Again, sorry for the delay! I keep meaning to post each week, but then work gets crazy and time gets away from me. Anyway, here we are! I'll love you forever if you leave me feedback :)
Chapter 6 – Eleven, Clara, and Rose
The TARDIS has never been so quiet as it is with Clara sitting behind the Doctor, waiting to go home. Somehow all the usual comforting sounds of his ship are silent, and the Doctor wishes just once for some alarm to sound or some message to appear on the monitor. Just for something to think about other than the fact that his impossible girl no longer wants to travel with him.
The Doctor can hear Clara shifting restlessly behind him, but he keeps his eyes resolutely on the monitor. It takes concentration, landing his ship in the exact right place.
Clara sighs heavily. "Doctor, I –"
The TARDIS jerks and lands hard, throwing the Doctor and Clara to the ground in a jumble of limbs. They fight against each other briefly, trying to untangle themselves, before the Doctor jumps to his feet and automatically pulls Clara up with him.
"What?" he asks, pulling the monitor towards him, as though that will somehow make the view better.
"What happened?" Clara asks. The Doctor shakes his head, even before he starts speaking.
"I don't know. We're in the right time, just not quite the right place. Must have hit a bump," he says, changing the coordinates. The time rotor groans and the ship shudders, but stays rooted to the spot.
The Doctor tries again.
"Why won't you let us leave, Sexy?" the Doctor mutters, stroking bits of the console. The monitor shows a laboratory of some kind, though there aren't any people about.
Clara watches as the Doctor mutters to himself and his ship. She feels anxious, like she wants to crawl out of her skin. She just wants to go home. As the Doctor circles the console, Clara approaches the monitor. Sterile white walls greet her. There's lab equipment everywhere, though it's all piled up so she assumes this is a storage room of some kind.
The screen flickers, and two words appear: Bad Wolf.
Clara frowns, but they're gone just as quickly as the appeared. She has no idea what the words mean, but she doesn't want to spend the time thinking about it. She wants to go home. If she doesn't get out of the TARDIS soon, she'll lose her nerve altogether.
"I'm sorry, Clara. The TARDIS wants me here for some reason. As soon as we make sure it's safe, I can put you in a taxi home. We're in the right time, promise."
Clara takes a deep breath and holds it in for a moment, steeling herself.
"Sure. Let's make sure the world isn't ending first, though."
The Doctor blesses her with a wide, goofy grin, the first time he's smiled since she asked to go home, and the set off outside.
The laboratory is deserted, and it takes them no time at all to make their way to the populated parts of the building. It quickly becomes apparent that they landed in the sub-levels of the O2 arena, and that there's some grand event going on.
"Why's there a lab in the O2?" Clara asks as she and the Doctor meander around, gleaning as much information as they can from signage and overheard conversations.
"Dunno," the Doctor admits with a shrug. He fishes the psychic paper from the breast pocket of his jacket and shows it to a passerby. "Excuse me, can you remind me the name of this convention?"
The man looks at the Doctor a bit like he's drooled on his bowtie, but answers. "Earth Protection Summit, mate. Keynote's going to begin soon. Mr. Devlin has some amazing ideas on new defensive measures."
Clara lets her gaze wander as she listens to the Doctor questioning the man. It looks like any other professional conference, she imagines. There are tables and booths set up, sales pitches being made, and swag being given away. Hundreds of people skitter about. She notices a banner with the same words from the monitor, Bad Wolf, but she blinks and the banner says something else.
"Doctor," she starts, ready to point out the mysterious words. The Doctor turns halfway to her and stops, his eyes focused on something halfway across the room.
There's a ginger haired woman, leafing through a folio while a man in a suit talks at her. She rolls her eyes and hands him a piece of paper.
"Donna," the Doctor breathes. Clara frowns as the Doctor moves towards this Donna person like he's under a spell. His face splits into a wide grin and suddenly he's throwing his arms around a stranger.
"Donna!" He cries, holding her tight and swaying side to side. The ginger wrinkles her nose in disgust and shoves him away.
"Oi! Get off me, you pervy git!" Donna shrieks, her voice nearly piercing Clara's eardrums. The Doctor stumbles back and Donna comes after him with the folio, hitting him around the shoulders and head. The Doctor throws his arms up, trying to block her blows and failing.
"Sorry! It's…"
"I'm married, you great lanky animal! You're not going to charm me into bed! Get off!" Clara can't help but dissolve into giggles, watching the Doctor try to calm this woman down. Clearly he's mistaken her for someone else.
"Donna, I…"
"And how do you know my name? You been spying on me, you floppy haired chin? I bet you have! I have half a mind to call the police! Get away from me!"
Clara is about to step in, save the Doctor from himself, when a howl echoes through the arena, shaking the ground beneath their feet. Clara stumbles and Donna falls to her knees. The words Bad Wolf scroll across every screen and imprint on every banner.
The Doctor stands, staring at the words, his eyes wide and his fists clenched. Clara has never seen the Doctor so still, not even when she thought he was dead. It's the kind of stillness that only comes before disaster, the calm before the storm. Clara shivers.
"Doctor, what does it mean?" Clara asks. Finally, the Doctor looks at her. It's just a quick move of his eyes, nothing else, like he's keeping still so some great predator won't see him.
"The end of the world."
#
Rose. Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose.
The name runs through his mind on an endless loop. She's here, she has to be. There's no other reason for Bad Wolf. Has she made it back from Pete's World somehow? Is his metacrisis with her? Or is she from his past? Could he run into himself? The Doctor shakes his head, trying to order his thoughts. Priority one, find Rose.
The arena is in chaos, people terrified that's there's been an earthquake, or that the summit is under attack. The Doctor runs, pushing past people cowering and screaming. He has no idea where Clara is. He only knows that he has to find Rose.
"Doctor! What is Bad Wolf?" Clara asks. She's right behind him, doing her best to keep up. She's a good runner.
His hand snakes back for hers so that he won't lose her in the crowd, and he heads for a door marked "Authorized Personnel Only." He's letting the power of Bad Wolf guide him now, pull him towards Rose.
"I travelled with a girl once, a long time ago. Her name was Rose," he explains as he and Clara rush down flight after flight of stairs. "We were in a bit of a spot, and she looked into the heart of the TARDIS, took it into herself to save me. Don't go getting any ideas! It was a stupid thing, she did!"
"What does that have to do with Bad Wolf?" Clara asks, her breath coming in short pants.
"Bad Wolf is what Rose became when she did that. And ever since then, the words Bad Wolf have meant big trouble." It's the most basic answer he can give her. They don't have time for more.
"How do you know she's here though?" Clara asks. The Doctor stops cold, halfway down a flight of stairs. He takes Clara by the shoulders and closes his eyes.
"Can't you feel it?"
Clara concentrates hard, trying to ignore the sensation of the Doctor's hands on her. She isn't sure what she's supposed to be feeling, except…oh. Clara sucks in a breath. There's a singing in her head, the most beautiful, golden sound she's ever heard. It pulses, creating a pull deep inside of her, calling to her. Whispering to her, come child.
"I'm coming," she whispers.
"What?" The Doctor is staring at her, his brow furrowed. Clara gives herself a little shake.
"Nothing, let's go."
#
They descend floor by floor until Bad Wolf's call tells them to stop. They're back in the underground labs, even lower than his TARDIS is parked. The Doctor peeks through the small window in the door leading to the labs. Several armed guards mill about in the hallway, two flank a door. The Doctor smiles. Rose must have put up quite a fight.
"Follow my lead," he whispers to Clara. She nods, and he pushes through the door.
"Right, lads! Inspection!"
"What do you mean, inspection?" one guard asks, hefting his gun. The Doctor lifts his psychic paper, silently hoping that these guards aren't deemed important enough for the psychic training required to see through his trick.
"Oh, Dr. Oswald, so sorry." The guard is practically shaking in his combat boots.
"You've got the subject contained, then?" The Doctor asks, moving towards the door. Clara follows silently.
"Yes, sir."
"And is there a guard with it?" The Doctor fights a tremor at referring to Rose as an "it."
"No, sir. It's not stable. That last outburst…it disintegrated Jones, sir. We thought it best…"
"Yes, yes. I want to see it."
"Sir, that's not…"
"Who is in charge here?" The Doctor snaps, letting the slightest bit of Oncoming Storm seep through. The guard nods, and moves to the keypad beside the door.
"Be careful, sir."
The door opens to silence. The Doctor slips inside, Clara right behind. Stark white walls engulf him, drawing his eyes towards the only color in the room, the pink and yellow human huddled in the corner. She lifts her head, snarling at them, her eyes glowing gold. The sight takes his breath away.
"Clara," he says, taking her by the shoulders. "Stay right here. She's not stable, she doesn't know who I am. Not yet. Just…stay back."
"Be careful, Doctor," Clara whispers, her eyes on Rose. The tug she felt guiding her here is stronger now, insisting she cross the room to the feral woman in the corner, but Clara fights it. She doesn't want to do anything that will jeopardize the Doctor.
The Doctor moves slowly, his hands out in supplication. He makes no sudden movements, no loud noises.
"Oh Rose," he breathes. "What did they do to you, love? How did you get here? No matter, I'm here now. They won't touch you again."
The closer he gets, the more Rose growls. He's never heard that sound, guttural and wild, from a human being before. Her lips are curled back and the glow in her eyes gets brighter. The Doctor can feel time shifting around him, ready to explode at her whim.
"Rose, it's me. It's the Doctor. Rose, you're safe now."
He crouches in front of her, close enough to touch but holding himself back, and meets her eyes. It hurts to do so, to stare straight into the source of her power, but he bears it. She has to see his eyes.
Rose stares back, her eyes narrowed, shrewd and assessing. And then she gasps.
"It's you."