Tales from the TARDIS • Doctor Who

NINETEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN
❝Silver Hair❞

[Twelve x Rose]

[A/N] this oneshot is set in the AU idea that Rose and the Doctor were never reunited in series 4 ;-; . also, sorry for the crummy writing in this oneshot, i haven't really written much in the last few months so it is by far the best but yeah, i didn't want to leave you guys sin update for much longer! :)

— • —

Fingers withered from years gone by skimmed over metal covered in dust from decades past.

It had been on a whim that she had found herself in her old workplace and it had been a game of chance that she would rummage up her once prized possession; her failed experiment.

They had called it a Dimension Cannon; it was supposed to break through the fabric of her universe and pull her into the universe next to them.

They had tried for years to perfect the device but for three decades it never worked, no matter how many laws of physics they tried to break or countless nights spent burning the midnight oil. All the attempts to break the fabric of space and time resulted in ultimate failure.

So it took her by surprise that after a further decade of isolation in the confines of Torchwood, the machine hummed to life.

She was in pure shock when on a whim her fingers pressed a few buttons and before she could rethink, white light encompassed her; breath raced out of her lungs, vision was snatched by blackness and her consciousness slipped away.

— • —

Rose Tyler had a headache reminiscent to the heavy boom of thunder on a summer's night and her bones creaked out of a combination of arthritis and landing on hard ground. The light scent of rain wrapped around her and gentle mist fell down from the heavens, landing on the warm gravel road that she had landed upon.

Horns blared and people shouted but Rose kept her eyes shut; she had failed once again. Back when her skin wasn't wrinkled and waxen and her hair wasn't fine and greying, the cannon had swept her away to streets surrounding Torchwood. This was just another failure that would result in many bruises on her aging body.

"Are you alright, miss?" a young voice broke though to the foreground, followed by a timid hand resting on her shoulder.

"Where am I?" Rose croaked, eyes slowly creeping open to reveal a night cityscape; bright lights and car headlights dappled the black blanket of the night. In the middle of her line of sight, a body broke through the illuminated backdrop; shiny black hair, dark brown eyes and a comforting smile welcomed her.

"Westminster Bridge," the girl told Rose. "Do you need some help?"

"Westminster?" Rose whispered; eyes narrowing, "I was in Cardiff only a few minutes ago!"

"You must have bumped your head," the girl's arms adjusted so she could pull Rose up off the rain soaked road. "I'll take you to the hospital, miss-"

"Rose. Rose Tyler," she attempted to smile but it faded when a wince of pain replaced it. "I don't need a hospital, only a bench. I've been through a lot worse, dear..."

"Wu Jiao," she filled her in, "are you sure you don't need to go to the emergency room? I don't want to sound rude but it doesn't take much to injure an elderly person."

"In over 60 years of life, Wu Jiao, I have never broken a single bone," around them car's blared their horns and people mingled around the scene. "Just help me get to the sidewalk, will you?"