Disclaimer: see the first chapter.
News: I really haven't been doing much but I wanted to save this chapter until I had seen "V for Vendetta" again just so that when I wrote this it would be prominent in my mind. Sorry for making you wait, I was hoping I'd get a double post in for the Easter Break but my friend threatened my life if I don't finish a book she gave me and…ya, stuff came up. Sorry.
Thank you for all the reviews! –Hugs you all- I love you all so much! This is the most reviews one of my stories have ever gotten and I love writing it so much its great to know you love reading it. Please keep it up!
IMPORANT: To anyone who lives in Europe, let me know how season 2 is, because it's KILLING ME! Ahhh! Another month for me to wait! At least! Stupid British TV shows. Lol.
Only You
Chapter 4 – V is for Vendetta
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot
I know of no reason why the Gunpowder treason,
Should ever be forgot.
"I think I'm going to force you to cook all the time," Rose joked as she finished her eggs and placed the dishes back on the tray resting on her legs.
The Doctor laughed, "you wish. That was a one time thing, but I'm glad it was okay," he said lightly, trying to keep the mood light while Rose was still feeling relatively good. He knew that Rose was dying of boredom, she was twitching around the bed and being very restless, but the Doctor didn't want her to leave the bed to be ready for the fever that would be coming later.
"Doctor…" Rose said quietly and the Doctor silently cursed, avoiding Rose's eyes at all costs since he knew she was making, what she called 'puppy-dog-eyes'. "Can we go somewhere? This bed is about as interesting as the planet Taedium that we went to a little while ago."
"Hey that was highly interesting, and very educational too!" The Doctor immediately defended his poor choice of visiting destinations.
"It would have been more interesting if you had taken me there before it had been abandoned!" Rose fired back and the Doctor sighed in frustration. "Besides, you said I could choose when we made our next stop," she started to pout again.
"Urgh! I said you weren't allowed to make that face anymore!" the Doctor rolled his eyes but continued to look anywhere but at Rose directly. "Look Rose, as bored as you may be, your sick, and you pathetic apes drop down dead if someone so much as sneezes on you so I deem you unfit to go anywhere."
"That's not fair! I'm perfectly capable of exploring! I'm not just 'some pathetic ape', I've proven myself and I can easily follow you wherever we go," she shot back, getting irritated quicker than normal.
"That's not what I meant and you know that…" the Doctor trailed off, knowing he was fighting a losing battle. He sighed heavily, "fine, but we'll avoid danger as best we can and if you feel even a little bit worse, and that means a headache, coughing, fever, anything, you tell me immediately and we are gone. Understand?"
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"2048, November 4th, London, England," the Doctor read off the information from the Tardis's screen and then looked at Rose before he straightened and, after pocketing his sonic screwdriver, headed towards the Tardis doors, walking out and stopping, waiting for Rose to join him in the London air.
"So why exactly this specific place?" Rose inquired as they walked side-by-side down the crowded sidewalks of London. The cold winter air blew through Rose's hair and clothes and she subconsciously shuffled closer to the Doctor for more warmth and protection from the weather, an action that didn't go unnoticed to said Doctor.
"Well, have you ever heard of the story of Guy Fawkes?" The Doctor said as he led the sick human girl down a deserted alley and then out into a small, local park.
"Sure, every November 5th we had Bonfire Night to remember the capture of him before he blew up Parliament," Rose shivered and the Doctor stopped.
"You okay?" he asked her with concern. She had promised to mention a headache or anything if it started to affect her, but he highly doubted she'd keep her word on it. When she had shot him a glare, he decided to continue, "well, Guy Fawkes was executed and people were told to remember the idea, but never the man. But there were a few people who remembered Guy Fawkes as a person and agreed with him."
He stopped for a minute as they walked past a group of young adults who were running around the park and spray painting large red 'V's surrounded in a circle on random trees before moving on in their work. When the Doctor and Rose walked by they turned around quickly and scattered in different directions, the paint-can clattering nosily to the ground on the paved walkway.
The Doctor cleared his throat, "anyways, the idea and acceptance of the Gunpowder Plot, which is what they called the plot to blow up the Parliament buildings, was passed through generations because some people saw the problems with the government and wanted to fix it."
"Yes I know all that, thanks for the history lesson, but I want to know why we are in 2048," Rose said in a snippy tone.
'That's not like Rose at all,' the Doctor thought with concern but because Rose still seemed to be holding up quite well, and he didn't want to cut short what would most likely be their last stop for quite a while, he let it slide as he cleared his throat to continue. "Well, there were a few pathetic attempts to follow Guy Fawkes's example a few years in your future (A/N: I'm going with Doctor Who being based in our time, i.e. 2005/2006) but they all fail horribly, mainly because they are poorly thought out. All those people are caught and, later, killed."
The clock on the street chimed 3pm and a large screen flickered to life on the corner visible from all angles in the intersection the Doctor and Rose were standing in. Everyone else stopped around them, including the cars that had been driving by noisily beforehand. An older man, probably in his late 40's or early 50's was sitting at a desk.
"Who's that bloke?" Rose leaned in to ask the Doctor.
"He's the new leader of England. He took power a few years ago, most of it by force and creating fear of his government. Can you say Hitler?" the Doctor said quietly in her ear before straightening and watching the screen avidly. The man on screen looked nervous; he was talking quickly and he was twitching a bit under the left eye. The Doctor cocked his head, what a pathetic man, why would people stick with him? He must have done more to gain power than he originally knew.
The message ended with the man yelling into the screen, 'Strength through unity! Unity through faith! And England will prevail!' before the screen again went dark and people on the streets started hustling along, back to their lives. But everyone the Doctor looked at was tense and nervous, avoiding eye contact with everyone else. 'It's coming,' he thought before he began leading Rose through the crowd of people down an older street filled with exquisite houses on both sides.
Once they were alone again, Rose immediately began spewing questions, "what was he talking about? Why was everyone so nervous and why was everyone listening to him no matter what? What is this 'strength through unity, unity through faith, England prevails' thing? And why are we in 2048?"
The Doctor sighed, "One question at a time Rose. The 'strength through unity' thing is about when the United States was having a civil war and England apparently helped them and fixed it all. And also, when he came into power, that was what he said, trying to bring nationalism and all that rubbish into the politics. Ah, this looks good," he pointed to a rundown house before hopping over the gates and heading towards the door.
He pulled out is screwdriver and pushed open the door after he heard a quiet 'click' of the worn out lock snap open. As he led Rose through the many corridors of the old house, he continued on, "everyone looks very tense and nervous because, firstly, they are completely terrified of their leader, and take a note, that's not good. Also, and this is what he was talking about on the telly earlier, England has been threatened by someone with the codename 'V', who says he will blow up the Parliament buildings tonight at 1 minute after midnight. That is why we are here."
Rose looked at him blankly for a few seconds as she processed everything he had just said and then looked around where they had stopped. They were in a small room with a couch and a relatively plain coffee table sitting in front of it, with little vine-like patterns carved into the legs and edges. There was a thin layer of dust covering everything and double glass doors leading outside on the opposite side of the room.
"I'm starving, can we get something to eat? I've got a major…" she cut herself off but the Doctor didn't need her to finish the sentence.
"You have a headache? Come here, let me check for a fever or anything else," the Doctor sat down on the dusty couch without a second thought and Rose joined him. The alien man brushed the tips of his fingers against Rose's blond hair to get it out of the way before kissing her forehead lightly. After a few seconds he pulled away, blushing lightly. He cleared his throat, "nope, no fever, but we should go back if you have a headache."
"But we're already here! I just need some food, I promise," Rose said with a small smile and the Doctor couldn't help smiling back.
"Okay, okay, fine, we can stay, but if you get any worse I want to know, promise?" The Doctor stared her down until she nodded and he saw raw truth in her chocolate eyes. "Just lie down here and have a rest, I'll go track down some food." He decided he'd find some bank and trick it into giving him some money and then track down a deli or some other food shop nearby. He closed and locked the door quietly as he left the house.
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When the Doctor returned to the house's room attached to the balcony, he heard the clock down the street chime 5pm. Things were moving fast, and it had been nearly impossible to find an open shop, but he had managed to track down some sandwiches and some sugary 'soft drinks'. He set them down on the table but saw that Rose was sound asleep. He checked her temperature but she was still doing well, her body was actually putting up a good fight. He had seen a few people go out because of this illness by this time, and Rose was still only on the first symptoms.
Deciding not to wake her, he walked quietly to the balcony doors and opened them with the help of his screwdriver. He closed the doors again behind him but left a tiny gap so that he could hear if Rose got a coughing fit or called him. The day was very cold and nippy, and some rain clouds were moving in from the west. He looked around the view he had gotten them, close enough to the Parliament buildings to have a close up view, yet far enough away to be safe from debris falling.
The Doctor breathed in deeply, but didn't really enjoy it. There was way too much pollution in the air to really enjoy it, but it was a nice change from the stuffiness of the Tardis. Lost in his own thoughts, he watched life go by until he was startled awake by the clock chiming 7pm. 'Wow, I was out of it for quite a while,' he thought to himself as he stretched and went back inside.
Rose was still asleep and he wanted her to get as much rest as she could so he grabbed his own sandwich and 'soft drink' and headed back outside, leaving Rose's there for when she woke up. He sat down on the rather uncomfortable stone balcony floor as he ate his sandwich in thoughtful silence.
He finished the food quickly and then leaned against the wooden balcony railings, letting his head rest against it as he looked up into the now overcast skies. What would happen if Rose died? He wouldn't be able to go on without her because she made it all worthwhile. He had lost is family, his friends, his home…Rose was all he had left and he wouldn't let anything happen to her. He felt the weather currents shift as he pondered the future (A/N: Irony eh?) and only stirred again when he felt the first refreshing drops of rain fall from the sky.
The clock now chimed 9:15pm and he heard the first signs of preparation from a little ways away. He figured it was the soldiers that he leader would be posting to stop any protesters but left it to follow its own path as he went to wake Rose up. Again, he checked her temperature, and again he sighed in relief at her forehead being the normal temperature.
He gently shook Rose by the shoulder until she moaned and turned over, looking at him through bleary eyes. "Rise and shine sleepy head, you need to eat, the action is starting to pick up," he said quietly before helping her into a sitting position and handing her the sandwich and drink he had grabbed for her. He watched as she ate to make sure she got everything, she needed all the strength she could get.
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Again the clock chimed, 11pm. The rain had stopped and with no sound of the pattering of the rain on the windows and door, both the Doctor and Rose realized that all sound outside the rundown house had evaporated, as if the entire city was being smothered by a blanket. There was no sound of wind, cars, people, nothing stirred in the city as November 5th drew nearer.
The Doctor had let Rose sleep after she had finished eating but now he had woken her up and they were both standing out on the balcony, watching for any activity below and around them to show what was going on. When a particularly cold patch of air surrounded them, Rose began to shiver. Even though she tried to hide it, the Doctor noticed and silently slipped off his worn leather jacket, handing it to her.
She smiled thankfully at him before slipping it over her shoulders and snuggling into it, absorbing all the heat that the coat had in turn absorbed from the Doctor. After watching for a few minutes, he turned back out and watched as a few more soldiers walked in formation down the street beside theirs.
Time seemed to slow down as the seconds and minutes trickled by. As the clock rang out 11:45pm, they heard something nearby. People walking…a lot of people walking. They looked around until they spotted groups of people leaving buildings and streaming onto the now empty roads, all wearing black clothes, a black cape, and Guy Fawkes masks.
Soon the streets were nothing but black rivers of people, all headed for one place, the Parliament buildings. Both Rose and himself were surprised when they heard the commanders call to the soldiers to stand down, but they figured 'V' had it under control, somehow. The masses of people wove their way through the barriers and up around the Parliament buildings.
Five more minutes. The Doctor could practically feel Rose shaking next to him and he subconsciously moved closer to her, offering warmth and comfort. One minute now. Looking around, he knew this was it and felt it was only fair to bring back the history to this day. Taking a deep breath, he slowly began to recite the rhyme created to remember this day, which he had personally witnessed and heard from the owner's mouth when he had watched this happen in 1605.
Remember Remember the fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot
Guy Fawkes Guy, 'twas his intent
To blow up king and parliament
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England's overthrow
By God's mercy he was catched
With a dark lantern and lighted match
Holler boys Holler boys let the bells ring
Holler boys Holler boys God save the King
Rose looked at him but said nothing, her vision snapping back to the Parliament buildings as Big Ben let off the toll of midnight. It was now November 5th. A few seconds went by and it seemed like the whole city was holding its breath, and then it happened.
The Overture began playing loudly through speakers all through the streets as explosions could be seen through the Parliament buildings, starting at the east side and moving westward, the explosions even moving up the towers, taking the whole building in one go. Fireworks joined the firepower, making it truly a sight to never forget. Whoever this 'V' was, he had achieved his goal, hopefully for the better.
The show ended a few minutes later with fireworks spewing up into the dark starry sky, creating a giant letter 'V' with red sparks and a final circle of red incased it before it all twinkled out of life and back down to the ground as the song ended. The Doctor looked to his right to see Rose's reaction and was surprised to not see her. He looked down and cried out in shock as he saw her unconscious on the balcony floor. "Not now Rose, now after all we've been through. Come on, you have to pull through this," he said as he picked up her limp form and quickly made his way back to the Tardis.
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot
I know of no reason why the Gunpowder treason,
Should ever be forgot.
A/N: To everyone who lives in the UK and Europe, sorry if I got any of this wrong. I'll admit that I don't know much about England or anything, I was just kind of, going with what I had heard on Doctor Who and here or there. Correct me if I made any mistakes because I want to know.
A/N2: Another cliffie! I know you'll hate me now, and I'm sorry for the late update, but I'll try to have chapter 5 out next weekend, promise!
A/N3: Sorry, but I just HAD to bring V for Vendetta into this fic, I couldn't help myself. I tried to give background information without giving away too much in case you want to watch the movie yourself. Lots of research went into this chapter though!
A/N4: I hope you liked it, please review. I love hearing your feedback; it makes writing this even more enjoyable than it already is. Also, if there's any spelling issues, let me know and I'll fix it.
Thank you! Talk to you soon!