Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own anything, nor do I get paid for it.

A/N Thank you for the wonderful response on the first chapter. Chapter Two has Rose's side of the story.

Warning for mentions of character death. Sorry, they were necessary.

Happy Reading!

Chapter Two

Rose Tyler crouched in the shadows as she made her way through the half-destroyed city. Night was falling rapidly and she still needed an hour before the vortex manipulator could garner enough power for her to make the jump away from this planet. Her last trip to Calpurnia had done a number on it and it took longer and longer for it to charge nowadays. If it hadn't been for the TARDIS coral bits having enhanced it, it would have given out years ago.

A cold gust of wind made her shiver and she drew her coat closer, tucking her hands into her armpits for warmth. The hood of her knee-length black coat did a good job of keeping her dark gold hair hidden. Locals on this planet rarely had hair this fair and she wanted to avoid attracting the wrong sort of attention.

Her steps faltered when she nearly tripped over a familiar eye-stalk. Being careful to step over it, Rose kept walking through the shadows, feeling the back of her neck buzz. She was being followed.

Rose's speed remained unchanged, though she straightened up almost imperceptibly. Whoever was following her, was definitely not a dalek. She would be dead by now if it was. It could be one of the locals who would have looked at her expensive coat and assumed that she would be a good target for robbery. However, the footsteps behind her sounded sloppy in a way of a rather lost soul following her.

Rose rounded the corner and hid behind a large bin. The person following her turned as well but stopped in confusion when they couldn't find Rose. From her hiding place, Rose looked at the silhouette of the person and determined that it was actually a small child. A little girl, judging by the torn skirt and long, straggly brown hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks.

She couldn't have been older than six and Rose was certain that she wasn't armed. After a quick debate with herself, Rose left her hiding place and approached the girl.

The girl gasped in surprise and took a few steps back when she saw Rose. "You must leave," she told Rose, recovering from her shock rather quickly.

"Why?" asked Rose, surprised by the urgency in her tone.

"You are not from here. You have to leave before the daleks find you," said the girl.

Rose stared at the girl for a moment. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Zara," said the girl.

"Zara, my name's Rose. So, why were you following me?" she asked.

Zara looked down at the ground. "I thought you were Becca," she said in a small voice.

"Who's Becca?" asked Rose.

"She's my friend. She looks after me and the other kids down at the shelter," said Zara.

Rose took in Zara's torn clothes and dishevelled appearance, and realised that she was a child living in the streets in a society torn apart by war. Compassion welled in her heart and she knelt in front of her. "Is Becca missing?" asked Rose.

Zara's eyes filled with tears and she looked down. "She usually comes back before the first sun sets," she said, and Rose knew that the first sun had set a few hours ago. "I have to find Becca. If she's gone then we won't have anyone."

"Sshh, it's okay," said Rose, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We'll find her, yeah?"

Zara started shaking her head violently. "No, no, you can't. If the daleks find you, they'll kill you," she said.

Rose smiled reassuringly at her. "I'm not leaving you alone when there are dalek patrols around," she said firmly. "Come on, let's find Becca."

Zara looked heartened and nodded at Rose. With a wider smile, Rose stood up and tucked Zara's hand into hers as they left the dark alley together. Night had fallen completely by then, and distant cries of daleks seeking out survivors and killing them could be heard echoing around them.

Rose could feel Zara trembling with fear, though she tried to hide it well. They walked along the path that Zara said Becca took so she could bring food for the children at the shelter. A series of quick questions determined that Zara was one of the older children at the shelter, hence why she had been the one to venture out. Rose shuddered to think how they were coping if a six year old was taking on such a grave responsibility.

"They take us when we turn 12," Zara told her calmly. "Becca's 14 but she ran away."

Rose swallowed back her revulsion as she listened to that. The daleks taking the children and turning them into slave labour for their own purposes was one of the most horrifying things she had heard. She shouldn't have been surprised really, the daleks were notorious for enslaving the population after they had invaded a planet and it really didn't matter that this was a parallel universe. Daleks were the same across the multiverse.

As they passed a dilapidated building, there was a light beep which made Zara jump violently. "Don't worry," said Rose hastily. "It's just my instrument."

Zara looked at the vortex manipulator on her wrist and then back at Rose. "Does this mean you are leaving?" she asked.

"Not until I know you are safe," said Rose firmly, as if there was no question of it.

Zara looked slightly happier but then her grip on Rose's hand tightened. "I see Becca," she whispered.

Rose followed her gaze and felt her heart freeze. Becca was standing in the middle of the street, with two daleks blocking her way. There was nowhere to run and she would surely be killed right there.

Making a quick decision, Rose pushed Zara into the closest alleyway. "Stay here and don't move," she told her.

Zara looked terrified as she crouched on the ground, clutching her knees to her chest. Rose dug into her pockets and drew out the compact laser deluxe. She rarely used it, but kept it on her person just the same. A quick change of the setting from 'stun' to 'kill', and Rose was ready as she emerged out in the street.

"Oi, you lot!" she shouted and the daleks turned around as one. Without wasting time, Rose aimed and shot the eyestalk off the first dalek.

It wailed loudly and Rose ducked into the shadows quickly before the other one could shoot her. Adrenaline pumping in her veins, she recharged the power on her gun as the dalek started approaching her. Setting the power to max, she aimed right at its gun and shot it. Unlike the dalek before, this dalek exploded loudly, killing even the actual creature inside the dalekanium shell. Rose aimed her gun against the dalek whose vision had been compromised and proceeded to blow it up.

With the two daleks destroyed, she saw Zara run out to Becca and the two girls embraced each other tightly.

"We have to move," Rose told them , stashing her gun away. "Before more of them show up."

Becca looked at her with gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you so much," she said.

"Thank me later," said Rose as she urged the girls along. "Come on, hurry!"

They ran all the way back to the shelter which was an underground bunker with a sturdy vault door as its entrance. It really was no match for the daleks but the secrecy of its location made it the best hiding spot.

Rose watched as Becca and Zara climbed down into the bunker. They invited her in, but Rose knew that she had to leave this planet soon. Already, she could feel a headache building. Experience had taught her that as soon as she started getting that headache, she had to go away at once.

The girls were disappointed but Rose dug into her pockets for whatever food and supplies she had with her and gave it to them. It would stop them from having to venture out for a week at the very least.

After making sure that the bunker was secure, Rose randomised the coordinates and left the planet at once. She hadn't even learned the name of the place, she realised, as the loud cheerful chatter of the marketplace nearly knocked her over.

"Miss, are you alright?" the friendly store vendor asked her.

Rose mustered up a small smile and nodded. It looked like she had arrived on Trenzalore again. It was remarkable how many times she landed here. Any more, and she would have to set up a semi-permanent base here, like the one she had in the Swiss Alps. Her Doctor had teased her about her fondness for places with snow, and Trenzalore was just another planet with a rather snowy temperament. The sun only rose for a couple of minutes and turned the planet into a glorious golden ball of light before it would go dark again.

Thinking of Trenzalore brought a sad smile to her face. It was rather apt for her and the Doctor. Her time travelling with the Doctor had been like that brief minutes of sunlight on Trenzalore. Canary Wharf had cast a shadow so dark that it took years for the sun to rise again. When it eventually rose, it was more glorious than ever and the hand in hers would have been hers to hold for the rest of their human lives.

But then the shadows had come back darker than ever, and the sun had never risen again. Seventy eight years, four months and twelve days had passed since the Doctor's death, but not a single moment passed when she didn't miss him dearly. The wedding ring had stayed resolutely on her finger even though they had only been married for about six years before the metacrisis had overwhelmed his brain.

A Time Lord consciousness could not be sustained in a brain that was as human as his. His memories were the first to go and towards the end, he could barely even recognise Rose. She had stayed by his side until the very end when his eyes had brightened with the familiar spark for only a moment before his single heart gave up.

His memory sparked the familiar anger and sadness in her heart again. Rose had a lot to be angry about, but she could never decide who she was more angry at: the Metacrisis Doctor for dying, the Time Lord Doctor for abandoning them, herself for being a fool, Torchwood for being far more sinister than she had anticipated, or the universe in general for taking away everything she ever loved from her. Most days, the anger and resentment slept in the back of her mind but after a particularly bad experience like she'd just had, it became more and more difficult for her to maintain her calm.

It was no wonder then, that she wasn't paying attention when the first lot of air attacks started firebombing the marketplace on Trenzalore. The screams of the people around her and the heat from the burning stalls knocked her out of her reverie and she sprang into action. Before she could do more than analyse the extent of the damage, she saw the attacker's ship in the sky.

The familiar saucer-shaped ship made an angry growl escape her lips. Fucking daleks again. They had been on the last three planets that she had visited. If Rose had been more paranoid, she would have thought that they were after her.

But the daleks had been stirring in this universe very soon after her Doctor's death. It was as if they were pouring in from an unexplained leak somewhere, and destroying nearly every planet in the sky. Rose knew that they were invading all over time and space, but the how and why had eluded her for nearly eight decades.

And then there were her headaches. Everytime she thought about interfering, she would get slight twinges that would pass soon enough. But the other sort of headaches would be enough to knock her out if she didn't stop her interference and leave at once. The only thing she could conclude was that whatever was preventing her from aging was also acting as a warning system of when she could interfere and when she should leave well enough alone.

She waited for the familiar painful headaches to start but her head stayed clear and she was still steady on her feet. Rose was surprised. Dalek presence usually meant that the headaches would be near-blinding. A grim smile crossed her face. It looked like it was time to get answers, whatever they might be.

With a determined look upon her face, Rose walked out of the destroyed marketplace and towards the fields where the Dalek ships were starting to land. The doors opened and ramps touched the ground as daleks began to descend onto the planet's surface. People screamed and ran for cover, knowing all too well what the daleks were truly capable of.

Rose was half tempted to just walk in, guns blazing and all, and let the chips fall where they may. Not like she had much to stay alive for, and if she managed to take out these daleks with her then at least her death would have meant something. But then her rational side kicked her anger back into the recesses of her mind and Rose allowed herself to calm down. She was being stupid and suicidal, and she was neither of those things. The daleks had to be stopped, but she would do her damndest to make sure that she did it the right away and not through a reckless gamble of her life.

The fields of Trenzalore that had been covered with white snow just mere minutes ago, were charred due to the firebombs and the dalek spaceships landing. But the strange thing was, the daleks hadn't started killing the locals yet. They had descended from their spaceships and were moving their eye stalks and plungers around, as if scanning for something.

Rose wondered briefly who or what they were searching for, when they turned abruptly and went in the direction of the tower. Rose had heard rumours about the tower on her numerous visits to Trenzalore. They said that a truth field existed around the tall structure which activated as soon as one stepped through the gates. The gates forever remained closed, and only opened briefly during a two-day festival.

She had never landed in a time of festivities so she really had no idea what was so important about the tower. It looked like it had been abandoned for years, and been left to fall apart.

"YOU!"

Rose went still when she realised that she had stayed in one hiding place for too long, and been found. She turned around slowly and saw the dalek right in front of her. Long buried fear of those creatures reared its head and her hands shook as she raised them to her sides.

"DETE-CTING PRE-SENCE OF AR-TRON RADIATION!" announced the dalek as soon as it scanned her.

Her trembling became worse. She hated those words and could still hear them in her nightmares as clinical voices assessed the artron radiation level before the next needle would…

"YOU WILL COME WITH US."

Rose glanced behind her and realised that the entire dalek fleet had surrounded her. There was no way she would be able to take them all out. Yet she was curious about why they hadn't killed her. They needed her alive but she doubted it was for anything good, judging from past experiences. With a small nod, she started following the daleks as they moved towards the tower.

As they got closer to the gate, Rose started to feel dizzy like she never had before. Having lived for as long as she had, new physical sensations were extremely rare and she felt her step falter in shock rather than pain.

"MOVE!" The dalek ordered.

"Alright!" she yelled as she tried to calm her breathing, wishing the world would stop spinning.

"THE FE-MALE'S HEARTBEAT HAS INCREASED."

Rose resisted the urge to growl in anger. What was with everything reminding her of that day? Wasn't it enough that she had lived it in her nightmares for years and years?

"THE TRUTH BARRIER IS AFFECTING THE FEMALE."

"You know, the female is standing right here," she snapped, trying very hard not to rub at her forehead.

The daleks ignored her as one of them fired off a single bolt to break open the lock on the gate. The doors swung open and the daleks as one turned to her.

"YOU WILL ENTER."

"Why?" asked Rose, annoyed. "Why don't you go in first?"

"YOU WILL OBEY!"

Throwing a dark glare at the daleks, Rose started walking towards the gate. With each step she took, her vision became foggier and she was nearly about to collapse when everything cleared at once. Eyes widening with surprise, she looked around and realised that she stepped past the gate into the small yard in front of the tower.

The daleks came in after her, eye stalks analysing every inch of their surroundings. Rose took the chance to talk to the dalek that had been ordering her about. His red exterior, different from the grey of the others, proclaimed him to be in charge. "So, what is it that you wanted to get in here for?" she asked.

The dalek's eye stalk turned towards her and Rose met the stare unwaveringly. "THIS PLACE HAS BEEN IDEN-TIFIED AS A WEAK SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL POINT," he said.

Rose's eyebrows shot up. It had been years since she had heard that term, not since her dimension cannon days at least. "And why are we here?" she asked.

"YOU WILL OPEN THE GATE-WAY."

"What gateway?" asked Rose warily.

"THE GATEWAY TO THE PRIME UNIVERSE."

"What makes you think I can open it?" she asked, feeling her heart starting to race.

"THE ART-RON ENERGY IN YOUR PHYSIO-GNOMY WILL ALLOW YOU TO OPEN THE GATE-WAY."

"You mean you want to use me to create a gap in the void so you lot can go into the other universe. In other words, you will kill me," said Rose, in a matter-of-fact tone as the truth field did its work.

"CORRECT."

"Well, that's not going to happen," she said, a smile twisting her lips. "I'd rather die than unleash you upon a whole other universe."

"YOUR CO-OPERATION IS NOT NECE-SSARY!"

"What do you mean? I'm not moving from here. You got that?" she asked, eyes blazing in anger. "You'd have to kill me first."

"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED REGARDLESS."

Rose stopped short at that, though it wasn't easy. It seemed like the truth field was compelling her to speak, so she pressed her lips together lest she start babbling about the Doctor or something. It looked like the truth field was affecting the daleks too, and it just confirmed her suspicions that whatever she did, they would kill her.

She racked her brain quickly, trying to think something, anything, that would stop them. Her life didn't matter at this point, all that mattered was that the daleks wouldn't survive. This would end right here on Trenzalore.

With a start, she remembered the failsafe that had been built into her vortex manipulator. It had been added almost as an afterthought, and Rose had no idea if it would even work. But she had to try, because she was out of options and there was nothing else she could do.

"Fine," she said, choosing her words carefully lest the truth field give her intent away. "Lead the way."

The daleks started moving towards the tower again and Rose put her hands behind her head to show them that she had surrendered. Praying with every fibre of her being that she was typing in the code correctly into her vortex manipulator, Rose closed her eyes as her button hovered over the 'confirm' button.

"HALT! WE HAVE BEEN DECEIVED!"

Well, it was a good life, Rose decided and pressed the button. The resulting explosion burned bright and golden, and the daleks screamed in agony as they perished.

Rose could feel the heat behind her eyelids, and her wrist with the vortex manipulator felt like it had melted off her body. The pain was excruciating, coursing through her like every form of torture inflicted all at once. It seemed like it kept happening for years and years, and Rose couldn't even hear her own screams when she finally hit the ground with a thud.

That's it, she thought to herself. It's over.

But she was still breathing and the heat was dying down as she returned slowly to her own mind. The air around her felt different, yet so familiar at the same time and Rose knew that she wasn't in Pete's world anymore. Her wrist seemed to be buzzing and she realised just what that hum was.

Keeping her eyes closed lest she was wrong, Rose flexed her fingers and toes experimentally. She braced herself for the pain but there was none. Slowly, she placed her palms on the rough ground beneath her and pushed herself into a sitting position. Her eyes still stayed close, but more for keeping herself from feeling dizzy this time. The feeling passed and Rose slowly got to her feet, wobbling only a little.

Her hand stretched out blindly in front of her looking for some support while her legs tried to stay in place, and she encountered the smooth (yet with just enough roughness) wood beneath her fingers. A smile pulled at her lips as tears pricked her eyes with the realisation of where she was.

Being mindful of keeping her emotions in check, Rose opened her eyes slowly and gave a cry of surprise when they confirmed what her other senses had told her already. She was standing next to the TARDIS, actually the TARDIS, and in the right universe.

Emotions exploded inside her as happiness, excitement, relief and joy warred with anger, sadness, resentment and feelings of abandonment. The tears began to flow in earnest, and Rose made no move to stop them. She had no idea how long she cried for, it could have been hours or minutes, yet when her tears finally dried, Rose realised that she now had to face the Doctor.

She was trying to prepare herself for it when she heard footsteps behind her. Gathering every bit of self-restraint that she had cultivated over the years to slip her face into a mask of neutrality, Rose wiped the tear marks off her face and turned to face the Doctor.

Only to see a face she had never seen before.

A/N End of Chapter Two. Thanks for reading.

The Doctor and Rose interact with each other in the next chapter. That's bound to be interesting. It will be up soon. Let me know how this one was.