Hey guys!
Did you see the trailer for season 11 from Comic Con? I loved it! I'm super excited for series 11!
Anyway, this chapter is super long because I felt that it wasn't long enough to cut into two chapters. It also ends the Unquiet Dead, so next chapter will start Aliens of London. Which... should be interesting to say the least.
I'm not going to keep you any longer.
Happy reading!
Chapter 13
The Unquiet Dead part 2
June stood at the back of the living room with the Doctor, who leaned against the fireplace mantel. Rose paced around the room, ranting and scolding the master of the house, Mr. Sneed. Charles Dickens sat at a table where the black-haired girl, Gwyneth, poured tea for everyone.
"First of all, you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man," Rose yelled at Mr. Sneed. The Doctor grinned and laughed silently at Rose's rage.
"Look at her go," June whispered to him with a small smile.
"I won't be spoken to like this!" Mr. Sneed yelled.
June wasn't exactly fond of Mr. Sneed. She wondered how he could possible expect not to be yelled at by the girl he drugged and kidnapped. June rolled her eyes and said, "Tough shit," not particularly loud enough for anyone to hear.
Rose did manage to hear her. "Thank you!" she yelled, gesturing to the girl across the room.
"Language," the Doctor whispered in June's ear. June groaned.
"Then you stuck me in a room full of zombies!" Rose yelled at Mr. Sneed.
June glared at the Doctor. She did adore the man, she wouldn't admit it, but she did. But even so, he didn't get to tell her not to swear. "Bite me," she spat.
"And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave me to die!" Rose shouted at Mr. Sneed.
The Doctor snickered at June's comment. She looked over her shoulder and frowned at him. He wore a small smirk and raised his eyebrows at her, as if asking, 'what are you going to do, huh?' because she both knew that the worse she would do was snap little sarcastic comments at him.
"So, come on, talk!" Rose yelled.
"It's not my fault, it's this house!" Mr. Sneed yelled. Everyone was silent. Mr. Sneed looked nervously around the room. "It's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs—" he stopped, Dickens looked very uncomfortable sitting at the table across the room with his tea. Mr. Sneed's nickname for the corpses didn't help make June like him. At least 'corpse' was an actual name for the bodies, but 'stiffs'— "The, er, dear departed—" the Doctor silently laughed at his attempt to fix things, "—started getting restless."
"Tommyrot," Dickens grumbled into his tea.
"You witnessed it!" Mr. Sneed exclaimed. Dickens was silent. "Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hand onto scraps."
Gwyneth walked over to the Doctor and June, two cups of tea in her hands. "Two sugars, sir, just how you like it," she said, placing one of the cups on the mantle. "And honey for you, ma'am. Odd preference if you don't mind me saying." She laughed nervously and placed the second cup next to the first.
"Thanks," June murmured as Gwyneth walked away.
"One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service," Mr. Sneed told Dickens, attempting to prove to him that everything was real.
June glanced up at the Doctor. "You never said anything about what we like in our tea to her, did you?" she asked in a low whisper.
"Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned," Mr. Sneed said, pointing at Dickens.
"Nope," the Doctor whispered back.
"Then how did she know?" June asked.
"I'm wondering the same thing."
"Morbid fancy," Dickens said, getting up from his seat and walking out into the room.
"Oh, Charles, you were there," the Doctor said, frowning at the man.
"I saw nothing but an illusion," Dickens insisted.
Apparently, the Doctor didn't like that. "If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up," he snapped. June gaped at him, incredulous to how he turned to fast. Dickens looked shocked but stayed silent.
She could see the frustration in the Doctor's eyes, but it didn't mean he got to snap at people. "Don't be rude," she scolded.
The Doctor ignored her. "What about the gas?" he asked Mr. Sneed.
"That's new, sir," Mr. Sneed said. "Never seen anything like that."
"Means it's getting stronger," the Doctor explained, "the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through."
"What's the rift?" Rose asked.
"A weak point through time and pace. A connection between this place and another," the Doctor said. "That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time." June didn't like the sound of that. She turned and frowned at him. "Yeah, that's right, ghosts aren't real," he said plainly.
June didn't want to believe him. The sensible part of her brain knew that, okay, sure, they probably weren't and June knew that was right at the back of her head all the time. But there was another part of her mind that told her not to accept that. She wanted ghosts to be real.
June stuck up her nose, crossed her arms and said, "Don't believe you."
"What?" the Doctor asked, staring at the back of the girl's head in surprise.
"That's how I got the house so cheap," Mr. Sneed muttered. "Stories going back generations." The door slammed shut. Charles Dickens had left the room.
"What do you mean, you don't believe me?" the Doctor asked, taking full advantage of the small pause Sneed had left in the middle of his thoughts.
June silently laughed to herself. She was bugging him. He could get on her nerves, but she could sure get on his as well. She stayed facing away from him. "I mean what I said. I don't believe you. If I want ghosts to be real, then they sure as hell are going to be real."
"That's not how it works."
"Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul," Mr. Sneed continued before the Doctor and June could get on each other's nerves any more. "Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."
"You know ghosts aren't real," the Doctor said.
"And you know I don't have to listen to you," June said. She gave him a smug smile. Rose rolled her eyes at her arguing friends.
~*O*~
June had gone with the Doctor when he decided to go look for Charles Dickens. They eventually found him in the room where the corpses lay. He was inspecting the corpse and coffin of the young man, attempting to move the body to look underneath it. The Doctor leaned against the doorway and exchanged looks with June. "Checking for strings?" he asked after a moment.
Dickens looked back at them, not taking any surprise to their sudden appearance. He went to try to look under the coffin. "Wire, perhaps," he said. "There must be some mechanism behind this fraud."
"Oh, come on, Charles," the Doctor sighed as he walked towards him. June walked through the doorway, but still stood close to the edge of the room. "Alright," he continued. "I shouldn't have told you to shut up. I'm sorry."
"Ooo, an apology," June smirked. "That's rare. Keep that for all you can, Dickens."
The Doctor decided to ignore her. "But you've got one of the best minds in the world," he continued. "You saw those creatures."
"I cannot accept that," Dickens insisted.
June journeyed more towards them while the Doctor explained how the creatures worked. "And what does the human body do when it decomposes? It breaks down and produces gas," he said. June thought that was kind of gross. "Perfect home for these gas things. They can slip inside and use it as a vehicle, just like your driver and his coach."
"Stop it," Dickens demanded. "Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?" he asked.
"Not wrong," the Doctor said with a small smile. "There's just more to learn."
"Much more to learn," June added.
Dickens sighed. "I've always railed against the fantasists. Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, reveled in them, but that's exactly what they were, illusions," he rambled. "The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices, the great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of specters and jack-o'-lanterns. In which case, have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor? Has it all been for nothing?"
June smiled at the author and answered his question, although it hadn't been addressed to her. "I don't think so, no. I don't think anyone wastes their time here. It's just a bit different than you thought it would be."
~*O*~
The Doctor and June had left Dickens and went instead to find Rose and Gwyneth. They walked into the middle of Gwyneth having a sort of psychic episode. They stood in the doorway of the pantry, unbeknownst to the two women in the room. They managed to catch the last few moments of their conversation.
"I can't help it," Gwyneth told Rose shakily. "Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said that I had the sight. She told me to hide it."
"But it's getting stronger," the Doctor said, making the two girls jump, "more powerful, is that right?" he asked.
"All the time, sir," Gwyneth admitted. "Every night, voices in my head."
"You grew up on top of the rift," the Doctor explained. "You're part of it. You're the key."
"I've tried to make sense of it, sir," Gwyneth muttered. "Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts."
To June's surprise, the Doctor smiled. "Well, that should help," he said. "You can show us what to do."
Everyone else was confused. No one knew what he was talking about. And he hadn't mentioned anything to June during the walk over. Gwyneth asked the question they were all wondering. "What to do where, sir?"
"We're going to have a séance," the Doctor said. And June grinned wildly.
~*O*~
"So, Doctor," June said as the Doctor took a seat in the chair next to her, "will happy haunts materialize, and begin to vocalize during this séance?" The Doctor didn't reply, he simply frowned at her. Though, if she looked close enough, she could see brief amusement in his eyes. "And does that make Gwyneth the ghost host?" she asked, nodding to the girl sitting on the opposite side of the Doctor, at the head of the table.
"You have to stop," he said with a small smile.
June shook her head. "Nope."
"What are you two talking about?" Rose asked as she took a seat in the chair next to June.
"I'm making Haunted Mansion references and it's annoying him," June told her.
"You're not even using them in jokes, June," the Doctor said. "You're just restating the lines and laughing at it because it's a reference to the Haunted Mansion."
"You know, I've never been on that," Rose said. June frowned at her. "The Haunted Mansion."
"We'll go someday," June told her. "You'll love it."
"We're not going to go to Disneyland when we have the whole universe to see," the Doctor protested. He looked offended at the mere suggestion. June rolled her eyes.
Rose watched Gwyneth for a moment. She seemed… happy. Rose didn't understand how she didn't feel nervous or scared. She leaned closer to June. "Do you think she's okay?" she asked her in a whisper.
June looked at Gwyneth as well. She didn't seem nervous. She just smiled and waited, probably lost in her thoughts. June nodded. "Yeah, she seems fine." June saw Rose frown. "Isn't that good?" she asked.
"How could you not be nervous before you're about to hold a Séance?" Rose asked.
June thought about it for a moment. "I see your point," she muttered. She tugged on her lip, thinking. "But, I'm sure it's nothing." Rose frowned. "People can smile when they're feeling anxious, you know."
"Is everyone ready to start?" the Doctor asked. Both of the girls turned to look at him. Dickens and Mr. Sneed had finally joined them around the circular table. Everyone was silent. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," he said. He nodded at Gwyneth.
"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town," Gwyneth prefaced. "Come, we must all join hands."
June suddenly felt very relieved to be sitting between her two friends. The Doctor held his hand out to her and smiled. June took it and rolled her eyes. She took Rose's hand too. She didn't seem to be feeling so awkward about holding a stranger's, in this case, Mr. Sneed's, hand.
"I can't take part in this," Dickens grumbled. He shot up from his chair and hovered by the table.
"Humbug? Come on, open mind," the Doctor urged.
"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask," Dickens protested. "Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing." Gwyneth's face dropped at his words. She stared down at the table, quietly. June felt bad for the girl.
"Now, don't antagonize her," the Doctor said. "I love a happy medium." He grinned at June and Rose.
June smirked and Rose laughed softly. "I can't believe you just said that," Rose muttered.
"Come on," the Doctor urged, "we might need you." Dickens, very reluctantly, sat back down. "Good man," the Doctor grinned. "Now, Gwyneth, reach out."
Gwyneth's eyes glazed over. "Speak to us," she said. "Are you there? Spirits, come." Her eyes stared upwards, looking left to right to left again. "Speak to us that we may relieve your burden."
A soft whispering brushed against June's ears and she shivered. "Can you hear that?" Rose asked, mouth agape.
"Nothing can happen," Dickens immediately argued. "This is sheer folly."
"Look at her," Rose said, nodding at Gwyneth.
Gwyneth stared up at the ceiling, rocking back and forth in her chair. "I see them," she breathed. "I feel them." Tendrils of blue gas drifted into the room and swirled around their heads. June felt the urge to reach out and touch one but stayed put.
"What's it saying?" Rose asked.
"They can't get through the rift," the Doctor said. "Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through."
"I can't!" Gwyneth cried.
"Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth," the Doctor encouraged. "Make the link."
She lowered her head and opened her eyes. "Yes." The gas formed towering, humanoid outlines behind her. Gwyneth continued to stare into nothingness. Something about it made June shiver.
"Great god," Mr. Sneed gasped. "Spirits from the other side."
"The other side of the universe," the Doctor said.
And then they spoke. "Pity us." Their voices were high, almost like children's, and chorusing, echoing off the walls of the room. It sounded like their voices were everywhere. June squirmed in her seat. Something didn't feel right. "Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us."
"What do you want us to do?" the Doctor asked.
"The rift. Take the girl to the rift," they said. "Make the bridge."
"What for?" the Doctor asked.
"We are so very few," they said. "The last of our kind. We face extinction."
The Doctor frowned. "Why, what happened?"
"Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came," they said.
"War?" Dickens asked. "What war?"
"The Time War." June and Rose both looked over at the Doctor. He stared down at the table and only glanced up at them for a second. "The whole universe convulsed." June squeezed the Doctor's hand in an attempt to be comforting. He looked away. "The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."
"So that's why you need the corpses," the Doctor guessed.
"We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again," they said. "We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned." 'Abandoned.' Although the word was technically right, it felt wrong to refer to the body of someone who had passed as abandoned, like it had been left without a care in the world. "They're going to waste. Give them to us."
"But we can't," Rose said.
"Why not?" the Doctor asked.
"It's not—" her words fell. "I mean, it's not—"
"Not decent?" the Doctor said. "Not polite? It could save their lives."
"But at the expense of bodies that used to belong to living, breathing people," June said. She still didn't know how she felt about it.
"Oh, not you too," the Doctor complained.
"Open the rift," they said. "Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth." The Gelth disappeared and Gwyneth fell forward.
Rose rushed around the table, immediately going to the girl's side. "Gwyneth?"
"All true," Dickens said.
June glanced at the Doctor. "I don't think I'm so excited about ghosts anymore."
"Are you okay?" Rose asked Gwyneth who was slowly regaining consciousness.
"It's all true," Dickens sighed.
~*O*~
It took a while for Gwyneth to wake up. She was laid on a chaise lounge at the back of the room. Rose hovered over her, constantly keeping an eye on the girl. June leaned against the wall next to the Doctor, both silently watching and waiting. Dickens and Sneed hadn't left the table, still shaken from the encounter.
Gwyneth stirred and immediately went to sit up, but Rose stopped her. "It's alright. You just sleep."
"But my angels miss," Gwyneth said. "They came, didn't they? They need me?"
"They do need you, Gwyneth," the Doctor said. "You're their only chance of survival."
Rose turned to him. "I've told you, leave her alone," she snapped. "She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles." The Doctor sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Rose handed Gwyneth a glass of water. "Drink this."
"Well, what did you say, Doctor?" Mr. Sneed asked. "Explain it again. What are they?"
"Aliens," the Doctor said.
"I wanted real ghosts," June muttered.
"Like foreigners, you mean?" Mr. Sneed asked.
"Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there." He pointed to the ceiling.
"Brecon?" Mr. Sneed asked.
"Close," the Doctor said. June snickered. "And they've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then, they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes."
June gaped at him. "'Test drive the bodies'?" It sounded horrific to say. The Doctor shrugged.
"Which is why they need the girl," Dickens guessed.
"They're not having her," Rose argued.
"But she can help," the Doctor said. "Living on the rift, she's become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through."
"Incredible," Dickens said, although he didn't sound very impressed at all. "Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers."
"Good system," the Doctor said, nodding. "It might work."
Rose whipped around and marched up to him. She looked disgusted. "You can't let them run around inside of dead people," she argued.
"Why not?" the Doctor asked. "It's like recycling."
"'Recycling'?" June gaped. Recycling corpses, bodies that used to be people with lives and loved ones. It was like recycling someone's life.
"I don't need you fighting me, too," the Doctor sighed, glancing at the brunette.
"Seriously though, you can't," Rose said.
"Seriously though, I can," the Doctor argued.
"It's just wrong," Rose insisted. "Those bodies we reliving people. We should respect them even in death."
"Do you carry a donor card?" the Doctor asked.
"Oh, come on," June sighed. He couldn't pull that. It wasn't the same.
"That's different," Rose muttered. June nodded. "That's—"
"It's different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home." There was silence. June gaped up at the Doctor, but he seemed set in what he had said.
"Oh, shut up," June scoffed, crossing her arms. He stared down at her with his piercing blue eyes, obviously not in the mood to argue anymore. "At least fucking think about what you're saying."
"Language," he said.
June ignored him. "You're talking like we're just containers. Fucking Tupperware. Once the old food's tossed out, you can just put some new food in."
The Doctor shook his head. "That's not what I'm saying."
"Well if that's not what you're saying you should chose your words a little better," June snapped. She began to feel antsy, as if anger pulsed through her veins. "You're talking like we're trash, like we're goddamn plastic bottles. It doesn't work like that."
He glowered at her. "I'm sorry I'm don't see you humans as the most important race in the universe," he grumbled. "There are other races out there who need more help than you do."
"I'm not saying that you should or that you should or that there aren't," June said through tightly gritted teeth. "I'm saying that you can't talk about us like we're puppets to be used over and over again." She sucked in a breath, stepped closer to him, and added in a whisper, "I respect your dead, I expect you to respect mine."
The Doctor's jaw clenched. June realized that she could've just made a huge mistake. "Hallway." His voice was stiff.
"Fine."
The room was dead silent as they left.
~*O*~
The first thing the Doctor said was, "That was too far."
June shook her head. "No, it really wasn't."
"June—"
She interrupted, "'It's like recycling.'" They were both silent. Neither of them wanted to look at each other. June felt bad, she really did. She hated using what had happened against him. But she had to make a point. It almost didn't feel worth it. But who was she more loyal to? The Doctor or the human race? "Listen," she said. "I know we need to save the Gelth. I know that you feel obligated to save them. And yeah, I have an issue with the bodies being used, but if we have no other way, I can't exactly refuse, can I?" He finally looked at her. "I do have an issue with you treating it like it's nothing. You're talking like it's perfectly fine to replace the people who lived inside those bodies. This will have consequences and it will hurt living people." He opened his mouth, but June stopped him again. "And also, that donor card comment was basically manipulative."
He gaped at her. "Manipulative?"
"You don't get to make Rose feel guilty for disagreeing with you," June said. "You could've said that you get where she's coming from, even if you don't, but insist that there is no other option. Donating an organ is not the same as donating a face and a body. You don't see organs. You don't watch organs grow up. You don't love organs. A body is a vessel for someone to grow and live and love. It's not the same."
The Doctor shook his head. "You can't let this bother you so much, June. This is how the universe works. There are so many races, so many lives out there that tough choices have to be made and I'm usually the one who has to make them."
"I know," she shot. "Don't act like I don't know that. I said I wouldn't fucking stop you from letting the Gelth take the bodies. I'm not pissed because you're making tough decisions. I'm pissed because you're acting like it's absolutely nothing. Have some goddamn empathy and realize that there are going to be consequences."
"Don't tell me I don't have empathy," he grumbled.
"If you have empathy then fucking use it," June said. "Realize that after this, there's going to be a lot of pain. The bodies the Gelth want to use aren't even buried. There are funerals being planned. How the hell are these peoples' loved ones going to react when they see that the body of someone they love is gone? It's going to be heartbreaking."
"I don't have time to worry about that," the Doctor told her.
"You have time to acknowledge it," June argued. "What if it was me, huh?"
He furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"What if one of those bodies the Gelth want take was mine?" she asked. "Could you do it so easily then? Because last time I checked, we were friends, no matter how much we might disagree, we're supposed to care about each other, right?" The Doctor was silent. "And how would you tell my family, huh? My parents, my little sister? My best friends? What would that do to them?"
The Doctor sighed and rubbed his face. "We're wasting time. We have to go back." June hoped that she made the point across.
He turned to the door, but June stopped him before he walked inside. "I'm sorry for fighting."
The Doctor glanced back at her. "Well, I guess I'm sorry too." June managed a smile.
~*O*~
The Doctor wasted no time getting back to business. "You heard what the Gelth said, time's short." He glanced at Rose. "I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying."
"I don't care," Rose muttered. "They're not using her."
Gwyneth sat up. "Don't I get a say, miss?"
They all turned to her. "Look, you don't understand what's going on," Rose told her.
"You would say that, miss, because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid," Gwyneth said.
"That's not fair," Rose argued.
"It's true, though," Gwyneth insisted. "Things might be very different where you're from, but here and now, I know my own mind, and the angels need me. Doctor," she looked up at him, "what do I have to do?"
"You don't have to do anything," the Doctor said. That seemed much more like the Doctor June knew.
"They've been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission. So, tell me," she said.
The Doctor smiled. "We need to find the rift." He walked to the other side of the room where Sneed and Dickens sat. "This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where the most of the ghosts have been seen?"
"That would be the morgue," Mr. Sneed said.
Rose sat down next to Gwyneth. "No chance you were going to say gazebo, is there?"
~*O*~
The morgue was cold and dark and there was such an obvious absence of life that when the small group of uncomfortable conspirators walked into the room, the absence only seemed to feel worse. June tried to stay in the middle of the room and look anywhere else but at the recently deceased under white sheets. She had never been so close to a corpse before. It made her so unbelievably uncomfortable that she just wanted to hide.
"Urgh. Talk about Bleak House," the Doctor muttered, standing in the middle of the room and gazing around.
"The thing is, Doctor, the Gelth don't succeed, 'cos I know they don't," Rose said. "I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869."
"Time's in flux, changing every second," the Doctor told her. "Your cozy little world can be rewritten like that." He snapped his fingers. "Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing."
"That's great, anything else you want to make us worry about?" June asked, crossing her arms. "How about the Butterfly Effect? Or…" she stopped and thought for a moment, "I don't know, the illuminati?"
"I think I prefer the Haunted Mansion jokes to your sarcasm," he said, glancing at her over his shoulder and smiling.
"Doctor, I think the room is getting colder," Dickens said.
The whispering began to fill the room again and the gas lamps around the room glowed blue. "Here they come," Rose said.
One of the Gelth whipped through the room and formed under a large archway. June shivered upon seeing it. "You've come to help," the Gelth said. "Praise the Doctor. Praise him."
"Promise you won't hurt her!" Rose yelled.
The Gelth didn't promise anything. "Hurry!" they cried. "Please, so little time. Pity the Gelth."
The Doctor walked up to the blue ghost. "I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright?" June smiled at the back of his head. He would make sure that it was going to be okay, the bodies would be okay.
"My angels," Gwyneth said, gazing up at them. "I can help them live."
"Okay, where's the weak point?" the Doctor asked.
"Here, beneath the arch," the Gelth answered.
Gwyneth wasted no time getting to where she needed to be. "Beneath the arch." June ignored the voice in her head that told her something was wrong, it had to just be anxiety.
Rose rushed over to the girl. "You don't have to do this."
Gwyneth cupped her face in her hands. "My angels."
Rose jerked away as the Gelth spoke. "Establish the bridge. Reach out to the void. Let us through!"
"Yes, I can see you." Gwyneth looked like she was made of glass. Her eyes were wide, bright, and unseeing. Her body was so stiff that it felt like one move would make her break. "I can see you. Come!"
"Bridgehead establishing."
June looked to the Doctor. She tried to read his expression. He looked concerned enough, but she couldn't tell if he was detecting something wrong under the surface. She wished he was easier to read. She wished she knew if her bad feeling was just her or if he felt it too.
"Come to me," Gwyneth said, her voice airy and light, more like the voice of a ghost than the voice of a human girl. "Come to this world, poor lost souls!"
"It is begun. The bridge is made."
Gwyneth's mouth opened. A bright light shone from within. The Gelth came pouring out, filling the room and soaring in the air. Everyone turned to watch them fly about, racing towards the bodies of the dead.
"She has given herself to the Gelth," the Gelth said. "The bridge is open. We descend." The Gelth's figure suddenly turned ominous. Where it had once been a floating blue spirit, it was now a flaming red monster with sharp teeth and glowing red eyes.
"Oh, fuck," June muttered, immediately grabbing for the Doctor.
The Gelth's soft, sweet voice was replaced by a deep gravely one. "The Gelth will come through in force."
"You said you were few in number!" Dickens yelled.
"A few billion," the Gelth said. June winced. "And all of us in need of corpses."
The dead began to rise, pushing their sheets off of their bodies, their eyes bright blue and empty. The Gelth had taken over.
"Gwyneth, stop this!" Mr. Sneed yelled, carefully walking towards the girl. "Listen to your master. This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone, I beg of you—"
"Mr. Sneed, get back!" Rose shouted.
As soon as the corpse grabbed Mr. Sneed, a protective arm wrapped around June's waist and pulled her as far away as possible. June couldn't look away from Mr. Sneed struggling against the corpse. She knew that she should, but she couldn't. June grabbed the Doctor's arm and dug anxious fingers into his sleeve. 'Stop this. Make it stop'. But then there was a loud crack and Mr. Sneed's head snapped to the side. June shrieked and covered her eyes. No, she couldn't have just seen him die. No, she didn't want that.
The Doctor pushed June to stand behind him. And when June opened her eyes again, the Gelth had taken over Mr. Sneed's body. "I think it's gone a little bit wrong," the Doctor said.
"No shit, Sherlock," June hissed.
"I have joined the legions of the Gelth," Mister Sneed chorused with the voices of the Gelth. "Come, march with us."
"We need bodies." The Gelth rose and began to stalk towards them. June was pushed farther away towards the back wall by the Doctor. He kept the two girls behind him, standing between them and the Gelth. "All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead." June stumbled on her feet and glanced backwards. They were being backed against an iron rod gate.
"Gwyneth, stop them!" the Doctor shouted. "Send them back now!"
"Four more bodies. Convert them. Make them vessels for the Gelth." June's back hit the iron rod gate. She swore under her breath and wanted to do nothing but shut her eyes, but it felt impossible to do.
"Doctor, I can't. I'm sorry," Dickens called.
The Doctor turned and opened the iron rod gate. He pushed June and Rose into the small room behind it and pulled the gate shut behind him.
"This new world of yours is too much for me!" Dickens yelled. "I'm so—" and then he was gone with the loud wailing. At least he had managed to escape.
The Gelth stuck their arms through the iron rod gate, desperately reaching for June, the Doctor, and Rose. They all stood with their backs against the wall, facing their immediate death. "Give yourself to glory," the Gelth said. "Sacrifice your lives for the Gleth."
"I trusted you," the Doctor sneered. "I pitied you!"
"We don't want your pity," the Gelth said. "We want this world and all it's flesh."
"Not while I'm alive," the Doctor protested.
"Then live no more," the Gelth said.
"But I can't die," Rose said. "Tell me I can't. I haven't even been born yet. Neither has June. It's impossible for me us die. Isn't it?"
The Doctor looked down at the blonde. "I'm sorry." Because that wasn't how it worked. June knew that wasn't how it worked. She had been told before but never thought that she would be so close to death.
"But it's 1869. How can I die now?" Rose asked.
"Time isn't a straight line," the Doctor explained. "It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth and it's all my fault. I brought you two here."
"It's not your fault," the girls chorused, June much louder than Rose.
"It's not like you wanted this to happen," June said, leaning against the back wall.
"I wanted to come," Rose muttered.
"What about me?" the Doctor asked. "I saw the fall of Troy, World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon. In Cardiff."
"You don't usually get to choose how you die," June muttered. "I definitely wouldn't've chosen this."
"It's not just dying," Rose said. "We'll become one of them." The Gelth still struggled at the gate.
"Oh, don't remind me." June wanted to imagine that this was all okay. She couldn't die in danger. She would die somewhere safe, somewhere where she was loved. She was trying her best to preserve that image.
"We'll go down fighting, yeah?" Rose asked.
"Yeah," the Doctor said.
"Of course," June agreed.
Rose looked between the two of them. "Together?"
"Yeah," the Doctor agreed. He took June's hand tightly in his. She felt better to have a little bit of the comfort.
"I'm so glad I met you," the Doctor told Rose.
"Me too," Rose said.
The Doctor looked at June. He kissed the back of her hand. "You are one of the most incredible people I've ever met," he said.
The situation should not have involved blushing and yet, June was blushing. "You are too," she said. "I don't regret this for a moment."
"Me too." They smiled at each other.
"Doctor! Doctor!" Dickens ran back into the room. June could see him just through the crowd of Gelth which still crowded the gate. "Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now!"
"What're you doing?" the Doctor asked.
"Turn it all on! Flood the place!" Dickens ran to the nearest gas lamp and began to work at it.
"Brilliant. Gas," the Doctor said.
"What, so we choke to death instead?" Rose asked.
"I'd rather that then having my neck snapped," June muttered.
"Am I correct, Doctor?" Dickens asked. "These creatures are gaseous."
"Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"Why the hell didn't we think of this before?" June asked. She looked up at the Doctor with furrowed eyebrows. "Why the hell didn't you think of this before? I thought you were supposed to be all clever and smart?"
"Ah, well…" he sighed.
The Gelth turned their attention from the three behind the gate to Dickens. Dickens wavered under their stares. "I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately."
"Plenty more!" the Doctor shouted. He turned and ripped a gas pipe from the wall.
The Gelth were sucked out of the corpses with a loud, high pitched wailing. The blue wisps swirled in the air and the bodies collapsed to the floor. "It's working," Dickens noted, nodding his head as he watched the action.
June coughed, the gas that filled the room making it difficult to breathe. She pulled one of her black gloves off and covered her mouth. The Doctor opened the iron rod gate and ran out into the morgue, June and Rose following. "Gwyneth, send them back!" he yelled. "They lied! They're not angels."
Gwyneth's body slumped, but she still seemed too emotionless. "Liars?" she asked.
"Look at me." They walked towards her. June was still breathing through her glove, but her lungs struggled to hold any air. "If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!"
"I can't breathe," Rose coughed.
"Charles, get them out," the Doctor ordered.
Dickens walked over and grabbed Rose's arm, but she quickly pulled away from him. "I'm not leaving her!" she cried.
Dickens looked over at June. "And I'm not leaving him," she said, nodding at the Doctor. "You leave him for—" she coughed, "—five minutes and he ends up doing something stupid." She heaved and gasped for air. She clapped her glove over her mouth again.
"They're too strong," Gwyneth said.
"Remember that world you saw?" the Doctor asked. "Rose's world? All those people. None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift."
"I can't send them back," Gwyneth insisted. "But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out." She pulled a box of matches out of her pocket.
June's stomach dropped. "No," she gasped.
Her gasp was nothing compared to how Rose ran to the woman, shrieking, "You can't!"
Rose was held back by the Doctor. "Rose, get out," he ordered. "Go now. I won't leave her while she's still in danger. Now go!" He let her go and then snapped his eyes to June. "You too. Get out of here!"
"Stay safe for fuck's sake," she coughed at him. He nodded silently. Dickens gabbed June's arm and pulled her out of the morgue.
~*O*~
The air felt nice. June was relieved to breathe again. They ran across the street from the house, anxiously awaiting the Doctor and Gwyneth's escape. Something told June it wasn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows at the end.
Rose seemed more anxious than June was. She paced around, keeping her eyes sealed on the house, muttering to herself. "Oh, hurry up." And Dickens was catching his breath after so long breathing in gas.
Everything stopped when the door to the house flew open. They all looked over, expecting to see the Doctor and Gwyneth escaping. Instead, they had looked just in time to see the house explode. June's stomach dropped. She couldn't see anyone and the house was in flames. She ran towards the building, not sure exactly what she was thinking, and then ran right into the Doctor.
He grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling over. "Ow," she muttered. She looked around, but there was no Gwyneth anywhere. She winced to herself, realizing what had happened.
Rose and Dickens ran over to them. They were all silent. Rose stared at the Doctor and upon realizing what had happened, muttered, "She didn't make it."
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said. "She closed the rift."
"At such a cost," Dickens sighed. "The poor child."
"At least she was a hero," June said. She could feel the warmth coming from the building. Looking at it hurt her eyes. "She saved the world."
"I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead," the Doctor said.
June looked up at him, furrowing her eyebrows. "What?"
He looked between the two girls quietly. "She had been for at least five minutes."
Rose shook her head. "What do you mean?"
The Doctor stared back at the burning building. "I think she was dead form the minute she stood in that arch."
"But she can't have," Rose denied, her voice weak. June could remember how glassy Gwyneth looked, like she could break. She had a horrible twisting sensation in her stomach. She had been dead the whole time. "She spoke to us," Rose said. "She helped us. She saved us. How could she have done that?"
"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy," Dickens said. His eyes trained on the Doctor. "Even for you, Doctor."
"She saved the world," Rose muttered. "A servant girl. No one will ever know."
"We know," June said. "And we won't forget about it, will we?"
Everyone nodded. A silent agreement.
~*O*~
June felt a weight lift off her shoulders as they walked up to the TARDIS. Safety and warmth. She couldn't ask for much more.
"Right then, Charlie boy, I've just got to go into my, er, shed," the Doctor told Dickens. "Won't be long." He began to unlock the door.
"What are you going to do now?" Rose asked.
"I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste," Dickens said with an excited smile. "This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital."
June smiled. "The best way to spend Christmas."
"It is indeed," Dickens grinned.
"You've cheered up," the Doctor noted. The smiling seemed contagious.
"Exceedingly!" Dickens exclaimed. He chuckled. "This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I've just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor. I'm inspired. I must write about them."
"Do you think that's wise?" Rose asked.
"I shall be subtle at first," Dickens said. "The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this Earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word, tell the truth."
"What if the uncle wasn't of this Earth, but was disguised to fit in with humans," June suggested.
Dickens grinned. "That's quite interesting. You have a knack for storytelling, don't you?"
June laughed. "Not really. I just read a lot."
"It is a good idea," Dickens said. "I shall ponder on it."
"Good luck with it," the Doctor said. "Nice to meet you." They shook hands. "Fantastic."
June held her hand out to the author. "Nice to meet you, Charles." They shook hands. "Have a nice Christmas."
Dickens grinned at her. "Have a good one as well."
Rose shook his hand, too. "Bye then, and thanks." She kissed him on the cheek.
"Oh, my dear. How modern," Dickens muttered. June laughed seeing how flustered he was. "Thank you, but, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?"
"You'll see. In the shed." The Doctor nodded at the TARDIS.
Dickens stopped them from going inside. "Upon my soul, Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you."
June snickered. "You have no idea."
"But after all these revelations, there's still one mystery you haven't explained," Dickens said. "Answer me this. Who are you?"
The Doctor was silent for a moment. June raised an eyebrow at him. After a moment, he decided on, "Just a friend passing through."
"But you have such knowledge of future times," Dickens said. "I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor, do they last?"
The Doctor laughed. "Oh, yes."
"For how long?"
"Forever."
"Some of the most well-known stories ever," June added.
"Right," the Doctor said. "Shed. Come on, girls."
"In the box?" Dickens asked as the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS. "All three of you?"
The Doctor looked back at him. "Down boy. See you."
June gave one more smile to Charles Dickens and then stepped into the TARDIS.
~*O*~
June took off her jacket and tossed it and her backpack towards the console room seat but missed it. She pouted as her things landed on the floor.
"Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?" Rose asked.
They gathered around the scanner which showed a clear picture of Charles Dickens staring up at the TARDIS in confusion. "In a week's time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies," the Doctor said. "Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story."
"Aw," June complained.
"Oh, no. He was so nice," Rose muttered.
"But in your time, he was already dead," the Doctor reminded them. "We've brought him back to life, and he's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie boy. Let's give him one last surprise."
The TARDIS took off and they were able to see a few moments of the stunned look on Charles Dicken's face before they were off into space.
So, what did you guys think of the chapter?
Again, this is it for the Unquiet Dead and next chapter starts Aliens of London. I haven't got a lot of Aliens of London written, so it might take me a little while to post, but I'm still hoping to post next week.
Reviews, follows, and favorites are very much appreciated!
Until next time,
~ C.C.