For a single moment in the eternity of the Universe everything froze. Suns ceased to expand, Stars stalled in their birth, planets paused in their orbits, and life simply stopped.
On the third planet, that circles a single sun, in a galaxy no different from the millions of others that teamed with life throughout the expansion of stars, a battle raged, and with this battle rested the fabric of time.
In her mind Ella screamed in rage at the power that contaminated her very essence. She understood what the power wanted, but she knew to grant the demand would mean death to everything. Yet, to not grant would mean her own demise into the unknown.
I am the light and the darkness. I am the truth and the lie. I am life through death. I am the Oncoming Storm. I am the Bad Wolf. I am the abomination.
Thoughts, those not her own escaped before she could wrestle control back from the power. Alone, weakening, and afraid she struggled to regain her balance. Gradually she began to loose ground to the power. It overwhelmed her already strained and shattered defenses forcing her to retreat further into her subconscious. Around her the power flared and rose up tearing through her shields like a sword through flesh.
She was power. She was might. She was Time itself. She held the Universe in the palm of her hand and with a single thought she could rip it from existence. She could sweep a hand across the vastness of stars and erase everything that had ever been, everything that would ever be, and everything that is. She played, like an uncaring child, roughly with the power she controlled. She was everything.
No! You are Ella Tyler, and you need to stop this now before it's too late!
Ella Tyler? Familiar emotions floated up from the depths of her mind. Yes, she knew that name. Yes, she knew the one who spoke it. For a brief moment the power faded and the one known as Ella screamed in defiance. But the power pushed and Ella fell.
I am the past, the future, the present. I am what I was created to be.
She was Iella, the child born of Time. The one meant to unwind the tapestry of all. She was death. She was life. She was the Creator. She was the Destroyer. She was power.
There-the power that called to her, pleading for release, around her mortal body wind tore at her sending shards of gravel and sand into her skin. Power built, singing in her psyche. Then with a simple twist of her mind the scar ripped open and power engulfed her. Within her something screamed in terror as the part that was Ella was overtaken as one-by-one her barriers fell.
I am the light and the darkness. I am the truth and the lie. I am life through death. I am the Oncoming Storm. I am the Bad Wolf. I am the abomination.
She was all this and more. She was invincible. She was…in pain.
The power faded as blackness overtook her mind. Pain now controlled her. Pain now released her. Pain was her savior, and in her last thought she begged she would never wake.
The world stood silent. Pausing in time to regain the breath torn away by the storm that had so recently held the world in its iron grip. Around, lightening flashed as residual energy coursed across the sky. Slowly, gradually the world let out a breath and the clouds above broke allowing a light drizzle to fall and disperse the last of the built up power.
Below the falling rain, kneeling on the rough concrete of the Millennium Center a figure clutched another hidden among the shadows. A third figure stood apart, almost as if afraid to intrude on the shadows. Even the now falling rain wouldn't draw the figures from the spot.
Jack glanced behind as he heard running footsteps approaching and held an arm out to stall Owen's rush forward. "Just wait."
Owen shook his wet hair from his face. "What the hell happened Jack?"
Jack sighed, "I wish I knew, at least nothing came through the Rift."
"That we know of." Owen added. "How long are you going to leave him there?"
Jack was about to answer when the shadow suddenly moved and lifted the one he clutched into his arms. "Owen treat her and then I want her in a containment cell." Jack turned
"He's not going to like that."
Jack spun on his heels. "I don't give a damn what he likes. Until I know what the hell is going on she's to be considered dangerous." Owen nodded, "I want a report ASAP."
"Do what I can." Owen replied obscenely as his attention turned to the girl in the Doctor's arms.
Jack's blue eyes caught the Doctor brown and held them for a moment and the silent message passed. He did what he had to do, the Doctor understood, there would be time for sorting later. Jack held the Doctor's eyes until he was lowered into the dome of the Hub and then and only then did he start to shake.
XYZ
"What the hell?" Tosh blinked in confusion at the new readings that scrawled across her screen. "It's stopped."
"What do you mean stopped?" Gwen asked as she came up behind Tosh. "Two seconds ago it was ready to rip itself apart."
"I know. It's like someone went and flipped a breaker or something." Tosh typed some commands into the computer. "Power readings are normal. It's like nothing happened."
Gwen reached over and flipped on the CCTV feed. "Oh it happened." She shook her head at the current condition of the Millennium Center. "Owen's on his way back down." She commented as she watched him go running past the cameras.
Tosh mumbled a reply as she focused her attention on the program she was running. "Well, if anything came through it wasn't in our time line."
"That's a mixed blessing." Martha said as she entered the control center. "One less thing to worry about at any rate." She turned as she heard the lift descending behind her. "Bloody hell!" She rushed forward as the lift touched down and the Doctor stepped off with Ella clutched in his arms. "What the hell happened?" She demanded as she ripped open Ella's shirt and quickly applied pressure to the wound.
Gwen hastily handed Martha a sterile dressing from the first aid pack. "How bad is it?"
"I don't know yet." She leaned Ella forward slightly to glance at her back. "Through-and through, at least the bullets out." She applied a dressing to the exit wound as well. "Doctor?" She glanced up at him.
The Time Lord stood stock still, his face impassive, his eyes burning. "Just help her." His voice was calm, and Martha knew from past experience that he was holding back the storm. Gently he passed Ella over into Martha's arms. "I trust you." He turned and brushed past Owen as he exited the main entrance and headed back above ground.
"Right," Martha turned and headed to medical with her charge followed by Owen. "It looks like it missed most of the vital vessels and tissues." She absently commented as she settled Ella on the exam table and gently removed the dressings. "Bullet's out so no worries there, and the bleeding in under control now." She glanced up at Owen. "I can handle this. Just get her stitched up and back into bed."
Owen leaned back against the white wall. "Sorry its patch her up and into a containment cell."
"What?" Martha's eyes flashed in anger.
"Orders," Owen pushed off the wall and walked over examining the injury himself. "Jack wants her confined until we figure out what the hell is going on."
"She's just a kid."
"And she damn well nearly tore the Rift open!" Owen reined in his temper. "Look I'll take care of this, why don't you go and help the civilians up top." He pulled on a pair of sterile gloves.
"No," Martha stood her ground. "The Doctor asked me to take care of her and I'll be damned if I'll let you take that trust from me." She reached over and picked up the suture and hemostats.
"Fine," Owen raised his hands in surrender. "So long as she ends up where she's supposed to I don't care."
Martha ignored him as she bent her attention to the task at hand.
XYZ
With a sigh of relief Jack finally turned away from the last of the local law enforcement teams that had been sent in to help with the clean up. He nodded to Ianto, who was currently filling in the mass of press that had arrived with his usual calm manner. So far the cover story of an unknown explosive device was working and luckily no civilian causalities were reported. The damage was going to take time to clean up, and he wouldn't be surprised if the Prime Minister was already on the phone demanding answers that Jack just didn't have.
Something about this whole situation wasn't adding up in Jack's mind. Yes he knew Ella was telepathic, hell she was speaking with her mind before she could actually talk, he smiled fondly at the memory, but she had never been extremely strong at it. In fact the Doctor had once commented that his people would have considered her pretty much "mind-deaf" and aside from the mental link she had to the TARDIS and him, she was extremely limited on her abilities. So Jack needed answers, and he knew whom he could get them from. Now all he had to do was find the Doctor.
He managed approximately six more steps before he saw the object of his current search approaching him. He motioned the Doctor over to one of the command posts that had been set up by the local police and quickly cleared the tent of occupants. He watched the Doctor as he entered and held back a shiver at the blood that coated the front of his suit. Jack had seen the look on the Doctor's face only once before, and he had hoped he would never have had to see it again. Last time they thought Rose was dead and someone else was the victim of that look. This time it was Jack.
"Doctor…"
"Don't." His voice was hard, "you're not sorry, and I don't want to hear what excuse you thought up."
Jack crossed his arms. "Actually I don't apologize for doing my job. As for excuses you didn't give me much of a choice in what I had to do. Someone had to stop her and you didn't, so it was up to good ol' Uncle Jack to do it."
"I would have stopped her, if you had given me another second…"
"Another second and she would have ripped the planet apart." Jack took a step forward, "I had a choice stop one or let her kill an entire planet. Choice was pretty simple"
"There. Was. Another. Way." The Doctor stepped forward with each word, his anger building. "
Jack stood his ground. "Then what where you waiting for?"
The Doctor blinked as he processed the question. "She would have stopped." Even to him the statement sounded false.
"Well you see Doc, I'm not so sure about that." He held up a hand stalling any comments. "Can you look me in the eye and swear that she would have let go if I hadn't fired? From where I was standing she wasn't backing down, and I don't give a shit about their being another way." He locked the Doctor with his blue eyes. "Whatever you had planed didn't work, did it." Jack watched as emotions flashed across the Doctor face, anger…guilt…fear…all so fast that if he had not been paying attention he would have missed it and then like someone released a valve the tension snapped. "Doctor…"
"Something's happening Jack." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before tugging at an ear. "And I have no idea what it is."
Jack leaned back against a table waiting for the Doctor to continue.
"It's like something's gone and super charged her telepathy." He spun and began pacing. "A month ago she couldn't even call me from across the TARDIS, now she can block out every trick I know with shields that I should be able to fracture through without even breaking into a sweat." He turned on his heel and paced in the other direction.
"So how could her mind be…what did you say? Super charged?"
The Doctor reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his glasses, a habit Jack had long ago teamed up with the Doctor's lecture mode. "Think of the brain like an organic computer of sorts. Now one part gets damaged it will simply shunt factions to another. Now when I say simply I mean it takes months sometimes years for the brain to relearn how to, lets say, hold a screwdriver," And with that he pulled out the Sonic screwdriver and held it up. "Right now my brain knows that I need to contract or relax certain muscles in order to make my fingers work and grip the screwdriver, but if something happens and that pathway is damaged or gets rerouted then, "He opens his fingers and lets the screwdriver fall. "My fingers don't know what to do."
Jack shook his head "Umm…Doc what's this got to do with Ella?"
"I'm getting there." He leaned over and picked up the Sonic Screwdriver. "Humans use less then half the capacity of their brain tissue, which is a sad thing all that wonderful brain power just sitting there with nothing to do. Explains why some people hear voices." He shook himself. "The point is that it should be impossible for Ella to suddenly be capable of doing what she just did."
"Even though she's half Gallifreyan?"
"Even a Time Lord has to relearn things after major brain damage Jack, we're not indestructible, we just happen to do it faster then you humans and with more finesse." He pulled his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose. "But that's not the point. The point is, Ella would have required at least a year if not longer for her brain to rewire itself and even then the amount of power she was shunting through her should have pretty much toasted every synapse she has." He shuddered at the thought.
"So what could have caused this to happen the way it did with the results it had?"
"Honestly Jack," The Doctor looked him straight in the eye. "I have no idea. It's like something went and rewired her mind then just tossed an on switch and it all started working." He put his glasses back on and scratched the back of his neck. "It should be impossible, but who am I to argue with what I just saw?"
Jack snorted. "Usually the first in line." Jack thought for a moment. "You said that the change has to recent right." The Doctor nodded. "When did you first notice something different about Ella?"
The Doctor scratched his hair as he thought. "Well she's always a bit different Jack, but if you're talking different different then it was right after Bad Wolf Bay and when she found that book." He paused eyes widening at sudden inspiration. "That's it!"
"What's it?"
The Doctor ran over and gripped Jack's shoulders. "Don't you get it Jack? The book it's a psychic sponge remember? It absorbs and releases psychic energy, Ella was melded with the book when I found her, there was enough energy in the room to power the TARDIS which means more then enough to blow open every psychic channel in her mind in a matter of minutes." He jumped away nearly dancing with joy of solving the mystery. "Don't you see Jack? The book is the key to everything!"
"So how do we stop it?" Jack asked.
The Doctor's wide grin faded and his mouth snapped shut as he bounced on his feet. "Stop it? Right forgot about that." He scratched the back of his head. "Can I get back to you?"
Jack shook his head. "You get me the answer and I'll do anything I can to help, but until then Doc Ella's a threat and she's going to be contained."
"What?" The Doctor's eyes flashed with renewed anger. "If your so worried I'll just take her to the TARDIS and…"
"No," He pulled himself up to his full height. "She's to dangerous and I'm not going to take a chance of you disappearing with her, when you've already proven you can not stop her." He watched as the Doctor clenched and unclenched his hands waiting for the inevitable argument. What he wasn't expecting was the Doctor to suddenly relax and nod.
"Thank you."
Jack blinked and suddenly felt as if he had stepped into a completely different conversation. "For what?"
"You're right." He tiredly leaned against a convent table. "I couldn't stop her Jack. I couldn't even break through for a second."
Jack stepped forward and placed a hand on the other man's shoulder. "I know Doc, and believe me if I had another way I wouldn't have shot her." He looked down at the now dried blood that coated the Doctors shirtsleeve, yet another demon to haunt his dreams, when he let himself have them that is.
"I know Jack, I know." The Doctor smiled sadly at the Captain and pulled his glasses off at put them back into his pocket. "You did what had to be done, what I couldn't do." He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling tired beyond his years. "I just hope we find an answer, because next time I don't think anything short of killing her is going to stop this."
XYZ
Martha expression was enough to let Jack know she was far from pleased with the current situation. He simply brushed past her and headed to his office, well aware of the anger in the footsteps following him, and was glad he had managed to leave the Doctor elsewhere. He winced as the door slammed shut and with a heavy sigh sank into his chair and regarded the woman in front of him waiting.
Martha stepped forward and laid her hands on his desk, locking her angry on his face. "You had better have a bloody good reason why she's in a containment cell and not in my medical ward."
"If I said yes would it actually make a difference?" He flashed her his most charming smile.
"Damn it Jack!" She slammed a fist down hard. "I don't have time for your games. I need my patient released and where I can keep an eye on her not locked up like some animal!"
Jack leaned back in his chair and calmly asked. "What's her current condition?"
Martha blinked. "She's locked up in a cell how the hell do you think she is?"
"Medically."
Martha pushed herself off the desk and crossed her arms. "Medically," She spat. "She's sustained a gun shot wound to her left shoulder," She paused glaring at Jack. "Your doing I suspect. Fortunately the bullet missed the vital tissues and she should heal up fine."
"So medically she's stable?"
"Physically yes, mentally I don't know yet." She sank down into a chair.
Jack leaned forward resting his elbows on the desk. "And that's exactly why she's in a cell and not where she can wander off again."
"The Doctor is not going to like this." She stood and moved towards the door.
"Actually he agreed with me." He smiled as she spun around. He caught her eyes with his and in the tone he saved for times when no one would question him he spoke. "Ella is where she needs to be, you said yourself medically she's stable, and until I know exactly what the hell is controlling her she is considered a threat."
"Jack she's just a kid…"
"Who very nearly ripped the Rift open," His tone allowed no room for argument. "I suggest you follow your orders and drop this now."
Martha glared at him. "Yes sir," She growled out snapped him a salute and walked out slamming the door behind her.
XYZ
Awareness slammed into her like a punch in the gut. Her eyes shot open scanning the barren space around her, a simple hard mattress that she was lying on, dark smooth walls and ceiling, no windows, dim lighting, and a clear glass barricade between her and freedom. Confusion slunk its way up into her conscious thoughts as her last memories of falling asleep in the medical ward surfaced, followed by the sense of disembodiment as events flashed through her mind that she had no recognition of being part of.
She remembered power. She remembered her father's voice. She remembered pain. She remembered nothing more until this moment. Slowly she pulls herself up feels the tug of something across her shoulder and chest. A quick glance down shows her a clean dressing. In the far corner sat a meal with cutlery, obviously someone had added a few comforts to her cell.
"Ella?"
Her head shoots up at the sound of the voice. Slowly she pulls herself off the bed and walks over to the glass partition that separated her from him. She placed a hand on the cold unfeeling wall and watched as he placed his opposite hers.
Brown eyes met brown and she let all her fear and pain show. "Why?"
It was a simple question and one he had expected of her, but he found himself fighting the urge to skate around the truth of what had happened. "It's only temporary, I promise, until we find out what happened." He smiled softly at her.
"I don't understand." She shook her head, confusion evident in her eyes. "What happened?"
The Doctor sighed and stood silent for a moment as he debated how much to tell her. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I was sleeping…no." She stopped glancing down at the floor, "I was outside. You were there and Jack." She looked back up at the Doctor her face hardening, her eyes narrowing. "You stopped me."
The Doctor pulled his hand back in shock at the sudden change in Ella demeanor. Gone was the frightened girl and in her place stood someone he didn't recognize despite the fact that she looked at him with his daughter's eyes and face. "Who are you?"
She laughed, a laugh that none would call sane. "Who am I?" She titled her head slightly. "You know who I am."
He shook his head and grabbed the sonic screwdriver from his pocket, scanning her quickly through the glass. "Impossible."
"Impossible?" She pushed back from the glasses and pointed at him. "This from the man who claims to do impossible before breakfast." She stood in the center of her cell arms spread wide, ignoring the pull and tare on her shoulder. "The mighty Doctor can't believe what he sees." She took a step forward. Arms dropping to her sides "Or is it won't?"
"You're not Ella."
"No," She smiled, twisted, chilling. "I am so much more."
The Doctor's eyes turned hard as he regarded the stranger before him. "You opened the Rift." It wasn't a question. "Your using Ella as a conductor for the energy."
"Oh nothing so simple as that." Her smile fell. "I will make right what was put wrong. I will correct your mistake."
The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "Could you be a bit more specific? Over 900 years-old you know and made a lot of mistakes."
"Rose."
One word froze his hearts. "No," He stepped up to the glass. "If you do that you'll create a paradox. I can't allow that." His tone cold, his eyes hard.
She laughed again. "And who will stop me? You?" She gave him a pouting look. "Could you truly harm your Ella?"
"Do not push me."
"No, you do not push me!" She took another step. "I am power." Step. "I am life and death." Step. "I am everything that you can not be." Step. "I am the means to the end." Step. "I am Iella Nu Dedonoren." Step. "And you can not stop me."
The Doctor calmly caught her eyes with his. "I give you only one warning." He placed his hand on the glass. "Ella, stop this." For a moment he watched as her eyes cleared and he saw the spark that was his Ella. "Please stop this."
"I…"She shook her head. "No."
He watched as the small flicker that was Ella vanished. "Stop this. Or I will stop you." He turned and walked away without looking back, leaving the girl that was his daughter yet not her alone in her prison.
XYZ
With a sob Ella slowly sank down to the cold hard floor as she watched the figure of her father disappear into the shadows of the corridor. Alone. Lost she allowed the tears to flow down her cheeks as the voice in her mind laughed and stabbed at her already shredded confidence.
Poor little Ella. Daddy can't fix it this time. He can't stop me.
"Shut-up." Ella whispered as she slowly rocked back and forth. "Leave me alone."
Oh no I can't do that. I am you.
Ella clutched at her head. "No, you're not me. You're not me."
But I am. I am more you then you are. I am what you are supposed to be. I am what you deny yourself. You cannot exist without me. You are nothing without me.
"That's not true."
Isn't it? What do you think you could do without me? The voice taunted. You would never have the strength to take a single step without me.
"I could stop you." Ella froze her tears drying on her cheeks. "I could end this right here, right now."
The voice laughed. You? The girl who is too afraid to step out of Daddy's shadow? How do you think you can stop me?
Ella slowly stood. "I have to stop this." She turned and faced the camera in the corner. "I'm sorry." A single tear fell down her cheek as she turned away from the camera.
Wait. You can't! I won't let you!
Ella laughed as she slowly raised her wrist. "I won't let you force him to choose."
In her mind the voice screamed as Ella forced it into the back of her conscious thought. You can't stop me!
"Yes I can!" Without second thought she reached over and grabbed the knife from the uneaten meal that had been left for her and without time for second thoughts slashed through both wrists.
NO!
"Yes," Ella watched as the blood slowly flowed down her wrists, almost as if it was someone else's blood, not her own flowing from the jagged wounds. Calmly she walked over to the glass, a red stream following her path.
You have only delayed what must come to pass.
Ella felt her control slipping as the voice gained control of her body. As she watched her fingers swirled the blood upon the glass the geometric patterns forming words to her tattered mind.
Gradually the room blurred and she lowered her head to the concrete ground. She watched as the red river spread across the floor as a feeling of contentment passed over her.
"I'm sorry." She called out to a familiar mind one last time as her eyes drifted shut. "I love you."
In her mind the voice laughed.
And around her the red river flowed.
XYZ
Martha Jones was in heaven, or at least she had been. Until approximately 2.7 seconds ago she had been laying on a pristine white beach with the sun shining warmly on her and her very own Greek Adonis reciting poetry to her. So there she was lounging, quite happily thank you, in a hammock gently swaying in the breeze, sipping at wine and breathing the clean crisp air when suddenly her Greek Adonis starts sounding a lot like the Doctor and she smells coffee.
She slowly cracks an eye open and glares at the all to cheerful face staring at her and waving a mug of coffee under her nose. "I swear," She raised her head up off the conference table that she had some how managed to fall asleep on. "You do that just to annoy me." She grabbed the mug of coffee from him and sipped at it.
The Doctor flashed her a hurt look. "Me?" He flopped down in a chair and grinned. "Annoy someone? Never."
Martha snorted and sat the mug on the table. "You woke me up for a reason I hope."
"Oh right," He pulled at an earlobe and his cheerful expression faded. "I just saw Ella."
"Right, I wanted to talk to you about that." She flashed him an angry glare. "She injured, scared, and tittering on the edge of her sanity and you go and let Jack lock her up?!" She pushed back from the table and stood up. "She needs to be where she feels safe, not locked in a cell like she's some…some…thing!"
"She's not Ella anymore."
"I sear if you don't do something about this right-" She paused. "Wait, what did you say?"
The Doctor looked down at his hands and gave a small shudder. "I said she's not Ella anymore."
"Alright," Martha slowly sat back down raining in her anger. "I'm listening."
He ran a hand through his hair. "She's where she needs to be right now Martha. I don't know what she is capable of at this point and I won't risk her playing games with the Rift again."
"If that's what you call a game, I hate to see her serious."
"That's just it Martha." He reached out and placed a hand on top of hers. "It was a game to her, still is." He looked her straight in the eye. "And she intends to win."
"So what can we do?"
"Right now, nothing." He pulled his hand back and sighed. "Until I figure out exactly what's controlling her I won't be able to stop it."
"Right." Martha pushed herself up and headed for the door. "We won't get answers sitting here talking about it will we?" She turned and flashed a smile at the Doctor. "Well come on."
The Doctor grinned back and jumped up from his seat. "Nothing better then a good conundrum to get the synapses moving again."
Martha nodded and swung back towards the door jumping back in time to avoid it as Owen slammed it open. "Blimey, little warning next time Owen."
"Sorry," He shot half-heartedly. "Look we don't have time for pleasantries, both of you need to come now."
"What? Found something you can't handle on your own?" Martha teased.
Owen growled shoved past the two of them and flicked some switches on the monitor. The Doctor's smiled quickly faded as the image appeared. Martha's hand found its way up and covered her mouth. Owen turned back to them his expression grim. "Now will you get your asses moving?!"
Without a second word all three ran out the door.
XYZ
There were few things left in the world that Jack Harkness found uncomfortable. After over a hundred years of wandering Earth and time and space before that, he had developed a pretty good defense for situations he found himself in, but for some reason this one scene sent chills through his bones.
The cell's normal gray appearance was painted with streaks of drying blood on walls and the glass. The former occupant had already been removed for what treatment Martha and Owen could do, but the bleak mood of the room remained intact. Jack quietly walked towards the center of the cell, careful not to disturb the current occupant.
Gone was the long brown coat and suit jacket, his white shirt sleeves pulled up to his elbow, glasses perched in his matted hair. His face was a mask of concentration, his eyes closed, brow creased, fingers gently touching his temples, and sitting on the blood-coated floor was the damn cause of ever headache Jack had had for the last week.
At this point Jack was tempted to take the book and tosses it into the incinerator, but even by doing that there was no way of knowing if it would stop what was happening. In fact it might even make things worse since Ella apparently was connected to the thing.
"You know," The Doctor cracked an eye open. "If your going to stand you could at least go get some tea."
Jack blinked "Tea?"
"Oh yes! Love some." The Doctor grinned as he dropped his fingers from his temple and regarded Jack. "Curse everything tea does, from a cough to a neuro implosion." He paused, "Well not everything didn't do much for dandruff now that I think about it." He absently scratched his hair and caught Jack's confused look. "Wha?" He looked down at the book. "Oooo…right that."
"Yeah that," Jack nudged the book with his foot. "Did your little Vulcan mind-meld do anything?"
"Actually Jack the Vulcan's aren't telepathic at all in fact they have tiny-itty-bitty little brains." He pulled his glasses down onto his nose and picked up the book. "As for this, well the good news is that it's not currently active."
"And the bad?" Jack asked as he reached out a hand and pulled the Doctor to his feet. "With you there's always a bad." He added when the Doctor flashed him a look.
"Welllll…its not bad in the sense that its bad bad, its more like kinda bad, or maybe its not so bad that its bad bad." He pulled at his ear and took a deep breath. "It's Ella's consciousness in their Jack."
Jack stared at the book in shock. "Ella? And you're saying it's not bad?!" Jack flung an arm behind him motioning to the blood covered walls. "You call this not bad?!"
"No," The Doctor lost all of his normal giddiness and his voice was calm…level. "I call this a message."
Jack snorts. "One hell of a message there Doc." He glanced over the geometric shapes. "So what's it say?"
"It's a play on a Gallifreyan nursery rhyme that I taught Ella when she was little." He glanced over the runes. "It's the same pattern, but the words are wrong." He blinked rescanned the runes then quickly opened the book. "It's the same."
"Care to enlighten those of us in the room that can't read Gallifreyan."
"I don't need to" He handed Jack to book. "Read it for yourself."
One step...two step...three step...four
The Wolf has made it through the door
Five step...six step...seven...eight
The Lonely God, no longer waits.
Nine…and ten...eleven...twelve
The Wolf returns where once she dwelled.
Thirteen...fourteen...Now has come
The Wolf and the Wonderer shall be one
Fifteen...sixteen. No more wait
What the world divides. I remake.
Seventeen…eighteen…Wait and see
The circle comes back round to me.
Nineteen…stones upon the path
The future lies within the past
Twenty…Stop
No time to waste.
Walk the path
Go find your fate.
"Ella wrote this?" Jack glanced from the walls to the book. "I thought you said the book wasn't active." He slammed the book shut.
"Its not." He plucked the book from Jack's hands. "All that was is a projection of the last mental contact." He glanced back at the runes. "Jack, she's trying to fight it. Whatever it is. She's trying and she's loosing." He winced when he felt Jack's hand on his shoulder.
"We won't let anything happen to her."
The Doctor took a deep shaking breath. "We may not have a choice Jack."
Jack opened his mouth to respond, but paused as his comm unit beeped for his attention. "Harkness." He frowned and nodded to himself before cutting the connection. "She's patched up and in an empty containment cell."
With one last look at the walls he spun on his heels and headed out of the cell, pausing long enough to hand Jack the book. "Lock this up Jack."
"I will," His eyes flashed over the Doctor's face. "I need to know Doctor, can you do it?" He locked his blue eyes onto the Doctor's brown.
The Doctor matched Jack stare-for-stare, his eyes hard, empty. "I won't let the Universe be destroyed Jack, and I won't let her die either. He spun around and stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled into the shadows.
Jack sighed and shook his head. "You may not have a choice Doctor."
XYZ
Wakey…wakey…poor little time baby. Cockadoodldo!
"Leave me alone."
Awwww, don't you love me anymore?
Ella took a deep breathe as the voice laughed in her mind. She had hoped to never wake up again after the darkness had claimed her, but here she was alive, breathing, and in an empty cell. Oh, they made sure she wouldn't be able to try and take matters into her own hands again. She had woke surrounded by nothing more then the cold gray walls dressed in a plain pair of Martha's surgical scrubs, her wrists wrapped in bandages and her feet in a pair of slippers, not even something as simple as a pillow to sit on. She was alone, completely and utterly alone, for the first time in her life the constant contact she had with her father and the TARDIS was silent. It left a gaping hole in her mind, and it was there that the voice was barricading itself.
So here she was, sitting in a corner, knees pulled up to her, face hidden, just wishing that her nightmare would come to an end. Instead the voice teases, prods, searches for the kink in her defenses. Ella knows it won't take much for her crumbling psyche to plummet into the pit that was awaiting her, and the one part of her that wanted nothing more then to cast herself into the darkness was slowly winning the battle. But one little spark, one little part of her refused to let her take that finial step she wanted, Everyone it seemed, even her own sub-conscious was fighting her.
That's right, poor, poor, little Ella. Can't even manage something as simple as killing herself.
Ella squeezed her eyes shut, fighting back tears. "You're not real. You're not real. You're not real." She chanted over and over again, turning it into a mantra.
Oh, I'm real, and more a part of you then you could ever imagine. I've existed since your conception. I am a part of you. I am everything, while you. The voice laughed. You are nothing more then a shell.
"Your lying," She shook her head. "I don't believe you. You can't be."
Can't I? But enough of this, its time I take matters into my hands, or yours rather.
Ella felt the power in her begin to gather itself and with speed that startled her, she formed a wall around the power and for a moment, a brief moment there was freedom, but she knew it was temporary. Already the power was bombarding the shield. She wouldn't be able to hold it long.
Pain flared through her head and she could feel warmth running down her skin. She reached up with a shaking hand and touched just below her nose, red colored the once white bandages when she pulled her fingers away. In her mind the power screamed for release. The walls shook in time with the beating of her hearts. Slowly, gradually they began to crumble under the onslaught.
I'm coming The voice sang out Coming to get you.
It was in that moment Ella knew she would loose.
XYZ
He thought he was prepared, Martha had warned him that Ella was not entirely stable. He had expected to find her weak, pale, and more then likely withdrawn. What he hadn't expected to find was Ella arguing with herself, blood running down her face, and the pulsing of power on the air. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up with the static charge that coursed through the room. He needed to stop her. And he needed to stop her now.
"Ella!" He pounds on the glass trying to get her attention; the response he got wasn't what he was expecting.
Her eyes snapped open and with a cry she flung herself at the glass, fists pounding as she allowed the tears to finally escape, her father took an involuntary step back. "Why?!" She shouted. "Couldn't you let me just die!"
"Its not the answer." He quickly pulled himself back together and placed a hand on the glass. "Let me help you Ella please."
The pounding fists stopped and slowly she sank to the floor. "You can't, no one can." She rocked back and forth, eyes held wide.
The Doctor sank down to he level and wished he could take her in his arms like he did when she woke from nightmares. "Listen to me, I will find a way to stop this."
She shook her head, "You can't. No one can stop her."
"You can."
Her eyes shot up to his and she shivered with the strain of holding back the power in her. "I tried. I'm not strong enough."
"You are if you want to be Ella." His voice hardened. "Now fight!" He had to push; he knew she was the only one who could stop it. He watched as she struggled and for a moment she had managed to regain control. It was in this moment that he tentatively reached out for her mentally, trying to offer what comfort he could. And her control shattered.
"NO! DON'T"
The warning came to late. The flare of power that flew through the link slammed into the Doctor like a stone to the ground. Pain engulfed him, fire seared him, and one by one his shields began to fall.
"No!" Ella pulled back swiftly, freeing her father's mind from hers, but at the cost of the walls she had erected. The power was free. "Run! Go before she comes!"
"I'm not leaving you." He growled out through a parched throat. "You can fight this Ella."
"To strong-" She screamed as the power flared free and pain slashed through her. "She's coming." Her hands clutched her head as fire coursed down her synapses. "It burns, oh god it burns!"
"Ella, listen to me." He pleaded, but his pleas went unheard.
"Oh, I'm sorry Ella isn't in right now would you care to leave a message?" She glanced up at the Doctor, Her voice was different, darker, and deeper, her posture straightened, her eyes, golden. "Although I suppose there's really no point since I don't plan on letting her back out." She pulled herself up to her feet and brushed a hand down her body. "Especially if this is her taste in clothing."
"Who are you?"
She sighed, "We already had this conversation and I'm bored with all the questions." She closed her eyes and smiled. "Oh look! Someone was nice enough to leave the Rift open."
"Stop this now."
She opened her eyes. "Or what? No wait let me guess." She struck a thoughtful pose and regarded the Doctor. "Your going to come up with some last minute plan and then make me natter on about everything I'm going to do." She paused. "Well I really don't have time for all that, so lets just skip it and get to the part where you stop me." She smiled as she again reached out and tapped the power in the Rift. "Oh its yummy."
The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out the Sonic screwdriver. "One last chance. Stop this Ella."
Ella cracked an eye open, "I told you Ella isn't here, and your becoming annoying." She flicked a hand and the glass exploded outward flinging the Doctor back hard against the wall.
He could hear her footsteps as the glass crunched beneath her. "I can't let you do this." He pulled himself up to his feet, ignoring the bleeding cuts on his body. This was something that would haunt the Doctor for the rest of his lives. The fact of the matter was, it terrified him, and that in of itself was enough to brand the consequences forever to his memory. He had known she was teetering on the edge of sanity and insanity. He had known and he had pushed. In the end he knew. He was responsible to everything that came to be after, and with that admission. He knew, he had to stop her.
No matter what the cost.
"Do it then," She stood before him arms spread wide waiting. "Kill me, because that's the only way I will stop." She waited.
He froze.
"Pity," She reached out and forced her way past all his shields, slamming her will into his mind. "I had hoped for more of a fight out of you, but alas, it seems your getting to old for all this." She watched detached as he slumped to the ground. "Always the coward." She turned and stepped away.
"Ella, please."
She glanced back over her shoulder and for a moment he saw a flash of his Ella in her eyes. "I'm sorry." One, single solitary tear ran down her cheek before the power flared up again and she was lost.
"Good-bye Doctor." She struck out.
And he knew only darkness.
To Be Continued…