"The lost girl, so far away from home.

The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon..." - The Beast

That, Rose decided, might have been one of the strangest dreams she'd ever had. She'd been running across a planet with a burnt orange sky. Some of the continents were hilly, some flat, some were barren while others were covered in red grass. She could see forests in the distance with trees that were silver. The water was brown beneath her as she'd sailed across the waters. She'd been seeking someone. It felt like an eternity before she'd found him. She'd wanted to run with him and explore those beautiful silver forests but she'd been so tired. He'd stayed with her until she fell asleep.

Next thing she knew, she was lying on her back, staring up at a canopy of trees. Regular old green and brown Earth trees. Bright sunlight trickled through the leaves. She took a deep breath and let it out. Then she was on her feet. Looking around, she realized she was in some sort of forest. A campsite, judging from the flattened, grassless ground. But how had she gotten here?

She noticed something out of the corner of her eye and turned. A row of five small dirt mounds, each marked by either a large stone or a wooden cross. Graves, she realized. There was another one. She could see it just out of the corner of her eye. She turned again, expecting to see another row of graves, but there was only one, marked with a large stone that had a name etched into it.

Wait. That was her name.

Pain suddenly flared in her head and Rose gasped, her hands flying to it, as the memories came back.

She and Martha had been tracked here by Moran and his group and they'd attacked the camp. She'd snapped and had retaliated, killing all of them, except Moran. She'd been too weak to fight him by then. Someone else had shot him down just before he could shoot Martha. But he'd still tried to shoot her anyway, but she'd had pushed Martha out of the way and taken the bullet herself. Martha had sat with her as she'd…

As she'd…

Had she died?

Rose shook her head vehemently. No! She couldn't be dead! She was here, she could see, and hear and feel the sunlight on her skin— She froze. No, she couldn't. She couldn't feel the sunlight. She could see it but there was no warmth. She could hear the birds chirping. She was breathing but no scent came with it. The wind blew but it did not touch her. Her hair didn't ruffle and her skin did not feel any cooler. She raised her hand to her chest, feeling for her heart, but she did not feel the familiar fluttering against her skin.

Slowly, Rose looked down at herself. She was wearing the same outfit from before, though it looked like she'd been through a battle, and the right side of her torso was completely covered in blood. Too much blood. Her feet were perched on top of a mound of dirt that she could not feel.

Rose reached down to touch the stone with her name but her hand simply passed through. She flew away from it. Literally, flew. Her feet weren't even touching the ground, it had only appeared they were from that angle. She didn't realize until she was staring at bark that she'd sailed clean through a tree.

Oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God.

She lunged forward and passed harmlessly through the tree again. She grabbed for another, and another, zipping back to her grave to kick at the stone. She went through them all. She rammed her feet into the ground but the dirt remained undisturbed. She sobbed but there were no tears. You couldn't have tears without a body.

Clutching at her head, Rose let out a piercing shriek of anger, frustration, and fear. Her cry went unheard by those on the physical plane, but the sheer amount of emotion went rippling out from her in all directions, striking terror into every living thing for miles. Birds took to the air, deer ran screaming for their lives, and critters scurried underground as fast as they could.

A group of Toclafane nearby perked up in surprise, their sensors registering an extreme telepathic out lash and instead of fleeing, zoomed towards the source.

Rose sobbed, shaking her head. No no no no no please no I don't want to be dead I don't want to be dead I still have so much I want to do and the Doctor—oh God, the Doctor. No no no no he can't be on his own, he needs me, I have to find him. I don't want to be dead!

Calm down! A voice ordered in her mind. She freaked.

Who are you?! How did you get inside my head?! Out out get out!

I cannot. We are joined.

They were. She could feel another mind, strong and powerful, though muted, woven inextricably with hers. Not for long. She reached towards their bond only to crash into mental walls thicker and sturdier than she'd ever encountered. But she didn't care. She slammed into them, clawing and tearing.

NO! The voice cried, panicked. YOU MUST NOT!

Really, she should have listened. But she was too panicked to consider the connotations behind the voice's presence, or the consequences of attempting to remove the barrier between them.

The barrier crumbled without warning and she was hit with a torrent of power and knowledge. Her mind screamed in protest as it struggled to comprehend everything it was suddenly seeing. Countless faces and species and the knowledge of them and she could hear the silent screaming of time as it was contorted and she could see time the past the present the future what is what was what could be what should be and what should not what is and what was not but should be. It swarmed over her, enveloped her, burning and razing and overwhelming. A voice cried out over the cacophony and a gold light latched onto her, shoving against the onslaught, dragging her down

and

she

fell

Their minds went under. One Half was sent into a sedative state for safety while the other Half focused its attention on repairing the wall between. What was left was an entity of instinct and power, tethered to this world and this time by one half of Herself and freed from physical restraints by the death of Her other. Formless. Bound by nothing but Her own nature.

She sniffed at Time and breathed in the reek of the massive paradox. If She had hackles they would have risen. This was not meant to be. This could not be. There was something that remained in Her mind: a mission given to her prior to death. She was tasked with bringing about the end of the paradox. It took her a single second to locate the source of the paradox, another to determine the stabilizer, and another to realize She could not interfere with it. Doing so would result in self-termination.

On the physical plane, four objects were fast approaching: anomalies in time that existed only because the stabilizer allowed it. They belonged at the end of time. The Remnants of a species directly descended from humans, close enough biologically that they might be considered the same. The Remnants, however, had lost almost everything they were once, and had become atrocities who found joy in terminating the lives of their ancestors.

The knowledge stirred a different anger with in Her than the one She felt towards their pollution of Time. It was righteous and originated from the human Half.

When the Remnants appeared before her She hissed. The sound seemed to reach them as they swiveled about midair, searching. They beckoned to her with the voices of children but their words meant nothing to her.

She moved, enveloping the nearest one, and with a shriek it exploded into golden dust, which dulled as it fell to the ground. She enveloped the other three in succession and they, too, turned to dust. She felt something akin to pleasure in their demise but mostly satisfaction. The Laws of Time were firm and absolute. Those who defied them must face justice and She would be its deliverer.

There were no more Remnants nearby. She could sense billions more of them around the planet and its surrounding space—but She did not have the ability to destroy them as one and their numbers were too great for Her to eliminate on Her own.

But there were other Time traces in this place left behind by those who had traveled in Time. One was Her own. The other was not. She would follow. With that thought, the forest dissolved into shapeless color and reformed an instant later into a cloudy beach with dull sand and gray waves. The source of the trace was beneath her: a human woman with dark skin who was staring out into the waves. The woman was…sad. She could see it in her face, feel it from her mind. Her grief was measurable and would pass in time and she lived. That was all She cared about.

She saw no reason to communicate with her, so the woman never even knew She'd been there. Yet something urged Her to remain for a time. So She did. But when the woman decided to move on She did not go with her.

There was someone She needed to find. He was important to both Her Halves. A Lord of Time. Her…mate. The world swirled into color once more and reformed on a barren moor. She let out a shriek that rippled through the telepathic plane as She realized how close She was to the source of the paradox and its stabilizer and She vanished before either would realize how close She had been.

She would return periodically to find Her mate but She could never find him the way She could fid the dark woman. Usually She ended up in an unpopulated area. Once She was above the ocean. She would not linger long, only long enough to look, but he was never there. Then She decided to look up and She saw the ship in the sky. Every time after, She looked up and it was there. That was where he was.

When She was not seeking Her mate, She roamed the planet aimlessly and hunted the Remnants who swarmed through the world. On many occasions She destroyed them as they approached human survivors, saving them before they knew they were even in danger. Other times they simply happened to be near her. Though there were others, humans who had allied themselves with the Remnants and betrayed their own kind. They had not violated any Laws of Time but they had been responsible for Her human Half's death. They, too, were struck down when it suited Her.

Knowing Her mate's location was not enough. She needed to see him, needed to know he was alive and well. She began focusing Her attention on the artificial telepathic field that stretched across the entire planet. Something told Her that She could find him through it. And find him She did. But something told Her She shouldn't attempt contact. That he would be hurt by it.

She waited until he was asleep before slipping into his mind. His dreams were filled with torment. A war throughout Time, vicious screaming, a planet burning, and a woman with golden hair (Her?) smiling at him before perishing in the flames herself. She comforted him, pressing her mind around his soothingly until the nightmares diminished and it was simply the two of them basking in the peace of rest.

There wasn't really an exact moment when she became fully aware of herself again and not just an instinctive being. But she knew she was not as she was before, when Rose alone was in control. There was another who had just as much say. Rose knew without asking that the other was the TARDIS—rather, the piece of the TARDIS that had been within her mind.

At first, Rose protested strongly. She did not want to be trapped a metaphysical being caught in a state between life and death. But Tardis was able to soothe her and explain why they were this way. The paradox machine was the only thing holding reality together and Tardis was essentially an extension of it. Since she and Rose were one, when Rose perished, her soul had been unable to move on.

It was an interesting situation to say the least. Once Rose accepted the situation, the two of them began to truly function as one, just as they had done twice before. The first on a space station before the Doctor and millions of Daleks. The second in an underground base before a group of humans and the immortal. They were the Bad Wolf.

Her powers came from Tardis (as her consciousness wished to be called) but it was through Rose that she was able to wield them. While the former always carried enormous power, her very nature prevented her from wielding it and the latter's nature allowed her to channel it.

With the return of cognitive thought came the desire to visit people. If she was to exist this way for the indefinite future, she may as well put her abilities to good use.

The Doctor she would not risk by contacting again and, truly, had she been in full control of herself, she would not have to begin with. At least her feral self had known better than to go onboard the Valiant. Unshielded, she would've definitely drawn the attention of the Master. It was a miracle she hadn't alerted herself to the Doctor while poking around the Archangel Network. As much as it pained Rose, Tardis's logic won out. They would not go near the Doctor again.

The first person Bad Wolf paid a visit to was Martha Jones. She found her in China. Martha was thinner than she remembered her being. There were noticeable dark circles under her eyes and her shoulders were hunched over.

She looks so tired, Rose lamented.

Bad Wolf could see images from Martha's mind and gathered what had occurred for her since her feral self had last seen her.

She is grieving, Tardis said. She has seen horrible things. Japan was destroyed. She was the only one to escape.

Bad Wolf cocked her head to the side and drifted down to her friend's side. She tried speaking to her, touching her, but her words went unheard and her she had simply passed clean through her. She may as well have been a proper ghost.

She followed her for several days, keeping watch as she rested and slept. She scared animals away from her or, if she could tell Martha was hungry, would scare them towards her. Several times she became aware of Remnants—Toclafane—in the vicinity, and she charged after them with single-minded determination. They never even made it close to her. Bad Wolf went with her into the first survivor camp she came across and listened as Martha told them her stories. She had been concerned that Martha might not have been able to speak to people without Rose there, but the TARDIS's translation protocols and circuits was still intact.

Half of her was content to simply stay with Martha but as time wore on, her other half began to grow restless and agitated. There was truly no need to follow the human woman all across Asia. Bad Wolf had more important things she could be doing. Killing Toclafane, refining her skills—perhaps finding a way to make herself heard and seen—and there were others she needed to see.

Bad Wolf searched for Sarah Jane Smith and found her within a labor camp. She discovered just by observing that Sarah Jane had heard Rose and Martha's legend as well as some of their stories and she had taken it upon herself to spread her own stories of the Doctor. Bad Wolf was proud of her but, of course, her praise did not reach the physical dimension.

Many of her searches, however, proved fruitless. A majority of Rose's friends and kin could not be located, including Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, whose apparent death struck a chord in Tardis as well. She looked for many of the aliens Rose had helped during her time with Torchwood. Those she found were living out in the wild to avoid capture. On a lark, she decided to look for Martha's brother. She found him alive in a labor camp in Northern England going by a different name.

She found Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, and Owen Harper living in a village in the Himalayas with twenty villagers that had survived. Toshiko Sato was not there. Bad Wolf did not bother to search for her. She knew the others would never leave Tosh behind if she were still alive. The members of Torchwood seemed to be doing quite well, considering. They wore clothes they'd brought with them as well as clothing the villagers had provided them.

Bad Wolf enjoyed observing them. Some of the villagers had acted as tour guides or translators before, though Owen, Ianto, and Gwen seemed to picking up on their language and vice versa. Owen was serving as their doctor. Gwen helped with monitoring the children and with the farming and hunting. Ianto helped make food, wash clothes, and helped with any repairs that were needed.

Owen in particular captured her interest. He seemed to be aware of her on some level. She liked hovering near him while he had a patient and Rose always supported a little healing boost when he wasn't looking. But he always seemed fidgety when she was near, looking around and over his shoulder a little more than normal. His timelines were especially intriguing. There was a choice in his future—his true future—but not one he himself would make. The more likely option would lead him to becoming a vessel for Death. Perhaps he was experiencing an echo through the rifts in Time that allowed him to sense her.

But even he couldn't hear her.

Two months after becoming aware again, Bad Wolf was growing restless because of her isolation. She wanted interaction. Part of her was baffled at the very human need to be social.

She didn't have to be seen. She just wanted to converse with someone other than herself. As being of pure energy and thought, she could only interact on the telepathic plane. And if she tried to make telepathic contact with anyone under Archangel's influence, she would bring attention to herself. So she had refrained from using her telepathy. There were several people she knew who would probably be able to at least hear her, but only one she knew was still alive. She had restrained herself so far out of compassion for him. Knowing Rose had died would greatly hurt him.

But she had reached the point where she'd rather deal with his grief than go without being known for any longer. And, truthfully, she believed he might be able to help her. Knowing his exact location made traveling to him easier. When the world reformed, she was in a large cavern she remembered from life.

The boy himself was sitting in front of her with a group of other children, peeling potatoes from a burlap sack. They each had unlit lanterns and torches next to them. But within a second of her arrival he stiffened, nostrils flaring, and his head whipped back and forth.

"What's wrong?" one of the girls asked.

"There's…something…"

He could sense her more potently than Owen had. But could he hear her? "Elliot."

He gasped and whipped his head around. She saw his eyes flick around but they didn't seem to settle on her.

"Is someone coming?" a boy demanded, tightening his grip on the knife he held.

"I don't…" Elliot shook his head the tiniest bit and turned around.

The children finished peeling potatoes, gathered up the peelings and stuffed them in the sack. The five of them headed towards the 'kitchen' cave with the bowls. Elliot did not go with them and none of the other children asked him to come with them either. Still a loner. He went off on his own just down one of the tunnels leading away from their camp. He used his lantern to see where he was going, but the way he moved indicated that he'd walked this path many times. He didn't go very far before sitting down against the wall.

After a moment, he sighed, raising his lantern. "Alright, who's there?"

"Me."

Elliot gasped and the lantern slipped through his fingers and hit the floor, shutting off on impact. He cussed and scrambled to find his lantern in the pitch black.

Since when does he swear? Rose thought. Never once in all the time he had traveled with her and Martha had he said anything worse than 'crap'.

Her 'vision' was not impaired by the darkness and she observed silently as he fumbled for the 'on' switch. She had no doubt he could hear her. She'd been right! Finally, someone who knew she existed. But now she had to decide how to proceed. She could stay and ask for his help, or leave, letting him think it was a vision, and figure it out on her own. The lantern flicked back to life and he held it up, turning this way and that. Little did he know that there was nothing to see. She was formless.

"Where are you?" He demanded with false bravado.

"Right in front of you."

He jerked sharply, frowning. "Where?"

"Precisely one foot."

"Why can't I see you?"

"Because I have no body. You cannot see something that has no form."

Elliot licked his lips. "Who are you?"

"You do not recognize my voice?"

"You sound like Rose."

"Well, there's a reason for that."

"Rose is long gone. And her voice isn't echo-y."

"Think, child. You know who I am."

He swallowed heavily. "Are you…Bad Wolf?"

"I am."

Elliot shivered and shrank back, almost curling in on himself to get away from her. He'd been afraid of the Doctor, once. Now he was afraid of her.

"Please don't be afraid of me," Bad Wolf pleaded. "You are the first person to whom I've spoken since I woke up."

He stared right at her. Maybe it was his abilities that let him know where she was, or maybe he'd finally pinpointed her 'voice' (though she doubted that). Then something shifted in his eyes and his jaw tightened. "Prove it. Tell me something only she'd know."

"When you were ten, you helped her find John Smith by listening to the fob watch. You spoke to her through the psychic paper. When you found John Smith, you were afraid of him because of who he was."

Elliot breathed in slowly and then exhaled, convinced. "Where's Rose?"

"…Gone."

"G-gone? She's…dead?"

"Yes."

"Oh God," he breathed, shuddering. He raked his hands through his hair and squeezed his eyes shut, teeth clenched against a scream. "No, no, no, no." His face twisted as tears formed in his eyes, and he shook his head in denial. "Why? Why? Why does everyone leave me?!"

"I'm still here, Elliot. I really am right here. I am Rose."

His body shuddered and he let out a quiet sob, still shaking his head.

Bad Wolf felt his emotions acutely and a tremor ran through her. "I'm sorry. I wasn't going to come but you were the only person I knew who would know me…other than the Time Lords. But making myself known to one would be making myself known to the other as well."

Elliot lowered his hands and looked up at her slowly. He sniffed.

"…I didn't want you to know, I didn't want to hurt you, but I—I've been going mad with the isolation."

"You were lonely? Shouting at the world but no one could hear?"

She opted not to respond verbally. Instead she nuzzled his mind. He sucked in a sharp breath…then exhaled softly.

"How did she—you die?"

"Moran."

What color that remained in his face drained away, leaving him ashen. Bad Wolf told him how Moran had continued to pursue them across the country—and how he was always finding them—and the trail of blood he left in his wake. How Rose had finally had enough and attacked, killing them all. But she hadn't found Moran in time... There had been a hostage, and Martha had been so brave. She told him how Rose had pushed her out of the way and taken Moran's bullet instead.

He closed his eyes and sighed. He was quiet for a long minute. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry for me. I am dead but I am not gone."

Elliot opened his eyes. "That's what I don't get. If you died, shouldn't you be in heaven? …If you believe in that, I mean."

"You're right. Rose should have moved on. But when Rose died her mind was still attached to Tardis and she refused to release her. So now we're stuck like this, part of the very thing holding reality together. There are two minds making up one whole one, and the result is me: Bad Wolf."

"Um. Okay. Hold on. Let me see if I got this. Rose was able to do all that stuff because she had part of the TARDIS's mind in her head. I knew that. She died and maybe her soul went off somewhere, maybe it didn't, but her mind couldn't leave because the TARDIS wouldn't let her go. Now they're both still together and active and that makes you?"

Bad Wolf nodded. "Essentially."

"And I'm the only one who can hear you because…?"

"You really have to ask?"

"My telepathy stuff?"

"I believe your clairvoyant abilities may also be playing a role here."

Elliot cocked his head to one side and she recognized the look on his face as the one he wore when in deep thought. "Rose told me that it was really easy for her to talk with me telepathically, but I wasn't the only one she could talk to."

"What are you thinking?"

"You're not making an effort but I can hear you. What happens if you actually try to make an effort?"

She was proud. "I have considered it. But I didn't truly know if you would be able to hear me. I had no way of knowing if it was possible at all."

"But now you do. So maybe you can figure out a way so everyone can."

"Yes. That was my second reason for coming to you. I believe it may be possible to make myself visible. I could see myself when I first woke up. Before I knew what had happened, I looked like I had when I died. But then…I lost myself for a while and my form went, too."

"You don't know how to get the form back?" He checked.

"No."

"And if I agree to help you, you'll stay for a while?"

Bad Wolf laughed softly at the hopefulness on his face but sobered when she realized how serious he was. Poor child. He craved love and affection and all those who he depended on to provide it were gone. "Yeah. But I cannot stay forever."

He sighed through his nose. "I know."

Elliot couldn't stay down the tunnel for long. Cave life was dangerous and the children were always under supervision. Elliot was allowed on his own because of his age and his? unique needs. But every so often, even he had to check in with one of the adult members of the family that kept an eye on, or a search party would be organized. He'd learned this the hard way. Plus, it was almost dinnertime and even though they tried to ration their food carefully, it really was first come, first served.

Bad Wolf followed alongside him while he stood in the queue for dinner. Potato soup—hence all the potatoes they'd been peeling earlier. She followed him over to the tables where he ate with the family who kept an eye on him—a man and woman named Aaron and Nina from Germany and their daughter, Alyssa. She spoke to him throughout the meal while simultaneously attempting to strengthen and reform the telepathic signals that made up her 'voice' into something they could understand. Once or twice it seemed as if Alyssa was beginning to hear her—and it would be the child who heard her first, her mind fresh and open, and unbound by the beliefs instilled in adults—but the little girl never turned to look at her so she could only assume she never quite got through.

Elliot, though, could hear her quite clearly. Every so often he'd snicker or throw a look of incredulity in her direction. Aaron, Nina, and Alyssa didn't seem surprised by his reactions to seemingly nothing, which could only mean they were aware of his psychic nature. This could be beneficial.

Even though he had a family watching over him, Elliot roomed by himself in a small tent. He explained to Bad Wolf how he'd been offered a place with Aaron, Nina, and Alyssa in their larger tent, but he had refused. He had agreed to be under their watch, but he hadn't wanted a new family. Families tended to leave him behind, one way or another.

She was a being of immense power, born of Time itself, and she alone could see it in its entirety. If she so chose she could list every single species that would ever exist, the stages of their evolution, precisely when they began, when they became extinct. She could reduce creatures and objects alike to atoms and dust, reach beyond the veil and retrieve a soul, heal a body on the brink of death, or even erase them from existence. Yet she still felt the sting of the boy's words as if he'd slapped her with them.

"Are you tired?" Elliot asked.

"I do not require sleep."

"You don't feel right. Kind of…less there."

"I have depleted my energy. I must rejuvenate."

He cocked his head to one side. "How?"

"My power comes from time. When I am my full self, I carry the time vortex itself within me. Would I could, I'd simply enter the time vortex for a few moments. It would be the equivalent of a full meal and a good night's rest. But…if I part the fabric of time even the tiniest bit, the walls of the paradox will break and the reapers will come. I cannot allow it. They are there now, swarming at the edge of the fabric…waiting…"

He shuddered. "Stop it."

"Apologies. But you understand why I cannot simply nip to the vortex? I must absorb time as it passes. I shall be fine by the time you awaken."

When he decided to get ready for bed, she allowed her attention to drift as she begin rejuvenating. While he wasn't looking, she turned his covers back. She could not touch the physical world but her mind was strong enough to influence it. He didn't seem to notice what she'd done, as he wormed his way into his bedding and pulling the blankets snugly over his shoulders.

Finally, he glanced in her direction. "Rose—I mean—Bad Wolf?"

"I am here."

He laid his head down on the pillow and was silent. She couldn't tell if he wanted her there or not.

"I had planned on remaining here as I rejuvenated but if you wish me to leave—"

"No! Stay." His voice was tiny and she thought he sounded very much like he had the nights after his parents were killed.

"Very well."

Elliot was quiet for a few more minutes though she was quite aware he hadn't even begun falling asleep. "Wolf?"

"I am here."

"Did…. Did it hurt?"

"Yes."

He said nothing but his thoughts were strong enough that she was able to glimpse them without even trying. He was thinking of his parents' deaths.

"Your parents were shot in their heads. They would barely have had time to process the sound of the gunshot before they were dead. They did not suffer."

"But she did."

"Rose died exactly 98 seconds after she was shot. She was not in pain for long. …Remember, she is me. She's dead, but she's not gone."

Elliot sighed quietly. "Rose, you promised you'd come back for me when all this was over. You promised I could travel with you and the Doctor and I'd have a home."

Bad Wolf returned her entire attention to him immediately. "Elliot. When Rose made that promise, she did not possess my knowledge."

He rolled over so he was facing her. "What do you mean?"

"This might be difficult to comprehend. Are you sure you wish to know?"

"Yes."

"None of this was meant to happen. Time cannot continue as it should if this year remains a reality and so Time will remove it. When the paradox machine is switched off, the paradox will be undone, and everything from the moment it became active and onwards will be erased.

Staring, he slowly sat up. "This never happens?"

"If we are successful."

He exhaled sharply, puffing out his cheeks. "Wow. So this…you…I…wow okay, my head hurts."

"Do not attempt to comprehend."

His eyes flipped wide as he realized what it meant. "Then…my parents? Macy?"

"Yes."

"Everyone at the farm?"

"Everyone everywhere."

"You?"

"Absolutely," she lied.

The grin that followed lit up his face brighter than the sun and he laughed giddily at the ray of hope she'd provided.

Well. ahem. Surprise?