Child of Earth

By Lumendea

Chapter Forty-Nine: Champion of Time: Crossing Timelines

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

…

The Seventh Doctor levelled his sharp blue eyes on Rose and she struggled not to fidget. Everything she'd learned about this incarnation from Ace and Mel assured her that he was still every bit the good man she loved, but that he had a serious tendency for playing chess with those around him. His gaze was considering and Rose imagined that he was already trying to determine how she fit into everything. She almost smiled, she was the Queen even if he didn't know it yet.

"Hello," Rose said. She gave him a soft tongue on teeth smile. "Sorry if I startled you, mister."

His expression made it clear that he didn't buy the innocent act. Rose wasn't surprised, but worry was churning her stomach. The Silver Lord was here and the wrong Doctor. She pushed the thought to the side. He was still the Doctor and he was watching her thoughtfully.

"Are you going to tell me who you are?" the Doctor questioned. His tone was almost friendly, but Rose didn't believe it. "I'm afraid that I have something I need to deal with."

"Then you are here about the-" Rose cut herself off, but gestured down the alley. Her eyes jumped over to the TARDIS. "Okay you don't know me yet and this might be dangerous," Rose rambled slightly as she took in the Doctor. "But I need your help."

"There is a rip in Time," the Doctor said sharply. His eyes narrowed on her. "And you… you're connected with it!"

"No, I'm not," Rose insisted urgently, hurt flaring in her chest. "At least not intentionally."

"Your timeline is a mess," the Doctor insisted. "It's too bright for a human's, it twists and turns and knots itself!" He huffed, the words rolling off with a Scottish burr. "Am I truly to believe that an anomaly like you just happened to stumble across a rip in Time?"

"No I didn't just stumble on it," Rose tried to explain as she struggled to keep her temper. The accusing tone of his voice was surprisingly hurtful. She took a deep breath to regain control, reminding herself that he didn't know her. "I was here visiting some friends and something felt wrong!"

"Felt wrong?!" the Doctor snorted as his Scottish accent thickened. "Felt wrong?!" He was trying to make her angry and it was working.

"Yes!" Rose snapped back before trying to reign in her temper. "Like suddenly being dunked into an ice bath."

"Then surely it would be best if you were to distance yourself from it at once don't you agree," the Doctor remarked. His tone was friendly again and slightly patronising though the chill was still present in his eyes. "It will be addressed." With that, he turned and began to stalk away leaving Rose gawking at him.

She only wondered for a moment if she should just leave it to him, but her gut instinct made itself known. This was the Silver Lord. He was her enemy and this Doctor had never encountered him before. "Doctor!" Rose called after him, worry rising painfully in her chest. "Wait!"

He didn't stop and Rose knew that tension in his shoulders enough to know that he'd gone into stubborn 'I know best' mode. She almost shouted in frustration, why was he always such an idiot?! He was even twirling that umbrella as if to mock her.

"I know your name!" Rose said as calmly as she could. Her voice was soft, but she knew that he would still hear her.

He did. The Doctor stopped his umbrella half up in the air before he slowly brought it down to the ground. The soft tap almost echoed in the suddenly quiet alley. Rose could hear the sound as it tapped the ground and the Doctor turned back to her. There was no shock or surprise visible on his face; instead, he looked completely calm and even a little amused.

"Of course you do." The Doctor had a hint of a smile on his face, but Rose wasn't fooled by the friendly show. A warning was already glinting in his eyes. "It's the Doctor."

"No." Rose chuckled; relaxing a little more now that she had his attention. "That's what Ian and Barbara started introducing you as since you never told them a name," Rose reminded him. She began to close the distance between them, watching with a bit of smugness as his blue eyes flashed for a moment. "And then you adopted it, you chose to become the Doctor." She shrugged and offered him a real smile. "It is who you are certainly and I call you the Doctor, but there is another name. One you haven't used in a long long time. One you had buried, even on Gallifrey." Her smile softened as she recalled one of their quieter dates. "You told me that you had the official records changed so your name was Doctor even there."

There was a moment of silence as the Doctor studied her. "And you claim to know it," the Doctor murmured as he took a few more steps towards her. "A what- twenty-year-old girl from London."

"Almost twenty-two and yet much older," Rose countered calmly. "You know better than most how deceiving the body can be. It's the mind that matters and I've lived a lot longer in other lives, thanks to the Silver Lord. He's the one behind this and I can't let you go up against him alone."

"The Silver Lord," the Doctor repeated. He took another couple of steps towards her. Rose almost grinned, at least he was properly listening now. "Bit pretentious."

"That's one way to describe him certainly," Rose agreed darkly. She shivered at the memory of the Silver Lord just abandoning another body. "Along with vicious, cruel and manipulative." She sighed and shook her head, "Not to mention vengeful. He's part Chronovore, Doctor, and was imprisoned in the Void for a long time before escaping to Earth. He'll rip that hole open further Doctor, he'll destroy and consume all of Time itself if he isn't stopped. Trust me on that, I've had dealings with him before." She swallowed. "He's already killed one human here, Doctor. He possesses them and then leaves them."

"Who are you?" the Doctor questioned sharply. "You can't really be a human. Some sort of Eternal?" His frown deepened and his eyes took her in quickly. Rose suspected that in jeans and a Cambridge t-shirt with her hair in a ponytail she wasn't very impressive. "Guardian?"

"Funny," Rose chuckled humorlessly. "The Master asked me that once, but I'll answer you honestly. I'm human, an ally of the Guardians of the Universe and someone you trust enough to tell your real name."

"Don't be absurd," the Doctor scoffed even as Rose caught another flash of hesitation beneath the mask.

He met her eyes squarely in a silent challenge, his blue eyes boring into her own brown ones. After having heard so much about this incarnation from Mel and Ace, Rose was surprised that she didn't find it hard to meet the look at all. Thanks to the heel of her boots they were the same height and Rose almost smiled as she marvelled at not having to look up at a Doctor. He was always taller than her, though this one only had an inch on her. The thought made her smile and the Doctor looked irritated that his stare down didn't have the desired effect.

"You're not at all afraid of me are you," the Doctor remarked with genuine surprise.

"Don't be absurd," Rose echoed with a smile before taking a tentative step forward.

The Doctor didn't move and Rose leaned forward, closed her eyes and allowed the name burned into her mind to spring to her lips. It came out as a long melodic whisper and Rose stepped back in time to see a look of shock on the Doctor's face. Then a sigh escaped him and the Doctor reached up and adjusted his hat thoughtfully. He didn't meet her eyes. Rose was silent, knowing that he needed to process this. It wasn't every day that a Time Lord discovered they were engaged to a human.

"It seems that I owe you an apology," the Doctor finally said. He looked very confused. Rose wondered if this incarnation, the schemer as his later selves would refer to him as felt that often. She rather doubted it. "I am sorry if I insulted you."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Rose said. She gave him a soft smile despite the seriousness of the situation. "Let's try this again." She took a breath for courage. "I'm Rose Tyler, a future friend of yours."

"Friend," the Doctor all but snorted. "We both know that I wouldn't just tell-" He stopped himself and shook his head. He clicked the tip of his umbrella on the street and leaned on it a little. "Rip in Time then, what do you know?"

"Not much," Rose admitted. "Like I said I was here visiting and I just came across this area where everything felt wrong… really really wrong, but I couldn't really understand it. I caught sight of a local man, but then his eyes flashed silver. That's a sign of the Silver Lord. I tried to catch him, but he left the man, he was dead, and I headed back here." Rose shivered a little. "Wasn't hard to find once I was looking for it. Like you said I'm from London so the chill of it is very distinct in the Indian heat."

"Interesting," the Doctor murmured, looking at her in open curiosity now. "You felt this… most humans don't have the awareness to locate a temporal anomaly."

"Yeah well, I'm a bit of an anomaly myself." Rose chuckled a bit nervously. The earlier fear about timelines returned with a vengeance. "I have a very odd history. Part of the reason for the odd timeline."

"So why not call your Doctor?" he questioned with what Rose thought might just be a hint of jealousy. "Surely he would have come."

"You're all my Doctor," Rose answered with a soft smile. "Even if you don't know it. But to answer your question I can't get through to the TARDIS. I tried to call some version of you that knows me, but the call wouldn't go through. I'm not sure if it's the temporal rip or you already being here. Then I saw your TARDIS and figured it couldn't be a coincidence."

"This is potentially paradoxical," the Doctor muttered thoughtfully, looking away from her.

"But manageable, right?" Rose asked.

"Indeed," the Doctor replied with a hint of defeat. "I can erase the memory once this is sorted."

"Good," Rose said. She sighed in relief. "That had me worried, whenever I meet you I usually just try to pass under the radar. Not be memorable."

"We've met before then?"

"Not this you," Rose clarified. "But yeah I've now met all of you at least once."

"Truly?"

"First body in Rome, second body in Athens, third body while on a mission for the White Guardian, fourth in Paris," Rose told him watching as his eyes widened slightly. "Fifth in New York outside the MET after I stopped an Osirian not that I told you that then, sixth body at the Tower of London and well I have met your next four bodies as well."

"I see," the Doctor said slowly. He looked towards the TARDIS for a moment and then shook his head. "Well, it seems that I have some help in sorting out this little problem. Half Chornovore you said?"

"Yeah, he was locked outside of the universe by the Guardians," Rose said. "Half Eternal."

"A nasty mix." The Doctor's expression was distasteful. "And very dangerous. You've faced him before."

"Yeah…" Rose hesitated. "He's come after me personally before." She managed a weak shrug. "I can't tell you about that."

"I'll have to forget when this is all over."

"Maybe, but we shouldn't throw all caution to the wind," Rose reminded him.

Approval took over the Doctor's face and he nodded. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small key. He shifted over to the TARDIS and unlocked the door, pushing it open and gesturing Rose inside. With a slight smile, Rose stepped into the TARDIS and looked around as the thick familiar smell of time filled her sense. The TARDIS interior was larger than she was used to with wood panelling on the walls. It wasn't like Ace had described and Rose was left to wonder how long it had been since the Doctor had last seen her.

"I take it she is different than you're used to?" the Doctor questioned as he moved around her. He walked to the console controls which were a mix of old school electronics and a bit of steampunk.

"A bit," Rose agreed.

She stepped up to the console and brushed her fingers gently down the centre column. The TARDIS hummed softly in response and Rose felt a soft brush at the edge of her mind. She almost tensed up, but it was so comforting that somehow it didn't alarm her. In the corner of her eye, she saw the Doctor watching her with a curious evaluating expression, but didn't mention it.

Instead, Rose shifted back from the controls and watched the Doctor as he moved around them, adjusting knobs and making small thoughtful sounds. There was one screen on the controls and was slowly changing and flashing that Rose moved over to watch. The silence in the TARDIS was uncomfortable and Rose crossed her arms, trying not to fidget. As confident as she'd tried to act outside the worry was still sharp. This hadn't been one of her thoughts for the day. Her phone suddenly rang making Rose jump. She scrambled for the phone while the Doctor glanced her way.

"Sorry," Rose apologised. Raising the phone to her ear, Rose greeted the caller with a quick hello. Not even considering checking the caller ID. "Tyler."

"Rose?" Polly's voice greeted. "I was just checking in to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, Polly," Rose assured her. The Doctor straightened up and looked towards her with a hint of alarm. "Just…" Rose hesitated for a moment. "Look I found something. Not sure what yet, but I'm working on sorting it out. If you can get the kids back home and just stay there."

"Are we safe in Mumbai?"

"Probably… look it's the Silver Lord so just try to stay out of things."

"You sure you'll be alright?" Polly pressed. "I know you're capable, but you shouldn't do this alone."

"I'm not alone and I'll call the local UNIT if I need more help," Rose promised. "Try not to worry and I'll be back when I can."

"Is the Doctor with you?" Polly asked.

"Yes he's here, we're fine and we'll sort this. I really don't have time to talk right now, Polly."

"Alright alright. Stay safe and give the old man my love."

"Right," Rose all but sighed. "Okay, stay inside."

The call ended and Rose let out a long sigh, aware that the Doctor was watching her. "Polly sends her love."

"The friend you were visiting?"

"The Jacksons, yeah afraid so." Rose chuckled and gave him a smile. "Sorry Doctor, but you'll get used to it."

Something on the console beeped, drawing the Doctor's attention back to it. He made a thoughtful noise that Rose recognised all too well. Moving up next to him, Rose looked at the display. Ripples were moving out from a centre point and Rose could guess that the TARDIS was tracking the rip.

"So what are we dealing with?" Rose asked.

"Don't you know?" the Doctor countered.

"Don't fish, Doctor," Rose said. "Besides you're the brains of this operation, I'm the common sense."

"Ah is that how it works?"

"Something like that," Rose replied with a smile. The corners of his lips curled up a bit even though he still seemed a bit uncomfortable. Her expression became more serious. "What are we dealing with?"

"I'm not sure how, but he's created a small temporal vortex. Basically, he's ripped a hole in time letting energy from the vortex seep out. As a part Chronovore, he might just be looking for a meal."

"So everyone in the area is getting dosed with Arton energy," Rose said thoughtfully. She rested her tongue on her teeth. "So is it dangerous to the city?"

"At the moment no, but if it continues too long then the instability will cause the vortex to reverse."

"Sucking the people and city into the Time Vortex," Rose finished. "Which they can't survive."

"No, but why?" The Doctor questioned. He tapped the question mark handle of his umbrella against his chin before turning back to Rose. "You say he's an enemy of yours, is it possible that this plan is meant against you."

"Very likely," Rose agreed without hesitation. "He's tried to kill me or stop my personal future several times. The odd thing is that he is often allied with the Trickster, but all this Arton energy will keep the Trickster far away from here."

"Another thing to consider is that this distortion could still be altered," the Doctor pointed out. "We mustn't assume that he's done with what he's working on."

"What else he could do with it?"

"Create a weak point in time, possibly even some sort of fixed point with enough manipulation of the temporal energy." The Doctor paused and hummed thoughtfully. "Of course the same could be said of us."

Rose looked his way, smiling a little. "Oh?"

"We could trap him in his own distortion," the Doctor said. His expression was calm, but he was watching her reaction.

Rose's eyes widened and she couldn't help but smile. She leaned forward a bit. "I'm listening."