A/N: HOW BRILLIANT WAS VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED?! Best thing I've seen for a while! I can't wait for series four, it looks amazing! Squee! Squeee! Squeeeeeeee!
And YAY FOR DT ON TOP GEAR! ("What're all these FLASHIN' LIGHTS?!") And YAY FOR DT ON EXTRAS! (Even if was for only thirty seconds, I was in HEAVEN) And YAY FOR DT ON THE WOODEN OVERCOAT! (Are we seeing a pattern yet?) And YAY FOR DT INTERVIEWING KYLIE ("My name's DAVID, by the way!") And YAY FOR KYLIE INTERVIEWING DT! (Honest to God I think one day they'll get it together) And YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! DAVIIIIIIIIIIIID!
Ooo here come my book reviews: I got them today and haven't read The Pirate Loop yet, but Peacemaker, despite having the classic three page long explanation was nerve-wracking and Wishing Well was even better, and a lot of humour content to it :D Go munchkins! Buy, buy, BUY!
Chapter 34 – Break Out
"C'mon daddy, you've got to hold on," he could hear his daughter's voice from next to him with her soothing touch on his shoulder, but it wasn't enough by far to ease the pain. "For me, show Her you're better."
"Can't," the Doctor croaked, lying haphazardly on the cold dungeon floor. He was laid on a broken arm with bruised ribs, his neck was aching from the position it remained in and he was sure he could only feel one of his legs, which seemed to be bending the wrong way at the knee…but he didn't care; he was past caring. Every day She'd try to break him and every day She'd get angry, hurting him before healing him and leaving him for tomorrow. "I can't…d-do this."
"She's on her way daddy, I swear she is, you've just got to hold on for a little longer."
"It's been…t-two weeks Eva…" He moaned softly at a swerve of pain in his skull. "She w-would've already…c-come."
"I'll go and find her then," she said as she rose onto her feet, disappearing in a gleam of golden light, and the Doctor swiftly passed out.
"Two weeks," Rose repeated, staring at the boy she herself had created as he shuffled nervously from foot to foot, finger scratching behind his ear. "You're kiddin' me!"
"I'm sorry mum…" he muttered guiltily.
"You mean he's been here with Her for two-and-a-half weeks?!"
"Well, more like two weeks and two days…" Rory interjected pointlessly, guilty of having wrongly landed the TARDIS as his father so frequently did. She put her head in her hands, anticipating the worse. She could still hear the melody inside her head, so he must be alive…
"Eva?" She suddenly looked up to the ceiling of the TARDIS, as if imploring a God. "Eva? Are you there? Eva?" She noticed the others in the TARDIS were looking at her strangely, but she ignored them. "Eva, please, tell me he's alright?"
After a moment of silence, Mickey stepped forward towards the girl and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Rose, Eva's dead, remember?"
Rose turned and gave him a scowl that almost singed his eyebrows. "I knowshe's dead Mickey but I swear, she came to me and she took me to him and I was notdreamin'!"
Jack stepped forward, prising Mickey from Rose. "Mickey if she said Eva came to her then she did. We're not gonna argue at the beginning of the rescue mission so whatever opinions you might have just shut up and be a good boy, okay?"
Mickey drew back from Jack as if he'd been scalded. "And just who d'you think you are givin' me orders?! What makes you so special?!"
"If you don't wanna listen to me, fine. But let's just save the world and the Doctor first, okay?"
But Mickey was on a roll. "I was with Rose for years! She was mine and we were good, but then hecame along and everythin' went to shit!" He gestured angrily to the Ninth Doctor, who was standing staring at the spectacle before him in silence. "Off she goes with him,leavin' me alone in a back alley of London makin' me feel like nothin'!That's all I am, ain't it? Nothin'!" Years and years of bottled contempt for the Time Lord and human girl was exploding out with an almighty blast. "But then Jumping Jack Flash comes along, does a dance and then he's suddenly into a threesome with you! Why does he get to be with you when I only see you at every possibility I might die?!"
"Mickey…" Rose began, but didn't get very far.
"I might aswell not be here to save him Rose, I owe nothin' to the Doctor because he just barged in and took what he wanted! You never even ended our relationship, just suddenly announced you were pregnant and you're off in the sunset with him again! I've tried so hard to ignore it for so long Rose but this is where we end. This is me breakin' up with you, good bye forever."
He turned, and disappeared out the TARDIS doors.
There was a brief moment of silence before Jack was the first to speak:
"He does know that's Scotland out there, doesn't he?"
"Congratulations Mr. Harkness, you have managed to grow a brain," Jill said in a deadpan voice, staring vacantly at the TARDIS doors to which Mickey had just passed through. "A revolution in science don't you think? You could use it for the empire."
Although Jack knew she was purposelytrying to wind him up he could help but snap back a retort, "hey, you're right. I could use clones of my brain to fill your empty UNIT heads." Jill opened her mouth to reply but found herself cut off by Rose.
"Guys, I hate to admit it but Jack's right. We can't lose ourselves over Mickey, not now. We'll worry about him later. Let's just find the Doctor first, okay?"
Fourteen people, a robot dog and a Delorion all signalled an affirmative back at her.
"Good, then let's go," she said with a smile, turning towards the TARDIS doors and passing through one, before Eva suddenly appeared right infront of her. She staggered back in shock, backing straight into Jack who caught her in surprise.
"Rose wha…" he began, but then saw the girl. His jaw promptly hit the floor. "Oh."
"Eva!" Rose said in delight after the shock had cleared, bounding forward as the others filed out behind her. "You're here!"
She nodded, grabbing her mother's arm and pulling her into the clearing. "You need to see daddy," she said straight, "he's giving up on you."
"How is he?"
"Alive."
Rose frowned. "And…?"
"Alive. Please mummy, you need to speak to him."
"How do I do that?"
Eva rested her hands on her mother's head, fingers on temples like the Doctor did when he was looking inside someone's mind. "Just let go." So she did, already knowing how it worked.
Rose was back in the Dreamworld once more, opening her eyes to a sight she had hoped not to see again, at least for a while. There was the Doctor infront of her, but he…he…
"Doctor?" Rose asked tentively, moving forward and dropping to her knees beside his unconscious form. She tried to check for life signs, forgetting she was just a dream. She screamed in frustration, hitting her hands repeatedly on the floor where the image of her Doctor lay, bloodied, bruised and broken.
She felt a presence step up behind her, but already knew it was Eva.
"Is he dead?" she asked in a broken voice, fearing the worst for her husband.
"No."
Rose breathed a sigh of relief, turning her attentions to him. "Doctor, I'm here. Please wake up."
"She's coming," Eva suddenly said, taking hold of her mother's arm and pulling her away from the Doctor's prone body to the corner. "She doesn't know we're here."
Rose nodded, keeping quiet as she heard the dungeon door click open and She stepped through. Instantly Rose felt a mounting temptation to jump forward and strangle Her for everything She'd done to her husband, but she bottled it up and forced herself to watch.
"One day Doctor, one day you'll love me," She whispered, dropping to Her knees and extending both hands over his body, the familiar purple aura healing everything She'd past inflicted. She finished, pausing for a moment to watch his face. He didn't rouse, so She turned and left the room.
Rose waited for a few seconds before she ran forward, fingers passing through his skin now fully healed.
"Wake up Doctor, now's your chance!" she urged, noticing She'd left the door open accidentally. "Doctor, speak to me…"
His eyelids fluttered open, and Rose breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's okay Doctor, I'm here…"
Silently he lifted his right hand to touch her, but it passed straight through her apparition. The disappointment on his face was heart breaking.
"No, you're not," he said straight, closing his eyes once again.
"No Doctor, stay with me, we're on our way I swear we are, Rory just landed a little off but we're coming to you now. And look…" He opened his eyes and saw the open dungeon door she was pointing at. "You can escape. Please Doctor, you got to try this."
With a grunt he pushed himself onto two hands, eventually dragging to his feet. She smiled gently at him, reaching her arms around his apparent form pretending she was taking him into a hug.
"We're close, just head south. We've got a tracker so we'll find you and take you back to the TARDIS."
"How did you get…" the Doctor began but Eva cut him off, taking her mother's arm.
"We have to go, She's going to detect us!"
Rose nodded, wanting to face the Woman herself right now but knowing Eva would be in danger if she did.
"See you in a few minutes," Rose said with a smile, and the Doctor watched as she disappeared in a shimmer of bright light. Turning back towards the door he stepped out into the corridor, glancing both ways to check for any purple dresses barring the way. Clear. He was vaguely reminded of back in the TARDIS when he'd played Armies with Rory – felt so long ago now.
He began to move down the corridor, not entirely sure where he was going but having a pretty good nose for direction. He found himself out of the dungeon and onto the lower levels with ease, navigating his way carefully through the numerous amounts of corridors. He encountered no one, and thought himself quite lucky in that respect. She probably would have found him gone by now; he was working on a time bomb.
So he was surprised when he found himself on the outside of the castle completely unscathed and unseen. She must've forgotten about the open door. Shrugging, he let a smile spread onto his face before he ran down the gardens, swimming through the moat before clambering out the other side and disappearing into the forest to find the rescue party.