Chapter 8

This is extremely, very not good. Rose thought as Amy slipped a poncho over her head. They were freezing to death, being chased by old people with eyes in their mouths, and being stalked by a man who had fashion sense that matched the Doctor's.

And that wasn't a compliment.

"Oh, a poncho. The biggest crime against fashion sense lederhosen." Rory said sarcastically.

"Here we go. My boys, my poncho boys. And Rose." Rose waved. "If we're gonna die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band." Finished Amy. Rose laughed.

"No, we won't die, but our time's running out. If we fall asleep here we're in trouble." The Doctor said. "If we could divide up, then we'd have an active presence in each world, but the Dream Lord is switching us between the worlds. Why? Why? What's the logic?"

The Dream Lord appeared next to Rose and she jumped when she heard him speak. "Good idea, veggie. Let's divide you four up, so I can have a little chat with our lovely companion Rose." He smiled evilly. "Maybe I'll keep her, and you can have Pointy Nose and Ginger to yourself for all eternity, should you manage to clamber aboard some sort of reality."

Rory, the Doctor, and Amy began to stumble around the console. "Can you hear that?" Rory asked her.

"What? No." Rose asked.

"Rose, don't be scared. We'll be back." The Doctor said. Rose could see him trying to force his eyes to stay open. "I'm coming back for you." He slumped over on the console. Amy and Rory were already asleep.

"Doctor, don't leave me. Not again. Not ever." Rose said. Her vision swam with tears.

"Rose, we're going to have fun, aren't we?" The Dream Lord said, giving her a creepy smile.

"No, please, not alone." Rose whispered.

The Doctor opened his eyes. He was lying in the store room. He looked around and spotted Rose lying on the ground next to him.

She was still asleep.

The Doctor pressed his ear against the door and heard screeching outside. He put his sonic on the right setting, opened the door, and knocked out all the lights, momentarily paralyzing the old people.

The Doctor scooped up Rose and ran. When he was outside he saw a man being attacked by an Eknodine. He kicked the alien away and jumped into the man's van, jostling Rose. "Sorry dear." He whispered to Rose before setting her down in the back with the man.

He drove around, picking up people being attacked as he went.

"Poor Rose." The Dream Lord told her. "He always leaves you, doesn't he, alone in the dark. Never apologizes."

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Rose asked. The Dream Lord was starting to freak her out. "The Doctor knows you, but he's not telling me who you are. And he always does. Takes him a while sometimes, but he tells me. So you're something different."

"Oh, is that who you think you are? The one he trusts?" The Dream Lord asked her. "So what's his name?"

Rose stared at him angrily. "Oh, you don't know, do you?" the Dream Lord sneered. "He always leaves you behind. The game station, Canary Warf, and then he left you with a copy of himself because he couldn't stand you always coming back."

Rose put her hands over her ears. "Enough!" She yelled. She heard birds and soon fell asleep.

Rose woke up in the Doctor's arms. He was running. "Woa!" Rose yelled.

"Good! Your awake!" He said. The Doctor said her down. "Now climb!"

The two of them climbed the up to the window. "Sorry!" The Doctor said once they were inside. "I had to stop off at the butcher's."

Amy and Rory stared at the two of them. Suddenly Amy doubled over. "Oh! I think the baby's starting!"

"Honestly?" Rory asked.

"Would I make it up at a time like this?" Amy yelled at him.

"Well, you do have a history of" Amy shot Rory a glare "being very lovely."

Amy cried out and there was another crash downstairs. "Why are they so desperate to kill us?" Rory shouted.

"They're scared. Fear generates savagery." The Doctor said.

Something came through a window and the Doctor went to examine it. He glanced at the window and Rose heard a screech. "No!" She yelled, but it was too late. The Doctor stumbled backwards. Mrs. Poggit had breathed poison on him.

Rose yanked a lamp off of a table and shoved it at Mrs. Poggit, who fell off of the roof. Rose ran over to the Doctor, who was sitting on the floor and panting hard.

Rose sat down next to him and he leaned his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He whispered. Rose felt tears beginning to form and she let them fall. She pulled away.

"Take care of yourself." He whispered. Rose watched in horror as the Doctor dissolved into dust.

Rose let out a broken sob. She could barely hear Amy's cries of pain behind her and Rory trying to soothe her and Amy at the same time.

"Come back." Rose whispered. She touched the pile of dust as tears made their way down her face. She turned around to face Amy and Rory. "This is the dream. Definitely this one. Now, if we die here, we wake up."

"Are you sure?" Rory asked her.

"Either way, this is my only chance of seeing him again. This is the dream." She looked at the pile of dust behind her. "If this is reality, I don't want to be in it. I don't want to live in a world without the Doctor."

Amy and Rory looked at each other and nodded. The trio made their way outside. The old people didn't attack them. "Why aren't they attacking?" Rose yelled.

"Either because this is the dream or… or they know what we're about to do." Rory said. She threw open the doors of the van and stepped inside. Amy and Rory climbed in after her.

A tear slipped down Rose's face. "I love the Doctor, but I never told him. And now he's gone."

She slammed her foot down on the gas pedal and the van shot towards the cottage.

Rose shot up on the TARDIS console floor.

Rose looked around and there he was. The Doctor was standing right next to her. She wrapped her arms around him and the Doctor buried his face in Rose's hair.

"Good. You chose the right world." The Dream Lord said from the top of the stairs. He disappeared.

The Doctor pulled away from her. "You trust me?"

"Do I even have to answer that?" Rose told him.

"I'm going to blow up the TARDIS."

Rose decided not to question him. Amy and Rory started yelling.

"Star burning cold?" The Doctor said. "The Dream Lord has no power over the real world. He was offering us a choice between two dreams."

"And how do you know that?" Amy asked.

"Because I know who he is." The Doctor pulled a lever and everything turned white.

For the millionth time that day Rose shot up from the console floor. The Doctor was playing with something in his hand. "What's that?" Rose asked.

"A speck of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava. Must have been hanging around for ages. Fell in the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state for all of us." He walked to the door of the TARDIS and blew the pollen into space.

"So, that was the Dream Lord then? Those little specs?" Amy asked.

"No, no. No. Sorry, wasn't it obvious?" The Doctor turned to face them. "The Dream Lord was me. Psychic pollen. It's a mind parasite. It feeds on everything dark in you, gives it a voice, turns it against you. I'm nine hundred and seven. It had a lot to go on."

Rose stumbled backwards a bit. "Are you alright?" The Doctor asked her.

"Yeah, just fine." She replied. Rose stepped forwards and the Doctor walked up to her.

"No, you're not. Did something happen in the dream?" He asked.

Rose shook her head, making sure the Doctor didn't see her face, didn't see that she was crying. The Doctor lifted her chin.

"You died." She told him.

He didn't reply, but leaned down and kissed her forehead. Rose wrapped her arms around him. She heard Amy and Rory leave the console room. A few more tears leaked out of Rose's eyes, and she laid her head on the Doctor's chest, letting his double hear-beat calm her.

And they stayed like that for a long time.

Disclaimer!

Thanks to all my bowties! Review!

Over and out! ~Greek-Whovian