AN: Back with another chapter! Thanks to all for the reviews! If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, feel free to review or PM me. I am so grateful for each and every reader! I'm trying my best to get longer chapters out faster, but I am a very busy person, so I'm so sorry if I'm not doing a good job. I'll try my best to update faster. Anywho, on with your regularly scheduled chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 28
(Rose P.O.V)
Rose gasps as some blue gas escaped from Gwyneth's mouth. Something doesn't seem right to her, she can feel it in her gut. However, before she could do anything, the Gelth called out again, "She has given herself to the Gelth. The bridge is open. We descend." Well, that doesn't sound good. The blue apparition floating behind Gwyneth's immobile head suddenly turned a nasty red and it's voice turned sinister. "The Gelth will come through in force," it growled. Dickens was horrified. "You said that you were few in number."
"A few billion," the Gelth snickered. "And all of us in need of corpses."
The Doctor glanced around as the dead bodies started to sit up around them. Sneed looked frantic. "Gwyneth, stop this. Listen to your master. This has gone far enough." He seemed to think that Gwen still had some control over the murderous creatures. "Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone. I beg of you!"
Rose noticed too late. "Mister Sneed, get back!" A corpse came from behind and grabbed Sneed around the neck. In one swift movement, his neck was broken and he was on the ground. Rose didn't even have the chance to cry out before a Gelth zoomed into his mouth, inhabiting him as he rose again.
The Doctor stated the obvious, "I think it's gone a little bit wrong." Sneed smiled menacingly. "I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come, march with us." Charles, though clearly pale and shaking, bravely said, "No!"
"We need bodies," pressed the Gelth. "All of you, dead. The human race, dead." The trio quickly moved backwards in an attempt to escape the slowly advancing Gelth. "Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back now!" the Doctor called, but Gwyneth was not listening. She spoke with the Gelth, commanding, "Three more bodies. Convert them. Make them vessels for the Gelth." Rose gasps when the cool metal of the gate touches her back. She hears Charlie speak to them faintly. "Doctor, I can't. I'm sorry. This new world of yours is too much for me. I'm so-" But the rest of his sentence was cut off by the Doctor creaking the gate open and pulling her into a small space, slamming it behind them. The Gelth reached through the bars, but they couldn't reach them. Rose looked, but Dickens was gone, the coward.
"Give yourself to glory," the Gelth moaned. "Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth." The Doctor looked infuriated. "I trusted you, I pitied you!"
"We don't want your pity. We want this world and all it's flesh."
"Not while I'm alive."
"Then live no more."
It sounded menacing, but their arms still could not touch the pair. The Doctor muttered, "Alice was right," under his breath, but Rose didn't mock him. She breathed deeply, then stated, "But, I can't die. Tell me I can't. I haven't even been born yet. It's impossible for me to die, isn't it?" He looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry."
Rose tried to understand. "But, it's 1869. How can I die now?"
"Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth and it's all my fault. I brought you here."
"It's not your fault. I wanted to come."
He paused, then turned to her. "What about me? I saw the fall of Troy, World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon…" he paused. "In Cardiff!" She tried not to be offended that comment as he turned back to the gate and their impending doom. "We'll go down fighting, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Together."
"Yeah." The Doctor wrapped his hand around hers as they closed their eyes and waited for the inevitable. What they were not expecting was the sound of creaking and someone whistling "Survivor" by Destiny's Child coming from above. They creaked their eyes open and gazed upward. Rose giggled, 'cause who else would it be?
Peeking in through a trapdoor, Alice winked as she said, "Miss me?"
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I'll never admit it, but I was so relishing the look of surprise on the Doctor's face. "What's up, Doc?" I called down, happy to see them in one piece. And holding hands, which I was very pleased about. The Doctor looked plain annoyed at my escape, but I could see a hint of gratitude in those steely eyes. Rose was giggling as she said, "'Survivor'? Really?" I shrugged. "Was the best thing I could come up with. Heads up!" I dropped in through the trapdoor, landing safely in the Doctor's arms. I patted him on the chest and he let me down. I brushed off my skirt and turned to face them. "So what'd I miss?" Both of them just peered around me. I mocked surprise. "OH RIGHT! It's my best buds, the Gelth." I turned around with my hands on my hips. "You sons of bi-" The Doctor interrupted before I could continue. "So, what? You just drop in? No plan on getting us out?" I simply held up my fingers, counting down.
3...2...1…
Good Ol' Charlie came bursting through the door. Right on cue. I smiled and waved. He ignored me, rightfully so, considering there was something more important going on. "Doctor! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now!"
"What're you doing?" he looked confused for once. "Turn it all on. Flood the place!" I turned to tend to the lamp in our small space as realization spread across the Doc's face. "Brilliant. Gas!" he muttered excitedly. Rose seemed confused. "What, so we choke to death instead?" We all just ignored her. "Am I correct, Doctor?" Charlie continued turning off the flames around the morgue. "These creatures are gaseous."
The Doctor nodded. "Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host." I piped in. "Like sucking seeds out of an orange!" I gave them a thumbs up. They stared at me sadly. I sighed and dropped my arms. "Like poison out of a wound." The Doctor nodded. As the atmosphere changed, the Gelth zombies turned to face Charles. "I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately." Charlie started to back up a bit. "Plenty more!" The Doctor shouts out, ripping a pipe from the wall. You could practically feel the gas seeping into your pores. The Gelth stumbled a bit, and some started to smoke out from the mouths of their vessels.
"It's working!" cried Dickens. I pushed the gate forward and we all stepped into the room. The Doctor turned to Gwen. "Gwyneth, send them back. They lied. They're not angels." Gwyneth faltered a bit. "Liars?" she tilted her head towards us. "Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!" I looked at Rose concerned as she started to cough. "I can't breathe!" she looked scared. Doc looked to me and I nodded. "Come on Charlie!" I called, wrapping an arm around Rose's, leading her towards the exit. She pulled weakly against me and I couldn't stop her because I was starting to feel a little light-headed too. She struggled to choke out, "I-I'm not leaving h-her!" Each words was accented with a cough. I grasped lamely at her arm again as I started coughing a bit too, but I had to admit, I didn't want to leave Gwen too.
She looked so sad, crying out, "They're too strong!" The Doctor was trying his best to encourage her, there wasn't much else he could do. "Remember that world you saw? Rose's world? All those people. None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift."
She looked strained. "I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out." I tried to walk towards her without coughing up a lung as she took out a box of matches. Rose protested weakly, "You can't!"
"Leave this place!" Gwyneth begged. "Rose, Alice get out. Go now. I won't leave her while she's still in danger. Now go!" Dickens finally pushed Rose gently through the doorway, but with one look to the Doctor, he knew I wasn't leaving.
I approach Gwen shakily and feel her neck. She doesn't flinch away. I almost cry out. I couldn't save her. That's my mission, and I failed, again. No one survived this time. I sucked it up and shook my head at the Doctor. He stood beside me and kissed Gwyneth's forehead. "I'm sorry," he whispered. I know he was saying it to her, but some of that was directed towards me, and I nodded even though he wasn't looking. However, I was going to give him a long talk when we got back to the TARDIS. We both run out as Gwen starts to open up the box.
We barely made it out before the home exploded, flying us outward. It was actually kind of fun, until I landed. Charlie helps me up as Rose whimpers, "She didn't make it." It wasn't a question. I groaned and stretched. "I'm sorry, she closed the rift." The Doctor's head was hung and he wasn't looking either of us in the eye. Dickens shook his head sadly. "At such a cost. The poor child."
"I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes." Rose looked surprised. "What do you mean?"
"I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch."
"But she couldn't have. She spoke to us. She helped us."
Charlie sighed. "THere are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy." We all stared as the flames devoured the final resting place of Gwyneth and Sneed. "She saved the world." Rose sniffed. "A servant girl. No one will ever know." I walked up to her and rested my chin on her shoulder. There was only one thing I could say.
"We'll know."
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(Rose P.O.V)
After a few minutes of silence, the Doctor clapped his hands and faced Charles. "Right then, Charlie boy, I've just got to go into my...er, shed. Won't be long." He sauntered off towards the TARDIS. Rose sighed and asked Dickens, "What are you going to do now?" He seemed to have a new light in his eyes. "I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital." Alice smirked and commented, "You've cheered up." He laughed. "Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I've just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor. I'm inspired. I must write about them." Rose was a bit hesitant. "Do you think that's wise?"
Dickens did seem to consider it, she noticed. "I shall be subtle at first. They Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this Earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word, tell the truth." The Doctor walked back to us. "Good luck with it." He smiled and shook Charlie's hand. "Nice to meet you. Fantastic."
Rose shook his hand. "Bye, then, and thanks." She blushed a little as she kissed his cheek, and she thinks he did too. Judging by the barely-concealed grin on Alice's face, that was a correct assumption. Alice simply walked right up and hugged him as hard as possible. Charles looked a bit startled. She pulled back and winked. "See ya, Charlie." She linked arms with Rose as they prepared to enter the TARDIS. "I don't understand!" Dickens called. "In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?"
Rose couldn't help but laugh along with Alice. The Doctor simply chuckled and said, "You'll see, in the shed." Dickens looked so confused, it was hard to keep the laughter in. "Upon my soul, Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this: Who are you?"
The Doctor smiled a bit. "Just a friend passing through."
"But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books, Doctor, do they last?"
The Doctor looked over to me. "If Alice isn't proof enough, I don't know what to tell you." Alice had a pleased look on her face as she said, "Your books last forever, Charlie."
He looked so touched Rose thought he was about to cry. The Doctor broke the silence awkwardly. "Right! Shed. Come on Rose and Alice." Alice tugged her towards the door. "In the box, all three of you?" The trio just laughed. "See you!" the Doctor called as the door swung shut.
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I ran up to the console, just glad the whole ordeal was over. I hadn't forgotten the guilt I had, but I pushed it away so I could dwell on it later. Rose suddenly asked, "Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?" I shake my head sadly. "He dies in a week. He never gets to tell his story." I don't look up from my journal where I'm writing the days events, I don't want the emotion to show on my face. Rose's face falls. "He was so nice."
"But think about it," the Doctor says. "In your time, he was already dead. We've brought him back to life, and he's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie boy. Let's give him one last surprise."
He flips a lever and the TARDIS makes it's familiar whooshing sound as we grasp onto the console. He presses a button and we stop moving, presumably floating in the vortex. I know Rose can see my glare at the Doctor, so she excuses herself from the room. The Doctor is pointedly avoiding my gaze, staring at the monitor.
I slap my journal down loudly and he jumps, finally meeting my gaze.
"We need to talk."