Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it, nor do I get paid.
A/N Thanks for the amazing response on the last chapter. As promised, this is Rose's side of things. Things are going to get very confusing before they are set right.
Happy Reading!
Different Beginnings: The Mandarin
Rose Tyler was comfortably asleep when she felt the bed shift slightly. Without even opening her eyes, she knew that the Doctor must be getting up. He was up before her almost every day and he tried not to jostle the bed too much when he did but she always registered him leaving the bed.
She waited for the tell-tale thump of his legs hitting his side of the floor but it didn't come. In fact, she could still feel him breathing next to her but he was awake. Keeping her eyes shut, she wondered what he was doing when she felt him take her hand.
Rose's heart started hammering in her chest; he had never done anything like that before. Sure, he had held her hand in bed before but this was different. He thought she was asleep and he was…kissing her hand? Rose didn't dare breathe for fear of startling him and alerting him to the fact that she was awake. As his lips drifted lazily up her arm, Rose could keep silent no longer.
Her eyes opened and she was expecting him to jump away and start muttering about places to go and people to see but he was smiling at her with such a warm gaze that she went red.
"Morning," he murmured when he saw that she was awake.
"M-Morning," said Rose, wondering if she had suddenly stepped into the Twilight Zone. "You alright, Doctor?"
"Feeling saucy this morning, are we?" he asked, grinning at her. "I'll play along then. Actually, nurse, I think I might need a close check-up."
Rose's eyes went wide at his suggestive tone. She surreptitiously found her arm and went to give it a sharp pinch when she encountered soft cotton. Frowning, she sat up in bed and looked down at herself. She was dressed in a white nightgown that covered her practically from head to toe, including her arms. Okay, so she definitely was in some bizarre dream. Or a trap, at least.
She chanced a look at her surroundings and realised that yes, she was definitely in a dream. Because this was a room. A room in a house. With cheery floral wallpaper, knick-knacks and all. She glanced back at the Doctor, or well, man who looked like the Doctor, who looked a bit confused at her reaction.
"Rose?" he asked, looking concerned. "Is everything alright, love?"
Rose pressed her hands to her eyes as if hoping that it would wake her up from the obvious dream that she was having, when she noticed something on her left hand. Specifically, the third finger on her left hand. Wondering how she hadn't noticed a wedding ring and band on her finger before now, Rose touched it to make sure that it was real and not a figment of her imagination. She looked back at the Doctor and saw that he wore a matching band on his left hand.
He was wearing an expression of great concern when a shrill ringing made them both jump. The Doctor got out of bed and left the room to answer the phone. Wondering why the phone wasn't kept in the bedroom, Rose followed him and almost fell down in shock when she saw him run downstairs to the living room and answer a large, black rotary phone. Antiquated would be an optimistic way of describing it.
Feeling like she was in a daze, Rose examined the photographs lining the stairway and saw black and white images of the two of them from every frame. She ran down the stairs and looked around the neatly decorated house that evidently belonged to her and the Doctor. Except he wasn't the Doctor, not exactly anyway since she found a stack of files bearing the name 'Dr. John Smith' on them.
"Rose?" He sounded concerned at her odd behaviour.
Rose turned to look at him. "What year is it?" she asked.
He walked up to her slowly and took her hand. Rose tried not to flinch at the unfamiliar warmth of his hand. "Rose, love, are you feeling unwell?" he asked, looking so deeply concerned that Rose was reminded of the Doctor.
Instead of denying it, Rose decided to seize the opportunity and gave a nod. "I-I feel faint," she said. "What year is it?" she persisted, hoping he would tell her if he thought she was suffering from lack of oxygen to the brain.
"1953," he said. "Come on, I'll take you back to bed." Before she could protest, he swept her up into his arms and started to make his way back to the bedroom.
Rose tried to understand what was going on but every explanation she came up with was weaker than the one before. She tried to focus on the last thing that she could remember but she kept drawing a blank. They had handed over the Key to Time to the White Guardian and then…
The argument, she realised. She had confronted the Doctor about Ace and Fenric and the Bad Wolf. She couldn't remember anything that had happened next.
"Here we are." Rose jumped as John Smith laid her back down on the bed. He smiled at her and brushed her hair back from her face. "I know it's my day off but Dr. Gough called. I have to go to work until lunchtime at least. Do you want me to send for Mrs. Johnson next door?"
Rose shook her head quickly. "I'll be okay," she said, wanting to be alone while she figured things out. "You should go."
He looked unhappy at having to leave her but Rose shot him her best reassuring smile and he nodded slowly. "Alright, I'll be back in a few hours," he said.
Rose nodded hastily and tried her hardest to stay still as he reached down and kissed her forehead. "I love you," he murmured.
"Love you," Rose muttered quickly when he stared at her, obviously expecting her to reciprocate.
Satisfied, he shot her grin and went off to freshen up and get dressed. Rose tuned out the noises and decided to check in the bedside table on her side. It contained the usual crap: a book, some moisturiser, a shield-shaped locket…
Rose straightened up when she recognised the TARDIS key. She quickly pulled it out and examined the engraving to make sure that it was indeed the right key. The marks were all there and Rose closed the key into her fist, feeling heartened for the first time since waking up.
"Alright, I'm off."
She hastily covered the key with the duvet and smiled at John Smith who blew her a kiss and left. Rose waited until she heard the door slam shut before throwing the duvet off her and rushing back downstairs. The house was neat, too neat as a matter of fact. Rose was certain that the 1950s or not, there was no way that she could keep the house this tidy.
She examined the rooms and realised that there was only one door in the house that was locked. It was right next to the kitchen and would have been an ordinary storage closet, but the fact that it was locked had her intrigued. She examined the lock and was surprised to see that instead of a normal keyhole, it was identical to the lock on the TARDIS doors.
Just as she was about to try and open the door with the key, the radio behind her jumped to life with a song, startling her. She recognised the song instantly; it was Blue Skies by Irving Berlin.
Blue skies smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies do I see
Blue birds singing a song
Nothing but blue birds all day long
Rose was slightly unnerved by the radio just coming on by itself but as she took the first steps to turn it off, she felt herself stumble and her vision swam. When the world righted itself, Rose was aware that she was back in her room on the TARDIS.
She cast a quick look down at herself and she was dressed in her usual jeans and a red hoodie, and there was no sign of a ring on her hand. "DOCTOR!" she called. trying not to panic as she ran from her room towards the console room. "Doctor!"
She heard footsteps running towards her and the Doctor, her Doctor with his usual ridiculous clothes, rushed at her in concern. "Rose? What's wrong?" he asked, frantically.
Rose threw her arms around him and held on tightly, feeling comforted by the two hearts beating in his chest. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you," she said, still holding onto him tightly.
He ran a hand through her hair, startled to find that she was trembling. "Rose, what happened?" he asked gently.
"I don't know," she said, looking up at him. "I must have been dreaming but it felt…real." Her brow furrowed as she looked around the corridor that they were in. "Why was I in my room?"
"You said you were changing out of that gown you wore to the UNIT Christmas Ball," he answered, looking troubled at her lack of recollection. "We are going to Blackpool, remember? Somewhere fun?"
"Blackpool? Right," said Rose, letting the Doctor lead her out into the console room. "Are we there?"
"Yes, but if you'd rather rest…" His words were cut off as the record player that was now permanently based in the console room started playing that song again.
Rose whirled around and looked at the record player with wide eyes. "That song…it was playing…"
"Irving Berlin?" asked the Doctor.
"Yeah, it was playing then too," she said.
"When?" he asked.
"In 1953," she said.
"Rose," said the Doctor with a worried look on his face. "I've never taken you to 1953, love."
"No, I…" Rose went silent as she stared at him with wide eyes. "What did you call me?" she asked, stumbling away from him.
"What? Rose…" he started to say but Rose cut him off with a sharp shake of her head.
"You called me 'love'. You never do that. Other things, yes, but never that," she said, edging away from him. "Who are you? What have you done with the Doctor?"
"I am the Doctor," he said, his face suspiciously smooth.
Rose shook her head insistently. "Tell me who you are!" she said, not caring that her voice had risen loudly.
He opened his mouth but then snapped it shut, dropping all pretence. Rose watched him with tense eyes as his image shimmered and he was replaced by a taller, older man dressed as a Mandarin. The TARDIS console around them dissolved as well until they were standing inside a black nothingness.
"Well, well, well," he said, his voice holding a regal English tone. "You surpassed my expectations, Miss Tyler."
"Who are you?" Rose asked, feeling some semblance of fear that rose instinctually in her heart at the sight of him.
"I have many names. The Mandarin, the Celestial Toymaker, the Guardian of Dreams, but I suppose you would better know me as the Crystal Guardian," he said, smiling benignly at her.
Rose's eyes went wide. "We don't have the Key anymore," she said, knowing that the Crystal Guardian had allied himself with the Black Guardian.
His smile widened. "Oh, I am aware of that," he said. "You see, Rose…may I call you Rose?" Without waiting for her answer, he continued ahead. "You see, Rose, the Black Guardian and I had no interest in the Key to Time. Yes, it is a rather useful thing but gaining it was never our aim."
"Then what was?" asked Rose, feeling dread growing in the pit of her stomach. "What do you want?"
"That, my dear Rose, is something that you will learn in time," he said. "Now. I believe you wanted to know where the Doctor was."
Rose looked surprised that he would bring it up himself but the feeling of dread just worsened at his expectant look. She just gave a quick nod, hoping and praying that he hadn't harmed the Doctor.
The Crystal Guardian waved his hand carelessly and an image brightened through the darkness as if a screen had been switched on. Rose waited for the bright light to die down and as her eyes adjusted, she felt her mouth fall open. It was the Doctor but he was locked in a passionate, naked embrace with a beautiful blonde woman. Rose couldn't see her face at first but as she moved in closer, she felt her heart practically skip a beat.
It was her. Rose was seeing herself, wrapped in the Doctor's arms, kissing him with great passion. She started to feel dizzy at the sheer impossibility of it all. Had the Crystal Guardian fooled the Doctor into thinking he was with Rose, just as he had tried to make her think that he was the Doctor?
She turned to look at the Crystal Guardian who rolled his eyes. "It is not you," he said. "Well, not exactly. Her name is Arkytior."
Rose's heart stuttered in her chest. "And that's not the Doctor, is it? It's the Other," she said, her voice very quiet.
"Good, but not quite," said the Guardian. "In the original timeline, it was the Other. But rather than engage in ahem amorous activities, he left for a meeting in the Citadel on this day and left her alone in their home."
Rose was silent for a moment as she processed his words but then the penny dropped and she stared at him with horrified eyes. "Original timeline? You're rewriting time?!" she shrieked.
"But of course," he said, like it was the obvious thing to do. "It was only a simple matter of replacing the Other with the Doctor at that particular point in time. The rest will happen on its own. You see, Rose, that is the night that the Eternals finally found Arkytior alone and cast her into the vortex with a mortal life, and the very night that the Other jumped into the looms upon discovering the fate of his beloved."
Rose's vision swayed as she understood the implication of his words. He wasn't done though, since he kept going.
"But as time is being changed, the Eternals will arrive in just a matter of hours and find them in a lover's embrace. Instead of doing what they did before, they will simply murder those two. That, Rose Tyler, is how the time is being rewritten. The lovers shall die tonight in each others' arms."
"You can't!" Rose gasped, horrified at the very idea.
"Oh, do not fret," he said, trying for a comforting tone but only managing to sound smugger. "You shall still be born. As Rose Tyler even. Just without worrying about Fenric, Bad Wolf or Arkytior again."
"And without the Doctor, you mean," said Rose, glaring darkly at him.
"Well, I believe humans have a saying that you cannot have everything in life," said the Crystal Guardian.
"If the Doctor dies then, he will never have existed," said Rose, her brain working furiously. "All those people and planets he has saved over the years…none of that will have happened."
"You mean the universe shall continue without his interference," said the Crystal Guardian. "Just as it should have."
"So that's what it's all about? Getting rid of the Doctor entirely?" demanded Rose angrily.
"Oh yes," said the Crystal Guardian. "The Black Guardian and I, we thrive on chaos. The Doctor has been entirely too responsible in thwarting chaos all over the cosmos. It is time that we were rid of him."
"Like hell!" snapped Rose. "I won't let you do this!"
"Perhaps you should start thinking about how you are planning to actually stop me," said the Guardian, sounding almost amused.
Rose snapped her mouth shut but fumed silently. There had to be a way but how was she supposed to go against the Guardians? The Crystal Guardian was currently watching her smugly, with an air of victory about him. Rose took a deep breath, letting her brain process the events that had happened so far. Different realities where she and the Doctor were not who they really were. Nothing quite in common, except…
"The song," said Rose. "Why the song?"
"Pardon?" asked the Crystal Guardian.
Rose didn't answer, she had seen that her question had surprised him. His expression became warier, though he tried to control his reaction. But Rose had seen enough. Closing her eyes, she focused on the song that she had only heard a few times before now.
She didn't know what she expected to happen but she started to feel the now-familiar tilt of the world. She heard the Crystal Guardian scream in fury but Rose kept running the song lyrics over and over in her head, some instinct within her asking her to keep up with it.
The Crystal Guardian's screams became fainter and fainter as 'Blue Skies' kept playing in Rose's mind. She felt the air around her change and knew she had escaped that void space where the Crystal Guardian had taken her.
At the same time, in the void space, the Crystal Guardian stopped his screams and rolled his eyes before allowing a triumphant smile to grace his face as he saw Rose Tyler disappear. "Walk into my parlour," he murmured silkily. "Said the spider to the fly."
A/N End of Part 2. So, what did you think?
Of course it wasn't as simple as escaping the Guardian with a song. You'll see what happens next.
So, we had the perpetrator behind it revealed. We also got the story on the Other and Arkytior. This chapter was so much fun to write.
The next chapter will still focus on Rose as she tries to stop the Guardians from rewriting time. Consider how the Guardians were able to replace the Doctor and the Other, and I am quite sure you'll have the rest of the picture.
Part 3 will be up soon. See you then!
~ Phoenix