Turn left. *rubs hands together and chuckles*
I didn't warn her. I didn't warn Rose. Before she jumped all I said was get to the Doctor. So when she comes back crying I feel guilty.
"He's dead."
I pull her into my arms.
"Parallel world. He's not dead. Not really. Time is being rewritten by an idiot. We just have to fix it."
"How?"
I smile at her sadly.
"That's why Donna has to die?"
"Yes."
"What do we do?"
"We get some sleep and come back to this in the morning."
"Jane..."
"No. We all need to sleep. You'll thank me later, trust me."
"Fine."
I don't care if she thanks me. I'll thank me. It's been a long day. We're running on fumes. And with so much more to do we can't risk it.
Of course, Rose doesn't need much sleep anymore. When I wake up she's pacing around keeping herself busy.
"I finally get why the Doctor hated it when I slept so much. How can humans sleep so much?!"
"Watch it Rose. You're impatient time lord is showing. You used to be one of those humans so don't push it."
She huffs. It would all be comical if we weren't in such a stressful situation.
DW DW DW DW DW DW DW DW DW DW
The next jump is easier. Before Rose goes in I tell her what she needs to know.
"Tell Donna to get out of town for the holidays. She's got a raffle ticket. Tell her to use it."
She doesn't question me. She just goes with it. So she jumps. When she comes back she has a question.
"What's on her back? There's something on her back."
"An idiot."
"What?"
"Rewriting time."
"The thing on her back is rewriting time?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
I think about it for a minute. There's no reason not to tell her that I can think of.
"A beetle. It feeds off of alternate timelines. Or something like that."
The jump after this is harder. I send Rose to unit and tell her to start using the dying TARDIS to make a crude time machine.
"You're gonna need to send Donna back to the moment it went wrong. Tell unit to start working on it. DON'T tell them your name."
The jump after that, Rose comes back looking a little worse for ware.
"I told her she was going to die. You sure she's coming next time?"
"Yeah. Her world is falling down around her. She be willing to do anything to fix it."
This time when I fire Rose through, I know it will be hard for her. But there's nothing I can do about that. I might remind Rose of the Doctor, but she's the one that had to be him today. Knowing what that feels like makes it even harder to send her in.
When she comes back, she's crying. I give her a moment to compose herself.
"Just one more Rose. Then that's it. We can save the universe. The Daleks will die, the stars will come back, and you'll be with the Doctor. "
"Something to look forward to. But I could do without Donna having to die."
I sigh, making a promise to myself. Donna won't die if I can help it. I still hate promises, but I am determined to keep this one.
"One more. Whisper 'bad wolf' in her ear as a message for the Doctor. Then we arm ourselves."
She nods.
"It's not just the Doctor we need is it? It's both of them. Those readings. You never explained very well but it's not the bug. Reality is bending around her, always has. We need both of them."
This scares me. If it's all around her still can I even stop it? Can I take Donna's place? Yes. I can. I swore it.
"Yeah. We need then both. Take position."
I start the count down.
"Three, two, one, fire."
DW DW DW DW DW DW DW DW DW DW
Rose lands down the street from a commotion. She hears people saying that someone got hit by a lorry.
She knows who it was without having to see her. She makes her way through the crowd. As she walks forward she feels like a ghost. No one notices her. No one cares. All of these people are just clueless to the world around them. They are clueless to the sacrifice this woman made for them
It was painful to send Donna here. Knowing that she was going to die. And when Donna thought she understood that she would just die here, that this version would simply cease to exist, Rose couldn't lie to her. Donna would still remember dying here. And then there was Jane. The way she said that Donna would die made Rose think there was a lot more to it.
Rose understands Jane a little more now. She walks through the world, knowing what to expect. Knowing the names and faces of people long before they know hers. They must all be like Donna to her. It must be how the Doctor sees things too. They're so similar. The Doctor and Jane Ryder. And Rose thinks that maybe she's a bit like them now too.
She's seen so much. She has an idea of what to expect will happen before it does. She's had to kill for the sake of the universe. It hurts. But she can't even really regret it. Because the universe made it necessary. How cruel is that?
Rose kneels down beside the dying woman. It's so similar to kneeling by her dying father that she nearly sobs again. No one notices. She's a creature of time now. Like the Doctor. Like the TARDIS. Perception filters must run in their blood, in their being. No matter where they went the Doctor never needed to change clothes. Perhaps this is why.
Rose shakes herself. The time for distraction is over. She has a job to do.
"Tell him this. Two words."
And she leans down and whispers the name she scattered through time and space and dimensions. And when she pulls back the woman's eyes close and her final breath rattles out of her lungs. Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf, walks away without looking back, and disappears in a flash blue light.