And this will conclude the "Turn Left" arch. :)

Since this is straying far from canon, I obviously do not own Doctor Who.

BOOK I: Fixing the Doctor's Mistake

CHAPTER 13: Turn Left pt 3

Another year passed, and things were very different. There was a massive earthquake in Cardiff, and hundreds of people died. Then came the invasion of a horrible race known as the Sycorax - and on Christmas Day, too! They first cracked the communications system of Earth to send threatening messages. Then billions of people all over the Earth got up and walked to their roofs. The Sycorax leader said that if the planet was not surrendered to them, all of those people whose minds he controlled would jump to their deaths. The world's leaders met via video conference - and surrendered. Everything changed overnight. All schools, from preschools to prestigious universities offering Ph.D.'s were closed - permanently. All government employees world wide were fired - literally. They were burned to death, the Sycorax having taken the English word for losing your job to the extreme. Even the name of the planet was changed: Earth was now Sycoraxica II. Humans worldwide became slaves to the invading race. Anyone who dared defy their captors was executed immediately. Families were torn apart. Children were taken from their parents. The aged were executed because they were too feeble to work. In short, it was hell!

Rose and Jackie were separated, having been sold to two different Sycorax families. Mickey had also been taken far away, the wedding cancelled a long time ago due to life circumstances. One night, while Rose was silently crying herself to sleep, Rose heard a familiar popping noise. The Temp once again appeared before her. The ginger just looked at Rose sympathetically, and silently. She had remembered the hell that her own parallel world had caused and remembered the turmoil that raged in her own heart; how she still couldn't believe that she had caused this, but was desperate to change things if only she could.

"I could've prevented all of this, couldn't I?" Rose sobbed. The Temp just nodded, sadly.

"Is it too late to fix it?" Rose asked, hopefully, tears running down her cheeks.

"You are cutting it a bit close," the Temp replied, smiling weakly. "But I think that we can still do it."

With that, the Temp grabbed Rose's hand, fiddled with the vortex manipulator, and transported them to the underground room where the rest of the company waited. There was something else there, too. A strange blue box stood in the middle of the room. Masses of pipes and wires were connected to it. Everyone was silent, as if they were attending a funeral.

Melody wasted no time with formal greetings and cut to the case. "She's called the TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S. Stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "She was the Doctor's ship," the Temp helpfully supplied. "And she's dying!"

"She? Dying? You make it sound as if it's a living thing!"

"She is," the Roman said. "I know, I didn't believe it at first, either. But I sure do now. Because she is definitely dying!"

"Ok..." was all that Rose could say.

"Wait until you see the inside!" Rickey said, excitedly. "You'll never believe it!"

"I've already seen a lot of things I shouldn't believe..." Rose sighed. Then she looked inside. "Wait... but... it's..."

"BIGGER ON THE INSIDE!" everyone chorused together. They then erupted in nervous laughter.

"She used to be much bigger," Boe intoned, his voice heavy with grief. "Right now, she only has the one room. But she used to have so much more! Bedrooms, a kitchen, a library..."

"And a pool in the library!" Pond laughed. "I never understood that placement!"

"Don't forget the gardens!" the Roman chimed in.

"And the tennis room, racquetball courts, football field, basketball court, baseball diamond..." Rickey, always the sports fanatic, added to the liturgy.

"The movie theater! With 4D holograms from the future!" Dr. Smith reminisced.

"The wardrobe! I've never before seen so many clothes!" the Temp sighed.

"And there was even more than that, Sweetie!" Melody concluded.

Together, they all sighed, their faces full of regret. "Wow," was all that Rose could say.

"The point is," the Temp started, bringing them all back to reality. "The TARDIS is barely hanging on, so we only have one shot at this, so we have to do it right." She turned to Rose. "Are you ready, Wolf?"

Rose was suddenly nervous. "For what?"

"Are you ready to see what is on your back? I warn you, it isn't pretty."

Yes, she was definitely nervous. "I guess so," she gulped.

The Temp led her over to a circle of mirrors and told her to stand in the center. Suddenly, a bright light flashed, and Rose dared to look at herself in the mirror. She screamed! On her back was a gigantic black beetle!

"It's called a time beetle," the Temp supplied. "I know it's traumatic to discover that you have one. I had one once as well. It forces you to go back and time and make a decision that dramatically changes your life."

"TAKE IT OFF!" Rose cried.

"We can't," the Temp said, sadly. "The only way to remove it and to fix this horrible world that we now live in, is for you to go back in time to the moment of the change and make the correct decision." The lights then turned off. But Rose knew that the beetle was still there, even though she could no longer see or feel it. This knowledge made her all the more ready to do whatever it was she had to do.

"With help from the TARDIS, we've looked at your timeline and have determined what happened," Pond said. "You got into an argument with your friend Shareen on March 11, 2002 at exactly 10:10 pm while sitting at a stop sign at the corner of 7th and Pine. Originally, you turned left at that intersection and ended up making a life choice that allowed you to meet the Doctor. For some reason, this time, you turned right instead, and never met him."

The Temp had to laugh at that. "You're kidding! Practically the exact same thing happened to me!" She turned to Rose, suddenly serious. "I'm afraid that that is not good for this you, though. I'm afraid that you're going to have to die."

Rose gulped, and could only nod. If these people were right, she was the only one who could fix the world, and if she had to die in order to make a better world, then she guessed that she had no choice. Let's just hope that it's painless. Because of the potential paradox if she ran into herself, the vortex manipulators weren't strong enough to send Rose back. They had to use the power of the TARDIS. Let's just hope she has enough power left.

"Alright, Old Girl. You can do this. Just one burst of power to send your Wolf back in time to fix this," Melody cooed as she pressed a few buttons on the console of the dying ship.

"Remember," the Temp said, as Rose began to fade. "At precisely 10:10 pm, your car must turn left! Do whatever it takes!"

Rose suddenly found herself in the middle of a London sidewalk. Even though it was dark, she knew exactly when and where she was. She stood outside a movie theater. It advertised a 10:30 showing of the new movie, Casanova, by David Tennant, the flick that she and Shareen had gone to see what was for her at least, five years in the past. She looked at the special watch that the team had given her. 10:05 pm. She had five minutes! And she was bloody over 2 miles away!

She ran and ran and ran, still uncertain as to how she was going to make herself turn left, but knowing that it would be pointless if she didn't make it to the intersection in time. Breathless, she paused for a moment and looked at her watch: 10:09. She still had half a mile to go! Then she remembered the words of the Temp. "I'm afraid that you're going to have to die."

Suddenly, Rose knew what she had to do. She ran a little further up the road, and then crossed the street directly in front of an oncoming bus.

"I'm telling you, Rose! Guys like that don't like girls like us, and if they do, it's only for one reason, and I don't think I have to tell you what it is!" Shareen scolded.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Rose sighed, and she turned her right turn signal on.

But before she could pull out, an ambulance raced past them, stopping just a half mile up the road. Traffic came to a standstill.

"Well, that settles it then," Rose said, switching her signal. "Don't want to get stuck in that mess! We'll go catch the movie another time. Let's go hear the band!"

And with that, Rose Tyler turned left.