Almost at the end! I think we have two, maybe three chapters to go... Scary, huh? Again, thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and most of all, reviewing: imsuchanut, krikanalo, Caraoke-Cherry, TenRose4ever, In the Fob Watch, MuppetKatie, and and GryffindorGrl97. You have no idea how much I appreciate hearing your thoughts! Enjoy!

REQUIEM FOR EMPYREANAN

There was a splash from below, so faint the alien wasn't even sure he'd heard it. And then the Doctor was submerged in complete and utter darkness.

Wet darkness. Loud and quiet all at once with no air.

Air. Breathe. Breathe. Air. Air.

He came up first, gasping painfully as he clawed at air and water alike, body weak and current so strong she was completely submerged a moment later. The Time Lord bobbed up and down, alternating between gasping for breath and yelling for his companion, a sound that came out as nothing more than a garbled yelp.

Meanwhile, Rose was thrown upon a cold, furry body, sucking in water as she attempted to scream in pain and horror. The young woman coughed as she rolled off to the side and pulled herself out of what appeared to be a river, gasping for breath between choking fits. A Qa. It was a dead Qa. She felt it's broken bones and twisted body when she was thrown up against its side… Its skeleton must have shattered upon contact with the water, making entry for the blonde and her companion less dangerous.

"Rose?!" His voice was raw as he yelled her name, coughing almost to the point of vomit immediately after. The Time Lord dragged himself up on the rocky bank, repressing a scream as he put weight on his right arm. Dislocated right shoulder. Right. Okay. Grunting, the Doctor pulled himself up using his other arm, grimacing at the pain his sprained wrist and broken fingers. Attempting to move his legs, the alien realized his had fractured his left tibia in the best of cases. Luckily, his spine felt fine, but he couldn't say the same for his toes and right hip.

Not bad for falling approximately ten stories.

Rose attempted to answer her companion's call, but a choking sound coming out instead. In the end, it made no matter. Rose felt the Doctor limp to her side, touching her gingerly as he asked what and where it hurt.

He should have never taken her here. Never. He should have listened when she had tried to tell him to leave, and now—He grabbed her torso and tried to lift her body, stopping immediately when the young woman screamed in pain. "Stop it STOP IT! MY RIBS. Oh my God, my ribs."

She had broken at least four.

The Doctor felt her back with his remaining good fingers, his pain tolerance incredible due to his remarkable genetics. He felt her spine and scalp, cooing reassurances in her ear. "Don't worry, Rose, it'll be okay. We're almost out, almost there. Just keep still, darling. There we are. I'm so sorry, Rose. You've no idea how sorry I am."

She looked up at him pathetically in the dark, not even truly knowing if she was looking at his face. "I don't want to die here, Doctor."

"You won't. We won't… I promise."

She nodded despite the fact that he couldn't see her, and that she knew it was another rotten lie. They wouldn't be okay. They'd be lucky to make it out alive. And right now, the odds were not in their favour. "Can you stand?" he asked softly.

"Think so," the blonde rasped out. And so, despite her fractured ankle and left arm, broken ribs and fingers, pounding head and profusely bleeding body and scalp, Rose Tyler stood on shaky legs, pushing up on her Time Lord for support as he did the same to her.

Unbidden, the memory of two nights ago filled the Time Lords thoughts and his heart ached. His TARDIS, the safety of holding of each as they drifted off… It all seemed a world away. And then the Doctor was struck with a thought: he was going to die here with as many regrets as he had years of life, the biggest of which being his feelings for the blonde beside him.

He loved her. Not that this was a secret; it was obvious to anyone around him, to himself and to his companion. And yet, he had made rules, built walls, and kept her at a safe distance. When the longing would get particularly difficult, the alien would tell himself that this was for their own good; that this was protecting them from further heartbreak… But he was now deeply regretting that decision.

What was that Earth saying?

It's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.

Right now, the Doctor was wishing he'd kissed Rose all those random times he'd had the urge to do so. Right now, he was wishing that all those times he'd fantasized about her form sliding against his had been a reality. Right now, he was wishing that he'd told her he loved her every morning as she woke up, and every night as she went to sleep.

The pair stumbled through the black, feeling at walls and limping through over rocks and scraps of metal. Eventually, they came to a place that was paved, and then a place where the floor was covered in filthy white linoleum. How did they know it was white? Because, somehow, the room was very dimly lit. The Doctor figured it had to be some response from when he'd first triggered the lights, now that his sonic was drowned, but didn't dwell on it. Light was light.

And the light illuminated a very dirty-looking room.

Everything was in steel. From the benches with claw marks in them, to the metal stools, to the walls and ceiling, to the big, metal door on the other side of the room. There was some sort of dusty operating table that had been broken, and a dried, black substance covered what was left of it and the tools on the floor. Every few seconds the lights would flicker, but the Doctor pressed onwards, passing over ripped papers and shredded metal without a care, making for the door on the opposite end of the room. That was their best hope.

The Doctor was so focused on his task, so shaken up and broken, that he barely noticed Rose's hand slipping from his own as she stopped to stare at a particular corner of one of the benches.

Closet-sized room-

BANG

How could I forget?!

Her head began to pound and the young woman braced herself on the torn metal, grimacing as it felt like her skull was about to implode. The delicate skin of her palms ripped open, but she was too busy hyperventilating to notice.

"No. No no no no."

When the Doctor reached the door, he turned to find his companion gagging as she leaned over, collapsing on the ground. "Rose?"

In a ripped suit and tie, with black pointed teeth and blood red eyes he stared blankly at her before wheezing and reaching forward-

SCREAM.

"Rose!" For the amount of time it had taken him to limp to the door, he was by her side in an instant, grabbing her face and forcing her to look at him despite his broken appendages. The blonde shook her head wildly, looking more insane in that moment than anyone he'd ever seen. Her body bruised and broke, hair askew, eyes wild and starved and scared. "No, please."

"Rose-"

The Doctor imparts to his friends, tales of woe and war and blood

Warriors do they become, and fight until the night has come

And in the day they fade away, like humans all must turns to dust

The Doctor fades, the Doctor dies, all at the hands of whom he loves

The pair were still, the blonde's chest rising and falling so rapidly her companion was sure she'd faint. She stayed standing, however, shaking her head as tears sprung from her eyes and dripped down her cheeks, taking dirt and grime with them.

"Rose?" the Doctor demanded in a whisper. "Focus. Tell me what's wrong."

"It's happening."

He felt like he'd been doused with a bucket of ice water. For the first time in seven hundred years, the Time Lord truly felt hopeless. He knew better than anyone that playing with the future was equivalent to playing with fire… And once seen, it was just as certain a fact than the past.

Now, there was nowhere to run. There was one way in, and the only way out was through the dark tunnel the whispers were emerging from. As the sounds drew nearer, shadows detached themselves from the black and walked into the room, bearing sharp, shining white teeth thick with salivation.

The Doctor imparts to his friends, tales of woe and war and blood

Warriors do they become, and fight until the night has come

And in the day they fade away, like humans all must turns to dust

The Doctor fades, the Doctor dies, all at the hands of whom he loves

The young woman's brain rattled in her skull as they repeated it like a mantra, slowly moving forward, their steps silent. The Doctor and Rose moved back, gripping each other's hands tightly.

But there was only so far back they could go.

Rose's back hit the big metal door and she whimpered, closing her eyes tightly. Her heartbeat was pounding in her head and when the blonde opened her eyes, her vision came back with black spots and white sparkles. She could barely hear her Time Lord putting on a brave face as he stepped only slightly forward, just enough to shield her broken body, and negotiate: "Wait! Wait."

The Qa stopped, heads tilting in confusion as the Doctor held up his hands in a gesture of peace. "Good. This is good. Look at us, we're talking… Who ever said aggressive mutant Qa were unreasonable, eh?"

One of the shadows growled and lunged forward in mock attack, causing the Doctor to ever so slightly jump, despite the fact that he wanted to turn tail and run in the other direction. The odds had never been so bad. But the Time Lord held his ground, glowering at the beings with as much energy he could muster. "Listen very carefully," he said darkly, "because I am not happy. And when I'm not happy, I get very, very difficult to get along with." He turned to the being that had lunged at him, narrowing his eyes. "You do that again, mate, and I'll make sure you never see daylight again. You lot are smart, next time you have a minute, look me up. I'm the Doctor. Destroyer of Worlds. The Oncoming Storm… And I'm giving you a choice: you either let my companion and I go silently, in which case you can keep your miserable existence, or you don't. If not, your lives end today."

Silence. And then came a noise. It sounded like an animal hacking up a hairball, and the Doctor could see as, one by one, the sound spread until the shadows were all quaking. Laughing, the Time Lord realized in horror, they're laughing at me.

Another shadow all of a sudden made for him, the alien pushing Rose of the way as he jumped to the side himself. "Stop! Stop… Come on, we're broken. Tired. I mean in the name of the Seven Systems, look at how skinny we are! Barely any meat on our bones, I'd say. Is it really worth all that effort? We're really more trouble than we're worth. You'll spend most of your time gnawing on bones! Especially with her." He pointed to the human behind him. "Besides," the Doctor continued. "We're filthy! Damaged goods. You don't go to a grocer and pick up the most bruised banana, do you?"

But it had seemed that the Qa were tired of playing with their food:

Talk is fine and good and swell

But nobody can hear you yell

Meat is meat we see your dread

It doesn't matter once you're dead

Then the Doctor was speaking to her, muttering: "Rose, run. Take the sonic, open this door, and run. The emergency light just turned on so you've got about fifteen minutes before it dies."

She looked at him, face empty. He shook her. "Rose, listen to me. Run. Now."

The young woman blinked, barely registering what he was saying. "Can't leave you," she murmured.

"Please," he whispered, broken as he pressed his mouth to hers softly. "I can't watch you die. You need to be safe."

She looked at him, face contorted into one of pain as his words came through the fuzz in her head. Though whether she was hurting from her head or his unspoken profession, she wasn't sure. "N-No," she ground out.

But he was already shoving the sonic into her hand. He kissed her one last time, turning to the shadow creatures with a glare as he dropped her hand. The Doctor didn't look back, taking a deep breath before stepping forward:

"Allons-y."

He was thrown across the room with a sickening crunch, even more bloodied as he hauled himself up, coughing blood. "ROSE, RUN NOW!"

She could barely hear him, his scream muddled in with the darkness and the whispers. The whisperswhisperswhispers. Slick like oil and cold like ice they froze her, her mind flashing and body shaking. She could feel her helpless meat, see her surroundings clearly, but could not move. She was trapped in her own mind, helpless as the Doctor was grabbed, his clothes tearing as the Qa scratched at him. She felt like screaming, like collapsing on the floor, like her head would explode… But her body only let fall a single tear.

"Rose, get back to the TARDIS!"

"DOCTOR!"

"The Doctor imparts to his friends…"

Death and death and death and-

"Just let this old box gather dust."

"Bring me back!"

"Tales of woe and war and blood."

"False God."

"You are tiny."

"DOCTOR!"

I am the Bad Wolf.

A flash of golden light. A scream. A yell. A crack and a rumble.

And Rose Tyler fell to floor.