We rush down the streets, our fingers intertwined as we run to Rose. The sight of the empty TARDIS exterior caused the Doctor to go into a flurry, dragging me behind him as I'm slowly consumed by my thoughts. Was I being overly sensitive earlier? Did he really mean his apology or is he just desperate to make sure he isn't alone again. I can't tell what he's truly feelings are, how can I know for certain that he's sorry and that he won't turn on me so quickly again. Although I can understand the effects of war, some (humans at least) are permanently damaged after war, they come home with a magnitude of mental problems. Many are consumed by survivors guilt, which I think is the last Timelords main issue. His entire planet is gone, family and friends. That has to cause some issues. Slowly I start to sympathise with him, he just needs someone to help him out of this dark pit he seems to have created for himself.
A rather loud "Rose! Get in the church!" snaps me out of my thoughts, startled I stumble before noticing that there was a large bat-like creature eating people. What the fuck?
The said satanic looking thing hisses at us before swooping down its talons outstretched in the hopes of grabbing Rose. The Doctor surges forwards, still holding my hand, and knocks Rose down. I follow stumbling over and past them as I finally get my hand out of his grip. I narrowly duck from the sharp claws of the creature before hurriedly racing over to a fallen over man and helping him into the church.
"Get in the church!" I order the multitude of people screaming and running around. Coming back out of the church to see the Timelord also gathering people. We all briefly stop when two more of the creatures quite literally appear out of thin air.
"What the actual f-" I'm cut off as one swoops at me, a large body knocking right into me and sending me to the ground. I open my clenched shut eyes to see the Doctor hovering over me, I blush at the position we found ourselves in. His left leg resting in between mine whilst he straddles my left leg, his hands on either side of my face holding himself up. We both seem to take notice of the life and death situation, the Doctor jumps up before helping me arise.
"Oh, my God. What are they? What are they?" A lady starts shouting, her voice high pitched with panic.
"Inside!" the Doctor orders, ushering as many people into the old building.
"Sarah!" a man desperately calls, a woman in a white long dress runs over to him. Clutching him in fear.
"Stay in there!" I shout to a man who stepped out of the church, he ignores me though and starts running. The creature follows him, devouring the man whole. I watch in horror as he screams echo.
"In!" the Timelord shouts before leading everyone into the building and closing the doors. I breath deeply, calming my racing heart before sliding over to the Doctors side.
"What can I do to help?" I question, eager to get away from the frantic crowd.
"Make sure all the doors are locked." he orders, not even sparing me a glance whilst he sonics the doors lock. I nod before rushing off, searching the building for doors and windows. I faintly hear the Doctor ordering the rest of our now large group to also close the doors. I run back in after finding some of the doors with key locks, I need the sonic.
I enter the main room to see the Doctor stopped by Jackie.
"What're you jabbering on about, time?" she demands, her hair curled nicely whilst she wears an elegant pink dress. She looks beautiful.
"Oh, I might've known you'd argue. Jackie, I'm sick of you complaining." the Timelord complains, running over to a nearby window briefly sonicking it.
"How do you know my name?" the mother demands, now disturbed by him.
"I haven't got time for this." the Doctor shouts over her, Jackie continues though.
"I've never met you in my life!"
"No, and you never will unless I sort this out. Now, if you don't mind, I've waited a long time to say this. Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go! And! Check! The! Doors!" Doc snaps, punctuating each word. Jackie quickly quiets before mumbling a,
"Yes, sir." and rushing off. I stop beside the man as the groom approaches us.
"I should have done that ages ago." Doc excitedly comments to me. I smile up at him, causing his eyes too brighten ever so slightly.
The groom clears his throat getting our attention, "My dad was out there." he informs sadly.
"You can mourn him later. Right now we've got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive." I pipe in, giving the man a sympathetic glance.
"My dad had-" the man starts again.
"There's nothing I can do for him." Doc interrupts, shutting the man down.
"No, but he had this phone thing." the man states, holding out a long rectangle, a phone from that time period. "I can't get it to work. I keep getting this voice."
He holds the phone up near our ears, a voice repeating through the speaker.
"Watson, come here. I need you. Watson, come here. I need you."
"That's the very first phone call. Alexander Graham Bell." the Timelord states, his brows furrowed.
"I don't think the telephone's going to be much use." I state, also confused. What is going on?
"But someone must have called the police!" the man protests. His exclamation gathers the attention of the rest of the panicked crowd.
"Police can't help you now. No one can. Nothing in this universe can harm those things." the Doctor voices, talking to all of the group.
"Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilise the wound." I add, slowly gathering what's happening.
"And they do that by consuming everything inside." he continues, nodding in my direction to confirm my statement.
"Is this because.. Is this my fault?" Rose questions, her face pale and guilt ridden.
"Yes." I answer, not sparing her a look. I then turn to the Doctor. "Some of the doors at the back need a key, we'll need your screwdriver." he nods before allowing me to show him the doors. On our way we briefly check the occasional window. We make it to the back room, candles and other religious bits and bobs lay around.
I pull the windows tightly closed, using the sonic to lock them before gently tossing the device to the Doctor. Our silence is interrupted by Pete joining us, her uses some keys to lock the door.
"Well where'd ya find them?" I mumble, ignored by both of the men.
"There's smoke coming up from the city but no sirens. I don't think it's just us. I think these things are all over the place. Maybe the whole world." Pete comments, we gather around the window, watching as smoke drifts in the air from the buildings in the distance. Our surroundings are eerily quiet except for the occasional screech and hiss of the aliens. A beige car swerves around the corner, I snap my attention to it. The same number plate as the car that is to kill Mr Tyler, I make eye contact with the Doctor. We watch as the car swerves around nothing, the driver protecting his eyes as if he hit something before it then disappears into thin air. "Was that a car?" Pete questions, catching a brief sighting of the vehicle.
"It's not important. Don't worry about it." Doc denies, before gently taking my hand and walking away. We head towards a large door on the side of the church, one of the aliens outside slamming itself into it. I flinch as the door moves slightly, the Doctor starts to press the door and simultaneously sonick it shut. I join his, leaning on the door with my full weight. Our little mission is interrupted when the groom approaches us again, this time with the bride.
I smile gently at the pair, her dress is gorgeous.
"Excuse me, Mister.. um, Miss..." the man speaks, not knowing our names.
"Doctor." Doc adds, turning to look at the couple. The man then turns to me.
"Oh, I'm Alula Smith. Preferably Luna though." I smile at them, "I like your dress by the way, it's beautiful."
The bride blushes but doesn't speak up, her hand remains pressed against her stomach.
"You seem to know what's going on." the groom voices, as I press harder against the door.
"I give that impression, yeah." Doc answers, scanning the door some more.
"I just wanted to ask-" he starts but is cut off by his partner.
"Can you save us?" This gathers Doc's attention as he leaves the door. Approaching the couple with a certain look I couldn't put my tongue on.
"Who are you then?" Doc questions lightly, I move off of the door to lean against a pillar nearby.
"Stuart Hoskins." the man answers.
"Sarah Clark."
"And one extra. Boy or girl?" I input, smiling softly as Sarah gently rubs her stomach.
"I don't know. I don't want to know, really." she answers, smiling herself.
"How did all this get started?" Doc questions, standing near me.
"Outside the Beatbox Club, two in the morning." Stuart answers, looking at his fiance.
"Street corner. I'd lost my purse, didn't have money for a taxi." Sarah continues, reminiscing about their meeting.
"I took her home." the groom continues, a smile still on his face.
"Then what? Asked her for a date?" Doc questions, looking genuinely interested.
"Wrote his number on the back of my hand." Sarah continues.
"Smooth." I comment. A sense of envy flittering through me.
"Never got rid of her since. My dad said-" Stuart cuts off, remembering that his father had been eaten.
"I don't know what this is all about, and I know we're not important." Sarah starts, I cut her off though.
"Who said you're not important?"
"I've travelled to all sorts of places, done things you couldn't even imagine, but you two. Street corner, two in the morning, getting a taxi home. I've never had a life like that." Doc answers, smiling at the couple. I gently take his hand causing him to smile down at me.
"Yes. We'll try and save you." I add, resting my head on the wall near me.
After Sarah and Stuart left, the Doctor heads off to sort some more doors out. I on the other hand move to the pews, sitting on the second one in from the front. I catch sight of a frantic Jackie, wandering around asking if people would look after her daughter whilst she sort something out. After getting rejected a few times I call out,
"Jackie, I can look after her." her gaze snaps onto me, her eyes slightly untrusting. "I won't do anything, I'll just keep her entertained for a bit whilst you do whatever you need." she gives in, handing me the car seat gently before walking off. Young Rose gazes up at me tiredly, her eyes scrunched up as if she had just awoken. I pull out my TARDIS key, gently swinging it in front of the infant who giggles as she tries to catch it. I start to gently hum a random tune, the lyrics long forgotten but I never can get rid of the music.
I slowly stop swinging the key, watching as the babes eyes softly flutter close as she listens to my humming. By no means can I sing, but my humming is acceptable. I sigh gently stroking the back of her hand, it has always amazed me how soft babies skin is, untouched by the horrors and evil of the world. As much as I don't really like children, babies can sometimes be cute.
"You look almost peaceful." a voice gently states, I gently look up to see the Doctor watching us. His eyes soft with a wistful and yearning look, I smile up at him before turning back to the child. The little girl gently wraps her small hand around my index finger, holding it as tightly as her weak grip could.
"As much as children tend to annoy me, there is something about their innocence and oblivion to the true world that I admire." I mumble, keeping my voice low as the infant sleeps.
"Mhmm, they are untouched by the bad in the universe." Doc agrees, sitting down next to me.
"Doctor." I ask, getting the mans attention.
"Mhmm." he answers, looking up to watch my expression.
"Why didn't you listen to me?" I finish, I watch as his expression twists before he looks down avoiding my eye contact. "I'm not trying to start something again, I just want to know why. I mean this could have all been avoided..."
"I, I know how it feels to know that someone you love is going to die, and want to help them. In my situation I can't do anything for my people, it would truly shatter time. But Rose. Rose could, she had a small opportunity to say goodbye or offer comfort for both Pete and herself. I wanted to give that to her, especially since I can't. I was too wrapped up in making sure someone doesn't even feel a glimpse of what I do- I didn't even realise that it was wrong." he explains, fiddling with the edge of the baby chair. "I promise to listen more, to try and detach my emotions from my actions. I got too emotional and this is the outcome." he adds, waving his arms around to gesture to the situation.
"Don't ever apologize for wanting to help others Doc. You aren't a bad man, no matter what you think of yourself. And yes sometimes emotions shouldn't be used to dictate actions, but they are just as useful as logic." I gently state, placing a hand on the mans arm. He nods, placing his own hand on top of mine. We both watch as young Rose sleeps, her little hand occasionally reaching up to her head before not making it and dropping back to her side or chest.
The Timelord reaches across us to gently push the baby's headband off of its head, "I tend to find that the babies never like head accessories." he informs, tucking the fabric between the side of the car seat. His action causes her to stir ever so slightly, her beautiful blue eyes peering up at the new face in wonder.
"Little Rosie, meeting the Doctor for the first time." I comment, gently tugging my finger from her hand. "Oh how you change."
"Causing so many problems as well. Now, Rose you're not going to bring about the end of the world, are you? Are you?" he gently commands the infant. She looks up at him with a face of slight disturbance.
"Only you would kind of threaten a child." I mumble, smiling at the weird situation. Our small trio is soon joined by the older version of the infant, I tense as she pauses near us.
"Jackie gave her to Al to look after. Thought I'd help. How times change." Doc informs her, She nods smiling awkwardly.
"I'd better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken." she comments, reaching forwards to touch her young self. I quickly grab her hand as the Doctor shouts,
"No!" then in a lower voice he continues, "Don't touch the baby. You're both the same person. That's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox happening, not with these things outside. Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger."
"The paradox might let them in." I add, smiling down at a rather confused baby. Dejected adult Rose snaps her hand out of my grip.
"Can't do anything right, can I?" she mumbles, still pissed the Doctor retorts.
"Since you ask, no. So, don't. Touch. The. Baby." Rose flinches slightly as he punctuates his words, I roll my eyes. I'm done with the arguing, we can do that when our lives aren't in danger.
"I'm not stupid." Rose replies, crossing her arms.
"You could have fooled me." Doc snaps, at this I elbow him in the side. He looks down at me to which I just raise my eyebrows at him. "All right, I'm sorry." the Timelord apologizes, "I wasn't really going to leave you on your own."
"I know." Rose replies, I roll my eyes at her confidence.
"But between us three, I haven't got a plan. No idea. No way out." I frowned, at his statement. It sounds as if he's given up.
"You'll think of something." I assure, resting my head on his shoulder. Then add, "No pressure."
"The entire Earth's been sterilised. This, and other places like it, are all that's left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures. They'll get through in the end. The walls aren't that old. And there's nothing I can do to stop them." he explains, angrily continuing, "There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening. My people would have stopped this. But they're all gone." his tone falters, grief twisting through his rage, "And now I'm going the same way."
"If I'd realised-" Rose starts only to be cut off my Doc,
"Just tell me you're sorry." she rapidly nods her head.
"I am. I'm sorry."
"Not just me you have to apologize to." he adds, looking pointedly at me. Her face twists with guilt as she looks over at me, fiddling with her hands awkwardly.
"I- Luna I'm so sorry. I don't even know why I said any of it, none of it's true." she mumbles, looking up at me briefly. "Please forgive me."
"Rose, it doesn't matter." I reply, smiling slightly. There's no point in starting anything right now, especially since we may die.
Relieved Rose lunges at the pair of us. Dragging the Timelord and I into a hug, I break the hug as a burning sensation in the palm of my hand. Screeching I practically throw the glowing key from my hand.
"Ow fuck, bastard, shit." I growl, clutching my hand in a futile attempt to ease the burning pain.
"What the hell? Al, you okay?" Doc hurriedly questions, gently taking my hand. "What happened?"
"TARDIS key fucking scolded me." I grumble a reply, watching curiously as Doc pulls out some of the burn cream from his jacket pocket. "Wha- why is that in your pocket?"
He smiles up at me smugly whilst applying the paste to my burn, "Because you my dear friend, have a habit of burning yourself."
Once done, he turns to the key. Curious as to why. He finds my key slightly under a nearby pew, glowing vibrantly. His expression rapidly brightens, his excitement flooding back into him. He throws his jacket off revealing his olive green v-neck jumper, before he grabs the key with the leather and turns to us with a large grin. Holding the key he moves to the pulpit at the front of the church,
"It's telling me it's still connected to the Tardis." he happily informs, relief flooding me. Maybe there is a chance after all. Holding the key he moves to the pulpit at the front of the church, turns to the others in the church who had come to notice the commotion. "The inside of my ship was thrown out of the wound but we can use this to bring it back. And once I've got my ship back, then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?"
Stuart reaches forwards, holding out his fathers telephone, "This one big enough?"
"Fantastic."
"Brilliant thanks Stuart." I praise, smiling at the possibility of our survival.
"Good old dad. There you go." Stuart happily hands the device over. Since the Doctors hands become full with both the key and the battery I reach into his back pocket, offering the tool to him. He smiles before nodding to the battery,
"Just need to do a bit of charging up and then we can bring everyone back." I point the hand sized device at the battery, the end glowing blue.
After a few moments the Doctor and I switch positions, me holding things whilst he makes some sort of contraption. After placing the battery on the floor, he turns to me.
"Just place the key roughly where the lock would be, and let go." he orders, I look at him with pure confusion but proceed nonetheless. As if by magic the key remains in the air, the TARDIS fading around the glowing metal. Her groaning reaches the ears of everyone, as if she's struggling and/or in pain.
"This isn't hurting her is it?" I ask quietly watching as Doc's brows furrow in worry.
"I hope not." he mumbles, I nod before realising the Timelord stood next to me without his leather jacket. I gently nudge his arm, holding the fabric out to him.
"You don't look right without it." I add, he grins before shoving his arms through the holes and pulling the leather on. energized he runs back over to the pulpit.
"Right, no one touches that key. Have you got that? Don't touch it. Anyone touches that key, it'll be, well, zap." he orders, "Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here. All of us." he then turns to the marrying couple. "Stuart, Sarah you're going to get married, just like I said."
We all move back to sitting down, Rose, the Doctor and I sat side by side in a pew. After many peaceful moments of silence (minus the aliens screeching outside) Rose timidly clears her throat. Gaining our attention, I curiously hold my head up and off of the Doctors shoulder to look at her.
"When time gets sorted out-" Rose starts, cut off by Doc who says,
"Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed." he assures.
"You mean I'll still be alive, though I'm meant to be dead. That's why I haven't done anything with my life, why I didn't mean anything." Pete cuts in, staring at us expectantly. I look down, for some reason guilt tearing away at me from his statement.
"It doesn't work like that." Doc contradicts, looking at the man with some sort of pity.
"Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly." Mr Tyler snaps, then lowers his voice to continue, "Now it's my fault all of this has happened."
"This is my fault." Rose interrupts, looking at he father with teary eyes.
"No, love. I'm your dad. It's my job for it to be my fault." Pete replies, staring at his daughter with love, my heart clenches with yearning for some paternal relationship. I have always brushed off the fact that I'd never had parents, something I chose to look over otherwise I'd get stuck in a pit of self pity and yearning. I sigh heavily at the father-daughter relationship, envious of Rose.
To break me from my thoughts, a pissed Jackie storms over to our gathering. She overhears our conversation, young Rose bundled in her arms. "Her dad? How are you her dad?" she questions, her voice cracking with emotion, "How old were you, twelve? Oh, that's disgusting." her lips turn up in disgust.
"Jacks, listen. This is Rose." Pete attempts to solve the situation, smiling awkwardly. Doc stands up, sick of the 'domestics' as he'd say. I follow closely, choosing to avoid the slowly aggravated Jackie. Doc and I stand side by side against a nearby wall, not too far away from the arguing family. We watch it fold out before panic floods through me. Pete reaches over to baby Rose, passing the infant to adult Rose.
"Rose! No!" I cry out, racing over in a futile attempt to stop their contact. Once there I practically threw the child at Jackie, my attempts though are useless. I turn in horror as another creature appears in the church. The Timelord rushes in front of me, I standing protectively in front of Jackie.
"Everyone, behind me! I'm the oldest thing in here." he bellows, all the guests run behind him, I rush forwards gripping his hand tightly whilst exclaiming.
"Doctor! No!" he looks down at me, clutching my hand back. I sob as the alien swoops down, diving at us. I tighten my grip, in hopes of going with the last of the Timelords, only for the man beside me to shove me away last minute. I stumble to the ground, staring in horror at the spot we last stood. The alien latches onto him, consuming him whole. After consuming the man I had come to call my best friend the bat-like alien flies off, taking the TARDIS key out with it. I watch in shock as the metal clatters to the floor.
The panicked screams of the other guests slowly muffles, words jumbling as my breathing becomes hard. My chest spasming in pain as my heart races out of my chest. Everything sounded as if I was underwater, listening to those above. I faintly hear Rose cry out,
"It's cold. The key's cold. Oh, my God, he's dead. This is all my fault. Both of you. All of you. The whole world."
Red floods my gaze, I snap my head to her. My knees clutched to my chest with tears rolling down my face.
"Yes. It is your fault, you're a selfish bitch that just took out the only person who had any chance of saving us. You've condemned the last of the human race because you couldn't do one thing!" I scream, my face flushing in my rage. Tears race down my red cheeks, a sob escaping my lips. "What part of 'don't touch the baby' didn't you get?" I add, my voice significantly quieter.
I remain on the floor, sobbing as my world quite literally comes crashing down. The only person I thought of as a true friend just died in front of me and now I'm abandoned in a new time zone with no money, job, home, family. Nothing. I come to realise that maybe it wasn't a small crush that would go away, as I feel my heart shatter at the thought of going on without the last Timelord. Expected to laugh without his stupid jokes being the reason, or expected to live without our petty arguments to start my day.
These thoughts only cause me to cry harder, I bury my face in my knees, curling up into the smallest ball possible. Eventually the tears stop, I shift so that I'm lay on my back on the floor staring blankly at the ceiling. I close my eyes, listening to the footsteps around me. A large hand starts to gently run over my hair, petting my head. I reopen my eyes to see a familiar leather-clad alien crouched beside me. Tears spike in my eyes again, I shoot off of the floor and throw myself at him. Wrapping my arms tightly around his neck as a few tears trickle down my face.
"Woah." he chuckles, rubbing a hand up and down my side as he uses his other to balance himself. I shove my face into the side of his neck, clutching him closely.
"You died." I croak, pulling back slightly to look into his eyes. "I thought- I thought you were dead."
"That's normally what happens when you're eaten but a big bat." he retorts, attempting to lighten the mood.
"Stop, I, I thought I was alone again." I mumble, hugging the man again. My emotions running wild as the relief of seeing him alive settles, a smidge of anger worms its way in. I pull back from the hug, repeatedly slapping the side of his shoulder whilst punctuating, "Don't, you, ever, do, that, again. You, stupid, timeboy." he gently grabs my hands whilst whining.
"Stop hitting me. God you're abusive." I simply glare heatedly at him, he rolls his eyes though the hint of a smile on his lips causes me to smile up at him.
"Please, don't ever sacrifice yourself again. Not just because I would be heartbroken, but because the universe needs you."
He sits there in shock, intensely searching my face for any hint of false sincerity. He slowly nods before pulling me into his chest, I comply and rest my ear over his left heart. Listening to the soothing double heartbeat as exhaustion from the embarrassing amount of crying I've done today tugs at my eyelids. A small yawn escapes my lips, Doc's arms tighten around my shoulders. I sigh in content before briefly remembering that we were on the church floor at the end of the world. Although it must've been sorted out since Doc is back, that must mean that Pete figured out that he had to die to fix it. I frown slightly, Mr Tyler is a weird one and I don't know whether I like him.
AN: Sorry it's late, I've been struggling with motivation and ideas. That and I've got a very busy summer job so my time schedule is all over the place. Hope you enjoy - Fleur