AN: Back with another chapter! Sorry for the wait, I've been sooooooooooooooooooo busy. I know that's not an excuse, but it's the truth. I'm going on a trip next weekend, so the next chapter won't be out until sometime during that next week. Anywho, the show must go on. Enjoy!
Chapter 26
We chatted for a little longer, like proper girls. We ended up on the issue of fathers. "I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Rose says sympathetically. "Thank you miss," Gwen nods. "But I'll be with them again, one day. Sitting with them in paradise. I shall be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your dad's up there waiting for you too, miss." Rose looked startled. "Maybe, er. Who told you he was dead?" Gwyneth looked genuinely confused. "I don't know, maybe the Doctor." Rose looked suspicious, but continued. "My father died years back."
"But you've been thinking about him lately more than ever," Gwen blurts out. "I suppose so, how did you know that?" Rose asks carefully. Gwen blushes. "Mr. Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants misses."
My mouth twitches. "Where we're from, slavery isn't really… an option. Most people would deny it anyway." Gwyneth nods appreciatively. "And you've come such a long way." Rose narrowed her eyes at that. "What makes you think so?" She glanced over at me for an explanation, but I just nodded at Gwen, content to listen to her side of the story. "You're from London," she says, focusing on Rose. "I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about half naked, for shame. And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past, and the birds in the sky…" she paused as Rose's expression kept getting more and more perplexed. "No, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you, you've flown so far. Further than anyone…" she trails off, but quickly squints in my direction.
I flinch instinctively. "But you…" she says softly. "You've traveled through time and space and matter more than anyone in the history of the universe. Even the Doctor. But I can't…" She grabs at her head and stumbles into my waiting arms. She gazes off, seemingly in a trance. "I can't see you: who you are, who you were, who you will be." She looked generally alarmed before shooting up. Both Rose and I jumped a little. "Both of you have and will see so much. The darkness…the big bad wolf," She finishes. I stiffen at those words, knowing their true meaning. Her eyes seem to lose their blank stare and she looks around frantically. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry misses." She looks at her feet.
Rose breathes in shakily. "It's all right," she comforts. "I can't help it. Ever since I was a little girl, my mama said I had the sight. She told me to hide it." I smile trying to gain back confidence. Even though I showed little emotion on the outside, her comment about my lack of existence in her sight rattled me. Though the central part of my mind dismissed it as the immense barrier of nothing between our universes, my subconscious was suggesting that much more was going on here.
I sigh happily as the Doctor bursts in before Rose can say something. "It's getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?" Gwyneth nodded sadly. "All the time, sir. Every night, voices in my head." "You grew up on top of the rift," he explained. "You're a part of it. You're the key."
I was about to protest when Gwyneth spoke again. "I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts." I open my mouth, only to be interrupted once again. "Well that should help. You can show us what to do." He smiled excitedly. "What to do where sir?" He looked like a child on Christmas. "We're going to have a seance!" He waltzed out of the room as my mouth slowly shut in defeat.
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(Rose P.O.V)
Oh the Doctor and his crazy ideas. After all, these were aliens, right? Not ghosts. Though, after all Rose has seen in the past two days, she wouldn't be surprised. They are all gathered around a table, calmly staring at Gwyneth. However, she noticed Alice had a bit of a sour face towards the whole situation. Maybe she knew something that was going to happen. Rose made a mental note to investigate later. Gwyneth sat down, hands visibly shaking. "This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town. Come, we must all join hands." They all clasp their hands together, Alice still looking uneasy. At least, everyone except for Mr. Dickens. He said, rather disgusted, "I can't take part in this." The Doctor couldn't help but add his comment. "Humbug?" he giggled. "Come on, open mind." Dickens only scoffed. "This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask. Seances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."
The Doctor didn't seem to understand that Charlie felt very serious about the whole ordeal, Rose thought as he added, "Now, don't antagonise her. I love a happy medium." His grin stretched from ear to ear. Rose noticed that Alice wasn't buying the whole "safe, happy, seance" act either. In a wavering tone (somewhere between seriousness and concern) Rose states, "I can't believe you just said that." The Doctor ignores her and the icy glare sent his way by Alice. Something serious must happen for Alice to be trying so hard to get the Doctor's attention. "Come on, we might need you," Alice grits out, trying very hard not to reveal what on her mind. Rose detected a bit of sadness in her tone. She glances at the Doctor to see if he noticed, but he's only staring at Dickens who is finally taking a seat. "Good man," he says happily. "Now, Gwyneth, reach out."
Gwyneth breathes deeply before closing her eyes. "Speak to us," she speaks clearly, her voicing echoing around the small room. "Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden." Alice glanced at Rose worriedly as the sounds of soft, unintelligible whispering filled the room. Rose tried to send calming messages with her mind to Alice, but she could tell that the girl was starting to get agitated. Even though Alice was a few years older than her, Rose felt like the big sister in their relationship. As the whispering continued, Rose added to the symphony, muttering a very obvious, "Can you hear that?" Alice only slightly cheered up. "Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly!" Dickens was muttering, but he too was looking around the room nervously. Rose couldn't help but angrily whisper, "Look at her." Rose could tell that got him. Even the most stubborn person could see Gwyneth's closed eyes and shaking body. She whispers, "I see them, I feel them…" She drifts off and Rose gasps. Tendrils of blue gas were starting to float above her head, writhing and curling. Rose became quite curious at this point, asking, "What's it saying?" The Doctor scanned Gwyneth before concluding, "They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now look deep, allow them through. Gwyneth cried out, "I can't!" Rose could see Alice wince and whisper something to difficult to make out. All the while, the Doctor was still urging on Gwen. "Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link." Gwyneth put her head down for second only for it to snap back up and say, "Yes."
Her eyes were wide and unseeing. The blue gas tendrils finally took the shape of human-like bodies. You couldn't see their features, but it was clear that they were speaking. At least, them and Gwyneth. "Pity us," they droned. "Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us." The Doctor stared at the mist uncertainly. "What do you want us to do?" "The rift," the Gelth pleaded. "Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."
"What for?"
"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction."
Alice was scowling. "Why, what happened?" Rose could tell that this subject was very tender to him, so she didn't press when he conversed with them. "Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came." They seemed to sigh sadly. Even though Rose was sure he already knew the answer, the Doctor asked, "War? What war?" The Gelth seemed to look him straight in the eye. "The Time War," they announced. Alice's scowl only drew deeper while the Doctor's forehead creased. "The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state." "So that's why you need the corpses," the Doctor whispered. Alice looked like she was going to intervene, but the Gelth interrupted. "We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us." Rose decided that they sounded rather menacing and spoke up. "We can't." The Doctor faced her, eyebrows raised in shock. "Why not?"
Rose tried her best to explain. "It's not- I mean…it's not-" "Not decent?" the Doctor asked, almost enraged. "Not polite? It could save their lives!"
"How would you feel, Doctor, if someone took the body of your mother or sister or lover and used it as a meat suit," Alice said calmly, her gaze never leaving Gwyneth. The Doctor was about to reply when the Gelth cried out. "Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth." The gas swirled back into the lamps with a big whoosh and Gwyneth collapsed onto the table, unconscious.