Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me
It's late but I wanted to get some more written and posted while I was sitting by my laptop anyway. This chapter's a little shorter than most, sorry about that. Although I'm hoping to be able to start posting frequently again.
Hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 20
It was a calm, warm summer evening in central Cardiff. The sun was low and beginning to turn a dusty orange colour, reflecting in a fiery glare off the glass shop fronts and offices. The traffic had reduced to a steady, lazy trickle as most people were now at home after finishing a day's work. A few shoppers straggled with weary hopefulness through the high street, but the majority of the shops, save a few convenience stores, were now closed for the night.
Compared to the noisy bustle of the early afternoon it was decidedly still and tranquil. Or at least it would've been if it weren't for the two people arguing loudly and heatedly in the street.
"There's no way, Rose!" The dark haired man's voice was loud enough to echo in the close space between the buildings.
"It's our only option!" The blonde woman's retorting shout was only slighter lower in volume, but her voice had a tendency to shrill the louder she shouted.
The few remaining shoppers either stopped and stared, or hurried along, heads down, not wanting to get involved.
"Are you out of your MIND? You know what happened last time! I can't believe you're even suggesting this!" A handful of pigeons pecking hopefully on the pavement outside the baker shop scattered with a frenzy of flapping wings at the blast of noise.
"Well I'm going to find him." Rose's voice was a muted whisper, her throat raw from shouting. She turned away from her friend.
A strong hand snagged her jacket, pulling her roughly back. Thankful that she was still wearing Ace's over-large bomber jacket, she slipped her arms free and started to run, quickly breaking into a sprint.
She heard him yelling behind her as he gave chase but she ignored him. Knowing she was probably faster than him over a short distance but that he had more stamina, she just had to lose him quickly. Cursing the Doctor Martin's for their loud, heavy tread she turned abruptly down an alleyway startling a ginger and white cat into a yowl of protest as she sprinted down the narrow passage, her footfalls echoing alarmingly around her. At the end of the alleyway was a large, open field and she took off, running flat out into the gathering dusk.
dwdwdw
It was one of those times when all the Doctor could do was scratch his head in perplexity. Two point eight billion light-years from Earth, give or take, and there was nothing untoward here at all. In fact, all he'd found was the glorious explosion of light and colour that was the Medusa Cascade. And the whole point of it was, that there was light and colour here… not that enormous dark blip suggested by the NASA satellite data.
He'd even skipped both ways in time but there was nothing about this sector in space to explain what they'd seen on the CMB readings. Nothing at all…
He rubbed his face tiredly with his palms, deflated. He'd been so certain he'd find the answer here. Or at least enough of an answer for him to know what the bloody question was.
His thoughts led to him pacing and his pacing led him down the corridor to the room where he'd grown the new TARDIS. Maybe he'd find a clue there. Something inside his ship had switched around though and the room he entered wasn't the large, airy zero room he'd been using for the TARDIS's development, but the gallery he'd entered before. The one that had upset Rose so much.
His eyes were immediately drawn to the frame on the wall that had caught his attention before, the one with the fuzzy, blurry out of focus suggestion of a picture. Only it wasn't fuzzy or blurry or out of focus anymore.
The Doctor stared at it in sudden shock, his eyes darkening as his pupils widened in alarm.
What did this mean?
dwdwdw
By the time Rose reached the bank of trees at the far side of the field her chest was burning with each ragged breath she took. There was no time to rest though, she knew that Jack wasn't far behind her and that this was her only opportunity to lose him. She had to get to London, she knew where to find the Master. The vision – or whatever it was – had shown her.
And since she'd relived that vision through the Doctor's thoughts, she'd known on some deep down level that the Master wouldn't hurt her now. Something fundamental, something massive had changed. From a logical point of view she knew what she was doing should be viewed as utterly insane. In fact Jack had described it with words of a similar meaning, although far, far less polite.
But it wasn't logic driving her now. It was that deep, gut instinct that's so overwhelming it demands to be heard. That human trait that the Doctor was so frequently in awe of, but which Rose had never really understood until now.
With a silent tribute to her bronze gymnastics medal, Rose swung herself into the branches of a nearby tree and settled among the foliage, fighting to calm and quiet her breathing. Once again thanking her, or rather, Ace's attire, the black blended in nicely with the shadows.
dwdwdw
"Rose…" he breathed, his fingertips brushing lightly against the surface of the photograph.
She looked older, like she had been when she'd stopped herself from falling into the void. She was wearing that same blue jacket and her makeup was muted.
How could this be? What did it mean? He checked around again. None of his other companions had two pictures in this gallery. Just her. How did she get to be in here twice? And was this his Rose he was seeing? Or the future version of herself that he'd seen in Torchwood? No… it couldn't be that, she'd erased her own existence just by being there.
Well… he'd been looking for answers and he'd found more questions. This might be a clue though. Although a clue to what he had no idea. He wished Rose were here, maybe there was something about her that he'd missed. Something subtle that had happened during her blackout that could put some meaning to what he was seeing.
He'd just made up his mind to take the TARDIS back to Cardiff to collect Rose and Jack when the telephone started ringing shrilly in the Console room.
Scattering his thoughts about the photograph he ran back down the corridor, snatching the handset up on its fifth ring.
The rapid bleeping noise abruptly cut off his greeting. What was that? It sounded like… No! It couldn't be…. It was! The rapid-fire beeps were trilling out space-time coordinates through a sub-wave network!
"Oh, you clever, clever people!" he breathed in awe. The coordinates were directing him to a point just one second in the future. Whatever it was he'd been trying to find, it had been set slightly out of sync with the rest of the universe.
With a flourish and a manic grin he slipped back into the vortex.