A/N: Hey dudes, so sorry about not updating for so long, however university, unfourtunately takes precedence, that, plus a seemingly ongoing case of writers block have led to a very long delay. Anyways for those of you who are still interested, here's the second to last chapter.
Silently the Doctor left the warehouse, heading for the TARDIS. Only when he was safely inside his beloved ship did he allow his own tears to fall. Taking a deep breath he angrily brushed his hand across his face before moving to the controls of the TARDIS.
Only Rose looked up as the familiar sound of the TARDIS began in the warehouse. Jack had not moved from where he knelt next to Bria's body, she wasn't even sure if he had noticed the Doctor's departure. The door opened and the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, pausing to gather as much composure as he could muster.
Carefully, Rose and the Doctor approached Jack. Rose knelt beside him. "Jack?" She felt him shudder as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Jack? We should go."
"I don't want to leave her."
"You don't have to." The Doctor had stepped forwards. "We'll take her in the TARDIS; find a place of rest to take her to." Jack nodded, not meeting the Doctor's eyes.
The Doctor moved towards him, reaching out his arms to lift Bria, but Jack flinched away. "No! I'll take her." Slowly, he got up, sliding his arms under Bria's body as he did so. Slowly, the three companions moved towards the TARDIS.
The Doctor led the others through the winding corridors of the TARDIS; finally he came to the right room and opened the door. The room was calming, soft lights moving and changing over cream walls, he had asked the TARDIS to make it ready, and saw that his beloved ship had done as he asked. There was a raised block in the centre, draped in black velvet; a few chairs were near the block. Candles floated in glass bowls of water.
Jack entered the room, and after looking around briefly, gently laid Bria's body on the block. Without a word to the others he sat in one of the chairs, his eyes never leaving Bria's face. Silently, Rose and the Doctor backed out of the room.
As they entered the control room, Rose spun round to face the Doctor. "Why didn't you save her?"
"I couldn't." The Doctor turned away.
"Why not? You healed those scars and that bruise, why not that wound?"
Now it was the Doctor's turn to get angry. "You don't think I wanted to save her? You think I wanted to stand there and watch her die? I couldn't save her because she wouldn't let me. Bria knew that she had to die, she was ready to." He turned away again, leaning on the controls of his ship.
Rose shook her head. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I just can't believe she's gone."
"I know." The whisper was barely audible. Rose moved towards him, he turned and they held each other, grieving silently.
Later that night, Rose was unable to sleep, she had dealt with death before, watched as people like Gwyneth the servant girl had sacrificed themselves, but this time it seemed different. Getting up, she moved towards the kitchen.
Entering the room, she was unsurprised to find the Doctor there sitting at the table. Rose recognized the wooden box that Bria had produced the drawing of Elysium from sitting in front of him. Moving closer, Rose saw that it was filled with various bits of paper, which the Doctor was sorting into piles.
She sat down beside him and picked up one of the piles of paper, it was all sketches, landscapes and other pictures of what Rose guessed to be a changing Britain, each labeled with a date. Other pictures were of various people, men and women, some drawn like Elysium, just head and shoulders, others drawn in action, using various weapons, under each of these was a name and a date. Rose put down the pile and picked up another, it was made up of various news clippings, each one detailing how a body had been found, each and every one with terrible wounds. Rose guessed these were all the Vrexians who had fallen.
Absorbed in the papers, Rose jumped when the Doctor gasped. Looking up she saw him holding two sheets of paper, one had clearly been torn from a book.
"Doctor, what is it?" Wordlessly he handed her the page, Rose looked at it.
True destruction of a Correllix clan can only be achieved by one method. During the time of the ritual to destroy the last member of a race, the bone spike of the clan leader must be smeared with the heart blood of a Vrexian. This is difficult to achieve as the Correllix leader will never voluntarily strike a Vrexian through the heart. As Vrexians are the sworn enemies of the Correllix, there has never yet been one who will not gladly give up their life for the destruction of a Correllix clan.
Rose looked at the Doctor. "This looks like a page from that book we were looking at before."
"It is she must have taken it while we were out of the room, Bria wasn't on the verge of finding something; she had found something. That's why she convinced us to let her give herself up."
"What's that?" Rose gestured to the other bit of paper.
"It's the location of what looks like a resting place run by Vrexian's for those killed in battle. It's where we're heading next." Carefully he began to gather the papers back into the box before going to set the controls of the TARDIS for their next destination.
A/N: well there ya have it, please review.