Chapter 1
The Doctor pulled up the lever of the device he had put together. Amazed that he's finally finished the delta wave. "It's ready!" He looked up as the Daleks began to file into the room, surrounding him. The Doctor said to the Daleks, "You really wanna think about this. 'Cos if I activate the signal, every living creature dies."
The Emperor of the Daleks states from the view screen, "I am immortal."
The Doctor replied, "D'you wanna put that to the test?"
To which the Emperor Dalek just taunted in reply, "l want to see you become like me. Hail the Doctor, the Great Exterminator!"
The Doctor placed his hand on the lever. "I'll do it!"
"Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you: coward or killer?"
The Doctor's hands were tense on the lever. He Was shaking, his face screwed up in pain. Then, he just lets it go. "Coward. Any day."
The Emperor of the Daleks gloats, "Mankind will be harvested because of your weakness."
The Doctor asked, "And what about me? Am I becoming one of your angels?"
"You are the Heathen. You will be exterminated."
The Doctor didn't resist. "Maybe it's time." And he closed his eyes, ready with Daleks all around him. Suddenly, one of the Dalek's eyepieces swivels around as they all hear the sound of the TARDIS engines. It began to fade in at exactly the point where it had left.
A Dalek shouted out, "Alert! TARDIS materialising!" As The Doctor's eyes snapped open and as he spinned around in shock.
The Emperor exclaimed, "You will not escape!"
The TARDIS fully materialised and the doors flew open. The Doctor threw a hand over his eyes as the blinding golden light of the time vortex poured out. In the doorway stood Rose. The Doctor stared, awestruck as the light curled around Rose when she stepped forward. The Doctor stumbled backwards, falling to the ground. He also can notice the presence of another Time Lord in his head and it was coming from Rose. He asked with fear in his voice, "What've you done?"
Rose gazed down at him, her eyes full of the light of the time vortex. When she spoke, her London accent had vanished and as an echoing quality to it, "I looked into the TARDIS. And the TARDIS looked into me."
The Doctor was still clearly frightened for her. "You looked into the Time Vortex, Rose, no one's meant to see that."
The Emperor of the Daleks proclaimed, "This is the abomination!"
One Dalek exclaimed, "Exterminate!" as it fired at Rose, who held up her hand. The bolt froze and reversed back into the gun.
The Doctor looked on in amazement. He stared up at Rose intensely.
Rose declared, "I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words..." Rose waved her hand. "…I scatter them in time and space..." The words 'Bad Wolf' rose from the wall and floated away. "…A message to lead myself here."
The Doctor pleaded urgently, "Rose, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now." Rose stared straight ahead as though she hadn't heard him. "You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're gonna burn."
Rose suddenly looked at him. "I want you safe..." The Doctor was taken aback. He stared. Rose had the traces of tears on her cheeks as she continued, "…My Doctor. Protected from the false God."
The Emperor of the Daleks replied, "You cannot hurt me. I am immortal."
Rose just replied, "You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space, every single atom of your existence, and I divide them..." She raised her hand. The Dalek in the centre was separated into golden, liquid-like particles. "…Everything must come to dust... all things. Everything dies..." She looked to the side, and the Daleks lined up there were reduced to golden particles. "…The Time War ends."
The Emperor was afraid as he proclaimed "I will not die. I cannot die!"
The entire mothership was reduced to the liquid-like golden particles, dissolving away into oblivion. Rose stood with her arms raised, staring straight ahead of her, shaking.
The Doctor said worriedly, "Rose, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go."
Rose in a hushed, blissful voice replied, "How can I let go of this? I bring life..." In a nearby corridor Jack suddenly took a huge intake of breath as his eyes snapped open.
The Doctor was terrified now. "But this is wrong! You can't control life and death!"
Rose looked at him again. "But I can. The sun and the moon... the day and night..." Her voice trembled. "…But why do they hurt...?"
The Doctor was desperate, he could feel she's now a Time Lord on top of it all which was probably how she's lasted so long. "The power's gonna kill you and it's my fault." He lowered his head with anguish.
She replied, a tear falling down her cheek, "I can see everything..." The Doctor raised his head again. "…All that is... all that was... all that ever could be."
The Doctor stood up abruptly, looked down at her as if suddenly, he understood. "That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?"
Rose sounded scared, "My head..."
"Come here."
"... it's killing me..."
The Doctor took her hands. "I think you need a Doctor." They step slowly around to face each other. The Doctor gazed into her eyes, and then gently, carefully, leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. As he kissed her, the Time Vortex flowed out of her eyes and into his. They parted slowly and they gazed at each other for a few more moments before Rose's eyes fluttered closed and she fell into his arms, unconscious. He laid her carefully down on the floor and then stood up straight, facing the TARDIS calmly. He slowly exhaled and the Time Vortex was expelled from his mouth and it streamed back through the doors into the TARDIS. The doors closed quietly, and the TARDIS looked completely normal once more. The Doctor opened his eyes and smiled softly to himself. He kneels down and leaned over Rose, stroking her face and neck tenderly. She still felt like a Time Lord to him, he doesn't know how but he'll figure that out later. For now he needed to get them both into the TARDIS.
Rose 'The Bad Wolf', of the Patrex chapter of Gallifrey woke up with the worst headache ever. The last thing she remembered was being in an experimental TARDIS capsule with the rest of her crew. Suddenly there had been an explosion exposing the heart of their TARDIS, and the energy hit all of them. She regenerated for only the third time in her lives, as the others did likewise. Something was wrong, she had shrunk, her arms and legs were too small and she couldn't even properly support her head. She had become a Baby! How in the name of Rassilon, Omega and The Other did that happen!
Rose remembered that sometime later they were rescued by a team of Resistance soldiers. The soldiers had taken them to a rather shocked Narvin, Braxiatel and Romanna… She's never seen Braxiatel be anything other than cool and collected. The look on his face though when he was handed over one of her crew mates, also a baby, and told that was his nephew would have been comical if she weren't also stuck as a baby.
After some debate her and her crew were 'volunteered' to be the first ones to start the evacuation plan via chameleon arch. To be spread throughout time and space as humans until the war was over. Well that explains how she became the human girl known as Rose Tyler at least. She must have been dropped off with Pete and Jackie Tyler who were no doubt made to think she was their daughter. Come to think of it, she never saw a picture of her 'mum' pregnant and Jackie was always fuzzy on those details if asked.
There was something she was forgetting though. Something important. It was then she remembered The Game Station, the Doctor sending her away and looking into the TARDIS out of desperation to get back. The TARDIS must have turned her back into a Time Lady. The details after though, they were still fuzzy. Everything she had seen or done while she carried the power of a TARDIS. She had a flash of memory of being on Gallifrey. The Doctor was there still in the regeneration he had as he fought in the war, but nothing else about that. The Wolf also remembered being at the Game Station and turning Daleks into dust. Then she was having trouble letting go. The Doctor kissed her! Rose shot up and looked over at the Doctor. They were back on the TARDIS.
"About time you woke up, I would say you humans sleep your life away, but you're not human are you?"
"For what it's worth I really did think I was until the TARDIS undid the chameleon arch." She could see and feel the apprehension he felt but was trying to hide. She couldn't blame him; there were a lot of crazy Time Lords running about before the war ended. "Oh come on Doctor, I'm still me. There was no personality rewrite programmed in, I just happen to have another nine hundred years of memories I didn't remember before is all."
"Yea? And who are you then?" The Doctor asked, gripping the TARDIS console.
"I've told you that already I'm The Bad Wolf, otherwise respond to just Wolf, Rose, or even Hey You. I'm of the Patrex chapter, despite growing up around the Mount Lung area and being sponsored into the academy by a Prydonian chapter house. I was actually known as Rose from when I was a kid, and not the Gallifreyan equivalent either. My parents used to like to grow good old Earth Roses, among other varieties from all over the universe, but English Roses were their favourites. Had a garden park full of them. Famous throughout all of Gallifrey." She was babbling now and she knew it.
The Doctor thought for a moment something sounded familiar about all of that. He groaned half in pain, and half because of remembrance. He remembered who else had parents famous the planet wide for their wide variety of roses, as well as the engineering that went into the upkeep and design of the park, and was also of that chapter. After all he'd been there often enough as a youngster, her parents leased the land from his house's estate on Mount Lung. His granddaughter was named after the field of Arkytior flowers in that park. He replied somewhere between accusing and incredulous,"You're Narvin's sister, aren't you?"
The Bad Wolf was for a moment a little surprised he knew Narvin even had a sister, but then she remembered he was from Lungbarrow. They played together as children. He even knew her parents, and her mother's parents that leased the land before them. Her and her brother both got into the academy under the sponsorship of his family. She took a few steps towards him. She replied in an equally half accusing, half incredulous tone. "You're Braxiatel's brother aren't you?"
"Touché," He replied in a conciliatory manner, then asked confused,"Didn't you join the Sisterhood on Karn?"
"I'm rare, I'm a child of the TARDIS. My shifted form is a golden coated dahrama, so rare coat as well. In case you've forgotten." She stated.
"Of course I remember you, we played together as children. Used to tussle with each other as cubs in our dahrama forms. I'm a rare coat as well which is why when the population numbers went down a good bit around the time we were old enough, they picked me and not Brax. He's just normal white with blue guard hair." The Doctor let go of the console. "Not seen you since you were eight years old though."
Rose started to pace about. "Yes well. I may be from outside the houses, but my talents as you know, are highly sought after by certain bloodlines. Not all parents are as kind as you were to your youngest. Letting them choose who and when to marry. Narvin managed to escape that fate by only being able to shift, and also being male had less chances of passing on the 'magic genes' anyway. Joining the sisterhood was the only way I could get out of marrying 'the' most obnoxious Time Lord who was from a high house, with a high and mighty attitude to match. He thought us commoners were beneath him. You should know him, he was a cousin of yours. So soon as I graduated from The Academy I was on the next shuttle to Karn and begged Ohila. Unfortunately they're not so kind to 'sisters' who regenerate into 'brothers'. So I had to go back to Gallifrey after the end of my first life, but I was old enough by then to avoid forced marriage."
The Doctor suddenly doubled over in pain and Rose started to run towards him. "No stay back!"
The Wolf could now see a flicker of regeneration energy run over his hand, smell the buildup of Lindos in the air. She stopped in her tracks. "You're regenerating. Oh my God I killed you. I know now how stupid what I did was, but I didn't as a human. I'm so sorry. Wait… how come I'm fine. Last time I was exposed to the heart of a TARDIS I regenerated into a baby, then Narvin and Braxiatel used a chameleon arch and that's how I ended up as Rose Tyler… Sorry babbling."
"This regeneration has been a bit dodgy from the start. My time senses are terrible, my telepathy is worse. I thought Eight was bad with all the memory problems, would take that over everything wrong with this body any day. Especially the ears. I really hope I've got ears next time, just not as big."
"I like your ears, they suit you," Rose replied, tears welling.
"I was going to take you to so many places, like Barcelona. The planet not the city. They got dogs with no noses, can you imagine how many times you can tell that joke and it would still be funny? Guess I still can, just not with this daft old face."
"I still killed you through my own stupidity."
"Hey, none of that. I did it willingly and knowingly. I'd also do it again. What you did means I'm not alone anymore. I'm grateful. I'm sure you can feel how lonely it is with only one mind buzzing in the back of your head. Imagine there being none, while knowing it's your own fault. You've given me hope."
Her tears started flowing fully as she looked at the man she had fallen in love with. "You had to do what you did, it was terrible but what Rassilon was talking about doing around the time I left was much worse. There's probably more survivors out there. Romana, Braxiatel and Narvin devised an evacuation plan. I was one of the first to go. Along with the rest of my crew, who all got turned into babies. There were six of us. Including your youngest son. He's still alive out there somewhere and no doubt thinks he's human. I want this you to know that before you die, you are not alone."
"Rose Tyler, Rose of the Patrex chapter, or The Bad Wolf. Whatever you want to go by now. You know what? You were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So was I." Suddenly the change took him as he burst into golden light and his features morphed as he turned into a new man. Instead of the gruff Northerner with big ears, there was a skinny man with brown eyes and in the Wolf's opinion, some really great hair. "S…." he stopped after trying to speak for a moment. "New teeth, that's weird." His accent had also changed to one closer to her own. "Now where were we? Oh yes, Barcelona!"
The Doctor started flipping switches on the TARDIS console. The Wolf pulled him away from it and manhandled him as far away as possible, as she kept a good grip on him and stood between him and the console. "Doctor, flying the TARDIS while regenerating isn't a good idea."
"Awwww Rose. Where's your sense of adventure gone?"
"Still right where I left it, and anything has only gotten bigger since changing back. But seriously, right now you'd probably end up blowing a hole in the universe instead. Besides, friends don't let friends drive drunk."
"Drunk? I'm not drunk." He sounded so indignant.
"You may as well be. Your reputation for acting crazy while regenerating proceeds you."
"But Rose…." He wined and gave her puppy dog eyes.
"Nope, you need to go to the zero room now."
"I don't have one anymore. So I may as well take us somewhere safe." He broke away from her and darted towards the console.
Before he got there Rose yelled out, "Old Girl, shut the Doctor out of the controls for the next twenty four hours!"
He tried flipping switches but nothing happened. "What…. How… Rose that's just not fair! How did you do that? This is an old type 40! The voice controls shouldn't have an emergency override from its primary pilot."
"Child of the TARDIS. I can talk with them. They understand me, and me them. Your old girl here is really clever. She didn't get to be the oldest TARDIS still in operation long before the war even happened without being clever. She slipped her control collar long before she stole you and your granddaughter."
'Like I'd ever give him back,' the TARDIS commented to her telepathically.
"I borrowed her…"
"Nope, she's quite adamant she stole you. She slipped her collar but still needed a Time Lord to go travelling and she desperately wanted to. So she stole a Time Lord and ran away. I'm actually quite impressed. She's not only beautiful but has brains as well. Still needs a Time Lord to be at least inside though."
The Doctor walked away from the console. "You two are going to gang up on me, I just know it." Rose didn't deny it. "So you may as well tell me? How do I look? No, no don't tell me…." the Doctor ran his hands over his face. "Bad skin." Then moved to his hair. "Hair! I've got hair! Ooo big hair." Moved to the side of his face. "Sideburns! I've got sideburns!" Patted his body. "I'm more skinny, that will take some getting used to. Still nothing a few more layers won't fix. I've got a mole! I can feel it! On my back between my shoulder blades. Love the mole." He turned to face Rose while grinning. "So what do you think?"
"Different."
"Good different or bad different?"
"Just different."
"Am… I… ginger?"
"No, just sort of brown."
"All the times I've regenerated, and I've yet to be ginger. And now you won't even let me fly my TARDIS so I can go figure out who I am. Even my own TARDIS is siding against me. All these years we've been together, all the things we've been through, and you side with the third Time Lady to come along. Sure she's smart and good looking, but she's also a natural ginger. Well more strawberry blond than ginger, but either way instead of wearing that magnificent shade of hair, she got to cover it up with a really bad primitive dye job. Oh that was rude… is that what I am now? Rude and not ginger? By all evidence I've certainly got a gob. Normally after regenerating I have to scramble around and save some planet or another, mostly Earth for some reason. How am I going to figure out who I am sitting in a zero room?"
"I know exactly who you are," Rose replied, as she cut into his ramble. "You're the Doctor."
"It just occurred to me, this is actually the first time I've regenerated with someone around who actually knows what is going on. That's usually my line you know, having to convince someone I'm still the Doctor. Look, Rose… or do you prefer Wolf, or Bad Wolf?"
"To you I'm Rose. I'll probably go by The Wolf while introducing myself to people who don't know me though. Got to keep the myth alive that all Time Lords have ridiculous names after all. Even if we are all that's left for now."
"You know the chances of finding the others, if there still are others alive out there. The chances of finding them are slim, right?"
"Maybe. I'm not giving up easily though. Both of us have brothers who are extremely stubborn, sneaky, and tenacious, with the means and a plan. I may not know the exact details, or how many were changed and hidden away. What I do know is if anyone could pull it off it would be them."
The Doctor gave a somewhat sad smile. "I'd like to believe it, but I saw a lot of the good ones die."
The Wolf stood up straighter and said with confidence, "Do you want to know what I was doing during the war? I was officially CIA but in reality working for Romana. We'd managed to grow an experimental TARDIS that could only be piloted by people like me. Children of the TARDIS. There's not many of us, but we managed to recruit six. Our TARDIS was designed for stealth and was all but untraceable. We spent most of the time sneaking away refugees, as well as people Rassilon wanted out of the way and faking their deaths. Most of the people you thought you saw die were in reality just a ganger. We had already sneaked those people away and kept them behind really heavy telepathic shielding. We didn't just save Time Lords, we evacuated as many people as we could from planets that got destroyed and relocated them far away. All under the High Council and Supreme Lord President Asshole's nose. We in no way could save them all or even most but we did our best. So you may be ready to give up, but I'm not." Rose had taken a few steps towards him. "Now let's get you to that zero room you say you don't have but your TARDIS assures me you do."
"But I'm fine. Honestly Rose never felt better. I'm not about to pass out or anything." Right on queue he passed out and fell to the grating as soon as he finished insisting he wasn't going to.
Rose rolled her eyes. He may change but he also never changes. She was glad she was stronger now her body was no longer human. She managed to just about pick him up and carried him into the depths of the TARDIS and deposited him in the zero room. She wrote a quick note on a post-it note the TARDIS provided saying, 'No zero room, and not about to pass out, huh? Gone to land the TARDIS somewhere safe', stuck it to his forehead and left him there and headed back to the console room.
-x-x-x-
"Ok old girl, we best get us somewhere safe while he finishes regenerating."
The TARDIS just took over controls and landed them somewhere herself without Rose's input. "Show off."
'Well I never need to pretend with you my Wolf, like I do with my Thief. He will get all pouty if I steer myself. So I have to let him at least think he knows what he is doing.'
Rose smiled inwardly at that. It was probably true. "How long will he be in the healing coma?"
'One hour, fifteen minutes, and twenty-one seconds, approximately.' The TARDIS replied.
She looked at the screen and the space time coordinates. "London, 25th December, 2006. Christmas in London then. Please tell me you didn't bring me to Jackie, I really don't want to see her. She'd never understand the fact I'm not who she thought I was, or her daughter."
'No my Wolf, but you do need to dealt with that sooner or later.'
"Deal, dealt is past tense. I haven't done it yet so it's future tense, 'deal'. Or perhaps, 'do that sooner or later', taking out the 'with'."
'Past, present, future. I always get those mixed up.'
"You're not doing too bad for an eleven dimensional being. You've not answered any questions I've not asked yet at least." She stroked the console. "Well I guess I should go take a look outside then."
Rose walked out the TARDIS to find she was inside a shop. The shop was filled with all sorts of bizarre items, there was one display saying, 'joke wands', another had 'skiving snack boxes', beside them was 'tongue tied taffies', there was another display with 'extendable ears', and yet another said 'Psychic Paper – Fool your friends, teachers and strangers alike by making them see whatever you want them to see. Need a hall pass, no trouble just think of a hall pass and any nosey teachers will see a hall pass. How about identification saying you're the Supreme Mugwump, simple just think of it. The possibilities are endless.'
She picked up a wallet of psychic paper, it was identical to what both the Doctor as well as Jack used.
"Do my eyes deceive me?" A familiar voice said from behind her.
"No Forge, I do believe it really is Rose Tyler." Another replied to the first."
The now Time Lady turned around, saw both Weasley twins and squealed in delight and hugged both of them briefly in a very undignified and untime lady like manner. Rose had read Reta Skeeter or 'JK Rowling's' books about Harry Potter that she will write in a few years and released in the Muggle world. It was during her childhood on Gallifrey the Wolf first read them. She loved the books, but now looking back and haven lived through it, she'd have to admit there was a lot that was made up for drama. Sure Harry Potter had the oddest life of anyone she knew before meeting the Doctor. Strange things happened to him every school year, but besides maybe the Triwizard Tournament, and Umbrage it was nowhere near as bad as the books painted it to be.
Of course being one of the 'magical' Gallifreyan people, also made her a 'magic user' as a human too. The so-called magic in reality was just psychic energy, but humans didn't know that yet. As a human girl she got a Hogwarts letter the summer after she finished Primary School along with a visit from Professor McGonagall to explain everything. She was sorted into Gryffindor, and was in the same year as the Weasley twins. Rose had been a little afraid Fed was dead like he was in the books, although George was missing an ear. "It's really great to see the both of you again."
"Where have you been?" Fed asked.
"We were afraid the Snatchers got you." George finished.
"When old Mouldy Shorts took over the ministry I hid in the muggle world. Gave up using my magic as best I could, didn't carry my wand, and got a job in a shop. Just tried to be normal, kept my head down. Then I met a man one day and ran off with him to go travelling. Been with him ever since. The places he's taken me you would never believe. His name is the Doctor and he's resting at the moment in our transport." She held up the psychic paper. "We've used this stuff a lot. Got us out of a fair few scrapes. It somehow doesn't surprise me in the least that you two invented it."
"One of our best achievements if we do say so ourselves. Right Fred?" George boasted.
"Still giving the ministry problems to this day. We made it to help muggle borns during the war," Fred replied proudly.
"The ministry won't admit to it giving them problems, or ban the stuff though," the other twin added cheerfully.
"Use it too often themselves, to send messages internally, or when doing official business in the muggle world," Fred elaborated.
"I'd buy some but I've only got Muggle money on me at the moment. Could use my own psychic paper instead of just using The Doctor's all the time," Rose lamented.
"Keep it. In fact if you give me a moment I'll assemble everything from the care packages we gave muggle borns during the war since you didn't get one," George said and started gathering up some things from shelves, "What colour of backpack do you want?"
"Really you don't have to do that George," Rose replied.
"No, but we want to. Wouldn't have got a lot of our early inventions working if it wasn't for you helping to test them along with Angelina and Lee. Not to mention your gift with ancient runes and runic arrays making it easier to bounce ideas off you.
"We really are glad to see you still alive, even Harry and Hermione were worried. They joined the teams of people trying to track down lost muggle borns after the Battle of Hogwarts. They found your Mum but she was beside herself because you had gone missing and was blaming your boyfriend. They talked to him but he kept blabbering something about you running off with an alien in a blue box. So backpack?"
"I'll have a blue one then. You know since I was abducted by an alien in a blue box. Thanks George. I'll come back and buy some stuff as soon as I get some actual Wizarding World money."
"Don't worry about it, it's Christmas after all. We're also doing quite well at the moment. With Hogwarts being rebuilt, there's no kids at school right now," Fred replied as he started to rummage around behind the counter looking for something.
"It kind of surprises me you're open on Christmas Day. Thought your Mum would have dragged you both kicking and screaming back to the Burrow for Christmas."
"Oh she did, didn't you notice my missing ear? She tugged too hard and ripped it right off," George joked while he finished up gathering things.
"Besides we're not open. Just not in the least bit surprised you got in here past our wards. You always were better at getting into places than us and that's saying something. Our Bill was always impressed by how quickly you pickup ancient runes, 'It's as if she's remembering a language rather than learning it,' he'd say. So if someone were to manage to get into our shop and put a bloody great big blue box in the middle of our shop floor while they're at it. Well who else could it be?" Fred elaborated.
"That wouldn't be the blue box belonging to the alien who abducted you is it?" George asked as he handed her a TARDIS blue backpack with undetectable extension charms, and full of goodies, such as shield charm hats, psychic paper, extendable ears, sneakoscope, a flask that will never run out of water, and an assortment of other goodies.
"Yea okay you caught me. It's like one of those tents that has lots of rooms in them. Only a lot bigger, and it can disappear here and reappear there. Like I said my friend is in there sleeping off being sick. I'm sure he'd be delighted to meet you both though when he wakes up. So what are you both doing here if you're closed?" Rose leaned back against the TARDIS. She was rather obvious and Rose honestly would be more surprised if the perception filter actually did work on the twins.
Fred pulled a box out from behind the counter and rummaged through it, pulled out random items and put them back in as he decided against them. "Came to look for something we got here to see if it will snap people out of the mass hypnosis."
"The what?" The Time Lady asked confused.
"Hypnosis. How could you not notice? Seemingly random people all over are standing on top of buildings at the edge as if they are ready to jump. We're pretty sure it's just hypnosis and not a mass imperious of some sort. People are just in a trance of some kind and wont respond to anyone, just stand there on the edge. It's not just witches and wizards though, the muggles are doing it too. The ministry is in chaos both from people standing on the roof and trying to figure out what's going on. Anyway Harry is standing on the roof of the Burrow and Mum and Ginny are freaking out. They're afraid of him slipping and have already conjured a giant air mattress on the ground under him."
In disbelief of what Fred had told her she went outside. People were on the roofs of buildings and the people on the ground were either watching helplessly or casting cushioning charms in case anyone fell. "How long has this been going on?"
"A few hours now. The muggles think it's aliens because someone has interrupted their TV? I believe it's called? Anyway someone interrupted wearing this big scary looking mask and spoke in another language no one can seem to translate. Honestly I'd be proud of the prank someone is pulling right now if it wasn't for the fact someone really could hurt themselves." George said as he leaned against his shop door and watched his old friend.
Fred came out and held up a weird looking gun thing triumphantly. "Found it! 'The Detranceafier'!"
"The what?" Rose asked, as she shook her head, "What kind of name is that?
"A bad one," the other twin admitted, "I would rather have called it 'The Trance Be Gone Gun' but we couldn't agree. So we wrote the names on paper and stuck them to an old muggle dart board Dad had and got Angelina to throw a dart at it. Fred won."
"I'm not sure which is better. So guess we better get up on one of these roofs and see if it actually works. Anyone have a ladder?" Rose asked, as she looked around her.
"Should be one in the backpack I just gave you," George replied.
She rummaged around in the backpack George gave her and found a ladder that had only two rungs in lengthwise and held it up questioningly. Fred took it and moved to the wall of the building across from them. "Extendable self securing ladder, just picture how high you want it to go and plant it down." Fred gave the bottom a good hard shove onto the ground, stood back, then it suddenly started to grow until it reached the top of the building.
"Only five sickles and six knuts each, never need another ladder again no matter what distance you need it to go!" The other twin called out to the crowd of onlookers that had gathered to watch, as his brother started to climb up the ladder.
Rose watched as Fred pointed the gun at a shorty stocky wizard with a dark greying beard. The wizard appeared to snap out of it for a moment, but only a moment. "It's no good. Looks like the signal making them like this, kicks back in as soon as the gun stops transmitting the jamming signal," she called out to Fred.
Fred was about to reply but there was a sudden sonic boom that shattered glass and made Fred as well as some of the more precariously situated people fall off the roof. Thankful for the cushioning charm that meant he and the others who fell wasn't harmed, he looked up and gaped at the strange object hovering over London that looked part meteor and part machine. "What by Merlin's knobbly staff is that?!"
"That? Why that would be a bloody great big spaceship Fred." Rose replied looking up at it. "A Sycorax enslavement frigate to be precise. This is actually pretty bold for them, normally they wouldn't try anything on a planet this size, with this dense a population, without more ships. Bet they're causing all this somehow, and are just chancing it on the premise of scare the natives into making them comply." Rose grabbed the ladder and it shrunk down again so she could shove it into her new backpack then throw it over her shoulder.
"But there's no such thing as aliens," George said as he helped up his brother.
"That's not true. The universe is so alive out there. Even some of the sentient magical creatures such as Centaurs and Goblins, actually are aliens who came here for whatever reason and went native. Don't believe me go into Gringotts sometime and use the magic words 'article eighty-seven of the Shadow Proclamation' and see how they'll suddenly want to bargain with you over interest rates."
"Article eighty-seven of the what?" Fred asked, confused.
"Shadow Proclamation. They're a bit like the UN only on an intergalactic scale. Article eighty-seven is about not setting up businesses, religions or financial institutions on any planet below level seven and Earth is at level five, and was actually only level four when they established Gringotts. Anyway never mind all that, let's see if we can jam the signal in a more permanent way."
"Where are you going?" George was just as confused as his twin as they followed Rose through the shop door and on into the TARDIS.
"You know. You two are probably the first humans to walk through those doors for the first time and not be surprised it's bigger on the inside. And the Doctor wasn't here to see it," Rose mused, "Fred I need to see your whatever you called it a minute." She groaned as she realised her mistake too late as she absently accepted a ball of slime that melted the instant it touched her palm. "I've known you both since this regeneration was eleven. I really should know better than to make such an ambiguous request like that by now."
"This regeneration?" George asked, confused as he looked around the console room.
"It's a long story. Turns out I'm not human, I'm an alien who got turned into a human temporarily while trying to escape a war. Only just back to my proper biology and have all my memories back."
"Yea right, pull the other one," Fed replied.
"No really." She held out her arm. "I've got two hearts. Feel my pulse." Fred hesitated a moment. "Go on."
"Alright," he intoned disbelievingly and reached for her wrist only to jump back in shock after feeling the double heartbeat. "Bloody hell! She has got two hearts George."
"Yea right…" George also felt her pulse. "How?"
"Like I said. Long story. I'm actually a Time Lord or Lady if you prefer but Time Lord isn't actually a gendered term on Gallifrey. I'm nine hundred years old. We're from the planet Gallifrey. You're currently in the TARDIS. That stands for Time and Relative Dimensions In Space, she is bigger on the inside and travels in time and space. Also she is actually a living sentient being, so be nice. Any questions or have I covered just about everything?" Rose asked, as she wondered if she's going to be as bad as the Doctor in the rambling department this time around.
"But we met you as a kid, how could you be hundreds of years old?" One of the twins asked.
"Ah well that's a bit more complicated. You've seen Dumbledore's Phoenix right? Well you know how when it dies it goes up in flames and there's a new baby bird in its place? That bird is new, yet it's also the same bird with the same soul." Rose started to move some dials on the console.
"Time Lords do something similar. We call it regeneration. When one body dies we pretty much erupt in what looks a bit like flames and every cell in our bodies change. Only unlike a Phoenix we change what we look like as well. Could come out looking young or old, male or female, different heights, different body builds, different hair colours, different facial structures, everything," She continued as she ran around the console to flip a few switches.
The time lady stopped running around and looked over at the twins. "Last time I regenerated due to unforeseen circumstances I became a baby girl. We were in the middle of a war and we were losing badly. So some of us came up with a plan, we had a way to escape the war by temporarily changing our species. They still would have needed someone to raise me. So I guess my brother found a human family and even made them and other people think I was theirs."
"Does your mum know?" George asked.
"Probably not. Don't want to tell her either. She'd freak out and probably never want to see me again."
"Haven met your mum, I find that hard to believe," Fred replied.
"No really. She was always going on about me being nothing like her and thinking I'm too good for something. 'Putting on hares,' she'd call it. 'That school is making you put on hares Rose. That job is making you put on hares Rose. Rose, why won't you give dating Micky a chance, he isn't beneath you because he doesn't have magic.' Anything she doesn't understand or fit in her world view is horrible. Anyway give me the 'Detranceifier' or whatever you call it. I can boost the signal with the TARDIS."
"Wait, are you saying you're only dating Mickey because your Mum nagged you into it?" Fred asked, half curious and half incredulous as he handed it over to her.
He had a right she supposed, she had after all been dating Fred before the war broke out in full. Ever since the Yule ball, while George had been dating Angelina. They parted amicably as friends haven decided they just didn't feel that way about each other. "Pretty much. It wasn't horrible but honestly as much as I love Mickey our even you for that matter it's more like I was dating my brother. Well maybe not my brother, actually remembering having one now." She shuddered. "But you get the idea. Still Mickey was better than that tosser Jimmy Stone that wouldn't stop asking me out. Think that's why I did it really, I wanted to get rid of him. He gave me a bad vibe and I've learned to always listen to those. Also I'm no longer dating Mickey."
Anything else that could have been said about the subject was interrupted by a violent shudder. "What was that?" George asked and headed to the door.
"No wait!" It was too late he had opened the door and stepped out closely followed by his twin. Rose walked out of the TARDIS resignedly onto the Sycorax ship.
"Fred? George? What are you two doing here?"
"That's kinda my fault Percy. What are you doing here?" Rose asked.
"Rose! He's with me. Please tell me the Doctor is with you?"
Rose looked to where the voice had come from beside Percy Weasley. "Harriet Jones! Hello. Did you win the election?"
"Landslide majority. The Doctor?" She replied.
"He's just regenerated. He's sleeping off the sickness." Rose answered nonchalantly.
"Well can't you just wake him up?" Harriet Jones asked incredulously.
"Sorry. If I wake him up from a healing coma too soon it could actually cause more damage and he'd be useless to anyone then. He shouldn't have long left though since he's actually in the proper place to rest and heal up for once."
"Enough!" The Sycorax leader shouted.
"Oh I'm sorry. I haven't seen my friends here in awhile. So what was it you wanted?"
"You have the technology, you speak for this planet!"
"No Rose, he's already killed my other advisors. Wait how come I can understand him now?" Harriet asked.
"TARDIS switched me to secondary pilot so her transition circuits are working with everyone here. It's ok I can deal with this." She turned around and addressed the Sycorax leader. "Under article fifteen of the shadow proclamation I wish to enter parley under peaceful contract."
"We do not care about the Shadow Proclamation and all their rules. They won't even notice this insignificant little planet even exists yet alone come here to enforce the law."
"Guess it's the hard way then." The Wolf started to wander around and the Sycorax tried to whip her and she just caught it and pulled it away and threw it towards Percy who caught it and looked a little panicked. "Watch it. Could put someone's eye out with that." She grabbed a staff off of another who approached her and broke it. "You just can't get the staff."
The Sycorax muttered something unintelligible amongst themselves, a little taken aback by the turn of events. Rose wandered past their leader and over to the button. "Oh look it's a great big red button! They're really bringing out the theatrics here. Hey look there's some sort of control matrix in here." She opened up the box on the pedestal the button is on and dipped a finger in the red substance mixed with leaves. It was a sloppy job really, she couldn't help but think about the conniption Snape would have had if he saw this. "Blood control! They're using blood control! A positive. Hey Fred, George! Remember that experiment the two of you did with blood control in our Fourth year? That was a mess as well as hilarious."
She put her hand on the button. "Thing is I can never resist a big red button that should never be pressed!"
She pressed the button as Harriet Jones shouted out, "No! Rose you just killed them all."
"What do you think? Are they dead?"
"We allowed them to live."
"Allowed, Yea right. The thing about blood control like this, it can't really do more than hypnosis. You can hypnotise someone into walking like a Hippogriff, sing like a banshee, but you can't hypnotise someone to death. Natural instinct for survival kicks in."
"Blood control was just one method of conquest. We could still call in the armada."
"You could do that, or as I stand as champion of this world I challenge you to a duel."
One of the Sycorax gave her a sword as the leader got his own. "For the planet."
"For the planet," Rose agreed as they fought each other. The fight spilled out into an outside observation deck, there was no clear winner, until Rose managed to get in close enough to use her foot to knock the leader over. She put a foot on his sword and held hers at his throat. "Do you swear to leave this planet and never come back?"
"I swear."
"Good. Well off we go then."
When she turned around she could see the Doctor had joined them. He was leaning heavily on a wall and had this stupid wide grin on his face. She returns it. "Rose."
"So I'm still Rose then?"
"No arguments from me," he replied. "Rose look out!"
She turned to see the Sycorax leader running at her. Suddenly she leaps forward and in an instant changed from Time Lord form to that of a great big wolf like creature. She was bigger than the average wolf, yet more slender, and had retractable claws like that of a cat. Her coat was a golden brown with brighter yellow highlights which gave her a swirling gold effect on her coat. She landed on the leader, knocking him down, claws dug in deep on his chest as well as managed to bite off his sword arm in the process. She sent out a strong telepathic message that could be heard by everyone on the ship, 'You are lucky, you cranak pel casacree salvak. I am merciful. When I let you up, you will leave this plant and never come here to scavenge again. When you talk of this planet, it's people and it's riches remember that this plant is defended.'
Suddenly they all were teleported back to London standing beside the TARDIS. Rose was disoriented for a bit before realising they were in the Powell estate. She shifted back to time lord form and looked around uncomfortably.
She was dragged out of her thoughts when Fred Weasley ran up to her and hugged her briefly, followed shortly by George. Fed exclaimed, "That was the coolest thing I've seen in a long time."
"Yea, you were awesome. This planet is defended! When did you become an animagus?"
"I didn't, turning into animals is a Gallifreyan racial ability, I turn into a Gallifreyan wolf, or a dahrama as we call them. The Doctor can turn into one too because we grew up in the same area and most of the shifters there were dahramas. While people from around Hearts Heaven turned into a type of smallish wild cat called a caracval. It's mostly generic what animal form we took, so that made certain forms more prevalent in some areas than others."
The Doctor approached her beaming and pulled her into a bone crushing hug, and lifted her off of her feet then set her down again, while the both of them laughed the whole time. "You were amazing back there. Looks like they're leaving. Just like you told them. Normally I'm the one that's got to sort these things out, kind of nice to get a break for once."
"Doctor-"
Harriet Jones interrupted before Rose could finish what she was about to say, "Doctor? I don't understand. Is it like a title handed down or something?"
"No, I'm literally the same man. I was dying and the only way to save my life was to regenerate. That makes me change, new face, new body, new well everything. But I'm still the same man."
"Really?"
"Harriet Jones, we were trapped in Downing Street and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens, it wasn't the war, it was the thought of your mother being on her own."
"Doctor?"
"Hello."
The Doctor was about to turn to Rose again to ask something when she asked, "Are there more of them out there?"
"Oh loads. The universe is filled with life. All out there."
She went to go speak into her radio but Rose stopped her. "Don't. I know you're scared but they're leaving."
"The Doctor said so himself, there are more of them out there. He's not always here." Harriet replied.
"Wasn't him who saved us this time though was it?" Rose asked.
"No. But you're not always here either." The Prime Minister argued back.
"The universe may be watching but there might not be anyone to tell if you blow that ship up. Dead men tell no tales after all. Would you rather they go out and say this planet is protected or have no message at all. Besides they are retreating, it would be murder. Not all aliens are bad, they're just like people really. Some good, some bad, and everything in between. Start blowing all of them up and you'll scare away potential valuable trade partners or allies." Rose argued as well.
Harriet Jones spoke into her radio, "Stand down, let them leave." She turned to Rose. "I hope for our sake you're right. How did you know we even had a weapon."
"I see things before they happen sometimes. Just ask your adviser Percy there. Was famous for it at school. Drove our divination teacher mad to the point I stopped taking her classes to get away from her."
"So you're a witch are you?"
"Of sorts. I went to Hogwarts, was in the same year as Fred and George there, as well as the same house as all three Weasleys that are here."
"You know when I found out about Hogwarts I was horrified to know they make you buy your own textbooks. They were not even getting any government funding. All but the poorest children had to pay for their education. Changed that immediately. You know it might be a boarding school but all schools even private get some funding. Besides it turns out because of magic, paying for each child with a British birth certificate and magical ability to go to Hogwarts is actually cheaper than what we pay for a normal school. We've even footed the bill for repair costs. Apparently no Prime Ministers before me ever figured out the Ministry of Magic is still a branch of our government."
"Wait, Fred and George Weasley? The, Fred and George Weasley?" The Doctor interrupted.
"Yep. We went to school together. That adviser there is also their brother Percy. Fred, George, this is the friend I was talking about earlier."
"It's really an honour to meet you. Big fan of your magical inventions," The Doctor told them.
He was obviously about to start rambling when there was a loud voice that called out, "Rose! Rose, you're alright. Where's the Doctor? Oh my God it's the bleedin' Prime Minister."
"Jackie! Mickey! It's great to see you." The Doctor ran up and put an arm around them both. "There's something I need to say, something important. Oh yes! Merry Christmas!"
"Who's this? And why has he got a post-it note with round squiggles stuck to his forehead?" Mickey asked Rose indignantly as he shoved the Doctor's arm off.
The Doctor reached up to his forehead, found the note Rose had stuck there earlier and read it. "Rose why didn't you tell me there was a post-it note stuck to my forehead. I've been wondering about like an idiot with this on me the whole time."
"Sorry Doctor. I was going to tell you but something kept happening," She replied.
"You're not the Doctor, you look nothing like him," Jackie interrupted.
"No really I am, Jackie. I'm me, I just changed my face, is all."
"A great deal more than your face if you really are."
"He is mum. He's the Doctor. He was dying because he saved me. To stop himself from dying he had to do this thing called regeneration. Only thing is when it happens he changes." Rose explained. "Saw it happen right in front of me."
The Doctor was about to add something only to double over and fall down unconscious, a wisp of golden energy floating out of his mouth.
Rose sighed, "Not again."