Rose

Slept very badly that night, her dreams plagued with monster spiders and leering women in red, whilst the Doctor drifted ever farther from her, lost in the grips of some inter-dimensional fiend with mischief and horror on her mind.

Her?

Her?

It seemed scarcely appropriate to describe Znya as a her, for Znya was naught but one aspect of the spider, who divided it's form and encompassed the entire reach, multiple bodies, multiple parts of the same creature, men and women alike. Suppose too, the Judoon were just more of the same? Parts of the spider, flickering images displayed to make the ruse all the more convincing.

And just like that, dream changed...for the better.

Now she was travelling with the Doctor, like it used to be, and yet there was something new. His face was a shimmering blur, she supposed on account of his being taken over currently. And they carried right on, in her dream! They went everywhere! A new version of Earth, another trip to the Victorian days, and heck, even a different universe entirely! It was all a passing blur, as most dreams are, but it was her happiness which stuck in her mind after she woke. Her happiness and yes, her fear, but it was a good fear, as it always was! An adrenaline fueled blur of excitement, as they travelled, on, on, on, next stop everywhere, past present and future all at once, and there was Mickey, travelling with them, and old friends too, happiness personified, over and over, and-

-and dawn came, snapping her wide awake.

"Morning." Jack said grimly over the breakfast table. "You all right?"

"Hmm." she said distantly, distracted.

"Well good news. It's recharged." he tapped his vortex manipulator, which had spent the whole night powering up for two trips - one to 2006, and one right back here, just for him.

"Ok." she said dimly, sitting down and picking up some brown bread, before tossing it back onto the plate. She wasn't hungry.

"I'll do my best," he told her, "and if it goes well, then we'll pick you up from home again. But if not - if we never come - then assume we're both dead."

"Both?"

"I'll kill him before I let that thing make him it's puppet. I wouldn't presume to know the Doctor well, even after all this time, but I think he'd prefer death over that."

"I'm sure he would," Rose agreed. "But I'm not going back."

Jack and Sinclair exchanged a glance. "Rose," he said testily. "We've been through this. I'm doing what he'd want me to do, I'm getting you safe, and then"-

-"I saw something last night," she interrupted.

"Saw what?"

"A dream?" Sinclair said snidely. "And what relevance is that?"

"I saw something in that dream," she repeated. "And I don't know for the life of me how I could have seen it, but see it I did. And d'you know something, I'm not sure if it will ever be real, but I sure as anything know that it could be real. Someday."

She grabbed a goblet of barley wine and downed the lot, the sweet-savory tang making her wince.

"I'm coming with you," she told Jack, "it's just gonna happen. I'm not arguing about it anymore. We're gonna get the Doctor out of there...and then I'm gonna kill it."

"Rose..."

"I'm gonna kill that bitch," she insisted, gritting her teeth. "Or die trying. And that's it. D'you think I wanna go back to normal life, huh? I'd sooner die trying to save him, than spend my life wondering. And if you can't understand that, Jack, then there's no point in me explaining it to you. We leave this morning."

He swallowed. "Your making a mistake." he told her. "If there's anything of the Doctor left right now, he'll be hoping with all he's got that your safe. Don't do this to him, Rose...don't..."

"This morning."

Jack shut his baby blue eyes and let out a breath. "I will not force you home. I beg you to go...but I won't force you."

"Noted." Rose climbed back to her feet, and looked to Blackburn. "Thank you, my lord. For giving us sanctuary."

"Oh, there's no need to thank me, girl." Sinclair said, rising to his own feet. "We shall not be parting ways this morn."

"How's that?"

"I'm coming with you, and I'm bringing my knights. If there's any chance, any chance at all, that my son is alive, then I'm getting him out of there."

She and Jack glanced at each other, and exchanged a nervous smile.

"All right, folks," Jack drawled, a nervous laugh slipping from his mouth, "let's try."

"Save the Doctor, save Arthur, kill the spider." Rose raised a finger for each objective. "What say we each take one job? A three pronged attack?"

"A fine military mind!" Blackburn cackled. "Why, girl, if we live, perhaps you could stay on as my captain!"

"If we live," Rose said, "we'll be out of here. Back to our own time."

Blackburn frowned. "Your own time?"

"I come from the year 2005, my lord. And Jack here is from the 51st century."

Blackburn gaped. "And the warden?" he breathed.

"A different world entirely. He isn't even human."

"A snark? A howler?"

"Yes, if you like," Rose chuckled.

"So who wants which job?" Jack demanded. "I wouldn't mind me a shot at Znya, I'll tell you that."

"Get in line." Rose scoffed. "She's mine. You save the Doctor. I think you've got a better chance of success than me. Lord Blackburn, you try and save your son."

"Each of us will have two knights accompanying." Sinclair announced. He clapped his hands together. "And a mission is better executed than planned, so I've always said. Let's roll."

"You know what," Rose scoffed. "You might be the first Tudor lord to ever say that."