Chapter 2:
Trying to Save Someone/The Unquiet Dead
By: Izzy
They entered the TARDIS together hand in hand, with the Doctor in the middle, Rose to his left and Rhiannon to his right. "Rhiannon, you can straighten yourself up in the bathroom down the hall, take a left, then a right, fifth door on the right," he said.
"Thanks," Rhiannon said as she disappeared down the corridor.
"Well while she's straightening up why don't we get under way?" he asked Rose with a smile. She nodded and smiled back. "Hold that down." He pointed to a lever near where they stood. He jumped to the other side of the console. Rose walk closer and took the lever and held it down. Just then Rhiannon had came back into the console room. "Just in time Rhiannon, hold that down." He smiled at her and pointed to a button between him and Rose, just out of their reach. Rhiannon happily ran to the console to hold down the button. "I promised Rose a time machine and that's what she's getting. You've both seen the future, let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?"
"What happens in 1860?" Rose asked.
"I don't know," the Doctor said grinning. "Let's find out. Hold on, here we go." The TARDIS jerked and wheezed as they landed knocking all three of them on their backs. All three of them laughed hard. The Doctor looked over at Rhiannon and was happy that she was laughing.
"Blimey!" Rose said laughing.
"You're telling me." Rhiannon said with a smile.
"Are you both all right?" the Doctor said.
"Will be," Rhiannon said rubbing her sore behind.
"Yeah. I think so." Rose said as he helped her up then Rhiannon. "Nothing broken. Did we make it? Where are we?"
"I did it!" he exclaimed, "Give the man a medal. Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860."
"That's so weird. It's Christmas." Rose said.
"All yours." he said gesturing to the door.
"But, it's like, think about it, though." Rose said with a great deal of excitement in her voice. "Christmas. 1860. Happens once, just once and it's gone, it's finished, it'll never happen again. Except for you. You can go back and see days that are dead and gone a hundred thousand sunsets ago. No wonder you never stay still."
"Not a bad life." he said smiling.
"Better with us." Rose said as she gestured back and forth between herself and Rhiannon. "Come on, then." Rose tried to pull Rhiannon but she stood fast. Making Rose look at her confused.
"If we go out there like this we'll cause a riot and not the good kind either." Rhiannon said. "Doctor, is there a wardrobe where we can change?" She already knew the question but she knew that she shouldn't know so she had to act like she didn't know.
" Yeah," he said rather impressed with Rhiannon. "First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left. And hurry up!" Both the girls left the Doctor with his thoughts. He now knew Rhiannon's pain however there was still a great deal he didn't know about her; like how can he feel her even now just like he could a Time Lord from when the Time Lords were alive. Also he knew there was more to her pain than what she had revealed to them. It was like she blamed herself for the fire. He was pulled from his thoughts as Rose entered the room, he looked at her with amazement. "Blimey."
"Don't laugh," she said.
"You look beautiful," he said then quickly added. "Considering."
"Considering what?" she asked slightly offended.
"That you're human." he said simply.
"I think that's a compliment." she said shaking her head. "Aren't you going to change?"
"I've changed my jumper." he said. "Where's Rhiannon?"
"Oh," Rose said as she turned to look in the hall for the older woman that was right behind her. "She was just behind me a second ago. Hold on, I'll go find her." Rose disappeared back into the hall. She returned after a bit with Rhiannon who was wearing her elbow length gloves, with a long black sleeveless dress suitable for the 1860s, a pearl necklace, and a lace shawl. Her hair was still in a bun but it was now a bit more stylish braided instead of messy. When she stepped you could see her black boots.
The Doctor looked at her and couldn't breath even with his respiratory bypass system. She took his breath away and she was human, a stupid ape. He shook his head lightly trying to shake the thought of her being a stupid ape. She was not stupid. "Blimey," he said breathlessly.
It surprised Rose that he reacted like this, to Rhiannon. "Thanks," Rhiannon responded quietly. "Shall we?" She gestured to the door and Rose got excited and ran to the door with renewed vigor.
"This one's mine." Rose said with a grin. She timidly stepped out the door in to the snow covered alleyway. Rhiannon waited until Rose was fully out of the TARDIS before Rhiannon stepped outside as well. Rhiannon was more taken back by that fact she was in Cardiff than the fact she was in the past. She had never been very far from Indiana, the farthest she had been from Indiana was Virginia, when she has swam in the Atlantic Ocean.
"Ready for this?" the Doctor said as he stepped out of the TARDIS. Offering both girls a hand. Rhiannon took his right with a smile, and Rose his left. "Here we go. History." The three of them walked together all three of them grinning. Rhiannon felt a little less lonely now that she had Rose and the Doctor. And the Doctor felt a little less lonely because he could feel Rhiannon in his head.
As they walked the Doctor felt like he was wrong about the time so he let go of the girls and bought a newspaper and he flipped it open. "I got the flight a bit wrong." he said as he looked at the paper.
"I don't care." Rose said.
"It's not 1860, it's 1869." he said.
"I don't care." she repeated
"And it's not Naples." he said.
"I don't care." she repeated again
"It's Cardiff." he said plainly.
"Right." she said as she stopped.
"I don't care." Rhiannon said trying her best to mock Rose. Rose looked at Rhiannon with great annoyance but then laughed. Rhiannon grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her to follow the Doctor. They wondered around for a bit then a piercing scream cut through the night.
"That's more like it!"The Doctor exclaimed as he tossed the paper behind him. The three of them ran toward the scream, Rhiannon never letting go of Rose. Rhiannon was still trying to decide if she should follow Sneed or if Rose should. Rhiannon knew things could change by her being there so she decided that she was going to put herself in Rose's place so that Rose wouldn't have the possibility of dying.
They entered the theater together pushing through the people as they screamed and fled. The Doctor pushed through first and climbed up on to the stage. Rhiannon let go of Rose and moved towards the old lady that was the cause of the fear. Rhiannon wanted to get there before Rose noticed. "Hey, leave her be," Rhiannon shouted. "Doctor I'll get 'em."
"Be Careful!" he shouted back. Rhiannon smiled at his concern. She followed Sneed and Gwyneth outside to their carriage.
"Gwyneth," Rhiannon said. "Please let us help you." Gwyneth was taken back by the fact that a stranger knew her name but before she could ask much more Sneed sprang into action covering up his tracks by putting Rhiannon to sleep with chloroform.
"What did you do that for?" Gwyneth asked rather harshly.
"She's seen too much. Get her in the hearse. Legs." Sneed commanded. Gwyneth did as she was told but she wanted to know more about this strange woman. Gwyneth made up her mind that after the woman woke that she would talk with her. Gwyneth help Sneed get Rhiannon's body in to the carriage.
Gwyneth could see Rhiannon's dreams; A little girl with curly brown hair, blue eyes, and the cutest smile. The image made a tear form in Gwyneth's eyes.
"Girl, hurry up," he said. Gwyneth tried to push aside the images of Rhiannon's dreams.
Gwyneth climbed into the carriage along with Sneed, and they traveled back to the morgue. But on the way images of Rhiannon's dreams kept creeping into Gwyneth's mind. A tall handsome man that would hold Rhiannon and whisper she is the most beautiful person in the world. Gwyneth tried again to shake the images, but as she did she started to cry. She wiped the tears and looked at them confused she didn't understand why these happy memories would cause anyone to be sad. She helped him get get Rhiannon back to the viewing room, placed her in a coffin. Then they put the old woman back in her coffin. They left the room and locked the door.
Rhiannon woke up at the sound of the door locking. The first thing she noticed was that she was in a coffin, and that creeped her out. She sat up and sighed knowing where they put her. She tried to get up without breaking the coffin, but sadly the coffin was not build that sturdy, so she broke the side when she leaned to get up. She fell out of the coffin, suddenly the dead bodies started to get up too. She sighed again and tried to get up but her body ached and was slow to respond.
The zombies broke their coffins too and got up to give Rhiannon chase. She stood up as quickly as her body would allow. She knew the Doctor would be here so, but she groaned about having to call for his help. She hated being the damsel in distress. "Here goes nothing," she thought aloud as she ran to the door and began to beat it down. "Help me! Let me out!"
"I hear her!" Rhiannon heard Rose shout. She knew that meant that the Doctor was about to kick down the door and that the male zombie was going to grab her and that creeped her out too. Just as she finished remembering what happened the male zombie grabbed her and the door was kicked in.
"I think this is my dance." the Doctor said as he pulled Rhiannon free from the male zombie's grasp.
"It's a prank." Dickens said as he came up from behind the Doctor. "It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence."
"No, we're not." the Doctor said. "The dead are walking." He looked down at Rhiannon and smiled. "Hi."
"Greetings," she said with a smile. "Greetings, Charles Dickens." She waved to the other man.
"Hello," said Dickens a bit confused.
"How did you-" the Doctor started but stopped knowing that they didn't really have time. "My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?"
"Failing." the male zombie spoke with the voice of many. "Open the rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us. Argh!" With that the gas creatures left the dead bodies. Rhiannon knew their name and intent but she knew that if she told them she would have to explain now she knew.
"To answer your question Doctor," Rhiannon said. "I have seen a few pictures of Charles. And Christmas Carol is one of my favor Christmas stories." She looked up at the Doctor to see him nod in understanding. "Why don't we go somewhere more comfortable? Sneed?" Sneed shuttered at his name being said by Rhiannon, not because it was cold or angry but because she said it sweetly with a smile on her face as she looked at him.
"Yes, this way." he said grimy. He led them to a sitting room not too far away. Rhiannon knew she had scared the poor man but she also knew that Rose wanted a piece of him. And Rhiannon would let Rose have it.
"First of all you kidnap my best friend," Rose starts in on him the moment he and Dickens have sat down. "Then you stuck her in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave her to die!"
"I won't be spoken to like this!" Sneed shouted back at Rose.
"So come on, talk!" she shouted
"It's not my fault. It's this house." he said with a great deal of fear in his voice. "It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs." He looked over at Dickens and saw that Dickens was offended by his comment so he tried to correct himself "The dear departed started getting restless."
"Tommy rot." Dickens said.
"You witnessed it." Sneed tried to argue. "Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps."
"Two sugars, sir, just how you like it." Gwyneth said as she set a cup on the mantle beside the Doctor. The Doctor gave her a strange look and Rhiannon smiled at Gwyneth knowing that this was Rhiannon's chance to talk to Gwyneth without Rose or the Doctor coming in. Rhiannon followed Gwyneth to the pantry.
"Hello, Gwyneth," Rhiannon said with a smile on her face. "I wanted to talk to you away from the others. But you probably knew that already."
"Yes, my Lady," Gwyneth said as she turned from the dishes to look Rhiannon in the face.
"You don't have to call me a lady," Rhiannon said.
"But you are of noble blood,"
"Yes, I am but my grandfather gave that up when he came to America."
"But that is not the only noble blood you have, your great great grandmother was a Princess."
"Yes, but she left her tribe to marry a Irishman."
"Well then what would you have me call you?"
"Rhiannon. But my lineage is not what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Yes, but I have a question for you."
"Sure, what do you want to know?"
"Why does it hurt you to remember them?"
"I feel lonely without them. It hurts because they are still not here. And I wanted to watch her grow up into a beautiful young woman." Rhiannon was trying not to cry, but when she gives her word, she does her best to go through with it.
"She is pretty. I know you don't believe as I do but they are smiling down on you from heaven."
"You're sweet. But I want to let you know about what is going to happen."
"I have seen it, if I go into the arch in the morgue I will die but I will also help them."
"Yes, and tell you that they are not as they seem."
"Yes, but I also saw in your head that if I don't help them, they could force their way through and do more damage than if I help them. Why don't you sing anymore?"
"Huh? Where is this coming from?"
"Well, you don't fear my ability and reading you is easy, like reading a book."
"Yes, well I am not holding back from you. But to answer your question; I just don't have anyone that will listen to me sing so I stopped."
"The Doctor would listen. Also you need to tell him about your empathy. He can feel you like I can read you."
"But he hasn't said anything."
"He is waiting for the right moment." Rhiannon watched as Gwyneth's eyes went wide. Rhiannon had been fearing this moment when Gwyneth looked deep into Rhiannon's future. "America, looks so amazing. But you were not happy there in Muncie. But you know the Doctor better than anyone else. You know his life even his future, and he is hope to you." Gwyneth gasped before she finished. "The things you've been through, I'm so sorry. The darkness. The Emerald Dragon. I'm sorry."
"It's alright. Emerald Dragon? That is my mother's spirit guardian."
"I can't help it. Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it, but you make me feel so comfortable."
"But it's getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?" the Doctor said surprising Rhiannon.
"All the time, sir. Every night, voices in my head." Gwyneth replied.
"You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key." he said. Rhiannon looked away from both of them. Gwyneth now knew what she needed to do and the ball was in her court.
"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts. " Gwyneth said.
"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do." he said. Confused that Rhiannon was not looking at him or Gwyneth but dismissed it.
"What to do where, sir?" Gwyneth asked.
"We're going to have a séance." he said smiling. Rhiannon didn't have to see him to know he was smiling she heard it in his voice.
"Not without Lady Rhiannon," Gwyneth said. Rhiannon turned to look at Gwyneth puzzled. "I want you to help me." Gwyneth looked at Rhiannon and Rhiannon knew why. Gwyneth had to die but she didn't have to die alone.
"Sure, I will help." Rhiannon said smiling. They all went into the dining room, where a round table awaited them. Gwyneth sat down with her back to the fireplace, with Rhiannon to Gwyneth's right and the Doctor to her left, Rose sat by Rhiannon, Dickens sat next to Rose, and Sneed sat between the Doctor and Dickens. Rhiannon held Gwyneth's hand. "Breath, you need to relax. Relaxing your body is the first step to this."
"I can't take part in this." Dickens said standing.
"Humbug? Come on, open mind." the Doctor said.
"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask." Dickens said with a snort. "Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing." Pointing to Rhiannon.
"Now, don't antagonize her." the Doctor said with a little bit of anger that he didn't even know he felt. But he tried to cover up the anger by making a light joke. "I love a happy medium."
"I can't believe you said that," Rose whispered.
"I can," Rhiannon whispered back with a large smile on her face.
"Come on," the Doctor started. "Sit down, we might need you." He turned to nod at Rhiannon.
"Now relax," Rhiannon said. "Close your eyes and listen to my voice. You should be able to feel them."
"I can." Gwyneth whispered slightly scared.
"Now, Gwyneth remember that I will not leave you." Rhiannon said. "There is nothing to fear I will protect you. When you are ready reach out and pull them forth."
"Can you hear that?" Rose asked as whispers filled the air.
"Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly." Dickens said harshly.
"Look at her." Rose said nodding to Gwyneth.
"You're doing good Gwyneth," Rhiannon said. "I'm still here. Pull them through." With that Gwyneth had the courage to pull them forth and they appeared behind her.
"Great God! Spirits from the other side." Dickens said in shock.
"The other side of the universe." Rhiannon and the Doctor said at the same time, however only Rose heard Rhiannon.
"Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us." the Gelth said using a child's voice that echoed and Gwyneth to speak.
"What do you want us to do?" the Doctor said.
"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge." the Gelth replied.
"What for?" he asked.
"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction." the Gelth said. Rhiannon forgot how angry this little display made her but she tried to shield her anger from the Doctor since she now knew he could feel her.
"Why, what happened?" he said.
"Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came." the Gelth responded. Rhiannon was failing at this point of blocking it all from the Doctor, because she saw him giving her a strange look.
"War? What war?" Dickens asked, pulling the Doctor's attention from Rhiannon and back to the Gelth and she thanked the Goddess for that.
"The Time War. The whole universe convulsed." the Gelth said. "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 said.
"We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again." the Gelth said, sending another wave of anger through Rhiannon. "We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us."
"But we can't." Rose said. She had morals and while Rhiannon did too. This was within Rhiannon's morals but not Rose's.
"Why not?" he bit out.
"It's not. I mean, it's not-" Rose started.
"Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives." he bit out. Rhiannon had a feeling that her anger was rubbing off on him, because that was a bit harsher than she remembered it in the show.
"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth." the Gelth said as they disappeared. After they were gone Gwyneth passed out on the table.
"Gwyneth?" Rhiannon and Rose asked with equal concern.
"All true." Dickens said in shock.
"Are you okay?" Rose asked Dickens.
"It's all true." he repeated. The Doctor helped Rhiannon get Gwyneth to a sofa. After they made sure she was comfortable, he grabbed Rhiannon's hand and pulled her down the hall so no one would hear.
"What was that?" he asked anger was lacing his voice, but she could tell he was trying to contain it.
"I'm an empath," she said. "I have done this type of thing before. Just not on this scale."
"What do you mean, 'not on this scale'?" he asked in the same tone.
"The Gelth are powerful," she said. "I can feel all the war emotions from them. They are still sore about the war."
"So you are against helping them?" he asked harsher than he intended.
"I'm not against helping them," she said. "In fact I will do all I can to help." He stood there in shock, this woman confused him. She said she is an empath which explains how he feels her, but even after feeling the war scared Gelth, she was still willing to help them. Maybe she would be willing to help him? He mentally shook his head trying to get rid of that thought.
"Alright." he said quietly. And let go of her hand he just then realized that he was still holding.
"If you ask me anything, I will not lie," she said, he looked at her shocked.
"Where 'd that come from?" he asked his tone much lighter than his earlier questions.
"I wanted you to know." she said simply. "But just know that sometimes I don't always think to tell someone something, so you have to ask." He nodded and she figured their talk was over so she started to walk back to the room were everyone was.
"Why do you wear elbow length gloves all the time?" he asked. He wondered that when she had changed into the 1860s attire. The smile Rhiannon had on her face disappeared and it was replaced with a face of pure pain, that he couldn't see but he could feel.
"Because underneath is a painful reminder of my failure and my loss." she said as she turned to face him, he looked at her confused. "When the apartment was on fire, I was the first to wake up. I woke Matt, my husband, he told me to go for help, that he would get our daughter, Jenny. I left the apartment and yelled for help but over my yelling and the sound of the fire I could hear and feel the fear Jenny was feeling. I turned back right as the," She paused with her story trying to fight back the tears. "Roof caved in, on to them both." Tears silently slid down her face. "I tried to move the burning rubble." She removed the gloves to show the Doctor her scars. The scars were all from third degree burns, from finger tips to just before her elbows. "I was burned badly, but I couldn't save them. Because they were already dead."
He felt bad about asking so he pulled her into a long hug letting her cry silently against him. They remained like that for a long while. He sent her calming waves through her empathy, and rubbed her back at the same time, trying his best to soothe her. He breathed in her scent of Tee Tree and Japanese cherry blossom, strangely the scent calmed him and fit her. Sweet, but saucy to all those that would do harm to the people she loved and cared for.
She felt safe again, and at first she felt like that was betraying Matt. But she knew he would want her to be here, saving lives, and finding comfort. She stopped crying but they stayed like that for a bit longer, just enjoying the closeness. He released her from their hug. "Let's go back," he said quietly. She nodded and they walked in just as Gwyneth awoke.
"It's all right. You just sleep." Rose said to Gwyneth. Rhiannon returned to Gwyneth's side. Rose moved so Rhiannon could get closer.
"But my angels, miss." Gwyneth said looking at Rose. "They came, didn't they? They need me?"
"They do need you, Gwyneth." Rhiannon replied before the Doctor had the chance.
"You're they're only chance of survival." he said.
"She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles. Drink this." Rose said handing Gwyneth a glass of water.
"Explain it to us. What are they?" Sneed said.
"Aliens." the Doctor replied.
"Like foreigners, you mean?" Sneed asked trying to make sense of all that has happen.
"Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there." the Doctor said as he pointed up to the sky.
"Brecon?" Sneed offered.
"Close." the Doctor said with a smile. "And they've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes."
"Which is why they need the girl." Dickens said.
"They're not having her." Rose said with anger in her voice. Rhiannon decided to stay out of this for a bit just until she felt needed.
"But she can help." the Doctor said. "Living on the rift, she's become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through."
"Incredible." Dickens said in amazement. "Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers."
"Good system. It might work." the Doctor said with a smile.
"You can't let them run around inside of dead people." Rose argued as she got up and looked at the Doctor.
"Why not? It's like recycling." he countered.
"Seriously though, you can't." she said getting angry that the Doctor was even thinking this.
"Seriously though, I can." he said also getting angry.
"It's just wrong," Rose said a little calmer. "Those bodies were living people. We should respect them even in death."
"Do you carry a donor card?" he asked her.
"That's different. That's-" she started but was cut off by him.
"It is different, yeah. It's a different morality." he said harshly. "Get used to it or go home. You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying."
"I don't care. They're not using her." Rose shouted.
"Don't I get a say, miss?" Gwyneth piped up and Rose turned around to see Gwyneth sitting up on the sofa.
"Look, you don't understand what's going on." Rose said calmly.
"No," Rhiannon finally spoke up. "YOU don't understand what is going on here. She is fully aware of all risks." The Doctor looked confused at Rhiannon's outburst.
"Lady Rhiannon," Gwyneth said calmly as she sat up. Rhiannon hated being called a lady but she let it slide. "You don't have to fight my battles." Rhiannon nodded, and Gwyneth looked back to Rose. "You would say that, miss, because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid."
"That's not fair." Rose said quietly as she turned to face Gwyneth.
"It's true, though," Gwyneth said. "Things might be very different where you're from, but here and now, I know my own mind, and the angels need me. Doctor, what do I have to do?"
"You don't have to do anything." the Doctor said.
"They've been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission." Gwyneth said. "So tell me."
"We need to find the rift." the Doctor said. "This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mister Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?"
"That would be the morgue." Sneed said.
"No chance you were going to say gazebo, is there?" Rose asked.
"But, before I do this," Gwyneth said as she once again looked a Rhiannon. "I want you to sing to me."
"Sing?" Rhiannon asked as she looked a Gwyneth puzzled.
"Yes," Gwyneth nodded. "The song you always hold in your heart."
"Rhiannon?" Rhiannon asked.
"Yes, your name sake song," Gwyneth said. Rhiannon nodded in understanding and moved to get comfortable in a nearby chair. She started to sing.
Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
and wouldn't you love to love her?
She rules her life like a bird in flight
and who will be her lover?
All your life you've never seen
a woman taken by the sky.
Well would you stay if she promised to you heaven?
Would you even try?
And he says, "Rhiannon, Don't go."
And he says, "Rhiannon, stay."
And he says, "I still cry out for you.
Don't leave me, don't leave me."
Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night.
And wouldn't you love to love her?
She rules her life like a bird in flight.
And who will be her lover?
All your life you've never seen
a woman taken by the sky.
Well would you stay if she promised to you heaven?
Would you even try?
She is like a cat in the dark,
then baby, she is your darkness.
She rules her life like a fine skylark,
when the sky is starless.
Once in a million years a lady like her rises.
Oh no, Rhiannon, you cry, but she's gone
Your life knows no answer, Your life knows no answer.
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
She rings like a bell through the night.
And wouldn't you love to love her?
She rules her life like a bird in flight.
And who will be her lover?
All your life you've never seen
a woman taken by the sky.
Well would you stay if she promised to you heaven?
Would you even try? Say, would you even try?
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Dreams unwind
Love's a state of mind
Your dreams unwind
Love's a state of mind
Your dreams unwind
And still it's hard to find, I know.
Your dreams unwind
And still it's a state of mind, I know
Dreams unwind
And still it's hard to find, I know
Dreams unwind
And still it's a state of mind, I know
Take me like the wind, child
Take me with the sky
Take me now
Take me like the wind, baby
Take me with the sky
All the same
All the same
All the same, Rhiannon
All the same
Baby, all the same
All the same
And he still cries out for her,
"Don't leave me now."
The Doctor was in awe at Rhiannon's voice and the emotion in the song. And how it fit, the rift talking her away. And how he now felt that if she ever tried to leave him he would be hurt, he would ask her to stay if she tried. He mentally tried to shake the idea of her ever leaving him. "That was beautiful." Rose said.
"Thanks," Rhiannon said. "Most people hate their name sake songs but I love mine. My mum loves Fleetwood Mac."
"Wait your name's Welsh, isn't it?" Rose asked.
"Yes," Rhiannon said with a smile. "My first name is Welsh, my middle name English, and my last is Romanian." She laughed. "Goes to show that I am truly from the States." She turned to look into Gwyneth's eyes. "Ready for this?"
"I think so," Gwyneth replied. Everyone traveled down to the morgue.
"Urgh. Talk about Bleak House." he said, as they entered and saw the dead bodies with sheets over them.
"The thing is, Doctor, the Gelth don't succeed, 'cos I know they don't." Rose said. Rhiannon rolled her eyes. "I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869."
"Time's in flux, changing every second." he said. "Your cozy little world can be rewritten like that." He snapped his fingers. "Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing."
"Doctor, I think the room is getting colder." Dickens said.
"Here they come." Rose said. A Gelth came out of a gas lamp by the door and stood under a stone archway.
"You've come to help," the Gelth said. "Praise the Doctor. Praise him." Rhiannon rolled her eyes once again. She wanted to scream for this to stop, to yell at the Gelth as she had Cassandra but she knew that this needed to happen.
"Promise you won't hurt her." Rose pleaded.
"Hurry!" the Gelth urged. "Please, so little time. Pity the Gelth."
"I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer," the Doctor said. "Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, all right?"
"My angels," Gwyneth said. "I can help them live." Rhiannon sighed, she felt no fear from Gwyneth as she looked upon the archway and the Gelth. Rhiannon sighed, Gwyneth didn't fear death.
"Okay, where's the weak point?" he said.
"Here, beneath the arch," the Gelth said.
"Beneath the arch," Gwyneth confirmed as she moved into place.
"You don't have to do this," Rose said. Rhiannon felt Rose's fear, fear not for herself but for Gwyneth.
"My angels," Gwyneth said.
"Establish the bridge." the Gelth commanded. "Reach out to the void. Let us through!"
"Yes, I can see you," Gwyneth said. "I can see you. Come!"
"Bridgehead establishing," the Gelth said.
"Come to me," Gwyneth urged. "Come to this world, poor lost souls!"
"It is begun. The bridge is made," the Gelth said as Gwyneth opened her mouth letting blue gas pore from her.
"She has given herself to the Gelth. The bridge is open. We descend." the Gelth said as the Gelth that was hovering above Gwyneth turned Red with sharp teeth and it's voice became deep and hard. "The Gelth will come through in force."
"You said that you were few in number," Dickens said.
"A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses." the Gelth said as the room was flooded with them. They enter the dead. Rhiannon tried to move to Sneed but the Doctor pulled her away from the zombies as they approached Sneed.
"Gwyneth, stop this. Listen to your master," Sneed begged. "This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone, I beg of you."
"Mister Sneed, get back!" Rose and Rhiannon said, but it was too late Sneed was killed by one of the zombies.
"I think it's gone a little bit wrong." the Doctor said as they backed away from the archway.
"I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come, march with us." the Gelth 'Sneed' said.
"No." Dickens said.
"We need bodies," 'Sneed' said. "All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead."
"Gwyneth, stop them!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Send them back now!"
"Three more bodies," the Gelth in the archway said. "Convert them. Make them vessels for the Gelth." Rhiannon, Rose, and the Doctor were forced back into a gate.
"Doctor, I can't. I'm sorry. This new world of yours is too much for me. I'm so-" Dickens said as Rhiannon felt the fear consume him as he bolted from the room. Rhiannon, Rose, and the Doctor went into the gate, which was just out of the reach of the zombies.
"Give yourself to glory," the Gelth said. "Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth."
"I trusted you!" the Doctor shouted. "I pitied you!" Rhiannon could feel the guilt and shame consuming him.
"We don't want your pity," the Gelth said. "We want this world and all it's flesh."
"Not while I'm alive," he proclaimed.
"Then live no more," the Gelth said.
"But I can't die," Rose said. "Tell me I can't. I haven't even been born yet. It's impossible for me to die. Isn't it?" Rhiannon was trying to stay up right from all the fear in the room. It was beginning to consume her.
"I'm sorry." he said.
"But it's 1869. How can I die now?" Rose asked slightly panicked.
"Time isn't a straight line," he explained. "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 both here."
"It's not your fault," Rose said. "I wanted to come."
"And I landed in your lap," Rhiannon said trying to joke.
"What about me?" he said. "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 in Cardiff."
"It's not just dying. We'll become one of them." Rose said as she nodded towards the zombies. "We'll go down fighting, yeah?"
"Yeah." he said.
"Too much fire in me not to." Rhiannon said with a forced smile.
"All together?" Rose asked as she looked at him on her left and Rhiannon to her right.
"Yeah." he said.
"Always!" Rhiannon declared, with a real smile now on her face. Rose grabbed both of her friends hands.
"I'm so glad I met you both." he said.
"Me too," Rose said.
"I'll never regret it," Rhiannon said.
"Doctor! Doctor!" Dickens shouted as he came back in. "Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now!"
"What're you doing?" the Doctor was confused for a minute.
"Turn it all on. Flood the place!" Dickens shouted.
"Brilliant. Gas." the Doctor said.
"What, so we choke to death instead?" Rose said.
"Am I correct, Doctor? These creatures are gaseous." Dickens asked as he tried to cover his mouth with a handkerchief.
"Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host." Rhiannon said grinning.
"Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!" the Doctor exclaimed. The zombies started to turn around and go after Dickens.
"I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately." Dickens said.
"Plenty more!" the Doctor exclaimed again as he rips the gas pipe out of the wall. The Gelth are forced out of the dead bodies.
"It's working," Dickens said happily as the trio came out of their hiding place. The Doctor went straight to Gwyneth.
"Gwyneth, send them back," the Doctor said. "They lied. They're not angels."
"Liars?" Gwyneth asked.
"Look at me." the Doctor commanded and she did as she was told. "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 can't breathe." Rose said as she choked.
"Charles, get them out." the Doctor commanded.
"I'm not leaving her." Rose protested.
"They're too strong." Gwyneth said.
"Remember that world you saw? Rhiannon's world?" the Doctor said. And that made Rhiannon worry about what he all heard. "All those people. None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift."
"I can't send them back," Gwyneth said as she pulled out a box of matches from her apron pocket. "But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out."
"You can't!" Rose shouted.
"Leave this place!" Gwyneth shouted.
"Rose, get out," he commanded. "Go now. I won't leave her while she's still in danger. Now go!" Rhiannon nodded to Rose and grabbed her hand to pull her from the room.
"Come on, leave, give that to me." he said as Gwyneth just stared at him. He put his hand on hers that held the matches, she was cold. So he looks for a pulse in her neck. "I'm sorry." He kisses her forehead. "Thank you."
"Trust, Lady Rhiannon," Gwyneth said. "She will shine so bright." The Doctor nodded before he ran from the room and out of the house as fast as his legs would carry him. He made it out right as the house exploded.
"She didn't make it." Rose said after seeing him.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said, sadly. "She closed the rift."
"At such a cost," Dickens said, sadly. "The poor child."
"I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead," the Doctor said. "She had been for at least five minutes."
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch," the Doctor said.
"But she can't have," Rose said. "She spoke to us. She helped us. She saved us. How could she have done that?"
"'There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Even for you, Doctor." Dickens said.
"She saved the world," Rose said. "A servant girl. No one will ever know."
"No," Rhiannon said. Everyone looked at her confused. "We know. We know what she did." Everyone nodded in agreement. "And we will never forget her sacrifice." They all walked back to the TARDIS.
"Right then, Charlie boy, I've just got to go into my, er, shed," the Doctor said as they reached the TARDIS. "Won't be long."
"What are you going to do now?" Rose asked Dickens.
"I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste." Dickens said with a cheery smile. "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."
"You've cheered up," the Doctor said with a smile.
"Exceedingly!" Dickens said. "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."
"Do you think that's wise?" Rose asked.
"I shall be subtle at first." Dickens said. "The 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."
"Good luck with it," the Doctor said with a smile. "Nice to meet you. Fantastic."
"Bye, then, and thanks," Rose said as she shook Dickens' hand and then she kissed him on his cheek.
"Oh, my dear. How modern." Dickens said after Rose kissed him.
"Farewell, Charles," Rhiannon said with a smile. "It was so nice to meet you." She shook his hand once Rose was away.
"Thank you, but, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?" Dickens said confused.
"You'll see. In the shed," the Doctor said with a smile.
"Upon my soul," Dickens said. "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?"
"Just a friends passing through." Rhiannon said while the Doctor was thinking.
"But you have such knowledge of future times," Dickens asked with great concern. "I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor, do they last?"
"Oh, yes!" the Doctor said.
"For how long?" Dickens asked.
"Forever," the Doctor said as he watched Dickens' face light up. "Right. Shed. Come on, Rhiannon, Rose."
"In the box? All three of you?" Dickens said confused again.
"Down boy," the Doctor said with a grin. "See you." The trio entered the TARDIS.
"Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?" Rose asked as they approached the console.
"In a week's time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies." the Doctor said. "Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story."
"Oh, no. He was so nice." Rose said as they watched Dickens on the monitors.
"But in both of your times, he was already dead." the Doctor said. "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 set in coordinates that would put them back into the Vortex. They laughed at the look on Dickens' face. The Doctor looked down at Rhiannon who stood to his right, and noticed that she looked very tired. "Rhiannon." She looked up at him. "You look tired. The TARDIS should have a room for you." She nodded to him, then she disappeared into the hall way.
She walked down the hall and found her room rather quickly. The door was wood carved, with a crown on the door, in the crown was her name in old English font. Her favorite font but then she noticed that under the crown was a word in circular Gallifreyan. That made her smile. She slowly opened the door, and saw a large room with an entertainment center with a 42 inch T.V and a sectional like she had picked out at her old apartment, She saw all her favorite books on a shelf just before an archway. She walked through the archway into a room that was a Victorian style bedroom complete with four post bed. The walls were a deep red, with gold trim, Gallifreyan colors she thought with a smile,
She saw a wardrobe, she walked to the wardrobe and opened it revealing all the clothes she could have ever wished for. There were fancy blouses, graphic tees, jeans of blue and black, and fancy dresses from all her favorite countries and from most eras in those countries. She wondered if the Doctor even knew what the TARDIS did for her. She closed the door to the wardrobe then noticed a vanity on the other side of the bed. She walked over to it and saw new make-up that she would probably never use, and there among the make-up was her perfume. But what really caught her eye was laying in the middle of the vanity, a picture album.
She picked it up and flipped through it, the first picture she saw was of her friend Todd holding Jenny, the next was all her friends together acting like fools as they always did, the rest of the pictures were random happy memories. She found it strange that the last page was pictures of her and her new friends, Rose and the Doctor. She realized how tired she was and crawled into the bed a top sheets of gold and red, that felt like silk. She hugged the album and fell to sleep like that.