Previously on the Doctor's Girl:
My name is Ashlee Tyler, or the Hunter. This is the story of Torchwood, the last story I'll ever tell.
Right before our eyes, a figure stepped out of nowhere in the middle of the kitchen. It was featureless, like a shadow, but definitely humanoid. It went and stood beside Mum. "Here we are, then! Dad... say hello to Rose and Ashlee. Ain't they grown?"
"That's not Cybermen..." Mickey said. Four Daleks glided smoothly from the sphere.
"Oh my God." I said as we backed up.
"Exterminate! Exterminate! "EXTERMINATE!"
This is the story of ow I died.
The Daleks advanced upon us with cries of "exterminate!".
"Daleks!" I shouted and they fell silent, taken aback. "You're called 'Daleks'." The Daleks didn't respond, seeming to simply observe me as I walked towards them. "I know your name." I said, taking off my lab coat. "Think about it - how can I know that? A woman... who knows about the Daleks. And the Time War. If you wanna know how, then keep us alive. That's all I'm asking. Me and my friends."
"Yeah, Daleks. Time War. Me too." Mikey said and the Dalek's eye-piece swiveled around to look at Mickey.
"Yeah. And me." the man said.
"The Time Lady will be necessary." one of the Daleks told me before turning to the others. "Report - what is the status of the Genesis Ark?"
"Status - hibernation." it answered.
"Commence awakening." the first one ordered.
"The Genesis Ark must be protected above all else." one of them said as they all turned to the Genesis Ark, which also emerged from the sphere. They clamped their suction arms to the side of the Ark.
"The Daleks - you said they were all dead." Mickey said to me.
"Never mind that - what the hell's a Genesis Ark?" I asked him.
"Which of you is least important?" one of them asked us after a while.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked them.
"Which of you is least important?" it asked again.
"No, they don't work like that. None of us." I told him.
"Designate the least important!" he ordered us.
"This is my responsibility." the man said.
"No, don't! They'll kill you!" I told him. He ignored me and stood before the Daleks dejectedly.
"I er - I represent the Torchwood Institute. Anything you need, you... come through me. Leave these two alone." he said.
"You will kneel." the Dalek ordered.
"What for?" he asked them.
"Kneel." it ordered. the man kneelt and the surrounding Daleks directed their eye stalks onto him. "The Daleks need information about current Earth history."
"Yeah well I can give you a certain amount of intelligence but nothing that will compromise Home Land security-" the man told them.
"Speech is not necessary. We will extract brainwaves." the Dalek told him. The three Daleks advanced on him and positioned their suction arms around his head. He was finally showing the first signs of fear.
"Don't... I- I'll tell you everything you need. No. No!" He begged them. He shouted out in agony before the Daleks crushed his skull. Mickey made toward him but I held him back, knowing it was already too late. After they were done the Daleks let his blackened corpse fall to the ground.
"His mind spoke of a second species invading Earth infected by the superstition of ghosts." one of the Daleks said.
"You didn't need to KILL him!" I shouted at him.
"Neither did we need him alive." One of them told me.
"Dalek Thay - investigate outside." one of them ordered.
"I obey." Dalek Thay said before leaving the chamber. They had names.
"Establish visual contact. Lower communications barrier." A projection appeared in the area previously occupied by the sphere, showing Dalek Thay's point of view as it met with two Cybermen.
"Identify yourselves." Dalek Thay ordered the Cybermen
"You will identify first." The Cybermen told it. We were going to be here all day at this point.
"State your identity." Dalek They ordered.
"You will identify first." The Cybermen said.
"Identify!" Dalek Thay said.
"It's like Stephen Hawkins meets the Speaking Clock." Mickey told me.
"... illogical, you will modify." the Cybermen said.
"Daleks do not take orders." Dalek Thay told him.
"You have identified as Daleks." the Cyberman said and I shook my head. Neither species were the most intelligent in the universe. But they were the deadliest.
"Outline resembles the INFERIOR species known as 'Cybermen'." one of the Daleks in the chamber with us siad. My phone started ringing and I quickly answered it but didn't speak into for fear of drawing attention to myself while the Daleks and Cybermen bantered between each other.
"We must protect the Genesis Ark." one of the Daleks said again.
"Our species our similar, though your design is inelegant." the Cybermen said.
"Daleks have no concept of elegance." Dalek Thay said.
"This is obvious. But consider - our technologies are compatible. Cybermen plus Daleks - together, we could upgrade the Universe." the Cybermen said.
"You propose an alliance?" Dalek Thay asked.
"This is correct." the Cybermen confirmed.
"Request denied." Dalek Thay said. The Cybermen immediately thrust their fists out, ready to shoot.
"Hostile elements will be deleted." the Cybermen said. They shot at the Dalek, but the rays simply bounced off its armor.
"Exterminate!" Dalek Thay aimed at both Cybermen, one after the other, and they collapsed onto the floor. Suddenly we saw another Cyberman in front of an open window.
"Daleks, be warned: you have declared war upon the Cybermen." The Cybermen said.
"This is not war. This is pest control." the Dalek in front of me said.
"We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?" the Cybermen asked.
"Four." the Dalek answered.
"You would destroy the Cybermen with FOUR Daleks?!" the Cybermen asked.
"We would destroy the Cybermen with ONE Dalek. You are superior in only one respect." the Dalek told it.
"What is that?" the Cyberman asked.
"You are better at dying. Raise communications barrier!" the screen went static and I hung up my phone, knowing it wouldn't help now.
"Wait!" one of the Daleks said. "Rewind image by nine rells." they rewound the to the frame they wanted. "Identify grid seven gamma frame." they zoomed in on the Doctor in the background and I smiled. "This male registers as enemy."
"The female's heartbeat has increased." one of the Daleks said turning to me. "Identify him."
"All right then... if you really wanna know... that's the Doctor and I'm the Hunter." I told them and they rolled backwards sharply. "Five million Cybermen - easy. Two Time Lords? NOW you're scared." I said smirking as Dalek Thay entered the chamber.
"Cyber threat irrelevant. Concentrate on the Genesis Ark." Dalek Thay ordered. The black Dalek pressed its suction arm to the side of the Genesis Ark.
"Why are we being kept alive?" Mickey asked me.
"They might need me." I told him.
"What? What is it?" he asked me and I just stared at the Daleks. While the Daleks crowded around the Genesis Ark, Mickey shows me a big yellow button.
"I could transport out of here, but it only carries one and I'm not leaving you. Rose would hate me forever." he told me and I smiled.
"You'd follow her anywhere. What did she do to you all those years ago?" I asked him.
"Guess I'm just stupid." he told me and I shook my head.
"You're the bravest man I've ever met." I told him.
"What about the Doctor?" he asked me.
"Oh, all right. Bravest Human." I corrected and he smiled at me.
"Well, I can't think what the Daleks need with me. I'm nothing to them." he said and we looked back at the Daleks.
"You could be... whatever's inside that Ark is waking up and I've seen this happen before. The first time I saw a Dalek with the first Doctor you met, it was broken. It was dying. But I touched it. The moment I did that... I brought it back to life. When you travel in time in the TARDIS, you soak up all this background radiation. It's harmless, it's just there. But in the Time War, the Daleks evolved so they could use it as a power supply. If the Daleks have got something inside that thing that needs waking up..." I said.
"They need you." he told me and I gave him a look.
"YOU'VE traveled in time - either one of us would do." I said.
"But why would they build something they can't open themselves?" he asked me and before I could speak the black Dalek interrupted me.
"The technology is stolen. The Ark is not of Dalek design."
"Then who built it?" Mickey asked.
"The Time Lords. This is all that survives of your Home World." it told me as they all shuffled around the Ark.
"What's inside?" I asked.
"The future." I stared at the Ark and the surrounding Daleks with fearful apprehension. The Daleks finally backed away from the Genesis Ark.
"Final stage of awakening." one of them said.
"Your handprint will open the Ark." the black one said to me.
"Well tough, 'cos I'm not doing it." I told it.
"Obey or the male will die." it told me and I looked at Mickey before sighing and moving to the Ark.
"I'm sorry. I can't let them."
"Ash, don't." Mickey told me.
"Place your hand upon the casket." it told me.
"All right!" I said staring at the Ark. "You're gonna kill us anyway, so what the hell?" I came up with an idea and turned back to the black Dalek. "If you um... escaped the Time War... don't you want to know what happened?"
"Place your hand-" it repeated.
"What happened to the Emperor?" I asked.
"The Emperor survived." it said.
"'Til he met me... 'cos if these are gonna be my last words, then you're gonna listen. I met the Emperor. And I took the Time Vortex and I pulled it into his head and turned him into dust. Do you get that? The God of all Daleks... and I destroyed him." I said before lauging.
"You will be EXTERMINATED!" I prepared for it when another voice stopped it.
"Oh now, hold on, wait a minute." I turned and saw the Doctor walking to us.
"Alert, alert - you are the Doctor." one of the Daleks said and I smiled with delight. The Doctor sauntered into the room wearing his 3D specs.
"Sensors report he is unarmed." Dalek Thay said.
"That's me. Always." he said walking to me.
"Then you are powerless." the black Dalek said.
"Not me." he said taking the specs off with a flourish. "Never. How are you?" he asked me.
"Oh, same old, same old, you know." I told him/
"Good! And Mickity-McMickey!" the Doctor said bashing his fist with Mickey's. "Nice to see ya!"
"And you, boss." Mickey told him.
"Social interaction will cease!" one of the Daleks ordered.
"How did you survive the Time War?" one of the Dalek's asked and I looked at him. He never talked about the War.
"By fighting. On the front line." he told him. Mickey turned, I forgot this was the first time he'd heard of this. "I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that. But you lot - ran away!"
"We had to survive." the Dalek said.
"The last four Daleks in existence. So what's so special about YOU?" the Doctor asked them.
"Doctor, they've got names." I told him.
"I am Dalek Thay."
"Dalek Sek."
"Dalek Jast."
"Dalek Caan."
"So THAT'S it! At last... the Cult of Skaro. I thought you were just a legend." The Doctor said, grinning like an idiot.
"Who are they?" Mickey asked us.
"A secret order. Above and beyond the Emperor himself. Their job was to imagine. Think as the enemy thinks. Even dared to have names. All to find new ways of killing." the Doctor said.
"But that thing, they said it was yours. I mean, Time Lords. They built it. What does it do?" Mickey asked and I shook my head.
"I don't know. Never seen it before." the Doctor told him.
"But it's... Time Lord." Mickey said.
"It was a war Mickey, both sides had secrets." I told him.
"What is it? What have you done?" the Doctor asked them.
"Time Lord science will restore Dalek supremacy." Dalek Sek told us.
"What does that mean? What sort of Time Lord science? What do you mean?" the Doctor asked.
"They said one touch from a time traveler will wake it up." I told him.
"Technology using the one thing a Dalek can't do. Touch. Sealed inside your casing. Not feeling anything... ever... from birth to death, locked inside a cold metal cage. Completely alone. And that explains your voice. No wonder you scream." he said.
"The Doctor will open the Ark!" Dalek Sek ordered and he laughed contemptuously.
"The Doctor will not." he denied.
"You have no way of resisting." Delek Sek said.
"Well... you got me there. Although... there is always this." the Doctor said taking out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket.
"A sonic probe?" Dalek Sek asked.
"That's 'screwdriver'." The Doctor corrected.
"It is harmless." Dalek Sek said.
"Oh yes. Harmless is just the word. That's why I like it. Doesn't kill, doesn't wound, doesn't maim. But I'll tell you what it does do - it is VERY good at opening doors." He activated the screwdriver, and immediately, the doors exploded inward. I saw Jake, some men, and the Cybermen leap into action, firing their guns at the Daleks.
"Delete! Delete! Delete! Delete!"
"Alert! Casing impact, casing impact!" Dalek Cann said. The Doctor and I flung themselves to the ground, trying to avoid the gun fire.
"Hunter, get out!" he told me. I made toward the door but stumbled when something his my side.
"Fire power insufficient! Fire power insufficient!" I heard Dalek Sek said. Someone helped me to my feet and I looked to see Dad. To say I was surprised to see him was an understatement but obviously there was no time for him to explain. We made for the door and I turned and waited for the other two.
"Daleks will be deleted. Delete! Delete!" The Doctor managed to reach Pete and me where we stood in the doorway, out of harms way.
"Mickey, come on!" I called to him.
"Adapt to weaponry!" I heard Dalek Thay say.
"Fire power restored!" Dalek Sek said. The Dalek fired once at a Cyberman, immediately destroying it. Jake managed to reach the door - but Mickey lost his footing and accidentally placed his hand upon the Genesis Ark, leaving a red hot mark there before dashing for the door. "Cybermen primary target." Mickey winced in pain as he looked at his hand. The rest of Jake's men managed to slip through the door before it closed, sealing both the Daleks and the Cybermen inside.
"Jake, check the stairwell. The rest of you, come on!" the Doctor ordered and we followed him down the corridor.
"I just fell, I didn't mean it!" Mickey tyold us as we ran.
"Mickey, without us, they'd have opened it by force. To do that, they'd have blown up the sun. You've done us a favour!" the Doctor said before kissing the top of his head. "Now, run!"
"You will be upgraded." I saw Cybermen stop in the middle of the corridor.
"No, but you can't! Please-" My eyes widened at the voice.
"Mum." I whispered before Dad flew past me and shot the Cybermen. They both fell to the ground, dead, to reveal Mum staring at us in shock. "Pete!"
"Hello, Jacks." Dad said and I smiled.
"I said there were ghosts, but that's not fair. Why him?" Mum asked.
"I'm not a ghost." Dad told her.
"But you're dead. You died twenty years ago, Pete." Mum told him.
"It's Pete from a different Universe. There are parallel worlds, Jackie. Every single decision we make creates a parallel existence, a different dimension where-" the Doctor tried explaining.
"Oh, you can shut up." she told him and for once he did as she said, stepping back to me. "Oh... you look old."
"You don't." Dad told her.
"How can you be standing there?" Mum asked him.
"Just got lucky... lived my life. You were left on your own. You didn't marry again, or...?" Dad asked her.
"There was never anyone else." she told him quietly. "Twenty years, though. Look at me - I never left that flat. Did nothing with myself."
"Brought THEM up. Rose and Ashlee Tyler." he said, nodding to me and Rose. "That's not bad."
"Yeah." Mum whispered, smiling.
"In my world, it worked. All those daft little plans of mine. They worked. Made me rich." Dad told her.
"I don't care about that." Mum told him. "How rich?"
"Very." he answered.
"I don't care about that. How very?" she asked him and I laughed lightly, holding the Doctor's hand in mine.
"Thing is though, Jacks, you're... you're not my wife. I'm sorry, but you're not. I mean, we both..." Dad said and Mum nodded. "You know, it's just sort of... Oh, come here." They ran to meet each other and Mum started to cry. He swept her off the ground in a huge hug. After they had their moment, we ran to a door and opened it to see the battle between the Cybermen and the Daleks. We peered into the lab area before I saw the Doctor dive into the room. I watched anxiously and winced every time a beam passed near him. The Doctor picked up two devices, using them to deflect the rays from himself. He made it back to the door with them, dodging the beams before he tripped over a Cyberman's body.
"Come on, please." I begged quietly. The Doctor quickly got to his feet and slipped through the door to safety with me closing it after him. After a few moments, he opened it again, peering around making me roll my eyes. at his 3D specs.
"Override roof mechanism." I heard Dalek Sek say and the roof began opening. "El-ev-ate."
"What're they doing? Why'd they need to get outside?!" Rose asked us.
"Time Lord science- WHAT Time Lord science?" The Doctor asked. "What is it?" Dalek Sek elevated through the ceiling into the open air with the Ark. He shut the door and we ran back down the corridor. "We've gotta see what it's doing, we've gotta go back up! Come on! All of you! Top floor!"
"That's forty-five floors up! Believe me, I've done 'em all." Mum told us.
"We could always take the lift..." Jake said, making us stop and turn to him. I turned to the Doctor and hit his arm.
"All this running around and we could have taken the lift?" I asked him.
"I thought you like the running." he told me and I gave him a look. "Are you okay?"
"Of course I am." I told him, feeling the adrenaline pumping furiously through my veins, thankful for it.
when the lift stopped at the top floor, we stepped out and rushed to the window, the Doctor dumping the devices he picked up earlier down on the desk as he went. As the Genesis Ark spun, Daleks shot out of it, more and more of them by the second and I stared in horror.
"Time Lord science..." the Doctor said as we finally understood.
"It's bigger on the inside." I said.
"Did Time Lords put those Daleks in there? What for?" Mickey asked us.
"It's a prison ship." I told them.
"How many Daleks?" Rose asked.
"Millions." The Doctor told her. Dad walked away from the window.
"I'm sorry, but you've had it. This world's gonna crash and burn. There's nothing we can do. We're going home. Jacks, take this." Dad told Mum, tossing her one of the yellow buttons Mickey showed me earlier.
"But they're destroying the City!" Mum told him.
"I'd forgotten you could argue." Dad said affectionately before looping the button around her neck himself. "It's not just London, it's the whole world." he took her face in his hands, making her look at him. "But there's another world, just waiting for you, Jacks. And it's safe. As long as the Doctor closes the breach. Doctor?" We turned to him as he turned to us from the window with his 3D specs on and a big grin.
"Oh, I'm ready. I've got the equipment right here. Thank you, Torchwood!" he said, dashing to a computer. "Slam it down and close off both universes."
"Reboot systems."
"But we can't just leave. What about the Daleks? And the Cybermen-?" Rose asked him.
"They're part of the problem. And THAT makes them part of the solution. Oh yes!" he said and I laughed at him. "Well?! Isn't anyone gonna ask? What is it with the glasses?"
"What is it with the glasses?" I asked him, grinning.
"I can SEE! That's what! 'Cos we've got two separate worlds, but in-between the two separate worlds, we've got the Void. That's where the Daleks were hiding. And the Cybermen travelled through the Void to get here! And you lot - one world to another, via the Void! Oh, I like that. Via the Void! Look!" he pressed the glasses onto my face. "I've been through it. Do you see?" He dodged about so I could see, with the aid of the glasses, that he was surrounded by floating green and red particles. I reached out to try and touch them, but felt nothing.
"Reboot in three minutes."
"Void stuff." he said as he danced around in front of me. Maybe I should have payed better attention in school.
"Like the background radiation!" I said.
"That's it. Look at the others." he turned me to look at the others. Mum was the only one not surrounded by the 'Void Stuff'. "The only one who hasn't been through the Void - your mother. First time she's looked normal in her life."
"Oi!" Mum said. I turned and followed him as he dashed into the clear white area.
"The Daleks lived inside the Void. They're bristling with it. Cybermen - all of them. I just open the Void - end of verse. The Void stuff gets sucked back inside." the Doctor told me enthusiastically.
"PULLING them all in." I said just as enthusiastically.
"Pulling them all in!" he repeated to me.
"Sorry... what's- what's the Void?" Mickey asked.
"The dead space. Some people call it 'Hell'." The Doctor told him.
"So... you're sending the Daleks and Cybermen to Hell." Mickey said, looping the button around his neck before looking to Jake. "Man, I told you they were good." my smile fell.
"But it's... like you said, we've ALL got Void stuff. Me too, 'cos we went to that parallel world." I looked down at my hand, flexing my fingers, examining the particles floating around them. I pulled the glasses off to see him standing right in front of me. "We're all contaminated. We'll get pulled in."
"That's why you've gotta go." he told me and I looked at him confused.
"Reboot in two minutes."
"Back to Pete's world." he turned from me to Dad. "Hey, we should call it that - 'Pete's World'." he turned back to me, his face serious. "I'm opening the Void, but only on this side. You'll be safe on that side." My mind was blank. How could he say this?
"And then you close it. For good?" Dad asked him.
"The breach itself is soaked in Void Stuff, in the end it'll close itself. And that's it. Kaput." the Doctor said.
"But you stay on THIS side...?" I asked him.
"But you'll get pulled in." Mickey said. The Doctor held my gaze for a moment before he rans over to the device's he took from the lab. Rose stayed put, feeling like I'd been slapped around the face.
"That's why... I got these. I'll just have to hold on tight - I've been doing it all my life." the Doctor told us and I finally turned to him.
"I'm supposed to go." I said, not asking him.
"Yeah." he told me.
"To another world, and then it gets sealed off." I said.
"Yeah." It was obvious he didn't want to talk about it as he went to another of the computers.
"Forever." I said laughing at the absurdity of the idea. "Yeah. That's not gonna happen." I said as a crash from outside shook the building.
"We haven't got time to argue, the plans works, we go in. You too. ALL of us." Dad told us.
"No, I'm not leaving him!" I told him.
"I'm not going without her." Mum said. I knew she wouldn't leave without either Rose or myself. Not without a fight.
"Oh, my God. We're GOING." Dad ordered.
"I've had twenty years without you, so button it. I'm not leaving her." Mum told him. I saw Mickey give Rose a yellow button and I smiled before turning to Mum.
"You've GOT to." I told her.
"Well, that's tough!" she yelled at me.
"Mum..." I said.
"Reboot in one minute."
"I've had a life with you and Rose for nineteen years. But then I met the Doctor and remembered who I really was... all the things he's done for me. For everyone. All the things I can do with him. For the whole... stupid planet and every planet out there. He did it alone for a long time while I was human. But not anymore. 'Cos you were right, I'm not human. And now he's got me." I felt something around my neck and turned to look at the Doctor. "What're you-?" Suddenly he was gone. I looked around and saw we'd moved.
"Oh no you don't. He's not doing that to me again." I said pressing the yellow button on my chest. "I think this thing works..." I turned to see the Doctor staring at me, shocked. he grabbed me roughly by the shoulders, stooping slightly so he could look me straight into my eyes.
"Once the breach collapses, that's IT. You will never be able to see them again. Your mother! You sister!" he told me and I smiled at him.
"I made my choice a long time ago when we got married, and I'm never gonna leave you again." I told him. The Doctor stared at me for a moment, stunned before releasing his grip. "So what can I do to help?"
"Systems rebooted. Open access." I stubbornly held his gaze until he finally gave in.
"Those co-ordinates over there, set them all at six." he told me. I went to do as I was told, going to the computer he indicated. "And hurry up." he sounded almost angry at me.
"We've got Cybermen on the way up." I told him looking at another computer.
"How many floors down?" he asked me.
"Just one." I said watching them march up the stairwell.
The screen shows the Cybermen marching up the stairwell. I watched the Doctor typed in a command on the laptop.
"Levers operational." The Doctor grinned at me and I smiled back at him.
"That's more like it, bit of a smile! The old team together again!" I said to him. He kissed me gently before he went over and picked up one of the devices and coming back to me.
"Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff, Shiver and Shake!" he said.
"Which one's Shiver?" I asked him confused.
"Oh, I'm Shake." he told me dumping the device in my arms. Next moment, we both attached them to the wall next to the levers on opposite sides of the room. "Press the red button." he told me and I did so. "When it starts, just hold on tight. Shouldn't be too bad for us but the Daleks and the Cybermen are steeped in Void Stuff. Are you ready?" he asked me. I nodded and turned to the window.
"So are they." I told him as the Daleks appeared at the window.
"Let's do it!" We pushed the levers upwards and then hurriedly took hold of the clamps on the wall.
"Online." The area was filled with this white light, there was also this sound of a strong wind. The Daleks were sucked through the window, smashing through the glass as they were pulled into the white light and back to the Void. I held onto the clamp tightly, struggling to hold on.
"The breach is open! Into the Void! Ha!" the Doctor laughed and I joined him. I watched the Genesis Ark being sucked into the void and smiled. I turned to the Doctor and we smiled at each other joyous this was working. Suddenly, their was a small explosion of sparks and the lever on my side moved back into the 'off' position. The smile fading from my face.
"Offline."
"Turn it on!" he told me. The suction had started to ease and I reached for the lever while trying to maintain my grip on the clamp, but it was just slightly out of reach. I strained to reach it before eventually falling onto it. I whimpered as I struggled with the lever, pulling to me.
"I've gotta get it upright!" I told him, going to the other side of it. I pushed the lever upward, groaning with the effort. Finally, I managed to push the lever upright.
"Online and locked." The suction increased once more, but now I had nothing to hold on to but the lever.
"Hunter, hold on!" the Doctor screamed at me. The Void pulled at me, making it near impossible for me to keep my grip. I winced and cried out with the effort. "HOLD ON!" I moaned, my strength almost spent. With a cry, my grip finally slipped and I was pulled inexorably toward the Void, crying out. I heard the Doctor scream my name as I was pulled away from him. Suddenly, the wind died down and I rammed into the wall. The Doctor ran to me and held me in his arms, staring at me worried.
"See? I told you you wouldn't get rid of me so easily." I said smiling before groaning in pain.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked me. I lifted my black top so he could see my side.
"Something hit me, I don't know if it was the Cybermen or Daleks but I'm going to regenerate. Soon." I told him before tears rushed down my face.
"Sshhhhh." he said, holding me to him again. "It's okay. I'm here."
"I didn't get to say goodbye..." I told him, crying. He picked me up and took me to the TARDIS and sat me on one of the seats. "What are you doing?"
"Giving you a chance to say goodbye." he told me and I smiled at him. After a while he nodded to me and I stood up weakly. Suddenly I saw Mum and Rose as a hologram in front of me.
"Where are you?" Rose asked me.
"Inside the TARDIS." I told them. "There's one tiny little gap in the universe left, just about to close. And it takes a lot of power to send this projection, we're in orbit around a super nova. "We're burning up a sun just so I can say goodbye."
"You look like a ghost." Mum told me.
"Hold on... Doctor?" I turned to him. He pressed some buttons on the console and strengthened my projection.
"Can't you come through properly?" Mum asked me.
"The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse." I told her.
"So?" Rose asked me, both of them crying silently. I smiled at them and looked around at their surroundings.
"Where are we? Where did the gap come out?" I asked them.
"We're in Norway." Rose told me. "About fifty miles out of Bergen. It's called 'Dårlig Ulv Stranden'."
"Dalek?" I asked them surprised.
"Dårl-IG. It's Norwegian for 'bad'." Mum told me. "This translates as 'Bad Wolf Bay'." I laughed at the irony of it, but sobered almost immediately. "How long have we got?"
"About two minutes..." I told her.
"I can't think of what to say!" Mum told me.
"You've still got Mickey and Dad, then?" I asked them.
"There's five of us now. Mum, dad, Mickey... and the baby." Rose told me.
"Are you...?" I asked her.
"No." Rose laughed.
"It's me." Mum told me and I smiled at her. "I'm three months gone. More Tylers on the way."
"And what about you, Rose? Are you...?" I asked her.
"Yeah, I'm- I'm back working in the shop." she told me.
"Oh, good for you." I said, nodding.
"Shut up. No, I'm not. There's still a Torchwood on this planet, it's open for business. I think I know a thing or two about aliens." she told me and I smiled at her.
"Rose Tyler. Defender of the Earth. We're dead, officially, back home. So many people died that day and you and Mum went missing. We're on a list of the dead." I told them.
"Why are you?" Mum asked me and I looked down at my feet for a moment.
"I'm going to regenerate as soon as we're done talking. One of the beams hit me and I'm going to die." I told them.
"Oh, Ash. I'm so sorry." Rose said, and I smiled at them.
"Look at you two. Living a life day after day. The one adventure I can never have again." I told them.
"Are we ever gonna see you again?" Rose asked me.
"You can't." I whispered.
"What're you gonna do?" Mum asked me.
"Oh, I've got the TARDIS. got my husband. Same old life. Last two of the Time Lords." I told her.
"Just the two of you?" Mum asked me and I nodded silently, still watching them.
"I love you." Rose and Mum told me.
"Rose, Mum. I love you both, so much." I told them and our time was up. I stood in the TARDIS staring at where they had been. I looked to the Doctor before looking down at my hands to see them glowing. "Guess it's time." I told him. "I love you."
"I love you." he told me before my arms and head were thrown back as the golden aura surrounded me. I felt myself change into someone else before it died down. I looked around with new eyes until I turned and saw the Doctor, staring at me.
"That's not fair." he told me and I gave him a confused look.
"What?" I asked him, my voice changing. "Oh, that's different. Nineteen years with one voice you get used to it after a while."
"Why do you get to be ginger?" he asked me and I grabbed my long hair and took a good look at it. Yep, ginger.
"How should I know?" I asked him. I left to go find a mirror so I could check myself out. I found one in the closet and stared. I had bright red/orange hair and bright blue eyes. My hair fell down straight down to the middle of my back. The thing that shocked me the most was my bust, it was bursting out of my top. "Right, new clothes." I dug threw the closet and found a beige flowy tank top, a brown jacket, blue jeans, and brown belt and brown flat boots. I inspected my new clothes and put the gun holster on my thigh. I smiled and went back to the console room.
"What?" I head the Doctor say and I ran to the console room and started. There was a bride staring at him, yelping in surprise. "What?!"
"Who are you?" she asked him.
"But-"
"Where am I?"
"What?!"
"What the hell is this place?"
"WHAT?!"
THE DOCTOR'S GIRL will return soon in THE RUNAWAY BRIDE