Scotland's Mist

Chapter 8

How do you guys feel about establishing a relationship between these two frickers earlier on in the story? As in like next chapter? Doesn't mean the story's almost over, just asking!

"What do you mean, not just about the mist?" Rose asked, furrowing her brows.

"There's something else going on here," The Doctor replied simply. "It's not just the mist capturing people, or doing whatever it is it's doing. Step over it again, Rose."

Rose backed up and made to take a step. This time, the second her foot hit the ground the forest floor fell our from beneath her. She let out a startled yelp, but before she could fall through, the Doctor stood and grabbed her, pulling her out of the new hole.

The two of them fell backwards into the brush, Rose ending up face down on the Doctor.

"You alright?" He asked, his hands on her waist.

"Yeah," Rose nodded and rolled off of him, wincing at a pain in her ankle. She rolled it in its socket for a moment and stood where the Doctor had moved.

"Look here," the Doctor said as she approached. Without taking his eyes after the new hole in the ground that hadn't closed up, he reached over and pulled her close to him so she could get a good view. It was just big enough for Rose to slip through, and the Doctor would've had no hope of following her.

"You want me to go down?" Rose asked, hoping against hope that he would say no, she shouldn't go down there.

"Only if we can make it bigger!" The Doctor said, grinning at her. He squatted down and started tearing at the moss and foliage, trying to make the gaping hole big enough for the two of them.

He went rigid there, his hand full of grass. Rose watched, mildly alarmed, as he squeezed it, his knuckles going white around it.

"Doctor?" Rose whispered, her hand hovering over his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

He stood slowly, his eyes locked on something unseen just beyond the hole, in front of a large tree. His whole face was taut, his eyes snapping with anger. He pushed Rose behind him, gripping her wrist. She laid her free hand on his shoulder, trying nearly unsuccessfully to watch his face.

"Leave her alone," The Doctor growled, his eyes honing in even more on something Rose really couldn't see.

Her heart started to beat quicker, her breathing turning shallow. "Doctor?" She asked, her voice coaxing, trying to remain steady. "What's there?"

The Doctor didn't seem to hear her. He only seemed to be aware of his fingers locked around her wrist. He stared down whatever was in front of them. "You will not touch her, do you understand me? You won't lay a finger on her!"

His voice was plateauing at a hysterical shout. "Get out! I won't help you if you threaten her, understand! Leave!"

A rush of wind passed over the both of them, whipping Rose's hair into the Doctor's face, his coat billowing between her legs. Leaves swirled through the air, creating a tornado of distracting green near the tree. And suddenly the air went completely still and the Doctor collapsed onto the ground, spent.

"Doctor!" Rose cried out, sitting in the brush next to him. She laid a hand on his shoulder. He'd passed out, his eyes shut and muscles lax. "Doctor, please," she shook him gently, afraid of hurting him in some way.

He moaned in pain, turning his face towards her and reaching a hand, landing it easily on her cheek. "Rose," he panted, and his eyes shot open. He sat up. "We've got to get out of here," he said, leveling his gaze on her. He glanced to where his palm rested on her face and pulled it back as if he had been burned. Rose did her best not to look offended.

"Why? Doctor, what happened?" Rose asked, standing as he did. "Who was that? Are you alright?"

The Doctor didn't answer any of her questions, that she might've expected. He simply grabbed her hand. "Run!" His breath wheezed and he pulled her stumbling after him.

"Doctor, what was it?"

"It got into my head, Rose. You know I'm telepathic, it is too, whatever it is, and I don't know what it is."

The idea of the Doctor not knowing something about an alien or any sort of being made Rose about seven different kinds of nervous, ranging from general anxiety to heart gripping fear.

And he was afraid of this thing.

The Doctor was afraid.

They stumbled through the forest, the Doctor leading her blindly back to the TARDIS, his breathing heavy and panicked.

"What did it do to you?" Rose shouted, hoping the sound would reach him, with as preoccupied as he was. "In your head, I mean?"

"It saw some of my memories, my thoughts, Rose!" He hollered back as he pushed the door to the TARDIS open, shoving Rose protectively in front of him.

She stumbled inside, getting rid of the momentum before turning around to the Doctor. His eyes were wild, his back pressed against the door that he had just slammed closed rather violently.

"What memories? What thoughts!" Rose asked lowly, almost afraid to hear the answer that she wasn't sure he would give.

He gulped and licked his lips, his chest heaving beneath his pinstripes. He shook his head and carded a hand through his hair. "No, Rose, I-" He shook his head.

'Did they see Gallifrey?" She asked, trying to keep her voice soft just in case it was touchy, that whatever it was did indeed see Gallifrey.

'No, Rose," the Doctor's eyes swam with panic and something soft. "Rose, it saw you."