Disclaimer: Nothing related to Doctor Who or the Harry Potter Series is mine. I swear. I wish I owned them, cuz then I might have a bit more money, but I don't.

Warnings: Book Two of Three (Main books anyway). Swearing. Sarcasm. I have only watched the new series, no knowledge of early Doctor Who. EWE, kind of...

Dedication: To the Writers and Producers of Doctor Who, thank you for giving me something else to obsess over, now that Harry Potter is long gone. And to the lovely people who encourage me to continue writing in their reviews. To the lovely people who encouraged me to post the next chunk. To my lovely reviewers, thank you for everything you've said.

Book 2: Stories of A Shop Girl

Summary: A Death too soon. A woman who steps up to save the world.

Rating: Dark T

Genre: Adventure/Drama

A/N: I figure I should be nice and let you lot know that there is going to be a point of view switch between chunks of the chapter. It has to happen for the chapter to make sense. Please let me know if you don't understand or something, I'll try and figure out another way of presenting it at a later time.

A/N 2: I will not be updating daily like before. It will probably be every Saturday or so. At least once a weekend. And please, if you match the criteria below, I do need someone to talk to. If you are worried about spoilers, don't be. It's all theoretical.

NEEDED:

Someone familiar with the early Who. Preferably Doctors 3-5. And someone with knowledge of Gallifrey. It's for another story, but I don't want to make things up, and I don't want to screw everything up. TARDIS files only has so much.

A/N 3: So, maybe no one noticed the disclaimer, but I say "EWE, kind of...". If anyone was curious, this chapter should explain that part. :)

Part 2: Relearning Life and Death

Chapter 14: Cypercontrol, paging Cybercontrol... Anyone home?

After dealing with the 51st century spaceship with it's windup dolls, the Doctor decided to just hang in the time vortex for a little bit. We were reminiscing.

"And that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes? Do you remember? The way she looked at you! And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out!"

I laughed. "I thought I was going to get frazzled!"

"Yeah, One minute she's standing there, and the next minute roar!"

Mickey blinks, grinning, "Yeah. Where was that then? What happened?"

The Doctor blinks. "Oh, it was on this er, this er, planet thing. Asteroid. It's a long story. You had to be there." He looks at Mickey, who's holding down a button. "Er, what're you doing that for?"

"Because you told me to."

The Doctor frowns, "When was that?"

"About half an hour ago."

"Er, you can let go now."

Mickey does, before giving the Doctor a look, "How long's it been since I could've stopped?"

"Ten minutes? Twenty?" He pauses, looking sheepish, "Twenty nine?"

"You just forgot me!"

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no, no. I was just, I was, I was calibrating. I was just. No, I know exactly what I'm doing."

I growl, immediately grabbing onto something after he said that. It was a good idea too, because the second I wrapped my hand around the rail, the time rotor blows up. "What's happened now?"

"The time vortex is gone. That's impossible. It's just gone. Brace yourself! We're going to crash!"

The TARDIS stops and everyone but me gets thrown around the room. Lights are off, and gas masks drop from the ceiling.

"Everyone alright?" The Doctor calls from his position on the floor. "Rose? Mickey?"

Mickey gets up "I'm fine. I'm okay. Sorry. Yeah."

The Doctor ignores him in favour of terrifying us with his next sentence. "She's dead. The TARDIS is dead."

I swallow. "You can fix it?"

"There's nothing to fix. She's perished. The last TARDIS in the universe. Extinct."

I blink. "We can get help, yeah?"

"Where from?"

I give him a look. "Well, we've landed. We've got to be somewhere."

"We fell out of the vortex, through the void, into nothingness. We're in some sort of no place. The silent realm. The lost dimension."

Mickey pokes his head out of the door. "Otherwise known as London." He exits, laughing. "London, England, Earth. Hold on." He spots a paper, and the Doctor and I walk out into the sunlight. "First of February this year. Not exactly far flung, is it?"

"So this is London." The Doctor said.

"Yep."

"Your city."

"That's the one."

"Just as we left it."

"Bang on."

"And that includes the Zeppelins?"

Mickey flicks his head upward, staring at the sky, which was full of zeppelins. "What the hell!?"

I swallow, knowing what this meant. "That's beautiful."

"Okay, so it's London with a big international Zeppelin festival."

The Doctor frowns, "This is not your world."

"But if the date's the same, it's parallel, right? Am I right? Like a parallel Earth where they've got Zeppelins. Am I right? I'm right, aren't I?" Mickey looks enthusiastic.

"Must be."

I swallow, spotting a poster. "So, a parallel world where..."

Mickey starts talking. But I tune him out.

"And he's still alive."

There's a poster of Rose Tyler's father, an advert for Vitex Lite, cherry flavour.

"A parallel world where my dad's still alive."

The Doctor turns me away from it. "Don't look at it Rose. Don't even think about it. This is not your world."

"He's a success. He was always planning these daft little schemes. Health food, drinks and stuff. Everyone said they were useless. But he did it."

The Doctor frowned. "Rose, if you've ever trusted me, the listen to me know. Stop looking at it. Your father's dead. He died when you were six months old. That is not your Pete. That is a Pete. For all we know, he's got his own Jackie, his own Rose. His own daughter who is someone else, but not you. You can't see him. Not ever."

And I know he was trying to help me, but all it did was make me realize that maybe I could get this Rose Tyler to go instead. A real Rose Tyler, not a fake one. I ran off.

I end up sitting on a bench. My phone bleeps, and I get a message. 'Welcome! Free Trial Period! From the Cybus Network.'

I get the new station, watching a guy called Lumic talk about his health.

I check the internet, looking for Rose Tyler.

"There you are!" The Doctor's voice pulls me out of my thoughts. "You alright? No applause. I fixed it. Twenty four hours, then we're flying back to reality." He looks at me, frowning. "What is it?"

I gesture to my phone. "My phone connected. There's this Cybus Network. It finds your phone. It gave me Internet access."

"Rose, whatever it says, this is the wrong world."

I swallow. "I don't exist."

"What do you mean?"

"There's no Rose Tyler. I was never born. There's Pete, my dad, and Jackie. He still married mum but they never had kids."

"Give me that phone."

"They're rich. They've got a house and cars, and everything they want. But they haven't got me. I've got to see him."

"You can't" I get up, heading to the other side.

"I just want to see him."

"I can't let you."

"You just said twenty four hours!"

"You can't become their daughter, that's not the way it works. Mickey tell her."

Mickey looks between us. "Twenty four hours yeah?" Mickey takes off in the opposite direction.

"Where're you going!?"

"Well, I can do what I want."

I give the Doctor a look, "I've got the address and everything."

The Doctor's head whips back and forth. "Stay where you are, both of you. Rose, come back here! Mickey, come back here now!"

"I just want to see him."

Mickey smiles, "Yeah, I've got things to see and all."

"Like what?" The Doctor asks.

"Well you don't know anything about me, do you? It's always about Rose. I'm just a spare part."

I swallow, turning away from them. "I'm sorry, I've got to go."

I hear the Doctor pause, and then race after me. The Doctor asks about Mickey, and I tell him about Mickey's story. The Doctor eventually gives up from letting me be there, and we go to the party.

"They've got visitors."

I smile. "February the first. Mum's birthday. Even in a parallel universe, she still loves a party."

"Well, given Pete Tyler's guest list, I wouldn't mind a look. And there's one guaranteed way of getting inside." He said, waving the small wallet in front of me.

"Psychic paper."

He grins. "Who do you want to be?"

We were inside the party, serving. I glare at him. "We could have been anyone."

"Got us in, didn't it?"

"You're in charge of the psychic paper. We could've been guests. Celebrities. Sir Doctor, Dame Rose. We end up serving. Did enough of this back home." I muttered the last part.

"If you want to know what's going on, work in the kitchens. According to Lucy, that man there-"

"Who's Lucy?"

"She's carrying the salmon pinwheels."

"Oh, that's Lucy, is it?"

"Yeah. Lucy says that is the President of Great Britain."

"What, there's a President, not a Prime Minister?"

"Seems so."

"Or maybe Lucy's just a bit thick."

Pete's standing on the staircase, catching everyone's attention. He announces Jackie, who looks just the same as she does in the other world. I swallow.

She ends up picking up a small dog, who she's named Rose. The Doctor bursts into laughter, and I give him a look. "Sorry."

The night passed rather quickly, until the Doctor ran to me. "It's happening again."

"What do you mean?" I asked, concerned.

"I've seen them before."

I glance out the window, seeing large metal men coming towards us. "What are they?"

"Cybermen." They smash through the windows.

I swallow, backing up. "What are they, robots?"

"Worse than that."

The president speaks, "Who were these people?"

I turn to the Doctor, eyes wide. "They're people?"

"They were, until they had all their humanity taken away. That's a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body, with a heart of steel. All emotions removed."

"Why no emotions?"

The Doctor swallowed. "Because it hurts."

The cybermen start speaking, "We have been upgraded."

"Into what?" The Doctor asks.

"The next level of man kind. We are Human point two. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what's been done to you, but listen to me. This experiment ends tonight." The President says.

"Upgrading is compulsory."

"And if I refuse?" The President asks.

"Don't." The Doctor whispered.

The President ignored him. "What if I refuse?"

"I'm telling you, don't."

"What happens if I refuse?"

"They you are not compatible."

"What happens then?"

"You will be deleted."

The cyberman puts his hand on the president's shoulder and electrocutes him. The Doctor grabs my hand, and runs outside.

"There's nothing we can do!"

"There are people in there."

"Come on!"

Pete jumps out of the window, and runs towards us.

"Pete, is there a way out?"

"The side gates. Who are you? How do you know so much?"

The Doctor frowns. "You wouldn't believe it in a million years."

There is four distinct popping sounds, and I grab both Pete and the Doctor, dropping us all to the ground.

"BOMBARDIA!" Four voices yelled out. Lights travelled above us, crashing into the cybermen, and destroying them.

I get up, only to come face to face with Ron Weasley. "Come on, we've got to go!" He takes my hand, and drags me up. Harry's doing the same to Pete, and Ginny's hoisting the Doctor up.

"Alright, we've got a van with other's behind us." A voice said. My mouth dropped. It was me. Well, Hermione Granger.

We get dragged over to the van, and they slip us inside. "Drive." Someone said, and the van took off.

"Rose?" A voice called, someone turned in the front seat, and I saw Mickey.

I give him a hug as best as I can. "Rose." Hermione said. I turn to her.

"How?"

Hermione grins. "Time Travel." She answers me. "Alright everyone, introduce yourselves to Rose and her friend." She turns back to me, "Where's the Doctor?"

"I'm the Doctor." The Doctor said, frowning. Hermione gives him the once over.

She nods. "Well, that certainly makes somethings clearer." Harry, Ginny and Ron introduce themselves. And then Hermione does. "And I'm Hermione Jane Granger."

"But wait," Ron said frowning, "He doesn't look like-" He gets cut off by an elbow to the ribs.

Hermione, Harry and Ginny glare at him. They somehow manage to hiss "Shut up Ron." in tandem.

"Alright, so, who the hell are all of you, and why are you all in my van?" One of the Mickey's said.

Hermione gets up in the cramped space. "Ricky Smith, I swear to you, these people are here to help."

He looks at her a moment, then nods.

"What've we got for supplies?" Ron asks, looking at the front.

The blonde growls out. "We've got weapons. Might not work on those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him." He pointed at Pete Tyler.

"Leave him alone. What's he done wrong?"

The blonde glares. "Oh, you know, just laid a trap that's wiped out the Government and left Lumic in charge."

Pete glares at him. "If I was part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?"

Ricky in the front seat pipes up, "Maybe your plan went wrong. Still gives us the right to execute you, though."

"Stand down." Hermione growled out.

"Talk about executions, you'll, make me your enemy. And takes some really good advice. You don't want to do that." The Doctor all but hissed out.

Ricky rolled his eyes. "All the same, we have evidence that says Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since twenty point five."

Harry laughs. "Sounds Sirius." I swallow my giggles. Hermione glares at him.

She turns back to Pete, "Is this true?"

"Tell them, Mrs. M." Ricky said, turning to the driver.

She starts speaking, "We've got a government mole who feeds us information. Lumic's private files, his South American operations, the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week.

"Broadcasts from Gemini?" Pete asked, his head cocked.

Ricky glares, "And how do you know that?"

"I'm Gemini. That's me." He said, rolling his eyes.

Ricky snorts, "Yeah, you would say that."

Pete turns to Ricky, adopting a serious face. "Encrypted wavelength six five seven using binary nine." At Ricky's shocked face, he continued. "That's the only reason I was working for Lumic. To get information. I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services. What do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They've even got the van."

Mickey frowns, "No, no, no. But the Preachers know what they're doing. Ricky said he's London's Most Wanted."

"Yeah, that's not exactly-"

"Not exactly what?"

Ricky sighs. "I'm London's Most Wanted for parking tickets."

Hermione sighs, and Ron laughs. "Great. Assets, zero."

"They were deliberate. I was fighting the system. Park anywhere, that's me."

The Doctor gets up, crouching in the back. "Good policy. I do much the same. I'm the Doctor, by the way, again, if anyone's interested."

I swallow, giving Hermione a look. "I'm Rose. Hello."

Pete sighs. "They took my wife."

"She might still be alive." Ginny whispers, holding his hand.

"That's even worse. Because that's what Lumic does. He takes the living and he turns them into those machines."

"Cybermen." The Doctor said.

Hermione gives him a look, "They're called Cybermen. Take the ear-pods off. Lumic could be listening."

"How did you know?"

The four magical folk laugh. "A dear friend of ours would say that it's 'wibbly wobbly timey whimy' and hard to understand."

"Try me."

"She," Harry said, pointing at me, "in her future, goes into our past to tell us to be here."

The Doctor swallows. "But that's impossible. We shouldn't even be here in the first place."

"Like we said, wibbly wobbly timey whimy."

"What the hell?" Blondie, or Jake said, watching people walk around like zombies.

I swallow. "What's going on?"

"It's the ear-pods. Lumic's taken control." Ginny sighed, looking with us.

"Where are they going?" I ask.

Ron glanced around. "Probably base of operations."

"Battersea." Pete whispered. "That's where he was building his prototypes."

Harry frowned, "Never got the why. Why's he doing all this?"

"He's dying. This all started out as a way of prolonging life, of keeping the brain alive at any cost." The four magical's shared dark looks.

"It always starts with the quest for immortality, doesn't it?"

I frown, thinking for a moment. "I've seen Cybermen before, haven't I? The head. Those handle shapes in Van Statten's museum."

A dark look crossed the Doctor's face at that thought. "There are Cybermen in our universe. They got started on an ordinary world just like this, then swarmed across the galaxy. This lot are a parallel version, and they're starting from scratch, right here on Earth."

"Bloody hell." Ron said, summizing what the Doctor had just said to a tee.

Ricky frowned. "We need to get out of the city."

The four magicians looked at each other. Nodding, Ron grabbed the two Mickeys, Ginny grabbed Pete and Mrs. Moore, and Harry grabbed the Doctor and Jake. In another instant, they were gone. I round on Hermione, glaring at her.

"What the hell? How is this even possible?" I give her my best glare.

She sighs. "Simple, alternate universe means there's an alternate you. We've talked about it, but the final battle still happened, only just a little differently. I never got the letter from the Flamels. Never became Bad Wolf."

"And your name?"

She laughs. "It's my real name. Hermione Jean Granger, meet Hermione Jane Granger."

Everyone seemed to be in an uproar when we arrived.

"What happened!" Hermione yelled, drawing attention to the two of us.

Jake looked either close to punching something, or close to crying. "It's all his fault."

"There was nothing we could do."

"Shut it." He glared, "Just shut it. Don't even talk about him. You're nothing, you are. Nothing." He stormed off, Harry following him.

Ron and Mickey gave us a brief explanation of what happened. Ron couldn't apparate all the way to the meeting point with two people, so he stopped. Unfortunately, it was right beside a cyberman, who'd managed to electrocute Ricky before either of them could react.

The Doctor sighed, "We can mourn him when London is safe. But now, we move on."

"The whole of London's been sealed off, and the entire population's been taken inside that place. To be converted." Ron started.

Ginny frowned, "We've got to get in there and shut it down."

"How do we do that?" Mickey asked, frowning.

The Doctor shrugged, "Oh, I'll think of something."

"You're just making this up as you go along." Mickey asked accusingly.

The Doctor grins, "Yep, but I do it brilliantly."

Mrs Moore came over with a schematic of the factory, showing us on her laptop. "Look. Cooling tunnels underneath the plant. Big enough to walk through."

"We go under there and up into the control centre?"

"Mmm." She hummed the affirmative.

Pete cleared his throat and we all turned to him. "There's another way in. Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in."

"We can't just go strolling up." Jake muttered, bringing up a good point.

Mrs Moore reached for her bag. "Or we could, with these." She pulls out two sets of ear-pods. "Fake ear-pods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd."

"Then that's my job." Pete said, determined.

"You'd have to show no emotion." The Doctor protested, "None at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away."

Hermione frowned. "How many of those have you got?"

"Just two sets."

I nod. "Okay. If that's the best way of finding Jackie, then I coming with you."

"Why does she matter to you?" Pete said, frowning.

Hermione frowns, "We haven't got time. I'll follow behind you two, keep you safe."

I give the Doctor a look, "I'm going with him, and that's that."

"No stopping you, is there?"

"No."

He sighs, but nods, "Tell you what. We can take the ear pods at the same time. Give people their minds back so they don't walk into that place like sheep." He turns to Jake, "Jakey-boy? Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there." He waves his sonic towards the general area, and the lights turn on. "There it is. On the zeppelin, you see? Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off. Reckon you could take it out?"

Jake grins, "Consider it done."

"Mrs Moore, would you care to accompany me into the cooling tunnels?" He turned to the elder woman.

Hermione turned to Ron, who spat out orders for Harry and Ginny. Harry would go with the Doctor and Mrs Moore down to the cooling tunnels, while he and Ginny would go with Jake.

The Doctor nods, "We attack on three sides. Above, between, below. We get to the control centre, we stop the conversion machines."

"What about me?"

We all turn to Mickey, and the Doctor raises a hand to rub his neck. "Mickey, you can, er..."

"What, stay out of trouble? Be the tin dog? No, those days are over, I'm going with Jake and them."

Jake hissed, "We don't need you, idiot."

"I'm not an idiot! You got that? I'm offering to help."

"Whatever."

The Doctor still looks a little awkward, "Mickey, good luck."

Mickey nods, "Yeah, you too. Rose, I'll see you later." He, Jake, Ron and Ginny started walking away.

The Doctor turned to me. "If we survive this, I'll see you back at the TARDIS."

I nod, pulling him into a hug.

He holds me close, and whispers, "Good luck." in my ear.

"So, how exactly are you going to be able to walk through this without ear-pods?" Pete asked, turning to Hermione.

She flicked her wrist, and suddenly she looked like she had a pair of ear-pods in. A glamour. He frowned.

Turning to me, he tried giving a reassuring smile. "Just put them on. Don't show any emotion. No signs, nothing. Okay?"

"Don't worry. We can do it." I said, giving him a smile.

We slip the ear-pods in and Pete frowns. "We could die in here. Why are you two doing this?"

"Let's just say I'm doing it for a girl who died too early." I answered.

Hermione grinned. "I'm doing it because she's doing it."

"Right, let's go."

We join in the line, and actually make it. I keep my face blank. I was about to react when one of the cybermen stopped the line right in front of me.

"You okay?" Pete whispered from behind me.

I swallow. "No."

I watch one of the zombie like women walk into one of the chambers, hearing the screaming and the whirling of blades.

"Any sign of Jackie?" He whispered. I didn't get to answer as one of the Cybermen clomped up to us.

"You are Peter Tyler. Confirm you are Peter Tyler."

He frowns, but says, "Confirmed."

"I recognize you. I went first. My name was Jacqueline Tyler."

"Dear Merlin."

"No!"

"What?"

"They are unprogrammed. Restrain."

Pete had unshed tears in his eyes. "You're lying. You're not her. You're not my Jackie!"

"No, I am Cyber-form. Once I was Jacqueline Tyler."

I gaped. "But you can't be. Not her."

"Her brain is inside this body."

"Jacs, I came to save you."

The cyberman (cyberwoman?) didn't respond. "This man worked with Cybus Industries to create our species. He will be rewarded by force. Take him to Cyber Control."

We get dragged in to see the Doctor and Harry pacing the room. "We've been captured, but don't worry, Rose and Pete are still out there. They can rescue us. Oh well, never mind." He looks at us closely, and frowns, "You okay?"

"Yeah." I nod, "But they got Jackie."

"We were too late. Lumic killed her." Pete completed.

Harry and Hermione were trading murmurs. "Can't we call..."

"...bad idea. How would we explain..."

"What about... and Martha?"

"...And how would we explain that one?"

"What're you two talking about?" The Doctor asked, looking at them.

They glanced at each other, before answering, "Your future."

"I hate people who know my future." He grumbled.

"We know." Hermione and Harry answered in tandem.

The Doctor sighed before turning back to the cybermen. "Then where is he, the famous Mister Lumic? Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?" A chill went up my spine four or five times at his use of that phrase.

"He has been upgraded."

I swallow, getting my head back into the game. "So, he's just like you?"

"He is superior. The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller."

A door behind him opens and a large cyberman is wheeled out in a wheelchair. "This is the Age of Steel and I am its Creator."

Suddenly there was an uproar from the factory floor. The Doctor grinned, "That's my friends at work. Good job! Mister Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will."

"I have factories waiting on seven continents. If the ear-pods have failed, then the Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world. A new world shall rise. A world of unity and uniformity."

I all but growl out, "And imagination? What about that? The one thing that lead you here, imagination, you're killing it dead!"

"What is your name?"

I glare at him, "I've got many names, the one I like most right now is the one the Daleks gave me. The Abomination."

The Doctor stepped in front of me. "I'm the Doctor."

"A redundant title. Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken. There will never need to be a title called Abomination."

"Yeah, but that's it. That's exactly the point! Oh, Lumic, you're a cleaver man. I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room." The Doctor started.

"The man's got an ego the size of Russia." Harry hissed. The Doctor ignored him.

"But everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant. That is so human. But once you get rid of sickness and mortality, then what's there to strive for, eh? The Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop. You'll stay like this forever. A metal Earth with metal men and metal thoughts, lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive. People. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people."

"You are proud of your emotions."

"Oh yes."

"Then tell me, Doctor. Have you known grief, and rage and pain?"

"Yes. Yes I have." I reached for his hand, holding it tight.

"And they hurt?"

He gave a bittersweet smile, "Oh, yes."

"I could set you free. Would you not want that? A life without pain?"

Harry steps forward, "I think I speak for all of us when I say you might as well just kill us."

"Then I take that option."

I stand up, "It's not yours to take. You're a Cyber Controller. You don't control us, or anything with blood in its heart."

"You have no means of stopping me. I have an army. A species of my own."

The Doctor laughs, "You just don't get it, do you? An army's nothing. Because those ordinary people, they're the key. The most ordinary person can change the world." He looked up towards something, giving it a wink. I resist the temptation to look and see what he was looking at as he continued, "Some ordinary man, or woman. Some idiot. All it takes is for him to find, day, the right numbers. Say the right codes. Say, for example, the code behind the emotional inhibitor. The code right in front of him. Because even an idiot knows how to use computers these days. Knows how to get past firewalls and passwords. Knows how to find something encrypted in the Lumic Family Database, under, er... What was it, Pete? Binary what?"

I grin, knowing exactly where the Doctor was going with this. Pete frowned but answered, "Binary Nine."

"Any idiot could find that code. Cancellation code. And he'd keep on typing. Keep on fighting. Anything to save his friends."

"Your words are irrelevant."

"Yeah, talk too much, that's my problem. Lucky I got you that cheap tariff, Rose, for all our long chats. On your phone."

"You will be deleted."

The Doctor smiles, walking towards one of the control booths. "Yes. Delete, control, hash. All those lovely buttons. Then, of course, my particular favourite, send. And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place. By making every bit of technology compatible with everything else."

My phone beeps, and I glance at it. A text message with a string of numbers. "It's for you." I call, throwing him the phone.

He catches it, throws a grin at Lumic, before inserting the phone on the docking station. "Like this." The code gets transmitted, and we hear cybermen crying out in pain.

"I'm sorry."

"What have you done?" A cyberman's head explodes.

"I gave them back their souls. They can see what you've done, Lumic, and it's killing them!" We all run out of the room.

We follow the Doctor, only to find ourselves at a dead end. He voices the obvious.

My phone rings again. It's Mickey. I answer it. "Hold it! Rose? Rose can you hear me? Head for the roof!"

I voice Mickey's instructions. We run up to the roof, and I look up in amazement. Holding the phone to my ear, I ask him, "Mickey, where'd you learn to fly that thing?"

"Playstation. Just hold on, Rose. We're coming to get you."

I hear a scruffle on the speaker, and then a rope ladder falls out of the zeppelin.

"You've got to be kidding." Pete says, looking at the ladder.

I smile at him, "I've travelled by hanging off a balloon before, lots of fun. You should try it during a German aid raid with the Union Flag across your chest." We all manage to climb onto the rope ladder, Pete being the last one.

Harry laughs, grinning, "We did it! We did it!"

The jinx was instantaneous. "Harry James Potter, I don't care if I have to battle Ginny, I am going to kill you." Hermione yelled.

The Doctor gets the screwdriver out, and he passes it down to Pete, "Take this! Use it! Hold the button down! Press it against the rope. Just do it!"

"Jackie Tyler. This is for her!" The rope gives way, and Lumic, who was holding us down, falls.

Pete's standing on his own, and I'm talking to the troublesome four who aided us. "Alright, so how exactly do I end up telling you lot about this?"

"Can't say. Spoilers." Hermione grinned.

I sigh, "Well then, anything you can tell me?"

Their faces grow serious for a moment. "You come talk to us after the massacre."

I swallow, "On Diagon Alley?" I ask, trying to clarify. They all nod.

I swallow, again. They look at each other, "We've got to go." We all say our good-byes, and I turn to the Doctor and Mickey.

"Here it is. I found it. Not a crease." Mickey said, handing the Doctor over his clothes. I roll my eyes.

The Doctor grins, "My suit! Good man." He grows serious, turning to Jake, "Now then, Jake, we've got to run. But one more thing. Mrs Moore. Her real name was Angela Price. She's got a husband out there, and children. Find them. Tell them how she died saving the world."

"Yeah, course I will." Jake said, grinning.

The Doctor nods, "Off we go then."

"Er..." Mickey starts out, uncertain, "Thing is, I'm staying."

"You're doing what?"

I swallow, looking at him, "You can't."

Mickey sighs, "It sort of balances out, because this world lost its Ricky, but there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there."

"But you can't stay." I protested.

"Rose, my gran's here. She's alive. My old gran, remember her?"

"Yeah." I nod, tears welling up in my eyes.

"She needs me."

I nod. "What about me? What if I need you?" I'd grown attached to Mickey since we'd been travelling together. He felt like a brother to me.

"Yeah, but Rose, you don't. It's just you and him, isn't it. We're still friends, but sometimes people gotta move on."

I nod, knowing he was right, "Well, we'll come back. We can travel anywhere. Come and see you, yeah?" I look at the Doctor for confirmation.

Apology blooms on his face, "We can't. I told you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. We only got here by accident. We, we fell through a crack in time. When we leave, I've got to close it. We can't ever return."

"Doctor." Mickey said, holding out his hand. They shook.

The Doctor swallowed, "Take Rose's phone. It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories. And good luck, Mickey the idiot."

"Watch it." Mickey says. The Doctor goes back into the TARDIS, just leaving Mickey and I.

I pass him my phone. "Thanks. We've had a laugh though, haven't we? Seen it all, been there and back. Who would have thought, me off the old estate, flying through the stars, meeting aliens and witches."

I laugh, "All those years, just sitting there, imagining what you'd do one day. Never saw this, did you?"

"Did you?" I laugh, giving him a smile. I go to hug him, but he takes a step back.

He frowns, "'Sides, I figure I need to find someone for me, you know. Someone who's not gonna have a witch replace her when she dies."

I swallow, nodding. He hugs me anyway, and I walk into the TARDIS, crying.

Mickey frowned, watching the TARDIS dematerialize in front of him for the last time.

"What the hell?" Jake said, surprise and disbelief colouring his tone.

Mickey swallows, "That's the Doctor, in the TARDIS with Hermione Granger. How things should be."