Here's Chapter 19 But Only Eternity, the next (and second or third last) chapter shall be up next weekend, keep reading because the end is near!

I owe LilyRose XD everything once again, she is just so freaking awesome!

XIX

But Only Eternity

Crawling on hands and knees in an incredibly small dirt tunnel for hours was not the Doctor's ideal way of travelling. In fact it probably came in his bottom 10 ways of travelling across country. Every sound seemed extremely loud because of the tunnel's echo. Bugs crawled across his dirt covered face and through his hair. His suit was ripped in several places and the only thing he could see was the dirt around him, and Foaly crawling on his belly in front of him. Foaly was having the hardest time of all of them because of his horse legs, and he sort of had to shuffle on his belly, earning him many scrapes and scratches. Mulch was at the front, leading through the tunnel he had recently excavated. Holly was just behind Mulch, with Foaly behind her, then the Doctor and finally Artemis taking the rear. They'd been crawling for so long that they felt numb. For the first hour or so their muscles had ached and their necks sore from having to bend their heads over to avoid hitting them on the ceiling, but now they left nothing. Nothing physically, but mentally their thoughts raced through their heads, ideas and outcomes and strategies. The only thing that kept the Doctor going was Rose.

He was doing it for Rose. Poor, possessed Rose, whose life hang in the balance of this situation. It was like she was surfing for the first time, getting up on the wave, losing control, and all she can do, is ride it out to the end. She couldn't stop anything. Imprisoned in her own head, with nothing but thoughts. And some of the thoughts, were not even her own, she had to endure Parallel Opal's ideas and plans and plots. And she could do nothing about it.

The Doctor's plan was risky and dangerous and forced him into places where he didn't want to be. Some of it would be determined by pure luck alone, and he was forced to rely on slim chances for it to work. And even the chance of it working would be slim. But it was the only way. The only way to end it all.

After about another hour Mulch stopped crawling.
"What is it?" asked Holly.
"There's nothing and no one above us here. Would you like some fresh air?" he asked. It seemed to be one of the nicest things he had ever said. And they all began to nod vigorously, only to hit their heads on the ceiling.

Mulch tunnelled upwards until he broke through to the surface. He checked for signs of Opal just in case before he waved for everyone to come up. They collapsed onto the long grass and just stared at the sky, breathing in as much of the fresh air as they could.

"How close are we?" asked Holly.
"Still another…oh maybe another hour of crawling and then we get to a chute, which we can get a shuttle down and then get across to Cardiff and then another few hours of crawling," replied Artemis.
She raised her eyebrows and groaned.
"Seriously?!" she exclaimed.
The Doctor nodded.
"Why can't I fly at least?"
"Opal will be expecting it," the Doctor told her. "And it's a lot easier for her to kill you when you're flying then when you're crawling."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because she can't stand too close and kill us with her lightning bolts because the dirt will collapse and drag her down too, and the lightning bolts only have a certain distance they can work at. If you're flying, Opal can strap on wings, follow you and blow you out of the sky. No, no flying, it's too risky."
Holly sighed and nodded. Mulch got up and walked back over to the hole.
"Come on," he told them. "The sooner we get there, the longer until she kills us."

They were crawling again. How the Doctor would never take walking for granted again now. They'd crawled all the way to a chute in Wexford. Taken the shuttle down the chute, travelled across to the chute in Cardiff, gone up that one and now they were crawling in a dirt tunnel to the Millennium Centre. The Doctor sighed. He was still wearing the same ripped, dirt covered suit. His hair was filled with dirt, greasy and stuck up at all angles and his face was scarcely recognisable. They'd been crawling for so long that he had gone numb again. His thoughts chasing each other round and round his head until he couldn't see a way out of this situation anymore. But then Mulch stopped, half turned around to them, and began to tunnel upwards to the surface.

Mulch hadn't really bothered trying to find an unpopulated place this time. He'd just leaped out of the hole and stared around at his surroundings. Hardly seeming to be aware of the dozens of people who stared in disbelief as the Doctor, Holly, and Artemis heaved their dirt covered selves out of the hole. Foaly only realised at this point that he had to stay in the tunnel. And though no one could see him he huffed and pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.
They looked an odd four as they strolled across the square by the Millennium Centre. Looking like one filthy adult, with two thin grubby teenagers, one dressed in a black jumpsuit and the other in a ripped business suit, and a small incredibly hairy child with a long, bug-filled beard. But they ignored the publics' reaction to them and strode purposefully along.

Captain Jack Harkness was walking away from the Torchwood Three to get some fresh coffee when he saw them. In truth, he walked right past the Doctor, not recognising him when he was covered in dirt and in the company of what looked like three children. But he turned back when the Doctor called, after spitting out a mouthful of dirt.
"Jack!"
He stared at the dirt-covered Doctor. He frowned.
"Doctor?" he asked.
The Doctor grinned, his white teeth contrasting sharply with his now brown face.
"You didn't recognise me," he tutted.
Jack ran back and hugged the Time Lord without thinking about the dirt that was getting on his clothes.
The reunion was cut short when the Doctor muttered into the Captain's shoulder.
"I'd hate to say this but I need your help."

Jack sensed this wasn't something to joke about.
He pulled away.
"What is it?" he asked quietly, searching the Doctor's face for a clue.
The Doctor swallowed, not looking Jack in the eye.
"Rose," he finally said.
Jack's eyes went wide.
"You found her?" he asked, ecstatic.
The Doctor sighed.
"It's a long story," he said.

After being introduced to Artemis, Mulch, Holly and once they had gone back to the hole, Foaly, the Doctor brought Jack up to date on everything that had happened.
"So why do you need me?" asked Jack, when the Doctor had finished.
"Your vortex manipulator," the Doctor replied.
"We're going back to change the past."

OOOOOO

Okay I've got a few author notes

a) In case you've forgotten Jack has a vortex manipulator which enables him to travel in time, though it is a bit rough

2. This is not a Torchwood crossover, I just needed Jack

# I've noticed that Foaly has a bigger part in this story than Artemis, but I sort of wanted Foaly to have a bit more spotlight

iv um...in the chapter I Am You, You Am I, that is Rose possessed by Opal and going and breaking Past Opal and Present Opal out of jail, but I didn't want to say it was Opal because it would totally ruin it

- This chapter is titled But Only Eternity because it says "B.O.E" and thanks to LilyRose xD for coming up with that, because all I could think of was But Only Elephants...but that didn't really work

* Next chapter up next weekend, there are only two or three chapters to go and it won't end nicely for everyone!

Sacrifices Sneak Preview

'"DOCTOR YOU CAN'T!" Holly shouted at him.
He swallowed.
"It's the only way," he replied calmly.'

not very good I know, but I can't put the ideas for the next chapter in my sneak preview or it will spoil the surprise!