Time will reverse. Everything will be undone.

It's what he told himself to keep going. His ray of hope in the void left behind in the wake of her death. There had been comfort in knowing she was alive during their separation. But knowing that she no longer breathed, her heart no longer beat, and her face never lit up in a smile was almost impossible to bear.

Sometimes the mantra wasn't enough for the Doctor. Sometimes the tenuous walls he'd built up came crashing down and waves of grief swept over him again. He was well practiced in not letting emotion show, but there were times when he had to look away from everyone for a few moments and allow his face to contort as it needed to, even if he would not allow the tears to fall.

It was in these moments that he acknowledged that her death was as real as his own mother's during the War. As Romana's. Susan's. Adric's.

It was in these moments that he wanted to see this group in Oregon. He wanted to see the faces of the people Rose had fought to protect. He wanted to know what was so special about them. Or just confirm that there wasn't anything special. That they were just ordinary people and Rose had just been Rose by protecting them. She had always been reckless when it came to helping others, always been so willing to throw her life away when he needed her alive and with him.

The worst part was that he hadn't been able to say goodbye. Hadn't been able to hold her one last time, tell her he loved her. Hadn't even had a chance to save her. He didn't even know where her grave was, or what had happened to her body.

At least Martha was still out there. As long as she kept going, Rose would not have died in vain. He hoped she knew that.

Time will reverse. Everything will be undone.

And if not—if their plan failed—there were plenty of ways to provoke one of the gun-toting guards around here into shooting him. Or maybe he would just stop eating and sleeping and let his body fail on its own. Then he could join her in death.

"We are gonna get in soooooooo much trouble!" Alyssa giggled as she danced around in a circle.

"Not if we get back down quick enough," Elliot reminded her.

Bad Wolf hovered next to the two children who were above ground for the first time in months. Snow covered the ground and the sky was overcast, but they had greeted the surface world with bright smiles and breathed in the crisp fresh air with relish.

They needed to be somewhere they wouldn't be interrupted or overheard. So Elliot had suggested the surface. None of them had been up there since before the last time it snowed and they wouldn't go up for a few days yet. It was too dangerous to keep a guard posted out there since there was little cover without all the foliage and they would leave a clear trail in the snow back to the cave. They'd also needed a test subject. Alyssa hadn't been out of the caves since November (it was mid-February) and when Elliot had told her he needed her help with something on the surface, she agreed without even asking what it was.

The eleven year old was currently wrapped in her father's blue winter coat, which fell clear past her knees, two layers of trousers and winter boots. She hadn't been able to find any gloves and instead wore a pair of socks on her hands. Elliot was fortunate enough to have a jacket of his own from his time traveling with Rose and Martha, which he now wore over a hoodie, plus a pair of track pants and boots.

Alyssa sighed, tossing her silvery hair over her shoulder. "Fine. Whatchya need my help with?"

"You know how I can hear things that other people can't?"

"Yep."

"There's someone that only I can hear and she needs to be heard by others."

Alyssa's brow furrowed. "Huh?"

He sighed. "How do I even explain this? There's…someone here—but she has no body—"

"Like a ghost?"

"Like a ghost," he agreed. "But not exactly."

"Here?" Alyssa looked around as if expecting to see a ghostly figure lurking around. "Where?"

Elliot glanced around, using his abilities to determine to exact location of Bad Wolf, then gestured at her. "Right there."

"Can you see her?"

"No. She doesn't have a form. She's just a mind. But I can sense her and hear her."

Alyssa frowned at the empty space where Bad Wolf floated. "How d'you know you can trust her?"

Elliot exhaled softly and rubbed his arm with his hand. "Because she's a friend of mine."

"Are you sure?" the girl insisted. "If you can't see her—"

"I know it's her. Trust me, I know. And I know why she's this way. I'm one of the only people who can hear her because of what I can do. She's working on a way to make herself heard by everyone."

"And you need a normal person for that." Alyssa nodded. "Uh, no offense."

"None taken." He looked at Bad Wolf. "You ready?"

"I am if she is. Ask her if she heard anything odd at dinner last night."

He did. Alyssa cocked her head to the side and thought about it. "Not…really? I mean, I just heard people talking."

"Did any of the voices sound strange? How did you put it—echo-y?"

Elliot relayed this to her. Alyssa swiped the tip of her tongue across of her teeth pensively. "Not echo-y. But I did hear someone talking through a walkie talkie at one point."

"A walkie talkie?" Elliot asked. "What made you think it was a walkie talkie?"

"Just how the voice sounded. Kinda hollow and far away. Faded in and out a lot."

He stared at her. "Alyssa, none of us have walkie talkies. It's not safe."

Her eyes got very round. "So that voice—"

"Was her."

"Excellent." Bad Wolf would have smiled if she could've. That meant she was finally starting to get through to the rest of the world. All things considering, this was going swimmingly.

For the next half hour, Bad Wolf spoke almost nonstop while trying different ways of manipulating how her 'voice' was projected. Alyssa was instructed to raise her hand every time she thought she heard something so Bad Wolf could know what was working. Out of curiosity, Bad Wolf drifted over to the girl and reached for her mind, careful to remain on the surface so as to not overwhelm her, and examined the way it was responding as she continued to speak. She was well aware of Bad Wolf's proximity on a subconscious level, but her telepathic abilities were not potent enough to perceive her the way Elliot could. At least not as she was now. Perhaps if she could simply heighten the girl's abilities—

No! Rose shouted. It'll only hurt her.

And it would be illogical to alter everyone with whom we wish to converse, Tardis concurred.

Bad Wolf continued to speak in a steady stream while monitoring the way Alyssa was responding. She alternated between stories, astrophysics, contemporary song lyrics, nursery rhymes, and listing the breeds of felines and canines in the world. Finally, thirty minutes after they began, as she was reciting "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", Alyssa began singing right along with her. Elliot, who'd been sitting a few feet away on a rock drawing the landscape on his sketchpad, whipped around in surprise.

"Are you—"

Alyssa held up her finger and finished the last line in the song before smiling at him.

"You can hear me?" It was almost too good to be true. What she'd been doing, it was so simple really, she should've thought of it weeks ago. She'd sent a prompt to Alyssa's brain to show it how to process the telepathic signals it was receiving so they could be understood as speech.

"Mmhmm. Yep. Like you're sitting right next to me."

Bad Wolf couldn't hold back a laugh of delight and she zipped around the girl, wanting to scoop her up in a hug. "At last!"

Elliot stuffed his sketchpad inside his jacket and leaped over the rock. "How'd you do it?"

"I'm sending a little instruction to her brain so it knows how to translate the type of telepathic signals it's receiving. I'm pretty sure I can regulate this task into a subconscious—"

"What's your name?" Alyssa interrupted, completely uninterested in the complicated talk. "How did you die?"

Bad Wolf halted in front of the girl and pondered how to answer. Before she could, however, something tickled on the edge of her awareness. She expanded her senses towards the sensation and very nearly hissed out loud when she identified the signatures of a small swarm of Remnants. They were heading in the general direction of the cave, but from what she could detect there was no urgency. An ordinary sweep, which was going to turn deadly the moment they saw the children. She had to get them inside and conceal the signs of their venture.

She was silent long enough that Alyssa started glancing around unsurely. "Uh, hello? …Where'd she go?"

"She's right in front of you," Elliot informed her though his brow was furrowed. He, too, could sense something wasn't right. But they were too far away to register as a threat on his own radar.

Oh, the girl had asked a question. She should answer that. "I am the Bad Wolf," she said. "I am neither living nor dead. …And you have been above ground for precisely thirty-two minutes. You will be missed soon if you are not already."

"Crap, she's right." Elliot glanced at the entrance to the cave.

"Go," Bad Wolf urged while trying not to sound too urgent. "I will deal with the snow and join you below shortly."

Alyssa scampered off quickly but Elliot stared at Bad Wolf long and hard for a moment. "Go," she repeated. "Please."

His eyes widened and he didn't need to be told again. Maybe it was something in her tone or maybe the Remnants had registered on his radar. Whatever the case, he was now making a beeline for the cave and that was all that mattered. They slipped inside the entrance, which was concealed by a thick mass of roots, grass, and branches the cave dwellers had made, and she listened as they descended down to safety.

If anyone would have been watching, they would have witnessed most of the snow in a twelve meter radius suddenly lift into the air as if blown by a great wind, swirl around in the air for a few seconds, before descending back to the ground. When it settled, all signs of the children's presence had been erased. Telekinesis, the ability to control things without physical contact, was one of the many tricks Rose had never been capable of. She'd had the power but lacked the mental capacity to wield it and it was doubtful she ever would have. Humans really needed to learn to use more of their brains.

At least I have a brain. Rose muttered.

Just because our brains are in different forms does not mean mine is nonexistent, Tardis retorted. And I happen to use mine to its fullest capacity, thank you very much.

Touché.

Satisfied they were suitably concealed, Bad Wolf shot off in the direction of the oncoming Remnants. She wanted them well away from the cave entrance when she decimated them just in case someone came looking around their last known coordinates.

There was something about the rage she felt every time she saw them that was quite unlike any other. Both her halves hated them for their own reasons and she felt it all quite potently, but underneath was an underlying current of primal anger that had no direct source. They were abominations and their very existence was against the Laws of Time. They had to be erased.

The Remnants shared an unorthodox telepathic bond themselves and she was able to use it to draw their attention to a remote area about fifteen miles north of the cave. As they neared she could feel their curiosity as well as their delight at the prospect of an intriguing prey. She waited for them a hundred feet off the ground where she'd first sent the telepathic signal. When the Remnants arrived, they immediately began sweeping the area in groups of twos and threes. She counted thirty-five in total. Once they were far enough apart, she descended. One by one she enveloped each of them and turned their bodies to dust and sent their souls into oblivion.

The other Remnants became aware that they were under attack and began swarming towards her. All the other times she had been nothing but a specter, an unseen and unheard executioner. But now, now she knew how to make them hear her. And she let them hear her laughter as she zipped around them, exploding them into dust at random. They fired their lasers in all directions, blades slashing, but none of them had any effect on her.

When she was done, nothing remained but thirty-five piles of dust that were already being scattered to the wind. She surveyed her work with satisfaction, scanned the area to make sure none remained, and then dematerialized.

She rematerialized back in the cave and promptly located Elliot helping Alyssa sneak her father's coat back where it belonged. He glanced up when she neared and then muttered to Alyssa that she was back.

"Alyssa, go on about your day," Bad Wolf instructed. "We will tell you when we need you again."

The little girl nodded obediently and left. The moment she was out of earshot, Elliot sighed quietly and glanced at Bad Wolf. "How many?" he asked simply.

"Thirty-five. I destroyed them fifteen miles from here. You need not worry about them any longer. Oh, and I gave the snow a bit of a whirl so no one will see your tracks."

He inclined his head to the side. "You can do that?"

"I cannot touch the world but I can manipulate it."

"Cool."

The three of them went up to the surface once a day so they didn't have to be discreet and Alyssa and Elliot could see the sun. Up there was where Bad Wolf usually practiced her range. Her voice worked like any other—the further the source, the fainter it was. She wasn't willing to test how far she could be if she screamed, just in case it travelled too far—in any direction, including down.

While underground, Bad Wolf practiced on numbers. She knew she could make one ordinary child and one psychic teenager hear her, but could she do more? Elliot recruited some of the other kids under the guise he had a new game for them to try. They all were able to hear her easily. When she decided she wanted to try testing her 'voice' on adults, Elliot lead her down to one of the smaller caverns where a smaller group of adults lived on their own. They, too, heard her.

All that remained by the third day was the matter of her invisibility. People could hear her without issue, but she still was formless. She, Alyssa, and Elliot returned to the surface the third morning for practice. They didn't want anyone to see a woman flickering in and out of sight down there—might cause panic. But no matter what she did, neither kid could see her.

"Can you even see yourself?" He asked.

"No. I am…formless."

Elliot scoffed throwing his hands in the air. "Well, DUH! How are we supposed to see you if you're not even there!? Jeez."

"…Um. Oops?"

The annoyed look melted right off his face, leaving him looking stunned.

"What?"

"Nothing… it's just… you just sounded so much like Rose. …I could even picture how your face would look."

Bad Wolf said nothing. Elliot stared unwaveringly at the spot where she was. Alyssa glanced between the pair of them with wide-eyes for a few seconds. Then she cleared her throat. "So, uh, wanna go play in the snow while she works on that?"

Elliot blinked then looked down at Alyssa. "Sure."

Bad Wolf watched as the two of them moved away from her. Alyssa hadn't known Rose so she was fine. Elliot had known Rose for such a brief time, so he was struggling to grasp what and who she was. How would Martha take it when she finally found out? And what about the Doctor? He wouldn't have long to know her as she was now but, still, she wondered and worried.

He meant more to her than any one or thing in existence. She was created, first and foremost, to save him, since Rose and the TARDIS has been unable to do it individually. She held all their feelings inside her, all their love. More than anything, she loved him. She knew her last minutes would be with him…but what if he rejected her? Rose knew he was afraid of the Bad Wolf and, in a way, hated her for what she represented for Rose. What if he didn't see her for what she really was?

Worry not. He cares about you and I more than he does anyone else in the universe. Tardis soothed. Even if he fears whom we become together, his love for us will never diminish.

Yeah, you're right. …What would Mum think if she could see me now? Rose wondered.

I think it best we not allow our thoughts to go down that path.

Bad Wolf sighed. She needed to get back on track and figure out how to get herself a body. She knew she'd looked like herself when she'd awoken, but had no idea how that had happened, only that she'd lost it when Rose was put into her protective coma while Tardis mended the barrier. It was something she had to put effort into, then, like the signal she sent for words, even if she could teach herself to do it subconsciously.

She was aware of herself, a mass of energy always stretching and retracting, ebbing and flowing as she moved around. Turning inward, she began to mold herself into a human shape. As she did, she thought about what she'd looked like before. Her form had been identical to the one she'd died in, blood and everything. The form was instinctive and its appearance must've been an echo from the moment of her death.

There. She could see it in her mind as clearly as she could see the snow on the ground. Everything from her messy brown hair, her shabby clothes even more tattered from fighting, skin pale, body thin from too much strain and not enough food, And the blood…it was bright red, fresh from her body, thickest just below her ribcage where she'd been shot and thinner as it spread out across her torso. It was on part of her sleeve and all over her hand.

She looked like a ghost from a horror film.

But right now that was all she had and it would have to do. She hoped there was a way to do away with all the blood. It certainly wouldn't help her earn people's trust. She'd work on that soon.

Bad Wolf glanced down to see if she'd made any progress…and saw herself. Hair, skin, the earthy clothes, and the blood—all of it, just like that. She was there. She laughed aloud, surprised and pleased by the ease of it.

"What the—aaaah!" Elliot screamed. He was staring right at her, wide-eyed, the color rapidly draining from his face as he saw exactly what Rose looked like when she died.

He squeezed his eyes shut, sucking in a breath between his teeth. Alyssa, blissfully blind to what Elliot was seeing, put her hands on his arm and back worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry!" Bad Wolf cried, zipping over to him. "I only just did it, I didn't know you'd see!"

"It's…" He peeked open one eye then promptly shut it. "Sorry. I just…I wasn't expecting…. Is that how she looked when…?"

"I believe so."

He inhaled shakily and shook his head again, quickly."I'm going back inside. C'mon Alyssa."

"But I wanna stay out here!" she protested.

"She can't see me. I'll keep an eye on her for a little while longer," Bad Wolf offered.

Elliot's eyes snapped open and he glared at her. "And what if she does see you? She's eleven!"

"I have little doubt she's seen worse."

"So not the point," he snapped.

She could hear the quiver at the edge of his sentence, could see the hints of tears in his eyes. Knowing your friend was dead was one thing but seeing it… Bad Wolf sighed and allowed herself to fade from view. ho else did she know that would be willing and able to help her? Martha seemed like the obvious choice, but she had a job to do and that job wasn't playing guinea pig for the incorporeal entity that her best friend was trapped in. The Doctor was out of the question. None of the people she met in any survivor camps knew her well enough. The former companions she knew well enough to ask for help were dead.

Really, that left one group qualified to help her. Good thing they were used to the weird and alien on a daily basis. She found them right where she'd last left them: a remote village in the Himalayas.

It was late evening when she materialized in the village. The half moon was rising steadily higher, bathing the streets in silvery white. She could feel the human life around her, most of them in their homes for the night, as well as the wildlife beyond the village. She drifted silently through the streets, a specter in the shadows, towards the house where Owen, Gwen, and Ianto now lived. The village had become something of a haven for others in the area and, as such, space was limited, but the members of Torchwood had been given a larger flat to themselves.

That was where she found them, eating dinner on the floor in the kitchen. They were bundled up against the cold (which Bad Wolf was aware of, even if she couldn't feel it) and seated in front of the stove for warmth. Once more she was keenly aware of Toshiko's absence. Even if the three of them hadn't physically left any space where she 'should be' it was still there.

She was wondering how to announce her presence to them—maybe she'd knock something over, find something to knock against the door, or maybe just start talking—when Owen suddenly stiffened, his back going ridged. He'd been aware of her to some degree last time she'd visited and that was before she'd learned how to project herself.

"Owen? You alright?" Gwen questioned.

"Not sure," he replied a moment later. He licked his lips, eyes flicking around the room. "Just that weird feeling I had before. Like I'm being watched or something."

Gwen stood up, setting her bowl on the floor, and walked over to the window. She peered out. "No one out there, Owen." She untied the cord holding their curtain in place and let it fall. "Better?"

He shook his head. "It's not out there. It's in here."

Ianto frowned, lowering his bowl. "You don't think the spheres learned how to be invisible?"

Bad Wolf couldn't help it. She laughed out loud.

Owen let out a yelp that was precisely two octaves higher than his normal voice, Gwen nearly jumped out of her skin, and poor Ianto dropped his bowl, which clattered to the ground and its contents spilt everywhere. Bad Wolf scooped the food off the floor and returned it to the bowl without a thought. Owen swore colorfully at the sight and Ianto made a hasty retreat, scooting across the floor on his bum. Gwen recovered first. She plunged her hand into her trousers and pulled out a gun, holding it out in front of her. Ianto made a dive for the pot next to the stove and brandished it like a weapon. Owen leaped to his feet, teeth bared.

She sighed and popped over behind Owen. "That was terrible." Owen jumped in surprise and spun around to face her, stepping back. Interesting. He must be able to perceive her voice coming from a certain direction as opposed to being omnidirectional. The children had never mentioned that. "Really, I could've killed you by now."

"Who are you?" Owen demanded.

She could just out and say it. She could. She probably should. But she wanted to have a little fun with them. It'd been such a long time. "I'm me."

"What are you?"

"That's the million dollar question these days. Depends on how you look at it. I could be a ghost or I could be a metaphysical being of time. …Or both. Dunno, I kinda like both."

"Stop talking in riddles!" Ianto barked though his voice wavered enough that he sounded scared rather than threatening. But it was Gwen who really had her attention. The Welsh woman's eyes were narrowed slightly and her lips were parted in thought. She was letting the guys do all the talking while she listened and processed. She was very close to figuring it out.

Bad Wolf popped in front of her, just inches away from her face. "Ask Gwen. She's almost got it figured out. …You've always had an affinity for ghosts. Must run in your family."

The penny dropped. Gwen gasped, her mouth opened and closed a few times soundlessly then she murmured, "Rose?"

"Very good."

She started to slowly lower her gun but Owen held out his hand to stop her. "You're just gonna believe it? It could be changing its voice to sound like her so we'll trust it. …Rose is a freak show but she can't turn invisible or walk through walls and she'd have no bloody idea where we are."

"I knew you were in the Himalayas. From there it was a matter of locating your timelines. Wasn't too hard. Don't worry," she added when she saw their panicked looks. "I'm the only one who can trace you that way. You're safe."

"Yeah, we'll be the judge of that. Still not sure we can trust you."

"You want me to prove myself? Fine. In May, we received a call requesting our assistance in the Himalayas. You, Gwen, Ianto, and Tosh went on the mission but I stayed behind in case Jack came back. Which he did, by the way, two days before this all started. The Doctor and Martha were with him."

"And where are they now, eh?"

"The Doctor and Jack are being held prisoner onboard the Valiant. Martha is in southeast Russia."

Owen and Gwen glanced at each other. "And what about you?" Gwen asked evenly. "Where are you?"

"Right in front of you." To prove her point, she nudged the gun downwards just enough that Gwen would feel it.

Glancing at her gun, Gwen swallowed. "Why can't we see you?"

"Because I don't exist on the same plane as you anymore." They stared at her uncomprehendingly. Bad Wolf sighed and said simply, "I was shot."

"But…you…oh god." Gwen lowered her gun. "You said you were a ghost."

"But ghosts aren't real," Ianto said. "Not like…not like this. They're just echoes."

"I am not a ghost. Not truly. But I'm all that's left of Rose Tyler."

Ianto was the first to react. He sighed and let the pot slip out of his hands and slumped to the ground, ducking his head. Gwen closed her eyes and covered her mouth with her hand. Owen pressed his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes with his fingertips.

"First Tosh," Ianto croaked quietly and she was surprised to see tears forming in his eyes. When he'd first joined their team and introduced himself as a survivor of Torchwood One, Rose had been outraged. He was one of them. She had made it very clear that she did not trust him and he was not welcome. Over time she had slowly come to accept him, trust him, and even like him, but she knew he'd never forgotten her original hostility. She certainly hadn't. "Now you."

"You don't need to be sad for me. I'd…rather you weren't. I am still here, after all."

"For how long, though?" Owen asked.

"…It's complicated. You don't have a very clear picture of what's going on in the world. You're so isolated out here. It will take some time for me to tell you everything. Do you have time tonight or should I wait until morning?"

They looked at each other for a moment then Gwen nodded. "We've got time."

The four of them sat in a circle (Bad Wolf floating a foot or so off the ground) while the humans finished eating and she told them her story from arriving in the Hub to find the Doctor, Jack, and Martha up until the present. They listened, asking questions when they arose, but otherwise remained silent and let her talk. She did her best to keep the explanation of her existence as simple as possible, not wanting to burden them with unnecessary details when they were already getting so much dumped on them at once.

"So you're only alive because the TARDIS won't let go of you?" Owen clarified.

"In layman's terms."

"Right. Okay. But how can it do that?"

"Because the TARDIS is the machine sustaining the paradox. Tardis may've been in Rose's mind for nearly a year but she was still part of the ship. As long as we are one, neither can die, because the pull of the paradox is stronger than even the pull of death."

"But you said the goal was to have the machine destroyed," Gwen pointed out. "What happens to you then?"

"When the paradox machine is shut down, the pull will disappear. Tardis is not strong enough to resist the pull of death. She will either have to let go of Rose or hold on and join her in the afterlife. Either way, Rose will die."

"But if time is reversed—"

"Only what occurs in the paradox will be reversed. If Rose dies after the reversal begins, there is a high possibility she will be lost. I cannot die until the paradox ends, and the reversal begins almost instantaneously."

Gwen sucked in a sharp breath through her nose, Ianto shook his head slowly, and Owen's head thunked against the wall as they all realized how dire her circumstances were. Bad Wolf looked between them sadly. She felt a deep, almost carnal fear of the possibility of her imminent death. She didn't want to die. But…what she wanted was unimportant. Time and the universe demanded to be set right and if her life was the price, so be it.

"Never mind me," Bad Wolf insisted. "The most important thing is that the paradox machine be shut down. And I require your assistance."

This got their attention and they perked up immediately. "How can we help?" Ianto asked.

"I need to be seen. I have a form but you are unable to perceive with. For the past few days, I have been with a friend with clairvoyant and telepathic abilities who was able to hear me. I learned to project my voice in a way you can understand. Now I need to learn to do the same with my body."

"Your friend couldn't see you?"

Bad Wolf hesitated. "He could. His…reaction was how I knew I was visible to him. I look as I did when I died. He was…shaken by it. But I still need to be seen by everyone and not just psychics and, hopefully, I can learn to manipulate my appearance. I came to you because I know you all could handle how I look."

"That bad?" Owen asked quietly.

"Yes."

He puffed out his cheeks. "Well. Nothing I haven't seen before. You weren't exactly the picture of health when you first came stumbling in to Torchwood."

They weren't able to dedicate all their time to her and even though she wished they would, she certainly hadn't expected them to. They had responsibilities that they couldn't shirk just for her. The four of them unanimously agreed that Bad Wolf should keep her presence hidden from the villagers until such a time she was able to manipulate her form. When she became visible, the sight of her would cause panic.

She alternated between the three of them whenever they weren't busy or weren't around other people, which meant she spent the most time with Owen. He was usually alone except when his services were needed or he was helping elsewhere. Which meant he was the first one to see her. He had known ahead of time she wouldn't be pleasant to look at and he was used to pretty horrible things but, even still, the blood drained from his face as he took in her appearance.

"Oh," was all he could say.

Bad Wolf did not reveal herself to Martha until the beginning of April, a month and a half after she had the capability to do so. She, by no means, stayed away that long, she usually went to her at least once a day and remained for a while before leaving. But she never spoke to her, never let her see her, and Martha never showed any sign that she knew Bad Wolf was near. Ever so often she paid a visit to other people she was keeping watch over, like Elliot and Torchwood. Elliot was more comfortable being able to see her once she'd discovered she could not only alter her form but could switch between three separate ones—one for each time she had existed. She also liked to hunt Remnants. It was a good way to exercise her powers and practice ones she had never had need of before.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Martha, but she knew stories of them had spread and not just in America. People in Russia and parts of Europe had asked where Rose was. She didn't want Martha to have any doubt about her answer, or for her grief to be anything but genuine. If someone saw through her and word got out… But then Bad Wolf felt a sudden shift in the timelines, saw Martha's abruptly end in the immediate future, and staying hidden promptly went to the pot.

She found Martha at a rebel base encamped deep within the mountains of Austria, in the middle of a raid. The rebels were outnumbered but fighting back gallantly and Martha was, of course, hiding out of the way. The usual tactic would've worked if not for the dogs the Enforcers had brought with them. Big, mean dogs that shredded whatever they got ahold of. They wouldn't be fooled by the perception filter like the humans were.

One of the dogs was creeping her way, head cocked to the side in a moment of confusion. The filter was telling part of its mind that she wasn't there, but its other senses would be denying that. Martha was too focused on the fighting and didn't see it coming until the last second. Which was exactly the moment Bad Wolf planted herself between them, fully visible, eyes blazing, teeth bared, and snarled at the dog. It scrambled to turn, tripping and stumbling over its own paws in its haste to get away. Bad Wolf's eyes flared gold and the dog exploded into bright, shimmering gold dust which dulled as it trickled to the ground.

Smirking, she turned to face Martha. She was in her youngest form (or oldest, depending on how you looked at it), from when Rose was barely twenty with the pink hoodie, black trousers, smooth blonde hair, and round cheeks. Martha had not known her then but it only took her a second to recognize her and then all other emotions but plain and honest shock drained away. Martha's eyes widened, her jaw went slack, and her nostrils flared. Her heart rate and pulse were elevated and her mind was a swirling cacophony of confusion, shock, and disbelief.

Bad Wolf smiled sheepishly and spread her arms out wide as if to say 'surprise'.

And Martha fainted dead away.

*fans Martha*