Despite coming only from an infant TARDIS, the power now surging through her body was enormous. Rose remembered the Doctor attempting to describe the raw power contained within the heart of a TARDIS using a simple analogy: it was to a nuclear power plant, what a nuclear power plant was to a Triple-A. Within an infinitesimal moment, Rose disintegrated the weapon in the little green man's hand, before she entered his mind. A moment later, she knew everything about him. The hardships in his childhood, the rejection by his family and peers. The hatred that evolved at an early stage, only to grow worse and worse with age. Meeting Erth Jellbria, seemingly the only soul in the universe that had known how to make him feel accepted. The one who had saved him, bailing him out of prison, and fixing him a job with a crew of scavengers. Not a prestigious life, nothing big by any measure, but he'd been happy because he'd been with her.

Then the pain of losing her. The horror of wandering this foreign world, being on his own among strangers yet again.

The angels were gazing in awe at the divine being, gasping when she gestured toward the injured guard. Bright light flowed from her fingertips and connected to her punctured armour, healing the wound underneath. Her pained expression softened.

Blorph'g stood riveted, shaking in fear of Rose. The girl he'd shot, the girl now levitating in front of him, glowing with divine power. He raised his gun to aim at her, but the weapon had turned to smoke.

'Mercy,' he whispered, just loud enough for the Doctor to hear.

'She's going to die,' the Doctor spat. 'You killed her, and you want mercy?'

'I forgive you,' Rose said. She knew the good inside him, chained by all the corruption, and she couldn't punish him. Not even for killing her.

The Doctor jerked around to stare at her, stunned at her decision.

'But I won't forgive him,' said King Miramys, who was walking slowly from behind the hyperspace nexus. 'He was going to leave us all to slaughter.'

The Bad Wolf turned toward the king, and a moment later, she knew him as well. 'I forgive you,' she said.

The Doctor closed his eyes. Of course…

Of course she wouldn't punish them. She was Rose, after all. She saw the good that he couldn't. She saw it underneath bramble weeds studded with sharp thorns. She saw it covered in stinking mud and filth. She saw it worn down by years of pain and torture and hatred, when the war-born Doctor had long become unable to see it.

For a moment, he averted his gaze in shame.

Then, for some reason, the rocket exploded.


She sensed the disruption in space time, a ripple caused by the shockwave of the detonation. With a single thought, she connected to the surging fireball as it expanded inside the stone wall of the tower, and siphoned it off, eating up all its energy.


It all happened in an instant; a massive eruption caused the ceiling to cave in; a shining arc of pure light appeared above them all, deflecting the rubble that came crushing down. A thread of glowing fire connected Rose to something in the ceiling. It grew and grew as she absorbed the energy from the blast.

She was screaming in pain, and she kept screaming after everything else had gone quiet. Eventually, she collapsed, dropping out of the air like a stone.

'Rose!'

The Doctor only just caught her. Gently, he put her down, holding her tightly like before. A faint hope registered in him; maybe the effort of containing the explosion had taken enough of her power to stop it from burning her up? But when he opened her eyes, they were still glowing with far too much power. She was still dying.

'Right,' the Doctor whispered. 'Only one thing left to do. One-trick-pony, that's what I am.'

He kissed her. A deadly kiss to draw the power out of her. It streamed into him, and he immediately felt himself heating up, felt his body revolting, felt himself dying. He endured it as best as he could, focusing on the softness of her lips, the sweet smell of her perfume. He remembered it well. A kiss for a kiss, a life for a life. They'd laugh about it later.

Wincing, he let go of her.


King Miramys walked through the ruins with a grim expression on his face. Six of the Royal Guards had died, Brandomyr among them. The Sanctuary was a battlefield; scorched walls and paintings, destroyed furniture, broken tables and windows. The Doctor was sitting on a bench, holding his yellow-haired girl in his arms. Whatever awesome power she had possessed, it was gone now, and it had left her weak and unconscious.

Qu'alandari, the traitorous, murderous wretch was sitting on the floor, chained up, staring blankly ahead. King Miramys walked up to him, smiling down at the pathetic creature. He was looking forward to his punishment, especially to the time leading up to it. The brooding about what he was going to do to him. He would make an example out of him, so his punishment had to be special. Cruel. He had to make sure the Dale would remember.

'What are you going to do with him?' asked the Doctor from the side.

'He will get what he deserves,' the king said curtly.

The Doctor looked at Rose's unconscious body, the strength shining out of her, even in her sleep. He grunted softly, wincing from the pain of the TARDIS' energy burning through his mortal body. He didn't have much longer. What a pity the Metacrisis had made him so imperfect, so very human. Oh, what he would give now for a little more time. Now he couldn't even tell her how sorry he was.

At least there was enough time to sort out this bloody mess without leaving any loose ends. Today, everyone would be getting a happy ending.

He winced again, and the pain tore a groan from his lips.

Almost everyone.

'Are you alright?' asked King Miramys.

'Sure!' the Doctor exclaimed. 'Dandy! But you know, I've been thinking a bit, and I rather think I'll take Blorph'g home to his family.'

'You will do no such thing.'

The Doctor shrugged. 'Thought you wouldn't like the idea. So here's the deal: You let me take him, or you'll regret it. Bitterly.' He spoke conversationally, and ended with a smile.

King Miramys narrowed his eyes at him. 'Are you threatening me?'

'Yes,' the Doctor said simply. 'Execute me. Go on. Your most loyal soldiers know what we did for your people. You saw Rose saving you all, so I'd venture we do have a say in your affairs now. Detain us and you'll have a revolt on your hands.'

The king looked to his royal guards; they were trying in vain to keep a growing number of curious angels from spilling into the Sanctuary. Virgil was outside, sitting on the porch of a high-stilted home from which he had begun enthusiastically spreading the word about how the Doctor had defeated the metal menace, and how Rose had saved them all. Many curious eyes tried to peek through the broken walls and windows of the Sanctuary, tried to steal a glance at the Doctor and Rose.

Displeased, the king turned back to him. 'You know about his intentions, yet you want to spare him his just punishment?'

'Oh,' the Doctor said, his eyes black as night. 'Don't even think about going there. We haven't even begun talking about you, Your Highness. It is only thanks to Rose that you get to walk away from this with nothing but a lesson.'

The king's nostril's flared. 'How dare you!'

But the Doctor flapped a hand in his direction. 'Blah, blah, blah! Pack it in already! Do you even remember yourself? You knew something other than hatred once, but that person is wholly gone now, isn't he? You're so full of hatred, you didn't even notice the real danger that was walking upright under your nose!'

'Your Highness!' a voice shouted from above, and a terrified-looking servant entered the hall through one of the new holes in the roof. 'It's Felgorn! He's coming directly for the castle!'

Word of Felgorn's approach spread quickly, and the commotion outside the Sanctuary died down quickly as a throng of fearful angels looked at the king in anticipation. Miramys, however, looked a little forlorn, his eyes staring at the remaining bits and pieces of the vinculum crystal that had been scattered by the fight.

'Whoops,' said the Doctor. 'That's not good.'

'Why would he be coming here?' muttered the king. 'He doesn't know…'

'Oh, but he does. He knows everything, Your Highness. See, your precious whip, your instrument of subjugation must have gotten damaged in the fight, which caused it to send out a psychoclastic pulse. It's kind of like hearing something explode. Trust me, he knows it's destroyed.'

'It is true,' said the servant, pale-faced. 'The Dragon's Bane is no more.'

'You're having quite a bad day, Your Highness.'

The king tried to keep his cool, acting as if he was considering options, but the colour was now visibly draining from his face. Voices grew loud, asking why he wasn't getting his staff to activate the Dragon's Bane.

'You can repair it,' said the king, looking at him hopefully.

'I can try.'

'Do it,' said the king, before adding grandly, 'I command you.'

The Doctor looked at Rose's peaceful expression, and smiled. She would wake up soon – it hadn't taken her that long to recover the last time she'd turned into the Bad Wolf.

'Have a servant carry Rose to the TARDIS,' the Doctor said sternly, without looking up. 'The big metal ball in the room with the Key.'

'Will you do it?' asked the king.

The Doctor nodded grimly.


The damage was hard to miss. The roof now had a big hole in it, with a jagged rim, blackened by an explosion. One of Guardian One's rockets had gone astray, the Doctor assumed. They entered Blorph'g's workshop through one of the balconies, and the Doctor scrunched up his face as he stared at the broken mind controller. Both elements lay on the ground, disconnected from the centre part, which had been moved by the explosion, uprooted from whatever it had been attached to before.

'This is your fault, Doctor,' the king hissed. 'None of this would have happened if it weren't for your interfering with my matters!'

'Probably,' the Doctor admitted. He looked around, for ideas, inspiration, a solution. 'But then again, none of it would have happened if you hadn't subjugated a dragon to scare the humans into submission!' He turned to the king, raising his voice at him. 'In fact, everything you do seems to have a habit of blowing up in your face.'

'You will show deference,' said the guard that helped bring the Doctor to the top of the tower. But the woman was clearly uncomfortable berating the Doctor – the man who was supposed to save them.

The Doctor was only half-listening, though. He looked at the destroyed machine, then out at the balcony. A ludicrous plan was forming inside his head.

He could still feel the TARDIS-energy burn inside of him. He didn't have a lot of time anyway. And Rose would be fine without him. Rose Tyler and the baby space ship, they were practically best friends already.

Why not go out with one last heroic stunt?

'Well?' asked the king, throwing out his arms.

'I can try to stop him,' said the Doctor.

'Without the machine? How do you hope to slay a dragon?'

'Whisper,' said the Doctor. 'Didn't Virgil tell you? I'm a Dragon whisperer. I will whisper to the dragon, and convince him not to massacre you lot.'

'He is out for revenge, for blood!' King Miramys shouted. 'You are mad!'

The Doctor allowed himself the ghost of a smile. 'Doesn't feel so good when the chickens come home to roost, eh?' He stood up, doing his best not to let the pain show. 'These are my demands. Blorph'g goes with Rose. Mary goes free. Also, and most important point of all – should have been number one, really – you will stop that whole punishment nonsense. No more taxes, no more oppression, no more punishing innocent people!'

An angry finger was jabbed at the Doctor. 'You weren't there when they slaughtered my people!'

'That's correct,' the Doctor said, unimpressed. 'I was only there when you slaughtered theirs.'

The King's eyes blackened with rage, and he stepped so close to the unflinching Doctor, their noses almost touched.

'Whenever I close my eyes, I hear the screams of my wife. The wails of my children!'

'I'm sorry about what happened to them,' the Doctor said. 'I really am. But you are just proving my point. You have known happiness. Love, friendship, compassion. Yet what you put out into the world is the exact same thing that caused your pain in the first place.'

The king shouted at him, his endless rage overtaking. 'I will not betray their memory! I will never forgive! No matter what is right, no matter what is good!'

The Doctor did not move an inch.

'And the cycle continues,' he said. 'Nothing is learned. Nothing changes. Fear creates hate creates fear creates hate. All because one man decides to hide behind his pain, too scared to try and change.'

'Watch your mouth!' the guard said, reluctantly reprimanding the Doctor.

'If you hand me a mirror?'

The king just kept staring, his eyes daggers, his breath acid. How could this man – this little human with neither sword nor armour, nor title, nor army – defy his righteous fury?

A distant roar carried over the countryside.

'My king, we have to go,' the guard said sternly.

'Don't forget our deal!'

'You have to survive the dragon first,' growled King Miramys. Then the two angels spread their wings, and dropped from the balcony.


Rose was roused by a panicky sense of dread. She knew this from countless other situations she'd been in before; the quick steps, the brief commands people shouted at each other, the underlying fear that made their voices louder. She sat up and watched angel servants quickly carry heavy chests and valuables, loudly coordinating their efforts. Heaven was in the process of being evacuated.

'Milady?' asked a handsome angel standing next to her. Only now she did she notice she was lying on a bench.

'What's going on?'

'You were asleep,' he said. Then he seemed hesitant to ask something. 'If I may, Milady, the guards told me you won an amazing fight.'

Rose smiled, still struggling to understand. 'That was probably the Doctor. What's going on here?'

'No, you did it,' the angel persisted. 'They were all talking about it, about you. About what you've done.'

Rose frowned. What had she done? She looked at the devastation surrounding her. She thought she knew the place... The Sanctuary, that's what it was called. And there stood Guardian One, defeated, several parts missing from its metal body. 'You mean the Doctor, mate. He was dealing with this one.'

But then she saw a green, old alien with weird, pointy hair and a vacant stare sitting chained up in a corner, and she remembered. 'The rocket!' she shouted. 'Listen, this castle is about to get burned to the ground! We have to get everyone out!'

'The rocket has already exploded,' said Blorph'g.

Rose stared at him for a long moment, trying to understand. She began to smile triumphantly. 'The Doctor stopped it all, didn't he?'

Blorph'g shook his head, his eyes rising to meet hers.

The angel said something else, but Rose barely listened. More and more memories came bubbling to the surface; of things that didn't make sense, of images and feelings that weren't her own. For some reason she knew all about Blorph'g's past, about his wife, and the heartbreaking pain of losing her. She knew all about King Miramys' nightmares, his vows of vengeance.

Somehow, images of a nasty-looking, old-timey gun flashed through her mind, and she remembered.

'You killed me,' she said, ignoring the frantic voice of the angel. Now she remembered dying in the Doctor's arms. And sure enough, her black top was soaked in blood, but when she felt for a wound, there was none. 'Tell me what's happened!' she demanded of Blorph'g.

'Ask the Doctor.'

'Milady, please!'

Rose held up a hand, signalling him to wait. The memories were still flowing around in her head, eluding her grasp. Now she realised that she also carried bits of the Doctor in her head. Mostly shame. The sad realisation that Rose had been right not to love him. And an unquenchable, implacable anger at Blorph'g.

'Did he hurt you?' she asked the alien then, bracing for his answer.

But Blorph'g shook his head, and only now she understood the expression on his face: it was one of utter regret and shame. 'The opposite, actually,' he said. 'He wants to take me home to my family.'

She relaxed a little at that. Then she smiled. 'Typical Doctor.'

The angel servant was almost shouting at her. 'Lady Rose!'

She whirled around, 'Yes! What's going on?'


He hadn't missed anything. All loose ends were tied up, all duties fulfilled. Rose was safe with the TARDIS. In time she'd get over him, and she'd be happy again. Rose Tyler, Defender of Earth. Blorph'g would return home a changed man. Up to him how he'd make use of his second chance. The king was still belligerent, and he would likely remain so, but he wasn't really dangerous anymore. Even he'd have no choice but to go with the changes that would soon befall his people and the Dale. The story was out there, thanks to Virgil. The angels now owed the humans.

If, of, course the Dale would survive the coming weeks – which brought the Doctor's mind back to this whole vengeful dragon-situation.

He had been dealt a very bad hand; his chances of finding a diplomatic solution with the dragon depended on him finding a way to communicate, which depended on him getting close enough without getting eaten or burnt to death.

A rush came over him; this felt so much like the old times. Here he was, nothing to lose, getting ready to jump into the abyss for some people he didn't even know. Not a great punisher – just a mad man in a box. Just a Doctor.

Suddenly, he was racked with pain as the TARDIS energy tore through him. The fit was so painful it brought him to his knees, breath hissing through gritted teeth. As soon as it got bearable again, he got back to his feet. He didn't have much time. Minutes, maybe less.

'Doctor!' a familiar voice shouted from below. He ran to the balcony and stared at Rose, who stood a good fifteen metres below him, jumping, and waving frantically.

'Doctor!'

'What are you doing?' he shouted back, not even trying to contain his anger.

'Let's go on a date!'

He frowned. Clearly she was still suffering from the after effects of being the Bad Wolf. 'Get into the TARDIS! Blimey, what did I tell that blasted butter-brained bird?'

'Just say yes!' she shouted.

'I have to fight a dragon!'

'So let's go after!' she shouted again, and now he could hear the shaking in her voice, and even from fifteen metres away he could see the tears glisten on her face.

She knew.

'Alright,' he shouted, humouring her.

'Yeah?'

'Yeah! Now back in the TARDIS!'

'Don't die!'

'Go! Go!'

Another roar, much closer this time. The Doctor stood slowly.

'Back in the crate you go,' he whispered, both sad and happy at the same time.

He walked over to Virgil's glider. When he checked it for serious functionality, he realised that his previous assessment had been rather optimistic. The wooden contraption was barely more than handles and wings, with nothing supporting any landing attempts. Mary must have prayed for her life every time she'd been off with Virgil playing hooky. Hardly a romantic setting.

The pilot would be held by a set of wooden arcs, plus a plank for his feet, and one for his hands to hang on for dear life.

The Doctor calculated, trying to figure out if this thing would be of any use at all. Without an angel to pull him, would it just take him down instantly in a useless plummet?

Felgorn's massive shape approached, his shadow racing over grassland and forests. He'd be here in a minute.

The Doctor set his jaw, unfolded the wings of the glider, and grabbed the two handles. He mounted the contraption, raising it above his head. He stepped to the edge of the balcony, feeling the pull of the wind on the glider's wings.

'Allons-y,' he whispered, and jumped.