Fic: Keeper of the Mind (4/4) (DW)
Title: Keeper of the Mind
Author: hexicode
Fandom/pairing: Doctor Who, no pairing
Summary: “Who are you to judge who lives and who dies? You have always survived.”
Rating: all ages
Warnings: probably AU
Disclaimers: The characters and settings aren't mine. No profit is being made, this is for entertainment only.
A/N: Spoilers for the 2005 series. Beta by the awesome DianeM. Thanks!
oOo
Rose stretched her arms and took a sip from her long cold tea. The crimp in her neck was threatening to become permanent and she knew she really needed a shower. For five days, she had done nothing but wait - wait for the Doctor to wake up. She still didn’t quite know what had happened, but between Jack’s memories and what the natives had told them, the Doctor had saved all of their lives.
The Demarans had found the Doctor in the rubble of the temple. It had been destroyed completely and it was a miracle that he hadn’t been crushed to death.
“How is he?”
Rose turned around to see Jack standing in the doorway to the med bay.
“I don’t know. The computer says there’s still no change,” she sighed. “I’ve tried to find something in the TARDIS database but it’s all just squiggles. The TARDIS isn’t translating anything. It’s as if she’s sick along with the Doctor. I don’t think there is anything we can do.”
“Here, I brought you something to eat. Well, the Demarans actually did. Some sort of fruit rolls.” Jack handed her a pastry. “They’re not so bad. Neither are some of Demaran women...”
Rose didn’t listen. She took an experimental bite from the fruit roll. Jack was right, they really were quite good, filled with something sweet and gooey that vaguely reminded her of strawberry jam. The sweet taste reminded her that she couldn’t recall the last time she’d had a proper meal. The Demarans, themselves struggling with the sudden changes, were treating them almost with deference. They had offered to let them stay in the village as long as they wanted, but Rose and Jack had decided that they should take the Doctor back to the TARDIS.
“Rose, it’s been nearly a week. How long are you going to do this?” Jack asked gently.
“He saved us, he saved everyone. We can’t just abandon him.”
“I’m not saying we should, but we have to try to get out of here.”
“Any luck getting the TARDIS to work?” Rose asked, already knowing the answer. Rose didn’t understand how, but the TARDIS and the Doctor were tied together. One wouldn’t function correctly without the other.
“Not much. Short of short-circuiting, I’ve tried everything,” Jack said. “I’m usually the last to admit it, but we’re stuck. The Doctor isn’t getting any better.”
“You don’t know that,” Rose protested but she was afraid that Jack was right. They were going to spend the rest of their lives on Demara. She would never see Jackie and Mickey again. Rose fought to hold back tears - suddenly the universe seemed anything but wonderful and while she didn’t want to miss all the things the Doctor had shown her, part of her wished she’d just stayed in her dead-end job at the department store.
“Get some sleep. I’ll stay here with him.” Jack offered.
“No, you’re right. We need to get the TARDIS to work.”
Jack left quietly.
Rose pulled out the piece of crystal again. It was the only thing left of the crystal, a single blue shard and was also the only thing that remained of the Keeper and the Doctor. She had kept it in her pocket ever since one of the Demarans had given it to her. It had seemed wrong for her to accept it for the crystal had been sacred to the Demarans for centuries, but had eventually given in, accepting the gesture of gratitude. She hadn’t told Jack about the crystal shard. She had wanted too, but something had held her back. Rose couldn’t explain it herself, but whenever she held the crystal, it felt warm as if it was somehow alive.
For the hundredth time, she closed her fist around the crystal, hoping for something, anything to happen.
At first, there was nothing, like all the other times before. She was about to give up in disappointment when suddenly the crystal warmed, heating in her hand to the point of being painfully hot.
oOo
Rose woke with a start. She opened her eyes and relief washed over her. It had all been a dream. She was still in her bedroom aboard the TARDIS exactly where she had gone to bed the previous night. But when she opened her hand, she found that she was clutching a small blue crystal. Rose regarded it, puzzled. It was the same crystal that had been in her dream. Rose shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs of sleep. She wasn't sure what to make of the dream, or the crystal. Sensing that it might be something important, she decided to ask the Doctor about it later.
Rose got dressed, hungry and eager for breakfast. She headed for the TARDIS kitchen, which miraculously was always well stocked, even though she had never seen the Doctor go shopping for groceries. Amused at the mental image, she rounded a bend, when she noticed the acrid smell of something burning. The smell came from the kitchen and when she arrived she found Jack, muttering something that was presumably an alien language and obviously not something the TARDIS deemed worthy of translation.
Smoke rose from the charred remnants of what looked like the toaster.
“Rose,” Jack said, coughing, trying to wave away the smoke. “When did you last use the toaster?”
“Yesterday,” Rose replied, taking in the scene. There was something very familiar about it, but she couldn't put her finger on it. An uneasy feeling took hold in the back of her mind, like a persistent nagging voice, telling her that there was something she had forgotten.
“It set itself on fire,” Jack said plaintively. "And it burned my toast." He pointed to two pieces of toast that looked more like charcoal than bread.
“I can see that. Wait. Jack?”
“Yes, that’s me," Jack said, grinning. "I didn't singe my hair, did I?"
“No seriously. I’ve been here before.”
“It’s the TARDIS kitchen, I think I saw you here, having a midnight snack only last night.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. The toaster, setting itself on fire and everything else - it’s happened before.”
Jack suddenly grew serious. “Are you sure?”
“Definitely, I’m sure.”
“What happened next?” Jack asked.
“I’m not sure.” Rose tried to remember, but the dream was fading fast.
“Think, Rose, it could be important.” Jack grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him.
“The gravity was cutting out and then the TARDIS…it’s going to crash.” Rose broke free and started running for the console room before she could finish the sentence.
“How did you know.?” Jack called, following directly after her.
oOo
“Doctor!” Rose burst into the console room, breathless from the run. The Doctor was leaning against the console, a cup of tea in hand.
“Don’t, don’t move.” Rose yelled, but it was too late, the Doctor whirled around, dropping the cup on the console.
“Oh, no!” Rose cried as the TARDIS lurched and she realized it hadn’t just been a horrible nightmare. She needed to tell Jack and the Doctor, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t change history, she'd learned that lesson when she'd tried to save her father.
With the Doctor momentarily distracted, Rose reached for the crystal in her pocket. Like before, it felt warm to the touch.
"Come on," she muttered, feeling more than slightly stupid. "Come on, tell me what to do next. There has to be something I can do!"
It came to her in a flash. Like in dream, she found herself going over to the console, reaching for the sonic screwdriver the Doctor had left lying there. She picked it up, her fingers acting as if controlled by someone else.
oOo
“I’m not saying we should, but we have to try to get out of here.”
“Huh? Didn’t you just say that a moment ago?” Rose looked at Jack. She had a sudden intense feeling of déjà-vu. “Uhm, did you have any luck getting the TARDIS to work?” She asked eventually, sure that she had asked the question already. But then, they had hardly been talking about anything else the past few days.
“Not much. Short of short-circuiting, I’ve tried everything. I’m usually…”
Rose didn’t listen. Distractedly she felt for the shard of crystal in her pocket. Her hand closed around it, but it felt cold now.
“I swear, if you touch the TARDIS, I’m going to leave you on the next planet and I don’t care if it’s habitable.”
“What did you just say?” Rose asked Jack, then it clicked. The Doctor was looking up at her and Jack. He looked terrible, but he was definitely awake. “Doctor! Are you all right?”
“Ow, no yelling, please,” the Doctor said and sat up. “Headache.” He fingered the gash on his forehead.
“You look like hell,” Jack commented.
“You two don’t look any better. Not that I’m unhappy to be still around, but what happened?”
“We don’t know. Somehow, the Keeper’s dead and then the temple collapsed. The Demarans helped us dig you out of the rubble. You’ve been unconscious for five days. We didn’t think you were going to wake up...” Rose couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, but they were tears of joy.
“The sonic screwdriver!” the Doctor called out suddenly. “Did you find it?”
“You’ve been unconscious for a week and you’re worried about the sonic screwdriver?” Rose couldn’t help but laugh.
“I happen to be attached to it. It’s gotten me out of a lot of tight spots over the years,” the Doctor explained defensively.
“Here.” Rose handed it to the Doctor. “We found it in the rubble.”
The Doctor regarded the object, fondly, switched it on and frowned. “It didn’t overload.” The Doctor started grinning madly. “It didn’t overload.”
“You tried to overload it? Why?” Jack asked.
“Resonating concrete, remember? It actually works with crystals,” the Doctor paused, then he stared at Rose. “Rose?”
“I’m here,” Rose said, still laughing giddily.
“I’m sorry, but I messed with your sonic screwdriver. I don't actually know what I did but I’m glad it worked. There is something else I think I should give back,” Rose said and handed the Doctor the crystal shard.
“Ah, the last of the Keeper. I’ll have to find a safe place for it. I can’t let her get away again.”
“Would anyone mind filling me in?” Jack interrupted, obviously confused. “The Demarans told us the Keeper had been destroyed.”
“The crystal really was the Keeper, well a crystalline life form. It’s incredibly hard to kill them - as long as a piece of the crystal survives, they live on.”
“Then how did you break her control, without destroying the crystal?”
“It wasn’t just the Keeper in the crystal. Emotions are a powerful thing. The Keeper kept the Demarans sheltered for centuries. You saw them - no conflicts, no violence, no emotions because nothing ever happened while everything was under the Keeper’s psychic control. At least it was until the TARDIS showed up. The Keeper’s control started breaking up right then and there.”
“The woman we heard screaming in the temple.” Jack realized. “We set everything in motion.”
“Yes and no. The Keeper had to use much more of her energy to absorb the Demarans reactions to us, weakening her control over them. You just made it worse when you stormed into the temple and created more conflict, more emotions the Keeper couldn’t handle.”
“Like ripples in a pond,” Rose thought out loud.
“Something like that,” the Doctor agreed. “I didn’t realize how everything worked until the Keeper tried to absorb me into her hive mind. She couldn’t control me for too long, too many emotions and too many memories to absorb. When the Demarans realized I was going to destroy the crystal, they were afraid for the first time. The emotional rush was so powerful that it broke the Keeper’s control over them.”
“Then why did you overload the sonic screwdriver?” Rose asked, confused.
“Well, I had to get out, too. If I hadn’t broken up the crystal, Rose wouldn’t have gotten my message, asking her to change the settings on the sonic screwdriver.”
“Not that I’m complaining that you’re still around, but what about me?” Jack asked.
“I think you could use this.” The Doctor handed the crystal shard Rose had given him over to Jack.
“What…” Jack started, turning over the crystal in his palm, when his face lit up with realization. “You didn’t just record a message to Rose.”
The Doctor shrugged.
“I wasn’t sure it would work at all, but I thought in case it did, you’d like to have it.”
The End
Author: hexicode
Fandom/pairing: Doctor Who, no pairing
Summary: “Who are you to judge who lives and who dies? You have always survived.”
Rating: all ages
Warnings: probably AU
Disclaimers: The characters and settings aren't mine. No profit is being made, this is for entertainment only.
A/N: Spoilers for the 2005 series. Beta by the awesome DianeM. Thanks!
oOo
Rose stretched her arms and took a sip from her long cold tea. The crimp in her neck was threatening to become permanent and she knew she really needed a shower. For five days, she had done nothing but wait - wait for the Doctor to wake up. She still didn’t quite know what had happened, but between Jack’s memories and what the natives had told them, the Doctor had saved all of their lives.
The Demarans had found the Doctor in the rubble of the temple. It had been destroyed completely and it was a miracle that he hadn’t been crushed to death.
“How is he?”
Rose turned around to see Jack standing in the doorway to the med bay.
“I don’t know. The computer says there’s still no change,” she sighed. “I’ve tried to find something in the TARDIS database but it’s all just squiggles. The TARDIS isn’t translating anything. It’s as if she’s sick along with the Doctor. I don’t think there is anything we can do.”
“Here, I brought you something to eat. Well, the Demarans actually did. Some sort of fruit rolls.” Jack handed her a pastry. “They’re not so bad. Neither are some of Demaran women...”
Rose didn’t listen. She took an experimental bite from the fruit roll. Jack was right, they really were quite good, filled with something sweet and gooey that vaguely reminded her of strawberry jam. The sweet taste reminded her that she couldn’t recall the last time she’d had a proper meal. The Demarans, themselves struggling with the sudden changes, were treating them almost with deference. They had offered to let them stay in the village as long as they wanted, but Rose and Jack had decided that they should take the Doctor back to the TARDIS.
“Rose, it’s been nearly a week. How long are you going to do this?” Jack asked gently.
“He saved us, he saved everyone. We can’t just abandon him.”
“I’m not saying we should, but we have to try to get out of here.”
“Any luck getting the TARDIS to work?” Rose asked, already knowing the answer. Rose didn’t understand how, but the TARDIS and the Doctor were tied together. One wouldn’t function correctly without the other.
“Not much. Short of short-circuiting, I’ve tried everything,” Jack said. “I’m usually the last to admit it, but we’re stuck. The Doctor isn’t getting any better.”
“You don’t know that,” Rose protested but she was afraid that Jack was right. They were going to spend the rest of their lives on Demara. She would never see Jackie and Mickey again. Rose fought to hold back tears - suddenly the universe seemed anything but wonderful and while she didn’t want to miss all the things the Doctor had shown her, part of her wished she’d just stayed in her dead-end job at the department store.
“Get some sleep. I’ll stay here with him.” Jack offered.
“No, you’re right. We need to get the TARDIS to work.”
Jack left quietly.
Rose pulled out the piece of crystal again. It was the only thing left of the crystal, a single blue shard and was also the only thing that remained of the Keeper and the Doctor. She had kept it in her pocket ever since one of the Demarans had given it to her. It had seemed wrong for her to accept it for the crystal had been sacred to the Demarans for centuries, but had eventually given in, accepting the gesture of gratitude. She hadn’t told Jack about the crystal shard. She had wanted too, but something had held her back. Rose couldn’t explain it herself, but whenever she held the crystal, it felt warm as if it was somehow alive.
For the hundredth time, she closed her fist around the crystal, hoping for something, anything to happen.
At first, there was nothing, like all the other times before. She was about to give up in disappointment when suddenly the crystal warmed, heating in her hand to the point of being painfully hot.
oOo
Rose woke with a start. She opened her eyes and relief washed over her. It had all been a dream. She was still in her bedroom aboard the TARDIS exactly where she had gone to bed the previous night. But when she opened her hand, she found that she was clutching a small blue crystal. Rose regarded it, puzzled. It was the same crystal that had been in her dream. Rose shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs of sleep. She wasn't sure what to make of the dream, or the crystal. Sensing that it might be something important, she decided to ask the Doctor about it later.
Rose got dressed, hungry and eager for breakfast. She headed for the TARDIS kitchen, which miraculously was always well stocked, even though she had never seen the Doctor go shopping for groceries. Amused at the mental image, she rounded a bend, when she noticed the acrid smell of something burning. The smell came from the kitchen and when she arrived she found Jack, muttering something that was presumably an alien language and obviously not something the TARDIS deemed worthy of translation.
Smoke rose from the charred remnants of what looked like the toaster.
“Rose,” Jack said, coughing, trying to wave away the smoke. “When did you last use the toaster?”
“Yesterday,” Rose replied, taking in the scene. There was something very familiar about it, but she couldn't put her finger on it. An uneasy feeling took hold in the back of her mind, like a persistent nagging voice, telling her that there was something she had forgotten.
“It set itself on fire,” Jack said plaintively. "And it burned my toast." He pointed to two pieces of toast that looked more like charcoal than bread.
“I can see that. Wait. Jack?”
“Yes, that’s me," Jack said, grinning. "I didn't singe my hair, did I?"
“No seriously. I’ve been here before.”
“It’s the TARDIS kitchen, I think I saw you here, having a midnight snack only last night.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. The toaster, setting itself on fire and everything else - it’s happened before.”
Jack suddenly grew serious. “Are you sure?”
“Definitely, I’m sure.”
“What happened next?” Jack asked.
“I’m not sure.” Rose tried to remember, but the dream was fading fast.
“Think, Rose, it could be important.” Jack grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him.
“The gravity was cutting out and then the TARDIS…it’s going to crash.” Rose broke free and started running for the console room before she could finish the sentence.
“How did you know.?” Jack called, following directly after her.
oOo
“Doctor!” Rose burst into the console room, breathless from the run. The Doctor was leaning against the console, a cup of tea in hand.
“Don’t, don’t move.” Rose yelled, but it was too late, the Doctor whirled around, dropping the cup on the console.
“Oh, no!” Rose cried as the TARDIS lurched and she realized it hadn’t just been a horrible nightmare. She needed to tell Jack and the Doctor, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t change history, she'd learned that lesson when she'd tried to save her father.
With the Doctor momentarily distracted, Rose reached for the crystal in her pocket. Like before, it felt warm to the touch.
"Come on," she muttered, feeling more than slightly stupid. "Come on, tell me what to do next. There has to be something I can do!"
It came to her in a flash. Like in dream, she found herself going over to the console, reaching for the sonic screwdriver the Doctor had left lying there. She picked it up, her fingers acting as if controlled by someone else.
oOo
“I’m not saying we should, but we have to try to get out of here.”
“Huh? Didn’t you just say that a moment ago?” Rose looked at Jack. She had a sudden intense feeling of déjà-vu. “Uhm, did you have any luck getting the TARDIS to work?” She asked eventually, sure that she had asked the question already. But then, they had hardly been talking about anything else the past few days.
“Not much. Short of short-circuiting, I’ve tried everything. I’m usually…”
Rose didn’t listen. Distractedly she felt for the shard of crystal in her pocket. Her hand closed around it, but it felt cold now.
“I swear, if you touch the TARDIS, I’m going to leave you on the next planet and I don’t care if it’s habitable.”
“What did you just say?” Rose asked Jack, then it clicked. The Doctor was looking up at her and Jack. He looked terrible, but he was definitely awake. “Doctor! Are you all right?”
“Ow, no yelling, please,” the Doctor said and sat up. “Headache.” He fingered the gash on his forehead.
“You look like hell,” Jack commented.
“You two don’t look any better. Not that I’m unhappy to be still around, but what happened?”
“We don’t know. Somehow, the Keeper’s dead and then the temple collapsed. The Demarans helped us dig you out of the rubble. You’ve been unconscious for five days. We didn’t think you were going to wake up...” Rose couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, but they were tears of joy.
“The sonic screwdriver!” the Doctor called out suddenly. “Did you find it?”
“You’ve been unconscious for a week and you’re worried about the sonic screwdriver?” Rose couldn’t help but laugh.
“I happen to be attached to it. It’s gotten me out of a lot of tight spots over the years,” the Doctor explained defensively.
“Here.” Rose handed it to the Doctor. “We found it in the rubble.”
The Doctor regarded the object, fondly, switched it on and frowned. “It didn’t overload.” The Doctor started grinning madly. “It didn’t overload.”
“You tried to overload it? Why?” Jack asked.
“Resonating concrete, remember? It actually works with crystals,” the Doctor paused, then he stared at Rose. “Rose?”
“I’m here,” Rose said, still laughing giddily.
“I’m sorry, but I messed with your sonic screwdriver. I don't actually know what I did but I’m glad it worked. There is something else I think I should give back,” Rose said and handed the Doctor the crystal shard.
“Ah, the last of the Keeper. I’ll have to find a safe place for it. I can’t let her get away again.”
“Would anyone mind filling me in?” Jack interrupted, obviously confused. “The Demarans told us the Keeper had been destroyed.”
“The crystal really was the Keeper, well a crystalline life form. It’s incredibly hard to kill them - as long as a piece of the crystal survives, they live on.”
“Then how did you break her control, without destroying the crystal?”
“It wasn’t just the Keeper in the crystal. Emotions are a powerful thing. The Keeper kept the Demarans sheltered for centuries. You saw them - no conflicts, no violence, no emotions because nothing ever happened while everything was under the Keeper’s psychic control. At least it was until the TARDIS showed up. The Keeper’s control started breaking up right then and there.”
“The woman we heard screaming in the temple.” Jack realized. “We set everything in motion.”
“Yes and no. The Keeper had to use much more of her energy to absorb the Demarans reactions to us, weakening her control over them. You just made it worse when you stormed into the temple and created more conflict, more emotions the Keeper couldn’t handle.”
“Like ripples in a pond,” Rose thought out loud.
“Something like that,” the Doctor agreed. “I didn’t realize how everything worked until the Keeper tried to absorb me into her hive mind. She couldn’t control me for too long, too many emotions and too many memories to absorb. When the Demarans realized I was going to destroy the crystal, they were afraid for the first time. The emotional rush was so powerful that it broke the Keeper’s control over them.”
“Then why did you overload the sonic screwdriver?” Rose asked, confused.
“Well, I had to get out, too. If I hadn’t broken up the crystal, Rose wouldn’t have gotten my message, asking her to change the settings on the sonic screwdriver.”
“Not that I’m complaining that you’re still around, but what about me?” Jack asked.
“I think you could use this.” The Doctor handed the crystal shard Rose had given him over to Jack.
“What…” Jack started, turning over the crystal in his palm, when his face lit up with realization. “You didn’t just record a message to Rose.”
The Doctor shrugged.
“I wasn’t sure it would work at all, but I thought in case it did, you’d like to have it.”
The End