Discordant -- Story 1 of the Blind and Bound series (6/13)
Title: Discordant -- Story 1 of the Blind and Bound series (6/13)
Author: sinecure - My master fic list
Character/Pairing: Rose, Pete, Mickey, Jackie
Rating: Adult
Genre: AU, Action/adventure, mystery, drama, angst, romance
Summary: Rose Tyler traveled through universes to get back to the Doctor. What did she see in those universes, and how did they affect her?
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.
Thanks: to momdaegmorgan for the beta, and the prompt, and the constant inspiration to finish this thing.
- Prologue
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
Rose peered down the empty street, past all the crashed vehicles, past all the little fires inexplicably burning here and there. Beyond those, beyond all of that, there was a man, a lone figure at the other end of the very long street. Feeling her heart begin to pound at the familiar shape, she allowed a smile to slowly form then take over her face in the shape of a wide grin.
It was him. He was there, just a few meters--well, no, the street was long--a few hundred meters away, standing in a pool of sickly yellow light from the streetlamp above him. He turned to face her, and though he was too far away for her to see, she imagined his smile, his grin, the one that always made her want to hug him.
And to be honest, kiss him.
Oh, those lips, they were there, just down the street, waiting to be kissed.
Wasting no more time, Rose shoved the Dalek gun to her side, resting it on her hip, and took off at a run. She'd found him, finally found him, after three long years of jumping through universes, suffering disappointment after disappointment. Tears slipped from her eyes, causing the lights to blur and twist like a kaleidoscope.
Joy shot through her body, followed by a giddy feeling that wouldn't dissipate until he was in her arms again.
And then he was--he was there--and he was hugging her tightly, so tightly that she couldn't breathe, and she'd never been happier. "I found you, I found you, I found you," she whispered over and over again, closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder. She breathed in his familiar scent, shaking with laughter and tears.
Tightening her arms around his neck, she pressed her lips lightly to it, just a brush of skin on skin.
He was so warm, and there. What struck her most about this moment was that he was actually there. So solid and real and alive. His muscles moved beneath her hands, bones shifting with every slight movement. His hair brushed her cheek, tickling her brow. Her eyelashes fluttered against his neck.
And she loved him. So much, so deeply, that she couldn't stop herself from loosening her arms from around him--just enough to pull back and look at him--and pressing her lips to his, not wanting to waste any time in showing him exactly how she felt.
She was unsure of how he'd react, but he ended up doing the one thing she hadn't expected him to do; he jerked back, freeing himself from her arms, holding her around her waist, but not letting her any closer as he stared down at her with a disbelieving frown. "What do you think you're doing?"
Feeling embarrassment pour through her, she opened her mouth and closed it a few times, trying to explain without having to explain because he should know. He-- but... she'd thought... obviously she had it wrong.
"I love you," she whispered, dropping her eyes to his suit jacket, studying the brown material, tracing the blue pinstripes to his lapels before blinking and ducking her head to keep the pink tinge of her cheeks from showing. "I-- I thought that--"
"You love me and you thought, what? That your feelings entitle you to kiss me?" He was still frowning, she could hear it in his voice. His hands, wrapped as tightly around her as before, now seemed to taunt her with warmth and comfort, but his words... his words hurt.
"No." She squinted up at the full moon, hanging low and bright in the sky. "It's not like that. I just thought that you cared about me too."
"I do, Rose. I care about you very much, but you've been traveling with me long enough to know that I don't do that sort of thing."
Feeling anger rush through her, she jerked out of his grip, though he tried to stop her, even grabbed at her waist to draw her back to him. "Yeah, I saw that," she told him. "I saw that with Jabe, and Lynda, and Sarah Jane, and Reinette, and River Song. I've seen it with--"
"Who?" he asked, interrupting her as he pulled her back to him.
He couldn't seem to keep his hands off of her, but he didn't want to kiss her. Not like he had Reinette. Pain slivered her heart when she thought of that day. That spaceship, named after a woman long dead, but still alive in time. "What?"
"Who is River Song?" Scoffing lightly, he shook his head, caressing her hip with his thumb. "I've never met anyone with that name."
She wanted to cry. Wanted to jerk out of his grasp and make him stop touching her, stop being so tactile with her when he wanted nothing more from her than hugs and a hand to hold. "Professor River Song," she mumbled, grabbing his wrists with her hands and removing them from her. "Stop it." His brows rose in question. "It's not fair. You don't wanna kiss me. You don't do that sort of thing, but your hands--"
"I like touching you, Rose." He scratched the back of his head, looking a little confused as he let his gaze stray from her face, then back again. "I'm sorry. I just..." taking her hand, he drew her closer, once again settling his arms around her waist, "have this need to touch you." Hugging her tight, he rested his cheek against her shoulder and inhaled, much the same as she had earlier. "Who is she, Rose?"
Licking her lips, telling herself this wasn't anything more than a friendly hug, trying to get her body to understand that, she sighed and adjusted her cheek, rubbing it against the familiar fabric of his jacket. It still smelt the same. "You'll meet her soon. In a few weeks. At The Library planet."
He shoved her back, again, leaving her bereft of his touch. "What d'you mean 'will'?" Dropping his hands from her completely, he stepped back, keeping his eyes firmly on hers as his face went blank. "How can you know if it hasn't happened yet?"
Opening her mouth to answer, she realized that she didn't know. She didn't know how she knew. The knowledge was just... there. With no idea of anything surrounding it, there was just the certainty that the Doctor would meet a woman called Professor River Song for the first time. Not hers though. It would be the last time for River. "I don't know," she whispered, fearful of how the answers had come to her. How did she know?
She screamed as the streetlamp above them suddenly burst, raining pieces of glass to the street below, joining the rest of the debris littering the asphalt. Backing up, away from her, the Doctor shook his head. "You can't know that. I took it from you."
Frowning, searching her mind for what he could've taken from her--knowledge?--she followed him step for step. "Took what? I don't understand. How do I know about her? How do I know that she'll--" her eyes widened, and her hands flew to her mouth. "I'm so sorry."
His jaw tightened and he grabbed her by her arms, shaking her hard. "What have you done? What have you--"
Rose's eyes snapped open and she stared up at the white ceiling above her in confusion, expecting a dark night sky, partially filled with stars. Stars that were disappearing.
Gasping in her first breath since awakening, she sucked in as much air as she could and held it, letting it fill her lungs, burning them until she couldn't stand it any longer.
She was here, in her bed, in Pete's world, not back home with the Doctor. The dream, just like all the other ones, was just that; a dream.
Feeling tears prick her eyes, she shoved the heels of her hands into them, halting the moisture before it could leak out. Crying over the Doctor wasn't getting her anywhere. It never had, and it never would. She was alone here in this universe and she would be until she found the right universe, her proper universe.
Guilt swept through her, nestling into its usual spot, taking up residence for the upcoming day. She wasn't alone, she knew that. Her mum was here, and Tony. Mickey as well, and Pete. All of her mates.
But, the Doctor wasn't. She could have all of them, her mates and family with her twenty-four hours a day, and still feel alone without him. It was hard, knowing he was out there somewhere, but that he wasn't with her. That he may never be again. Sitting up with a sigh, she drew her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them.
As much as it hurt her to think it, she hoped Professor River Song was real, that he'd have her someday. If she couldn't find him, if she never did find her real universe, at least he'd have someone else for a while.
Scoffing to herself, she threw the covers back and rolled her eyes. Of course she wasn't real. It was all just a dream, just like the other dozen times she'd had it.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Hands in her jacket pockets, Rose strode across the room to the computer area, seeing a hive of activity going on all around her. She glanced around, thinking this was becoming habit. Seemed like every day she came in lately, there was a bevy of activity. Blowing on her cold fingers, she moved behind Ryan, who didn't notice her until he spun around and stood up.
His eyes widened and he stumbled back a step, gasping out her name. It was a bit breathless and Rose focused on his lips for a brief--so very brief--moment before stepping back as well.
This wasn't good. Not good at all.
Since the kiss, she'd spent exactly sixty-three minutes thinking about it over the past six days. How warm his lips were, how soft. Yet firm. He tasted nice too. And the feel of his hands on her back; she hadn't even noticed them at the time, but now it felt like his touch was branded on her skin.
And this close to his face, she could once again see his freckles. Could almost count them. There was a spattering of them across the bridge of his nose.
She blinked, and he was gone, moving off to another computer, talking to Tia, who also seemed a bit harried.
Clearing her throat, she unzipped her jacket and tossed it on the table by the weapons spread out there. "What's going on?" she asked, eyeing the arsenal more closely. "Ari here yet?"
These weren't her weapons. She didn't carry a gun.
"Guys?" Eyes rising to Ryan and Tia, she took a closer look at their monitors, trying to figure out what was going on from the information on them.
Ryan moved quickly past her, settling a hand on her shoulder as he went. It burned into her flesh, leaving an imprint behind that she could feel tingling her bones beneath the skin. "It's Mickey and Eric."
Her head shot up, mind shoving Ryan's effect on her to the back of her brain, focusing on what he'd just said. "What about them? Where are they?"
Duane ran by her, heading to Pete's office, sharing a look with Ryan, who turned and looked at Rose.
Bracing himself on the table behind him, he let his breath out in a rush. "They're missing. And we can't bring them back."
Feeling her heart seize up in her chest, she crossed to his computer and leaned down, peering at the monitor. "What do you mean you can't get them back? Where are they?" Her eyes widened and she straightened up again, staring angrily at Ryan. "Did they jump today? It's not their--"
"Yeah, it is," Pete told her as he hurried to the table. He was wearing a black turtleneck and a shoulder holster. He picked up the gun, checking it before shoving it firmly into the holster. "Today's Mickey's jumping day. What are you doing here?" he asked distractedly, barely glancing at her as he grabbed another gun, this one, a Torchwood-adapted alien version of a stun gun that had more than one setting, all the way up to kill.
Confusion swamping through her, Rose rubbed her forehead, trying to assimilate everything that was going on. Today was her jump day, she was positive of that. But that didn't matter; all that did matter was Mickey.
"The retrieval units didn't work?" she asked Tia.
Tia shook her head solemnly. "No. We're not sure why though." She shrugged, looking helpless and a little scared. "They just went--"
"Dead," Rose finished for her, lips tightening. There was no way that Mickey was dead. It just wasn't an option.
Making a quick decision, she crossed to the armory. She'd go after Mickey and bring him back, no matter... inhaling deeply, she refused to finish that line of thought.
Pete apparently had the same idea, though his was a little more deadly than hers. She'd stick with the non-lethal forms of weaponry. Grabbing a flak jacket, she filled it with her usual weapons, then grabbed one of the Torchwood stun guns Pete had. "Let's go," she told him, but he was already shaking his head.
"No. That is not going to happen. Do you have any idea what your mum would--" he stopped with a scoff and shook his head. Zipping his jacket, he pulled it down to straighten it, and picked up yet another gun, this, one she recognized for its specific purpose. "I'm sorry, Rose. I can't let you come with me."
"You don't have a choice," she told him, grabbing one of the hoppers from the shelf next to her. The innocuous round disk with a big red button--
that should never, ever be pushed
--fit neatly in the pouch made specifically for it. She pushed it down firmly and slammed the armory door shut. "I'm going. He's my--" her mind sought for a term to describe Mickey, but nothing quite fit, none of the words felt like enough. Mickey was her best mate, her ex-boyfriend, ex-lover, lifelong friend, and her lifeline in this universe. "I'm going," she reiterated, facing Pete straight on. There was no way she was going to let him go without her.
He stared her down for a minute, before finally sighing and gesturing to Ryan and Tia. "Set us up."
"What do we know?" Rose asked, matching him stride for stride to the jumping area. She eyed the large gun he carried, the one that was almost bigger than she was. "Daleks?"
"No. I'm just being cautious, preparing for anything."
Rose felt a rush of fear go through her. If it was Daleks... oh, god. Mickey might be dead. Nausea swept through her and she had to gasp, biting it back as her breath fought to leave her in a rush and not replenish itself. She couldn't think like that. Couldn't let the panic take over and drive her actions. Mickey and Eric were probably fine. Maybe they'd both received injuries that prevented them from returning via the cannons, and their implants had been broken or something.
Anything could've happened. Anything.
When they finally received the go ahead, Rose didn't hesitate. She slammed her hand over her jumper and was off, being torn apart and pasted hastily back together again. Pete landed beside her, dropping to his knees.
She held her gun up, aiming it at the countryside surrounding them. Frowning, she turned in a circle, then lowered her arm. They were in a field, with nothing around them but gently blowing long grass and colorful flowers. Above, was an iron-grey sky with smears of lighter grey clouds. The sun was high, but not very warm.
Pulling her jacket tightly around her, she zipped it higher and looked back at Pete. He seemed to be done retching.
Smirking, she tossed him an, "All right?"
He waved his hand at her as he hefted his gun off the ground and stood up shakily. There was a crop of trees behind him and she had a feeling that that's the way they would have to go to find Mickey.
It was odd. This was the first time she'd jumped to an undeveloped area. It put her on edge.
Pete pulled out a pair of binoculars from an outer pocket and looked in each direction, squinting at the bright sky. "Smoke."
Glancing above the trees where he was gesturing to, she nodded, then brushed the tall stalks of yellowed grass with her foot. "Footprints." Sighing, she looked into the dense forest of trees. "And, naturally that's where they went."
"Guess we're going that way then," he said, heading toward the dark section of woods. Head down, watching the footprints, he tossed her a quick look. "Why'd you come in today?"
Eyes scanning the countryside, she frowned his way. "Thought it was my day."
Though she wasn't looking at him anymore, she could feel his eyes on her. He was staring at her, and she had the urge to fidget under his gaze. "Been doin' that a lot lately, forgetting the days. Have you been getting enough sleep? Santiago said--"
Rolling her eyes, she held her hand to her forehead to block the sun. "Santiago is an overly-cautious arse." Dropping her hand, she squinted into the distance, thinking she saw movement. Gesturing toward it, she raised her gun and peered through the scope. The trees rushed closer and a feeling of vertigo swam through her. She had to close her eyes and steady herself for a moment before opening them again.
Everything was still, including whatever movement she'd seen. She felt extremely exposed out here.
"Nothing," Pete told her, lowering his binoculars and resuming his trek. "He's just worried about the health of the jumpers, Rose. You can't hold that against him."
"More like he's worried about his paycheck," she mumbled, trampling after Pete, feeling a bit safer being behind the person with the big gun.
"You've been double-jumping," Pete said mildly.
Rose came to a stop and stared at him. "What?" How did he know? How could he know? It was impossible. Tia was hiding each jump in the data, burying it deep. Forcing herself to move, to put one foot in front of the other, she refused to look back at him, refused to acknowledge his words with more than just simple curiosity.
But inside, she was panicking. He couldn't possibly know what she'd been doing. Tia. Oh, no. Rubbing her eyes with her free hand, she swallowed down all the questions she had.
"At first, I just thought you were jumping into new universes... and, I was furious," he continued, as if telling her about the weather, or something Tony had done at school. "Ryan found the data. Oh, it was buried deep, but he's good." Glancing at her, he gave her a look that she couldn't quite interpret.
Remaining silent, she fixed her eyes on the tree line, scanning the trunks and leaves and branches.
Again, she saw movement. "There," she whispered, hunkering down in the tall grass. It blew around her as Pete knelt down beside her, scanning the area she pointed to. Raising her gun again, she peered through it, looking for the shape she'd just seen between the two large trees to her left. "I saw someone." Glancing at him with just her eyes, then back to the tree line, she scoffed a little. "Ryan's been spying on me?"
"No. I have been." Grabbing her arm when she made to get up, he held her down, turning more fully toward her. "You've been jumping to the same universes as Jake and Liam. Why?"
"Now?" she hissed. "Mickey's out there somewhere. I don't really want to sit here and discuss--"
"Sh!" Finger to his lips, he tightened his hand on her arm. There was an intent look on his face and when he held his gun up, she raised her own. "There."
Peering through the scope of her gun toward the area she'd pointed out earlier, she moved the waving grass out of her way and scanned the area. There, between the same two trees, was a shape, crossing from one tree to another. She hunkered down lower, settling her knee into the soft, cold ground. "How many?"
"Two that I can see." He lowered his binoculars and slipped them into his front jacket pocket. Squinting at the sun, he judged the distance between them and the tree line. "We're out in the open here, I can't see any way around that aside from waiting for dark."
"Mickey might need us now." Sighting the man in her scope again, she saw that his back was to them, and he wasn't paying any attention to the surrounding field. "They're not looking this way. And even if they do, we have weapons."
Pete sighed and pulled his stun gun free. "They might have weapons as well, Rose. We can't just charge in there."
It didn't matter to her if they did have weapons; she was going in there. And she wasn't waiting until dark. It'd be too late then, she just knew it. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach. Mickey was in danger, and she and Pete could do something about it. But if Pete didn't want to, she'd go in herself. Walk right in, bold as can be, straight into their camp or whatever they had there, and rescue Mickey.
"I'm going." Pushing herself to her feet, she stared into the gloom of the trees and began walking, leaving Pete to follow or not.
Seconds later, she heard his footsteps behind her, trampling through the grass as he came up alongside her, tossing her an annoyed glance. "This might not help them, you know. We could end up getting them killed."
She shook her head, feeling calmness sweep through her. This was right. This was what they were supposed to do. "We won't. They'll be fine."
He frowned at her in confusion. "You can't know that." He hefted his Dalek gun up and shoved the other one back into his holster. "Hopefully big guns'll scare 'em off though." Patting the Dalek gun, he sped up his pace, leaving her to traipse after him. "Have you called your mum recently?"
Feeling annoyance pour through her that, even here, in a completely different universe, she was still being nagged at to call her mum, she glared at his back. "I will when we get back. All right? That okay with you? Can we concentrate on saving Mickey's life now?"
His shoulders shook lightly as he chuckled, then glanced over his shoulder at her. "That was a bit naggish, wasn't it?"
"A bit," she agreed with a grin. It was true that she hadn't exactly been the best daughter lately, hadn't visited her mum since their argument, hadn't called to apologize, hadn't even stopped by to see Tony since taking him to the park. Something in her kept warning her away, warning her not to keep those ties as close as she wanted to because she'd be leaving soon.
Hopefully leaving soon.
When she left, it'd be easier on all of them if she weren't around as much beforehand. Time healed all wounds and all that rot. So if she spent less time with her mum, she wouldn't miss her as much when she was gone. Tony either.
Fixing her eyes on the tree line, she saw their friends walking by again. Lifting her gun, she eyed the man dressed all in black. At first, she thought he was human, but there was something slightly off in his brow and nose. He looked a bit like a pig. Gesturing ahead, she tilted her head, thinking... I could take the shot from here. Stun him, move in, grab Mickey and Eric, and be done with it all.
"They're pigs," Pete said in wonder, lowering his binoculars.
"Looks like." Biting her lip, she lowered her gun, deciding not to take the shot yet. There might be more of them, and she didn't even know if they were hostile. It was entirely possible that they were innocent bystanders or captives like Mickey and Eric. If they were being held captive.
What else could keep him from coming back home? A plague planet?
What else would keep his retrieval device from working? Death, her mind whispered back. Injuries too severe to allow him to reach his jumper. Being held captive was the lesser of all evils and it gave her something to do. And she needed that, because she was itching to charge in there, screaming his name. To go trampling through the forest, announcing her presence for all to see.
"Rose."
Fear shot through her at the gravity of Pete's voice. She turned to look at him, but he was gesturing to the right, further off into the trees, not at a dead body on the ground. Their pig-man target was on their left. She began to peer through her scope, but Pete shook his head, handing her the binoculars and hefting his gun toward the right.
"We've got Daleks."
And the fear turned into anger. Daleks. It was always Daleks. She understood the Doctor's hatred of them more than he could possibly know. They'd taken her life from her. The man she loved. And now, they might take Mickey too. Well that was not going to happen as long as she still held a single breath in her.
Scanning the area with the binoculars, she saw the trio hovering in the trees and felt a steely resolve go down her spine, chasing away the fear. "Pig-men first," she whispered, handing Pete the binoculars. Flipping her gun over, she shoved the setting up to kill. "If they're still alive--and they are--they'll probably be with them."
Pete adjusted the strap on his gun and nodded, tight-lipped.
They only made it another ten meters before a screech of, "Halt!" sounded and the three Daleks soared through the air toward them. Rose stopped, watching their approach. The fear returned a bit, but was kept in check by her anger and worry over Mickey. She continued to scan the nearby woods, hoping he'd come stumbling out. "Identify."
Rose stepped forward, shoulders thrown back, eyes trained on the middle one's eyestalk as it shifted and moved on her. "Rose Tyler. And I kill your kind." She leaned forward with a smirk. "With a wave of my hand, I reduced the lot of you to dust. A whole Dalek fleet."
Feeling fingers tighten on her arm, she glanced back at Pete, who didn't look too happy at her revelation. "What are you doing?" he hissed.
She shrugged, pulling free of him. "It's what the Doctor does. Just act brave, like I know what I'm doing. Act like I belong, he told me once."
"You're not the Doctor," he protested, trying to pull her back beside him, but she shrugged free of his grip.
"Doctor!" all three Dalek's screamed in unison, eyestalks shaking, their metal bodies humming in agitation. "You are an acquaintance of the Doctor. You will take us to him."
"Yeah, sorry, no," she said smugly. "I can't do that. And even if I could," she leaned toward the middle one as if imparting a great secret and whispered firmly, "I wouldn't."
"You have traveled with the Doctor. You will take us--"
"No," she repeated slowly, as if they were stupid, and she was seriously beginning to think they were. "You don't understand. I can't. He's in a different universe."
There was dead silence for a few seconds as the Daleks assimilated this information, and then all three shook and jittered in anger. "You lie. You lie. You lie."
Something snapped in Rose at hearing those screeching voices, and she wanted to scream back at them. To scream and scream and rant and rail until they shut up. Just shut their mutated little throaty mouths and died. Every single one of them! She stormed the distance between them, screaming, "Shut up!"
To her surprise, they did.
But her anger stayed with her, didn't dissipate. "It's always Daleks," she snarled, feeling her hatred for them rise up. "You took everything from me. You took the Doctor-- you made him--"
The Daleks began to shake again, their eyestalks moving this way and that, but they didn't interrupt her.
"Afraid of him, aren't you?" she bit out, enjoying the visible fear they displayed at hearing the Doctor's name. "You should be. But you should be more afraid of me."
They soared closer threateningly, forcing her back a step. "You will drop your weapons," the two on the ends screamed, while the one in the middle screeched, "You cannot harm us!"
Over and over, they screeched.
Rose laughed bitterly. "Which is it? We can't hurt you, but you're afraid of our weapons? Got you shakin' in your metal shells, don't we?" She stepped back a pace and threw her arms wide. A voice, rising in her mind, echoed around and around. It was the Doctor screaming, 'Go on then, kill me! Kill me!'. Misery swept through her and she had to hold back a sob.
Then the voice was gone and she was alone again, in front of three Daleks, unsure whether or not she'd actually heard his voice. How could she? It was impossible. And she'd certainly never heard him beg a Dalek to kill him.
Her imagination was just working overtime, that's all.
"Drop your weapons!"
"You cannot harm us!"
"Rose..." Pete warned in a low voice, stepping up beside her. He aimed his gun at the ground and slipped the strap off of his shoulder, but he didn't drop the weapon completely.
"No," Rose spat, "you don't understand. It's always them. They-- they've taken everything from me. The Doctor-- they almost turned him into a killer."
The Daleks shook excitedly, and she felt nausea rise in her.
"They killed him..." but then she shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment as memories swept through her mind.
"You will tell us more," the one in the middle said in a low voice, trying to sound encouraging, and she imagined them all salivating at the thought of having ended one of the Doctor's lives.
Rubbing her forehead, she drew in a breath, holding her anger and disgust in check. "No," she mumbled, frowning as she saw her first Doctor closing in on her, pressing his lips to hers. "I killed him." Straightening up, she glared at the evil pepper pots floating in front of her. "Because of you."
"Tell us... more," the middle one encouraged again.
She breathed out as a malicious grin stole up her face. "I also killed a whole Dalek fleet," she said precisely, succinctly, stressing every word to make sure they heard and understood. Resentment was battling with anger. They survived, they always survived, no matter how many times the Doctor destroyed them. No matter how many times, throughout history, and the future and the present, that he stopped them, and their twisted plans to take over the universe, they survived.
And he... the Doctor, he was alone because of them. He'd lost his entire planet, all of his people, his family, his friends. Her.
Because of the Daleks.
She wanted to make them hurt. Wanted them afraid. Wanted them to shake in fear at what she might do to them.
Holding her hand out in front of her, she spoke in a low voice, her threat clear. "I waved my hand, and I turned you all to dust."
"Impossible," all three screamed, soaring higher, closer, to her. "You are just a human."
"Yeah?" she taunted. "And doesn't that just scare you to bits?" Leaning forward, she chuckled humorlessly. "I absorbed the heart of a TARDIS, had the whole of the time vortex swimming in my veins. All as just a human. Think I'm a bit more than that now. I'm a Dalek-killer. I kill your kind."
"She speaks the truth," one intoned loudly, voice not so much screeching as astonished. Then all three were speaking, one over another, over another, and she could barely keep track of who was saying what.
"The human has void residue on her."
"She travels through universes."
"There is something in her. She is..."
Pete lifted his gun as they all went silent, eyestalks shifting up and down, zooming in on Rose.
"...no longer human."
"Exterminate! Exterminate!"
There was a shot from beside her and the Dalek on their left dropped to the ground in a smoldering heap. The other two immediately turned to Pete, and Rose felt a blinding moment of fear that she was about to watch her father die again. She shoved him out of the way as he shot at the middle one, and it too dropped to the ground, a pile of twisted, burning metal.
Pete landed hard on his left side with a grunt as the ground where he'd been standing exploded into flames. He turned quickly, rolling onto his back and lifting the huge gun, firing at the remaining Dalek.
It swerved higher, aiming its eyestalk at Rose. "Bring the prisoners!" it screeched, but was cut off by another blast from Pete's gun.
Rose scrambled backward on hands and knees as it fell to the ground. A puff of dust and smoke went up around it, making her cough. Waving her hand in front of her face to clear the air, she turned to Pete, still on his back, much in the same position she was in, aiming his gun at the wrecked pieces of Dalek in front of her. She grinned and climbed to her feet, holding her hand out to pull him up. "Good thing these Daleks weren't too bright," she muttered, squinting off into the distance. "We'd better go before more come."
"Right." Swinging the gun behind him, he took one last look at the smoking piles of metal and ran toward the trees in the direction of where they'd last seen the pigmen.
Rose was right behind him, matching him stride for stride. It only took a minute for them to reach the tree line, and when they did, they came upon Mickey and Eric being held by two of the pigmen. They were huddled behind their prisoners, looking terrified, but holding onto them tightly.
"Let them go," she told them, moving her gun from one pigman to the other, eyes darting between them, trying to keep both in her sights at the same time. She didn't like this. She had no idea who these creatures were, but... the Doctor had told her about what the Slitheen family did to the pilot of their ship. If they could do that, then couldn't the Daleks do the same?
"No closer." The speaker, the one holding Eric, shuffled backward a little, watching them closely. He nearly tripped over a fallen tree trunk, but managed to keep to his feet. "Stay."
They were part human, or at least part sentient being, whether that was human or not didn't matter. These weren't just mindless creatures put into use by the Daleks. She didn't just want to kill them, or stun them and leave them for their masters to destroy. But what if they were in service to the Daleks by choice?
What if they, too, wanted to destroy humans and every other race out there?
Eric moaned and started to slide to the ground, but the pigman holding him up kept him aloft.
He looked awful, she noted, quickly running her gaze over both men. Eric was pale, the side of his head covered in dried blood, and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head. He was in bad shape. Mickey looked better, but not by much. He was more alert, but there was blood running down the back of his neck and around to the front.
Fresh blood.
Making a decision, she held her stun gun up in the air unthreateningly, elbowing Pete to do the same.
He dropped his gun by his side, leaving it dangling by the strap. In a conciliatory tone, he told them, "We're not gonna hurt you. We just want our people back." He nodded to Mickey and Eric. "We just want--"
"You killed the Daleks," the pigman holding Mickey said, adding a snort to the end and tossing his head back. "You will kill us."
"No." Rose put her gun back into its pouch and held her empty hands up. "We don't want to hurt you. We'll take our friends and go."
The pigman holding Eric shared a look with the one holding Mickey, then tossed his head back with a snort as well. "You will kill us." He threw Eric to the ground. The tech landed at her feet, unmoving. Keeping an eye on them, she knelt and rolled him over, pressing her fingers to his neck. His pulse was thready and weak; he needed medical help, and soon.
His jumper fell from his jacket, and she quickly pocketed it, slipping it in with her own.
Mickey was tossed aside as well. He landed on his knees, head and shoulders dropping for a moment before he straightened and moved over to Eric, checking his wound. Neither had a weapon, so there was nothing they could do, but their captors didn't make a move to hurt them.
"Thank you," Rose told them gratefully, as she and Pete hefted Eric between them. He was completely unconscious now, unable to stand on his own at all.
"You will kill us," one of them said again, more forcefully.
Rose snapped her head up, looking from one to the other. Understanding dawned on her. "No. No, we can't."
One of them moved forward, small eyes darting quickly over her face, head tilting to the side as he studied her. "We want... to die. Our choice."
Pete watched them for a moment and seemed to come to a decision. He began to lower Eric to the ground. Rose, terrified at what he was about to do, got in front of him.
"No," she said vehemently. "You can't kill them." She tossed a glance over her shoulder at the pigmen, seeing their pain-filled eyes pleading with her. With Pete. Nausea rose in her again, and she had to swallow it down because she knew. Knew why they wanted to die and how they're lives would end if they didn't.
"Our choice."
This was still Earth, and humans, no matter the universe they were in, couldn't seem to accept things that were different. They were cruel and brutal, malicious, and these men would die under their hands, or by the Daleks. They were making the choice to die by hands that were compassionate, not cruel.
Breath hitching in her throat, she released Pete, pulling his gun from his shoulder holster. Pushing him back, she turned to aim at the pigmen-- no, just men. Former humans, she was sure of that.
"Rose," Pete said firmly, "give me the gun. "I'll take care of this."
She glared at him. "That comment right there is why you don't get to do this. They aren't a problem to be taken care of. They're sentient beings." For all her brave talk, her hand was shaking so much that she had to use her other hand to hold it straight. "Take Mickey and Eric and go."
A hand settled over hers, pressing the gun down to the ground. "This is mine," Mickey told her. "I don't want you to have to do this."
"Yeah," she breathed through her tears, blinking them back, trying not to listen to the pounding of her heart. Trying not to hear her own voice in her head. And you? What are you turning into? Wiping her eyes with her shoulder, she raised the gun again. "I didn't want to have to kill a Dalek fleet either, but I did it. I didn't want to kill Toby, but I did it." Raising her eyes to Mickey's face, watching it blur as tears gathered in them again, she sniffed. "Go back to Tosh without this, Mickey."
Mickey's hand dropped from hers, and without another word, he turned to help Pete lift Eric. She listened until their footsteps faded, then turned her eyes back to the two creatures in front of her. Opening her mouth to ask if they were sure, she stopped herself when one of them stepped forward and knelt at her feet, lowering his head. Fog rose up from the ground, swirling around them.
Tears burning in her eyes, she had to suck in a breath that her chest didn't want to let in, but her hand didn't shake when she lowered the gun to his head. Closing her eyes, she lifted her head to the sky and squeezed the trigger.
The echo of the gun startled her and her whole body jerked. A sob escaped her and she was grateful for the loud report so that she couldn't hear the body as it crumpled to the ground.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Mickey and Pete stopped just outside the tree line as the second shot echoed around them. Dropping Eric to the ground, forcing Pete to sink to his knees under the other man's weight, Mickey turned and ran back into the trees. He pushed past branches, jumping over fallen trunks, feet crunching the whole way, reaching her just as she dropped the gun to the ground. Turning her toward him, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her shaking body.
"God, Rose." He blinked back the tears in his eyes, staring at the bits of sky visible through the tops of the trees.
Chapter 6
Author: sinecure - My master fic list
Character/Pairing: Rose, Pete, Mickey, Jackie
Rating: Adult
Genre: AU, Action/adventure, mystery, drama, angst, romance
Summary: Rose Tyler traveled through universes to get back to the Doctor. What did she see in those universes, and how did they affect her?
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.
Thanks: to momdaegmorgan for the beta, and the prompt, and the constant inspiration to finish this thing.
- Prologue
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
Rose peered down the empty street, past all the crashed vehicles, past all the little fires inexplicably burning here and there. Beyond those, beyond all of that, there was a man, a lone figure at the other end of the very long street. Feeling her heart begin to pound at the familiar shape, she allowed a smile to slowly form then take over her face in the shape of a wide grin.
It was him. He was there, just a few meters--well, no, the street was long--a few hundred meters away, standing in a pool of sickly yellow light from the streetlamp above him. He turned to face her, and though he was too far away for her to see, she imagined his smile, his grin, the one that always made her want to hug him.
And to be honest, kiss him.
Oh, those lips, they were there, just down the street, waiting to be kissed.
Wasting no more time, Rose shoved the Dalek gun to her side, resting it on her hip, and took off at a run. She'd found him, finally found him, after three long years of jumping through universes, suffering disappointment after disappointment. Tears slipped from her eyes, causing the lights to blur and twist like a kaleidoscope.
Joy shot through her body, followed by a giddy feeling that wouldn't dissipate until he was in her arms again.
And then he was--he was there--and he was hugging her tightly, so tightly that she couldn't breathe, and she'd never been happier. "I found you, I found you, I found you," she whispered over and over again, closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder. She breathed in his familiar scent, shaking with laughter and tears.
Tightening her arms around his neck, she pressed her lips lightly to it, just a brush of skin on skin.
He was so warm, and there. What struck her most about this moment was that he was actually there. So solid and real and alive. His muscles moved beneath her hands, bones shifting with every slight movement. His hair brushed her cheek, tickling her brow. Her eyelashes fluttered against his neck.
And she loved him. So much, so deeply, that she couldn't stop herself from loosening her arms from around him--just enough to pull back and look at him--and pressing her lips to his, not wanting to waste any time in showing him exactly how she felt.
She was unsure of how he'd react, but he ended up doing the one thing she hadn't expected him to do; he jerked back, freeing himself from her arms, holding her around her waist, but not letting her any closer as he stared down at her with a disbelieving frown. "What do you think you're doing?"
Feeling embarrassment pour through her, she opened her mouth and closed it a few times, trying to explain without having to explain because he should know. He-- but... she'd thought... obviously she had it wrong.
"I love you," she whispered, dropping her eyes to his suit jacket, studying the brown material, tracing the blue pinstripes to his lapels before blinking and ducking her head to keep the pink tinge of her cheeks from showing. "I-- I thought that--"
"You love me and you thought, what? That your feelings entitle you to kiss me?" He was still frowning, she could hear it in his voice. His hands, wrapped as tightly around her as before, now seemed to taunt her with warmth and comfort, but his words... his words hurt.
"No." She squinted up at the full moon, hanging low and bright in the sky. "It's not like that. I just thought that you cared about me too."
"I do, Rose. I care about you very much, but you've been traveling with me long enough to know that I don't do that sort of thing."
Feeling anger rush through her, she jerked out of his grip, though he tried to stop her, even grabbed at her waist to draw her back to him. "Yeah, I saw that," she told him. "I saw that with Jabe, and Lynda, and Sarah Jane, and Reinette, and River Song. I've seen it with--"
"Who?" he asked, interrupting her as he pulled her back to him.
He couldn't seem to keep his hands off of her, but he didn't want to kiss her. Not like he had Reinette. Pain slivered her heart when she thought of that day. That spaceship, named after a woman long dead, but still alive in time. "What?"
"Who is River Song?" Scoffing lightly, he shook his head, caressing her hip with his thumb. "I've never met anyone with that name."
She wanted to cry. Wanted to jerk out of his grasp and make him stop touching her, stop being so tactile with her when he wanted nothing more from her than hugs and a hand to hold. "Professor River Song," she mumbled, grabbing his wrists with her hands and removing them from her. "Stop it." His brows rose in question. "It's not fair. You don't wanna kiss me. You don't do that sort of thing, but your hands--"
"I like touching you, Rose." He scratched the back of his head, looking a little confused as he let his gaze stray from her face, then back again. "I'm sorry. I just..." taking her hand, he drew her closer, once again settling his arms around her waist, "have this need to touch you." Hugging her tight, he rested his cheek against her shoulder and inhaled, much the same as she had earlier. "Who is she, Rose?"
Licking her lips, telling herself this wasn't anything more than a friendly hug, trying to get her body to understand that, she sighed and adjusted her cheek, rubbing it against the familiar fabric of his jacket. It still smelt the same. "You'll meet her soon. In a few weeks. At The Library planet."
He shoved her back, again, leaving her bereft of his touch. "What d'you mean 'will'?" Dropping his hands from her completely, he stepped back, keeping his eyes firmly on hers as his face went blank. "How can you know if it hasn't happened yet?"
Opening her mouth to answer, she realized that she didn't know. She didn't know how she knew. The knowledge was just... there. With no idea of anything surrounding it, there was just the certainty that the Doctor would meet a woman called Professor River Song for the first time. Not hers though. It would be the last time for River. "I don't know," she whispered, fearful of how the answers had come to her. How did she know?
She screamed as the streetlamp above them suddenly burst, raining pieces of glass to the street below, joining the rest of the debris littering the asphalt. Backing up, away from her, the Doctor shook his head. "You can't know that. I took it from you."
Frowning, searching her mind for what he could've taken from her--knowledge?--she followed him step for step. "Took what? I don't understand. How do I know about her? How do I know that she'll--" her eyes widened, and her hands flew to her mouth. "I'm so sorry."
His jaw tightened and he grabbed her by her arms, shaking her hard. "What have you done? What have you--"
Rose's eyes snapped open and she stared up at the white ceiling above her in confusion, expecting a dark night sky, partially filled with stars. Stars that were disappearing.
Gasping in her first breath since awakening, she sucked in as much air as she could and held it, letting it fill her lungs, burning them until she couldn't stand it any longer.
She was here, in her bed, in Pete's world, not back home with the Doctor. The dream, just like all the other ones, was just that; a dream.
Feeling tears prick her eyes, she shoved the heels of her hands into them, halting the moisture before it could leak out. Crying over the Doctor wasn't getting her anywhere. It never had, and it never would. She was alone here in this universe and she would be until she found the right universe, her proper universe.
Guilt swept through her, nestling into its usual spot, taking up residence for the upcoming day. She wasn't alone, she knew that. Her mum was here, and Tony. Mickey as well, and Pete. All of her mates.
But, the Doctor wasn't. She could have all of them, her mates and family with her twenty-four hours a day, and still feel alone without him. It was hard, knowing he was out there somewhere, but that he wasn't with her. That he may never be again. Sitting up with a sigh, she drew her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them.
As much as it hurt her to think it, she hoped Professor River Song was real, that he'd have her someday. If she couldn't find him, if she never did find her real universe, at least he'd have someone else for a while.
Scoffing to herself, she threw the covers back and rolled her eyes. Of course she wasn't real. It was all just a dream, just like the other dozen times she'd had it.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Hands in her jacket pockets, Rose strode across the room to the computer area, seeing a hive of activity going on all around her. She glanced around, thinking this was becoming habit. Seemed like every day she came in lately, there was a bevy of activity. Blowing on her cold fingers, she moved behind Ryan, who didn't notice her until he spun around and stood up.
His eyes widened and he stumbled back a step, gasping out her name. It was a bit breathless and Rose focused on his lips for a brief--so very brief--moment before stepping back as well.
This wasn't good. Not good at all.
Since the kiss, she'd spent exactly sixty-three minutes thinking about it over the past six days. How warm his lips were, how soft. Yet firm. He tasted nice too. And the feel of his hands on her back; she hadn't even noticed them at the time, but now it felt like his touch was branded on her skin.
And this close to his face, she could once again see his freckles. Could almost count them. There was a spattering of them across the bridge of his nose.
She blinked, and he was gone, moving off to another computer, talking to Tia, who also seemed a bit harried.
Clearing her throat, she unzipped her jacket and tossed it on the table by the weapons spread out there. "What's going on?" she asked, eyeing the arsenal more closely. "Ari here yet?"
These weren't her weapons. She didn't carry a gun.
"Guys?" Eyes rising to Ryan and Tia, she took a closer look at their monitors, trying to figure out what was going on from the information on them.
Ryan moved quickly past her, settling a hand on her shoulder as he went. It burned into her flesh, leaving an imprint behind that she could feel tingling her bones beneath the skin. "It's Mickey and Eric."
Her head shot up, mind shoving Ryan's effect on her to the back of her brain, focusing on what he'd just said. "What about them? Where are they?"
Duane ran by her, heading to Pete's office, sharing a look with Ryan, who turned and looked at Rose.
Bracing himself on the table behind him, he let his breath out in a rush. "They're missing. And we can't bring them back."
Feeling her heart seize up in her chest, she crossed to his computer and leaned down, peering at the monitor. "What do you mean you can't get them back? Where are they?" Her eyes widened and she straightened up again, staring angrily at Ryan. "Did they jump today? It's not their--"
"Yeah, it is," Pete told her as he hurried to the table. He was wearing a black turtleneck and a shoulder holster. He picked up the gun, checking it before shoving it firmly into the holster. "Today's Mickey's jumping day. What are you doing here?" he asked distractedly, barely glancing at her as he grabbed another gun, this one, a Torchwood-adapted alien version of a stun gun that had more than one setting, all the way up to kill.
Confusion swamping through her, Rose rubbed her forehead, trying to assimilate everything that was going on. Today was her jump day, she was positive of that. But that didn't matter; all that did matter was Mickey.
"The retrieval units didn't work?" she asked Tia.
Tia shook her head solemnly. "No. We're not sure why though." She shrugged, looking helpless and a little scared. "They just went--"
"Dead," Rose finished for her, lips tightening. There was no way that Mickey was dead. It just wasn't an option.
Making a quick decision, she crossed to the armory. She'd go after Mickey and bring him back, no matter... inhaling deeply, she refused to finish that line of thought.
Pete apparently had the same idea, though his was a little more deadly than hers. She'd stick with the non-lethal forms of weaponry. Grabbing a flak jacket, she filled it with her usual weapons, then grabbed one of the Torchwood stun guns Pete had. "Let's go," she told him, but he was already shaking his head.
"No. That is not going to happen. Do you have any idea what your mum would--" he stopped with a scoff and shook his head. Zipping his jacket, he pulled it down to straighten it, and picked up yet another gun, this, one she recognized for its specific purpose. "I'm sorry, Rose. I can't let you come with me."
"You don't have a choice," she told him, grabbing one of the hoppers from the shelf next to her. The innocuous round disk with a big red button--
that should never, ever be pushed
--fit neatly in the pouch made specifically for it. She pushed it down firmly and slammed the armory door shut. "I'm going. He's my--" her mind sought for a term to describe Mickey, but nothing quite fit, none of the words felt like enough. Mickey was her best mate, her ex-boyfriend, ex-lover, lifelong friend, and her lifeline in this universe. "I'm going," she reiterated, facing Pete straight on. There was no way she was going to let him go without her.
He stared her down for a minute, before finally sighing and gesturing to Ryan and Tia. "Set us up."
"What do we know?" Rose asked, matching him stride for stride to the jumping area. She eyed the large gun he carried, the one that was almost bigger than she was. "Daleks?"
"No. I'm just being cautious, preparing for anything."
Rose felt a rush of fear go through her. If it was Daleks... oh, god. Mickey might be dead. Nausea swept through her and she had to gasp, biting it back as her breath fought to leave her in a rush and not replenish itself. She couldn't think like that. Couldn't let the panic take over and drive her actions. Mickey and Eric were probably fine. Maybe they'd both received injuries that prevented them from returning via the cannons, and their implants had been broken or something.
Anything could've happened. Anything.
When they finally received the go ahead, Rose didn't hesitate. She slammed her hand over her jumper and was off, being torn apart and pasted hastily back together again. Pete landed beside her, dropping to his knees.
She held her gun up, aiming it at the countryside surrounding them. Frowning, she turned in a circle, then lowered her arm. They were in a field, with nothing around them but gently blowing long grass and colorful flowers. Above, was an iron-grey sky with smears of lighter grey clouds. The sun was high, but not very warm.
Pulling her jacket tightly around her, she zipped it higher and looked back at Pete. He seemed to be done retching.
Smirking, she tossed him an, "All right?"
He waved his hand at her as he hefted his gun off the ground and stood up shakily. There was a crop of trees behind him and she had a feeling that that's the way they would have to go to find Mickey.
It was odd. This was the first time she'd jumped to an undeveloped area. It put her on edge.
Pete pulled out a pair of binoculars from an outer pocket and looked in each direction, squinting at the bright sky. "Smoke."
Glancing above the trees where he was gesturing to, she nodded, then brushed the tall stalks of yellowed grass with her foot. "Footprints." Sighing, she looked into the dense forest of trees. "And, naturally that's where they went."
"Guess we're going that way then," he said, heading toward the dark section of woods. Head down, watching the footprints, he tossed her a quick look. "Why'd you come in today?"
Eyes scanning the countryside, she frowned his way. "Thought it was my day."
Though she wasn't looking at him anymore, she could feel his eyes on her. He was staring at her, and she had the urge to fidget under his gaze. "Been doin' that a lot lately, forgetting the days. Have you been getting enough sleep? Santiago said--"
Rolling her eyes, she held her hand to her forehead to block the sun. "Santiago is an overly-cautious arse." Dropping her hand, she squinted into the distance, thinking she saw movement. Gesturing toward it, she raised her gun and peered through the scope. The trees rushed closer and a feeling of vertigo swam through her. She had to close her eyes and steady herself for a moment before opening them again.
Everything was still, including whatever movement she'd seen. She felt extremely exposed out here.
"Nothing," Pete told her, lowering his binoculars and resuming his trek. "He's just worried about the health of the jumpers, Rose. You can't hold that against him."
"More like he's worried about his paycheck," she mumbled, trampling after Pete, feeling a bit safer being behind the person with the big gun.
"You've been double-jumping," Pete said mildly.
Rose came to a stop and stared at him. "What?" How did he know? How could he know? It was impossible. Tia was hiding each jump in the data, burying it deep. Forcing herself to move, to put one foot in front of the other, she refused to look back at him, refused to acknowledge his words with more than just simple curiosity.
But inside, she was panicking. He couldn't possibly know what she'd been doing. Tia. Oh, no. Rubbing her eyes with her free hand, she swallowed down all the questions she had.
"At first, I just thought you were jumping into new universes... and, I was furious," he continued, as if telling her about the weather, or something Tony had done at school. "Ryan found the data. Oh, it was buried deep, but he's good." Glancing at her, he gave her a look that she couldn't quite interpret.
Remaining silent, she fixed her eyes on the tree line, scanning the trunks and leaves and branches.
Again, she saw movement. "There," she whispered, hunkering down in the tall grass. It blew around her as Pete knelt down beside her, scanning the area she pointed to. Raising her gun again, she peered through it, looking for the shape she'd just seen between the two large trees to her left. "I saw someone." Glancing at him with just her eyes, then back to the tree line, she scoffed a little. "Ryan's been spying on me?"
"No. I have been." Grabbing her arm when she made to get up, he held her down, turning more fully toward her. "You've been jumping to the same universes as Jake and Liam. Why?"
"Now?" she hissed. "Mickey's out there somewhere. I don't really want to sit here and discuss--"
"Sh!" Finger to his lips, he tightened his hand on her arm. There was an intent look on his face and when he held his gun up, she raised her own. "There."
Peering through the scope of her gun toward the area she'd pointed out earlier, she moved the waving grass out of her way and scanned the area. There, between the same two trees, was a shape, crossing from one tree to another. She hunkered down lower, settling her knee into the soft, cold ground. "How many?"
"Two that I can see." He lowered his binoculars and slipped them into his front jacket pocket. Squinting at the sun, he judged the distance between them and the tree line. "We're out in the open here, I can't see any way around that aside from waiting for dark."
"Mickey might need us now." Sighting the man in her scope again, she saw that his back was to them, and he wasn't paying any attention to the surrounding field. "They're not looking this way. And even if they do, we have weapons."
Pete sighed and pulled his stun gun free. "They might have weapons as well, Rose. We can't just charge in there."
It didn't matter to her if they did have weapons; she was going in there. And she wasn't waiting until dark. It'd be too late then, she just knew it. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach. Mickey was in danger, and she and Pete could do something about it. But if Pete didn't want to, she'd go in herself. Walk right in, bold as can be, straight into their camp or whatever they had there, and rescue Mickey.
"I'm going." Pushing herself to her feet, she stared into the gloom of the trees and began walking, leaving Pete to follow or not.
Seconds later, she heard his footsteps behind her, trampling through the grass as he came up alongside her, tossing her an annoyed glance. "This might not help them, you know. We could end up getting them killed."
She shook her head, feeling calmness sweep through her. This was right. This was what they were supposed to do. "We won't. They'll be fine."
He frowned at her in confusion. "You can't know that." He hefted his Dalek gun up and shoved the other one back into his holster. "Hopefully big guns'll scare 'em off though." Patting the Dalek gun, he sped up his pace, leaving her to traipse after him. "Have you called your mum recently?"
Feeling annoyance pour through her that, even here, in a completely different universe, she was still being nagged at to call her mum, she glared at his back. "I will when we get back. All right? That okay with you? Can we concentrate on saving Mickey's life now?"
His shoulders shook lightly as he chuckled, then glanced over his shoulder at her. "That was a bit naggish, wasn't it?"
"A bit," she agreed with a grin. It was true that she hadn't exactly been the best daughter lately, hadn't visited her mum since their argument, hadn't called to apologize, hadn't even stopped by to see Tony since taking him to the park. Something in her kept warning her away, warning her not to keep those ties as close as she wanted to because she'd be leaving soon.
Hopefully leaving soon.
When she left, it'd be easier on all of them if she weren't around as much beforehand. Time healed all wounds and all that rot. So if she spent less time with her mum, she wouldn't miss her as much when she was gone. Tony either.
Fixing her eyes on the tree line, she saw their friends walking by again. Lifting her gun, she eyed the man dressed all in black. At first, she thought he was human, but there was something slightly off in his brow and nose. He looked a bit like a pig. Gesturing ahead, she tilted her head, thinking... I could take the shot from here. Stun him, move in, grab Mickey and Eric, and be done with it all.
"They're pigs," Pete said in wonder, lowering his binoculars.
"Looks like." Biting her lip, she lowered her gun, deciding not to take the shot yet. There might be more of them, and she didn't even know if they were hostile. It was entirely possible that they were innocent bystanders or captives like Mickey and Eric. If they were being held captive.
What else could keep him from coming back home? A plague planet?
What else would keep his retrieval device from working? Death, her mind whispered back. Injuries too severe to allow him to reach his jumper. Being held captive was the lesser of all evils and it gave her something to do. And she needed that, because she was itching to charge in there, screaming his name. To go trampling through the forest, announcing her presence for all to see.
"Rose."
Fear shot through her at the gravity of Pete's voice. She turned to look at him, but he was gesturing to the right, further off into the trees, not at a dead body on the ground. Their pig-man target was on their left. She began to peer through her scope, but Pete shook his head, handing her the binoculars and hefting his gun toward the right.
"We've got Daleks."
And the fear turned into anger. Daleks. It was always Daleks. She understood the Doctor's hatred of them more than he could possibly know. They'd taken her life from her. The man she loved. And now, they might take Mickey too. Well that was not going to happen as long as she still held a single breath in her.
Scanning the area with the binoculars, she saw the trio hovering in the trees and felt a steely resolve go down her spine, chasing away the fear. "Pig-men first," she whispered, handing Pete the binoculars. Flipping her gun over, she shoved the setting up to kill. "If they're still alive--and they are--they'll probably be with them."
Pete adjusted the strap on his gun and nodded, tight-lipped.
They only made it another ten meters before a screech of, "Halt!" sounded and the three Daleks soared through the air toward them. Rose stopped, watching their approach. The fear returned a bit, but was kept in check by her anger and worry over Mickey. She continued to scan the nearby woods, hoping he'd come stumbling out. "Identify."
Rose stepped forward, shoulders thrown back, eyes trained on the middle one's eyestalk as it shifted and moved on her. "Rose Tyler. And I kill your kind." She leaned forward with a smirk. "With a wave of my hand, I reduced the lot of you to dust. A whole Dalek fleet."
Feeling fingers tighten on her arm, she glanced back at Pete, who didn't look too happy at her revelation. "What are you doing?" he hissed.
She shrugged, pulling free of him. "It's what the Doctor does. Just act brave, like I know what I'm doing. Act like I belong, he told me once."
"You're not the Doctor," he protested, trying to pull her back beside him, but she shrugged free of his grip.
"Doctor!" all three Dalek's screamed in unison, eyestalks shaking, their metal bodies humming in agitation. "You are an acquaintance of the Doctor. You will take us to him."
"Yeah, sorry, no," she said smugly. "I can't do that. And even if I could," she leaned toward the middle one as if imparting a great secret and whispered firmly, "I wouldn't."
"You have traveled with the Doctor. You will take us--"
"No," she repeated slowly, as if they were stupid, and she was seriously beginning to think they were. "You don't understand. I can't. He's in a different universe."
There was dead silence for a few seconds as the Daleks assimilated this information, and then all three shook and jittered in anger. "You lie. You lie. You lie."
Something snapped in Rose at hearing those screeching voices, and she wanted to scream back at them. To scream and scream and rant and rail until they shut up. Just shut their mutated little throaty mouths and died. Every single one of them! She stormed the distance between them, screaming, "Shut up!"
To her surprise, they did.
But her anger stayed with her, didn't dissipate. "It's always Daleks," she snarled, feeling her hatred for them rise up. "You took everything from me. You took the Doctor-- you made him--"
The Daleks began to shake again, their eyestalks moving this way and that, but they didn't interrupt her.
"Afraid of him, aren't you?" she bit out, enjoying the visible fear they displayed at hearing the Doctor's name. "You should be. But you should be more afraid of me."
They soared closer threateningly, forcing her back a step. "You will drop your weapons," the two on the ends screamed, while the one in the middle screeched, "You cannot harm us!"
Over and over, they screeched.
Rose laughed bitterly. "Which is it? We can't hurt you, but you're afraid of our weapons? Got you shakin' in your metal shells, don't we?" She stepped back a pace and threw her arms wide. A voice, rising in her mind, echoed around and around. It was the Doctor screaming, 'Go on then, kill me! Kill me!'. Misery swept through her and she had to hold back a sob.
Then the voice was gone and she was alone again, in front of three Daleks, unsure whether or not she'd actually heard his voice. How could she? It was impossible. And she'd certainly never heard him beg a Dalek to kill him.
Her imagination was just working overtime, that's all.
"Drop your weapons!"
"You cannot harm us!"
"Rose..." Pete warned in a low voice, stepping up beside her. He aimed his gun at the ground and slipped the strap off of his shoulder, but he didn't drop the weapon completely.
"No," Rose spat, "you don't understand. It's always them. They-- they've taken everything from me. The Doctor-- they almost turned him into a killer."
The Daleks shook excitedly, and she felt nausea rise in her.
"They killed him..." but then she shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment as memories swept through her mind.
"You will tell us more," the one in the middle said in a low voice, trying to sound encouraging, and she imagined them all salivating at the thought of having ended one of the Doctor's lives.
Rubbing her forehead, she drew in a breath, holding her anger and disgust in check. "No," she mumbled, frowning as she saw her first Doctor closing in on her, pressing his lips to hers. "I killed him." Straightening up, she glared at the evil pepper pots floating in front of her. "Because of you."
"Tell us... more," the middle one encouraged again.
She breathed out as a malicious grin stole up her face. "I also killed a whole Dalek fleet," she said precisely, succinctly, stressing every word to make sure they heard and understood. Resentment was battling with anger. They survived, they always survived, no matter how many times the Doctor destroyed them. No matter how many times, throughout history, and the future and the present, that he stopped them, and their twisted plans to take over the universe, they survived.
And he... the Doctor, he was alone because of them. He'd lost his entire planet, all of his people, his family, his friends. Her.
Because of the Daleks.
She wanted to make them hurt. Wanted them afraid. Wanted them to shake in fear at what she might do to them.
Holding her hand out in front of her, she spoke in a low voice, her threat clear. "I waved my hand, and I turned you all to dust."
"Impossible," all three screamed, soaring higher, closer, to her. "You are just a human."
"Yeah?" she taunted. "And doesn't that just scare you to bits?" Leaning forward, she chuckled humorlessly. "I absorbed the heart of a TARDIS, had the whole of the time vortex swimming in my veins. All as just a human. Think I'm a bit more than that now. I'm a Dalek-killer. I kill your kind."
"She speaks the truth," one intoned loudly, voice not so much screeching as astonished. Then all three were speaking, one over another, over another, and she could barely keep track of who was saying what.
"The human has void residue on her."
"She travels through universes."
"There is something in her. She is..."
Pete lifted his gun as they all went silent, eyestalks shifting up and down, zooming in on Rose.
"...no longer human."
"Exterminate! Exterminate!"
There was a shot from beside her and the Dalek on their left dropped to the ground in a smoldering heap. The other two immediately turned to Pete, and Rose felt a blinding moment of fear that she was about to watch her father die again. She shoved him out of the way as he shot at the middle one, and it too dropped to the ground, a pile of twisted, burning metal.
Pete landed hard on his left side with a grunt as the ground where he'd been standing exploded into flames. He turned quickly, rolling onto his back and lifting the huge gun, firing at the remaining Dalek.
It swerved higher, aiming its eyestalk at Rose. "Bring the prisoners!" it screeched, but was cut off by another blast from Pete's gun.
Rose scrambled backward on hands and knees as it fell to the ground. A puff of dust and smoke went up around it, making her cough. Waving her hand in front of her face to clear the air, she turned to Pete, still on his back, much in the same position she was in, aiming his gun at the wrecked pieces of Dalek in front of her. She grinned and climbed to her feet, holding her hand out to pull him up. "Good thing these Daleks weren't too bright," she muttered, squinting off into the distance. "We'd better go before more come."
"Right." Swinging the gun behind him, he took one last look at the smoking piles of metal and ran toward the trees in the direction of where they'd last seen the pigmen.
Rose was right behind him, matching him stride for stride. It only took a minute for them to reach the tree line, and when they did, they came upon Mickey and Eric being held by two of the pigmen. They were huddled behind their prisoners, looking terrified, but holding onto them tightly.
"Let them go," she told them, moving her gun from one pigman to the other, eyes darting between them, trying to keep both in her sights at the same time. She didn't like this. She had no idea who these creatures were, but... the Doctor had told her about what the Slitheen family did to the pilot of their ship. If they could do that, then couldn't the Daleks do the same?
"No closer." The speaker, the one holding Eric, shuffled backward a little, watching them closely. He nearly tripped over a fallen tree trunk, but managed to keep to his feet. "Stay."
They were part human, or at least part sentient being, whether that was human or not didn't matter. These weren't just mindless creatures put into use by the Daleks. She didn't just want to kill them, or stun them and leave them for their masters to destroy. But what if they were in service to the Daleks by choice?
What if they, too, wanted to destroy humans and every other race out there?
Eric moaned and started to slide to the ground, but the pigman holding him up kept him aloft.
He looked awful, she noted, quickly running her gaze over both men. Eric was pale, the side of his head covered in dried blood, and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head. He was in bad shape. Mickey looked better, but not by much. He was more alert, but there was blood running down the back of his neck and around to the front.
Fresh blood.
Making a decision, she held her stun gun up in the air unthreateningly, elbowing Pete to do the same.
He dropped his gun by his side, leaving it dangling by the strap. In a conciliatory tone, he told them, "We're not gonna hurt you. We just want our people back." He nodded to Mickey and Eric. "We just want--"
"You killed the Daleks," the pigman holding Mickey said, adding a snort to the end and tossing his head back. "You will kill us."
"No." Rose put her gun back into its pouch and held her empty hands up. "We don't want to hurt you. We'll take our friends and go."
The pigman holding Eric shared a look with the one holding Mickey, then tossed his head back with a snort as well. "You will kill us." He threw Eric to the ground. The tech landed at her feet, unmoving. Keeping an eye on them, she knelt and rolled him over, pressing her fingers to his neck. His pulse was thready and weak; he needed medical help, and soon.
His jumper fell from his jacket, and she quickly pocketed it, slipping it in with her own.
Mickey was tossed aside as well. He landed on his knees, head and shoulders dropping for a moment before he straightened and moved over to Eric, checking his wound. Neither had a weapon, so there was nothing they could do, but their captors didn't make a move to hurt them.
"Thank you," Rose told them gratefully, as she and Pete hefted Eric between them. He was completely unconscious now, unable to stand on his own at all.
"You will kill us," one of them said again, more forcefully.
Rose snapped her head up, looking from one to the other. Understanding dawned on her. "No. No, we can't."
One of them moved forward, small eyes darting quickly over her face, head tilting to the side as he studied her. "We want... to die. Our choice."
Pete watched them for a moment and seemed to come to a decision. He began to lower Eric to the ground. Rose, terrified at what he was about to do, got in front of him.
"No," she said vehemently. "You can't kill them." She tossed a glance over her shoulder at the pigmen, seeing their pain-filled eyes pleading with her. With Pete. Nausea rose in her again, and she had to swallow it down because she knew. Knew why they wanted to die and how they're lives would end if they didn't.
"Our choice."
This was still Earth, and humans, no matter the universe they were in, couldn't seem to accept things that were different. They were cruel and brutal, malicious, and these men would die under their hands, or by the Daleks. They were making the choice to die by hands that were compassionate, not cruel.
Breath hitching in her throat, she released Pete, pulling his gun from his shoulder holster. Pushing him back, she turned to aim at the pigmen-- no, just men. Former humans, she was sure of that.
"Rose," Pete said firmly, "give me the gun. "I'll take care of this."
She glared at him. "That comment right there is why you don't get to do this. They aren't a problem to be taken care of. They're sentient beings." For all her brave talk, her hand was shaking so much that she had to use her other hand to hold it straight. "Take Mickey and Eric and go."
A hand settled over hers, pressing the gun down to the ground. "This is mine," Mickey told her. "I don't want you to have to do this."
"Yeah," she breathed through her tears, blinking them back, trying not to listen to the pounding of her heart. Trying not to hear her own voice in her head. And you? What are you turning into? Wiping her eyes with her shoulder, she raised the gun again. "I didn't want to have to kill a Dalek fleet either, but I did it. I didn't want to kill Toby, but I did it." Raising her eyes to Mickey's face, watching it blur as tears gathered in them again, she sniffed. "Go back to Tosh without this, Mickey."
Mickey's hand dropped from hers, and without another word, he turned to help Pete lift Eric. She listened until their footsteps faded, then turned her eyes back to the two creatures in front of her. Opening her mouth to ask if they were sure, she stopped herself when one of them stepped forward and knelt at her feet, lowering his head. Fog rose up from the ground, swirling around them.
Tears burning in her eyes, she had to suck in a breath that her chest didn't want to let in, but her hand didn't shake when she lowered the gun to his head. Closing her eyes, she lifted her head to the sky and squeezed the trigger.
The echo of the gun startled her and her whole body jerked. A sob escaped her and she was grateful for the loud report so that she couldn't hear the body as it crumpled to the ground.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Mickey and Pete stopped just outside the tree line as the second shot echoed around them. Dropping Eric to the ground, forcing Pete to sink to his knees under the other man's weight, Mickey turned and ran back into the trees. He pushed past branches, jumping over fallen trunks, feet crunching the whole way, reaching her just as she dropped the gun to the ground. Turning her toward him, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her shaking body.
"God, Rose." He blinked back the tears in his eyes, staring at the bits of sky visible through the tops of the trees.
Chapter 6