CHAPTER 9

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

"You killed him. You killed the Doctor. I'm going to rip you apart for that! Atom by atom, molecule by molecule," Rose said in a cold, dead voice as she started to attack Sister Pestilence with blast after blast of golden energy.

Martha was heartbroken and terrified at the same time. The Doctor was dead, and now they were going to lose Rose. She had never seen her like this. She had gone insane.

"She's lost her bond. When that happens, it can do terrible things to a Time Lord's psyche. It can drive them insane and sometimes make them suicidal," Ileana explained.

She had seen Martha's shocked look. She knew that Martha was feeling totally overwhelmed by this sudden change in the situation.

"Can't we help her? Is it too late for her?" Martha asked concerned.

"It's never too late, Martha. Maybe we can still help her heal her mind. We just have to hope that she stops herself from going too far first. If she kills Joan Redfern, her mind may snap forever," Ileana warned her.

"Maybe I could stop her if I became the wolf?" Victoria asked.

"That's extremely doubtful. Besides that, who would stop you then?" Ileana asked her with a frown.

"You would," Victoria said confidently.

"I'm strong, Vicky, but so are you when you change. What if I couldn't stop you? Then we'd be in an even bigger mess," Ileana said.

"Maybe I could help. I'm no slouch. I can make non-living beings from the molecules around me. They could hopefully subdue her without being hurt or infected by her bite. Of course, I've never tried to handle anything like a werewolf before," Michelle/Sister of Mine proposed.

"She wouldn't be able to stop her anyway, Michelle. Rose could disintegrate her instantly if she wanted to. She's one of the most powerful beings in the universe. She can manipulate the very building blocks of reality," Ileana said with a tone of finality to her voice.

"Now she's gone mad. Great! What's to keep her from attacking us next?" Martha asked worried.

"I doubt that she would hurt us. Rose is too good natured to hurt the innocent. That may be what finishes her if she kills Joan. Joan is an innocent too," Ileana said worried.

"We have to talk to her and get her to stop," Martha insisted.

They looked at Rose and Sister Pestilence attacking each other like mad dogs, and all of them quaked inside.

"You first," Michelle said nervously to Martha.

"YOU. KILLED. HIM!" Rose screamed at Sister Pestilence. Her eyes showed true madness now.

"I do believe I've made you snap, Time Lady. I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer," Sister Pestilence said as she attempted to turn Rose into a large rat with a quick rhyming sentence.

Rose easily brushed aside her attack and hit her with one of her energy blasts. Sister Pestilence screamed in agony as she could feel herself starting to be ripped apart.

"Rose, stop this! This isn't you. You don't hurt people," Martha pleaded.

Rose turned to look at Martha with a look of pure anger in her eyes that chilled her to the bone.

"It's time for that to change. If I had destroyed her when I had the chance, the Doctor would still be alive. No more mercy to any of my enemies anymore!" she said coldly.

"No. You can't do this. We've already lost the Doctor. We can't lose you too. We all need you. Stop this before it's too late," Martha said in tears.

"I'll be a better protector to everyone this way. Everyone will be safer if I am feared throughout the universe," Rose said in a dead voice.

"She's gone," Martha said in despair.

Sister Pestilence watched Martha break down into sobs and instead of joy at what was happening she started to feel great sadness. Why was that? Why should she care about Martha's feelings? Why should she care if she had ruined Rose's life or killed the Doctor? She shouldn't care about any of these things, and yet she did. She felt terrible about all of it.

Sister Pestilence ceased to exist in that moment, and Joan Redfern reemerged. She wasn't going to be the cause of anymore misery if she could help it.

"Rose, stop! I'm me again. I've taken back control. I'm so sorry for what I did. If I could undo it somehow, I would," Joan said guiltily.

"Would you give your life then to repay your debt?" Rose asked her.

Joan nodded. She deserved whatever Rose was about to do to her.

"Do it. Destroy the evil inside of me forever," Joan said as she closed her eyes in wait for the end.

"As you wish," Rose said as her hands began to glow with energy.

"Rose! No!" Martha shouted in despair.

Golden energy enveloped Joan Redfern's body as she waited for death. She hoped that it would be quick. She felt a warm sensation for a moment all over her and then nothing. She opened her eyes and realized in complete surprise that she was still alive. What was happening?

Rose Tyler was grinning like a Cheshire cat with her face wide grin.

"Welcome back, Joan Redfern. I'm very glad to see you again," Rose said.

"I'll second that," the Doctor said as he suddenly got back on his feet.

"What?" Joan said with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"I'll second that. What is going on?" Martha asked furious.

"I'm sorry, Martha! I know I scared the life out of you. I was trying to put on a convincing job for Joan. That whole descent into madness was planned mentally between me and the Doctor. We hoped that the guilt of what she thought she had done to me and the Doctor would cause the real Joan to take back her life and snap her out of the Carrionites' control," Rose explained.

"You upset me, Rose. I thought you were going to become some kind of monster," Martha said still furious.

"I know. I'm so sorry," Rose said with sad eyes.

"It was necessary, Martha. We had to fool Joan completely and get her to take back control. It was the only way to peacefully resolve the situation. If Rose had tried to force the Carrionite influence out of her, she could have torn Joan's mind apart. Joan had to reject its control herself," the Doctor said.

"So it's all gone now?" Joan asked with a relieved voice.

"Yes, your rejection of it allowed me to take it out of you without any problems. It's gone for good," Rose said.

"So what happens to me now? I don't want to go back to being alone again back in my old life. Could I stay in this time?" Joan wondered.

"I have an idea about that actually. There's someone that I think you should meet," Rose said with a sly grin.

Rose took Joan's hand, and the two of them disappeared in a burst of golden light. Seconds later, they reappeared on board what Joan recognized from the Doctor's drawings as the inside of a TARDIS. Was Rose going to take her back to her own time? She hoped not.

Joan gasped in shock as she saw what looked like John Smith suddenly appear from nowhere out of a door behind the console room. The duplicate of the man she had loved looked at her in shock as well.

"Rose, is that really her?" the Metacrisis Doctor said.

"Yes, this is Joan Redfern, Doctor. She was Verity Newman all along," Rose said.

"You're not John then?" Joan asked disappointed.

"No, I'm afraid not. I'm not really the Doctor though either. You see I'm half human. I'll only live out a normal human life, and then I'll die for good. No regenerations," the Metacrisis said.

So you could have a normal life then. Just like that vision that we shared once. We could have a life together if you wanted," Joan offered.

"If you wouldn't mind traveling through time and space in a TARDIS," the Metacrisis said with a grin.

"I could get used to it. If you'd have me," Joan said hopefully.

The two of them embraced, and Joan began to cry. She dared to hope that maybe she had found her John again somehow. The Metacrisis looked at Rose with a thankful look in his eyes, and she smiled back with a wink at him.

She left the Metacrisis' TARDIS and somehow everything felt right with the world once again. She had her Doctor and maybe Joan had hers. She couldn't be happier for old Handy.

Now if only she could make Martha feel better. That might take some doing.

Next: The mystery of how Victoria became a werewolf is revealed.