I hope you all saw the two 50th trailers released this weekend! And just in case you didn't, I'll give you a quick summary: ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE FEZ ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE TEN AND ELEVEN IN SYNCH ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE THAT FUCKING OLD DOCTOR DUDE GUY PERSON ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE BAD WOLF!ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE NO CLASSIC WHO DOCTOR'S FUCK YOU BBC ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE CLARA ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ZYGON ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE QE1 ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE
That is all.
I hope you enjoyed the last two chapters 'cos that was the calm before the storm. ... I did mention that Blink isn't coming up now, right?
The next afternoon, Martha was waiting in the console room with a bag packed full of the souvenirs she had collected for her family. After leaving Falora, they had all gone to shower, change, and eat before their trip to London. That had been over an hour ago.
She checked her watch again, chewing on the inside of her lip nervously. She had decided to tell her family the truth. Not everything, at least not right away, but they deserved to know what she had been doing with her life. And, well, she wanted them to know. She had seen so much; her outlook on life was forever changed in a way she believed to be for the better. She was no longer naïve.
She knew the ugliness the universe had to offer. She had stared it in the face and she would never forget. But she had also seen the beauty and wonder of the universe as well, shining brightly against the black. She had made things just a little brighter, and she wanted them to know. She was not just a middle-child in a disharmonized family. Neither was she just a med student, a Londoner, nor even just an ordinary human anymore.
She was a companion of the Doctor. She was Shakespeare's Dark Lady. She was a hero. And she wanted the people she cared about most to know that.
She was planning on telling Tish and Leo first. They would be the easiest to convince. Tish would be the easiest of them all to persuade, since she had seen firsthand the way the Doctor and Rose had handled Lazarus, and then she would be won over by Martha's glamorous stories, and the things Martha had for her. Leo would be a little more skeptical but with proof, which would be easy enough to produce, he would find it cool. Her mum would be tough but hopefully with Leo and Tish backing her up, she would not immediately dismiss it. Or knock the Doctor's head off.
The space travelling would be the easiest part to explain. It was the time travelling she was worried about. How could she explain that she had met Shakespeare just an hour after Leo's disastrous birthday party? That she had walked through New York City's Hooverville during the Great Depression? Visited a city thousands and thousands of years in the future where time travellers were celebrities? That days for them had been months for her? By her calculations, she had been travelling for nearly a year.
She was pacing by the time the pair of them finally turned up. Martha glanced at them, but then did a double take. The Doctor was in his brown suit, and Rose was wearing a brown jacket over a light blue shirt, brown trousers, and a pair of pink converse. Her new necklace was on top of her shirt, shining brightly, TARDIS key dangling from the end. (Martha had managed to get Rose away from the Doctor for a few minutes last night and found out that, no, he had not proposed, it was just a gift.)
She stared at them for a full five seconds before she realized what was nagging at her. "Oh my God, you two match. You match!"
"Yep." Rose jerked her head towards the Time Lord. "His idea."
He grinned unrepentantly.
"You match," she repeated, shaking her head. "Don't you remember you're supposed to be meeting my family today?"
"We already met your family," he pointed out.
"Yeah, and you made such a good impression then," she said sarcastically.
"Well…." he looked down. "I'm not gonna put that suit back on. It invites trouble. Even if I do look like James Bond."
"Tch," Rose smiled, shaking her head.
"Besides, I mean properly meeting them." Martha looked between her two friends. "I'm gonna tell them the truth."
The Doctor's eyes widened the tiniest bit. "Oh," he said flatly.
Martha frowned. "Is there a problem?"
"No—no, it's just…" He sighed. "Your mum's already slapped me for something that wasn't my fault." He made a face. "What's she gonna do when she finds out I dragged you all across time and space?"
"Now, see that's why I'm not gonna tell her first," Martha said, walking around the console towards them. "I've got a plan. I'll tell Tish first, then Leo, and then get them to come with us as backup. I figure between the four of us, we can keep my mum from taking your head up. Shouting you deaf, though, I don't know how we could stop that."
He sighed again. "Well, I survived Jackie Tyler. Reckon your mum can't be worse than her."
"Oi," Rose protested. "You deserved all of that. And besides, she really did like you. Especially after you regenerated."
"Yeah," he agreed quietly. He shook his head quickly, perking up, and headed over to the console. He began punching in coordinates. "So, Miss Jones. Earth, London, your flat, about…four days after we left?"
"Sounds alright, but, still, you match," she protested weakly.
"Well, at least this way they won't think you're gettin' randy with an alien," Rose pointed out, leaning on the console.
Martha looked down at her outfit—light gray long blouse, dark gray jacket that covered her wrists (though she had makeup on underneath, just in case), black trousers, boots—and silently agreed that they looked nothing alike. She slumped against the jumpseat. "I guess. …Good job on putting that together, though."
"Hang on tight!" The Doctor flipped a switch and the TARDIS lurched beneath their feet. Martha fell back and dug her nails into the seat, holding on for dear life.
Rose clung to the console as the TARDIS shuddered around them. The Doctor picked up the mallet and whacked one of the controls, then another, and pumped the bicycle pump three times. The shuddering stopped and a moment later they landed. Rose let go of the console and smoothed out her jacket then headed down the ramp, Martha just a second behind her.
Rose let her do the honors of opening the door…and then froze as a wave of cool air smacked her in the face.
Martha sighed heavily.
"Uh, Doctor?" Rose called. "This isn't Martha's flat."
"It isn't?"
"It's Cardiff. Again." Martha grumbled and pulled the door shut.
"Really?" He pulled the monitor around. "Oh, so it is. We're right on top of the rift again. Could be the Old Girl just wanted some fuel. Is that it?" he murmured, patting the rotor. He stared at the monitor for another moment, chewing on his bottom lip, and then he started moving around the console, flipping switches and levers. The TARDIS made a strange rumbling sound.
Rose's stomach lurched oddly.
He cocked his head to the side as he adjusted a knob. "The rift's been active."
There was an uneasy feeling building in Rose's gut, growing stronger and stronger with every passing second. Like butterflies dancing in her stomach…butterflies with sharp pointy edges. "Doctor," she muttered, "I don't feel right."
He glanced up sharply. "What do you mean?"
"Something's wrong. Here. Outside, maybe, I dunno, but it's wrong and it's—it's getting closer." Rose placed her hand over her stomach. She had not felt like this since…well since the Carrionites. It'd been bad when was distant from them but up close it had been horrible. But was she was feeling now was even worse than that, and she was not even standing next to the source. Whatever it was, she somehow knew it shouldn't exist.
He frowned and started flipping the switches back. "Right. We're getting out of here." He paused in front of the monitor, and Rose saw pure panic flip across his face for a split second, and then he flipped the dematerialization switch. The rotor wheezed as it began bobbing up and down. The Doctor grinned.
Something slammed into the TARDIS, and the console sparked as the ship bucked wildly. The ship screamed in Rose's mind, a cry of fear, outrage, and pain. Rose let out a similar cry, her hands flying to her head. She hit the floor along with the Doctor and Martha, but she did not get back up. The console continued to spark and fizz as the ship shuddered and jolted violently.
"What's that?!" she heard Martha shout.
"We're accelerating…into the future," the Doctor replied. "The year five billion. Five trillion. …Fifty trillion. What?"
Rose raised her head. The TARDIS was still howling in her mind, protesting against something that had crashed into her.
"The year 100 trillion. That's impossible!"
"Why? What happens then?" Martha asked fearfully.
The Doctor did not answer, his mouth opening and closing in disbelief as he stared at the console. "W-we're going to the end of the universe."
He looked down at Rose, seeming to notice she was down there for the first time. "Rose," he murmured, pulling her into a sitting position. "Rose, what is it?"
She shook her head, unable to articulate what she was feeling. She allowed him to pull her off the floor, and tried unsuccessfully to ignore the churning in her stomach. She fixed her fingers around the edge of the console and tried to hold on. He kept his arm around her to prevent her from falling again.
The TARDIS landed with a heavy thud that jostled them, but they managed to stay on their feet. The three of them looked at each other unsurely. Rose dug her fingers into the Doctor's jacket.
"Well, we've landed," he said quietly.
"End of the universe, yeah?" Rose glanced up. "What's out there?"
"I don't know."
Martha let out a tiny laugh. "Say that again. That's rare."
"Not even the Time Lords came this far," he explained and her smile faded. "We should leave. We should go. We should really, really…go." He looked between the two of them for a moment. Rose pursed her lips, the corners twitching upward.
The Doctor grinned widely and ran for the door with Rose, grabbing his coat from the strut. Martha set down her bag on the jumpseat before following them.
Outside was dark and bleak. The sky was almost completely empty, only tiny pricks of light visible here and there within the vast expanse of black. The planet was old and barren, nothing but scraggly bushes, grass and lots of rock, like an old disused quarry.
The wind blew frigid air around them and Rose shivered. Whatever had been causing the TARDIS to feel funny did not seem to be there anymore. Must have fallen off at some point in the vortex or—
"Oh my God!" Martha shouted in alarm.
There was a body lying on the ground. Martha raced over to it, but Rose and the Doctor hung back. Her stomach wrenched once more and she glanced up at the Doctor and saw that his teeth were clenched. He started to walk towards it but she dug her feet into the ground. For some reason, and she was not quite sure why. Some instinct of hers was warning her to stay away. The Doctor glanced at her and urged her forward.
"Can't get a pulse," Martha was saying. "Oh, hold on—you've got that medical kit thing!" She ran back into the TARDIS.
Rose forced herself to look at the body properly. Trousers and suspenders, boots and a shirt, and over it all a dark World War II coat—
"Oh my God!" she gasped, hand flying over her mouth. It was Jack Harkness!
"Hello again," the Doctor said quietly. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"B-but—how—he—" she struggled to find the words and why did the Doctor act like he knew what was going on. "What's wrong with him?"
"Here we go!" Martha came running back out of the TARDIS with the medical kit, and shoved them both out of the way. "It's a bit odd, though. Not very 100 trillion—that coat's more like World War II." She said, pulling out the stethoscope.
"I think he came with us," the Doctor said.
"How do you mean? From Earth?" asked Martha.
"Must have been clinging to the outside of the TARDIS." He glanced back at the ship. "All the way through the Vortex. Well, that's very him."
Martha removed the stethoscope from her ears. "What? Do you know him?" she demanded, looking between his frown and Rose's shocked expression.
"Yeah." Rose nodded to the body. "That's Captain Jack."
It took a second for Martha to place the name and then her eyes widened. "Jack Harkness? B-but, I thought he—" she looked down at him again. "I'm sorry, there's no heart beat. There's nothing. He's dead."
It was like Jack been waiting for her to say that. A strange surge of power was the only warning they had before he literally jerked back to life with a wild, desperate gasp. Eyes flying open, he grabbed onto Martha who screamed in terror. Rose recoiled, letting out a screech, and ducked behind the Doctor. He didn't even flinch.
"Oh, well, so much for me!" Martha yelled. "It's alright. Just breathe deep. I've got you now."
Rose peeked out from behind the Doctor. Jack was in Martha's arms, still breathing heavily, but it did not stop him from grinning saucily at her.
"Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?" He brushed his thumb across her chin.
That was Jack all right. At the end of the universe. Why was he here? How was he here? And why did the very sight of him make Rose want to throw up? Why did the thought of being near him make her want to run as far and fast as she could? He shouldn't exist, some strange instinct hissed. Get away. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
"Martha Jones," Martha said with a breathy laugh.
"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones."
"Oh, don't start!" the Doctor barked.
Jack looked annoyed. "I was only saying hello."
Martha grinned. "I don't mind." She helped him to his feet and he grunted in pain.
Rose swiveled her shocked gaze to the Doctor. He glanced down, cautioning her with his eyes. She nodded once, taking a deep breath, and tried to work past the sick feeling in her gut. It was Jack, after all. Whatever was wrong it could not have been his fault. He would not have purposefully made himself…like that. All impossible and wrong and, God, it almost hurt to look at him.
Jack dusted off his coat and observed the two of them. "Hello, Rosie," he said with a smile.
Somehow she managed to return the smile and step out from behind the Doctor.
"Hello, Jack," Rose said. "Long time."
"Long time," he agreed. His eyes lingered on Rose for a long moment and she thought she saw a flash of sadness in his eyes before he turned to the Doctor. They stared each other down coldly. "Doctor."
"Captain."
"Good to see you."
"And you. Same as ever…although…" The Doctor squinted. "Have you had work done?"
Jack's expression shifted. "You can talk!"
The Doctor's brow furrowed in confusion. "Oh yes, the face. Regeneration. How did you know it was me?"
"I've seen pictures," Jack said dismissively. "I've been following you for a long time." His voice hardened. "You abandoned me."
"Did I?" he asked too innocently. "Busy life. Moving on."
Rose looked up sharply. "What?"
The Doctor winced.
"I thought you said he was helping the people after the Gamestation. You told me he'd chose to stay behind!" her voice shot up an octave. "How could you just leave him there?! Why?!"
He frowned at her for a moment, glancing at Jack briefly. "I think you know why."
Rose took a single step away from them both. She was beyond furious at the Doctor for abandoning Jack in the middle of the aftermath of a Dalek invasion. Though she had a feeling that she knew exactly what he was talking about. Jack was not right. He just wasn't. She was surprised Martha was able to stand so close to him. Then again, Martha wasn't sensitive to things like she and the Doctor were.
Jack's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?" he demanded.
The Doctor scowled and said nothing, beginning another cold stare down between the two men. The air was thick with tension and Rose was just about to step in between them when the Doctor turned and walked away, heading out into the barren terrain. The three of them stared after him for a moment. Martha nudged Rose and gave her a confused look. Rose just shook her head.
"Are you lot coming?" the Doctor called back. "End of the universe!"
Rose sighed and started after him. Martha and Jack followed. It was easier being near him when she was not looking at him. She wracked her brain to figure out what exactly could have happened to Jack to make him like this. The Doctor had not had a problem with Jack during their travels, and neither had she, but then, she had been a normal human back then. Whatever had caused Jack to be like this had happened at the Gamestation.
"So what do you mean abandoned?" Martha asked Jack.
"Exactly that," Jack said. "There I was, stranded in the year 200,100, ankle-deep in Dalek dust, and he goes off without me. But I had this!"
She heard him tap something.
"I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a vortex manipulator. He's not the only one who can time travel."
"Oh, excuse me." The Doctor jabbed a finger at the vortex manipulator on Jack's wrist. "That is not time travel. It's like I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper."
"Oh, give it a rest," Rose groaned. Yet at the same time, she was relieved. It was an old argument between them. At least their camaraderie was still there.
Martha laughed. "Boys and their toys!"
"Alright, so I bounced." Jack snapped. He was nearly beside them now, and Rose shuddered at the proximity. "I thought '21st century, best place to find the Doctor' except that I got it a little wrong. I arrived in 1869 and this thing burnt out so it was useless."
"Told you," the Doctor muttered.
"I had to live through the entire twentieth century waiting for a version of you that would coincide with me!"
"But that makes you more than a hundred years old." Martha pointed out.
"And lookin' good, don't you think?" He chuckled. "So I went to the time rift, based myself around the thing 'cause I knew you'd come back to refuel. Then my handy Doctor detectors told me you were coming, and here we are."
"I still wanna know why you left him behind," Rose muttered.
"I was a bit busy, you know. Saving you then regenerating and all."
"Is that what normally happens, though? Seriously?" Martha demanded. "Do you just get bored with us one day and disappear?"
"Not if you're blonde," Jack teased.
"Oi!" Rose protested, looking over her shoulder.
Jack grinned and winked.
Rose fixed her eyes on a point just over his shoulder, and found looking at him using her peripheral vision was easier.
"Oh, that's enough!" The Doctor spun around. "We're at the end of the universe, alright? We're at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy…blogging!" he looked between them in disbelief.
Rose frowned.
"Come on!" The Doctor stalked past them towards the edge of the cliff they had been walking alongside. His stride slowed and he stuffed his hands into his pocket.
Rose followed curiously and inhaled slowly when she saw the sight below them.
Caves and stairs, bridges stretching across, doors and windows, flat platforms and bumpy ledges. An entire city had been carved out of the cliffs. It was breathtaking and hauntingly beautiful. It was completely empty, save for a soft glow that emitted from the rocks themselves.
Martha gasped in awe. "Is that a city?"
"A city or a hive," the Doctor murmured. "Or a nest. Or a conglomeration. Looks like it was grown. But look there." He traced the line of one of the bridges with his finger. "That's like pathways…roads. Must have been some sort of life." He inhaled through his teeth and on the exhale, "Long ago."
"What happened?" Rose whispered.
"Time," the Doctor said. "Just time. Everything's dying now. All the great civilizations have gone." He looked up, pointing at the black sky. "This isn't just night. All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing."
Rose shivered and not from the chill. "Then why aren't we dead? Should be frozen, like Women Wept."
"It must have an atmospheric shell," Jack replied and looked down at her. "Or, you're right, it would be. And we'd be dead."
"Well, the three of us, maybe." The Doctor lowered his eyes from the sky. "Not so sure about you, Jack."
Jack stared.
"What about the people?" Martha asked. "Does no one survive?"
The Doctor cocked his head to one side. "I suppose we have to hope. Life will find a way."
Movement in her peripheral vision caught Rose's attention. Running on the uppermost level of the city below them was a…well he looked human.
"Well, he's not doing too bad," Jack said, pointing at the man.
The man was not just running. Rose recognized franticness in his stride, in the way he kept looking over his shoulder. He was running for his life from the mob of roaring and shouting humanoids with torches and weapons.
"Is it me, or does that look like a hunt?" The Doctor grabbed her hand. "Come on!"
They sprinted along the edge of the cliff until they found a roadway leading down into the city below. Leaning back to avoid pitching forward, they scrambled and skidded down the steep road onto more flat ground, and then tore off again.
Jack laughed gleefully from the back of the group. "Oh, I've missed this!"
Rose knew what he meant. The thrill of the adrenaline rush buzzing through their bodies, the way their hearts pounded, and the cool air zipping through their lungs as they raced to help the poor man. What good they could do against a horde of hunters she was not quite sure, but they had to at least try.
It was Jack that caught the man in his arms. "I've got you!"
"We've gotta run!" the man panted. "They're coming! They're coming!"
Jack gently shoved the man over to the Doctor then pulled a gun from his belt, aiming it at the humanoid hunters.
"Jack, no!" Rose cried.
"Don't you dare!" the Doctor echoed.
Jack looked at them for a moment, his teeth clenched, and then raised the gun over his head and fired three shots.
Rose slammed her hands over her ears.
The hunters—vicious things with wild hair, war paint, ragged clothes, crude weapons, and sharp, shark-like teeth—slowed a few yards away from them. They hissed and snarled menacingly, shifting their weight rapidly, dropping into crouches, pacing wildly, but none of them advanced further, which meant they knew what guns were.
"What the hell are they?" Martha asked, lowering her hands from her ears.
"There's more of them!" the man gasped, looking the Doctor dead in the eye. "We've got to keep going!"
"I've got a ship nearby. It's safe," the Doctor promised. "It's not far, it's just over there."
Yet even as they said that, more of the hunter creatures were streaming down the rise, torches and weapons held aloft. The group down on the level with them began hissing and snarling with new fervor at the sight of their reinforcements.
Rose swore quietly. "Doctor…"
"We're close to the silo!" The man blurted suddenly. "If we get to the silo, then we're safe!"
The Doctor looked at his three companions. "Silo?"
"Silo."
"Silo's good."
"Silo for me!"
They tore off with the man in the lead. For someone that had been running for God-knows-how-long, he sure recovered quickly. Only Martha had trouble keeping up. Not anticipating anything but seeing her family today, she had worn heeled boots, and now she struggled with them on the rocky, uneven terrain. Behind them, the hunters were snarling and bellowing as they gave chase.
Then the wild ground gave way to a smooth dirt road. They saw scraps of metal piled up and jutting out from the rock, and then looming ahead, a group of towers and a large mountain, surrounded by a large metal fence.
A bright light hit them from above, tracking their progress, and Rose had to squint to see where she was going.
"It's the Futurekind!" the man bellowed to the humans on the other side of the fence. "Open the gate!"
There was a commotion on the other side, and one of the guards ran up to the gate with a torch. He shouted something Rose could not make out over the snarling of the Futurekind.
He shouted again, "Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth!"
They reached the fence and the man shined the light at their faces.
"Show him your teeth!" the man they'd rescued ordered.
The four time travelers glanced at each other in confusion, and then bared their teeth at the man.
Martha whimpered in fear.
"Human!" shouted the guard. "Let 'em in! Let 'em in!"
The other guards pulled on the chain binding the fence and opened the gate wide enough for the five of them to slip through. They just barely managed to get the gate closed before the Futurekind were there. Lost in the haze of their hunting frenzy, they did not appear to be slowing, so one of the guards pulled out his gun and fired several rapid shots at the ground in front of the Futurekind.
Rose recoiled from the shots and the Doctor threw one arm around her, pulling her close to him protectively. She could feel his hearts beating wildly against her back.
The leader of the Futurekind skidded and hopped to avoid getting shot, and behind him the others slowed. The firing stopped. They growled quietly, their painted faces twisted, but they did not advance. The leader paced back and forth in agitation, his eyes never leaving the people behind the gate. The guard lowered his gun just slightly.
"Humans," the leader of the hunters said in a guttural voice. "Human-y." He patted his chest, smiling nastily. "Make feast."
"Go back to where you came from." The guard with the gun ordered. He raised the gun when the Futurekind made no move to do so. "I said go back! Go back!" He took aim.
"Oh, don't tell him to put down his gun," Jack muttered scathingly.
"He's not my responsibility," the Doctor replied.
"And I am?" he laughed humorlessly. "That makes a change."
The leader glared for a moment. Behind him, the others shifted back and forth tensely, and some of them snarled. "Kind watch you," he warned them gleefully. "Kind hungry."
The two groups stared each other down for another tense second.
The leader of the Futurekind made a slashing motion with his arm and uttered a single, sharp sound. His hunters began to back away, their eyes never leaving the humans, hissing and growling, until they were out of firing range. The leader gave them one last venomous look before they took off running back into the rocky wastelands. The guards lowered their weapons and breathed easier.
The Doctor's arm contracted around Rose for a moment then he released her. She turned away from the gate and as she did, her eyes briefly locked with Jack's. Another tremor rippled through her. Jack gave her a steady look, then reached up and tapped below his eye with one finger. It was the same subtle action Martha and the Doctor used to tell Rose that her eyes had gone funny. He showed no surprise at seeing golden irises, no hesitation.
Rose was stunned.
She realized that Martha, the Doctor, and the man were heading towards the compound with the guard. Jack inclined his head after them and she nodded once.
"My name is Padra Fet Shafe Cane," the man was saying when they caught up. "Tell me. Please tell me, can you take me to Utopia?
The guard smiled. "Oh yes, sir! Yes I can!"
Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack :D
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