A/N
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Doctor Who. I am, however, the proud owner of a sonic screwdriver (thanks be to Talia-Taylor for the excellent birthday gift)!
Sorry all... this chapter didn't turn out as long as I had hoped. In fact, this has to be my shortest chapter two ever. But read on anyway!
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Rose followed the Master- a weird name, she reckoned, but she wasn't going to dwell on it- back to his TARDIS. As she walked inside, she knew that the TARDIS wasn't the same one as she was used to. Funny. In the space of one day she had met another Time Lord, and another TARDIS.
This TARDIS had a darker hue than the previous one; and seemed to, instead of excitement and intelligence, radiate serenity and confidence. The centre of the TARDIS was also different; instead of a blue colour, it was a pale purple colour. All in all, however, it reminded Rose of home.
"What's your name?" the Master broke Rose out of her musing.
"Rose. My name's Rose. Rose Tyler."
The Master nodded, and began setting coordinates, pressing buttons in what could be considered a frenzied manner, but that Rose was well accustomed to. "Do you know the Doctor?" she asked, before elaborating. "I mean, do you know the Doctor in this universe?"
The Master paused, and then stared at her with eyes full of regret. "I knew him."
"He's dead?"
The Master nodded. "Yep."
"Oh." Well, what could she say? She'd just found out that the person she loved didn't exist any longer- not in this reality at least. "How did he die?" she asked sincerely, desperately needing to know. It almost hurt, not knowing. She could imagine the Doctor- the current Doctor, suddenly disappearing in a world of blackness, never to be seen again, and she shivered.
While readjusting something or other, the Master's eyes darkened considerably, and he didn't speak for a long time, making Rose Tyler on edge. "No…never mind. You don't have to tell me…"
The Master said nothing, but his eyes lightened in the way only relief could bring, and as he dashed around the console, his footfalls become lighter.
"So… where are we going?" Rose asked. She wanted to keep the conversation going. It might help him open up, and she really wanted to know how the Doctor had died.
He seemed to perk up. "We're going to meet the others."
"The others?"
"The other Time Lord survivors."
"Oh…okay."
There was a pause, and the TARDIS began to move. She grinned widely, missing the rumble and vibrations of travel through time and space. She became aware of something watching her, and she turned to see the Master staring at her with something akin to sympathy.
"You really did travel around a lot in here, didn't you?"
Rose nodded. "Yeah, I did. Although the TARDIS was different."
The Master inclined his head. "This TARDIS isn't the Doctor's. The Doctor's TARDIS was destroyed when he..." the Master trailed off, looking stricken, and Rose realised that he had been about to say something regarding the Doctor's fate, or close to it.
She decided not to pursue the Master's slip. There was another pause, the only sounds in the huge ship was the gentle humming of the heart of the TARDIS.
Finally, the TARDIS landed, with a smooth shift from space to ground. "You can actually fly the TARDIS," she realised in wonder, staring at the Master.
The Master chuckled. "Yeah, Doc's like that. He could fly the TARDIS, he just enjoyed letting the TARDIS fly itself. Needless to say, the both of them loved adventures."
"'Doc'?"
"Running nickname. The Doctor was always fascinated with humans and their strange use of names," the Master smiled, "He told me that he became interested because when he went to Earth the first time, someone called him 'honey', and he replied with 'Bee's didn't create me, you rude human!'"
Rose laughed. "Did he really?"
"Nah, I don't believe it. But Doc looked pretty serious when he said that to me, so, I don't know for sure."
There was yet another pause, but this one didn't last for nearly as long. "How long ago was that?" she asked, suddenly sober.
The Master's eyes became melancholy. "A long, long time. A couple of months after we became fully-fledged Time Lords."
Rose tried to grasp that. If graduation, or whatever Time Lords did to become Time Lords, was at about the same age as humans, that had happened centuries ago, many centuries ago. Once again, she was reminded of just how old the Doctor actually was.
"Come on, Sprouting Plant."
Rose glanced at the Master in surprise as she followed the Master out of the TARDIS. "Sprouting Plant?"
The Master smiled warmly. "Rose Tyler, meet your nickname, Sprouting Plant. Sprouting Plant, meet Rose Tyler."
Rose raised an eyebrow. "That's the best you could come up with?"
"Hey, I've known you for a whole..." he checked his watch, "three minutes!"
"You're quick to name," was Rose's reply.
"I'll call you Sprout for short. Right-oh Sprout?"
Rose sighed overdramatically, eyes glittering happily. "Right-oh, Mozart."
The Master jumped, turning around so quickly that Rose felt her heart miss a beat in shock. "W-what?" she asked.
The Master looked shaken, and his eyes betrayed confusion, pure and simple. "That was Doc's nickname for me..."
Rose's eyes widened. "I-I... I just reckoned you were good with words, and the name 'Mozart' sorta popped up, 'cos he was good with music."
The Master surveyed her for a second. "You really did know the Doctor. Almost too well..."
"I... I guess he rubbed off on me."
The Master grinned, abruptly changing the subject. "Doc rubs off on anyone he meets."
"That he does," came a new voice.
Rose followed the direction of the sound. About two metres to their left, four men and a woman stood, staring at her with differing looks of confusion and hostility. She took a tiny step back, slightly nervous.
The Master strode forward. "She knows the Doctor from an alternate universe and we're going to help her get back to said universe."
The man who had spoken grinned. He had sandy brown hair with deep green eyes and was wearing some kind of pale, flowing robe. He stuck his hand out, and Rose shook it. "I'm Phantom, or so Master here tells me..." he said to her with another smile.
"Another one of his nicknames?" Rose guessed.
"You got it," was his reply, along with a subtle wink.
The Master grinned widely, blue eyes dancing at Rose. As Phantom stepped back, the Master pushed out another Time Lord. This one, also male, was wearing some kind of dark brown trench coat, with lighter brown pants and top. He had black hair that waved over his face, and, as he lifted a hand to brush the hair away from his eyes, Rose gasped. His eyes were a deep shade of lavender.
"Your eyes... are they real?" she asked curiously.
The man nodded, and gave a little bow. "I am Jorax. Please refer to me as Jorax."
Rose stared at him for a second, slightly confused, but replied with, "Okay. I'm Rose."
"Rose..." another voice interjected. The female Time Lord had spoken. She was wearing something that looked suspiciously like a kimono, a Japanese type of dress. She had long, wavy chocolate brown hair that had been pulled into some form of bun, with some hair still hanging out. Her hazel eyes inspected Rose, before the woman smiled and offered her hand. "Rose is a very nice name," she said.
Rose smiled, and shook the woman's hand. "What's your name?" Rose asked her.
"My name, like yours, comes from a flower. My name is Loranos, after the rarest flower on Gallifrey."
Loranos walked back, and the Master pushed the last Time Lord forward. "This is the Officer," the Master told Rose, "He doesn't speak much English." The Master spoke to the Officer in a strange flowing, lilting language, and Rose realised that he must be speaking Gallifreyan. The words seemed to flow so easily, so beautifully, and Rose knew, at that moment, that the language had been perfected.
The Officer stared at her, and she took in his appearance. Intense light brown eyes, wearing weird formal-looking clothes, with some type of hat, similar to a bandana, resting on his head. Peeking out from the hat was a bunch of red hairs, and Rose grinned, imagining the Doctor's fit when he found out. This regeneration of the Doctor had a strange, recurring with ginger hair.
Rose thrust her hand forward, offering it to the Officer. The Officer stared at the hand for a second, before reaching out with his own hand and tenderly shaking it.
When all introductions had been said and done, the Master led Rose to a broken-down building with flayed paint. Turning around abruptly, the Master spoke to Rose. "You want to get to the Doctor as soon as possible, right?"
"Yeah," Rose nodded.
The Master walked over to the group of Time Lords and spoke to them in Gallifreyan, once again awing Rose with the pure essence of the language.
Even a distance away, she could hear the raised voices of the group as they argued. First the Master spoke, then Jorax, then Phantom butted in to calm them down, then the Officer spoke, then Loranos. Rose caught two word that could be used in any language, however- 'Doctor' and 'Rose'. Names. They were talking about her and the Doctor. Finally, they seemed to decide on something, and the Master trotted happily back to Rose, smiling while doing so.
"We'll need to build another device to get you back to your universe, but we will, don't worry," the Master told her.
"How long will it take?" Rose questioned.
The Master looked suddenly nervous. "Not long. It'll be done by the time we get back."
"Back from where?" Rose frowned.
"Back from wherever you want to go," he replied, still looking nervous, and a bit...concerned? What was going on?
"What was the argument about?" Rose asked him, but when he didn't reply, she said, "And answer me honestly, please."
The Master sighed. "We wanted to figure out the best way to build the device," he said to her, and she narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out whether he was telling the truth or not. She finally decided it didn't matter at the moment, and she nodded. The Master relaxed, though still looked uneasy.
"Well, I have family back on Earth," Rose hinted to the Master.
"Right, then. Off we go!" the Master said enthusiastically, but that was put off by the way he stared back in guilt at the five shapes near the building. Rose stared at him, then back at the other Time Lords.
Why did the Master look guilty?
As they began walking back to the TARDIS, she gave words to her thoughts. "Why are you so remorseful?" Rose asked him.
He gazed at the ground. For a long while, he didn't reply, but just as Rose was about to give up, he whispered, "Lives waste away in the blink of an eye."
Rose's brow furrowed in confusion. What did he mean by that? And how did that statement make him feel guilty? And what did that have to do with the argument she had been privy to just before?
The Master walked into the TARDIS, not looking behind him to see if she was coming, and began fiddling around with buttons and levers, prepping the ship for flight. Rose walked in, the calm atmosphere of the TARDIS making her feel more peaceful. She leant against the control console, preparing herself for another smooth ride.
As they took off, she saw the Master look back once at the door.
"I'm sorry," he murmured.
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TBC...
A/N
Hi again!
WOW!! I never expected such a response!! Thank you all reviewers!! Okay- list of reviewers to thank- Talia-Taylor,laal ratty, SiriusDoctorWhoHoney329, Vampmistress, x-EmilyTennant-x,MythStar Black Dragon, Marty the Witch, Queen of the Jelly Babies and Tigris T Draconis. Special praise to Tigris for the wonderful review! Big claps and huge thanks to Vampmistress and Queen of the Jelly Babies for putting this story on your favourites. Thankyou to all those that put this story on your story alert list (you know who you are). Thankyou to Element Siren and Vampmistress for putting me on your author alert list, and a huge thankyou to Vampmistress for putting me on your favourite author list. I'm happy!! Yeah!!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Oh, and the Doctor will make an appearance in the... wait...counting...in the eighth chapter. Wow. That long. Quite a wait. But it's going to be good!
Pretty please review??
Until next update,
SnowFox3