A/N: Vaguely nearish to the end now.
Chapter 20 – First Kill
Flashback…
"All right, stop what you're doing or the old guy gets it!"
The bandits spun around in alarm at the sound of the new voice, eyes widening. A man held their leader helpless in his grip, his hands just about ready to break the old man's neck. The man Jack recognised from the tent raised a hand to the other bandits standing near him, unease clear on his face.
"Where's my friend? Answer carefully!"
"There," the man before him gestured towards the ground. Jack frowned in puzzlement.
"But…"
Then he realised.
"What?!" he gasped, eyes shooting wide open in shock. He suddenly dropped Malum and launched forward onto the churned up dirt, scrambling frantically with his hands like a dog digging for a bone. "Doctor! Can you hear me?! I'm gonna get you out!"
Suddenly he felt something cold and sharp rest on the back of his exposed neck. The contact made him shudder and fall still as he realised he'd just thrown away the only advantage he had actually had.
"Turn around slowly," a voice demanded. "I don't like killing a man when he has his back turned."
Jack decided to stand his ground. "I want my friend. That's all. Please, let me take him and go, and you'll never see us again."
"You don't get off that lightly. Turn around."
"Who are you?" Jack asked, still facing the other way, his hands in the air. "You don't sound like a bandit."
"I am Alexander Malum, son of Matthew Malum."
Jack frowned. "But you're dead. Matthew Malum's family died of the plague."
"I was saved," Alexander replied. "By the healing water."
A new voice joined the conversation – Matthew Malum himself. "I have led the bandits in this forest for ten years, now. We discovered the healing water and as soon as my wife and son showed symptoms of the plague, I rushed to them with the water. My wife died before I could reach her."
Jack felt the coldness of the sword press into his neck a little more forcefully. He had no choice but to turned around, and face his execution. He kept his hands in the air as he shuffled around on his knees to look up at the faces of the two Malums towering above where he knelt. Alexander raised his sword, Jack closed his eyes…
BANG!
The entire group around them jumped in surprise at the sound of the loud, sharp, deep sound. Jack opened his eyes as the sword moved away from him, the bandits' eyes wide with fear.
"Wha' was tha'?" one of them asked, but Jack already knew. That had been a gunshot, and the only person in Medieval England that had a gun in their hands right now, was Rose Marion Tyler.
There were more gasps as the flap of a nearby tent opened and a bandit staggered out, hand clutching at his chest where blood fell from between his fingers. He strode a few places, and then promptly collapsed onto the floor, dead. Suddenly the tent flap opened again and another bandit came running out, eyes wide and terrified with his arms in the air.
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" he yelled. "SHE'S A WITCH! SHE'LL KILL YOU WITH HER MAGICKS! RUN!"
Then the bandits didn't seem so terrifying. They squealed and began to scatter, arms in the air, frantic to get out. Seconds later Rose slipped out the tent, the gun in her tight clutch, blood down her front. Jack shook his head slowly at the sight of her, mouthing the same word over and over again…
"No."
Rose marched up to the Malums, giving Jack a side-glance but showing no remorse for what she had just done. She pointed the barrel at Alexander's head.
"Give me the Doctor," she said coolly, her expression set in stone.
"Rose," Jack said lowly, eyes transfixed to the blood on her hoody, his hands still in the air. "They buried him alive. Here." He inclined with his head.
"Get him out," Rose said, still calm. "Now."
Jack dropped his arms and began to frantically dig through the mud with his hands, trying desperately to reach the Doctor before it was too late. They all remained in tense silence as he got deeper and deeper, closer and closer.
"He'd better be alive," Jack heard Rose warn the Malums. "For your sake."
Jack tried to ignore the despair rising in him at the situation as he continued to scrabble through the mud, calling out for the Doctor. A minute had passed until he called out once more and he finally heard a muffled voice seemingly replying – but it was so faint, he could've been imagining it.
"Doctor?" he called again, tentative. There was a long pause, and Jack was almost about to give up when he heard something from below…
"Jack…"
It was weak, but it was a reply! A huge smile suddenly spread itself onto Jack's face. "Hold on, Doc! I'm comin'!" he assured the Time Lord, but he didn't get a reply. He furiously dug until his hands were red raw, then he finally hit something. Euphoria running through him, he felt around a bit more… was that a shoulder? Damn, if only he'd come out lower…
Sexual thoughts aside, he tightened his grip on the apparent shoulder and began to pull with everything he had. In moments he had brought it to the surface of the hole, and the pale skin of a face appeared. Jack quickly reached down and pulled the Time Lord's upper half out of the hole, wiping the mud away from his eyes, nose and mouth. One more hearty tug and the Time Lord was clear, on solid ground in the clutch of his best friend.
"Doc," Jack whispered, the joy in his voice like a burst of fresh air. "Talk to me."
"You stink," the Doctor said before launching into a coughing fit, bringing up specks of mud all over Jack but he didn't mind. He wiped more flecks of mud from the Doctor's face, revealing small cuts where the mud thrown onto him contained sticks and stones. Jack's attention then turned to the chains wrapped around the Doctor's arms and legs, picking the sonic screwdriver out of the Doctor's inside jacket pocket and buzzing at the lock on his arms. With a click it pinged open, and the Doctor's arms finally rose back to their normal position. Jack quickly checked for dislocation but found none – though they were going to be sore for a while to come. He buzzed the lock on his legs and pulled away those chains too, before holding the Doctor to him again, who coughed up a little more mud. After a few moments his deep brown eyes flickered open, looking around his surroundings in a daze before finally fixing on Jack's face. Jack spread a grin, and the Doctor returned a weak smile.
"Is he okay, Jack?" came a voice from the side, almost forgotten in the escapade. Jack looked up automatically, but his heart plummeted when he found Rose still holding a gun to the Malums. He dropped his head back down to look at the Doctor, only to find the Time Lord was looking at Rose too – his eyes wide in horror.
"Rose," he whispered. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" Rose enquired in a voice the Doctor didn't like, her eyes dark, thin slits.
"Rose," he said again, trying to push himself onto two feet but kept stumbling on his weakened legs. He finally made it to Rose, using Jack to hold onto as he got to his full height beside the woman. "Put the gun down. Walk away. You're better than this."
"They deserve to die!" Rose yelled, tears in her eyes. "The attack on the village! Those innocent people who died! They buried you alive, Doctor!"
"I know, Rose," the Doctor said gently, managing to let go of Jack and stand on his own two feet. "But even if they do deserve to die, you are not the person to do the execution. Give me the gun."
She strengthened her grip on the gun, still raised to the Malums. "You can't stop me."
"If you want to shoot them…" The Doctor moved in front of the cowering Malums, pressing his chest against the tip of the gun barrel. "You have to shoot me first."
"Get out of the way, Doctor!"
"No," he said firmly. "Please, don't do this. You're not like this. This isn't my Rose."
Rose's bottom lip trembled. "I just want to protect you," she whispered. "Keep you safe."
"I know. And I'm safe, see? Head, arms, legs, nose. I'm all here. The only person posing a threat to me right now, Rose Tyler, is the person holding the gun against my chest."
Her eyes locked with his, those deep brown eyes of the Doctor conveying a look of trust, despair and pure, undivided love. Her right hand slowly moved to the Doctor's, putting the gun into his open palm. With a sigh of relief the Doctor handed the firearm to Jack beside him as Rose began to weep uncontrollably. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly in his grip as she shuddered through her sobs.
"I killed someone," she whispered.
"I know."
"Doctor, I killed someone…"
He pressed a kiss to her head. "Everything's gonna be all right, Rose. I promise."