A/N: Right then, this may now border on M for the violence but I'll try to keep it a little subdued, you have been warned.

REDRUM

"Can't we do something?" cried Rose as sound suddenly came to her all too loudly from the silence. She heard a man's voice from the door, unable to identify what he was saying but imagining it was a command to open up. She heard the faint sounds of the couple at the table, whispering frantically.

"We can't touch them, what can we do?" said the Doctor reaching out once more to his mother only to have his hand pass straight through her.

"Then we get out of here," said Rose grabbing his arm and dragging him to the door leading to the gardens, "I don't want you to have to watch this again!"

"I can't leave her," said the Doctor, "I can't leave her to face it alone."

"Doctor there's nothing we can do, please!"

The Doctor wouldn't budge and Rose knew there was no persuading him. The hammering continued as she watched the young woman before her pull back a knitted rug and pull open a concealed basement hatch, ushering her son inside as he protested in desperate whispers. She watched as mother and son exchanged a desperate embrace before he descended into the darkness below, the lid closing firmly behind him and being covered once more with the rug. The young woman brushed her hands over her clothes, before quickly stashing her son's books and bag in a nearby cupboard. Stilling her apparent nerves she went into the adjoining room and Rose heard the door open and the sound of her voice.

Rose tried in vain once again to pull the Doctor away from the scene as his mother was bundled roughly back into the kitchen by four masked men, all armed with alien weapons that were still easily identifiable as knives.

"Please Doctor, come away from this, please don't watch it!" cried Rose tugging onto his arm but the Doctor was unresponsive, standing stock still as he stared at the scene before him, "Please, please move. Don't stay, there's nothing you can do."

Rose wished she could understand what was being said as she watched the men gag and bind the brunette woman, seeing her fighting for all she was worth as they taunted her. Without thinking Rose struck out with her fists at the nearest captor only to have her hands go straight through him. She turned back to the Doctor, trying to push him towards the door but she had no strength against him in his current state. Every ounce of his strength rooting him to the spot and the horror before him.

"Please," she begged, hearing a familiar tone from the woman behind her and knowing that she was begging for her life. Rose turned to see one of the attackers with a syringe filled with a light blue substance, the others holding down the woman as he injected into her arm. The Doctor's mother kept kicking and screaming as best she could, refusing to give up the fight despite whatever they had injected her with. She managed to kick her legs free from her bounds and landed an impressive kick at the jaw of her nearest attacker. He fell back in agony, the crack of bone easily signifying that his jaw had been broken. The others doubled their efforts in restraining her but she fought hard, managing to shake another off before she was pinned down against the table, her legs rebound tighter than before.

Rose saw the glitter of a knife as one of the captors held it above her, encouraged by his injured colleague as he looked on from his place on the floor. The muffled screams of the woman on the table forced tears to Rose's eyes and she prayed for it all to be over, for her to wake up and find it was all a dream. Her eyes landed once more on the Doctor, seeing the horror on his face at the scene he would only have heard before. Using everything she had in her she threw herself at him, managing to barrel him to the floor and hold him down, shielding him from the scene behind her. She shut her eyes tight as she heard the sound of metal meeting flesh, repeating and repeating with speed and ferocity she had never witnessed before. She heard the muffled screams continuing, amazed at the strength in the woman they were harming; hearing her hang on with every atom of strength in her small frame.

The frenzied attack stopped suddenly and she heard the attackers run for the back door, throwing it open and disappearing into the night beyond, laughing with glee at the atrocity they had just committed. Rose stayed on the ground, the Doctor no longer fighting against her, instead silent and still against the cold floor. She stroked his hair as best she could, muttering what she hoped were words of comfort but knowing they sounded more like gibberish, the shock setting into her and her grip on reality fading. The only thing that kept her grounded was the wish to protect the man beneath her, conceal him from the horror laid out in the one place he should have felt safe.

There was a steady thump from the floor beneath the rug and it came several more times before the trap door flew open. Rose turned to see the younger Doctor climb from his concealment and rush to where his mother lay on the table. She choked on a sob as she got to her feet, watching the boy as he stroked back his mother's hair, managing to keep himself together despite the carnage before him. His own mother's blood stained his clothes as he leant over her, pulling the gag away from her mouth before pressing a kiss to her forehead and begging her to wake. His words failed translation but Rose could easily guess at them. She was shocked to hear a female voice, strained and breathy respond to him. A thin ivory hand stained in blood coming up to tame down the wild blonde hair on her son's head.

Rose felt the Doctor stand beside her, his hand automatically slipping in to hers as he too watched the scene, his face ashen and drawn as he remembered the remaining moments of his mother's life. There was a frantic conversation going on before them, mother pleading and son begging as he untied her bonds but it was cut short all too soon. When Rose had seen her father die there had been a moment when he had such a look in his eyes, as if seeing her had been the most perfect moment of his life as it came to its end. Rose saw that same look now as the young woman looked up at her son, her eyes smiling despite the pain in her beautiful face before they closed for the last time. She choked on a sob as she heard the desperate cry from the little boy before her as he threw himself down onto his mother's body, weeping in despair against her.

She had no longer to watch the scene as the Doctor slumped to the floor beside her, sliding down the wall and burying his face in his hands. She hurriedly sat beside him, finding the urge to take his hand rather than embrace him and giving into it. His fingers entwined with hers as he raised his head to witness the scene again.

"I tried to wake her," he said, his voice making Rose jump, "I thought if I woke her she might start to regenerate, that's what my people did. She was only on her first life, she should have regenerated. I waited and nothing happened. I found out many years later that they had poisoned her before they had hurt her, injected her with a compound that had been illegal on my planet for years. It stops the regeneration process, renders the person unable to call on their natural abilities to save their life."

Rose watched on as the young boy before her took a blanket from a nearby cupboard and lay it over his mother's body with a reverence far to mature for a boy not even in his teenage years.

"She spoke to me before she died, saying that her attackers had threatened to hunt me down and kill me, that my brother and sister were already dead. She begged me to run away, disguise myself and hide in the dark streets of the Capitol. I had to survive on my own. I did as she asked, I hid in the shadows for nearly two years until I was found by one of the professors at the university, half starved and desperate. He took me in and cared for me. He gave me books and I found myself learning things well above my own age. He took me on as his protégé and even gave me a name, I had feared even to tell him the truth. He used Greek letters to give me a nickname that stayed with me all through university, Theta Sigma. I went to university and became a doctor, I became a Time Lord. My life carried on but there was one question I always carried, why her, why was she killed? It took great courage to track down my father but when I did he knew me, straight away. We met in secret and he told me what had happened. His wife had died and he had wished to bring my mother and us into his home, to make her his wife and 'adopt' her children. His wife's family heard of the plan and worked out that we were the illegitimate family rumoured. They feared my father's fortune would bypass his older children in favour of us, the lower class, so they hired assassins to remove us. Even the higher classes of Gallifrey had their scum. My mother and siblings were executed and I only survived because I hadn't been at school for them to find."

"God Doctor…" murmured Rose, "I wish…I don't know what to say."

"My hatred for my planet, for the class divisions that had murdered my mother. My decision was made there and then, I had to leave and when I got the chance I did. I was eighty years old when I finally had the courage to steal a TARDIS, I ran away with the only person I could truly rely on, the only person other than my father who knew the truth."

"Susan?" said Rose.

The Doctor nodded, distracted from further conversation as the boy before them went around the room, stuffing his bag full of food and valued possessions before wrapping himself in a cape, covering his face and heading for the door. For a second Rose thought they had become apparent to him as he stared directly at them but then he stepped passed and out of the back door, disappearing into the night and leaving the carnage behind him. Rose pushed to her feet, tugging her hand to get the Doctor stand but he resisted.

"Come on," she said, "There's nothing here now, we can't stay here."

"I can't leave her," said the Doctor staring at his shoes, "I can't leave her until I know what happened to her, who found her."

"Doctor, this is from your memory," said Rose, "We could be waiting here for nothing. Come away from this dreadful place."

"I won't leave her again," said the Doctor getting to his feet and going to the covered body on the table, "I left her alone before, I should have stayed."

"And died when they found you?"

"Death would have been a blessing, one I still pray for now," said the Doctor, ghosting his hand over the fabric covering his mother.

"How can you say that?" said Rose, "You have so much to live for, so much she wanted you to live for."

"All I have is the TARDIS," said the Doctor, "All that's left of my home world, none of my family live anymore, my friends are old or dead. I have nothing."

"You've got me," said Rose, "Don't I mean anything?"

The Doctor was silent, still preoccupied with his mother's body.

"Doctor tell me I mean something to you."

"Rose, please just…I want to be alone for a while, can you wait outside," said the Doctor, leaving Rose shocked by the chill to his voice.

"You're sending me away," said Rose, "Pushing me away again, like you always do! I want you to talk to me!"

"Well this isn't about you is it?!" cried the Doctor, turning to face her, a coldness Rose had never seen directed her way before in his eyes, "This is about her. Wait for me outside."

"Why are you being like this?" asked Rose, a slight tremor creeping into her voice, "You're never like this."

"Maybe I've just had enough of stupid ape questions," said the Doctor, "Every time something happens you expect me to come crying to your arms but how can you possibly understand this? What could I possibly gain from you right now?"

"Stop it!" cried Rose, "You're not like this, you don't mean what you're saying. I know you, you're upset, you're lashing out. I understand."

"How can you possibly understand? How can you possibly understand what I'm going through, what all those years were like for me, estranged from my home, the secrets I had to keep? You're just a kid… no, you're just a human!"

"Better a human than a bastard his father was too ashamed to admit to!"

The sound of skin on skin echoed out in the following silence. Rose choked in shock as her hand automatically came up to cup her burning cheek. She felt the tears well in her eyes, both shock and pain hitting her in equal measure as she looked up in disbelief at the man before her, only to find him with the same expression as he stared down at his open palm. He looked up and met her eyes, a more familiar look in his eyes but drowning in the depths of despair.

"Rose," he said reaching out to her.

Rose backed away from him quickly, stumbling over the upturned rug and landing heavily on the floor. She hurried back to her feet, keeping as much distance as possible between them.

"Don't touch me."

"Rose I'm sorry…I didn't…"

"What? You didn't mean to?!" screamed Rose, "That's what Jimmy used to say, that's what he'd say every time he hit me!"

"Rose, please…"

"Get away from me," she cried, fumbling with the handle on the back door, "Just keep away from me."

"Don't run off, I'm sorry," said the Doctor stepping towards her once more. The movement was enough to send Rose running out of the door, tearing off across the long grass separating the house from the hills surrounding. She could hear the Doctor calling out behind her but she carried on regardless, the burning pain in her cheek forcing her onwards. His voice faded into the distance as she hit the hills, clambering up the slope, clawing at the grass to pull her up to the summit. When she reached the top she flopped down into the long grass, throwing a hand over her eyes to block out the stars glittering above her. Only when silence reigned once more did she finally let herself cry.

XXXX

The Doctor sat slumped against the table where his mother lay, his face buried in his hands as he berated himself for his behaviour. Grace's warning echoed in his head, her warning that this world of shadows and memories would force a wedge between him and Rose. He had feared she would be the one tempted away, he never fathomed that he would be the one to force her to leave. He wished he could pull off his own hand, the sting of her skin still lingering to remind him of his crime. He should have left when she had first tried to pull him away, left before the carnage he remembered so vividly had been reeked but he had stayed, some twisted sense of duty forcing him to stay by his mother's side as she died. He didn't even know if what he had witnessed had been real; as a child he had heard the scuffle and the voices, he had seen his mother's decimated body as she lay dying but he hadn't seen how many men had come, what they had looked like. He didn't know where reality began and fantasy ended, everything in the world he had stepped into was out of his control.

In the real world he could understand everything, all things followed his rules with the few exceptions that he merely passed off as not knowing enough about yet. In the real world he was haunted by dreams but he never witnessed them as vividly as now. In the real world he was woken by a gentle voice and equally gentle arms that he would fall into and allow his vulnerability to show, knowing she would never use it against him. He bashed his head back against the leg of the chair as his thoughts fell once more upon Rose and what he had done to her. Her words had hurt but they had been his own fault, he'd treated her poorly, like something he could cast aside without a second thought. He knew he could be dangerous, he knew that he had to control his emotions, his grief and his anger for what had happened in his youth. He had always managed it, kept it down and never lashed out in his anger to a loved one but now the pain had been brought back to the surface, now it bled like a newly open wound and he had struck out at the nearest thing to him.

"Rose I'm so sorry," he muttered to thin air, "Please, please forgive me."

He waited for her faint footfalls, for the sound of the back door creaking as she came back in, tear stained but willing to forgive him. He would run to her, gather her close and press kisses where he had marked her before, easing the pain he had caused her and promising her the way only a lover could that he would never hurt her again. She had said that Jimmy had always apologised; he almost spat at the stupid boys name. The boy who had caused her to leave home too young, to lose her innocence too young for one who couldn't cherish it. The idiot who had made her leave her education, stifling her brilliant mind that could have made her so much more than a South London shop girl. The boy that had shown her that love meant pain, left her distrusting. The Doctor had built that trust again, helped her grow into the brave, courageous person that would run headlong into danger at his side. He stared at his palm in despair as he realised that one stupid act had cost him that trust.

"Oh God what have I done to her?" he said pushing up to his feet and casting one final glance at the shrouded body next to him. He made for the door, throwing it open and looking out into the night, trying to get a glimpse of golden hair highlighted by the starlight of his home world. Nothing came to him so he took off in the direction he had seen her run in, towards the hills and their woods beyond. Hurrying his feet he ran into the night, a prayer that he would find her beating strongly in his hearts.

XXXX

Rose folded her arms closer around her as she wandered in the dim forest. She cursed her choice to walk this way but having lost her bearings hours before she knew she had no hope of going back to find the Doctor. She knew she should stay still, that he would find her but part of her was still angry and wanted to make him suffer a little longer. She knew it had been her fault that he had struck her. She had never expected such harm from him, he was dangerous to his enemies but even in their most heated arguments he had never raised a hand to her. She had provoked him when she knew he was vulnerable rather than letting him rant, venting the emotions he had clearly kept bottled up for so long. His mother had been murdered before his eyes and she had acted like a petulant teenager when he had pushed her comfort away. He made the ape comments whenever he was angry or hurt and he had been feeling both those emotions greater than ever in that moment, he had reverted back to his default setting; closed off, superior. Rose had seen it so many times before. Usually she ignored it, letting him rant and then when he had calmed showing him that his words meant nothing to her, that she understood.

This world they had stepped into had turned everything on its head and she wasn't even sure if they were in the real world or not anymore. She could remember stepping into the mirror, seeing her body lying on the floor of the dusty old library but she couldn't be sure. So much had happened, so many unexplainable, things. She had witnessed the Doctor turn from a man to a wolf, a sight she had accepted then but now could only see as some weird trick of her imagination, it wasn't possible. She had fallen hundreds of feet only to land with no more than a bruise and she had fallen asleep only to wake on a planet she had seen in bits only days before. Nothing made sense.

Rose rubbed at her temples as she tried to make sense of the world around her, the darkness doing nothing for her already troubled imagination. She heard the scuffle of something in the underbrush and glanced around her, wandering if Gallifrey had its own version of wolves that would prey on unsuspecting travels who stupidly wandered into dark forests after a ridiculous fight. Sounds she could only describe as chilling fluttered to her senses and she could swear she could her the sound of bones cracking against sharp teeth. She contemplated climbing one of the large trees around her but the shriek of something big above her halted the idea as soon as it began. Her feet began to hurry of their own accord, her hands wringing against each other as she performed a strange dance of terror, turning to look behind her, running along, slowing down, stopping and leaning towards and particular sound.

She shuddered as the sound of bone on bone echoed again, sounding closer than before. She perched on a nearby tree stump, thinking it better to wait for the Doctor to find her but then sprung back up to her feet, continuing her path as she realised she would be a sitting duck for any beast on her heels. Her feet crunched noisily on the forest floor, cracking every possible fallen branch like a homing beacon to her predator.

"Its not real, its not real," she muttered to herself, "Its all an illusion, nothing can hurt you."

She heard a crack of twigs behind her and the deep grumble of something large. She stifled a yelp of alarm, speeding up her feet, desperately trying not to run.

"The Doctor's coming for you, he's gonna come and find you," she said, "He's gonna come and say you're silly for being afraid."

She heard the unmistakable sound of heavy paws on the forest floor, gaining on her as they increased in pace. She began running, glancing back over her shoulder trying to catch a glimpse of whatever it was pursuing her. She stumbled, barely keeping her feet but forcing herself onwards as she heard the puffs of breath grow closer, almost able to feel the warm exhalations on her ankles. A low hanging branch ahead caught her attention and she readied herself. As it came within reach she leapt at it, pulling herself up and into the tree. When she had climbed as high as she could before the branches grew to thin to support her she looked down. The darkness made it impossible to discern the creature circling the bottom of the tree but she could hear its breathing and caught the occasional flash of eerily green eyes as it looked up at her.

"Go away!" she whispered, "Leave me alone."

The beast it seemed though, meant to stake this out for the long haul.

XXXX

The Doctor couldn't remember if he had seen the oddly shaped tree before, it looked familiar but then so did every other tree that he passed. Rose had left an easy trail for him to follow but it had stopped suddenly beside and small stream and he feared she had crossed it but he could find no more tracks either side. He had tried calling out in the darkness but the only thing to answer him had been some irate bird, upset by its disturbed sleep. He began to fear the worst as familiar noises he had been taught to fear in his childhood overtook the silence of the night. He knew the dangers that lurked in the woods of Gallifrey but wandered if they would have any power over Rose as she knew nothing of them. Did his imagination put him alone at threat but her as well. Knowing the malevolent nature of the place he was sure that it would mean as much danger for her as it did him.

He kept pushing onwards, following what he hoped was her path. He felt totally disoriented, like he was walking in ever closing circles. Everything seemed ominous and oppressive. He couldn't shut his eyes against the world, every time he did the image of his mother's bloodied body or Rose's anguished face surfaced causing him more pain than before. He tried to peer deeper into the darkness, searching with heightened senses for the slightest glimmer of Rose's presence but nothing came to him but the darkness and the sound of the creatures that lay in wait for their latest quarry. He cursed his choice to ever pass across the mirror into this world of madness but then he couldn't remember how long it was since he had. Perhaps he had passed back, the place was so disorientating maybe he had passed back through. Perhaps the world he had left had been the fantasy.

He tried to focus on the thought of Rose, if they were together things would make a lot more sense, they could ground each other. She made everything make sense, if she was there then whatever she saw as real would be real to him too but then, the power of manifestation apparent in this world could result in his creating his own Rose rather than finding the real one. Was that even possible?

The Doctor slumped down on a nearby tree stump and buried his head in his hands as he tried to quiet the thousand and one theories rushing through his brain at one hundred miles an hour. He closed his eyes against his palms, focusing on what he knew for fact. He knew he and Rose had been frightened by dreams and that investigation had led him to pass through the mirror in the Cloister Room library, a library he had never known existed before. He growled against his hands as even fact seemed to make little sense anymore. He knew he was losing, that this was exactly what his enemy wanted; to confuse him, bewilder him into making foolish decisions. He had to look at the situation objectively, achieve one goal and then another. His first goal was obvious, find Rose. He had to find Rose and whether she forgave him or not they had to work together to get out of this mad house. Secondly, he had to work out what was manipulating their minds and work out a way to defeat it. Thirdly, they had to get home.

He stood only to topple back down again as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He put a hand to his head, feeling the growing fever beneath his palm as colours swam before his eyes. He swallowed back the rising sickness and tried once again to get to his feet, steadying himself on a nearby tree trunk. He gripped on to the rough bark as his feet refused to co-operate with him.

"Get a grip," he muttered to himself, concentrating on pushing back the ever swimming vision before him. He staggered forward a few paces before having once again to hold himself upright against one of the trees.

"What's the matter with me?"

He shut his eyes, concentrating on his body and trying to fix on the sight of his sickness. He felt detached, unable to even identify where his hand ended. He forced open his eyes, wishing he hadn't done so as what was a wood before now seemed nothing but a myriad of colours. He knew he was losing consciousness and his only hope that Rose was safe, that no harm would come to her. He focused on her as blackness swum over him and he collapsed to the ground.

XXXX

Rose gripped a little more onto the branch she was perched on as a wave of nausea hit her. She used her free arm to hug her stomach, wondering were the sudden sickness was coming from. She could hear the beast still prowling below and wondered if it would disappear if she chose to throw up on it. She felt too hot and carefully peeled off her jacket, leaving her in a pale blue t-shirt. She felt her forehead, finding heat and moisture there. She sighed, this was no time to get ill. She put it down to stress, her body responding to everything she'd seen. She willed the Doctor to her side, praying he'd found her path and that he hadn't too been attacked by whatever was stalking her.

The beast below thumped into the tree, sending the branches shuddering. Rose gripped on, tightening her arms as a wave of dizziness threatened to send her toppling into the waiting jaws below.

"Jesus!" she muttered, "Doctor where are you when I need you?"

Nothing but the familiar breathing below came back to her and she knew she'd have to get out of this alone. She began to look around for anything that could make a suitable weapon. Nothing was apparent until she glanced upwards. A suitably thick branch hung loosely from above, close to falling and easy enough to pull off and use as some sort of club against her predator. She reached up for it but her fingers didn't even brush it. She looked at the rickety branches above, wandering if they could hold her weight. She gingerly got to her feet, swaying slightly as the dizziness refused to subside.

"Come on!" she encouraged herself, "Sooner you get it sooner you can get down."

She held on to the trunk as she carefully placed one foot and then another on the flimsy branches. They seemed to hold and she grew in confidence, climbing a little higher and faster. She got close enough to the branch and reached out one hand to grab it. It didn't come away as easily as she expected and she had to lean a little further to twist it loose. Her hand slipped from the trunk and she flailed in thin air, trying to find a hand hold. A wave of blackness hit her and she her head span. She tried in vain to grab a branch but to no avail. She began to fall, catching several branches on the way down. She didn't feel the impact of her fall. She was unconscious before she even reached the ground.

A/N: Ooh now I get to have some fun and really mess with their heads. Hope everyone is still enjoying it!