IDChapter25
Isana had been stunned to find out that Koschei had been following them. While it could be argued that he had simply been checking out newcomers to the planet, the question remained of how he knew they were newcomers and why he hadn't mentioned it to Isana after they all met. Isana left them to find Koschei and interrogate him privately. Jack wanted to go woth her, but she insisted it be between just herself and Koschei.
"Don't worry, Jack, I'll post a guard outside the room." Reluctantly, Jack agreed.
As Jack sat with Jon and his family, he fidgeted. Jon thought he saw Jack's eyes mist over a bit when he looked at Arianna.
"Jack, what's troubling you? You're not yourself."
Jack sighed heavily and walked over and sat down on the bed. "I guess now is as good a time as any." He went on to tell them of the incident with Species 456.
When he had finished his story, there was not a dry eye in the room. Arianna crawled into his arms while Jon and Rose sat on either side of him and hugged him. After awhile Jack looked at Jon and asked the question that had been haunting him.
"Where were you when we needed you?"
Jon shook his head helplessly. "Jack, I am sorry. I am so, so sorry. I never sensed Earth's crisis. The only explanation I can come up with is that you saved the Earth, so the timelines were never disrupted, and so I never knew of the need."
"I just wish I could die." Jack said flatly. He again met Jon's eyes. "Is there any way that you know of so that I could? Not right now, but someday?"
Jon considered his next words carefully, balancing Jack's need to know with protecting his timeline.
"Jack, you are going to die someday, and I will be with you when it happens."
Jack experienced a whirlwind of emotions, joy, apprehension, but mostly relief.
"Really? You aren't just saying that to make me feel better?"
"No, he's telling you the truth," Rose assured him. "I also get to see you in your future, but I won't know you, and Martha does as well."
"How do I die? How long will it be?"
"Well... we really can't say much, you know, protecting the timelines and all," Jon started, but yielded a bit to Jack's pleading eyes. "It isn't for a long, long time yet for you. In fact, you change so much even I don't even recognize you. But when the time comes, you save the last remnants of the human race from extinction." Jon smiled at his friend. "I can certainly think of worse ways to go."
"Thank you." The sincerity in Jack's voice made Jon tear up again, and the two friends hugged each other some more, before they broke apart, Jack saying it was time he checked in on Isana.
"Right then. Yell if you need us, I think we're going to turn in for the night." Shutting the door behind Jack, Jon turned to Rose. "Now then, we need to talk about your psychic abilities. We can't have you accidentally killing anyone else, however justified it might seem."
Rose nodded. She'd been trying not to think about the whole incident too much.
"First let me into your mind, since I know about the power I can shield myself against it, but hopefully I won't have to, since you're allowing me in."
They pulled two chairs togther and sat face-to-face, Jon placing his hands on either side of Rose's face, and Rose doing likewise. She felt him gently probe her mind, and she took a deep breath and relaxed, letting him explore. She opened her mind to him and allowed her thoughts to wander. She felt an awareness within herself growing, but not not agressively, more of a curiosity.
Jon gently walked around inside Rose's mind. Her memories were like a virtual world, he looked about and found the time when she first started traveling with him, and followed the path of their adventures. He came to the point where she looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and things abruptly changed. Suddenly he felt as though he was inside someone else's mind entirely. He was back on Gallifrey, somewhere Rose had never been. It felt so real. He heard and felt the wind blow across the fields, he saw the red grass beneath his feet, and he recognized ahead of him the Untempered Schism. He felt himself pulled toward it, and tried to resist. Purposefully something took hold of him and pulled him in. He saw all of time and space even more vividly than when he looked at timelines. Then in front of him he saw a glowing, seemingly gaseous golden being. As he got closer, the being took a more solid form, and he could see it changing shape to resemble Rose as he had seen her when she was the Bad Wolf.
"Welcome, my Doctor." Jon felt enveloped by love and warmth and light. It was so peaceful he didn't want to think about anything else, he just wanted to stay in its warm embrace. He felt as if the being were caressing him, and he reached out to return the gesture, but his hand felt nothing. He heard a chuckle.
"I'm just thought and energy. No touch." The voice was bewitching and feminie, and yet sounded somehow ancient and wise.
"You're the Bad Wolf, then."
"Yes, I am, my Doctor."
Jon pulled himself out of his reverie. "You got Rose killed!"
"That will not happen again."
"Can you really promise me that? Can you guarantee it? Because even as a Time Lady, Rose only has so many lives. Not to mention that now she - or her body, anyway - is being sought by the Shadow Proclamation. You're causing problems for her - for us - to put it mildly."
"My Doctor, you do not understand. Much worse would have happened had I not acted. You never would have escaped the Shadows. Now you and your family are safe, and you can fulfill your destinies."
"And what destinies would those be?"
"You are the rocks upon which a new order will be built, and from which new Guardians will spring."
"New Guardians?" Jon was shocked. "Are you talking about the Guardians of Time?"
"Yes, my Doctor. There are no Guardians in this Universe, no one to watch over the races and ensure Justice or protect Life. No one to establish Order. No one to make Dreams come true. No one to maintain Equilibrium. There will soon be Chaos, however. It is building, growing, becoming more and more powerful. You are this universe's only hope. That is why I brought you here."
"I - we - are in no position to do that. You're asking too much. Who do you think you are, anyway? God?"
The Bad Wolf smiled at him. "That is a simple explanation of who I am, and somewhat accurate. I am many persons, yet one. I am all that ever was, is, or will be. I am everywhere, yet nowhere. But most of all, I am all that is feared, hated and scorned, yet loved, wanted, and needed. I am Eternity Itself."
At this the Bad Wold embraced Jon, and they seemed to soar up off the planet, into space, and beyond. She held him as he beheld all of Reality, he could see all the universes, and suddenly he understood everything. Every question he ever had was answered, every puzzle solved, every paradox explained. The sheer beauty and magnitude of it all reduced him to tears, and then his mind itself started hurting.
"I must take this away from you, my love, and leave you with only a glimpse. You are not ready. But you will remember that glimpse, and know that you can do this, and you must." She kissed him.
Jon and Rose both sat up with a start. They stared at each other in amazement.
"Did you experience that, too?" Jon asked her.
"Yes!" Rose said, barely above a whisper.
"You were glowing." Arianna's voice reached them. They looked over, and she was sitting on the bed, staring at them in fascination.
"Who, your Mum?" Jon asked.
"No, both of you," Arianna replied, "What happened? Did you talk to Wolfie? She said not to worry, you'd be alright."
If Jon and Rose could have been more stunned than they already were, that would have done it. Suddenly things started making sense. Jon had always suspected there was someone influencing the events around himself and Rose, now they knew who it was and why. That Arianna's "imaginary" wolf friend was Eternity itself was staggering, and underscored the enormity of it all.
"Well," Rose summed up, "we've got a big job ahead of us, we should get some sleep."