22 Fred
Rose takes a deep breath and looks around. The Doctor's Foyer is much the same as when she last saw it, with the exception of him suspended between the Pools. This, she's decided, is something she hopes to never see again. Walking to the centre of the space and the Pools, Rose can feel a thickness to the air, as if something is waiting to happen as she gets closer. It physically slows her down; Rose literally feels like she's having to force her way through the air. She finally reaches a point where she's about a meter away, and she abruptly pops through the barrier. The air is 'normal' closer to the Pools.
Looking up at the Doctor, she silently wishes he could communicate with her. Reaching for him mentally, she hits a solid wall. She cannot feel him at all. She had been so distracted by his former self that she hadn't realised their link was silenced. She blushes at the memory of their kisses. Rose touches her lips with a smile, and is glad that she now has that forever locked in her mind. Then she blushes a little redder, feeling guilty about getting distracted by the Doctor while trying to save him, too. Sometimes being a Time Lord is so confusing.
The Doctor is hanging motionless in the space between the two Pools. His arms are slightly away from his sides, palms out, and he's facing down, eyes closed, but there's a slight furrow in his brow. He's just as pale as he is outside in the Infirmary, too pale. His freckles almost seem to float above his skin, and Rose can't see him breathing. She assumes that's understandable since there's no time within the field.
Stepping up to the side of the Pool, Rose looks down into the liquid. It's completely still…glasslike, except she can almost sense more than see movement deep below the surface. Leaning forward, she places her hands on the edges of the lower Pool. She can just feel a vibration, though she isn't sure she feels the humming with her hands or her mind. She's very curious and wary, but determined to save her Doctor; and at this point, she's acting on instinct since her big Time Lord brain is being completely unhelpful with any useful information.
Rose tries to imagine what the Doctor would do if their positions were reversed. The only thing she can come up with is that he'd probably lick the side of the Pool, and she isn't going to do that. Instead, she reaches out a hand and holds it just a few centimetres above the 'liquid.' Easing her hand closer, Rose can see and feel the 'liquid' push upward toward her palm. There's a slight static charge building in the space between her hand and the surface of the Pool. Having a 'Go big, or go home' moment, Rose takes a steadying breath, and allows her hand to brush the surface of the Pool.
In an instant, Rose is somewhere else. Everything is white, and there are no distinguishing features. She has no idea of direction or distance. Turning in a circle, she is trying to decide if now might be a good time to panic, when she notices a speck moving her way. It's dark, but it seems to be a person moving toward her. It doesn't take more than a moment or two for Rose to see it's a woman. The woman is about her own height, with straight, dark brown hair that's pulled back in a knot at her nape. She's dressed in flowing burgundy robes edged in rust and gold. She comes to within just a few feet of Rose before she stops and stares intently for a few moments. Rose attempts to decipher her age, putting it near her mum's, though she feels this is far from the case.
Rose feels the weight of her scrutiny keenly. She's unsure how she should take it. Rose doesn't understand anything that's currently happening, but she refuses to be intimidated. Standing straighter, she mirrors the woman's posture and returns her stare and inspection. This amuses the woman who finally smiles slightly, and Rose sees the warmth and compassion that was hiding behind the stoic exterior only moments before. Now even more confused, Rose returns the smile hesitantly, but feels that it must look as unsure as she feels.
"Hello, I am Romanadvoratrelundar, and you touched my Pools; I assume to save the Doctor," the woman says. Rose's mouth actually drops open at this point. Romana! She was talking to Romana.
"Ummm….Hi, I'm Rose, Rose Tyler. How are you here? The Doctor said, wait…the Pools! What are the Pools?" Rose feels like an idiot, but she can't quite wrap her head around what has happened so far. Nothing is making sense. Then she has an idea…
"Wait! This is like the Zero Room, only more powerful." Rose feels the rightness of her guess, and is rewarded with a real smile from Romana agreeing with her assessment.
"The Doctor always chooses the best. I can see you are just as brilliant as I had hoped you would be. Walk with me," Romana says and begins walking through the vast nothing.
"How could you know about me, and how are you here? The Doctor said you were…well, that you're dead. That you helped him end the War and you were lost." Rose doesn't want to be rude, but she doesn't want to waste time either. She still has to save her Doctor.
"There is no Time here, Rose—not while we talk; and we have a great deal to talk about. To answer your first question, I know about you because there was a Prophecy, and I had a feeling we would be meeting at some point. Though I would not have predicted our meeting would be this way when I first learned of you." Romana is very calm and assured in her manner. Rose, on the other hand is feeling overwhelmed. She needs a moment to digest some of this.
"Can we stop walking? It's hard to comprehend all you're telling me and walk around in all this…nothing," she says with a sweep of her arms.
"Of course," Romana says, and without any preamble, there is a table set with tea and two chairs facing each other. No longer surrounded by the nothing, they are now in a room furnished in a fashion similar to the new Library and decorated in the same colours. Through the windows, Rose can still see the white nothing extending forever, but she is no longer in it. This alone helps her feel more grounded.
"Well, that's civilised," Rose observes as she takes a seat. Romana leans forward and pours the tea. Setting Rose's cup in front of her, she raises hers, taking a sip. With a smile, she continues as Rose sips her own tea.
"Before I finish the first explanation, I will answer your second question. I was asked to build the Pools by the Moment, to save the Doctor from its effects. His mother and I worked on the computations and the architecture of the Pools for months before he literally dropped into our laps. I installed them while he was recovering in a coma the last time he came to Gallifrey…before the end. It was only days later that they were put to use. I am a mirror of my personality that I left behind to control the Pools; a copy of myself at the time." At Rose's disbelieving look, Romana raises a hand to forestall more questions. "Let me finish, then I will answer as many questions as I am able."
Smiling enigmatically at Rose, she takes another sip of her tea. At Rose's nod, Romana picks up where she left off, "Has the Doctor mentioned the Seers or the Sisterhood of Karn to you?"
"No, but I read about them in the Library. I thought the Seers were all gone during that whole Pythia's Curse thing."
"Oh, no. In fact, it may surprise you to know that for all our higher technological levels and advanced biology we were still quite superstitious. There were a few Seers left, and after Rassilon was resurrected, he employed several in an attempt to see how his plans would turn out. They seemed to have a clearer Vision once the War muddied the timelines so that hardly anyone could 'see' anything, including the Visionary. Previously, as President, I had access to all the Prophecies. One of my first duties after graduating from the Academy was at the Bureau of Ancient Records, so I knew where to look. I found one concerning you when I was researching options at the beginning of the War. When I learned that the Council was determined to resurrect Rassilon, I was reminded of that Prophecy. On reading it again, I stole it. I wish I had recognised its significance earlier."
With a shrug, she creates another pot of tea. Rose has a million questions, but she's so fascinated by Romana sharing so much, that she is loathe to interrupt. Seeing Rose is still with her, Romana continues, "The Prophecy told of a Human Child that Time loves who would be made anew by the Howling's Daughter, and how the Daughter's Child would help Time's Champion create his mate forged by the Moment. They would find that which had been stolen from Time, and heal the wounds created by Gallifrey's Reborn Son, who with the mighty light of ten thousand suns, challenged Infinity, but was soon gone, taking with him Time's Children and Eternity's Fortress.
Cryptic, but I knew it was important, and I couldn't let Rassilon have it. I was afraid he would go looking for you. What he actually had planned, the Ultimate Sanction, was bad enough."
With a shudder, Romana pales and Rose can see tears standing in her eyes as she remembers. Hiding herself in her cup of tea, Romana takes a moment to regain her composure.
Rose takes the time to process what Romana has told her, and piece together how it involves both her and the Doctor. "So then, I must be the Human, though I'm not any longer. The Howling's Daughter…is that the Sphynx? Wow! The TARDIS calls Her the Matriarch, so the Daughter's Child is the TARDIS. That makes the Doctor Time's Champion? What does that mean? And what about Bad Wolf, how does She fit into all this?"
"What did you say?" Romana asks, leaning forward with an intense look that Rose had not seen before.
"I…I said, what about Bad Wolf, how…,"
"Bad Wolf—what entity do you call this, Rose Tyler?" Rose is getting a little scared at the authoritative tone Romana is using on her, but she assumes it has good cause, so she tells her.
"Okay, well, I looked into the Heart of the TARDIS to save the Doctor. While I was…enhanced, I used the term Bad Wolf as a sign to myself, to lead me to the Doctor. He removed it when it began to burn me up, causing his regeneration when he gave it back to the TARDIS; but a piece was left behind. Then later, I was lost in a parallel Universe and I was dying. The Sphynx rescued me, but there was a price. The price was her physical form which she gave up for me to live and in the process made me a Time Lord. The piece of Bad Wolf that was left then melded with me, the energy the Sphynx gave up for me to live as a Time Lord, and the TARDIS. Now, it's some sort of franken-force that I can utilise, but She has some will of Her own. She helped me rescue the Doctor, and we've done several other…things."
Romana slowly blinks at her a couple of times as she processes this information. Taking a moment, Romana stands and takes a few steps away from the table.
"Rose, let me show you something." At a nod from Rose, Romana draws two Gallifreyan words in the air before her.
"Can you read these?" Romana asks.
"Yes, they are both conceptual. The first represents creation, but in a huge sort of way—like all Creation everywhere. The second represents the Void. A present nothingness that protects our Universe from contact with others." Rose is very thankful for not only her gifted knowledge, but also the further studying she's been doing on the Gallifreyan language.
Romana looks quite impressed with Rose, and grins at her.
"Exceptional! That is absolutely correct. Now, let me show you something wonderful, and terrifying."
With a wave of her hands, the words flip. They are still the same, relative to each other, but are now reversed.
"Now, what do they say, Rose Tyler?" Romana asks with a smile, but a sharp intensity to her gaze.
Looking at the words, Rose is initially confused. They were just reversed. They would say the same thing, but her knowledge isn't allowing that laziness to stick. Looking at the words closely, Rose reads them. "The first represents anger and distrust, but a distrust of power. Mischievousness. The second represents…," Rose drifts to a stop, her eyes getting wide. "Bad Wolf…it says Bad Wolf."
"But why is it different from the first? What does the first set mean?" Rose feels this is significant, but it's so much to process.
Romana comes to her rescue, waving the words away and returning to her seat across from Rose.
"The first set are the original words written in the prophecy I mentioned. The Howling is also a term used by some, to refer to the Void. Your Bad Wolf is a minute portion of the entity that is the Howling. I am sure She is called many names by other cultures, but She is much larger and older than anything within this Universe. She is a force of our Universe, but not actually in it. She exists outside of the planes in which all living things and all matter exists—in the Void. She strives for balance above all else, being neither Good nor Evil, Order nor Chaos. She is vast and rarely ever interferes or manifests herself, but sometimes there are moments when she is necessary for the survival of the Universe, and circumstances align for her to…make her presence known. At this time, it is you that She needs to restore balance. She chose you, Rose Tyler."
Rose is completely taken aback. She thought being a Time Lady was big, but here she is chosen by what might as well be a Goddess, to help restore balance to the Universe? The Doctor might be used to this sort of—importance, but she is not. There is still the shop girl from the Estate flats inside this lonely woman, and that shop girl is very out of her depth.
"I have so many questions. How am I part of Bad Wolf? How could she need me? The Sphynx said that the Doctor and I are necessary, but how? Did your prophecy know anything about that?"
"Rose, Time loves you. Even I can see it, and I only linger here as a guardian of the Pools that I built to save the Doctor. It is no surprise to me that this is your Destiny; everything that has happened has led to your being here. Whatever you have experienced primed you to harbour a portion of Bad Wolf in you, so She can assist in reforging the balance. Not being of this Universe, She cannot enter it in her original form; much the same way Elementals from our Universe cannot enter another one."
"The Sphynx said that to me when She pulled me through the Void! She said I would have to reach for Her because She couldn't touch the other Universe where I was trapped." Rose can feel some of the disparate pieces finally coming together. Romana on the other hand looks at her like she grew eyes on stalks.
"Is that the Sphynx you mentioned earlier? You were pulled through the Void by the Sphynx—the Howling's Daughter? Of course! I read about her in the Archives, but I was uncertain that she actually existed. You must tell me everthing. Rose Tyler, you are impossible and wonderful!" she says with a shake of her head. "It seems that Time's Champion certainly has found a worthy mate for himself." Romana says with a glint in her eye.
Rose isn't quite ready to have the 'Hi, I'm going to be the Doctor's mate' conversation with Romana, just yet. Rose isn't sure if she should since the Doctor and Romana had been…together? …in love? Well, she assumes so. He had said he loved her, and they'd shared a "Great Affectionate Respect." Whatever they had been to each other, Rose doesn't want to make Romana feel uncomfortable. Even as the remains of a memory, Romana knows what happened and has grief for her people. Rose feels the same sympathy for Romana that she does for the Doctor when thinking of the loss of the Time Lords. Instinctively, Rose leans forward grasping Romana's free hand and rubs her thumb over her palm, unknowingly mimicking the Doctor.
"Romana, I am so sorry. Thank you for sharing so much with me. I don't know what the Ultimate Sanction was and I wasn't there, but I did lose my family to a parallel world. I wish there would have been another solution for you and the Doctor." A look of surprised wonder passes over Romana's face at Rose's touch. Smiling softly, Romana squeezes Rose's hand in return before she removes her own.
Just then, the air around them shimmers, and suddenly the scene around them changes, but only for a second or two. Just long enough for them both to look around surprised seeing they are suddenly in a shed or barn. It has a sand covered floor with tools littered about. As they look to their side, they have just enough time to see The back of a man standing before a highly decorated box. In front of him—is Rose. Rose knows it isn't her; she can feel the entity, and it is something else entirely. The air shimmers again, just as the sound of the TARDIS materialising starts.
"What the hell just happened," she asks Romana. The look on her face is enough to tell Rose that she has no idea either.
"Rose. That was my Doctor from the War, though he didn't like being called that, and he was standing in front of the Momen…."
Rose sees Romana's image glitch. Almost like a television when a plane goes over. It is only for an instant, and then everything is perfectly normal again, but it's like the time in the barn didn't happen. Romana sets her teacup back down with a smile and picks up right where she had left off before they were interrupted.
"You are very kind and compassionate. The Doctor needs that in his life, and I can feel that you have already initiated the First Circle of Bonding with him. Do you intend to complete the union?" she asks with a surprising look of affection that is definitely directed at Rose.
Rose is a very confused. Did the barn moment actually happen? She decides to remain alert for anymore glitches, but settles back into the direction their previous conversation had been going.
Maybe she was wrong about how Romana would feel about her and the Doctor. Rose reminds herself that just because she is a Time Lady now, does not mean that she thinks like one. Needing to make sure that everything is okay between her and Romana, Rose blurts out, "He loved you, you know. He told me. Said you made an excellent Lady President. I think he misses you."
Closing her eyes a moment, a single tear pushes through her lashes and slides silently down her cheek, "Thank you, Rose. We may have loved each other for a time, before circumstances made staying together impossible. I was not kind to him leading up to the War. In my third regeneration, I chose to be harder, more ruthless; knowing what was coming. I wanted him to be something I was afraid he could never be; but I was wrong. He refused when I called him at first; but then he appeared one day, and he was not the same man. That regeneration was different. He was the Warrior I had wished for, but it still wasn't enough. I hoped he would save us; instead he saved everything but us," she says with a wistful sigh. "I protected him as much as I could as President, but he was, well I'm sure still is, so willful," she says this last with a little laugh as she remembers some of his more eloquent antics. "You will be good for him as his Bondmate. He needs a challenge, and I can tell you will be that and more—his peer."
At Rose's blush, Romana laughs again. As Romana is laughing, Rose can't help but join her.
Regaining their composure, both women smile into their tea as they enjoy each others company for a moment. "I can show you what has happened since I woke up no longer human. You are…so much more than I am, maybe you'll see a clue that would help me," Rose offers.
"Rose you are much more than you give yourself credit for, but I will accept your offer as it will speed along our explanations."
Rose and Romana lean towards each other over the table, and Romana places the first two fingers of her right hand to Rose's temple. Rose mirrors her, and both of them close their eyes as the information is exchanged.
Rose is surprised by how gentle Romana's mental touch is. She's a brilliant emerald green in her mind. Romana said she was only lingering, as if she was merely an echo, but Rose can feel that she is much more than that. Romana literally embedded a copy of herself in the Pools to maintain them for the Doctor. Her consciousness is integrated into them; in the way that they function. She'd been there all along, but he had never touched the liquid, too involved with the emotional baggage they carried to explore them.
Rose senses all of this from Romana, as well as her loneliness. Romana knows the Moment was used, because her function within the Pools' structure was to constantly shift the frequencies and shields of the field in the Pool to maintain its nullification equilibrium when engaged. She had built them because the Moment had told her to, and left a copy of herself to function within them during the event, and still the backlash had almost been too much for her to control. She had been successful though; the Doctor lived and was more or less…sane. Rose is bothered by some of the memories of the Moment. She keeps it to herself for now, but there is something strange about them…like they don't exactly sync up.
Romana also shares with Rose the solution to the current problem, knowing she won't like it; but it is the only way to break the Doctor free of the field, now that it's been compromised.
/Why, Romana? There must be another way./
/There is not. Remember, I built these. You just showed me that the Doctor was working on a solution in preparation of wakefulness, but he did not take into account what difficulties those preparations might cause in the event of an overload mid-process. His own biological functions overloaded at the same time as his mind, throwing him into the Pools; but physically he experienced something much like a seizure, effectively splitting the dominant consciousness. I have the biological one in the Pools, but his Personality is lost in here somewhere./
/But Romana, if I destroy the Pools, you will be lost. He will be devastated./
/Rose, I am already lost. I have been physically gone since the Moment was used. I am tired of being here alone. Before you protest further, this is the only solution. If you do not rejoin the two halves of his consciousness, he will die and not regenerate./
/I understand. That doesn't mean I like it. He said I would have liked you, and he's right. I feel like I'm saying goodbye to a dear friend or a sister./
/Oh Rose, I have enjoyed getting to know you as well. You have shared so much with me, and I know we would have been very good friends in more congenial times. You are just as remarkable as I am certain the Doctor thinks you are, and I am glad you desire to be his wife. He deserves the happiness you'll have together. I would have liked to have known you properly. I do have one more piece to give you, that will make more of your puzzle pieces fit together better./
Rose sees in her mind the Prophecy again, but this time in images, some from her mind and some from Romana's. She sees herself as the Human Child wrapped in the multicoloured wings of the Sphynx as she is reborn in shining gold from the Song of the TARDIS and the Sphynx pouring from her Soul. The Bad Wolf energy in her is stabilised as a composite being with herself, the Sphynx, the TARDIS.
She sees the Doctor energetically as a blue-black storm of Time, wound tightly and protected. The images now shift to what she and the Sphynx had created in her Dream, but Romana names the creation Gallifrey, and she see the parallels between what they both remember and is amazed.
The final part of the Prophecy unlocks an entire river of knowledge into Rose's mind that she was in no way prepared to live through—the Time War. She feels Romana try her best to sift and buffer all that she is being given, but most of it is from the TARDIS' perspective which is decidedly odd. It is almost more painful as it is so visceral. Romana supplies Rose with her own memories, making some of what the TARDIS has shared make a kind of sense. Rose hasn't been a Time Lord long enough to fully grasp the implications of living through constantly collapsing timelines. The rewriting of memories while all the other resets are still there. It is no wonder that so many of their people went mad, unable to cope. It was easiest on the oldest ones, as the Daleks and Time Lords continually strove for the pinnacle event that would wipe the other away. Opening your eyes to no longer see the person you were just talking to, and now having a timeline in your mind where they never existed, while knowing they did—it was horrible.
Rose also now understands the Ultimate Sanction and Rassilon. She sees Romana fighting against his resurrection, knowing the Council is so terrified they'll try anything—including bringing back an insane megalomaniac that destroyed his entire culture to force his brilliant views on his own people whom he didn't feel were developing fast enough. The Shadow Proclamation would frown on that sort of behaviour nowadays; back then, it was progress. The Wounds created in the fabric of Reality at the removal of Gallifrey—Eternity's Fortress—threaten the entirety of the Web of Time, and it is these wounds that she and the Doctor must fix.
The last part of the Prophecy, "…Gallifrey's Reborn Son who with the mighty light of ten thousand suns, challenged Infinity, but was soon gone, taking with him Time's Children and Eternity's Fortress," strikes Rose as strange. It echoes within her, and she doesn't agree with Romana's thinking that it speaks of Gallifrey's destruction from the Moment. Rose feels it's more. Also, the Moment itself resonates within her. There is an odd tingle of familiarity Rose can't quite place, and it slips away from her.
Rose awakens from the sharing on the featureless white ground with her head in Romana's lap. The room with tea and table are gone and it is just the two of them in the endless waste. It's no wonder that Romana is lonely.
"Rose! I am sorry. I did not realise there was a trigger for all that knowledge in there. I can't believe that the TARDIS shared all that with you. It is so…personal. I agreed to build the Pools, because selfishly I knew they would save the Doctor. I knew he would be absolutely necessary to the Universe in the aftermath of our destruction; but I had no idea how hard on him it would be, or that it would force a regeneration. All I knew is that they worked. I am glad you are going to break them. They served the purpose they were intended for, but they are a violation of his mind, and I am glad they will be gone," she tells Rose with heartsfelt resolve. Rose can sense that there will be no convincing her otherwise; and now that they have shared so much, she understands Romana's wish.
Sitting up, Rose pulls Romana into an embrace. She is at first stiff, but relaxes in a moment. The women share their love and their grief for the same man, whom they only ever wish to help, never hinder. Rose sympathises with the knowledge that both of them would die for the Doctor in an instant if they knew it would save his life. He was too important to lose. The Universe, Time, and so many peoples great and small depended on the moral tenacity of this one lonely man.
Romana has already sacrificed herself once, and it hurts Rose's hearts that she must do it again; but she will honour her decision by not arguing. Separating with matching smiles and tears, they stand ready to implement their plan to save the Doctor one more time.
"Rose, I am not a member of the Doctor's House, though we are of the same Chapter. But as the last President of Gallifrey, I bless your union with the Doctor. May it be fruitful in Love, bountiful in Wisdom, and cherished for the fullness of Time," Romana says formally; then standing on tiptoe, she kisses Rose lightly on the forehead. "Let that silly man be finished with loneliness. Sister of my Hearts, be well and trust yourself."
"Thank you, Romana. I would never have thought I would be given the gift of you; Sister of my Hearts, go well and be at peace," Rose formally replies.
Tearfully, Rose smiles at Romana one last time. Romana is calm and more relaxed than she has been the entire time Rose has been in the "nothing place." Happy for the first time in years, Romana actually grins at Rose like this is going to be the best game ever, and the grin reminds Rose of her Doctor. Romana lifts her hands bringing them close together, palms facing each other, and Rose sees light between them. Looking up into Romana's eyes, she hears, "Goodbye Rose." Romana touches her palms together, and Rose is back at the edge of the Pool. Three minutes and 7 seconds have passed since she touched the "liquid." Looking down into the mercury coloured substance, Rose see's Romana wave at her, and go striding off into the distance.
A/N: Hello. :-) Okay, I think I have finally managed to work some of the DotD into my story. I really liked much of the movie, while there are still several questions that I would have liked answered. :-) I also edited in some stuff into Chapter 11 We're a Long Way from Home, that tie into the Moment as well. There will be more in the next chapter as well. Then, we're in the home stretch! Thanks for being so patient with me. I hope you like the direction I go with it. Cheers!