The landing was one of the roughest that Rose had ever experienced in all of her time traveling with the Doctor. With most of the TARDIS's systems shut down, the ship's song was nothing more than a distant, disgruntled groaning in the back of Rose's mind, but she thought that there was something more in the ship's message - almost like a cry of warning.
The Doctor took Rose's hand in his as they took their first stumbling steps onto the surface of the planet Trenzalore. They seemed to have landed in some sort of old, dimly lit graveyard and Rose shivered as the Doctor explained to her the many unique dangers that no doubt lay ahead of them.
It didn't take them long at all to find the great, towering vestiges of the TARDIS herself, and Rose winced as the old ship's song reached into her mind. The familiar melody - which was normally so reassuring that it could instantly calm her, no matter what the circumstances were - was coming out oddly garbled and uneven with time and age.
"What else would they bury me in?" the Doctor grumbled bitterly as he dropped Rose's hand and stormed off with his shoulders hunched up practically to his ears.
However, Rose didn't get the chance to run off after him before a sharp, whispered voice called out to her. "Clara!" Rose whipped her head around at the sound of her false name and stared wide-eyed at the image of Professor River Song that stood just behind her, watching her and the Doctor carefully. "Don't speak, don't say my name," the other woman commanded quietly. "He can't see or hear me. Only you can."
Rose furrowed her brow at the strange woman as she slowly looked her up and down. She appeared real enough - wearing the exact same clothes that she had been dressed in during Rose's dream - but there was an odd glimmer just around the outline of her form that suggested that the image that Rose was looking at now wasn't actually there.
Rose cast the other woman one last wary look before she turned slowly back towards the direction that the Doctor had stormed off to and silently and discreetly motioned for River to follow her. She had to clench her jaw shut tight in order to force herself to hold back the many questions that she had for River - it wouldn't do for the Doctor to hear her talking to herself and worrying over yet another confusing mystery. However, River seemed more than happy to fill in the gaps for her.
"We're mentally linked," the other woman explained as she easily fell into step beside Rose and the two of them continued to dodge through the headstones in the direction of the Doctor. "It's the conference call - I kept the line open."
Rose flashed her a quick, distrustful look out of the corner of her eye as the two women finally came up upon the Doctor, who seemed to have frozen in his tracks and was staring blankly at nothing. Rose ignored River completely, then, as she stepped forward and slid her hand into his, looking up at him with quiet concern.
"Doctor?" she asked hesitantly.
"River."
"Sorry?" Rose replied searchingly. But all other questions quickly died on her tongue as she followed the Doctor's haunted gaze to the gravestone that stood directly opposite him. Carved into the granite in a plain, unassuming font was the name "River Song" - no dates or description, just the one, simple name.
"Doctor, that can't be right ..." Rose murmured, remembering her previous conversation with him when he had clearly told her that he had seen River's death with his own eyes.
"No, it can't," the Doctor agreed breathlessly. "Her grave can't be here."
"Well, if it's not my gravestone, then what is it?" River asked slyly as she circled around Rose and leaned herself casually against the slab of granite before them.
Rose narrowed her eyes at the other woman once more, but she followed her subtle bidding nonetheless as she clung tighter to the Doctor's hand and repeated, "If it's not her gravestone, then what do you think it is?"
The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut tight and shook his head as he searched his brain for any sort of answer that might make sense.
"Maybe it's a false grave," River supplied helpfully, raising her eyebrows at Rose in a pointed look. "Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb."
Rose's breath caught and her eyes widened as she looked up at the Doctor and quickly parroted River's words back to him.
"Yes, of course! Makes sense!" the Doctor muttered triumphantly as he dropped Rose's hand and quickly retrieved his sonic screwdriver from his breast pocket. "They'd never bury my wife out here!"
Rose didn't get the chance to admonish him for his tactless use of the word "wife" in that moment as he shot his arm out straight and pointed his sonic at the gravestone. In a flash of green, the sonic whirred to life and then the ground gave way beneath them and everything went dark as Rose and the Doctor plummeted headlong into the ground.
"Where are we?" Rose whispered as she stood shakily to her feet and dusted off the front of her dress. Even though she purposefully kept her voice low, the sound seemed to ring off of the silent stone walls that surrounded them. The only light in the dim, underground tunnel came from large metal torches that lined the walls sporadically along the walkway.
The Doctor reached for one and replied succinctly, "Catacombs."
"'Course they are," Rose replied, her tone laden with sarcasm. "Why wouldn't there be catacombs? Anyway, what was that gravestone all about? Why would someone put River's name over an empty grave? Doctor, you never properly explained what happened to her ..."
"No, I didn't," he replied with a soft sigh, pointedly ignoring the rest of Rose's questions as he turned away and began to lead them deeper into the underground catacombs.
"I died saving him." River's unexpected voice made Rose jump again as she whirled around to face the other woman, who was standing behind her with a small, rueful smile on her face. "In return, he saved me to a database in the biggest library in the universe. Left me like a book on a shelf. Didn't even say goodbye."
Rose lowered her gaze as she felt a stab of empathy for the other woman. She knew only too well how painful saying goodbye to the Doctor could be - she had been forced through the experience far too many times in her long life.
"He doesn't like endings," River sighed resignedly, giving Rose a small, helpless shrug. However, after a brief pause, she cocked her head curiously in Rose's direction as she added, "You seem to know a lot about me, but I'm afraid that I don't know much about you, Clara. I used to study the Doctor's companions, you know - both past and future - but I don't remember ever coming across your name ..."
Rose's jaw tightened as her mind began to race in an attempt to come up with a lie that would be good enough to fool the clever Professor Song when a dark gloved hand suddenly reached through the center of River's chest and another tall man in a top hat with no face stepped through her image and began reaching threateningly towards Rose.
"This man must fall as all men must, the fate of all is always dust," the creature whispered ominously.
"Rose, come on!" the Doctor shouted, seeming to appear out of nowhere as he slipped his hand into hers and drug her instantly out of harm's way. "Run, run!" Rose knew the command well, and she had no trouble heeding his words now as she darted quickly after him.
"The man who lies will lie no more, when this man lies at Trenzalore," the monsters continued to whisper as they hastily followed down the dusty hallway after them.
Finally, the Doctor and Rose reached the end of the path where a large, metal door loomed before them. "Come on, quickly!" he called, giving the door a quick buzz with the sonic and then shoving her unceremoniously through the open arch. He slammed the door shut behind them just in time, one of the creature's gloved hands catching in the crack of the door as the Doctor thrust his entire weight against it.
"What are those things?" Rose demanded breathlessly as the hand finally slipped back out of sight and the door locked securely into place.
"No idea," the Doctor breathed, leveling his gaze on her in quiet concern. "Are you alright?" The way he was looking at her suggested that he meant more than just physically, but Rose still didn't quite know how to tell him that she was seeing a strange dream-image of his dead wife, so she simply nodded her head and dropped her gaze from his dismissively.
As if on cue, a familiar voice suddenly whispered through the darkness. "I can't believe it ..." Rose had to fight not to roll her eyes as she glanced sideways and caught sight of Professor Song yet again. "It can't be possible, how did you ...?"
But River didn't get a chance to finish her breathless question as the Doctor let his torch drop heavily to the ground at their feet and then stepped forward and grabbed Rose's hand once more, pulling them off towards a set of grated stairs.
"Rose," River continued anyway as she rushed hurriedly after them, her eyes wide with wonder as she stared hard at Rose's face. "He called you Rose. But ... that's not possible. You can't be ..."
Rose turned to flash river a threatening glare over her shoulder. If she weren't afraid of replying out loud and risking the Doctor thinking that she had finally lost it, she would have reminded the other woman to keep her voice down and mind her own business. She shouldn't even be here, anyway - wasn't she supposed to be dead?
"You are, aren't you?" River gasped in amazement as the three of them continued to rush quickly up the staircase. "You're her ..."
Rose's sharp retort was just on the tip of her tongue, but it was cut off as a loud whispering suddenly filled the air around them once more, making all three of them hesitate as they looked around anxiously for the source of the noise.
"The girl who died he tried to save, she'll die again inside his grave."
"Run," the Doctor commanded again, tugging Rose's arm as they continued their mad dash towards the ancient TARDIS's console room.
Thankfully, when Rose glanced back over her shoulder, she saw that River's form had dissipated once more - her impossible-to-answer questions and her wide-eyed look of shock gone with her. Rose could only hope that she wouldn't be making an appearance for a fourth time. She wasn't exactly sure what danger there could be in revealing her true identity to a dead woman, but here in this broken-down TARDIS where timelines were falling apart and reconverging in new and mysterious ways, Rose didn't exactly want to find out just how far she could push her luck.
However, despite Rose's wishes, River did show up again - and just in time to open the door to the Doctor's tomb and save all of their lives. Rose nearly stopped breathing the moment that she heard the quiet, muttered name of the Doctor spoken out loud in the presence of so many other people, and she had to forcefully remind herself that no one else could actually hear the whispered secret that River released into the atmosphere.
Rose had only ever heard the name spoken in the voice of her husband - and that only when they were absolutely alone. Hearing it now, spoken in another woman's voice, made her shiver uncomfortably as she glanced nervously towards the professor.
"The TARDIS can still hear me," River murmured triumphantly as she slowly circled the Doctor and raised her eyebrows at him smugly. "Lucky thing, since him indoors is being so useless."
Rose flashed the other woman an unamused look as the Doctor rushed unknowingly past the professor and began to check over each person in their group one at a time. He glanced over Jenny, Vastra, and Strax first, and then was immediately at Rose's side. "Clara, are you okay?" he asked in concern as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.
Rose squeezed her eyes shut tight as she embraced him, her heart still pounding in fear as the two of them turned in unison to face the open doors that stood ahead and the ominous, glowing light that lay beyond.
"Do you know what's in there?" the Doctor asked the Doctor Simeon-looking man who stood between them and the tomb.
"For me, peace at last," the being answered simply. "For you, pain everlasting. Won't you invite us in?" The man stepped graciously aside, silently beckoning the Doctor forward and daring him to try and go against his wishes again.
The Doctor tensed at Rose's side as he openly glared at the blue-tinted glow seeping through the doors before them. Finally, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and stepped forward to heave the double doors open far enough for them all to enter.
Rose was directly behind him the entire time as their small party slowly entered into the old, derelict TARDIS. The ship's song moaned slightly off-key as they all crossed her threshold into what was meant to be the console room, but had long since been grown over with roots and vines attempting to wind their way around her insides.
As they all slowly climbed the stairs towards the main level of the old console room, Rose realized two things simultaneously. The first was that the ephemeral blue glow that had been seeping out of the room was not - as she had first assumed - the light of the time rotor. In fact, there was no time rotor - not anymore. Instead, a hazy mess of silver-blue lines reached from the floor to the ceiling in place of the TARDIS console, tangling and twisting together in an infinite, intricate dance.
The second thing that Rose noticed was that the great mess of timelines wasn't the only thing emitting a glow from the center of the large room. There was the form of a woman standing in the middle of it all - her odd, inhuman eyes flaring gold as she blinked up to stare directly at them.
"Hello, Rose," the Bad Wolf murmured quietly. "It's good to see you again."