A Tearful Parting of the Ways

Spoilers for The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances.

Japrax came back through the arch, carrying a tray laden with three glasses and a bowl full of pink grains. He set it down on the table with a small 'thunk!', and the steaming lime-green liquid inside the teacup swirled around the edges, looking as though it was about to spill but never did.

"Here. Drink this, it will make you feel warmer, it will help," Japrax said, gesturing to the cups.

The Doctor bounded forward eagerly, trying to forget the events in which he had landed himself in. "I'm always up for trying something new!" He said, picking the teacup up and taking a small gulp. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, then opened them, grinning manically. "This stuff is brilliant!" He picked up the last cup and handed it to Rose, encouraging her to drink.

And so she did. Whatever the lime-green stuff was, it was good. Very good, in fact. Rose's eyes fluttered closed as she hummed, savouring the taste. It seemed to warm her from the inside out, and it was as though she could feel it running through her bloodstream.

"What is this stuff?" Rose asked.

"Linux, apparently," The Doctor answered her. She could tell just by his voice that he was smiling, and knew that she wore a similar expression as well. She snapped her eyes open to find the Doctor beside her, still grinning manically. Japrax was sitting on the sofa, smiling slightly, but also looked slightly confused as to what the two companions found so amazing about this drink.

"We have to get this for the TARDIS," Rose said, turning to him.

"Bulk order!" The Doctor said, looking at Japrax. Rose looked at the alien, startled, having forgotten that he was there at all.

"This is good."

"Thanks," Japrax said in response to Rose's statement. "It is a delicacy on Felspoon, or at least in this south-east region it is."

"Hmm. Sure beats frog's legs, that's for sure."

The Doctor nodded in agreement, whilst Japrax looked confused once more.

"So this war, then," the Doctor started, and Japrax adopted a grave look, "What's been going on recently?"

"Well, the Fellissa have been really very quiet, recently, no killings being reported or anything like that," Japrax said, his voice low. "Usually, over the past ten or so years, killings have been made every day, up to a thousand. Whole villages were burned in hours. But since the beginning of the year six months ago, only five people have been killed. It's the weirdest thing, almost as if they are ended their campaign," The Doctor was shaking his head at this, "But I think they are just toying with us. They are keeping quiet so their battle afterwards will be more dramatic than any other."

The Doctor was silent, knowing it was wrong to tell Japrax that his assumptions would come true, not matter how strong the urge was. Rose looked deeply saddened by what Japrax was saying. The Doctor reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it lightly; it seemed like it was the best thing to do as Rose grasped on to it, squeezing it so hard the Doctor would later, much, much later, swear that she'd broken some bones.

"They estimate that over one million, three hundred and four people have been killed since the start of the war," Japrax said, in a monotonous voice, the sound of someone who had had that figure drilled into them a million times.

The Doctor leaned over and whispered into Rose's ear, "That's a quarter of the population of Felspoon. It's not an overly big planet, about the same size as Australia. But almost 92% of the planet is uninhabitable; either it's dense ice, or water, or mountains. So the population is hugely restricted."

Rose just nodded, even more upset by this.

By now everyone had finished their drinks, and Rose offered to take them back through to the kitchen-type area. Japrax wasn't the most mobile Felspoonian in Caster-56 galaxy and was grateful for Rose's offer of help. Rose was offering just for some time on her own, to reflect.

These people – Felspoonians – had been through a war so brutal it made some others, on other far off worlds, seem rather tame. The Doctor said that half the population would be killed in this massive 'final battle', and the planet had already lost a quarter of their population. Rose struggled to see how the planet would recover with three-quarters of their population gone. Earth wouldn't do so well if they only had one billion people left on their planet instead of six billion. Even though the Doctor said that these rebels would make Felspoon a better place, she couldn't imagine it if they were using weapons of such destruction.

Before she had travelled with the Doctor, Rose had had typical views about war. Sure, she was saddened by it – who wouldn't be? – But she had this view that as long as it didn't come to London, or the UK at all in fact, that she wasn't really gonna do much about it. When she had been younger, much younger, Jackie's friends went out protesting about the Cold War in America and other wars, and still did about the war in Iraq and others. Some students in Rose's class at high school and even her neighbours in the street had protested regularly. Rose had never done, feeling that she didn't need to physically get involved.

Since travelling with the Doctor all those feelings had been turned on their heads. Thinking back, it had started way back with her Ninth Doctor, the first time they met Jack in war-torn Britain 1941. Just seeing her home town being bombed was deeply disturbing. Although she hadn't shown her true feelings at the time, it had been later when she was supposed to be sleeping that she had had time to reflect on what she'd seen. All that time it had been as though war had never affected her, but then suddenly here she was in a city she could call home forty-five years later, it was all too real that it had affected her. Her whole view of war changed after that.

Rose felt a tear slip down her cheek and wiped it away hastily as she heard the door open behind her. The Doctor slipped in, having abandoned his overcoat, and came straight to her and hugged her tightly.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. Just a bit … upset, that's all. People shouldn't have to live in fear like that."

"I know," the Doctor said, rubbing Rose's back soothingly, "But it'll be all over soon, and the whole world will be better for it."

"But how do they survive, Doctor, with only a quarter of their population? Only a million people on that planet, that's like, less people than in London, how do they cope? Rebuild?"

"They do because they are more suited for a smaller population. Earth is made to have six billion people, more or less. Earth could rapidly lose or gain two billion people and survive. Any more and it would be difficult. Same on Felspoon. They have four million people, thereabouts. So they lose three million people. It's not the whole population, Rose. It's a majority, yes, but they do survive, let me reassure you of it."

Rose nodded, wiping her eyes on the Doctor's shoulder. "Okay. I really hope Japrax survives, he's been through so much."

"Yes, I do hope he survives. Did you just use me as a substitute hankie?"

"Yeah. Sorry. I couldn't be bothered looking."

"You disgust me, Tyler."

"Cheers. We better go back through, he'll be wondering what we're up to."

The Doctor nodded, still looking at his right shoulder in apparent disgust. The exited the kitchen to find that Japrax was at the front door, talking to someone outside in hushed voice. A terrified scream punctured the air.

Japrax turned around to face the Doctor and Rose, pale. Well, as pale as a blue alien could be. "The Fellissas are coming. Heavily armed. We must defend our town," he said, rushing around, collecting weapons. It was obvious that he was getting ready to go out and fight.

"You can't go out there and fight!" The Doctor said, trying to keep his new friend indoors and out of the immediate danger.

"Why not? Everyone else is. I want revenge for my family. They killed them."

The Doctor sighed. "They'll kill you."

"I don't care. I'll do whatever it takes to defend this town."

The Doctor smiled, sadly, then it dropped; his face had the expression of one coming up with an ingenious plan. "I'm coming too," he said, eventually, to Japrax's surprise. Rose gave a gasp of surprise, which turned to a hiss of disapproval.

"Well, the more people, the better a chance we have," Japrax reasoned, and smiled, handing the Doctor a gun. The Doctor grimace at the object in his hands, looking as though he regretted even saying what he had done.

"You cannot go out there and fight, Doctor!" Rose said, her eyes ablaze.

"Why not?" the Doctor said, repeating Japrax's words. "I don't want people to die, Rose, not while I'm here to prevent it."

"But … but … you're against guns, you hate them, why are you all of a sudden going to use one now?!" Rose was well aware that she was pleading somewhat desperately with him and right now she didn't care one iota.

"Because I don't want there to be a massive bloodbath. But it is fixed point in history. I even learnt about this in school, so this is really weird for me to even be here. I want this to be over as quickly as possible because I know that it is imminent and there is nothing no-one, not even me, can do to stop it. All I can do is help, be there, and pray that this is over as quickly as possible," the Doctor finished, loading the gun and holding it, the object looking decidedly out of place in his hands.

Rose fumed silently for a few moments, then tore the gun out of his hands and flung her arms around him in a massive hug. She was clinging to him tightly, desperately, and for once she didn't care. She felt his arms come back around his and he clutched her just as tightly, which reassured her that he was feeling somewhat the same as she was.

"Please, please, don't go," Rose whispered, burying her head in his shoulder. "You're going to die if you do." She was aware that she was crying now.

"I won't die, Rose, I'll regenerate," this made Rose sob even harder, "So I won't ever leave you. And trust me, I actually like this version of me, so I'll do my hardest to keep it. Don't cry, Rose, please. You'll make me cry."

This last statement made Rose giggle slightly, even though it was a watery laugh, it was a laugh nevertheless. The Doctor let Rose go reluctantly, and his expression told her he would much rather stay here with her. Rose's face lit up with an idea, but the Doctor's hand lightly clamped over her mouth, silencing her.

"I know what you're thinking, and before you even dare to ask, you're not fighting. Can you imagine the slap I'd get off your mother if she knew that you'd gone out and fought in one of the bloodiest wars of the century?"

Rose giggled again after the Doctor released her mouth, and wiped her eyes. It was a stupid idea and Rose didn't like the idea of what her mum would do to the Doctor if she ever found out about it.

Japrax burst back through, taking the two by surprise. "Are you ready, Doctor, for they are almost here. The rain had ended, thankfully. It will make for better seeing conditions."

The Doctor nodded. "I'm ready," he said gravely. He gave a last, desperate hug to Rose before following Japrax outside as Rose went to watch from a small window.

The Doctor had barely been gone ten seconds when he reappeared, and scanned the room, his eyes resting on her. He crossed the room in a few long strides and taking Rose's head in his hands, kissed her hard, sending a torrent of emotions through them both, before walking back out onto the street.