Sorry that this took me so long to post. I wrote aalmost all of it today, so if any of it seems goofy, that's why. Enjoy!
There was an explosion of blinding light and Rose Tyler stumbled from the midst of it. She caught herself from falling on a small boulder. She breathed in deeply, trying to even out her breathing. She shifted herself so she was sitting on the rock and then surveyed where she had landed.
She had apparently come out of the vortex into a cold desert. There was almost nothing anywhere. There was no vegetation in sight, but there were rocks and boulders not unlike her perch scattered around. There was a biting wind tangling her hair and if she couldn't feel the slight warmth, she would've sworn there was no sun in the sky due to the clouds covering as far as she could see.
Rose's face fell into her hands as she cried tears that she had bitten back for about four months. She had been searching for the Doctor now for at least as long. When she started, she hadn't really thought about the length of time it would take and the emotional fatigue was terrible. She wasn't made to do something like this. It was easy with the Doctor; he always had a plan, always knew what to do, but she was not him. And this was killing her.
The device Mickey had built for her was working well enough, but, like he said, it wasn't fine-tuned. Sure, it brought her to locations that the TARDIS had landed, but there was no way to make sure she was at the right place in his timeline.
Sometimes, she'd land just as the TARDIS was dematerializing or, after turning over cities and forests, she just couldn't find him at all. The latter was the most frequent. She would search all over and always come up empty. She wondered if she imagined it, which made it so much harder not to fall apart every time she heard the beautiful grinding of the time machine, but not being able to see the source… or its driver.
Rose wiped her eyes and stood. She needed to find out why the device brought her here before it was too late. Walked a few paces, but didn't see much of anything interesting. It was all just so… empty.
Blowing out her breath in a huff, she walked forward determinedly. Which seemed to be quite the mistake. As she was about to land her foot on the ground in a stride, there was no ground to be found and she fell twenty feet downward. Dirt and rocks landed on top of her where she'd plummeted and it felt like she'd broken something.
"Ow," She moaned as she attempted to lift herself up with her elbow. A few small rocks bounced off her head and she reached up a hand to rub the spot. She set herself up against a dirt wall.
She was in some sort of pit dug by hand. Why anybody chose to dig a twenty-foot pit right here was beyond her. She must've not been paying very much attention at all, seeing as she fell right into it. Although, the Doctor always had said she set records for being jeopardy-friendly.
She glanced down at the Time Manipulator on her arm. It still needed time to charge. "Course it would." She spoke to herself. "Why wouldn't it when I'm stuck down here…in a not-so-friendly pit?"
Rose got up and attempted to climb the dirt walls by finding a footing and gripping the sides, but the wall was angled just the wrong way so she kept falling off with a thump. After several tries, she was sick of falling on her bottom over and over again, so she used her last resort. She called for help.
"Help! Can anyone hear me? Help!" She shouted. She knew it was almost completely hopeless, but whatever works. "Help! Help?" Her voice withered into a quieter tone and she sat down again. "Yeah, prob'ly not gonna happen."
As if that something just decided to grant her wish, there was a noise up above. Rose shot to her feet and looked up, but had to shield her eyes from the light. "Hello? Hey, can you help me? I'm down here in a hole!" Very descriptive, Rose. She chided herself. "Hello?"
A rope fell down before her, the end dangling in front of her face. Okay, she had two options: grab hold of the rope, climb to "safety", and see someone who may or may not want to kill her, or she could stay down here in the pit until the device charged back up. Besides, if whoever it was had any plans on killing her, she was sure she could hold them off until it was charged up.
Taking a chance, Rose gripped the thick rope and hauled herself upwards. She pulled herself up the wall, but there was a part of it jutting outwards that would make it less than easy to get over.
"Oi! Can I have some help here?" She shouted up. Nothing happened. "Hello?"
A tug came on the rope and she found herself being pulled up by a strong force. She used her legs to get over the formation and a pair of arms pulled her over the edge. Swinging her leg over the side, she rolled onto safe ground.
"Whew!" She said as she got up and brushed herself off. Her clothes were a disaster of dirt. "Thanks for helping me. I would've been sittin' there bored for m'life if ya hadn't come along." She joked.
Rose smiled up at the man who had rescued her. He was old and wrinkly, with silvery grey hair to match. He was wearing clothes that reminded her of a magician. They were all black with red lining. Quite silly, really. He was also staring at her with a look of humor. It was starting to freak her out.
"Oi. Mate, are ya alright?" She asked with slight annoyance.
He seemed to snap out of it. "Yes, sorry. I just find it amusing. You fell into a hole in the middle of nowhere with no one about. There wasn't even anything covering it. You just walked right in. Do you live down there or something? No one just walks right into a pit. You need to learn to look where you're going more, young missy." His Scottish accent said.
Rose stood in front of him with arms crossed and mouth agape. The cheek of the man! Who did he think he was to be so rude? "Excuse me, but I was preoccupied with much more important things."
"Really? Something more important than falling into a hole and nearly getting yourself killed? I think that's a bit of a stretch." He came back with.
"As you can see, I've come out unharmed. I think I can do and have done rather well without you telling me how to take a stroll. Who are you to do that anyway?"
"You're being very rude. Yes, you are being very, very rude. I was just helping you out of a pit and giving you sound advice, but no! You have to go be rude and say I have no right to watch out for you! Well, just who are you to tell me that, then?" He asked, pointing a finger in her face.
"You're being very rude too, I might add! What does it matter to you if I pay attention to where I'm goin'? I can go droppin' into holes whenever I like! And I don't need you to get me out of them when I do!" She raised her voice.
"Well, I think that if you keep shouting at me, I might just push you back in there and take you up on that!"
"Fine!" She stood on the edge again with her back to him and her arms raised. "Push me in."
"You can't be serious. I'm not just gonna push you in. I just put a lot a work into getting you out." His voice said from behind her.
Rose spun back around and this time, it was her turn to point fingers in people's faces. "You're a liar. I knew you wouldn't do it."
He smirked and looked at her through his incredibly thick eyebrows. "Don't press your luck."
"Was that supposed to be threatening? That was supposed to be threatening, wasn't it? I bet it was. It failed, though."
"Enough with this. Let's just go back."
She felt her own brow wrinkle in confusion. "What do you mean? Go back?"
The rude man rolled his eyes. "I mean, let's go back. To the TARDIS?"
Rose's whole body just froze. "What did you just say?"
"You're really slow today. Is everything okay in there?" He knocked on her head a little bit.
She whacked his hand away from her. "No. What did you say? Go where?"
He extended his arms with his palms facing outwards. "To the TARDIS. What else? It's not like there's much anything else out here anyway. Except pits, if that's what you mean. I still don't understand why you wanted to come here in the first place."
Rose stepped backwards in surprise. Did he just say the TARDIS? That's impossible. He's not… Wait, was he…? But, that would mean that he… Or… What? "Who are you?" She demanded.
He took a step towards her and she took one back. "Come on. You're obviously exhausted from the heat and falling down the hole. Let's go."
"It's freezing."
He looked around in feigned astonishment. "Is it? Odd. I get those two mixed up all the time. You know me, Rose." He reached for her arm, but she yanked it away.
"No, I don't know you. Who are you and how do you know who I am?" She took another step back.
"Rose-"
She interrupted him. "No! Just tell me who you are! Tell me your name!" Another step.
"Rose, you're going to fall!" He warned just as she took another step and slipped, falling backwards into the hole again. The man reached forwards and grabbed her by her arms, pulling her back to safety.
"I'm the Doctor and I save people." He said quietly, but smiled as if there was an inside joke.
"Doctor?" She whispered.
He waggled his eyebrows. "Back with us, then?"
She wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug and he tightened his hold on her in a hug. Tears were in her eyes.
The Doctor chuckled. "What's all this about then?" He asked as he pulled back.
She was confused again. "What do you mean? I'm happy to see you! I missed you. And it must've been sometime for you too. You've regenerated."
His brow was furrowed in bewilderment. "What do you mean? Of course I've…" He stopped midsentence and his face cleared up as if realizing something. Rose could just see the cogs turning in that big Time Lord brain of his.
"Doctor? Are you okay? What's wrong?" She asked. Something was not right with him. Wasn't he happy to see her after all this time?
He took a hold of her hand and looked at the Time Manipulator. "What's this on your wrist?"
She sighed, wanting to get back to their happy reunion. "My Time Manipulator. It's connected to this thingy." She touched a hand to the vest. "It got me through the parallel world and back to you. I've been using the Time Manipulator to search for you in this universe. I'll explain it all later."
The Doctor didn't seem to want to let it go though. "Rose, when was the last time you saw me?"
Okay, odd question, but she didn't really like going back to that memory. "The last time I saw you was on Bad Wolf Bay on the worst day of my life."
He shut his eyes and backed away from her. Running fingers through his hair, he spoke. "Oh, Rose."
Now she was just concerned. "Doctor, what is it? What's wrong?"
He looked back at her. "You were looking for me. Well, guess what? You found me, but not 'your' me."
Okay. What? "What do you mean 'my' you?" A theory popped into her head and she gasped. "Am I in the wrong dimension?" Frankly, the though terrified her that she might be stuck in another world with absolutely no way home. Although, she wasn't quite sure where that would be if not with the Doctor.
"No! Right universe, but wrong place in the timelines." He answered.
Yep, she was lost. "Not quite followin' you here." She said, shaking her head.
He sighed heavily. "You came here too late in my timeline. You've already gotten back to this me. My Rose is probably wandering around this place and falling into pits, but you're here. You're still looking for me and I'm very sorry, but you've still got a ways to go."
It came crashing down on her like an avalanche. She came to the wrong place. Again. Rose sat down roughly on a well-placed boulder. Why couldn't the universe just let her find him? The right him?
"Rose, I understand how you're feeling." He gripped her hand. "I felt it every time my calculations showed that it would be impossible to break the walls without destroying the universe just so I could see you again. But you've got to remember that you do find me and everything will be alright."
"I want everything to be alright, right now." She wished as her eyes welled with tears.
He held her to his chest. "I know. I know, but when you get to me, and you will get to me, we'll have the best of reunions. And I'll tell you what… we're going to be together for a long time."
A sharp beeping noise came from her wrist and she looked down at it. It was recharged now.
"Time to go." The Doctor said and she stood.
There was one more question she wanted ask. "How long, Doctor? 'Til I see you again?"
He shrugged. "You've never mentioned this meeting to me before. So I wouldn't have a fair guess. But, Rose… please don't give up. I know it's hard and I know you're tired, but don't give up. Believe me when I say it's going to be fantastic."
She smiled at his words and made a silent vow to keep looking for him. She laughed. "Just a few minutes ago, we were shoutin' at each other. Guess we'll never change." He shook his head. "Say hi to me for, well, me." She joked as she set the device up to leave.
He stepped back. "See you soon, Rose Tyler."
She took a deep breath and grinned just for him. And then she was gone.
I'll try to get them back together by next chapter, but maybe not. Did I portray twelve accurately? I love their arguments. I just really think that they would argue a lot. Twelve is just so rude, add I mentioned several times. Review and let me know how I did!
