An Eternity Among The Stars

by seasidewriter1

Waking up in the Doctor Who world after a serious car crash, Selene finds herself being invited to travel with the Doctor and his companions. Together they all protect the earth from the dangers it faces as well as saving other worlds and time periods. But as time goes on, how strong will the relationship between the two become? Will they fall in love? starts with 10 *Doctor/OC*

12. Doomsday

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who (the show, comics, books, planets, aliens etc.) or any of the characters. I only own my OC Selene and her family.

Enjoy the emotions that come with this chapter.

I give you these virtual tissues.

12. Doomsday

As the sphere fully opened, shadows began to hover out…

" That's not Cybermen," Mickey said in confusion. He could have been sure that there were Cybermen in there…

But then, out of the sphere came four Daleks. They began to lower towards the ground, and Rose felt her blood run cold and Mickey aimed his gun coldly at the aliens.

" Oh my God," she said, stumbling back a step. Oh no, oh no, oh no…

" LOCATION—EARTH. LIFE FORMS DETECTED!" the Dalek at the front exclaimed in its gravely, distorted, high ranged voice.

" EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINAAAAATE!"

" EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" the Daleks exclaimed, their voices mashing together.

Daleks were aliens that reached about Roses height, and she knew well they weren't to be trifled with. The metal aliens rolled around peering at the world through a single eyestalk, two lights atop what could be called their head, flashing when they spoke. Two protrusions on the front of it extended like arms, but were decidedly more dangerous; on the left, there was a deadly laser that killed you—or exterminated as the Daleks loved to proclaim—instantly, without hesitation. The other was a sort of manipulator arm that looked surprising like a plunger. On their lower halves, rows of globes decorated it—the globes, however, were there for sensory reasons, not something to be admired before one was about to die.

" Daleks!" Rose shouted, staring at the three bronze colored Daleks and the one black Dalek. Immediately, they all stopped speaking. " You're called Daleks!" The silence continued, and they all stared into the eerie blue glow that emanated from the lenses of the eyestalks. The room was tense as the three humans waited for something to happen. She boldly stepped forward. " I know your name. Think about it. How can I know that?" Rose quickly shed the lab coat, staring directly at the Dalek. " A human who knows about the Daleks and the Time War. If you wanna know how, then keep us alive. That's all I'm asking. Me and my friends." Rose's face was dead serious; her cheeks were pink from the scare she'd initially received from seeing the aliens she thought were long dead, but her eyes were deadly calm and she was going to do all she could to stay alive.

" Yeah. Daleks, Time War. Me too," Mickey interjected, having not lowered his gun yet. The Dalek's head swiveled to look at Mickey. He stared seriously at the aliens, knowing not to back down in such situations. Rajesh, unsure what to do, took their leads and said,

" Yeah, and me."

The black Dalek turned its eyestalk back to face Rose.

" YOU WILL BE NECESSARY." Its head turned completely around to face the bronze Dalek on the left. " REPORT; WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE GENESIS ARK?"

" STATUS—HIBERNATION," said the Dalek in a higher pitched, but equally quavering, voice. The Genesis Ark was a contraption that sat behind the aliens, completely stationary.

" COMMENCE AWAKANING!" the black Dalek ordered. " THE GENESIS ARK MUST BE PROTECTED ABOVE ALL ELSE!"

Rose watched in horror as the first bronze Dalek turned to face said Ark and placed its plunger-like extension onto a ball on the Ark. She had been and always will be afraid of the Daleks. And whatever the Genesis Ark was, it couldn't be any good.

" The Daleks—you said they were all dead," Mickey muttered. But that was the thing…

They were supposed to be.

" Never mind that, what the hell's a Genesis Ark?"

OoOoO

Needless to say, with the amount of Cybermen now surrounding Jackie, Selene and the Doctor, it felt like they were in the middle of an army… well, they probably were. They'd been moved into Yvonne's office, where the Doctor leaned against the wall, head reclined, thinking about how to stop the mess around them. But Jackie's only thoughts were about her daughter. That computer had said the sphere had been activated, but what did that mean?

" What's down there? She was in that room with the sphere. What's happened to Rose?" Jackie asked, her eyes beginning to sting with worried tears.

" I don't know." Jackie let out a stifled sob, fearing for Rose's life. Selene quickly pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back soothingly. The Doctor mentally berated himself for using such a brash tone, and quickly amended the situation. " I'll find her," he murmured so the Cybermen wouldn't hear, stepping over to the two embracing women. " I brought you here, I'll get the three of you out. You, your daughter and Selene. Jackie, look at me. Look at me!" Jackie pulled away from Selene, looking up at the Doctor. " I promise you. I give you my word."

Jackie sniffed again and wiped under her eyes, trying to keep herself composed in the presence of the deadly aliens. Selene rested her hands on her hips and blew out a long-held breath, beginning to pace; she'd been keeping remarkably calm, but her headache still throbbed and she didn't know what to do next. At that moment the Cyberleader was demanding Yvonne 'talk to their central world authority' to order global surrender. Things weren't looking up.

Yvonne scoffed.

" Oh, do some research. We haven't got a central world authority," she deadpanned, glaring at the Cyberleader.

" You have now. I will speak on all global wavelengths." A Cyberman beside the Cyberleader clenched a hand and put it against the C on its chest, creating a broadcast. The Doctor quickly pulled on his 3-D glasses and peered at them as the broadcast went live. The Cyberleader said, " This broadcast is for humankind. Cybermen now occupy every landmass on this planet. But you need not fear. Cybermen will remove fear. Cybermen will remove sex and class and color and creed. You will become identical. You will become like us."

The Doctor, Selene, Jackie, Yvonne and the Cyberleader were all staring out the window. London was literally on fire. Buildings were beginning to burn, black smoke drifted across the Thames and they could hear screaming even from their spot up in Canary Wharf. Explosions dotted different spots and gunfire was wasted. Selene's brows pulled together at the yelling below.

" Dear God…" she muttered.

" I ordered surrender," the Cyberleader said in a monotone, but it was clear that it was not pleased with what was happening. The Doctor, who had his arms crossed, gave the metal man a look of anger.

" They're not taking instructions. Don't you understand? You're on every street. You're in their homes, you've got their children! Of course they're going to fight!" the Doctor shouted with a passionate fury. He'd said it before and he'd say it again; he loved humans, he loved humankind. To see them being slaughtered, to know he was helpless to do anything about it made rage boil deep inside of him. And he wasn't going to let that pass.

He was going to do something about it.

OoOoO

" WHICH OF YOU IS LEAST IMPORTANT?" demanded the black Dalek, who was clearly the leader. Rose looked at it and asked,

" What's that supposed to mean?"

" WHICH OF YOU IS LEAST IMPORTANT?"

" No, we don't work like that, none of us."

" DESIGNATE THE LEAST IMPORTANT!" the Dalek reiterated angrily, voice quavering even more. Rajesh shifted nervously on his feet and looked at Rose.

" This is my responsibility," he said quietly. She grabbed his arm, scrunching up the sleeve of his lab coat.

" No, don't!" she protested. She didn't care if this man worked for Torchwood anymore—she wasn't going to let him do something so stupid. Ignoring the blond, Rajesh stepped up into the middle of the three Daleks.

" I, uh—I represent the Torchwood Institute. Anything you need, you…" He nervously removed his glasses. " Come through me. Leave these two alone."

" YOU WILL KNEEL," ordered the leader Dalek. Rajesh's brows furrowed in confusion.

" What for?"

" KNEEEEL!"

Swallowing thickly, Rajesh turned his back to the black Dalek and did as told. The Daleks pointed their eyestalks down at the kneeling man.

" THE DALEKS NEED INFORMATION ABOUT CURRENT EARTH HISTORY."

" Yeah, well, I can hive you a certain amount of intelligence…" he said nervously, " But nothing that will compromise homeland secur—" His words were cut off.

" SPEECH IS NOT NECESSARY! WE WILL EXTRACT BRAINWAVES."

The three Daleks closed in on Rajesh, extending the plunger-like end of their arms to close in on his head.

" Don't. I'll tell you everything you need!" The plungers pressed against his head… " No, don't—ahhh!" He screamed as they expanded to cover his head, doing exactly what the black Dalek had said—extract brainwaves. Mickey rushed forward to help, but Rose held him back, knowing it was too late. She buried her face into his neck, not wanting to watch.

OoOoO

" Scans detect unknown technology in sphere chamber. Cybermen will investigate. Units ten-six-five and ten-six-six will investigate sphere chamber," the Cyberleader told the army of Cybermen.

" We obey."

OoOoO

Rajesh's corpse, which had been rapidly aged, dropped to the floor stiffly as the black Dalek spoke.

" HIS MIND SPOKE OF A SECOND SPECIES INVADING EARTH, INFECTED BY THE SUPERSTITION OF GHOSTS." Rose finally pulled away from the comfort of Mickey's embrace and yelled,

" You didn't need to kill 'im!"

" NEITHER DID WE NEED HIM ALIVE," the second bronze Dalek told her, swiveling its eyestalk to stare at her.

" DALEK THAY, INVESTIGATE OUTSIDE," the black Dalek said to the first bronze one. Dalek Thay turned and began to move towards the door, saying,

" I OBEY."

OoOoO

Back in Yvonne's office, the Cyberleader opened a visual link with the sphere room via Yvonne's laptop, which was turned to face them all.

" Visual contact established." The laptop screen showed them the vision of a Cybermen closing in on the sphere room.

Suddenly, through an open door, something very familiar rolled through.

A Dalek—Dalek Thay—appeared on screen. The Doctor straightened up, eyes widening and hearts thudding faster. The Daleks. They were one of the only things in the universe he never wished to meet again. He felt Selene grab his wrist and immediately knew she remembered what the Daleks were. This was very, very bad.

" IDENTIFY YOURSELVES!" Dalek Thay ordered on screen.

" You will identify first," the Cybermen establishing visual contact replied.

" STATE YOUR IDENTITY!"

" You will identify first."

" IDENTIFYYY!"

" That answer is classified and illogical. You will modify."

" DALEKS DO NOT TAKE ORDERS."

" You have identified as Daleks."

Jackie leaned into the Doctor, whispering,

" Rose said about the Daleks. She was terrified of them. What have they done to her? Doctor, is she dead?" The Doctor quickly spun to face her saying,

" Phone."

" What do you—"

" Jackie, give him your phone," Selene whispered. Jackie hurriedly handed it to the Time Lord, who dialed Rose's number quickly. He held it up to his ear, listening to the dial tone. It stopped after a moment.

" She's answered. She's alive. Why haven't they killed her?"

" Well, don't complain!" Jackie hissed.

" They must need her for something…" The Doctor listened closely to what was coming through the phone.

" WE MUST PROTECT THE GENESIS ARK!" He heard a Dalek proclaim, to which, his brows furrowed.

" Genesis Ark?" he muttered, beginning to root around in his trouser pocket for his 3-D glasses. He dawned them again, which made Jackie give him a look. Selene ran her fingers through her hair, keeping her eyes on the screen, where the Dalek and the Cybermen were still arguing.

" …Cybermen plus Daleks. Together, we could upgrade the universe."

" YOU PROPOSE AN ALLIANCE?" the Dalek on screen asked.

" This is correct."

Selene sucked in a breath. Though this would not happen if she could just remember right, she couldn't imagine the horror if it did happen. The Cybermen wanted to 'delete' in order to upgrade everything. The Daleks wanted to 'exterminate' because… well… it was what they were practically made to do. Together, they would make the world a horribly place.

" REQUEST DENIED."

" Hostile elements will be deleted." The Cybermen attacked the Dalek with lasers, to no affect.

" EXTERMINATE!" The Dalek shot both Cybermen with its laser and they toppled, cutting the link off.

Selene felt a rush of pure, panic-stricken horror rush through her body. This was real. It wasn't the show this time around, it was real. She was a floor or so away from the Daleks, who would undoubtedly kill her should she get in the way. They were worse than the Cybermen, who came in on number three of her top terrifying Doctor Who aliens. And what was her number one?

Daleks.

" Open visual link," the Cyberleader demanded, marching up to another Cyberman, who opened up a link to the sphere room. " Daleks be warned—you have declared war upon the Cybermen."

The Doctor felt Selene's hand grasp onto his own, and he let his fingers curl around hers for comfort—for his own comfort or for hers, he wasn't sure, but it was good to know someone was beside him.

" THIS IS NOT WAR. THIS IS PEST CONTROL!" the Doctor heard black Dalek exclaim through the phone receiver. The visual link with the sphere room was on the laptop now, and Selene's breath hissed through her teeth at the sight of the eyestalk and flashing lights.

" We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?"

" FOUUUR."

" You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?" If the Cyberleader could have scoffed, it probably would have. But that would require emotion, and that was frowned upon. The Doctor whipped off the 3-D glasses and shoved them into his pocket once more, heaving a sigh.

" WE WOULD DESTROY THE CYBERMEN WITH ONE DALEK!" it proclaimed, " YOU ARE SUPERIOR IN ONLY ONE RESPECT."

" What is that?"

" YOU ARE BETTER AT DYING! RAISE COMMUNICATIONS BARRIER!"

" Lost her," the Doctor said as the link closed. He lowered Jackie's phone and snapped it shut.

OoOoO

" WAIT! REWIND IMAGE BY NINE RELLS," a Dalek ordered, the image on the wall rewinding and freezing. In the foreground, the Cyberleader stood, dominating most of the frame, but over its left shoulder, the Doctor, on a mobile, was visible. " IDENTIFY GRID SEVEN GAMMA FLAME." The frame closed in more on the Time Lord, making Rose grin. " THIS MALE REGISTERS AS ENEMY."

The black Dalek spun around to face Rose.

" THE FEMALE'S HEART BEAT HAS INCREASED!" it said as it rolled closer, making her smile drop.

" Yeah, tell me about it," Mickey teased.

" IDENTIFY HIM!" All of the Daleks had closed in on them, making Rose a bit nervous. But what the hell? They were all terrified of the Doctor, why not tell them?

" All right then, if you really wanna know." She nodded to the screen. " That's the Doctor." The Daleks all rolled back a bit as if in surprise. " Five million Cybermen? Easy. One Doctor?" She smirked. " Now you're scared."

OoOoO

" Quarantine the sphere chamber," the Cyberleader said, turning to look at the Doctor, Jackie, Yvonne and Selene. " Start emergency upgrading. Begin with these personnel."

All the Cybermen began to move, two working their way to grab Yvonne and Jackie, the Doctor swiftly pushed Selene behind him, hiding her from sight. He was thinking, thinking of a way to save them…

" No! You can't do this!" Yvonne shouted in fear when a Cyberman began to drag her away, " We surrendered! We surrendered!"

" In this one, his increased adrenaline suggests that he has vital information about the Daleks," a Cyberman announced, pulling the Doctor from the office after Jackie.

" As does she; increased heart rate and high adrenaline levels speak of unsaid information." Another Cyberman grabbed onto Selene and pushed her forward, the soles of her blue Converse scuffing the floor.

" What are they doing!? Stop them!" Jackie yelled when she was being pulled towards the exit.

" I demand you to leave that woman alone! I won't help you!"

" You promised me! You gave me your word!"

" Jackie, don't fight! I'll think of something!" the Doctor shouted just before she disappeared through the door. His breath was coming in quick gasps, and frantically looking around, he spotted Selene, who had her arms clamped to her sides by two strong metal hands. Her breathing was just as ragged as his was, and her eyes were wide with fear. She'd been scared of the Cybermen before, but now she seemed horrified.

" Are you alright? Selene, are you alright?" the Doctor asked, voice quivering with worry. She gave a small nod, but the way her forehead was creased and the straining of her neck said otherwise. " Stay calm, I'll get us out of this."

The Cybermen kept the Doctor because he knew about the Daleks. They'd kept Selene for the exact same reason, but the thing was… what if the stupid mental wall in her head wouldn't let her remember if she was asked? They'd find no use for her so it would be off to be upgraded. She'd become an emotionless, cold, monotone Cyberman. And that was what horrified her.

Suddenly, the Cyberman holding Selene made a sudden turn, causing the woman to trip on her own feet again. Yelping slightly as she was dragged towards Yvonne's office, she pulled at the Cyberman's hand in fear. The Doctor's eyes widened and he struggled against the grip he was detained in.

" Where are you taking her? Answer me! Where are you taking her!? If you hurt her I won't tell you a thing!" he shouted, being moved forward again. The Cyberman released Selene's arm, which sent her falling to the floor, gasping for her own breath. The hissing stomps of the retreating Cyberman met her ears and she felt her body go limp with relief; they were just moving them, they weren't going to kill them… yet.

When the Doctor was marched in, the first thing he did was crouch by Selene, pulling her into a sitting position.

" Are you hurt?" he asked, placing a warm hand on her cheek. His palm rested against her soft, pink tinged skin, worried she was injured. He searched her eyes, only seeing the fear that had been written on her face moments ago. She sucked in a breath and shook her head.

" No, no, I'm fine. They just, apparently, want me to trip over my own footing over and over again… I'd say it was for amusement, but they don't get amused…" she muttered as she and the Doctor stood, moving to seat themselves on the windowsill.

Below, London still burned and smoked. The Cybermen were carrying out their victory, killing dozens upon dozens of humans. The Doctor's face took on that impassive, sad look that it always got when he was upset; he leaned his head back and let his legs stretch out whilst heaving a sigh. Selene buried a hand into her hair and rested her forehead against the cold glass. Her worry still ran in rampant circles in her mind, wearing a track into her brain.

" Doctor…" she whispered, her warm breath fogging up the window. His brown eyes slid to her, meeting the blue of her own eyes. " I'm… What if they kill me? What if—if I can't tell them what they need to know if they ask me? Doctor, I don't want to d—"

" Stop. Selene, stop," the Doctor said strongly, his eyes hardening for a moment. " You aren't going to die—I won't let them do it. I'll figure out how to get out of here, I promise. I can and I will fix this… I'm not sure how yet, but I will." He reached out and grabbed her hand again, squeezing it tightly.

The Cyberleader marched into the room.

" You are proof," it said to the Doctor.

" Of what?" he asked. There was a pause as the two stared at the metal man.

" That emotions destroy you."

" Yeah, I am." The Doctor made no back-peddle to deny the statement, because he knew it was true. He cared for everything and everyone so much that his emotions were worn down to their last nerves all the time. Suddenly, an electronic whispering sound came from the lever room, which caught Selene's and the Doctor's attention. The Doctor's brows pulled together. " Mind you, I quite like hope, Selene here does too. Hope's a good emotion. And here it comes."

In the lever room, six bursts of bright light appeared, fading to reveal six men in black. One shouted,

" Cybermen!" and the first three dropped to their knees, taking out the last three Cybermen in the room with some sort of gun. The other three faced the office, preparing to attack the Cyberleader.

The Doctor grabbed Selene around the waist and pulled her to the corner of the room, her arms interlocking around his neck. She pulled her knees to her chest and let the Doctor crouch over her; she had her face pressed into his chest and felt his forehead drop to her shoulder as he held onto her tighter. The protective embrace was comforting as Selene listened as the head of the Cyberleader exploded.

After a moment of quiet, the Doctor looked up, spotting the smoking Cyberleader on the floor and a blond man standing from a crouch. He and Selene stood, walking with slow, dazed steps.

" Doctor, Selene, good to see you two again!" said the blond man cheerfully, voice muffled by the gasmask sort of device he wore. He pulled it off and smiled, both immediately recognizing him as,

" Jake!" Selene grinned and the Doctor's face was twisted into confusion again.

" The Cybermen came through from one world to another, and so did we," Jake explained. The Doctor gave a good long look to the man, taking it all in. What he said shouldn't have been possible—sure, the world was cracking, but it still should be impossible!

" Can I hug you? Because you deserve a hug," Selene said, stepping forward and embracing Jake, who chuckled and returned it. They may have been on off terms before, but seeing the woman alive and well, he was glad she was alright—especially after all of the stories Mickey had told him about her.

The Doctor rapidly held up the 3-D glasses to his eyes, looking frantically at the new arrivals. He moved to the desks in the lever room, leaning against them.

" Thanks for that. Now, I'll be back in a moment, I've just got to talk to the others." Stepping away, Jake walked over to the other commandoes. " Defend this room Chrissie, monitor communications. Kill one Cyberleader, and they just download into another. Move!" They all jogged out.

" You can't just… just hop from one world to another. You can't!" the Doctor exclaimed, his brows arched.

" We just did… with these." Jake tossed a large yellow button on a chain to the Time Lord, who carefully caught and peered at it.

" But that's impossible. You can't have this sort of technology."

" We've got our own version of Torchwood. They developed it. Do you want to come and see?" Jake asked as he smirked a bit. His hand pressed against the button hanging around his own neck and the Doctor extended a hand, yelling,

" No!"

But then they were gone.

Selene, now alone in the lever room. Sighing, she raised her arms and looked up at the ceiling, shouting,

" Gee, thanks guys!"

Ruffling her hair with both hands, she moved back to Yvonne's office and plopped down into a chair. She figured she would be sitting there for a while, so she closed her eyes and released a breath, breaking the silence around her. The silence was nice though; she'd been shoved and pushed around by insistent Cybermen and Torchwood employees all day, so no one speaking was a good break. Two of Jake's commandoes stood by the door, but they were silent, so that was just as good.

But it gave her time to try and decide what to do come the end of the episode. Rose was going to depart against her own will. She was going to get sucked into a parallel world… and Selene couldn't just waltz to go warm her; the universe would probably explode, but she'd probably be exterminated by the Daleks before she could even breath out a syllable. Twisting Hal's ring on her finger, her eyebrows knit together in concentration. What to do, what to do…

Standing up, her knees cracked and her head rushed, causing it to pound again. Pushing the wince off her face, she walked up to the enormous white wall at the front of the room. She lifted a hand and ran it down across the smooth paint, seeing flashes of a heartbroken Doctor with his face pressed against the very wall.

Selene jumped back, hand flying off the wall like she'd been burned. She couldn't let that happen… she couldn't see him heartbroken…

" First of all I need to make a phone call, if you don't mind," the Doctor's loud voice suddenly said, making her spin away from the wall. Selene bounded over to him and followed him into Yvonne's office. He dialed Jackie's number and held the phone to his ear. Selene turned to Pete, whom she passed on the way in, raising a hand.

" Hi, Pete, great to see ya again," Selene greeted before spinning back to watch the Doctor. " Oh, my God, help me!" her voice said breathlessly.

" Jackie! You're alive. Listen—shh!"

" Doctor—"

" Shh!"

"-they tried to down load me—"

" Shh!"

"-but I ran away!"

" Listen, tell me, where are you?" the Doctor finally got to say after Jackie stopped her panic-stricken story.

" I don't know… staircase!" came her rushed reply.

" Yeah, which one? Is there any—any sort of sign, anything to identify it?"

" Yes! A fire extinguisher!"

" Yeah, that helps…" the Doctor said in annoyance. He suddenly felt Selene's hand clamp over her lips as she pulled the desk phone away from him. She held it up to her ear and calmly said,

" Jackie, it's me, Selene. Keep calm and just look around; are there any signs, maps?"

" Oh, wait a minute! It says 'N3!" Jackie said, her voice calming down a bit. Selene looked over at the Doctor.

" N3 mean anything to you?" she asked, pulling her hand away.

" North corner, staircase three." He took the phone back. " Just keep low. We're trying our best."

" No, don't leave me!"

" I've got to go. I'm sorry."

He hung up.

The Doctor stood straight and looked at Pete face on.

" Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler."

" She's not my wife," Pete replied.

" I was at the wedding." The Doctor arched a brow and his voice dropped a bit. " You got her name wrong. Now, then, Jake-y Boy, if I can open up the bonding chamber on this thing, it can work on polycarbide," he said, taking Jake's gun away from him.

" And that is what exactly?" Selene asked, leaning in the office doorway.

" Skin of a Dalek."

OOOO

The Doctor stuck a metal stick with a sheet of computer paper stuck to the end of it around the corner of a corridor. He waved it slightly and then poked his head around the corner, eyeing the three Cybermen.

" Sorry, no white flag. We only had a sheet of A4. Same difference," he told them, stepping out into the open. They all aimed their arm lasers at him.

" Its surprising how little fabric there is in this building," Selene added on, linking arms with the Time Lord.

" Do you surrender?" one asked. The Doctor rested his makeshift flag on his shoulder.

" We surrender unto you." He met the Cyberman in the middle of the hallway, coming inches close to it. " A very good idea."

OoOoO

" FINAL STAGE OF AWAKENING!" a Dalek announced, sliding back from the Ark, which was actually of Time Lord design.

" YOUR HANDPRINT WILL OPEN THE ARK," the black Dalek said to Rose. She stayed put where she stood, scratching her arm. She gave the aliens a look, clearly thinking they were insane.

" Well, tough, 'cause I'm not doing it," she said stubbornly.

" OBEY OR THE MALE WILL DIE!"

Well, that put things into perspective.

She began to walk forward saying,

" I can't let 'em do it."

" Rose, don't," Mickey protested. Rose approached the Ark, face stony.

" PLACE YOUR HAND ON THE GASKET!"

" All right!" the woman snapped, " Going to kill us anyway, so what the hell?" She turned to the leader Dalek, walking towards it with Mickey behind her, scratching her chin casually. " If you, um… escaped the Time War, don't you want to know what happened?"

" PLACE YOUR HAND—"

" What happened to the Emperor?"

Oh, how she loved lording it over the Daleks that she knew information they didn't.

" THE EMPEROR SURVIVED?" the black Dalek asked in shock. Rose bit her lip innocently before letting it slide from between her lips, eyes wide.

" Till he met me. 'Cause if these are gonna be my last words then you're gonna listen. I met the Emperor. And I took the Time Vortex and poured it into his and turned him into dust," she explained in a deadly quiet voice, staring right into the Dalek's eyestalk, " Do ya get that? The God of all Daleks… and I destroyed him. Ha!" She laughed, grinning.

" YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" the black Dalek shouted in fury. Just as Rose's smile fell, a familiar voice carried into the room.

" Oh, now, hold on, wait a minute!" the Doctor called out. He stood in the doorway with his legs braced apart, his hands in his pockets and 3-D glasses across his eyes. Selene stood slightly behind him, peering at the Daleks as calmly as she could. They began to enter the room, much to the Daleks' fear.

" ALERT! ALERT! YOU ARE THE DOCTOR!" the leading Dalek cried out.

" SENSORS REPORT HE IS UNARMED," said another Dalek. The Doctor and Selene stepped closer, the Doctor smiling.

" That's me, always."

" Always on the high ground," Selene added in, sticking close behind the Time Lord.

" THEN YOU ARE POWERLESS!"

" Not me." The two stepped into the circle of Daleks, right next to Rose and Mickey. " Never." He whipped off the glasses and stared directly at the black Dalek. " How are you?" he asked Rose immediately.

" Oh, same old, you know," came her reply, paired with a grin. The Doctor smiled and nodded.

" Good. And, Mickety McMickey!" he exclaimed, bumping his fist with Mickey's. " Nice to see ya!"

" You too, Boss. And of course, you too, Selene," Mickey said, grinning at the brunette woman. She grinned back and launched forward, hugging him insanely tight.

" Oh, I've missed you!" she said into his neck.

" SOCIAL INTERACTION WILL CEASE!" a Dalek announced, which made Selene's smile fall as she pulled away from her well-missed friend. She stared at the aliens before her and felt as though at least one of them was watching her specifically. They gave off an evil air that made her want to cower and hide, but she knew she couldn't.

" HOW DID YOU SURVIVE THE TIME WAR?" questioned the black Dalek.

" By fighting. On the front line," the Doctor told them, causing everyone's attention to go to him. His face was a mask, betraying no emotion as he remembered the Time War. " I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that." His mask broke as he looked at all the Daleks. " But you lot ran away!"

" WE HAD TO SURVIIIVE," interjected the black Dalek, watching as the Doctor came closer a step.

" The last four Daleks in existence. What's so special about you?" Rose swallowed nervously a bit and looked at them.

" Doctor, they've got names. I mean… Dalek's don't have names, do they? But one of them said they—"

" I AM DALEK THAY," said the one behind Rose and the Doctor.

" DALEK SEC," said the black Dalek.

" DALEK JAST," said the one in front of Selene, which made her jump.

" DALEK CAAN," said the final Dalek.

The Doctor looked elated—whether it was genuine or just for show, he didn't let on.

" So that's it! At last… the Cult of Skaro. I thought you were just a legend."

" Who are they?" Rose asked quickly.

" A secret order. Above and beyond the Emperor himself!" the Doctor said as he began to walk around the room, each Dalek keeping their sights trained on him. " Their job was to imagine, think as the enemy thinks. Even dared to have names! All to find new ways of killing." The Doctor came full circle, stopping in front of Dalek Sec.

" But that thing," Mickey said, nodding to the Ark, " They said it was yours—I mean the Time Lords. They built it. What does it do?"

The Doctor eyed the Ark.

" I don't know, never seen it before," he admitted in a flat voice. Rose raised her brows and looked at him from where she now stood by the Ark.

" But it's… Time Lord."

The Doctor's eyes became distant as he stared at it.

" Both sides had secrets. What is it, what have you done?"

" TIME LORD SIENCE WILL RESTORE DALEK SUPREMACY," Dalek Sec explained, much to the Doctor's confusion.

" What sort of Time Lord science? What do you mean?"

" They said one touch from a time traveler will wake it up," Rose brought up.

" Technology using the one thing a Dalek can't do—touch." He leaned in floes and stared into Dalek Sec's eyestalk. " Sealed inside your casing, not feeling anything, ever. From birth to death, locked inside a cold metal cage. Completely alone. Well, that explains your voice. No wonder you scream," the Doctor growled. Selene watched as a rage flared up in the Doctor while he flaunted what made a Dalek so angry, so enraged. It was the part of him he always hid; the side that he was ashamed of, that he couldn't come to terms with. It was the fury of the Time Lords.

" THE DOCTOR WILL OPEN THE ARK!" Sec shouted, physically shaking. The Doctor bared his teeth and widened his eyes as he laughed, stepping away from the Dalek. He walked over to where Selene stood and said,

" The Doctor will not."

" YOU HAVE NO WAY OF RESISTING." The Doctor pulled a thoughtful look.

" Well… You got me there. Although… there is always this." The Doctor pulled the Sonic from an inner jacket pocket, holding it in his hand.

" A SONIC PROBE?" Sec questioned.

" Well, Screwdriver, actually. I think that there's a difference," Selene said with a shrug.

" THE FEMALE WILL REMAIN SILENT!" Dalek Thay demanded. Selene gave the Dalek a look and muttered,

" Geez…"

" She is right though," the Doctor agreed.

" IT IS HARMLESS," Dalek Sec pointed out. The Doctor flipped it through the air and into his other hand.

" Oh, yes. 'Harmless' is just the word. That's why I like it! It doesn't kill, it doesn't wound doesn't main. But I'll have Selene tell you what it does do," the Doctor said with a smirk, holding up the Sonic. A smirk of her own crept onto her face as she stared at Dalek Sec.

" I just happens to be very good at opening doors!" she said just as the Doctor turned the Sonic on. Suddenly, the door burst open in a flash of sparks and breaking metal. Through the now open door, Jake jumped through the smoke, open firing on the Daleks. Beside him was a Cyberman, who held the gun the Doctor modified. And, like always, it was saying,

" Delete! Delete! Delete! Delete!"

The Cyberman successfully hit Dalek Thay, who quivered as it was encased with blue energy.

" ALERT! CASING IMPACT! CASING IMPAAACT!"

Rose, who'd fallen when the doors blew out, tried to get up when the Doctor shouted,

" Rose, get out!" She stumbled back to the floor, staring at the numbers of Cybermen entering the room. Pete helped Rose up, aiding her in getting to the door. Around them blasts of lasers glinted off of everything amidst cries of;

" FIRE POWER INSUFFICIENT!"

And,

" Daleks will be deleted. Delete. Delete. Delete."

The Doctor, grasping Selene's hand, wove between Daleks and the Ark, running through open doors. They stumbled to a halt beside Pete and Rose.

" Mickey, get out of there!" Selene shouted, spotting said man who'd dove for his gun. As he made a run for the door, he stumbled and his hand flew out, hitting the Ark for support. Hand burning, he bolted across the room, noting that the Ark had begun to smoke. As the last of the attack squad came through, the Doctor shut the blast door with the Sonic.

" Jake, protect the stairwell! The rest of you, come on!" he ordered, running down the hall, Mickey covering the back of the group.

As Mickey, Pete, Selene, Rose and the Doctor jogged down the hall, Mickey began to apologize.

" I just fell, I didn't mean it!"

" Mickey, without us, they'd have opened it by force. To do that, they'd have to blow up the sun, so you've done us a favor!" The Doctor grasped Mickey's head and smooched the top of it as they ran. " Now run!"

The five twisted down corners and ran down halls, suddenly seeing two Cybermen cornering a very afraid Jackie. Pete took the gun from Mickey and jumped forward, shooting each metal man in the back of the head. They fell, allowing Jackie a view of her savior.

" Pete?" she asked in disbelief. Rose held her clasped fingers up to her mouth, watching the interaction carefully. She didn't know how her mother would react…

" Hello, Jacks," Pete replied.

" I said there were ghosts, but that's not fair. Why him?" Jackie asked, her voice sounding a bit teary. Pete lowered the gun, staring at the woman he thought long dead.

" I'm not a ghost."

" But you're dead! You died twenty years ago, Pete!" The Doctor stepped forward, carefully addressing the situation.

" It's Pete from a different universe. There are parallel worlds, Jackie. Every single decision we make creates a parallel existence, a different dimension where—"

" Oh, you can shut up," Jackie told him in a hushed voice. The Doctor gave a nod and backed up, missing the smirk on Mickey's face—it wasn't often the Doctor was told off for explaining something. She looked Pete up and down again, taking in his face, his clothes… " Oh… you look old."

" You don't," Pete told her with a genuine smile. Jackie blinked for a moment, feeling tears in her eyes.

" How can you be standing there?"

" Just got lucky. Lived my life. You were left on your own." He licked his lips nervously. " You didn't… marry again or…"

" There was never anyone else," Jackie said softly, shaking her head. " Twenty years, though. Look at me. I never left that flat. Did nothing with myself."

" You brought her up," Pete said, nodding towards Rose, " Rose Tyler. That's not bad." Selene smiled at her friend and rubbed her shoulder as Jackie agreed.

" Yeah."

" In my world it worked. All those daft little plans of mine, they worked. Made me rich."

" I don't care about that." A pause. " How rich?"

" Very," Pete said. Jackie shook her head again.

" I don't care about that." Another pause. " How very?"

Rose snorted and looked off with a sigh. The Doctor and Selene chuckled—it was a very Jackie thing to ask more than once; both had experience with that. Pete laughed silently and Jackie did a bit as well.

" Thing is, though, Jacks, you're… you're not my wife. I'm sorry, but you're not. I mean we both…" They both quietly nodded. " You know it's just sort of… Oh, come here!"

Both jogged down the hall, Pete dropping the gun, Jackie beginning to cry. The two tightly embraced, eyes shut tightly. Rose watched on, lips twitching up a bit at the corners. The day was just full of surprises, wasn't it?

OoOoO

In the meantime, a massive battle had begun in the warehouse. It was humans against the Cybermen who were fighting against the Daleks, which were moving the Genesis Ark. Cybermen were calling all units from outside to come to Torchwood Tower, requesting back up due to their dwindling numbers.

Unknowing of this battle, the Doctor pushed one of the doors open, freezing at what he saw. Lasers from the Daleks and lasers from the Cyberman slashed through the air, trumping the bullets that the soldiers were firing. The Doctor, eyeing a crate from earlier, scrambled on his hands and knees towards it, everyone nervously watching. He dodged lasers as he reached into a crate and grabbed two magnaclamps. On his way back, he fell over once, tripping over a dead Cyberman. But quickly jumping back into a crouch, he made his way back through the doors. Once he was back in, they shut the doors tightly.

Then the Doctor poked his head out, wearing his new favorite piece of eyewear.

" OVERRIDE ROOF MECHANISM!" Dalek Sec said from the middle of the room, the roof beginning to slide open. " ELEVATE!" The Genesis Ark began to rise.

" What the Hell are they doing?" Selene muttered, staring at the floating Daleks. " What good is going outside gonna do them?"

" Time Lord Science. What Time Lord science?" the Doctor asked, yanking the 3-D glasses of again. " What is it?" The door shut again and the Doctor took off down the hall. " We've got to see what it's doing. Come on, all of you, top floor!"

" That's forty five floors up! Believe me, I've done them all!" Jackie called as they rounded the corner. A gloved hand grabbed Selene's, and she froze to see Jake leaning out of an elevator with a smile.

" We always take the lift!" he called out. There was a pause of footsteps and then the Doctor sheepishly led the group back, stepping in next to Jake and Selene, holding the magnaclamps.

" S'pose that'd work…" he murmured.

OOOO

When they got back to Yvonne's office and looked through the window, the Genesis Ark had already opened. It was spinning, sending Daleks out in every direction. The answer suddenly hit the Doctor across the face.

" Time Lord science… it's bigger on the inside," he said in dread. That could only mean one thing…

" Did Time Lords put those Daleks in there? What for?"

" It's a prison ship."

" How many Daleks?" Rose asked, fearing the answer.

" Millions."

Daleks came out of the Ark in droves, creating formations as they floated through the sky. London's air space was becoming covered in the deadly aliens, firing on all life forms below. Pete spun around, marching from the office.

" I'm sorry, but you've had it. This world is going to crash and burn, there's nothing we can do, Pete said. He walked over to a commando and took the yellow button from him. He gave it to Jackie. " Jacks, take this. You're coming with us."

" But they're destroying the city!" she argued. He laughed for a moment.

" I'd forgotten you could argue. It's not just London, it's the whole world." He slid the button around her neck. " But there's another world, just waiting for you, Jacks, and its safe, as long as the Doctor closes the breach," he said, cupping her face in his hands. " Doctor?"

The Doctor, who'd been watching the destruction through the window, turned around, wearing his 3-D glasses once more, smiling.

" Oh, I'm ready!" He sprinted from the office saying, " Equipment right here, thank you, Torchwood!" He went on one of the computers and typed something in. " Slam it down and close off both universes."

" But we can't just leave, what about the Daleks? And the Cybermen?" Rose asked, gesturing vaguely out of the window.

" They're part of the problem, and that makes them part of the solution. Oh, yes!" The Doctor seemed so enthusiastic and he stared at the group. " Well? Isn't anyone going to ask, what is it with the glasses?"

" What is it with the glasses, you've been wearing them on and off all day?" Selene pointed out, crossing her arms with a smile.

" I can see that's what! 'Cause we've got two separate worlds, but in between the two separate worlds, we've got the Void. That's where the Daleks were hiding and the Cybermen traveled through the Void to get here. And you lot—one world to another, via the Void—ooh I like that… 'Via the Void.'" He whipped the glasses off and put them on Rose. " Look. I've been through it. Do you see?"

Rose saw, as the Doctor wiggled back and forth playfully, bits of green specks floating around him.

" Reboot in three minutes," the computers announced.

" What is it?" Rose asked, handing he glasses to Selene.

" Void stuff!" She looked at the Doctor and noted the specks and she smirked. He looked rather silly, weaving back and forth with the 'Void Stuff' floating around him. She even giggled a bit.

" Like, um… background radiation!" Rose said, happy that she remembered.

" That's it! Now, Selene, look at the others," the Doctor said, turning her around to face everyone else. Everyone, but Jackie, was surrounded by Void stuff. " The only one who hasn't been through the Void is Jackie. First time she's looked normal in her life.

" Oi!"

Ignoring Jackie's exclamation, the Doctor took off at a run towards the large wall.

" But the Daleks lived in the Void! They're bristling with it! Cybermen, all of them!" he said emphatically, running straight up to the wall and spread his arms. " I just open the void and reverse! The Void stuff gets sucked back inside!"

" Pulling 'em all in!" Rose exclaimed.

" Pulling 'em all in!" the Doctor exclaimed as Selene grinned.

" Sorry, what's the Void?" Mickey asked. Selene spun to face him and simply said,

" It's basically Hell."

" So… you're sending the Daleks and Cybermen to Hell." Mickey pulled on his button. He smiled at Jake. " Man, I told you he was good."

A troubled look came over Rose as she donned the glasses again, staring at her own hands and glancing at Selene.

" But it's… like you said, we've all got Void stuff. Me too 'cause we went to that parallel world." Rose looked at Selene with worry and pulled the glasses off. Turning back to the Doctor, she saw that he was standing very close. " We're all contaminated, we'll get pulled in."

" That's why you've gotta go. Both of you," the Doctor said softly, eyes flicking to Selene, who gave him a shocked look.

" Reboot in two minutes."

" Back to Pete's world." His head snapped towards Pete and pointed to said man. " Hey, we should call it that—Pete's world." He looked back at his two companions. " I'm opening the Void, but only on this side. You'll both be safe on that side."

" And then you close it… for good?" Pete asked.

" The breach itself is soaked in Void stuff. In the end, it'll close itself. And that's it. Kaput." Rose looked up at him, heartbroken.

" But you'll stay on this side?" she asked.

" Well, you'll get pulled in," Mickey pointed out. Selene sighed and ran an annoyed hand through her hair.

" No, he won't. Didn't you see what he brought up with him?" she asked quietly, pointing at the magnaclamps in Yvonne's office. He jogged to get them and showed everyone.

" I'll just have to hold on tight. Been doing it all my life," he said. Rose and Selene stared stiffly at the Doctor.

" Selene and I—we're just supposed to go."

" Yeah." Rose flinched as the magnaclamp thudded to the floor.

" To another world, and then it gets sealed off."

" Yeah." The Doctor ran to another computer, fiddling with it.

" Forever."

" Doctor, we're not letting that happen," Selene said seriously, no trace of humor in her face. The entire building shook, which spurred Pete into action.

" We haven't got time to argue, the plan works. Both of you too, all of us," he said, walking towards the wall where the Void breach was.

" No, I'm not leaving him!" Rose protested. Jackie shook her head.

" I'm not going without her!" Jackie told him. Pete gave an exasperated look.

" Oh, my God. We're going!"

" I've had twenty years without you. So button it, I'm not leaving 'er!"

" You've got to!" Rose said, turning her mother around.

" Well, that's tough!"

" Mum."

" Reboot in one minute."

Selene, with her back facing Jake and Mickey, was biting her lip violently. Her heart was beating fast, she didn't know what to do and her head… her head was pounding…

" I've had a life with you for nineteen years. But then I met the Doctor…" The Doctor stepped away from the computer and walked away, listening as Rose spoke. " And… all the things I've seen him do for me. For Selene. For you, for all of us… For the whole… stupid planet and every planet out there. He does it alone, Mum." At the same time, Pete and the Doctor removed yellow buttons from their pockets. " But not anymore. 'Cause now… he's got Selene and me…" Rose backed up, unknowing that the Doctor was lowering the chain of the button over her head solemnly. Mickey met the Doctor's eyes, holding a button over Selene's head. As Rose spun around, she began to ask, " What're you—"

Then they were all gone.

And he was completely alone.

OoOoO

There, in the dilapidated, parallel Torchwood, everyone reappeared. Spinning around to look at Mickey, Selene gaped at him. Mickey gave her an apologetic look before looking off. Rose and Selene met eyes and Selene jogged up to her, fiddling with her button.

" Oh, no, you don't…" Rose muttered, looking at the wall. " He's not doing that to me again. He's not leaving us behind!"

Selene, looking at everyone, hurriedly fiddled with her button and slapped it a fraction of a second after Rose did.

OoOoO

" I think this is the 'on' switch," Rose was saying, as she appeared. Selene reappeared as well, grabbed her swaying head, which throbbed even more that she'd been through the Void twice more. The Doctor bolted from the computer he'd been working on and grabbed both of their arms.

" What are you two thinking? Once the breach collapses, Rose, that's it. You'll never be able to see her again, your own mother!" he said loudly, hoping to knock sense into them.

He wanted to protect both women. His world was dangerous, and something like this fiasco was bound to happen again. Rose could be with her family, Selene could join them, have more time with Mickey and all that. The Doctor didn't want them hurt. That was why he'd sent them to a safer world.

" I made my choice a long time ago," Rose said calmly, meeting his eyes, " And I'm never going to leave you."

" If you think you're shaking me off that easy, you're wrong. I was serious about what I said the other day, about traveling for eternity," Selene whispered, putting her hand atop the one he was using to hold her arm.

" So what can we do to help?"

" System rebooted. Open access."

But then again… he rather did like having them with him; he wasn't lonely anymore, he had people to joke with, to share the wonders of the universe with.

After a moment the Doctor released their arms and pointed at a computer.

" Those coordinates over there, set them to six and hurry up!" he said, walking to the other.

Rose began to set the coordinates, taking deep breaths. Selene, who happened to glance at a security camera feed on the computer in front of them while taking off the yellow button, noticed something very concerning.

" Uh, Doctor? We're going to have company in a bit; there are Cybermen on the way up," Selene said, lunging for the computer. The Doctor ran over with a concerned face, peering over her shoulder.

" How many floors down?"

" Only one."

" We've got only a minute or two then to get the levers ready," he said, bounding towards the laptop left on Yvonne's desk. He sat there and typed madly, finding the right codes to get the levers to work again. After a few tense moments, the computer said,

" Levers operational."

A smile broke out across the Doctor's face, which lightened Rose's heart.

" That's more like it, bit of a smile! The old team!" she said as the Doctor handed her a magnaclamp.

" Oh, yes!" The Doctor grinned at the two women then nodded into the room. " Lets go see what we can do with these levers!" Rose and the Doctor each fastened a magnaclamp onto the wall by each lever.

Selene had come up with a plan. It was simple, really. She was going to be the one to operate the lever; Rose was just going to hold on the entire time. If the lever needed fixing, Selene would do it and if she got sucked into the Void, so be it. The Doctor would still have Rose.

She'd only been around for a couple of adventures, they'd get over her soon enough. But the thought of loosing them both made Selene's eyes water, so, clearing her throat and putting her hands on her hips she eyed the lever menacingly. She glared at it slightly as if that would scare it to stay in place once she moved it. The Doctor looked at both women.

" When it starts, hold on tight. Shouldn't be too bad for us, the Daleks and Cybermen are steeped in Void stuff." The Doctor ran over to his lever, crouching down. As Rose made a move to go towards her lever, she saw Selene look at her.

" Go hang on. I'll be there in a minute. Don't let go of the clamp, no matter what, do you hear me? Don't let go," Selene told her good friend seriously, voice quavering slightly. Confused by the glassiness of Selene's eyes, Rose nodded and grabbed onto the magnaclamp tightly. The Doctor's brows furrowed at that she'd just said, but he brushed it off as friendly worry. Selene crouched down and grabbed the lever handle.

" You ready?" the Doctor asked.

" I better be, 'cause those Daleks aren't gonna stop!" Selene yelled, seeing four Daleks outside of the window.

" Lets do it!"

With all of their effort, both pushed the levers backwards. Once they clicked into place, both sprinted to the magnaclamps. The Doctor wound his arm through the handle, holding with all his might. Rose had mimicked his position, making room for Selene. As Selene held on, she snuck an arm through Rose's taking an extra precaution.

" Online."

The suction began as the Void opened, sucking the four Daleks through the window and into the crack. Selene felt her headache start to increase painfully.

" The breach is open! Into the Void! HA!" the Doctor cried gleefully, glad that the plan was working, glad that he would keep his two companions. Their legs were leaving the ground, getting pulled towards the crack, but, like the Doctor said, the suction wasn't as horrific as what the Daleks and Cybermen were experiencing.

Daleks, screaming as they went, came whizzing by, getting sucked into the bright light the crack produced. Rose grinned at the Doctor through the hair in her face, but the happiness was short lived when Selene's lever sparked and the computer said,

" Offline."

The lever began to move away.

She remembered.

Selene finally remembered.

Rose was going to grab the lever and get sucked through. She couldn't let that happen…

" No…" Selene muttered. The suction began decreasing, the Daleks beginning to slow down.

" Hold on!" the Doctor called out. Rose reached a hand out for the lever, stretching as far as she could.

" Rose, don't! I'll do it, just stop reaching!" Selene pleaded, her eyes watering. Rose shook her head.

" I'm closer!" she shouted.

" NO!" Selene shouted, feeling Rose sneak her arm from around Selene's, lunging and grabbing the lever. The Doctor watched in horror as Rose began to pull it.

" I've got to get it upright!"

The suction pulled on her, dragging her in the wrong direction, so, she began to push, her muscles screaming, her eyes tearing up from the wind the suction was creating. She was so close… just an inch or two more… She met the Doctor's terrified eyes. What was she doing, she couldn't do it… she should have just held on…

Then, to even more of his horror, he saw Selene's hands suddenly on the lever, helping Rose push it forward. Selene's hair was whipping backwards and the wind pulled at the back of her sweater. Rose was going to make it, she had to make it… time could be rewritten, couldn't it? Both women were grunting at the effort, but suddenly, the lever clicked into place.

" Online and locked."

The suction increased again, pulling both women horizontal towards the void as more and more Daleks and Cybermen were sucked in. Selene wound an arm around the bottom of the lever, grabbing Rose's wrist.

" Rose, Selene, hold on!" came the Doctor's cry, his arm flung out towards them. No… he couldn't loose them! " HOLD ON!"

Rose felt her grip loosening, her palms sweating… Selene's fingers were vice-like on her wrist, refusing to budge even as they were both being pulled so strongly towards the Void… Selene felt tears streaking down her face as she felt Rose's grip weakening. Edging her hand upwards, Selene grabbed onto her best friend's hand and pulled it downward, locking their grasps together. Selene looked at the Doctor, who was breathing fast, his brown eyes wild with fear, his mouth open and ready to call out. Selene gave him a sad look as she moved her arm lock on the lever to grab it with just her hands. If it would save Rose… maybe the Void would close before she was sucked in.

The Doctor saw the strain on Selene's fingers. He saw the fear and sadness overtaking her face as she scrunched her eyes shut. Her hands were turning red with the effort of trying to hold on. Tears ran down her face… her fingers loosened…

" Selene, don't!" the Time Lord screamed, the words tearing through his lips. " Just hold on!"

I do feel as though I could be the one that could be the sacrifice… her own words to Prince Hal echoed in her head. Maybe her gut instinct had been right…

Just as she was about to let go, be that sacrifice, Rose's hand disappeared from underneath her own.

" ROSE!" the words ripped heart-wrenchingly from the Doctor's throat, hurting thousands of times more than any gunshot. His hand shot out towards her, just like Selene's, but it was far too late.

Rose was being sucked towards the blinding light that was the crack in the world that led to the Void. Her name was still ripping its way through the Time Lord's throat, both of his hearts breaking.

There was a flash of light.

Rose was suddenly in the arms of Pete.

She looked up in shock at the Doctor and then…

She was gone. Forever.

The Doctor panted, seeing nothing but light where she'd once been.

Selene felt the last of her grip slide off the lever, but the suction was weak and it caused her to tumble and roll, her shoulder connecting hard with the floor.

The Doctor watched as the wall warped and suddenly the crack was gone.

" Systems closed."

The suction disappeared completely. Selene rolled to a stop on the floor.

The Doctor stared at the wall.

Rose was gone. He'd never see her again… the pain inside his chest was the worst he'd ever felt. It was as if both his hearts were being brutally torn apart…

OoOoO

Rose pounded against the blank wall of the parallel world's Torchwood, sobbing,

" Take me back!"

Tears rolled down her face as she cried the words over and over again, feeling as though she was dying at that moment. Her hands braced the wall, which was the only thing holding her up, keeping her grief from crushing her completely. The next words that left Pete's mouth broke her down even more.

" He closed the breach."

Another sob racked her chest and body, breaking her down to her last nerve.

She could never see him again.

She would never see the Doctor ever again…

OoOoO

The Doctor walked up to the wall, staring emotionlessly at it. He should have known this would happen… every single person he cared about was torn away from him. Why would Rose have been an exception? God, how he wished and begged and prayed that she could have been an exception.

The Time Lord sadly placed his left hand and leaned his head against the wall, touching the barrier that had parted him and Rose… their bond had been a strong connection that could have beaten anything…

But it hadn't beat the Void.

OoOoO

Rose, tears streaking her make-up, suddenly felt the urge to press her ear to the wall, hoping that maybe, just maybe, she could hear him at least one last time… her right hand flopped against the plaster… but there was nothing. No words, no touch… just the cold paint beneath her palm.

Another sob left her lips as she clung to that wall, hoping that it would open again and take her home, back to the Doctor, back to the TARDIS, back to the wonders of the universe…

OoOoO

His hand fell away.

Rose was gone.

…

…

.

But… where was Selene?

He turned sadly away from the wall, only to find that Selene was crumpled against one of the other walls, gasping quietly and gripping her head.

" Selene…?" he asked quietly, brows pulling together slowly. Everything was in slow motion for him; the way that Selene's hands curled and dug her fingernails into her scalp seemed to move at a snail's pace, the rapid rising and falling of her chest from her gasps was beyond natural slowness… but then something cut through that.

She screamed.

It was an agonized scream, like someone had run her through with a rusty, jagged sword. The Doctor dove down beside her, scrambling to get closer. She'd asked him what would happen to her after the cracks closed…

And whatever that was, it was happening.

Selene's head felt like it no longer existed. It felt like someone had run over it, blown it up, pieced it together again and riddled it with bullets. It was indescribable agony that she'd never felt before. She couldn't think, she didn't even know if she was breathing anymore; all she knew at that moment was pain and agony and horror. Another gasp rattled her ribs and she fell hard against the wall behind her.

The Doctor couldn't lose her.

He grabbed her face in both hands and watched as searing hot tears escaped her clenched eyelids, wetting her cheeks and his palms. She was groaning and moaning, and every once and a while her body would twitch violently.

He suddenly understood.

Selene's mind had still been connected to her own world through the very crack that had closed moments ago. That connection had been severed when the Void had been sealed off and now, her mind and her body only existed on one plane, the one that he was in, the one that she had to survive to stay in. It was almost as if she were in limbo, being yanked and tugged back and forth as her mind sealed itself off from her world… and it seemed like it was killing her.

" Selene. Selene, please tell me you can hear this!" he pleaded, a few tears rolling down the contours of his cheeks. Selene did nothing but continue to grab at her head, curling in on herself even more.

Ears ringing like someone set fireworks off right by them, Selene was hearing flashes of mismatched voices…

"… please tell me you can hear this!" The Doctor…

" … I think she's falling into a coma!" An unfamiliar man…

" … you have to survive! You have to!" The Doctor again…

Then everything went silent and she could hear her own gasping.

The Doctor felt the woman go slack and her face relax. Her breathing evened out and it became clear that she'd passed out. Gathering the unconscious woman into his arms, the Doctor carefully made his way from the white washed room he never wished to see again.

OoOoO

Selene had no idea what the hell was going on.

One minute, she was crumpled in pain on the floor of the Torchwood Institute…

And then suddenly… she sees the shaking roof of a moving vehicle.

" How are her vitals?" asks a man in an EMT jacket, moving over her line of sight. There's a shuffle and a voice replies,

" They're evening out, but they aren't too good. We have any ID on her?" The first man reaches into her pocket and extracts a now battered wallet, opening it up with blood-streaked latex gloves. His heavy brow creases as he reads the drivers license.

" Uh… Selene C. Thomas, we'll call her family once we get to Mass Gen."

Wait… Mass Gen? That was Massachusetts General Hospital… no… this… this couldn't be…

That flickered away as pain radiated sharply again. As the throbbing and searing subsided, something else flickered into vision…

A corkboard ceiling and a steady beeping sound. The room isn't completely quiet though; someone is talking quietly from somewhere else in the room, and the face of Selene's sister Juliet, was visible off to the side. Face twisted in worry, hands pressed to her lips, eyes red and puffy… the saddest Selene had seen her in a while.

" You can't do this to us, Selene…" whispered Juliet brokenly, rubbing at a tear. " You can't be in a coma, you just can't…"

She was seeing what her mind had been attached to while the crack was open; she'd been in a coma in Boston, and her mind had been keeping track of what was happening. Her mind was sealing off, mending itself, leaving that world behind… that world with her family and her apartment and her crappy, totaled car. One last memory, pain free, came through before she felt rest over come her body…

A sad smile was on her mothers face. Her hand brushed tangled curls from Selene's face, ignoring the cuts caused by windshield glass. The touch was gentle, like what she used to do to sooth her daughter when she was sick as a child.

" We all love you, Selene," her mother whispered. " We'll be back tomorrow…" And she pressed a kiss to her forehead, backing away and letting the round face of her father appear. The hearty smile he usually wore wasn't there, but it was replaced by a small quirk of the lips and hopeful eyes. He kissed the spot between her elbows sniffed heavily, turning away to hide his sadness. Juliet, decidedly less sad looking from that last 'memory,' gave a gentle hug accompanied with a kiss on the cheek.

They loved her.

They missed her.

And she loved them.

And she missed them.

But she was home.

She was living.

And it was time to get some rest…

OoOoO

Rose, standing on a cold, wet, sandy beach in Norway, with her mother, father and one of her best friends standing behind her in the distance. She looked out to the water, hoping that the dream hadn't been just a dream, that the voice, his voice, was all real.

With a gentle whoosh of a familiar time machine engine, a see-through image of the Doctor appeared to her left, making her turn towards him.

" Where are you?" she asked after a moment, hair flying across her vision.

" Inside the TARDIS. There's one tiny little gap in the universe left. Just about to close, and it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a supernova. I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye," the Doctor told her, smiling sadly. Rose shook her head, staring at the way she could see the rocks of the beach straight through him.

" You look like a ghost."

" Hold on." He lifted the Sonic, switched the settings and pointed it downwards, probably at the console, and let it buzz. Then, in an instant, it was like he was really there. Rose immediately stepped forward so there as little was two feet between them. She reached out towards his arm, asking,

" Can I—"

" I'm still just an image. No touch," he said regretfully, forehead creased in sadness. Rose, eyes tearing up and turning a bit red, felt emotions well up inside her throat, right where her heart had leapt to when she saw his face again.

" Can't you come through properly?"

" The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse," he explained.

" So?" Rose asked with a shaky laugh. A smile tugged at the Doctor's lips, chuckling. Oh, she was still Rose… After gazing at her familiar face for a long moment, he was suddenly looking around, eyeing the beach around them.

" Where are we? Where did the gap come out?"

" We're in Norway."

" Norway, right…"

" About fifty miles out of Bergen." She sucked in a breath to get through the next sentence. " It's called Darlig Ulv Stranden." The Doctor's eyebrows crunched together at what he'd just heard. Surely he had something in his ears…

" Dalek?" he asked incredulously.

" Darlig. It's Norwegian for 'bad.' This translates as 'Bad Wolf Bay,'" Rose said, voice breaking off into a disbelieving laugh, shaking her head as she looked at the sky. The Doctor's eyes crinkled around the corners like they did when he smiled, and he was—he was smiling at the pure, sad, irony of it all. The smile dropped off of the blond woman's face and brokenly she asked, " How long have we got?"

" About two minutes," he said, sobering up. Rose scratched her forehead and then wove her fingers through her hair.

" I can't think of what to say!" The laugh the two exchanged was humorless and sad. How the world came to this was beyond the two of them. Everything had been going so well…

" You've still got Mister Mickey, then?" the Doctor asked, eying said man by the jeep in the background.

" There's five of us now—mum, dad, Mickey… and the baby."

A sad, bewildered, disbelieving look came across the Time Lord's face and into his eyes as he whispered,

" You're not…"

" No!" Rose laughed, " It's Mum. She's three months gone. More Tylers on the way." What had been maybe a mere day for him, had been at least three or four months for Rose.

" And what about you? Are you…" the Doctor asked, inquiring about what she was doing now. Was she traveling? Was she working?

" Yeah, I'm—I'm back working in the shop," she told him, looking out to the ocean when she couldn't deal with seeing his saddened face.

" Oh, good for you." He wished she'd been traveling… she liked traveling…

" Oh, shut up. No, I'm not. There's still a Torchwood on this planet, it's open for business. Think I knew a thing or two about aliens," she told him with a smile, voice cracking a bit as she smiled slightly. The Doctor felt his own lips pull upwards at that. There she was, in a parallel world, doing what she did best. He wouldn't have it any other way for her…

" Rose Tyler, defender of the earth. You're dead. Officially, back home." His face was solemn again. After the battle, names of the dead were beginning to be taken down almost immediately. But, of course, with the TARDIS, he could check the records before they'd even been submitted, and it was true. " So many people died that day, and you've gone missing. You're on a list of the dead." Rose, crying once more, lifted a hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks. " Here you are, living a life, day after day…" the Doctor said, smiling sadly, " The one adventure I can never have."

He remembered that day when they joked about sharing a mortgage, living in the same house… how much they'd laughed about that, but he always knew he couldn't live like that. He wasn't born to live like that. Sitting still war hard enough for him, but living life in a linear way… that was something he could never do.

Sobbing, Rose asked,

" Am I ever going to see you again?"

" You can't," he told her, eyes prickling with tears. Her ultimate sorrow showed on her face in that moment. He didn't see that bright smile or that twinkle in her eyes that he remembered she'd had from the day he grabbed her hand…

" What are you gonna do?" Her voice was squeaking as she tried to keep her words coherent. The Doctor looked upwards for a moment.

" Oh, I've got the TARDIS. Same old life, Last of the Time Lords."

" What about Selene?" Rose asked, remembering the woman she'd grown so close to. She remembered finding her on the sidewalk, battered in that horrible plaid shirt and she remembered the jokes they played on Mickey or the fun they had laughing and teasing the Doctor… the grinning American that she felt was like a sister. What about her? The Doctor smiled slightly.

" She's going to miss you too. She's resting, right now, otherwise I'd have her come up to say something. Her mind's been… weakened because of the closing crack. But she'll miss you. Definitely." Rose choked out a sob again and covered her mouth for a moment.

She had to tell him… it was her last chance… he had to know, he had to know…

" I l—" She choked on the word, bending over slightly to clear her throat, brush away her hair and finally meet his warm brown eyes again. " I love you," she finally admitted, and the Doctor watched as her heart broke. When he spoke again, his voice was weak, having tightened up as tears built up.

" Quite right, too. And I suppose… if it's my last chance to say it…" Rose looked at him hopefully and he sucked in a breath. " Rose Tyler…"

And then, finally, his image flickered away.

OoOoO

The Doctor stood alone in the console room, tears creating tracks down his cheeks. His mouth was open and his eyes were still fixated on where she stood.

He'd been about to say it… but it wasn't only the connection that had cut out. The words had stopped in his throat and he couldn't speak. He didn't know why, he just… couldn't get the words to leave his throat, to be voiced to her… his hearts had stuttered, skipped two beats, but no words. None at all.

The Doctor ran his hands up his face and rubbed his eyes hard. He wiped away the salty tears, dispelling them from his skin. He had to move on, he had to move forward… he'd miss her like hell, but he had to keep going. His shoulder rose and fell as he took in and let out a breath, making his way around the console; he set controls, flipped switches, sniffed once or twice and pressed a button or two. Footsteps from above made him look up, spotting Selene, changed into a new outfit, face free of pain, was making her way incredibly slowly across the upper platform. Relief momentarily swept over him, noting that she was alive…. Relieved that he didn't lose her too. The sorrow written on her face clearly spoke that she knew it was over. That Rose was gone…

Rose was gone. That made his hearts ache again. But he reminded himself that it couldn't have been stopped. Nothing could have been done about it, he had to understand that. Now could he have stopped it if he didn't know it was going to happen?

But someone did know it was going to happen… the angry part of his brain hissed. Ice jolted through his veins as he saw Selene's face in his mind… as he heard the words she said to Rose before the pushed the levers… She had known it was going to happen. The horrible truth broke the Doctor more—his hearts clenched and his breath hitched. It explained how she'd been acting: withdrawn, sad distant, worried… and she hadn't said a single word. She could have prevented all of this suffering.

" You knew…" the Doctor whispered once he heard her footsteps behind him. His hands clenched the edge of the console, knuckles turning pure white. Selene, who had been passing behind him, looked over at him, hair falling from her messily done bun; her face was truly, genuinely saddened. Once she'd woken up and her head was clear of aches and pains for the first time, she cried. She cried till her head hurt again and pounded the mattress as guilt ate away at her heart. But at the Doctor's words, her brows pulled together.

" W-what?" Selene asked with startled confusion. The Doctor's breathing picked up and his jaw muscles flexed. He felt his face involuntarily contort into one of anger.

" You knew about Rose. You knew that she was going to be ripped away from me and you didn't say a word!" he shouted, spinning on his heel to face her. Selene, who was maybe six feet away, stared at the look on his face. He began to make his way towards her, hardened, infuriated eyes pinned on her wide, blue ones. But he didn't stomp. He didn't run. His feet carried him in a determined walk that was eerily calm for the rage on his face… it was like the calm before… before the Oncoming Storm.

" I…" Selene knew she couldn't lie. He'd know. Besides, he was right. She'd backed herself up against the railing and then tugged the sleeves of her cardigan over her hands. Then she whispered, " I knew…"

" Then why didn't you say something!" the Doctor demanded, voice getting louder. Tears prickled in Selene's eyes as his anger was directed at her for the first time since they'd begun traveling together. And honestly? It was terrifying. She couldn't meet his eyes for a good long moment, where the calm air seemed dangerous.

" I couldn't! Does 'tear a hole in the fabric of the universe' sound familiar to you!? The situation was delicate enough, and I could barely remember what was going to happen! I had to stop myself so… many… times… from telling either one of you! And I tried to alter what I could, tried to save her!" Selene yelled back, voice shaking as she cried, leaning back into the railing as he stepped even closer. Tears were beginning to leak from the corners of her eyes.

" No you didn't!"

" Yes, I did! I pushed the lever, I tried to stop her, I was going to get sucked into the Void to save her. She was my friend too, and I may not have cared for her like you did, but I tried." Her voice got softer and softer as she spoke, running out of things to say. She told him the truth. She knew, she didn't tell him, she couldn't have told him, she tried to save her. That was her story. That was the awful, painful, terrible truth.

" You lied to me, Selene!" His voice was breaking. He felt honestly and truly…

Betrayed.

The rage melted off his face, but it solidified in a dangerous, dangerous mask of no emotion. Then his lips turned downward and he leaned forward, face inches from hers.

" Once we're safely away from this supernova, I am dropping you off somewhere far, far away and don't you expect me to come ever pick you up again," he growled, voice low, eyes angry, tone as sharp as a knife.

And that was when it felt like she'd been stabbed. His words stuck in her mind, echoing in her skull…

Don't you expect me to come ever pick you up again.

The Doctor slowly leaned away from her, face becoming impassive again as he stiffly turned around and walked back to the console, probably setting the coordinates of what ever 'far, far away' place he was going to leave her.

Selene was shaking. She'd just faced down the fury of a Time Lord and it scared her. The pure, unadulterated hatred projected towards her cut her down and made her feel small. The man who she'd admired for so long, cared about… truly, strongly cared for so, so much… had hurt her deeply with just one sentence. She could have dealt with him giving her the cold shoulder for lying, even if it was a whole, 'you stay here, I'll deal with everything' sort of deal.

I am dropping you off somewhere far, far away and don't you expect me to come ever pick you up again.

Grabbing onto the railing, she faced away from the Time Lord and wiped at her eyes. So that was it? She'd blown her chance of staying with the Doctor because she didn't want to tear the fragile fabric of a universe that was already broken.

The Doctor, cooling down from releasing every pent up emotion since Rose let go of that lever, scrubbed a hand over his face. The rage and fury had left his system; that was the downside of keeping such emotion locked up for, well, hundreds of years. Was he upset? Oh, yes. Did he quite remember everything he'd just shouted at Selene? Not quite. But those thoughts were silenced when he looked up and there, by the door, stood a woman in a white gown and a veil, back to him.

" What?" the Doctor suddenly voiced, sounding incredibly confused. The woman spun around, staring at the Doctor in shock. Her ginger hair was done up and styled, her make up was impeccably done and pear earrings matched her dress.

" Oh!" she squeaked, blinking a couple of times. Selene glanced carefully over her shoulder, staring at the familiar looking woman by the ramp to the TARDIS door.

" What?" the Doctor asked again, face scrunching up.

" Who are you?" the woman asked, looking him over.

" But—" the Doctor looked around, completely confused. How did she get on his TARDIS? They were orbiting a supernova.

" Where am I?" the woman asked again, sounding rather miffed to put it lightly.

" What!" the Doctor asked, voice jumping and octave.

" What the Hell is this place!?"
" What!?"

Afterword: Hi.

So.

Um…

Sorry if Rose's 'getting pulled into parallel world scene' in Torchwood Tower sucked. It was REALLY hard to write, like… I'm not joking. I spent an hour or two trying to figure out how to write it. So. Yeah.

I'm really paranoid, sorry. Hug maybe? * opens arms for virtual hug? *

Rage Doctor. Not a funny sight. So, in case it was WAY too angry and WAY too out of character, I feel like I need to explain for a second.

I think that the Doctor monitors his anger and his rage very well, but in this episode, what with all the sorrow and feeling incredibly betrayed, I think he would've just… cracked. It was kind of like… a burst of Time Lord rage, since we all know that the Doctor has that side to him that he doesn't like to show… so… sorry again, if he was out of character there :-/

Shout out to grapejuice101, who helped me plan out this chapter, last chapter AND the next chapter… which has been planned for quite a while XD Thank you so much for the help! You rock!

The Feels. May I just say… I needed tissues…

REVIEW REPLIES:

grapejuice101: Did you cry? I cried. UHHHGGGG! But, I'm glad you liked last chapter and hope I didn't ruin your emotions with this one. Thanks again!

KatieTheBaka: I'm glad it was a satisfying chapter! I hope you enjoyed this one and it'll be off to the Christmas special/season 3 very soon! Thanks again!

: I'm glad you liked the headache explanation! I've been waiting to write it for a while, and thought that this was a great episode to fit it into! Mostly because I was supposed to be in this episode, but, hey, my logic isn't always that sound sometimes XD But I'm glad you enjoyed! Thanks again!

Renate Amsel: It's totally fine! I understand how school and projects can get very annoying… its one of the reasons I haven't updated this story in a good long while. I'm glad that you've enjoyed the chapters you missed and I really hope you enjoyed this one! Thanks again!

Ella Unlimited: I'm glad you like the Doctor/Selene moments! I feel like those moments, especially in this season, were REALLY important for them to establish the close relationship they have, because we all know how its gonna unfold pretty soon… ;) And I updated, like, wicked soon! WHAT IS THIS SORCERY!? XD Well, I hope you enjoyed! Thanks again!

And thank you to those who have added this to their story alert/favorites, it means a lot.

Season 2: End.

Christmas Special/Season 3: COMING UP.

If I had any sneak previews, I'd post 'em right now in this authors note, but I unfortunately do not… but I can tell you… SOO MANY MORE Selene/Doctor moments to come. Like… a lot. But, I hope none of you despised this chapter in all its emotional and rage-y glory.

Selene's headaches are gone. But what side affects will that have on her? * foreboding organ chord * we shall see…

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER

Thanks, you guys, for taking the time to read all of this! Love ya all!

~Mary