darkest Destiny

Chapter Eight

The Doctor had carried Rose to the only dry room with a comfortable bed that was near the medical room in the entire Tardis – his room. He opened the door and walked in still carrying Rose, her eyes darted around as she absorbed her surroundings, she had only been in here a few times – he usually came to her room. The dark blues of the room lengthened the shadows and tall, pale, pole rose up revealing a large bed covered in a dark blue quilt. The desk was littered with notes and books, several alien artefacts – Rose could recognise a few – covered the desk trapping wild paper to the wood. His bed side cabinets were in the same state except on one in the centre, free from grim and dirt stood a photo frame. Its faint silver gleam leapt out of the darkness, Rose stared at in intensly as the Doctor carried her to the bed. It was of her and the Doctor, at a white beach on a far away planet, they lay in the sand together both of them brown – they looked like the happiest people in the world. A ghost of a smile passed over Roses' lips as she remembered the day, she had been so happy and carefree, she had been free from the nightmares that haunted her now – even the warm blue, sparking water in the photo that looked so inviting now scared her. Rose closed her eyes – she couldn't stand the happiness, it stung at her like canes on puny skin.

When she awoke she was lying across the Doctors bed, a long blue shirt was loosely buttoned around her, and she could feel the stiffness of the bandages around her ribs as she tried to breath. Her soggy cast had been replaced with a fresh one and where the stitches had been ripped out there were now new ones in place. Despite all this, Rose couldn't deny that it still hurt. Rose clenched her fist as she held in a sob – the Doctor was at her side, almost as if he'd appeared from no where. He squeezed her hand

'How are you?' he asked softly, she smiled bravely at him

'Hurting, but otherwise alright' she truthfully told him. The Doctor nodded apologetically with all the sadness of the world in his eyes

'I can't give you any more pain meds – you've had too much already' he gently told her. Rose sighed as she bit her lip reclining into the pillow

'Is there anything else I can get you?' he asked worriedly. She closed her eyes then eyed him thoughtfully

'Just hold me' she whispered. He smiled sweetly and nodded before crawling across the bed beside her

'That I can do' he murmured.

Roses' leg collided violently with the Doctors, he shuddered awake and looked around in the darkness. Rose was panting, her face and body covered in sweat as her head anxiously turned

'No!' she cried out. The Doctor sat up instantly

'Rose?' he asked 'Rose can you hear me?' he got no reply. He ran his fingers through his hair knowing he'd made a promise to her and he was going to keep it.

'Rose, I'm going to have to go inside your mind' he gently told her, she responded by violently fitting. He apprehensively moved towards Rose changing their positions so that her head rested in his lap. His fingers gently grazed her face as he remembered the images he had seen before, the sheer helplessness that had overtaken him scared him.

'I'm so sorry Rose' he honestly told her 'But I have to do this. If I can find out where you are then we can go there… we can find out where all of this is coming from'

Roses eyelids fluttered and she met his gaze for a brief moment, he swallowed heavily as she closed her eyes once more. Her hazel eyes had been scared with pain, fear and knowledge, just seeing her like this scared him.

'Okay' he murmured to himself. He pressed his fingertips to her temples and closed his eyes – he was quickly sucked into the world Rose was so desperately trying to hide from.

Rose was against a wall, she was drowning in the heavy coat that hung over her shoulders. Her breathing was heavy and her hands shook as she fumbled with the buttons trying to release herself from the heavy wool that was swamping her. She was standing beside a bed, the thin cotton sheets had hastily been thrown off the bed and a stark sheet hugged the mattress. Two windows on either corner of the room hung open, their cold stone frames sunk into the walls and thick glass barely let the sunlight stream through. Shards off moonlight floated through the open window riding on a gentle breeze that lifted the leaves into the air so they could dance a ghostly waltz on their invisible world. Rose watched in wonder as the dead arms of the leaf cracked as it swirled through the air slowly falling. Roses' fingers paused on the buttons as the tiny brown leaf cracked in the wind, she was enticed as the pale moonlight bled onto her face. Her fingers splayed across the dull glass, she pressed her face to the window and her breath streamed it up veiling the world that existed outside of Roses reality. She forgot her fear and forgot the coat that drowned her; instead she just watched the moonlight sparkled across the lake, the dark water lapped at the sides and a million tiny diamonds reflected back up at her.

She watched as the water spurted out of the stone vase that rested gently in the fingers of a tall woman who bent forwards as she spilt her water back into the river, her hair was tucked off her face and revealed long cheekbones and pert lips, trapped in a smile set by the stone that encased her. Her white marble skin sunk out of the darkness and her clothes no longer flapped around her but were trapped in one spot forever, crystal clear water fell readily from the base held between her long fingers into a deep pool lined with rocks and trapped by a marble crust. Rose watched hanging out of her window, her blonde ringlets caught in the wind and were gently carried across her face, she empathised with the stature. She stretched out her limbs savouring the movement that came so freely to them – ignoring the twinge of long ago broken bones creaking as their scars moved. She knew what it was liked to be trapped in stone – unable to move, trapped by fears so strong they paralysed her. Rose stretched her fingers out as the wind caught between them – a tiny laugh almost escaped her mouth as she became light hearted from the sudden feeling of happiness.

Her happiness was short lived as fear froze her heart and filled her stomach as the ice sound of boots crunching on gravel cut through the air. Rose dropped to her knees and dug her fingers into the sill. She watched two figures move across the garden their feet dug into thousands of pebbles that scattered instantly. Moonlight broke through the dark clouds that hugged the sky revealing a slender figure crowned with blonde hair, ghostly grey eyes shone out from the darkness of the night and Rose recognised the woman as Isabella, dark eyes gleamed out of the shadows like a cat, the eyes were all Rose could see of the figure but she recognised the eyes – these were the eyes of the monster that clung to her throat so callously. The muffled voiced scared the nights air cracking the serenity of the moment, Rose watched as tiny breath marks clouded her view of the pair, she frantically wiped at the glass trying to watch.

The woman was waving her hands in the air as she steeped backwards towards the statue, Rose saw Lewis's hand bunch into a fist. She closed her eyes as the sickening thud of flesh on bone rang out followed by a cry – shouts rang out through the air

'I saw you' Lewis snarled

'Saw what?' Isabella asked as her voice trembled

'You were going to take her again – after I told you not to, after I showed you what would happen'

Rose watched as his heavy breathing filled the air shattering the peace and innocence of the night. Isabella's gasp stung Roses' ears

'I wasn't! I swear!' she exclaimed. Rose could see her tears shining in the night

'I saw her bag, her cloak, I heard you telling Maddy she was going away' he screamed in her face. Roses' heart froze as Isabella turned and looked at Rose through the dark night; through the thick glass- despite all this Isabella could see Rose. Rose froze, she wanted to move but she couldn't, she held Isabella's gaze and shivered. She watched Isabella's mouth move as she mouthed silent words to Rose

'I'm sorry' Rose's hand went to her mouth a she saw Lewis turn and follow her gaze. It was in that moment when Lewis's chilling eyes stabbed at her that Rose knew she was going to die. Lewis smiled a cold empty smile as he placed his hands on Isabella's shoulders teasingly moving towards her neck

'Don't worry' he murmured softly, Isabella almost recognised the man she married – Rose almost recognised a human

'I'll look after her'

Isabella stilled under his grasp and turned to look at him. He softly ran his thumb along her collar bone – a hundred tiny goosebumps appeared.

'I'll make sure she remembers her mother' he whispered. Isabella's eyes opened wide as she saw the fountain that stood in front of her.

'No – please don't' she begged crying

'I'll make sure she remembers what a terrible woman you were' he snarled as his voice returned to it's growling depths that made Rose want to die. Lewis wrapped his hands around her neck and pushed her forward as her scream cut through the air before fading into silence. Rose pressed her palms to the glass, her nose crushing against its icy exterior, her fingers ran down the pane and she tried to close her eyes. Lewis dropped Isabella to the floor and the dark flint gravel dug into her knees. Her hands fumbled against the stone that stung on her skin, she dragged her fingers up searching for something to grip on to. Instead her fingers sunk down into the dark icy water that hungrily lapped at her fingers. Her pale skin matched the moonlight that shimmered off the tiny ripples of the waters surface. Isabella shivered as she felt warm sweaty fingers digging into her neck and she knew with a shudder of clear intuition what was going to happen. He wasn't going to let her go this time, he wouldn't beat her within inches of her life this time, he wouldn't let her live – this time he was going to finish the job. She knew fighting back was pointless as it would only fuel him, she raised her head to the moon who sadly looked on, the stars twinkled a lullaby to her as she watched the world turn grim and bleed out darkness.

Isabella looked at Rose one last time as her kicking legs fought the oncoming stone, grazed marked her as her blood slowly wept into the darkness.

'I'm so sorry' she starkly whispered before closing her eyes and picturing Beau in her mind. She closed her eyes to the darkness and readily accepted the burning white light as water clawed at her face. Hands of steel held her down and Rose watched her legs flail violently – each kick less purposeful. Isabella felt the water swimming down her throat, stinging at her and tasting her, she felt her lungs burn before the darkness swept her in. Rose watched as Lewis stood and looked at her, in his eyes he held a promise for her, Rose swallowed and watched him retreat into the darkness. Isabella's broken body lay slumped into the fountain, the stone woman poured her water onto the corpse of an angel whose curls floated in the darkness, as pale as death. Her stone face watched her remorsefully as the moon sunk back between the clouds which shielded her from the pain. Rose sunk to the floor, tears wetting her face as footsteps tauntingly rang on the floor.

The Doctor closed his eyes to Roses' pain and frantically hit buttons on the control panel. Rose now lay sprawled out on the chair in the control room, her eyelids fluttered as the sound of the Tardis moving filled the air. She sat up blindly

'He killed her' she whispered in a broken voice as she sunk back into her chair – her heart breaking all over again.